House members questions BIN on Munir's murder
House members questions BIN on Munir's murder
Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The House of Representatives questioned on Wednesday the State
Intelligence Agency (BIN) in a closed-door meeting to determine
what knowledge the agency had regarding the murder of prominent
human rights activist Munir.
Commission I overseeing defense, foreign and information
affairs held on Wednesday morning a meeting with BIN officials
and asked for clarification of various issues, including reports
of the institution's suspected involvement in the high-profile
death of Munir.
However, BIN did not have time to respond to the Munir
questions (the agency only responded to allegations of illegal
logging and poaching) because the commission members adjourned
the meeting prematurely due to a scheduled House plenary meeting
on the fuel price policy.
Talking to reporters after the meeting, BIN chief Syamsir
Siregar denied allegations that his institution or members were
connected with the alleged poisoning of Munir on board a Garuda
Indonesia plane last September.
"I have been involved in investigations into this case, inside
and outside of BIN. So far, there's no evidence at all about any
involvement of BIN in the death of Munir," he avowed.
Syamsir said he had met with both the House special
investigation team and the government-sanctioned fact finding
team to help them find Munir's killers.
"But no proof (of BIN's involvement) has been found," he said,
and added that the agency would definitely cooperate with law
enforcers if any evidence of involvement by BIN agents emerged.
However, Syamsir declined to comment when asked about the
relationship between BIN and Garuda pilot Pollycarpus Budihari
Priyanto, who is currently being interrogated by police in
connection to the poisoning.
Pollycarpus, widely alleged by local journalists and activists
to be a BIN operative, was aboard the same plane, and in contact
with Munir. He was not flying, but in the passenger compartment,
reportedly as an "aviation security officer" at the time. He
persuaded Munir to change seats, from economy to business class,
shortly after departing from Jakarta.
National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Aryanto Budihardjo said
on Wednesday that Pollycarpus was still considered a witness,
although investigators have been questioning him for three days.
Thus far, the National Police have not yet named any suspects
in the case that has drawn international attention due to Munir's
international status.
Munir was found dead on Sept. 7, 2004 aboard the Garuda flight
to the Netherlands via Singapore. He was planning to study at a
university in the Netherlands.
An autopsy by Dutch authorities showed an excessive amount of
arsenic in Munir's body.