T

he National Police said on Sunday that its Rank and Promotion Council for High-Ranking Officers (Wanjakti) would begin selecting prospective candidates for the position of deputy National Police this week following the inauguration of the law enforcement body'€™s new chief at the end of last week.

Newly installed National Police chief Comr. Gen. Badrodin Haiti, who is also the head of Wanjakti, told The Jakarta Post on Sunday that all three-star police generals, including former police chief candidate Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan,
had been put on the priority list of prospective candidates.

Badrodin, who declined to reveal which candidate would receive majority support from Wanjakti'€™s eight members, served as deputy police chief before his promotion to the top job on Friday.

'€œThe hearing will be conducted this week and all three-star generals, whether employed in administrative positions at the National Police or not, will be considered for the post,'€ said Badrodin, who replaced Budi as National Police chief candidate after the latter was named a graft suspect by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in January.

Immediately after confirming Badrodin as National Police chief, a majority of political factions at the House of Representatives called for Budi to be appointed deputy chief to '€œcompensate'€ him after President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo annulled his candidacy when he was named a suspect by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

The National Police Commission (Kompolnas) echoed the House'€™s support, arguing there was no reason for the police not to consider Budi the most probable candidate for deputy National Police chief after the South Jakarta District Court ordered the KPK to lift his graft suspect status in what legal experts deemed a '€œlawless'€ pretrial verdict in February.

Kompolnas commissioner Muhammad Nasser said on Sunday, meanwhile, that the head of the National Police'€™s General Supervision Inspectorate (Irwasum), Comr. Gen. Dwi Priyatno, was another candidate with the potential to gain majority support from the Wanjakti forum next week.

'€œI think the two three-star generals will compete for the approval of the National Police,'€ Nasser said.

Budi and Dwi are both Wanjakti members, together with seven other police generals including Badrodin, the council'€™s chief: National Police Detective Corps Comr. Gen. Budi Waseso, Comr. Gen. Putut Eko Bayuseno, Comr. Gen. Djoko Mukti Haryono, Insp. Gen. Syafruddin, Insp. Gen. Arif Wachyunadi and Insp. Gen. Haka Astana.

Budi and Putut, another three-star police general touted as a potential deputy chief, have both served as adjutants to former presidents. Dwi has never been a presidential adjutant, but is considered to have a good track record.

Separately, police expert Bambang Widodo Umar, a former member of the National Police, said on Sunday that Wanjakti should select a National Police deputy chief candidate untainted by graft allegations.

'€œThe candidate must be clean from any corruption allegation report, and he should be able to maintain good cooperation with other law enforcement institutions,'€ Bambang said.

Meanwhile, a member of an independent team established by President Jokowi to monitor the previous standoff between the KPK and the police, Jimly Asshiddiqie, said that appointing Budi as deputy police chief would ignite further public controversy.

'€œThey shouldn'€™t make things more difficult by adding another problem. The most important thing [for the police] is to regain the public trust [after the standoff],'€ Jimly said on Sunday as quoted by kompas.com