Hotman Siregar & Farouk Arnaz, Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said on Wednesday that Comr. Gen. Idham Azis, head of the Criminal Investigation Agency, or Bareskrim, had been proposed as the sole candidate to become the National Police chief.

"It was submitted to the House of Representatives today," Jokowi told reporters after the inauguration of new cabinet members at the State Palace in Central Jakarta.

Gen. Tito Karnavian vacated the post after he was appointed as the country's new home affairs minister.

Idham, 56, graduated from the National Police Academy in 1988 and worked with Tito on major counterterrorism operations, including actions that led to the killings of Azahari Husin in 2005 and Noordin M. Top in 2009. The slain militants were key figures in Jemaah Islamiyah, the terror group responsible for the 2002 Bali bombings and several attacks in Jakarta since then.

On his book "Indonesian Top Secret," Tito wrote that he also worked with Idham in uncovering terror networks in Poso, Central Sulawesi, after the 2005 beheadings of three Christian schoolgirls. Tito said he and Idham had spent 18 months in Poso fighting militants.

He was Tito's deputy between 2008 and 2010, while the latter led Detachment 88, the National Police's elite counterterrorism squad.

Idham also served as Jakarta Police chief between July 2017 and January 2019. He will reach retirement age in January 2021.

House Deputy Speaker Sufmi Dasco Ahmad confirmed that he had received the president's proposal and that Idham would soon be invited for a hearing with House Commission III, which oversees legal and political affairs.

"The proposal has come in, so we now wait for the fit-and-proper test," Sufmi said, adding that the commission would hold the hearing next week.

Source: https://jakartaglobe.id/news/idham-azis-sole-candidate-for-national-police-chief