Fearless investigator of rights abuses

Fearless investigator of rights abuses

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

An outstanding human rights campaigner may not have fully
realized his pivotal role in the recent inquiry into the death of
colleague, Munir Thalib Said.

Asmara Nababan's membership of the now-dissolved, government-
sanctioned, fact-finding team (TPF Munir) has raised public
curiosity about who might have been behind the plot to kill
Munir.

Although just a member of the team, he often had to act as
spokesman or even in a leadership capacity to ensure that people
cooperated with the team.

"We worked closely with the press to publicize progress in the
investigation and, despite intense intimidation, I inspired the
team and encouraged its members and supporting staff to work as
best they could," he told The Jakarta Post at his office here
recently.

Asmara remained calm and said little when asked about the
result of the team's inquiry into the matter, saying only he was
clear about actual and potential suspects in the case.

"Let the public conclude for themselves who should be held
responsible for the murder of Munir because law enforcers appear
unable to bring untouchables from a feared intelligence agency to
justice," he said.

Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, the initial and main suspect in
the case, will go on trial soon, but high-powered officials from
national flag-carrier Garuda Indonesia and the National
Intelligence Agency (BIN), suspected to have been behind the
murder, are still free.

Pollycarpus is being held as a suspect, as he spoke a lot via
his cell phone with Munir before the latter's departure to the
Netherlands; also, he was onboard the Garuda aircraft that
transported Munir on the date of his death, Sept. 7, 2004.

Asmara said his team had not encountered any difficulty in
carrying out the inquiry because its remaining task was to follow
up on findings by the Dutch forensic authorities regarding an
excessive level of arsenic in Munir's body.

The TPF, he said, was unable to complete its inquiries because
it was denied access to relevant documents at BIN and information
from Gen. (ret) Hendropriyono (who led BIN at the time of the
murder) and other relevant BIN officials.

"The team has collected information that could be used as
material evidence to bring BIN officials to justice but it has no
authority to do so. The last hope lies with the police who have
the necessary investigative authority to grill suspected BIN
officials and ex-officials," he said.

Citing an example, he said that before and after Munir's
death, Pollycarpus made many phone calls to deputy chief of BIN
for propaganda affairs Muchdi P.R.

The fact-finding team does not exist anymore. Its results have
already been submitted to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
(SBY), but they have not yet been made public.

Asmara was proud of his team and its persistence during the
inquiry; the team has now left the ball firmly in the court of
both the President and the police.

"SBY's credibility is being tested with this case, and the
police have to confirm whether they are either able or willing to
carry out a thorough and proper investigation.

"The police would be able to investigate the case thoroughly
if they and the government were willing," he said, citing that
his team had recommended the police further interrogate former
top officials in the two government institutions, especially
Hendropriyono and former president director of Garuda Indra
Setyawan.

Asked why he was so determined and challenged to work on the
inquiry, Asmara said the case had a high international profile;
the modus operandi was so simple but it had all become so
complicated that it was hard to deal with it transparently.

"To me, Munir's mysterious death is a humanitarian debt we
have to pay. The state and the government have incurred many
humanitarian debts that remain unpaid, for example the past gross
human rights abuses in Papua, East Timor and Aceh."

Solidarity, empathy and honesty are merely cliches to many
people in the modern era, but not so for him, as he has shown
these qualities at one inquiry after another in the past.

Asmara first joined the fact-finding team of the National
Commission on Human Rights to investigate mass killings in Aceh
in 1994 and those in Timika, Papua, in 1995.

He felt a direct challenge upon learning of military brutality
during his fact-finding teams' inquiries into the bloody takeover
of the Indonesian Democratic Party's headquarters on July 27,
1996, the bloody riots in Jakarta and other cities on May 12
through May 15, 1998, and the post-ballot East Timor riots in
1999.

His solidarity with and empathy for vulnerable groups, justice
seekers and the have-nots have grown despite the fact that he and
his family have frequently been intimidated and condemned by
those implicated in human rights abuses.

"I have, on several occasions, been offered a huge amount of
money and luxury gifts but I returned them immediately because
they were from those implicated in rights abuses I was
investigating."

He has ensured his family is aware of the extreme risks he has
taken on.

"My life and fate depend not on human rights abusers but lie
in the hands of Almighty God. I am prepared to lose my life if
Gods wants me to die here and now," he said.

Asmara was born on Sept. 2, 1946 in Siborongborong, North
Sumatra, to Protestant parents. His father worked as a
schoolteacher, while his mother was very active in church-related
activities.

Asmara, now executive director of the Center for Democracy and
Human Rights Studies (Demos), was active in human rights
campaigns during his studies at the law school of the University
of Indonesia in the 1960s.

He, along with former Golkar Party chairman Akbar Tandjung and
business tycoon Arifin Panigoro, was a member of the Angkatan 66
(1966 generation), active in the anticommunist and anticorruption
student movement at the university.

"Several times during my childhood, I accompanied my mother to
attend the funeral of unidentified people in Medan and I was told
by my parents not to take discriminatory action against those of
Chinese descent. All this has inspired me to focus on human
rights and democracy campaigns."