All Navy plane crash fatalities buried

All Navy plane crash fatalities buried

JAKARTA (JP): Nine victims of the Navy Cassa U-614 plane,
which crashed in the remote mountainous village of Silimo,
Jayawijaya, Irian Jaya on Monday were buried in different cities
on Saturday.

Trikora Military Command chief Maj. Gen. Tonny A. Rompis and
Irian Jaya Prosecutors' Office head Bismar Mannu were buried at
Jakarta's hero cemetery of Kalibata, while speaker of the Irian
Jaya legislative council Nathaniel Kaywai and governor adjutant
police Chief brigadier Jeheskia Z. were buried at the Kusuma hero
cemetery in Abepura, Jayapura.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Endriartono Sutarto led the military
ceremony for the funerals of Tonny at the Jakarta Kalibata hero
cemetery. Jakarta Bishop Cardinal Julius Darmaatmadja, acting as the
TNI's bishop, led the last prayer for Tonny.

Thirty minutes later Attorney General Marzuki Darusman led the
funeral ceremony of Bismar at the same cemetery, while the
military-style funerals of Nathaniel and Jeheskia in Jayapura
were led by chief of Jayapura Police Operation and Control
Command Sr. Comr. Kusnadi.

Bismar, who had served duty for over 28 years, was
posthumously promoted to chief prosecutor, the highest rank in
the force. Jeheskia was also posthumously promoted to Second Adj.
Insp.

In Yogyakarta, Deputy National Police chief Comr. Gen. Panji
Atmasudirja, on behalf of National Police chief Gen. Surojo
Bimantoro, led the ceremony for the funeral of Insp. Gen. FX.
Sumardi, the Irian Jaya Police chief at the Kusuma Negara hero
cemetery.

During the ceremony Panji announced that Sumardi was awarded
Bhayangkara Pratama Star for his life time service. "The star was
awarded based on a Presidential Decree on January 11," he said.

Meanwhile, the body of Maj. Sutopo Waluyo, the pilot of the
ill-fated Cassa, was buried at the hero cemetery in the small
town of Tuban in East Java, while the First Lt. Dedi Haryanto,
the co-pilot, was buried at Kusuma Bangsa hero cemetery in
Surabaya.

First. Sgt. Sultan and Ordinary Seaman Gunawan, the plane
technicians were buried at public cemeteries in Sidoarjo and
Blitar, also East Java, respectively. The funeral of Sultan was
conducted as soon as the body arrived at Surabaya's Juanda
airport on Friday night.

Before the burials, Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri was
seen to pay homage to Tonny at his residence, after going to the
Attorney General's Office to join a special ceremony to pray for
Bismar.

Tonny and Bismar's funerals were also attended by Military
chief Adm. Widodo AS, and Attorney General Marzuki Darusman,
Coordinating Minister for Political, Social and Security Affairs
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, former attorney generals Andi M. Ghalib
and Ismudjoko.

Also present at the funerals were Air Force chief Marshall
Hanafie Asnan, and the Deputy of Navy chief Vice Adm. Fred S.
Lonan, Minister of Industry and Trade Luhut B. Panjaitan, and
the State Minister for Administrative Reform Ryaas Rasyid.

The fate

"This (the death) was predestined, yet my husband hadn't given
any prior signs that he would leave us forever," Tonny's wife
Syane Wuisan said in a soft and deep voice after receiving the
Red and White National flag, which was used to cover the coffin,
from Endriartono and Widodo.

She sat along with her three children in front of Tonny's new
grave.

"We, all of the Indonesian Military's (TNI) big family have
lost one of its best soldier," Endriartono said after the
ceremony.

Endriartono said, the Army had yet to decide on anyone to
replace Tonny. "Some candidates have been proposed to be examined
in the Council for High Ranking Promotion and Duty Rotation in
April."

"The new officer must be as qualified as him (Tonny), with a
clear concept and good understanding in handling specific
troubled territories like Irian Jaya."

Separately Marzuki also said that he would soon appoint a new
official to replace Bismar.

Bismar, born in Bone, South Sulawesi, was officially promoted
as prosecutor in 1972 to Makassar office, South Sulawesi and had
mostly served in intelligence affairs until 1995.

Bismar was assigned to the head of Irian Jaya Prosecutors'
Office on July 28, 2000.

In Yogyakarta, thousands of people attended Sumardi's funeral.
Among the attendants were governor of National Police Academy
Inspector General Dai Bachtiar, Sumardi's classmate in the
academy. They both passed the academy in 1972.

Walking on the left-hand side of Sumardi's coffin to the
cemetery, Bachtiar hid his sadness.

Other prominent police figures attending Sumardi's burial
were, among others, inspector general of the National Police
Headquarters Comr. Gen. Nurdin S., Central Java Police Chief
Insp. Gen. Ansjaad Mbai, and Yogyakarta Police Chief Brig. Gen.
Logan Siagian.

Inspector General of the Diponegoro (Central Java) Military
Command May. Gen. Soemarsono, the Diponegoro Military Command
Chief of Staff, Brig. Gen. Djoko Santosa were also at hand.

Thousands of people who wanted to pay their last respects to
Sumardi blocked Jl. Kusuma Negara, where the hero cemetery is
located. Traffic was totally jammed. (02/23/35/bby/sur)