TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta) accuses the government of failing to compensate two street performers in South Jakarta who fell victim to a case of false arrest by the police.

Andro Supriyanto and Nurdin Priyatno, the two street performers in Cipulir, were wrongfully arrested after the men were accused of being murder suspects in a police investigation.

The men were released after police realized they apprehended the wrong suspects. The Finance Ministry was also ordered by the South Jakarta District Court to compensate the two men, an order which was issued a year ago.

“The president and finance ministry are both negligent in this case,” said LBH Jakarta Director Arif Maulana on Monday, November 5.

Arif Maulana refers to the Government Decree No. 92/2015 on any form of compensation that must be paid within 14 working days prior to the court decision. The decree itself was issued by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo as a gift for the country’s human rights day at the time.

However, Arif claims that the Finance Ministry seeks excuse in the fact there is no Ministry’s Decree that oversees such law.

Tempo recently received an official request letter upon compensating Andro and Nurdin in their false arrest case, while a victim of the false shooting by a police member Wawan Mulyadi in West Sumatra was ordered to compensate the victims using funds sourced from the Indonesian National Police (Polri) budget.

M YUSUF MANURUNG