The House of Representatives on Thursday agreed in acclamation with President Joko Widodo’s nomination for Comr. Gen. Badrodin Haiti to become Indonesia’s new National Police chief.

This means the police will now have its definite leader, and after months of brouhaha everything will go back to normal, right?

Not quite.

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and with the police stabilizing in the hands of Badrodin and his tough-minded chief of detectives Comr. Gen. Budi Waseso, the squad will only strengthen to the point of being untouchable — especially after its recent scrimmage with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

Meanwhile, every effort made by the nation’s antigraft activists and civil society groups to clean up the police force — as showcased by huge public support for the KPK to charge corrupt police officers — has ended in vain.

So far, only the KPK has displayed enough gumption and courage to pursue corrupt police officers — even generals. But the recent brawl between the two law enforcement agencies have revealed that the House as well as the courts are standing behind the police, nullifying the antigraft body’s attempt to put bad cops behind bars.

In fact, with massive political support from other state institutions, the police managed to charge at least two KPK leaders as graft suspects. The message is clear: Don’t mess with the police lest you want to end up in the slammer.

With the police unanimously deemed to be nation’s most corrupt institution, any efforts to cleanse it of corruption will be futile. Any positive changes must now be done from the inside. Will Badrodin be the man for the job? It’s highly unlikely.

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Source: The Jakarta Globe