Abdi Purmono (Contributor), Jakarta – Law Faculty at Brawijaya University (UB) in Indonesia awarded prominent honors to 20 alumni and 9 FHUB employees. The award ceremony took place in Jakarta on the evening of Friday, November 7, 2025.
Munir Said Thalib was one of the recipients of the prominent alumni award (1985) in the category of strengthening civil society. Munir received the award for his defense of human rights. The award for Munir is documented in Certificate Number: 09008/UN10.F010/B/KM/2025 dated November 7, 2025.
In addition to Munir, there were three other alumni who received awards in the same category, namely Don Bosco Selamun (1987) as a senior journalist, Dedi Prihambudi (1987) as an advocate and defender of the rights of the people, and Agus Sugiarto (1983) as a driver of digitalization of the economy and banking.
However, the prominent alumni award for Munir was returned by Suciwati through the Committee for Solidarity Action for Munir (KASUM) as the representative of Munir's family, accompanied by two letters of objection on November 16, 2025. The letter addressed to the Dean of the Faculty of Law UB, Aan Eko Widiarto, was signed by the Secretary General of KASUM, Bivitri Susanti. "We returned the award and the letters to the Dean of the Faculty of Law yesterday through Ali Safa'at," Suciwati told Tempo on Monday evening, November 17, 2025.
In the beginning of the letter, KASUM expressed gratitude for the award conferred on the late Cak Munir – Munir Said Thalib's nickname – for his contribution to building legal awareness and strengthening democracy in Indonesia by the Alumni Association of the Faculty of Law at Brawijaya University (IKA FHUB).
Subsequently, KASUM stated that they returned the award to FHUB. There were two reasons mentioned in the letter.
First, there were award recipients with problematic track records, including officials in the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), the Attorney General's Office, the National Police Commission (Kompolnas), and the Indonesian Ombudsman. Their track records contradicted the resolution of extrajudicial killing cases and harmed the development of human rights in Indonesia.
Second, granting an award in the name of Munir Said Thalib should be based on moral integrity, alignment with the victims, and consistency in the struggle for human rights. The late Munir was known as a figure who rejected violence, human rights violations, and abuse of power.
"Granting the same award to parties with questionable track records actually undermines the meaning of this award and has the potential to be a form of abuse against the moral legacy (banality of evil) left by Munir," Bivitri said, as written in the letter.
KASUM suggested to FHUB to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the mechanism and criteria for granting awards in order to not contradict the enforcement of human rights.
When contacted by Tempo, Aan Eko Widiarto admitted that he had not received information regarding the return of the award. Aan said that FHUB awarded the prominent alumni award to Munir, so only Munir himself should be able to decide whether to accept or reject it.
Munir, he said, serves as an example for all FHUB alumni and the entire nation in advocating for human rights. According to him, no one has the right to reject on behalf of Munir the award given by his own campus.
"For us," he stressed, "Cak Munir belongs to the public, not to an individual, as he once fought for the public. Do not reduce him to being owned by an individual, as if Cak Munir is anti-social, unwilling to accept the award from his own campus."
Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/2066542/suciwati-returns-munir-award-to-brawijaya-universitys-faculty-of-la