UDIN Award
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Fuad Muhammad Syafruddin (18 February 1963 – 16 August 1996), best known by his pen name Udin, was an Indonesian journalist who was murdered in 1996. A reporter at the
Yogyakarta Yogyakarta is the capital city of the Special Region of Yogyakarta in Indonesia, in the south-central part of the island of Java. As the only Indonesian royal city still ruled by Hamengkubuwono, a monarchy, Yogyakarta is regarded as an importan ...
daily newspaper '' Bernas'', he published a series of articles on corruption in the
Bantul Regency Bantul (; ) is a regency located in the Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. It is located on the island of Java. The regency's population was 911,503 at the 2010 Census,Biro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011. but has risen to 985,770 at the 202 ...
in the months before his death. On 13 August, he was attacked at his house by two unidentified assailants using a metal rod and taken to the hospital. He died three days later without regaining consciousness. His murder became a national ''
cause célèbre A ( , ; pl. ''causes célèbres'', pronounced like the singular) is an issue or incident arousing widespread controversy, outside campaigning, and heated public debate. The term is sometimes used positively for celebrated legal cases for th ...
''. Several independent inquiries concluded that local government officials had been involved. However, the Bantul police early on discounted a political motive. Instead, they arrested a local driver named Dwi Sumaji for the murder, alleging a motive of jealousy. Sumaji was later acquitted after the prosecution withdrew its case owing to a lack of evidence. The police in turn were successfully sued for their mishandling of the case and deliberate destruction of evidence. The murder has never been solved, and is expected to be unprosecutable after 2014 due to Indonesia's 18-year
statute of limitations A statute of limitations, known in civil law systems as a prescriptive period, is a law passed by a legislative body to set the maximum time after an event within which legal proceedings may be initiated. ("Time for commencing proceedings") In ...
on murder.


Early life

Udin was born on 18 February 1963, a date considered unlucky in the
Javanese calendar The Javanese calendar () is the calendar of the Javanese people. It is used concurrently with two other calendars, the Gregorian calendar and the Islamic calendar. The Gregorian calendar is the official calendar of the Republic of Indonesia and c ...
as it fell on a ''kliwon'' Monday. His father was Wagiman Dzuchoti, a mosque watchman, and his mother was Mujiah; Udin had five siblings. As a young man, Udin had wanted to join the
Indonesian military The Indonesian National Armed Forces (; abbreviated as TNI) are the military forces of the Republic of Indonesia. It consists of the Army (''TNI-AD''), Navy (''TNI-AL''), and Air Force (''TNI-AU''). The President of Indonesia is the Supreme C ...
, but was unable due to his family's lack of political connections. Instead, he worked various manual labour jobs, including stonemason.


Journalism

In the ten years prior to his death, Udin was a freelance reporter for '' Bernas'', a daily newspaper of
Yogyakarta Yogyakarta is the capital city of the Special Region of Yogyakarta in Indonesia, in the south-central part of the island of Java. As the only Indonesian royal city still ruled by Hamengkubuwono, a monarchy, Yogyakarta is regarded as an importan ...
,
Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...
, owned by the
Kompas Gramedia Group Kompas Gramedia is a major Indonesian media company. It engages in several businesses, predominantly mass media, as well as hospitality, manufacturing, and event organizing. The company's businesses consist of multiple divisions, such as media ...
. He was known for writing about crime and local politics, and would also take pictures to illustrate his articles. Aside from his reporting, Udin and his wife Marsiyem owned a small store which developed pictures and sold stationery; Marsiyem would usually manage the store. In 1996, Udin began a series of articles reporting on corruption in the
regency In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...
of
Bantul Bantul is a town and district, and the capital of Bantul Regency, Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The district (''kapanewon'') covers an area of and had a population of 64,360 at the 2020 Census. It is a bustling town about to the s ...
, a suburb of Yogyakarta, focusing particularly on the activities of Bantul's regent Colonel Sri Roso Sudarmo. In one report, Udin stated that Sudarmo had paid a bribe of Rp. 1 billion (US$111,000) to President
Suharto Suharto (8 June 1921 – 27 January 2008) was an Indonesian Officer (armed forces), military officer and politician, and dictator, who was the second and longest serving president of Indonesia, serving from 1967 to 1998. His 32 years rule, cha ...
's Dharmais Foundation to secure his reappointment that year. Udin also reported that Sudarmo had demanded that village heads guarantee a "200 per cent" victory for
Golkar The Party of Functional Groups (), often known by its abbreviation Golkar, is a Centre politics, centre to Centre-right politics, centre-right big tent secular nationalist political parties in Indonesia, political party in Indonesia. Founded in ...
(President Suharto's party) in the upcoming legislative elections. Following the publication of these articles, Udin began to complain of what he considered a campaign of official harassment. Some district officials had reportedly spoken to him about his writings, and others had threatened him with a libel action. As a result of this perceived harassment, Udin had filed multiple complaints with the Legal Aid Institute () in Yogyakarta. Udin had also been offered bribes to cease his reporting and received threats of violence. When his wife asked him about the threats, he responded, "What I write is the facts. If I have to die, I will accept it." The night of his murder, two men came to the ''Bernas'' office looking for him, but a secretary sent them away.


