Journalist dies after 'beating'

UJUNGPANDANG, South Sulawesi (JP): The Pos Makassar weekly journalist died Wednesday in hospital with head and neck injuries, four days after his investigative reports on local government corruption were published.

The journalist, Muhammad Sayuti Haji Bochari, was found lying unconscious Monday afternoon on a street in Luwu, about 400 kilometers north of here.

Witnesses said Sayuti's bruises and injuries indicated that he had been beaten. He died at Palopo hospital.

Pos Makassar chief editor Andi Tonra Mahie said Sayuti's death was related to his reports on corruption in the Luwu administration published in the latest issue.

Sayuti wrote several articles on Malili subdistrict officials allegedly embezzling national government funding for impoverished villages.

Several days before he was found in the street, Sayuti had met the Malili subdistrict head.

Sayuti had also uncovered timber theft involving the Kasintuwu village chief, who police had only identified by his initials as ST. The report was the weekly's cover story on June 1.

Pos Makassar, in cooperation with the local branch of the Indonesian journalists Association, has established a team to investigate the reporter's death.

The team has requested an autopsy.

Wotu police chief Sergeant Major M. Kisman has insisted that Sayuti died in a traffic accident which had nothing to do with his reports.

Kisman said the journalist had fallen off his motorbike while trying to avoid colliding with a truck. Kisman said he had witnesses who helped rush the reporter to the Palopo hospital, 80 kilometers away.

Sayuti's relatives believe he was murdered because of his scathing reports.

Sayuti's dubious death came less than a year after the murder of a Yogyakarta journalist, Fuad Muhammad Syafruddin.

Syafruddin, who worked for Bernas, was attacked by strangers in his home in Bantul near Yogyakarta on Aug. 13. He died in hospital three days later.

His death is believed to be related to his investigative reports on alleged widespread corruption in the Bantul administration. But police insist that Syafruddin was murdered by his wife's lover, a driver for an advertising company.

Police are still trying to take the driver to court. Local journalists, who formed a fact-finding team, believe that Syafruddin was killed because of his reports. (37/pan)