JAKARTA (Yosefardi) – The House of Representatives (DPR) accepted the nomination of graft suspect Police Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan as new Chief of the National Police in its plenary session, Thursday (Jan. 15).
Budi Gunawan will replace Police Gen. Sutarman should President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo later inaugurates the three-star police general as new Police Chief.
In the meantime, public protest continues against Budi Gunawan’s nomination. Today, a group of artists, whose previously known as Jokowi’s supporters, staged a rally in front of the Corruption Eradication Commission’s (KPK) office. They urges KPK to arrest Budi Gunawan.
Similar rejection over Budi Gunawan’s nomination also comes from online petition Change.org. At the time of writing, the petition has been signed by 25,847 people.
As reported earlier, KPK has named Budi Gunawan as a suspect in the so-called fat bank account case on Jan. 13. KPK charged Budi with Article 12 letter a or b, Article 5 Paragraph 2, and Article 11 or 12B of the Anti-Corruption Law juncto Article 55 Paragraph 1 point 1 of the Criminal Code (KUHP).
KPK also asked the Immigration office to ban Budi altogether with his son, Muhammad Herviano Widyatama, from overseas travel. KPK even asked President Jokowi to cancel Budi Gunawan’s inauguration. (haryantosuharman@yosefardi.com)