REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BANDARLAMPUNG -- President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo must step in to rescue the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in view of police action against its deputy chairman Bambang Widjojanto, a law practitioner has said.
"We are very disappointed with the legal step taken by the national police. It seems the police got involved in power struggle with the KPK after it named Commr. Gen. Budi Gunawan in a graft case," director of Lampung City Legal Aid Institute (LBH) Wahrul Fauzi stated here on Friday (23/1).
Fauzi noted that the arrest has been an arbitrary act to take revenge against the KPK, which has named national police chief hopeful Commr. Gen. Budi Gunawan suspect in a gratification case.
He believes there has been an attempt to criminalize Bambang Widjojanto, as the acting national police chief was clueless about Widjojanto's arrested and did not know the reason behind the arrest.
Chief of the Public Relations Division at the National Police Headquarters Insp. Gen. Ronny Sompie confirmed that the Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) detained Widjojanto for questioning at 7.30 a.m. local time on Friday when he was driving his son to elementary school.
Bareskrim has named Widjojanto a suspect in a 2010 regional election dispute case. He has been accused of prompting a witness to give false testimony at the Constitutional Court regarding the dispute in Kotawaringin Barat, Central Kalimantan, when he was still a lawyer.
The arrest of the KPK deputy chairman has sparked protests in many circles, with the Coalition of Anti-Corruption Civilians describing it as an arbitrary act and a backlash against the anti-corruption movement.
Some 100 anti-corruption activists gathered at the KPK building here following the arrest on Friday to support the anti-graft body.
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