T

he incoming Jakarta Police chief, Insp. Gen. Moechgiyarto, who is to be sworn in on Monday, brings high expectations of police impartiality given his track record in his previous position in West Java, where he promised to protect minority groups.

Moechgiyarto is replacing Insp. Gen. Tito Karnavian, who has been appointed as the new boss of the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT).

Tito was officially inaugurated by President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo at the State Palace on Wednesday but he will still lead the Jakarta Police until after Moechgiyarto takes up his new position, said Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Mohammad Iqbal.

'€œThe inauguration will take place at the National Police headquarters [in South Jakarta] next Monday,'€ Iqbal told reporters at the Jakarta Police headquarters.

Moechgiyarto, who graduated top of his class in the Police Academy in 1986, is known for his firm stance on protecting minority groups.

When inaugurated as the West Java Police chief in June last year, the two-star general promised to protect minority groups such as the Ahmadis and Shiites, whose members have been prohibited from exercising their beliefs in the province due to pressure from hard-line groups. '€œThere will no longer be closures [of houses of worship],'€ he said back then.

In October last year, when Shia followers in West Java'€™s capital Bandung celebrated their Asyura Day ceremony, the Bandung Police deployed hundreds of officers to guard locations where the Shiites were celebrating the holiday.

In Sidolig Stadium, for example, Shiites celebrated Asyura despite protests from hundreds of people from the West Java Ahlus Sunnah Defenders (PAS). Police officers held the protesters back from the venue.

His stance on protecting minority groups is expected to continue in his new post in the capital where minority groups have frequently faced harassment. In such cases, the police have either not taken action or worse appeared to help intolerant groups carrying out their actions.

On Wednesday, for example, the documentary film Pulau Buru Tanah Air Beta was screened amid threats from a hard-line group accusing organizers of spreading communism. The police told the organizers that they could not guarantee the safety of the participants if they insisted on going ahead.

Host Goethe Institute canceled the event and the organizers moved the screening to the National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM) headquarters in Central Jakarta.

Last month, another event called the Belok Kiri (Turn Left) Festival conducted by a leftist group was dispersed by around 200 officers from the Jakarta Police following opposition from various organizations.

The police argued that the event was dispersed because it did not have permission from the police.

Since November last year, Jakarta has seen a total of six events being canceled or moved after the police refused to protect the organizers.

The police claimed the events had not secured permits from and caused unrest among certain groups of people. Organizers have retorted that they do not need permits but simply notification letters to the local police.

Moechgiyarto'€™s track record, however, has been marred by his much criticized standpoint in support of virginity tests for female cadets of the National Police. He stated his support in 2014 when he led the law division of the National Police.

He said back then that virginity tests would be necessary to ensure that female cadets lived up to high moral standards.

The idea was criticized by various human rights organizations including the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), which told the police to monitor their own moral standards before talking about those of others.