THREE YEARS AFTER THE MURDER OF MUNIR,
JUSTICE REMAINS ELUSIVE...
"
You are a liar! You are the one
who killed my husband!"
These were the
words of Suciwati to State Intelligence Agency officer, Deputi V BIN,
Mayjen (Purn.) Muchdi Purwopranjono after the
November 17,
2005 hearing on the case of Munir, Indonesia's staunch human rights
activist violently killed by arsenic poisoning in a Garuda flight from
Singapore to Amsterdam on
September 7,
2004.
September 7, 2007 - Three years have passed since the
shocking murder of Munir, Indonesia's staunch human rights defender and
former Chairperson of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary
Disappearances. Yet the passage of time and the deafening calls for
truth and justice from all nooks and crannies of the world miserably
failed to unearth skeletons inside the closet regarding the murder and
to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Ironic indeed it is that Indonesia, second to India, got 182
votes out of 192 member-states of the United Nations for a renewed
three-year term in the United Nations Human Rights Council, has not
sincerely manifested the political will by breaking its culture of
impunity through the resolution of this very brutal killing of Munir.
On the contrary, Garuda pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto was
acquitted and released in prison for lack of evidence. This shameless
display of impunity is all the more exacerbated by the impunity granted
to the authors of the crime, who, after three years, continue to roam
free.
Suciwati,
Munir's widow, is tirelessly struggling to leave no stone unturned in
ferreting out the truth and realizing justice for her husband. The
human rights community is in solidarity with her in this crusade.
Despite the intervention of the United Nations, the case remains one of
the countless cases of human rights violations that have never seen the
light of justice.
The latest piece of evidence on the involvement of the State
Intelligence Agency is the telephone conversation between Pollycarpus
and former Garuda Indonesian President Indra Setiawan. Such conversation
has exposed Pollycarpus' attempt to calm Indra down when the latter
expressed fears over the progress of investigation.
Indra said he issued the letter after
receiving written instructions from Deputy Chairman of the State
Intelligence Agency ( BIN)
M. As'ad. He said a copy of the instructions was sent to the State
Ministry for State Enterprises.
Furthermore, he said that even though his copy had disappeared from his
car in a Jakarta parking lot in
December 2004, he was concerned that the ministry's copy could be
produced by people interested in implicating him. Pollycarpus replied by
telling Indra not to worry, saying all copies of the BIN order
had already disappeared. "Besides,
the people working in the ministry are all our people, " Pollycarpus
said. He added that Chief Justice Bagir Manan and the Supreme Court "are
all our people," as well as most state officials. " They are all
on our side," he said.
Such and many
other strong pieces of evidence are more than enough to identify the
real culprits.
On the occasion of Munir's third death
anniversary, the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances
which Munir chaired, reiterates its ever-repeated cry to the Indonesian
government to once and for all resolve this utter transgression of human
rights. The resolution of this case will be a major test of the
government's sincerity and political will. Needless to say,
Indonesia
still has to prove that it really deserves the honorable post of being
one of the 47 member-states in the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Moreover, on this occasion, AFAD salutes Munir for his
exemplary human rights work in Indonesia that earned for him the ire of
the powers-that be and consequently caused his untimely death. It
equally gives honor to Suciwati who, from the time of her husband's
murder, has been indefatigably fighting for the very cause that her
husband died for - truth, justice and memory.
Justice for Munir! Justice for All !
|
MUGIYANTO |
MARY AILEEN D.
BACALSO |
|
Chairperson
Asian
Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances |
Secretary-General
Asian Federation
Against Involuntary Disappearances
|
