Nivell Rayda & Dessy Sagita – Indonesia Corruption Watch investigator Tama Satrya Langkun, who was badly beaten by group of men Thursday morning, said he saw the attack as a threat, but wouldn't let it stop him from pursuing corruption cases.
"It was probably a warning to ICW given through me," he said. "But for what case we can't be sure yet."
Tama said he had been receiving menacing phone calls this week and was being followed. He said that a man who claimed to be a reporter with the Indonesian-language daily newspaper Kompas had repeatedly called him over the weekend to request a meeting.
Tama invited the caller – who identified himself as Roni – to ICW's headquarters, but the man turned down the offer. "Roni called me repeatedly but his voice changed with each call despite coming from the same number," Tama said.
Tama said Roni called him at work on Monday, saying he was outside ICW offices. Tama asked him to come in but he refused, choosing instead to wait outside at a nearby security post.
Tama said he went outside and observed Roni sitting next to a Toyota SUV with four people inside. Tama said he took down the license plate numbers of the car and two motorbikes that were also parked in the area.
He said the men were still there at 8 p.m. when he and colleague Febri Hendri left the office on two separate motorbikes. According to Tama, the men let Febri go and began following him. Fearing for his safety, Tama headed back to the office where he stayed the night.
Early on Thursday morning Tama and another colleague, Laode Moammar Khadafi, were stopped by four men on two motorcycles in the Duren Tiga area of Pasar Minggu in South Jakarta while on their way home from watching the World Cup match.
Tama said the men pushed him off his bike and started beating him with a metal object. According a statement Khadafi made at a news conference following the attack, the men specifically focused on Tama. "It happened fast. The men were strong and they moved very quickly," Khadafi said.
After the attackers fled, a suspicious man drove up in a silver Avanza and tried to persuade Tama to let him take him to the hospital, but Tama refused. Eventually, a security guard in the area came to Tama's aid and took him by motorbike to the Asri Hospital's emergency room.
Another security guard at the hospital who went back to the location to pick up Tama's bike said that he was also approached by a man driving a silver Avanza. The driver reportedly claimed he had chased Tama's attackers as they fled, but that he lost them near the Kaisar Hotel near Pasar Minggu.
Tama was one of the ICW activists who had provided the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) with details about millions of dollars of money allegedly in the bank accounts of a number of police generals.
On June 28, Tempo magazine ran a cover story about the suspicious bank accounts of six police generals, but the issue was completely cleared off every shelf in the city by groups of men in a pre-dawn buying spree.
Police denied suggestions that they were involved and immediately threaten to sue the magazine, not for the content of the article, but for the cover illustration that depicted a police general walking three pink piggy banks on leashes.
Tama commented on the magazine buyout on his Twitter account, saying: "Sawah Besar Police Chief suddenly bought many copies of this week's Tempo magazine... what's happening? Why, do the police suddenly like to read?"
On Tuesday, two men on a motorcycle reportedly threw three Molotov cocktails at Tempo magazine's offices but there was no damage.
ICW chairman Danang Widoyoko said the beating could be related to the watchdog's investigations into police corruption. Danang said that despite the cowardly attack on Tama, the ICW would not bow to "terror."
Tama said he would stay involved in investigations into the suspicious bank accounts said to be linked to the police officials.