A man in Bali recently murdered his wife, reportedly after taking offense to insults regarding his ethnicity and tribal background.
According to Kuta Police Chief, Commissioner Agus Riwayanto Diputra, the incident occurred after the couple returned from a bar on Kuta Beach. On the way home, the pair got into an argument.
The victim, 41-year-old Endang Sulastri, owner of a coffee shop, bar, and motorcycle rental service in Badung, Bali, allegedly criticized her husband, 33-year-old Kamal Mopangga—who also worked at her bar in Legian Beach—over his job performance. Her remarks reportedly included vulgar and racially charged insults, which angered Kamal.
Kamal is said to have planned the murder while Endang slept. He returned to the bar to fetch a kitchen knife and attacked her while she was still awake, pretending to give her a back massage. He then stabbed her three times in the neck from behind, using a knife hidden under a pillow.
A post-mortem revealed that 60% of Endang’s airways were severed in the attack.
After committing the murder, Kamal reportedly stayed overnight in the same room with her body. The next day, he took her debit card and laptop before fleeing to Bitung, North Sulawesi. There, he hid in a semi-permanent fishermen’s hut but was eventually tracked down and arrested by Kuta Police and the Resmob unit of North Sulawesi Police.
Kamal now faces charges under Article 340 of the Indonesian Penal Code, which carries a maximum penalty of death due to the premeditated nature of the crime. Authorities confirmed that Kamal acted alone, with no third-party involvement.
The suspect, who hails from Gorontalo, admitted that his actions were driven by anger over insults to his ethnic and tribal background. “I had already asked her not to insult my Gorontalo ancestry and tribe,” he said during a press conference at Denpasar Police Headquarters.
