Taufik starts fight: Police
Damar Harsanto and Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Indonesian Badminton star Taufik Hidayat, 22, was allegedly to have provoked into a mass fight which pitted him and his father against 20 people on a street section just outside the Bung Karno Sports Compound in Central Jakarta, on Saturday.
City Police Detectives chief Sr. Comr. Mathius Salempang said on Sunday that his subordinates found that Taufik launched the first punch and incited the fight.
The police report on Sunday appeared in contradiction with Taufik's version filed earlier that he and father Aries Haris had been attacked by a group of people.
"My subordinates have reported that Taufik punched them, which led to the incident," Salempang said when contacted by The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
He said that his subordinates also found new facts which appeared to be at odds with the complaint filed by Taufik's father Aries Haris to the police on Saturday.
"Taufik and his father reported that their car had been bumped by a Panther minivan's rear end. But, my subordinates' investigation found not one scratch on Taufik's car," he added.
Unfortunately, Taufik could not be reached to give any comment regarding the incident.
In the complaint filed to police on Saturday, Taufik's father said that the incident took place at 5 p.m. on Saturday at the parking lot of Graha Pemuda outside the sports complex.
Taufik and his father was about to leave the compound when a Panther minivan blocked their way.
Also in the report, the minivan then moved backward and bumped on Taufik's car. Being infuriated by the incident, Aries went out and yelled at the minivan's driver. Suddenly, the latter and some passengers of a bus parked nearby got off and started assaulting Aries.
Aries suffered bruises on his finger, hand, upper lip, back, and right knee after being beaten and kicked by about 20 people.
They were identified as passengers of a bus with license number BE 3492 AR and a blue Panther minivan BE 54 N. BE is the area code for Lampung province.
Salempang said that police had yet to decide to follow up the complaint.