Precedence: bulk SEAPA OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT HABIBIE ON THE DEATH OF SANDER THOENES 23 September 1999 His Excellency Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie President, Republic of Indonesia Office of the President Bina Graha, Jalan Veteran No. 17 Jakarta Pusat, Indonesia Your Excellency, The Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) is deeply saddened and outraged by the brutal slaying of Dutch journalist Sander Thoenes in East Timor on Tuesday, apparently by pro-Jakarta militiamen. Thoenes, 30, a Jakarta-based correspondent for the Financial Times of London, had been in East Timor for only a few hours when he was attacked and killed by six armed men wearing military uniforms as he was riding on the back of a motorcycle in a suburb of Dili, the capital of East Timor. When the body was found, Thoenes' pen and notebook lay beside him. On the same day that Thoenes was slain, two other foreign journalists, Jon Swain of the London Sunday Times, and Chip Hires, a photographer with the Gamma agency, narrowly escaped death when the jeep they were riding in was ambushed and they were forced to flee for their lives. This young reporter's tragic death is the inevitable culmination of an ongoing campaign of terror and intimidation directed against the press in East Timor by militia groups supported by elements of the Indonesian armed forces. The brutalizing of the press began even before the August 30 referendum and intensified in its aftermath until most reporters were forced to flee the territory for their safety. It was only with the arrival of peacekeeping forces, that the media was able to again venture into East Timor. Sadly, even the peacekeeping troops could not prevent this tragedy. As an alliance of Southeast Asian journalists dedicated to press freedom and improving the conditions for working journalists in the region, we are appalled at the murder of Sander Thoenes and call on your government to mount an immediate and thorough investigation into his death. We further call on the Indonesian authorities to investigate the campaign of military and militia-directed violence against the press in East Timor. The horrendous acts committed against the press by pro-Jakarta elements in East Timor calls into question your government's respect for basic human rights and the rule of law. Now is the time to distance yourself from this barbarity by bringing those responsible to justice. Only by doing so can you begin to restore the faith of the Indonesian people and the world in your government's adherence to basic standards of press freedom. . Yours sincerely, Signed Kavi Chongkittavorn, Chairman ---------- SiaR WEBSITE: http://apchr.murdoch.edu.au/minihub/siarlist/maillist.html
