Majalah Tempo on Police Corruption Disappeared from Newstands

ANN reports that “An Indonesian magazine says its latest edition is being bought in bulk by plainclothes officers before it reaches news-stands.

The article, in Tempo, features a story on police corruption.

The magazine says one of its distributors reported that all its 700 copies were bought by non-uniformed police first thing on Monday.”

The Jakarta Globe has more details:

Tens of thousands of copies of Tempo magazine’s latest edition, carrying a cover story on suspicious bank accounts linked to senior police officers, were snatched off the market by mystery buyers early Monday morning.

Titled “Rekening Gendut Perwira Polisi” (“Fat Bank Account of a Police Officer”), the cover story looks into the suspiciously hefty bank accounts of several police generals.

An illustration on the cover depicts a police officer being led by three leashed piggy banks.

On Sunday, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) said it was planning to investigate the suspicious accounts.

The Police spokesman rules out that there’s any police involvement in this Tempo Magazine sell-out

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Edward Aritonang denied the police had bought the magazine.

“We have 406,000 personnel nationwide, why should we be bothered by such a potboiler?” he told The Jakarta Post.

Edward said he had read the magazine and found nothing to worry about.