Army chief vows to look into reports on regent scandal
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)