Death of student regiment member still under investigation
Death of student regiment member still under investigation
JAKARTA (JP): West Jakarta police are still looking for suspects in the case of a 19-year-old student regiment recruit, who died as a result of cruel treatment. The victim was a student of the privately-owned Tarumanegara University.
"This is not an easy case, in spite of the fact that we have questioned a lot of people, including all of the victim's colleagues, the military provost of the student regiment and an assistant to the university rector," Head of the West Jakarta Police precinct Lt. Col. Made Mangku Pastika told The Jakarta Post yesterday.
The victim, identified as The Manto, died on Jan. 29 after taking a basic training course which had been held specially for the university's student regiment recruits.
The course was held by senior members of the student regiment on the university's campus in West Jakarta. The course began on Jan. 23 and had been scheduled to end on Jan. 30
Manto's mother, Jeo Bie Kim, said her son usually left home for the nearby campus at 7 a.m. and returned at 7 p.m.
On the fourth day of the course Manto left the house one hour earlier with a handful of food and some clothes in his bag. He told his mother that he would not be home again until the last day of the course.
"Later, on Sunday morning Jan. 29 I was called by a person from the university who said that my son was ill. The caller asked me to come and see Manto at the campus," Mrs. Kim said.
When she got there, Mrs. Kim was asked by senior members of the regiment whether her son suffered a certain illness. She answered no.
The students then asked her to attend the nearby Sumber Waras hospital to see the dead body of her son.
According to the student regiment supervisor, Salmon, as quoted by Mrs. Kim, Manto was suddenly attacked by a fever disease at 3 a.m. of Jan. 29.
"That's why he was asked to take a rest and given medical treatment," Salmon said.
Salmon also said that Manto had a feces on his pants and he had to wash them, Kim said.
"But I couldn't believe him because the body, cloth and wallet of my son were all wet. Moreover, the hospital employees have told me Manto was already dead before being handed over to the hospital," she said.
Mrs. Kim said the body was covered in bruises. She reported her son's death to the local police.
According to Lt. Col. Made, all of Manto's friends have said that "nobody saw who was doing what."
The officer said his detectives were still investigating the case. (bsr)