The Victim and Witness Protection Agency (LPSK) on Thursday signed an MoU with the National Police and several other institutions in efforts to improve the protection of witnesses and victims.
Also signing the MoU were the National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM), the National Commission for Women's Protection (Komnas Perempuan) and the National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas Anak).
"Finally we have been able to sign this MoU after spending months in discussions with related parties on how to improve ways to provide protection to victims and witnesses," LPSK chief Abdul Haris Semendawai said Thursday.
Also attended the signing ceremony were National Police deputy operations chief Insp. Gen. SY Wenas, Komnas HAM chairman Ifdal Kasim, Komnas Perempuan chief Kamala Chandra Kirana and Komnas Anak chief Hadi Sumpeno.
Haris said the MoU aimed to link the agencies better.
The MoU requires each institution to coordinate with each other in providing protection to victims and witnesses.
It also explains step-by-step procedures for the handling of witnesses and victims, from the receiving of reports to the provision of protection .
"We will deliberate on easy guidelines on how victims or witnesses should report themselves to the nearest institution," Haris said.
"So, when a witness has reported their case to the LPSK, for example, we will decide whether we will keep them or hand them over to another institution."
The MoU also calls for the improvement of staffers' skills.
Haris said he had already conveyed to the police the need for improvements, which had promised to conduct a series of skills-improvement workshops.
"In the field, when anything can happen to our witnesses or victims, it is important for us to master skills on how to safeguard them," he said.
"I have talked to the police and they have agreed to teach us what to do in particular situations."
LPSK is tasked with the protection of victims and witnesses, as mandated by the 2006 Witness and Victim Protection Law, which orders the government establish an independent agency to provide the service.
The law stipulates that the LPSK has the right to delegate the placement of victims and witnesses in related institutions, and that every witness and victim should be protected from harm.
LPSK's authority, however, was allegedly abused recently by LPSK deputy chief Ketut Sudiharsa, as revealed in wiretapped conversations with Anggodo Widjojo, the brother of fugitive graft suspect Anggoro Widjojo. The conversations had been wiretapped by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and were revealed in a landmark public hearing at the Constitutional Court.
The LPSK leadership subsequently suspended Ketut and another LPSK member, Myra Diarsi, for their alleged roles in the case.
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