Yudhoyono should act firm to resolve a smoldering internal conflict that could cripple a taskforce the President formed in December last year to clean up the notoriously corrupt judicial system.

Local media reported over the weekend that  taskforce member Insp. Gen. Herman Effendi had left the group following a disagreement with his colleague, Denny Indrayana, who had insisted on the inclusion of alleged corruption by senior police officers in the group’s latest regular report to the President.

Herman’s resignation mirrored resistance from the National Police against Yudhoyono’s order to rid the force of its notorious corruption.

Saldi Isra, a constitutional law expert from Andalas University, suggested Yudhoyono fire National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri.  

“Opposing [the inclusion of a report on corruption within the police] means opposing the President’s wish. The public is now waiting for the President to take firm action,” he said.

“The taskforce was established by the President, who has also personally ordered the police chief to investigate the suspicious bank accounts of the officers. Resisting the move to include corruption within the police [in the report] is akin to rebellion.”

Saldi said there were enough reasons for Yudhoyono to dismiss  Gen. Bambang.

“What’s the point of maintaining  such an uncooperative aide? This is enough. We cannot tolerate any more like this.

“There is no need to wait until [Bambang] ends his tenure [in October]. Fire him and replace him with somebody else with true anticorruption commitment,” Saldi said.

Herman, who represents the police in the taskforce, was unavailable for comment. Indonesian Civilized Circle (Lima) director Ray Rangkuti echoed those concerns.

“This is not the first time the National Police has gone against the President,” he said.

Ray said he doubted Herman’s claim that he had resigned without pressure. “He must have been instructed to do so [by the police leadership],” he added.

National Police public relations chief Sr. Comr. Marwoto Soeto said Herman’s move had been a personal decision. He added Herman had met with Bambang but refused to disclose what they had discussed.

Over the weekend, National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Edward Aritonang acknowledged Herman had resigned following an argument with Denny.

“According to Pak Herman, [Denny] had told him, ‘if you refuse [to include police corruption in the report] you could be [trying to support them]’,” Edward said.

Herman was said to have been reluctant to sign the report because  it contained criticisms of the police for its dubious investigation of the 23 high-ranking police officers allegedly holding suspicious bank accounts.

The police had cleared 17 of 23 officers of suspicion of graft. The report has been widely met with skepticism.  

Denny was unavailable for comment but through his Twitter account he denied he had been confrontational with the police.

“It’s not about [something] between me and the police. I love the police and want them to be clean and professional,” he said.

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