An unidentified person fired a gun at a car belonging to National Mandate Party (PAN) co-founder and board of patrons chief Amien Rais, in Yogyakarta early on Thursday morning.

The bullet hit the rear part of the black Toyota Harrier SUV car, parked in front of his house at Pandean Sari Blok II/3, Condongcatur subdistrict, Depok district, Sleman regency, and passed through the back seat of the car.

'€œI learned of the incident at 6 a.m. when my driver, Manto, knocked at my door in fear, saying the car had been fired at,'€ former People'€™s Consultative Assembly (MPR) chairman Amien told reporters at his house on Thursday.

Amien said his security guard, Hevi Ismail, who was on duty at the security post in the yard of the house, was woken by what he thought was an exploding tire at about 2 a.m. and spotted a person who appeared to be fleeing the scene on a motorcycle.

Later in the day, Yogyakarta Police chief Brig. Gen. Oerip Soebagyo and Sleman Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Ihsan Amin inspected the crime scene and spoke to Amien.

Amien said he was unconcerned about the damage to his car as it would not take long to repair, but added that an incident involving a firearm could not be ignored.

'€œI have been living in this house since 1980. It'€™s always been peaceful and there were no problems, except during reformasi when my house'€™s windows were broken with bricks twice,'€ said Amien.

Amien, whose party supported Prabowo Subianto for president and PAN chairman Hatta Rajasa for vice president in the recent election, also said that he had repeatedly been subject to intimidation attempts at his Jakarta house via phone calls and mail, but the police had never arrested the perpetrators.

'€œI'€™m not afraid because I hold on to the Koran,'€ said the former lecturer of Gadjah Mada University and former chairman of the country'€™s second largest Muslim organization, Muhammadiyah, quoting a verse from the Koran.

He said he did not know the motives behind such attempts, arguing that he did not feel he had a personal enemy. He also said he did not run a business that could potentially cause conflicts with others.

'€œ[The intimidation] may be politically driven but I don'€™t know how to interpret it,'€ he said.

Yogyakarta Police chief Oerip said the police would need time to reveal the case.

The forensic laboratory team from the neighboring Central Java Police would examine the bullet shell found outside the fence of Amien'€™s house.

'€œGive us time to investigate,'€ Oerip said, adding that the police would provide security for Amien following the incident, but declined to state the number of personnel assigned to the task.

Meanwhile, Sleman Police chief Ihsan said he had yet to receive details on the background of the incident from Amien.

'€œPak Amien just explained his activities and we informed him what the police would do,'€ he said.

Suparyadi, another security guard at Amien'€™s house, said the black Toyota Harrier was Amien'€™s daily vehicle while in Yogyakarta.

He said Amien had owned the car for several years and that Amien'€™s house did not have CCTV installed on the premises.

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