Govt to replace Theo as BKPM chairman

Rendi A. Witoelar and Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

The government will replace Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) chief Theo Toemion due to his poor performance, but says the decision has no connection with his alleged assault on foreign residents of Indonesia.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla said on Friday the government had been reviewing the performance of the investment board, including its chief, for the past three months.

"Currently, we have picked three candidates to fill the board's top post, and we will announce the chief quite soon. Note that the change of guard has nothing whatsoever to do with the assault case," he told reporters.

Theo was reported to have attacked a 14-year-old student referee and several foreign residents at the Jakarta International School during a basketball competition in which Theo's son was taking part on April 17.

Theo allegedly threw chairs and attacked the teenager when his son was fouled out of the game for rough play. Witnesses said Theo also hit four U.S. executives and an Australian businessman who intervened in an attempt to stop the violence.

Theo has defended his actions, saying that his son was being unfairly treated and discriminated against during the game. He claimed that he had apologized for the incident.

The government has said that the assault should be settled though due process of law, and that it would not protect anyone proven guilty of breaking the law regardless of their status.

Jakarta Police said on Friday it would be asking JIS to identify all the victims of the rampage and would subsequently summons them to police headquarters as soon as possible in order to get a full picture of what happened in the case.

The police spokesman, Sr. Comr. Tjiptono, said that after questioning of the victims was complete, police would then question Theo and his wife. Theo is currently on a business trip in the Netherlands.

"Hopefully, the school will cooperate by providing us with the names of the victims. And it would be better if they filed a report with us. We will eventually summons Theo," he said.

So far, police have questioned Second Brig. Sofyan, a member of the Jakarta Police's vital facilities safeguard unit, Riyo Santoso, head of the JIS security unit, and two of his assistants, Tatang and Junaedy. All of them were on duty in the school compound when the incident occurred.

Tjiptono said two detectives had gone to the school but school officials had refused to disclose the identities of the victims.

However, he said the police would continue the probe with or without the victims' report.

According to the criminal code, police can investigate an assault case without a report being filed by a victim.

"We intend to obtain a full picture of the case before moving further because there are two versions regarding the incident, one from the school and the other from Theo. That's why we want to listen to the victims and Theo before naming a suspect," said Tjiptono.

Officials -- Page 2