Author: westpapuamedia

Independent Journalism from West Papua to the World

The determination of West Papua’s future

A powerful photo of a young girl at an independence rally in Wamena, West Papua this month. The young generation in West Papua has the flames of justice running through their veins. The struggle will continue until West Papua is free. Credit: Alexsandr Potoisky, Baliem Valley 2011

A powerful photo of a young girl at a West Papua National Committee (KNPB) independence rally in Wamena, West Papua on August 2, 2011. The young generation in West Papua has the flames of justice running through their veins. The struggle will continue until West Papua is free.

Full photo essay from Russian photojournalist Alexsandr Potoisky http://sandr-87.livejournal.com/40271.html (in Russian, Google Translate may be necessary).

NB (2014 edit ): This photo has been shared massively and sold without credit to the original content creator, denying him funding to return to Papua and assist Papuan photojournalists. Please credit all content of West Papua subjects and origin, even for campaigning purposes. Each acknowledgement of intellectual property assists the support and development of indigenous media capacity. Each image shared or used for donations or marketing without acknowledgement, is the same plunder of indigenous West Papuan imagery as Indonesia does with Papuan culture, art, song, gold, oil, timber and blood. Please don’t be a plunderer. Acknowledge the provenance.

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Paniai people call for a halt to the deployment of more troops

JUBI, 25 August 2011

Following the armed skirmishes between the Indonesian army and police with a group thought to be the TPN/OPM led by John Magay Yogi, and a number of mysterious shooting incidents, the towns of Enarotali and Madi in Paniai district are full of military personnel who have arrived from outside Paniai.  Although the situation was thought to have improved, the presence of military personnel has spread anxiety among the population.

The reason for the increased deployment of troops to Paniai may be to hunt down some weapons that were seized by unidentified persons from the police station in Komopa, sub-district of Agadide on 16 August.  Or is it because Paniai is regarded as an area of conflict which needs extra action on the security front?

Whatever the reason, the local people along with local government officials long for a peaceful Paniai and call for a halt to the dispatch of more military troops. The local people have called on the local military chief, the military commander of XVII/Cenderawasih military command as well as President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to pull back these troops from the area.

A local community leader said: ‘Paniai is calm but many troops and police have been sent here. Is it because there is a war?’

According to Yafeth Y Kayame, head of the Suku Mee people, the additional deployment of many troops to Paniai has undermined the call for peace that was made last Saturday in Enarotali.. Local people have become more frightened than ever.

People are asking ‘Why have they come to Paniai? Enarotali and Paniai are not areas of conflict so the authorities must stop sending troops here.’ They have been arriiving here over the past four days, so who do they want to fight with? Or do they want to kill all of us here?’

The local administration should not keep silent but should take steps to safeguard security for the population. If it is only to re-capture two firearms, then the troops already here would surely be enough, without bringing in more troops, they say.

Many people think that the presence in the area of TPN/OPM forces in Eduda is being used as a justification to bring troops here from Jayapura and Nabire. According to some sources, in addition to infantry brigade 753/Arga Vira Tama Nabire, a Brimob company is also being deployed to Paniai.

Although this has been denied by Major-General Erfi Triassunu, the military commander of XVII/Cenderawasih military command, the fact is that these ‘new’ troops can be seen almost every day driving along the roads in convoys.

Meanwhile, anxiety has continued to spread among the local people and many have left their homes with a new exodus starting on Tuesday.

[Slightly abridged translation by TAPOL]

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Arrival of troops spread panic, say church personnel

Jubi, 23 August 2011
The dispatch of troops by air and land via Nabire has caused panic in Paniai, said a nun working for the Catholic Church in Paniai who did not want her name to be made public.   The people from Paniai had just returned home following a firefight between TPN/OPM fighters and the security forces but left their homes again when they saw heavily armed Brimob troops arriving in the town, she said.

A church official said that some of those who had fled after the shooting had not returned home and their present whereabouts were not known.  ‘We think that some of them have fled to far-away kampungs. and dont want to return to the town which is full of heavily armed troops whose presence is very frightening,’ the official said.   They would only come back when the town had been cleared of the troops.   The church official said they were refusing to come back because they knew that the fighting had been a put-up job and they didn’t want to become casualties.

‘They have very good reason to be afraid,’ the official said, ‘because they know that the security forces have arrested a number of school children from the SMP and SMA [lower and upper middle schools] as well as some other young people. These youngsters were interrogated then ordered to do push-ups.   They were only released, after we went to the police station and asked for them to be released.’

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Third Grand Papua Congress to be held this year

Bintang Papua, 22 August 2011

A national reconciliation team of the West Papuan people consisting of a number of organisations that have been outspoken in their views about the problems of the indigenous Papuan people as well as the policies of the government in Papua have announced that they will be convening the Third Grand Papuan Congress.

Speaking at a press conference at the office of Dewan Adat Papua, DAP,the Papuan Customary Council, Selpius Bobii, chairman of the team, accompanied by Forkorus Yaboisembut., the chairman of DAP, said that they were making
preparations to hold the Congress from 16 – 19 October 2011.

