Govt pledge in Munir case queried

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

One year after leading human rights activist Munir was murdered onboard a flight from Jakarta to the Netherlands, the government has failed to properly investigate and prosecute those behind his death, the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement on Tuesday.

In its statement, the HRW called on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to set up a high-level committee to audit the performance of the police investigation into Munir's killing and establish why key recommendations and findings of the government- sanctioned Fact-Finding Team (TPF), which has implicated senior intelligence officers in the murder, have apparently been ignored.

"Munir's murder represents a return to the bad old days in Indonesia when independent activists faced the risk of personal injury or even death," said Brad Adams, Asia director for the HRW. "Solving this case and bringing the killers and their sponsors to justice is a big test for President Yudhoyono's government and its commitment to the rule of law."

Munir, cofounder the National Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) and human rights group Imparsial, died on Sept. 7 on a Garuda flight, just hours before the flight arrived at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport.

Two months later, the Dutch Forensic Institute said its autopsy found lethal levels of arsenic in Munir's body. A Garuda pilot is standing trial for adding the arsenic to a drink offered to Munir on the first leg of the flight from Jakarta to Singapore.

In December 2004, Susilo formed the TPF, which was tasked with assisting the police to investigate Munir's death. The TPF ended its six-month mandate on June 23 and produced a lengthy report with detailed findings and recommendations.

The HRW called on the government to make public the report and the recommendations of the TPF and to order the full cooperation of all state agencies, including the National Intelligence Agency (BIN), with the police and any other official bodies investigating the murder.

"Munir was an extraordinary man," said Adams. "This case is an extraordinary case that needs extraordinary measures to resolve it."

The HRW also asked the government to investigate threats and intimidation against TPF members and others seeking justice for Munir's murder and to provide protection for those facing threats.

Rights activists have prepared a series of events to commemorate Munir's death. The programs will begin on Wednesday with a march from the BIN office on Jl. Kalibata in South Jakarta to the presidential palace in Central Jakarta. A moment of silence and candle lighting will be held later in the evening beside the Proclamation Statue in Central Jakarta.

The events' committee chairman, Ori Rahman, said there would be a film screening in several towns across Indonesia to recall Munir's struggle for the country's recognition of human rights.

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