TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – President Joko Widodo has said that he will determine the fate of beleaguered National Police chief candidate Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan this week. “God willing, this week,” the president said at Halim Perdanakusuma Airbase on Tuesday, February 10, 2015.
Jokowi, however, stopped short of elucidating the decision he would take on the matter. “Please wait and be patient, please wait, God willing, [it will be announced] this week,” he said.
At last week’s anti-narcotics coordinating meeting at Bidakara Hotel, the president said he would announce his decision on Budi’s fate upon completing his trips to three neighboring countries: Malaysia, the Philippines and Brunei Darussalam. “Later, next week, I need to attend to several things first,” he said last week.
Earlier, National Police deputy chief Comr. Gen. Badrodin Haiti said Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan would not withdraw from his candidacy as the next top cop despite State Secretary Pratikno’s call to do so.
“The state secretary has asked [Budi Gunawan] to back out, but after discussions, Pak Budi Gunawan decided he would wait for the results of his pretrial hearing,” Badrodin said at the Presidential Office on Wednesday, February 4, 2015.
Junimart Girsang, a politician from the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) party, meanwhile, said the president’s deciding to find another candidate to replace Budi would not necessarily scrap the latter’s candidacy. Junimart, therefore, asked the president to install Budi although he decided to deactivate Budi afterward. “His [Budi’s] right still has to be fulfilled,” he said on Saturday, February 7, 2015.
The president has hinted that he would replace Budi with another hopeful as he asked the National Police Commission (Kompolnas) to conduct another selection of police chief candidates.
There are at least four three-star generals who become National Police chief candidates: National Police deputy chief Comr. Gen. Badrodin Haiti, National Police Security Maintenance Agency (Kabaharkam) chief Comr. Gen. Putut Eko Bayuseno, National Police General Supervision Inspectorate (Irwasum) Comr. Gen. Dwi Prayitno, and National Police Detective Department (Kabareskrim) Budi Waseso.
ANANDA TERESIA | TIM TEMPO