Police lieutenant killed by drunken Blok M hoodlums
Police lieutenant killed by drunken Blok M hoodlums
JAKARTA (JP): Two officers from Jakarta's prestgious Police College were attacked by a group of drunken street hoodlums on Monday, with one fatally stabbed in the abdomen.
First Leiutenant Budi Prasetyo Utomo, 29, was buried yesterday in a military ceremony at the Tanah Kusir public cemetery in South Jakarta.
His classmate, Capt. Arman Depari, a member of the police's mobile regiment, has recovered from a number of severe blows to his face.
The incident took place on the exit ramp located between the Melawai Plaza building and the Effata church at the crowded Blok M shopping center in South Jakarta at around 5:30 p.m. Monday.
By yesterday evening, police had arrested four of the ten suspects and confiscated a jacket and a shirt stained with blood.
The four, identified as Reza Lawalatta, Nico, Rudi and Idris, were arrested in separate locations a few hours after the incident.
Rudi was nabbed while hiding among a choir group inside the Effata church.
Police detectives have named Mario and Frengki Tulehu as two other wanted gang members. Police believe the clothing seized at the gangster's homebase on Jl. Karang Tengah in Ciledug belongs to Mario.
When asked by reporters here yesterday about the motive of the attack, City Police Chief Maj. Gen. Dibyo Widodo said: "Street criminals everywhere are similar, always trying to demonstrate their power, their existence."
All of the suspects are in their 20s.
National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. IK Ratta urged the fugitives to turn themselves in immediately to a nearby police station before having to face more serious consequences.
"We are already in possession of complete data on them," Ratta said.
Witnesses, including vendors and security guards, contacted by The Jakarta Post at the scene of the crime yesterday revealed that Budi and Arman were driving in a Grand Civic sedan as they left a nearby parking lot. One of the gangsters then gestured to a witness and said something like "hello".
"A few seconds later I saw the driver (Arman) get out of the sedan. He had a heated argument with the drunken gangsters before being overpowered by them," said a food vendor.
None of the security guards and visitors tried to stop the incident, fearing involvement with the group that routinely extorts money from them at knife point.
In the heavily one-sided battle, Budi was stabbed to death, allegedly by Mario, in addition to suffering bruises and wounds on his face and hands.
Police story
The police have revealed that both officers -- planning to buy books at the nearby Gramedia bookstore -- were looking for a place to park their car when one of the group members held his hands up as if to help them park.
Later, one of them came close and hit the car with his hands, ignoring Arman's request for a parking place.
When the other gang members came by, Arman could smell the hoods reeking of alcoholic indulgence.
He then got out of the car and introduced himself as a police captain.
"What? What's your rank? Do you want me to bring you to face my father, heh? Don't be (so arrogant) like that?" replied one of the suspects.
Arman asked again: "Have you people been drinking?"
"Even a barrel of alcohol wouldn't get me drunk," the suspect retorted.
Realizing that he was cornered, Arman tried to get back into the car when suddenly, Reza cold-cocked him in the face.
Reza's friends then joined in, attacking Budi. Arman, a police captain, then ran away to Jl. Melawai to save himself.
A few minutes later, Arman came back to the site but saw his friend, Budi, on the ground bleeding next to their unparked car.
According to Professor Awaluddin Djamin, a retired police general and former national police chief, the attack against the two officers, who are supposed models for Indonesia's next generation of police, is a strong indication that street criminals (locally known as preman) are flourishing in cities like Jakarta.
"We don't want people live in fear of crime like in New York, Miami and Rio de Janeiro," Awaluddin said during Budi's funeral ceremony.
"Now," he said, "its high time for all members of society to join forces against these preman groups." (bsr)