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Indonesian human rights pushed to the fore Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/af255fe2-4b18-11d9-a0ca-00000e2511c8.htmlhttp://news.ft.com/cms/s/af255fe2-4b18-11d9-a0ca-00000e2511c8.html
Indonesian human rights pushed to the fore
Financial Times, UK - Dec 10, 2004
By Shawn Donnan
Indonesian human rights activist Munir had plenty of powerful enemies. As
an outspoken critic of the former Suharto regime and institutions such as
the military, he had become so accustomed to death threats, friends say,
that he long ago stopped counting them.
But when the Dutch authorities revealed last month that his death aboard a
flight to Amsterdam on September 7 was the result of arsenic poisoning, it
brought back ugly memories of the political assassinations and kidnappings
of President Suharto's so-called "New Order".
The apparent murder of the activist (who, like many Indonesians went by one
name) also reflects the continuing, and often awkward, transition to
democracy in the world's largest Muslim nation.
In the six years since the end of President Suharto's 32-year rule
Indonesians have become used to the kind of pugnacious activism and rowdy
free press that democracy brings to the fore. Yet many of the institutions
and people who propped up the Suharto regime - or built fortunes on the
back of its rent-seeking culture - remain powerful.
"Overall, Indonesia is going more in the right direction than in the
wrong one," says Sidney Jones, a long-time Indonesia watcher who was
expelled by Jakarta earlier this year after her warts-and-all analysis of
the country for the International Crisis Group.
"But it's a huge mistake to think you can overcome 32 years of
authoritarianism in five or six years," she says. "There are a lot of
institutions and individuals within those institutions who are committed to
keeping the old order in place."
Indonesia police have begun investigation but who was responsible for
Munir's death remains a mystery.
Some of Munir's colleagues have blamed a "powerful institution" for his
death, thinly veiled code for the security forces. Much of the initial
investigation has also focused on an employee of Garuda, Indonesia's
national airline, with apparent links to the former commander of a
pro-Jakarta, military-supported militia involved in the 1999 violence in
East Timor.
But Munir was also reportedly investigating a high-profile corruption case,
so the military is not necessarily the logical suspect.
"They (the military) arrest and they frighten and they try to intimidate,"
says Ms Jones. "But there are very few examples of them actually killing
activists."
Rights activists nonetheless view Munir's apparent murder with foreboding.
"If even people as famous as Munir are being assassinated, what is going to
happen to those of us who work in conflict areas? We have no protection at
all," says Syarifah Murlina, a human rights lawyer in the western province
of Aceh, where Jakarta has been battling separatist rebels.
But if it has brought back memories of the Suharto years, Munir's death has
also highlighted the rising influence of activist groups since his fall.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a retired general who took office in
October promising to create a "more just" Indonesia, received Munir's widow
at the presidential palace and ordered an independent inquiry, although he
later backed away from this.
Munir's death has also drawn intense media interest. His face appeared on
the cover of the respected Tempo news weekly two weeks in a row and the
investigation has been a nightly fixture on news bulletins, prompting one
commentator to declare him "even more present in death than he was in life".
But the new-found activist power is not all positive - especially from the
perspective of those foreign companies that venture into what many see as a
hostile Indonesian investment climate.
A scrappy coalition of environmental activists, for example, has this year
accused Newmont, the world's largest gold producer, of causing health
problems among local villagers living byabay into which it dumps treated
waste, in accordance with its government licence.
Independent studies by the World Health Organisation and others have
exonerated Newmont of any wrongdoing at its Minahasa Raya mine in North
Sulawesi. The mine was shut, as scheduled, in August. But intense public
pressure has forced police to pursue cases against six Newmont managers -
including three expatriates - who now face up to 15 years in prison on
environmental charges.
Government ministers have made clear that the case has become a political
hot potato they would rather let the courts resolve.
Wayne Murdy, Newmont's CEO, admitted recently that his company had been
outplayed by local environmental groups, leaving it facing what could be a
protracted legal battle. That, he says was a "tremendous statement for
freedom" in Indonesia. But freedom also has its costs. "Our reputation has
been tarnished by this," he says. "And our reputation is very important."
Additional reporting by Taufan Hidayat
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