Man lost his life for sake of son

JAKARTA (JP): A food stall owner was stabbed to death by a gang of eight people as he attempted to prevent them from mobbing his son on Jl. Kawirata, South Jakarta, yesterday.

Mustara, 46, from Indramayu, West Java, was stabbed in the right side of his stomach and later died from severe bleeding.

The commotion began after the man's son, Aditya, 18, warned three passersby to stop throwing stones at temporary shelters, for a nearby Duta Graha office project, after one of the stones hit his father's stall.

Aditya said the three men started throwing stones about 9 p.m. on Saturday while construction workers at the project were sleeping. He was not aware of their motivation.

After being warned, the three men ran away but came back at 12:30 a.m. with five other people. Three members of the group carried sickles, sharp weapons locally known as clurit.

Mustara greeted the angry mob, saying that his son just wanted to warn them.

"I don't think we have had any problems before so please don't take it personally," Aditya quoted his father as saying. "My son was only trying to remind your friends."

The leader of the gang, however, said that his friends were offended by the way Aditya had warned them.

Aditya said they even threatened to burn the stall and the nearby temporary shelters if he did not apologize for his earlier warning.

During the conversation, one of the gang members moved forward and stabbed Mustara in the stomach without saying a word, he said.

Seeing his father fall down, Aditya -- the oldest son of four children -- said that he grabbed an iron rod to scare the gang away.

There were actually a lot of project workers at the scene but none of them dared to help, he said.

"The stabbing was seen by all the members of my family because we stayed at the shop that night," he said. Mustara's family live in Menteng Atas, South Jakarta.

Many passing taxies refused to transport Aditya, with blood all over his hands, to a nearby police sub-precinct to report the murder, he said.

One hour later, a project worker took him by motorbike to Setiabudi police sub-precinct.

"My father was still in a critical condition when I left him but he died when I returned from the police office," he said.

Mustara's body was taken to the Cipto Mangunkusumo general hospital's morgue for an official post-mortem examination. Mustara died from severe bleeding, according to doctors.

Aditya said his father's body would be buried in Indramayu today.

Meanwhile, Sgt. Maj. Bambang Wiryadi from the Setiabudi police sub-precinct said police had arrested six of the eight gang members. These men had only admitted to being involved in the stone throwing.

Police are still searching for the other two members of the group who have already been identified. (04)