T

he Witness and Victim Protection Agency (LPSK) is unable to work effectively due to limited budget and human resources, agency chairman Abdul Haris Semendawai has said.

Abdul said the agency was currently unable to meet public demand for protection and to fix this he hoped the government would provide greater resources and open regional offices.

The agency received over 670 requests from the public in the first three months of the year, mostly demanding protection in relation to cases of human rights abuse.

“There were 360 requests for protection relating to human rights abuse cases, 59 to do with graft cases, 12 to do with terrorism cases and others related to child sex abuse and assault cases,” Abdul said during the agency’s coordination meeting with related institutions in Kuta, Bali, on Wednesday.

The LPSK, which was setup based on the 2006 law on witness and victim protection, provides protection and assistance to witnesses and victims and their families.

In 2015, the agency saw a more than 50 percent increase in protection requests. The LPSK received a total of 1,687 requests in 2015, a more than 50 percent increase from 1,076 requests in 2014.

As an agency supported by only around 100 personnel based in Jakarta, he said, the LPSK was incapable of fulfilling many requests that came from across Indonesia. Requests received in first three months this year, he said by way of example, came from 17 provinces across the country.

“With limited human resources, we were overwhelmed. While we are based in Jakarta, our team must handle requests from all around Indonesia,” Semendawai.

“We only rejected requests that indeed could not be handled by LPSK based on the law. For example, we could not give protection to those involved in civil dispute,” Abdul said.

He added that the LPSK did not only give psychological protection to victims and witnesses, but also medical support, psychology support and restitution. Within one year, the agency could provide 3,000 to 4,000 different services.

“With a staff of only 100, it is impossible for us to handle everything by ourselves. Thus, we cooperate with related institutions in the provinces, such as police, prosecutors, psychologists and others,” he said.

Abdul said the LPSK badly needed additional teams in the regions. “We really hope that LPSK representative offices can be established at the provincial level,” he said.

Semendawai explained that Law No. 31/2014 on witness and victim protection stipulated that the LPSK could establish representative offices in the regions.

The law stipulates that the establishment should be regulated by a presidential regulation. “The draft of the presidential regulation for LPSK representative offices was sent to the President last year. We really hope that the President approves it,” he added.

The agency also has a limited budget for doing its job across the country. This year, the LPSK got only
Rp 90 billion (US$6.6 million) from the 2016 state budget.

“Based on the budget plan we proposed, our budget should have been Rp 130 billion,” he said.

Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan emphasized in a speech recently that the LPSK had to be supported because it played a huge role.

He said that protection of witnesses and victims was needed, especially because many them were whistleblowers and justice collaborators.

“The LPSK has a very important role. With protection from the state, witnesses and victims need not feel threatened when giving their testimonies,” Luhut said.