TEMPO.CO, Malang - Late Human rights activist Munir Said Thalib, or famously known as Munir, will be immortalized as a street name in the City of Den Haag, Netherland. Suciwati, wife of the late activist, said Munirstraat will be inaugurated on Saturday, April 11, 2015.
“By God’s willing, [the street name] will be inaugurated on Saturday next week at 04:00 p.m., Den Haag time,’ Suciwati told Tempo on Friday, April 3, 2015.
Suciwati added that she and Munir’s close friends have no special preparation to celebrate the street inauguration. Suciwati also declined to provide details about the inauguration. However, Suciwati revealed that the press release related to the inauguration was being prepared by Munir’s friends.
Earlier on November 11, 2014, Indria Ferdina, a researcher at the Commission of Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), said the Den Haag administration had notified her and Suciwati about Munirstraat inauguration in late September 2014.
“Suciwati and I went there [Den Haag] to receive the news,” Indria said.
According to Indria, the Den Haag administration had initiated to immortalize Munir’s name in 2011 and directly contacted Suciwati. Upon the inauguration, Munir will be among other human rights activists, including Martin Luther King and Mother Teresa, who are immortalized as street names.
Munir died at 39 years old on Garuda Indonesia’s flight from Jakarta to Amsterdam on September 7, 2004. On December 20, 2005, Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto was sentenced to 14 years in prison for Munjir’s murder. The judge declared that Pollycarpus, who was Garuda’s off-duty pilot, had poisoned Munir’s food with arsenic.
ABDI PURMONO
