Police told to reopen Marsinah's case

JAKARTA (JP): National Police chief Lt. Gen. Rusdihardjo should order his East Java subordinates to reopen the 1993 rape- murder case of woman activist Marsinah, noted lawyers Trimedya Panjaitan and Luhut Pangaribuan said.

Contacted by The Jakarta Post separately on Tuesday, they said their recommendation was based on Rusdihardjo's recent disclosure of new information about the murder.

Rusdihardjo should immediately request East Java Police chief Maj. Gen. Mohammad Dayat reopen the investigation, Trimedya said.

"The Madiun and Jombang police precinct chiefs, and the commander of the Porong Military District, must be called in for questioning over the case.

"This case must be reopened, particularly since Rusdihardjo himself has openly stated some facts regarding the case," he added.

"Pak Rusdihardjo, with all due respect, cannot just give sugary words at the beginning of his term. He should act on his words. It is a puzzle to us why this woman died and so viciously."

Rusdihardjo faulted police last week for not saving Marsinah, who he said was clinging to life when she was found.

"Marsinah shouldn't have died ... some truck drivers saw her at night in the woods. She was beaten up. Her hair was disheveled, her face, her body had really bad cuts, and she was bleeding profusely, from, excuse me, her vagina," Rusdihardjo said the day after he was installed.

"The truck drivers ran away, frightened by a 'ghost'. One of them contacted the Madiun Police. Precinct officers came ... took one look at her and thought that she was mentally ill. They should have helped her. She was still alive.

"They threw her in the back of a Kijang van, driving her through deep remote areas, to the Jombang precinct. She died there, most likely of excessive loss of blood."

Luhut said the police were legally obliged to reopen the case.

"We do not have to tell him (Rusdihardjo) where to start. He's a National Police chief ... he should know the terrible legal hassles this case had to go through in the East Java High Court, and the Supreme Court," Luhut said.

"The National Police should temporarily stop running after lucrative cases, like gambling and prostitution, which only provide them with more money, but concentrate on this case."

He said the case was of far-reaching importance.

"This woman (Marsinah) was raped and killed, just because she asked for a hike in wages for herself and her colleagues. What kind of a country do we live in?"

Rusdihardjo earlier acknowledged that he was one of the investigating officers in the case. He personally checked on the Porong Military District Command (Kodim), which some have speculated was the site of Marsinah's rape and murder.

"There was too much blood everywhere. We were shocked. There was also an operational Daihatsu Zebra, maybe (Suzuki) Carry van. I don't quite remember. It was a box van. There also was blood on the seats."

Marsinah was murdered after leading a strike at PT Catur Putra Surya, a watch-making factory in Sidoarjo, East Java. Her badly mutilated body was found on May 9, 1993, in an abandoned shack near Nganjuk in East Java.

Judi Susanto, director of the company and alleged mastermind of the murder, was released in November 1994 after the East Java High Court overturned his conviction. He was sentenced to 17 years, the stiffest jail term handed down in the case.

A secretary at the company, Mutiari, who was sentenced to seven months in prison by the Sidoarjo District Court for allegedly being an accessory to the murder, was also exonerated by the court. She was released from Medaeng Prison in August 1994 after serving six months.

The other seven defendants, who were released by a Supreme Court ruling in May 1995, were also employees of the company: Yudi Astono (sentenced to four years in jail prior to being exonerated), Bambang Wuryantoyo (12 years), Widayat (12 years), A.S. Prayogi (12 years), Karyono Wongso (13 years), Soewono (12 years) and Soeprapto (12 years).

The East Java Police and the National Police have time and again set up special teams to investigate the killing.

Former National Police chief Gen. Roesmanhadi, who was East Java Police chief in 1995, said on several occasions that no conclusive evidence came from reopening the case.(ylt)