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Good news for KPK: Novel returns to office on Friday
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Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) senior investigator Novel Baswedan at the KPK office in Jakarta after arriving from Singapore on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018. (JP/Seto Wardhana)
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orruption Eradication Commission (KPK) senior investigator Novel Baswedan is slated to return to duty this week after taking almost 16 months of hiatus for medical treatment for his eyes, which were injured in an acid attack last year.
“There’s good news for KPK employees: Novel will come back to work on Friday,” said KPK workers’ union head Yudi Purnomo Harahap in a written statement on Tuesday.
“We, KPK employees, welcome Novel’s return to duty. It will bring extra energy to us, who miss his actions as a leading investigator,” he said, adding that they were planning to greet Novel on his first day of work in the lobby of the KPK building in South Jakarta.
Novel was attacked with acid by an unidentified assailant on April 11 last year, which left him with his left eye severely injured. He was then flown to Singapore to receive intensive treatment.
Prior to the acid attack, Novel was leading a probe into a high-profile e-ID procurement case. Speculation has been rife that the attack was related to the investigation.
Novel returned home on Feb. 22 this year before going back to Singapore for more surgery. He has been an outpatient ever since.
In late June, doctors in Singapore recommended he rest for 31 days after minor surgery to trim foreign tissue that had grown over the artificial lens placed on his left eye.
Activists and the public have repeatedly voiced support for Novel, and, at the same time, criticized the police for their sluggishness in solving the acid attack case. (ipa)
