Families of killed strikers want justice

JAKARTA (JP): The families of two striking workers murdered in a recent attack, demanded on Wednesday that National Police detectives immediately arrest the masterminds of the incident, one of whom is allegedly an Army officer.

The attack on striking workers of car upholstery producer PT Kadera AR Indonesia (KAI), occurred at Pulogadung industrial estate in East Jakarta, on March 29.

A worker, Kimun Effendi, died hours after the raid, while his colleague Rachmat died on Sunday after receiving medical treatment at Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital.

"Police officers must not hesitate to arrest masterminds of the attack... even if one of them is an Army officer," Zaenuddin Paru, a lawyer of the victims' families, told reporters at National Police Headquarters.

Former Jakarta Police chief of detectives Sr. Comr. Harry Montolalu had said that one of six suspects arrested in the case had admitted to police detectives that he orchestrated the attack after he received Rp 27 million from another individual, "suspected to be an Army officer" who currently remains at large.

The suspect who made the confession, Sugiono, told police that the money was given to him by a man called Kino, to use force to break up the striking workers.

On Wednesday, City Police detective chief for general crimes Comr. Tito Karnavian said that "Chief Corporal Kino" was expected to arrive for questioning as a witness in the case.

"Since he is a military man, we can only take his statements as a witness, and hand over the dossiers to the Military Police, to be further processed," Tito told reporters.

"We searched his home in Greater Jakarta, but he wasn't there. He was supposed to arrive here today for questioning, but has failed to show up." (ylt)