Terror, threats, acid attacks: ‘like breakfast’ to Indonesia’s graft-busters
A string of incidents involving senior investigators has prompted calls for President Joko Widodo to get tough on corruption
Terror, intimidation and threats are to be expected if you choose to fight corruption in Indonesia, says the former head of the country’s graft-buster, Abraham Samad.
“It was our morning breakfast,” he recalls, jokingly.
But the safety and security of workers at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK)is no laughing matter for the Indonesian public, especially after the recent and brutal attack on senior investigator Novel Baswedan.
On April 9, two unidentified drive-by assailants threw acid on Baswedan’s face as he was walking home from morning prayers in North Jakarta. The attack, which came while Baswedan was leading an investigation into an electronic-ID embezzlement case, left him with severe wounds to his face and eyes.
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Samad condemned the “barbaric” attack, but said in reality, KPK officials should and would be ready for such acts of terror from their first day on the job. And the attack on Baswedan, he and other former KPK leaders believe, marked yet another effort by “certain parties” to disrupt the graft-buster’s activities.