International League of People's Struggle supports West Papua
News
In Amsterdam on August 21, The International League of Peoples’ Struggle, passed resolutions to support the struggle for justice in West Papua.
Full text of resolutions below:
RESOLUTION ON WEST PAPUA
21 August 2010
The International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) expresses its unreserved support for the aspirations of the people of West Papua for freedom and justice for the West Papuan peoples.
The situation in West Papua continues to deteriorate with military operations against the West Papuan people backed by US and Australian interests.
Since March 2010, the Indonesian reactionary government has launched military operations, among others, in Puncak Jaya, Papua province. The operations aim to destroy the people’s struggle to defend their land and natural resources from national and multinational company plunder. The military operations have caused great danger on the lives of the people, destitution and grave violations of human rights.
The International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) also calls on the world people to support the following demands:
– To immediately stop and suspend all military and paramilitary operations against civilians;
– To immediately stop the so-called anti-terror troops (Detachment 88) funded by the United States and Australia, from being utilized against the people expressing their right to protest and demonstrate;
– To immediately release all political prisoners without prejudice; and
– To bring all perpetrators of human rights violations to justice.
RESOLUTION ON DISCUSSION AND DIALOGUE
21 August 2010
The International Coordinating Group (ICG) supports the initiative by the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) Australian Chapter, in conjunction with the ILPS Indonesian Chapter, to organize discussion and dialogue with the West Papuan people.
–
Images from Sentani return of Otsus and Act of Free Choice, Aug 2
More photos have surfaced from yesterdays return of Autonomy and the Act of Free Choice, held at Sentani, by the grave of slain West Papuan hero, Chief Theys Eluay.
Police disperse demonstrators in Manokwari
Manokwari (WEST PAPUA), August 2
Reports have surfaced from Manokwari that a demonstration organised by students from the University of Papua in Manokwari, together with West Papua National Authority and KNPB (West Papua National Committee) were dispersed by force by Indonesia paramilitary police.
No reports of injuries have been received, however, witnesses reported that banners were seized by fully armed DALMAS counter-terrorism police. The DALMAS anti-terror joint police/military unit, funded by the Australian government, is routinely deployed against peaceful protestors in West Papua.
One of the organisers of the rally, Markus Yenu, is still in hiding after receiving credible and sustained death threats from military intelligence figures. Organisers of the rallies in Manokwari are complaining that they are unable to peacefully express their legally guaranteed rights to free speech by the inappropriate deployment of Indonesian anti-terror police.
“People in Manokwari are questioning where are their right”s to free expression, when fully armed troops are stopping us from gathering peacefully”,said Markus Yenu, West Papua National Authority Governor in Manokwari, by telephone interview to West Papua Media Alerts.
Demonstrators have contented that August will be full of demonstrations calling for a return of special autonomy to Jakarta, and for internationally mediated dialogue on Papua’s future.
West Papua Media Alerts
Ceremony in Timika for symbolic return of Act of Free Choice and calling for Referendum
*Original in Indonesian received. The following is their translation. TAPOL
*
A number of photos were also attached, mainly showing the ceremonial burning of a coffin containing the Act.
*Report by: Romario Yatipai*
*KNPB Timika Chairman*
*KNPB News-*Monday, August 2, 2010 are not left alone by the people of West Papua nation which is in the Timika area. In the day of birth of the manipulation process 1969 was celebrated by the people of West Papua in Timika as a venue for the manipulation of political status by the Dutch West Papua, Indonesia and the United States in the process undertaken by the United Nations Act of Free Choice. Mimika city calmed the situation with the activities of life for people in nations around the existing West Papuan town of Timika. In the peace of the Timika region KNPB worship Choice in 1969 Returns to the United Nations. Maranata Church Kesehatan Street in Timika Indah into place to restore the 1969 Act of Free Choice coffin symbolically in the form of prayer and praise and the burning of Coffin 1969.
Promptly at 11 o’clock worship WPB began to be implemented with compliments. Worship is a theme in saying that “God is crying Eliminate Child Affairs”, which means that the intervention of God cries of suffering people of West Papua nation will end up passing everyone both at the international, national and local. Meditations take place with a short religious service in told by the Rev.Dese Adii interspersed with poetry, song and dance, it states that 1969 is the manipulation in the interest of the warring parties in the International in West Papua in the year 1960-1969.
Worship is held at the end of the combustion Coffin Choice in 1969 by the people of West Papua nation which is in the church yard. After the 1969 burning of the coffin by the people of West Papua in the nation continue with the reading of the political declaration of West Papuan people of the nation. Political statement of the people of West Papua nation is as follows:
*Petition of Choice in 1969 RETURN TO DEMAND UN referendum*
We the people of West Papua nation states that:
1. We are a nation that once independence as a state on December 1, 1961 according to the spirit of the resolutions of the UN decolonization No. 1514 1960.
