Angered that a senior Corruption Eradication Committee (KPK) insulted their organization’s reputation, hundreds of members of the Association for Islamic Students (HMI) gathered at KPK headquarters for a protest that devolved into a riot, complete with vandalism, rock throwing and violent attacks on police officers.
We’re sure that will do wonders for their reputation…
The HMI members were at KPK headquarters on Jalan Rasuna Said to protest against KPK Deputy Chairman Saut Situmorang. Last Thursday, Saut appeared on a TV One talk show in which he talked about corruption in Indonesia. He said that HMI, the country’s oldest Islamic Student Organization, was full of intelligent people, but he also said many of their alumni end up becoming corrupt government officials. He then mentioned several HMI alumni who had been caught up in corruption while in political office, such as former Sports Minister Andi Mallarangeng.
HMI members reportedly demanded that Saut apologize immediately, but when he did not respond within two days they reported him to the police for defamation. But, not content to wait for the law, HMI members gathered at the KPK building yesterday morning to demand that Saut apologize to them in person and be punished.
Through a press conference that same morning, Saut apologized to HMI for his statements, but did not meet the protesters directly (obviously).
Not content with news of the apology, the demonstrators continued, The protests turned ugly around 1:30pm when HMI members became enraged and started throwing rocks at a security post, vandalized the KPK building’s sign and attacked police sent to secure the demonstration. At least three officers were injured.
HMI continues to demand Saut’s arrest for defamation. Rather than apologizing for the chaos and injuries caused by his organization’s members, the Chairman of the Executive Board of HMI, Mulyadi P Tamsir, asked for the public’s “understanding”.
“But it must be understood, sometimes our younger brothers get emotional, but actually their anger was at Saut Situmorang, who has slandered, injured, destroyed, and murdered the reputation of HMI, which has served Republic of Indonesia for 69 years,” Mulyadi told Tribunnews.
We’re pretty sure if anybody has destroyed HMI’s reputation in the eyes of the public, it’s HMI’s own members.
