Dibyo urged to resign over Udin's killing

YOGYAKARTA (JP): The local chapter of the Association of Indonesian Journalists (PWI) are calling on National Police Chief Gen. Dibyo Widodo to resign over the failure of his force to solve the 1996 murder of journalist Fuad Muhammad Syafruddin.

The call was issued in an official statement signed by chairman Oka Kususmayudha and was read to reporters by the association's secretary general Rakiman D.S. here yesterday.

Rakiman said the statement had been sent to Gen. Dibyo, Armed Forces Commander Gen. Wiranto, the Yogyakarta Police chief and Sri Roso Sudarmo, the regent of the town of Bantul, where Fuad lived and was murdered.

Rakiman said the association had assisted police conduct their investigation into the killing, but still they had failed to discover who murdered the Bernas journalist, who was better known as Udin.

"It's now 21 months since Udin was killed and the police have yet to make progress with their investigation," he said.

Udin was attacked by a gang of unidentified people in his Bantul home, 30 kilometers south of Yogyakarta, and died in a hospital in the city on Aug. 16, 1996.

The police, during the course of their investigation, arrested and arraigned Dwi Soemadji, alias Iwik, as the single defendant in the case, but the local district court finally acquitted him in Nov. 1997, citing insufficient grounds for conviction.

Many observers, including the local chapter of the PWI, believe that Udin's murder was linked to critical reports he prepared on land appropriation, the embezzlement of funds, and the renomination of Sri Roso for a second term as regent of Bantul.

Udin said in one of his reports that a powerful local figure offered to support Sri Roso's renomination in exchange for Rp 1 billion, which the regent had to send to the Dharmais Foundation chaired by former president Soeharto.

Sri Roso admitted to having agreed to the deal, but claimed never to have paid the sum demanded.

Rakiman said several local police officers, including former Yogyakarta Police chief Brig. Gen. Mulyono Sulaiman and former chief of the Bantul police precinct Lt. Col. Ada Subardan, should be questioned over the failure of the investigation.

"The police should also reinterview all witnesses, especially those who saw Udin being assaulted. Local officials in Bantul should also be questioned," he said.

Meanwhile, dozens of members of the Bantul chapter of the Association of Muhammadyah Youths (AMM) lodged a protest with the Bantul regency council over the failure to solve the case. They also urged Sri Roso to step down for his alleged involvement in Udin's murder. (23/rms)