W

ith the police force still widely perceived as corrupt, National Police chief candidate Comr. Gen. Sutarman said he was a poor boy who had climbed the social ladder, achieving success through hard work.

When 17 members of the House of Representatives and dozens of journalists visited the home of the National Police criminal investigations chief in Bintaro, South Tangerang, on Wednesday, they saw the officer'€™s achievements.

They found a two-story building connected to a traditional Javanese Joglo house '€” a floral-engraved wooden construction that typically belonged to Javanese royals and high-ranking officials in the kingdom era.

'€œThis house uses a tumpang songo structure,'€ said the House'€™s Commission III deputy chairman, Tjatur Sapto Edy, referring to nine wooden layers with an inverted-pyramid structure that supported the main columns. '€œThis is the highest category of Joglo construction from Central Java,'€ Tjatur continued.

Members of Commission III, which oversees laws and human rights, conducted what they called an '€œimpromptu visit'€ to Sutarman'€™s residence as part of their assessment to determine whether Sutarman was the right man to succeed the retiring National Police chief, Gen. Timur Pradopo.

As the sole candidate for the top job in the police force, the 55-year-old Sutarman is expected to lead and initiate reform in the force of around 500,000 personnel that is still infested with corruption.

In an apparent move to show the humble side of his life, Sutarman told the lawmakers that he had never imagined he would have a lovely house or a successful career as the national detective chief. '€œI come from a very poor family in Sukoharjo, Central Java. My parents were hard-working farmers. In my teenage years, I worked and collected money so that I could enroll myself in the Military Academy,'€ said Sutarman

After graduating from the academy in 1981, Sutarman was assigned to West Java where he met his wife, Elly.

'€œWe were struggling in the early years of marriage. I had to manage my husband'€™s monthly salary of Rp 94,000. At that time, he covered the tuitions of his brother and sister. To cover our expenses, I sold shoes from Cibaduyut and bags from Tasikmalaya,'€ said Elly, the mother of three.

The family enjoyed an improved lifestyle as Sutarman'€™s career rose steadily. He held key positions, such as the police chief of West Java and Jakarta between 2010 and 2011, before being promoted to lead the National Police'€™s criminal investigations division.

If elected as the National Police chief, Sutarman said he was capable of rooting out corruption from the force, considering his clean track-record. '€œI never received any gratuity or bribery, even at my daughter'€™s wedding. None of our family relatives run businesses that relate to the police or in the mining sectors,'€ he said.

Sutarman also pledged to give fair treatment to all police officers, including his two sons and son-in-law who were pursuing careers in the force.

The newly appointed chairman of Commission III, Pieter C. Zulkifli Simabuea, said Sutarman gave '€œnormative statements'€.

Pieter said his commission would dig for more information on Sutarman'€™s track record and wealth, with the assistance of the National Police Commission (Kompolnas), the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK).