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Opposition against Budi on rise
Crowd-pleasers: Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chairman Abraham Samad (fourth left) and his deputy Bambang Widjojanto ( fourth right) show their sympathy for activistsâ demand that National Police chief candidate and graft suspect Comr
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Crowd-pleasers:: Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chairman Abraham Samad (fourth left) and his deputy Bambang Widjojanto ( fourth right) show their sympathy for activistsâ demand that National Police chief candidate and graft suspect Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan be prosecuted as soon as possible. (JP/Awo) (KPK) chairman Abraham Samad (fourth left) and his deputy Bambang Widjojanto ( fourth right) show their sympathy for activistsâ demand that National Police chief candidate and graft suspect Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan be prosecuted as soon as possible. (JP/Awo)
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span class="inline inline-center">Crowd-pleasers: Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chairman Abraham Samad (fourth left) and his deputy Bambang Widjojanto ( fourth right) show their sympathy for activists' demand that National Police chief candidate and graft suspect Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan be prosecuted as soon as possible. (JP/Awo)
Angered by President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo's decision to nominate graft suspect Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan as the next National Police chief, Jokowi's presidential campaign volunteers and members of civil-society organizations called on the President to not inaugurate the three-star police general in spite of the House of Representatives' official endorsement.
Early on Thursday, dozens of Jokowi's campaign volunteers and supporters from the Salam Dua Jari or the Two Finger Salute group, along with antigraft activists grouped under the Coalition of Civil Society and a number of religious figures, thronged the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) headquarters to protest against Budi's nomination.
Representatives from the group demanded the KPK swiftly detain Budi, a move they considered the most effective to prevent Jokowi from inaugurating a graft suspect as the country's top cop.
'We have a responsibility to remind him that Budi is the wrong choice,' television personality Olga Lidya of Salam Dua Jari said during a press conference. 'We stand on the KPK's side,' she added.
Rapper Joshua Matulessy, also known as JFlow, who took part in the Salam Dua Jari concert at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium on the eve of the July 9, 2014 presidential election, read an open letter expressing the group's disappointment over Jokowi's pick.
'We hope this letter opens the President's heart to hear our voices. We must emphasize that our support for Jokowi was not like a blank check, but it was based on our big hope that Pak Jokowi could live up to his promises to support the country's corruption eradication efforts,' he said.
Benny Susetyo of the Indonesian Bishops Conference called for more concrete action. 'Truth must prevail. Arresting [Budi] is the only way to save the country,' he said.
Over the past few days, social media has been abuzz with vitriol directed at Jokowi with the hashtag #ShameOnYouJokowi, making it the second-highest trending topic in Indonesia as of Thursday afternoon.
The hashtag was reminiscent of a movement to shame then-president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono following his party's move to drop the direct voting mechanism for local elections in a plenary session at the House of Representatives.
An online petition on change.org started by the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) on Jan. 9, when news about Budi's nomination broke, had 27,074 signatories as of 8:30 p.m. on Thursday.
On Thursday afternoon, some volunteers went to the Presidential complex in an attempt to meet with the President to air their complaints.
Former student activist Fadjroel Rachman was allowed to enter the State Palace but failed to meet Jokowi.
Fadjroel pledged he would continue to make attempts to meet with the President to relay the volunteers' message.
'It is dangerous if a leader is aware they have made a mistake but refuses to publicly acknowledge they have done so and declines to fix it,' Fadjroel said.
Many believed that Jokowi bowed to political pressure in nominating Budi, who was the adjutant to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri when she was president between 2001 and 2004.
Several key political figures in Jokowi's coalition, including NasDem Party chief Surya Paloh and Vice President Jusuf Kalla, have been spotted coming in and out of the palace since Budi was named a suspect on Tuesday, raising speculation that they have discussed Budi's fate.
Cabinet Secretary Andi Widjajanto said Jokowi had held several meetings over the past couple of days, including with Kalla.
Andi also said Jokowi held several closed-door meetings on Thursday, including with KPK leaders, and was 'contemplating what would be the best option for Budi'.
Also present at the palace was House Speaker Setya Novanto from the Golkar Party, who held a meeting with presidential chief of staff Luhut Binsar Panjaitan, during which he conveyed the House's official endorsement of Budi.
'We have decided [to endorse Budi] and we have officially informed the President about it,' Setya said.
Political analyst Gun Gun Heryanto said Jokowi's campaign volunteers could tip the balance in the standoff.
'The volunteers should keep criticizing Jokowi, particularly in Budi's case, to ensure Jokowi keeps his promise to create a clean government,' Gun Gun added. 'I'm afraid that if Jokowi continues to ignore public criticism, his administration will start falling apart.'
