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Pessimism as 20 years pass without justice for Munir
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Demanding justice: Suciwati holds a mask of her late husband and human rights activist Munir Said Thalib as she participates in the Kamisan silent protest in front of Merdeka Palace in Jakarta on Sept. 6, 2018. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
C
ivil society groups are mourning two decades of injustice surrounding the 2004 murder of activist Munir Said Thalib, noting that much of the case remains shrouded in mystery and that the mastermind behind is likely still at large.
Munir, a vocal activist during Indonesia’s early Reform years and the founder of rights group the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), died of arsenic poisoning on Sept. 7, 2004, aboard a Garuda Indonesia flight from Jakarta to Amsterdam.
Although some people have served prison time in relation to the case, the circumstances surrounding Munir’s murder remain murky to this day.
In 2008, aviation security officer Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto was sentenced to 20 years in prison in relation to the case, before having the prison time reduced to 14 years by the Supreme Court. After remissions totaling 50 months, Priyanto was freed in 2018 and died of COVID-19 in 2020.
Saturday marked 20 years since his assassination. Indonesians in various cities commemorated Munir’s death by taking to the streets, visiting his grave and demanding that the government bring his murderers to justice. Social media users also caused the hashtags #SeptemberHitam (Black September) and #Muniradalahkita (We are Munir) to trend.
But the calls this year were more somber, as the government has done very little over the past two decades to bring Munir’s killers to justice, especially ahead of the incoming administration of president-elect Prabowo Subianto.
