INDONESIA: Anti-corruption activist maimed in South Jakarta

Dear friends, 

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that an anti corruption activist in Jakarta has been attacked with a machete by unknown assailants. The activist had helped to produce a recent controversial report for Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) on bank accounts held by high ranking police. There are concerns that the attack was related to the activists work and will not be credibly investigated. There are also fears that the violence is connected to the attack on a newspaper office two days ago that had run a cover story on the report in its latest issue. 

CASE NARRATIVE: 

According to the information we have received, Tama Satrya Langkun and a friend were forced from the road by a car while they were riding a motorcycle in Kalibata, South Jakarta at about 4am on 8 July 2010. In a press conference the ICW reported that the car feigned ramming the bike from behind, causing the men to crash. Two men on another motorcycle then arrived on the scene, took off Tama’s helmet and slashed him a number of times with a machete. 

Tama was taken to hospital where he received 29 stitches to his head, back and hands (see more pictures here and here). ICW has reported that the activist believed he had been targeted prior to the attack, since in the past few days he had complained of several suspicious phone calls, and the impression that he was being stalked by an unidentified man. 

As a researcher at ICW, Tama was one of several activists who filed the complaint to the national Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in late June and early July 2010, which detailed suspicions about a number of bank accounts owned by high ranking police officers. The connection between the report and the attack has not been proven, however it has caused serious concerns among human rights defenders in Indonesia, who often feel unprotected and unsupported by their government in issues relating to police corruption. 

An immediate, thorough investigation must be conducted and the perpetrators charged, to reassure the community. The ICW is in the process of filing complaints about the assault with the police, the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) and the Witnesses and Victims Protection Agency (LPSK). 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: 

The issue of the mysterious bank accounts has become both widespread and controversial among the Indonesian public during the last few weeks, both due to the content of the report and the unexplained violent incidents that have followed its publication. 

Early on the morning of 6 July, unidentified men threw Molotov cocktail bombs at the office of Tempo Magazine in Jakarta, which as we reported in UAC-097-2010, had just carried a front page story on the bank accounts. As also noted, on the day of the magazine’s publication organized groups of men reportedly visited most of the magazine’s vendors in the city and bought all of the copies. The events have raised fears that the right to free expression is under systematic attack and is not being institutionally protected. Only an immediate, thorough and transparent investigation resulting in the conviction of the perpetrators will prove otherwise. 

SUGGESTED ACTION: 

Please write to relevant authorities listed below to call for a credible investigation on this case, followed by the punishment of those responsible in conformity with the law. 

The Asian Human Rights Commission also wrote to UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders.

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