The Munir Case Deadlock

December 22, 2025 | 10:11 am

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Efforts by Komnas HAM to reopen the Munir murder case have led to intervention by the House of Representatives. There is no good faith.

WAITING for President Prabowo Subianto to complete the investigation into the murder of human rights activist Munir Said Thalib is like waiting for a river to stop flowing. The lack of commitment from the state, the overwhelming dominance of the military in the government, and a political landscape that does not favor human rights mean that the mastermind behind the crime remains beyond the reach of the law.

After many unsuccessful efforts, the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has begun once again to investigate Munir’s murder by questioning Muchdi Purwopranjono. Komnas HAM Chair Anis Hidayah has set a target for declaring the murder of Munir to be a gross violation of human rights at the end of December 2025.

At the time of Munir’s death, Muchdi was Deputy V of the State Intelligence Agency (BIN), and was a central figure in the uncovering of the organized operation to eliminate Munir on September 7, 2004. Munir died in the skies above Romania on a Garuda airplane flying from Jakarta to Amsterdam via Singapore with flight number GA-974. Arsenic was added to the drink Munir consumed at a fast-food restaurant while he was transiting in Singapore.

The fact-finding team established in 2005 to look into Munir’s death found records of communications between Muchdi and Garuda Indonesia co-pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, who was subsequently jailed for 14 years for the murder. In the days immediately before Munir’s death, there were at least 41 contacts between Pollycarpus and a phone belonging to Muchdi and a number belonging to the BIN office.

But as has happened so many times before, Komnas HAM has come up against obstacles. A number of members of Commission XIII at the House of Representatives (DPR), which deals with human rights issues, are maneuvering to intervene in Komnas HAM. The message they are sending: the investigation into Munir’s death will not be continued.

It is not difficult to find the reasons behind the intervention from Senayan. One frequently mentioned is DPR Deputy Speaker Sufmi Dasco Ahmad, who is also Executive Chair of the Gerindra Party. Dasco has long been close to Muchdi.

As well as the DPR, efforts to forestall the Munir case investigation have been quietly circulating within Komnas HAM itself. In a number of meetings held by the team, there have been endeavors to redirect the results of the questioning of witnesses. And Komnas HAM commissioners are divided on the issue of whether the death of Munir should be declared a gross human rights violation.

The road is full of twists and turns, and almost at a dead end in uncovering the facts behind Munir’s death because there is no desire on the part of the government to solve this case. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Joko Widodo were only able to promise that the crime would be uncovered, but failed to follow through. And what is more, the disappearance of documents resulting from the investigation by the Munir Fact-finding Team during the Jokowi era showed the powerlessness of the Palace.

In the era of President Prabowo, matters have gotten worse. Prabowo has never expressed a commitment to solve the Munir case—something both Yudhoyono and Jokowi did. Prabowo’s track record of past human rights violations means that it is difficult to hope for a resolution of the Munir case.

And now the military has a dominant role in the Prabowo administration. As well as the numerous links between Muchdi and a number of Indonesian Military (TNI) generals involved in the Munir case, the esprit de corps within the TNI will be a major stumbling block in completely unraveling this premeditated killing.

With this gloomy state of affairs, Komnas HAM will have to tread carefully. They should not hastily declare Munir’s murder a gross human rights violation without adequate findings. As well as being easily refuted by prosecutors or judges, a lack of strong evidence could serve a means of disproving all allegations of a high-level conspiracy in the killing of Munir.

While looking for new findings, Komnas HAM must continue to remind the people that there was a planned murder of a human rights activist. The state has a responsibility to ensure that this humanitarian crime ends with the perpetrators being jailed. This nation owes a huge debt to Suciwati, Diva, and Soeltan, Munir’s wife and children.

Read the Complete Story in Tempo English Magazine

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