Missing poet named the recipient of rights award

Missing poet named the recipient of rights award

Debbie A. Lubis, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Wiji Thukul, a critical poet who has been missing for almost five
years and was declared as a person "forced to disappear" by the
Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras)
two and a half years ago, has been named as the recipient of the
Yap Thiam Hien Award -- a human rights award -- for 2002.

The adjudicators of the award, comprising noted legal experts,
educators, human rights activists, and sociologists, said on
Tuesday that the award was given to Wiji not because he had been
missing since February 1998, when demands for reforms and regime
change nearly reached their peak in May 1998, but because of his
struggle to defend human rights in the country.

"Even if he was not missing, he deserved to be awarded," said
Asmara Nababan, one of the voters.

Asmara, who is also former secretary general of the National
Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), added that the award
should be a strong reminder to Indonesians that these
disappearances were still rampant in the country.

"The award also reminds us that we still owe the family,
friends, and loved ones of those who have been taken by force in
this country. And the state, especially the government, bears the
greatest responsibility," Asmara said in a media briefing.

Born in a poor family in Solo, Central Java, Wiji Thukul,
whose real name is Wiji Widodo, was put in jail several times
during Soeharto's authoritarian regime.

Beaten with the butt of a rifle during a labor rally left him
with only the use of his right eye.

Wiji recited his poems to poor people, laborers in urban areas
and plantations, as well as farmers, villagers, and university
students.

"He never recited any conventions, standards, or other
instruments on the promotion of human rights. Instead, he taught
marginalized people to fight for their rights that have been
robbed by a tyrannical regime through his simple, understandable,
and crystal-clear poems," the adjudicators said in a statement.

Wiji had to move from one town to another as the military
pursued him over an absurd accusation that he was a perpetrator
in the July 27, 1996 incident, when a government-backed party
faction forcefully took over the headquarters of the Indonesian
Democratic Party (PDI) that was still occupied by loyal
supporters of Megawati Soekarnoputri.

The last time he contacted his wife and two children was in
February 1998, when he promised with trembling voice he would
come home to celebrate Idul Fitri that year. He never showed up.

"Wiji is a humble man who is able to express the norms and
commitment to human rights. It would not surprise me if he had
become a professor or a legal expert but this freedom of
expression comes from being the son of a pedicab driver who
dropped out of senior high school. We need lots more people like
him who are aware of their rights," Azyumardi Azra told the Post.

Wiji attended many rallies and strikes for laborers and
farmers' welfare across Java. He received the Weirthem Encourage
Award in 1991.

Wiji's modesty was expressed in his interview with a
literary magazine in 1994. He said: "I don't want to be
recognized as a hero because of my efforts to fight for the
rights of the poor. Really, I just speak for myself. Look at me,
I am only a carpenter, my wife is a seamstress, my father is a
pedicab driver, my father-in-law sells second-hand goods, and I'm
surrounded by poor people."

Noted lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis said the Yap Thiam Hien award
has been given to human rights defenders every year since 1992.

"It is for the people who are not only are involved in
demonstrations, strikes, or court battles but also those from the
world of intellectual pursuits, that make efforts for the
betterment of human rights conditions in this country," he said.

Before he disappeared, before Soeharto was deposed, Wiji
penned this poem.
As cruel as Nero,
As fascistic as Hitler,
So sly, so deceitful,
He toys with Democracy,
Human rights are interpreted as he wishes,
Swallow our gold our forest our lives,
How many more buckets of blood will you drink?