Da'i anoints Sutanto as possible successor

Da'i anoints Sutanto as possible successor

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said on Monday that he
has put forward Insp. Gen. Sutanto, the current vice governor of
the National Resilience Institute (Lemhannas), as a candidate to
replace him.

Sutanto is deemed by analysts as President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono's favorite nominee, making him the strongest candidate
to succeed Da'i.

On the sidelines of a graduation ceremony at the Police
Academy on Monday, Da'i said that Sutanto is included on a list
of the police chief's preferred candidates, which he would submit
to the President.

Da'i refused to reveal the names of other candidates included
on the list.

Many, however, have speculated that among the other nominees
are Deputy National Police chief Comr. Gen. Adang Dorodjatun,
operational director at the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) Comr.
Gen. Makbul Padmanagara and deputy chief of detectives at the
National Police Insp. Gen. Dadang Garnida.

Da'i said that the final decision would be in the President's
hands and that he was ready to file the list of preferred
candidates with the President very soon.

However, Da'i said the President had not yet asked for the
list of candidates, adding that the police would not therefore
get a new chief any time in the near future.

To achieve the top post in the National Police, Sutanto still
has one obstacle remaining, namely his rank that is not high
enough compared to the other candidates as he is only two-star
police general. The other candidates are three-star police
generals.

Although there is no regulation requiring the National Police
chief to be a specific rank, three-star police generals have
always been picked to take over the job.

Da'i had previously said that even a one-star police general,
or a brigadier general, could be nominated as police chief as
long as he was still active in the police force.

However, Da'i said on Monday the police were considering
increasing Sutanto's rank to a three-star general in an apparent
move to get him promoted as his successor.

"We are now discussing the possibility of elevating Sutanto's
rank but only the President can decide that. We can only propose
the idea and let the President decide," Da'i said.

Apart from the effort to elevate Sutanto's rank, Da'i also
said that he is currently adjusting the positions of several
high-ranking police officers nominated for the police chief's
post.

"We're planning to carry out a reshuffle, so that the high-
ranking officers with potential to become police chief will be in
the right positions," Da'i said, declining to elaborate.