Month: October 2011

Movement Against Freeport is set up by Papuan Students

Bintang Papua,28 October 2011

A number of UNCEN student organisations along with the KNPB, the
National Committee for West Papua, have announced the establishment of
a movement to oppose Freeport. They regard this company as having been
the cause of many problems in Papua. The students unfurled two banners,
one of which depicts the US flag intertwined with the logo of Freeport,

The new organisation is called People’s Movement Against Freeport Crimes
– Gerklaf. The co-ordinator of the new organisation is Fanny Kogoya and
Bovid Defa is the secretary.At the end of the ceremony, the US flag was
set on fire. This opposition movement regards the presence of Freeport
as having come about as the result of a political contract between the
USA and its allies in order to ensure the continuance of Papua within
the Unitary Republic of Indonesia.

The integration of Papua within Indonesia, according to wording on the
banners, goes back to 1963 and the New York Agreement of 1963, the
contract concluded with Freeport in 1967, the Act of Free Choice in 1969
and the Bunker Proposal [Bunker was the US diplomat who was involved in
the conclusion of the New York Agreement.].

Before the declaration was announced, the leaders of eight student
organisation delivered speeches. Fanny Kogoya said that the new movement
would press for the consolidation of the movement throughout the whole
of Papua, to strengthen opposition to Freeport.

They also said that any plans to renegotiate the contract with Freeport
should involve indigenous Papua people.[This is a reminder of the fact
that past contracts with Freeport have all been concluded with the
Indonesian government, without the presence of the representatives of
the Papuan people.]

The declaration that was read out by Bovid called on the one hand for
the expulsion of Freeport, while on the other hand saying that Freeport
should become the property of the Papuan people.The words on the banner
were:’The Papuan people must assert their sovereignty over their
natural resources.’

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NZ Media ‘blindfolded’ over West Papua crisis, say critics

from our partners at the Pacific Media Centre

Forkorus Yoboisembut … elected West Papuan “president” at the last week’s Papuan People’s Congress and arrested by Indonesian forces. Photo: EngageMedia

Friday, October 28, 2011

Item: 7692

AUCKLAND(Pacific Media Watch): As tensions escalate in the Indonesian-occupied Melanesian region of West Papua, there is growing criticism over the lack of information in the mainstream New Zealand media about the troubled area.

Last week, the third Papuan People’s Congress was held in Abepura, on the outskirts of Jayapura. It was a peaceful rally of thousands of West Papuans who had gathered to celebrate their culture, hold talks and elect their representatives.

When the Morning Star flag was raised and cries of “merdeka” (independence) were heard by the strong Indonesian military presence, gunshots rang out and violencefollowed.

Deaths and mass arrests
The newly-elected “president” Forkorus Yoboisembut, chairman of the Papuan Customary Council (DAP), was arrested along with hundreds of others and reports emerged of up to six deaths.

On Monday, Indonesian police chief Adj. Comr. Dominggus Awes was gunned downon the tarmac of Mulia Airport. The People’s Liberation Army of West Papua or OPM, were accused of being involved but have since denied it.

And on a completely separate event, at least seven people have died over the past few weeks during the controversial strike over low wages at the US-owned Freeport McMoRan mine.

So far, only the public broadcaster, Radio New Zealand International, and independent media outlets such as Pacific Scoop have paid any attention. In the international pages of the main newspapers, Europe and other parts of the world have featured, but nothing about our own region.

NZ ‘not part of Pacific’
Dr Steven Ratuva, senior lecturer in Pacific studies at the University of Auckland, says New Zealand likes to consider itself a Pacific country, but can’t, as its interests lie elsewhere.

“There is nothing in terms of media coverage that gives the impression that New Zealand is part of the Pacific,” he says.

“It’s a dilemma that New Zealand is facing – on one level it claims to be a Pacific country but the New Zealand Herald has only one Pacific reporter, and TVNZ the same.”

Dr Ratuva sources his information from places such as West Papua from blogs as well as “internet sources outside the mainstream media”.

