Farouk Arnaz, Jakarta – The Indonesian police have finally named the three generals they intend to nominate as commissioners of the national antigraft body, none of whom actually has any extensive experience in combatting corruption.
The individuals are Yotje Mende, the Papua Police chief; Syahrul Mamma, the head of the National Police's legal division; and Benny Mamoto, the former director of the police's National Narcotics Agency (BNN), now retired. All are two-star generals.
"Their track records are clear, because to be an inspector general isn't easy," Insp. Gen. Anton Charliyan, a spokesman for the National Police, said in Jakarta on Monday.
"Yotje became a provincial police chief because he's one of the best senior officers. Same with Syahrul. Benny is still active at the BNN as a speaker, and he continues to engage with many different organizations."
Yotje and Syahrul have long histories as criminal investigators, while Benny, who retired in 2013, spent much of his career on the anti-narcotics beat. None of the three men have any significant formal experience in the police's antigraft department.
Anton said they should be given a chance to prove themselves if selected to join the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), and played down concerns that it was the police force as an institution that was nominating them, and not the individuals themselves.
"There have indeed been instances of [police officers] nominating themselves before," he said, referring to Bibit Samad Riyanto, who served as a KPK commissioner from 2007 to 2011, and Taufiequrachman Ruki, the KPK's inaugural chairman, who was brought back on board earlier this year as interim leader.
"But there's no rule that says an institution [like the police force] can't nominate its own members for the KPK," Anton said. "It's up to the selection committee to decide [on the candidates' eligibility]."
The police, widely perceived as the most corrupt institution in Indonesia, and the KPK have been at loggerheads since the latter was established in 2003. But tensions between the two law-enforcement agencies have plumbed new depths since January, when President Joko Widodo nominated Budi Gunawan, a general long suspected of amassing illegal funds in his personal bank accounts, as chief of the National Police.
The KPK charged Budi with bribery and money-laundering within days of his nomination, prompting the police to launch a series of retaliatory investigations against KPK officials based on trumped-up charges dating back up to a decade.
Those targeted so far in the dubious cases are Abraham Samad, the KPK chairman, and Bambang Widjojanto, a deputy chairman, both of whom have since been suspended; and Novel Baswedan, a veteran investigator whom the police previously tried to bring up on baseless charges, to no avail.
The ongoing systematic weakening of the KPK by the police force is not without precedent; in 2009 police instigated a probe against Bibit and fellow KPK deputy chairman Chandra M. Hamzah for alleged abuse of power in their naming of a prominent businessman as a corruption suspect. A lengthy legal battle ensued, climaxing with the Constitutional Court playing back wiretapped phone recordings that revealed the entire case was fraudulent and an attempt by crooked police and prosecutors to undermine the KPK.
Anton brushed off speculation that the police wanted their own people inside the KPK to control it, saying that the individuals being nominated were professionals.
"Once they're inside, hopefully they'll show high commitment," he said. "After all, it's said that the KPK's best investigator is Novel Baswedan, and where do you think he comes from?"
Anton did not say why, if the police considered Novel, a former police officer, such an asset, they were repeatedly trying to bring him down on dubious criminal charges.
Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/police-nominees-KPK-posts-distinct-lack-antigraft-cred/