BIN attacks team for going public on Munir case

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

As the end of its tenure nears, the fact-finding team probing the murder of top human rights activist Munir dealt another blow on Wednesday when it was accused of exceeding the scope of its jurisdiction.

State Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief Maj. Gen. (ret) Syamsir Siregar said the fact-finding team, set up through a presidential decree, had overstepped its authority by widely disclosing information it had collected in the investigation of the murder.

"We object to the way the team has worked. The decree says in the sixth article that the results of its investigation shall be reported only to the President, thus we question its wide publication," he said after a closed-door meeting with House of Representatives Commission I on defense and foreign affairs.

Syamsir did not specify any findings or publication by the team. His comment, however, came just one day after the team disclosed that they had discovered documents setting out four methods to murder Munir, a staunch critic of the military.

Syamsir said he had never seen any such documents.

BIN has been closely linked to the murder as Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, the only suspect to be detained so far, is believed to be a BIN member.

A team finding revealed that Pollycarpus, a Garuda Indonesia pilot, had made numerous telephone calls before and after the murder to a BIN official.

Munir was killed on board a Garuda flight in September last year on his way from Jakarta to Amsterdam. An autopsy conducted by the Dutch government revealed he was poisoned. Pollycarpus was on the same flight (as an off-duty pilot) when the murder took place, and he offered Munir his business class seat.

Syamsir added that his agency was still working closely with the fact-finding team, but the results were confidential.

Syamsir's criticism was echoed by two legislators from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Effendi Simbolon and Permadi.

Both said that the team had exceeded it mandate in investigating the case. They said the team was simply tasked with collecting data and reporting its findings to the police and the President.

Separately, former BIN chief A.M. Hendropriyono said he was disappointed after the team failed to appear on Wednesday upon his invitation to discuss his alleged involvement in the murder.

Hendropriyono, a PDI-P member and close aide of PDI-P leader Megawati Soekarnoputri, is alleged to have known about the murder -- an allegation he has denied so far.

He himself has failed to fulfill three summonses sent by the team.

Team member Asmara Nababan said on Tuesday that the team would not fulfill the invitation because Hendropriyono had requested that it exclude two members -- Munir's close friends Rachlan Nashidik and Usman Hamid.

Hendropriyono is suing the two for defamation.

"I feel disappointed with the team because it didn't come, which means that it does not respect the presidential decree that assigns them to collect facts," he said.

He said the team should have come to meet him privately instead of sending a summons.

"Collecting facts is not done by summoning people. Even I never summoned people when I was the BIN chief. They should be proactive," said Hendropriyono.