Fitria Sofyani, Jakarta – The scene was familiar and would not be out of place if it took place during the heyday of the New Order authoritarian regime.
An activist at an organozation that dared publish damning reports about a corrupt state institution was brutally attacked by a group of unknown thugs.
It was only days after the report from Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) disclosing fat bank accounts of National Police generals was published by Tempo weekly. That thugs beat and injured Tama Satya Langkun, a member of the ICW investigation team.
As a result of the attack, Tama underwent surgery for a severe head wound on top of bruises from the beating.
But more than the physical wounds, the attack has affected Tama emotionally, which may take a while to heal. "It's still hard for me to go out at night. I feel that I'm in danger when dusk sets," he told The Jakarta Post.
Two days before the attack against Tama, unknown assailants lobbed Molotov cocktails at the editorial office of Tempo weekly on Jl. Proklamasi in Central Jakarta.
Tama may have been luckier because in the past, activists such as poet Widji Tukul, outspoken journalist Fuad Muhammad Syarifuddin, labor activist Marsinah or rights campaigner Munir lost their lives in challenging authority, but what befell Tama is a chilling reminder that more than a decade after ushering in democracy and political freedom, activists, members of the media and whistleblowers still suffer from harassment.
And for ICW, one of the country's most prominent whistleblowers against corruption, the attack on Tama was the climax of what it says as constant intimidation.
"This is the first time an ICW activist suffered from physical assault since it was established in 1998. We have experienced intimidation and threats but nothing physical," national coordinator of ICW Danang Widoyoko told the Post.
In fact, Danang said threats were a part of ICW activists' daily lives in the form of text messages, phone calls or raids at their office. Some activist at ICW local branches throughout the country have suffered the worst forms of intimidation, but national media rarely print news on such harassment, he said.
Still, the attack took him by surprise. "I didn't believe we were susceptible to this type of threat, especially because our country is undergoing democratization," he added.
Danang said that the increasing attacks against activists did not bode well for the country's consolidation of democracy.
An internal ICW document shows 89 cases of violence against activists or individuals who reported graft allegations between 1996 and 2010. Some suffered from physical attacks and intimidation. Others lost their jobs after pursuing their efforts to uncover graft cases.
One such person is Ahmad Dedi Abidin, a government official in Sumedang. In 2003, Dedi made an allegation about the involvement of a Sumedang regent in a corruption case. The whistleblower was removed from his position and his paycheck was withheld by the local government. While an investigation on the corruption case was ongoing, he could not even pay for his children's education.
In 2003, Romo Frans Amanue from Flores was sued by East Flores Regent Felix Fernandez for implicating him in a corruption case. The Catholic priest was given a two-month jail term for defamation, which prompted massive riots in Larantuka, East Flores, East Nusa Tenggara.
The harassment, however, will do little to stop them from uncovering corrupt practices in government institutions, a craft that has been perfected in the past 12 years. "But we will not let intimidation stop us from fighting against corruption," he added.
Another high-profile NGO that has borne the brunt of incessant intimidation is the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), an outfit that has long exposed rights violations perpetrated by members of the Indonesian Military (TNI).
Coordinator of Kontras Usman Hamid said unknown thugs not only hounded him but also members of his family over the past 12 years since his first involvement with the NGO. "Some of these people came to my mother's house," he told the Post earlier this week.
There were also times when he and members of his family were sent death threats – including his kids. "But the perpetrators were never caught let alone prosecuted," Usman said.
Recently Usman had to stave off efforts, albeit more benign ones, to compromise his stance on human rights and he prevailed.
Last month, he made headlines after turning down an offer made by the new chairman of the Democratic Party, Anas Urbaningrum, who wanted him to sit as a member of the party's central board on human rights.
Fellow activists have lauded his move while deploring the decision made by another rights campaigner Rachland Nashidik, who joined Anas' bandwagon.
Usman's decision should be applauded simply because harassment against rights activists has only intensified over the past year. Between 2003 and 2005, Kontras recorded 95 cases of violence against activists. In the past year the commission recorded 23 such incidents.
The commission report also found that families of activists suffered from depression and emotional fatigue. The report attributed the deaths of three parents of Trisakti University students who died in the May 1998 riot to depression. They also suffered from high blood pressure among other health complications.
Usman also noted that recently attacks against activists had also become more desperate. "The attack against Tama could not be more blatant as it was made soon after the report on the bank accounts was released," he said.