Army chief vows to look into reports on regent scandal
JAKARTA (JP): Army Chief Gen. Hartono promised yesterday to look into reports that Bantul regent Col. Sri Roso Sudarmo had promised a soothsayer Rp 1 billion (US$425,000) if he got re- elected.
Hartono said he expected a detailed report about the scandal from Maj. Gen. Soebagyo HS, chief of the Diponegoro military command that oversees security in Yogyakarta and Central Java.
"I have yet to follow the latest developments in the issue," the general said after attending an inauguration of 932 lieutenants at State Palace.
The Bantul regent has been implicated in the August murder of Yogyakarta-based Bernas daily journalist Fuad Muhammad Syafruddin, whose investigative reports on alleged administrative corruption angered officials.
Udin, as he was called, was attacked and beaten by one of a group of strangers who went to his house in Bantul, just south of Yogyakarta, on Aug. 13. He died in hospital on Aug. 16.
One of the journalist's scathing reports alleged the regent had offered Rp 1 billion to the powerful Jakarta-based Dharmais Foundation for his re-election earlier this year.
Breaking the government's long silence on the issue was home affairs inspector general, Sudradjat Nataatmadja. He said last week the money had been "promised" to a soothsayer.
While acknowledging it was wrong for a bureaucrat to make such a deal, Sudradjat insisted the regent did not deserve punishment because it was only a "promise".
Hartono said he was not pleased with the way the mass media had reported events surrounding the reporter's murder, which the journalists association and the human rights commission believe was related his work.
"He (Sudarmo) is still regent. You cannot unfairly treat him like that, exposing everything that is still hypothetical," Hartono said. "I really don't like it."
He said if the Armed Forces later found the reports about the regent were false, the Army would stand by Sudarmo.
Investigations into the murder were marred by controversy with critics claiming the authorities were running a cover up because key government officials may have been involved.
In a surprise move, police released Dwi Sumaji, the man they had detained for almost 60 days on suspicion of murdering the reporter. But he remains a suspect.
The journalists association, which has conducted its own investigation into the murder and does not believe Dwi was the killer, welcomed the release.
"But we do hope the police will continue their investigations until the truth is revealed," said the association's secretary general, Parni Hadi, in Bandung.
Separately, secretary-general of the National Commission on Human Rights, Baharuddin Lopa, reacted coolly to the news of Dwi's release.
Lopa said he hoped the police would find more material evidence to reveal the mystery surrounding Udin's death.
"We sincerely hope the police question anyone who can give a clue to solve the riddle," he said.
The commission has also conducted its own investigation.
Yogyakarta police chief Col. Mulyono Sulaiman said yesterday he did not know why the state prosecutors had rejected their dossiers on Dwi for the second time.
"The prosecutors have not explained why the dossiers are considered incomplete," he said.
He ruled out another round of reconstructing Udin's murder on the grounds that the one last week, which flopped because Dwi refused to enact the murder, was the best the police could do.
The police chief declined to comment when asked if he meant to re-detain Dwi. (23/imn/pan)