The Batam city administration is helping the repatriation of their bodies.
Batam, Riau Islands (ANTARA News) - Two of the four people shot to death by Malaysian police recently are Batam city residents, city administration spokesman Ardiwinata said here on Friday.

"After being reconfirmed it was found that two, not three, of them were Batam residents," he said.

The identity of the other one presumed to be a Batam resident before is now still being verified by the Indonesian embassy, he added.

The two that have been confirmed as Batam residents are known as Asnon and Jone respectively hailing from Bengkong and Seraya.

The Batam city administration is helping the repatriation of their bodies by sending data needed for it to the Indonesian embassy in Malaysia, he said.

He said the city administration could not help much because the Indonesian embassy had directly dealt with the families of the victims in connection with it.

The foreign ministry had sent officials to Batam to meet with the families of the victims to collect data needed for the repatriation of the victims` bodies.

Foreign minister Marty Natalegawa earlier said that only one of the four people shot to death recently by Malaysian police had been confirmed as an Indonesian citizen.

"It was reported there were four victims but only one had been confirmed as an Indonesian citizen while the other three`s identities have not yet been confirmed as no data about them were available," he said at the presidential office in Jakarta on Thursday.

He said the body of the victim that had been confirmed as an Indonesian citizen was now under process of being sent home.

Marty said the Malaysian police had reported that three of them had criminal records. He said it was also reported that there were suspicion of robbery, firefight and chasing involved in the incident.

"This is according to data from Malaysia police reports. Verification is still being carried out on the identities of the three the Malaysian police believed were about to conduct a robbery," he said.

Five people believed to be Indonesian citizens namely Joni alias M Sin, Osnan, Hamid, Diden and Mahno were reported to have been shot to death by Malaysian police in Perak.

Devi, a resident of Batam and wife of Joni said on Wednesday she heard news that her husband along with five other Indonesian citizens working in a plantation company in Ipoh, Perak, had been shot to death by Malaysian police on September 9.
(Uu.H-YH)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2012