Police claim jealousy behind reporter's murder<\/p>\n
ANTALYA, Turkey (JP): National Police Chief Lt. Gen. Dibyo
\nWidodo has confirmed the arrest of the suspected killer of Fuad
\nMuhammad Syafruddin, a local reporter in Yogyakarta.<\/p>\n
\"Based on our preliminary investigation, the reason behind the
\nkilling is purely a woman, who is the wife of the suspect,\"
\nDibyo, who was leading an Indonesian delegation at an Interpol
\nmeeting, told The Jakarta Post here yesterday.<\/p>\n
The alleged love affair between the Bernas reporter and his
\nex-schoolmate Sunarti sparked her husband's jealousy, identified
\nas Dwi Sumaji, 34, a worker at an advertising billboard producing
\nfirm.<\/p>\n
According to the head of the National Criminal Investigation
\nDepartment, Brig. Gen. Rusdihardjo, the local police also seized
\nvarious pieces of material evidence from Sumaji's house in Sleman
\nregency.<\/p>\n
\"Among the evidence is bloodstained clothes and an iron bar
\nbelieved to have been used by the suspect to beat the journalist
\nto death,\" said Rusdihardjo, who was here to accompany Dibyo.<\/p>\n
Both officers received news of the arrest by phone from their
\nstaff in Jakarta and Yogyakarta.<\/p>\n
Rusdihardjo did not specify whether the blood found on a shirt
\nand trousers of Sumaji was of the same blood type as that of the
\nlate Syafruddin.<\/p>\n
However, he admitted that Sumaji is related to the regent of
\nBantul whose policies had been criticized by Syafruddin in his
\nwritings.<\/p>\n
\"The arrest of the man is not the end of this case because
\nwe're still digging out more information and evidence to trace
\nany other possible motive for the murder,\" Rusdihardjo told the
\nPost.<\/p>\n
He also said the suspect had admitted to killing the
\njournalist purely out of jealousy. The suspect's wife Sunarti was
\nformerly a schoolmate of the reporter at an Islamic junior high
\nschool in Bantul.<\/p>\n
When asked to comment on Sunarti's statement that she had not
\nmet Syafruddin for many years, Rusdihardjo replied: \"She can say
\nanything she wants but we have the evidence to arrest her
\nhusband.\"<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, in Yogyakarta, families and friends of the suspect
\nprotested the arrest. Sunarti said her husband was at home on the
\nnight of Aug. 13, when the assault on the journalist, also known
\nas Udin, took place.<\/p>\n
\"My husband is innocent. He never went out at night because he
\nhas throat problems,\" Sunarti said. \"On that day, I was at home
\nat four in the afternoon. My husband got home after the dusk
\nprayer and went right to bed.\"<\/p>\n
The suspect's parents said Dwi Sumaji, also known as Iwik, is
\na kindhearted man who could not stand the sight of blood.<\/p>\n
Yogyakarta police chief Col. Mulyono Sulaiman insisted the
\npolice would not have arrested Dwi without strong evidence. He
\ndid not elaborate.<\/p>\n
\"We'll see in court whether people were right in their
\naccusation that police contrived this arrest. We are only
\nenforcing the law,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The Yogyakarta office of the Legal Aid Institute said in a
\nstatement that the arrest was too hasty. \"This is all a scheme of
\nthe police. We demand that Dwi Sumaji be released,\" the statement
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Udin, 35, died after an unknown group of people attacked him
\nin his home in Bantul, Yogyakarta on Aug. 13. It is strongly
\nsuspected that Udin's death was brought about because of his
\ncritical reporting on certain people. (bsr\/30)<\/p>",
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