Lopa dies of heart failure

JAKARTA (JP): Attorney General Baharuddin Lopa died on Tuesday night of heart failure at a hospital in Riyadh.

An embassy official told The Jakarta Post that Lopa died at Al-Hamadi Hospital in the Saudi Arabian capital at about 6:10 p.m. local time or 10:10 p.m. Jakarta time.

Lopa was 65. He is survived by his wife Indrawulan and seven children.

Lopa accompanied by his wife had flown to Riyadh last week to officially hand over his post as Saudi Arabian Ambassador to his successor Hadi Wayarabi. He fell sick on Saturday and was then admitted to Ilhamadi Hospital.

Lopa had been ambassador to the Middle Eastern state before he was summoned home by President Abdurrahman Wahid and appointed as Minister of Justice and Human Rights.

Last month he was appointed as Attorney General replacing Marzuki Darusman.

Head of Protocol at the Presidential Office, Wahyudi Muryadi, told the Post that Lopa's remains would be flown back to Jakarta on Wednesday morning on a Garuda flight.

Wahyu said the President was shocked and deeply saddened to hear the news and immediately expressed his condolences to the family.

The President is due to go straight to the airport in Jakarta on Wednesday afternoon after attending a prior event in Central Java to receive Lopa's remains.

Wahyu said he had been assigned by the President to oversee the homecoming of Lopa's remains.

Lopa's untimely death comes as a shock to everyone as he was embarking on an investigation into corruption involving a number of top legislators.

Critics had charged that the investigations were launched as political moves to save Abdurrahman's ailing presidency.

But while his most recent moves may have invited the ire of certain politicians, Lopa's career and character remain highly respected in the minds of many.

The heavy smoking, tough talking South Sulawesi native had made a name for himself as an uncompromising servant of justice.

His name rose to national prominence as the secretary-general of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM).

Many believe that Lopa's hard work and unrelenting integrity at the commission in the mid-1990s lent credibility to commission.

Prior to that Lopa had built a much respected career in the ranks of the Attorney General's Office which saw him rise to become Director General of Correctional Institutions between 1988 and 1995.

Colleagues were shocked to hear the news of their friend's demise.

"He was a man of high integrity," H.S. Dillion, who had served with him at Komnas HAM, told the Post.

"The nation has lost one of its best sons," Dillon added while pointing to Lopa's "single mindedness in the pursuit of justice and human rights" as one his finest qualities.

Earlier on Tuesday afternoon, news of Lopa's ill-health had already prompted the President to appoint Deputy Attorney General Suparman to take over Lopa's day-to-day duties.

Separately, senior officials at the Attorney General's Office, said that Lopa had been involved in "stressful" work before his departure to Riyadh.

"His health was easily affected by the stress. He is also a heavy smoker," said one official, who requested anonymity. (prb/bby/lem/tso)