Killer's arrest stuns peacefull neighborhood<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The arrest of 22-year-old Suryadi, alias Otong,
\nalias Bram, for the murder of volunteer counselor Marthadinata
\nshocked his neighbors along Jl. Berlian III in Sumur Batu
\nsubdistrict in Central Jakarta.<\/p>\n
In the eyes of the locals, Otong -- as they often called him
\n-- was a calm person.<\/p>\n
Therefore it was not easy for them to believe that one of the
\nyoung men in their peaceful neighborhood had brutally killed his
\nown next-door neighbor.<\/p>\n
\"He's a very quiet man but also helpful if anyone in the
\nneighborhood needs help,\" Ritha, who lived next to the victim's
\nhouse, recalled.<\/p>\n
Almost all of the local residents, young and old, expressed
\nsimilar opinions about the suspect to The Jakarta Post on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Born in 1976 in Jakarta, Otong is the fifth of seven children
\nof Sunarji, a construction worker, and Dati, a laundress.<\/p>\n
He lived together with his parents and two sisters Rohani and
\nRohati in their ramshackle 36-square-meter house.<\/p>\n
One wall of the poor family's wooden house adjoins the house
\nof the victim's family.<\/p>\n
Their neighbors, including the parents of the victim, said the
\nSunarjis never had problems with other people in the area.<\/p>\n
\"My family often asked their (the Sunarjis) help to keep the
\nkeys of our house for a while when all of us decided to go out at
\nthe same time,\" said the victim's father, Leo Haryono.<\/p>\n
According to Otong, a technical high school graduate, he once
\nworked at a repair shop owned by the Astra automobile company.<\/p>\n
\"He, however, worked at the repair shop producing rims of
\nwheels for vehicles only for six months.<\/p>\n
When his contract ended, he wasted most of his time at home,\"
\nsaid his mother, Dati.<\/p>\n
Sometimes, Otong said, he was hired by his neighbors to paint
\nor refurbish their houses.<\/p>\n
Sumiran, one of his close neighbors, said: \"Otong is not the
\ntype of person who would easily get angry.<\/p>\n
He never got mad although people here often teased him. He
\njust remained quiet. That's why many of us here are surprised
\nthat he had committed such a crime.\"<\/p>\n
Housewife Elly, in her 40s, commented: \"He has no single
\ncharacteristic to suggest he was such a dreadful murderer.<\/p>\n
\"But who knows? Anyone could run amok at some time without
\nconsideration.\"<\/p>\n
His other neighbors assumed that Otong might have badly needed
\nmoney for his marriage.<\/p>\n
According to his mother, Otong was to marry on Nov. 29.<\/p>\n
\"We are indeed badly looking for money but not for his wedding
\nceremony. It is for his father's debt,\" Dati told the Post on
\nSunday.<\/p>\n
Otong's mother, who has not met her son since his arrest on
\nSaturday evening, could not believe that her loved one had turned
\ninto the cold-blooded killer of their own neighbor.<\/p>\n
\"To be honest, I could not believe the (police) charge against
\nmy son,\" she said.<\/p>\n
She recalled that she and her husband Sunarji were involved in
\na heated quarrel over the amount of money Sunarji could spend on
\nhis trip to the congress of Megawati Soekarnoputri's Indonesian
\nDemocratic Party (PDI) in Bali.<\/p>\n
Sunarji, a strong supporter of the party, insisted his wife
\nprepare Rp 1.5 million in cash which he would use to pay his debt
\nshortly after returning from the congress, she said.<\/p>\n
\"Otong saw the quarrel,\" Dati recalled.<\/p>\n
Her husband even asked her to sell the house for Rp 25 million
\n(US$2,800), she said, adding that the victim's parents had once
\noffered Rp 20 million for it.<\/p>\n
Dati vowed not to sell the one-bedroom house, which she
\ninherited from her parents.<\/p>\n
Otong, who looked ready to face the punishment, said simply to
\nreporters on Saturday evening: \"I really feel sorry. I was
\nsuddenly possessed by an evil spirit. Now I have to take the
\nresponsibility.\" (emf\/ind)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/killers-arrest-stuns-peacefull-neighborhood-1447893297",
"image": ""
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