This is the 94th in a series of monthly reports that focus on developments affecting Papuans. This series is produced by the non-profit West Papua Advocacy Team (WPAT) drawing on media accounts, other NGO assessments, and analysis and reporting from sources within West Papua. This report is co-published with the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN). Back issues are posted online at http://www.etan.org/issues/wpapua/default.htm Questions regarding this report can be addressed to Edmund McWilliams at edmcw@msn.com. If you wish to receive the report via e-mail, send a note to etan@etan.org.Summary: The trial of five Papuans who led a peaceful demonstration in October 2011 demanding Papuans’ right to self determination has begun. There has been no prosecution of security forces who brutally attacked that demonstration, killing at least three peaceful demonstrators and beating scores more. The U.S. State Department called on the Indonesian authorities to ensure due process for those indicted and urged that Indonesia respect its international legal obligations related to the trial. Human Rights Watch, for its part, called for the release of the five Papuans who are being tried under an archaic “subversion” provision of the criminal code. WPAT presents an exclusive report on efforts by the Indonesian special forces, Kopassus, to organize a propaganda campaign on West Papua. The campaign targets the U.S. and other governments for purportedly seeking to exert influence there. In its annual report, Human Rights Watch describes a worsening environment for
human rights in West Papua. Reporters without Borders, in another global review, notes the growing threat to journalists in West Papua. The Asian Human Rights Commission reports on new Indonesian security force torture of Papuan civilians. The Indonesian government is colluding with Interpol in an effort to arrest prominent Papuan dissident Benny Wenda. Indonesian joins a number of repressive regimes attempting to use Interpol to silence critics. Jakarta has announced plans for a massive road building scheme in West Papua which will facilitate developers access to virgin forest areas. A revealing report by the Jakarta Globe explores the prevalence of illiteracy among Papuan children, even in urban areas, and notes the central government’s persistent failure to provide educational services to Papuans. The Government has again announced plans to create a new Papuan province, a step which will further divert funds from essential services for Papuans.
Contents
Prosecution of Peaceful Dissent Again Targets Papuans
The trial of six West Papuan leaders who played the leading roles in the October 16-19, 2011 convening of the Third Papuan National Congress (see November 2011 West Papua Report ) began January 30 in Jayapura. The trial was adjourned shortly after it began and will resume on February 8. Over 300 people were initially detained as the Papuan Congress concluded 19 October 2011. An assault on the entirely peaceful gathering by Indonesian security forces led to the death of at least three participants and the beating of many more. No security forces have been prosecuted for that assault.
Six people have been detained since October 19, 2011; five of the six face charges of subversion under Section 106 paragraph 53 and 55 of the Indonesian Criminal Code. The use of these charges to suppress peaceful dissent date back to the Dutch colonial times and have frequently been employed by the Dutch, the Suharto dictatorship and even successive democratic regimes. The provisions violate Indonesia’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The six detainees are: Forkorus Yaboisembut, Dominikus Surabut, Edison Waromi, Selphius Bobii, Agus Sananay, and Gat Wenda. Five of the six are charged with subversion: Wenda is only charged with carrying a concealed weapon.
The United States State Department publicly called on Indonesia to “ensure due process” and to observe its “international legal obligations for those indicted.” The U.S. also urged Indonesia to “work with the indigenous Papuan population to address their grievances, resolve conflicts peacefully and support development in the Papuan provinces.”
The United States “recognizes and respects the territorial integrity of Indonesia within its current borders, which include the provinces of Papua and West Papua,” the spokesperson added.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has demanded that Indonesia drop the charges against the five Papuans. The New York-based rights group said Indonesian security forces had used “excessive force” including batons and firearms to break up a pro-independence assembly in the provincial capital Jayapura last October, killing at least three people and injuring more than 90. HRW noted the injustice that while eight police officers were let off with written warnings for disciplinary infractions, the five Papuan leaders are charged with treason. “The Indonesian government should show its commitment to peaceful expression by dropping the charges against these five Papuan activists,” the group’s Asia deputy director Elaine Pearson said in a statement. “It’s appalling that a modern democratic nation like Indonesia continues to lock up people for organizing a demonstration and expressing controversial views,” she added. Pursuing the trial would “only deepen the resentment that many Papuans feel against the government”, Pearson said.
HRW also urged Indonesia to release at least 15 other Papuans, including independence leader Filep Karma, and about 60 others mostly Maluku activists, over “peaceful acts of free expression.” Rights groups accuse Indonesia of gross human rights abuses in Papua, a Melanesian-majority region rich in natural resources where poorly armed rebels have been fighting for independence for decades. Jakarta denies the allegations but severely limits access by foreign media or aid workers into the remote eastern province to conduct independent inquiries.
More than 100 people are currently imprisoned in Indonesia for peacefully promoting separatism in Indonesia, most of them from Papua or the eastern Maluku islands, according to Human Rights Watch.
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WPAT EXCLUSIVE: Kopassus Organizes Propaganda Offensive Targeting U.S. and Other International Interests Regarding West Papua
Indonesia’s Special Forces (Kopassus) organized a week-long training program for two dozen bloggers and journalists at their headquarters in Jakarta late November, 2011. Trainees were warned about alleged foreign interference in West Papua, including by the U.S. and other governments. According to its website, the Indonesian Association of Citizen Reporters (Persatuan Pewarta Warga Indonesia, PPWI ), jointly organized the training with Kopassus Group III/Sandhi Yudha or the ‘Secret War’ group. The group has a section called the ‘Papua Desk.’
The PPWI website shows Kopassus group commander Col. Izak Pangemanan shaking hands with Wilson Lalengke, PPWI chairman. According to some trainees’ Facebook accounts and the syllabus, the training included several components including one about separatism in West Papua. A trainee Facebook account showed Kopassus had also recently sent around 250 officers to Papua.
Mahar Prastowo, a PPWI deputy chairman, played a central role by liaising with Kopassus for the program, where he gave a talk about Papua, saying that he had approached Forkorus Yaboisembut, the chairman of the Papua Customary Council, and Buchtar Tabuni, the chairman of the West Papua National Committee.
Trainees came from Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sulawesi, but included no Papuans. The training program was intended to counter international news reporting about West Papua which is seen as critical of Jakarta policy and Indonesian military conduct in West Papua.
At the training, Mahar Prastowo contended that the United States is stirring unrest in West Papua. He cited President Barack Obama’s decision to deploy 2500 marines to Darwin, Australia. Prastowo also said there is a “paradigm shift” in suppressing independence movement in Papua. He encouraged the PPWI trainees to get involved in the information war. On his Twitter feed (@maharprastowo), he criticized mining giant Freeport McMoRan which he said had taken out most of the gold and copper from Papua’s Grasberg mine, while only giving Indonesia only one percent of the income.
Prastowo told the trainees to help create “a common enemy” of the Papuans and the Indonesians. Prastowo described this common enemy as “ABDA,” representing American, British, Dutch and Australian interests. Trainees were encouraged to use their Twitter, Facebook and blogs to fight “foreign agents in Papua. On his Facebook account “Mahar Writerpreneur,” he uploaded a cartoon of four Caucasian men, supposedly to represent ABDA, eating resources from the Grasberg mine.
PPWI chairman Wilson Lalengke has issued 100 PPWI press cards for Kopassus officers. The training program was mainly financed by the Ministry of Defense. In addition to the training assistance, Kopassus will help bloggers and journalists cover Papua by providing logistical support to include transportation.
Prastowo’s blog indicates that he has some sort of an association to the Jakarta-based Islam Defenders Front (Front Pembela Islam, FPI). He posted some FPI announcements. The hardline FPI for years has engaged in thuggish attacks on businesses and others it does not approve of. The FPI is believed to have official backing.
In late December, FPI chairman Habib Rizieq Shihab and Islamist politician Muhammad al-Khaththath visited the Ministry of Defense, demanding the ministry to take stern actions against “Papuan separatist.” They also threatened to wage jihad in Papua.
Another Facebook account says that PPWI is also planning to publish a tabloid in West Papua.
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Human Right Watch Annual Report Describes Worsening Rights Environment in West Papua
In its annual review of human rights observance and violation around the world, Human Rights Watch focused significantly on developments in West Papua. West Papua related excerpts follow:
- In August internal military documents – mainly from Kopassus, Indonesia’s special forces -were made public, exposing how the Indonesian military monitors peaceful activists, politicians, and religious clergy in Papua. The documents show the deep military paranoia in Papua that conflates peaceful political expression with criminal activity. Several of those named in the documents as targets have faced arrest, imprisonment, harassment, or other forms of violence.
- Access to Papua in 2011 remained tightly controlled. Few foreign journalists and human rights researchers can visit independently without close monitoring of their activities. Since October the vice president’s office has set up the Unit to Accelerate Development in Papua and West Papua, which is focused on economic development. Its board members include some veterans of peace talk over Aceh.
- In July over 500 representatives of Papuan civil society met at a peace conference in Jayapura, organized by a government-funded peace-initiative network.
- Violence in Papua worsened in July and August with several unrelated attacks in which more than two dozen people were killed or seriously injured. Seventeen people were killed in Puncak Jaya in July when two rival political camps clashed in an election dispute.
- In Puncak Jaya there has been a long insurgency between the Free Papua Organization (OPM) and the Indonesian military. The OPM commander in Puncak Jaya claimed responsibility for several attacks against the Indonesian military in July, including one in which an Indonesian military chopper was shot down, injuring seven soldiers and killing one.
- In October security forces used excessive violence when arresting more than 300 Papuans involved in a three-day Papuan Congress. At least three men were killed and more than 90 were injured. Six Papuan leaders were charged with treason.
International Journalists Underscore Security Targeting of Journalists in West Papua
Reporters Without Borders released its Press Freedom Index 2011-2012 on near the end of January, in which Indonesia dropped 29 places from a year earlier to 146th. The reason for Indonesia’s slip in the ranks, according to the organization, was largely due to cases of journalists in West Papua being killed, kidnapped and assaulted.
Bambang Eka Cahya Widodo, chairman of Indonesia’s Elections Supervisory Board (Bawaslu), told media that journalists were sometimes targeted because of their election coverage. He cited the case of a journalist in Merauke, Papua, who was stabbed while reporting on an electoral dispute there last year.
WPAT Comment: The United Nations, foreign officials and human rights organizations have long been critical of Indonesia’s ongoing efforts to prevent international monitoring of human rights violations in West Papua. The measures employed by Jakarta include restrictions on travel to and within West Papua by international journalists, human rights monitors and humanitarian agencies. The International Committee of the Red Cross remain banned from re-opening its offices in West Papua. But perhaps the most insidious tactic employed by Jakarta is the targeting of Indonesian journalists and human rights workers by Indonesian security forces. Reporters Without Borders has performed an important service in drawing attention to security force intimidation, brutalization and murder of Indonesian journalists.
Military Officers Arbitrarily Arrest and Torture Civilians Based on False Claims of Rebel Activity
The Asian Human Rights Commission, January 26, issued an urgent appeal ( Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-005-2012) regarding the Indonesian military’s brutalization of a dozen Papuans, including three local activists, in Kurulu, West Papua, in early November 2011. The assault on these civilians was related to unsubstantiated claims of rebel activity in the area. In an appeal to the international community, the AHRC noted that civilians are “frequently victimized based on arbitrary allegations of rebellion, and subsequently tortured.”
The incident followed a false allegation initially passed to a pro-Jakarta militia of a meeting between the Papuan armed resistance OPM and villagers from Umpagalo village in Kurulu district. Local military personnel of the 176/ Kurulu military headquarters reacted to the unsubstantiated report by going to Umpagalo at around 11pm. “They beat three local activists, Melianus Wantik, Edo Doga and Markus Walilo, as well as nine villagers, Pilipus Wantik, Wilem Kosy, Elius Dabi, Lamber Dabi, Othi Logo, Nilik Hiluka, Hukum Logo, Martinus Mabel and Saulus Logo, then stabbed them with bayonets for two hours, forced them to crawl and doused them with water for one hour. The officers also humiliated, beat with wood sticks, kicked and stepped on them with their boots, pointed their guns and threatened that they would cut their heads, and shot at them four times.”
The troops then transported the victims to the 176 military headquarters and after several hours delay, they were released without charges. The victims? colleagues complained to the Kurulu sector police following the incident, but the police refused to process the complaint claiming there was no substantial evidence to prove the allegations. More importantly, the police have no capacity to investigate or prosecute military personnel under terms of the law on military courts (Law No. 31 of 1997).
The AHRC observed that security force use of torture against indigenous Papuans is widespread, often targeting persons suspected of supporting independence movements. “Such suspicions are often leveled arbitrarily against members of the indigenous community and result in stigmatisation.” AHRC added: “according to the law on military courts, members of the military that commit crimes against civilians, such as extrajudicial killings or torture, can only be held accountable by military justice systems. Military courts are not open to the public, are notorious for only giving lenient punishments, and show a clear lack of impartiality.” AHRC called for a joint investigation of the incident by the Indonesian military (TNI) and the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM).
Interpol Lends Its Resources to Indonesian Efforts to Silence Dissident
Interpol has issued a “red notice” for Benny Wenda, a prominent Papuan dissident who has been granted asylum in the U.K. on political grounds.
The Interpol action against Wenda is similar to other actions targeting prominent dissidents legally living outside their home countries. The Interpol alert system is increasingly being employed to serve the interests of often repressive regimes seeking to silence their critics.
A lawsuit alleging that some oppressive regimes are using Interpol’s alert system to harass or detain opponents is being planned by rights activists and lawyers in the United Kingdom. Campaigners say that some government fabricate criminal charges against those who have taken refuge in other countries and then seek their arrest through Interpol “red notices.”
The notices are meant to alert member police forces that an Interpol member state has issued an arrest warrant, but some countries will take seize suspects based on the “red notice” alone. There are about 26,000 outstanding.
Trans-Papua Road Planned
According to the Jakarta Post, Indonesia’s Public Works Ministry is allocating Rp 3.6 trillion (US$399 million) to build a “Trans-Papua Highway.” Planned road construction would be among the largest undertaken in Indonesia. he aim of the Trans-Papua Highway is purportedly to connect isolated areas in Papua’s central highlands to Wamena, Habema, Kenyam, and Batas Batu, as well as the Asmat regency on the south coast. The plan would also include two other road projects within the “Master Plan for Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesian Economic Development” (MP3EI), involving roads linking Timika in the Mimika regency and Enarotali in the Paniai regency, and those linking Merauke with Tanah Merah in the Bouven Digoel regency. Government spokespersons claim that the government aims to build 70 percent of a total of 3,100 kilometers of national road in Papua and West Papua by 2014.
WPAT COMMENT: Such massive road development poses both positive and negative consequences. Improved access to markets for local farmers and industries could be a boon to isolated Papuan villages and towns. Papuans generally will also benefit from improved access to essential services and employment opportunities often lacking in rural areas of West Papua. On the other hand, such road development also expands the opportunity for illegal enterprises, particularly illegal logging operations, to exploit Papuan natural resources. The Suharto dictatorship often boasted of “road development” in occupied East Timor. In fact, road network expansion was largely aimed at facilitating military access to exploitable resources and expanding military operations into the hinterlands.
Jakarta Abuses Papuans Through Denial of Essential Services
The failure of the Indonesian government to provide essential health services to the Papuan population of West Papua has been repeatedly documented and, arguably, leaves the Jakarta government open to charges of ethnic genocide. This calculated, malign neglect in the area of basic health services extends to provision for education. A revealing January 31 Jakarta Globe report notes that Papua’s illiteracy rate among those aged 15 years and under was 32 percent, the highest in the nation, according to data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) in 2010. That figure has increased steadily since 2007, when it was 25 percent, going up to 28 percent in 2008 and 30 in 2009.
The Globe report, by Banjir Ambarita and Mary Anugrah Rasita, underscores that the Jakarta government’s failure to educate young Papuans is not only a problem in remote rural areas. The reporters visited a state elementary school in Jayapura (Port Numbay) and found extensive illiteracy. Nella Manaku, headmaster of Holtekamp Elementary School acknowledged that 50 percent of the students there could neither read nor write. The reporters observed that many fifth- and sixth-grade students were just at able to be taught how to write.
The headmaster blamed the high illiteracy rate on a lack of teachers at saying that were just five instructors for the more than 100 students. Moreover, “Three of them are permanent and the others are contract teachers, but they rarely show up for work,” he said. He explained that he had repeatedly applied to the Jayapura Education Agency for more teachers, but to no avail. “For several years now we’ve been asking for help, but there’s never been a response from the authorities,” he said. Kayus Bahabol, a provincial legislator, told the Globe that the high illiteracy rate was not the only issue the school was dealing with. “Educational facilities here are badly lacking…. Livestock wander all over the place and leaving their droppings everywhere,” he said.
Kenius Kogoya, another provincial legislator, said the Holtekamp case was just the tip of the iceberg. “If things can get this bad at a school in Jayapura, a major city, imagine what it’s like at schools in rural areas,” he said. “The government always likes to claim that regional autonomy has been a blessing for development in Papua, but this is highly questionable.”
Arief Rachman, an education expert who chairs the National Commission for UNESCO, agreed that the low level of development in the province was the main culprit for the high illiteracy rate. Darmaningtyas, an education expert from the Taman Siswa school network, told the Globe that the problem of teacher shortages was a long-standing one in Papua. He urged the government to give priority to infrastructure development to improve the distribution of books and other school supplies across Papua, “because right now we lack the channels to get the appropriate reading materials to the students there.”
Plans Advance to Create Central Papua Province
Media reports reveal that the Indonesian government is moving forward with plans to create a new province in the western portion of the island of New Guinea controlled by Indonesia. According to a January 20 report in the Cenderawasih Pos Jakarta the central government is moving forward with the creation of “Central Papua” sometime in 2012. The province will have 10 districts: Supiori, Biak Numfor, Yapen Islands, Waropen, Nabire, Dogiyai, Deiyai, Intan Jaya, Paniai and Mimika.
The formation of a new province re-opens a contentious legal and political debate over the division of the land Papuans consider “West Papua” into two entities, Papua and West Papua a decade ago. That division was described as illegal by the Indonesian courts but inexplicably was allowed to stand as a fait accompli. Many Papuans have resisted the division of Papuan territory, arguing that the action fails to take into account their political aspirations, in particular, their pursuit of self determination. Moreover, Papuans and many observers have argued that the creation of new administrative subdivisions absorb funds that are critically needed to provide essential services in the areas of medical care, education and social/cultural development. Rather, they argue, creation of new administrative entities amounts to top-down development which favors creation of massive new “development” undertakings which advantage corporate interests, usually to the grave disadvantage of local development.
Creation of such new administrative entities also creates “perches” for the expansion of the security force establishment, further diverting funds and broadening and deepening the militarization of Papuan lands.
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February 5, 2012 | Categories: News alert | Tags: Kopassus, west papua | Leave A Comment »
STATEMENT BY FIVE PAPUANS WHO WENT ON TRIAL IN JAYAPURA ON 30 JANUARY 2011[This hand-written statement is signed by the five Papuans who went on trial in Jayapura on 30 January 2012, and is translated in full by
Carmel Budiardjo, TAPOL]
Fully understanding and conscious of our basic human rights as Papuans of the negroid race, part of the Melanesian race who live in the land of the country of West Papua, inheritors from our ancestors, we herewith firmly declare that WE FIRMLY REJECT THE TREASON TRIAL AND OTHER SUCH TRIALS that has been mounted against the five of us, and we speak on behalf our colleagues and the entire nation of the Papuan people of the Nation of West Papua.
We call for an understanding of this declaration, a declaration of independence, in accordance with the principles of PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW, a law which should be lawfully accepted. And in this case, this declaration will bring us substantial happiness if it gains the recognition of the international community.
In order to gain substantial and dignified recognition from the international community, we have requested our international team of lawyers to notify and register our legal status along with the question of the annexation of the TERRITORY OF THE STATE OF WEST PAPUA at the International Court, with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Amnesty International and all member states of the United Nations, as well as other competent authorities.
We herewith categorically state that we are not prepared to make any statements or answer any questions that are based on the laws and accusations of treason by the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia, during the current trial for treason. It is very clear indeed that this is a matter between two nations and two states, that is to say, between the Papuan nation and the Indonesian nation, between the Federal State of West Papua and the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia.
The following are the reasons for our rejection of the trial for treason or any such trial:
[NB: The copy of the statement which we have received jumps at this point from page 2 to page 4 which suggests that the copy we have is incomplete.]
1. Our struggle and the struggle of those who have gone before us and the nation of West Papua and all members of the Papuan people up to the present day is a struggle for the restoration of independence and sovereignty of the Papuan Nation as one of our most basic political rights.
2. Bearing in mind that the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia annexed and continues to annex, the people and nation of the Papuan people since the TRIKORA command which was proclaimed by the former president of Indonesia, President Sukarno on 19 December 1961 in the city of Jogyakarta and which was followed up by the Indonesian military, from 1962 to the present day, by a variety of measures aimed at preserving the annexation.
3. Our struggle is not aimed as damaging or destroying any country in the world.
4. We do not intend to damage or destroy the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia.
5. We feel that our dignity has been defiled, that our basic political rights have been violated in our country, West Papua, which we inherited from our ancestors.
6. No one, for whatever reason, has the right to make accusations against us or to convict us in a treason trial or any such trial. This is because we have become the subjects of our own laws as citizens of the nation and state of the Federal Republic of West Papua.
7. Based on the values of basic human rights, of democracy and the following universal laws:
a. The first article in the Preamble to the1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia.
b. Article15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations adopted on 10 December, 1948.
c. Article 1, para 1 of the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights adopted as UN Resolution 2200 (xxi) which has been in force since 23 March 1976,.
d. The Declaration on Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples in UN Resolution 1514 (xv) on 14 December 1960.
e. The basic principles of decolonisation , namely possidetis juris and the legal succession of the state to the colonial territories of the Dutch East Indies (Dutch Papua) since 19 October 1961.
f. ILO Convention No. 169, 1989 on the Rights of Indigenous and Tribal People.
g. The UN Declaration on the basic rights of indigenous peoples of 13 September 2007.
h. The Papuan Independence Manifesto of 19 October 1961 adopted by the Papuan National Committee.
i. Stipulations adopted by the Grand Congress (MUBES) of the Papuan people in 2000.
j. The Eleven Recommendations of the Second Papuan Peoples’ Congress and Indigenous Papuan People in 2010.
k. The decisions of the Second Papuan Peoples Congress in 2000.
l. The decisions of the Third Papuan Peoples Congress of 2011.
8. The Statement by the Indigenous Papuan People and the Papuan people is a truth based on analytical and practical categories. The analytical category means that the indigenous P apuan people are the Papuan nation, a negroid race of the Melanesian race, located in the South Pacific. Whereas the practical category is a political statement which was enunciated in the Manifesto of Papuan Independence of the Papuan National Committee on 19 October 1961 in Hollandia, the State of West Papua.
9. We democratically restored the independence and sovereignty of the Papuan people on 19 October 2011, at the Third Papuan Peoples Congress with the establishment of the Federal Republic of West Papua which was announced by the DECLARATION OF THE PAPUAN NATION IN THE STATE OF WEST PAPUA.
10. The government of the Republic of Indonesia and the governments of all other members of the United Nations, should without discrimination recognise and respect the democratic processes of the Papuan people at the Third Papuan Peoples Congress on 19 October 2011 in the form of the Declaration of the West Papuan Nation and State.
11. The application of the treason law against the Papuan people must be categorised as a violation of the basic and legal political rights of the Papuan nation.
We hereby call on to the Honourable Judges in this forum to annul the trial held in order to accuse us of TREASON and make similar charges against us. The solution to the independence of the Papuan nation which is our most basic political right must be sought by means of international mechanisms between the Federal Republic of West Papua and the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia, mediated by the United Nations.
In order to regulate the transfer of sovereign powers from the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia to the Federal Republic of West Papua, we intend to initiate a new phase of cooperation based on the principles of democracy, justice, peace, mutual respect and dignity. As is customary between independent and sovereign nations and states on Planet Earth.
Herewith our statement of REJECTION OF THE TRIAL BEING HELD TO ACCUSE US OF TREASON AND SIMILAR CHARGES.
Jayapura, 30 January 2012
Signed:
1. Forkorus Yaboisembut, President of the Federal State of West Papua.
2. Edison G. Waromi, SH, Prime Minister of the Federal State of West Papua.
3. Agust M. Sananai Kraar, SIP,human rights activist/staff
4. Selpius Bobii, activist/staff
5. Dominikus Subarat, activist/staff
February 2, 2012 | Categories: News alert, syndication | Tags: Congress, Edison Waromi, Forkorus Yaboisembut, freedom of expression, human rights, indonesia, Jayapura, Kopassus, Makar, Manokwari, Papua, Papuan, Papuan people, Rebellion/Subversion charges, Third Papuan People's Congress, treason, united nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, west papua, West Papuan languages | 1 Comment »
Media Release
Human Rights Law Centre and
International Lawyers for West Papua
1 February 2012
The Australian Government’s silence on human rights abuses in the region has once again been put in the spotlight, with the Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC) and International Lawyers for West Papua (ILWP) urging the Foreign Minister to speak up in defence of basic rights such as freedom of expression and assembly.
Criminal trials have commenced this week in Jayapura, against five Papuan political activists charged with criminal offenses following their involvement in last year’s peaceful assembly at the Third Papuan People’s Congress. The activists were among the hundreds of people arrested after Indonesian police and military forcibly shut down the gathering, killing at least three people and injuring approximately 90 others.
HRLC spokesperson, Tom Clarke, said the fundamental rights of all persons to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association are protected by International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – which Indonesia ratified in 2006.
“These fundamental human rights must be recognised and respected by Indonesia. The exercise of such democratic rights and freedoms must be protected by law, not criminalised.
“Australia’s UN Security Council bid pitches us as a ‘principled advocate of human rights for all’. This is a prime opportunity for the Foreign Minister to take a principled stand against human rights abuses on our doorstep,” Mr Clarke said.
The Papuan activists, Forkorus Yaboisembut, Edison Waromi, August Makbrowen Senay, Dominikus Sorabut and Selpius Bobii, are facing charges of treason in a region where people may be imprisoned for simply raising the West Papuan ‘Morning Star’ flag.
ILWP’s Jennifer Robinson called on the Australian Government to use its unique relationship with Indonesia to encourage the authorities to demonstrate their respect for human rights by dropping charges against the five activists.
“These trials should stop immediately, and Australia should do everything it can to help that happen. The prosecution of activists for peacefully expressing their political views has no place in a modern democracy. The Australian Foreign Minister, his department and embassy staff in Indonesia should make it very clear that the Australian Government firmly supports human rights and freedom of expression in the region,” Ms Robinson said.
Ms Robinson also called on the Australian Government to deploy embassy staff to observe the legal proceedings for the purpose of ensuring that the protesters receive a fair trial.
The trial is scheduled to resume on Wednesday 8 February.
For further comments:
please contact West Papua Media +61450079106 for contacts
February 1, 2012 | Categories: News alert, Press Release | Tags: australia, Australian Government, human rights, indonesia, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Jayapura, west papua | Leave A Comment »
January 31, 2012
By Nick Chesterfield from West Papua Media with local sources
(Jayapura) The treason trial against the leaders of the Third Papuan People’s Congress in Jayapura was adjourned on Monday until February 8, after a short hearing that Indonesian authorities moved at the last moment preventing many supporters from attending.
The five defendants, President of the Federated Republic of West Papua (FRWP) Forkorus Yaboisembut, Prime Minister Edison Waromi, together with Congress organisers Selpius Bobii, Dominikus Sorabut and Agus Sananay were charged with makar or treason under Article 106 of KUHP (the Indonesian Criminal Code) for their declaration of an independent West Papua at the close of the Third Papuan People’s Congress on October 19 last year.
Papuan leaders accused of treason on trial in Jayapura, January 30, 2012
The historic Congress was violently broken up by Indonesian security forces using live fire and excessive violence, with at least seven people killed, hundreds beaten and tortured, despite official permission for the event to be held. Indonesian security officers involved were given minor disciplinary sanction, with most perpetrators of violence enjoying complete impunity despite footage of the Indonesian security force violence being broadcast internationally.
Initial reports from witnesses inside the trial early in the day claimed that the team of judges argued with the defence legal team about the need to know the political position of the defendant’s, despite the fact that in a treason trial this would be self-evident. Yaboisembut and Waromi then fundamentally rejected the charges against them, arguing that their actions were not treason“.
Forkorus Yobeisembut (Jakarta Globe)
According to Forkorus as reported by the Jakarta Post, “What we have been doing is seeking our own independence. Thus, we have cheated no one,”. Forkorus argued that Indonesian occupation of his homeland was the real issue, and that ”this problem is not the problem of separatism and rebellion or treason”. Both Forkorus and Waromi said that the issue of Papua should be tried in international courts as the Indonesian state did not have jurisdiction over Papua.
Forkorus Yaboisembut (Jakarta Globe)
in a short statement sent to West Papua Media, the defendant’s legal team said that the judge asked Forkorus and the accused understood the indictment. “He answered that, yes, he understood what the prosecutors read but did not understand the charges of treason against them.”
“Forkorus then asked for time to read a statement to the assembly to process the rejection of the law, (the request of) which was then approved by a judge. Our attorneys will do the rebuttal (exception) to the indictment dated 8th February 2012,” according to the legal team led by Hamadi.
(Photo: Efraim Joteni)
Bintang Papua reported that another one of the lawyers for the accused, Gustaf Kawer,said that up to 32 lawyers from across Papua and Indonesia had offered pro-bono defence of the treason accused. He said: ‘I am convinced that the large number of lawyers who are attracted by the case is a good sign of interest in the need to find a solution to the problem of Papua.’
Forkorus Yaboisembut and Edison Waromi media interview after trial.(Photo: Efraim Joteni)
The Panel of Judges hearing the trial are Chairman of the Jayapura District Court of Class IA, Jayapura, Papua, Jack John Octovianus, SH. MH,; assisted by I Ketut Nyoman S, SH. MH. Syor Mambrasar, SH. MH. Orpah Marthina, SH. and Willem Marco Erari, SH.
Outside the court hearing, almost 400 hundred heavily armed riot police and a similar number of Army and Kopassus personnel were guarding the courthouse venue from dawn (0600) with close to a dozen armoured assault vehicles, mounted with heavy machine guns, according to participants.
Protest in support of West Papuan leaders in trial for treason (Photo: Efraim Joteni)
Protest in support of West Papuan leaders in trial for treason (Photo: Efraim Joteni)
Participants in the protest claimed to West Papua Media via SMS that security forces were acting in a heavy-handed manner, describing their actions as “wild and aggressive”. “This display of armour makes thousands of ordinary people in Jayapura traumatized and afraid to come to action,” said Jack Wainggai, the spokesman for the Prime Minister of the FRWP, Edison Waromi, on trial for treason today. Organisers had aimed for several thousand people to attend, but amid heavy Indonesian security that discouraged solidarity protests by West Papuan supporters of the defendants, only 500-600 braved the heavy armour and “state intimidation” outside the court.
Protest in support of West Papuan leaders in trial for treason (Photo: Efraim Joteni)
Brimob outside makar trial (Photo: West Papua Media)
Brimob outside makar trial (Photo: West Papua Media)
one of almost a dozen armoured vehicles securing outside court venue Jan 30 2012 Jayapura (Photo: West Papua Media)
Despite promises by Indonesian authorities that the trials would be open, the presiding judges secretly started proceedings at 8.30 am before supporter could arrive. In a press statement before the trial, Bintang Papua reported that Olga Hamadi of Kontras Papua said, “The five men will face charges under Article 106 of the Criminal Code for subversion. Based on past experience, there are concerns regarding security during the trial which will be open to the public, meaning that anyone wishing to attend the trial will be able to do so.” Hamadi urged all present to restrain themselves and ensure that conditions surrounding the trial are conducive.
Speculation has mounted amongst local observers that the trial may be moved from Jayapura to metropolitan Indonesia to reduce any potential political flashpoint it will cause amongst pro-independence forces in Papua, with the prosecutor’s office formally warning of such a move should unrest occur. Conversely though, any shift would create more opportunities for international observers to be present at the trial, a basic condition called for by the defence and international human rights monitors.
After the adjournment, the few hundred that did attend were able to disperse peacefully without an Indonesian security force crackdown, but tension still remains high in Jayapura as armed troops are still deployed on the streets the following day.
Elsewhere in Papua, solidarity actions were held with the treason trials against the Congress leaders. In Manokwari, orations were held calling for international peacekeepers to be deployed to protect West Papuan people from Indonesian state violence. Calls were also made in Manokwari for neutral international mediators for dialogue between Jakarta and the Federated Republic of West Papua.
Westpapuamedia.info
January 31, 2012 | Categories: News alert, Urgent Action | Tags: Congress, Edison Waromi, Forkorus Yaboisembut, freedom of expression, human rights, indonesia, Jakarta Globe, Jakarta Post, Jayapura, Kopassus, Makar, Manokwari, Papua, Rebellion/Subversion charges, Third Papuan People's Congress, treason, west papua | 1 Comment »
Free Political Prisoners, Amend Treason Law to Uphold Free Speech
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Police arrest attendees of the Third Papuan People
October 19, 2011. © 2011 Reuters
The Indonesian government should show its commitment to peaceful expression by dropping the charges against these five Papuan activists. It’s appalling that a modern democratic nation like Indonesia continues to lock up people for organizing a demonstration and expressing controversial views.
Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director
(New York) – The Indonesian government should drop charges against five Papuan activists who are being prosecuted for peacefully expressing their political views, Human Rights Watch said today. On January 30, 2012, the district court in Jayapura, the Papua provincial capital, will begin the treason (makar) trial of five leaders of the Papuan People’s Congress, which the authorities forcibly dispersed last October.
“The Indonesian government should show its commitment to peaceful expression by dropping the charges against these five Papuan activists,” said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “It’s appalling that a modern democratic nation like Indonesia continues to lock up people for organizing a demonstration and expressing controversial views.”
On October 19, 2011, Indonesian security forces, using excessive force, broke up a three-day Papuan People’s Congress gathering in Jayapura, Human Rights Watch said. After one of the leaders read the 1961 Papua Declaration of Independence out loud, police and the army fired warning shots to disperse the approximately 1,000 Papuans gathered for the peaceful demonstration supporting independence for Papua. The security forces then used batons and in some instances firearms against the demonstrators, killing at least three and injuring more than 90 others. Witnesses said that demonstrators had been struck on the head and several suffered gunshot wounds.
Following the incident, eight police officers, including the Jayapura police chief, Imam Setiawan, were given written warnings for committing a disciplinary infraction by not giving priority to the protection of civilians. However, no other action was taken against police or military personnel for possible misuse of force.
Five of the activists– Forkorus Yaboisembut, Edison Waromi, August Makbrowen Senay, Dominikus Sorabut, and Selpius Bobii – were charged with treason under article 106 of the Indonesian Criminal Code and have been held in police detention since October 19. Another Papuan, Gat Wenda, a member of the Penjaga Tanah Papua, orPepta (Papua Land Guard), which provided security at the Congress, will be tried separately on charges of possessing a sharp weapon.
At least 15 Papuans have been convicted of treason for peaceful political activities. They include Filep Karma, a civil servant who has been imprisoned since December 2004. About 60 other people throughout Indonesia, mostly activists from the Moluccas Islands, are also imprisoned on charges related to peaceful acts of free expression. Human Rights Watch renewed its call for the Indonesian government to release all political prisoners and allow human rights organizations and foreign journalists unimpeded access to visit Papua.
The Indonesian Criminal Code should be amended to ensure that no one is prosecuted for treason for exercising their rights to peaceful protest protected under the Indonesian constitution and international law, Human Rights Watch said. The constitution in article 28(e) states, “Every person shall have the right to the freedom of association and expression of opinion.” Article 28(f) provides, “Every person shall have the right to communicate and obtain information for the development of his/her personal life and his/her social environment, and shall have the right to seek, acquire, possess, keep, process, and convey information by using all available channels.” The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Indonesia ratified in 2006, similarly protects the rights to free expression and peaceful assembly.
Human Rights Watch takes no position on claims to self-determination in Indonesia. Consistent with international law, however, Human Rights Watch supports the right of everyone, including independence supporters, to express their political views peacefully without fear of arrest or other forms of reprisal.
“The Indonesian government should be prosecuting the people responsible for the ugly and unnecessary crackdown that left three Papuans dead, not those who read out a 1961 independence statement,” Pearson said. “Pursuing this trial will only deepen the resentment that many Papuans feel against the government.”
January 29, 2012 | Categories: News alert, Press Release, Urgent Action | Tags: filep karma, human rights, indonesia, indonesian government, Jayapura, Papua, Papuan people, political prisoners, right of free expression | Leave A Comment »
http://hermanwainggai.blogspot.com/2012/01/west-papua-where-is-our-freedom-and.html
Opinion
by Herman Wainggai
On October 16-19, the Third Papuan Congress held historic meetings in Abepura, Jayapura in which the largest representative majority ever of West Papuans voluntarily united and participated as members of the nascent Federated Republic of West Papua within our civil society. However, on October 19th, while nearing the completion of the public declaration of our independence, the Indonesian military became violent and arrested hundreds of nonviolent West Papuans, including President Forkorus Yaboisembut and Prime Minister Edison Waromi of the Federated Republic of West Papua.
Congressional Hearings on West Papua, September 22, 2010 From left : Salmon Yumame, Forkorus Yaboisembut, Eni Faleomavaega, Edison Waromi and Herman Wainggai
Over the years I have worked alongside many activists and political leaders including Filep Karma, Forkorus Yaboisembut, Jacob Rumbiak and others. For instance, Edison Waromi is a colleague of mine who has spent his life as a nonviolent political activist working for West Papua’s freedom. He has made tremendous sacrifices in his personal life including numerous incarcerations within the substandard conditions of Indonesian prisons in Papua.
Edison’s prison history began in 1989 when he was imprisoned for twelve years; In 2001 he was jailed for six months; and in 2002 we were incarcerated together for two years. For Edison this amounts to 14 1/2 years in the past 23 years of his life. Now he is currently serving another 15 year prison sentence resulting from his arrest in October. The convictions for these political incarcerations are typical iterations of subversion; In the meantime he will continue to serve his 15 year sentence with nary a complaint, even with the awareness that his due process will likely be denied.
My hope is that I will see the day when West Papuans are no longer defined by their repression and victimization, but rather by their strength, courage, and tenacity to fight for justice.
January 29, 2012 | Categories: News alert | Tags: filep karma, Forkorus Yaboisembut, indonesia, Jacob Rumbiak, Jayapura, Papua, Papuan people, west papua | 1 Comment »
January 28, 2012
by Nick Chesterfield at Westpapuamedia.info with sources
West Papua’s civil resistance movement is believed to be organising major demonstrations to support West Papuan leaders facing treason charges in Indonesia’s courts on Monday, January 30.
Indonesian prosecutors will begin proceedings in Jayapura in the treason trials for the leaders of the Third Papuan People’s Congress (KP3), which decalred independence from Jakarta on October 19 last year, after which Indonessian security forces stormed the venue. The President of the Federated Republic of West Papua Forkorus Yaboisembut, Prime Minister Edison Waromi, together with Congress organisers Selpius Bobii, Dominikus Sorabut, Agus Sananay and Gat Wenda all face a battery of charges stemming from their involvement in the Third Papuan Peoples Congress, held for only the third time since 1961.
Papuan leaders are standing infront; Forkorus Yaboisembut S.Pd, Edsison Waromi SH .behind Dominikus Surabut, Gad Wenda, Agus Senandy Kraar and Selpius Bobii (Photos: West Papua Media)
Five of the six are charged with treason under Article 106 of KUHP (the Indonesian Criminal Code), and have also been charged under Article 53 for incitement to acts of treason, and Article 55 which states that even attempting to committ an act (in this case treason), even if unproven is the same as committing the act. Gat Wenda is charged with carrying a concealed weapon. The use of these charges date back to the Dutch colonial times and were used extensively by the Suharto New Order regime to suppress nonviolent dissent.
Their trial will take place at Pengadilan Negeri Klas 1A (State Court 1A), according to a letter dated 17 January (reference 17/PEN.PID/2012/PN). The trial is due to start at 10:00am. The Hon. Jack Johanes Octovianus SH. MH. will be the presiding judge.
Indonesian police and soldiers stormed the Congress venue on October 19 after the independence declaration at the close of the Congress, killing at least 7 people, injuring hundreds and arresting as many as 800 participants. All but the six current detainees were eventually released, but ongoing crackdowns against Papuan nonviolent activists by security forces across Papua intensified in the weeks after the Congress, with several cases of arbitrary arrest and killings.
Papuan human rights activists have alleged, as Video footage of the attack clearly shows, Australian trained Detachment 88 anti-terror troops involved in the attack on unarmed congress participants. Six people were killed and over 300 were arrested.
All detainees were severely beaten by Indonesian police extensively in the weeks following the crackdown, with Yaboisembut sustaining multiple fractures including broken ribs and sternum, and was so badly tortured that he could not stand.
The Institute for Human Rights Study and Advocacy (Elsham) together with the Communion of Churches in Papua (PGGP) reported in said that at least 51 people had been tortured by members of the military and police during and after the Congress. Congress participants testified that they had been “beaten and kicked repeatedly by security forces both at the congress site and while being transported to police headquarters. Some participants said they were beaten at the police station.”
In mid December, when the Indonesian police finally charged the detainees with treason, their legal team rejected this unequivocally. As reported by Bintang Papua, well prior to the Congress the committee sent a letter of notification to the police requesting permission for the congress to be held, and had also sent a letter to the Minister for Legal, Political and Security Affairs Djoko Suyanto, requesting him to be the keynote speaker at the congress. Suyanto agreed and instructed the director-general of the ministry to open the congress, though he never attended.
‘How can this be said to be treason when there have been letters received from the police and the minister?,’ said the lawyers who stressed that all their clients had done was to express their opinions, rights guaranteed under Indonesian Law the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
An SMS sent to West Papua Media from the KP3 committee has called for the people of Papua to guard the results of the Third Papuan Congress and to hold the Indonesian state to upholding the due process of law.
There is a high likelihood that the six will not receive a fair trial, according to human rights monitors and the lawyers for the six.
The Papuan detainees have requested international observers, including an Australian Government representative be present at the trial and their lawyers have advised that it is possible. The six are all peaceful protesters who were exercising their right to free speech, according to legal observers.
Demonstrations of prayers, live music and vigils are planned to be held outside the courthouse during the trials, according to West Papua Media stringers on the ground in Jayapura. The KP3 COmmittee have called for people to “maintain an escort for the trial that is peaceful and dignified” and to remain united in the face of security force provocations.
West Papua Media stringers also report that Indonesian security forces have mobilised sigificantly to prevent any “disruption” of the treason trials, expected to be a flashpoint for further crackdown by security forces on peaceful dissent. Significant deployment of military hardware is expected on Monday which may provoke an already tense atmosphere.
West Papua Media will naturally report on any developments as they happen.
westpapuamedia.info
January 28, 2012 | Categories: News alert, Urgent Action | Tags: Congress, human rights, indonesia, Jayapura, Papua, Papuan, Rebellion/Subversion charges, Third Papuan People's Congress, treason, west papua | 1 Comment »
January 27, 2012
ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME
Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-008-2012
ISSUES: Indigenous people; inhuman and degrading treatment; prison conditions
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the condition of Kimanus Wenda, a political prisoner at Nabire prison, Papua, who has a tumor in his stomach and must be operated on. Although Indonesian law clearly notes that it is the state’s obligation to provide medical fees, the Papua legal and human rights department is refusing to pay for Mr. Wenda’s surgery due to a lack of funds. Moreover, the goverment is now claiming that Mr. Wenda does not require surgery, although local activists found the opposite to be true.
CASE NARRATIVE:
According to the information received from KontraS, ALDP and SKPHP, on April 4, 2003, at around 1am, there was a burglary at 1702/ Jayawijaya Wamena military district staff headquarters armory.
Eight perpetrators were arrested in connection to this theft: Yafrai Murib, Numbungga Telenggen, Enos Lokobal, Linus Hiluka, Kanius Murib, Kimanus Wenda, Des Wenda and Mikael Haselo. On January 15, 2004, according to the verdict declared by the Wamena district court, all the victims were found guilty for rebellion under articles 106 and 110 of the Criminal Code. Yafrai Murib and Numbungga Telenggen were sentenced to lifetime imprisonment, while the others were sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. Civil society considers this verdict to not be based on legal facts.
Since 2010, Mr. Wenda has had a tumor in his stomach and is constantly vomiting. He informed the health staff at Nabire prison but was not given any adequate response. On February 2, 2011, the Nabire hospital issued a reference letter regarding Mr. Wenda’s sickness and the need for him to be operated at Jayapura hospital. Two days later, Mr. Wenda’s legal counsel sent a medical leave letter to the head of Papua’s regional office of law and human rights and the head of Nabire prison, but received no response. On September 19, SKPHP met the head of Papua legal and human rights department but the department said it has no money and thus cannot pay for Mr. Wenda’s operation. This violates Indonesian law under Indonesian Government Regulation No. 32/1999 on Terms and Procedures on the Implementation of Prisoners’ Rights in Prisons, which states that it is a state obligation to provide medical fees and treatment. While civil society is now gathering funds to pay for the operation in Jayapura hospital, it is not yet enough.
Furthermore, on December 16, at the hearings between KontraS and the ministry of law and human rights, the staff of Nabire prison said that based on their report and the statement of the prison chief, Mr. Wenda was seen playing volley ball in prison and therefore his stomach tumour is not dangerous and does not need to be operated in Jayapura hospital. However, on December 21, when local activists brought Mr. Wenda to be examined at Nabire hospital, John, the surgery doctor who examined Mr. Wenda, stated that the tumour is severe and should be operated as soon as possible. The government denial to treat Mr. Wenda has resulted in much civil society concern about his safety.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
The AHRC has recorded that political prisoners, especially in Papua, face ill-treatment and torture in prison, as in the case of Fendinand Pakage, who was tortured by a Abepura prison officer in 2008, resulting in permanent damage to his right eye, and in the case of Buchtar Tabuni in 2009, also beaten and tortured by a Abepura prison officer. Political prisoners’ rights are bare fulfilled, especially the right to health, as seen by Filep Karma, who was neglected at Dok II Jayapura hospital although his ureter should be operated.
Furthermore, on August 28, 2007, Mikael Haselo, a political prisoner arrested and charged in the same case as Mr. Wenda, died after being treated at Bayangkara hospital, Makasar, South Sulawesi, due to the complication of some diseases, such as cough, enteritis, bronchitis and lung inflammation.
for suggested actions please visit http://www.humanrights.asia/news/urgent-appeals/AHRC-UAC-008-2012
January 28, 2012 | Categories: News alert, Press Release, Urgent Action | Tags: Asian Human Rights Commission, buchtar tabuni, filep karma, indonesia, Jayapura, Papua, Political Prisoner | Leave A Comment »
JUBI, 26 January 2012Three political prisoners from Papua , who were arrested for their alleged involvement in the case of the assault on the ammunitions dump of Kodim 1702, Wamena on 4 April 2003, are now ill. Their names are: Enos Lokobai, Jefrai Murib and Numbunggan Telenggen.
Wirya, the co-ordinator of the NGO Foker in Biak Numbir, said that Enos Lokobal and his colleagues have been suffering from lumbago and have been taken to hospital for treatment but they are still in pain.
According to Wirya, Jafrai Murib went to hospital to be treated for malaria. [Several types of malaria are mentioned here.] As a result of his condition, he has become very pale. Apok Lakobal has been ill since November last year. His right side is paralysed and he is unable to move; the doctor at the hospital said that he has had a stroke.
After the ammunitions dump was attacked, Enos Lakobal was sentenced to fifteen years, while Jafrai Murib and Numbangga were given life sentences.
[This has been abridged in translation owing to our inability to identify some of the illnesses mentioned in the article. TAPOL]
January 27, 2012 | Categories: News alert, syndication | Tags: Biak, Burma, Hospital, Malaria, Papua, Political Prisoner, Wamena | Leave A Comment »
Image via Wikipedia
JUBI, 27 January 2012
In the days before the special autonomy law for Papua (OTSUS), identity politics in Papua was focussed primarily on culture. It was his awareness of the richness of Papuan culture that encouraged Arnold Ap to set up his Mambesak group in the 1970s. [Not to mention the fact that he paid with his life for his activities.]
Brother Budi Hernawan, a human rights activist, said that the identity politics movement had made some progress and was in the process of further development. ‘In fact,’ he said, ‘there are certain impacts of the inconsistency of the central government’s attitude towards the identity politics movement among the Papuans.’
He said that Papuan identity politics emerged alongside the Indonesian identity politics movement in the 1940s. But the way of defining Papuans referred to their tendency to being slender in build, dark skinned and with fuzzy curly hair as part of the Melanesian race; this led to the stagnation of this process. At the core of the issue is the interaction between cultural and social issues, according to Brother Budi.
Cressida Hayes writes, in the 2007 Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, that identity politics has a far broader definition and the theory has a far broader definition with regard to injustices that are encountered by people in certain social groups.
Rather than their being organised on the basis of ideology or party affiliation, identity politics is related to the group’s identity and of its not being marginalised as a group as well as the question of belonging to the group in a much broader sense.
Demographically speaking, Papuans are no longer dominant in the land of Papua. This has been reinforced by the role of capital and limitations within the political sphere. While procedures are set in place to ensure that the head of region is an indigenous Papuan, no affirmative action has been taken by any legislative body to protect the interests of the indigenous Papuan people.
Apart from this, he said, Jakarta always bases its policies on economics and politics.The result is that there has been no comprehensive or ‘calm’ definition. ‘The word “calm” is used here in the sense that the Dewan Adat Papua should be able to draft a definition of Papua-ness without being accused of being separatist or accused of subversion.’
Back in the days of President Abdurrachman Wahid, the space being given to identity politics was broadening. Gus Dur, as he was affectionately known, granted permission for the Morning Star flag to be flown, which is regarded by Papuans as a cultural symbol, while at the same time stipulating that it should be held ten centimetres lower that the Red-and-White flag. But this has never been backed up by any government regulation.
January 27, 2012 | Categories: News alert, syndication | Tags: Identity politics, indonesia, Jakarta, Makar, mambesak, Morning Star Flag, Papua, Papuan, Papuan people, Rebellion/Subversion charges | Leave A Comment »
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Item: 7803
PARIS (Reporters sans frontières / Pacific Media Watch): An Indonesian military crackdown in the West Papua region, where at least two journalists were killed, five kidnapped and 18 assaulted in 2011, is the main reason for the country’s fall to 146th position in the annual Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.
A corrupt judiciary that is too easily influenced by politicians and pressure groups and government attempts to control the media and Internet have prevented the development of a freer press, said the 2011 RSF report released today.
West Papua strongly featured in an earlier Pacific Journalism Review media freedom report which condemned Indonesia’s human rights record in October.
Fiji, which has a draconian media decree imposed by the military backed regime that seized power in a 2006 coup, dropped again to 117th. The survey was completed before the Pacific country lifted its Public Emergency Regulations (PER) earlier this year.
Countries that have “traditionally been good performers in the Asia-Pacific region did not shine in 2011″, the RSF report said.
“With New Zealand’s fall to 13th position, no country in the region figured among the top 10 in the index.
“Hong Kong (54th) saw a sharp deterioration in press freedom in 2011 and its ranking fell sharply.
“Arrests, assaults and harassment worsened working conditions for journalists to an extent not seen previously, a sign of a worrying change in government policy.
“In Australia (30th), the media were subjected to investigations and criticism by the authorities, and were denied access to information, while in Japan (22nd) coverage of the tsunami and the Fukushima nuclear accident gave rise to excessive restrictions and exposed the limits of the pluralism of the country’s press.”
The best ranked Pacific Islands nation was Papua New Guinea (35th), three places above France (38th) which has territories in the region.
Samoa (54th) ranked equal with Hong Kong, just ahead of the United States territories and well clear of Tonga (63rd) and Timor-Leste (86th). Vanuatu, which has been a problem over the past year, was not listed. Nor was the Solomon Islands.
“In the Philippines (140th), which rose again in the index after falling in 2010 as a result of the massacre of 32 journalists in Ampatuan in November 2009, paramilitary groups and private militias continued to attack media workers,” the RSF report said.
“The judicial investigation into the Ampatuan massacre made it clear that the response of the authorities was seriously inadequate.
“In Afghanistan (150th) and Pakistan (151st), violence remained the main concern for journalists, who were under constant threat from the Taliban, religious extremists, separatist movements and political groups.
“With 10 deaths in 2011, Pakistan (151st) was the world’s deadliest country for journalists for the second year in a row.”
Full RSF world press freedom report index - Asia-Pacific
Pacific Journalism Review 2011 media freedom report
January 26, 2012 | Categories: News alert, syndication | Tags: Asia Pacific, Hong Kong, indonesia, Maguindanao massacre, New Zealand, Pacific Journalism Review, Reporters Without Borders, west papua | Leave A Comment »
ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME
Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-005-2012
26 January 2012
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INDONESIA: Military officers arbitrarily arrest and torture civilians based on false claims of rebel activity
ISSUES: Freedom of assembly; indigenous people; torture; military violence; police negligence
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Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learnt that on 2 November 2011, seven commanding officers of the Kurulu military sub-district command (danramil Kurulu), arrested and ill-treated three local activists and nine Umpagalo villagers in Kurulu, Papua. This incident occurred without any command letter of authorization, following allegations of rebel activities. The AHRC noted that in Papua, people are frequently victimised based on arbitrary allegations of rebellion, and subsequently tortured. (photo: Kurulu victim)
CASE NARRATIVE:
A Kurulu villager named Alex, who reportedly drank and gambled with members of the pro-Jakarta militia
Barisan Merah Putih, provoked
Indonesian national military (TNI) officers by claiming there was a meeting between the Free Papua Movement (OPM) and the villagers at Umpagalo on the night of 2 November 2011, at Umpagalo village, Kurulu sub-district, Jayawijaya, Papua without specific evidence. Responding to this vague information, seven armed officers of the Kurulu military sub-district command (
danramil Kurulu) prepared to handle the situation without any command letter of authorization (
surat izin komando).
After the armed officers came to Umpagalo at around 11pm, they beat three local activists, Melianus Wantik, Edo Doga and Markus Walilo, as well as nine villagers, Pilipus Wantik, Wilem Kosy, Elius Dabi, Lamber Dabi, Othi Logo, Nilik Hiluka, Hukum Logo, Martinus Mabel and Saulus Logo, then stabbed them with bayonets for two hours, forced them to crawl and doused them with water for one hour. The officers also humiliated, beat with big wood sticks, kicked and stepped on them with their boots, pointed their guns and threatened that they would cut their heads, and shot at them four times. After that, the officers
brought all the victims to the 176/ Kurulu military headquarters of Wim Anesili Wamena battalion branch (
Pos TNI Batalyon 756 kurulu cabang Batalion Wim Anesili Wamena) and allegedly examined them for two hours. The victims were then released without clear reason. Too scared to go to the hospital located around 50 meters from the military post for medical treatment, they made do with traditional remedies. (photo: wounds of beatings and stabbing)
The victims’ colleagues complained to the Kurulu sector police following the incident, but the police refused to process the complaint since there is no substantial evidence to prove the allegations and the military officers are beyond their jurisdiction based on law no. 31 of 1997 regarding military court.
Meanwhile, the head of the military district command (
Korem) 172/PWY Ibnu Tri Widodo acknowledged the violence. He stated that the seven soldiers who mistreated the civilians were now held in custody of the Wamena Military Police. They would be brought to the military court. Following the mistreatment, all soldiers on duty in the Kurulu sub-district had been transferred. He further promised that the military would no longer act “arrogantly” towards civilians. However, in many cases of military trials, which are not open to the public, the sentences are merely a light punishment, such as a transfer, which is inadequate given the seriousness of the human rights violations committed. Therefore, the TNI
jointly with the National Human Rights Commission (
Komnas HAM) should send an independent investigation team to transparently resolve this case, as well as ensuring the adequate punishment of those responsible. The military court law should be reviewed to ensure that members of the military are brought exclusively before a competent, objective and impartial civilian court that is compliant with the internationally-accepted standards of fair trial, including public access to the process, in cases of human rights abuses by members of the military against civilians. (photo: Kurulu victim)
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:Torture is used in a widespread way by the police and military against indigenous Papuans, notably on persons suspected of supporting independence movements. Such suspicions are often leveled arbitrarily against members of the indigenous community and result in stigmatisation. This case is a clear example of this pattern.
Furthermore, according to the law on military courts, members of the military that commit crimes against civilians, such as extrajudicial killings or torture, can only be held accountable by military justice systems. Military courts are not open to the public, are notorious for only giving lenient punishments, and show a clear lack of impartiality.
for details of Appeals and to take action, please visit
January 26, 2012 | Categories: News alert, Urgent Action | Tags: AHRC, arbitrary arrests, Asian Human Rights Commission, Free Papua Movement, human rights, Indonesian National Armed Forces, Indonesian State Violence, Papua, TNI, Wamena | Leave A Comment »
JUBI, 24 January, 2012
The Indonesian government’s inconsistencies in implementing a whole number of policies since West Papua was integrated as part of Indonesia have had a significant impact on the political movement of identity. Jakarta has even continued to violated the basic rights of the indigenous Papuan people
These comments were made by the Rev. Phil Erari, deputy chairman of the Alliance of Churches in Indonesia (GKI).
‘The special autonomy law , known as OTSUS, is just one example of the inconsistency in its policy towards Papua,’ he said.
In Erari’s opinion, the Papuan people have virtually no confidence the authority of the Indonesian government. Papuans regard Jakarta as being incapable of introducing a number of reforms on security, health and education or mapping the infrastructure of Papua. Added to all this is the incompetence of the bureaucracy which ‘stinks of corruption’.
The politics of identity which emerged in the second half of the twentieth century was intended to enable the organisation of the masses so as to ensure that the mass of people can identify themselves as part of the group to which they belong. The group is generally speaking based on the same identity of those within the group.
‘The political movement of identity in Papua is an integral part of the people’s affirmative position which must be respected. For many years, Jakarta has failed to include this as part of the curriculum; this is an example of the violation of the right of the Papuan people to get a decent education,’ said Erari.
Meanwhile, Kahar Nobara of Garda-P, the Papuan Democratic People’s Movement, told JUBI that Jakarta has hardly changed at all with regard to solving the Papuan problem.
‘Jakarta has taken no initiatives and its policy in most cases amounts to nothing more that responding to incidents, nothing more than patchwork, without dealing with the root of the problem and without any radical action for change. This is not democratic, and it displays no sensitivity whatsoever,’ said Nobara.
He went on to say, in connection with the political movement of identity, that the nationalism of the Papuan people is an integral part of their constant sufferings. Ths result of all this is that their desire for independence and sovereignty will continue to grow.
‘Jakarta’s inconsistencies provide the ammunition for the struggle of the Papuan people,’ he said.
January 26, 2012 | Categories: News alert, syndication | Tags: human rights, indonesia, indonesian government, Jakarta, Papua, Papuan, Papuan people, west papua | 1 Comment »
A scene from a notorious video of Indonesian military torturing a Papuan. Photo: originally provided by West Papua Media
18 January, 2012
After a period of Dutch control, possession of West Papua was handed to Indonesia in a deal brokered by the US. This deal, known as the New York Agreement of 1962, promised West Papuan self-determination which led to the 1969 Act of Free Choice. This act, later branded as the “Act of No Choice”, was stripped of any legitimacy as a little more than 1000 hand-picked West Papuans representing a population of close to one million voted unanimously under military threats and coercion to retain Indonesian sovereignty. Reported incidents of human rights abuses inflicted on the West Papuan people at the mercy of the Indonesian military includes widespread violence, killings, torture, disappearance, rape, sexual violence, transmigration schemes, forced relocation, and the spread of infectious diseases such as HIV which has seriously harmed the existence of the West Papuan people. This article is a newspaper analysis of the Jakarta Globe, The New Zealand Herald, and The Sydney Morning Herald media coverage. Nigel Moffiet reports.
ANALYSIS: It can be argued that Indonesian abuses in West Papua are crimes consistent with the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide as a consequence of exploitation, transmigration, West Papuan displacement, targeted military brutality at West Papuan communities, and the systematic spread of infectious diseases. Given genocide is not a term to use lightly extreme caution must be made in using the label so as to avoid “the risk of setting up taxonomies of genocide, or opening crucial space in debates for re-engaging precisely the kinds of discourses that enable and naturalise it in the first place” (Banivanua-Mar, 2008, p. 586). Yet, the debate is taken seriously with the interests of ‘prevention and restitution rather than simply definition in order to “more effectively work backwards to a deeper and more practical understanding of how genocide happens” (Banivanua-Mar, 2008, p. 596-597). In this context, I also carry out media analysis and reportage of West Papuan human rights abuses and the question of genocide by The Jakarta Post, The New Zealand Herald, and The Sydney Morning Herald.
Analysing human rights abuses within West Papua involved searching for the words “West Papua” and “genocide” within the archives of the three newspapers’ respective search engines. Surprisingly, the Jakarta Post had the most content fitting this description with 25 articles, followed by the Sydney Morning Herald with five articles and The New Zealand Herald with six.
Exploitation of West Papuan land and resources
The province of West Papua is rich in natural resources and since Indonesian rule government and military officials have been involved in the extraction this wealth through mining and forestry. The consequences of this exploitation has been dire for the Papuan people and has led to human rights abuses as observed by West Papuan campaigner John Rumbiak who stated that “all abuses in West Papua were caused by military and police presence aimed at protecting mining firms, forest concessions and timber estates exploiting natural resources”(Wing & King, 2005, p. 2).
Part of the systematic abuse towards the Melanesian people of West Papua included denying them the right to work or gain any wealth from their own natural resources in favour of generating work and wealth for the Indonesian Javanese population. On a 1980 visit to West Papua, a US professor noted a “planned influx of Indonesian workers, including more than 2000 families that were scheduled to be ‘dropped’ near two major oilfields in order to implement a ‘policy of non-employment of Melanesians in the oil industry’” (Brundige et al, 2004, p. 26). This is also evident in the US-ownedFreeport copper mine which in 1982 employed 452 expatriates, 1859 Indonesians, and only 200 Papuans who were employed as unskilled laborers” (Brundige et al, 2004, p. 26).
Intensifying the problem is the relocation of villages due the seizure of land. In June 1980, the Amungme tribe from the Tembagapura region were relocated to a coastal area that had widespread malaria creating an epidemic that killed 216 children. Freeport failed to provide food or medicine during the epidemic and the Indonesian government failed to assist despite the official acknowledgement of the epidemic” (Brundige et al, 2004, p. 26-27).
The exploitation of West Papua’s timber resources and exploitation of West Papuan labour is another problem with evidence of serious breaches of human rights. One of the documents of abuse includes the relocation of the Asmat tribe from the southern coast of West Papua by Jakarta-based timbre companies. The Asmat people were forced into compulsory labour which included the deforestation of their own land at below-subsistence wages with threats of arrest for those who refused to work. This relocation and enforced labour within the timber industry had such an impact that an Indonesian environmental group warned that the Asmat people were “on the brink of cultural starvation after a decade of enforced ironwood logging” (Brundige et al, 2004, p. 28).
A major 2005 report by Indonesian based environmental organisation Tilapia and the UK and US-based Environmental Investigation Agency found that the Indonesian military and government officials are involved in the illegal smuggling of up to 300,000 cubic meters of timber a month from Papua to China. This illegal smuggling is valued at more than US $1 billion (Wing & King, 2005, p. 4).
Transmigration and West Papuan displacement
As well as forcing many West Papuan tribes and communities from their land in order to exploit natural resources, Indonesia has also carried out systematic transmigration policy that has been designed to strip the West Papuan people of their identity making them minorities on their own land. By the end of 1984, the Indonesian government had set up 24 transmigration sites across 700,000 hectares of reappropriated West Papuan land. This resulted in 27,726 Indonesian families relocating on West Papuan land; close to 140,000 people over 10 years. Further more, the Indonesian government required that “Papuans be dispersed, with one Papuan family to every nine Javanese families, thus ensuring that the Papuans would become a minority in each area” (Brundige et al, 2004, p. 33).
This has resulted in the marginalisation of West Papuans within the cities as second class citizens to the extent that “propaganda posters sponsored by the ‘Project for the Guidance of Alien Societies’” urged the Papuans to relinquish their inefficient and primitive ways for the superior lifestyle of the Indonesians (Brundige et al, 2004, p. 34). As well as marginalisation within their own communities, transmigration has “led to the loss of traditional lands and forests where once local tribes used to hunt and gather food. There is no transfer of knowledge and technology to substitute for lost basic rights’ (Wing & King, 2005, p. 4).
Increased presence of Indonesian military
In a 2005, in a University of Sydney report for the West Papua Project, it was concluded that “the Indonesian armed forces (TNI) in Papua are the main source of suffering and instability in the province” (Wing & King, 2005, p. 2). Human rights abuses carried out by the Indonesian armed forces is only escalating as troop build up in the West Papuan region continues with incidents of rape, torture and extrajudicial killings. In 1981, the Indonesian military launched Operation Clean Sweep which resulted in rapes, assaults, killings, and looting of villages if anybody was suspected to be part of the Papuan independence movement Organisasi Papua Merdeka (OPM) (Brundige et al, 2004, p. 29). The operation aimed to “intimidate those suspected of supporting the OPM and to cleanse the boarder regions of Papua to make room for Javanese migrants”. Survivors of the operation reported that “whole families had been bayoneted to death and their bodies left to rot”. The Indonesian military also had the slogan: “Let the rats run into the jungle so that the chickens can breed in the coop.” By the summer of 1981 the operation escalated into the Central Highlands of West Papua were the Indonesian armed forces responded to suspected OPM activity by bombing the village of Madi in the Paniai basin. The attack included the use of napalm and chemical weapons against the villagers and killed at least 2500 people with estimates that the death toll could have even reached 13,000 (Brundige et al, 2004, p. 29).
Since then, Indonesian troop buildups have continued and between 2005 and 2009 up to 15,000 extra troops were deployed throughout the West Papuan region (Wing & King, 2005, p. 13). The result of this military buildup is that there is an increased level of human rights abuses and violent clashes between resistant West Papuans and the Indonesian military. This is catastrophic for local communities as the incidents are “used to justify the deployment of new troop reinforcements, which in turn lead to greater human rights abuses, reaction from aggrieved Papuans, then further militarisation. A dangerous and destructive spiral is thus perpetuated” (Wing & King, 2005, p. 7).
The spread of serious disease and HIV/AIDS
The disruption and upheaval to traditional West Papuan existence brought about through Indonesian colonisation and exploitation of the regions natural resources has also led to the spreading of serious disease. A Dutch missionary working in West Papua during the 1980s said infant mortality rates in the region were above 60 percent, and the average life expectancy no more than 31 years (Brundidge et al, 2004, p. 34). Of grave concern is the spread of HIV infection which is rising dramatically in the region to the extent that 40 per cent of Indonesia’s HIV and AIDS cases were located in Papua despite accounting for less than one per cent of Indonesia’s population. Another figure from 2002 shows that just over 20 people per 100,000 were infected with HIV in Papua, compared to only 0.42 people per 100,000 in the rest of Indonesia (Brundige et al, 2004, p. 34). Much has been suggested of Indonesia’s responsibility for the spread of such disease throughout the Melanesian population to the extent human rights groups say the spread of HIV is the result of systematic attempts to destroy the Melanesian population of West Papua. Interviews conducted with workers in Jayapura and Merauke who deal with prostitution and the spread of HIV suggest clear evidence “that there is security force involvement in prostitution at different levels” (Wing & King, 2005, p. 8). Leo Mahuye, a health worker in Merauke says HIV is spread by prostitutes who are brought in by the military to the extent that there is “an indication it is systematic killing…[a]s long as they are importing these women, as long as the military and the police back these activities here, they are committing killings” (Butt, 2005, p. 413).
The Jakarta Post
Searching for the words “West Papua” and “genocide” on The Jakarta Post’s online search engine returned 21 relevant articles between 2001 and 2011 relating to genocide and human rights abuses in the region. The articles were a mix of 14 opinion pieces and six news reports, as well as one question and answer article with West Papuan human rights campaigner John Rumbiak.
Of these 21 articles, one opinion piece and one news report both addressed the issue of genocide in the headlines. The first article published on 8 January 2001 titled “Is Indonesia becoming a genocidal society?” and despite its title it does more to contextualise the nature of genocide throughout history rather than draw any strong conclusions on West Papua. The article references the nature of genocide in Germany, Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and Burundi and makes the statement that the “cycle of genocidal society, which is already apparent in Maluku and other regions, must be broken by effective law enforcement measures”. The article makes this statement without any reference to West Papua or without further contextual evidence to back the statement up.
An article published on 19 August 2005 titled “RI condemns report by Aussie researchers on genocide in Papua” does more to address human rights abuses and genocide in West Papua in light of the University of Sydney’s Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies report Genocide in West Papua? The article provides diverging view points with Indonesia’s foreign ministry spokesman, Marty Natalagawa, calling the report “baseless” and Indonesia’s deputy military spokesman, Bibit Santoso, labeling the report “incorrect and untrue”. Yet the article uses more space quoting from the report and the centre’s director Stuart Rees, who says even though he is cautious using the word “genocide” this “significant document details the destruction of a people, their land and prospects”. The article also quotes one of Papua’s leading church figures, Rev. Socratez Yoman, who talks of the Indonesian military intimidation and says wherever there are Indonesian soldiers, “the militia and jihadists are there too. They are inseparable.”
There were five remaining news articles which addressed human rights abuses in West Papua and the issue of genocide through the sources that had been quoted. An article published on 8 April 2006 titled “Netherlands ‘respects’ RI territorial integrity” does little to address the issue of human rights abuse in West Papua rather it focuses mostly on the Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende’s recognition of Indonesia’s territorial integrity including Papua’s integration into Indonesia. It also focuses on Indonesian criticism of Australia’s decision to grant temporary visas to 42 Papuan asylum seekers. In this criticism the article mentions the Papuan activists have accused Jakarta of genocide.
A news article published on 20 May 2006 titled “RI asks Australia to recognise territorial integrity in treaty” focuses on Indonesia’s effort to ‘get assurances that no neighboring country will support the succession of Papua from Indonesia’ and asking for Australia to “express its commitment to Indonesia’s territorial integrity in a written agreement”. Once again the article does little to address issues of human rights in the region by failing to quote West Papuan sources. It only puts some context to the story by saying that the “Papuans, including pro-independence activists and their families, have accused Jakarta of ‘genocide’ in Papua”.
The remaining articles focused more heavily on human rights abuses and the question of genocide. A news article published on 9 June 2007 titled “Papuans greet UN envoy with rallies, demands” focused on the visit of UN Secretary General on Human Rights Defenders Hina Jilani’s visit to the region. The article draws many sources and quotes around human rights abuses and the issue of genocide quoting West Papuan’s who had pleaded with Jilani and the UN to “stop the genocide of the Papuans” and “stop the killing in west Papua”. An article published on 27 January 2011 titled “RI, int’l public push for civilian court for torture” focuses on the torture of two West Papuan and calls for the Indonesian soldiers who committed the torture to be tried in a civilian court rather than an Indonesian military tribunal. Lastly an article published on 18 October 2011 titled “ 5000 attend 3rd Papuan people’s congress” focuses on the congress looking at the issue of human rights abuses in the region. It quotes organizing chairman Selpius Bobii who says “we greatly need support and solidarity from every party that upholds the values of democracy, basic human rights, honesty and justice for the sake of protecting the people of Papua from genocide”.
The remaining opinion pieces provided various forms of context to the human rights abuses in West Papua written mostly by outside observers. The most critical opinion piece was written by Roman Catholic Priest Neles Tebay on 28 September 2006 titled “More questions for the ICG on Papua issue”. The article strongly criticises the findings of the International Crisis Group who denied allegation of genocide in West Papua and downplayed any human rights abuses in the region. Tebay asks “what was or were the true intent(s) of the military operations conducted against the Papuans then, if not to wipe out the people in whole or in part?”
Finally, a question and answers article with West Papuan human rights campaigner John Rumbiak on 24 March 2000 titled “No letup in security approach spells trouble in Irian Jaya” does a lot to provide context and a West Papuan view point to the situation in the region. It adds context to the abuses with reference to the 1969 Act of Free Choice and the political circumstances surrounding the act and Rumbiak articulates West Papuan grievances on a number of levels.
The New Zealand Herald
Searching for “West Papua” and “genocide” on TheNew Zealand Herald’s online search engine drew only five relevant articles dating from 1999 (two articles have not been dated). Of these five articles, two are opinion pieces by Auckland Indonesian Human Rights Committee spokeswomen Maire Leadbeater, one is an opinion piece by former President of East Timor Jose Ramos-Horta, one news piece that briefly mentions Yosepha Alomang’s award for her “resistance against the destruction of rainforest, rivers and local culture caused by decades of gold mining in West Papua”, and another article that questions the right of four Indonesian military officers to study at Massey University in light of Indonesian military brutality.
Maire Leadbeater’s article (undated) titled “On the brink of genocide” is critical of the Pacific Islands Forum leaders’ failure to address the issue of West Papua. In the article she contextualises West Papua by drawing parallels to East Timor and by mentioning the 1969 Act of Free Choice and the consequences of the act. She draws on human rights estimates that 100,000 Papuans have been killed as a result of Indonesian military brutality and she references The University of Sydney’s Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies report to make her claim that the situation in West Papua is approaching genocide.
Leadbeater’s second article (undated) “West Papuans Face Masters of Terror” cited the Yale report to draw attention towards crimes against humanity including “torture, disappearance, rape, extra-judicial killings and destruction of resources” and that the report “strongly indicated a breach of the United Nations genocide convention”.
Jose Ramos-Horta’s opinion piece on 13 September 1999 titled “A terrible price to pay for freedom” again draws a parallel between West Papua and East Timor and raises the question of crimes against humanity, including genocide.
The Sydney Morning Herald
Searching for “West Papua” and “genocide” on The Sydney Morning Herald online search engine retrieved five relevant articles including two opinion pieces and three news articles between 2007 and 2011.
An opinion piece by Jennifer Robinson on 12 September 2011 titled “Leaks reveal it’s past time to speak for West Papua” draws attention to human rights abuses in the region and the level of surveillance and lack of transparency for journalists and human rights watch groups. On a visit to West Papua for a human rights group she mentions she was warned by an Australian diplomat that her “human rights work risked ‘becoming a political football’’ for [the Australian] government and that [she] was to ‘’keep [her] head down’”.
An opinion piece by Greg Poulgrain on 31 December 2009 titled “Oil and politics prove fatal mix for the people of West Papua” draws on West Papua’s colonial context since the Dutch and states that “[m]ilitary dominance in West Papua began in the 1960s and documents released under freedom-of-information from the US embassy in Jakarta in 1968 refer to the possibility of genocide occurring even then”.
On 18 June 2010 a news article titled “Papuans rally for independence” covers West Papuan protest to “reject the region’s special autonomy within Indonesia and demand a referendum on self-determination”. On 21 November 2009 a news article titled “Death in Papua: political intrigue clouds miner’s murder” refers to the killing of an Australian mine worker in West Papua as the result of an Indonesian military assault. And on 27 March 2007 an article titled “Report warns against Lombok Treaty” refers to a security treaty with Indonesia that potentially restricts Australia’s ability to speak out about human rights abuses. The article goes on to reference the University of Sydney’s Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies report on genocide in the region and quotes that “Australia will be providing training, funding and material aid to Indonesian forces who are engaged in what many Papuans believe is genocide against their people”.
Conclusion
Through widespread violence, killings, torture, disappearance, rape, exploitation of land, transmigration, and the systematic spread of infectious diseases, the West Papuan people are suffering human rights abuses at the hands of the Indonesian military to the extent that the nature of the abuses are consistent with the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. In terms of facing the nature of these human rights abuses and raising the question of genocide directly, the Jakarta Post was more consistent than either The Sydney Morning Heraldor The New Zealand Herald in raising these issues within its content. The New Zealand Herald and The Sydney Morning Herald both had very limited content raising the question of genocide within West Papua. However, The Sydney Morning Herald had a more diverse and relevant spread of content in relation to human rights abuses and the question of genocide within West Papua whereas if it was not for the opinion pieces of Auckland Indonesian Human Rights Committee spokeswomen Maire Leadbeater, The New Zealand Herald would have had next to no content at all on this issue.
Nigel Moffiet researched and wrote this report as an Asia-Pacific Journalism postgraduate assignment at AUT University.
References
Books and journal articles:
Banivanua-Mar, T. (2008). ‘A thousand miles of cannibal lands’: imagining away genocide in the re-colonization of West Papua. Journal of Genocide Research, 10(4), December, 583-602.
Brundige, E.; King, W.; Vahali, P.; Vladeck, S.; Yuan, X. (2004). Indonesian human rights abuses in West Papua: Application of the law of genocide to the history of Indonesian control. Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic, Yale Law School.
Butt, L. (2005). ‘Lipstick girls’ and ‘Fallen women’: AIDS and conspirational thinking in Papua, Indonesia. Cultural Anthropology, 20(3), pp. 412-442.
Kirsch, S. (2010). Ethnographic representations and the Politics of Violence in West Papua. Critique of Anthropology, 30(1), pp. 3-22.
Sautman, B. (2006). Cultural genocide and Asian state peripheries. New York : Palgrave Macmillan
Wing, J. & King, P. (2005). Genocide in West Papua? The role of the Indonesian state apparatus and a current needs assessment of the Papuan people. West Papua Project at the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Sydney.
News articles:
- The Jakarta Post (2000). No letup in security approach spells trouble in Irian Jaya
- The Jakarta Post (2000). West Papua: Will it become the next East Timor for Indonesia?
- The Jakarta Post (2001). Is Indonesia becoming a genocidal society?
- The Jakarta Post (2002). Soeharto and the grand scheme of things
- The Jakarta Post (2005). RI condemns report by Aussie researchers on genocide in Papua
- The Jakarta Post (2005). Founding West Irian Jaya province
- The Jakarta Post (2006). Netherlands ‘respects’ RI territorial integrity
- The Jakarta Post (2006). How to protect Papuans — and RI-Australia ties
- The Jakarta Post (2006). RI asks Australia to recognise territorial integrity in treaty
- The Jakarta Post (2006). More questions for the ICG on Papua issue
- The Jakarta Post (2007). Papuans greet UN envoy with rallies, demands
- The Jakarta Post (2007). Indigenous languages in danger of disappearing
- The Jakarta Post (2008). The possibility of indicting Soeharto after his death
- The Jakarta Post (2008). On Timor Leste’s present situation
- The Jakarta Post (2008). New strategy behind separatism in Papua
- The Jakarta Post (2009). He ain’t heavy, he’s a brother from Papua
- The Jakarta Post (2009). Munir and the protection of rights defenders
- The Jakarta Post (2009). Issues: `Who is responsible for poverty in Papua?’
- The Jakarta Post (2010). Text your say: Gus Dur or Soeharto?
- The Jakarta Post (2011). RI, int’l public push for civilian court for torture
- The Jakarta Post (2011). 5000 attend 3rd Papuan people’s congress
- NZ Herald (n.d.). Maire Leadbeater: On the brink of genocide
- NZ Herald (n.d.). Maire Leadbeater: West Papuans face masters of terror
- NZ Herald (1999). A terrible price to pay for freedom
- NZ Herald (2000). Soldier students to finish studies
- NZ Herald (2001) Journalists share top environment award
- The Sydney Morning Herald (2007). Report warns against Lombok Treaty
- The Sydney Morning Herald (2009). Death in Papua: political intrigue clouds miner’s murder
- The Sydney Morning Herald (2009). Oil and politics prove fatal mix for the people of West Papua
- The Sydney Morning Herald (2010). Papuans rally for independence
- The Sydney Morning Herald (2011). Leaks reveal it’s past time to speak for West Papua
Blood money - Metro magazine
Genocide in West Papua?
January 24, 2012 | Categories: Academic Paper, Investigative Journalism, News alert, syndication | Tags: indonesia, Indonesian National Armed Forces, media blackspot, media freedom, New Zealand Herald, Papuan, Papuan people, Sydney Morning Herald, west papua, West Papuan | Leave A Comment »
Bintang Papua, 20 January 2012Human rights violations are occurring in PuncakThe Papua branch of Komnas HAM, the Indonesian Commission for Human Rights, has confirmed that human rights violations have been occurring in Puncak. These include a number of deaths that have occurred during this prolonged conflict.
‘While not yet knowing the motive or who was responsible, the killings were clearly human rights violations. Lives were lost which is an indication that the right to life has been ignored.,’ said Matius Murib, deputy chairman of the Komnas HAM Papua branch. He made the statement after attending a Forces Group Discussion on Civil and Political Rights and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ECOSOC) held by the Papuan branch of Komnas HAM.
When lives are lost, human rights are certainly violated. No need to ask about the motive as this goes beyond the power of the Almighty. The state or government have no right to destroy life, which is totally without justification .’ The right to life comes only from God and no one has the right to kill people,’ he said.
In this Puncak case, those involved were planning to conduct investigations in February and were planning to visit the site of the killings, in order to make recommendations to the authorities. Murib said that he could not make any comments until they had visited the site
Responding to a question about whether the government had been responsible fir triggering the conflict, he said that such a charge would need to be investigated. If this turns out to the true, then some individual or institution that had been granted powers by the state had failed o take action quickly enough to prevent the incident from occurring, and this is matter for KomnasHAM to issue a charge.
He recognised that according to investigations reported in the media, there were indeed actions by the government and related persons, and the question was, why had the conflict occurred and why were casualties still occurring. ‘It is our task to investigate whether actions were taken by the state and whether they were justified.’
As has previously been reported, the conflict that relates to the election of the head of the district of Puncak and has resulted in 49 casualties among the local community since 30 July 2011. This conflict was still on-going up until 14 January 2012 in the district and the government has not made any efforts to resolve it, nor have the police done anything to resolve the conflict, which is being described as a tribal war between people living in the Central Highlands. It relates to an internal dispute within the political party called Gerindra, between a number of candidates. Gerindra has turned this internal conflict into a conflict between the commnity in general which has paralysed all development activities there.
January 24, 2012 | Categories: News alert, syndication | Tags: Bintang Papua, Civil and political rights, human rights, Human Rights and Liberties, Indonesian State Violence, Jayapura, military offensive, Papua, Papuan people, Puncak Jaya | Leave A Comment »
JUBI, 20 January 2012
[A photograph at the beginning of the article shows three little boys squatting in the street and inhaling aibon.]
The Papuan branch of Komnas HAM, the National Commission on Human Rights, believes that violations of economic, social and cultural rights in Papua are very serious and can be described as gross human rights violations.
The commission’s chairman for co-ordination, Adriana S. Walli, has drawn together a great deal of information in her review of the prospects for economic, social and cultural rights in Papua which she presented at a Focus Group Discussion which was held in Jayapura on 20 January.
According to Adriana, repression and ECOSOC violations have been perpetrated on a vast scale during the past three years .’These violations are occurring on a daily basis and can be identified as gross violations. However, she said, they are brushed aside as being nothing more than trivia.
She went on to say that there were two indicators for why these violations continue to occur. The first was the prevailing view that these violations were trivial, and the second was the lack of commitment of the government and various related agencies.
While presenting her data, Adriana said that when she was carrying out her investigations during the past three years, she had come across a great number of ECOSOC violations, especially in health, economic rights and children’s rights.
She drew attention to the fact that in the various hospitals, little had been done to improve the facilities. Many of the personnel were harking back to Dutch times. The supply of clean water is inadequate while there has been a big increase in the number of street children. Many of these youngsters consume alcohol and sniff dangerous substances such as aibon; they also participate in free sex practices, take drugs and so on.
Small indigenous Papuan traders have great difficulty obtaining credit to grow their businesses while they still use traditional methods to handle their finances.
The chairman of the Papuan branch of Komnas HAM, the National Commission on Human Rights, Julius Ongge, told the gathering that the government of the province of Papua must be held responsible for the implementation of ECOSOC rights. When local people call for their basic rights such as customary rights and their rights to education and health, it is obligatory for the government to respond but what in fact happens is that they come face to face with the security forces.
‘Whenever people make demands for their rights, they confront many alarming accusations and often have to face lengthy legal processes even they have done nothing wrong,’ he said.
January 24, 2012 | Categories: News alert, syndication | Tags: Government, human rights, indonesia, Jayapura, Komnas Ham, Papua, Papuan people, United Nations Economic and Social Council | Leave A Comment »
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The Grasberg mine has damaged surrounding river systems, such as the Ajikwa river above [West Papua Media
JUBI, 19 January 2012
In view of the fact that there has been no response from Freeport -Indonesia or Freeport McMoran, ‘I, Anthonius Alomang, as executive-director of Lemasa, the Association of Amungme tribal people, herewith warn Freeport in Mimika district that we may close you down.’
‘As director of Lemasa, I declare on this day that we will close Freeport down,’ Alomang told a group Amungme people, addressing them at the meeting hall in Mile 32, Kuala Kencana, Timika.
He said that this was not just a joke but a very serious matter because already more than a month has elapsed without the Freeport management making any response to the statement issued by Tom Beanal, the Torei Negel.
The reason why a statement was made by the Torei Negel himself, said Alomang, speaking before representatives of the Kamoro Tribe and other tribes in Papua as well as representatives of various Indonesian groups in Mimika, is that ever since Freeport has been present here, what has been happening is quite unacceptable to the people who hold customary rights to the land.
The people who were already poor and have become even poorer, and they have seen that there has been not a shred of compassion in the practices towards the local people. This includes murders by unaccountable groups as well as corruption practised by the Freeport management who have never been called to account for all this.
As previously reported by Jubi on 7 December last year, the Torei Negel, Tom Beanal issued a nine-point statement expressing his attitude regarding the ten crucial issues that have been experienced by the Amungme people ever since PT-FI first arrived in Mimika.
Yet, up to this day, there has been no response whatever from the management of Freeport or from McMoran.
But no details are yet available about what these measures might be.
January 24, 2012 | Categories: News alert, syndication | Tags: Amungme, Corporate Malfeasance, environmental devastation, freeport, Freeport-McMoRan, indonesia, Indonesian language, Mimika, Papua, riverine pollution, Timika | Leave A Comment »
By Nick Chesterfield and local sources at Westpapuamedia.info
Special report and update
January 14 2012
Local human rights monitors report from the remote Paniai district of West Papua that Indonesian security forces continue to maintain a “disproportionate” military offensive since early January, intensifying the displacement of tens of thousands of villagers who fled from several weeks of village burnings in December.
Indonesia’s Australian trained Detachment 88 counterterrorism troops and Brimob paramilitary police together with Indonesian army battalions, are continuing to conduct search, capture and cordon missions on the villages in the hunt for the forces of a National Liberation Army (Tentara Pembebsan Nasional or TPN) commander Jhon Yogi.
This is despite Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyhono ordering the immediate suspension of the offensive and withdrawal of all non-organic security forces from Paniai, when meeting with West Papuan church leaders on December 12 at his residence in Bogor, West Java. No firm date for withdrawal was given.
Papua Police spokesman Wachyono, told the Jakarta Globe that 481 Brimob and Densus 88 members deployed in Papua from Jakarta, East Kalimantan and North Sulawesi would leave Papua by January 23. However West Papua Media understands from sources on the ground that these troops will significantly escalate the pace of attacks on civilians in the lead up to the departure. Local human rights sources have further questioned the ability of independent monitoring of this withdrawal when the Indonesian government is continuing to enforce an access ban on media to the area.
Yogi’s forces have consistently avoided capture since the offensive began, despite sustaining significant casualties. This continued escape and evasion has raised pertinent questions from observers on the real aims of the Indonesian security force offensive, in an area that has extensive gold deposits and a brutal history of land use conflict triggered by a lucrative “legal” and illegal gold trade. Several foreign gold mining companies continue to operate in the area during the offensive, and Brimob police and assets, that have been contracted to provide mine security to these companies, are continuing to be utilised in the ongoing offensive.
The systemic excessive force by Brimob and Indonesian security forces working for foreign mining interests are again under the spotlight across Indonesia after Brimob troops were recently caught on video uploaded to Youtube opening fire on a protest on behalf of another Australian gold mining company Arc Exploration in Bima, Sumbawa. At least 3 protestors were killed and 11 seriously wounded as local residents held a non-violent protest against the destruction of their village lands by the gold mine.
Credible information during the Paniai offensive has been incredibly difficult to verify due to the continuing Indonesian government ban on all journalists and foreign observers from coming to the area. Indonesian journalists covering have not been able to access the district either, despite article claiming that they have been present. However, stringers for West Papua Media, human rights monitors from Elsham, church officials, and witnesses have been able to get close to the area to report on the situation, which by all accounts in worsening for civilians. Indonesian security forces however are continuing to block any independent access to the immediate conflict area around the former TPN headquarters of Markas Eduda to verify or rule out human rights abuses, and most reports are still coming from interviews with refugees who have fled from the fighting.
West Papua Media has repeatedly attempted to contact spokespeople for the Indonesian police operating in Paniai, however no replies have been forthcoming.
Church* and Human rights sources have claimed that security forces are continuing to indiscriminately target civilians in the campaign, and have embarked on a policy of village and church burnings. According to detailed reports provided to West Papua Media by investigators, Brimob and D88 troops have burnt down 29 churches, 13 primary schools and 2 junior schools, and 13 villages have been destroyed over the New Year period. The razed villages are spread out across the south and west of Wegamo, and in Ekadide areas.
Local witnesses interviewed by human rights observers have reported that civilian helicopters have again been used in the intensified security offensive, with allegations that two helicopters belonging to mining companies operating in the area have been again used by troops to continue to strafe villages, drop live and gas grenades and ferry troops into the fighting areas. Multiple witnesses confirmed that one of the helicopters was a civilian Squirrel AS355 previously implicated in attacks, and identified formally with a helicopter identification sheet provided to West Papua Media stringers and human rights workers.
On December 21, West Papua Media published allegations that an Australian mining Company was supplying helicopter support to the security operations, having contracted Brimob paramilitary police to be used as mine security. Incredibly, the management of West Wits Mining and Paniai Gold continue to refuse to make comment or denials on the explosive allegations.
According to the report received, around dawn (0600) on the morning of January 1, 2012, A civilian Squirrel (pictured)
The AS355 Squirrel helicopter used by Brimob on December 13, and allegedly used over the New Year Paniai offensive (File: West Papua Media)
helicopter conducted what the report describes as “surgery” (surgical military strikes) on Wege mountain, and was used to ferry troops between White Sands and the now-occupied former TPN headquarters of Markas Eduda. Villagers in the White Sands area have been forcibly evacuated by Brimob troops and are still unable to return.
Hana Degei (37), Jemi Gobai (26), Oktolince Degei (20), Menase Kayame (41), Mabipai Gobai (18), Silpa Kayame (32) all from Dagouto, and Peter Kudiai, a 14 year old school student from Badauwo were all confirmed killed by Brimob and D88 troops in the New Year offensive, adding to the toll of those killed during December’s operations.
In the report, church sources stress that full extent of deaths from the Paniai offensive is still being shrouded by deliberate obfuscation and cover-up from Indonesian security forces. “The full death toll from the armed clashes between Brimob and the TPN we do not know, because our religious and community leaders have been refused access to the Eduda conflict area,” the report states. “Thus, we also have not been able to collect (exhaustive casualty) data which is accompanied by clear facts. Perhaps Brimob forces and TPN knows how many are wounded and dead due to gunshot wounds, (but) all the information is still closed to the public,” the report claimed.
Local sources have also expressed concern for the longer term humanitarian situation across Paniai when and if the offensive finishes, due to the deliberate village burnings. According to both church sources, Brimob and D88 deliberately destroyed and burnt food gardens across the offensive area, and burned down fences designed to keep livestock out. Surviving cattle have been moving freely and have eaten whatever food plants have survived the destruction, stoking fears of starvation for already stressed and displaced local villagers
Together with villages forcibly evacuated as reported in December, over 150 villages are now vacant, displacing at least 9000 civilians.
Indonesian officials have blatantly misrepresented the scale of displacement, claiming that only 1715 were displaced and all those “temporarily evacuated” were being supported at a military controlled “care centre”. This number is failing to take into account those who are in grave fear of the security forces running the “care centre”, and those who are staying with extended families and/or tribal networks. So far the 1715 have not been able to return to their villages, and their conditions at the “care centres” are deteriorating from already grave conditions, according to local observers.
An Indonesian health worker who has been in Enaratoli during the offensive, and who declined to be identified publicly after contacting West Papua Media privately via SMS, described the situation as extremely tense and a human disaster. He also expressed concern, from his observations and conversations with displaced locals, that there seems to be a wider plan from Indonesian security forces for the long-term.
“Everyone here knows that Brimob are in the gold trade across Paniai, doing business for and with both orang bule {white man} and Javanese, and now they are clearing people whose villages are on top of the gold diggings” the health worker told West Papua Media – in English – in an SMS exchange. “This human disaster is happening, and we are part of it, but who has ordered it? Is it just the police looking for golden scrapings, or is someone richer telling them to do it?”
West Papua Media has not been able to fully verify the authenticity of this source’s claimed identity, given the security risks of identifying them publicly speaking out.
The Paniai region has had a long and brutal history of land use conflicts between the Indonesian colonists and local people, mainly stemming from the illegal gold trade.
The church human rights investigations have also reported that all normal community activities in the conflict are have ceased, with those churches and schools not yet burnt by Indonesian security forces closed indefinitely, and local employment has also ceased – further exacerbating the humanitarian disaster in Paniai.
*Due to the danger faced by local church officials from Indonesian security forces in reporting these facts, West Papua Media has made a difficult decision to not identify either the church sources, nor their denomination.
West Papua Media
January 14, 2012 | Categories: Investigative Journalism, News alert, Urgent Action | Tags: Brigade Mobil (Indonesia), brimob, Detachment 88, indonesia, Indonesian National Police, Indonesian State Violence, Paniai, tpn, west papua | 1 Comment »
This new book from the West Papua Project is an edited volume of the collection of papers presented at the February 2011 University of Sydney conference “Comprehending West Papua”. It represents the views of the world’s leading scholars and activists currently working on understanding the conflict in West Papua.
Click to download Comprehending West Papua.
Click to download the Appendix of Images.
Editors’ Introduction
Peter King, Jim Elmslie and Camellia Webb-Gannon
Comprehending West Papua derives from a report that the co-editors wrote for
the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPACS) at Sydney University in July
2010 entitled, Get up, stand up; West Papua stands up for its rights.
The coeditors — Peter King, Jim Elmslie and Camellia Webb-Gannon — are coconveners (King and Elmslie) and coordinator (Webb-Gannon) respectively of the West Papua Project at CPACS. The Project was established in 2000 as an
intellectual meeting place and research centre focused on the profound onflict
that is occurring in West Papua.
The Get up, stand up report covered the mass civil society protests by West Papuans against Indonesian rule in mid-2010 and the background to this political insurrection. The report received widespread publicity and positive feedback so we decided to capitalise on this by organising a conference at Sydney University in February 2010. We asked those whom we considered the world’s leading authorities on the political impasse in West Papua and its historical roots to present short papers on the theme, Comprehending West Papua, with a view to helping Papuans, Indonesians and the rest of the world conceive new (or reconceive old) ways out of the impasse. We gave invitees the option of sending their papers for proxy presentation if they were unable to attend. The conference was a resounding success, with participants from West Papua, Indonesia, Vanuatu, New Zealand, The Netherlands, England, the United States, Singapore, Japan and Australia. We believe that it is the most significant academic-level conference that has ever been held on the political situation in West Papua.
Another aim of the conference was to map and update the global spread of
opinion on West Papua. Besides academic assessments, the conference also
had important West Papuan speakers and writers representing different diaspora factions pressing for independence or self-determination as well as a few who favour accommodation of the Indonesian government. Unity amongst the West Papuans (long derided) was also examined, set alongside the dramatic demographic transition caused by organised and “spontaneous” in-migration from the rest of Indonesia, which now makes the Melanesians a light minority in their own homeland.
The year 2010 ushered in a new wave of West Papuan independence politics.
This momentum-gathering wave is characterised by student and youth leadership with a tougher stance on West Papuan self-determination, the vigourous promotion of the cause through social media and greater international attention to Papuan politics through mechanisms such as WikiLeaks and YouTube, both of which have served to reveal often obscured and sometimes horrific conditions in West Papua.
Evidence of this new wave emerged dramatically in June and July 2010, when
civil demonstrations, led by a new NGO, FORDEM (Democratic Forum of the
United Papuan People), amassed up to 20,000 protesters on the streets of
Jayapura. FORDEM comprises the self-proclaimed and widely recognised
provisional government set up by the West Papua National Authority (WPNA)– represented in this volume by chapters from Jacob Rumbiak and Herman
Wainggai–and various civil society organisations drawn from the churches and the student and women’s movements. These demonstrations were triggered in response to Jakarta’s rejection of an MRP (Majelis Rakyat Papua—the all-Papuan upper house of the provincial parliament) decision popularly known as SK14, which ordains that “all candidates for elected office at the sub-provincial level had to be indigenous Papuans.”
The Home Affairs Ministry rejection of SK14 was considered to blatantly undermine the spirit of the Special Autonomy Law of 2001 which specifies that the provincial governors, vice governors and district (regency) chiefs (bupatis) in West Papua must be indigenous Papuans.
Thus, as discussed in Jacob Rumbiak’s chapter in this volume, the biggest demonstrations in West Papua’s history were launched against Special
Autonomy and for a referendum on West Papua’s political status. (These demands were two of the MRP’s 11 bold “recommendations” to the Papua
provincial government).
Papuan politics experienced a positive shift in the surrounding Pacific region as well during this time. Vanuatu’s parliament passed the Wantok Blong Yumi Bill which committed the Vanuatu parliament to work towards independence for West Papua through avenues such as the UN General Assembly and Decolonization Committee and the International Court of Justice. Vanuatu’s long term support of West Papuan independence is discussed in this volume in chapters by Rex Rumakiek and John Otto Ondawame, the latter making an impassioned plea for the success of the Papua Road Map. The Road Map constitutes a push for effective dialogue between Papua and Jakarta coming from Muridan Widjojo and the Indonesian Institute of Science in Jakarta and Neles Tebay and the Papua Peace Network in Jayapura. Father Neles has blessed the umbrella group established in Vanuatu in 2008, the West Papuan National Coalition for Liberation (with John Otto as Vice Chairman and Rex as Secretary General), as pivotal for bringing Papuans to the dialogue table.
Nick Chesterfield’s chapter shows the ways in which technology and social media have also been used to West Papuan political advantage by Papuans (who use Facebook prolifically to publicise their cause) and, inadvertently, by Indonesian troops. For example, the trend of capturing “incidents” on mobile phones has recently backfired on Indonesian military and police torturers in West Papua in a string of high profile cases that elicited deep international concern. In August 2009, West Papuan Yawan Wayeni was disembowelled with a bayonet and taunted by Brimob (Indonesian mobile police) as he lay dying. This was captured on camera by one of the torturers and subsequently leaked online. The public nature of torture in West Papua is discussed in Budi Hernawan’s chapter on this topic. In October 2010 another couple of horrific videos taken by Indonesian troops emerged. The soldiers hogtied, suffocated with a plastic bag and burned the genitals of one West Papuan man; held a knife to another’s neck, and kicked yet others in the head as they sat helpless on the ground. These videos were also leaked via YouTube, causing an international sensation. As political leaders from other countries responded to these videos by pressing the Indonesian government to investigate and punish the offenders, whistleblowers leaking other files, including Kopassus (army special forces) blacklists and diplomatic cables, brought further humiliation upon the Indonesian government for its attitude towards West Papua. In November 2010 US journalist Alan Nairn published a leaked Kopassus list of enemies of the state in Papua, all of whom were civilians. (At the top of the list is the Reverend Socrates Sofyan Yoman, who also contributes a chapter here.) Then, in December 2010, a series of WikiLeaks sourced US embassy cables from Jakarta was published in the Melbourne Age newspaper, revealing the extent to which politicians in Jakarta (and internationally) were and are aware of what has become the military fiefdom of West Papua, and the degree of natural resource exploitation, financial and political corruption and human rights abuse that prevails as a result. That these leaks and others published in The Sydney Morning Herald concerning the alleged corruption of the Indonesian president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and his family, caused the Indonesian government considerable humiliation is evident from the ensuing Indonesian lawsuit against the Australian newspapers for publishing the cables.
All of these events and trends were converging with a momentum that we would have been remiss not to follow up. The West Papua Project decided it was timely to invite a cadre of international experts on West Papua to a conference at the University of Sydney who would try to comprehend, as a group with diverse experiences and perspectives, this new wave in West Papuan politics and its likely future trajectory.
The conference unfolded at International House, Sydney University, over two
days, February 23-24, 2011. It attracted an audience of 80 people to hear 22
papers presented–three of them in absentia and one by virtual presence.
Participants were invited to pay or find donors to pay their fares and
accommodation, and the conference conveners-cum-editors can recommend this as a simplifying and surprisingly successful ploy for underfunded NGOs, even university-based ones. However the School of Social and Political Sciences and the Arts Faculty at Sydney University must be thanked for their prompt and generous response to last-minute requests for subsidy of conference venue hire, function costs and book publication.
Paper presenters included three women, five Papuans (all in exile) and two non Papuan Indonesians, as well as non-Papuan/non-Indonesian scholars, activists
and scholar-activists from Europe, North America, South East Asia and Australasia, as mentioned above.
Discussion did focus mainly on how to interpret and react to the new youth-led
turn towards mass mobilisation around independence, a referendum on self-determination and rejection of Special Autonomy in Papua since mid-2010. Apart from papers already mentioned above, Bilveer Singh’s presentation laid out political options for Papua in fine forensic detail; Jason McLeod, leading expert on non-violent resistance, perceived growing synergy between local and international mobilisation for the Papuans, and editor King chimed in that the deoccupation of Papua could yield large benefits in military reform, corruption reform and democratic reform for Jakarta and Indonesia.
Akihisa Matsuno persuaded large numbers of participants that the rising trend of “self determination as conflict resolution” (Kosovo, South Sudan, East Timor) and the “unsustainability” of Indonesian occupation have created a momentous opportunity for Papua, while Richard Chauvel was also persuasive with his distinction between the politics of independence and the politics of pork (elected Papuans’ massive looting of Special Autonomy funding)– and in dubbing Papua the Achilles heel of a still ostensibly reforming post-Suharto Indonesia. These two speakers led media coverage of the conference.
Editor Webb-Gannon, expert on West Papuan diaspora personalities and
perspectives, explored the cultural underpinnings, ancient and novel, of the
Papuan planetary resistance to conclude that independence was still a viable
option. Absentee cultural anthropologist Eben Kirksey meditated on the
extraordinary congressional hearing on Crimes against Humanity in Papua which was held in Washington DC during September 2010 (which he did much to organise), and concluded that the “messianic multiple”—a future with multiple messianic political options — could work even for a Papua “off the radar” in Washington.
Absentee editor Jim Elmslie (as presented by co-editor King) continued his
alarming and influential investigations into the demographic threat to West
Papuan identity and survival from unconstrained Indonesian settler arrivals in
Papua and called for an international fact-finding mission on the issue of ”slowmotion genocide”.
John Saltford, in absentia in London (and spoken for by editor Webb-Gannon),
the world’s leading authority on the Act Of Free Choice which sealed Papua’s
fate under occupation in 1969, called for negotiations without preconditions
between Jakarta and Jayapura, while Paul Barber of TAPOL and Rosa Moiwend,
also absent and similarly represented in Sydney, outlined the emerging threat of giant, largely foreign-funded food estates to Papuan forests, subsistence and
survival.
Like Saltford, Maire Leadbeater, New Zealand’s leading pro-Papuan campaigner, commended the peace process which resolved Papua New Guinea’s Bougainville crisis in 1998, specifically, New Zealand’s mediation which did so much to calm and clarify that other bloody conflict caused by a heedless giant mining company, while Kylie McKenna and John Braithwaite also identified giant resource companies as a threat to peace–in occupied as well as independent Melanesia–but gave a passing grade (so far) to BP’s giant Bintuni Bay LNG mining operation for its contribution to conflict avoidance in Papua.
