Police name NYE brawl suspects

Alit Kertaraharja, ,  The Jakarta Post, ,  Buleleng   |  Mon, 01/05/2009 11:05 AM  |  Bali

The police named three suspects on Saturday in the brawl between two groups of men on New Year's Eve, which left one man dead and two others severely injured.

Kadek Parta, aka Pentol, 24, from Kaliasem village, Kadek Nova Suardika, aka Nova, 23 and Ketut Suartana, aka Nyamprut, 26, both from Lebah village, are the accused.

Komang Adi Wismaya, a resident of the Corot hamlet in Cempaga village, was killed in the brawl; the wounded victims were his friends.

The police refused to give further details of the cause of death (although initial observations revealed stab wounds in the body) nor would they confirm that all three suspects were involved in the murder.

"(The case) is still under investigation. For now we're looking at the case as assault and battery," Second Insp. Nyoman Adnyana T.J., chief of the Buleleng Police Crime Unit, said.

He added that Pentol was declared a suspect after the police discovered his sword at the scene of the brawl. He further alleged that Nova had beaten Gede Ardiasa, one of the injured victims in the brawl, and that Nyamprut had beaten Wismaya.

He said the police also suspect two other individuals with the initials G.S., 37, and G.W., 30 in relation to the case. Both are allegedly involved in the assault and murder and are Kaliasem village residents.

He would not divulge anything further, though several anonymous sources have confirmed that both have been summoned by the Buleleng police and are being questioned.

Meanwhile, the case seems to have developed into a gang rivalry of sorts, with residents from the victim's village massing at the Buleleng police headquarters in cars. One vehicle had the markings of Laskar Pandawa, a local gang.

"We're here to give moral support to the witnesses being questioned by the police and to further support the police so that they catch the perpetrators soon," Gede Regug, one of the local villagers, said.

The residents of Cempaga and the neighboring villages of Sidatapa, Tigawasa and Pedawa, have been the preferred location for political parties' to recruit for militia groups for decades.

Their residents are known for being tough, skillful fighters and are believed to possess hereditary supernatural powers that render them invincible to sharp weapons.

"They are very proud of being the descendants of the Bali Aga (the natives of the island) and the other villages in Buleleng generally do not dare to cross their path," a source said.

The chief of Cempaga village issued the police a seven-day deadline to solve the killing of Wismaya. If the police failed, he warned, the people of Cempaga would hunt the killer by themselves.

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