Police urged to pursue witnesses of Theys' driver

Police urged to pursue witnesses of Theys' driver

R.K. Nugroho
The Jakarta Post
Jayapura

The proindependence Papuan Presidium Council (PDP) called on
the police to focus on anybody who saw or had helped Aristoteles
Masako, the driver of the late Theys Hiyo Eluway, in their
ongoing investigation of the late PDP chairman's mysterious
death.

PDP Secretary General Thaha Al-Hamid said it was the
responsibility of the local police to search for Aristoteles to
help them investigate the murder case.

The police should cross-examine all witnesses to know who
should be held responsible for Aristoteles's whereabouts, he
said.

Thaha conceded that he had gained reliable information on
Aristoteles from six people who had helped him after he was
dumped by the side of the road in Skilin Entrop, Jayapura just
moments after Theys was abducted on Nov. 10, 2001.

"I'm sure that the information given by these six individuals
is valid. They should be held as key witnesses," he said here on
Wednesday.

He added that he had gained the information before the six
were recently summoned by police and delegates of the National
Commission of Human Rights.

Thaha refused to reveal the information he gained from the
six.

One of the six witnesses admitted they had helped Aristoteles
go to the Army's special force unit compound in Hamadi.

"He (Aristoteles) looked frightened when we found him, after
he had been dumped at the side of the road. He asked us to bring
him with us to Hamadi, which we did. However, we waited for
Aristoteles for an hour, while he was supposed to be reporting
the abduction to the authorities, but he failed to come out of
the compound," said one witness, who requested anonymity.

Speculation is rife about Aristoteles' whereabouts. One such
proposition is that he might have been abducted by the Free Papua
Movement (OPM), which opposes PDP's peaceful struggle and the
local military.

He ruled out the hypothesis that the OPM were behind the
abduction and murder because the Papuan people, including the OPM
rebels, never killed their own people.

Both the Papua Presidium Council (PDP) and Aristoteles' family
want him to testify to the court on who were behind Theys'
abduction and killing.

"He is a kind and polite son. We want to find him, dead or
alive," Dorsila Ayomi, Aristoteles' mother recalled.

She said he was working for Theys in order to save up enough
money to study at the Jayapura Institute of Technology. She
claims she has no idea of her son's whereabouts.

PDP has demanded the government set up an independent
investigation, involving foreign bodies, into the case to let the
Papuan people know exactly who were behind the killing. It also
expressed regret that the difference of opinion has always been
handled with violence, which it believed would not resolve the
Papuan issue.

The six have given their testimony to the local police and
delegates of the National Commission of Human Rights but so far
no follow-up action has been taken.

Aristoteles met the six after he was dumped in Skilin Entrop
in Jayapura while Theys, along with his Kijang van, were driven
away by his abductors. Theys was found dead inside his car in the
border area between the province and Papua New Guinea on Nov. 11,
2001.

Besides summoning the six, the police have also grilled three
Papuan witnesses who saw Aristoteles at the Army's special force
unit compound moments after Theys was abducted.

Insp. Gen. I Made Mangku Pastika, chief of the provincial
police, has offered a new Kijang van as a reward for anybody who
could find Aristoteles.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Endriartono Sutarto denied on
Wednesday that the military was involved in Theys' death, saying
he would take severe disciplinary action if his subordinates were
found guilty of involvement in the case.