Checking fallacious reports part of our job: Police

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The high-profile case of "missing" singer Reza Artamevia, who was later found to be hiding out at her spiritual guru's house, has put the Jakarta Police's investigation under the spotlight.

Police, who had began investigating Reza's disappearance when she was first reported missing last Monday by her management, from the start had been careful not to jump to conclusions.

City police chief Insp. Gen. Firman Gani initially cast doubt on whether Reza was kidnapped, saying police had not ruled out that Reza had planned to disappear.

Their suspicions were later confirmed. After days of Reza being headline news, a member of the artist's management team, Dyah Damayanti, withdrew her report on the missing case, admitting the diva was hiding at the house of her spiritual teacher Gatot Brajamusti in Sukabumi, West Java, about 120 kilometers south of Jakarta.

Her claims were backed up by the many info-tainment TV programs that broadcast an interview with Reza, in which the singer admitted that she had not been kidnapped but disappeared of her own free will.

In the interview, she said she apologized for all her mistakes to her husband, actor-cum-legislator Adjie Massaid. The two have been in a legal battle over Reza's filing for divorce and the custody of their children.

Although the missing case was finally solved, the police said they could not file a complaint against the makers of the report because they did not find evidence that Reza's lawyer and management had made up a story they knew to be false.

"The report indeed made us work for nothing, but it's part of our service to the public. I can only say that I'm glad nothing bad happened to her," police spokesman Sr. Comr. Tjiptono said on Sunday.

Police earlier had questioned authorities at the Soekarno- Hatta International Airport, where Reza was last seen by her friends after returning from a show in Surabaya. Police had also checked the passenger list of Reza's flight and questioned flight attendants.

The city police had often received reports that turned out to be false, he said.

Another high-profile case involved corruption allegations against management in the SMU 13 state high school in North Jakarta, police said.

"After questioning witnesses and visiting the school, we found no evidence nor indication of corruption," the anti-corruption unit chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Anton Wahono said.

"We had spent a lot of time and energy for nothing. Of course we are upset, but there's nothing we can do."

Police in Indonesia are often accused of halting investigations into graft suspects after receiving bribes from them.