Murder

On 13 August 1996 at around 10:30 pm local time (
UTC+7 UTC+07:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +07:00. In ISO 8601 the associated time would be written as . It is 7 hours ahead of UTC, meaning that when the time in UTC areas is midnight (00:00), the time in UTC+07:00 areas would ...
), Udin received two visitors outside his home in
Bantul Bantul is a town and district, and the capital of Bantul Regency, Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The district (''kapanewon'') covers an area of and had a population of 64,360 at the 2020 Census. It is a bustling town about to the s ...
, off Parangtritis Road. The visitors claimed to want to leave a motorcycle with him for safekeeping, and reportedly had come the day before as well. While his wife Marsiyem was preparing tea, the men attacked him with a metal rod, striking him in the head and stomach. The assailants then escaped on a motorcycle they had parked in front of his home. Marsiyem found Udin unconscious on the ground, bleeding from his ears. With the help of six youths passing in a jeep and a neighbour, Marsiyem took Udin to a small hospital nearby. The hospital was not equipped to treat Udin's wounds, so he was transferred to Bethesda Hospital, a Protestant institution in Yogyakarta. In a coma, he was diagnosed with a fractured skull; a shard of bone had also punctured his skull. Initially, coverage of the assault in ''Bernas'' was slow. The murder had occurred too late in the evening to be covered in the 14 August edition, and head editor Kusfandhi – due to
press censorship Press may refer to: Media * Publisher * News media * Printing press, commonly called "the press" * Press TV, an Iranian television network Newspapers United States * ''The Press'', a former name of '' The Press-Enterprise'', Riverside, Californi ...
 – was uncomfortable with covering a politically charged case. However, other staff members convinced him to give greater coverage, and the front page of the 15 August edition showed Udin covered in bandages and gave detailed information about the case. On 16 August, Udin died without having regained consciousness; on the morning of his death, a breathing tube had been inserted. After his death, Udin's body was autopsied then brought to the ''Bernas'' office for a quick memorial service, in which the staff sang " Gugur Bunga" ("Fallen Flowers"). The following day, Udin was buried in a small cemetery in Trirenggo, Bantul; his burial attracted 2,000 people. Udin was survived by his wife Marsiyem and two children, Krisna and Wikan.


Investigation and ''cause célèbre''

