Munir & Muchdi PR

Ross on BIN chief Muchdi's questioning by police over the murder of activist Munir.

The former deputy head of the country's spy service, BIN, has been taken into custody, apparently voluntarily, in connection with the murder of the rights activist Munir. He is presumably meant to be the brains behind Pollycarpus, the rather dim-looking Garuda pilot who is already behind bars for the homicide.
Muchdi, left.
Major-General Muchdi Purwopranjono's arrest is …

Comment by Ross: … be a discussion on Munir’s murder and who did it. Within …

Munir Case

Munir was murdered to protect President Yudhoyono.

The human rights activist Munir Said Thalib was poisoned to death while travelling on a Garuda flight from Jakarta to Amsterdam in September 2004. An off-duty co-pilot for Garuda, Pollycarpus Priyanto, was convicted of the murder but his conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court in October 2006, eventually prompting prosecutors to …

Comment by Theo Dorrius: … in the glass of Munir or did he or others in the …

From Munir to Somchai Neelaphaijit

… Pratoomraj discusses the similarities in the cases of the murders of two human rights activists, Munir Said Thalib in Indonesia and Somchai Neelaphaijit in Thailand.

From Munir to Somchai Neelaphaijit of Thailand:
8 important similarities in the results of 2 Human Rights Defender cases.

It seems that 2004 was a tragic year for human rights defenders in both Indonesia and Thailand. In Thailand, a Muslim lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit disappeared on March 12. An eye witness says …

Kidnapping Cases

Investigations into kidnapped and murdered activists of 1997/98, questioning of former generals like president Yudhoyono.

The parliamentary commission (Pansus Orang Hilang) into the disappearances and presumed murders of nine student and other activists opposed to the Suharto presidency in 1997/98 is expected to call some or all of the following former military and intelligence staff to …

Idul Fitri Celebrations

… its heels on compensation for the mud-flow victims? Now that would be a spiritually-uplifting move!

Comment by Ross: … current trials (Munir and the FPI) conclude, when I …

God is Dead

Indonesian students of Islam encountering western anti-orthodox religion philosophy.

In an article from August 2008, Ahmad Sahidin, a former student of the Aqidah & Filsafat (Islam & Philosophy) faculty at IAIN (Institut Agama Islam Negeri) Sunan Gunung Djati (SGD) Bandung and now a teacher of the same discipline at IAIN, makes some reference to controversies at IAIN in 2004, …

Comment by Betty Rowan: … as he even let Munir death case not uncovered. He is …

FPI, Komando Laskar Islam & Munarman

Arrests of dozens of Front Pembela Islam and Komando Laskar Islam members in Jakarta, and forced closures of FPI branches in central and eastern Java.

FPI - Jakarta

On 4th June 58 members of the Front Pembela Islam (FPI, Islam Defenders Front) were arrested at FPI headquarters in central Jakarta. The leader of Komando Laskar Islam [KLI], the sub-group of the FPI said to be …

Comment by Adian Husaini: … attacked the late Munir and accused Munir for corrupting …

Insiden Monas, FPI & AKKBB

Video tindak kekerasan Front Pembela Islam saat parade kebebasan beragama di Jakarta, dan tanggapan Presiden Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Video pemberitaan serangan Front Pembela Islam (FPI) terhadap Aliansi Kebangsaan Kebebasan Beragama dan Berkeyakinan (AKKBB) yang berkumpul di Silang Monas, Jakarta menandai peringatan hari Kesaktian Pancasila tanggal 1 Juni. Sekitar 200 orang anggota FPI …

Comment by Dian: … orasi almarhum Munir.. “ Tidak ada perpecahan …

May 1998 Jakarta Riots

… of dominant discourse may lead to a better comprehension on what happened in those three days of atrocities.

Comment by dragonwall: … might be another Munir enroute to Den Haag and got …

Treason of the Intellectuals

Ross continues to be infuriated by the lovely Julia Suryakusuma, and other intellectuals.

The chattering classes in Jakarta are starting to make themselves comfortable with the worst elements of Islam.

It has to be said that "intellectuals" are at best self-important bores and at worst a social cancer. I make a clear distinction between them and intelligent people, who are useful …

Comment by Lairedion: … two examples. Munir Said Thalib was also motivated …

Airline Blacklist

The EU airline blacklist and whether President Yudhoyono will visit the Netherlands.

A story from "De Volkskrant", 13th February 2008, a Dutch daily newspaper:

Indonesia cancels state visit

Amsterdam - Indonesian authorities have cancelled preparations of a state visit by president Yudhoyono to the Netherlands because the national airline Garuda is not allowed to land on Schiphol …

Comment by Lairedion: … standards the Munir murder case and the Yogya crash …

Forgiveness

Some people are in a forgiving mood as former president Suharto nears death.

