Reinventing Intimidation

Blame game is our daily menu. While President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono very much regretted the police monitoring of legislators conducting an independent probe on rice imports, The National Chief Police Sutanto quickly blamed Jakarta Police and that he has nothing to do with the scandal.

Sutanto, as reported by The Jakarta Post, denied Jakarta Police Chief Ins.Gen. Firman Gani's claim the intelligence operation was carried out at the order of the National Police chief. Sutanto maintained the order to monitor legislators' activities came from the Jakarta Police Headquarters.

Koran Tempo is right in its editorial today asking for further investigation on who gave the order and who had the idea or initiative to do so. Without order, some newspapers assumed police officers who took the initiative are kind of asslickers. A simple 'I'm sorry' is just not enough. Punishment should be heavy enough to prevent that from happening again.

Noted lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis called the police intelligence on politicians as a contempt of parliament and a harsh intervention from powerholders. Law professor Achmad Ali said the shameful act is kind of intervention normally happens in the past. "That should not happen in this reform era," he said to Media Indonesia.

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