Munir's case at the UNHCR<\/p>\n
Aboeprijadi Santoso, Amsterdam<\/p>\n
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's remark that the case of
\nMunir would hopefully \"change history\" may be a significant
\ndevelopment. But what did the President precisely mean? And what
\nhistory was he referring to?<\/p>\n
It was an unusual event on an unusual sunny spring day in The
\nHague last week, when a number of Indonesian human rights
\nactivists, all in dark clothing, entered the Dutch parliament.
\nAfter a one-hour meeting, they left the building with happier
\nfaces. Munir's widow, Suciwati, Poengky Indarti from Imparsial
\n(the human rights body founded by Munir), and the coordinator of
\nthe Human Rights Working Group Raffendy Djamin, accompanied by
\nlocal activists, apparently had a good discussion with members of
\nthe Dutch parliament.<\/p>\n
Suciwati was a symbol of both victim and fighter as she,
\ndressed in black with a small photograph of her late husband on
\nher chest and armed with networks of support, appeared with
\nconfidence. The name Munir is now well known by the Netherlands'
\npublic, and the story of his murder has been covered widely, so
\nSuci's appearance there caught the public's attention.<\/p>\n
Earlier, Suciwati and the group met with and gained the
\nsupport of the Indonesian envoy in The Hague, Mohammad Yusuf.
\nThey concluded their lobbying at the United Nations Human Rights
\nCommission in Geneva, where she received warm support for her
\nefforts to press the international community to closely monitor
\nthe investigation into Munir's murder. She was not only seeking
\nthe truth concerning her late husband, but also pleaded for the
\nsecurity of human rights defenders generally. \"Munir should be
\nthe last; no more political killings,\" said Suci.<\/p>\n
That message was well received in Brussels. To her great
\nsatisfaction, European Union officials and parliamentarians
\npromised to pay serious attention to the Munir case. They will
\nclosely observe, as one official put it, \"whether within three
\nmonths, more will be disclosed other than just the perpetrators.\"<\/p>\n
Back in the late-1970s the international solidarity movement
\non Indonesia in Europe started with the campaign by Amnesty
\nInternational and Tapol, a London-based human rights body led by
\nthe ex-political prisoner Carmel Budiardjo and a small number of
\nIndonesian expatriates in Paris and Amsterdam. In Geneva,
\nBrussels and other capitals, they focused on East Timor, but also
\nraised the cases of left-wing and Islamist political prisoners.
\nThroughout those decades, however, few Indonesian activists were
\ninvolved.<\/p>\n
Oddly -- possibly because of fear, past traumas, or misguided
\nnationalism -- none of the hundreds of left-wing expatriates
\nliving in Europe since the 1970s ever raised their cases in
\ninternational forums. It was only after President Abdurrachman
\nWahid called them patriot klayaban (wandering patriots) and asked
\nthem to come home that they belatedly brought Indonesia's
\nmassacres of 1965 and their own civil rights cases to Geneva. Too
\nlittle, too late, for such important matters.<\/p>\n
By contrast, a new generation of Indonesian home-based
\nactivists has now taken the lead in the international human
\nrights campaign since the mid-1990s.<\/p>\n
However, Suci's mission is still about one single individual
\n-- however prominent the late Munir may be -- and about groups of
\nhuman rights defenders -- however important their contribution
\nmay be. Unfortunately, the case of Munir is far from being
\nunique.<\/p>\n
There are grave suspicions of similar poisonings; an honest
\nminister (Baharuddin Lopa), a brave general (Agus
\nWirahadikusumah), and certain judges. And there are also the
\nalmost forgotten brutal killings, such as of labor activist
\nMarsinah (1993) and Acehnese human rights lawyer Jaffar Sidiq
\nHamzah (2001).<\/p>\n
Mystery also surrounds the killings of Papuan activists Arnold
\nAp (1984) and Theys H. Eluay (2001). An attempt to \"softly\" kill
\nex-Falintil commander Paulino \"Mauk Mouruk\" Gama at a Jakarta
\nmilitary hospital in 1994 failed, thanks to a brave nurse.<\/p>\n
In addition to Wiji Thukul, a critical activist poet, there
\nremains the cases of activists who were \"disappeared\" in 1998;
\ncases that brought Munir into prominence.<\/p>\n
The list is far from exhaustive, but such are the practices of
\na police state in protecting their own interests. The
\nassassination of Munir by poisoning is just a continuation of
\nthese past practices, where units of the state took action
\nagainst critical activists back in the Soeharto days. Unlike
\norganized rebels and their supporters in conflict regions,
\nindividual activists seemed to have been carefully selected and
\ntargeted for intimidation, disappearance and\/or murder.<\/p>\n
If it is this legacy of murderous mystery that President
\nSusilo wishes to change, them his statement should be welcomed.
\nIt remains to be seen, however, whether he will be able to make a
\nbreakthrough in the investigations into the Munir case.<\/p>\n
The writer is a journalist with Radio Netherlands, Amsterdam.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/munirs-case-at-the-unhcr-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }