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)