Farouk Arnaz, Jakarta – A House commission on Thursday agreed to recommend Comr. Gen. Timur Pradopo as the new National Police chief after a long but tepid fit-and-proper test lambasted by activists as little more than more than theater.
After 11 hours of questioning, all nine factions in House of Representatives Commission III, which oversees legal affairs, came to agreement and commission chairman Benny K Harman banged the gavel to make the decision official.
"What we saw today was fake and just a drama," said Indria Fernida, deputy director of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras). He said lawmakers had remained silent even though many of their questions went unanswered.
The tough grilling that lawmakers had promised never materialized in what turned out to be a meek affair.
Timur's much criticized statement that he would embrace all groups, including the hard-line Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), in assuring security was raised only briefly, with the Democratic Party's Ruhut Sitompul asking how the police would deal with "a group that always used violence in the name of religion."
The lawmakers appeared satisfied with Timur's brief response that he would "take firm action."
Timur's wealth, which the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) had said had doubled in just two years, was only questioned in passing.
Commenting on accusations by rights activists that he had played a part in the fatal shootings of Trisakti University students during the unrest that led to the resignation of longtime dictator Suharto in May 1998, Timur said that he had only been following orders.
"I did not break any law. The strategy and tactics were not dictated at my level but by my superior," said Timur, who at the time headed the West Jakarta Police, which oversaw the area where the shootings occurred.
He also said he had ignored summonses for questioning over the shootings by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) because there was an institutional policy against it. "As a soldier I have to obey what my commanders order."
Syarifuddin Sudding, from the People's Conscience Party (Hanura), said the questioning was too short. "We didn't have enough time to ask him more. Basically, I am not satisfied with him."
At the hearing, Timur, who will reach the mandatory retirement age, 58, in December 2013, also spelled out 10 "personal" programs he would implement. "Its not just a commitment but a promise that comes from the bottom of my heart, even though I have my limitations," he said.
They included resolving major cases and combating street crimes, gambling, drugs, illegal fishing, mining and logging, corruption and human trafficking. He also promised to improve the performance of the police's antiterror squad by working with the Army and the National Anti-Terrorism Agency (BNPT).