Cops Desperate to Solve Novel Attack Case, Ombudsman Says

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Ombudsman commissioner Adrianus Meliala said the police are having trouble investigating the attack on Corruption Eradication Commission`s (KPK) senior investigator, Novel Baswedan. It has been nine months since the attack and the police are still unable to find the men who threw acid in Novel`s face.

"The police seem desperate handling the case," he said Jakarta, yesterday, Jan. 25.

Adrianus added this 'desperation' is apparent as the police keep questioning witnesses and seeking information that are not all credible, just to get any information.

For example, he said, is the questioning of Muhammad Lestaluhu, a security officer, who is now dismissed by his company because his boss didn’t like having the office hounded by the press.

Read: Police Faces Difficulties in Cracking Novels Acid Attack Case

There are also the questioning of Muhammadiyah Youth Central chairman Dahnil Anzhar and the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute's director Alghiffari Aqsa.

"It is obvious that the police are desperate for clues," he said. 

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.

Read: Police Identify Assailants of Acid Attack against Novel Baswedan

The Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Raden Prabowo Argo Yuwono said that as of yesterday there have been 1,058 reports from civilian claiming to have seen men who look like the suspect in the police sketch.

The police, Argo said, are taking this case very seriously. "So far, there has been no significant information, but investigators are still doing their job to find the attackers," he said. 

CAESAR AKBAR | HUSSEIN