T

he Indonesia Police Watch (IPW) has criticized the National Police'€™s decision to promote current city police Insp. Gen. Dwi Priyatno to a three-star general position as general supervision inspector to replace Comr. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam, who is entering his mandatory retiring age.

IPW chairman Neta S. Pane told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday that Dwi'€™s five-month stint as Jakarta Police chief was not enough to prove that he was deserving of promotion.

'€œIt'€™s too soon for the National Police to promote him. He was promoted as Jakarta Police chief in March and we have yet to see his maximum abilities. Jakarta is still facing a lot of problems,'€ he said.

Dwi, who graduated from the police academy in 1982, is credited with the recent closure of Jakarta'€™s most notorious nightclub, Stadium, in West Jakarta, and the prosecution of alleged rape suspects at the Jakarta International School (JIS), which implicated six janitors and two JIS teachers.

Furthermore, he has been applauded for securing Jakarta during this year'€™s legislative and presidential elections, as well as the Constitutional Court'€™s verdict on the presidential election dispute on Aug. 21.

However, Neta said that Dwi had not been able to solve Jakarta'€™s increasing traffic problems, which draw wide public complaint. Furthermore, the IPW recorded that at least five traffic police officers from the Jakarta Police had been discharged and arrested for accepting bribes amounting to around Rp 350 million (US$29,835).

'€œThis indicates that Dwi did not monitor the police departments strictly and this was an area where we had hoped to see progress,'€ Neta said.

Meanwhile, National Police Commission (Kompolnas) member Hamidah Abdurrachman told the Post that Kompolnas was wholly supportive of the National Police'€™s decision to promote Dwi.

'€œDwi will definitely be missed in Jakarta. He made great efforts to ensure that the public remained safe, especially during the general elections,'€ she said, adding that the commission did not have any say in the promotion.

Dwi has been replaced by former East Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Unggung Cahyono, whom Neta described as a capable police chief who had managed to instill an atmosphere of security among 30.5 million voters during the legislative and presidential elections.

Neta added that the IPW hoped that Unggung would be stricter in supervising traffic police personnel and would increase cooperation with the city administration and the central government to ease congestion in the capital city.

Meanwhile, Hamidah expressed optimism that Unggung'€™s experience as East Java Police chief would help him with his new role in the capital city. '€œWe have heard great things about him. Unggung is one of those public figures who often goes out into the fields to speak with villagers,'€ she said. (fss)