Who Burned the Attorney General's Office?

The investigation into the fire incident that scorched the main building of the Attorney General's Office is starting to shed some light. Head of the National Police's Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) Comr. Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo announced that the cause of the fire was not from an electrical short circuit - a common cause of fires in Indonesia - but from open flames.

The Police's Central Forensic Laboratory (Puslabfor) found evidence of an open flame in the personnel bureau room on the 6th floor of the AGO building, which is thought to be the focal point of the fire. The investigation found that there was a criminal element in the fire. "We are raising this case from inquiry to an investigation," he said, Thursday (9/18).

The police have examined 131 witnesses in this case, with some of them likely to be suspects. The police will impose Article 187 of the Criminal Code (KUHP), which charges intentional elements with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, and Article 188 of the Criminal Code, which charges negligence with a maximum sentence of five years in prison.