Tag: Australian military training

AP: Military Vows Crackdown in Papua Province [+Reject Calls for Referendum: Lawmaker]

From Joyo

also: JP: Reject Calls for Papua Referendum: Lawmaker

The Associated Press
August 4, 2011

Military Vows Crackdown in Papua Province

Indonesia’s army chief vowed Thursday to hunt down separatist rebels
after a swell in violence in the restive province of Papua killed two
soldiers and three civilians in less than a week.

They will be “chased down” and “cleaned up” by local military units,
said Gen. Pramono Edhie Wibowo, a day after gunmen shot a military
helicopter in the hilly district of Puncak Jaya, a rebel stronghold
and longtime hotbed of separatist violence.

The chopper had flown into the remote region to evacuate Fana Hadi, an
army private who was wounded during an attack on his post Tuesday
morning.

Gunmen opened fire as it passed a hill, killing Hadi with a shot to
his left rib, local military officials said.

That shooting followed the killings of one soldier and three civilians
Monday, shot and hacked to death during an ambush on their minibus and
taxi near the provincial capital of Jayapura.

Five other people were injured.

It was not immediately clear what sparked the uptick in violence.

Papua is a former Dutch colony on the western part of New Guinea. It
was incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 after a U.N.-sponsored ballot.

A small, poorly armed separatist group known as the Free Papua Movement has battled for independence ever since.

Nineteen people were killed in clashes between supporters of rival
political candidates in a seemingly unrelated violence Sunday. Because
of the violence, elections for district chief scheduled for Nov. 9
will be delayed, local media reported Thursday.

———————————-

The Jakarta Post [web site]
August 4, 2011

Reject Calls for Papua Referendum: Lawmaker

by Mariel Grazella

The chairman of the Papua and Aceh special autonomy supervisory team,
Priyo Budi Santoso, urged the government to send the military to Papua
if the referendum movement escalated to a mass rebellion.

Thousands of Papuans across the province have demonstrated to call for
a referendum on independence.

The demonstrations coincided with a series of attacks on police and
military posts in Puncak Jaya that have been blamed on the Free Papua
Movement (OPM).

“I urge law enforcers not to hesitate in taking firm action,” he said.

He added that if the situation escalated to rebellion, the “military
should be sent in if necessary”.

“We should remain persuasive but if the situation leads to [demands
for] a referendum; [we] should not hesitate in sending in the
military,” he said, adding that special autonomy was the “best formula
in addressing the problems of Papua”.”Therefore, I urge the government to firmly reject [the calls for a
referendum] because Papua is part of Indonesia and that is final,” he
added.

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Comprehensive Report of Human Rights Violations in Papua since 1969

Bintang Papua, 23 July 2011[Something to look forward to. TAPOL]

Jayapura: With the help of an NGO in the USA  and the European Union, ELSHAM-Papua has drawn up a comprehensive report of cases of human rights violations that have occurred in West Papua during the period since it became part of the Republic of Indonesia.

ELSHAM co-ordinator in Papua, Ferdinand Marisan S.Sos told Bintang  Papua that they had already completed their collection of data.

‘We have collected data about human rights violations in Papua from the year 1969 up to 2010,’ he said. He said that they had been doing the work since February  this year and had completed it in April.

They are now going through the process of  putting all the data together in a book. ‘We plan to produce the data in a book which we hope to publish in October this year.’

He said that the compilation had been done together with the ICTJ, the International Center of Transitional Justice, a body that has the support of the European Union.

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BREAKING NEWS: WAR IN TINGGINAMBUT, WEST PAPUA

REPORTS OF 600 TNI SURROUNDING VILLAGES IN TINGGINAMBUT

by Nick Chesterfield @ Westpapuamedia.info

Monday July 10, 2011

Confirmed reports emerged on Sunday from Puncak Jaya, West Papua, that over 600 Indonesian Army (TNI) troops have been conducting daily full combat operations since July 4 in and around villages in the Tingginambut area.  Troops have reportedly attacked a series of villages said to be the refuge of the West Papuan Guerrilla leader Goliat Tabuni.

Troops from the notorious 753 Nabire battalion have reportedly surrounded the General Headquarters area of the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPN-PB) faction led by Tabuni, and have occupied several villages including Kalome, where three soldiers were shot by unknown assailants last Tuesday.  The Indonesian government news agency Antara reported that armed men stopped TNI soldiers from carrying out what it described as a “routine patrol” in Kalome village.  An exchange of fire occured – it is unclear who shot first – and three TNI were all struck by bullets to their arms sustaining non-life-threatening gunshot injuries.

According to reliable human rights activists in the immediate area, villagers in Kalome were rounded up and subject to harsh treatment by returning soldiers from 753Btn, and reportedly forced to watch as several houses were torched.  West Papua Media has been unable to verify these reports, but 753Btn has a well documented history of burning villages suspected of sympathies or harbouring TPN-PB.  (Extensive video footage of previous village burnings is available to any interested party).

Firefights have been occurring daily between TPN and TNI forces, with local sources describing it as “a 7-day shootout”.  “The current death toll, according to our intelligence data, is that Indonesia have killed 20 TPN fatalities, and according to reports from the field in Puncak Jaya, TPN have claimed five Indonesian military casualties”, said the source upon condition of anonymity.  Several civilian casualties have been reported, though exact figures are unconfirmed.  West Papua Media cannot at this stage confirm exact numbers.

Battalion 753, the battalion responsible for the well documented torture of West Papuan civilians and village burnings across Puncak Jaya in 2010 (including the infamous Tunaliwor Kiwo torture video), has been recently engaged in a much publicised heart-and-minds Bakti (Service) campaign, gardening and house-building cynically named “Love and Peace are Beautiful”, to mend the bridges damaged by the Army’s human rights abuses, torture and village burnings.  It was unclear whether this campaign was mending the houses that 753 had previously burnt down.