He says the main reason is politics.

“The [Pacific Islands] Forum, at the last meeting didn’t want to touch it. Indonesia is a significant player in the region and has links with Australia and New Zealand,” he says.

“Papua New Guinea doesn’t want to acknowledge it, even though it shares a border with West Papua, due to its fears of Indonesia.”

Dr Teresia Teaiwa, senior lecturer in Pacific studies, at Va’aomanu Pasifika Victoria University of Wellington, says mainstream print and television media leave a lot to be desired.

‘Inanely insular’
“If it’s not a major crisis or related to a major crisis, don’t expect it to be covered,” she says.

“I’ve stopped reading mainstream newspapers because of how inanely insular they are.

“I was surprised at how little coverage the Occupy Wall Street movement got in theDominion Post a couple of weeks ago. If a significant first world movement isn’t getting any serious attention in our newspapers, how can we expect informed and engaged journalism on issues in the Pacific Islands from New Zealand media?”

Dr Heather Devere from the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies says New Zealand is inward-looking.

“I do think we are more insular here,” she says.

“I’m not sure that it is so much a concerted effort to ignore rather than a genuine ignorance.”

Journalism education
While others say it is mostly economic pressures on newsrooms, Dr Devere says the issue with media goes back to the education of journalists.

“So many students seem to be attracted to the communication discipline as a chance to be a celebrity rather than an investigative journalist,” she says.

“There is very little content in the training so journalists do not have knowledge about the situations on which they have to report.”

Director of the Pacific Media Centre and journalism educator Dr David Robie is even more critical of the current New Zealand media role in informing the public about events in the region.

He says local media rely too much on international and digital syndications and few journalists dedicated to tailoring international news for a New Zealand perspective.

News judgment ‘parochial’
“There are very few genuine international affairs editors in New Zealand media organisations, specialists in global news who have either done the hard yards themselves as foreign correspondents or have expert background knowledge,” he says.

“So news judgment is often weak and parochial.”

He said it is a shame that New Zealand is shown up by other media organisations abroad.

“It’s extremely embarrassing and it makes a mockery of our claim to be part of the Pacific,” he says. “We really need to up our game.

“When a Middle East-based global news service like Al Jazeera find it important enough to send teams to cover New Caledonia and West Papua, for example, it is an indictment of our own coverage and news values that we fail to match this. I cannot recall the last time that I saw an in-depth TV report in New Zealand on the French Pacific.”

Melanesia loses out
Dr Robie says that most Pacific news published in mainstream New Zealand media is from the Polynesia, while Melanesia and Micronesia are largely ignored.

“It is very rare to see good, in-depth coverage of Melanesian and Micronesian affairs in New Zealand media, with the brave and committed exceptions of Pacific specialists such as Barbara Dreaver on TVNZ,” he says. He also praised Radio NZ International coverage.

“Yet two Melanesian nations are the economic ‘superpowers’ in the region – Papua New Guinea and Fiji. Since the fourth coup in December 2006, there has hardly been any serious journalism about Fiji any more other than extraordinarily biased polemics masquerading as journalism about the regime.

“The country’s censorship law and an inflexible regime don’t make it easy, but far better reporting could still be done in spite of the problems.

“In this context, West Papua barely exists. If even neighbouring Papua New Guinea falls below the radar then there is little hope for West Papua getting fair and informed coverage.”

Australia fares better
In the Australian media, Fairfax’s Sydney Morning Herald has been following the West Papua issue over the last few weeks.

Its coverage has compared with Radio Australia’s Pacific Beat programme. Yet here in New Zealand, no mainstream media has taken it up apart from Radio NZ International.

“I think we are extremely fortunate that there are still a few state-owned broadcasting outfits like RNZI in this country and ABC in Australia that have dedicated Pacific programmes,” says Dr Teaiwa.

“And I’m not sure whether to celebrate or lament this. But often some of the most illuminating stories come from student journalists who have not yet learned to surrender to the wider industry’s demands and values.”

