STPDN students lied to investigators: Police
Yuli Tri Suwarni and M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Bandung/Jakarta
Police investigating the death of a Public Administration Institute (STPDN) student said they would rework the dossiers of key suspects due to suspicions that most witnesses had lied.
Sumedang Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Yoyok Subagyono said the police had questioned 50 second year students, who all admitted taking part in the violence against Wahyu Hidayat last week, while investigators believe they were not all involved.
"In fact the police findings indicate that Wahyu was strangled to death by a small group of people. They (the students) seemed to have made an agreement on what would be said to the police," Yoyok told reporters on Tuesday.
An autopsy performed on Wahyu revealed that the 20-year-old student died of strangulation.
Yoyok said the police also had a hard time establishing what had actually happened the night Wahyu died, as each one of the witnesses gave a different account.
"They seemed to be afraid of something and did not have the courage to tell the truth," he said.
Yoyok said that there was apparently a strong feeling of fellowship among STPDN students that prevented police from digging for more substantial information pertaining to Wahyu's death.
Wahyu, a second year student, died after he was allegedly beaten up by his seniors for failing to turn up for a flag- hoisting ceremony in observance of Independence Day on Aug. 17.
An STPDN student said the senior students beat Wahyu to teach him a "lesson" in loyalty.
Another student said Wahyu was "punished" for being absent in a meeting with the West Java governor, a forum where students from the province would ask the governor for Rp 5 million (US$595) in allowances.
Three students -- Yayan Sofyan, Dadang Hadi Surya and Hendi Setiadi -- have been expelled and named suspects in connection with the death.
Psychological tests conducted on 806 students last year revealed that the military-style discipline imposed on them had resulted in alarming aggressiveness and a tendency toward being hypersexual.
A parent of one of the students said it was common for his son to return home on the weekend covered with bruises. The institute's internal regulations, however, forbids any physical punishment, according to Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno.
The home ministry, which supervises the institute, has decided to revise the military-styled curriculum following the death of Wahyu.
In Jakarta, Hari said the government was evaluating the performance of the STPDN director that may lead to his dismissal.
Hari told members of the House of Representatives Commission II on legal affairs on Tuesday his ministry's inspectorate general was currently assessing the director's performance.
"The assessment will determine whether he should be penalized," he said.
He said the government was also considering merging two colleges under his ministry, the West Java-based STPDN and the Jakarta-based Public Administration Institute (IIP), saying that the ministry was overburdened in running the two institutions.
"We only need to have one public administration institute. There has been a policy on that," the minister said without elaborating.