Police question eight people over Bekasi incident
JAKARTA (JP): Bekasi Police have questioned at least eight people following the death of a resident of Kampung Jati, Tambun subdistrict, on Friday.
Bekasi Police chief Lt. Col. Adjie Rustam Ramdja said on Sunday the eight people included the widow of the 28-year-old victim, Muryanto, whose body was found floating in the Kali Malang river on Friday morning.
According to Adjie, the seven other people being questioned were members of two groups involved in a dispute which was followed by the burning of 70 semipermanent houses in the area on Friday night.
"All of them were questioned as witnesses," Adjie insisted.
He refused to reveal any details of the eight people.
By Sunday evening, Adjie said, the situation had returned to normal but police officers and soldiers were still guarding the area.
The two groups also reached an agreement on Sunday afternoon to live peacefully side by side.
The clash between the native residents of Kampung Jati and the other group of people, who have moved to the area with their families, was reportedly ignited by a dispute two days earlier between some of the "newcomers" -- as the locals put them -- and a native villager.
Fight
According to the Kompas daily, the men, calling themselves Napitulu men, became involved in a fight with villager Muryanto, 28, who objected to the group forcing his child to give them money.
Adjie said the two groups, with the help of the Tambun police, agreed to settle the dispute on Thursday and promised not to fight any more.
The peaceful atmosphere evaporated the next morning when the villagers found Muryanto's body floating in the nearby river.
According to Muryanto's widow, her husband was picked up by a group of Napitupulu men the previous evening who said they were going to settle Wednesday's clash through traditional means.
After burying Muryanto's body, dozens of the villagers swarmed around the semipermanent houses, believed to be owned by the rival group, located along the Kali Malang river.
At about 8:30 p.m. the number of protesting villagers had swelled to an estimated 1,000 people.
Four hundred riot police and military personnel dispatched to the scene failed to assuage the locals' anger. A number of warning shots were fired but these were ignored by the villagers who also blocked fire engines from reaching the scene.
"During the incident, the villagers hurt nobody but only damaged properties belonging to the Napitupulu group," said officer Adjie.
No one has been questioned in connection with the burning of the houses.
During the incident, one local villager, Bernarudin, 26, suffered a gunshot wound.
After the signing of the agreement on Sunday at the local village administration office, Tambun subdistrict head H. Abdullah hoped the two groups would end their dispute forever.
Under the agreement signed yesterday, the locals also asked the "newcomers" to stop gambling and selling alcohol in the area. (jun/bsr)