Cover up

I have already linked to the background story of the death on September 7^th from arsenic poisoning of noted human rights worker, Munir, on flight GA-974 to Amsterdam where he was to take up a scholarship for an MA in Human Rights.

Developments this weekend give rise to further concern.

1. The Dutch government took over two months to complete the official autopsy report, which was handed over to the Indonesian government by the Dutch Embassy here last Thursday.

2. Munir's family, and, in particular, his widow Suciwati, have been denied access to the report. On Friday, Usman Hamid, coordinator of Kontras, the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence, was quoted as saying that Dutch authorities had told him they could only give more details if requested by the Indonesian government.

3. Suciwati, received a death threat mailed to her house in Bekasi, West Java. A brown box filled with a severed chicken head, legs and intestines came with a typed message saying 'Do not connect the TNI (Indonesian Armed Forces) to Munir's death. Want to end up like this?'

4. Jakartass sources, returning to Jakarta from their kampungs following the Idul Fitri holiday, whisper confirmation of TNI involvement.

Note: Family and kampung connections are the strongest ties here in Indonesia. As much as Jakartass detests gossip, the gossip grapevine was the underlying force of opposition during the Suharto years and was a powerful factor in his downfall. It is, of course, possible that the TNI was not involved and that other malignant forces are at work.

Jakartass supports reformasi. This must include the inalienable rights of individuals to speak out against perceived injustice, whether perpetrated by individuals or organisations.

Why, therefore, is the Indonesian government sitting on the report into Munir's assassination? A continued cover-up will only breed further gossip which, in turn, could well lose SBY the trust of the electorate.

Hivos (Humanist Institute for Cooperation with Developing Countries) in The Hague, Netherlands, has issued a statement describing this issue as a test case for SBY. This is true. He was elected because the people perceived him to be the only presidential candidate able to meet their aspirations. Given his troubled relationship with the legislature with its entrenched Suharto-ist forces, he must now demonstrate supreme statesmanship.

Jakartass does not have any connections in the Presidential Palace so we await developments with keen interest.

 

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¶ 1:30 pm