One arrested in machete attack on deputy speaker

JAKARTA (JP): Jakarta Police Mobile Detectives (Resmob) arrested on Thursday night a suspect in last Sunday's attempted murder of National Awakening Party Chairman Matori Abdul Djalil.

"We still don't have the main suspect who ordered Matori's assassination. The man we have arrested, Sabar, has identified the him as Zulfikar, also known as Muhammad Ichwan," Jakarta Resmob chief Capt. Riad said on Friday.

"It was an assassination attempt that went wrong. The assassin just happened to be much shorter and thinner than Matori, who has a big physique. The machete failed to cut off Matori's head."

"Ichwan has probably fled by now ... somewhere out of Jakarta. We will keep on looking for him till we get him."

He only smiled when asked about the possibility that Ichwan may no longer be alive.

Riad identified the arrested man as Achmad Tazul Arifin, alias Sabar, 33, saying he was the accomplice who worked alongside Matori's attacker, Sarmo, alias Tarmo.

Police confiscated a rifle, an FN gun and a homemade revolver from Sabar's home in the Total Persada Raya housing complex, Jatiuwung, Tangerang, at about 9:15 p.m. on Thursday.

Sabar did not say very much about Tarmo, who was lynched by nearby residents and motorcycle taxi drivers in the Jagakarsa area for not paying for a ride on Sunday.

Sabar and Tarmo were two of the five people who sent several messages to the two pagers found at site of the lynching.

The other senders have been identified as Parmo, Budi and Zulfikar.

City police sources said Sabar was a member of the radical Angkatan Mujahiddin Islam Nusantara (AMIN) youth organization, which is based in the Caringin Maseng subdistrict of Cijeruk, Bogor.

The group had reportedly provided military-style training to its members and planned robberies at several large banks and toll roads in Greater Jakarta to raise funds for its activities.

Sabar and Tarmo are also suspected of being involved in last April's Bank BCA robbery, which occurred following a bomb blast at the Hayam Wuruk shopping center in West Jakarta.

Sabar said that Zulfikar, who was his Koran recital teacher and mentor, had given him and Tarmo the job of "killing communists who have infiltrated Islam". The two men were given the name the Regu golok merah (Red machete group).

Zulfikar provided both men with the Yamaha RX-King motorcycle license number B 5013 PZ, the motorcycle's documents, the two pagers, Rp 400,000 (US$54) and the FN 46 gun along with bullets.

"Tarmo was given the job of killing (Matori) with the machete. I was given the job of riding the motorcycle and taking care of the situation should anything go wrong by using the FN-46 gun," Zulfikar said.

Last Saturday, Tarmo and Sabar studied the area around Matori's residence on Jl. Elang Mas II in the Tanjung Mas Raya housing complex, Jagakarsa, South Jakarta. On the following morning, they struck Matori at his home.

Police sources said Sabar, a father of four children, is a son of retired Army officer First. Sgt. Suhudi M. Syair of the Army Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad). Sabar is said to have organized protests at food producer PT Mayora, where he worked.

He was also an ex-employee of the former ministry of social affairs.

Sabar said the book that was found inside the dark blue bag he was carrying during the attack, Menghadapi Hari Kiamat (Facing Doomsday), was his.

"The book gave Tarmo and me the strength we needed to carry out our daily activities."

A police source said Zulfikar and his friends were not happy with the fact that Matori had given too much leeway to the Ambonese to settle their problems among themselves.

"They were angry. They felt that if they did not do something, Ambon would be taken over by communists ... Please don't ask me to clarify what they mean by 'communists'," the source said.

Another source said the police also confiscated several books on Army intelligence from Ichwan's and Sabar's homes.

"This we could not reveal openly. The teacher, a major, is said to be an ex-marine," the source said.

"We know that Ichwan is a suspect because of the map we found drawn on a white board at his home."

The map depicted the routes that the suspects must have taken to reach their meeting point, the Nurul Jihad musholla (prayer house) in Cengkareng, West Jakarta.

Separately, Matori said he hoped that such an attack would not be repeated.

"This would cause friction between one party and another." (ylt)