T

he Attorney General’s Office (AGO) has begun searching for the whereabouts of a fact-finding team’s report of the investigation into the murder of human rights defender Munir Said Thalib, which it says is key to reopening the case.

The Central Information Commission (KIP) said on Monday that the report authored by the government-commissioned fact-finding team and submitted to president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s administration in 2005 was public information and therefore should be disclosed immediately.

The KIP ruled in favor of Munir’s widow Suciwati and several human rights watchdogs who demanded that the government reveal the truth behind Munir’s death.

However, the State Secretariat, which is in charge of the government’s administrative documents, claimed to have no knowledge of the whereabouts of the report.

Amid the confusion, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has instructed the AGO to find the missing report.

“I think it’s our responsibility to trace it. The President has also given an instruction to trace its whereabouts,” Attorney General M. Prasetyo said on Friday.

He said it was now the focus of his office to find the report.

“What’s important is finding the document if it does exist,” Prasetyo said. “After that, we’ll study [the report]. From there, we can decide on the next steps to take.”

If the report revealed new findings that warranted further investigation into Munir’s murder case, the AGO would process the new information in accordance with national law, said Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto.

As the first step, the AGO has contacted the fact-finding team, which consisted of, among others, Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi and activist Usman Hamid. “We are currently looking and contacting those who were on the fact-finding team,” said Prasetyo.

Munir died in September 2004 of arsenic poisoning during a Garuda Indonesia flight to the Netherlands. He was known for speaking out against human rights violations by the military.

Confusion over the whereabouts of the confidential report has created tension between human rights campaigners and the State Secretariat.

The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), which filed the request with the KIP, demanded that State Secretary Pratikno find the document and explain to the public why the state secretary had no knowledge of its whereabouts.

Kontras coordinator Haris Azhar called Pratikno “irresponsible”, urging him to face the public, instead of laying the blame on the Yudhoyono administration.

Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party, meanwhile, blasted the State Palace, saying that it was now Jokowi’s responsibility to resolve the Munir case.

Kontras accused the State Secretariat of violating a 2005 presidential regulation stipulating the latter’s obligation to carry out the administrative tasks of the government, which includes keeping documents of public information.

“He [Pratikno] has power, given his position as the state secretary. He has to use his power in this situation,” Haris told reporters at Kontras on Friday.

The documents are deemed necessary to reopen Munir’s murder case, which Kontras believes involves parties apart from Pollycarpus, the only person convicted in the case.

Hendardi, director of the Setara Institute, an NGO promoting equality, and a member of the fact-finding team, said that the loss of the report set a bad precedent for human rights in Indonesia.