Munir Said Thalib

Munir Said Thalib (id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munir_Said_Thalib)

Munir Said Thalib was born on December 8th, 1965 in Malang, East Java, Indonesia. This man was an Indonesian human rights activist who was assassinated 7 September 2004. Munir graduated from the Faculty of Law, Brawijaya University, Malang in 1990, with outstanding organizational experiences. He was the Chairman of the Students Senate and Secretary of the Law Student Representation Board, Faculty of Law in 1988, Region IV Area Coordinator Indonesian Law Student Association in 1989, a member of the Islamic Students Organization, and many more. His courage and dedication in fighting for human rights and for the civilian control of the military in Indonesia, since he was a law student, motivated him to work for the East Java Branch of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) after he graduated.

He became very popular at the end of the Soeharto (the previous president of Indonesia) period during his role in the campaign that followed when, in late 1997 and early 1998, two dozen pro-democracy activists were kidnapped. Munir became the chairperson of the human rights organization called Kontras (Commission for Disappearances and Victims of Violence).

Indonesian human rights activist (www.rightlivelihood.org)

He took on many human rights issues and cases. In September 1999, Munir became a member of the Commission to Investigate Human Rights Violations in East Timor (KPPHAM), which was set up by Indonesia's National Human Rights Commission. In 2003, although he was suffering from typhus, he, a group of senior activists, and pro-democracy activists came to the Indonesian People’s Representative Council after an attack and violence that happened in the Tempo magazine office. Munir had also been an active writer in many mass and electronic media related to human rights, law, reformation, military, police force, political transition, and employment concerns.

The husband of Suciwati, and the father of Soultan Alief Allende and Diva Suukyi Larasati, Munir and his family never gave up in spite of all of the threats against them. He 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. 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.

On September 7th, 2004, Munir departed from Jakarta, Indonesia to Amsterdam, The Netherlands, on an Indonesian Airplane Garuda. Two hours before landing in Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, Munir was found dead. The autopsy, undertaken by the Dutch Forensic Institute, discovered deadly levels of arsenic in his body. Everybody was confronted with the awful fact that Munir was the victim of an assassination. There’s still no detailed explanation of Munir's assassination.

Munir was lost forever, but his spirit and his hope to fight against violence has inspired many people to do so as well. Bunga Dibakar, a documentary film by Ratrikala Bhre Aditya, Garuda’s Deadly Upgrade, another documentary film, together with Dateline (SBS TV Australia) and Off Stream Productions, and also a few books about Munir were launched in 2005.