Dorus Wakum, human rights activists and Kord Papua Axe (Photo: Papuan Voices)
Jakarta — Indigenous Papuan Communities Against Corruption in Papua (KAMPAK) condemned the beating of human rights activists and lawyers from Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) by Jakarta Police Mobile Brigade, yesterday afternoon, Saturday (17/12) at the YLBHI Office.
Dorus Wakum, a Papuan activist from KAMPAK, in a media interview on Sunday (18/12), said that the beating incident must be followed up, and unscrupulous Brimob brutality must be prosecuted according to the law.
“If you need to fire corrupt Chief of Police and Mobile Brigade members , because they have clearly committed brutal acts against human rights activists,” he added. Dorus explained that after the incident, police and intelligence officers continued to keep the office of the Legal Aid Foundation under surveillance, and also to block access to the KontraS (Commission for the Disappeared) office on Jalan Borobudur KontraS, Menteng , Central Jakarta.
“This has caused great anxiety for civilians who live around the KontraS and YLBHI offices. They (officers) keep passing by with full weapons deployed” . Dorus said for three days armed forces have been monitoring all activists, and human rights lawyers activities in these two offices.
“The Metro Jaya police chief should withdraw his officials from around the office YLBHI and KontraS right now,” he said. The beatings of human rights activists and lawyers from YLBHI lasted until about 05.00 pm yesterday afternoon.
Occurring directly outside the YLBHI office. a lawyer named Sidik admonished some of the Mobile Brigade officers who were at YLBHI offices without a warrant. Not thankful for being reprimanded, Sidik was hit directly behind by some Mobile Brigade officers. At time of writing the beating complaint has not been followed-up the Jakarta Police.
WEST PAPUA MEDIA note: KontraS, a highly respected Indonesian human rights NGO, has been highly critical of Jakarta’s abuses and military approach to dealing with Papua, and it’s lawyers are regularly targeted by security forces for representing victims of abuse.
FOUR PAPUAN church leaders drafted and debated about their letter to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono while they’re in Jakarta this week. They met Indonesian Coordinating Minister on Politics and Security Djoko Suyantoon Monday, Dec. 12. They spent the next four days to draft the seven-page letter. It was finally signed at about 4pm at the office of the Communion of Churches in Indonesia. They handed over the letter to President Yudhoyono on Friday night at his private residence in Cikeas.They titled the letter, “Pesan Profetis Gereja-Gereja se-Tanah Papua” or the “Prophetical Message from the Churches in the Land of Papua.”
Frederika Korain, a Papuan human rights researcher, thought that it was an important, and histotical moment. She decided to record the moments when the letter was signed.
They prayed and shook hands after signing the seven-page letter. They spent most of their time in the office of the Communion of Churches in Indonesia on Salemba Street, Jakarta. It has a Papua Desk dedicated solely on helping Papuan churches doing their businesses in Jakarta. Rev. Phil Erari, a Papuan priest, an environmentalist and a board member at the Communion of Churches in Indonesia, also attended the signing event.
The seven-page letter has the picture of a dying Papuan freedom fighter, Yawan Wayeni. It says that Indonesian police officer Imam Setiawan had killed Wayeni on Aug. 9, 2009 on Serui Island. Setiawan got a promotion. He became the police chief of Jayapura. On Oct. 13, 2011 he led the use of excessive force to crack down the Papuan Congress after one of the leaders read out the 1961 Papua Declaration of Independence. Setiawan is now the deputy director of traffic management at the Papuan police department.
FOUR PAPUAN church leaders met Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Vice President Boediono and several cabinet members as well as Indonesia’s military commander and its police chief in President Yudhoyono’s private residence in Cikeas, outside Jakarta, on Friday Dec. 16.
They included Rev. Jemima M. Krey (chairwoman of the Evangelical Christian Church in Papua or Gereja Kristen Injili di Tanah Papua), Rev. Benny Giay (chairman of the Kingmi Gospel Tabernacle Church or Gereja Kingmi di Tanah Papua), Rev. Socratez Sofyan Yoman (chairman of the Alliance of Baptist Churches in Papua or Persekutuan Gereja-Gereja Baptis Papua) and Rev. Martin Luther Wanma (chairman of the Indonesian Christian Bible Church or Gereja Kristen Alkitab Indonesia). Frederika Korain, a Papuan human rights activist and an Australian National University student, also joined the delegate.
The meeting was initiated by the Communion of Churches in Indonesia (Persekutuan Gereja-gereja di Indonesia) whose board members also took part in the meeting: Rev. Andreas Yewangoe (chairman), Rev. Gomar Gultom (secretary general) and Rev. Phil Erari (deputy chairman).
The church leaders handed over a seven-page letter to President Yudhoyono, asking the Indonesian government to have a dialogue with the people of Papua. They also asked Yudhoyono stopping the Matoa Operation in Paniai, Papua, which had caused 14 dead and some burned villages on Dec. 12.
Other recommendations included retrieving non-organic troops from Papua, releasing Papuan political prisoners and annulling the Government Regulation No. 77/2007 which bans the Morning Star flag.
They also declared that the 2001 Special Autonomy in Papua had failed. They questioned the establishment of the Unit to Accelerate the Development of Papua and West Papua provinces (UP4B) without the participation of the Papuans, calling such a move “non democratic.”
Benny Giay told me Saturday that the meeting was taking place for more than two hours. “It really hurt me when knowing our church members were attacked, their villages being burned, while we’re here in Jakarta.”
Giay came from the village Onago on Lake Tigi in Paniai, near Edadu, where the Indonesian military and police have been organizing a joint military operation since Dec. 13.
