Arientha Primanita – A year ago on Saturday, President Susilo Bambang Yudhyono stood beside the hospital bed of Tama Satrya Langkun and urged the activist to continue his fight against corruption.
A day earlier, the Indonesia Corruption Watch researcher had been brutally assaulted by unknown men. The president ordered the case investigated immediately. "I want whoever did this to be found and I want to know why they did it," Yudhoyono said shortly after news of the attack came out.
But on Friday, Tama stood in the street in front of the State Palace along with several other activists asking why his case was still unresolved. "It has been a year and the police still have not been able to identify my attackers," said Tama, whose scar from the incident is visible on his forehead.
The incident took place around 3 a.m. on July 8, 2010, in Duren Tiga in Pasar Minggu. Tama and his colleague, Laode Moammar Khadafi, were on their way home after watching a World Cup match when four men on two motorcycles stopped them.
Describing the attack last year, Tama said the men pushed him off his bike and started beating him with a metal object. According to a statement Khadafi made at a news conference following the incident, the men specifically focused on Tama.
The timing of the attack – just days after a Molotov cocktail hit the offices of Tempo Magazine – gave clues to a possible motive.
Tama was one of the ICW activists who had given the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) information about millions of dollars allegedly in the bank accounts of six police generals.
On June 28, a week before the Molotov attack, Tempo magazine ran a cover story about the suspicious bank accounts, but the issue was cleared off every shelf in the city by groups of men in a predawn buying spree.
"SBY's statements were just empty talk," said Abdullah Dahlan, a researcher at ICW who was present at the rally on Friday. "So far, there has been no significant progress in the case."
Apung Widadi, another ICW researcher, said that aside from Tama's case, there were other unresolved cases of violence toward pro-democracy activists, such as the murder of Munir Said Thalib in 2004. After almost seven years, he said, there is still no clue as to who ordered the murder.
"Yudhoyono has promised to give his full support to corruption eradication and human rights development," he said. "But activists and journalists are still suffering violence and murder under Yudhoyono's administration, from 2004 up to now." The activists gave a black flower arrangement and an open letter to the president through the guards at the gate of the State Secretary Office.
The letter, Apung said, is to remind Yudhoyono of his promises to protect all citizens including activists and journalists.
Presidential spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha declined to comment on the demands of the activists.
Tama said he would continue fighting graft. "My family asked me to quit ICW and I also received offers from companies with far bigger salaries, but this job really suits me," he said.
Still, he said, he will be more cautious now. "I am alert every time there is a motorcycle getting close to me on the road," he said. "When I eat outside I choose to have my meal in the open air, or in places with many people, or in the corner where I can see everyone."