Policeman dies after fall from minibus

JAKARTA (JP): A policeman who fell from a moving Kopaja minibus in the Kebayoran Lama area of South Jakarta yesterday morning died on the way to hospital.

The victim -- 23-year-old Second Sgt. Syaifudin Zuhri -- had been moved from the National Police Headquarters to a City Police post a week ago, Second Lt. Nuzul Kurman of the National Police Headquarters said.

None of Syaifudin's mourning friends knew any details of the incident. They said that they were told about it by the Kebayoran Lama police subprecinct at 9 a.m.

Nuzul said Syaifudin was thought to have fallen because the vehicle was overloaded and running at a high speed.

"I can understand that because it happened at around 6:30 a.m. when people are rushing to work," he said.

However, he had not yet been informed of either the identity of the driver or who owned the minibus.

Syaifudin had been assigned to the SEA Games security task force and he had attended weeks of special training for the event, Nuzul said, adding, "He was probably extremely tired.".

A forensic doctor at the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital, where the victim's body was sent, found the death a bit strange as there were no visible signs of serious injuries.

Dr Zulharmas Samsu said that during the external examination he only found two wounds, on the forehead and the chin.

"Neither are serious wounds and there is no bleeding at all. For me it is a big mystery," he said.

"I only hope that the family will approve a post-mortem to unveil what really happened to him," he added.

Signs of murder, however, were difficult to detect, he said.

Dozens of officers went to the hospital's morgue to identify the body.

Syamsul Hadi, a victim's relative living in the BNI housing complex in Ulujami in South Jakarta, admitted that he was shocked to hear of the incident.

"Syaifudin lived with my family after he finished his education in Bogor last year.

"And only last night we were chatting and watching TV," he said.

"I am unsure how to tell his mother as he is the only child of my aunt.

"My wife has talked to her but she refused to come here because she did not believe that her son had passed away," he said.

Syamsul said Syaifudin's mother had come from Sidoarjo, East Java, a week a go to visit him. She even tried to persuade Syaifudin's commander to move him to East Java.

"His mother could not bear to have her son working so far away. She knew he worked hard and would panic if she knew that he had caught so much as a fever," he said. (04)