The Incriminating Memo

THE Indonesian 'red and white' national flag fluttered at the top of the flagpole. The white-painted steel pole stood in the yard of an old, worn building, on a quiet Wednesday morning in the third week of last September. This faded building is located not far from the town square of Bantul regency. This is where the local government once held a meeting to discuss news reports written by Bernas reporter Fuad Muhammad Syafruddin or Udin, before he was murdered.

This meeting took place on August 5, 1996. Udin was beaten up badly on the night of August 13 and died three days later. The building used to be the office of the law section of the Bantul regency government. The law office has since moved to the office of the regent. "We occupied that building because the regent's office was being renovated," said Siti Asfijah, the former chief of the law section on 7 September. Siti Asfijah is retired and has opened a daily wares shop next to her house.