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Budi Gunawan's men in, 'traitor' out
JP/SWIMore than a dozen of Comr
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JP/SWI
More than a dozen of Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan's subordinates from the National Police Educational Division (Lemdikpol) have received major promotions within the National Police headquarters, with three of them being assigned to strategic positions.
According to a classified telegram, a copy of which was made available to The Jakarta Post on Friday, 62 middle- and high-ranking officers were given approval on Thursday to receive promotions, including 16 officers from Lemdikpol.
The telegram was signed by the assistant to the National Police human resources division, Insp. Gen. Haka Astana.
The chief of the National Police's General Supervision Inspectorate (Irwasum), Comr. Gen. Dwi Priyatno, confirmed on Friday that a major overhaul had taken place, but denied that it had been engineered to meet the demands of certain parties within the force.
'All officers have the right to be promoted as long as they meet all the requirements regarding their education and achievement. It's fine as long as it has been agreed by the [police force's] leadership and the police's committee on officers' Rank and Promotion Council for High-Ranking Officers [Wanjakti],' he said.
Speculation was rife that the promotion of 16 of Budi's subordinates is proof that Budi is trying to wrest more power, even though he is no longer a candidate for the vacant police chief position following the move by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to name him a suspect in a bribery case.
One of the middle-ranking officers who received promotion was Sr. Comr. Victor Edi Simanjuntak, who now serves as the National Police's director of special and economic crimes, replacing Brig. Gen. Kamil Razak.
Victor was one of the officers who made the arrest of suspended KPK deputy chairman Bambang Widjojanto for involvement in an alleged perjury case in January. The arrest was made not long after the KPK announced that Budi was a graft suspect.
Bambang's perjury case is currently being handled by the special and economic crimes directorate.
The Indonesian Ombudsman criticized Victor's promotion, saying that the agency had earlier found irregularities in his role in the arrest as he was not an officer with the National Police's detective division.
Ombudsman commissioner Budi Santoso said the promotion of Victor showed the police clearly ignored the agency's recommendation to penalize him for overstepping his position as an officer at Lemdikpol.
The National Police headquarters had earlier said that Victor was enlisted to arrest Bambang as the force needed more manpower and that he met all the requirements.
'The National Police has full authority on whom they promote and demote, but this promotion still does not make sense to us,' Budi Santoso said.
Victor's predecessor, Kamil, who is a former official at the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK), was also one of several senior officers being investigated for allegedly being involved in the 'secret operations' for the KPK that led to the antigraft body's decision to name Budi Gunawan a graft suspect.
Kamil is expected to be transferred to the National Police's Security Maintenance Agency (Baharkam). Another of Budi Gunawan's subordinates at Lemdikpol receiving a major promotion was Brig. Gen. Anton Charliyan, who was made the National Police spokesperson, replacing Insp. Gen. Ronny Sompie. To be qualified to fill his new position, Anton was recently promoted to one-star general.
Another Lemdikpol alumnus, Sr. Comr. Erwin Triwanto, has also been promoted to Yogyakarta Police chief.
This is not the first time Budi Gunawan's subordinates have been promoted within the force. In January, Comr. Gen. Budi Waseso, one of Budi's close associates, was promoted to become detective division chief, replacing Comr. Gen. Suhardi Alius, who was known as a reformer in the force.
Following his promotion, Budi Waseso quickly moved to name Bambang and suspended KPK chairman Abraham Samad suspects in petty criminal cases.
Separately, National Police Commission (Kompolnas) member M. Nasser acknowledged that promotions within the police force were prone to intervention.
'We often question these rotations because we always suspect that there is always an intervention, whether internal or external,' he said.
