Killer's arrest stuns peacefull neighborhood

Killer's arrest stuns peacefull neighborhood

JAKARTA (JP): The arrest of 22-year-old Suryadi, alias Otong,
alias Bram, for the murder of volunteer counselor Marthadinata
shocked his neighbors along Jl. Berlian III in Sumur Batu
subdistrict in Central Jakarta.

In the eyes of the locals, Otong -- as they often called him
-- was a calm person.

Therefore it was not easy for them to believe that one of the
young men in their peaceful neighborhood had brutally killed his
own next-door neighbor.

"He's a very quiet man but also helpful if anyone in the
neighborhood needs help," Ritha, who lived next to the victim's
house, recalled.

Almost all of the local residents, young and old, expressed
similar opinions about the suspect to The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

Born in 1976 in Jakarta, Otong is the fifth of seven children
of Sunarji, a construction worker, and Dati, a laundress.

He lived together with his parents and two sisters Rohani and
Rohati in their ramshackle 36-square-meter house.

One wall of the poor family's wooden house adjoins the house
of the victim's family.

Their neighbors, including the parents of the victim, said the
Sunarjis never had problems with other people in the area.

"My family often asked their (the Sunarjis) help to keep the
keys of our house for a while when all of us decided to go out at
the same time," said the victim's father, Leo Haryono.

According to Otong, a technical high school graduate, he once
worked at a repair shop owned by the Astra automobile company.

"He, however, worked at the repair shop producing rims of
wheels for vehicles only for six months.

When his contract ended, he wasted most of his time at home,"
said his mother, Dati.

Sometimes, Otong said, he was hired by his neighbors to paint
or refurbish their houses.

Sumiran, one of his close neighbors, said: "Otong is not the
type of person who would easily get angry.

He never got mad although people here often teased him. He
just remained quiet. That's why many of us here are surprised
that he had committed such a crime."

Housewife Elly, in her 40s, commented: "He has no single
characteristic to suggest he was such a dreadful murderer.

"But who knows? Anyone could run amok at some time without
consideration."

His other neighbors assumed that Otong might have badly needed
money for his marriage.

According to his mother, Otong was to marry on Nov. 29.

"We are indeed badly looking for money but not for his wedding
ceremony. It is for his father's debt," Dati told the Post on
Sunday.

Otong's mother, who has not met her son since his arrest on
Saturday evening, could not believe that her loved one had turned
into the cold-blooded killer of their own neighbor.

"To be honest, I could not believe the (police) charge against
my son," she said.

She recalled that she and her husband Sunarji were involved in
a heated quarrel over the amount of money Sunarji could spend on
his trip to the congress of Megawati Soekarnoputri's Indonesian
Democratic Party (PDI) in Bali.

Sunarji, a strong supporter of the party, insisted his wife
prepare Rp 1.5 million in cash which he would use to pay his debt
shortly after returning from the congress, she said.

"Otong saw the quarrel," Dati recalled.

Her husband even asked her to sell the house for Rp 25 million
(US$2,800), she said, adding that the victim's parents had once
offered Rp 20 million for it.

Dati vowed not to sell the one-bedroom house, which she
inherited from her parents.

Otong, who looked ready to face the punishment, said simply to
reporters on Saturday evening: "I really feel sorry. I was
suddenly possessed by an evil spirit. Now I have to take the
responsibility." (emf/ind)