Bambang Muryanto, Yogyakarta – The Yogyakarta Police have been reported to the Indonesian Ombudsman (ORI) for their slow handling of the attack by a Muslim organization against Canadian author Irshad Manji's book discussion in Yogykarta on May 9.
Local civil society group Yogyakarta Women Network (JPY) filed the report at the ORI's Central Java-Yogyakarta representative office on Wednesday.
"Exactly 119 days after the report on the attack was filed, the Yogyakarta Police have not yet shown any stern action. Up to present, the perpetrators have not yet been revealed," Ika Ayu of JPY said after filing the report on Wednesday.
Ika said that as the organizer of the discussion, which was held at the Institute for Islamic and Social Studies (LKiS) office, her side had provided enough evidence and witnesses to help the police's investigation.
Although the witnesses could not clearly identify the perpetrators because of the helmets and headscarves they wore, Ika said it did not mean that the law could not be upheld.
"If the law fails to capture the perpetrators, then cases of violence will be repeatedly committed in Yogyakarta," she said. She added that it was for that exact reason that JPY asked the ORI to audit the performance of Yogyakarta Police in its handling of the case.
Siti Habibah, a witness from JPY, said that the police instead questioned her about her network's motivation to hold the discussion in the first place and asked her few questions related to the details of the incident. "There are indications of criminalizing the JPY," Damairia Pakpahan, another JPY activist, said.
The same suspicions were echoed by Tri Wahyu of the Yogyakarta Police Watch Network (JPP), saying that there had been indications of intentional delays in the police's handling of the case.
Quoting Article 31 (1) and (2) of National Police Chief Regulation (Perkap) No. 12/2009 on surveillance and control of a criminal case, he said that the police had only 120 days to solve a case categorized as "complicated" after an investigative warrant was issued.
"Up to now, no single suspect has been named," he said, expressing his support for JPY's efforts to have the ORI audit the Yogyakarta Police's performance.
JPY's lawyer Hamzal Wahyudin of the Yogyakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH) said that if the Yogyakarta Police failed to handle the case, his client would file a report with the National Police Commission.
Acting chairman of the ORI's Central Java-Yogyakarta representative office, Budi Masthuri, said that from the document that his office received from JPY, he could say that the police's letter on the development of the investigation (SP2HP) into the case did not meet with the required standard.
He added that his office would send a letter to the Yogyakarta Police regarding the matter, asking for clarification. His office, he said, would also hear from the police's team tasked with investigating the case.
Separately, Yogyakarta Police spokesperson Adj. Sr. Comr. Anny Pujiastuti said the police were still looking into the case. "There were many perpetrators. We have not yet been able to identify any suspects," Anny said.