Nivell Rayda, Jakarta – The nation's witness protection agency has begun assigning security guards and legal assistance to antigraft activist Tama Satrya Langkun, who was brutally assaulted this month.
Tama, a researcher with Indonesia Corruption Watch, was ambushed by four unknown assailants on July 8, leaving him hospitalized with serious injuries.
ICW said Tama was the key researcher behind its report to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the Judicial Mafia Eradication Task Force that alleged several National Police generals held suspiciously large bank accounts.
Abdul Haris Semendawai, chairman of the Witness and Victim Protection Agency (LPSK), said Tama's request for protection was filed on July 13 and had been duly approved. "We concluded last week that Tama was still under grave physical and legal threats," he told the Jakarta Globe on Monday.
He said the LPSK would ensure Tama was shielded from possible criminal defamation charges in relation to the ICW report, as well as from future acts of intimidation.
"Tama requested that his protection be limited to a personal day-to-day escort and legal assistance," Semendawai said, adding that the agency would also provide a lawyer to accompany Tama to police interviews.
"He won't be placed in a safe house for the moment and will be allowed to continue working unhindered at ICW, although his social activities may be curtailed."
Tama on Monday signed the agreement for protection at the LPSK office in Central Jakarta, where he was accompanied by advocates from the Jakarta chapter of the Legal Aid Foundation (LBH). "From today onward, I'm officially under LPSK protection," Tama told the Globe.
He has been interviewed by police three times since the attack, and provided them with the phone numbers of people who had made threatening calls as well as the license plate numbers of vehicles he believed had been tailing him prior to the attack.
Police say they have identified at least two of Tama's attackers but have not yet arrested them. They added some of the license plate numbers were fake.
Last week, the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) said it would conduct its own investigation into the case, citing the police's seeming reluctance to take any action.
The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) and the LBH have also taken up similar inquiries. Last week, LBH advocate Nurcholis said that hours before the assault, a Jakarta Police officer, identified only as an adjutant senior commissioner, had met with Tama at the ICW office to warn him he could be in danger.