TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A maneuver by the National Police to recall six of its former personnel now assigned to work as Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) investigators cannot be allowed to proceed unchallenged. This decision is not only mistaken administratively but also has the potential to threaten the effectiveness of the work of the KPK, which spearheads the eradication of corruption here.

The controversial decision conveyed by Jakarta Regional Police Chief Maj. Gen. Idham Azis to KPK leaders in December last year seems odd for at least two reasons. First, the management of Police personnel is usually handled by its human resources section, not by such a high-ranking officer such as the Jakarta Police Chief.

Second, one of the KPK investigators the police seeks to recall brilliantly got to the bottom of meat importer Basuki Hariman’s bribery case. His recall is also suspicious because it is said that Basuki gave sensitive information when the KPK questioned him. Not only did he admit to bribing constitutional court justices such as Patrialis Akbar, but he also claims to have paid several other state officials, including high-ranking policemen.

In light of all this, it is hard not to link the decision to recall these six investigators to the Basuki bribery case. Even more so as the investigator concerned is a key witness to the destruction of evidence at the KPK. He was the one who spotted two of his colleagues, Roland and Harun, busily getting rid of 15 pages of Basuki’s cash book. The book is important because it has within it the names of several people who received bribes from the meat importing company Basuki owns. It is only natural that there are concerns that this recall will likely stop the KPK’s probe into the Basuki bribery scandal.

Legally speaking, the policy of recalling the six investigators is also problematic. The police insist they are following the rules that after a police officer finishes a 10-year assignment at another government agency, he must return to his original institution. If police officers wish to change their status to become an employee of another agency, Government Regulation No. 103/2012 states that the police chief must agree to that change.

The problem is that the changes in the status of these six particular police members to become KPK investigators was done under the old regulations, namely Government Regulation No. 63/2005 on Management of KPK Human Resources. It does not require permission from the previous agency to become a KPK employee. In October 2012, together with 20 other police investigators, including Novel Baswedan, these six people officially became employees of KPK, then headed by Abraham Samad.

Therefore, the fact that until now the Police have yet to issue any letter of agreement to the early retirement for these six investigators cannot be used as grounds to recall them to the National Police Headquarters. The rest of their batch, all 20 other investigators, have already received termination letter from the Police force. In other words, the police’s different treatment for these six investigators just strengthens accusations that ulterior motives are involved.

Police efforts to interfere with KPK investigators in a case connected with high-ranking police officers such as this one is truly deplorable, but alas this is not the first time it has happened. In the past, when the KPK was investigating corruption in the procurement of driving license test simulators involving Traffic Corps Chief Maj. Gen. Djoko Susilo, Police also try to recall their investigators in the KPK. If this pattern continues to be repeated, then it should come as no surprise that the level of public trust in police integrity will never rise above its current low point.

Read the full article in this week's edition of Tempo English Magazine