A number of prominent figures visited Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) investigator Tama S. Langkun at hospital on Sunday to express support for the activist who was brutally beaten in an attack many believed was linked to his investigative work.
Tama, who led the NGO’s investigation into suspicious bank accounts belonging to a number of senior police officers, is being treated at Asri Hospital in Duren Tiga, South Jakarta.
Among those visiting Tama was Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputy chairman M. Jasin. He said the attack on Tama was proof that corrupters were fighting back with a vengeance.
“This incident is a lesson to us that fighting against corruption is a very difficult job.”
“We in the KPK have also experienced the same, but not physically as has happened to Tama,” Jasin said, referring to the framing of two fellow KPK deputy chairmen, Bibit Samad Riyanto and Chandra M. Hamzah.
The two were accused of extorting businessman Anggodo Widjojo, who is currently on trial for attempted bribery and obstruction of justice.
Judicial Commission chairman Busyro Muqoddas, who is also a candidate to head the KPK, urged police to finish investigating the attack within two weeks. “It should be easy for the police. They are capable of solving much more complicated cases,” he said while visiting Tama.
Masdar Farid Masudi, a member of the lawmaking body of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the country’s largest Muslim organization, also visited the activist that day.
“[NU members] send our biggest support for Tama. We believe what he has gone through will come back to haunt his attackers,” he said.
People’s Consultative Assembly deputy speaker Lukman Hakim Saefuddin, who also visited Tama, said the incident provided great momentum for parliament to pass into law a bill to protect activists.
“The bill should pass this year. I feel everybody is with me [in pushing for it],” the United Development Party (PPP) senior politician said.
The attack on Tama took place only days after unknown assailants hurled Molotov cocktails at the office of Tempo news magazine in Central Jakarta.
An edition of the magazine, published two weeks ago, ran a cover story on the enormous wealth held by at least seven high-ranking police officers.
Tama himself reported the bank account case to the KPK and suggested that police let an independent party investigate the case.
National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri, however, ignored the call, saying the case was an internal matter and should be investigated by an internal team.
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