Investigation into the assault began even before Udin's death. The police began their investigation on 13 August, but were hampered as the
crime scene A crime scene is any location that may be associated with a committed crime. Crime scenes contain physical evidence that is pertinent to a criminal investigation. This evidence is collected by crime scene investigators (CSI) and law enforcement. ...
had been contaminated during the commotion after the assault. Under the command of Sergeant Major Edy Wuryanto, the police began by collecting Udin's notes and blood from his family; the family had received several bags of blood from Bethesda and were planning to bury it with the body. Meanwhile, five members of the Indonesian Journalists' Association (Perhimpunan Wartawan Indonesia, or PWI) formed a fact-finding team on 14 August under the leadership of Putut Wiryawan and Asril Sutan. The team read the articles written by Udin in the previous six months, looking for any coverage which could have led to the attack; they concluded that most of his articles could have been a trigger. The committee eventually focused on the bribery allegations against Sudarmo, as those were the only ones exclusively covered in ''Bernas'', as well as a case of election rigging. Another team, from ''Bernas'', known as the "White Kijang" team for the type of car they drove, investigated the case independently when the PWI team failed to share the information they had gathered. Udin's death swiftly became a national ''
cause célèbre A ( , ; pl. ''causes célèbres'', pronounced like the singular) is an issue or incident arousing widespread controversy, outside campaigning, and heated public debate. The term is sometimes used positively for celebrated legal cases for th ...
'', with the circumstances of his death and the resulting investigation covered extensively in national media. Muslim prayer services held by ''Bernas'' seven days after Udin's death attracted hundreds of mourners and saw several community leaders give speeches on politics and Udin's death. Others, such as
Goenawan Mohamad Goenawan Mohamad (born 29 July 1941) is an Indonesian poet, essayist, playwright and editor. He is the founder and editor of the Indonesian magazine ''Tempo''. Mohamad is a vocal critic of the Indonesian government, and his magazine was periodi ...
, wrote poems and flowery obituaries. Though police ruled out Udin's political reporting as a motive in the early stages of the investigation, many reports focused on the theory that his killing had been related to his reporting on Sudarmo. One journalist quoted the regent as having said shortly before the murder that he would like to teach Udin "a lesson". The police focused instead on allegations of infidelity; in late August the police stated that Udin had been murdered by a jealous husband as a result of an extramarital affair with a woman named Tri Sumaryani, a
Citizens Band radio Citizens band radio (CB radio) is a land mobile radio system, a system allowing short-distance one-to-many bidirectional voice communication among individuals, using two-way radios operating near 27 MHz (or the 11-m wavelength) in the high freq ...
enthusiast who had once dated Udin's younger brother. However, Sumaryani soon admitted to the press that she had been paid to fabricate this testimony by a nephew of Sri Roso. Meanwhile, the PWI and ''Bernas'' teams concluded that Udin had been murdered by a government official intent on saving face. By late September, ''Bernas'' was under political pressure to cease coverage of the case. One of the PWI team members, Putut, reported that his daughter had been nearly kidnapped and his home broken into. Several journalistic and human rights organisations stated their belief that the murder was likely connected with Udin's reporting, including
Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...
, which expressed its concern that allegations about the involvement of government officials had "not been properly investigated". The
Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in New York City, with correspondents around the world. CPJ promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists. The '' American Journalism ...
sent a letter to President Suharto that demanded a full investigation into Udin's death, with the results made public. An independent report by the Indonesian
Alliance of Independent Journalists The Alliance of Independent Journalists (, abbreviated as AJI) is an Indonesian organization that promotes press freedom in the country. The AJI was founded in 1994 by Satrio Arismunandar, Ahmad Taufik, Goenawan Mohamad, the founder and editor ...
praised the courage and neutrality of Udin's reporting, stating, "he was not an NGO activist, nor was he involved in the student movement. He was just an ordinary journalist who did an average job for a regional newspaper." However, the regent denied these reports and rumours; in a press conference on 23 August 1996, he said that he was "at the receiving end of over-dramatization".


