ABC AUSTRALIA, 27/02/2007 3:04:31 PM
INDONESIA: Munir widow says military abuses still common
The widow of a murdered human rights campaigner says abuses by the military in
Indonesia are still common. Suciwati is the former wife of well-known democracy
activist Munir Thalib whose murder in 2004 remains unsolved.
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Presenter/Interviewer: Karon Snowdon
Speakers: Suciwati, widow of murdered Indonesian human rights campaigner Munir
Thalib
SNOWDO! N: Munir's murder on an international Garuda flight in 2004 shocked
Indonesians and led President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to commission a special
fact finding team to investigate.
Despite promising to prosecute the case fully and transparently, the President has
not released the report.
That promise was made directly to Munir's widow Suciwati:
SNOWDON: What do you think of that promise now?
SUCIWATI: I see he's being half-hearted in this promise. He can set up a fact-finding
team but then he didn't announce a result. We asked him to setup a further
investigative team and he hasn't done that. So I see him as a half promise.
SNOWDON: So you're very disappointed?
SUICIWATI: Yes I am very disappointed. I've lost not just my husband but the fair
sense of justice.
SNOWDON: The only person charged over Munir's death had his 14 year prison
sentence quashed by the Supreme Court last year, and spent less than two years in
gaol for falsif! ying documents.
That person, former Garuda pilot Pollycarpus Priyanto was linked to the senior ranks
of Indonesia's Intelligence service or BIN, whose boss at the time of Munir's murder
was retired General Abdullah Hendropriyono.
His deputy, retired Major-General Muchdi couldn't explain numerous calls from
Pollycarpus to his private phone.
Hendropriyono had been a controversial appointment by former President Megawati
Sukarnoputri and also served as her campaign manager for the first democratic
Presidential run-off against SBY in 2004.
For the first time Suciwati reveals why she believes her husband's murder was linked
to such powerful figures.
She says because Munir had campaigned vigorously against military candidates
including SBY, Megawati supporters hatched a conspiracy to discredit the
Yudhoyono Presidential election campaign.
SUCIWATI: Munir was known as someone who campaigned against the military
involvement and the plan was th! at if he was killed then the civilian candidate would
win the election. So she got information that the military was behind this
assassination and it was happening at the time of her campaign. This would enable
Megawati to win the election.
SNOWDON: How do you substantiate your claim that this was a conspiracy to
ensure Megawati was successful in the election?
SUCIWATI: I'm not saying that Megawati was behind this, but I am saying that the
evidence seems to show that there was large involvement of the intelligence services,
and Hendropriyono was the campaign manager for Megawati, so that there seems to
be a motive, that's our analysis.
SNOWDON: Hendropriyono and Mucchdi refused to be questioned by the special
Fact Finding investigators.
Suciwati is calling on President Yudhoyono to release the fact-finding team's report.
She's opposed to the signing of a security cooperation treaty with Australia while in
her view Indonesia's military human rights ! record remains suspect.
SUCIWATI: No I think it should be re-examined because up till today there's been no
person who's violated human rights in a serious way been brought to justice. It's
important for Australia to consider whether Indonesia has really improved its human
rights record or not.
© 2007 Australian Broadcasting Corporation |
