TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
The week in review: Take a firm stand, Mr. President
Following public pressure, the police eventually released Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputy chairman Bambang Widjojanto early Saturday on the grounds that he was âcooperativeâ
Change Size
F
ollowing public pressure, the police eventually released Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputy chairman Bambang Widjojanto early Saturday on the grounds that he was 'cooperative'.
But this does not mean that the case was closed. The police promised to continue processing the charge of Bambang's alleged criminal offense filed by a certain 'citizen' ' who later turned out to be a politician from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo's main backer.
According to the police, Bambang had to be prosecuted because he had asked a witness to give false testimony during a trial concerning the West Kotawaringin, Central Kalimantan, regency election dispute at the Constitutional Court in 2010.
Bambang was a human rights activist and a lawyer until he was elected as KPK deputy chairman in 2011.
But anyone in their right mind would assume that Bambang's dramatic arrest had more to do with the ongoing hostility between the two law enforcement institutions that broke out after the KPK declared Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan, Jokowi's sole nominee for National Police chief, a graft suspect.
The KPK accused Budi, a close ally of PDI-P matriarch and former president Megawati Soekarnoputri and a key member of Jokowi's presidential campaign, of amassing billions of rupiah from dubious sources. He is one of about 20 senior police officers that the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) reported in 2010 to have suspiciously large amounts of money in their bank accounts.
Budi's nomination had met fierce opposition from anti-corruption groups, Jokowi supporters, mainstream religious organizations and the media, but received strong backing from the PDI-P, the House of Representatives and politicians from the coalition of ruling parties.
Jokowi caved in to public demand and indefinitely 'postponed' Budi's inauguration, a move effective enough for him to retain his 'people's choice president' image.
With the strong backing of civil society, the KPK shows no signs of backing down in prosecuting Budi. In an obvious bid to obstruct Budi's prosecution process, most senior police officers have refused to answer the KPK's summonses to be questioned as witnesses.
Throughout Friday and Saturday, thousands of people gathered at the KPK and demonstrated at the National Police headquarters to show their support for the KPK and denounce the police.
Bambang's arrest has demonstrated how 'lonely' Jokowi and the KPK are in their quest for clean governance.
After three months in office, Jokowi has been seeing his popularity eroded by his inability to respond quickly and effectively to pressing issues, such as this intensifying attack on the KPK, discrimination against minorities and solutions to past human rights abuses.
When he summoned his aides and law enforcement leaders, including KPK chairman Abraham Samad, following Bambang's arrest on Friday, the public had expected he would come out with a solution to the crisis. But, alas, he simply gave a short press briefing in which he called on the police and KPK to mind their respective businesses without causing 'friction'.
His vague stand on the conflict between the two institutions that are supposed to join forces to combat crime fell far short of his campaign promises to strengthen the KPK and kick the butts of corrupt officials out of his administration.
His critics who mock him as a 'Mega[wati] puppet' and a '[PDI-P] party worker' have found evidence backing their opinions in the way he picked Budi as his sole candidate out of the nine names the National Police Commission (Kompolnas) had proposed.
What's more, almost all of the nine personalities he appointed to fill the Presidential Advisory Council were politicians ' a glaring failure to make good his promise to make professionals the backbone of his administration. In November, he made a blunder when he appointed a NasDem Party legislator, M. Prasetyo, as the new Attorney General without consulting with the KPK or the PPATK as he had done when selecting his Cabinet candidates.
Unlike his predecessors, Jokowi ' who has a business background and started his political career as mayor of Surakarta ' does not appear to have people in his Cabinet who would risk their lives to shield him if he comes under attack.
The strained relations between the KPK and the National Police also exposed how weak the political support is for the KPK despite the vow every president has made to establish clean governance since the antigraft commission first saw the light of day in 2002.
Attempts to weaken, or even kill it (as Prosperous Justice Party [PKS] politician Fahry Hamzah openly advocates), have never stopped. In the recent crisis, House members come forward in defense of Budi.
In bad times like today, the KPK relies on public support. Jokowi, as the President directly elected by the people, may learn from the KPK because he has no truly faithful friends who dare to stand up and defend him when he needs them.
Despite all the missteps he has taken, Jokowi seems to still retain his popularity thanks largely to his populist image and modest style.
Supporters picketing the KPK premises on Friday night cried out, 'Where is Jokowi?' His voters are demanding that he honor his promise to empower the KPK.
' Pandaya
