Antasari Azhar, Nasrudin Zulkarnaen & Rani Julianti

A drive-by shooting, the anti-corruption chief accused of murder, and a beautiful golf caddy.

Nasrudin Zulkarnain, the director of the company PT Putra Rajawali Banjaran (PRB), a pharmaceutical company and subsidiary of the state owned PT Rajawali Nusantara Indonesia (RNI), was shot twice in the head by a man on a Yamaha Scorpio motorcycle on 14th March 2009, as he was leaving the Modernland golf course, Tangerang, in his car.

A total of nine men have been arrested for the crime so far, they being:

* Antasari Azhar (head of KPK, the mastermind)
* Sigid Haryo Wibisono (a Commissioner of PT Pers Indonesia Merdeka (PIM)/ex-Golkar official (now PKB)/owner of Harian Merdeka, provided funding)
* Williardi Wizard/Wizar (Ex Chief of South Jakarta Police, facilitator and gave kill order to Edo)
* Heri Santosa (unemployed, drove the motorbike)
* Eduardus Ndopo alias Edo ("swasta", took the order to kill from Wiliardi Wizar)
* Jerry Hermawan LO ("swasta", contact between Edo and Wiliardi)
* Daniel Daen (security guard, the shooter)
* Fransiskus Tadon Keran alias AMSI (security guard, scoped out the area)
* Hendrikus Kia Walen alias Hendrik (security guard, gave final order to Fransiskus to carry out the killing)

Heri Santosa (driver) & Daniel Daen (gunman) soon gave themselves up to police, apparently out of fear for their own lives. The mens' lawyers claim they carried out the act because they were persuaded to view Zulkarnaen as an enemy of the state, because he was said to be plotting to ruin the 2009 national elections.

Of the nine four are from Flores.

On May 4th Antasari Azhar, as the head of the national Corruption Eradication Commission (Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi (KPK)) the most famous among the nine, was questioned by police and named afterwards as the prime suspect in the organising of the killing.

He first came under suspicion when police found a text message on Zulkarnaen's mobile phone from Azhar saying:

You know the risk.

There are two versions as to why Antasari Azhar may have been moved to order a "hit" on Nasruddin:

* Corruption & RNI & Golkar - some believe the murder is connected to corruption cases involving PRB and RNI, including the ongoing trial of Ranendra Dangin, the former finance director of RNI. On March 30th Ranendra's trial began, for allegedly embezzling 45 billion rupiah from the sugar import monopoly controlled by RNI and the National Logistics Agency (Bulog). Zulkarnaen was expected to be called to give evidence against Ranendra.

In this version Antasari did the bidding of those he was supposed to be investigating and prosecuting, to protect them, and Golkar.
* Love triangle - involving a 22 year old university student, Rhani or Rani Julianti, who worked part time as a caddy at the Modernland golf course, where both Nasrudin and Antasari played. Both men are said to have paid for her services, both on the golf course and off. Last year she became Nasrudin Zulkarnaen's wife number 3.

It is said that Antasari became infatuated with Rani and that Zulkarnaen had threatened to expose the relationship to the gossip press. This is the theory that police seem to be working on.

Defence

Meanwhile Antasari Azhar denies the charges. His defenders say that he is being framed, probably by sources in the Attorney General's office, because Antasari led several aggressive investigations into corruption at the AGO.

The Attorney General's Office had named Antasari as a suspect on May 1st, while police at the time only classified him as an "interested party" or witness. However on May 4th police questioned him for 7 hours and later detained him.

Antasari Azhar was a political appointment to the KPK, heavily supported by Golkar, and PDI-P. Sigid Haryo Wibisono, one of his co-defendants in the case, did much lobbying work among parliament members to garner support for Antasari's nomination as KPK head. Antasari Azhar is not close to president Yudhoyono.