Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) senior investigator Novel Baswedan has lost almost all vision in his left eye following an attack in April in which still unidentified assailants splashed him with acid, according to the latest update from his family and the KPK.
A photo of Novel circulated online yesterday, showing that the pupil in his left eye has been discolored almost entirely as a result of the acid. Novel’s brother, Taufik Baswedan, confirmed the authenticity of the photo and gave an update on his sibling’s condition.
“The eye that is entirely white is his left eye, which has gone blind. So if the left eye were to look at a person, the person would only appear like a black figure,” Taufik said, as quoted by Detik yesterday.
“He can see using his right eye clearly, but it has not fully healed.”
KPK spokesman Febri Diansyah also confirmed the information about Novel’s current condition. Employees of the anti-corruption agency yesterday held a mass prayer to mark the 100th day since the acid attack on Novel.
“We prayed so that anti-corruption activists, like law enforcers, civilians, journalists, and all citizens become part of the fight against corruption so there are no more victims (like Novel),” Febri said.
Novel is currently being treated in Singapore.
Novel was splashed with acid by two people on a motorcycle as he was leaving a mosque near his home in Jakarta on April 11. Though there have been no official confirmation for the link, his attack came while the KPK was (and still is) in the midst of of one of its biggest investigations ever after it accused dozens of high-level politicians of taking part in a scheme to rob the state of $170 million worth of misappropriated funds from the program for the country’s new electronic identity cards (e-KTP).
The police have not been able to catch Novel’s attackers, after having released a couple of suspects who had airtight alibis. They said they have new facial sketches of possible suspects in the latest update of the case yesterday.
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