Profile - RI'S POLICE INVESTIGATIONS UNIT TO BE INVIGORATED BY ALIUS' APPOINTMENT By Fardah

    Jakarta, Dec 10, 2013 (Antara) - When National Police Chief General Sutarman announced his decision to appoint Suhardi Alius as the Head of the Crime Investigations Department (Bareskrim), the Presidium Chairman of Indonesia Police Watch (IPW) Neta S Pane expressed his appreciation for the move.

        Pane, who is often critical of the National Police's policies, has described the appointment of the former West Java Police Chief Inspector General Alius as a breakthrough in the promotion of young cadres from among the Police elite and for making Bareskrim a more dynamic outfit.

        Given the track record and achievements of Suhardi Alius so far, he deserved the promotion, the NGO activist conceded, praising Alius for often venturing into the field himself to deal with problems, such as conflicts and rallies and to check whether his police officers are doing their duty properly.

        General Sutarman has described Suhardi Alius as young and energetic and a man of integrity. He stated that he hoped that given such qualities, Alius would be able to deal with investigations comprehensively and effectively.

        Sutarman pointed out that he had chosen Suhardi Alius because of his experience and integrity and not based on his seniority vis-à-vis his Police Academy batch.

      "My decision was not based on who is junior or senior. Integrity is the most important factor for me. Out of all the candidates, he was the one with the best integrity," he added.

        Born in Jakarta on May 10, 1962, Suhardi Alius is an intellectual policeman, whose career has been on the upswing ever since he graduated from the Police Academy in 1985.

         His specialization is crime investigations and the fact that he has held a number of posts related to crime investigations before, including as Jakarta Police's Director of General Crime Investigations and as a Director-in-Charge of Certain Crimes at the Police Headquarters' Crime Investigations Department (Bareskrim) have only instilled further confidence in his appointment.

         He was later appointed as the Deputy Chief of the Jakarta Police and then as the Head of the Police Headquarters' Public Relations Division. His earlier position also included serving as a Personal Staff Coordinator for the then National Police Chief General Sutanto.

        The Seroja Award was bestowed on Suhardi Alius for being the best graduate at the National Resilience Institute (Lemhannas) of Indonesia. He is also the first graduate of the Police Academy's 1985 batch to have reached a three-star general position this early in his career. As the new Bareskrim Chief, he was promoted from a two-star Inspector General to a three-star Commissioner General.

         He holds a Master's Degree in Law from the Yogyakarta-based University of Gadjah Mada (UGM) and speaks English and German fluently. He has also attended police courses abroad in countries, such as Germany, Las Vegas in the United States, Lyon in France, Bangkok in Thailand, Perth and Sydney in Australia, Vancouver in Canada and in Cambodia.

        Commissioner General Suhardi Alius has also authored two books, namely "The Future of Indonesian Forests" and "Turn the Police Services from Leadership to Subordination," where he revealed that he sometimes went out into the field in disguise as an ordinary civilian to check and monitor the performance of his staff while they were on duty.

        Following his inauguration as the new Bareskrim Chief, Suhardi Alius stated that as an Assistant to the Police Chief, he would do his best to support and help implement the priorities set out by General Sutarman.

         "I will implement what have become the priorities of the Police Chief. What he pledged during the fitness and proper test (before the Parliament) will become my priorities too. I am an assistant to the National Police Chief," he stated.

       One of the priorities will be anticipating security needs during the 2014 general elections, both at the presidential and legislative levels.
   He also plans to synergize the national police with the Attorney General¿s Office (AGO) and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in a bid for integrated law enforcement in anticipation of next year's general elections, and for ramping up investigations into corruption, terrorism, drugs and other criminal cases.

        Commenting on corruption in particular, the IPW Chief Neta S Pane urged the National Police to put an end to the corrupt practices prevalent among various institutions and top-ranking officials in the country.

        "The police must spearhead efforts to eradicate corruption. To achieve that, the police must become a 'clean broom' and sweep away the corruption," Pane stated.

        In the pursuit of this goal, the police must first eradicate corruption within its own forces, while undertaking efforts to improve public trust, he said.

        "It is time for the police to prioritize efforts to eradicate corruption within the force, before tackling corruption in other institutions," Pane added.

        Speaking on the occasion of the International Anti-Corruption Day on Dec. 9, Pane urged police investigators to consistently fight corruption including within the police force and to never give up. ***2***

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