Jokowi submitted the name of Comr. Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo, his former adjutant and the National Police’s current Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) head, to the House of Representatives on Wednesday for confirmation.

If the House approves the nomination, Listyo is set to be the nation’s second police chief from a religious minority background, after the late Widodo Budidarmo, who led the police from 1974 to 1978.

Analysts have said that Listyo’s religious background could be a hurdle for him when he assumes the police’s top job, as the country has seen a recent wave of Islamic conservatism.

A similar issue surfaced when Listyo was assigned as Banten Police chief. The local chapter of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) reportedly resisted his appointment in the increasingly religiously conservative province.

In an interview with Tempo in 2019, Listyo said that maintaining open communications with local clerics had allowed him to defuse the situation.

Political analyst Firman Noor of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) said Listyo should be able to draw on his experience in Banten to navigate possibly tense situations in his early tenure as police chief.

“He must show that he is not someone whom Islamic groups should worry about, which means that he will have to make agendas and programs specifically to address the issue,” Firman said.

But Listyo has also been known to balance the need for dialogue with tough action. Under his leadership, Bareskrim recently named the leader of the now-banned Islam Defenders Front (FPI), Rizieq Shihab, a suspect for refusing to undergo a PCR test when he was admitted to Ummi Hospital in Bogor, West Java, for what Rizieq’s side claims was exhaustion.

Rizieq has also been named a suspect for having allegedly hosted crowded events at the FPI headquarters in Petamburan, Central Jakarta, in violation of COVID-19 health protocols, as well as in Megamendung, West Java.

These charges formed part of a government crackdown on the FPI after Rizieq’s return from self-exile in Saudi Arabia in November 2020.

Listyo’s nomination signals his return to Jokowi’s inner circle as the President faces increased opposition from religious conservative groups. Jokowi has been on the receiving end of hoaxes depicting him as a Christian. In 2019, he picked then-MUI chairman Ma'ruf Amin as his running mate, seen as a move to increase his appeal among Muslim voters.

Listyo is best known for his work as Jokowi's presidential adjutant from 2014 to 2016, before he was assigned to helm the Banten Police. He served as Surakarta Police chief for three years from 2011, the year Jokowi was reelected mayor of the city.

As the police chief was handpicked by the president, Firman said, it was unavoidable that the general public perceived the position as a means for the president to secure his own interests.

"In general, a police chief is a tool for the President, so even if they professionally [carry out their duties], the interests of the President take precedence above anything,” Firman said.

Listyo is no stranger to handling high-profile cases.

In 2019, Bareskrim, under his leadership, arrested two suspects who allegedly attacked top Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) investigator Novel Baswedan, bringing a two-and-a-half-year manhunt to an end. Activists, however, criticized the circumstances of the arrests, citing irregularities and their suddenness amid increasing pressure for the police to solve the case.

In nominating Listyo, Jokowi looked past four other three-star commissioner generals recommended by the National Police Commission (Kompolnas). They were Idham’s deputy chief Gatot Eddy Pramono, Police Education and Training Institute (Lemdiklat) head Arief Sulistyanto, Security Management Agency (Baharkam) head Agus Andrianto and National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) chief Boy Rafli Amar.

MUI executive Anwar Abbas previously called on Jokowi, as quoted by tempo.co, to pick a candidate of great credibility "who could be accepted by the wider public" but added that Islamic groups’ acceptance of the candidate would be key to building their trust in the government.

He noted that some Muslims believed that Islamic clerics were often unduly criminalized in Indonesia, a view which he said should not be taken lightly by the government.

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