Case Of Destruction Of The Cultural Heritage Wall Of The Former Kartasura Palace, Police Examine Witnesses

Illustration. (Between)

SURAKARTA - The Sukoharjo Police are investigating the case of destroying the walls of cultural heritage objects at the Kartasura Palace in Sukoharjo Regency, Central Java Province. The police have examined two witnesses who are suspected to be involved.

Sukoharjo Police Chief AKBP Wahyu Nugroho said the two people being investigated were land owners with the initials MKB (45), a resident of Pucangan Kartasura Sukoharjo and a dumb excavator operator.

The police chief said that the two people were being questioned because it was strongly suspected that there was an unlawful act related to the Cultural Conservation Act. The investigation was carried out by the Civil Servant Investigation Team (PPNS) of the Cultural Heritage Preservation Agency (BPCB), while the police will back up the investigation into the case.

Regarding the determination of the suspect, the PPNS BPCB will determine, while the Sukoharjo Police will back up, coordinate and supervise the case of destroying the walls of the former Kartasura Palace.

Meanwhile, a team from PPNS BPCB Central Java is still conducting a crime scene (TKP) to determine whether the destruction is included in the criminal law or not.

According to the PPNS BPCB Investigation Team, Harun Arosyid, his party is still collecting data first, later after data collection it will be determined whether it is included in the criminal law or not.

In accordance with the Republic of Indonesia Law no. 11 of 2020 article 105 Juncto article 66 paragraph 1, perpetrators of vandalism will be threatened with a minimum prison sentence of one year and a maximum of 15 years or a fine of IDR 500 million to IDR 5 billion.

"Regarding ownership, we have not yet explored whether there was any fraud or not. We are currently investigating the destruction of cultural heritage objects," said Harun.

It is known that the remains of the Kartasura royal heritage site in Sukoharjo Regency were damaged by irresponsible people. The land owner with the initials MKB was desperate to dismantle the walls of the former Kartasura Palace with the excuse of wanting to build boarding houses.

The Sukoharjo Police Chief said the incident began around March 2022 when MKB bought a land area of 682 square meters for Rp850 million from a Lampung resident. This land picker, on Monday, April 18, began to clear the land.

The demolition of the west wall of the Kartasura Palace was carried out on Thursday, April 21, at around 15.30 WIB, with a length of 6.4 meters, a width of 2 meters and a height of 3.25 meters using a bego excavator belonging to brother NG.

The incident of the destruction of the palace walls was known by the Head of Culture of the Sukoharjo Regency Government, and then coordinated with the police to check the location of the case.