The game might very well be up for both the Chief of Police, Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri, and the Chief of Detectives, Comr. Gen. Susno Duaji. That game being their employment in their current positions. Any attempt to maintain them by the president will be a mortal wound for the president as both the Chiefs are tainted beyond salvation. In essence, the president himself signed off on the pink slips when he created the fact-finding team, and then tasked that team with uncovering the truth.
There remain questions of independence considering the president appointed a team to uncover the mentioning of his name in a some wire-tapped conversations. However, the fact-finding team was always going to find that there was no evidence against Chandra Hamzah and Bibit Rianto because there was none to start with.
Indonesian law in its current form would not sustain the trumped-up criminalization of authority charges, and the alleged corruption has to-date not been proved. In fact, there is not even enough in police hands at the moment to even formulate the charge.
The fact finding team is supposedly going to send an interim report to the president that states that there is not enough evidence to proceed against Chandra and Bibit, either on the current charge or the alleged corruption. The president can no longer sit back and say that he is going to let this charade run its legal course. That course is done. The charges against Chandra and Bibit must be dropped and they must be reinstated immediately to their positions as Commissioners on the Corruption Eradication Commission.
This farce has already damaged the president, and any feet-dragging on his part once the fact finding team reports will only further damage his credibility as a corruption fighter.
If the president is worth his salt, then the Chief of Police will resign, or be dismissed, within 24 hours of the fact finding team's report (assuming that they report that there is not enough evidence to proceed). Quite simply, the Chief of Police used a Parliamentary Commission to state publicly that the police had enough evidence to proceed against Chandra on the corruption allegations. This would seem to be a clear case of putting the cart before the horse.
In simple terms, the Chief of Police lied, and he seemingly has misled and lied to the parliament about the state of the police investigation into the allegations.
Furthermore, the Chief of Detectives must also resign or be dismissed. After all this was his own personal vendetta or war against the KPK, and he has been found wanting in the honesty and integrity department. This is in spite of any claims he may have made as God is his witness that he never received any bribes. Whether he did or did not is irrelevant. His pursuit of Chandra and Bibit was a clear abuse of power on his part, and that in itself is sufficient for him to fall on his own sword and resign. If he does not have the desire or courage to fall on his sword, then the president needs to ensure that the man is dismissed from his position.
Once the president has taken the opportunity to clear out the dead wood from the police force, he must then turn his attention to the Office of the Attorney General (AGO). Heads will also need to roll there. And, those heads must continue to roll until a new Attorney General is appointed. Best case scenario for the next AG is that it is a lawyer of good standing and a clean reputation. It cannot be an internal promotion from within the ranks of the AGO as the AGO has shown that as an institution it is tainted with corruption.
The reality is that an outsider with a mandate and the support of the president will have a foot up in terms of cleaning house and setting the AGO on the path of real reform.
This would seemingly be the perfect opportunity for the president to clean house, and start fulfilling the promise of corruption eradication, clean governance, and a brighter future free from institutionalized corruption for all Indonesians.
Postscript...
I should add that the Deputy Attorney General, Abdul Hakim Ritonga, and the Chief of Detectives, Comr. Gen. Susno Duaji, have tendered resignations.
5 comments:
Well written. The two resignations are temporary no?? there is a their-there inversion in your article.
Can you pls keep me in the loop with the following extract from Globe three days ago.
The arrests and resulting public outrage led the Constitutional Court to demand the KPK hand over 67 taped telephone conversations. What followed was a hearing quite unlike any other.
what exactly was the MK's jurisdiction in this matter??
thanks
Lawk...
Long time no read. Been busy?
My understanding is that the resignations are not temporary. I have also heard that they have been accepted. There was talk at one stage of suspending them pending further investigation, but the wire taps sort of put paid to that idea.
Nice spot on the their / there inversion. Corrected, thanks.
The MK made a smart play. The tpaes were played as a means of making a determination as to whether Chandra and Bibit's constitutional rights had been violated. The MK jurisdiction revolved around the constitutional rights of the applicants.
This was sufficient for the court to push open a slightly ajar door. There are plenty of good people at the Constitutional Court, and simply, a slightly ajar door was all they needed.
I would add that the comments of the Chief Justice of the MK in the press was also an invitation to Chandra and Bibit's legal teams to launch a constitutional challenge.
Both Chandra and Bibit and their respective counsel and smart, so the public comments of the Chief Justice were all the motivation required.
Yes, in just about all respects it was "quite unlike any other."
Although, the more salacious details of the Antasari trial must always get an honourable mention. After all, it must have been worth the price of entry to hear the prosecutor waxing lyrical about hand relief as part of the indictment.
Thanks. Ive got to hand it to you. Well maybe not.
Lawk...
Well, maybe not would be my choice as well ;)
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