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The week in review: The police brouhaha
JP/Seto WardhanaThe Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) failed for the second time this year to veto President Joko âJokowiâ Widodoâs decision on the National Police
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JP/Seto Wardhana
The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) failed for the second time this year to veto President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo's decision on the National Police. The President ' through a complicated face-saving mechanism ' fired Comr. Gen. Budi 'Buwas' Waseso as the chief of the National Police's detective division on Thursday. As a consolation prize, the controversial general was 'promoted' to the position of chief of the National Narcotics Agency (BNN). The PDI-P demanded the President keep Buwas in his former position and to ignore public pressure, saying he was the best man for handling the main duties of the police force.
In January, the party chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri was outraged when the President unexpectedly dropped the nomination of Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan, her adjutant when she served as the country's fifth president from 2001 to 2004. Jokowi replaced Budi with Badrodin Haiti.
Soon after being appointed to the prestigious position a few months ago, Buwas launched aggressive anticorruption operations with intensive media coverage. Amid the weakening power of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), his efforts to clean up the widespread corruption in the country deserve whole-hearted support from the nation. But due to reports of abuse of power by police and the force's general low public credibility, many people including top state officials questioned Buwas' motives; because so far he has not been able to do something 'bizarre' and catch at least one big fish.
Buwas grabbed public attention last week when he raided the office of the state-owned port operator PT Pelindo II in Tanjung Priok, Jakarta. He suspected graft in the procurement of fixed crane-type loading and unloading equipment. The company president director RJ Lino strongly objected to the police raid.
Some speculated that Buwas was just trying to prove that he could do better than Jakarta Police chief Tito Karnavian in implementing the President's order to find the roots of problems of long dwelling times at the Tanjung Priok port. To follow up the President's instruction, Tito raided the Trade Ministry and quickly named a senior ministry official in charge of international trade a suspect in a bribery case. Buwas tried to follow Tito's path, but ended in public controversy.
Meanwhile, at least 24 illegal job seekers from Indonesia drowned when a wooden transport boat capsized in the Malaysian territorial waters off Sabak Bernam, Selangor on Thursday morning. Dozens of passengers have gone missing. Up to 100 passengers were on board the boat when it sank.
The President ordered the relevant government agencies to take all possible measures to find the bodies of the missing Indonesians.
'I have ordered a search and evacuation operation to find victims. I have also instructed an evaluation of the cross-border mobility of people,' said Presidential Chief of Staff Teten Masduki quoting the President's order. On the same day, Soekarno-Hatta International Airport police announced that they had found preliminary evidence suggesting that the mastermind of a case involving the drugging of female Indonesian migrant workers had not only robbed the victims, but also raped one of them.
The Manpower and Transmigration Ministry, the Agency for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BNP2TKI), police and Soekarno-Hatta International Airport management have repeatedly boasted that they would ensure the safety of migrants workers returning home from abroad. However, reports of extortion, cheating and even rape never stop. Many migrant workers have been cheated and abused when they have tried their luck working as domestic workers abroad and when they come home they still very often face brutal treatment.
On Wednesday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Christine Lagarde described Indonesia as remaining on the right path to reform and prosperity. Her visit to Indonesia was initially suspected by some politicians as another effort by the IMF to dictate the country's economic policies. Many Indonesians still remember the country's bitter experience with the international agency during the Asian financial crisis in 1997. The IMF helped to salvage the country's economy, but it hurt the pride of Indonesia as a nation.
Lagarde, however, came to Indonesia this week as a part of IMF's cooperation with Bank Indonesia to co-host an international conference in Jakarta.
She said she was impressed by the policy mix in both monetary and fiscal areas. She also lauded the government's recent fuel subsidy cut as instrumental in helping the government maintain solid fiscal policy.
'Keep up with the infrastructure focus that you've had and use fully the fiscal space that has been made available as a result of phasing out subsidies in order to finance infrastructure,' Lagarde said.
Bank Indonesia Governor Agus Martowardojo should feel flattered by Lagarde's assessment of his leadership. On the central bank, the IMF managing director said, 'BI is doing a very steady, very solid, very predictable job at letting the currency fluctuate to absorb shocks, which every emerging market and many economies around the world are facing.'
On Friday, Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution summoned Japanese Ambassador Yasuaki Tanizaki and Chinese Ambassador Xie Feng to his office. He informed them about the President's decision to annul the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway project. The two envoys were deeply disappointed after severe competition between the two Asian giants to win the contract for the project. After his meeting with Darmin, Ambassador Tanizaki told journalists he would directly convey the decision to Tokyo.
' Kornelius Purba
