Human rights campaigner Munir Said Thalib and his wife, Suciwati, at the Jakarta airport shortly before he boarded the plane on which he died of poisoning. (Photo Credit: By Poengky Indarti)
Thursday, November 16, 2006
By Elizabeth Tomei
THE CAMBODIA DAILY
Suciwati's children were two and six years old when their father, Munir Said Thalib, died in September 2004 at the age of only 38.
The prominent Indonesian rights activist, en route to the Netherlands, was dead before the second leg of his flight from Jakarta touched down in Amsterdam. An autopsy revealed that Munir, a long-time thorn in the side of the Indonesian government had died from arsenic poisoning.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono created an independent team to investigate the death. But the full details of the investigation, which reportedly implicated senior Indonesian intelligence officials, have never been released.
On Wednesday, Suciwati was in Phnom Penh as one of 32 regional guests assembled at the Ministry of Women's Affairs as part of a five-day forum for rights workers from eight Southeast Asian nations including Burma, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines and East Timor.
During an interview, Suciwati, who goes by only one name, said finding the truth behind her husband's death has become her life's work.
"It is something that I have to do. Munir died in seeking the truth—it would be impossible for me to do otherwise," she said.
During a brief speech, she highlighted impunity and corruption among high-ranking officials as forces hobbling social justice in Indonesia.
"Our experiences [with human rights abuses] are similar," Kek Galabru, founder of local rights group Licadho, said of the assembled activists.
Organized by Forum Asia, Licadho and local rights group Adhoc, the event is intended to strengthen "cooperation, support, networking and information-sharing" among the regional activists, Kek Galabru added.
Forums for South Asian and Northeast Asian nations were held in Nepal in June and Mongolia in August.
In addition to giving presentations about the state of human rights in their home countries, participants are taking field visits to relocation and eviction sites around Phnom Penh and meeting with local unionists.
Around 50 Cambodian activists, who hail from Phnom Penh and at least eight provinces, are participating in the event which began Tuesday and concludes Saturday.
The prominent Indonesian rights activist, en route to the Netherlands, was dead before the second leg of his flight from Jakarta touched down in Amsterdam. An autopsy revealed that Munir, a long-time thorn in the side of the Indonesian government had died from arsenic poisoning.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono created an independent team to investigate the death. But the full details of the investigation, which reportedly implicated senior Indonesian intelligence officials, have never been released.
On Wednesday, Suciwati was in Phnom Penh as one of 32 regional guests assembled at the Ministry of Women's Affairs as part of a five-day forum for rights workers from eight Southeast Asian nations including Burma, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines and East Timor.
During an interview, Suciwati, who goes by only one name, said finding the truth behind her husband's death has become her life's work.
"It is something that I have to do. Munir died in seeking the truth—it would be impossible for me to do otherwise," she said.
During a brief speech, she highlighted impunity and corruption among high-ranking officials as forces hobbling social justice in Indonesia.
"Our experiences [with human rights abuses] are similar," Kek Galabru, founder of local rights group Licadho, said of the assembled activists.
Organized by Forum Asia, Licadho and local rights group Adhoc, the event is intended to strengthen "cooperation, support, networking and information-sharing" among the regional activists, Kek Galabru added.
Forums for South Asian and Northeast Asian nations were held in Nepal in June and Mongolia in August.
In addition to giving presentations about the state of human rights in their home countries, participants are taking field visits to relocation and eviction sites around Phnom Penh and meeting with local unionists.
Around 50 Cambodian activists, who hail from Phnom Penh and at least eight provinces, are participating in the event which began Tuesday and concludes Saturday.
1 comment:
HUn sen will be assassinated by his bodyguard. That bodyguard will be considered as a hero in Cambodia...
It is coming soon...
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