As Suharto nears death, with never-ending media reports of "condition improving"/"condition worsening", and as his grave is prepared, suarapembaruan the question of the stalled but outstanding legal case against Suharto concerning stolen national assets has been repeatedly raised.

Hidayat Nur Wahid …

Comment by Cukurungan: … like That Munir and Theys Eluay. Indeed the …

Majelis Ulama

The MUI rides the anti-heretic wave to more money and influence.

Continued from the stories Al Qiyadah Al Islamiyah and Muslim Beliefs .

Banning

The Attorney General formally declared the sect Al Qiyadah Al Islamiyah to be heretical and illegal throughout Indonesia on 7th November, after a meeting with representatives of the Clerics' Council (MUI), the Department of Religion, …

Comment by Rambutan: … trying to help Munir becoming a good Indonesian …

The Youth of Today

Janma wonders about the spirit of nationalism among young people today.

Janma wonders about the spirit of nationalism among young people today.

Many Indonesians (and indeed many of us here on IM!) have been taking a rather dim view of Indonesia and Indonesians of late. It sometimes seems that Indonesia as a nation, besides it's sterling reputation as a recruitment ground for …

Put Downs & Insults

Australia insults president Yudhoyono.

Golkar parliamentarian Yuddy Chrisnandi said on 9th September that Australia had insulted president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the APEC summit in Sydney by placing him in the back row of the final photo shoot.

Regardless of our critical stance towards the president, as loyal patriots we want the president to be respected as the leader of the …

Comment by Raden: … the killer of Munir who were assasined on Garuda …

Javanese Terrorists

The Javanese are more likely to become terrorists than other ethnic groups.

Professor Azyumardi Azra, a liberal Muslim intellectual and former rector of Universitas Islam Negeri (UIN; State Islamic University) in Jakarta, said on June 23rd how surprised he was that most terrorists in Indonesia were of Javanese origin, given the fact that the Javanese are often not known for their …

Comment by Raden: … the belated pak Munir! The Indonesian are get used to …

Yusril Ihza Mahendra

Yusril Ihza Mahendra's dismissal from the Cabinet, foreign interference, and presidential plans.

Yusril Ihza Mahendra was dismissed from his position as State Secretary in the cabinet of president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on 7th May due to, according to many, the likelihood that he is criminally connected with Tommy Suharto 's stealing of state funds. asiasentinel

Yusril Ihza …

Comment by Dragonwall: … ending up like Munir. Read carefully, I didn’t …

Yunus Yosfiah

An Australian court issues an arrest warrant for parliament member Yunus Yosfiah.

Yunus Yosfiah, currently a member of the MPR mpr in Jakarta, was summoned to appear at an Australian coronial (death) inquest into the killing 31 years ago of five western journalists at Balibo, East Timor during the Indonesian invasion. As he failed to appear after four letters were written to him a New …

Comment by Naga: … inot the murder of Munir …and that’s just for …

Jakarta Chinese

Governor Sutiyoso of Jakarta wants a fair deal for the city's Chinese.

On the occasion of Chinese New Year, or Imlek, Governor Sutiyoso promised to make it easier for the city's Chinese to obtain official documents, such as birth certificates, family cards, local residency papers, and even citizenship, while visiting the Wihara Dharma Bakti temple in Glodok on the 18th. tempo

"Bang …

Comment by Dragonwall: … were threatened, Munir assassinated, the girl that work …

Farming Technology

Farmers in Indonesia are judged to be far behind their peers in comparable countries.

Agriculture minister Anton Apriyantono said in Jakarta on the 16th that Indonesian farmers were far behind their counterparts in countries like Vietnam and Thailand. New advances in farming technology were taking a long time to reach Indonesian farmers, he said. The world was changing, and foreign farmers …

Comment by Madesh: … doctor autopsying Munir about the chemical used, and then …

Foreign Radio & Television

Foreign radio and television broadcasts should be censored, say some leaders.

Joko Susilo, a member of the Information Commission of the Indonesian parliament from the National Mandate Party (Partai Amanat Nasional (PAN)) from East Java, says that relayed foreign broadcasts, whether radio or television, such as Voice of America (VOA), have to be stopped immediately.

Joko Susilo. …

Comment by Rambutan: … record BUT as the Munir case proves certainly not a …

Adam Air Crash

The possible causes of the Adam Air crash.

Adam Air flight KI 574, in which 96 passengers and six crew were travelling from Surabaya, East Java to Manado, North Sulawesi on January 1st 2007, crashed somewhere off the coast of western Sulawesi. Three possible scenarios have been suggested for the disaster:

explosion, whether deliberate (like a bomb) or accidental (like fuel catching …

Comment by Wisdom Whisper: … the murder of Munir?), etc. have been used …

Bird Flu

About half the regions of Indonesia have endemic bird flu.

