Mastermind Behind the Murder of Activist Munir Remains Unknown
6 September 2017 20:46 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Tomorrow marks the 13th year since human rights activist Munir Said Thalib was poisoned with arsenic aboard a flight bound for Amsterdam. But years have gone by without shedding any light regarding the mastermind behind the murder.
According to Usman Hamid, former secretary of fact finding team formed by the government to solve the Munir murder case, the government has been ill-committed in solving the case by stating that the documents collected by the fact finding team had been lost.
He believes that there needs to be a political willingness from President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) to solve the murder case. “We believe that this political will could unravel the mystery of the murder. It is difficult to believe that the reports were technically lost,” said Usman on Wednesday, September 6.
In June 2005, the fact finding team reported the team’s findings to Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) who was the President at the time. He explained that the meeting was witnessed by several state officials from police, the Coordinating Ministry for Political and Security Affairs, and the State Intelligence Agency.
“It wasn’t the only meeting that took place,” Usman revealed.
The documents whereabouts once again resurfaced when the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) won the lawsuit against the State Secretary Ministry regarding their request for the government to publicize the report that was made by the fact finding team. The state palace claims that such document is not in their possession.
Rumors say that the document of Munir murder case was lost during Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s administration. Usman said that the document’s whereabouts were almost known when SBY held a press conference in Cikeas that was attended by the Chairman of the Fact Finding Team Marsudi Hanafi who provided clarification on where the documents might be.
“The press conference prevents the government to make further excuses to imply that the document isn’t in the state secretary archives,” Said Usman.
ARKHELAUS W.
