By Brendan Mark Foo
On February 18, President Joko Widodo of Indonesia—better known as “Jokowi”—canceled the nomination of Budi Gunawan for police chief in favor of Badrodin Haiti, a police general. Jokowi’s earlier nomination of Gunawan, a target of corruption allegations, satisfied political patrons but hurt his popularity and sparked fears of cronyism.
The Haiti nomination, seen by many as a victory for transparency over corruption, instead reveals how difficult is for the Indonesian president to appease multiple factions. While Jokowi appears to be committed to fighting corruption and cronyism in Indonesia, his reform agenda is hampered by political factionalism and turf wars. To succeed, he must be willing to act boldly.
Out with the Old and In with the New
Only three days after Gunawan was nominated to the position of Indonesia’s police chief in January, the KPK, Indonesia’s anti-corruption commission, named him a suspect in a case of alleged bribery and accumulation of illegal wealth.These allegations generated significant political pressure on President Joko Widodo, whose election campaign was run on a platform of reform and integrity. In response to popular pressure against the nomination, Jokowi chose to delay Gunawan’s appointment.
With his latest nomination of Haiti, himself a veteran of the police force and current acting police chief, Jokowi has gone with a relatively conservative pick who he hopes will re-establish a peaceful working relationship between the KPK and the police. The Haiti nomination also balances appeasing members of Jokowi’s party while allowing him to flex his political muscle.
Who Watches the Watchmen?
Gunawan’s failed nomination testifies to a longstanding conflict between the Indonesian police force and KPK. Both parties were also at an impasse in 2013 when Djoko Susilo, a police officer, was convicted for his involvement in a case of fraud totaling $13 million.
When Gunawan was named as a corruption suspect, the police retaliated by arresting Bambang Widjojanto, one of five KPK commissioners, on charges of perjury pertaining to a five-year-old case. On February 16, police named KPK head Abraham Samad as a suspect in a case concerning the falsification of documents.
The arrests of the KPK commissioners were met with widespread opposition from Indonesians, who have shown themselves to overwhelmingly favor the KPK. With its reputation for integrity and perfect conviction record against corrupt public officials, there is far more love for the commission than there is for the police force.
When Widjojanto was arrested, large crowds descended upon KPK headquarters to offer their support. On social media, the hashtags #SaveKPK and #WhereAreYouJokowi gained traction rapidly. These not only revealed how much the KPK is trusted among the country’s institutions, they also showed Jokowi that he had to act or risk alienating his supporters.
Even though a court later ruled in favor of Gunawan and declared the KPK’s allegations against him invalid, Jokowi rescinded Gunawan’s nomination anyway. Jokowi can neither neglect his broad base of political support, nor afford to desert the aggressive but widely-respected KPK.
This saga also underlines Jokowi’s struggles with his own party, the Indonesian Democratic Party – Struggle (PDI-P). Gunawan’s original nomination was seen as a concession to Megawati Sukarnoputri, the head of the PDI-P as well as the former president of Indonesia, for whom Gunawan had served as a security aide.
In nominating Gunawan to the position of police chief, Jokowi was extending an olive branch towards Megawati. After all, Jokowi had just last year refused her request to give Gunawan a cabinet position. Jokowi must therefore play a delicate balancing act between Megawati and his political ambitions, as well as between the KPK and Indonesian police.
Looking Towards the Long Term
In the short-term, Jokowi’s reforms, such as cutting fuel subsidies, are already in motion. However, the longer-term effects of policies such as infrastructure development, or an Energy and Water Resources Ministry plan that would compel state-owned enterprises to give up vacant land for the government to build power plants, would depend on the strength of the KPK.
Foreign investors will be eyeing the KPK closely to see if its recent feud with the police force has hindered its ability to perform its anti-corruption mandate. While Jokowi has appointed three new KPK commissioners to replace those incapacitated by police investigations, these new commissioners may be allowed to do their jobs unimpeded.
Gunawan’s withdrawn nomination and the subsequent nomination of Haiti was a masterful move that appeased Indonesia’s House of Representatives, earned the approval of its electorate, and asserted Jokowi’s unwillingness to take orders from Megawati. Gunawan’s fall may have hurt the Megawati clique more than it hurt the president, and now we are seeing a stronger Jokowi emerge from the dispute.
Whether or not he can be allowed to rule will depend on Indonesia’s multifarious factions.
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Brendan Mark Foo is a masters student at Georgetown University. He was previously a project manager at the World Policy Institute.
[Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons]