One arrested in machete attack on deputy speaker

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)