2. UN, DUTCH, U.S. and INDONESIA never involve us Papuans as owners of this country in determining the status and future of our nation, West Papua. Therefore, the status of West Papua in the Homeland is illegal because it violates the standard-standard and principles of international law and human rights.
3. Implementation of Choice in 1969 is an event full of engineering for economic and political interests of the United States, Indonesia and the United Nations. Because we Papuans never wanted or chose unanimously to join the Homeland. Thus the UN has failed to implement the mechanism of a referendum on the date, July 14 until August 2, 1969.
4. Until now, we the people of Papua demanding the implementation of a democratic referendum, so that we the people of Papua can determine our political rights for our future Papua people. Therefore:
1) We are all people of West Papua with the official returns of defective Choice in 1969 to the UN and the UN soon hold a referendum for the sake of respect for the standards and principles of international law and human rights, and particularly special for justice and peace on the political conflicts that have been and are being people of west Papua casualties.
2) We ask the IPWP and ILWP and Vanuatu Government soon became the facilitator for political accountability and legal status of West Papua to the UN.
Port Numbay, West Papua, August 2, 2010.
*”WE MUST BE ENDING”*
WEST PAPUA NATIONAL COMMITTEE (KNPB)
*_
Buchtar Tabuni_*
General Chairman
STATEMENT BY THE WEST PAPUA ADVOCACY TEAM REGARDING THE U.S. GOVERNMENT'S DECISION TO RESUME COOPERATION WITH THE INDONESIAN SPECIAL FORCES (KOPASSUS)
STATEMENT BY THE WEST PAPUA ADVOCACY TEAM REGARDING THE U.S. GOVERNMENT’S DECISION TO RESUME COOPERATION WITH THE INDONESIAN SPECIAL FORCES (KOPASSUS)
The decision of the Obama Administration to begin “gradual and limited” engagement with the Indonesian Special Forces (Kopassus) ignores more than a decade-old, bi-partisan, bi-cameral Congressional consensus opposing assistance to that organization.
Opposition to U.S. military cooperation with Kopassus is based on that unit’s undisputed record of human rights abuse, criminality and unaccountability before the law. U.S. Administration claims that the organization has recently adopted a reform course is belied by credible independent reporting that Kopassus continues to abuse human rights with impunity. A June 2009 Human Rights Watch report detailed Kopassus abuse of civilians in Merauke in the troubled province of West Papua.
Administration claims that those Kopassus personnel “convicted” of human rights abuse have been removed from the organization ignores the reality that the impunity enjoyed by Kopassus personnel for decades has ensured that only a handful of Kopassus personnel have ever faced justice in a credible criminal court. In a rare example of judicial action, seven Kopassus officers were convicted of the 2001 murder of the leading Papuan political figure, Theys Eluay. Of the seven convicted of what the judge in the case termed a “torture-murder,” all remain on active duty after serving brief sentences (the longest being three and one half years imprisonment). Six left Kopassus but one remains in the organization.
Administration assurances that any Kopassus candidate for U.S. training will undergo “vetting” by the State Department ignores past failures of the State Department to screen out Kopassus rights abusers and criminals.
The Administration announcement correctly notes that since the fall of the dictator Suharto, with whose military the U.S. military maintained close ties, Indonesia has been on a democratic course. But the Administration fails to acknowledge that the gravest threat to ongoing democratic progress is the Indonesian military which continues to evade civilian control. Despite 2004 legislative requirements that the military divest itself of its vast empire of legal and illegal businesses by 2009, the military retains this source of off-budget funding.
Kopassus and other military personnel continue to enjoy impunity before the law for human rights abuse and criminal activity including people trafficking and drug running as acknowledged in past U.S. State Department human rights reporting.
The Indonesian military, and particularly Kopassus and intelligence agencies continue to repress peaceful protest, most notably targeting the people of West Papua. The military, especially Kopassus, but also the U.S.-funded “Detachment 81″ and the militarized police (BRIMOB), routinely intimidate, threaten and accost Papuans who non-violently resist denial of fundamental rights, illegal expropriation of their lands and marginalization. Military and police units have repeatedly conducted purportedly anti-rebel “sweep operations” in the remote Central Highlands forcing thousands of villagers into the forests where they suffer lack of food, shelter and access to medical care. Twenty percent of Kopassus personnel (approximately 1,000 personnel) are stationed in West Papua.
The U.S. Administration’s decision to resume cooperation with the most criminal and unreformed element of the Indonesian military removes critical international pressure for reform and professionalization of the broader Indonesian military. It signals to Indonesian human rights advocates who have born the brunt of security force intimidation that they stand alone in their fight for respect for human rights and genuine reform in Indonesia.
contact: Ed McWilliams, edmcw@msn.com, +1-575-648-2078
Military commander: Papua wont be free as long as the army remains there
Bintang Papua, 20 July 2010
Jayapura:
The military commander of the Cenderawasih Military Command,
Major-General Hotma Marbun, said that the aspirations of some groups of
people to secede from the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia -
NKRI – will never be achieved as long as the Indonesian army remains in
Papua.
