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.