Indonesia's president drops controversial candidate for police chief

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Wednesday dropped his nominee for the post of national police chief after weeks of public outcry over the candidate's implication in a bribery scandal.

Widodo's indecisiveness over the appointment after the nominee, Budi Gunawan, was named a corruption suspect, has led many supporters to question the new president's anti-corruption credentials and his readiness to take on powerful vested interests in Southeast Asia's biggest economy.

"Today, we put forward a new candidate to parliament for approval," Widodo told reporters at the presidential palace in Jakarta, adding that his new candidate was current interim police chief Badrodin Haiti.

Last month, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) named Gunawan a suspect in a bribery case, forcing the president to delay his appointment.

In apparent retaliation, the police have since declared the KPK's chief, Abraham Samad, and his deputy, Bambang Widjojanto, as suspects in different criminal cases, and have threatened to investigate other top agency officials.

Widodo also announced on Wednesday the suspension of Samad and Widjojanto, saying they would be replaced so that "the work of the KPK can continue".

The agency, backed by an army of supporters, has warned that the police actions will "paralyse" it. It has a perfect record of convictions, having netted police generals, cabinet-level ministers, and lawmakers in the past.

Widodo, the popular former governor of the capital, narrowly won a July election with a promise to voters to bringing clean, effective government to one of Asia's most corrupt nations.

But a survey published by a local pollster this month showed just 45 percent of Indonesians were satisfied with Widodo's performance, down sharply from 72 percent in August.

Concerns also linger over Widodo's willingness, as a newcomer to the national political stage, to take on the old guard of Indonesia, remnants of the Suharto-era authoritarian regime, and push through much-needed economic reforms.

The delay in appointing a new police chief has been seen by the public as a reluctance on Widodo's part to anger his chief patron, former president Megawati Sukarnoputri, to whom Gunawan is close.

(Additional reporting by the Jakarta bureau; Editing by Randy Fabi and Robert Birsel)

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