House clears Sutanto's way up
Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Sole candidate Comr. Gen. Sutanto was not made to labor on Monday to win the House of Representatives' endorsement for his appointment as the new police chief to replace Gen. Da'i Bachtiar.
Members of House Commission I on legal and human rights affairs asked Sutanto dozens of questions on his strategies and plans during a seven-hour selection hearing, which appeared to be more a formality than anything else, according to several legislators.
The House's decision will be official announced during a House plenary session on Tuesday, and will be sent back to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who proposed Sutanto last week.
Trimedya Panjaitan from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the self-styled opposition in the House, said that most of Sutanto's answers did not reflect the core issues, although they were conceptually good.
"He didn't quite excel himself in giving concrete answers, but we know that he is more of a doer than a talker," he said.
United Development Party (PPP) legislator Lukman Hakim said that Sutanto's answers had failed to satisfy him.
"He didn't really elaborate. He also failed to detail what immediate action would be taken so as to benefit the public," he said.
A similar sentiment was expressed by legislator Mutamimmul Ula of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).
"In my opinion, Sutanto is just ordinary. Nothing in his presentation was impressive, although concept-wise, there was also nothing negative," he said.
However, all 10 factions in the House appeared generous and forgiving as regards Sutanto's presentation, underlining his relatively clean record and noteworthy achievements in the fight against gambling when he was the chief of the North Sumatra and East Java forces.
"Compared to other officers in the police, Sutanto has a relatively cleaner record and my faction feels it's right to give him a shot," Lukman said.
Mutamimmul said his faction could not find any significant reason not to endorse Sutanto.
"Before today's selection hearing, all the factions had already decided on whether they would or would not endorse him. Today's process was just a reconfirmation," he said.
No interruptions nor requests for greater elaboration were made by the lawmakers during the hearing, which was open to public.
Neither did the commission members question Sutanto's wealth, which reportedly includes a Rp 4 billion (US$400,000) house in the upmarket Pondok Indah residential area in South Jakarta.
"Several Commission III members visited my house earlier and they saw all I had there. Regarding my wealth, I have reported it according to the procedures," Sutanto shortly said.
During the hearing, Sutanto said he would "share power" with local police chiefs by providing them with adequate powers to provide better services to the public.
He also vowed to create a police force that would be able to respond quickly to reports on security disturbances, and increase community policing so as to increase public involvement in the fight against crime.
Outside the House, the Police Watch organization demanded that the new police chief introduce the principles of transparency, accountability and public participation in the management of the force.
It also urged the new chief to probe all abuses by police officers in order to create a clean and trustworthy force.