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s expected, and despite critics'€™ objections, the House of Representatives on Thursday endorsed Comr. Gen. Sutarman '€” the only National Police chief candidate proposed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono '€” with practically no reservations.

The fit-and-proper test was an obvious formality: Senior House leaders had openly showered the 56-year-old National Police chief detective with praise, lauding him as the most experienced man for the job.

For example, Golkar Party legislator Bambang Soesatyo said that Sutarman was the best choice because, as the most senior officer, he would eliminate internal conflict among officers from different generations within the police force, which often occurred.

Yudhoyono proposed Sutarman to the House to replace Gen. Timur Pradopo. The announcement came surprisingly early as Timur still has several months before he hits retirement age but the President declined to talk about his reasons other than the need to secure next year'€™s general elections.

It is understood that Timur'€™s ability to make good the numerous promises he made during his fit-and-proper test three years ago is questionable. Under his tenure, the public'€™s sense of security remained low; sectarian conflicts worsened; corruption within the police continued to be rampant; and bureaucratic reform within the police stalled. The police force remains one of the most corrupt institutions as surveys show. And Sutarman, of course, is partly to blame.

The lack of resistance is a sign that Sutarman secures a high degree of acceptability among the political parties, especially the opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) and People'€™s Conscience Party (Hanura).

Sutarman held various posts in the course of his illustrious career. Before he was named National Police chief detective, he was chief of three regional commands, including Jakarta. He was also an adjutant to then president Abdurrahman '€œGus Dur'€ Wahid in 2000.

The Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) told the House ahead of his fit-and-proper test last week that Sutarman'€™s bank accounts were not suspicious, like the accounts that belong to another 20 or so officers.

Sutarman, born in Sukoharjo, Central Java, has neither been implicated in corruption or any serious human rights violations '€” well for the time being anyway.

But let us not be dazzled by this shiny clean image that his supporters paint of him. Behind him, Sutarman has a plethora of unfinished and delayed jobs waiting for him when he takes up his new post.

The recent murder of four police officers in Jakarta remains shrouded in mystery as the police are yet to report on any progress in the investigation. The police'€™s inability to solve the case swiftly is not only putting its credibility on the line but may also inspire other groups to carry out copycat attacks.

Sutarman will have to do something serious to stop sectarian violence, which has seen murder and the forcible eviction of Shiites on Madura Island, East Java, and the closure '€” by Islamic radicals '€” of churches across Java.

Of critical importance is the police'€™s political will to fight corruption along with the judiciary and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). The police'€™s commitment to fighting corruption is under scrutiny and public trust is evaporating: The force is as much part of the problem.

Sutarman demonstrated a glaring example of such a non-committal position when he sent dozens of his men to arrest Comr. Novel Baswedan, a police officer on loan to the KPK who was investigating a major graft case involving a top police officer. He said Novel was involved in a murder case while he was posted in Bengkulu.

The operation was botched thanks to popular support for Novel, which forced Yudhoyono to intervene. But the whole episode turned out to be suicide for the police as its decision to protect its corrupt leaders and withdraw its investigators from KPK was reported widely.

In an obvious bid to control the damage, Sutarman pledged during the fit-and-proper test to improve the police'€™s relations with the KPK.

In another show of a lackluster commitment to put its house in order, Sutarman released two middle-level officers from Central Java who had been caught red-handed carrying Rp 200 million (US$17,600) in cash to the National Police headquarters in June. It was widely suspected that the suspicious officers intended to bribe their seniors for a promotion but investigators said they had no evidence to corroborate this story or charge either officer.

The police'€™s reluctance to pursue major corruption cases is well-known. A case in point is the high-profile irregularities in the purchase of medical equipment involving former health minister Siti Fadillah Supari, which incurred Rp 6.3 billion in state losses. Supari had been named a suspect long ago and her dossiers sent back and forth between the prosecutors'€™ office and police but her trial is yet to begin.

It is curious that legislators did not confront Sutarman with the numerous critiques from observers and NGOs, such as the Indonesia Police Watch (IPW), groups they had invited in an effort to obtain public '€œinput'€.

As he is ascending to lead the National Police force, Sutarman has set 12-priority goals. On top of his agenda are the safeguarding of the 2014 general elections; the settling of graft cases in coordination with KPK and Attorney General'€™s Office; the boosting of the counterterrorism effort; the resolution of the shooting of police officers; combating collusion and nepotism; and the improvement of the police intelligence capacity.

The pledges sound moderate but his promise to combat corruption sounds hollow unless the police shed its image as a corrupt institution. We need a dedicated, smart leader with integrity.

Only time will tell if Sutarman will fare better as police chief than as detective chief.

The author is a staff writer at The Jakarta Post.