Kampung Pulo riots on August 20, 2015. Photo: Twitter.
What happened to Eko Prasetyo was horrendous. Nobody, especially an innocent bystander to yesterday’s Kampung Pulo riots, should be subjected to police brutality.
But Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama has doubts that Eko was an innocent bystander. Ahok thinks it doesn’t make sense for Eko, who was supposedly passing by Kampung Pulo on the way to pick up his little brother from school, would pass through the middle of the riots.
“When people are rioting and fighting, would you walk straight through the middle? People who see such a commotion would usually run away from danger,” Ahok said, as quoted by Vivanews today.
Ahok also has doubts about allegations that Eko was walking innocently behind a group of Civil Service Police unit (Satpol PP) before he was dragged into the middle of the riots by a policeman. After all, according to the Jakarta Satpol PP Chief Kukuh Hadi Santoso, the riots were contained inside Kampung Pulo and there was no TV footage of any other riots outside the contained area.
Nevertheless, Ahok is leaving it to the police to investigate what actually happened to Eko. He also assured Eko’s family that the Jakarta provincial government would cover all of Eko’s medical expenses. Eko is currently being treated at St Carolus Hospital in Salemba, where he lies in a coma after sustaining injuries to the head during the riots.
