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JAKARTA. The nearly unanimous endorsement given by the House of Representatives to National Police chief candidate Comr. Budi Gunawan on Thursday was a strong warning for the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) that it may suffer escalating de-legitimation campaigns from the graft-ridden House and the Police.
Concerted campaigns to weaken the KPK gained momentum when President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo insisted on inaugurating graft suspect Budi as National Police chief.
Fears ran high after the House approved Jokowi’s controversial proposal of Budi as the sole candidate, which was strongly condemned by antigraft activists, during a plenary session on Thursday.
“Such fears are always there. Even without supporting Budi, it is always like that,” KPK deputy chairman Adnan Pandu Praja said after receiving antigraft activists, actresses and religious leaders at the KPK headquarters. They urged the KPK to lock up Budi in a move to prevent the President from installing Budi as the successor of incumbent Police chief Gen. Sutarman.
Pandu emphasized that Budi’s leadership position with the National Police would not only hamper the ongoing investigation into his graft case but also would create institutional conflict between the two law enforcement institutions. Therefore, Jokowi had no choice but to drop Budi’s candidacy.
“The KPK questions his commitment to eradicating graft. Imagine if the KPK planned to conduct raids and question [Budi] in the future […] such conditions could create institutional clashes and would could lead to chaos. So, we should prevent such things from happening [by not inaugurating Budi],” Pandu said.
Pandu further said that if Budi became the National Police chief he would likely create problems with the KPK due to his anger over the KPK’s accusations. He would probably cause trouble in the ongoing joint graft prevention programs across the country under the leadership of outgoing National Police chief Gen. Sutarman.
Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) researcher Agus Sunar-yanto said that the potential for a clash was high because Budi would have full control of the National Police, including the power to decide whether or not to withdraw their investigators from the KPK.
“We are worried that the past institutional clash could recur with the withdrawal of police investigators from the KPK,” he said.
The KPK and National Police were involved in an institutional clash back in 2009, notoriously known as “Gecko vs crocodile”, in which the latter attempted to withdraw their investigators from the antigraft body, a move that was seen as an effort to weaken the KPK following its decision to crack down on National Police graft, which implicated a number of police generals. KPK still depends on the National Police and the Attorney General’s Office to supply investigators.
The KPK declared Budi a suspect on Tuesday after finding strong evidence that he allegedly embezzled billions of rupiah through bribes and gratuities from third parties when serving as head of the National Police’s internal affairs division from 2003 to 2006.
On Thursday, KPK chairman Abraham Samad pledged that the antigraft body would soon complete Budi’s dossiers and lock him up before sending his case to the Jakarta Corruption Court for trial.
“It is an easy investigation and we are optimistic that we will soon lock him up,” Abraham said.
Abraham also said that Jokowi should learn from his predecessor, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who fired his ministers and his Democratic Party members as soon as they were implicated in graft cases.
“Under Yudhoyono’s tenure, even an active minister had to resign from his post if declared a graft suspect. In [Budi’s case] he has not even been sworn in. So why is [Jokowi] so insistent? There is no choice for Jokowi but to cancel the inauguration. If not, then Jokowi will violate the state tradition,” Abraham said.
Attacks on the antigraft body appeared just one day after it named Budi a suspect on Tuesday. On Wednesday, intimate photographs were distributed online showing Abraham and Miss Indonesia Elvira Devinamira Wira-yanti kissing each other. The antigraft body described the attack as a baseless public smear campaign following its bold move against Budi.
Meanwhile, right after slapping a travel ban on Budi, along with three other people including his son Muhammad Herviano Widyatama, the KPK said that it would start summoning witnesses to complete Budi’s dossiers next week.
“We are currently preparing the list of witnesses, hopefully it will start next week,” KPK commissioner Bambang Widjojanto said. (Haeril Halim)
