Dicky Christanto, Jakarta – Police experts have expressed concerns over the National Police headquarters' decision to promote certain high police officials who had been the subject of past graft allegations.

Critics have said that there must be something very wrong with the police's internal merit system.

"Ideally speaking, positions of high responsibility must be given to the best officials. Thus, if police leaders put problematic generals on a list of promotions then God only knows what will happen to the entire force," University of Indonesia police expert Bambang Widodo Umar told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

Three high police officials, who not long ago fell under serious scrutiny over allegations of misconduct – Brig. Gen. Edmon Ilyas, Brig. Gen. Raja Erizman and Insp. Gen. Budi Gunawan – are each in line for promotions. Both Edmon and Raja were accused of involvement in the Gayus Tambunan bribery cases, while Budi Gunawan was mentioned as among a group of police generals with dubiously high savings and assets.

Indonesian Police Watch (IPW) coordinator Neta S Pane said that neither Raja nor Edmon deserved to be promoted. "These two generals leave a trail of bad news behind them, including unfinished legal processes. They should be held legally responsible over the Gayus bribery case," he said.

When asked about Budi Gunawan, Neta acknowledged that he faced difficulties labeling Budi as one of the problematic generals simply because he had never been investigated. "I don't have sufficient basis to call Budi deviant, unlike Raja and Edmon, who had stood before police ethics inquiries," he said.

Commenting on this, National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Saud Usman Nasution said police leaders considered that it was the time to move on by promoting the generals. "Both Edmon and Raja had been punished and have learned their lessons. According to the latest monitoring results, they are both ready to move on," he said.