Adi Mulya, Jakarta – One of the favorites for the post of National Police chief is set to receive the expected promotion that will make him eligible for running, in a move a legislator calls "engineered."

Insp. Gen. Imam Sudjarwo, the head of the police's Education and Training Center, will be promoted to the rank of commissioner general, a three-star post that is a requisite for all candidates for police chief, on Monday.

The current National Police chief, Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri, will retire next month.

National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Marwoto Soeto said over the weekend that Imam was one of 22 officers who would be promoted at a ceremony led by police chief Bambang. "The promotion is part of the police's internal restructuring process," he said.

Another two-star general also set for a promotion is Insp. Gen. Wahyono, the head of the police's Intelligence Directorate.

"We'll have two officers promoted from two to three-star generals, and 11 from one to two-star generals," Marwoto said. "The rest will be promoted to one-star generals from their current rank of senior commissioner."

Meanwhile, Bambang Soesatyo, a legislator with the Golkar Party, said he believed the outgoing police chief had already named Imam and Comr. Gen. Nanan Soekarna, the police's head of general monitoring, as candidates for his replacement.

"Of these, we're certain that the State Palace will nominate Imam as its only candidate to undergo a 'fit-and-proper' test at the House," said Bambang, who serves on House Commission III, overseeing legal affairs.

He added that he believed Imam's "close ties" to the president had made him the favorite. "It's obvious, because 80 percent of all promotions within the force these days are engineered."

Bambang also said Imam had inexplicably become the favorite ahead of Nanan, who for a while was widely expected to become the next police chief. "For whatever reason, and I believe it's the Palace's preference, Imam is now the leading candidate," he said. "It's all about preferences, isn't it?"

However, he also said Imam had all the capabilities to become a competent police chief, "which is why it would be a shame for the next police chief to be a tool in a power play, especially in the interests of the judicial mafia."

However, Kastorius Sinaga, an adviser to the police chief, said he had received a text message from the Palace indicating that Nanan was the preferred candidate.

Bambang, meanwhile, said the next police chief should be able to resolve the notorious case of the suspiciously large bank accounts belonging to a clutch of high-ranking police officers that antigraft activists allege points to acceptance of bribes from the judicial mafia.

Another pending case, Bambang went on, was the criminal investigation into the November 2008 Bank Century bailout.

In March this year, the House of Representatives voted to adopt a resolution stating that the bailout was unwarranted, prompting the police, the Attorney General's Office and the Corruption Eradication Commission to initiate criminal probes.

A small group of legislators, foremost among them Golkar's Bambang, also threatened to open impeachment proceedings against Vice President Boediono, the governor of the central bank at the time.

Meanwhile, Bambang Widodo Umar, a police expert from the University of Indonesia, said the main issue facing the new police chief would be reforming the force "from a militaristic one into a civilian organization."

He also said the police's "practically nonexistent" internal supervision system needed to be bolstered. "The police need to be more transparent about their internal problems," he said.

"If the internal affairs and general monitoring divisions keep clearing officers of various allegations simply out of solidarity, that will erode public trust."