Homework from Gunawan

Homework from Gunawan

While many people are still wondering why some suspects in
bank fraud cases have been released one after the other from
police detention, we are jolted by another drama: The attempted
escape of a murder suspect from a paddy wagon that was
transporting him from a penitentiary to the court.

There has been no logical explanation as to how Gunawan
Santoso, who is accused of the murder of a private bank director,
could have fallen out of the vehicle with a pistol on his
personage. After an initial body search, he was found to be also
in possession of a cellular phone, three handcuffs and Rp 35.92
million (US$4,177) in cash while being transported from Salemba
Penitentiary to the North Jakarta District Court on Tuesday.

Naturally, the incident, which for the police was
embarrassing, stirred public interest, while law enforcers have
been busy pointing the finger at each other.

Speculations arose among the public and law enforcers as to
why Gunawan was not handcuffed during the trip, which was a
violation of security regulations.

It is widely believed that a bigger scenario involving money
and power was behind the incident. Particularly, as it generally
thought that the killing of Boedyharto Angsono -- Gunawan's
former father-in-law -- allegedly perpetrated by Gunawan,
involved military personnel.

Gunawan allegedly received the help of marine corps members in
the daylight shooting, in which Boedyharto's bodyguard, Edy
Siyep, a member of the Army elite corps, Kopassus, was also
killed.

In such a situation, the police must move to investigate the
case, promptly and properly. The case demands serious attention,
especially because of its peculiarities.

The fact that Gunawan was not handcuffed while being
transported to the court was odd. The other fact that a staff
member of the North Jakarta Prosecutors' Office was sitting
inside the paddy wagon with the defendant was even stranger.

The door of the wagon was also unlocked, while no police
officer was guarding the vehicle. The prosecutors and the police
should have been aware that Gunawan was classified as a dangerous
prisoner who had escaped from the Kuningan prison.

The police must find the answers to the questions raised by
these oddities. They should find out how Gunawan came to be in
possession of a 32-caliber Beretta pistol, the cash and a
cellular phone, while he was in prison.

Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Makbul Padmanegara said on
Friday that Gunawan was helped by two prisoners and an outsider,
who was identified as an ex-convict. The two prisoners are
currently being questioned while the ex-convict is still at
large, Makbul said.

It is a public secret that bribery is rampant among our law
enforcers, and special treatment of detainees or prisoners of
well-off or powerful families is commonplace. Everybody knows
that.

But acknowledgement does not reveal what is hidden beneath the
surface. The police must work hard to reveal to the public what
really happened so as not to raise undue speculations. How could
two prisoners and an outsider - mentioned by Makbul - provide
Gunawan with a gun, a cellular phone and cash without being
detected by the prison guards and the personnel from the
prosecutors' office?

Legally, the institutions responsible for the security of
Gunawan are the North Jakarta Prosecutors' Office and the Salemba
Prison. But that does not mean the police should wash their hands
of blame for the incident. The controversial police statement
that Gunawan was shot with his own pistol needs explanation.

The police must also find out how Gunawan changed his shirt
during transportation to the court house, and why the driver took
the unusual route from the prison to the court. A mikrolet driver
told the police that he saw the paddy wagon stop behind his car
for minutes. The driver of the paddy wagon had told him that he
was waiting for somebody.

But the key witness in this escape attempt is, of course,
Gunawan himself. Unfortunately, Gunawan's mother and lawyer have
claimed that Gunawan -- who is now being treated at the Sukanto
Police Hospital -- cannot remember what happened.

There has been, however, no doctor's confirmation of Gunawan's
"amnesia". If this were true, the investigation of this most
recent escape drama would be more complicated.

If so, the police must work harder in their efforts to obtain
the truth from a man who has "lost his memory". Gunawan is
obviously giving the police difficult homework.