T

he leaders of the National Police force and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) held a meeting on Friday, during which the two sides agreed to intensively communicate in the future to prevent more possible conflicts.

The meeting took place only two days after President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo dropped the nomination of Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan as the next top cop, which effectively eased the political tension.

Three KPK commissioners, including two of the three new interim leaders, met with the current police deputy chief, Comr. Gen. Badrodin Haiti, to find ways to end the standoff between the two law enforcement agencies.

'€œBoth parties have vowed to resolve the conflict between the two institutions as soon as possible. We hope that there will be no more conflict between us in the future as long as we continue to communicate openly,'€ Badrodin said after he concluded an hour-long meeting with acting commissioners KPK Taufiqurrahman Ruki and Indriyanto Seno Adji and current commissioner Adnan Pandu Praja.

The three KPK leaders and Badrodin were also seen taking a break from the meeting to participate in an evening prayer at the mosque in the National Police headquarters. Adnan served as leader for the prayer.

Speaking after the meeting, Taufiqurrahman said that he would attempt to bring back the formerly amiable relationship between the KPK and the police.

'€œWhat if we repeat that success story?'€ he asked reporters.

Taufiqurrahman said that in the meeting, the two sides discussed a number of details, including the police'€™s plan to confiscate firearms from police officers seconded to the KPK. The police said that 21 KPK personnel possessed the firearms illegally.

He maintained that the KPK investigators legally owned the firearms as they were purchased during his tenure as the agency'€™s chairman.

In the meeting, Taufiqurrahman also requested the police allow 50 of its personnel to serve with the KPK, which Badrodin swiftly granted.

With regards to the status of former KPK chairman Abraham Samad and his deputy chairman Bambang Widjojanto as suspects in petty criminal cases, Taufiqurrahman said that it would be up to the police to decide. '€œThe handling of the cases is fully in the hands of the police,'€ he said.

The meeting took place only hours after Taufiqurrahman, Indriyanto and former KPK prevention unit deputy, Johan Budi, took the oath of office as the new interim KPK leaders at the State Palace.

The three replaced Abraham and Bambang and filled another seat that was left empty when Busyro Muqoddas'€™ tenure ended.

Jokowi has also nominated Badrodin as his new pick for national police chief, replacing Budi, who had been named a graft suspect by the KPK.

Earlier on Friday, when asked if the KPK would drop its probe of Budi Gunawan, Taufiqurrahman, a former police general, said that the antigraft body would have to first study the details of South Jakarta District Court judge Sarpin Rizaldi'€™s decision in the pretrial hearing initiated by Budi against the KPK'€™s move to name him a graft suspect. '€œWe must study the judge'€™s decision meticulously. If we find his decision to be lawful then the KPK will not have the authority to continue the case,'€ he said.

In his decision, Sarpin said that the KPK could not name Budi as a suspect because he was not a '€œlaw enforcement officer'€ when he allegedly committed graft during his tenure as the head of the National Police'€™s Career Development Bureau from 2004 to 2006.

National Police detective division chief Comr. Gen. Budi Waseso said that the cases against Abraham for alleged document forgery and Bambang for alleged perjury would not be dropped as the cases had nothing to do with the KPK.