Relatives identify driver of ill-fated bus as Riyadi

JAKARTA (JP): The driver of the Jaya Bakti Super bus, which crashed Sunday, was identified by relatives yesterday as Riyadi Mulyono from Kendal, Central Java, and not Wardiman as previously announced.

Arfan Andria, a mechanic from the Semarang-based bus operator, confirmed the identity of the 30-year-old driver as Riyadi, who had joined the company only a few weeks ago.

Arfan was the last person from the company to see the driver before he left the Pulo Gadung bus terminal on Sunday.

The identification process at the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital's morgue was difficult because the head had been severed from the body. It was further complicated by the fact the driver was not wearing the company's green uniform.

Thirty-five people were killed in the collision between the bus -- which was traveling from Jakarta to Purwodadi in Central Java -- and a dump truck. Both were traveling at high speed on the Cakung-Cikunir toll road just outside Jakarta.

Riyadi's elder brother, Pudjihartono, has strongly disputed the police and medical reports which indicate his sibling was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crash.

Arfan concurred, saying that Riyadi had not been drinking.

"He spent the whole day with me before he left the terminal at 4:15 p.m. on Sunday," he said.

Riyadi had arrived at Pulo Gadung at 8 a.m. after driving the bus from Semarang, in Central Java, and asked Arfan to replace the broken front windshield.

Riyadi went to sleep in the bus crew room and woke up a few hours before the bus's scheduled departure for Purwodadi.

"I didn't see him taking any such (alcoholic) drink that day," he said.

Doctors who examined the body, however, insisted the driver had been under the influence of alcohol although he was not necessarily drunk.

Mun'im Idris, a forensic doctor, said the examination found 80 milligrams of alcohol in every cubic centimeter of blood -- enough liquor to affect the driver's concentration, judgment, self-control and driving skills.

The autopsy also showed that the driver had recently eaten, which could have slowed down the body's elimination of alcohol.

Mun'im said the driver could have started drinking alcohol after leaving Jakarta.

Bull head

On Tuesday, residents of the Pulo Gebang subdistrict, where the crash occurred, placed the head of a bull on the sidewalk near the crash site to appease the spirits. They held prayers on Monday night.

Residents said there had been many accidents on that stretch of road but Sunday's crash was the worst.

The practice of offering a sacrifice was criticized by a Moslem leader yesterday as going against Islamic teaching.

M. Asyraf Ali, chairman of the Jakarta Mosque Youth, said: "Personally, I don't agree with such ceremonies. Saying prayers is enough, there is no need to mix it with custom."

Saud Rachman, a member of Commission D for the city legislative council, said that there was no real need to provide sacrifices.

"But I understand that offering a bull's head, for some people, is part of their custom and culture," he said.

"As long as it doesn't make any trouble, let them do what they think is right.

"We can't stop them from making those offerings," he said, adding that there was no law against such rituals. (07/04)