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Yosua murder takes political turn at House
Lawmakers criticize minister for being too open with public, media about criminal case.
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he murder of a police officer, allegedly by his own commanding officer, the head of the National Police’s internal affairs department (Propam), has taken on a political bent, following a House of Representatives meeting on Monday that saw a senior minister branded too indiscreet in regard to the case and a call for the police chief to be suspended.
The high-profile criminal case, which a police watchdog has labeled “the biggest scandal to have emerged in the institution’s history”, has roped in no less than 80 officers in an investigation spanning ethics violations, obstruction of justice and interference in a crime scene.
Public faith in the National Police is believed to have hit a historic low, as the cover-up scandal in the murder of Brig. Nofriansyah Yosua Hutabarat allegedly at the hands of Insp. Gen. Ferdy Sambo widens into allegations of elite factionalism within the force and institutional complicity in the shadowy underworld of illegal gambling.
According to a set of diagrams circulating widely in the public sphere, Ferdy and a number of high-ranking officers were allegedly involved in a recently disbanded special task force that operated as an illegal online gambling ring.
While the role of the task force was among the biggest of revelations to come out of the murder investigation, The Jakarta Post has not been able to independently verify the contents of the document, and several figures named therein have pleaded innocence or non-complicity.
‘Collective conspiracy’
The accusations have attracted the attention of House lawmakers, who for various reasons are interested in scrutinizing the case. Some insist that police chief Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo should be allowed to continue investigations, while others are intent on suspending him.
Benny K. Harman of the opposition Democratic Party, who serves on House Commission III overseeing legal affairs, has proposed the police chief temporarily step down to ensure that a thorough investigation is possible.
“If there is a Sambo ‘empire’, I’m sure he would not be working alone. So if the National Police chief does not have a strong enough [influence] to solve this case, he should be suspended,” he said at the meeting.
Another House lawmaker, Trimedya Panjdaitan of the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), was against the idea of suspending Listyo, saying that recent developments in the criminal case were “on the right track, although a little sluggish”.
“The Sambo case is about to conclude, but what about police reform?” Trimedya asked the stakeholders that were summoned by the House on Monday.
But Bambang Rukminto, a security analyst at the Institute for Security and Strategic Studies (ISESS), said there were more urgent matters than suspending Listyo, such as unraveling the “collective conspiracy” within the force.
Bambang added that the case would have turned political anyway, considering there was an indication that Ferdy’s dark network extended beyond the police force.
“Sambo’s syndicate was formed not only due to structural relations but also economic relations with the intent to protect dirty businessmen or politicians,” he told the Post.
The House Ethics Council (MKD) plans to summon a number of institutions involved in the investigation, upon hearing that House lawmakers may have been linked to Ferdy’s alleged gambling network.
Minister slammed
Monday’s House meeting with the National Police Commission (Kompolnas), the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) and the Witness and Victim Protection Agency (LPSK) stirred a debate, as lawmakers focused more on pressing information from Kompolnas chief Mahfud MD, who also happens to be the coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs.
The legislators criticized Mahfud’s openness with the media, with some lawmakers deeming it to be not conducive to public order and they barely gave the senior minister a chance to defend himself.
House Commission III member Sarifuddin Sudding of the National Mandate Party (PAN) accused Mahfud of overstepping the investigation, which in turn caused the scandal to blow up.
“Mahfud, with all his comments that were issued before the [police’s criminal investigations department] released its own statements, has exacerbated public disquiet. All we want is for the police to solve the case,” Sudding said.
Mahfud said that if he had not opened up about the case, commentators would have continued believing that the killing was the result of a sexual harassment allegation by Ferdy’s wife, Putri Candrawathi, which has since been dropped.
“It was a political strategy to ensure the investigation stayed on the right track. If I didn’t do that, the premeditated murder would not have been revealed,” he said.
Bambang from the ISESS commended Mahfud for following up on President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s call to thoroughly investigate the case, casting doubt instead on the lawmakers.
For his part, police chief Listyo promised last week that “nothing will be covered up” and that the police would continue disclosing the facts and “the truth as it is”.
House Commission III plans to summon Listyo for questioning on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the MKD is to summon Mahfud and a member of Indonesia Police Watch on Thursday over the alleged bribery of a Commission III lawmaker in relation to the case.
