Rusdihardjo new police chief

Rusdihardjo new police chief

JAKARTA (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid told new
National Police chief Lt. Gen. Rusdihardjo on Tuesday to
concentrate his force on maintaining security and public order
and abandoning its military-like intelligence operations.

"Police must handle cases based on investigation results, but
not on intelligence activities," the President said before the
induction of the new police chief by Vice President Megawati
Soekarnoputri at State Palace.

The Vice President swore in Rusdihardjo due to the President's
sight problem. Megawati smiled when Rusdihardjo failed to repeat
his oath of loyalty to the state. She repeated the sentence
again.

This was the President's third time to install National
Military (TNI) and National Police leaders. Soon after his
election in October, he appointed Admiral Widodo to replace Gen.
Wiranto as TNI chief. Last month, he promoted Gen. Tyasno Sudarto
to succeed Gen. Subagyo Hadisiswoyo as Army chief.

Rusdihardjo, the chief of the National Police Staff and
Leadership School (Sespim) in Bandung, West Java, replaces Gen.
Roesmanhadi. Promoted to lieutenant general, Rusdihardjo, 55,
will take his new position after the Idul Fitri holidays.

It is not clear yet as to which new position Roesmanhadi will
occupy in the police. He is still two years away from the
mandatory retirement age of 55.

National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Erald Dotulong said on
Tuesday that he received the news from Gen. Roesmanhadi on
Tuesday morning.

"We were all shocked here. Pak Rusdihardjo is, of course, a
great choice, but we all expected either Maj. Gen. Bimantoro, the
operational affairs assistant to the National Police chief, or
Maj. Gen. Bibit Rianto, the expert staff member working with the
National Police chief," Erald told The Jakarta Post.

"Gus Dur (Abdurrahman), I guess, wouldn't be Gus Dur
otherwise."

Born in Solo, Central Java on July 7, 1945, Rusdihardjo has
spent most of his police career as a field detective,
particularly specializing in the narcotics division.

"He is a real guy in the field ... a great detective,
particularly in the field of narcotics," Erald said.

Like Roesmanhadi, Rusdihardjo is a 1967 graduate of the
National Police Academy. Rusdihardjo has had specialized training
overseas to deal with, among other things, narcotics and
antiterrorism.

This includes the Narcotics Law Enforcement Training Course in
Bangkok, Thailand, and the Narcotics Prevention of Offenders in
Tokyo, Japan.

He is a graduate of the Advance International Narcotics School
in Washington, United States. He took Asian studies in Conspiracy
Investigations in Manila, the Philippines and the Asian Senior
Police Officer course at the Royal Malaysian Police College in
Kuala Lubu, Malaysia.

Rusdihardjo also took a crisis management and antiterrorist
training program in Washington.

Before taking the position of Sespim chief in 1997,
Rusdihardjo was the National Police detectives director beginning
in 1993.

Gen. (ret) Awaloeddin Djamin, who was the National Police
chief from 1978 to 1982, said on Tuesday that Rusdihardjo had his
work cut out for him, not only as police chief, but also as the
commander of over 187,000 police officers nationwide.

"He is a great detective, I know that firsthand. He was in the
detectives division when I was still at the National Police. But
however great any police chief might be, he is nothing without
his staff, his police officers," Awaloeddin told reporters at his
residence on Jl. Daha III in Kebayoran Lama, South Jakarta.

"The police will be under the command of the President this
year. The police must start equipping, by way of education and
facilities, police precincts nationwide, since they will be the
operational command posts," Awaloeddin said.

Rusdihardjo, he added, was one of the select candidates.
Others included Jakarta Police chief Maj. Gen. Noegroho
Djajoesman, Central Java Police chief Maj. Gen. Nurfaizi, Bibit
and Bimantoro, who were considered to have the potential to lead
the National Police.

"The new chief must be able to maintain good relations with
the Army, despite all the pain it caused us by taking away our
grants and opportunities to better facilitate our forces. We need
more forces in the field."

Awaloeddin, who is also head of the National Police chief's
supervisory body, added that narcotics, arson, street crime and
violence remain the main priorities of the National Police.

"We all wish him the best of luck." (prb/ylt)