Munir's Assassins Hinted At
Human rights in the sense of human solidarity has created a new universal and equal language going beyond racial, gender, ethnic or religious boundaries. That is why we consider it a doorway to dialogue for people of all socioeconomic groups and all ideologies.
Munir Said Thalib
What everybody thought they knew has now been confirmed. In their report submitted to SBY today, the government-sanctioned fact finding team appointed to track down the assassins of Munir have concluded that the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) is believed to have been involved in a conspiracy to murder Munir.
The report, however, did not definitively state that BIN committed an institutional crime, nor did it state how deeply BIN individuals were involved. In addition they did not find a clear motive behind the murder, mostly because of the agency's reluctance to give the team complete access to certain relevant documents and its arms warehouse.
According to Marsudi Hanafi, the head of the team investigating his death, Munir's killers considered murdering him in his car and even by sorcery.
Mr Hanafi said he knew this information because he had received documents detailing the various options. But he added that he could not disclose where the documents had come from.
Munir actually died during a flight from Jakarta to Amsterdam last September, after his food was apparently poisoned.
As for BIN's suggested involvement, it can't have helped that former State Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief Hendropriyono and his former deputy Muchdi Purwopranjono ... both ... failed to comply with two summonses for questioning by the fact-finding team investigating the murder of human rights campaigner Munir.
In a staggering display of the scornful arrogance that was prevalent during the era of former dictator Suharto, Hendropriyono ... publicly mocked the team, accusing it of being completely unprofessional and seeking only to tarnish his name.
The dapper retired four-star lieutenant general, nicknamed 'the Butcher of Lampung' by his critics over a 1989 massacre of Muslim youths, is now suing two members of the team for slander. His lawyer has derided the late Munir and callously questioned why President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono felt it necessary to form a special team to investigate the activist's death.
This page links to 100 pages by Roy Tupai which reference Munir. If you Google there are 8,690 links. You can also buy a DVD of a TV documentary about the case for $58.17.
The truth is out there somewhere and the time for innuendo is over. If SBY acts decisively, then there is hope for Indonesia, hope that society is finally on the mend and that some good will come from Munir's tragic death.
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