Gen. Bimantoro takes 10-day leave of absence
Gen. Bimantoro takes 10-day leave of absence
JAKARTA (JP): Outgoing National Police chief Gen. Surojo
Bimantoro is taking a leave of absence, following Monday's
incident when 150 middle-ranking police officers managed to make
rebellious statements against him, in a meeting that top police
generals had no prior knowledge of.
Bimantoro is taking his 10-day leave as of Tuesday, reportedly
for a general checkup in Singapore.
Other police generals also taking leave following Monday's
incident are National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Didi Widayadi,
and National Police Chief of Detectives, Insp. Gen. Engkesman
Hillep.
"During his leave, the day-to-day duties of Gen. Bimantoro
will be taken over temporarily by National Police deputy chief
Comr. Gen. Chaeruddin Ismail," Aritonang told reporters at his
office on Tuesday.
"Of course, Gen. Bimantoro still holds the staff of command."
Chaeruddin had been handpicked by President Abdurrahman Wahid
in early July to take over Bimantoro's duties, while Bimantoro
was suspended via a presidential decree.
The suspension was later revoked in another presidential
decree, which stated that Bimantoro had instead been "honorably
dismissed" as National Police chief.
Engkesman said that he would also be going for a general
checkup with Bimantoro over a three day period.
"We need this checkup," he said, while Aritonang later
stressed that their leave of absence had nothing to do with
Monday's incident and that the generals had requested for the
leave long beforehand.
In the incident, which shocked a number of police generals on
Monday, officers ranging from adjutant senior commissioners to
senior commissioners demanded Bimantoro stop disobeying orders
and comply with the instruction of President Abdurrahman to
vacate his post.
The meeting had been carefully planned, but police generals at
the National Police Intelligence Directorate, the National Police
Detectives Division and the National Police Internal Affairs
claimed that they had no prior knowledge of the meeting.
An inspector general, who requested anonymity, told The
Jakarta Post that in his own way, the President had won.
"There were always rifts within the National Police. I hate to
admit this... but it seems that man (Abdurrahman) has succeeded
in heightening friction within the National Police," the
inspector general said.
"A really terrible thing happened. Officers belonging to the
middle and low divisions at the National Police Headquarters...
they knew. This information was kept from us."
Separately, chief of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights
Association (PBHI) Hendardi said on Tuesday that Monday's
incident was praiseworthy and that the middle-ranking officers
who made the rebellious statements proved their impartiality and
independence of thought.
"To say what those officers did, as an act of disobedience
towards their chief would be wrong. What they did, was within the
limits of our existing regulations," Hendardi said, in a faxed
statement to the Post. (ylt)