Widodo to Decide This Week on Contentious Police-Chief Nominee

  Neil ChatterjeeYudith Ho

  

(Bloomberg) -- Indonesian President Joko Widodo will decide this week whether to install as police chief a three-star general who faces a corruption probe, as he seeks to end an episode that put his graft-fighting credentials in question.
“I hope this week I will decide,” Widodo, known as Jokowi, said Monday in an interview in his office at his Dutch-colonial era residence in Jakarta. Asked which way he was leaning, Jokowi laughed and replied “you’ll know after I decide.”
Just days after Jokowi, 53, announced Budi Gunawan as his pick for police chief, the anti-graft agency named Gunawan a corruption suspect. Jokowi said Jan. 16 he had “postponed but not canceled” the nomination while the agency investigated Gunawan, prompting criticism from anti-graft activists.

Jokowi, a former small businessman who rose through the ranks of local government without the support of the major parties, became president after a campaign pledging zero tolerance on corruption and staking his reputation as a reformer. Three months into his term the furor over his
police chief pick threatens to become a distraction from his broader policy agenda in a parliament where he lacks a majority.
Faced with a public backlash if he proceeds with Gunawan, and with spiking tensions between the anti-graft agency known as the KPK and the police, as the police retaliate by moving against two senior KPK officials, Jokowi said he would uphold the rule of law. “I must respect the legal process,” he said.
Relations between the police and corruption fighters were once so marred by acrimony that dozens of officers barged into the KPK to try and arrest an agent investigating the chief traffic cop. Transparency International has described the police force as the nation’s most corrupt institution.

Ratings Slide

Gunawan’s ties to former President Megawati Soekarnoputri could complicate the decision-making process for Jokowi as he seeks to show he’s free from influence. Gunawan was a personal adjutant of Megawati, who was president from 2001 to 2004 and heads the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, or PDI-P, the party that backed Jokowi. Jokowi appointed Megawati’s daughter to a post in the Cabinet.
With his popularity sliding, former Jakarta governor Jokowi dismissed the possibility of impeachment by his own coalition. “There is still support from our party, our coalition,” he said, sitting at a desk at Istana Merdeka -- or Freedom Palace - - in front of a bust of India independence leader Mahatma Gandhi
Public satisfaction with Jokowi fell from 71.7 percent in August to 42.3 percent 100 days into his term, a poll late last month by Lingkaran Survei Indonesia showed. Of the 1,200 respondents, 53.1% were unhappy with his nomination of Gunawan for police chief.

Prabowo Meeting

Jokowi also downplayed the prospect of an alliance with opposition parties, having met last week with opposition leader Prabowo Subianto. Former army general Prabowo, Jokowi’s rival in last year’s presidential race, heads the Gerindra Party and his coalition has a parliamentary majority. Prabowo said in October he’d support Jokowi while being a critic on policies that would harm the nation.
Asked if the meeting could pave the way for an alliance, Jokowi said “there is no talk about that.”
“Last week when I met Pak Prabowo we discussed about economics and also about politics,” he said.
As Jokowi nears his decision, Gunawan missed an appearance at the KPK last week for scheduled questioning. A hearing where he will seek to have the case dismissed has been delayed to Feb. 9, Kompas reported on its website.

Police Tensions

The KPK was set up in 2003 to put teeth into anti-graft efforts across the world’s fourth-most populous nation. It has a 100 percent conviction rate and prosecuted 72 members of parliament, six central bankers and dozens of chief executives in the decade since it was formed in 2003, earning it the support of ordinary Indonesians.
Indonesia ranked 107th on a list of countries in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index for 2014, an improvement from 114th the previous year.
Lawyers for Gunawan last month filed a petition at the Attorney General’s Office accusing KPK head Abraham Samad of abuse of power, according to Kompas. Police have now begun a criminal investigation into Samad, the Jakarta Globe reported Jan. 31, without citing a source.

‘Save KPK’

KPK Commissioner Bambang Widjojanto submitted his resignation Jan. 26 after police arrested him for allegedly ordering witnesses to give false testimony to judges ruling in a local election dispute in 2010.
The KPK, citing Widjojanto, said on Twitter that its fight against corruption would not be silenced. After Widjojanto’s arrest, protesters gathered outside the agency’s offices, shouting “save KPK”.
Whatever his decision on Gunawan, Jokowi will seek to return attention to his planned reforms, including changes to tax collection and a focus on infrastructure.
“As a president I must make sure everything must be on track,” he said. “It’s only been 100 days. My work is for five years, so there’s still a lot that hasn’t been done.”