Matori's attacker buried

JAKARTA (JP): The decomposed body of the man who attacked the chairman of the National Awakening Party (PKB), Matori Abdul Djalil, on March 5 was finally buried as an unidentified body at Pondok Ranggon graveyard in East Jakarta on Monday.

The head of the morgue at Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital, Mardiono, said he finally took the decision without the permission of the police since the body of the corpse was badly decomposed.

"The morgue is currently under renovation and we have no room to keep bodies for more than five days," he said.

Much of the equipment at the morgue, such as the freezers, could not be fully operated during the renovation project, Mardiono said.

The police, he said, only asked the hospital not to bury the unknown body until it could be identified by his relatives.

But so far no one had claimed the body, Mardiono said.

The man was beaten to death by an angry crowd after he refused to pay a fare to an ojek (motorcycle taxi) driver in South Jakarta, just a few minutes after the attack. Matori survived, but with severe injuries to his hand and head.

The man's accomplice, later identified as Ahmad Tajuddin, alias Sabar, was arrested some days later and identified the body as Sarmo, alias Tarmo. (06)