Rights activists grouped in a civil coalition have called for the government to establish an independent team to carry out an investigation into the alleged involvement of law enforcement personnel in drug dealing.

The coalition, the Indonesian Movement to Eradicate Narcotics Mafia. was established in the wake of reports filed to the police against prominent rights activist Haris Azhar after the latter published a story online about the testimony of executed drug lord Freddy Budiman. The group is urging the independent task force to evaluate law enforcement practices in narcotic cases, Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak, the chair of the youth wing of Indonesia's second-largest Muslim organization, Muhammadiyah, said on Thursday.

"[The investigation] should attempt to uncover information relating to allegations of supports given by law enforcement officials in the drugs business in this country. We demand the President's commitment in the war against narcotics," Dahnil said on Thursday.

The coalition slammed the National Police, Indonesian Military (TNI) and National Narcotics Agency (BNN) for reporting Hariss on defamation charges. What Haris wrote should be used as an entrance to intensify efforts to eradicate narcotics bigwigs in Indonesia, Dahnil added.

The three institutions mentioned in Haris' post about his conversation with Freddy reported the former to the National Police's Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) separately on Tuesday. Although Haris did not name any names in his post, in it he said that Freddy had alleged that personnel from the three institutions had been involved in his illicit business. The post was spread on social media just hours before Freddy faced the firing squad on the high-security Nusakambangan prison island last Friday.

Source:
courtesy of THE JAKARTA POST

by Marguerite Afra Sapiie

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