Commemorating
the disappearance of Munir Said Thalib five years ago, Asian Federation
Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) urged the Indonesian
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyonoto establish a human rights tribunal
of disappearance in Indonesia. Below is its letter dated 5 October 2009.
Commemorating
the disappearance of Munir Said Thalib five years ago, Asian Federation
Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) urged the Indonesian
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyonoto establish a human rights tribunal
of disappearance in Indonesia. Below is its letter dated 5 October 2009.

Warmest greetings! First
and foremost, we would like to wholeheartedly congratulate you for
garnering a landslide victory during the most recent presidential
elections and for your new mandate as President of the Republic of
Indonesia. 

First and foremost, let us introduce to you the the Asian Federation
Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD). It is a regional federation
of human rights organizations working directly on the issue of enforced
disappearances. Formerly
chaired by Munir, from August 2003 until the time of his assassination,
our Federation was instrumental in ensuring the speedy process of
adoption of the United Nations Convention for the Protection of All
Persons from Enforced Disappearance. In cooperation with the Latin
American Federation of Associations of Relatives of
Disappeared-Detainees (FEDEFAM)
and similar formations from other continents, the Federation had, on
several occasions, visited Indonesia during these last several years.
Our Federation and the FEDEFAM
recently visited your country on the first week of September this year
and we discussed with relevant government agencies, e.g. the Special
Committee on Enforced Disappearances of the House of Parliament, the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Law and Human Rights,
on the issue of enforced disappearances.

Our member-organizations in Indonesia, the KontraS and IKOHI,
have informed us that of the favorable recommendations of the House of
Representatives' Special Committee of Inquiry on the cases of the
enforced  disappearances of student activists in 1997-1998. We were
informed that the said Special Committee specifically made the
following recommendations:

• A recommendation for His Excellency, the President of Indonesia, to
  establish Human Right ad hoc tribunal to look into the above-mentioned
  cases;
• A
  recommendation to His Excellency and to the Attorney General to
  facilitate the immediate search for the 13 people who were announced by
  National Commission for Human Right to have involuntarily disappeared;
• A
  recommendation to His Excellency to facilitate the rehabilitation and
  satisfaction of compensation for families of the said victims;
• A
  recommendation to the His Excellency to urgently process the immediate
  ratification of the International Convention for the Protection of All
  Person from Enforced Disappearance.

We
view these recommendations as very relevant and if implemented, will go
a long way towards the promotion, protection and defense of human
rights in Indonesia. It will, to a large measure,
contribute to the continuing process of democratization in the country
and will be instrumental in the fight against impunity.  If
implemented, Indonesia will indeed be true to its promises when it
filed its candidacy as a member of the UN Human Rights Council.

In
this regard, the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances
would like to appeal to His Excellency to urgently consider the
implementation of these recommendations. In so doing, it
will certainly respond the the cries of the families of the victims
whom we had several times, met in your country during these last
several years.

We look forward to your positive action to this letter of appeal.