Eleven babies bodies found, not six: Doctor

JAKARTA (JP): A team of forensic doctors at Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital concluded yesterday that the number of babies' bodies found in North Jakarta Friday was 11, not six as reported earlier.

The team's head, Budi Sampurna, told reporters that the five other bodies, mostly pieces of fetuses, were found in the same plastic bags after in-depth forensic examination.

"But the number is not final because the examination has not yet been completed," said Budi, who is also head of the hospital's forensic department.

The 11 bodies, found wrapped in three plastic bags at a garbage site and a nearby ditch on Jl. Warakas in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, is already dubbed as the biggest babies' bodies event -- in terms of number -- in the country.

"This is a collective work, meaning that it has been done through an illegal activity," said Budi.

According to him, five of the bodies were still fetuses, approximately four months old. The age of the other six are between seven and eight months old, he said.

"The bodies had been taken from their mothers' wombs between one day and three days before being dumped at the site," he said.

Only eight out of the 11 bodies could be identified as to their sex: five boys and three girls.

The rest are still unidentified because they were small fetuses, too badly decomposed, said Budi.

He said the team needs another week to conduct various microscopic and DNA tests to collect as much information from the babies as possible.

"The tests would be useful later, if we found a suspect or the mothers of the babies," he said.

Inside the bags, the doctors also found various instruments, mostly medical, normally used in abortion practices, said Budi.

Judging by the findings of the abortion tools, Budi agreed with a preliminary conclusion saying that the babies were dumped by an abortion clinic.

"It's a bit impossible that the babies came from a woman or just two women," he said.

Budi did not say whether the instruments have the name of a clinic on them.

He just hoped that police can locate the clinic immediately, which, in turn, could clear up the investigation.

City Police Spokesman Lt. Col. E. Aritonang said yesterday the police had been questioning a person allegedly related to the incident.

But Aritonang gave no details on the person.

City Police Chief Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata pledged to solve the mystery by deploying all of his top detectives.

Admitting the incident as a rare one, Hamami also asked for the public's participation to help the investigation.

Noted sociologist Sardjono Djatiman of University of Indonesia, told The Jakarta Post yesterday that some cases of dumping babies in the city are due to degradation of morals.

"Babies are human beings. But some people treat them as if they were objects that can be easily thrown away. That's cruel and inhuman.

"The human morality in the city has changed into an economic morality. The fact that the babies are thrown away like some kind of junk has proved it," he said.

He said society has certain values and traditions, which is to give respect to the dead. "Now, that kind of value is degrading in our society," he said. (jun/cst/07)