Public may lose faith in police methods: Komnas

JAKARTA (JP): A member of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas) urged police yesterday to improve their methods of investigation into the recent murder of a Yogyakarta journalist.

Bambang W. Soeharto warned that unless the authorities improved their operation methods, public trust in the police would be eroded.

Bambang, a deputy chairman of the rights commission, was referring to police investigations into the death of Fuad Muhammad Syafruddin, a journalist at the Yogyakarta-based Bernas daily.

Fuad, 35, better known as Udin, died after an unknown group of people attacked him at his home in Bantul, near Yogyakarta on the night of Aug. 13. He died in hospital on Aug. 16.

It is widely believed he was murdered because of his critical reporting on corruption at the Bantul regency administration.

The Indonesian Journalists Association (PWI) on Monday established a fact-finding team after receiving the results of a previous investigation from its Yogyakarta chapter.

The rights commission, which has also established a fact- finding team to investigate the case, found that the recent arrest of a suspect had violated his basic rights.

"Despite what they claim were undercover methods, their method of arresting Dwi Sumaji violated the Criminal Code," Bambang said yesterday after a one-hour meeting with the PWI's top officials, including Parni Hadi, R.B. Sugiantoro and Sofyan Lubis. Also present was Djoko Soegianto from the commission.

"We still wholeheartedly believe that the police are doing their job, hopefully other findings will be reviewed in their investigation," Bambang said.

According to Bambang, the different fact-finding teams were not meant to step over police investigators' jurisdiction.

"I believe that we all have the same underlying mission to uphold right from wrong," he said.

While Udin was in hospital, police asked his family to lend them a sample of Udin's blood to facilitate their investigation.

The blood was given but the police did not issue a receipt.

Police have said the blood sample was used for two purposes. The first was melabuh, the Javanese tradition of floating a sampling of blood out to sea in the hope that mystical forces would lead them to the murderer.

The second portion of the blood sample was used in the investigation and later thrown away, police said.

Following weeks of criticism on the slow progress of the investigation, police announced they had arrested a man they identified as Dwi Sumaji, but many still doubt the authorities have caught the real murderer.

The police claimed that they seized a blood-stained shirt and an iron bar, allegedly used to batter the journalist to death, from Sumaji's house.

Sumaji was arrested as he was about to board a bus. He was reportedly taken to a hotel in the Parangtritis resort south of here and given alcohol until he passed out.

He claimed that the people who took him to the resort offered him a wealth and a better job if he admitted to the killing.

Udin's wife, Marsiyem, who is the main witness, said Sumaji did not match her recollection of the killer. (14)