Allegations of a mediocre job performance, human rights violations
and irregularities in finding a new National Police chief have dogged
the President’s nomination of Comr. Gen. Timur Pradopo to be
Indonesia’s next top cop.
Eleven
organizations under the umbrella of the Civil Society Coalition for
Police Reform want the House of Representatives to reject President
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s nominee and asked for another candidate to
lead the National Police.
The National Commission for Human
Rights questioned Timur’s commitment to human rights after he ignored
the commission’s summons in 2003.
“We sent two letters asking Pak
Timur to testify on the bloody Trisakti incident in 1998, but he
declined to appear without explanation,” commission chairman Ifdhal
Kasim said.
Timur was the vice commander of the Mantap Jaya III Operation, which was in charge during the
incident when four students were killed.
“As
a high-ranking officer, he was supposed to be a model for the force.
But by ignoring our call, Timur disobeyed the law,” Ifdhal added.
Al
Araf from Imparsial, a human rights monitoring NGO, agreed.
“Legislators should note those facts. Legislators have the right to
reject the President’s candidate for police chief, and I advise them to
do just that,” Al Araf said.
Timur refused to comment on the allegations.
House
of Representatives Speaker Marzuki Alie, who is a member of Yudhoyono’s
Democratic Party, received notice of the President’s choice on Monday.
By law, the House has 20 days to approve or reject Timur.
Timur
was selected as the only candidate for National Police chief only hours
after he was promoted to three-star general by Yudhoyono, a legal
prerequisite for the appointment.
If Timur passes the House’s
fit-and-proper test, he would spend perhaps three weeks as a three-star
general before becoming police chief — a rare event in the history of
the National Police.
Prosperous Justice Party legislator Fachri
Hamzah said that the House would certainly question Timur’s
accountability during his fit-and-proper test next week.
Outgoing
National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri assembled dozens of
high-ranking police officers from across the country at the Police
Science Institute on Tuesday and told them not to question Timur’s
nomination, police spokesman Insp. Gen. Iskandar Hasan said.
“President has chosen Timur to be the next police chief and we all must support him,” Iskandar told
reporters, amid speculation that Bambang called the meeting to prevent internal rifts prior to the succession. (gzl)
