Haris Azhar Says Syafii Maarif Can Lead TGPF for Novel Baswedan

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Haris Azhar, the former coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), said the only way to uncover the assault on Novel Baswedan is to form a joint fact-finding team or TGPF.

"The case cannot be handled solely addressed by the police. A TGPF will be composed of people who are competent and have the capacity to be trusted by the public to collect and search for powerful information, which shows the depravity behind this heinous crime against the Novel," Haris told Tempo on Thursday, March 1.

Read: MUI Chairman Concerned with Unresolved Novel Baswedan Case

Novel Baswedan was attacked on April 11 last year. He had hydrochloric acid (HCl) thrown at him by two unidentified men when he had just finished a morning prayer at a mosque near his home in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta. The attack left injuries on his face and left eye, which forced him to undergo treatment in Singapore.

It has been 10 months since the attack, but so far there has not been any significant progress on its investigation.

According to Haris, a fact-finding team will help solve the investigation. He said the team can consist of four community members, one from the police force, one from the KPK, and another from the State Secretariat. "The can be helmed by Buya Syafii Maarif," he said.

The team, he added, will have four major tasks: reviewing the case's investigation, listening to witnesses' testimonies, make progress reports to be submitted to the President and the public, and make recommendations to the President related legal proceedings.

The call to establish a TGPF to help solve the attack on Novel Baswedan continues to be voiced by civil society coalitions, including through an online petition that already has some 77,000 signatories.

Juli Hantoro