Thursday, September 09, 2010 11:34 AM
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Top police officials held a national meeting on Monday to discuss the force’s grand strategies to cope with challenges it is now facing, including the issue of regeneration.
“Rejuvenating police leadership is part of our effort to maintain professionalism, so that the police could perform at their best in the future,” Police Chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri told the meeting.
The police chief’s statement came amid suspicions that Hendarso was losing support from his subordinates following the “Gecko-Crocodile” incident that led to the sacking of former detective chief Susno Duadji.
The incident is seen by many as a public relations disaster for the police.
Analysts suspected some of the force’s top officials would use the gathering as a chance to consolidate plans to replace the current police chief, which they believed had shown poor leadership.
The meeting. opened by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, was attended by police leaders from all divisions and regions.
Even those posted as security attaché in Indonesian embassies around the world had been invited to attend the important and strategic meeting.
Several ministers including Finance Minister Sri Mulyani, Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa and Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Minister Marshal (ret) Djoko Suyanto were among those attending.
Indonesian Police Watch coordinator Neta S. Pane said he had seen sufficient evidence that the current national police chief was unable to properly perform his duties.
“We can easily see it from the way he treats talent like Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji. He gives him no position,” he said.
When asked to clarify police chief’s statement, Operational Deputy Insp. Gen. SY Wenas said they would only discuss the issue of regeneration in general.
“We would not touch specific issue such as the replacement of the national police chief in this meeting,” Wenas said.
University of Indonesia analyst Adrianus Meliala concurred with Neta, saying Bambang had a serious issue in hiring personnel.
“He prefers to pick someone based on emotional affinity instead of rational considerations,” he said.
“Those who succeed in attracting his attention first will be the ones who eventually prevail in any competition. This is a bad precedence for the next generation.”
Adrianus said such weaknesses had motivated his junior officials to seek a new leader.
At this point, he added, police generals from several different batches below the current national police chief, would discuss who should be appointed to represent the batch to as the next national police chief.
So far, the figures such as Inspector of General Monitoring Comr. Gen. Nanan Sukarna, West Java Police Chief Insp. Timur Pradopo and Chief Detective Comr. Gen. Ito Sumardi were rumored to be candidates for next national police chief.
“But I must say that whoever wins the battle and becomes the next national police chief will have problems with personnel allocation,” Adrianus said.
