T

he Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) wants people to respect President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo'€™s choice of party chief Megawati Soekarnoputri'€™s adjutant Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan to lead the National Police, despite condemnation from civil society groups.

PDI-P secretary-general Hasto Kristiyanto said Jokowi thoroughly weighed his options and that he would chose the best candidate.

'€œI believe we must respect his [Jokowi'€™s] decision. It'€™s his prerogative,'€ Hasto told reporters.

Cabinet Secretary Andi Widjajanto confirmed on Saturday that Jokowi signed off on Budi and wrote to the House of Representatives about the nomination.

Andi said there was no urgency in replacing incumbent police chief Gen. Sutarman, who is expected to retire in October.

In nominating Budi, Jokowi did not consult with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) or the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK), as he did when nominating his Cabinet ministers.

'€œThere has not been an official request for us to look into the track record of the [police chief] candidate,'€ KPK deputy chairman Bambang Widjojanto said as quoted by Antara news agency, adding that the KPK could not begin its own investigation of Budi.

'€œIt'€™s the prerogative of the President so he has to take full responsibility [for his choice]. Don'€™t shift the burden to the KPK,'€ Bambang said.

Fifty-five-year-old Budi, a former adjutant of Megawati when she was president between 2001 and 2004 and a close confidant of Vice President Jusuf Kalla, is one of several police generals whose bank accounts the PPATK alleged were linked to dubious sources in 2009.

Budi'€™s wealth disclosure to the KPK in 2013 revealed assets of around Rp 22.6 billion (US$1.8 million) despite a monthly take-home pay of less than Rp 18 million as a three-star general.

Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) researcher Emerson Yuntho said Budi'€™s nomination showed that Jokowi had bowed to political pressure.

'€œHe only did it to please his political party and its leader,'€ he said, referring to Megawati.

Emerson said it was disheartening to see Jokowi starting to break campaign promises about running a '€œclean'€ government.

The ICW said that Jokowi should tap Budi for the position only if he had been endorsed by the KPK and the PPATK.

'€œThe only way to have '€˜clean'€™ figures in powerful positions is if they go through the screening process conducted by the KPK and the PPATK,'€ he said.

Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) coordinator Haris Azhar said Jokowi had damaged his credibility by nominating Budi.

'€œIt becomes more obvious now that he is only a puppet. There is not a single reason to support the nomination of Budi Gunawan and there is nothing that makes him stand out except that he might have a '€˜fat'€™ bank account. If he becomes the police chief, then the National Police'€™s integrity will plummet further,'€ he said.

Emerson said there was no reason to prevent Sutarman from serving a full term, given that he had done a good job in securing the 2014 general elections and maintaining the independence of the police during the election.

'€œReplacing Sutarman would only make sense if he made serious mistakes during his tenure. However, there has so far been no evidence that he failed to do his job,'€ he said.

To amplify the call for the inclusion of the KPK and PPATK in the vetting of the new police chief, change.org has started an online petition, calling on Jokowi to allow the antigraft bodies to look into the track records of police chief
candidates.

As of 7 p.m. on Saturday, 177 people had signed the petition. It required a further 23 signatories before it could be forwarded to Jokowi.

National Police spokesman Comr. Gen. Ronny F. Sompie declined to elaborate on the possible nomination of Budi.

'€œThe National Police chief [Sutarman] insists that the decision to appoint the new chief rests with the President,'€ he said as quoted by Antara.