Slain reporter's wife does not know suspect

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Marsiyem, the wife of slain journalist Fuad Muhammad Syafruddin, said she did not recognize the man police have accused of murdering her husband.

"It's not him, he is not the same man," Marsiyem said after seeing a picture of Dwi Sumaji, also known as Iwik, at the office of the Yogyakarta-branch of Indonesian Legal Aid Institute.

Marsiyem is the main witness in the case. On the evening of Aug. 13, she opened the door for a heavyset man, reportedly wearing a red bandana, who asked for her husband. Fuad, also known as Udin, met the visitor while Marsiyem went inside.

Immediately afterward, Marsiyem has said, she heard Udin shouting in pain. She later discovered him lying unconscious with severe head injuries. The journalist, known for his critical reporting on local administration policies, died three days after the assault without regaining consciousness.

The case was highly publicized because of unsubstantiated reports that linked the victim with a powerful community leader in Bantul regency.

Dwi has told his police-appointed lawyer Djufri Taufik that on Monday, the day before his arrest, he was visited at home in Sleman by four men. The men offered him a cushier job than his present one at an advertising billboard producing firm.

The men, driving a red van, took Dwi to see someone they called "boss". Dwi claimed he was later taken to the Parangtritis resort area some 27 kilometer south of Yogyakarta.

He said he was told to stay in a hotel and was accompanied by a woman. He overslept until 11 in the next morning, when he was visited by a man called Franky, the "boss".

"I'll change your lot. I'll help you get a better job, a house, even a car. But you have to help me," Franky was quoted by Dwi as saying. Franky then took Dwi to the police office in Yogyakarta where he was detained. (30/swe)