Anticorruption activists draw ire of officials
Nana Rukmana, The Jakarta Post, Cirebon, West Java
Local prosecutors have brought a criminal charge against a group of activists who staged a rally on Wednesday to urge a serious investigation into corruption scandals in Cirebon, West Java.
Wednesday's demonstration ended with the activists hurling rotten eggs and tomatoes at the Cirebon Prosecutor's Office and lowering the Red and White national flag at the compound to half- mast.
Prosecutors said on Saturday the protesters, grouped in the Coalition of Cirebon Students and Youths (KMPC), were reported to police over charges of insulting a state institution and the Indonesian flag.
"Directly after the protest, we reported them to the police because it became anarchic and they defamed a governmental institution and the Red and White flag," senior prosecutor Basuki said.
He said the anticorruption activists could be charged with violating Article 154 of the Criminal Code on defamation of the government, which carries a maximum penalty of seven years in prison.
They also breached Article 154(a) of the Criminal Code on insulting the national flag, which has a maximum four-year sentence, he added.
Cirebon Police chief of detectives Adj. Comr. Taufik Asrori confirmed that police had received a formal complaint from the prosecutors. "It was filed on Thursday," he said.
He said the police could not yet name the activists suspects in the case, as they were reviewing the case before summoning them for questioning.
"We will examine whether the prosecutors' complaint can be followed up," Taufik said.
Meanwhile, KMPC spokesman Agung Supirno denied the charges against him and other activists over the demonstration.
The lowering of the flag was not intended to belittle the national symbol, he argued. "The Red and White is the flag of my and all other students' nation. It's impossible for us to disparage what we all respect," Agung said.
He said the move was aimed at pressuring the prosecutors to seriously investigate corruption cases in Cirebon, which had contributed to unresolved poverty problems in the country.
During Wednesday's protest, the activists highlighted a graft scandal involving Rp 1.3 billion (US$151,162) from the 2001 Cirebon budget, in which all 30 councillors and former mayor Lesmana Suriatmadja were declared suspects; but the probe into case dragged.
The demonstrators also demanded that chief prosecutor Suraini Dahlan relinquish her post.
"We consider her to have failed in leading the Cirebon Prosecutor's Office in fighting corruption. Therefore, we want her to resign. Cirebon does not need a prosecutor who has no courage to eradicate corruption," Agung said.
Ahead of the noisy protest, 19 KMPC members had staged a hunger strike at the prosecutor's office from March 16 to April 1.