Police plan probe into bunker mystery

JAKARTA (JP): The National Police will question a number of people for providing them with misleading information, in connection with the underground bunker found below the Central Jakarta home of fugitive Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra.

"Those to be questioned may include Tommy's lawyers and family members. Some of them have said that no bunker existed, but when police found the bunker, they called it an old cellar," National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Saleh Saaf told reporters at National Police Headquarters.

"The bunker is air-conditioned and very well-furnished. Everything found inside looks brand new ... the bunker was equipped with chairs, a table, a huge cupboard fixed to the wall, mechanical equipment, an air-conditioner and exhaust fan."

Saleh added that whoever misled the police with "incorrect information or lies, will be questioned."

Meanwhile, city police detectives claim that they have yet to find a passageway leading out of the bunker and into a residence in the Menteng area, or any other area for that matter.

"No passageway exiting the bunker to any other place has been found. We still have to analyze what we have found," chief of city police detectives Snr. Comr. Harry Montolalu told The Jakarta Post.

"Today, we are bringing in the geo-radar detectors to further investigate whether there are passages leading from the bunker."

A police source, however, said that the police had found a passageway leading from the bunker to Jl. Cendana, in the up- market area of Menteng where former president Soeharto and his children reside.

Quoting an official police report on the finding of the bunker, another source said that a hydraulic door about 90 centimeters wide and 62 centimeters long ended in steps leading to an underground room.

"One goes up and down the elevator using an electricity switch, but since there was no electricity ... we call it the hydraulic door," the source said.

The underground room has a passageway leading to the east, measuring about one meter wide and 2.7 meters long, the report said. The passageway leads to the four-by-four meter bunker.

"The bunker contains items with excellent wooden finishes ... whether it be the table, the chairs or the huge cupboard fixed to the wall of the bunker. Remote buttons (connected to electricity) grace the walls of the bunker and several mechanical devices fill it as well. Police also found an air-conditioner and an exhaust fan in it," the source said.

"The electricity is needed for the lighting in the room, the air-conditioner and to operate the elevator."

The report added that the clock on the wall was still running and showed time "according to ordinary Indonesian time, shown on watches worn by police officers ... it showed 4:30 p.m."

As reported earlier, after two days of continuous drilling, police officers eventually broke into an air-conditioned underground bunker on Tuesday.

Secretary to the city police detectives chief, Adj. Snr. Comr. Abdullah, said police spent all of Tuesday afternoon making an inventory of what was found in the room.

"No Tommy (in there). We did find a complete kitchen set, an exhaust fan, brand new air-conditioner, racks and shelves, tool kits and electric lights," Abdullah told reporters on Tuesday.

Harry added that police were unable to find the switches to turn the lights on.

There have been several reports of interconnecting bunkers below the adjoining residences of the former first family, located in Jakarta's plush Menteng area.

Tommy's lawyer Juan Felix Tampubolon had earlier told reporters that police were illegally breaking the floors of Tommy's home, since the police had no warrant from any Jakarta court authorizing them to do so.

"The police only have a search warrant. We strongly protest this demolition and will soon take legal action," Juan had told reporters. (ylt)