US Congress Sends Letter to President
Monday, 20 November, 2006 | 14:34 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: The US Congress has sent a letter to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono with regard to the murder case of Munir, a human rights activist.

“The letter was sent on 3 November,” Coordinator of Kontras Usman Hamid told Tempo yesterday (11/19).

In the letter, signed by four members of the US Congress, they asked that the Indonesian government investigates Munir's murder.

In the two-page letter, they also pointed out that the President's promise that Munir case was one of the indicators of a more democratic Indonesia and that politics and power cannot interfere with the law.

In the letter's copy that Tempo has received, the four Congress members who signed the letter were Tom Lantos, Frank R. Wolf, Jim McDermott, and Mark Steven Kirk.

The letter was also cc-ed to the Indonesian Ambassador for US Sudjadnan Parnohadiningrat.
“This is evidence that the government cannot play games with the Munir case,” said Usman.

The letter was a follow-up to the US Congress' meeting with Suciwati, Munir's widow, and Usman Hamid.

Both of them visited America between 14 and 20 October in order to meet with the UN Human Rights Council and the US Congress.

However, presidential spokesperson on foreign affairs matters Dino Patti Djalal has acknowledged that he is yet to receive the letter up until today.

“We have not received it,” he said.

Upon the argument, Dino said he could not yet respond on the letter's content.

A similar opinion was voiced by spokesperson of the Department of Foreign Affairs Desra Percaya.

According to Desra, he has heard of the letter.

RINI KUSTIANI | TITIS S