Journalist dies after 'beating'<\/p>\n
UJUNGPANDANG, South Sulawesi (JP): The Pos Makassar weekly
\njournalist died Wednesday in hospital with head and neck
\ninjuries, four days after his investigative reports on local
\ngovernment corruption were published.<\/p>\n
The journalist, Muhammad Sayuti Haji Bochari, was found lying
\nunconscious Monday afternoon on a street in Luwu, about 400
\nkilometers north of here.<\/p>\n
Witnesses said Sayuti's bruises and injuries indicated that he
\nhad been beaten. He died at Palopo hospital.<\/p>\n
Pos Makassar chief editor Andi Tonra Mahie said Sayuti's death
\nwas related to his reports on corruption in the Luwu
\nadministration published in the latest issue.<\/p>\n
Sayuti wrote several articles on Malili subdistrict officials
\nallegedly embezzling national government funding for impoverished
\nvillages.<\/p>\n
Several days before he was found in the street, Sayuti had met
\nthe Malili subdistrict head.<\/p>\n
Sayuti had also uncovered timber theft involving the Kasintuwu
\nvillage chief, who police had only identified by his initials as
\nST. The report was the weekly's cover story on June 1.<\/p>\n
Pos Makassar, in cooperation with the local branch of the
\nIndonesian journalists Association, has established a team to
\ninvestigate the reporter's death.<\/p>\n
The team has requested an autopsy.<\/p>\n
Wotu police chief Sergeant Major M. Kisman has insisted that
\nSayuti died in a traffic accident which had nothing to do with
\nhis reports.<\/p>\n
Kisman said the journalist had fallen off his motorbike while
\ntrying to avoid colliding with a truck. Kisman said he had
\nwitnesses who helped rush the reporter to the Palopo hospital, 80
\nkilometers away.<\/p>\n
Sayuti's relatives believe he was murdered because of his
\nscathing reports.<\/p>\n
Sayuti's dubious death came less than a year after the murder
\nof a Yogyakarta journalist, Fuad Muhammad Syafruddin.<\/p>\n
Syafruddin, who worked for Bernas, was attacked by strangers
\nin his home in Bantul near Yogyakarta on Aug. 13. He died in
\nhospital three days later.<\/p>\n
His death is believed to be related to his investigative
\nreports on alleged widespread corruption in the Bantul
\nadministration. But police insist that Syafruddin was murdered by
\nhis wife's lover, a driver for an advertising company.<\/p>\n
Police are still trying to take the driver to court. Local
\njournalists, who formed a fact-finding team, believe that
\nSyafruddin was killed because of his reports. (37\/pan)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/journalist-dies-after-beating-1447893297",
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