Category: syndication

Indonesia opens fire as Papuans raise flag

December 1, 2011 – 

Security forces opened fire at a separatist flag-raising ceremony in Indonesia’s restive Papua region Thursday, on the 50th anniversary of the region’s claim to independence.

Around 500 protesters had watched a traditional dance and started cheering and running in a large circle when the region’s Morning Star flag was raised on a bamboo pole in the centre, an AFP correspondent at the scene witnessed.

Around 120 police and soldiers, along with a military truck, stormed the crowd and opened fire after the main flag was raised.

Police detained two protesters after kicking and punching them on the ground.

Papuan youth activist leader Markus Haluk told AFP that two people had been shot.

“At the ceremony in Timika, police and military opened fire and wounded one woman and one man. They are both being treated in hospital,” Haluk said.

But Mimika district deputy police chief Mada Indra Laksanta denied the shootings, saying police merely fired warning shots into the air.

“No protesters were shot, we didn’t shoot into the crowd. They were carrying sharp weapons and rocks,” Laksanta told AFP.

“Two protesters fell into the ditch as they were fleeing and suffered abrasions. They were not shot, they only had abrasions,” he said.

“Three police were wounded, their faces and heads were hit with rocks.”

Flag-raising ceremonies were held in a number of towns across Papua, and others were planned abroad in the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand.

On December 1, 1961, Papuans first raised the Morning Star flag and sang a new national anthem after being granted freedom from more than 130 years of Dutch colonial rule.

A year later, Indonesia invaded Papua and took over the region with a self-determination referendum in 1969, which was widely seen as rigged.

Papuans, mostly ethnic Melanesians, have rejected the region’s status as a region within Indonesia and poorly armed separatist groups have fought a low-level insurgency.

Displaying separatist symbols such as the Morning Star is considered an act of treason in Indonesia under the criminal code and several perpetrators are serving 20-year jail terms for the offence.

Some are serving life sentences, the maximum penalty under the criminal code for anyone “with an intention to to bring the territory of the state … under foreign domination”.

AFP

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SBS Radio: West Papuans fear flag day crackdown

30 Nov 2011

By Stefan Armbruster

Download Episode  Duration00:03:54  Download2MB

A West Papuan leader-in-exile fears Indonesian security forces will violently suppress the 50th anniversary celebrations of the independence movement’s flag … the Morning Star.

Thousands of police, military and special forces are reportedly massing in the two provinces just north of Australia, ahead of Papuan rallies planned for Thursday.

On Monday, Indonesian police said no officers would face charges over last month’s crackdown on the Papuan People’s Congress.

The crackdown left three Papuans dead and there are claims dozens were tortured.

Stefan Armbruster spoke with London-based West Papuan leader Benny Wenda, for whose arrest Indonesia this week issued an Interpol Red Notice.

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(JG) 51 Tortured by Indonesian Security Forces in Papua Violence: Elsham

51 Tortured by Indonesian Security Forces in Papua Violence: Elsham
Farouk Arnaz & Ronna Nirmala | November 29, 2011

The National Police said on Monday that it handed out punishments to a total of 17 officers for last month’s deadly crackdown on the Third Papuan People’s Congress but refrained from firing or demoting any of their own.

Ethics tribunals were held for members of the Mobile Police (Brimob) and the Jayapura Police believed to have been responsible for the incident, according to a National Police spokesman, Insp. Gen. Saud Usman Nasution.

Two Brimob officers were reprimanded, while two low-ranking enlisted officers were sentenced to 14 days detainment in a special cell.

In Jayapura, the capital of Papua, the chief of police at the time of the violence, Adj. Sr. Comr. Imam Setiawan, and seven of his subordinates received reprimands, while five enlisted officers were sentenced to seven days of detainment.

“They failed to follow proper police procedures in carrying out their security duties,” Saud said of those punished. “[Their actions were] excessive.”

No officer, however, was dismissed from the force or demoted for a violent incident that left at least three congress participants dead.

Sau d said the none of the officers would be charged with murder or face any other criminal charges. Police investigators, he said, put the victims’ times of death after the officers had left the scene.

He said one of the congress participants, Daniel Kadepa, had died from a stab wound, while the other two victims, Max Saseyo and Jacob Samansabra, could not be autopsied because they had already been buried by their families.

Separately on Monday, the Institute for Human Rights Study and Advocacy (Elsham) and the Communion of Churches in Papua (PGGP) said at least 51 people had been tortured by members of the military and police during and after the congress.

Congress participants told the groups 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.

There were also reports of verbal abuse, the groups said.

