T

he family members of the three Indonesian migrant workers from Lombok who were shot dead in Malaysia have again demanded that the Indonesian government to investigate why the men were killed.

The relatives said on Monday they were not satisfied with the post-mortem examinations recently conducted by local officials in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB).

Representatives of the workers — M. Maksum, the father of the first victim, Herman; Tohri, the elder brother of the second victim, Abdul Kadir Jaelani; and Nurmawi, the elder brother of the third victim, Mad Noor — appointed on Monday a legal advocacy team to process their complaint.

Members of the team comprise legal practitioners, academics and NGO activists in NTB.

“We want the Indonesian government to press their Malaysian counterparts to clarify the causes of the death of our sons. Why were they shot dead? We are not convinced they were involved in robberies. In their past they were never even involved in petty thefts, let alone in deadly robberies,” Maksum said.

According to Maksum, the robbery allegations that led to their relatives deaths in Malaysia had caused losses to their families. Moreover, he said, the allegations were made only by the Malaysian government, without any additional clarification or explanation from the Indonesian government.

“If our sons did commit the robberies then what kind of goods did they rob? As the accusations are not clear, why were our sons shot dead? We demand justice,” Maksum said.

Families of the dead men alleged that their organs had been harvested, as there were many sutures on their bodies, such as on their eyelids, chests and stomachs.

To investigate allegations of organ harvesting and to address national concerns on the possibility of foul play, the National Police conducted their own post-mortem examinations of the bodies in Mataram on Thursday and Friday.

Contrary to speculation, the Foreign Ministry announced on Friday that the internal organs of the dead men were all intact.

“The police forensics team found no evidence that would support organ trafficking,” Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said on Monday during a press conference in Jakarta.

However, Maksum and others of Herman’s relatives continued to question the results of the autopsy on Herman as announced by Marty.

Maksum said he based his assessment on his visual observation that Herman’s eyeballs were missing during the second autopsy performed in Mataram.

Meanwhile, Widodo Dwi Putro, the coordinator of the families’ advocacy team, expressed his concern over Marty’s announcement, which he described as premature.

The announcement was made only several hours after the second autopsy was complete and without taking into consideration the position of the family members who demanded the second autopsy.

“At a time when the families knew the results, the foreign minister announced it to the public. We want the ministry to reconfirm the results of the examinations with the families,” Widodo said.

Widodo further said that besides asking for a transparent and open explanation on the results of the post-mortem examination, the team would also investigate the real causes behind the men’s deaths.

The team would also seek to determine if the robbery allegations lodged against the men were correct or if there were any human rights violations in the case.

The Indonesian government, Widodo said, should demand a chronology of the men’s deaths from the Malaysian government.

“If the Indonesian government fails to take a stance, we will report this to the Migrant Workers’ Protection Committee of the United Nations,” he said, adding that the team would also report the case to relevant parties in Jakarta, such as the National Commission on Human Rights, the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry and the Foreign Ministry.