Arrest of Dwi Sumaji

On 21 October, the police arrested Dwi Sumaji, an advertising company driver, for the murder; they alleged that Sumaji had killed Udin for having an affair with his wife, Sunarti. After Sumaji confessed to the crime, police announced that an iron bar and a T-shirt, both stained with Udin's blood, had been found in Sumaji's home. Though Sumaji's police-appointed lawyer agreed that Sumaji had confessed to the crime, within a week Sumaji obtained independent counsel through whom he attempted to withdraw the confession. Marsiyem, who had seen her husband's attackers, insisted that Sumaji was innocent. On 23 October, ''Bernas'' published a sketch of Udin's attacker, drawn soon after the murder based on Marsiyem's description, with a picture of Sumaji; under Sumaji's photograph, they wrote "Ditolak" ("rejected"), drawing attention to the dissimilarities between the two. Sumaji withdrew his confession, then alleged that police had encouraged him to confess after plying him with alcohol and bribing him with money, a prostitute, and a better job if he confessed to the crime. Sunarti, incredulous that her husband could be a murderer, wrote letters to several high-ranking officials and bodies, including President
Suharto Suharto (8 June 1921 – 27 January 2008) was an Indonesian Officer (armed forces), military officer and politician, and dictator, who was the second and longest serving president of Indonesia, serving from 1967 to 1998. His 32 years rule, cha ...
. Only one, to the
National Commission on Human Rights The National Commission on Human Rights (, Komnas HAM) is the national human rights institution (NHRI) of Indonesia. As with other NHRIs, its principal functions are the protection and promotion of human rights. History The commission was establi ...
(Komnas HAM), received a reply: on 28 October, the commission announced that it would investigate irregularities in Sumaji's arrest and internment. Meanwhile, Sumaji's counsel and the White Kijang team located several witnesses to corroborate Sumaji's account, including the prostitute. The police continued the investigation, under pressure to finish quickly. Two reconstructions of the murder were conducted, drawing hundreds of spectators. One was done with Sumaji playing the role of the murderer, without his lawyers' knowledge; when the counsel found out, they removed him from the reconstruction. Eventually, police agreed to a deal with the counsel, in which Sumaji's pre-trial release was guaranteed in exchange for a promise from his lawyers to not sue for wrongful arrest. Sumaji was released on 17 December, awaiting trial. In early 1997, Sumaji's case was refused by the prosecutor's office several times due to weak evidence.


Mishandling charges

On 7 November, Udin's family announced their intention to sue the city for improper use of evidence. This announcement followed a report from police chief Mulyono that Udin's blood had been disposed of in the southern sea off
Parangtritis Parangtritis Beach is a tourist beach on the southern coast of Java, in the Bantul Regency within the Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. There is a road to the area which is about 30 km south of the city of Yogyakarta. This beach is l ...
Beach as an offering to
Nyai Roro Kidul ''Nyi Roro Kidul'' (or ''Nyai Rara Kidul'') is a supernatural being in Indonesian folklore. She is the Queen of the Southern Sea in Sundanese and Javanese mythology. In Javanese mythology, Kanjeng Ratu Kidul is a creation of Dewa Kaping Telu, ...
, the area's deity, to ensure quick resolution of the investigation. Marsiyem's lawyers from the Legal Aid Institute (Lembaga Bantuan Hukum) filed a case in January 1997 against the police (national, provincial, and local), and Edy Wuryanto. The lawsuit demanded Rp. 1 million (US$36,400) in damages. The police countered that the blood had been given voluntarily, and that Marsiyem hoped to exploit the situation. The hearing began on 21 January 1997, under the supervision of a three-judge panel led by Mikaela Warsito. After both sides were unable to come to an amicable settlement, a several-month-long trial began, in which Udin's family, ''Bernas'' reporters, and the police testified. On 7 April 1997, Wuryanto was convicted of destroying evidence for taking the blood, which Marisyem's lawyers speculated was used to frame Sumaji. Only a small percentage of the damages were awarded, after the court ruled that testimony from Udin's family – whom they saw as having a
conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple wikt:interest#Noun, interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates t ...
in the outcome of the case – was ineligible.


