Novel Baswedan's Advocacy Team Asks Jokowi Not To Be Silent On The Case Of Hard Water Sprinkling

KPK investigator Novel Baswedan (Rizky Adytia / VOI)

JAKARTA - Novel Baswedan Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) investigator advocacy team asked President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) not to remain silent when he saw the image of law enforcement being damaged by certain groups of people.

This request came after the two years and 1.5 years in prison for the perpetrators of sprinkling hard water against KPK investigators, Rahmat Kadir and Ronny Bugis.

"We, the Novel Baswedan advocacy team, demand accountability from President Joko Widodo as the head of state because so far the image of law enforcement has been tarnished by certain groups of people," said Kurnia in a written statement to reporters, Friday, July 17.

He said, the good and bad image of law enforcement in Indonesia is the direct responsibility of the president. This is because the Police and the Attorney General's Office are directly under the President because there is no ministry in charge of these two law enforcement institutions.

Furthermore, this team also asked President Jokowi to form a joint independent fact-finding team to re-investigate the case of sprinkling hard water against Novel. This is because the handling of cases carried out by the police is considered to have failed to reveal the scenario and intellectual actors of this crime.

Moreover, the Novel's advocacy team noted that there were a number of oddities in the trial process from the time the indictment was read until the prosecutor finally submitted the prosecution for only one year in prison. The prosecution, said Kurnia, was only a scenario to lock up the judge's decision so that the sentence handed down was not heavier than the charges presented.

"Why should the verdict be light, so that the defendant is not fired from the police and becomes a whistle blower or justice collaborator. This perfect scenario is shown by the attitude of the defendant who accepts and does not appeal even though the decision is heavier than the demands of the public prosecutor," he said.

Kurnia believes that the light verdict against the two perpetrators of the novel attack was because the items and evidence presented at the trial had no connection and suitability.

If this happens, Kurnia said that the decision of the Panel of Judges at the North Jakarta District Court was contrary to Article 183 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which mandates that judges must have conviction based on two pieces of evidence before passing a decision.

He considered that with the light verdict, the one who benefited the most was the police agency. "Because the two defendants who in fact are members of the Police cannot possibly be fired and legal assistance by the Legal Division of the Police which is tinged with issues of conflict of interest was successful," said Kurnia.

"The attitude that does not reveal political crimes to its roots at this time is only the repetition of cases of attacks against anti-corruption activists and other activists and law enforcers to combat corruption," he concluded.