Ujungpandang killings probed

Ujungpandang killings probed

JAKARTA (JP): South Sulawesi police are trying to solve the murder of an entire family in the capital city of Ujungpandang which shocked the town last weekend.

Antara said police have yet to identify the killer and determine the motive of the brutal slaying of Achmadi and his family in the Karunrung district.

Besides Achmadi, 35 years old, his wife Syamsi, 33, and his four young children Sita, 11, Indra, 9, Andri, 7, and Lisa, 4, were also murdered, as was his servant Piddi, 20. Their bodies were scattered in various parts of the house and property, four of them dumped in a well. They were discovered on Sunday.

In Jakarta, Baharuddin Lopa, the secretary general of the National Commission on Human Rights, yesterday deplored the murders which he described as "sadistic and uncivilized", Antara reported.

He said the murder of an entire family, such as the one in Ujungpandang and in Jakarta and Bekasi in recent years, defies logic.

"What is wrong with society today? Why is crime now really excessive?" said Lopa, who hails from Ujungpandang himself.

He said that while police and law enforcers try to solve the murder, religious leaders, psychologists, sociologists, criminologists and other experts should discuss this phenomena and find ways of putting an end to this type of crime. (emb)