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The week in review: Sparing police's blushes
JP/DONPresident Joko âJokowiâ Widodo wasnât the only one sighing in relief after Gen
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JP/DON
President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo wasn't the only one sighing in relief after Gen. Badrodin Haiti assumed the National Police's chief post on Friday. Everybody seemed happy about Badrodin filling the job after three months of uncertainty following the honorary dismissal of then police chief Gen. Sutarman in January.
Badrodin secured the post following a political drama that pitted President Jokowi against his own supporting coalition of political parties. The tug of war centered on Jokowi's reluctance to install Badrodin's colleague Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan as police chief after the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) named him a graft suspect.
In the end, all the conflicting parties agreed to make peace and strike a deal that included Badrodin's nomination as National Police chief and, although it remains unofficial, Budi's posting as the second-in-command.
The House of Representatives endorsed Badrodin's nomination without reservations, throwing its weight behind the move. The National Police top brass under Badrodin will have to propose Budi's candidacy to President Jokowi.
Budi himself, although having been legally cleared of graft charges after the South Jakarta District Court invalidated the KPK's decision to name him a suspect, failed to show up for Badrodin's inauguration at the State Palace.
Following his installation as head of the 400,000-strong police force, Budi said he would start cleaning up the institution to restore its reputation. He said he would uphold discipline and enforce the law against police personnel found guilty of foul play.
The public will not, however, take Badrodin's promise for granted. First and foremost, the new police chief has to prove his commitment to clean governance. Several allegations of corrupt practices involving top brass remain unaddressed ' and for those resolved, the question of credibility remains due to a lack of transparency.
The case implicating Budi is just one of the public concerns that Badrodin must immediately address, especially if Budi is to hold the deputy National Police chief post.
President Jokowi hopes Badrodin, the best graduate of the Police Academy class of 1982, will forge cooperation with other law enforcement agencies, namely the KPK and the Attorney General's Office (AGO),and with the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) for an effective fight against corruption. Such expectations, if fulfilled, will help Badrodin and the police regain public confidence and, hence, support.
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With the political saga plaguing the race for the police chief post now settled, Indonesia is embroiled in an equally tough debate over the death penalty. Within a span of just two days, two Indonesian nationals were executed in Saudi Arabia, both for murder, sending shockwaves to supporters of capital punishment who seem to have lost patience with President Jokowi's buying-time strategy ahead of the execution of 11 drug convicts on death row.
Siti Zaenab and Karni, both Indonesian female migrant workers, were beheaded on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, after the families of the victims they had murdered refused to pardon them. Under Saudi Arabian law, only the mercy of a victim's family can spare a convicted murderer from execution.
In Indonesia, such a prerogative belongs to the President, in accordance with the Constitution. Last December, President Jokowi refused to grant clemency to 64 death-row drug convicts, saying their execution would save the country from the 'drug emergency', which is evinced in the statistics that show 50 people died of narcotics abuse in Indonesia every day.
Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo said the execution of Indonesian nationals in Saudi Arabia would not change the government's position. He said the second round of executions, which had been planned since February, would go ahead.
Prasetyo seems to believe the death penalty in Indonesia and Saudi Arabia is an effective deterrent for crime. Many studies, however, reveal that capital punishment does not bring down crime rates.
As in the case of drug-related crimes, despite the execution of six convicts in January, drug trafficking continues unabated. A death-row convict, Ferry Budiman, was recently caught operating his illicit business from behind bars.
For sure, the death penalty is not an adequate response to the problem of drug crimes. The fact that prisons remain a safe haven for incarcerated drug traffickers to carry on their dealings should raise a question about integrity on the part of prison guards and wardens. Prisons are no strangers to the practice of bribery.
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Air accidents have continued to plague the country since the AirAsia plane crash late in December last year. Most recently, an F-16 jet fighter belonging to the Air Force caught fire before take-off at Halim Perdanakusuma Air Base in East Jakarta on Thursday.
Nobody was killed in the accident, but the Air Force is now coming under pressure to examine the airworthiness of its F-16 fleet and to reconsider the procurement of 24 second-hand F-16s granted by the US as part of measures to rehabilitate military cooperation between Jakarta and Washington.
Investigation is underway to unveil the causes of the fire, but for safety reasons, Air Force chief Air Marshall Agus Supriatna has ordered a temporary grounding of the F-16 fleet for evaluation.
' Dwi Atmanta