They also told President Yudhoyono that most native Papuans have suffered from Indonesian rule since Indonesia took over New Guinea in 1962. Violence created much suffering on the people. They said most Papuans aspired to be separated from Indonesia.
In front of his guests, Yudhoyono immediately asked Indonesian police chief Gen. Timur Pradopo to stop the Matoa Operation. He also mentioned that U.S. President Barack Obama and State Secretary Hillary Clinton had raised the issues of human rights violations in Papua.
Yudhoyono welcomed such a dialogue but he reminded his guests that as president he has to keep the territorial integrity of Indonesia. He promised to enforce the law in Papua and to stop human rights abuses. Yudhoyono promised to have another dialogue with the four reverends in the third week of January.
The meeting began at 9pm and ended at 11.30pm at Yudhoyono’s private library. Gomar Gultom organized a press conference at the office of the Communion of Churches in Indonesia Saturday morning.
Both Yoman and Giay are under the Indonesian military watch list. An Indonesian military document leaked in August 2011 revealed that Kopassus agents were closely monitoring Giay and Yoman.
Another leaked letter dated April 30, 2011, from the Indonesian military commander in Papua, Maj. Gen. Erfi Triassunu, to the provincial governor, Barnabas Suebu, also shows a military interference in civil society in Papua.
The letter accuses Rev. Benny Giay’s Kingmi Gospel Tabernacle Church of trying to build an exclusive organization based on Papuan ethnicity, which Major General Triassunu viewed as a potential separatist movement, and suggests having the military mediate a conflict between the Kingmi Church (Gereja Kemah Injil or Kingmi Church) and the Indonesian Gospel Tabernacle Church (Gereja Kemah Injil Indonesia or GKII). The letter also urges that if deliberations cannot resolve the conflict, “immediate action” should be taken. Since the letter came to light, Major General Triassunu has publicly apologized for accusing the church of being a separatist organization, claiming a faction of the church had asked for assistance from the military.
Yawan Wayeni
Giay told me that Yudhoyono was surprised when seeing the photo of a dying Papuan activist Wayan Wayeni on the letter. They told him that Imam Setiawan, the Indonesian police officer who led the attack against Yawan Wayeni on Serui Island, in August 2009, was later promoted to be the police chief of Jayapura. In his new position, Setiawan used excessive forces when cracking down the Papuan Congress in October 2011 and arrested around 300 Papuans. But Setiawan got another promotion despite a written warning for his abusive behavior. He’s now the deputy director of traffic in Papua.
Original Letter from West Papuan church leaders on presented at President Yudhoyono’s private residence in Cikeas, outside Jakarta, on Friday Dec. 16, asking the Indonesian government to have a dialogue with the people of Papua. (Bahasa Indonesia: English translation currently unavailable) :
Greens’ spokesperson for West Papua, Senator Richard Di Natale, has called for urgent action in response to reports of conflict, deaths and displacement in the Paniai region of West Papua.
“Australia can no longer stand silent while West Papua burns,” said Senator Di Natale.
“There are reports of villages being raided and razed by Indonesian forces, which may have been trained and armed by Australia.
“In addition to 15 deaths from shootings, thousands of West Papuans are reportedly displaced and some have died from an outbreak of diarrhoea in an overcrowded refugee care centre.
“The Australian Government must urge Indonesia to end the violence immediately, withdraw all military forces from the region and enter into a peaceful dialogue with the Free West Papua movement.
“We must also push for access to be given to the Red Cross so that much needed aid and care can be given to the Papuans in the region. Opening up the area to journalists and human rights organisations is needed so that we can monitor events like these.
“Australia must consider its military links to Indonesia and suspend all ties while such violence continues.
“We cannot stand idly by while this conflict escalates and human rights are being abused on our doorstop.”
3 people died from diarreah and exposure – a two year old baby on the 9/11 and a 47 woman and 4 year old child on the 14/11.
Six villages were burnt: Toko, Badawo, Dagouto, Obayoweta, Dey and Wamanik.
1,715 have fled their homes.
(Independent West Papua Media sources have reported that the 1715 are ONLY those people who are housed in a police supervised secure “Care Centre” at Uwatawogi Hall in Enaratoli – many thousands more have abandoned their villages and are currently unaccounted for).
The report covers events in Paniai up until the TNI/POLRI raid on Eduda. The report (in Indonesian) is attached.
For more information and interviews in English or Indonesian please contact West Papua Media for a direct Elsham contact
West Papua Media
URGENT CORRECTION:
The Report yesterday “Shootings, village burnings and helicopter attacks continue across Paniai” provided a list of names of 15 people allegedly shot by Indonesian security forces during the raid on Markas Eduda. West Papua Media conducted extensive cross checking with sources last night to ensure the veracity of this list, and was assured by over FIVE independent sources that the information and names were correct.
However, new information has come to hand that claims that these names were victims from a previous military operation. Until we can prove or disprove this new information unequivocally, we will treat these names as Unconfirmed Deaths. Witnesses have described deaths however, and the confirmed live fire, village burnings, occupations, grenade throwing, and helicopter strafing will produce significant casualties. We will update as we have more confirmed information.
The situation in Paniai is highly fluid, constantly changing and thoroughly closed to outside journalists, which makes real time verification extremely difficult. Our network of citizen sources is also subject to poor communications, and is subject to a massive live fire military offensive, with civilians being targeted and communications heavily disrupted. West Papua Media has been reporting on events in real time and the nature of real time reporting is that facts can change on the ground as fast as a situation, and our reporting will reflect those changes.
West Papua Media Alerts 