'Ego' Dictates Prolonged Clash between Police and Armed Forces

Liputan6.com, Jakarta Clash between The Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) and the Indonesian Police (Polri) is not unusual in the law-enforcing realm. Both forces are given tasks with primary focus sets on assuring the security and safety of the population and the nation as a whole.

The main difference lies on the very notion that police force is given a variety of case that focuses much on the domestic issues such as criminality, elicit drugs distribution, traffic management, orderliness of general population during special occasions whereas Armed Forces are assigned to operation at the national and the international scale.

As time progresses however, the tasks given to each forces becomes the homework of both with many evidence showing that both forces have been deployed for similar mission and operation and expected to coordinate and cooperate with one another.

Combining the two apparently is not a good idea as there have been many reports suggesting their inability to compromise with one another and for several times it has unfortunately generated casualties.

This is what happened on the evening of Sunday 30 August where one personnel from the Armed Forces reportedly died shortly after a fatal quarrel between the two forces in the area of Polewali Mandar, West Sulawesi broke out.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla is discontented to know that the country’s law enforcers are entangled by a prolonged conflict with one another and forget their very basic duty of assuring peacefulness and security of the population.

It remains a question to many about the role of these conflicting law enforcers as the tumult that caught both institutions into a war zone creates an image of inconsistency, violence, chaos, barbarism and disorder.

The aforementioned descriptions are the opposite of what the Indonesian authority and law enforcer should be.

According to Vice President Jusuf Kalla, conflict will continue to reign both sides and difficulty of reconciliation will intensify as long as they rely on their very ego.

“How can both sides come to terms with one another if negative emotion is the one governing each and every of their mind. It does not matter how much their salary will be raised, as long as ego takes over, they will find solace in initiating conflict with one another. So, it is neither about salary, nor about the welfare because I suppose those are all suffice. It is now a matter of ego, trying to look more powerful from the other,” he explained on Monday 31 August 2015. (Akp/Ein)