[TAPOL Comment: It should be noted that Munir played a critically important role in drawing attention to the kidnapping and disappearance in 1997-98 of activists for which Muchdi was responsible and it was after this that Munir set up Kontras, the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence]

Ex-Garuda Chief Urged to Spill the Beans

March 24, 2005 11:54 PM

Laksamana.Net - Indra Setiawan, fired last week from his job as president director of national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, has been urged to reveal who told him to assign pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto to a
flight on which acclaimed human rights activist Munir was murdered.

Pollycarpus is so far the only suspect in the murder of Munir, who was killed by arsenic poisoning while on a flight from Jakarta to Singapore to Amsterdam in September.

The pilot was assigned to Flight GA-974 as an 'aviation security officer' in a letter signed by Setiawan. Garuda issued two other letters for the pilot's assignment, but police have concluded the documents were falsified, as they were issued after Munir's death.

A government-backed fact-finding team investigating the murder has said there are "strong indications" that Setiawan, Pollycarpus and three other Garuda employees were involved in a conspiracy to kill Munir and then cover up the crime.

The team believes the airline's staff were acting under orders from elements within the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) and has advised police to investigate two BIN members as possible suspects. The two operatives are
yet to be publicly named, although a report by the Suara Merdeka daily newspaper said there is speculation that one of them may be former Army Special Forces (Kopassus) chief, Major General Muchdi Purwopranjono, who is now deputy head of BIN.

Muchdi was involved in the 1997-98 kidnapping and torture of numerous pro-democracy activists, 13 of whom are still missing and believed to have been murdered. A military council investigated the kidnappings and removed Muchdi from his position as Kopassus chief but stopped short of expelling him from the armed forces. Rights groups are disgusted that Muchdi now holds a strategic position in BIN.

Unconfirmed rumors have been circulating in Jakarta that Pollycarpus was recruited by Muchdi to serve as a BIN agent, and that the paperwork outlining his role in the agency was destroyed after the murder of Munir.

Rumor also has it that two other BIN members issued Pollycarpus a pistol. The pilot's lawyer has denied his client was recruited by BIN or owned a gun. But one of Pollycarpus' neighbors, Wily Rompis, has said the pilot
often boasted of being an intelligence agent and being issued a firearm.

BIN has so far denied any involvement in Munir's murder, but police say they will not be afraid to investigate the allegations against the powerful agency.

Fact-finding team member Rachland Nashidik, who is executive director of the Indonesian Human Rights Monitor (Imparsial), on Thursday (24/3/05) said Setiawan must explain who orchestrated the events leading to Munir's death.

"Indra Setiawan must reveal who gave him the idea of assigning Pollycarpus as an aviation security officer," he was quoted as saying by detikcom online news portal.

The team and police have questioned the propriety of the assignment, as Pollycarpus apparently lacked the requisite Garuda Aviation Training and Education (GATE) certificate to serve as a security officer.

Nashidik said Garuda had previously assigned a regular flight safety inspector to Flight GA-974, so it made no sense for Setiawan to have given Pollycarpus a written order for the same task. "If Mr Indra does not talk
[about what really happened], then I don't know who will," he said.

BIN Meeting Canceled The fact-finding team was due to meet with BIN chief Syamsir Siregar on Thursday to discuss the intelligence agency's possible involvement in the Munir case. But the meeting was canceled because Siregar was unexpectedly summoned by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to attend a
cabinet meeting to discuss the government's master-plan for the reconstruction of tsunami-devastated Aceh province.

The planned meeting with the fact-finding team was originally scheduled to have taken place at BIN's head office in Kalibata, South Jakarta, at 2pm.

"The meeting has been rescheduled for next week. I don't know which day. But I will be ready," Siregar told reporters after leaving the cabinet meeting, which lasted from 11am to 3pm.

Siregar has repeatedly denied allegations that BIN was involved in Munir's murder. He said he had already conducted an internal investigation, which found no evidence that any BIN personnel were connected to the crime.

He claimed to be unaware of the identities of the two BIN members suspected by the fact-finding team of involvement in the murder. "It don't know yet. Who says that it's BIN staff?" he was quoted as saying by detikcom.

Asked whether his predecessor Ahmad Hendropriyono was one of them, he replied: "Hey, who says so? So far, not yet. There's no proof yet, so we cannot make assumptions."

National Police chief General Dai Bachtiar on Thursday claimed he would not have any difficulties in nvestigating the allegations against BIN.

"It's no problem. We will certainly study all of the recommendations that were submitted by the fact-finding team," he said after attending the cabinet meeting on Aceh.

"If the recommendations from the team turn out to be sufficiently accurate to warrant a further process of investigation, then yes, we will definitely so," he said.

He said police were not yet planning to summon Setiawan for interrogation, but would do so if they receive further information linking him to the case.

Senior Commissioner Anton Charlian, who is heading the police investigation into Munir's murder, has said Setiawan will be summoned for questioning next week.

Garuda Vice President Police on Thursday questioned Garuda vice president of human resources Daan Ahmad over the falsified letters of assignment issued to Pollycarpus.

Ahmad is believed to have designed a letter assigning Pollycarpus to fly to Singapore on Flight GA-974 to check on the landing gears of an aircraft there. The fact-finding team has expressed doubt over the veracity of the assignment, as the plane arrived in Singapore late at night and Pollycarpus took the first flight back to Jakarta the following morning.

The team has accused Ahmad of being uncooperative, claiming he failed to supply investigators with details of Garuda's standard operational procedures.

Dutch Deliver Evidence The Dutch government has reportedly handed over the results of its investigation into Munir's death to the Indonesian Embassy in The Hague.

Munir died at least three hours before his plane arrived in the Netherlands. Dutch authorities subsequently interviewed several passengers and Garuda employees from Flight GA-974, and also conducted an autopsy, in
which they took tissue samples from the deceased's body.

Charlian said the Dutch government had given the embassy the results of its interviews, as well as its report on Munir's death, but was yet to hand over the tissue samples.

He could not say when the embassy would pass on the evidence on to National Police headquarters.

Dutch authorities had previously said they could not hand over the investigation results because Dutch law prohibits the provision of evidence in cases where the death penalty may result.

End.