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fter being removed from his position as national police chief of detectives, Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji is fighting to keep a top police job by threatening to take legal action against media statements that he was unfit for the deputy national police chief position.

Susno sent last Thursday a warning letter to University of Indonesia professor Bambang Widodo Umar after the latter told Tempo Daily Newspaper that if National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri picked Susno as his deputy then it would be against the will of the general public.

"If he *Bambang* appoints Susno, the public will see that the police don't listen to their aspirations. He *Susno* has opened a confrontation with the public," Umar said in the newspaper's Monday edition.

In his letter, Susno claimed that the statement was defamatory against him and therefore demanded Umar apologize to him in all printed and electronic media outlets.

Susno gave Umar three days to comply with his demand.

However, Umar said it was just a misunderstanding on the part of Susno.

"Apparently there is a misunderstanding here. Susno may think that my statement is defamatory. In fact my statement was only referring to public records about Susno," he said.

Umar said Susno's name was often mentioned by the media since he was implicated in the Bank Century scandal, including alleged involvement in fabrication of evidence against the leaders of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), along with allegations that he went to Singapore to meet KPK graft fugitive Anggoro Widjojo.

"Thus none of my statements are defamatory as alleged," he said.

When asked whether he had prepared a legal defense against Susno's charges, Umar said he planned to first initiate a dialogue with Susno and his lawyers before taking any action.

"I strongly suggest that we discuss this misunderstanding first before going any further. For this purpose, I have talked with journalists from Tempo, and they have agreed to my idea," he said.

S. Malela Mahargasarie, Koran Tempo's editor-in-chief, said that the newspaper would be more than willing to mediate in discussions between Bambang Widodo Umar and Susno Duadji.

"We are opening ourselves for any effort to address the problem through discussion. Thus, we are ready whenever they are," he said.

Up to the deadline for this article Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji was unreachable. His three cellular phone numbers could not be reached. He also did not answer to text messages sent in order to clarify his position.

Susno handed over his post to Insp. Gen. Ito Sumardi after public pressure following Susno's alleged role in fabricating evidence against two deputy leaders of the KPK.

Yudhoyono faced mounting pressure to sack Susno and even Bambang after the Constitutional Court publicly played wire-tapped conversations between businessman Anggodo Widjojo and several high-ranking officers from the National Police and the AGO.

The conversations revealed an alleged plot to frame the KPK deputies, Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M. Hamzah, and implied that Susno might be involved in the fabrication of evidence.

Yudhoyono established a presidential fact-finding team to investigate the whole matter, including the alleged fabrication of evidence.

As an outcome of its investigation, the appointed team recommended the President order a halt in the police and AGO's investigations into Bibit and Chandra, punish those involved in any wrongdoing, and pursue thorough reforms of legal institutions, especially the police and the AGO, which faced growing public distrust over the whole affair.