REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BATAM - Two of the four people shot to death by Malaysian police recently were Batam city residents, city administration spokesman Ardiwinata said here on Friday. "After being reconfirmed it was found that two of them are Batam residents," he said.

The two that have been confirmed as Batam residents are known as Asnon and Jone respectively hailing from Bengkong and Seraya. The identity of the other one presumed was still being verified by the Indonesian embassy, he added.

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

Committed crimes 

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. He added, the Malaysian police had reported that three of them had criminal records of committing 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.

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