Susandhi case may bring to light police’s dark underbelly

The Jakarta Police have detained Susandhi “Aan” Sukatma since mid-December 2009 for drug
possession.

An Ecstasy pill had been found in his wallet during an interrogation by his former employers and three mid-ranking Maluku Police officers on the eighth floor of the Artha Graha building in Central
Jakarta.

The case only came to light after Susandhi, through his wife Tias Rumanti, reported the three officers to the National Police’s internal affairs bureau for alleged complicity in allowing his former employers to attack him.

In a recent interview with The Jakarta Post in his holding cell, Susandhi said that after the beating by his former bosses, he was stripped almost naked by the officers.

“It was when they took my clothes and my belongings that the officers claimed to find the pill in my wallet,” he said.

He added he believed the pill had been planted there to frame him. A urine test he took later turned up negative for the drug.

The complaint filed with the National Police names the offending officers as Maluku Police chief detective Sr. Comr. Jhonny Siahaan and two of his subordinates.

Jhonny told the Post recently the case was out of his hands.

“I’m sorry, we’ve handed [the case] over to our superiors,” he said.

“I can’t say anything.”

Internal affairs chief Insp. Gen. Oegroseno said he was still looking into the allegations against the three officers, adding the results would likely be revealed within a week.

Besides citing the officers for complicity, Susandhi has also pressed charges against his attackers, who include former Golkar Party legislator Victor Bungtilu Laiskodat, Ronny Bratawijaya and several executives from the Artha Graha Group.

Victor and Ronny are the president commissioner and president director respectively of PT Maritim Timur Jaya, a fishery unit of the conglomerate controlled by tycoon Tomy Winata.

Susandhi was a former accounting department employee at Maritim Timur, which has a processing unit on Tual Island in Maluku.

Jakarta Police general crimes division head Adj. Comr. Ahmad Rivai said none of the witnesses, including Susandhi’s wife, could describe the assault.

He added the police would summon Victor for questioning Monday.

Victor, on behalf of the company, denied Susandhi’s allegations, saying the truth of the matter — that he was trying to unravel a drug trafficking and illegal firearm network within the company — had been distorted.

Victor accused former Maritim Timur president director David “A Miauw” Tjioe of running the network and bad-mouthing him.

David left for China in late last year, according to Victor and Susandhi.

David was involved in a 2003 attack on former Tempo Magazine chief editor Bambang Harrymurti, shortly after the magazine ran a story alleging Tomy intended to take over the Tanah Abang commercial center in Jakarta prior to it being gutted in a fire.

The attack, according to Bambang at the time, took place at the office of former Central Jakarta Police chief Sr. Comr. Sukrawardi Dahlan.

David was eventually cleared of all charges.

Susandhi said his own attack was linked to a souring in relations between David and the other Artha Graha bosses.

“I was considered by others as David’s boy, that’s why they came after me,” he said.

The attack, Susandhi claimed, stemmed from his refusal to testify that David illegally possessed firearms stockpiled on Tual Island.

“I didn’t want to get involved in the bosses’ feud,” he said.

“They thought I wasn’t playing ball, so they set up the attack and planted the pill.”

Susandhi’s lawyer, Edwin Partogi from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), said his client had also reported the case to the presidential task force to eradicate judicial corruption, the National Police Commission, and the National Commission on Human Rights, to help monitor the case as well as ensure his safety.

“The police are clearly siding with Susandhi’s attackers,” he said.

“That’s why we’re trying to get support from other institutions to monitor the case.”

Rights commission deputy chairman Ridha Saleh said the case as highlighted by Susandhi was peppered with “irregularities”.

“We’re monitoring the case very closely,” he said.

Judicial task force member Mas Achmad Santosa said the team would also supervise the investigation into the case as there were clear indications of judicial corruption when the police officers allegedly allowed the assault to happen.

In its survey early last year, Transparency International Indonesia listed the police force as the most corrupt institution in the country, where half of all transactions involve bribes to the police.

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