Police Fire 119 Officers This Year, but Djoko Susilo Still on Payroll

Jakarta Globe, Farouk Arnaz, Dec 31, 2014

Insp. Gen. Djoko Susilo looks to his lawyer during the delivery of his verdict at a
courtroom in Jakarta in this Sept. 3, 2013, file photo. (Reuters Photo/Beawiharta)

Jakarta. A total of 119 police officers have been fired in the past year, but Indonesia’s most infamous cop — Insp. Gen. Djoko Susilo — is still on the payroll.

Djoko, the former chief of the National Police’s traffic division, was sentenced to 18 years in jail and fined Rp 1 billion ($80,000) after he was found guilty of corruption in the Rp 200 billion procurement of driving simulators for use in tests to issue driver’s licenses.

“The total of 119 is less than last year, when there were 208 [officers who lost their job],” Gen. Sutarman, the chief of National Police, said on Wednesday.

Sutarman said that the reason why Djoko was still officially employed was that police were waiting for an internal ruling on his status.

Djoko tendered his resignation but may instead be fired from the force. A police commission is yet to rule on the matter.

Apart from the officers being fired, another 127 cops were convicted in a criminal court — 23 more than last year.

Another 9,892 officers were given disciplinary sanctions, while 444 were found to have violated the police code of ethics.

However, no fewer than 35,119 officers of the National Police were given commendations this year for exceptional service.

Corruption crackdown

Indonesian police have been trying to boost their image by cracking down on corruption and ineptitude within the ranks

Earlier this month, just days after a controversial new regulation banning motorcycles from some of Jakarta’s main streets caused chaos and confusion, the director of the city’’s traffic police unit was relieved of his command, just seven months into the job.

Sr. Comr. Restu Mulya Budiyanto just turned out to be not the right man to fix the capital’s traffic woes, Sutarman told the Jakarta Globe at the time, stressing that the replacement had nothing to do with a recent corruption scandal involving a number of top traffic cops.

The police force has long been identified by Transparency International as one of the most corrupt institutions in Indonesia.

In February, the National Police named Sr. Comr. Conny Tri Restyoko, the former Surabaya Police chief, a suspect for allegedly swindling colleagues out of Rp 800 million. He was said to have invested the money in a vehicle license and registration agency, which reportedly benefited from his connections to the traffic police to expedite the issuance of the documents.