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.