Journalist dies after 'beating'

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)