Hizbul Ridho & Fana F.S. Putra, Jakarta – Legislators at the House of Representatives have demanded that President Joko Widodo "restore the honor" of Budi Gunawan, his one-time nominee for police chief, after the president scrapped his nomination amid an outcry over graft allegations.

"I believe most members [of the House] have urged the president to protect B.G.'s dignity because he won the pretrial motion," House Deputy Speaker Fahri Hamzah said in Jakarta on Tuesday.

The pretrial motion he was referring to resulted in a controversial court ruling in February that acquitted Budi of the bribery and money-laundering charges brought by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) – before he had even been indicted.

Budi, who was named a corruption suspect in January, days after being nominated for National Police chief, successfully challenged the KPK's decision to name him a graft suspect, but had his nomination withdrawn by Joko, who cited the public outcry fanned by the fiasco.

In a meeting with legislators on Monday, Joko defended his decision to cancel the nomination, again citing social and legal considerations as justification.

At the meeting, most of the 10 parties represented at the House voiced their support for Joko's new nominee, Badrodin Haiti, the deputy chief of police.

However, they also demanded a top position for Budi to make up for what they say was a charge without basis brought by the KPK. (The antigraft agency notes that the police general was on its radar for years in connection to millions of dollars in financial transactions through his personal bank accounts, in a case known as the "fat accounts" scandal.)

A legislator from the pro-government Awesome Indonesia Coalition (KIH), who asked not to be named, said Budi would likely be named the deputy police chief.

Deputy Speaker Fahri, from the opposition Red-White Coalition, said separately that the one-time suspect deserved a high post in the police force. "It is to restore Budi Gunawan's reputation because he should have been the National Police chief," he said.

Budi's nomination was one of may appointments by Joko sees as politically influenced. Budi was the security aide to Joko's political patron, Megawati Soekarnoputri, the chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), during her presidency from 2001-04.

The KPK's move to declare Budi a suspect prompted a seemingly retaliatory backlash from the police, who launched a series of dubious probes into the KPK commissioners based on cold cases, some of them a decade old.

Observers say it appears likely that Budi will get the post of deputy chief, given his close ties to Badrodin, who once served as his subordinate and has also been implicated in the "fat accounts" scandal.

Siti Zuhro, a political analyst with the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), said that although it was the police chief's prerogative to pick his deputy, Badrodin should not pick Budi, given his questionable integrity.

"Integrity is a criterion that cannot be negotiated," she said. "The National Police chief and his deputy should be role models for the public. The public has a stake in having a professional, functional and integrated police institution, one that we can respect."

The Indonesian Judiciary Watchdog Society (MaPPI) of the University of Indonesia's School of Law also called on the president to be consistent on Budi.

"He canceled B.G.'s inauguration as police chief because of the controversy among the public, so he shouldn't approve B.G.'s nomination as deputy police chief," said MaPPI researcher Dio Ashar Wicaksana.

Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/house-urges-president-restore-budi-gunawans-reputation/