Tanjung rules out conspiracy behing general's murder<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Armed Forces (ABRI) Commander Gen. Feisal
\nTanjung insisted yesterday that there is no evidence of a
\nconspiracy behind the killing of Brig. Gen. TMF Tampubolon.<\/p>\n
\"So far, we have found no evidence that the killing had a
\npolitical background,\" Feisal said in answer to reporters'
\nquestions prior to a ministerial meeting at the Bina Graha
\npresidential office yesterday.<\/p>\n
At a separate occasion, head of the City Police Headquarters,
\nMaj. Gen. Mochammad Hindarto told the press that four young men
\nhave been identified with the murder of the army general and been
\ndetained.<\/p>\n
\"We arrested all of the four suspects at two different
\nresidences in the same area, just about six and-a-half hours
\nafter the incident,\" Hindarto said.<\/p>\n
Tampubolon, 54, was an expert staff on economic affairs to the
\nABRI Chief and a former intelligence deputy assistant to ABRI's
\nchief of general affairs. He was a group commander for one of
\nABRI's four elite red beret Kopassus squads.<\/p>\n
Tampubolon died at the UKI hospital in East Jakarta, half an
\nhour after the attack at around 10 p.m. on Monday. The incident
\ntook place in front of a Warteg traditional food stall, less than
\na 10-minute drive from his house on Jl. Cakra Wijaya IV at the
\nArmed Forces' Diskum AD housing complex.<\/p>\n
Bayonet, machete<\/p>\n
Police said that the Army brigadier general died from 11
\nsevere stab wounds inflicted both by a bayonet and a machete.<\/p>\n
\"Nine wounds were found on the right part of his body,\" said
\nhead of the city police investigation unit, Col. Gunawan, who was
\nalso the chief of the special team assigned to the killing.<\/p>\n
According to the police, Tampubolon was driving alone when one
\nof the four, who had just left a billiards center, walked to the
\nroad and knocked on the trunk of the general's passing car.<\/p>\n
Tampubolon stopped and asked: \"What's up?\", said Hindarto, to
\nwhich the group responded hostilely.<\/p>\n
\"After a heated argument at the back of his car, Tampubolon
\nwas attacked,\" Hindarto explained.<\/p>\n
With blood oozing from his body, Tampubolon managed to return
\nto his car and drove to the Kebon Nanas police subprecinct, which
\nis about a kilometer away, to report the attack, Hindarto said.<\/p>\n
Tampubolon was then driven to the UKI hospital.<\/p>\n
This version of events is markedly at variance from the
\ntheories of what happened presented by the police yesterday, who
\nreported that Tampubolon had struck another motorist, moving a
\nlocal crowd to anger. Others hinted that his murder had been
\nplotted.<\/p>\n
\"That's all! Therefore, based on our investigation, there was
\nno traffic accident or other stories, including political
\nmotives, behind the killing,\" Hindarto stressed.<\/p>\n
\"If newspapers had reported stories different from what we
\nhave, I'd like to advise the reporters to be novelists rather
\nthan journalists,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Suspects<\/p>\n
The four suspects are Rusdi Abdul Rahman, 24, Hendrik
\nSetyawan, 25, Rudiyanto, 24, and Lukman, 30.<\/p>\n
Hindarto said that Rusdi is a security guard at a private
\nhouse in the area, Hendrik a construction worker, Rudiyanto an
\nemployee of a private business and Lukman a local ojek
\n(motorcycle taxi) driver.<\/p>\n
\"Based on our latest investigation, we could say that Rusdi,
\nthe security guard, is the one who stabbed Tampubolon with his
\nbayonet and Hendrik wounded the general with his machete,\" the
\npolice chief said.<\/p>\n
According to Hindarto, the other two young men, Rudiyanto and
\nLukman, landed some jabs on the big body of the victim.<\/p>\n
Hindarto revealed that Rusdi was a graduate of a vocational
\nhigh school while Hendrik only finished primary school.<\/p>\n
He said that before announcing the case to reporters, officers
\nhad confiscated Rusdi's bayonet and Hendrik's machete and
\ncrosschecked all the testimony given by nine witnesses and the
\nfour suspects.<\/p>\n
Hindarto refused to release the names of the witnesses.<\/p>\n
A relative of the victim meanwhile told The Jakarta Post that
\nTampubolon left his house in hurry after receiving a call on his
\nhandphone.<\/p>\n
\"Tampubolon's aunt, who stayed with him at the house, saw him
\nrush to his car after the call. The number of his handphone is
\nonly known by a few number of select people,\" said Tampubolon's
\nrelative, who refused to be named.<\/p>\n
Tampubolon stayed with several of his relatives at the house
\nwhile his wife and some of his five children live at their house
\non Jl. Lembang, Bandung, West Java.<\/p>\n
When asked to comment about the mysterious call, Hindarto
\nsaid: \"Please help me to find the caller.\"<\/p>\n
According to the police chief, who is scheduled to leave his
\npost this year, none of the suspects were drunk when the incident
\noccurred.<\/p>\n
\"They drank, but they were not drunk,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Gunawan meanwhile admitted that his team nabbed three of the
\nsuspects at a residence near the scene and the other one a few
\nhours later at another house, also near the site of the killing.<\/p>\n
Both Hindarto and Gunawan refused to clarify the exact
\naddresses of the suspects.<\/p>\n
However, reliable police sources told the Post that Rusdi and
\nHendrik, the main suspects of the killing, were staying at a
\nfriends house on Jl. Cipinang Kulon in Cipinang Besar Selatan.<\/p>\n
The Army brigadier general was buried at the Cikutra hero
\ncemetery in Bandung yesterday.<\/p>\n
The suspects are now in city police detention while the
\ngeneral's Mitsubishi sedan, whose driver's seat was covered with
\nblood, remains at the East Jakarta police precinct. (bsr)<\/p>",
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