It is claimed by Memed Z.H., the Head of Public Communications for the Bird Flu Campaign Management of the Department of Agriculture, that up to 223 out of 444 regencies and cities in Indonesia are Avian influenza endemic areas, that is, areas that have had cases of the virus and in which there is a possiblility that new outbreaks …

Comment by Naga: … do that, I mean Munir obviously committed suicide, …

Javanese Culture

… newspaper in Semarang, Central Java, with the title "Jawa dalam Kritik", saw four analysts, Abdul Munir Mulkhan, Mohamad Sobary, Sutanto Mendut, and Suwardi Endraswara, give traditional Javanese culture a good belting.

Suwardi Endraswara got the ball rolling by describing Javanese people as jelek, no good. According to him the Javanese were stupid, deceptive, hypocritical, stubborn, vengeful, and spiteful, among other unlovely traits. As an example of all these faults rolled into one he …

Comment by jaka: … analysts, Abdul Munir Mulkhan, Mohamad Sobary, have …

Papuan Genocide

Some on the political left in the west continue to take an interest in the Papuan "genocide".

Peter Tatchell, a radical gay rights activist in England, writes a blood-curdling, possibly hysterical piece in the "Comment is Free" section of the Guardian news website of the UK, entitled "A forgotten cause", to mark West Papuan independence day, December 1st. guardian

Peter Tatchell. …

Comment by Fanglong: … issues (like Munir Thalib’s death, etc.). Yes, …

Causes of Poso Strife

… forces in the area.

George also mentions the words of the murdered human rights activist Munir Said Thalib, who is supposed to have said that the sectarian conflict in Poso, and also in Ambon and Maluku, were simply means by which certain political and intelligence figures attempted to "fire up" radical Muslims in Java, energise them. If Muslims were seen to be under attack in Poso and Ambon, then radical Muslims on Java would deliver their payback by burning and closing down …

Rev. Irianto Kongkoli

Reverend Irianto Kongkoli, murdered in Palu, Sulawesi, on Monday, was buried today.

Reverend Kongkoli, the head of the Protestant Gereja Kristen Sulawesi Tengah (GKST) synod, was shot in the back of the head in Palu on the 16th as he, his wife, and and their four-year old daughter Gea, were shopping for ceramic tiles at Sinar Sakti construction materials shop on Jalan Mongonsidi. He was …

Comment by Hassan: … your logic, if munir was a Muslim, so the killer must …

Israeli Aircraft

The FPI, Islam Defenders' Front, are protesting apparent plans by the Defence department to buy Israeli aircraft.

On the 9th dozens of FPI men protested outside the Defence department office in Jakarta over reports that the ministry of defence plans to buy drone aircraft (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, UAV) from Israel.

We reject it if the Defence department really are going to buy planes …

Comment by Hassan: … failure to find munir’s murderers (and the release of …

Discrimination Against Chinese

Lee Kuan Yew says there is systematic discrimination against Indonesians of Chinese descent.

The former president of Singapore, as part of a one-hour address at the Raffles Forum , held in conjunction with the IMF-World Bank Meeting in Singapore, reportedly said that the ethnic Chinese minority population in Indonesia, and Malaysia:

Our neighbors both have problems with their …

Comment by dragonwall: … in the case of Munir. And pressure was building up …

FPI, Garda Bangsa, & Gus Dur

… be tolerated.

said Garda Bangsa leader Eman Hendarman.

Separately, NU deputy chairman Rozy Munir was reported by the Jakarta Post to have said that the police should have taken strict action against FPI members long time ago.

Violent acts should not be tolerated. They do not represent Muslims as they claim to do.

he said.

Garda Bangsa was joined by about 200 people grouped in the Alliance for an Antiviolent Society, the NU's paramilitary force Banser and Christian youth …

Political Disappearances

… 8 June 1998, when the then President B.J. Habibie was overthrown. He immediately joined his friend Munir at KontraS, the Commission for Involuntary Disappearance and Victims of Violation, to bring his case to Europe and the Unites Nations.

Mugi worked as correspondent with a Dutch television network in 2000-2001. In his mind were his friends and other people who were arrested at the same period but still missing. He decided to resign from his job and joined IKOHI.

One of Mugi's friends …

Ahmadiyah Lombok

… In response to the demand from MUI the first assistant to the Governor of Lombok, Sirojul Munir, said the governor was waiting on a decision from the High Court.

Sirojul Munir also said that it was currently being debated whether to forbid the leader of Ahmadiyah in NTB and NTT, Syamsir Ali, from entering NTB.

There are currently 137 Ahmadiyah people still in a refugee centre. mediaindo

May 15th 2007. Deputy governor of Nusa Tenggara Barat (NTB) province, H.B …