Maire Leadbeater, from the Auckland-based Indonesia Human Rights Committee, and a campaigner for human rights in West Papua, wrote an article in a 2008 edition ofPacific Journalism Review about what she argued was New Zealand’s biggest media blind spot.

If we are unsure that very little has changed in the past three years, perhaps the New ZealandHerald’s approach to West Papua during the Rugby World Cup could clarify the situation:

‘West Papua‘s moment’

CupShorts took CupShorts jnr to Pt Chevalier playground where we bumped into an off-duty Green Party MP. “Why is the media so obsessed with the World Cup?” she asked. “Big issues are being missed. We just had a delegation here from West Papua and there was no press coverage on them at all.”

A fair point. And one that we’re only too happy to remedy. So, for the record, West Papua is currently part of Indonesia (no IRB ranking). However, if they got independence they might someday hope to rival neighbouring Papua New Guinea (rated 46th in the IRB rankings). Good luck to them.”

PMC

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Responsibility to Protect: Statement regarding the shooting of civilians in Abepura on 19 Oct 2011.

The Asia-Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect has today released a statement regarding the reports about the shooting of civilians in Jayapura, West Papua, on 19 October 2011. To read a copy of the statement, please click here.
For further information in relation to this statement, please contact Annie Pohlman (a.pohlman@uq.edu.au) and Jason MacLeod (j.macleod@uq.edu.au).
Annie Pohlman is Program Leader for Southeast Asia at the Asia-Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, the University of Queensland.
Jason MacLeod is based at the School of Political Science and International Studies, the University of Queensland, where he teaches conflict and nonviolent change. He is researching civil resistance in West Papua.

26 October 2011

Statement regarding the shooting of civilians in Abepura, Jayapura, on
Wednesday 19 October 2011.

The Asia-Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect appeals to the Indonesian
government to show leadership in protecting and upholding human rights in response
to continuing reports that members of the Indonesian military and police opened fire
on civilians attending the Third Papuan People’s Congress in Abepura, Jayapura, on
the afternoon of Wednesday 19 October 2011.

Reports from Kontras (The Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of
Violence) and Elsham (The Institute for the Study and Advocacy of Human Rights in
West Papua) in the Papua Province of Indonesia state that these shootings occurred on
the third day of the Congress, held on a field (Lapangan Zakheus/Sakeus or Taboria)
in Abepura. Throughout the Congress, military and police personnel maintained a
prominent armed presence. It is also reported that Forkorus Yeboisembut, Chairman
of the Council of Customary Papuan Chiefs, declared Papuan independence from
Indonesia during the afternoon of 19 October.

Subsequently, members of the police and military near the field allegedly fired upon
civilians and moved in to arrest members of the Congress. At least five people were
reportedly killed during this attack. At this time, Yeboisembut and other Congress
leaders – including Selfius Bobi, Edison Waromi, Agus Krar, Dominikus Surabut and
Gat Wenda – are still detained.

Kontras had confimed three of the victims – Daneil Kedepa, Yakobus Samonsabra
and Max Yew – died of gunshot wounds. Two others, Matias Maidepa and Yacop
Sabonsaba, were allegedly found dead behind the military headquarters in Abepura. A
team from the National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM), headed by
Deputy Chairperson Ridha Saleh, arrived in Papua on Tuesday 25 October to
investigate the violence.

One week after this incident, tensions in Papua remain high. The Indonesian National
Police is now on the highest level of alert in Papua and 300 additional members of the
Police Mobile Brigade (Brimob) have been sent after Dominggus Awes, a local Chief
of Police, was shot at the airport in the highlands region of Mulia.

The Asia-Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect is deeply concerned about
reports of a violent assault on a peaceful and unarmed gathering of civilians in
Abepura. It is also concerned by the tone of discussion about the Papuan People’s
Congress in Jakarta. The Congress is seen as an attack on the government and has
been called a “coup” (1)  that must be “put down” with a military solution (2).   The heightened presence of security forces in Papua, in addition to inflammatory language used by public officials in Jakarta, are likely to escalate tensions in Papua. Thus, the potential for further violence is high and immediate action by the government should
be taken to contain further violence.

