More suspects named in case of looted treasure

JAKARTA (JP): After detaining a retired three-star general, police have named three more suspects in the illegal recovery of sunken treasure from the Gelassa Straits east of Sumatra, a police spokesman said on Tuesday.

Speaking to the media, spokesman Sr. Supt. Saleh Saaf of National Police headquarters said the treasure, in the form of various types of ceramic objects, was looted in March from the wreck of the Chinese junk Tek Sing (True Star) which sank in the 19th century.

"The three suspects are accused of having violated the Criminal Code by forging signatures for the purpose of issuing a permit allowing the recovery of objects from the shipwreck," Saleh said at his office.

The three men, all currently living in Jakarta, will soon be summoned for questioning.

Police arrested Lt. Gen. (ret) Gasyim Aman last week for ordering the three suspects to forge a document which was later issued to local salvage company PT Prasarana Cakrawala Dirga (PCD) authorizing it to recover the objects.

Gasyim was the political and security affairs assistant to the then coordinating minister for political and security affairs Gen. (ret) Feisal Tanjung when he ordered the three suspects to draw up the fake permit on June 1999 using Feisal's forged signature.

The three suspects, namely Suparman, Noor Anita Etikawati, and M. Dasyim, were staffers in Gasyim's office.

Gasyim has already been charged with violating the Article of the Criminal Code on forgery for which he could receive a maximum punishment of six years in jail.

Police reported earlier that Gasyim issued the fake permit to PCD after the company paid him Rp 100 million.

Since 1989, the National Committee for the Recovery and Exploitation of Treasure from Shipwrecks (Pannas PPBB) has been vested with authority over sunken treasure.

The committee was under the then coordinating minister for political and security affairs until July 26 this year when President Abdurrahman Wahid issued a decree which placed the committee under the Ministry of Maritime Exploration and Fisheries.

Presidential Decree No. 43/1989 on the exploitation of sunken treasure stipulates that the government is entitled to 50 percent of the net (after tax) profit from the sale of any objects recovered.

Head of the Protection of Heritage Items section of the Ministry of National Education Hari Untoro Dradjat said that PCD was a shell company whose sole purpose was to obtain an official permit to recover the treasure.

"PCD then cooperated with the well-known British-born treasure hunter Michael Hatcher to undertake the recovery operation," Hari told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

The Indonesian Navy seized 43 containers filled with Chinese ceramics from the shipwreck, known as the "The Titanic of the East", from the Belize-flagged Swissco Marine IX, hired by Hatcher in Singapore, while it was en route to Germany earlier this year.

However, Hatcher succeeded in shipping the remaining treasure to Germany. Some 12,000 recovered items are currently being exhibited at Stuttgart railway station until November.

An auction, dubbed as 'the auction of the year", is scheduled to be held at the exhibition on Nov. 18 and will offer 35,000 pieces of antique Chinese porcelain and other items recovered by Hatcher and his team.

The exhibitors are thought to be capable of grossing around DM 35 million (approximately US$25 million) from the auction.

Saleh said the Indonesian police are currently cooperating with their counterparts in Germany to bring back the ceramics to Indonesia.

"The auction will be held in November, so we still have time," Saleh said.

Hari stressed that it was imperative for Indonesia to bring back the treasures on account of their historical value.

"The ceramics contain invaluable historical data," Hari, himself an archeologist, said.

"We estimate that some 350,000 ceramic objects were recovered from the junk," Hari said.

The Tek Sing when it sank in 1822 was on its way from Amoy (now Hsiemen) harbor in China to Java and was carrying almost 2,000 people made up of a crew of more than 200 and at least 1,600 passengers.

It hit a reef during a storm and capsized almost immediately.

More than 1,600 people went down with the ship.

Saleh said that the National Police are determined to investigate other similar cases in the near future.

"We now have the opportunity. During the New Order era, even the police were faced with obstacles when investigating these kind of cases which contain elements of collusion," Saleh said. (jaw)