The poster said it all: Anggodo in the uniform of the National Police chief. Circulated through cell phones and cyberspace, and brandished in street protests, this was the new image of the otherwise respected police chief — that the entire police force could be bought so easily, no matter how much respect they reaped through the arrests and slaying of terrorists.
Any such respect vanished on Nov. 3, when the Constitutional Court aired the wiretapped conversations of businessman Anggodo Widjojo. He was heard wheeling and dealing with high-ranking police officers, prosecutors and other suspected “dealers” to get his brother off the Corruption Eradication Commission’s (KPK) hook. Figures in the billions were mentioned in the recordings, only confirming the chronic and pervasive public distrust in the ability of the law enforcers to deliver justice — except to the highest bidder.
The “gecko versus crocodile” movement was born, inspired by the chief detective identified in the recordings, Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji. Susno finally lost his job, together with 24 other officers, after being defended for weeks by National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri.
“Do you think he’s a car?” joked the general in response to whether Susno was “retreating”. This was just a day before President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was expected to announce his decision last Tuesday on the recommendations of his fact-finding team, tasked for two weeks to investigate the alleged conspiracy against the KPK.
Susno, we’re told, remains an officer in a “non-job” position.
Deputy Attorney General Abdul Hakim Ritonga, also identified in the recordings, had tendered his resignation; but only a day after Yudhoyono’s announcement did the attorney general say he would “propose” Ritonga’s dismissal to the President.
Who or what are these “very kind” leaders really protecting? Or would the dismissals of Susno and Ritonga reveal even wider, seeping rot within both institutions?
In his response to the recommendations from his fact-finding team, about the only order Yudhoyono gave was for the revamping, including “corrective” measures, of all law enforcement agencies. Given all the horrendous — but not surprising — findings of the team, we urge corrections from the top down.
National Police chief Bambang and Attorney General Hendarman Supandji must step down, to allow a clean break in cleaning up their institutions.
For both the police and state prosecutors went on about their business as usual in a flabbergasting manner even after Yudhoyono had announced his decision, however lame it sounded to most people.
The Constitutional Court announced Wednesday that the KPK deputies had won their case — that the KPK law was wrong to rule that KPK leaders be terminated once they were declared defendants in a case, ignoring presumption of innocence.
But many fear the joy of the deputies may be short-lived. If the Attorney General’s Office drags its feet in ordering a halt on the indictment process — as advised by the President himself — Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M. Hamzah may lose their jobs anyway as the KPK law says commissioners must be removed after being inactive for three months, which would fall in the third week of December.
As the team recommended, ending the “court mafia” must start with the investigation of the role of “dealers” like Anggodo. As he was heard dealing with top police officers and prosecutors, it doesn’t take a genius to see how any investigation is expected to progress with the No. 1 chiefs still in their positions, scurrying to protect their subordinates for all kinds of interests — other than justice.
