Police Chief and Attorney General Shake Hands: No Rift Between Police and Prosecutors
National Police Chief General Listyo Sigit Prabowo and Attorney General Sanitiar Burhanuddin have asserted there are no issues or rifts between the Indonesian National Police (Polri) and the Attorney General’s Office. The statement was made by the two leaders following a meeting at the main building of the Attorney General’s Office on Monday afternoon.
“We both agree and convey to all ranks that there is no problem between these two institutions,” Sigit told reporters. He confirmed that the cordial relations between the Police and the Attorney General’s Office would continue down to the provincial and district levels. According to him, this is important to safeguard the priority programmes of the Prabowo-Gibran administration.
“This is certainly our hope that it becomes a beneficial programme for the community, making Indonesia much better, and that requires stronger solidarity and synergy. But once again, there has never been a problem between the Attorney General’s Office and the Police,” he explained.
On the same occasion, Burhanudin said he welcomed the arrival of the Bhayangkara Corps officials. He stressed that such visits were not a new initiative. Burhanudin then asked the public not to view him and Sigit as rival figures locked in combat. He asserted that he had known Sigit personally long before he became the National Police Chief.
“Alhamdulillah, I received a visit from my friends in the police force, and actually this is not a new programme, it is an old programme,” he explained. “Friends, do not think that we are rivals, that we are versus each other, no. We have known each other personally since long ago, then we both serve, I as Attorney General, he as Police Chief,” he added.
Burhanudin stressed that meetings between the two institutions are normal and routine in the context of improving Indonesia’s legal system. “We are a single entity whose purpose is to provide a sense of security to the public, a sense of justice to the public. We have the same goal and we cannot be separated,” he said.