TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The result of the investigation on the clash between members of the police and members of the Indonesian National Defense Forces (TNI) in Batam is not really satisfactory.
The joint team of the TNI and the police concluded that two TNI soldiers lent their supports for the hoarding of fuel. However, it was not revealed whether or not their superiors were involved.
The recommendation from the joint team also seems to be full of compromises.
TNI personnel implicated in the illegal fuel hoarding would be brought to justice by the TNI, while members of the Mobile Brigade (Brimob) who shot the TNI soldiers on September 21 would be handled by the police. Another irregularity is members of the TNI who were involved in the hoarding were declared to be not in the knowing that hoarding fuel is illegal.
It is impossible that those two members of the Batalion 134 Tuah Sakti had no idea about the motive of the fuel hoarding.
Commander of the infantry battalion at Kodam I/Bukit Barisan should not have let their personnel safeguard places for hoarding illegal fuel, which was later raided by the police and triggered clashes.
Deploying TNI forces for security may only be done to safeguard vital objects. The joint team indeed oversimplified the issue and was only focused on the matter of clash between the TNI and the police.
It is also not true if some say that this problem is similar to ‘juvenile delinquency’ just like what was uttered by Head of the Information Division of the TNI Major General Fuad Basya.
In addition to the military disciplinary issue, the joint team should have disclosed the involvement of its members in the fuel hoarding case, which seemed to be covered up from the beginning.
Initially, the TNI even categorically denied the involvement of their personnel in this illegal business.
The cases of fuel hoarding cannot be taken lightly because this crime brings financial loses to the state budget.
There are a total of 29 similar cases being investigated by the police.
Financial loses in one year due to illegal fuel hoarding in Batam reaches Rp438 billion. It is an open secret that this illegal business is difficult to be eradicated because the police are often let defenseless when dealing with those who supported the activities.
Clashes between members of the TNI and the police that take place in other regions are often triggered by the issues of ‘security’ for illegal businesses.
An impartial institution reported that during the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, there were 19 cases of clashes between the TNI and the police. This report should serve as a source of evaluation to revamp both the TNI and the police.
The first step to do is by bringing TNI and police personnel involved in the Batam case to justice in a transparent way through the so-called connectivity court.
Investigation at the connectivity court is conducted by the police, the military police, and the military prosecutor.
The perpetrators, both the civilian and the military, who were involved in this fuel hoarding case may be brought to justice at the same time.
In accordance with Law on Oil and Gas, those who hoard subsidized fuel are subject to a maximum of six years in prison.
It is difficult to expect any transparency if the apparatus involved are brought to an internal court.
There’s a likelihood that the involvement of the TNI personnel tends to be covered up.
If the TNI wants to seriously improve itself, they should have let their personnel involved in the Batam case be brought to the connectivity court.
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