TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A researcher from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Syamsuddin Haris, said that rumors about the existence of a hardline group “Taliban” inside the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) are false.
Syamsuddin asserted that he has worked with KPK in researches for the last three years and claimed to have not found about what the mentioned “Taliban”.
“No Taliban. That is just a mere gossip to justify the acts of older brothers (police) to make into and disrupt KPK,” said Syamsuddin through his Twitter account @sy_haris. Tempo has been granted permission to quote the tweet.
Terms of Taliban Group and Indian Police are first echoed by the Indonesia Police Watch chairman Neta S. Pane. The Taliban group is referred to KPK’s top investigator Novel Baswedan, who is backing by KPK workers' union. While Indian police are pointed out to investigators who hailed from National Police institutions.
The issue has recently been brought up again. One of the figures mentioning the matter is Denny Siregar, a Jokowi’s supporter, via his Twitter account.