POLITICAL tension surged when Ahmad Syafii Maarif declared that the sole candidacy of Budi Gunawan as the national police chief was not the initiative of President Joko Widodo. The statement angered the police and politicians, including Megawati Soekarnoputri, chair of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

Megawati then summoned Syafii to her home in Central Jakarta. "We spoke for almost two hours," recounted the chair of the Team of