Indah Setiawati

Catholic priest and religious freedom advocate Benny Susetyo was assaulted by unknown assailants in the Bintaro and Pondok Indah areas, South Jakarta, on Monday evening.

Benny, 40, is now being treated at Pondok Indah Hospital. Visitors are restricted to his family and close friends.

"He was already conscious, but he could not communicate well with me when I visited him this morning. Maybe his head was badly beaten," Ahmad Suaedy, executive director of the Wahid Institute, told The Jakarta Post.

As of Tuesday afternoon, police had not given clear information about the attack.

Suaedy, Benny's colleague in advocating religious freedom, said he learned about the attack from Benny's brother, Andreas.

"Romo (Father) Benny was on his way to a store near his home in Bintaro on Monday, at around 8 p.m., when he was grabbed by a group of people," Ahmad said, quoting Andreas.

"He said he could not remember anything after that. Later, he was brought to an area near the Mbok Berek chicken restaurant in Pondok Indah and was beaten," he said.

He said a nun passing by saw three men brutally hitting and kicking the priest.

Ahmad said the nun then took Benny to the nearby Pondok Indah Hospital.

Mudji Sutrisno, a fellow priest, also paid a visit to the victim, and questioned why the priest was attacked.

"Let's pray Romo Benny will recover soon, so he can testify about what actually happened to him," he said.

Members of the Bishop Council of Indonesia (KWI) said they had reported the case to the police.

In a statement on the KWI Web site, www.mirifica.net, the council said Benny's wallet was not stolen, but the perpetrators took his mobile phone.

Kebayoran Lama Police chief Comr. Siswono said he did not receive any report related to the attack.

"What report? We have not received that kind of report," he said.

He added he did not know anything about the attack occurring in his jurisdiction.

Apart from advocating freedom of religion, Benny is a human rights activist who often speaks for marginalized people. He is also an executive secretary of religion and faith relations at the KWI.

As one of the founders of Setara, an NGO that deals with civil rights and democracy, he has written newspaper articles highly critical of the government and the country's elite.

— JP