Anticorruption groups have asserted that the naming of two activists as suspects in a defamation case against the Attorney General's Office is simply a step to distract the public's attention from the rift between the nation's antigraft agency and the National Police.

Eko Haryanto, from the Committee to Investigate and Eradicate Collusion, Corruption and Nepotism in Central Java, said the AGO was trying to weaken the anticorruption movement.

"From our perspective, the AGO's decision to report the activists to the National Police for defamation is a way of trying to criminalize corruption eradication groups and limit their freedom of speech," Eko said.

On Jan. 7 the AGO filed a defamation complaint against the corruption watchdog, known as ICW, in response to a newspaper report claiming that the AGO had embezzled state funds recovered from corruption investigations over the past four years.

Rakyat Merdeka, a Jakarta-based tabloid, cited two ICW members, Emerson Yuntho and Illian Deta Arta Sari, as sources for the story. The pair have since been named as defamation suspects by police. According to Eko, the ICW data was valid because it was based on a state audit report.

Central Java's anticorruption groups have joined with the Love Indonesia, Love the KPK (Cicak) movement to call on the National Police chief to issue a letter of order to stop investigations, or a SP3.

"Defamation law can not be applied to institutions or organizations like ICW, it only applies to individuals," Eko said.