REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- SETARA institute Chairman Hendardi said President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has no choice but to install Commissioner General Budi Gunawan as National Police Chief as the court has accepted his pretrial suit.
"In order to solve the conflict (between the Corruption Eradication Commission and National Police/Polri), President Jokowi has no choice other than installing Budi Gunawan. Budi Gunawan has become eligible to become police chief as the court has accepted his pretrial petition against his status as a suspect in a corruption case alleged by KPK," Hendardi stated here on Monday.
Hendardi made the remarks in response to the verdict of the South Jakarta District Court that accepted Gudi Gunawan's pretrial request against KPK's move naming him suspect in a corruption case.
South Jakarta District Court Judge Sarpin Rizaldi in the final pretrial hearing here Monday accepted Commissioner General Budi Gunawan's pretrial motion, affirming that KPK naming Gunawan a graft suspect was illegitimate.
One of the arguments on which the judge accepted Budi Gunawan's pretrial suit was that the case took place at a time when he was not a state official.
KPK investigators accused Budi Gunawan of receiving bribes through suspicious transactions when he headed the Police Headquarters' Career Planning Bureau during 2003-2006 and held other posts in police.
Gunawan later filed a pretrial suit challenging KPK's move.
KPK named Commissioner General Budi Gunawan a suspect not long after President Jokowi proposed his name to the House of Representatives as the sole National Police Chief candidate.
Following KPK's move, President Joko Widodo postponed the inauguration of Gunawan as national police chief until the Court issued its verdict.
Hendardi remarked that with the pretrial, all official procedures had been followed systematically. "This is a very objective and professional procedure because all are based on legal principles and state systems."
He pointed out that it will not be a problem if President Jokowi replaces Budi Gunawan after installing him as the police chief as it is his prerogative.
"Jokowi has the authority to decide on the matter. Steps that will be taken after the pretrial verdict should not be aimed at safeguarding Budi Gunawan, who claimed to have faced arbitrary actions by KPK, but should be aimed at safeguarding the country's legal and administrative systems," Hendardi affirmed.
The SETARA Institute chairman reminded that although the court's decision provided a solution to President Jokowi, he should remember that the decision has set a bad precedent for fight against corruption in the country.
He observed that there have been views that the court's decision had legal flaws and ran counter to the Book on Criminal Code Procedures as naming someone suspect has never been an object of a pretrial suit.
As there is no appeal mechanism to review pretrial decisions, the court's verdict in formal term is final and it restores all the rights of the suspect, including his right to be installed as the police chief, he explained.
Thus, in formal term, the naming of Budi Gunawan as a suspect stands legally cancelled. However, the verdict on the basis of political ethics has many flaws.
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