Police to quizz house member

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Jakarta Police are to summon Trimedya Panjaitan, a House of Representatives member from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), as a witness in the murder of his secretary, Nung Yuningsih, 35, alias Nungky.

City police chief, Insp. Gen. Firman Gani, said on Thursday that Trimedya would be questioned about when he had last had any form of contact with Nungky.

"We can't conclude yet whether the motive is political or just purely criminal as we are still investigating the case," Firman said at police headquarters after launching a security operation in the capital for Idul Fitri.

Firman said that Trimedya would be summoned after police had finished questioning other witnesses.

Nungky was found dead by friends at 2 p.m. on Wednesday in the toilet of her apartment in the Benhil low-cost apartments in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta.

An autopsy conducted at the Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital found that she had been beaten and strangled to death by more than one person at some time on Monday.

The director of the hospital's forensic laboratory, Abdul Mun'im Idris, said that the victim had been drugged and raped before being murdered.

"We found semen and scratches to the vagina. The tests also showed that her blood contained drugs," he said.

Trimedya, who confirmed that the victim was his secretary right after she was found dead, said that he had not seen or heard from her for some time.

"I sent her a text message on Saturday to tell her to reschedule my meeting with other PDI-P members. On Monday, I called her but she didn't answer," he told the Post on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Tanah Abang Police chief of detectives First Insp. Asep Suparman said the police had questioned six witnesses, including Nungky's boyfriend Taufik, Danu Diningrat, the owner of the apartment, and Nungky's friend, Dian.

He said that police had questioned Taufik but it turned out that he was in Cirebon, West Java, when the incident took place.

"We are still expanding our investigation. Two friends witnessed Nungky talking to a man the last time they saw her on Monday. Unfortunately, they didn't hear the topic of the conservation nor the name of man. We are still searching for him," Asep said.

He said that the witnesses were helping the police prepare sketches of the man.