Sumedang police question STPDN students over alleged separatism
Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung
West Java's Sumedang Police began questioning several students of the Institute of Public Administration (STPDN) on Monday for allegedly backing activities of the separatist Maluku Sovereignty Front (FKM).
The students, all hailing from the troubled province of Maluku, were quizzed as they were found wearing T-shirts bearing symbols of the separatist movement.
Wahyu F. Sarpan and Toni Luhukay were among those who faced questioning by Sumedang Police detectives. Several other students would also be summoned but the police gave no number.
The police also questioned Andi Asikin, a STPDN staffer, as a witness.
Asikin reportedly said he saw the students wearing T-shirts bearing the symbols of the FKM, a group founded by the South Maluku Republic (RMS) separatist group in 2000. The FKM was blamed for three days of renewed violence in Maluku on April 25, which killed at least 41 people.
The T-shirts in question were blue, white, green and red, Mollucas Adventure on the front.
"Mollucas is the term associated with RMS supporters," Sumedang Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Yoyok Subagyono told journalists.
He said the police had found only one T-shirt and would seize at least 35 others from the students. According to a T-shirt maker, the 35 T-shirts had been sent to students at the STPDN campus in Jatinangor.
T. Sinambela, a lawyer for Wahyu and Toni, denied that his clients deliberately ordered the T-shirts in support for the RMS.
"It has nothing to do with separatism because they didn't know that their T-shirts bore symbols similar to the RMS," Sinambela argued.
Yoyok said the police could not determine whether Wahyu and Toni had been declared suspects or witnesses in the questioning that continued until Monday evening.
"We are investigating their motive for wearing the T-shirts. If everything is clear, we will decide whether it is just a common crime or a subversion case," he added.
The STPDN is administered by the Ministry of Home Affairs and all of its students are training to be civil servants.
Many of its graduates have occupied strategic positions in central and regional administrations.
The institute is known for its military-style discipline. It made national headlines last October when video footage of student violence was broadcast nationwide.
Junior student Wahyu Hidayat died after being beaten by his seniors.
The Sumedang District Court on April 15 sentenced 10 students to only seven to 10 months in prison over his death.
However, the convicts remained free, -- although under city arrest -- because the court did not order the sentence to be carried out immediately.
Wahyu was assaulted after failing to attend a ceremony to commemorate Independence Day last year in Bandung and a meeting between STPDN students and West Java Governor Danny Setiawan.
Wahyu's death drew national attention because he was not the first victim of student brutality at the institute. Three years ago, student Erie Rakhman died after being beaten by senior students.