U.S. group awards Munir<\/p>\n
Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Murdered Indonesian human rights campaigner Munir Said Thalib and
\nMyanmar pro-democracy advocate Min Ko Naing were on Monday named
\n2005 \"Civil Courage Prize\" winners.<\/p>\n
The prize will be posthumously awarded to Munir during a
\nceremony at The Harold Pratt House in New York city on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
But Munir's widow, Suciwati, said on Monday she would not
\nattend the award presentation in a protest against the legal
\nsystem in the country, which she said had failed to bring the
\nperpetrators of Munir's murder to justice.<\/p>\n
\"Our friend from the Human Rights First in New York will
\nreceive the award on our behalf,\" she told The Jakarta Post.
\n\"It's an honor to win an international award, but that does
\nlittle for our efforts to promote justice.\"<\/p>\n
The award is presented annually by the New York-based
\nNorthcote Parkinson Fund, a private foundation that supports
\neconomic and political liberalism and honors \"steadfast
\nresistance to evil at a great personal risk.\"<\/p>\n
The fund describes Munir as Indonesia's leading human rights
\nactivist. It said Munir exposed \"disappearances,\" corruption, and
\nother abuses until his murder by arsenic poisoning in September
\nlast year. The activist died en route to Amsterdam to take up a
\nscholarship to study international law at Utrecht University.<\/p>\n
An off-duty Garuda Indonesia pilot who was aboard the aircraft
\nthat took Munir to Amsterdam on the day he was found dead is now
\nstanding trial for conspiring to kill him.<\/p>\n
A government-sanctioned fact finding team, however, discovered
\nindications of the involvement of state intelligence officers, an
\nallegation that prosecutors have failed to zero in on.<\/p>\n
Director of human rights watch Imparsial Usman Hamid said the
\naward proved international recognition of Munir. \"But the award
\nmay not be enough for Suci, Alif and Diva,\" Usman said of Munir's
\nwife and their two children. \"For them it's more important to see
\nthe case being handled accordingly and the killers brought to
\njustice.\"<\/p>\n
Usman said Munir had planned to return international awards he
\nhad won, including the Rights Livelihood Award from Sweden (2000)
\nand the UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize (2002), because nothing
\nchanged afterward to the human rights protection in the country.<\/p>\n
\"Victims of rights abuse remain unable to find justice,\" Usman
\nsaid, quoting Munir.<\/p>\n
Munir had formed a group to investigate the disappearance of
\nactivists at the hands of security forces and went on to become a
\nsearing critic of the Indonesian Military, in particular of
\nabuses in the regions of East Timor, Aceh and Papua.<\/p>\n
Min Ko Naing, a leader of the 1988 non-violent popular
\nuprising against Myanmar's military dictatorship, was described
\nby the fund in its website as \"an indomitable campaigner for
\ndemocracy\" in the Southeast Asian nation.<\/p>\n
He endured \"15 years of imprisonment, suffering torture and
\nsolitary confinement,\" the fund said in a statement ahead of the
\naward ceremony.<\/p>\n
Min Ko Naing has been described as second in importance only
\nto Nobel Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi, the democracy icon
\ncurrently under house arrest.<\/p>\n
He was released from prison in November last year but is under
\ngovernment surveillance and unable to leave Yangon. He has
\ndeclined his portion of the prize money of US$25,000, to be
\ndonated to a non-profit organization.<\/p>\n
Another Prize winner is Anna Politkovskaya, a Russian
\njournalist who had exposed the atrocities of war in Chechnya in
\nthe face of death threats, intimidation, and poisoning, according
\nto the fund.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/us-group-awards-munir-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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