Remember the time when the top leaders at the Attorney General's Office and the National Police (Polri) stood so steadfast, despite a mounting public outcry, vowing to bring Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputy chiefs Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M. Hamzah to court?
Remember the time when Polri chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri and Attorney General Hendarman Supandji presented their case before the House of Representatives' Commission III on legal affairs, detailing what they said was "strong evidence" against Bibit and Chandra?
Remember the time when Susno Duadji, who resigned from his position as National Police chief detective over his messy-handling of Bibit and Chandra cases, returned to his position, full of confidence?
Remember the outburst of Junior Attorney General for Special Crimes Marwan Effendi who said no one, not even the President, could interfere with the work of the AGO in its legal processing of the KPK deputy chiefs?
Well, this week they all back-flipped (albeit slowly) after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono suggested the National Police and AGO should not pursue the Bibit and Chandra cases in court. And while Yudhoyono was not strong in his decision or in voicing the suggestion, it was enough to make the leaders of the AGO and National Police change tack - at least for now.
Bambang gave a positive signal by demoting the feared Susno but, as if to shroud the move in a general reshuffle, he did it in a package comprising the replacement of 25 officers (of which Susno was one).
Similarly, this week Hendarman promised that the Bibit and Chandra cases would not go to court, and that he would issue an official letter (SKKP) to that effect. The AGO also planned to "reposition" several high-ranking officials, in particular the junior attorney generals.
Marwan also looks less explosive now. He said last Thursday he had ordered the head of the South Jakarta prosecutors' office to speed up the process to stop the Bibit and Chandra cases. Although, this was just a verbal statement, and more than one disgruntled figure in the AGO could still drag the process out if they so desired.
The National Police and AGO's handling of the Chandra and Bibit cases indeed provides a good lesson to the nation. Some may ask why so many people and almost all the media have stood behind the two KPK deputies. In truth, we are not standing behind Chandra or Bibit as individuals, but are standing behind justice and the truth. We want justice to prevail.
Also, on a broader level, the Chandra and Bibit cases are symbolic of case mishandling and fabrication of evidence by the National Police and the AGO, which so often hampers the course of justice in this country. If the police, the AGO or the executives (including the President) find certain individuals or institutions unfavorable, they can easily "take care of them" by corrupting the course of justice and leveling charges against who they please, as evidenced in the handling of Chandra and Bibit.
This, indeed, is a valid concern because in Indonesia the police and the AGO are the sole institutions in charge of investigations, the collection of evidence and the prose-cution of suspects. They also had a monopoly on the handling of corruption cases prior to the establishment of the KPK.
Not only were they able to fabricate evidence and impose unjust charges, they have also been able to pick cases to suit the highest bidder. It is hard to doubt such interests are at stake when various petty cases are investigated and offenders charged with the full force of the law, while more serious offences are swept under the carpet.
This week, we learned that the police had arrested, detained and processed two farmers in Kediri, East Java, for having stolen a watermelon from a neighboring field. The two sorry farmers faced their first court trial on Tuesday, unaccompanied by lawyers. And now, they have been imprisoned for more than two months, and there is no indication the local prosecutors' office will set them free anytime soon.
In contrast, the police earlier dropped the investigations into the Lapindo mudflow case in East Java, and have been unable to find sufficient evidence to charge Anggodo Wi-djojo, despite his open confession that he tried to bribe Bibit and Chandra.
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The problem is the President and Vice President Boediono themselves are now embroiled in another scandal, namely the multi-trillion-rupiah bailout of the trouble-ridden Bank Century. Responding to speculation, Yudhoyono went public this week, saying none of the money went to him or his campaign team.
Boediono, then Bank Indonesia governor who oversaw Century and other commercial banks, also went public defending his decision on the bailout, saying it was necessary to protect the Indonesian banking industry from collapse in a time of global crisis.
However, an investigative audit report by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) released last week tells a different story, blaming the central bank for having ignored massive existing irregularities at Century, and for having deliberately supplied inadequate and out-of-date data to the Financial Sector Policy Committee (KKSK) that was making the decision on whether to go ahead with the bailout.
Since all sides have their own versions of this story, it makes sense for us to let the House of Representatives establish its own inquiry team to investigate the Century scandal. Let's wait and see what their inquiry reveals.
- Riyadi Suparno
