President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo has ordered a crackdown on individuals and institutions allegedly responsible for launching threats against the embattled Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

Jokowi said he had been briefed by the leadership of both the KPK and the National Police about the threats and intimidation leveled at KPK investigators.

'€œI have met with all the leaders of the KPK. I have also met with the National Police. The police said something similar [about alleged threats against the KPK],'€ Jokowi said. '€œIf anybody is indeed involved in such terrorism, they should be arrested.'€

Jokowi repeated his statement three times.

The KPK leadership confirmed on Wednesday that some of the antigraft body'€™s investigators '€” who are handling National Police chief candidate Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan'€™s graft case '€” and its legal team members, as well as members of their families, had been intimidated and received death threats via short text messages.

KPK deputy chairman Bambang Widjojanto said they had also set up a special team to investigate the threats after finding enough evidence that they were '€œvery serious'€.

Separately, National Police deputy chief Comr. Gen. Badrodin Haiti said the police force could provide extra security for the KPK against alleged threats if the anti-graft body called for help.

'€œI guarantee that the minute KPK asks for security, we will provide it for them,'€ he said.

Badrodin, however, shrugged off the severity of threats against the KPK.

He claimed that KPK commissioner Adnan Pandu Praja had recently told him about threats against a police officer seconded to the KPK as an investigator, which turned out to be a false alarm.

'€œWe discovered that the police officer in question had not been threatened at all, so I don'€™t understand where the allegations of threats are coming from,'€ he said.

Badrodin maintained that the police force would continue to monitor any indications of threats against KPK staff and investigators.

Meanwhile, as the week wore on, there was no sign that Jokowi would make an announcement regarding the fate of Budi Gunawan and whether he would name a new candidate for the top police post.

Jokowi promised late last week that he would make a decision that could effectively end the KPK-police standoff.

Earlier this month, Jokowi said that he would only make a decision on the fate of Budi once the South Jakarta District Court handed down a ruling on a pretrial petition filed by the three-star police general against the KPK.

Jokowi acknowledged on Wednesday that he was still unable to make a decision because of the confluence of politics and legal matters in the appointment of Budi.

Cabinet Secretary Andi Widjajanto said on Thursday that '€œthere had been no new instruction from the President,'€ but maintained that Jokowi would announce his decision within the week.

Earlier on Wednesday, State Secretary Pratikno called on the public to wait patiently for Jokowi to make his decision.

Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno, however, hinted that Jokowi could announce his decision only after the South Jakarta District Court made its final ruling on Budi'€™s pretrial petition. The court is expected to make its final ruling on Monday next week.

'€œ[Jokowi] said to wait for the result of the pretrial, so let'€™s just wait for it,'€ Tedjo said. '€œWell, the pretrial was started behind schedule, so the problem is with the pretrial hearing; why is it behind schedule?'€

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