YLBHI Asks Prabowo Government To Consider Traffic Corps And Police Members To Guard The Demonstration Without Guns

JAKARTA - Deputy Chairperson of the Advocacy Division of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) Arif Maulana views the need for Presidential Government Prabowo Subianto to consider policies to strip the Police from firearms (senpi) in response to the rampant abuse of senpi by Bhayangkara members.

"There is an idea to strip the police weapon, I think it is important to consider and follow up," Arif said at an Emergency Police Reform press conference monitored from Jakarta, Sunday, December 8, which was confiscated by Antara.

Arif said police should not be militaristic and not use violent approaches.

He highlighted the extent of the authority of the National Police, ranging from public services, protecting and protecting the community, maintaining public order, enforcing the law, to other matters related to security.

"Not all of the police functions require firearms. The functions of community services, human resources, for example Korlantas, do not require firearms," said Arif.

The use of weapons, including firearms, he said, should be the last option in the context of law enforcement.

Therefore, the use of senpi when securing demonstrations, the use of senpi by the Traffic Corps (Korlantas), to public services is irrelevant.

"I want to then say today the situation is emergency related to the arbitrariness of the abuse of firearms by the police," he said.

The emergency situation was declared by Arif based on various incidents of extrajudicial killings or killings outside the judicial process, such as what happened to a vocational school student with the initials GRO by police officer Aipda RZ on November 24, 2024, in West Semarang District, Semarang City, Central Java.

"Excessive use of force is indeed a problem for our police," said Arif.

Therefore, he continued, it is important to evaluate the use of firearms by the police.

"This is a small part of our efforts to encourage reform within the police, which today we see is not in line with the spirit of encouraging police reform. The goal is for the police to be democratic and respect human rights," said Arif.

Member of Commission III of the Indonesian House of Representatives Abdullah suggested that members of the National Police only be equipped with long sticks to patrol to maintain order and security rather than use firearms to avoid abuse.

Abdullah said that British, Norwegian, Icelandic, Botswana, New Zealand and Ireland police only use pepper sticks and powder in maintaining order, with a qualified understanding of professionalism while on duty.

Evaluation and restrictions on the use of firearms, he said, are a must so that similar incidents do not occur, ranging from civilian victims to members of the police themselves.