City police remain to have meny unsolved cases<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The city police turns 50 on today, and it
\nprefers to remain silent about a lot of things.<\/p>\n
There have been questions in the past which were either left
\nunanswered or answered for the sake of the public's hungry demand
\nfor information.<\/p>\n
The brutal shootings of student protesters in several areas of
\nthe capital in the past two years by the security authorities,
\nincluding members of the Jakarta Police, are still fresh in the
\npublic mind.<\/p>\n
Some of the offenders have been sentenced and others fired,
\nbut most people are not satisfied with the punishments, saying
\nthat they want the commanders in charge, not low-ranking
\npersonnel, to stand in front of a military tribunal.<\/p>\n
City police could do nothing to stop the amount of vigilantism
\ncarried out by members of the public, who engaged in such illegal
\nacts as they had lost respect for the police.<\/p>\n
This year alone, scores of suspected criminals have been
\nkilled and burned by mobs at crime scenes.<\/p>\n
High ranking officers of the Jakarta Police usually lamented
\nsuch failures by using the well-worn-tune of lack of personnel
\nand facilities and the fact that their personnel were underpaid.<\/p>\n
But the public simply concluded that the city police, like
\ntheir colleagues across the country, only bowed to power, not to
\nthe people. It seemed like the police intended to hastily find
\nscapegoats or bury the cases when the crimes had something to do
\nwith those in power or their relatives.<\/p>\n
In 1997, for example, the National Police Forensic Laboratory
\n(Puslabfor) concluded that three fires -- respectively at the
\nNational Development Planning Board (Bappenas) building, the
\nMinistry of Finance complex and the Bank Indonesia (BI) building
\n-- were arson cases and linked to one another.<\/p>\n
The first fire gutted a room on the second floor of Bappenas
\nbuilding on Jl. Taman Surapati, Central Jakarta, on June 14,
\n1997.<\/p>\n
Ginandjar<\/p>\n
\"The room was next to the working office of Pak Ginandjar
\nKartasasmita (then Bappenas chairman). No casualties were
\nreported,\" a senior Puslabfor officer who requested anonymity
\nsaid in a recent interview.<\/p>\n
National police investigators were \"still looking into the
\nmatter,\" when a second fire destroyed sections of a 12-story
\nbuilding at the Ministry of Finance complex on Jl. Lapangan
\nBanteng in Central Jakarta, on Nov. 24, 1997.<\/p>\n
The fire, which started on the sixth floor and spread to the
\nseventh and eight floors, never touched the fourth floor.<\/p>\n
\"The arsonist or arsonists were aiming for the fourth floor,
\nsince all the ministry's data were stored there,\" the officer
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The most devastating fire of that year, was the one on Dec. 8
\nat the central bank (BI) building which claimed 15 lives.<\/p>\n
Puslabfor deputy chief Col. Dudon Setia Putra said last month
\nthat the fire was purposely ignited and was \"pure sabotage.\"<\/p>\n
\"Damaging evidence was found on the 18th floor of the
\nbuilding... Thinner had been used to light the fire,\" Dudon
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"From the evidence, we can deduce that the fire was a
\ndeliberate attempt to destroy important documents, which were
\nburned on the four floors of the building.\"<\/p>\n
Another Puslabfor officer who also requested anonymity, added
\nthat a recent reinvestigation into the case, which began in late
\nJune this year, revealed that the documents contained data
\nrelating to 16 banks liquidated in August 1997. All such
\ndocuments were destroyed in the fire.<\/p>\n
\"There were also data, regarding corruption by at least two BI
\ndirectors then,\" he said, but did not elaborate.<\/p>\n
No official statement about the cause of the three fires was
\never released by city police.<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Police also stunned the public recently following
\nreports that the main defendant in the April 1999 bomb blast at
\nthe Istiqlal Grand Mosque -- Surya Setiawan, alias Wawan -- whi
\nhas been sentenced to 38 months in jail, on Oct. 18 was still
\ndetained at the city police headquarters.<\/p>\n
Wawan, 22, was found guilty by the Central Jakarta District
\nCourt of carrying and detonating the bomb, along with other
\nsuspects -- Jamhuri Litanahu, Nurly, Suradi, Semi Sedubun, Ati
\nand Uci.<\/p>\n
He was placed under strict security.<\/p>\n
Dietje<\/p>\n
Another notorious case whose court verdict many people still
\ndo not believe is the 1986 killing of 34-year-old pregnant model
\nDietje Budiasih Budimulyono.<\/p>\n
Lt. Col. Bambang Wahyu of Puslabfor's development division
\nsaid last month that the declared killer Mohammad Siradjuddin,
\nalias Pak De, was a retired Army officer and a trained shooter
\nwho had earlier been posted at the Army Artillery unit.<\/p>\n
The convicted paranormal Pak De said in August last year that
\nhe was an innocent man, who had \"confessed\" to the killing, due
\nto the mental pressure of seeing his two sons undergo continued
\nphysical torture.<\/p>\n
Bambang said the Puslabfor investigation, which went on for
\nsix months from the time of death on Sept. 8, 1986, included the
\nseizure of nearly 1,000 revolvers of .22 millimeter caliber
\nacross the nation, one of which was suspected to be the murder
\nweapon.<\/p>\n
Repeated examinations narrowed it down to revolver No. 93,
\nmade by Harrison and Richardson Arms. Co of Worcester,
\nMassachusetts, the United States.<\/p>\n
The revolver belonged to a security guard of the now defunct
\nBank Bapindo.<\/p>\n
A Puslabfor source said if Pak De claimed that he was not the
\nkiller, then the people should ask for a reinvestigation into the
\nBapindo security officer.<\/p>\n
\"The police never properly investigated this man. If people
\nwant to find out who this officer rented his gun to, then there
\nneeds to be a push for a reinvestigation into the murder,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"The key lies in the person who rented the revolver from the
\nsecurity guard.\"<\/p>\n
Nyo Beng Seng<\/p>\n
Another puzzle concerns the freeing of businessman Hasan,
\nalias Eng San, in 1997 after the Jakarta High Court overturned
\nthe guilty verdict against him in the murder of rival businessman
\nNyo Beng Seng.<\/p>\n
Eng San was convicted in the North Jakarta District Court in
\nJune 1997 for inducing others to kill Nyo Beng Seng in April 1994
\nat Nyo's second wife's mansion in Pluit, North Jakarta.<\/p>\n
He was found guilty of conspiracy to murder and sentenced to
\n17 years in jail.<\/p>\n
The defense argued the evidence against their client was
\ncircumstantial and based on hearsay.<\/p>\n
None of the prosecution's witnesses said they saw Eng San
\ndiscuss a murder plot.<\/p>\n
The high court also rejected the controversial written
\ntestimony of Kiki Arianto, who is wanted by the police in
\nconnection with the murder.<\/p>\n
Three people are currently in jail for the murder. (ylt)<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/city-police-remain-to-have-meny-unsolved-cases-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }