Quotes of the Day

On Sept. 7, 2004, Indonesia's leading human-rights activist, Munir Said Thalib, boarded a Garuda Airlines flight from Jakarta to Amsterdam to take up a scholarship at a Dutch university. But by the time the plane touched down at Schiphol, Munir was dead?poisoned, an autopsy revealed, by arsenic in his orange juice. Last week Indonesia's Supreme Court, declaring there was insufficient evidence, overturned the conviction and 14-year prison sentence of former Garuda pilot Pollycarpus Priyanto, the only suspect charged in Munir's death. Rights groups worldwide slammed the acquittal, with Human Rights Watch calling it a "failure of the Indonesian justice system."

Yet the Supreme Court ruling also offers another chance for justice. Munir's supporters have always viewed Priyanto as the fall guy for a larger conspiracy to murder a man who spoke out against abuses of power by Indonesia's military and the former Suharto regime. Priyanto will walk free as early as March, after serving a two-year sentence for forging papers to get on Munir's flight. His release "could be a chance for us to determine who was really behind Munir's death and what role the intelligence services played," says Usman Hamid, coordinator of Kontras, the rights group Munir founded. Munir's widow, Suciwati, wants President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to launch a new investigation to go after those suspected of plotting the killing. "How come the government is able to roll up the terrorist networks and make so many arrests and convictions?" she asks. "This case is far less complicated and yet the government does not seem willing or capable." A good place to start might be to publish the report that the government commissioned on the murder, but has declined to release. Until it is declassified, as Suciwati and her supporters demand, its contents can't be used in court.

• Jason Tedjasukmana
• A conviction is overturned in the murder of an Indonesian activist, fueling calls for a further investigation into his death