0 Police Chief Says Slank Gets Fair Treatment

National Police chief Gen. Timur Pradopo has denied that the police were discriminating against the legendary Indonesian rock band Slank, in response to the group's move to legally challenge the 2002 National Police Law, which stipulates police authority in issuing performance permits. “Basically, the police have to secure all public activities and the police don’t work alone in securing it. It also involves cooperation from the party holding the performance or activities,” Timur said on Friday. 

The police would reconsider issuing the permit if the performance is deemed likely to lead to material losses or people getting injured or killed, he added. “It doesn’t mean that it’s not allowed. If we are convinced [that it won’t turn violent] we will secure it. So, there’s no [regulation] that this [band] is allowed and that one is not allowed. It’s more related to the facts. The police also doesn’t ban [a group from performing] forever,” Timur argued. He added that the police will help Slank secure a concert if the group can guarantee that it will not turn violent. “Everyone has the same responsibility. 

We will only take that measure [to ban the event] if there is a potential that it could cause security problems.” Slank lamented why the police did not increase the number of personnel and instead chose to ban their event. “Surely, it had been calculated. There’s no guarantee that a big force could prevent a disruption. There was an incident were [violence] still occurred after we increased our force,” Timur said. Slank filed a request for a judicial review of the police law to the Constitutional Court on Wednesday. 

Aside from fighting alleged discrimination by the police, Slank said it also wanted to take part in upholding democracy in the country, especially relating to freedom of expression, which it stressed was the constitutional right of every citizen. “Expressing arts, including [staging] a music concert, is an important element in building civilization in the country,” Slank said. Slank said that the police had already banned them from staging concerts seven to eight times across the country. Bimbim, the group’s drummer, said the group has found it difficult to get performance permission from the police since 2008, but found it extremely difficult to obtain permits for several concerts at the end of last year. 

They were hoping to get permission this year but were once again disappointed by the police. Bimbim said the ban disrupted their performance schedule and caused losses to several parties such as promoters and investors. Slank said the National Police Law is far from reflecting the spirit of the reform era, in which freedom of expression is guaranteed by law. The police law also contradicted the 1945 Constitution, the band said. The National Police plans to establish a team to deal with the judicial review filed by the group. Brig. Gen. Anton Setiadi, head of the National Police’s legal division, said on Friday that he was looking to create a special team. 

“God willing, we will prepare a team,” he said, declining to add any further details about it. Andi Muttaqin, the lawyer for the band, said his clients felt they were victimized by the law as the police had repeatedly refused to issue public performance permits because some of their shows had led to violence in the past. Brig. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar, a National Police spokesman, welcomed the challenge on Thursday, saying that it was within the band’s rights to take legal action. “We are in support of the development and the appreciation of art and cultural activities, including the music produced by citizens,” Boy said of the police. 

But Boy denied that the police were systematically obstructing Slank from holding performances. “To mobilize such a large number of people, in the thousands, will of course have an impact on the potential for security disturbances,” he explained. “It [the National Police Law] is aimed at preventing an impact on the community at large. This only happens in a few regions and therefore there should not be a generalization. We are certain that the police do support other Slank activities,” Boy said.

source : the jakarta globe