Bhimanto Suwastoyo, Jakarta – In response to mounting public condemnation of law enforcement, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Wednesday vowed to give the official watchdogs for the police and the prosecutors' office more teeth.
"I have decided to revitalize the two commissions formed by the president, the National Police Commission (Kompolnas) and the Prosecutors' Commission," Yudhoyono said after a fast-breaking event at the State Palace.
The two commissions, formed in 2005, are independent bodies under the president and are tasked with boosting each agency's performance. They make policy recommendations and also forward complaints and suggestions on the two institutions from the public.
"I want these two commissions to become really effective in making sure that what is being done by the police and the prosecutor's office is solid," he added.
However, he gave few details on how he would achieve this, but said that one plan was to provide financing independent from the commissions' main institutions.
Yudhoyono said that while "unnecessary collisions" between the commissions with the two law enforcement institutions was not desirable, "there needs to be effective action."
The police and the prosecutor's office have come under increased flak from the public in the wake of several recent scandals, including corruption, case engineering and case-brokering allegations levelled against members of their ranks.
Yudhoyono also reacted to complaints that the government's commitment to eradicate corruption had wavered.
"I want to make clear, that whatever the news or rumors that are circulating about corruption eradication, for me, for the government, and for the nation, we remain consistent in eradicating corruption," he said.
One important tool in the toolbox to weed out endemic corruption, he said, was the Corruption Eradication Commission, better known as the KPK.
The president said the House of Representatives would pick one of the two names forwarded to it to be the new antigraft leader, but the government would consult lawmakers on whether it would be "best for the KPK and for us all" for the new chief's tenure to be a single year or a four-year term.
He also addressed six other topics that he said were current public concern including: the need for an efficient and modern defense force; the choice of new leaders for the military, the police, the Attorney General's Office and the antigraft body.
The case of an air force colonel who is facing sanctions for being critical of the president in the Indonesian language daily Kompas; whether to move the administrative capital out of Jakarta; stabilizing the prices of staple goods; and the recent eruption of Mount Sinabung were also topics that the president raised.
Yudhoyono said he will ask the House of Representatives to provide an "adequate budget" to build and maintain an "essential [military] force" and added that such an allotment "should not disturb other budget priorities."
Saying that Jakarta, as the capital and also the country's trade and business center, was no longer adequate, Yudhoyono said a decision should be made whether to retain the city as the capital or move the seat of the government elsewhere.
"It is true that Jakarta, as a capital, is no longer ideal," the president said. Yudhoyono said that with the city no longer able to sustain its rapidly growing population, a new solution was urgently needed". "We have to make strategic decisions, and this should not take too long," he said.