Bomb explodes in apartment, one arrested

JAKARTA (JP): An alleged bomb maker was arrested after a simple, homemade device exploded Sunday evening in a cheap, rented apartment in Tanah Tinggi, Central Jakarta, police said.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Wiranto and Central Jakarta Police Chief Lt. Col. Iman Haryatna disclosed yesterday that the blast was linked to an antiestablishment movement inspired by the banned youth organization People's Democratic Party (PRD).

Wiranto would only say that PRD was a resurrection of the outlawed Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), which was largely blamed for an abortive coup attempt in 1965.

"We consider communism to be a latent danger. We have to maintain our stern efforts to cope with it. Once we take it easy, the movement to undermine the state ideology Pancasila and national development will be resurrected," he said.

Iman said: "Their activities were apparently part of the activities conducted by SMID which is also known as PRD, that's all I can say for now."

SMID -- Indonesian Students Solidarity for Democracy -- is known as an associate organization of PRD.

According to Iman, the explosion took place about 7:20 p.m. Sunday at the apartment block, in unit 510, which is located on the fifth floor of Blok V.

No fatalities were reported but the ceiling of the 18-square- meter room was badly damaged and the ceiling in the unit below was partially damaged.

Witnesses said the arrested suspect, Agus Priyono, aged in his 30s, was apprehended by residents shortly after the blast. Agus suffered minor hand injuries.

His two alleged accomplices, whose identities remain unknown, were believed to have been injured too.

"We're still tracing their whereabouts," Iman said.

Police confiscated six boxes of detonators, dozens of unfinished homemade bombs, a number of electronic devices, maps and some publications, mostly about local riots and international terrorism.

City police spokesman Lt. Col. E. Aritonang last night insisted that police had found no evidence that the group had planted bombs in other places.

According to Iman, Agus is a former student of a private university in Central Java.

A long-time resident in the neighborhood, Sartani Karta, said Agus had rented the unit for about Rp 150,000 per month since Dec. 19. He had paid for two months.

Sartani said Agus never socialized with his neighbors.

"He left early in the morning and arrived home late at night. He rented the unit alone but at least two men always stayed with him."

Sartani, who lives on the fourth floor, said that he had never talked to Agus.

"I only passed in front of his room. I saw many books inside his room. To me he looked like a student."

Another occupant, housewife Marni, whose room is located exactly below Agus', said she heard some noise coming from the room before the explosion took place.

"It sounded like people hitting something against the wall or floor. I was very mad and yelled at him three times because the noises irritated me. They started making the noise early in the morning," she said.

Marni said she was eating in the corridor of the fourth floor when there was a big bang and thick, black smoke came out of Agus' unit.

Sartini said Agus and his two friends appeared to be wounded by the blast.

"At first they looked okay but they suddenly started to panic and run in different directions when people approached their place.

"Agus was arrested in the basement of Blok IV but his two friends managed to escape."

One of the two alleged accomplices was believed to have been heavily wounded.

"They cannot run far from here. We'll find them," an officer, who did not want to be identified, said.

Officers from the National Police Forensic Laboratory were dispatched yesterday to collect evidence at the scene.

Denial

PRD chairman Budiman Sudjatmiko denied the accusations leveled against his party and demanded the security authorities provide some proof of their allegations.

"We are opposed to anarchy and terrorism. In our struggle, we have always used peaceful means, many of them have been in the form of mass mobilization," Budiman said from Salemba Penitentiary, Central Jakarta.

He said PRD had often been blamed for inciting public unrest.

The group was accused of sparking the riots that followed a forceful takeover of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) headquarters on July 27, 1996.

Most recently it was accused of provoking people to swamp supermarkets and traditional markets to buy basic commodities in the wake of a sharp plunge in the rupiah.

Budiman said he had never known the suspect now being questioned by police in connection with the bomb blast nor the other suspects who managed to flee.

He said he would rather wait and see if security authorities could link his group's involvement to the latest incident.

"I will take the blame if they (the authorities) can prove PRD's involvement, or even if the suspects claim to be members of PRD."

The Armed Forces chief of sociopolitical affairs, Lt. Gen. Yunus Yosfiah, said the bomb explosion was a concrete example that there are people who intend to harm the nation.

"We all can see the validity of the Armed Forces' continuous call for nationwide alert to ensure unconstitutional efforts to create instability are not engineered." (cst/10/amd/imn)