T

he National Police are investigating alleged police negligence in the murder of a farmer who had been protesting against a mining operation.

National Police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti said the force'€™s Internal Affairs Division (Propam) was looking into allegations that negligence by the Lumajang Police in East Java led to the activist'€™s death at the hands of local thugs.

The farmer, 52-year-old Samsul, also known as Salim Kancil, had organized a protest against sand mining in his village, Selok Awar-awar in Pasirian district, Lumajang, before being hacked to death by a mob of at least 40 people late last week.

'€œWhether the information that has spread is true or not, about negligence or delay in handling [the case], we will get the answer once the East Java Police Propam'€™s internal investigation is concluded,'€ Badrodin said on Friday at the National Police headquarters in South Jakarta.

Family members of Samsul had filed a report with the police regarding repeated intimidation prior to the deadly assault.

Samsul was killed in Selok Awar-awar early on Saturday, just three days after he had staged a rally with dozens of others to protest against the sand quarry at Watu Pecak Beach, also in Selok Awar-awar.

Badrodin said that if Propam did find evidence of negligence or involvement in the assault, officers involved would be punished.

'€œLet'€™s see whether they would just face disciplinary action or face criminal charges,'€ he said.

So far, the police have named 23 suspects, including the local village head, Hariyono, who was suspected of being the mastermind behind the assault given his role as the person in charge of the sand quarry.

Locals said the mining operation damaged the environment and left holes on the beach 5 meters in diameter and 1 meter deep.

A fellow protestor, 51-year-old Tosan, was also allegedly attacked by the same group, an assault that left him in critical condition.

Although he remains at the Saiful Anwar Hospital in Malang, East Java, Tosan has recovered enough to communicate with his wife, Ati Hariati, who waits by his side. He is fed through a tube while his wounds heal as part of his stomach has had to be removed due to the damage caused by the assault.

Since the death of Samsul, several villagers revealed that they had already filed reports with Lumajang Police over a possible assault prior to the killing.

Local police, they said, failed to respond to the complaints.

East Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Anton Setiadji said Propam was still questioning personnel from Lumajang Police.

'€œWe are still running the investigating. Maybe we will have results in one or two days that we can share with the media,'€ he said during a visit to Lumajang Police on Friday.

Although the investigation was yet to be completed, Anton said, initial results show that there might have been a deal between several police officers and the sand quarry operators.

Meanwhile, the National Police Commission (Kompolnas) also traveled to Lumajang on Friday to question personnel from Lumajang Police to decide if police personnel had been biased in the handling of the sand quarry operation.

'€œWe are still analyzing reports of negligence and of [the police] failing to provide protection for the activists who were rallying against the sand quarry,'€ Kompolnas commissioner Hamidah Abdurrahman said over the phone.