P

resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has been accused of being slow in fulfilling his promise to resolve the mysterious death of human rights defender Munir Said Thalib following the government’s rebuff over a Central Information Commission (KIP) order to publish an investigative report on the activist’s death
in 2004.

The cause to resolve Munir’s death got a fresh boost after a series of KIP hearings finally yielded a decision last week. The ruling declared that the 2005 investigative report by a government-sanctioned fact-finding team (TPF) into the death was public information. The commission also ordered the State Secretary to publicly publish the information.

But the State Secretariat has denied responsibility, saying the whereabouts of the report, which was undertaken during the administration of Jokowi’s predecessor Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, was unknown.

“This is a serious violation,” Munir’s widow Suciwati said on Wednesday. ”It is not only a matter of the whereabouts or the state’s administrative management inherited from the Yudhoyono government. But this mainly shows how the state is dealing with the case,” she added.

She believed recent confusion over the report’s whereabouts was a result of misconduct from Jokowi’s administration due to “negligence” and “legal disobedience”.

Following activists’ outcry, Jokowi ordered National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian and Attorney General HM Prasetyo to search for the missing report. However, Suciwati and activists said the mission to find the report only emphasized the state’s “unwillingness” to uncover the mystery of Munir’s murder, which Yudhoyono has referred to as “a test of our history”.

“Ordering a search to find the report does not necessarily diminish Jokowi’s job, as a president, to reveal the findings of the report,” said Suciwati.

Human rights activists and former TPF members, Hendardi and Usman Hamid, shared her stance, saying it was strange to ask the police and Attorney General’s Office (AGO) to find the report because the two bodies were part of the TPF.

They also suggested that the government’s reluctance to take concrete action to settle the case signaled poor protection of human rights defenders in the country.

“Even someone like Munir who lived in big city and had a wide network could easily be killed for his work. Can you believe what could happen to others in regions who advocate for justice?” Usman said.

Separately, Al-Araf, director of human rights group Imparsial, urged Jokowi to set up a new fact-finding team to investigate individuals implicated in the murder, according to the 2005 investigation.

He added that Jokowi should use the opportunity to fulfill his promise to resolve Munir’s murder and use the report as the first step toward finding the “real perpetrators”.

Former Garuda pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto and former Garuda president director Indra Setiawan were sentenced to 20 and 15 years imprisonment respectively. Another individual named in the report, former deputy chief State Intelligence Agency (BIN) Muchdi Purwoprandjono, was also brought to trial but was later acquitted.

The TPF’s report also mentions the alleged involvement of Muchdi’s then boss, former BIN chief AM Hendropriyono.

AGO spokesman Muhammad Rum said that his institution had been searching for the document. “The Attorney General has appointed the junior attorney general for intelligence, Adi Toegarisman, to lead the AGO’s search team.