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."