Jakarta – The party behind President Joko Widodo has continued to defend a graft suspect whose appointment as police chief was suspended by the president last month.
Budi Gunawan, a former security aide to Megawati Soekarnoputri, Joko's political patron and the chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), was not foisted onto Joko by Megawati, PDI-P official Ateria Dahlan said on Sunday, as quoted by Detik.com.
Budi's nomination as National Police chief was entirely Joko's choice, Ateria said, in response to mounting speculation that the president was under pressure from Megawati to advance her one-time favorite.
He claimed the widely circulated notion that Budi was Megawati's choice and not Joko's constituted a form of "criminalization" of the police general.
Ateria also defended Budi against graft charges leveled by the Corruption Eradication Commission, or KPK, that prompted Joko to call off his appointment to head the police force.
"Budi isn't clean? From what perspective? Even the analysis by the PPATK" – the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center, the government's anti-money-laundering watchdog – "found him normal," Ateria said. "And he is only a suspect, he has not been convicted."
That could soon change, given the KPK's record of securing a conviction, whether at an anticorruption court or upon appeal, of every individual it has ever named a suspect.
Ateria also denied that the PDI-P was working with the police to weaken the KPK, an allegation that has gained traction after party members and those linked to the PDI-P filed criminal complaints with the police against KPK commissioners, including chairman Abraham Samad and deputy chairman Bambang Widjojanto.
"We love the KPK. It's inconceivable that we want to destroy it, because the KPK was formed during Megawati's presidency," Ateria said.
Megawati's party also has the distinction of being the party with the most members charged, tried and convicted by the antigraft commission.
Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/pdi-p-budi-clean-megawatis-stooge/