One person said a policeman hit him in the head with the butt of an assault rifle. Another said he was shot in the buttock and thigh.

Also, a nearby monastery was looted and vandalized by security forces, the groups said.

The Rev. Wellem Maury of the PGGP said the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) needed to take over the case and form a fact-finding team to investigate allegations of human rights abuses, torture and excessive use of force.

“Komnas HAM must also announce its findings to the Coordinating Ministry for Politics, Legal and Security Affairs so there is an open and fair trial,” he said.

International human rights groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, he added, must also be given access to those still being detained for treason, particularly Forkorus Yaboisembut, who was named president of an independent Papuan republic at the congress.

In a report released on Nov. 4, Komnas HAM alleged that the crackdown violated a raft of basic human rights and called on police to conduct a thorough investigation. It also said the central government should accelerate a dialogue with the Papuan people and do more for development in the province

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Triple J Hack: Papuans fear bloodshed after footage emerges of Congress Violence

ABC Triple J Hack – Sophie McNeill reports that footage has surfaced of the violent Indonesian military crackdown on the Third Papuan People’s Congress in West Papua on October 19, and speaks to West Papuan student’s about their friends’ experiences and concerns for Papua.

Aired on Hack: Wednesday 23 November

Listen/Download here:  WEST PAPUA 4-33

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AAP: Exodus in Papua amid fears of crackdown

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/exodus-in-papua-amid-fears-of-crackdown-20111127-1o10t.html

 Karlis Salna, AAP South-East Asia Correspondent

November 27, 2011 


AAP
Human rights groups have called for Australian monitors to be allowed into Papua amid reports people are fleeing parts of the Indonesian province due to fears of another violent crackdown on pro-independence rallies planned for next week.
In a joint letter to Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd, Human Rights Watch and the Melbourne-based Human Rights Law Centre have called for Australian embassy staff to be deployed to the restive Indonesian province to monitor events on December 1.
Large numbers of people are expected to gather in cities and other areas in Papua on Thursday for rallies to mark an unofficial independence day and the 50th anniversary of the first raising of the Morning Star flag.

The flag has been adopted by the separatist Free Papua Movement(OPM) and is regarded as a symbol of independence in the province which has been racked by a surge in violence over the past six months.

However, the Indonesian government considers the raising of the flag an act of treason.
At least three protesters were killed and another 90 people injured last month when Indonesian police and military stormed a pro-independence rally in Abepura after the raising of the Morning Star flag.
Video of the aftermath of the rally, broadcast on Australian television, also showed police beating unarmed protesters, including children.
As many as 300 people were arrested.
A spokesman for the pro-independence group, the National Committee for West Papua (KNPB), has told AAP that large numbers of people have begun leaving Jayapura and Manokwari in Papua, fearing a backlash from security forces at rallies planned for Thursday.
As Indonesia remains off limits to foreign journalists, the report could not be confirmed.
In the letter to Mr Rudd, Human Rights Watch and the Human Rights Law Centre raise concerns about the likelihood of a repeat of last month’s violence as well as the use of excessive force by the police and military.
The letter calls on Mr Rudd to urge the Indonesian government to allow full and free access of journalists to Papua and to deploy Australian embassy staff to monitor and observe events on December 1.
The human rights organisations say there should also be a full and impartial investigation into the deaths and injuries, and allegations of excessive use of force by the authorities, arising from the demonstration in Abepura on October 19.
But the letter also criticises the Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Greg Moriarty who had described the actions of the protesters at the rally as provocative.
“In our view, a clear and firm public statement on Australia’s position on human rights in the area is critical, especially since there is a real risk that Australian Ambassador Greg Moriarty’s recent reference to the actions of Papuan People’s Congress leaders as illegal, provocative and counterproductive may otherwise be interpreted as supporting a government crackdown on the congress,” the letter said.
Mr Moriarty, however, had also pointed to the response by Indonesian security forces as being disproportionate.
The letter to Mr Rudd also questions Australia’s funding and training of Indonesia’s elite anti-terrorism squad Densus 88, members of which were among the security forces present at the rally on October 19.
“Australia plays a critical leadership role on human rights in Asia and the Pacific and should take a principled and proactive stand on human rights with a key partner like Indonesia,” the two human rights organisations said.
Indonesia has been battling a long-running but low-level insurgency since its takeover of Papua in 1969.
However, the security situation has deteriorated in recent months with the province experiencing its worst violence in years.
Figures from Indonesia’s Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence show at least 40 people have been killed as a result of the violence since the beginning of July.
© 2011 AAP
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