The Jakarta Post, June 01, 2005
Corruption scandal linked to Tentena attack
The Jakarta Post, Palu, Jakarta
Central Sulawesi Police announced on Tuesday that the bombings in the Christian
town of Tentena that killed 21 people on Saturday were not carried out by suicide
bombers.
There are now suspicions that the attack was aimed at diverting attention from a
corruption scandal in Poso regency, Central Sulawesi.
Police and local religious leaders earlier said the attack may have been the work of a
suicide bomber after the authorities found the body of an unidentified man among the
victims. The man was later identified as Syamsul Iskandar.
"What was said earlier about Iskandar was merely preliminary suspicions. Now
everything is clear, meaning that the victim was not a suicide bomber," Central
Sulawesi Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Rais Adam told The Jakarta Post.
He said Iskandar was a vendor at the devastated market in Tentena, some 60
kilometers north of Poso, adding that the victim was from Enrekang regency in South
Sulawesi and his body had been returned to his family for burial.
In a new development, Poso Police arrested on Tuesday two men suspected of
involvement in the Tentena bombing. They were identified as Abdul Kadir Sidik and
Elvis.
Kadir and Elvis were apprehended after witnesses reported seeing the men in Tentena
before the bombings, said Poso Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Mohammad Sholeh
Hidayat.
He said the suspects were being questioned by a joint team of investigators from the
National Police and the Central Sulawesi Police.
The two men, both former government officials in Poso, should be serving prison
sentences for corruption. They were convicted of embezzling Rp 2.3 billion
(US$242,105) in funds meant for refugees affected by three years of sectarian fighting
in Poso.
Three other people -- former activists Andi Makkasau and Ahmad Laparigi, and the
former head of the Poso social affairs office, Anwar Ali -- were taken from their prison
cells for questioning over the bombing.
Makkasau, Laparigi and Ali were all convicted of corruption in the same refugee fund
scandal.
The police also are questioning the warden of Poso prison, Hasman, to determine why
Kadir and Alvis were released early. Officers also want to know why two convicted
murderers, Supratman and Jufri, were arrested in a police raid in Poso when they
should have been in the prison.
Hasman was arrested in the same raid in Poso, during which officers found a gun in
his car, along with Supratman and Jufri, who were convicted of a murder in South
Bungkul in neighboring Morowali regency.
Laparigi, Makkasau and Kadir Sidik were also allegedly involved in the beheading of
the Pinedapa village chief in Poso Pesisir district last year. The murdered village head
was reportedly a key witness in corruption cases involving refugee funds.
In Jakarta on Tuesday, the Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute and
several Poso NGOs, including the Institute for Strengthening the Poso Community
and the Foundation for a Free Land, said the Tentena attack could be linked with
corruption in Poso.
Speaking at a press conference, they pointed out that most of the suspects being
questioned over the attack were corruption convicts.
However, Vice President Jusuf Kalla dismissed speculation the Tentena attack was
meant to divert attention from corruption in Poso, which allegedly involves local senior
officials, businesspeople and activists.
"Those involved in corruption do not kill people to divert attention. They usually run
away or flee abroad. That is their nature. I think it is illogical to say this attack was for
their own benefit," he said.
Kalla said terrorists were behind the bombings. "The police have done a good job.
They have arrested a number of suspects. They are definitely part of an extremist
group that has been operating there for a long time."
The death toll from the bombings was revised by local police to 21 on Tuesday, with
more than 70 people injured.
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