T

he National Police revealed on Tuesday that any criminal investigations involving regional heads or candidates in the Dec. 9 regional elections would be suspended until after the balloting.

National Police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti said the decision had been made during a recent closed-door meeting between the police and the Attorney General'€™s Office.

'€œThis means that any legal measures being taken against any regional heads or candidates, whether they are incumbents or not, will be suspended until after the election on Dec. 9,'€ he said at the Police Staff College (PTIK) in South Jakarta.

Badrodin, however, was quick to reassure that investigations into politicians would continue soon after balloting wrapped up.

Contacted separately, National Police detective corps chief Comr. Gen. Budi Waseso confirmed that any current and future investigations into political candidates would be suspended until after the elections.

He said the measure had been taken to ensure the police'€™s neutrality in the elections.

'€œAny cases being investigated will be suspended in order to maintain the neutrality of the police force during the regional elections. We will also hold off on any future investigations if new reports come in [during the campaign season] while observing the development [of the elections] and ensuring that the supporters [of all candidates] will remain on their best behavior,'€ he told reporters at the National Police headquarters.

Budi said he had instructed the force'€™s lead investigators to report to the General Elections Commission (KPU) any cases in which a regional head or candidate was a suspect or had the potential to become one.

'€œSo if [a candidate] who is being investigated wins an election, then the KPU would have already known about it. This is to prevent any accusations against the police or [the candidate'€™s] rivals of criminalization,'€ he said.

He said that any reports filed against a candidate during the campaign season would likely be an effort at criminalization.

'€œWhy would someone file a report at that time when they could have filed it long ago [before the elections]?'€ he said.

Currently, the National Police'€™s detective corps is investigating four graft cases involving four regional heads: Andi Idris Syukur, the regent of Barru in South Sulawesi, Irhami Ridjani, the regent of Kotabaru in South Kalimantan, Herliyan Saleh, the regent of Bengkalis in Riau, and Junaidi Hamsyah, the governor of Bengkulu.

Budi maintained that police investigators would not drop probes into the four candidates as the police had solid evidence against them.

'€œThe cases are just being put on hold for the elections. We have already told the local police about the suspension,'€ he said.

Meanwhile, Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo said the National Police and the government had discussed security concerns that may occur during the regional elections.

'€œWe have discussed and agreed upon which areas can be categorized as prone to conflict during the registration period, balloting and the vote count. We will also review regional elections from the past five years as regional elections have more cases of conflict compared to presidential or legislative elections,'€ he said.

The National Police will deploy 255,362 officers to secure polling on Dec. 9 and will prepare up to 15,000 officers from the police'€™s Mobile Brigade (Brimob) as reserves.