Trial of Sumaji

Shortly before Marsiyem's case concluded, the members of the White Kijang team were assigned to other, distant cities. After a final, unsuccessful, plea by Sumaji's council on 5 May 1997 to drop the case, the prosecutor's office appointed Amrin Naim to lead the case against Sumaji. On 15 July, after the
legislative elections A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...
, the office filed charges; the trial began on 29 July, with two members of the three-judge panel that served in the Marsiyem case. After a failed attempt by the defence to question the court's jurisdiction, several witnesses were questioned over a period of several weeks, including Udin's neighbours and wife, as well as Sudarmo's nephew. The hearings, which were held on Mondays and Thursdays, were filled with spectators. At the trial, the defence suggested that a government conspiracy may have been responsible, but were told by the tribunal to focus on the case at hand. Further witnesses, including a key witness for the prosecution, came across as unconvincing; they also changed their stories, reneging statements which they had made before the trial. Other witnesses for the prosecution, including several of Sumaji's neighbours, testified that the driver could not have committed the murder because he was at home on the night of 13 August. Another said that the steel pipe said to be the murder weapon in court was different from that found with Udin's blood on it. On 2 October 1997, the prosecution began to call more witnesses. Although attendance did not abate, most observers were police officers or paid spectators. One witness, who claimed to have participated in a sting operation to arrest Sumaji, was arrested for
perjury Perjury (also known as forswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an insta ...
. An officer who investigated Sumaji reported that he had pursued the driver based on instinct, not evidence. Wuryanto, while presenting his account, was contemptuous towards the defence and ordered by the judge several times to answer truthfully. On 3 November, the prosecution withdrew its case. Under Indonesian law, the judges had the right to find the subject guilty despite the prosecution's withdrawal; after further consideration, on 27 November, the tribunal acquitted Sumaji. Following the acquittal, Bantual police refused to investigate Udin's murder further; several of Yogyakarta's police chiefs stated that the department had fulfilled its duty by arresting a suspect and sending him to trial.


Aftermath

On 6 June, several weeks after President Suharto resigned, Sudarmo was ousted from his office after students conducted a sit-in at the Bantul Assembly House. He was soon convicted of corruption for his payment to the Dharmais Foundation, but the conviction was overturned by a higher court, after which Sudarmo retired. Wuryanto never served time for his disposal of Udin's blood. Sumaji's defence initially prepared a legal case for wrongful imprisonment, but the driver chose not to pursue it. He was unable to work for three years due to the infamy he had acquired from the case, but by 2000 was driving a public bus near
Mount Merapi Mount Merapi (, ) is an active stratovolcano located on the border between the province of Central Java and the Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. It is the most active volcano in Indonesia and has erupted regularly since 1548. It is loc ...
. By 2000, Marsiyem had married a neighbour, with whom she had a child. The
Alliance of Independent Journalists The Alliance of Independent Journalists (, abbreviated as AJI) is an Indonesian organization that promotes press freedom in the country. The AJI was founded in 1994 by Satrio Arismunandar, Ahmad Taufik, Goenawan Mohamad, the founder and editor ...
created the "Udin Award" in Udin's honour, "given for exceptional contribution to press freedom". In 2010, the organisation also petitioned the National Police to take over the case, noting that under Indonesian law, the case could be declared "expired" in 2014.


See also

*
Sander Thoenes Sander Thoenes (November 7, 1968 – September 21, 1999) was a Dutch journalist who was killed, near Dili in East Timor, by soldiers of the Indonesian army. He was shot when their paths crossed on a road as the Indonesians withdrew from the terri ...
: a Dutch journalist killed by soldiers from the Indonesian Army *
Rico Sempurna Pasaribu Rico Sempurna Pasaribu ( – 27 June 2024) was an Indonesian journalist who worked for the Medan-based Tribrata TV covering regional news in North Sumatra. In June 2024, he died alongside his wife, daughter and grandson in a house fire, shortly a ...
: an Indonesian journalist killed after reporting on gambling within the Indonesian Army *
Crime in Indonesia Crime is present in various forms in Indonesia and is punished by means such as the death penalty, fines and/or imprisonment, but is low compared to other nations in the region. Indonesia's murder rate of 0.4 per 100,000 registered in 2017 is con ...
*
List of unsolved murders These lists of unsolved murders include notable cases where victims were murdered in unknown circumstances. * List of unsolved murders (before 1900) * List of unsolved murders (1900–1979) * List of unsolved murders (1980–1999) * List of unsol ...


References


Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Udin, Murder Of 1996 murders in Indonesia Assassinated Indonesian journalists August 1996 crimes in Asia Deaths by beating Deaths by person in Indonesia 20th century in Java Unsolved murders in Indonesia