VZCZCXRO0241
OO RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHJA #2912/01 2890605
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 160605Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6697
RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS PRIORITY
INFO RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 1384
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 0970
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 1885
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 002912 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, G/IWI 
NSC FOR EPHU 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL KWMN PHUM KPAO ID
SUBJECT: INTERNATIONAL WOMEN OF COURAGE AWARD -- NOMINATION 
OF SUCIWATI MUNIR 
 
REF: STATE 126072 
 
¶1.  (U) This message is Sensitive but Unclassified -- Please 
handle accordingly. 
 
¶2. (SBU) SUMMARY:  Mission is pleased to nominate Suciwati 
Munir for the Secretary's 2008 Award for International Women 
of Courage.  A courageous advocate for women's and labor 
rights--and the widow of prominent human rights activist 
Munir Thalib--Suciwati has elevated her husband's murder case 
into a national campaign to transform Indonesia's judicial 
system into one that fully respects the rule of law and the 
principle of accountability. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) SUMMARY (Con'd):  The presentation of the 
International Women of Courage Award to Suciwati would place 
the spotlight on her exceptional efforts.  In the process, it 
would underscore strong USG support for Indonesia's dramatic, 
transformative move away from autocracy toward democracy and 
respect for human rights, and uphold--as President Bush has 
stated--the "non-negotiable demand for human dignity" 
regionally and internationally.  The Ambassador fully 
supports this nomination.  Political Officer Aryani Manring 
is Mission's point of contact.  END SUMMARY. 
 
NOMINATION OF SUCIWATI MUNIR 
 
¶4. (SBU) The formal nomination of Suciwati Munir follows: 
 
Mission is pleased to nominate Suciwati Munir for the 
Secretary's Award for International Women of Courage. 
 
SIPDIS 
Suciwati (who--like many Indonesians--usually goes by one 
name), a well-known labor and human rights activist in her 
own right, is the widow of Munir Thalib, one of Indonesia's 
leading human rights activists who was poisoned to death in 
¶2004.  Suciwati, 39, was born in Malang, East Java, and was 
already an experienced labor activist--a difficult profession 
in Indonesia where labor union penetration is very low--when 
she married Munir, at the time a rising, young human rights 
lawyer.  As she worked on labor and women's rights issues, 
she was Munir's strongest supporter in his battle for human 
rights.  Soon after her husband's death, Suciwati 
pressed--against great odds and initially with few 
allies--for an investigative team which produced evidence 
alleging that senior Indonesian officials might have 
orchestrated the killing. 
 
Since that time, Suciwati has conducted a relentless campaign 
to lobby Indonesian authorities to find and convict the 
perpetrators.  For Suciwati, this fight goes far beyond 
seeking justice for her dead husband:  it is about 
confronting and defeating an endemic judicial culture of 
impunity; it is about upholding the principle that every 
citizen is accountable under the law, regardless of power or 
position; it is about Indonesia's leaders honoring their 
promise to respect human rights and uphold democratic rights 
for all. 
 
In her long and often lonely battle for justice, Suciwati has 
lobbied domestically, regionally and internationally, engaged 
civil society, written articles and editorials, appeared on 
television, staged protests and rallies, and conducted 
letter-writing campaigns.  In addition, Suciwati founded and 
leads the Solidarity Network of the Families of Victims of 
Violence, an organization--with regional Southeast Asian 
links--dedicated to families of victims whose cases have yet 
to be solved or investigated by the authorities.  In all her 
activities, she has repeatedly emphasized her messages about 
justice and transparency.  In waging this campaign, Suciwati 
put herself and her two young children at great risk.  She 
and her family have received numerous death threats warning 
her to relinquish her quest, all of which she has ignored, 
saying "we have chosen to live as human rights activists.  If 
you fear, it should always be for other people, not yourself." 
 
In 2005, Suciwati's efforts led the Indonesian government to 
form an official fact-finding team to re-examine the Munir 
case.  Shortly thereafter, authorities arrested and charged 
Pollycarpus Priyanto, an off-duty Garuda Airlines employee, 
with killing Munir under orders from Indonesian intelligence. 
 In 2006, Suciwati--and the campaign for human rights in 
Indonesia, more generally--faced a terrible setback when an 
Indonesian court acquitted Pollycarpus of all charges. 
Rather than yield, Suciwati reinvigorated her campaign and 
traveled to the U.S. to meet Executive and Legislative Branch 
 
JAKARTA 00002912  002 OF 002 
 
 
leaders, as well as to other countries, placing an 
international and regional spotlight on Indonesia's flawed 
effort to find and convict Munir's killers.  Her U.S. trip 
included a briefing to the Congressional Human Rights Caucus 
and meetings with the U.N. Special Rapporteur on 
Extrajudicial Executions.  As a result, President Yudhoyono 
instructed the police and Attorney General's Office to 
re-open the Munir murder investigation.  In 2007 hearings, 
stunning revelations appeared potentially implicating former 
and current Indonesian government officials.  At this time, 
the Supreme Court is also reconsidering Pollycarpus' 
conviction. 
 
Indonesian and regional human rights activists admire 
Suciwati for her enormous fortitude in the face of tragedy. 
They reserve their highest praise for Suciwati's success in 
turning her husband's case into a litmus test of Indonesia's 
ability, under President Yudhoyono, to face its past human 
rights record and establish a credible, accountable judicial 
system.  Human rights activists say that Suciwati could have 
focused her effort solely on the Munir case; no one would 
have faulted her for that.  Rather, she turned this case into 
something much bigger: a crusade to transform Indonesia 
itself.  Moreover, Suciwati has demonstrated to Indonesians 
the power of one woman to effect change and challenge the 
government.  As a result, we believe Suciwati richly deserves 
the Secretary's Award for International Women of Courage. 
This award would send the strongest possible message of 
United States support for human rights and rule-of-law in 
this Muslim-majority country of over 240 million people. 
 
KEY FACTS 
 
¶5. (SBU) Key facts about Suciwati Munir follow (due to death 
threats against Suciwati, please keep this information 
close-hold): 
 
Name: Suciwati Munir 
Date of Birth: March 28, 1968 
Contact Information:  Suciwati Munir, 
Perumahan Jaka Mulya, Jalan Pelangi E No. 12, Bekasi Selatan 
17146 
Telephone: (62) 818 159 146 
 
MISSION POINT OF CONTACT 
 
¶6. (U) Mission point of contact is: 
 
Aryani Manring 
Political Officer 
Political Section, phone (62-21) 3435-9707, fax (62-21) 
3435-9916, e-mail: ManringAE@state.gov 
HUME