NGOs ask rights body to investigate beating case

JAKARTA: A coalition of antigraft activists have requested the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) to form an independent investigation team to probe an assault on an activist.

Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) activist Tama Satrya Langkun was attacked on his way home from Kemang two weeks ago.

Tama had earlier broke a story on suspiciously large bank accounts held by senior police officials. Many believe the attack was related to his reports. The coalition of NGOs argued that an independent team would be able to provide better insight than the National Police.

"We encourage the commission to assist the police investigation by forming a parallel investigation team to help police determine who should be held responsible for the incident," Dadang Tri Sasongko said Tuesday.

He added, thatthe coalition acknowledged that it was worried with the current police investigation since nothing significant had resulted from it so far.

"The coalition feels that there has been an attempt to misdirect the investigation by suggesting the people behind the beating might have done it for personal reasons," he said. - JP