Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – The Aceh Journalists Association believes that one of its members has been murdered despite the initial police investigation suggesting that he died in a traffic accident

Darma Sahlan, 43, a reporter for the weekly Monitor magazine, was found dead in a ditch in the village of Lawe Dua in Southeast Aceh district on Feb. 5.

Muhammad A.H., chairman of the association known as the PWA, said his office had conducted its own investigation into Darma's death and concluded that he could not have died from a motorcycle crash, as police said earlier.

"We interviewed people whose homes are just three meters from the location where Darma's body was discovered. The locals we interviewed were still awake [when the accident supposedly occurred] and they said they didn't hear anything resembling a crash," the chairman said on Wednesday.

The PWA also interviewed Darma's family, who said that Darma had wounds on his face and neck. His family also said they saw bruises they believed originated from a blunt object.

"There is a strong indication that the victim was attacked and killed somewhere else and his body dumped in the ditch," the chairman said, adding that there appeared to be no damage to Darma's motorbike.

Despite earlier suggesting the traffic accident was to blame, Southeast Aceh Police chief of criminal investigations First Insp. Muhammad Firdaus said police had not been able to confirm Darma's cause of death. He added that police were struggling due to the absence of witnesses who saw what actually happened to Darma.

"We cannot confirm if it was an accident or murder. All possibilities are be investigated," the police officer said. "This case is our main priority, but we cannot come to any conclusion any time soon. We are still analyzing and evaluating all of our findings."

The PWA chairman said that a few days before his body was found, Darma wrote about allegations of embezzlement said to involve the district's branch of the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI).

In his article, Darma wrote that the local PMI had not conducted any real activities despite receiving substantial funds from district coffers.

"About three days before the incident, Darma contacted a local activist via telephone and in his conversation the activist said, 'Please help me if the case goes to court,'?" he said.

The chairman of the Banda Aceh chapter of the Independent Journalist Alliance (AJI), Mukhtaruddin Yacob, urged police to be transparent in investigating Darma's death.