The Centre recognises and commends the leadership shown by Indonesia in
promoting human rights within the Southeast Asia region and so calls upon the
Indonesian government to respond quickly and effectively to these reports.

In particular, the Centre urges the Indonesian government to:

1. Support the National Commission on Human Right’s independent investigation to
determine the events that took place on the afternoon of Wednesday 19 October 2011
at the Third Papuan People’s Congress in Abepura.

2. Ascertain and provide clear details regarding the whereabouts and wellbeing of all
persons currently detained in connection with the attack on the Third Papuan People’s
Congress.

3. An independent investigation be carried out into the actions of police, military and
any other State officials during the Third Papuan People’s Congress and, in particular,
into their actions on the afternoon of Wednesday, 19 October 2011, and subsequent
actions taken in connection to the incident.

The Centre acknowledges the great strides Indonesia has made under the leadership of
President Susilo Bambang Yudhuyono and expresses hope that the President will do
all he can to protect the rights to life and safety of all Indonesian citizens including
those in Papua.

  Notes:
1  Statement made by Djoko Suyanto, Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs. See “Minister Defends Papua Response, Denies Govt Role in Deaths,” The Jakarta Globe, 21 October 2011, online at: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/security-minister-defends-papua-congress-was-acoup-detat/473139
[accessed 22 October 2011].

2  See also statements made by the Defence Minister, Purnomo Yusgiantoro. For example, see Made Arya Kencana, Banjir Ambarita and Ulma Haryanto, “Jakarta Gives US Its Side of Story in Papua Deaths,” The Jakarta Globe, 23 October 2011, online at: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/jakartagives-us-its-side-of-story-in-papua-deaths/473590 [accessed 24 October 2011].

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HRW: Independent Investigation Needed Into Papua Violence

http://www.hrw.org/node/102650

 

 

Human Rights Watch logo

 

Indonesia: Independent Investigation Needed Into Papua Violence

Ensure Proper Treatment of Detainees

 

*** To download high-resolution pictures click here: www.hrwnews.org/press/papua_indonesia.zip

 

(New York, October 28, 2011) – Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono should immediately establish an independent investigation into the deaths of at least three protesters and the ongoing violence in Papua, Human Rights Watch said today.

On October 19, 2011, Indonesian police and the army fired warning shots to disperse approximately 1,000 Papuans gathered for a peaceful pro-independence demonstration in the Papua provincial capital, Jayapura, after one of the leaders read out the 1961 Papua Declaration of Independence. In an ensuing crackdown by the security forces on the demonstrators, at least three people were killed and dozens were injured. Witnesses said several had gunshot wounds.

“Papuans peacefully calling for independence does not justify a deadly crackdown,” said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “President Yudhoyono has an opportunity to show Papuans that he’s concerned about their rights by seriously investigating these deaths.”

The involvement of security forces in the violence, as well as government denials of any wrongdoing, demonstrate the need for an independent investigation, Human Rights Watch said. While the military announced that the National Police were investigating the incident, the government has already said that the police and military acted appropriately. “The government did not find any abuse of power nor mismanaged approaches by the security officers,” said presidential spokesman, Julian Aldrin Pasha. “Police officers and security forces just accomplished their duties mandated by the state.”

Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that at about 2:30 p.m. on October 19, at the “Third Papuan Congress,” Forkorus Yaboisembut, chairman of the Papuan Customary Council, read out a 1961 Declaration of Independence, and said that he and Edison Waromi, the president of the West Papua National Authority, had been elected by the Congress as president and prime minister respectively of the “Democratic Republic of West Papua.”

About 30 minutes later, the event concluded and the crowd started to disperse, but about 1,000 people remained in the field, talking, and socializing. At approximately 3:30 p.m., the police and military, who had deployed anti-riot trucks and surrounded the field since midnight the night before, began firing military assault weapons over the crowds and into the air.

