Military ready to reopen probe into Marsinah case

Military ready to reopen probe into Marsinah case

Ainur R. Sophiaan, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya

Maj. Gen. A.D. Sikki, chief of the Brawijaya Military Command
overseeing East Java, said the local military was ready for the
proposed reopening of the investigation into the savage murder of
labor activist Marsinah, an employee of PT Catur Putra Surya
watchmaker in Sidoarjo, in May 1993.

Sikki was responding to a recent statement by BN Marbun, a
member of the National Commission on Human Rights, that according
to a DNA test in Australia, a blood sample taken from the
Sidoarjo military subdistrict office was identical to Marsinah's
blood, an indication that the victim was tortured in the office
before her mutilated body was found in a forest in the province
and that the local military was involved.

He, however, said he was skeptical about the test's results
because according to an examination by the police forensic
laboratory, the blood sample was different to Marsinah's DNA.

"Marbun's statement is confusing because he said he had gained
the information on the Australian test's results from a top
police official, while National Police chief Da'i Bachtiar said
recently that the Australian test results had yet to be dispatch
to Indonesia," he said.

Sikki said he would not prevent the reopening of the
investigation or the investigation of servicemen allegedly
involved in the murder.

"Of the utmost importance is that the investigation and its
conclusion must be based on material evidence so that it can be
taken into account before the public," he said.

But Sikki declined comment after watching the film Marsinah,
Cry for Justice at the Mitra 21 Theater in the city on Friday
night.

Before her death, Marsinah was arrested and interrogated under
former president Soeharto's military-style regime for leading a
labor strike to demand better pay and labor conditions.

Separately, Adj. Sr. Comr. Said Harunantyo, East Java Police
spokesman, confirmed that the blood sample taken from the
Sidoarjo military subdistrict office was declared identical to
Marsinah's.

However, he said that despite being identical, the test's
results were still unclear because the results of only one of
four samples had been given.

He said he was skeptical that this test's results could be
taken as new evidence to reopen the investigation.

According to the results of a test conducted by the DR. Sutomo
General Hospital, the blood sample taken from places where
Marsinah was before her death were identical to her DNA.

Harunantyo, however, said that the police had no schedule to
reopen the investigation.

"The police investigation into the case has been finished.
What we are waiting for is an answer from the Supreme Court
whether the latter will accept the request by many labor unions,
the human rights body and the Foundation of the Indonesian Legal
Aid Institute (YLBHI) to review the case," he said, implying the
investigation would be reopened should the request be accepted.

He said he had seen the film and did not feel undermined by
it.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian Muslim Labor Union (Sarbumusi)
proposed that Indonesian Labor Day be celebrated on May 8, the
date Marsinah was killed, instead of May 1.

"Marsinah should be taken as symbol of Indonesian workers'
struggle and the date of her death should be set to celebrate
Labor Day in the country," Gordon Harahap, chairman of the local
office of Sarbumusi, said at a media conference here on Saturday.

He said Sarbumusi was still lobbying other labor unions to
accept the proposal.

Brig. Gen. Heru Susanto, deputy chief of the Esat Java Police,
said the police did not object to the proposal but the
celebration should be conducted according to procedure.