People had high hopes when President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono appointed Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri as the new National Police chief on Oct. 1, 2008. Expectations were that the new chief would improve his squad's performance in its duty to "serve and protect" the nation. Bambang had promised he would commit himself to pushing for institutional reform within the police, particularly in efforts to improve its image.
Under his leadership, the police Detachment 88 antiterror squad killed most-wanted terrorist Noordin M. Top during a raid in Surakarta, Central Java, in September, after Noordin had evaded police on several occasions. The squad went on to kill two more terror suspect brothers, Syaifudin Zuhri and Mohammad Syahrir, during a raid in Ciputat, Tangerang.
These "success" stories, however, have been wiped from public memory over the past few days with the debacle surrounding the National Police in the cicak vs buaya (gecko vs crocodile) saga.
Previously, hints of rivalry between the police and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) became obvious when National Police chief of detectives Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji remarked on the KPK's efforts to bug his telephone conversations.
Since then, the public has been bombarded with stories from both sides, each claiming they were just trying to do their job.
However, the police made a somewhat hasty move by naming two suspended KPK deputies - Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M. Hamzah - as suspects on Oct. 15, and then detaining them on Oct. 29, on allegations of abuse of power and bribery. Lacking solid evidence, the move led the public to believe both Bibit and Chandra had been framed. Support was thrown behind the pair - in real life and online - with noisy demonstrations, and around 800,000 Facebookers joining a group in less than a week, demanding their release.
The widely publicized wiretapped conversations, allegedly involving Anggodo Widjojo (the younger brother of graft suspect Anggoro Widjojo, who is at large in Singapore), and implicating several top officials at the National Police and Attorney General's Office (AGO), and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, revealed something more than fishy about the case.
The Constitutional Court then ordered the KPK to play the recordings (as part of its judicial review of the law on the antigraft body) during a hearing last Tuesday that attracted wide attention, with the hearings broadcast live on TV and radio.
The court deserves two thumbs up for allowing this historic step in Indonesia's legal history to take place.
Within hours of the hearing, police released Bibit and Chandra and called Anggodo for further questioning - all the while insisting they were not bowing to public pressure.
What seemed a "victory" for justice, at once led to disappointment when police refused to name Anggodo a suspect, saying the case lacked solid evidence.
They even let Anggodo leave the National Police headquarters on Jl. Trunojoyo, South Jakarta, late Wednesday.
Despite criticism from members of the fact-finding team established by Yudhoyono on Monday, the police's stubbornness remains.
"I will be very disappointed if *Anggodo* is released. It means our advice and our considerations were not heard at all by the police chief or the coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs," said team leader Adnan Buyung Nasution.
"Why should we continue working? I am not saying we will quit soon, but we are considering doing so."
If recommendation from the team - comprising of top-notch legal experts like Buyung, human rights lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis, former National Commission on Human Rights member Kusparmono Irsan, Paramadina University rector Anies Baswedan, Islamic State University rector Komarudin Hidayat, University of Indonesia law professor Hikmahanto Juwana and the President's special staffer on legal affairs Denny Indrayana - were still ignored by the police, the questions should clearly be: Who is Anggodo? How can he be so powerful that police are willing to protect him? And, what are police getting from him in return for this protection?
The National Police should stick to the presumption of innocence, and in this case no one should be found "guilty" until declared so by the court (contrary to its shoot-to-kill policy for terror suspects), National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Nanan Soekarna said. However, the arrest of Bibit and Chandra showed the police's flexibility in upholding this policy, and created a public backlash.
If the police fail to provide rational reasoning for the release of Anggodo, they will be betraying whatever is left of public trust in an already corrupt Indonesian legal system. Bambang failed to stick to his commitment on institutional reforms, and should think twice if he intends to keep his cozy chair.
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