Bali Police arrested Wayan Tirtayasa, an activist from Jaringan Aksi Tolak Reklamasi (Jalak), or the Action Network Against Reclamation, on Saturday afternoon over an alleged death threat made against Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika.
Three other activists plan to surrender themselves Monday.
“He was taken by police from his house in Sidakarya on Saturday afternoon. He was then questioned at the police station as a suspect,” said Wayan “Gendo” Suardana, the lawyer who accompanied Tirtayasa during the interrogation.
Gendo, who is also an influential figure in the anti-reclamation movement, added that Tirtayasa would be charged under Article 336, subsection 2, of the Criminal Code for making a threat of grave violence toward a person in writing. The article carries a maximum of five years’ imprisonment.
However, Bali Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Hariadi denied that Tirtayasa had been named a suspect.
“We are still questioning some people as witnesses,” he said.
The brouhaha was triggered by a banner attached to the western wall of the governor’s office by Jalak activists during a rally last Wednesday. The banner contained the signatures and thumb prints in blood of anti-reclamation activists. It also bore the words “Cut [off] Mangku P’s head”, which triggered an angry response from the governor and his supporters.
The three activists who will surrender to the police will be accompanied by more than 30 lawyers grouped under the Environmental Warriors’ Defense Team.
“They are environmental activists. The death threat reported by the governor is criminalization of activists who are struggling against the planned reclamation,” the team spokesperson, I Nyoman Gde Antaguna, said.
Separately, Pastika asked his supporters to exercise restraint and not launch any violent actions against Jalak activists. The call was made in a hastily arranged public gathering Sunday afternoon at the governor’s office in Renon, South Denpasar.
“Please be calm and do not take matters into your own hands. Let the police handle this,” he said.
The Jalak activists were invited to attend the meeting, but did not show up. Scores of influential Balinese figures, including Cokorda Pemecutan XI, professor LK Suryani, martial arts guru Ngurah Harta, as well as hundreds of Pastika’s supporters from Karangasem and Buleleng, attended the meeting.
Anger filled the air in the first hour of the meeting as the supporters demanded the governor and police take firm action against the activists. Pastika’s supporters went as far as warning the island’s security authorities that they would take action against Jalak’s activists if the police failed to pursue the case.
“Expressing your opposition to the governor’s policy in public rallies is one thing, but publicly making a violent threat to the governor is a completely different thing, it has crossed the boundary,” they warned.
Pastika enjoys popular support in rural areas, where his policies on health care, economic aid and poverty alleviation favor the island’s poor.
At the end of the meeting, Pastika promised that he would visit Sidakarya, a village in South Denpasar and the base of Jalak, to engage the activists in discussion.
“Since they did not come to this gathering, I will make a visit to Sidakarya. I believe that these youngsters did not really understand the implications of their action and we must find the individuals responsible for inciting them to do this.”
(Source: The Jakarta Post)