No plan for autopsy on Lopa, says govt

JAKARTA (JP): The government announced on Wednesday that it had no plans to ask for an autopsy to be performed on the late attorney general Baharuddin Lopa, who died in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.

The remarks arose as Lopa's untimely death came as he was embarking on a thorough investigation on top-level figures, prompting speculation of the causes of his demise.

Emphasizing that doctors at Al-Hamadi Hospital in Riyadh treated Lopa during his three-day stay there, Minister of Defense Mahfud M.D. acknowledged there were a lot of suspicions behind Lopa's death due his hardline stance against corruptors.

"There are suspicions about the unseemly death of Pak Lopa but I do not want to comment. There are people who say that to become an attorney general must be unpleasant because of the threats one is likely to receive," Mahfud replied, when asked about the government's possible autopsy plan.

"We have not considered (an autopsy), because we are also still not certain about the speculation," the minister added.

According to Mahfud, Lopa and his predecessor Marzuki Darusman realized that their position was vulnerable to possible poisoning, black magic practices or the leaking of information from the Attorney General's Office.

"Like Pak Lopa, he never touched meals served there (the Attorney General's Office), and preferred to eat food he brought from home," said Mahfud.

"Similar complaints were also voiced by Marzuki Darusman, who said he never discussed important matters at his office," said Mahfud.

President Abdurrahman Wahid sent a team of presidential doctors to Riyadh who arrived there on Monday, two days after Lopa's admission to hospital.

"I regret that it was too late," Mahfud noted.

Separately, spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, Muljohardjo, disclosed that the Saudi Arabian government required the issuance of an official document from the hospital about the cause of a patient's death.

Lopa, the former Indonesian ambassador to Saudi Arabia for two years until February this year, was hospitalized after his arrival from Mecca, where he performed a minor haj pilgrimage. He traveled by car although the distance between the two cities is about 1,000 kilometers and he did not have enough time to rest.

Doctors found clots in three blood vessels and planned an operation on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, a Garuda plane flew in Lopa's remains from Riyadh on Wednesday night after receiving a special permit to add its route to Riyadh from the original Jeddah- Jakarta flight.

Lopa's body is expected to arrive at Soekarno-Hatta Airport on Thursday. However, there are differing versions about the arrival time.

According to an official announcement at his private residence in Pondok Bambu, East Jakarta, the body will arrive at the airport at 11 a.m, and reach his home about 1 p.m.

After being taken to the Attorney General's Office, Lopa will be buried at 4 p.m. at the National Heroes Cemetery in Kalibata, South Jakarta.

Lopa's spokesman Muljohardjo said, however, that Lopa's body would arrive at the airport at 3 p.m.

President Abdurrahman Wahid plans to welcome the body at the airport and may lead Lopa's funeral ceremony in Kalibata. Minister of Justice and Human Rights Marsilam Simanjuntak may also lead the ceremony if the President is not present at the cemetery.

The President plans to swear in Erman Radjagukguk as acting Cabinet secretary, replacing Marsilam on Thursday. It is still not clear whether he will also install acting Attorney General Soeparman, who was promoted to the position on Monday, during the same occasion.

"The President has ordered Pak Lopa's burial in Kalibata," Soeparman said, concerning the funeral venue.

The President assigned Lopa to the post of attorney general on June 1. He served as minister of justice and human rights for nearly four months from February, 2001.

He once complained that his latest position as the Secretary- General of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas Ham) had caused some unpleasant experiences during his term as Indonesian ambassador to Saudi Arabia from February 1999 until his promotion to the Cabinet.

Born on Aug. 27, 1935, Lopa spent much of his life as a prosecutor. While serving as a senior official at the Ministry of Justice from 1988 to 1995, he also used his official office as the office of Komnas HAM.

Just two week before his death, during a hearing with the House of Representatives on June 18, he disclosed several major corruption cases that he wanted to investigate concerning human rights abuses in East Timor and several banking corruption cases. (tso/bby/prb)