MUNIR SAID THALIB

MUNIR SAID THALIB

Munir Said (December 8, 1965 Malang, East Java - September 7, 2004), affectionately known simply as Munir, was one of Indonesia's most famous human rights and anti-corruption activists. Munir was assassinated in 2004 while travelling to Utrecht University to pursue a master's degree in international law and human rights.

Munir was born into a family of Hadhrami Arab and Javanese origins, from Kathiri. He studied law at Brawijaya University in Malang in the province of East Java, and later started off his career in 1989 as a legal aid officer in the East Java provincial capital, Surabaya.

Munir first came to public prominence at the end of the Suharto period through his role in the campaign that ensued when, in late 1997 and early ’98, two dozen pro-democracy activists were abducted in suspicious circumstances. At the height of this campaign, Munir founded the human rights organisation Kontras (Commission for Disappearances and Victims of Violence) with the backing of 12 pro-democracy NGOs, including YLBHI. Initially the Co-ordinator of its Working Committee, Munir then chaired its Management Board. Kontras focuses on fighting political violence, encouraging respect for due process of law, ensuring victims’ physical and psychological recovery, and promoting reconciliation and peace.

He became one of Indonesia's leading human rights campaigners and faced intimidation, including death threats. He took on many human rights issues and cases.

In September 1999, Munir was appointed a member of the Commission to Investigate Human Rights Violations in East Timor (KPPHAM), set up by Indonesia’s National Human Rights Commission. Its investigations produced a wealth of evidence of the Indonesian army’s involvement in recruiting, financing, training and using the militia which caused such havoc at the time of the UN Referendum. Its report in early 2000 led to judicial investigations into the conduct of six senior army officers, including the former Chief of Staff, General Wiranto.

He accused the Indonesian military of human rights violations in East Timor and in the troubled provinces of Papua and Aceh, and accused them of running a criminal network involved in illegal tree logging and drug smuggling.

Munir also taught human rights in police and army training, seminars and workshops, and was appointed to a drafting committee for law on human rights courts, which was meant to be presented to the Indonesian Parliament during 2000.

In 2001, while he was investigating Kopassus's role in kidnappings, a bomb package was delivered to his house. (Kopassus is an Indonesian Army special forces group that conducts special operations missions for the Indonesian government, such as direct action, unconventional warfare, sabotage, counter-insurgency, counter-terrorism, intelligence gathering and special reconnaissance.

Munir was named Man of the Year by the leading Muslim periodical, UMMAT, and as a “young leader for the Millennium in Asia” by Asia Week in 2000. Kontras received the prestigious Yap Thiam Hien Human Rights Award in 1998. He also got The Right Livelihood Award (Alternative Nobel Prize) for the promotion of human rights and civilian control of the military, in Stockholm, December 2000, An Honorable Mention of the 2000 UNESCO Madanjeet Singh Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-Violence, in Paris, November 2000, and many more.

His last position was executive director of Indonesian Human Rights Monitor (IMPARSIAL), another Indonesian human rights NGO.

On September 7th 2004, Munir died on a flight from Indonesia to the Netherlands. The autopsy undertaken by the Dutch Forensic Institute discovered lethal levels of arsenic in his body. Munir was travelling to Utrecht University to pursue a doctorate in international law and human rights.

Since 2005, date of death of Munir, September 7, by human rights activists proclaimed the Indonesian Human Rights Defenders Day.

(https://peoplepill.com/people/munir-said-thalib; https://www.rightlivelihoodaward.org/laureates/munir/)