Provincial legislator dies in West Jakarta low-cost hotel

JAKARTA (JP): A provincial legislator from Irian Jaya was found dead on Friday night in a room of a low-cost hotel in the Mangga Besar area, a police officer said on Saturday.

West Jakarta Police chief Supt. Iwan Nurisman Ismet identified the victim as legislator Issak Samuel Kapissa, 53, a resident of South Biak, Irian Jaya.

According to Iwan, Issak died after consuming medication to treat impotency.

"He died while in the company of a prostitute," Iwan said.

Based on a preliminary investigation, the police learned that Issak checked into the hotel a few hours before being found dead by the woman in the hotel's bathroom at about 9:30 p.m.

"We have questioned the call girl, who said that Issak had taken some kind of pill for impotency, but she did not know for sure the details of the pill," Iwan said.

According to the investigation, after consuming the pill, the legislator went to the bathroom. A few minutes later, the 28-year-old woman heard a bump and found Issak laying on the bathroom floor.

According to hotel staff, the guest was rushed to the nearby Manuela hospital.

Hospital staff said that Issak was already dead when he was admitted to the hospital's emergency unit.

His remains were taken to the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital morgue, Central Jakarta, on Saturday at midnight. No postmortem examination was made as his relatives decided to remove the corpse from the hospital.

The hospital's forensic expert from the University of Indonesia, Mu'nim Idris, suggested that Issak -- from his physical appearance -- might have died of a heart attack.

"But we don't know for sure what caused the heart attack as we did not perform a postmortem examination," he said.

The hotel's operational manager, Zaenal, said the woman who was with legislator Issak was a masseuse.

"She's not our employee but a masseuse, who we officially hire to serve our customers," he said.

The Mangga Besar area has long been noted as home to scores of leisure spots, such as hotels, discotheques and massage parlors.

Agus Isrok, a former officer of the Army's special force, Kopassus, also a son of a four-star general, was caught at the same hotel in August last year with several drugs in his possession. He was fired from the force and sentenced to four years in jail for the offense. (lup/asa)