Change in Command at Bali Police Command

(8/9/2010)

Radar Bali is asking if there's more than meets the eye in the sudden replacements of Inspector General Sutisna as chief of the Bali provincial police with Inspector General Hadiatmoko who is being re-assigned from the national police headquarters.

Bali's new chief of police previous assignments include a period in which he served as the assistant chief of the national criminal investigation agency.

The very sudden replacement of Bali's top law enforcement officer has fueled speculation in some quarters that the move is tied to the recent gang attack and murder at the Red Room Bar in which police have failed to make an arrest. However, the spokesman for the Bali police, Gde Sugianyar, has dismissed those casting the change of command as a correction of a perceived lack of synergy with the island's police force in confronting gang warfare.

Explained Sugianyar" "It's just not correct. He (Sutisna) has the national employee number of #5208 which means he's already 58 years of age and it is time for his pension. So, the change as ho connection with issues of working synergy."

Simultaneous with Sutisna's replacement, the provincial chief for Central Java, Inspector General Alex Bambang Riatmodjo, was also replaced. That change of command is linked to Riatmodjo's recent halting of a national soccer final in which he demanded the referee be replaced.

Shown on balidiscovery.com is Bali's new Chief of Police, Inspector General Hadiatmoko.