Insp. Gen. Prasetyo: However Big the Bribe, it's no Deal  

In the past two years, his is the signature appearing on every official's personnel action form. That is why he is the most likely official to have been sought out by Adj.Sr. Comm. Edi Suroso and Comm. Juang Andi Priyanto two weeks ago.

As assistant police chief in charge of human resources since December 2010, Inspector-General Prasetyo is due to retire this coming October. "I checked yesterday whether it was true he wanted to give me money. His response was unclear," he told Tempo reporters Anton Septian and Ananda Badudu in his office last week.

Where were you when the two were arrested?

I had just finished my exercises, and feeling a bit of flu. So I told my subordinates not to disturb me, because I needed to rest at home. I didn't know there was an arrest that day. I only knew about it on Monday when I went to Surabaya. Apparently, the incident happened on Friday.

Did you ever discuss at a meeting that there would be some personnel changes?

No. I did send the regional police chief a telegram saying: please submit some names, people who have been precinct chiefs for a long time, needing to be replaced. Why did I do this? We are getting closer to election time. There should be no mutations nearing election time.

When was the telegram sent?

About two weeks ago. But it was sent only to the regional police chief.

Did Edi Suroso come to meet you so his status could be changed?

Perhaps that's what he had hoped. But I checked yesterday whether he had really planned to give me some money. His answer was unclear, whether it was for me or meant for some other location. It was unclear where he was headed.

In anticipation of these personnel shifts, have officers from the provinces come to see you?

None. Only for special issues. For example, cases not resolved by the local police chief, complaints of not having been promoted. I told them maybe it wasn't yet time for a promotion, or they had not put in enough time, that there were certain conditions to be fulfilled first.

What is the mechanism for promotions?

It must go through the Wanjakti (Council for Rank and Position), which consists of 13 senior officers led by the national police chief. I also sit in the council. In determining policies, not everything is in the hands of the assistant police chief in charge of human resources.

What about a promotion to be senior commissioner?

To become senior commissioner, it's not the human resources assistant chief who will make the decision, but the Wanjakti at the recommendation of the regional police chief. So long as the police chief makes no recommendation, nobody gets to be senior commissioner. No matter who is bribed, HR assistant chief, even the national police chief himself, with no recommendation from the Central Java police chief, there is no promotion. So there can be no bribe to me or any of my staff. Submitting Rp200 million to be promoted, that just won't work.

Has Edi Suroso been recommended to the Central Java police chief?

No. So he cannot be promoted from adjutant senior commissioner to be senior commissioner, however much he pays anybody.

Some say, to become a precinct police chief, a fee of Rp500 million must be paid up, and Rp2 billion to become a regional police chief. True?

No such thing. There are only 545 precinct chief positions in Indonesia. There are 10,000 mid-level officers who can be precinct chiefs. Of these, those meeting all the conditions may be around 2,000, but only 500 posts. So it's a one in four competition. Then they go through a filtering process. Those not getting a recommendation begin to think maybe there's a scheme involved; if you don't pay up, you don't become precinct chief. But that's not the case.

The full interview is available on print in this week's edition of Tempo English (July 3-10).