The Jakarta gubernatorial election will be a major test for Insp. Gen. Mochamad Iriawan as the newly appointed Jakarta Police chief has to maintain security before and during the poll slated for February next year.

Iriawan has taken over the Jakarta Police’s top post, replacing Insp. Gen. Moechgiyarto, who has been assigned to head the National Police Education Institute.

“The most challenging task of the Jakarta Police is securing the election,” Iriawan said on the sidelines of his inauguration on Friday.

Iriawan, who was head of the National Police’s Internal Affairs Division, said security would be a measure of the success of the election. In his view, the election process has so far run safely and smoothly.

The Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPUD) has scheduled the campaign period for the gubernatorial election from Oct. 26 to Feb. 11, 2017.

The police will deploy 15,000 personnel to ensure the security from the start of the campaign until polling day, he said.

“We have already prepared our personnel and will continue to add to their number if needed,” he said, adding that each of the governor candidates would be escorted by 10 personnel to ensure their safety.

Other than that, he said his officers would go on social media to monitor any hate speech related to the election being circulated.

He called on all his personnel to remain neutral during the gubernatorial election.

“We should be neutral and that is a must,” he said.

Born in Jakarta on March 13, 1962, Iriawan lives with his wife Novita Ariyanti, two daughters and four sons. He graduated from the Police Academy in 1984.

He served as Tegal Police chief in Central Java in 2001. He was later promoted to director of the Jakarta Police general crimes division in 2008.

He attracted public attention when he handled the murder case of businessman Nasrudin Zulkarnaen, which implicated Antasari Azhar who was then Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chairman.

In 2009, he served as deputy director of the National Police Criminal Investigation Department’s (Bareskrim) transnational security unit. At that time, he succeeded in bringing back then graft suspect Gayus Tambunan from Singapore to Indonesia.

The two-star general was appointed West Nusa Tenggara Police chief in 2012 before he became the West Java Police chief in 2013.

In 2015, he was made National Police Law Department chief.

When he served as head of the National Police’s Internal Affairs Division in 2016, Iriawan investigated the death of terrorist suspect Siyono while he was in the custody of the National Police antiterrorism squad (Densus 88). His team questioned a number of Densus 88 officers. (sha)

Popular

Kadin urges stability after Constitutional Court ruling

Jokowi says transition to new government to begi

BCA loan disbursement surges 17.1 percent yoy in first quarter