Policeman gets teacher arrested for allegedly slapping son

Policeman gets teacher arrested for allegedly slapping son

Abdul Khalik and Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A high school teacher in North Jakarta, detained last Friday for
allegedly slapping the son of a police officer from the National
Police Headquarters, was finally released on Tuesday.

Chairman of the City Council's Commission E for health,
education and the people's welfare, Dani Anwar, said on Tuesday
that the detention of Sutarman was sparked by an incident on May
9 when 30 students of SMP 143 were punished for arriving late for
a flag-raising ceremony at the school.

Citing Sutarman's testimony, Dani said during the ceremony,
Sutarman came to each of the 30 students and pressed his fist
against the cheek of each student.

One of the students, the son of a police officer, later
shouted "dog" at a female teacher passing near the students.

The female teacher began to cry and ran into a consultation
room. Sutarman, who heard about the incident, summoned the
student, who was not identified, for questioning.

"Sutarman said the student was only interrogated in the room,"
Dani told the Post.

The parents of the student became angry when their son said he
had a stomachache last Wednesday. They had accused Sutarman of
slapping the boy, which they said had caused the ailment.

Sutarman was first summoned to the North Jakarta subprecinct
last Thursday and was detained last Friday at the North Jakarta
police precinct.

A police source at the National Police Headquarters confirmed
on Tuesday that a middle-ranking officer from the headquarters
identified as Adj. Sr. Comr. S had asked the North Jakarta
precinct to detain Sutarman after hearing that his son had been
slapped by the teacher.

"He called the precinct to help him detain the teacher.
Feeling that the police should help each other, officers in the
precinct detained Sutarman," he told The Jakarta Post.

National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Zainuri Lubis said police
officers had the right to name any person a suspect and detain
them.

"I am sure police there had enough evidence to detain
Sutarman," he told the Post.

Sutarman could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.