Police detain two of four suspects over cleric's slaying
Police detain two of four suspects over cleric's slaying
ID Nugroho, The Jakarta Post , Surabaya
Police here said on Monday they had detained two people and were
hunting two others suspected of slaying a Muslim cleric from the
National Awakening Party (PKB), following increasing pressure to
bring the alleged killers to justice.
Police had detained a total of four people but released two
due to insufficient evidence to charge them with involvement in
the recent killing of PKB leader Asmuni Ishak in Lumajang
regency, East Java.
The remaining suspects are being questioned at Lumajang Police
headquarters, East Java Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Sad Harunantyo
said.
"We are also searching for two other persons linked to the
murder," he said, but he refused to identify them and the two
detainees.
"The two suspects disappeared after the killing of Kyai
(cleric) Asmuni," he told a news conference accompanied by East
Java Police criminal investigation chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Sutarman.
Sad said police had questioned at least 27 witnesses in
connection to the case.
A group of six masked men armed with machetes stabbed Asmuni
to death after they broke into his house in Jatiroto subdistrict
on Nov. 27. His wife, Siti Mutmainah, survived but was seriously
wounded in the attack. She remains in hospital.
PKB executives believe the incident was politically motivated
to terrorize party members in East Java, its main stronghold,
ahead of the 2004 general elections.
The claim was supported by reports that more PKB clerics in
several regencies in East Java, including Gresik and Jember, had
received death threats from mysterious callers.
However, police have said Asmuni's death was not politically
motivated, although they were still investigating.
"We have so far found evidence that the motive for the killing
was robbery," Sad said, echoing statements of other police
officers.
He said the two suspects currently on the run were connected
to evidence police found during investigations.
At the house of one of the two, police discovered spots of
blood on his trousers, Sad said, adding the blood was believed to
be Asmuni's.
Sad said police had also found blood stains at 12 places
surrounding the scene where Asmuni was slain, and discovered an
artificial tooth and a sandal covered with blood.
"We will examine the blood at a police laboratory through a
DNA test," he added.
On Sunday, deputy PKB chairman Mahfud M.D. claimed that
certain persons had been hired to try to kill party executives
and ulemas of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) on East Java's Madura island.
He said he had been notified of the threats during his visit
to Madura last Friday, accompanied by PKB chairman Alwi Shihab.
Mahfud, a former defense minister, declined to name the
clerics who had received the threats.
Mahfud's statement was denied by East Java Police.
"We have directly sent a team to Madura and found there are no
hired killers," Sad said, quoting Madura Police chief Sr. Comr.
Agus Widarto's statement.
Asmuni's slaying and the reported death threats have prompted
the NU-affiliated youth wing, Ansor, to deploy members of its
paramilitary group Banser to guard the houses of NU clerics
across East Java.
However, they were warned against reacting violently to the
threats.
PKB officials have said the latest threats were reminiscent of
the conditions leading up to of the 1999 elections.
Dozens of Muslim preachers linked to the PKB were beaten or
hacked to death in a number of different regencies across East
Java in 1999. It was claimed that the clerics were murdered as
they had practiced black magic.
The killings remain a mystery. Little effort was made to solve
the seemingly organized murders.
Attacks on Muslim preachers in East Java, where the PKB won
the 1999 elections, could potentially trigger unrest.