Erwida Maulia and Dicky Christanto, Jakarta – The presidential fact-finding team has said police do not have enough evidence to charge the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) leaders with abuse of power, bribery, or extortion.
As the team completed its first week and prepared to report to the President on Sunday, public demands for the resignation of both National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri and chief of detectives Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji, gained momentum with thousands taking to the streets Sunday.
"It's time for the police chief and his detectives to be held responsible for lying to the public," protesters shouted as they marched to the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta on Sunday morning to show their support for the two KPK deputy chiefs, Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M. Hamzah.
Aside from many civil society groups, including Cicak (Love Indonesia, Love KPK), a number of national figures, such as former KPK deputy chairman Ery Riyana Hardjapamekas, University of Indonesia political expert Eep Saefulloh Fatah, communications expert Effendy Ghazali and observer Yudi Latif, attended the gathering and delivered speeches.
"We demand President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono wake up and see the reality of how rotten the country's law enforcement system is," Eep said.
Later in the day, at least two members of the team – presidential legal advisor Adnan Buyung Nasution and senior lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis – said the police investigation of the two KPK leaders should be halted after the team finished questioning former KPK chairman Antasari Azhar for the second time, on Sunday.
Buyung, who heads the team, said it had found many "missing links" in connecting Chandra and Bibit to abuse of power, bribery and extortion charges announced by the police after Ari Muladi, the key police witness, and former KPK chief Antasari Azhar, changed their testimonies.
"Can a case with missing links still be brought to court? What for? It will only waste time, and energy," Adnan said after the team finished questioning Antasari, whose testimony has been used by the police to build the case against Bibit and Chandra.
Todung, meanwhile, said the missing links included an absence of evidence that money was transferred from middleman Ari Muladi to Chandra and Bibit.
During a hearing with the House of Representatives on Thursday, National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri said the police had enough evidence based on Ari's testimony that he had handed over money to the two KPK deputy chiefs. But Ari dismissed the statement from Bambang just hours later.
"We've seen how the police and the Attorney General's Office [AGO] failed to answer many fundamental questions during last night's case expose," Todung said.
The team's spokesman, Paramadina University rector Anies Baswedan, said the team had the impression there was insufficient evidence to charge Bibit and Chandra. Anis said the team would meet on Monday to compose an interim conclusion to submit to the President.