Witnesses said that most of the people in the field began running. Others stopped and surrendered, putting their hands up. The police then arrested approximately 300 people, ordering them to strip down to their underwear. Witnesses say that security forces pistol-whipped or beat those they arrested with rattan canes and batons, resulting in several injuries.

 

Many others fled into the woods near the field, with some using a road by a nearby school and military outpost. Witnesses said the police and military forces followed into the woods and there arrested numerous others.

 

The three reported deaths are:

 

  • Daniel Kadepa, 25, a law student at Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Hukum Umel Mandiri. A witness said that Kadepa died from gunshot wounds to the head after soldiers fired on him as he was running away.
  • Max Asa Yeuw, 35, a member of the Penjaga Tanah Papua (Papua Land Guard or PETAPA).
  • Yakobus Samansabra, 53, a member of PETAPA, had bullet wounds to his torso, reportedly in the back.

Several other PETAPA members had gunshot wounds.

 

Indonesian security forces should abide by the United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms, Human Rights Watch said. These which call upon law enforcement officials, including members of the armed forces, to apply nonviolent means before resorting to the use of force, to use force only in proportion to the seriousness of the offense, and to use lethal force only when strictly unavoidable, to protect life. The principles also provide that governments shall ensure that arbitrary or abusive use of force and firearms by law enforcement officials is punished as a criminal offense under their law.

 

Police have since released all of those arrested except for six men, five of whom were charged with treason, and one charged with possession of a sharp weapon:

 

  • Forkorus Yaboisembut, chairman of the Papua Customary Council, probably the most prominent pro-independence leader in Papua. Documents from Indonesia’s special forces, or Kopassus, leaked by Australian media in August, have revealed that Yaboisembut was on the top of the military’s watch list. Kopassus reportedly placed informants around Yaboisembut, including his neighbors and a journalist.
  • Edison Waromi, president of the West Papua National Authority.
  • Dominikus Surabut, secretary of the Papuan Customary Council in La Pago region.
  • Selpius Bobii, a social media activist, who organized the Papuan Congress. He eluded the police crackdown, but surrendered to police on October 20, accompanied by his lawyers and a Papuan journalist.
  • August M. Sananay of the West Papua National Authority.
  • Gat Wanda, a member of PETAPA, charged with possessing a sharp weapon.

The six men have had access to lawyers. Human Rights Watch has previously documented torture and ill-treatment of political detainees by police and prison guards in Papua, and the failure of the government to hold those responsible to account.

“Past mistreatment of Papuan political prisoners means the safety of these detainees is also at risk,” Pearson said. “Those detained should be treated fairly and have access to Indonesia’s human rights commission and local human rights groups.”

This incident follows a string of violent incidents in Papua since July, including:

· On July 31, a deadly clash between two local Papuan groups in Puncak Jaya, Papua, that claimed 17 lives. Leaders of both groups were planning to run for office for the same political party.

· On August 1, the fatal shooting of three Javanese migrants and an Indonesia soldier, in Nafri, Jayapura. Police later arrested 15 Papuan villagers, including several children, in Horas Skyline village, Jayapura, allegedly beating and kicking the detainees. All but two of those detained have been released without charge.

· On August 3, the fatal shooting of Pvt. Fana Suhandi, a member of the Army 753rd Battalion, as he guarded a military post in Tingginambut in Puncak Jaya. A sniper shot at a military helicopter that had arranged to transport his body from Puncak Jaya.

· On August 22, in Mulia, the capital of Puncak Jaya, the fatal shooting by a sniper of an unarmed motorcycle taxi driver near a post of the Army 753rd battalion. Media reports say the victim may have been an army informer.

· On August 23, Army Capt. Tasman M. Noer was stabbed to death by two men as he rode his motorcycle in broad daylight near his home in Abepura. A witness to the attack was beaten and hospitalized later the same day.

