Police have no leads in murder of Suwarjo
ID Nugroho, Bondowoso
Police still have no leads in Wednesday's murder of an executive of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P)'s Bondowoso branch and his family.
As of Thursday, police could only say that Suwarjo, his wife and son were murdered by professionals.
The chief of the Besuki Police, which oversees Bondowoso regency in East Java province, Sr. Comr. Winarso, said the triple murder was likely committed by more than one person.
The murderers were professional, evidenced by their ability to gain entrance to Suwarjo's house and kill three people without alerting any of the neighbors, he said.
Suwarjo, 60, his wife Wiwik, 60, and their son Dodi, 28, were found murdered in their house on Jl. Diponegoro.
The murderers also apparently intentionally spilled blood in several different places in Suwarjo's house, as well as in two neighboring houses, owned by people police identified only as Y and B. "This was apparently done to throw off the police," Winarso said.
Police have collected various pieces of evidence, including a bloody T-shirt, tablecloth and pillowcase. The tablecloth was found in the house of B.
Police have questioned 12 witnesses over the case, said Bondowoso Police chief of detectives Comr. Daniel.
The murder of Suwarjo and his family is believed to have been politically motivated. If this is the case, it would be the third politically motivated murder in East Java in the past eight months. Two members of the National Awakening Party (PKB) were murdered in Lumajang and Jember regencies in December.
Sugiono, the head of the PDI-P's Bondowoso branch, however, said he did not believe politics was the motive behind the murders. He said he could not recall Suwarjo ever having a dispute with other party members or members of rival parties.
Sugiono demanded the police solve the case as quickly as possible in order to end speculation in Bondowoso.
Suwarjo's brother Surachman dismissed the possibility of a family dispute being behind the murder, saying there were no conflicts within the family over inheritances or any other matter.