No Need to Add Commotion

If the Home Ministry appoints both Iriawan and Martuani as acting governors, the Law on the National Police and TNI must be obeyed.

Kompas/Alif Ichwan

Chairman of the General Election Commission (KPU) Arief Budiman (third from left), accompanied by Chairman of the General Election Supervisory Board (Bawaslu) Abhan (center) and (from left to right) KPU Commissioner Pramono Ubaid Tanthowi, Evi Novida Ginting Manik, Ilham Saputra, Bawaslu Member Mochammad Afifuddin and KPU Commissioner Viryan demonstrate the matching and examining slogan (coklit) of the 2018 simultaneous regional elections after holding a press briefing on the progress and implementation of factual verification after the Constitutional Court\'s decision at the KPU central office, in Jakarta on Saturday (27/1).

A recent debate over assigning two high-ranking officials of the National Police as acting governors of West Java and North Sumatra has sparked new commotion.

The spirit of competition and suspicions of a power play has made the political situation ahead of the regional elections less stable. The idea of appointing Insp. Gen. Mochamad Iriawan as acting governor of West Java and Insp. Gen. Martuani Sormin as acting governor of North Sumatra has been mentioned in various circles as a means of implementing the National Police\'s “dual function.”