Police claim jealousy behind reporter's murder
Police claim jealousy behind reporter's murder
ANTALYA, Turkey (JP): National Police Chief Lt. Gen. Dibyo
Widodo has confirmed the arrest of the suspected killer of Fuad
Muhammad Syafruddin, a local reporter in Yogyakarta.
"Based on our preliminary investigation, the reason behind the
killing is purely a woman, who is the wife of the suspect,"
Dibyo, who was leading an Indonesian delegation at an Interpol
meeting, told The Jakarta Post here yesterday.
The alleged love affair between the Bernas reporter and his
ex-schoolmate Sunarti sparked her husband's jealousy, identified
as Dwi Sumaji, 34, a worker at an advertising billboard producing
firm.
According to the head of the National Criminal Investigation
Department, Brig. Gen. Rusdihardjo, the local police also seized
various pieces of material evidence from Sumaji's house in Sleman
regency.
"Among the evidence is bloodstained clothes and an iron bar
believed to have been used by the suspect to beat the journalist
to death," said Rusdihardjo, who was here to accompany Dibyo.
Both officers received news of the arrest by phone from their
staff in Jakarta and Yogyakarta.
Rusdihardjo did not specify whether the blood found on a shirt
and trousers of Sumaji was of the same blood type as that of the
late Syafruddin.
However, he admitted that Sumaji is related to the regent of
Bantul whose policies had been criticized by Syafruddin in his
writings.
"The arrest of the man is not the end of this case because
we're still digging out more information and evidence to trace
any other possible motive for the murder," Rusdihardjo told the
Post.
He also said the suspect had admitted to killing the
journalist purely out of jealousy. The suspect's wife Sunarti was
formerly a schoolmate of the reporter at an Islamic junior high
school in Bantul.
When asked to comment on Sunarti's statement that she had not
met Syafruddin for many years, Rusdihardjo replied: "She can say
anything she wants but we have the evidence to arrest her
husband."
Meanwhile, in Yogyakarta, families and friends of the suspect
protested the arrest. Sunarti said her husband was at home on the
night of Aug. 13, when the assault on the journalist, also known
as Udin, took place.
"My husband is innocent. He never went out at night because he
has throat problems," Sunarti said. "On that day, I was at home
at four in the afternoon. My husband got home after the dusk
prayer and went right to bed."
The suspect's parents said Dwi Sumaji, also known as Iwik, is
a kindhearted man who could not stand the sight of blood.
Yogyakarta police chief Col. Mulyono Sulaiman insisted the
police would not have arrested Dwi without strong evidence. He
did not elaborate.
"We'll see in court whether people were right in their
accusation that police contrived this arrest. We are only
enforcing the law," he said.
The Yogyakarta office of the Legal Aid Institute said in a
statement that the arrest was too hasty. "This is all a scheme of
the police. We demand that Dwi Sumaji be released," the statement
said.
Udin, 35, died after an unknown group of people attacked him
in his home in Bantul, Yogyakarta on Aug. 13. It is strongly
suspected that Udin's death was brought about because of his
critical reporting on certain people. (bsr/30)