Megawati backs worker death probe

JAKARTA: President Megawati Soekarnoputri gave the go-ahead on Thursday to efforts to reopen investigations into the killing of woman worker Marsinah in 1993.

Chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights Djoko Sugianto told reporters after a meeting with Megawati that the murder-rape case had always been discussed at the International Labor Organization's annual conference.

"We conveyed the issue to the President and she responded positively," Djoko said.

He said the commission had planned to renew the investigation on the grounds that the case had not been resolved properly after almost a decade.

He dismissed speculation over pressure from certain parties, saying that the plan was purely aimed at upholding human rights principles.

Marsinah was murdered after leading a strike at PT Catur Putra Surya, a watch-making factory in Sidoarjo, East Java. All eight defendants in the case were exonerated either because they were found not guilty or because the prosecution had been misdirected from the beginning.

The fall of the New Order regime led the National Police to reopen the investigation into the murder, but with no clear outcome. -- JP