Recent Murder-Suicide Highlights Lack of Mental Health Care for Indonesian Police

It was six in the evening when the sound of gunshots rang out at PT Sarana Gas Trembul's oil drilling facility in Blora, Central Java, on Tuesday, 10 October. Brig. Muhadi, a member of the National Police's elite Mobile Brigade, or Brimob, was in the bathroom when he heard the shots.

The oil drilling platform was a quiet posting, a facility in a sprawling, mostly rural part of Central Java. Muhadi was worried that a someone had opened fire on the oil plant. It never happened before, but he never heard gunshot there either.

Muhadi quickly found his two partners, men named Budi Wibowo and Supriyono, lying dead. Both were fatally shot, their bodies covered in blood. They were working the lookout shift at the time. Then Muhadi saw Chief Brig. Bambang Tejo. He was the senior officer on duty that night. Bambang told him to leave the crime scene. Confused, Muhadi allegedly complied.

Then he heard another gunshot. This one when through Bambang's head. He had turned his service weapon, an AK-101 assault rifle, on himself and pulled the trigger. Investigating officers still don't really know why. All they've told the press it that it seemed to be about something personal.

This wasn't the first time this happened. The incident, like the 2014 shooting death of an officer in Jakarta by his subordinate, highlight a severe lack of mental health care available to Indonesia's 430,000 police officers. It's something the police themselves recognize as a problem that, so far, the institution hasn't been able to correct.

"The police only prioritize physical health," Bambang Widodo Umar, a police observer, told VICE. "But regular psychological counseling is necessary. Yet, so far, there isn't any counseling from a psychologist [regularly] available."

In 2016, the National Police instituted a psychological counseling program after 13 of their officers killed themselves in a single year. But, today, there still isn't any word as to whether the program will be expanded to all police departments nationwide.

The police work one of the hardest jobs in Indonesia. The levels of stress, and the day-to-day responsibilities of being an officer, can take their toll, explained psychiatrist Lidya Heryanto. But the officers themselves, men and women who pride themselves on looking like strong authority figures, are often reluctant to admit they are suffering from stress, depression, or other mental health issues.

"There's a trigger that causes them do such a thing," Lidya said. "They have problems, too, just like us. Maybe it's about welfare, or it could be interpersonal issues."

Instead of seeking help or counseling, a lot of police officers try to handle their issues themselves. And sometimes tempers boil over, or they reach a breaking point—a dangerous situation when you realize that many police officers are armed, Lidya said.

The instances of police turning their service weapons on themselves or those closest to them are common headlines in Indonesia. In March of 2016, an officer shot his own wife. Routine access to psychological counseling would definitely help, Lidya said. As would stricter regulations on access to and use of a firearm.

But the regulations are already pretty strict. Indonesia is not the United States. In the US, every officer has a service weapon. But in Indonesia, only 20 percent are armed, according to Indonesia Police Watch (IPW). An officer doesn't receive a service weapon without first passing several tests and submitting an application to the National Police's internal affairs division, spokesman Boy Rafli Amar told local media.

Still, what's missing from most police departments is a psychological test to see if an officer is mentally fit enough to carry a deadly weapon, said Neta S. Pane, the head of IPW. And then there needs to be a system where the psychological state of the officers are routinely assessed by trained professionals, Neta added.

"The regulations are already adequate," Neta said. "It's just they need to regularly monitor the officers' psychological state so such incidents won't happen again."