Sunday marks a decade since the death of human rights champion Munir Said Thalib, who was poisoned on a flight to Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

Munir was one of a few Indonesians who weren't afraid to speak their minds during President Suharto's era when freedom of expression was almost non-existent. Activists were afraid of ending up either tortured or dead.

Before his death, Munir had been outspoken about human rights violations committed by the military, including a bloody crackdown on protestors in Lampung in 1998, in which 45 people were killed and 88 others missing. The incident involved then-Army colonel Abdullah Mahmud Hendropriyono, who was already the chief of the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) at the time of Munir's death.

Munir also lashed out at Prabowo Subianto, Suharto's then son-in-law, who led the Army's special forces, Kopassus, to arrest pro-democracy activists. Some of them were later found murdered and others are still missing until now.

As a vocal human rights activist, Munir likely had many enemies. Any one of them would have wanted him dead.

And although the court convicted three people, including Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto an off-duty Garuda Indonesia pilot, who was a suspected BIN agent, the case still holds many questions.

Investigators found that Pollycarpus offered Munir coffee laced with arsenic at Singapore's Changi airport. Just prior and after Munir's death, Pollycarpus had extensive communications with then BIN deputy chief Muchdi Purwoprandjono.

But the court acquitted Muchdi, while police never questioned Hendropriyono, who is now one of President-elect Joko Widodo's advisors. We wonder about the future of human rights in this country.

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/opinion/editorial-munir-fight-human-rights/