Three PDI-P members held for murder

Three PDI-P members held for murder

Indra Harsaputra, Surabaya

East Java Police said on Monday they had arrested three
executives of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P)
as suspects in last month's multiple murder of fellow politician
R. Suwarjo, his wife and son in Bondowoso regency.

"The three suspects confessed to killing Suwarjo, his son and
wife after we presented them with material evidence, such as a
jacket and a shirt one of them wore during the incident," East
Java Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Endro Wardoyo told The Jakarta
Post.

He identified the suspects by their initials as Sct, deputy
treasurer of the PDI-P Bondowoso branch, E, leader of the local
Banteng Muda Indonesia youth group affiliated to the party, and
Ft, an elected councillor from the same party.

The three are being detained at the provincial police
headquarters for interrogation.

Endro said that a preliminary investigation showed that the
murder of Suwarjo, who was elected a PDI-P councillor in the
April 5 legislative election, was politically motivated.

The suspects admitted that Ft, who was listed second on the
PDI-P list of legislative candidates, could not accept his defeat
to Suwarjo, who was listed first, in the election, Endro
explained.

He added that Sct was disillusioned by the rising political
career of the younger Suwarjo after the victim won a seat in the
Bondowoso legislative council.

Endro said the suspects also confessed to sending a text
message revealing plans by E and Sct to flee after executing
Suwarjo's family.

The police are developing the case to see whether the multiple
murder involved others, Endro added.

It remains unclear who masterminded the murder.

Besuki Police chief Sr. Comr. Winarso said Sct was declared a
suspect following a tipoff from locals who discovered the jacket
and shirt near the scene.

"That Sct has officially been named a suspect is no surprise
because the police suspected him from the beginning," Winarso
said, adding that Sct lied in a previous statement he made to the
police.

Suwarjo, 60, a former deputy chairman of the PDI-P Bondowoso
branch, was murdered on July 14 in his family home.

His body was found tied to a chair in the back of the house,
while his 60-year-old wife Wiwik, and son Dodi, 28, were found
dead on the living room floor.

The police were investigating whether the murders were
political motivated or a case of revenge. Robbery was immediately
ruled out as no valuables were stolen.

The three victims' bodies were badly bruised, indicating that
they had been repeatedly hit with blunt objects. They had also
been stabbed.

Suwarjo is the third politician to have been murdered in East
Java province over the past nine months.

The last murder, which was thought to be politically
motivated, also happened in East Java in December, when Asmuni,
the advisory board chairman of the National Awakening Party's
(PKB) Lumajang branch, was killed by six people wearing masks and
armed with machetes who broke into his house.

Asmuni was the second PKB party member to be murdered in
December after Rafiq, a PKB activist in Jember regency.