Ulma Haryanto & Farouk Arnaz – Retired Army general Saurip Kadi said on Sunday that he was not concerned by reports that the police might charge him for spreading false information regarding several killings in Lampung and South Sumatra.
"Leave it be, the situation in the field is already evident," he said. "Komnas Ham [National Commission on Human Rights] has confirmed rights violations, there are testimonials."
On Saturday, a National Police source close to the investigation said a team was focused on finding violations of Articles 157 and 220 of the Criminal Code by "people who came and presented a video of alleged violent acts in Lampung and South Sumatra to the House of Representatives."
On Dec. 14, a group of farmers from the Megoupak area of Lampung's Tulang Bawang district, accompanied by Saurip Kadi, met with House of Representatives Commission III, which oversees legal affairs.
The farmers told lawmakers they were being targeted by palm oil companies trying to push them off their land, and showed what they said was video evidence of a massacre in Mesuji district.
"Our team has worked to collect additional testimony and information in preparation for the charges," the National Police source said.
"We also have received a signed report from those who knew that footage from the video was taken from separatist conflicts in Pattani, southern Thailand. Saurip Kadi is on the list."
Saurip said he had done everything he could to verify the information when the farmers approached him for help. "When they asked for my help, the people told me that they were tired and that they had lost hope," he said.
He added that he was not the first person to make the video public, saying it had been uploaded to YouTube in April last year. "I told them to get both the person who made the video and one of the victims to confirm it, which they did and told me that it was the truth," Saurip said
The only thing he regrets, Saurip said, is that the police are going after him instead of those responsible for the violence.
In April, Komnas Ham announced that security officers hired by plantation company Sumber Wangi Alam had killed residents of Sungai Sodong village in South Sumatra.
A separate preliminary report from a fact-finding team found that more possible human rights violations had occurred in November last year when two civilians were shot by Lampung Police, leaving one dead.
Budiman Sudjatmiko, a lawmaker from the opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) who visited the conflict area on Sunday, called the situation "bloody corruption." "I call it 'bloody corruption' because all of the solutions offered by the government means death to the poor communities and farmers," he said.
Villagers also called for companies in the area to stop employing police-backed security forces, saying they only made the situation worse. "We feel intimidated by their weapons and uniforms," said one resident, who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution.
[Additional reporting from Antara.]