Munir case still far from over
Eva C. Komandjaja and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The fact-finding team probing last year's murder of human rights campaigner Munir has completed its work and submitted a report of its findings to the President, but it is unlikely that the high- profile case will be solved quickly.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono did not immediately order the National Police to follow up the team's report that named several National Intelligence Agency (BIN) officials as suspects in the murder.
Instead, Susilo distributed copies of the report to National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar, Indonesian Military chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto, BIN head Syamsir Siregar and Minister of Justice and Human Rights Hamid Awaluddin, to study.
"A meeting will be held to discuss and review the report (with the President)," Cabinet Secretary Sudi Silalahi said here on Monday.
Da'i Bachtiar promised last week that he would form a team to follow up the recommendations given by the government-sanctioned team in order to speed up the investigation into Munir's case.
However, National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Zainuri Lubis told The Jakarta Post on Monday that there was no sign that such a police team would be set up soon.
"We've been busy preparing for the Bhayangkara (National Police's anniversary) Day in the last few days," Zainuri said.
Apart from the police's anniversary celebration, the replacement of Da'i by Comr. Gen. Sutanto may further delay the investigation into Munir's death.
Sutanto, the current director of the National Narcotics Agency (BNN), is expected to replace Da'i ahead of or during the anniversary day on July 1.
The fact-finding team has said several BIN agents were involved in the Munir case but refused to name them. However, the report submitted to the President reportedly mentioned their names.
The report was completed, even though former BIN chief Abdullah Mahmud Hendropriyono and several of his former subordinates defied summonses for questioning by the team.
Munir, who was a cofounder of two human rights organizations Kontras and Imparsial, died aboard a Garuda Indonesia flight from Jakarta to Amsterdam on Sept. 7 last year.
An autopsy conducted by Dutch authorities revealed that Munir died due to arsenic poisoning.
The police have only named Garuda pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto -- who is alleged to be a BIN agent -- flight attendants Oedi Irianto and Yeti Susmiyarti as suspects.
Separately, Garuda's lawyer Mohammad Assegaf said that there was no new evidence found in the reconstruction of Munir's murder on board a Garuda plane from Jakarta to Amsterdam.
The case reenactment was held on Friday in a hangar belonging to the Garuda maintenance facility at the Soekarno Hatta airport, and was closed to the public.
Assegaf said that there was simply no connection between his client, Pollycarpus, and Munir's poisoning since Pollycarpus' role in the flight was only to offer his business class seat to Munir during the first leg of the flight from Jakarta to Singapore.
"I believe the police have difficulty linking Pollycarpus to the poisoning. Besides, the food and drink trolley was sealed shut in the flight, so there was no possibility that Oedi and Yeti or even Pollycarpus could have put poison into Munir's meal," Assegaf argued.