Respecting the dead<\/p>\n
Ten days after Martadinata's maimed body was found lifeless by
\nher shocked parents in their modest home in Central Jakarta,
\nthere are few signs that the controversy over the fate of the
\nmurdered 18-year-old Volunteer for Humanity activist Ita, as her
\nfriends and family knew her, is about to end. Indeed, there is
\nevery indication that her memory will, for some time to come,
\nremain at the center of heated arguments among various parties in
\nthe community who hold different views about both the young
\ngirl's death and life.<\/p>\n
Ironically, it is the police's lightning swift \"solution\" of
\nthis disturbing drama, combined with the quick judgment
\npronounced by presumably qualified authorities on aspects of
\nIta's life that they apparently believed were relevant to the
\nmurder, which has been among the most effective factors that have
\nsustained the controversy so far, not to say expanded it.<\/p>\n
As was reported by the press, Ita's body was found on the
\nmorning of Friday, Oct. 9, with her neck slashed and stab wounds
\nin her hands, abdomen and chest. The following day, Saturday,
\nCentral Jakarta police officers arrested a 22-year-old jobless
\nyoung man whom they identified as Suryadi, alias Otong, alias
\nBram, a close neighbor of the family, on charges of suspected
\nrobbery.<\/p>\n
Officers said the murder had been planned long in advance, and
\nthat imitation jewelry belonging to the dead woman and blood-
\nstained clothing presumably belonging to the suspect had been
\nconfiscated as evidence.<\/p>\n
Had Ita been an ordinary citizen without a background in
\nsocial work that many consider to be sensitive and even
\ndangerous, the murder might indeed have been dismissed by the
\npublic as having been the work of one of those violent criminals
\nwho seem to be growing in number in Jakarta as the economic
\ncrisis begins to bite deeper and deeper in society.<\/p>\n
To be fair, such an \"ordinary\" murder as Ita's could well have
\nbeen that. After all, no proof to the contrary has so far been
\nproduced. On the other hand, there is ample reason for skeptics
\nto suspect that there is a much more sinister background than
\nsimple robbery behind the incident.<\/p>\n
Activists and humanitarian workers helping last May's rape
\nvictims in Jakarta to cope with their fate have claimed -- quite
\nconvincingly -- that they and their families as being constantly
\nstalked by terrorists making obscene or threatening telephone
\ncalls.<\/p>\n
Against such a background, surely it is not too much to ask
\nthe law enforcement authorities to take seriously suspicions of
\nIta's death being linked to her work, and probe deeper into the
\ndeath. Like other activists, Ita, too, must have had her share of
\nterrorist threats and telephone calls before she was murdered.<\/p>\n
Instead, the Police are threatening humanitarian workers and
\nactivists who dare to \"politicize\" the case with court action. To
\nadd insult to injury, experts in forensic medicine and psychology
\nhave come out with public statements that many observers see as
\ndeliberate attacks on the deceased girl's personal life and
\nvirtue.<\/p>\n
There are many who believe that Ita was one of the rape
\nvictims of the May riots, and that it was this traumatic
\nexperience that drove her, with her great courage, to try to help
\nothers who shared her fate. Whether such an assumption is true
\nwill be most difficult to establish.<\/p>\n
If she was such a victim, any public statement made to revile
\nher memory would be disrespectful in the extreme. In connection
\nwith the current efforts to shed light on what really happened
\nduring those fateful days in May, they are entirely irrelevant.<\/p>\n
Even if Ita was not a victim of the May upheavals but died in
\na plain robbery-murder, as the police claim, such a character
\nassassination after her shocking death is thoroughly tasteless.
\nIt is to be hoped, as efforts are still being made to uncover the
\nreal cause and motive behind Ita's death, that the public
\ncontroversy over the affair can teach us that in cases such as
\nthis, the way to help to clear up the mess is not by making
\nloose, irrelevant and disrespectful remarks about the dead but by
\nkeeping a level head and opening our ears to what people who are
\nsincerely trying to help are saying.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/respecting-the-dead-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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