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.

Jakarta Post

Discourse: President assures me he will not interfere: Detective chief

Budi Waseso - JP/AwoSince assuming the job of National Police detective division chief on Jan

Fedina S. Sundaryani and Rendi A. Witular (The Jakarta Post)
Tue, March 17, 2015

Share This Article

Change Size

Discourse: President assures me he will not interfere: Detective chief

Budi Waseso - JP/Awo

Since assuming the job of National Police detective division chief on Jan. 16, Comr. Gen. Budi Waseso has been at the center of controversy in the dispute between the National Police and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). His insistence on prosecuting several top KPK officials has triggered unabated waves of criticism as the move was made after the agency named Budi'€™s superior and politically wired National Police chief candidate Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan a graft suspect. The Jakarta Post'€™s Fedina S. Sundaryani and Rendi A. Witular recently talked with Budi about a number of issues.

Question: Do you meet with President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo often?

Answer: I have only met with him a couple of times while accompanying the National Police'€™s deputy chief [Comr. Gen. Badrodin Haiti]. We only meet to discuss law enforcement. There hasn'€™t been any need to have special meetings with the President.

Did the President convey any special messages to you?

No. However, it'€™s clear that the President is especially attentive toward problems revolving around law enforcement. He once told me to make sure not to trump up charges, that there should not be any criminalization. He told me that I should do my job professionally and that cases must also be investigated professionally. The President also assured me that he would not interfere with any problems surrounding law enforcement. That'€™s the gist of what he told me.

What exactly does criminalization entail?

Criminalization is pursuing a case when there are no problems at all, it'€™s a made up case.

So none of the cases currently being investigated have been engineered?

I'€™ve said it before '€” none of the cases have been engineered. I have even told Pak AS [Abraham Samad] and Pak BW [Bambang Widjojanto] that they should file a pretrial petition if they feel like they have been criminalized. That way we can prove that the cases haven'€™t been engineered. Take Pak BG [Budi Gunawan], for example; he filed a pretrial petition when he objected to the KPK naming him a graft suspect. The judge ruled that his suspect status was invalid, which proves that he was criminalized. The KPK'€™s decision to name him a suspect is what we should really question.

So far, neither AS nor BW have filed a pretrial petition so how can they say that I have targeted them in engineered cases? Their cases are not the only ones I am handling right now so if they truly object then they can do so through legal avenues.

What will you do with the National Police'€™s detective division?


We are doing a couple of things to reform the division. First, we want to speed up the investigation of cases so we can evaluate which cases to prioritize, which need the most attention. That doesn'€™t mean that we'€™re differentiating between cases but we are forming special teams to deal with cases that need the utmost attention.

There will be officers for special teams borrowed from units that have lighter workloads. We will make the most out of the detective divisions in the districts and take advantage of investigators in other divisions, such as the traffic police, the Security Maintenance Agency (Baharkam), the intelligence unit and even the Sabhara rapid response unit. If they are competent enough to be an investigator then we'€™ll take them on because the special teams will only have to deal with one case so they won'€™t need to focus on anything else.

Second, I have to try to be an example for my subordinates. I'€™ve always said that we must all be clean, right? Being a clean police officer means being brave, honest and fair. Every officer must be clean so that they can be good law enforcers.

I also want my division to be professional so I have started to do some reshuffling. I have moved out several investigators I feel are not competent anymore and I'€™ll reward those who are by keeping them in the division.

The special teams we will form will also handle graft cases, this way we can also help the KPK. I'€™m not the only one who thinks that the KPK needs help, even the commission'€™s interim leader [Taufiequrachman Ruki] said that they still had 36 unfinished cases so we have to help them. I'€™ve said before that we will gladly offer up our investigators if they need some.

How about the alleged extortion committed by officers against their subordinates?


There are rumors of that happening but where'€™s the proof? I'€™m not saying that no such practice exists here, but I'€™m also not saying that it does because I haven'€™t found any evidence of it. If it'€™s really happening then I must take action because it'€™s prohibited. How will I solve it? Everything starts with me; I won'€™t ask my subordinates for any money. If the headwaters are clean then it will be clean downstream too, that'€™s our principle here.

So, if the detective division chief is clean then the division should be clean too. However, if I play dirty then the division will be extremely unclean too. That'€™s how it is.

How do you handle criticism from the public over attempts to weaken the corruption fight?


I don'€™t have a problem with it [the criticism]. I know that some criticize me and say that I don'€™t know the law and I'€™m not professional but I don'€™t need to respond to that kind of criticism. That'€™s just the opinion of one person, but where'€™s the proof? They say that I'€™ve caused a ruckus at the detective division, but who really started it? The KPK caused all this controversy when they named the police-chief candidate a graft suspect, which was proven to be invalid.

Can you share with us a bit about your past and current relationship with Budi Gunawan?

He was my senior while we were still cadets. We both joined the shooting team at the police academy because we both enjoyed shooting. So it was a very typical senior-junior type of relationship.

We didn'€™t interact again until after we graduate and he became the head of the internal affairs division [Propam], as I worked under him then. That'€™s when I started to really get to know him and we had a close relationship as superior and subordinate. It was important that I became close to him because I was one of his staff members and leaders should always be supported by their staff.

We then went our separate ways again when he became the Bali Police chief and I stayed at Propam. We lost contact. I didn'€™t even speak to him when I became the Gorontalo Police chief. However, I then became the head lecturer at the police'€™s Staff and Command School (Sespim), which meant that I would be under him again since he was the chief of the National Police education and training division (Lemdikpol). We grew close because we were in the same division, that'€™s all. That'€™s why I did not interfere when he filed a pretrial petition because I'€™m the detective division chief and it has nothing to do with me.

We had a close professional relationship, so it was only natural that we would become close on an emotional level too. However, it'€™s nothing special since I'€™m close with all my former superiors.

How much is your take-home pay?


I receive Rp 12 million (US$908) plus an allowance of Rp 11 million.

Do you think that is enough?

Humans always say that they never have enough but of course we can'€™t really tell our employers that we'€™re not paid enough, can we? I always say that we should never complain about our salaries, but that we should strive to build friendships instead. That'€™s why being a police officer is so rewarding because it'€™s so easy to make friends. For example, I don'€™t have a luxury car but I do have rich friends that own them. Whenever I ask to borrow the car they always comply.

{

Your Opinion Matters

Share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.

Enter at least 30 characters
0 / 30

Thank You

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.