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Budi is inevitable: Tedjo
A senior minister says President Joko âJokowiâ Widodo will have to inaugurate Comr
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senior minister says President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo will have to inaugurate Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan as National Police chief to avoid conflict with the House of Representatives, which has backed the President's choice of a graft suspect for the top-cop spot.
Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno said on Saturday that the President was in a difficult position, as he could not squander the political support from the House, which until recently has been very belligerent toward his administration.
'Pak Jokowi has to accommodate the [House's] political decision. If he doesn't, then it would be unconstitutional. He could be questioned or even undergo an impeachment process. His rivals in the House could focus on any mistake of his,' Tedjo told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
It was impossible for Jokowi to back down and the President had only postponed Budi's inauguration, Tedjo said.
Tedjo called on the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) not to continue its public campaign against Budi, who it named a suspect in a bribery case. 'We also ask the KPK to not make statements implying that [Budi's inauguration] should be canceled,' Tedjo said.
The minister said it was suspicious that the KPK named Budi a suspect for alleged violations that took place when he headed the National Police's human resources development section from 2004 to 2006.
'Why was he named a suspect when he had already been nominated as the National Police chief? The case is already 10 years old. Since then, he has been declared clean and rose up the ranks until he got his three [general's] stars,' said Tedjo.
He said the KPK did nothing when former vice president Boediono was inaugurated in 2009, despite allegations of his involvement in a graft case centering on the Bank Century bailout.
'When he [Boediono] was inaugurated, why did the KPK remain silent? There must be a reason,' Tedjo said.
'It means that the KPK wants to play by its own rules, like a superpower' Tedjo said. 'The KPK is an ad-hoc body. It cannot act like a superpower. The KPK doesn't have a code of ethics.'
Despite demands that Jokowi not inaugurate Budi, his backers in the Great Indonesia Coalition defended the President's decision.
'He [Jokowi] is being respectful to Kompolnas [the National Police Commission], the House, the State Secretariat and the KPK as one of the law enforcement agencies,' NasDem Party secretary-general Patrice Rio Capella said on Saturday.
Patrice called on the KPK to expedite the prosecution of Budi's case.
'The KPK must be really serious about this. It must be prepared to face a backlash because we suspect that there were political motives behind its decision,' Rio said.
Earlier on Saturday, several prominent religious figures called on Jokowi to cancel Budi's inauguration. The secretary of the Indonesian Bishops Conference (KWI), Edy Purwanto, said on Saturday that even if Budi turned out to be innocent, it was never a good idea to nominate a candidate with a questionable reputation.
'We demand that President Jokowi pick only those who have been confirmed not to be corrupt. We understand that the situation President Jokowi is in is not easy, but this is a test to see if he is truly a man of the people and willing to fulfill his promise of a better, cleaner government,' he said.
