Susilo aims to speed up probe into Munir case

Susilo aims to speed up probe into Munir case

Eva C. Komandjadja and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono promised to speed up the
investigation into the murder of top human rights campaigner
Munir Said Thalib amid strong criticism at home and abroad.

State Secretary Sudi Silalahi said that to accelerate the
probe, the President himself would hold a regular meeting with
the fact-finding team tasked to help investigate the case, the
National Police, and the State Intelligence Agency (BIN).

"The President will directly lead (the meeting) to ensure that
each related institution functions," Sudi said after a meeting
between the fact-finding team and Susilo.

According to Sudi, Susilo also thinks that the probe has not
provided satisfactory results since it was set up in December
last year.

The President has received strong criticism from activists at
home and abroad because there has been no significant progress in
the ongoing investigation into Munir's murder, which has been
running for six months.

Suciwati, Munir's wife, earlier complained about the
sluggishness of the National Police in the investigation of the
murder case despite help given by the fact-finding team.

Meanwhile, New York-based advocacy group Human Rights First
urged the government of Indonesia to live up to its pledges, AFP
reported.

"President Yudhoyono has stated that the Munir investigation
is a test case of how much Indonesia has changed," the group said
in a statement.

Munir, a rights campaigner who had often criticized the
authorities and military for human rights abuses in various parts
of the country, was poisoned in September last year on board a
Garuda flight from Jakarta to Amsterdam as shown by an autopsy
report that revealed excessive level of arsenic in his body.

Three Garuda officials had been declared suspects in the case
to date. One is a Garuda pilot named Pollycarpus Budihari
Priyanto, who was on the same flight as Munir and offered his
business class seat to Munir during the Jakarta-Singapore trip.
There have been rumors that Pollycarpus was a BIN agent.

The fact-finding team and the police are now under pressure to
unveil the mastermind behind the murder case.

But the fact-finding team has often faced difficulties in
seeking information from key people who have been reluctant to
cooperate with the team. Brig. Gen. Marsudhi Hanafi, the head of
the team, admitted this situation.

The former secretary of BIN Nurhadi Djazuli, for instance, had
earlier refused to meet the team as he claimed it had no
authority to question him.

Nurhadi, who was recently appointed as Indonesian Ambassador
to Nigeria, finally met the team on Tuesday following widespread
criticism including from lawmakers.

He came to the National Police headquarters for questioning as
a witness on Wednesday.

Asked about the reluctance of state institutions to help the
fact-finding team despite the President's directive, Sudi
responded, "There are no such difficulties. It's only a matter of
coordination."

Elsewhere, the President summoned on Wednesday Coordinating
Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Widodo Adi
Sucipto, Minister of Justice and Human Rights Hamid Awaluddin and
Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh to seek ways to speed up the
investigation into the murder case.

Strangely, National Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar and BIN
head Maj. Gen. Syamsir Siregar, whose institutions are directly
involved directly in the probe were not present in the meeting.