The fact-finding team in the antigraft saga has lambasted the insubordination of the police chief and attorney general in not suspending officials implicated in an alleged plot to frame antigraft officials.
Team leader Adnan Buyung Nasution said Friday despite an order from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to suspend National Police chief detective Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji and Deputy Attorney General Abdul Hakim Ritonga, this had not been done.
The two men, implicated in wiretapped conversations plotting the framing of Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputy chairmen Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M. Hamzah, have tendered their resignations.
The team said National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri should have suspended Susno immediately following the playing of the recordings Tuesday at the Constitutional Court, while Attorney General Hendarman Supandji should likewise have suspended Ritonga.
"The President had ordered that all officials named in the recordings be relieved of their duty, whether in the Attorney General's Office, the police or the KPK," said team secretary and presidential legal adviser Denny Indrayana.
"In Buyung's words, it's called permanent resignation."
Susno, Ritonga and former assistant attorney general for intelligence Wisnu Subroto were among those named in the conversations recorded from the phone of Anggodo Widjojo, the brother of fugitive corruption suspect Anggoro Widjojo.
Susno was named 28 times in the recordings, which discussed a plot to frame suspended KPK deputies Bibit and Chandra.
On Thursday, police chief Bambang denied speculation he had fired Susno.
"There's been no such thing as a dismissal," he said.
"The truth is he has been temporarily suspended at his own request."
He added Susno would soon be back in the job.
Echoing Denny, fact-finding team member and Paramadina University rector Anies Baswedan said the suspension would be meaningless if it only lasted until the verification process was completed.
"Legal proceedings are not only the verification process," he pointed out.
"There are still other legal procedures to follow."
Attorney General Hendarman, meanwhile, said he would need to discuss Ritonga's resignation with senior prosecutors before deciding on anything.
Elsewhere, Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) questioned the President's commitment to eradicating corruption, citing the lack of concrete measures to fix the deeply corrupt judiciary, police force or the AGO.
ICW researcher Febri Diansyah said the public was still waiting for definite moves on the part of the President to eliminate graft within law enforcement agencies.
"Frankly, the recent social unrest hasn't just been triggered by the arrests of the suspended KPK deputies, but also by the concerted attempt by law enforcers to criminalize the two men," he said.
"So the President should not just pay lip service to the issue, but should actually do something."
Febri added the alleged plot to take down Bibit and Chandra on trumped-up charges was part of a wider resistance to the antigraft body, which has sent dozens of public officials, including politicians, to jail.
"The public perception of Yudhoyono's commitment to fighting corruption is souring, because of his government's lack of con-crete actions to really eliminate graft," he said.
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