Munir case a domestic matter: Minister

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.