Dede Leni Mardianti, Jakarta – Anis Hidayah, the chair of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), said she's prepared to step down if the agency fails to resolve the assassination of human rights activist Munir Said Thalib by December 8, 2025.
The statement was made in front of protesters demanding that the Munir case be declared a gross human rights violation.
"Me, of course, I'm willing to step down, if we fail to meet the deadline," she conceded, when pressed by the demonstrators in front of the Komnas HAM office in Jakarta on Monday, September 8, 2025.
Anis was accompanied by two other Komnas HAM commissioners: the Monitoring and Investigation Commissioner of Komnas HAM, Saurlin P Siagian, and Prabianto Mukti Wibowo, Deputy Chair of Internal Affairs and Complaints Commissioner of Komnas HAM.
The protesters, who were members of the Committee for Solidarity Action for Munir (Komite Aksi Solidaritas untuk Munir, KASUM), set the December 8 deadline, which coincided with Munir's birth date. They also requested that the agency commissioners resign if they failed to meet the deadline.
Of the three leaders of Komnas HAM present, only Anis Hidayah agreed to the demand. Meanwhile, Prabianto affirmed that the commitment to resolve the case is of the utmost importance.
"It's not about resigning, but about our commitment to resolve this case together," he said, while Saurlin P Siagian did not make any statement.
Munir was assassinated on his flight to Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on September 7, 2004, while over Romanian airspace. The human rights activist was poisoned with an arsenic compound dissolved in orange juice by Garuda Indonesia pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto. But the mastermind behind his murder has yet to be unveiled.
Komnas HAM chair Anis Hidayah outlined at least five things that had been done by the ad hoc team. First, Komnas HAM had gathered documentary evidence from various institutions. Second, the team had probed witnesses. "Up to now, 18 witnesses have been examined," Anis said in a written statement on Sunday, September 7, 2025.
Third, the ad hoc team had coordinated with several authorities for the purpose of the investigation. Fourth, the investigative team had reviewed the minutes of testimony to compile findings and other guidelines.
Fifth, the investigative team had compiled the progress of the investigation into a report. As a follow-up to the investigation process, the team confirmed that they would continue the investigation stages. "Our current difficulty is that some people we have summoned have refused to come," she said.