The theme of the Congress will be: ‘Affirming the basic rights of the indigenous Papuan people for the present and the future’. The Congress will to seek to take the Papuan people forward towards turning the Land of Papua into a paradise on earth, such as the Papuan people experienced before coming into contact with outsiders.

As part of the preparations of the Congress, the organising committee plan to meet the Indonesian President ‘This meeting is planned in order to officially inform him of plans to hold the Third Papuan People’s Congress.’ The DPRP, the Provincial Papuan Assembly will also attend this meeting, as representatives of the Papuan people. Selpius stressed that they would be meeting the President only to inform him of their plans. ‘Whatever attitude the government adopts, the Congress will go ahead,’ said Forkorus.

The Congress is the most senior body entitled to take decisions for the indigenous people. ‘All organisations of whatever kind, customary councils, ethnic groups as well as other organisations will be able to present their own agendas.’ The KNPB, the National Committee of the Papuan People, said that they plan to bring about changes that take will them forward to a Free Papua – Papua Merdeka.

The committee also urged the Indonesian government to implement the decisions of the grand meeting of the MRP – the Majelis Rakyat Papua – together with the indigenous Papuan people held on 9-10 June 2010 and to implement the pledge of the DPRP with regard to the Special Autonomy Law, involving the communities living in the Land of Papua as well as the provincial, regional and district assemblies.

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KNPB Press Release: Papuan people don’t need welfare, they want a Referendum

The People of PAPUA DO NOT NEED WELFARE Measures, But a REFERENDUM Needs to Take Place Immediately!

West Papua National Committee [KNPB] –
Press Release London, August 25, 2011.

After the mass mobilization of the people of Papua on 2nd August 2011, and the conference of the International Lawyers on West Papua (ILWP) in Oxford England, conflicts and various cases of violence continue to occur in Papua. The events attracted reactions from various parties as they gave their boisterous opinions, statements, and speculative solutions, which do not touch the essence of the conflict in West Papua. The Government of the Republic of Indonesia and various other parties still consider that the conflict in Papua is a consequence of an accumulation of problems rooted in poverty and underdevelopment, as well as the mere result of the failure of special autonomy.

In that perspective, the Government of the Republic of Indonesia feels compelled to issue a variety of policies and development programs in Papua. On the one hand, there are also groups claiming to act on behalf of the people of Papua and that take advantage of the people’s movement to negotiate a solution for a peace dialogue in the Republic of Indonesia, while at the same time, the Government is advised to unfold a Presidential Unit to Accelerate the Development of Papua and West Papua (the so-called “UP4B”).

Whereas, in fact, the people of West Papua clearly and openly demand the respect of their right to self-determination through a referendum. In the heart of every Papuan, there is the burning and irresistible desire to determine their own fate, a principle by which they strongly wish to run their own affairs and to stand as an independent country, free from any occupation. That inner voice resounds in every statement, every speech, every pamphlet and banner, every single time thousands of Papuans come together in mass actions mediated by the West Papua National Committee (KNPB), every single time demonstrations continue to unfold in Papua.

We see and hear in every speech that they, the people of Papua, have never demanded welfare and development through the policies of the special autonomy, nor did they call for UP4B or any other unit or plan, as a guarantee of life within the framework of the Unitary Republic of Indonesia. They do not complain because they are hungry or poor, as they live on their own land which is extremely wealthy, and which continues to be exploited by colonialists and capitalists. The one thing they want is the restoration and respect of their political right, a right that was seized by the forced integration in Indonesia in 1962 and the implementation of the 1969 so-called Act of Free Choice. The people of Papua form a legal entity under international law and by virtue of this they have the right to freely determine their own political future, through the mechanism of a fair and democratic referendum.

Because of the above reasons, we assert that the Government of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) has been mistaken in its understanding of the political upheaval in West Papua that continues to smolder. Speculative assumptions should not be used as a solution in the making of policy. Because in the end, policies that are disproportional will worsen the image of the SBY Government: the trillions of money which continue to be poured into Papua for the realization of Special Autonomy projects, the UP4B, as well as the financing of the army (TNI) and the police, will only add to the already poor record of corruption and persistent human rights violations.

Out of all these policies, the people of Papua will not accept a policy which would be the result of a compromise. The Papuan people will continue with rebellion. And all the way through, the Papuan conflict will never be suppressed by manipulation policies presented under the label of accelerated development.

We convey to the government of Indonesia that they should immediately stop all these policies and immediately show the political will to open up democratic space for the people of West Papua through a referendum, because under international law, the 1969 Act of Free Choice was flawed.

Victor F. Yeimo
International Spokesperson for KNPB
papuaemergency@fpcn-global.org


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Victor F. Yeimo,
International Spokesperson for the West Papua National Committee [ KNPB ]
“Tidak ada kemenangan revolusioner tanpa teori revolusioner”
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