Denus 88 needs to improve: Marzuki

Margareth S. Aritonang, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | National | Fri, March 01 2013, 2:08 PM

The House of Representatives Speaker Marzuki Alie has defended the National Police's Densus 88, calling the antiterror squad essential to saving the country.

Responding to calls to dissolve the squad, Marzuki said that Densus 88 had succeeded in preventing terrorist attacks and should be maintained.

"Terrorism is a transnational crime like narcotics and corruption. It's obviously a serious threat to our nation. Densus 88 has effectively countered terrorist attacks against the country," Marzuki said Friday.

"Dissolving it will only create new problems. There is no guarantee that a new squad, if established to replace Densus, would not violate human rights in its operations. I know that Densus is not yet perfect in its work, but, we still need it. It just needs to improve its procedure, for example, to be more human rights friendly," the Democratic Party politician added.

On Thursday, Muslim groups urged the National Police to dissolve Densus 88 over concern about human rights violations.

The groups, including the country's largest Islamic group Nahdatul Ulama (NU), accused Densus 88 of wrongly arresting or killing innocent people.

They also claimed to have a video showing men in Densus 88 uniforms arresting and torturing a suspect.

Marzuki suggested the police validate the video and clarify whether or not Densus was truly responsible.

"There have been cases when police brutality was orchestrated and intentionally made public to nurture hatred against law enforcers. We just need to be careful," he said.