Unresolved

Unresolved

In the past, journalists reporting on baffling cases had come
to depend on the wisdom of rights activist Munir, who would
discuss with them his suspicions or findings.

Thus, from sheer habit, the initial reaction last September
was to turn to the slight, inquisitive and passionate young man
-- or his ghost -- for insight into the murder en route to the
Netherlands.

Munir's colleagues have continued with his work, an assignment
taken on in the last years of Soeharto's rule: to investigate
disappearances, torture and murder cases. Included now is the
death of their friend, and they joined, though reluctantly, a
government-sanctioned fact finding team.

Their reluctance was fast proven as they came across hurdle
after hurdle in gathering evidence and testimonies, in spite of
being able to wave around the signature of the President.

The verbal instruction of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
to the National Police and National Intelligence Agency (BIN)
that they fully cooperate in the investigation did not help
either. The President may indeed be sincere, "but he should know
that the police and BIN are ignoring him," said Munir's widow,
Suciwati.

The fact finding team at last reiterated suspicions raised
early in its inquiry, reporting this week to the President that
BIN "is believed to have been involved in a conspiracy to murder
Munir."

Its members have rightly refused suggestions that its six-
month mandate, which ended on Thursday, be extended, saying that
the police should take over and act on the team's
recommendations, mainly to further investigate the role of BIN
and all related officials.

Obviously the glaring question here is -- is this May 1998 all
over again? For the story of the riots in Jakarta and other
cities virtually ended with the announcement of the deductions of
a government-sanctioned fact finding team. None of the
recommendations were followed up; no one has been prosecuted for
the deaths, nor the suffering of surviving victims.

Not surprisingly, in the Munir case, members of the fact
finding team may hit a dead end, rather than respect for the
group instructed by the President himself to determine the
circumstances of the activist's death.

Arrogance prevails because experience has shown that no one
needs to be accountable for their actions if they have the power
to fend off irritating nobodies with irritating questions. Some
of them being basic queries: how does a passenger get arsenic in
his meal? And why would anyone be afraid of Munir -- he was just
going to study in the Netherlands? Or, who was feeling discomfort
when Munir exhibited his knowledge of past and contemporary cases
-- the shooting of students in 1998, the possible masterminds of
communal conflicts and the like?

This case must not be one of several thrown in the closet,
where we keep all the other skeletons for fear of prodding
sleeping, powerful dragons.

Munir's death will remain a test case for Susilo's
administration. Can the President make a significant contribution
to breaking down the wall put up many years ago around what has
become a comfortable cushion of impunity. It is not enough for
our former chief security minister to express anger and deep
sorrow over Munir's death; it is far from enough for him to
"lament" the failure of his former boss to cooperate in the
investigation.

Munir was a rare Indonesian who only sought to ensure that all
his fellow citizens and their children, including his own, could
live in freedom from fear. Putting the fact finding team's report
on the shelf and leaving it there would spread the message that
in spite of all our talk of democracy, we remain a nation where
those who live in freedom from fear include the untouchables with
a license to kill.