And, finally, Pieter Drooglever, who wrote a 700 page commissioned study of the Papua conflict for the Dutch government (which was rejected by the then government on publication in 2007!), reminded us in his introductory presentation how much was lost in the sorry history of 1962-69.
* * *
The ambience of the conference was special. Two inter-Papuan conflicts were
seen as liable to surface and had caused mild apprehension among the
conveners. One was between the partisans of the two leading umbrella
organisations of the Papuan resistance as it exists and evolves internally and externally—the Coalition (WPNCL) and the Authority (WPNA). However, photographs on these pages show factional partisans not only chatting amicably, dancing and singing together but hugging each other indeed.
While personality conflicts may persist, the marginal policy disagreements between the factions were overshadowed by good fellowship and fruitful dialogue on the occasion of the conference.
The other conflict that threatened to haunt the conference was between the proJakarta or at least pro-collaboration ex-diaspora faction led by Franzalbert Joku (and including Nic Messet who actually represented the Indonesian government point of view at the congressional hearing of September 2010 mentioned above) and the mainstream of Papuan independentists–Coalition, Authority and Other.
However in fact there were revelations at the conference of counter-intuitive
collaboration between the apparent enemies. It transpired that Jacob Rumbiak’s semi-clandestine visit to Jakarta in late 2010 (his first since 1999 when he departed Cipinang prison), during which he presented political conditions to be met in the context of a possible dialogue with Jakarta about a peace settlement for Papua, and engaged in talks with ministers up to and including SBY himself, had been arranged and facilitated by none other than Franzalbert Joku.
In conference socialising and his own presentations Franzalbert argued that
Papua’s way ahead lay in a cooperative division of labour between Papuan
independence seekers able to highlight the deficiencies of Special Autonomy and military occupation and Papuan insiders like himself able to not only call for dialogue with Jakarta but actually arrange it. Whether many of the mainstream would really welcome long-term cooperation with business-oriented Papuans widely thought to be agents of BIN, the murderous Indonesian national intelligence agency, remains to be seen, but the value of the conference dialogue across factional boundaries seems to have been indisputable.
They could also be seen and heard dancing and singing a la Papouenne together.
The editors hope the chapters which follow will yield invaluable insights into the current situation in West Papua, which is well covered in updated chapters by Chauvel and King, since the conflict has important ramifications for many
countries in the immediate region, not least Indonesia, Australia and Papua New Guinea. Our authors suggest that the conflict is not receding, but rather
intensifying and complexifying, generating opportunities for conflict resolution and peacemaking which need to be urgently acted upon.
Please note: for all footnotes, please download ebook here:
Click to download Comprehending West Papua.
Click to download the Appendix of Images.
January 13, 2012 | Categories: Academic Paper, News alert, Press Release | Tags: Comprehending Papua Conference, indonesia, Jacob Rumbiak, Papua, Sydney University, Vanuatu, Wantok Blong Yumi Bill, west papua, West Papuan | Leave A Comment »
Bintang Papua, 11 January 2012The Majelis Rakyat Papua (Papuan People’s Assembly) is planning to find out more about the UP4B programme and who will be in charge of implementing it. The chairman of the MRP, Timotius Murib said that they need to know what the objective of this organisation is.
The MRP was set up (under the special autonomy law of 2001) as the representative body of the Papuan people. ‘We need to know what the precise purpose of this (new) organisation is.’
He said that setting up such an organisation can be regarded as a positive move from the central government to support the Papuan people but he was surprised that the MRP was not involved in the decision to set up the UP4B. He said he would also like to know about the funding of the organisation and about its programme, because there has been no coordination about all this with the MRP. ’We need to know whether the UP4B will take the side of the Papuan people. If this is not the case, the MRP will take a firm position about this.’
It was not clear, he said, whether this new organisation is intended to ensure that OTSUS, the special autonomy law, functions properly, bearing in mind the failure as yet of OTSUS to bring about any improvements for the Papuan people.
He also drew attention to the provision in the 2001 law that the governors and deputy governors of Papua and West Papua should be indigenous Papuans and he intends to raise this with the Minister of the Interior in Jakarta. There needs to be affirmative action with regard to the entire structure of the governing bodies in West Papua. He said that while the aim of the MRP was to ensure that there is no discrimination with regard to the personnel. ‘What we have been fighting for, for the past thirteen years, was for what is called ‘positive discrimination’.
January 13, 2012 | Categories: News alert, syndication | Leave A Comment »
JUBI, 7 January 2012
John Magai Yogi and this troops
General John Magai Yogi, the leader of the TPN/OPM Makodam Pemka IV Division in Paniai, declared in a letter that they will not withdraw a single step in their operations against the Indonesian army and police which have been under way since August, 2011. He said that their struggle was a continuation of the struggle of their predecessors to achieve the aspirations of the people of West Papua.
‘We, the TPN/OPM throughout the Land of Papua, will never surrender and will continue to resist the forces of Indonesia to the very last drop of blood,’ he wrote in the letter dated 5 January.’The only weapons we hold in our hands are Ukaa Mapega, bows and arrows, but we have pledged to God Almighty that we are ready to confront the Brimob troops of the Indonesian police and Densus 88, the elite forces of Indonesia, who are equipped with modern weapons and are at present in control of the district of Paniai’
He made two other points in his letter. The first is: The United Nations, the USA and the Netherlands will soon be called to account for the mistakes they made in the past which sacrificed the Papuan people. And the second is: The UN and the USA must speedily resolve the Papuan problem because this problem will never be resolved by means of bargains and Indonesian development activities in Papua.
‘We will never surrender. People living in the kampungs and near the forests are always deemed to be part of the TNP/OPM, even though they are just ordinary people. They [the military] are now chasing the TPN/OPM and we are not free from military pressure in the forests of Paniai because the chief of police has ordered a large number of Brimob troops from Kalimantan and Densus 88 to come here and encircle our headquarters. They are threatening our lives. The troops that have been sent here are disrupting our tranquillity and are trying to destroy us, the TPN/OPM,’ he said in the letter.
He went on to write that since the encirclement and attack against their Eduda headquarters on 13 December 2011, members of the TPN/OPM division have held on to their position in the forests of Paniai. ‘This does not mean that we have surrendered.’
The letter concludes with the following words: ‘All people and groups have basic rights which must be respected by everyone, including the right to self-determination. This is the right which we Papuan people demand from the UN who never listened when our rights were trampled upon by the forces of Indonesia and the USA.’
January 12, 2012 | Categories: News alert, syndication | Tags: Detachment 88, indonesia, Indonesian National Police, Paniai, Paniai Regency, Papua, Papuan people, west papua | Leave A Comment »
Bintang Papua,6 January 2011Papuans Needn’t be Afraid to Talk about
Merdeka-Independence
Biak: A human rights lawyer and advocate has reminded the Papuan people that they needn’t be afraid to talk about independence for Papua because independence for Papua is a basic human rights that is legally recognised and can be fought for by legal, democratic and political means. ‘I say this because the 1945 Constitution guarantees these rights,’ said Yan Christian Warinussy, executive-director of LP3BH-Manokwari.
He said that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People also guarantee these rights. He went on to say that Papua Merdeka is the political aspiration of the majority of the Papuan people which must be fought for by peaceful,dgnfied and democratic means through universal legal and political mechanisms. All components of the Papuan people should unite and discuss the various developments that provide the background for these aspirations of the Papuan people and should reach agreement on the issues that they should discuss in the context of a Papua-Indonesian dialogue.
The aspiration for Papua Merdeka must be used as the basis in every discussion which should at all times be based on the basic issues that were agreed upon at the Papuan Peace Conference held from 5 – 7 July 2011 which included political, security, legal issues as well as basic human rights, and social, cultural, economic and environmental rights. He said that these issues were drawn up as the necessary steps towards the Papua-Indonesia Dialogue, with a recommendation about five people as negotiators agreed upon at the people’s conference. A declaration on a peaceful Papua was also agreed upon as the guidance at the Papuan Peace Congress which was held from 16 – 19 October 2011 in Zacheus-Padang Bulan field, Abepura. Forkorus Yaboisembut was elected as the head, with Edison Waromi as the prime minister and all this was adopted as the strategic position of the Papuan people on their way forward to the Dialogue.
Other components that were included were the OPM, the Papuan Presidium Council, the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation, the West Papua National Authority, the National Youth Committee the military wing, the TPN-PB, as well as other organisations in the Land of Papua and overseas*. He expressed the hope that all these components would come together and draw up an agenda for this struggle in a systematic and responsible way, using legal and political mechanisms that are universally recognised. ‘Papuans need not be afraid to talk about their independence,’ he said.
{*West Papua Media note: this list of supporting organisations is referring to the Papua Peace Network meetings, and not to the 3rd Papuan People’s Congress at Zacheus Field: this Congress was not supported by all sectors of the resistance movement including the TPN-OPM and KNPB as they asserted it did not go far enough}
He also said that the Dewan Adat Papua – Customary Papuan Council – would be the people’s organisation that would unite all the various components in the Papuan struggle, in response to the aspirations of the Papuan people
He warned the security forces in the region not to stand in the way of the Papuan people or try to infiltrate the Papuan people in order to prevent them from freely using legal procedures and mechanisms based on the 1945 Constitution and Law 39/1999 [on human rights] as well as other human rights documents in the course of their discussions on their political rights in the Land of Papua.
January 10, 2012 | Categories: News alert, syndication | Tags: Constitution of Indonesia, human rights, indonesia, Papua, Papuan people, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, west papua, West Papua National Coalition for Liberation | Leave A Comment »
by Andreas Harsono
Simon Tuturop has finished his prison sentence in Fakfak. From outside the jail Tuturop said “Having been in prison for years doesn't mean that I will be quiet, instead prison was a place for study and self-reflection about how to build a struggle together with other brothers and sisters. Unity is the key” (Photo @Elsham Advocacy Team & Foker Fakfak)
Five political prisoners, imprisoned for raising the Morning Star flag on 19 July 2008 in front of the Fakfak Act of Free Choice building, were freed today. They were condemned to four years in prison by the Fakfak court and have now been released having served three years, five months and three days of their sentence.
Simon Tuturop, Tadeus Weripang, Benediktus Tuturop, Tomas Nimbitkendik and Teles Piahar were collected from the prison by Freddy Warpopor, the Fakfak Area Coordinator of Foker NGO Papua, and other friends by two minibuses and several motorbikes, according to a Foker NGO press release.
The group left the prison at 09:30. They went to the house of Eligius Warpopor, a community leader in Gewerpe Village, where they were greeted by the people of Gerwerpe. Simon Tuturop made a speech thanking the people of Gewerpe Village, as well as the Papuan Customary Institute (Lembaga Adat Papua), Elsham Papua, Foker NGO, LP3BH Manokwari, Amnesty International and the ICRC. He said that they had helped to greatly reduce their suffering in prison.
Simon Tuturop being welcomed by the people of Gerwerbe Village. Photo @Elsham Advocacy Team & Foker Fakfak
Simon Tuturop, originally from Fakfak, is a leading figure of the non-violent movement for Papua liberation. In 1982 he joined in a proclamation of West Papuan independence in Jayapura. He was sentenced to twelve years in Kalisosok prison, Surabaya. In 1998, as President Suharto fell, Tuturop and other political prisoners across the whole of Indonesia were set free. He then went to work in Aceh, to help with social projects for Achenese people who had become refugees of Indonesia’s war with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM)
On 19 July 2008, Tuturop led a flag-raising of the Morning Star flag where 44 people were arrested by Indonesian police. Five were found guilty by the Indonesian court in Fakfak and convicted of treason under articles 106 and 110 of the Indonesian criminal code. Elsham Papua, LP3BH Manokwari and Foker NGO Papua regard them as innocent prisoners of conscience who did not committed any violent acts. To express a desire for independence is part of the freedom to express political aspirations. It is not a criminal act. These three organisations continued to advocate for them and defend them.
Tadeus Waripang returns to his home in Kampung Wayati. Photo @ Elsham Advocacy Team & Foker Fakfak
The group then continued their journey to Wayati Village to bring Tadeus Weripang back home. The people of Wayati Village and the village chief were already waiting for Tadeus Weripang’s arrival.
Warpopor said, “It was a great welcome, despite the tumultous atmosphere. Some people shed tears.” Village chief Plerius Kondawe gave his thanks to the three organisations.
The villagers asked Freddy Warpopor to explain about President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono‘s meeting with Papuan church leaders. Warpopor encouraged the villagers to pay attention to any developments which may arise. He said that President Yudhoyono “was already open to dialogue with the Papuan people.”
“Let’s all support this process, so that we can determine the right format that Papuans will later use in the dialogue, and another important thing is that this struggle is a non-violent struggle. Let’s unite to save the country and this land of Papua,”said Warporpor.
Posted by Andreas Harsono
Translated by Tapol
http://www.andreasharsono.net/2011/12/tapol-papua-dibebaskan-di-fakfak.html
January 7, 2012 | Categories: News alert, syndication | Tags: Fakfak, Flag of West Papua, indonesia, Indonesian National Police, Papua, Papuan people, Suharto, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono | Leave A Comment »
Papuan prisoners in Biak Jail
Papuan prisoners in their cell in Biak prison: Numbungga Telengen (black clothes), Jefrai Murib (sleeping) and Apot Lokobal (wearing glasses). Jafrai Murib is thought to have suffered a stroke on 19 December 2011 which has caused paralysis. He can no longer stand.
I am often in and out of prisons to deal with political prisoners, so I know many detainees and their families and lawyers. Last week, I received a message from somebody representing three Papuan prisoners in Biak prison. He said that prisoner Jefrai Murib is thought to have suffered a stroke on the morning of 19 December 2011. He’s paralysed. He can’t walk. When he walks he does so with the aid of his friends. The left side of his body, his left leg and his left arm have lost all sensation.
Jefrai Murib
Murib has had a check-up in Biak General Hospital, where the doctor referred him to Jayapura hospital. Biak hospital is not as well equipped as Jayapura hospital. Murib is in a cell together with Numbungga Telengen and Apotnagolik Enos Lokobal. They were arrested in April 2003 following a raid on a Wamena weapons store. Murib and Telenggen got a life sentence, Lokobal was sentenced to 20 years in jail.
Lokobal also suffers from the same symptoms; the right side of his body has lost all sensation. He has also been seen twice at Biak hospital, on 12 November and 23 November. Lokobal is also suspected of having suffered a stroke. Unlike Jafrai Murib, by last week Apot Lokobal was able to walk again, although his steps are weak and faltering, and he has to be carried when taken to hospital. Lokobal needs more specialised medication. The Indonesian state is responsible for providing healthcare to prisoners. I hope that the health condition of these two prisoners will be taken seriously by the Penitentiary Director General.
In accordance with the doctor’s recommendations, Jefrai Murib should be moved to Abepura jail in Jayapura, and needs to receive medical attention at the Dok Dua Hospital in Jayapura.
January 6, 2012 | Categories: News alert, Opinion, syndication, Urgent Action | Tags: Biak, indonesia, Jayapura, Papuan people, Political Prisoner, Prison, Wamena, west papua | Leave A Comment »
