Febriamy Hutapea & Muninggar Sri Saraswati – Instead of cooling down the long-running conflict between the Corruption Eradication Commission and the National Police, Thursday evening's late-night hearing held by House of Representatives Commission III on law and security affairs served only to fuel the controversy.

The televised seven-hour meeting with National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri and Gen. Susno Duadji, who resigned on Thursday as the country's chief of detectives, saw lawmakers lavish praise on the police's attitude toward the scandal involving Chandra M Hamzah and Bibit Samad Rianto, two suspended deputies of the antigraft commission, or KPK.

"I respect the National Police for not being provoked by the harsh statements," Fahri Hamzah, the deputy head of Commission III, said at the end of the marathon hearing.

Public sentiment has largely been against the police, who were seen to be involved in a plot to bring down the powerful KPK through baseless charges against Bibit and Chandra.

But Bambang Soesatyo, from the Golkar Party, said his faction would not sit still and watch the police being abused. He claimed the police must be saved from a "criminalization" effort. "The National Police's integrity has been violated," he said.

Other commission members even complimented the police for ignoring the recommendation of the fact-finding team to detain Anggodo Widjojo, the businessman suspected of playing a big role in fabricating a bribery case against the KPK deputies.

However, Anies Baswedan, a member of the special fact-finding team set up by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to help clear up the conflict, questioned the motives of the lawmakers, who seemed to have provided a favorable stage for the embattled Susno.

"The lawmakers appeared to be the public relations [arm] of the police," he said. At the hearing, Susno fought back tears while defending himself. After he raised his right hand and said, "As a Muslim, God knows I never received Rp 10 billion [$1 million] from anyone related to the Bank Century case," some members of the commission applauded.

The KPK had reportedly bugged Susno's telephone over allegations that he had received bribe money from a businessman who had millions of dollars stuck in a Bank Century account that he wanted to retrieve after the bank's assets were frozen.

"They openly showed the public that they took the side of the police. They did the opposite to the [KPK]," Anies said.

On Wednesday, lawmakers from the same House commission used a hearing with the KPK to question its powers and express concern about whether the antigraft body had followed the correct procedures in wiretapping the telephone conversations of Anggodo.

"It is very disturbing if wiretapping is entering into personal issues. This needs a ruling to avoid abuse of power," said Dewi Asmara, a Golkar lawmaker.

Commission III Chairman Benny K Harman, of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party, said the KPK's level of authority was extraordinary and that he hoped it would not abuse its power. "We need a guarantee that wiretapping can't be open to anyone," Benny said. At the same hearing, lawmakers appeared to blame the commission for the conflict.

Sociologist Thamrin Amal Tomagola said that Susno showed up at the House and used the forum to defend himself because the police and the legislature shared similar interests – to weaken the KPK.

"You know that most people think that the House during the 2004-2009 term, the police and the Attorney General's Office wanted to weaken the commission," he said.

The KPK has been instrumental in sending lawmakers from a number of political parties, police officers and prosecutors to jail in various corruption cases.