Sumedang police question STPDN students over alleged separatism
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.