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midst growing criticisms that police are failing in their job, we learn that the National Police do have guts after all. They have two, to be exact. We witnessed two not-so-charitable entertaining police balls this week, one displaying the extent of wealth an officer of the state can amass and the other showed the extent of power an officer has in evading the hands of the law.

Laughable entertainments if they weren't tragic pictures of the state of our police.

On Monday, Insp. Gen. Djoko Susilo went on trial to answer charges of corruption while he headed the Traffic Corps of the National Police in 2011. He has been accused of embezzling Rp 32 billion (US$3.5 million) in the procurement of driving simulators and also charged under the new money laundering law.

What the prosecutors from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) revealed in court however was much more than what it had bargained for when it launched the investigation. The KPK told the court that Djoko has personal assets worth Rp 117 billion, unusually wealthy for a police officer with monthly take-home pay of less than Rp 10 million.

Djoko allegedly stashed his wealth mostly in properties in several cities in Indonesia, and they include a zoo complete with animal collection. He doesn't only collect animals, but also women. He took on second and third wives, and used all their three names to register most of these properties. The KPK also told the court that Djoko modified his name in registering his second and third marriages. He even faked his age, growing younger each time.

In their desperation to protect their client, his lawyers now demand that the KPK question Djoko's superior, Police chief Gen. Timur Pradopo. This is the clearest signal that after enjoying protection from the force including from his chief, Djoko may be breaking ranks to try to safe his neck. We still remember how the police tried to intimidate the KPK from pursuing the investigation and that it took the intervention of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for Timur to back off.

Just as we thought that we could sit back and enjoy how this police ball would play out, the nation on Tuesday was surprised by another police drama involving Susno Duadji, the retired commissioner general who had already been convicted by the court for corruption. He was sentenced to three-and-half years, a conviction that had been confirmed by the Supreme Court.

On Tuesday, Susno resisted a team of prosecutors who had gone to his home in Bandung, West Java, to take him so that he could begin his prison term. He called his former colleagues and was offered a sanctuary in the West Java Police headquarters.

Susno is famous for his 'crocodile versus gecko' remarks when the KPK began the investigation in 2009. It was a clear attempt to intimidate by suggesting the gecko KPK was no match against a crocodile like him. He lost the battle and got convicted. This week, he showed that the old croc still rocks and counted on his powerful colleagues to help him evade the hands of justice.

West Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Tubagus Anis Angka, who gave the protection, had the audacity to say that any citizen had the right to request police protection. Tell that to religious minorities in his patch who had begged for police protection, but were ignored, whenever they come under attack from radical Muslim groups.

This sounded more like the familiar esprit de corps now being touted by all people in uniforms. Police were protecting one of their own from another branch of the law enforcement agency. Here is the bad news for those who blindly protect the name of their corps: You are hurting the credibility and integrity of the entire force whenever you are protecting someone who has clearly broken the law, like killing or stealing.

These two police balls are a reminder that little has changed since the Soeharto days. Power tends to corrupt,
and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The nation is still governed by those who have power, money and guns, and mobs. And those with power would not hesitate to flaunt it with such arrogance.

Where are the law enforcement people in all this?

These two police balls eclipsed an important national agenda in the run up to 2014 elections. More than 6,000 people have been registered by 12 political parties with the General Elections Commission (KPU) to contest the national legislative elections, and tens of thousands more from even larger number of parties for the elections of local councils at the provincial, regency and municipality levels.

More revealing than the names of these almost faceless people is the fact it costs an individual at least Rp 1 billion rupiah to run for these elections. If you don't have that kind of money, most political parties will tell you to forget it. Perhaps corrupt police officers with so much wealth in their hands should also run. Susno actually is in the list. Yes, he has that kind of money.

The cycle of money politics and corruption will likely continue after 2014.

' Endy M. Bayuni