Police confirms, downplay assassinations
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Police confirmed on Monday the existence of many assassins for hire in Indonesia on the heels of the cold-blooded murder of a prominent businessman and his Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) bodyguard at the Sasana Krida sports stadium in North Jakarta on Saturday morning.
National Police Detective chief Comr. Gen. Erwin Mappaseng said that although assassinations involving hitmen existed here, they were not organized and it was not a common occurrence.
"(The practice) is not exactly rife here. We have not discovered any murder cases involving a hitman syndicate. If any, it's just a matter of individual cases where someone hires an assassin to execute someone they don't like," Erwin told reporters at the National Police Directorate of Air and Sea Operation Headquarters in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta.
Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Makbul Padmanagara reiterated Erwin's statement, referring to the homicide case in Sunter, North Jakarta, where a Chinese-Indonesian couple, identified as A Sun and Melly, were killed after an alleged assassin doused them with acid on April 30.
Police have arrested some suspects and the alleged mastermind of the assassination. The case also implicated seven Indonesian Navy personnel who were hired as suspected hitmen. The motive was reportedly some type of personal vengeance by businessman Erwin Mulia, 40, who hired the hitmen to bump off A Sun.
Makbul also commented on the recent murder of PT Asaba computer firm president director Boedyharto Angsono, 55, and his bodyguard First Sgt. Edy Siyet, 33. Edy was shot once in the head while Boedyharto was shot six times in the head and back. During the apparent contract killing, Boedyharto's driver Darjan survived as he remained inside the bullet-proof Mercedes Benz.
The tragedy was the 13th of its kind in Jakarta since January.
A police source explained that the hitmen had to be well- trained in using firearms and carefully planning the assassinations as they were able to instantly paralyze Edy who himself, as an elite Kopassus soldier, would have been very adept at defending his client.
"They must have been smarter and more skillful than the best in our military (Kopassus)," the source said.
Makbul said that the police were still working on the case to find the perpetrator, and if he truly was a gun for hire, they would pursue the person who hired him.
There have been strong allegation made earlier by Boedyharto's relatives, who pointed to Boedyharto's former son-in-law, Gunawan Santoso as the mastermind of the shooting. The family alleged that revenge could be the motive.
But North Jakarta Police chief Sr. Comr. Djoko Susilo played down the allegations by saying that the police had yet to name Gunawan as a suspect.
However, Makbul admitted that detectives were hunting for Gunawan, who escaped from Kuningan Penitentiary in Cirebon, West Java, on Jan 15.
Gunawan was convicted to two years and seven months after being found guilty in a Rp 25 billion (US$3.05 million) embezzlement case while he was a supervisor in Boedyharto's business.
"We started looking for him based on a request from the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights after his breakout," Makbul said.
Gunawan's sister Sulis, 37, denied the allegations against her brother, and claimed she had not seen him in two years.