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Libel suspects to disregard summons
Anti-graft activists named libel suspects, Emerson Yuntho and Illian Deta Sari, said Tuesday they would not attend the first questioning session at the National Police’s Criminal Detective Body (Bareskrim)
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nti-graft activists named libel suspects, Emerson Yuntho and Illian Deta Sari, said Tuesday they would not attend the first questioning session at the National Police’s Criminal Detective Body (Bareskrim).
The two members of Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) said they would instead just send the police a letter.
Detectives have sent the two activists warrants summoning them to attend the first questioning session on Thursday.
“First of all, we will send them a letter requesting an explanation of the warrants. We are not outlaws, we will obey the rules. But their warrants were a little unclear so we need them to elucidate,” Emerson told The Jakarta Post.
On the police warrants, copies of which were obtained by the Post, Emerson and Illian were mistakenly identified as members of “International Coroption Word” (ICW).
“We want to ensure it is us they want. Our NGO is Indonesia Corruption Watch not ‘International Coroption Word’,” Emerson said, adding they would send the letter Thursday.
National Commission on Human Rights deputy chairman for internal affairs M. Ridha Saleh lambasted the police’s move of naming the activists suspects.
“This is a bad precedent because activists are now actively criticizing the government in connection with corruption eradication efforts,” he said.
Ridha said this case may strengthen the public opinion that the police are against the corruption fight, human rights and democracy.
The case stemmed from an article published in the Jan. 5 edition of the Rakyat Merdeka daily newspaper. In the article, entitled, “Recovered money from corruption cases embezzled? Why the Rp 7 trillion [US$740.5 million] in cash has yet to be transferred to the state accounts?”, Emerson and Ilian were quoted, questioning the Attorney General’s Office (AGO)’s management of the funds recovered from graft cases.
Two days after the article was published, AGO prosecutor Widoyoko reported the article to the police, claiming defamation.
Emerson said the ICW’s statements were based on reports from the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK). ”I have the necessary data to support my suspicions of the AGO’s fund management,” he said.
According to data obtained by the Post, there have been at least 18 anti-graft activists who have been criminalized or sued since 1999. Of that number, five were ICW members, namely Teten Masduki, Bambang Widjojanto, Danang Widoyoko, Emerson and Illian. Most of the activists were named suspects for libel or defamation.
Last month, Jakarta Police detectives named human rights activist Usman Hamid a suspect for the alleged defamation of former State Intelligence Agency (BIN) deputy chief Muchdi Purwopranjono.
Usman, the coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), was accused of slander after claiming that Muchdi orchestrated the murder of noted human rights activist Munir Said Thalib in 2004.
Anti-graft activists criminalized in 2009:
Emerson Yuntho and Illian Deta Arta Sari (ICW)
Jamaludin, Badrusaman and Zamzam Zamaludin (Coalition of Students and People of Tasikmalaya)
Dadang Iskandar (Gunungkidul Corruption Watch)
Suryani (Glasnost Ponorogo)
Source: Indonesia Corruption Watch