· Since October 10, the killings of at least four people at the Freeport mine site in Timika, southern Papua. More than 2,000 workers stopped work in July and again in September demanding wage increases. Freeport has replaced workers on strike with other miners. On October 10, one of the striking workers was killed by police and several others injured. Several police officers and two journalists were also injured in the melee. Unidentified gunmen shot dead three non-Papuan workers on October 14.

· On October 24, two unidentified men shot dead Mulia police chief, Dominggus Oktavianus Awes, in Mulia, Puncak Jaya. The men seized his pistol and used it to shoot him in the face.

Police investigations into these incidents have lacked transparency, and it has been difficult to gather information about the progress of investigations. Police efforts to hold the killers accountable have been frustrated by a lack of serious investigations, equipment, and manpower. In some areas, police have not gone to the crime scene or collected evidence due to concerns for their safety.

Documenting human rights violations during protests and other events is especially difficult because of restrictions, since 1962, on access to Papua for foreign human rights monitors and journalists. Human Rights Watch called on the Indonesian government to lift these restrictions. Human Rights Watch takes no position on the self-determination of the Papuan people.

“Police and military personnel have also been the victims of violence in Papua,” Pearson said. “But police investigations have been woefully inadequate, and there’s a need for independent investigations into this escalating violence.”

For more Human Rights Watch reporting on Indonesia, please visit:

http://www.hrw.org/asia/indonesia

 

For more information, please contact:

In London, Brad Adams (English): +44-7908-728333 (mobile); or adamsb@hrw.org
In New York, Elaine Pearson (English): +1-212-216-1213; or +1-646-291-7169 (mobile); or pearsoe@hrw.org

In Washington, DC, John Sifton (English): +1-917-838-9736 (mobile); or siftonj@hrw.org


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Neles Tebay calls for an end to repression and suppo

Bintang Papua, 26 October 2011The head of the Theology and Philosophy College, STFT, Pastor Neles Tebay, speaking after the acts of violence which occurred during the Third Papuan Peoples’ Congress, said that the violence had had a significant impact on the victims of the incident. He said that the security forces had entered the residences of the priests as well as the campus without prior permission and started looking for the Congress participants. This had resulted in material and psychological damage for all those who were staying at the STFT campus.

Speaking at a press conference after the event, he said that they were not concerned about the material damage which had been done but were concerned about the use of physical violence against people who had attended the Congress, which had also impacted on the broader community. He said that every effort should be made to ensure that such acts of violence do not occur again any time in the future. He stressed that the entire faculty of the STFT rejects the use of all kinds of repression in dealing with the problems. Using violence undermines the dignity of all concerned, above all the dignity of the victims as well as the perpetrators.

He said that it was very regrettable that the security forces appear to believe that they have the monopoly of the truth about what happened  and believe that the brothers and fathers residing on the STFT complex had acted wrongfully simply because they provided protection  to people who were fleeing and who were in need of protection, in accordance with universal principles in a situation where people’s personal safety was under threat. ‘It is the duty of the brothers and fathers to provide protection to people who are being chased and under threat from the security forces, in accordance with the principle of humanitarianism, and is not in any way connected with political issues.’

Pastor Neles called on Komnas HAM, the National Human Rights Commission, to investigate the acts of violence that occurred at the end of the Third Papuan People’s Congress in order to determine the extent to which basic human rights had been violated.

Recalling the commitment of the SBY government expressed on 16 August 2011 when the President said that  Papua should be handled with the heart, he fully supported  the call for dialogue between Jakarta and Papua. He said that dialogue would  be of tremendous importance not only as a way of ending the violence but so as to ensure that there would be no further repetition of violence in the  Land of Papua.

He called  on all people of goodwill to jointly  press for dialogue, for the sake of peace in Papua. Dialogue would make it possible to identify the problems and reach an agreement on the way to solve the problems in Papua in a way that is free of violence and bloodshed.

He also admitted that he was the one who had given the Congress permission to use the Zakheus Soccer Pitch as the venue of the Congress. He had done so because the Congress had been refused permission to hold the event either in the UNCEN Auditorium or in the Sports Stadium, GOR.

[Translated by TAPOL]

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