‘As long at the army is in Papua, there will be no merdeka,’ he told the
press, after attending a meeting.with the governor.
The two-star general said that as long as the army remains there and
pursues its state duties in accordance with its assignment from the
state and the mandate from the Indonesian people to safeguard the
territorial integrity of the NKRI, the territory of Indonesia will
remain whole.
He referred to an incident when shots were fired against the security
forces as well as against civilians in Mulia, the district of Puncak
Jaya, which resulted in a number of casualties; regardless of whether
this was an act of subversion, security in the region is still the
responsibility of the police force, while the army only has a supporting
role.
‘If the incident is an act of subversion whatever their objectives, it’s
a different matter, as there may be orders from the centre, if the aim
is to achieve meredeka, but there wont be any such thing as merdeka
until such time as we are ordered by the president to leave Papua and
then the army will go home and the police will go home. Then it will be
up to them to get merdeka or whatever they like,’ he said.
He was speaking during a recent visit to Puncak Jaya.
He said that conditions in the district of Puncak Jaya, especially in
Tingginambut, which is often referred to as the base of an armed
movement, have gradually been restored to normal.
Asked whether he thought that there would be no more shooting in Puncak
Jaya, the commander said the army can provide no guarantee that the
actions of the armed group have come to an end. ‘They are just a group
of individuals; they have got hold of weapons without a licence.’
He went on to say that the only citizens who may possess weapons are
people in possession of a licence. Anyone possessing weapons withough
permission will be arrested by the police. ‘Even members of the army are
not all permitted to take out their weapon unless they are on duty or
involved in special activities.’
Tingginambut is still the responsibility of the police which means that
the army has only a supporting role, the commander said.
Video from July 8-9, Otsus handback at DPRP office, Jayapura
Video has just been released showing events at the DPRP in Jayapura.
The footage clearly contradicts Indonesian reporting that only small numbers of people were present.
http://www.youtube.com/v/5GL9HjbhMiI&hl=en_GB&fs=1
http://www.youtube.com/v/G3jLAyuxo5E&hl=en_GB&fs=1
http://www.youtube.com/v/5GL9HjbhMiI&hl=en_GB&fs=1
http://www.youtube.com/v/RBsb4GWxyuY&hl=en_GB&fs=1
http://www.youtube.com/v/Q9VTDvB9EWM&hl=en_GB&fs=1
http://www.youtube.com/v/omj2RfSXgak&hl=en_GB&fs=1
http://www.youtube.com/v/GqdWWuXtbps&hl=en_GB&fs=1
http://www.youtube.com/v/QYJ8v0NagOo&hl=en_GB&fs=1
http://www.youtube.com/v/G3jLAyuxo5E&hl=en_GB&fs=1
Mass Action outside UNCEN 1, July 8 2010
For the original footage in a single archive, please download from the following link:http://rapidshare.com/files/406461117/July8-9_video_DPRP_Aksi_massa.rar
Please credit West Papua Media Alerts
West Papua update – stirrings of insurrection. Please pass on….
Forwarding from Jason McLeod
Friends, A brief update:
1. After occupying parliament for two days the police threatened to use force to disperse the crowd (about 1500 stayed overnight). Protesters leaders then called the occupation off.
2. Significantly all protesters – moderates and radicals alike – withdrew in an orderly and disciplined manner. (Remember the last time there was an occupation like this – when students blockaded the road between Jayapura and the airport in March 2006 over the Freeport mine – it ended up in a riot with Indonesian security personnel stoned to death, retaliatory action by the paramilitary police with student dormitories ransacked and scores killed, beaten and tortured, hundreds of students fleeing to PNG, and a severely traumatised student population that is only re-grouping now).
3. This is not a radical protest although student activists from both the KNPB (West Papua National Committee) and WPNA (West Papua National Authority) are involved. However the protest is led by respected church leaders and backed by the Majelis Rakyat Papua (MRP – or indigenous Papuan upper house). Moderate NGO leaders are also involved. In fact, all components of Papuan society are involved.
4. There are now negotiations and political manoeuvrings to try and secure Papuan political leaders support to hand back Special Autonomy
5. To what extent the Papuan civil service (PNS) is being drawn in is not yet clear, but there is widespread dissatisfaction with Special Autonomy by members form the PNS who are a major beneficiary of Special Autonomy along with the Papuan political elite.
6. Equally true we know militias have been armed and that the police are out in force but it is not clear what their movements will be.
7. Another demonstration has been called for 19 July
8. Papuans have called for foreign governments to withhold all funds for Special Autonomy until there has been a dialogue with Jakarta to resolve the crisis.
Please pass this round your networks.
Warmly
Jason
BBC News quotes Indonesian police chief threatening to use live ammo
Imam Setiawan, Jayapura’s police chief, told the BBC police are ready to disperse the protesters with force. He admits his officers could even use live ammunition but only as a last resort.
