Megawati backs worker death probe

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