Rights award to be named after Munir

Rights award to be named after Munir

Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Relatives and close friends of the late rights campaigner Munir
have established a new award called the Munir Courage Award, and
will present it beginning next year to exemplary human rights
activists.

Speaking after the presentation of the 2004 Yap Thiam Hien
Award on Friday, lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis said the award was
named after Munir as a form of recognition of his outstanding
work with regard to human rights issues.

"One of Munir's prominent traits, which we all appreciate, was
his courage in criticizing the government on human rights
violations and in advocating for those who were abused and
mistreated," said Todung, who is also the chairman of the Human
Rights Study Center.

The award will be presented to activists who are under 30
years of age and whose lives are dedicated to human rights
protection.

The committee will also look at how their work was able to
influence and transform society toward greater freedom of speech
and a better understanding of human rights.

"We have yet to decide, though, whether the annual award will
be presented on Dec. 10, which is Human Rights Day or on Dec. 9,
which is Munir's birthday," said Rachland Nashidik, the director
of local rights monitor, Imparsial.

Munir's widow, Suciwati, said that the end of the struggle in
defending human rights was not when an award was presented, but
when freedom from abuse and violations was finally achieved.

"Some people may not see the purpose of what we're fighting
for now, but I truly believe that they will see it one day. This
is all for our children, who will live in a civilization where
human rights are respected," she said.

Munir died in September aboard a Garuda Indonesia flight from
Jakarta to Amsterdam, where he was set to do a master's degree in
human rights at Utrecht University.

An autopsy by Dutch authorities discovered three times the
fatal level of arsenic in his body, raising suspicions that he
was assassinated.

Police have questioned dozens of people, but have not yet
named any suspects.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had initially agreed to set
up an independent team to investigate Munir's death, but later
reneged, saying that there was no urgency in establishing such a
team.

Munir rose to prominence in 1998, when he publicly spoke out
about the abductions of activists by the powerful Indonesian
Military (TNI).

The activist, who founded both Imparsial and the Commission of
Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), has been known
as a staunch critic of the military, which, in many cases, has
been accused of orchestrating violent acts throughout the
country.