State Secretariat Denies It Was Ordered to Disclose Results of Munir Murder Probe

Jakarta Globe, Alin Almanar, October 11, 2016

The State Secretariat has denied that it has been ordered by public information
 commissioners to disclose results of an investigation conducted years ago into
the murder of human rights defender Munir Said Thalib. (Antara Photo/
Akbar Nugroho Gumay)

Jakarta. The State Secretariat has denied that it has been ordered by public information commissioners to disclose results of an investigation conducted years ago into the murder of human rights defender Munir Said Thalib.

A verdict, issued on Tuesday (11/10) by the commissioners, orders the secretariat to reveal documents of the investigation to the public. It was conducted over half a year starting in December 2004, when a fact-finding team was established.

The secretariat issued an official statement on Tuesday saying that "media reports that the State Secretariat has been ordered to announce investigation results from the fact-finding team are not true."

The statement said the commissioners only ordered the secretariat to "announce information, which basically says that the State Secretariat does not have, posses, or know the whereabouts of the questioned documents."

"It is in accordance with the facts and evidence in the consideration of the Public Information Commission members," secretariat spokesman Masrokhan said in the statement.

"It is impossible for the State Secretariat to announce reports it does not possess."

Monday's decision came in favor a complaint filed by several human rights groups. They have long urged a resolution of the case involving the murder of Munir, who was poisoned with arsenic during a layover in Singapore in September 2004 before boarding a flight to Amsterdam.

The alleged masterminds behind the incident have yet to be identified, with investigation results from the fact-finding team never having been disclosed. They were submitted to then-President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in June 2005 and the team was subsequently dissolved.

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