More suspects named in case of looted treasure
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)