JAKARTA. National Police officers removed a flower board congratulating Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan on becoming the police’s deputy chief only minutes after it was placed in front of the National Police headquarters on Jl. Trunojoyo, South Jakarta, on Wednesday.
The flower board, which read "Congratulations on the inauguration of Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan as deputy police chief" and came from Budi's former lawyer Frederich Yunadi, was delivered at 10:30 a.m., leading to speculation that Budi would be inaugurated as deputy chief on Wednesday.
Only around five minutes after it was placed, the National Police’s provost division officers asked the deliveryman to remove the flower board.
Frederich was Budi's lawyer during a pretrial hearing at the South Jakarta District Court, which eventually dropped the graft suspect status leveled at Budi by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).
National Police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti has remained tight-lipped on whether Budi has been slated as the next deputy chief, although the Rank and Promotion Council for High-Ranking Officers (Wanjakti) held a hearing to decide on a name on Tuesday afternoon.
However, the police’s crime detective unit chief Comr. Gen. Budi Waseso confirmed that an earlier hearing was held last Friday and one name won unanimously for the deputy police chief position.(Fedina S. Sundaryani)
