Malang – Munir’s family, who live in the East Java city of Malang, have expressed their appreciation to the government for the progress made in the investigation of the murder of the human rights activists. It is hoped that the uncovering of a new suspect in the case – Muchdi Purwo Prandjono – will be able to bring all of the central actors in the murder before the courts.
“We commend the developments in the investigation with the arrest of Muchdi PR. At least things are heading along the right track. Only Muchdi is not alone. His was only a secondary person at the State Intelligence Agency (BIN). There is undoubtedly a first, a third person and so on. We hope that the government can finalise this case, so that the law will become the ‘supreme commander’ in this country”, said Munir’s older brother Rasyid Said Thalib on Friday June 20 in Malang.
According to Rasyid, Munir’s family already knew that Prandjono would be dragged into the case around 10 days beforehand. Because at the time all of the indications and developments in the investigation were heading in the direction of the former BIN deputy. “Although we commend the government’s steps in not being hasty about the arrest. So that in the end the arrest will not end up being in vain”, said Rasyid.
For Rasyid, the naming of Prandjono as a suspect should not just be seen in terms of being satisfactory or unsatisfactory. The problem is a wider one – the issue of law enforcement. “Hopefully this can become a test case that the government’s pledge to uphold the law can actually be carried out. It is hoped that later on the public will be able to know what the true motive for the murder was. Was there was a political element or not?”, said Rasyid.
Military observer Muhadjir Effendy from the Malang Muhammadiyah University said that with the arrest of Prandjono BIN’s credibility is on the line. He is not too convinced however that Prandjono’s arrest will lead to a quick resolution of the case.
“Up until now those arrested have only been Munir’s murderers. What about in terms of Munir himself. Why was he murdered and so forth. That has yet to be revealed. Whereas this could be the key to speeding up the resolution of this case”, said Effendy.
In addition to this, according to Effendy, up until now Indonesia has yet to take an explicit line on the Indonesian military’s (TNI) authority in terms of its basic military duties while on the other hand it is sometimes seen as a civil violation.
Many of the cases involving the TNI exist within grey areas. Including actions that on the one hand represent its basic duties, and on the other hand are seen as violations of civil law. “This is what sometimes becomes quite a complex problem”, said Effendy.
[Translated by James Balowski.]
