•    HOME   
•    NEWS   
•    BUSINESS   
•    INTERNATIONAL   
•    TECH   
•    SPORTS   
•    LIFE & TIMES   
•    OPINION   
•    MY JAKARTA   
•    BLOGS   
•    EYEWITNESS   

National Police Chief Timur Pradopo promised on Wednesday that he would work to put an end to civilian deaths at the hands of the police, following recent deadly crackdowns during land and mining disputes.

The police have been under fire for a spate of violent crackdowns on protests since last August, when officers opened fire on a group of people trying to occupy an oil field in Tiaka, Southeast Sulawesi, killing two.

Last month the police once again found themselves uncomfortably in the spotlight after officers shot demonstrators at a seaport in Bima, West Nusa Tenggara. Three protesters were killed in that incident.

“In handling such cases, especially if a fact-finding team has been established, all sides should be listened to to prevent repeat cases,” Timur said during a National Police meeting. “Provincial police chiefs should be prepared to handle these cases.

In one change aimed at avoiding clashes, he said the police would begin seeking assistance from other institutions to mediate in protests.

“We don’t want the police to be the ones solving the issues [the demonstrators are pushing],” he said. “From the beginning we will push other institutions to mediate and formulate solutions.”

On Monday, the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) told lawmakers that the National Police was the arm of government about which it had received the most complaints in 2011. It said there had been 1,262 complaints about the police last year.

The next day, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono spoke out about the recent string of police-related fatalities, and called on law enforcement officials to not be so quick to use violence to keep crowds under control.

“Keep bullets hidden and do not use them quickly,” he said at a meeting of National Police leaders. “This should be understood from the National Police chief to the men on the street.”

Usman Hamid, the former coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), said that Yudhoyono’s comments would have little if any effect.

He said that it was the president’s economic policies that lay at the heart of the violent police crackdowns.

“As long as the president does not change these policies, it is only a matter of time before these cases of violence resurface,” he said. “For land disputes, the key is agrarian reform, so the problem is not solely with the police but the government as a whole.”

Indonesian Police Watch chairman Neta S. Pane said Yudhoyono needed to take a firmer stance on police violence.

“Give them a deadline to make changes, and if the police fail then the police chief must be replaced,” he said.

According to the IPW, 17 protesters were killed by police fire last year and another 81 wounded. The watchdog also accused the police of carrying out extrajudicial killings, torture and other acts of violence. Despite this, he said, the government had increased the police’s 2012 budget to Rp 8 trillion ($888 million).

“The police fall under the jurisdiction of the president,” Neta said. Now, he said, Yudhoyono needed to start listening to people’s demands for police reform.

“[Yudhoyono] has failed to impose the rule of law,” he said. “The way that the police behave is appalling.”

Additional reporting by Agus Triyono & Rangga Prakoso