TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Law and human rights foundation Lokataru director Haris Azhar expressed concern over how state officials use their positions and institutions to criminalize academics and research findings.

Haris was determined to file a police report against the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan this afternoon and present pieces of evidence related to the conflict of interest of the minister's mining business in Papua.

“The evidence and documents are ready. It becomes funny when the police only question my camera, microphone, without looking for research evidence,” said Haris during an interview with Tempo at his office in Pulomas, East Jakarta, Wednesday, March 23.

He lamented that if research is processed under law, this nation will be dull and this stupidity is enforced by state officials.

“They actually take benefits of state institutions and their positions to force this nation to be stupid,” he argued.

Haris revealed that the evidence to be presented proves a conflict of interest between Luhut as a state official and his position in a mining firm. “It’s prohibited, especially when he served as the Acting Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources and he is now the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investments,” the activist added.

On March 18, Jakarta Metro Police named Haris and Coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (KontraS) Fatia Maulidiyanti as suspects in a defamation case filed by Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan.

Haris Azhar and Fatia Maulidiyanti were reported over their YouTube video talking about the results of studies conducted by organizations, such as KontraS, Walhi, Jatam, YLBHI, and Pusaka regarding the mining business of state officials in Papua.

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EKA YUDHA SAPUTRA