Antigraft activist named suspect over aid 'theft'

Antigraft activist named suspect over aid 'theft'

The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh/Jakarta

The Indonesian police named anticorruption activist Farid Faqih a
suspect on Thursday for allegedly stealing donated items destined
for tsunami victims in Aceh.

The police have also confiscated two trucks from him loaded
with the donated food, medicine and computer equipment.

If convicted, Farid could be imprisoned up to seven years,
said Brig. Gen. Soeharto, the chief of the special crimes
division at the National Police headquarters.

Farid, the coordinator of Government Watch (GOWA) a non-
governmental organization that acts as an anticorruption
watchdog, was questioned by Banda Aceh police investigators after
he was earlier detained and questioned by the Indonesian Air
Force's military police officers on Wednesday.

"After the police investigation, he has officially been named
a suspect," Soeharto told reporters in Banda Aceh.

According to military police sources, the relief materials
arrived by plane at the Iskandar Muda air base in the Blang
Bintang area just outside of Banda Aceh city at 1 p.m on
Wednesday. The donations came from the military officers' wives
association (Dharma Pertiwi) and were logged in and received by
Capt. Suaib, a military medical officer, currently in Aceh.

After checking the aid containers on the tarmac of the air
base, the military officer reported its arrival to the TNI's
operational command on the base. After handing over the manifest,
Suaib went back to the tarmac, but the containers were gone.

Suaib eventually discovered that the supplies had been loaded
on to two trucks and taken to a warehouse.

Suaib and the soldiers with him became enraged after they
realized that Farid, who is in Aceh along with other NGO
activists, working in partnership with the UN's World Food
Program, was responsible for taking the aid away. After an
argument, Farid was beaten black and blue by the soldiers and
detained at the Air Force's military police post. Farid was later
sent to the Banda Aceh police headquarters for interrogation.

"The beating was unavoidable because the officers had been
waiting to distribute the aid for two days," said Lt. Col.
Sazili, the air base commander, as quoted by AFP.

In addition to Farid, Aceh police officers also questioned six
volunteers from the Islamic Defender's Front (FPI), who helped
Farid load the goods on to the trucks.

During the investigation, Farid maintained that he was
innocent. He told the investigators that he intended to keep the
goods at the warehouse just outside Banda Aceh to prevent damage
from the rain, Indopos daily quoted the investigators as saying.

The arrest and beating of Farid has sparked an uproar among
activists and non-governmental organizations in Jakarta.

Gowa Secretary General Andi Syahputra claimed that the arrest
was politically motivated. He said that "certain parties" were
upset that Farid had criticized the distribution of relief aid by
the Indonesian military and the government, and that was what led
to the violence and charges against him.

Student Movement Exponent 1997/1978, a group of former student
activists, said that Farid had become a scapegoat to deflect the
blame over the chaotic distribution of aid.

Separately, the Coordinating Minister of People's Welfare,
Alwi Shihab, said that he was not convinced that the activist was
guilty of misappropriating aid for tsunami victims.

"Farid may have violated certain procedures, believing that he
could bypass them given the emergency situation in Aceh, but the
security authorities might have considered that a serious crime,"
Alwi said in Jakarta.