Investigation on Tampubolon's murder continues
Investigation on Tampubolon's murder continues
JAKARTA (JP): Despite dissatisfaction from the victim's relatives, police said they have yet to complete their investigation into the controversial murder of army Brig. Gen. TMF Tampubolon, allegedly by four teenaged males.
"The police's recently-released theory was a preliminary finding. The full investigation has not yet been completed and is still going on at this time," City Police spokesman Lt. Col. A. Latief Rabar told reporters on Saturday.
But Latief said he remained optimistic that, based on preliminary findings, police would be able to conclude the investigation and hand over dossiers of the case to the public prosecutor's office in the next 20 days as required by law.
"If the prosecutor's office finds contradictory information in the dossiers completed by the police, we'd be allowed by law to extend the period of our investigation," the spokesman said.
Relatives of the 54-year-old Tampubolon, who was stabbed 11 times by both bayonet and machete last Monday evening, expressed their dissatisfaction with the initial police findings announced by City Police Chief Maj. Gen. Mochammad Hindarto two days after the incident took place.
"We were unable to accept their version and hope that the police will work harder to find a logical explanation to the killing, particularly regarding the telephone call," said one of his relatives, who asked not to be named.
In a separated occasion over the weekend, Armed Forces (ABRI) Commander Gen. Feisal Tanjung insisted once again that the killing of Tampubolon, an expert on economic affairs and advisor to the ABRI Chief, "is a criminal act, pure and simple."
The victim was a former deputy intelligence assistant to ABRI's chief of general affairs. He formerly served as group commander for one of ABRI's four elite red beret Kopassus squads and also played a significant role in mediating the dispute at the Toba Batak Christian Church in Sumatra.
Hindarto's version
According to Hindarto's theory, Tampubolon was driving his official Mitsubishi sedan alone on Monday and later was stabbed by two of the four suspects after a heated argument on Jl. Griya Wartawan in Cipinang Muara, East Jakarta.
The four had just left a pool hall and bumped into the general's passing sedan, the City Police chief told reporters on Wednesday.
"When the general got out of his car to question the group, the four responded in a hostile manner which then escalated into a heated argument and ultimately the killing," Hindarto explained, claiming that all other versions were untrue.
Police arrested the four suspects six-and-a-half hours after the incident, which took place in front of a small Warteg traditional food stall on the narrow Jl. Griya Wartawan, next to a Chinese cemetery.
Local residents told The Jakarta Post that the area is downright dangerous during the evening hours, particularly when a number of drunken young people decide to frequent the area.
The pool hall is located less than 100 meters from the Warteg, which is a further 600 meters from the Kebon Nanas police subprecicnt, which is where the gravely wounded Tampubolon reported the stabbing.
His house on Jl. Cakra Wijaya at the Armed Forces' Diskum AD housing complex is less than a 10-minute drive from the Warteg.
So far, police have no clue as to what the general was doing in the area that evening.
However, there are strong indications that the general left his house in a hurry after receiving a mysterious call on his portable handphone.
"He left the house about 10 minutes before the incident occurred and we still don't know the identity of the caller. Moreover, the number of his handphone was only known to a select few," his relative said.
On Thursday afternoon and evening, the police conducted a pre- reconstruction at the Warteg, the Kebon Nanas police subprecinct and the billiards center, all of which were closed to reporters.
When asked about a number of traffic wardens who were reported as missing near the scene of the killing, Latief replied strongly: "Please never ever connect any issues with the killing of Tampubolon."
In another related development, the city police and military members have begun a massive operation against machetes and other weapons, as well as alcoholic drinks sold at unlicensed stalls throughout the city, since Tampubolon's murder.
The police squad, for instance, has seized over 60,000 bottles of alcoholic beverages under different brand names in an operation involving 70 police personnel..
"We all know that the killing of the general was carried out by a group of young men who had consumed alcoholic beverages," head of the on-the-alert police squad, Col. Heniyoso G., said Saturday. (bsr)