House clears Sutanto's way up

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.