1997 BI fire to be probed: Roesmanhadi
JAKARTA (JP): National Police chief Gen. Roesmanhadi is resuming an investigation into the cause of a fire two years ago at a Bank Indonesia (BI) building which claimed 15 lives.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday after presenting the Police's highest honorary medals to chiefs of the Indonesian Army, Navy and Air Force, Roesmanhadi said that his men assigned to focus on the Dec. 8, 1997, fire have come to a preliminary conclusion of possible sabotage.
"We have assumed so far that the fire, which was a major occurrence in the country, was a mere accident. But our officers, who have been investigating the fire, have found evidence which eventually led to the suggestion of possible sabotage," he said.
But he quickly asked reporters not to ask for more details.
"Let's just wait for the result of our investigation," he said.
Roesmanhadi also refused to disclose the evidence collected, saying that it was part of the closed police investigation.
As part of the reinvestigation, Roesmanhadi said he would summon for questioning some of the then executives of Bank Indonesia, including the then BI governor Soedrajat Djiwandono.
"The bank officials will be summoned for questioning as suspects. We hope that from them, we will know what really happened and the conflicts inside the office at that time," he said.
The morning fire, dubbed an inferno by some of the bank's employees at that time, gutted the top four floors of a 25-story building, one of BI's office towers on Jl. M.H. Thamrin, Central Jakarta.
The fire on that busy Monday was said to have been first spotted at 9:30 a.m. on the 23rd floor, spreading to the 22nd, 24th and 25th floors of the building, which had been under construction since late 1996.
Two explosions were heard at about 1:30 p.m.
Three helicopters were used to evacuate injured victims. Four people were airlifted from the 25th floor after a helicopter managed to land on the building's helipad.
Nine of the 15 dead suffocated in lifts on the 23rd floor and 24th floor of the central bank's building, which was scheduled to be inaugurated a few months later. The other victims burned to death on the same floors.
Victims
Three of the dead were identified as BI employees, while the others were employees of three private firms, comprising a cleaning service and workers installing lifts and electricity.
No official statement about the cause of the fire was ever released.
On the day of the fire, police, firemen and employees speculated that it was caused by sparks from a welding tool used by construction workers on the 23rd floor.
The same speculation was issued by the authorities as an explanation for a fire that gutted a building in the Ministry of Finance complex on Jl. Lapangan Banteng, Central Jakarta, two weeks before the BI fire.
But, at the time, many said they saw the two fires as being related and were merely acts of arson committed by unidentified parties to steal certain classified documents.
In the BI tower fire, then Jakarta police chief Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata insisted that no important documents were burned and that there was no evidence of arson.
He only said that eight people were questioned by the police.
"They were at the top of the building when the fire started," Hamami had said.
The results of the questioning, and even the fate of those eight people, remains a mystery.
Liquidation
The 22nd floor was used by the central bank's department for supervision of commercial banks, while the 23rd floor and 24th floor were to be used for the bank directors' offices and the 25th for a banquet room.
Rumors at that time suggested that data, including documents relating to 16 banks liquidated in August, 1997, were destroyed in the fire. And the 22nd floor was said to have been used by central bank executives to discuss the fate of the banks.
Firefighters managed to extinguish the fire at about 2 p.m. and then began the search for bodies.
The three helicopters were also used to extinguish the blaze by dumping at least 10 loads of water onto the inferno.
Head of Jakarta Fire Department, Suharso, said at that time that the helicopters could do little to extinguish the flames because the building was made of concrete.
He also revealed that none of the sprinklers installed in the top floors worked properly.
According to Roesmanhadi, the investigation was underway by officers at Jakarta Police Headquarters.
When asked for further confirmation, a senior officer at Jakarta Police Headquarters insisted that Central Jakarta Police, which handled the BI fire, already closed the case and declared it as just an accident.
"The investigation is at Central Jakarta Police and it's already closed," said the officer, who asked for anonymity.
However, when contacted for further details, Central Jakarta Police detectives chief Maj. Budiono Sandi insisted that the case was transferred to Jakarta Police Headquarters shortly after the fire took place.
"We only helped secure the site and collect the fatalities. But the investigation was handled directly by the city police from the very beginning," Budiono said. (emf/bsr)