On Wednesday at dawn, horror struck a family in the Sukabumi Regency of West Java.
According to police, the family’s father, 37-year-old Jamaludin, held onto his 28-year-old wife, Iis, while a house fire, which he had ignited himself, killed them and his 10-year-old stepdaughter, identified by her initial A, .
Based on their investigation, local police believe the fire started by Jamaludin was an act of suicide via self-immolation, as police found traces of gasoline on his body.
“Jamaludin poured gasoline and proceeded to burn himself while holding the other victims until they couldn’t save themselves,” Cikembar Sub-district Police’s Crime Investigation Unit Chief Deni Miharja said yesterday, as quoted by Detik.
When their charred bodies were found, Deni said Jamaludin was holding on to Iis, while A was found not far from them. Deni also mentioned that Jamaludin was rarely at home, and had sent a message to Iis saying that he wanted to kill himself.
“There’s a suspicion that he wanted to kill himself because he had unsolved problems with some people,” Deni continued.
The sole survivor of the fire, 29-year-old Desi, was sleeping when the fire started. She was awakened by the heat and petrol smell, and then she heard Iis screaming for help. Desi said she watched as Jamaludin held Iis before the survivor escaped the inferno.
“Iis was screaming for her life. Other than her, I also heard this — but it was unclear — it was like someone calling ‘Ibu, Ibu… ‘ (meaning mother) a couple of times,” Desi told Detik yesterday, adding that she suspected the plea for help came from A.
The allegation that Jamaludin took his family’s lives as part of a murder-suicide via arson outraged locals even in his death — his neighbors objected to his body being buried in the local cemetery.
“My family and I object to his burial in this village. At first I pitied him, but now look what he’s done,” Jajun, A’s stepfather, told Kompas yesterday.
Although it’s not clear if Jamaludin had a history of being abusive towards his family, there have been numerous reports about men with histories of domestic violence taking the lives of their wives and children out of anger. Domestic violence is a highly taboo topic in Indonesia, but incidents of it and other forms of gender-based violence in the country are believed to be at epidemic levels by rights activists.
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