Munir case a domestic matter: Minister

Yuli Tri Suwarni and Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Bandung/Jakarta

International support for Munir's wife, Suciwati, in her struggle to bring the killers of her husband to justice cannot be counted on to push along the domestic probe into the case, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirajuda has said.

Citing the high-profile case as an internal matter for Indonesia, he said Suciwati should put pressure on the police and a fact-finding team if she wanted it solved as soon as possible, instead of seeking foreign support.

Suciwati delivered her testimony at the 61st session of the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights (UNHCHR) in Geneva last Wednesday, telling delegates that a gross human rights violation had taken place in Indonesia against her husband and that the world should pay attention to the case.

Through her testimony, she won the support of international human rights groups in her struggle to bring those responsible for Munir's assassination to justice, as she asked the UNHCR to help push for the trial of the case to reveal the masterminds.

"I've attended many such kinds of meetings and after that we usually don't know what comes out of it, not even a resolution. Sometimes we have too high hopes for uncertain things," Hasan said in Bandung, West Java, on Saturday, where he inspected the final preparations for a golden jubilee commemoration of the Asia-Africa Conference slated for April 24.

"If we want the investigation process sped up, we should monitor what the police and the fact-finding team have done so far, instead of going to Geneva... And that is more realistic," he added.

Hassan said that in a meeting like the UNHCHR session, it was not only delegates of member countries who were given the chance to speak, but also those from non-governmental organizations. "And that's (the Munir case) not an extraordinary thing because there are 1001 issues discussed in the meeting."

Munir, co-founder of human rights watchdogs Imparsial and Kontras, was found dead aboard a Garuda Indonesia flight to Amsterdam on Sept. 7, 2004.

An autopsy conducted by Dutch authorities found excessive amounts of arsenic in his body, indicating that he may have been poisoned during the one-hour leg of the flight from Jakarta to Singapore.

The National Police have only charged Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, a Garuda pilot who was on board the plane, over his alleged role in "facilitating" the murder, and forging documents linked to the case.

The police have also questioned two other Garuda executives -- secretary to the chief of pilots Rohainil Aini, and vice president of human resources Daan Ahmad.

The three, including Pollycarpus, are among seven people proposed to the government-sanctioned fact finding team as possible suspects in the murder.

The remaining four are former Garuda director Indra Setiawan and former vice president of corporate security Ramelgia Anwar, as well as two others linked to the State Intelligence Agency (BIN).

Sr. Comr. Anton Charlian, chief police investigator in the Munir case, said there were no links found as yet between Rohainil or Daan and the murder.

"We questioned Daan on Thursday and we will continue the questioning of Rohainil on Monday. We're also summoning Indra on Monday," Anton said.

However, he said the investigation process could be smoother now after Dutch authorities handed over documents related to the murder to the Indonesian Embassy in the Netherlands.

"We've heard that all the documents have been delivered to our embassy. These documents were made by the Dutch police when investigating the case after the plane just arrived in Schipol airport," Anton said.

He said a team of police investigators would soon leave for Amsterdam to pick up the evidence, but could not say when.

Anton said the investigators would also question two Dutch citizens, Lie Kian Wang and his wife Lie Fong, who sat near Munir during the flight from Singapore to the Netherlands.

"Now that the mutual legal assistance has been accepted by the Netherlands, we can question them when our police investigators arrive there," he added.