Activists Hope For Great Reform In The Body Of The Police

Illegal coal mines in the Bukit Soeharto Tahura area, one that the authorities can take action against (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - The East Kalimantan Civil Society Coalition (KMS) consisting of academics and activists demands massive reform within the Indonesian National Police (Polri).

"Large-scale reform in the police body must be carried out immediately, because the involvement of its members in illicit businesses such as illegal mining crimes," said Herdiansyah Hamzah, an academic from Mulawarman University, quoted by Antara, Sunday.

This demand arose because of a video confession by former Ismail Bolong police about the illegal mining crimes he committed.

Bolong, who once served at the Samarinda Police, openly admitted his crimes. Including the proceeds of crimes which he also said were channeled to several parties. Among the names he mentioned were the Head of the Criminal Investigation Unit of the Police and the Head of the Criminal Investigation Unit of the Bontang Police.

This Bolong confession has unraveled the involvement of police officers in illegal mining crimes. This has actually been suspected by the public for a long time, said Castro, Hamzah's nickname, a doctor at the Faculty of Law, Mulawarman University.

Reform is necessary because crimes such as illegal mining are almost certainly carried out by collaborating or in a syndicate and secretly like the mafia. Therefore, KMS also did not believe Bolong's confession that he was doing illegal business on his own initiative.

The reform, said Castro, could only start by cleaning up the Indonesian National Police from its members who were involved in the crime.

"Strict sanctions must be imposed!" said Castro asserted.

According to data from the East Kalimantan Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam), illegal mining activities are currently increasingly occurring throughout East Kalimantan. This is getting worse because even though the activity is clearly visible, there is no action from the authorities.

Of the 151 illegal mining activities throughout East Kalimantan, according to Jatam, there are only 3 cases that are currently in legal proceedings.

The Civil Society Coalition itself consists of many critical and caring individuals, such as Castro and Muhammad Nasir from Balikpapan University, including activists, and a number of institutions.

Among them are the Indonesian Caucus for Academic Freedom (KIKA), the East Kalimantan Mining Advocacy Network (JATAM), Walhi Kaltim, Pokja 30, to the journalist organization Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) Samarinda City.