Reminiscing About How Munir Died In The Air

Munir illustration

JAKARTA - " But, I never die. It will not stop. " This is a fragment of the verse from the song Efek Rumah Kaca, entitled Di Udara . This song tells the story of Munir Said Thalib who was threatened and terrorized, until he died while on a plane to the Netherlands.

Munir's death occurred on September 7, 2004, 15 years ago. However, several questions remain unanswered, even though the suspect who killed him, Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, has already been convicted.

Launching the CNNIndonesia.com article entitled ' Munir, Suciwati, and the Endless Play Comedy ', Munir's wife, Suciwati, was initially surprised to hear from Usman Hamid (Munir's colleague) about the absence of her husband. Suciwati feels that there is something wrong with her husband's death.

Four days later, she received more news from other people, her husband had an autopsy and the results were in the government. She wanted to know the cause of her husband's death. He sought out this information, from the police to the Coordinating Ministry for Political and Security Affairs. But, nothing.

He also went to the Police Criminal Investigation Unit. Finally, some of his anxiety was answered there. The police said that based on the autopsy results, Munir died from arsenic poisoning. Suciwati's guess about the irregularities in her husband's death did not go wrong. As it turned out, her husband was murdered.

On December 6, 2004, Suciwati just got a copy of her husband's autopsy from Kabareskrim Komjen Suyitno Landung. Quoting Koran Tempo December 7, 2004, the copy that Suciwati obtained was written in Dutch, however, it has been legalized by the Indonesian police. The document is 20 pages long and is included in a blue folder.

Suciwati's lawyer, Iskandar Sonhaji, said the copy was the same as the original autopsy result from the Dutch government to Indonesia. Based on the verbal report disclosed in a copy of the autopsy document received by Munir's family, it is possible that Munir experienced something uncomfortable while on the plane during his journey to the Netherlands (vomiting and diarrhea) and then died.

The report from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (KontraS) explained that the results of the initial autopsy which took place since September 7, 2004, concluded that Munir died naturally. This examination was then continued by the Netherland Forensic Institute (NFI). The results of further examination on October 1, 2004, showed that Munir's blood contained substances such as arsenic, paracetamol, metoclopramide, dizapam, and mefanic acid.

Meanwhile, there was no alcohol in the urine and blood. There were also no indications of an allergic reaction when he was about to die. The concentration of arsenic in the blood is quite high. In the stomach there is a fairly fatal dose of arsenic.

"Mr. Munir's death can be explained due to arsenic poisoning," the KontraS report said.

Meanwhile, quoting detik.com with the news entitled ' Chronology of Munir's Death aboard the Garuda GA-974 Airplane' , the story of Munir's death was told.

Munir was traveling from Jakarta to the Netherlands. He boarded the Garuda GA-794 plane. The plane he was traveling on departed from Jakarta on September 6, 2004 at 21.55 WIB and had transit in Singapore the next day at around 00.40 local time.

Then, the journey continues back to Amsterdam at 01.50 local time. About three hours after the plane took off from Changi Airport, Singapore, Najib, a cabin crew supervisor, submitted a report to the pilot in command of Captain Pantun Matondang that there was a sick passenger in seat number 40G named Munir. He looks back and forth to the toilet.

Furthermore, Matondang ordered Najib to immediately ask for help from the passenger who is a doctor, who sits in seat number 1 J to help Munir. Munir was moved to sit close to the doctor. At that time Munir was calm and rested.

In about two hours the plane landed at Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, Najib and the doctor saw Munir's condition. However, it turned out that Munir had already passed away. Munir died at 06.10 Tuesday, December 7, 2004 local time.

Suciwati asked the president for help in exposing Munir's death. Reported by a CNNIndonesia.com article entitled ' Munir, Suciwati, and the Endless Playback Comedy ', Suciwati went to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to ask for help. The meeting resulted in the president's decision to form Munir's fact-finding team (TPF).

A month from the TPF's work, Suciwati received a report that there were facts that indicated the common thread of the murder and abuse of the authority of the State Intelligence Agency (BIN), several BIN officials were mentioned, including the then head Hendropriyono. The results of the TPF were submitted to the President SBY on 24 June 2005 and after that the TPF was dissolved.

Meanwhile, from the Munir murder trial, only one person was found guilty, namely the Garuda Indonesia pilot, Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison. After receiving several remissions, Pollycarpus was declared parole in November 2014.

At that time, Muchdi Prawiro Pranjono, Deputy V of BIN, was once named a suspect in this case. However, the court later cleared him of all charges.

The case then hangs. After changing the president from SBY to Joko Widodo, Suciwati asked about the murder of her husband again. However, the Palace thinks this case is over.

Suciwati then filed a case with the Central Information Commission (KIP), demanding that the documents resulting from the TPF's investigation be published.

Through decision letter Number 025 / IV / KIP-PS-A / 2016 dated October 10, 2016, KIP stated that the TPF Munir document that was submitted to the President of the Republic of Indonesia in 2005 was public information and had to be announced to the public.

However, the Ministry of State Secretary does not hold the TPF document. Until now, the TPF document is still unknown.