Puncak Jaya has been the scene of regular human rights abuses on civilians, with major combat operations ongoing since 2009.  TNI and BRIMOB paramilitary Police, as well as the Australian trained Detachment 88 counter-terrorist unit, have regularly targeted civilians whom they accuse of supporting the guerrilla TPN-PB of Tabuni.

Local sources have expressed fear to West Papua Media that their villages are being targeted for pacification and punitive operations after the failure of a much touted Social service campaign to heal the image of brutality that surrounds the 753 battalion.  It is feared by local activists that civilians are especially at risk as collective punishment for the potential escape of Tabuni’s forces, in a strategy by the TNI designed to flush out the TPN.

According to the adjutant of General Tabuni in a statement sent to West Papua Media, the purpose of the social activities by the TNI was to create a trojan horse for the eradication of armed resistance from Tabuni and his men.  “TNI’s Bakti social mission in Puncak Jaya is really a guise to avoid gross violations of human rights because the TNI Papua Commander was in the area and needed good press”.  According to the Jakarta Globe, the head of the Cenderawasih Military Command, Maj. Gen. Erfi Triassunu, said the TNI would provide psychiatrists to help residents traumatized by the widespread violence in the area.  The campaign was due to run from 2 May to 28 August, but almost all the troops who were building houses are now burning them down again, according to local sources.

Local human rights activists described the failure of this program being caused by the simple issue of trust.  “All their talk of caring for our human rights and welfare is shown to be a lie by this latest operation.  We have never trusted them, but now we trust them even less,” said the human rights worker, who cannot be named for his safety.

The TPN spokesperson was more blunt.  “People doubted the presence of top military who were proclaiming their victory in Puncak Jaya.  The TNI social service campaign is merely a shield.  It was evident from July 6,  that (these) military forces ….suddenly stopped and all directed to Tingginambut to conduct  military sweeps.  All TNI Bakti activities stopped completely. Since July 6 to the 8th all military forces here, with full combat equipment, have surrounded the headquarters of  TPN / OPM…. Tabuni is currently under siege”.

Reports of major abuse by Indonesian security forces in the West Papuan highlands are notoriously difficult to verify, as international human rights monitors and journalists are banned by the Indonesian government from travel to West Papua.

Please stay tuned to West Papua Media for more updates.

westpapuamedia.info

for media enquiries, please call +61450079

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AHRC (INDONESIA): Delayed Criminal Code reform prolongs institutional use of torture

FROM ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AHRC-STM-083-2011
June 24, 2011

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on the Occasion of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, June 26, 2011

INDONESIA: Delayed Criminal Code reform prolongs institutional use of torture

Has the video showing military torture in Indonesia in October last year created any serious concern for torture in that country? In the video, members of the Indonesian military tortured two indigenous Papuans to obtain information about alleged separatist activities. While some of the perpetrators got a few months of imprisonment for disobeying the orders of their superior, nobody was punished for the torture committed, nor did the victims receive any compensation or medical treatment. The extreme practices shown in the video shocked the public even though numerous cases of torture had been documented by NGOs and the National Human Rights Commission for years.

Torture is frequently used by the Police and the Military to force confessions, intimidate or to obtain information. The infliction of severe pain by public officials for the above and certain other purposes is prohibited in the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (full text in English, Bahasa Indonesia). This definition of torture and its prohibition also applies to Indonesia. Experts in and outside the country have repeatedly pointed out the neglect for institutional reform that the government has shown so far to effectively end this medieval practice.

Indonesia decided to ratify the Convention in 1998 and make it thus fully applicable into its legal and institutional system. While this may have appeared as a dedicated choice towards human rights, this promise from 1998 has never been kept. After 13 years, the government and parliament have failed to take even the basic key steps to end torture. As a result, torture continues to be applied.

What are the next steps to end torture? To make torture a crime! Amending the Criminal Code to make an act as defined in the international Convention punishable by law is a minimum requirement. Instead of fulfilling this requirement the government makes reference to maltreatment articles that actually only cover some parts of the problem as well as conduct guidelines for the police, which are neither promoted nor effectively enforced within the service.

Torture can be a convenient methodology for unprofessional members of the police force or the national military to “get things done”. Obtaining confessions, intimidating protesters, threatening minorities, producing quick case reports or to increase the income through bribes. Many dedicated staff in the national police, the national police commission and other related bodies have made considerable efforts to end this practice in their institutions but to support their efforts, more needs to be done.

Moreover, many see the use of torture as a legitimate and necessary mean to deal effectively with any wrongs ranging from petty crimes like theft up to organised terrorism. “Tough crimes need tough responses”, some may respond while forgetting that punishment is not part of the role of the police and military. Punishment for crimes is to be applied after a judicial process has established the guilt of the perpetrator and may then include imprisonment or other forms of non-violent punishments. But leaving an entire justice process in the hands of a police officer cannot be further away from fair trial and a just society.

Sunday June 26, 2011 is the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. Indonesia has thousands of victims, probably more. Many of them have not committed any crime and the majority of them is poor or from marginalised groups. Persons undergoing serious torture often suffer from the post traumatic stress disorder syndrome, cannot sleep well, relate personally to society and are violated and broken in their heart and soul. Decades of medical research have shown how tremendous and long lasting the impact of torture for the body and mind are for the victims and often also for the perpetrator.

Justice does not need torture as the eradication of the practice proofs in other countries. In fact as long as torture continues in a society, violence prevails. This practice can end if the use of torture is effectively punished and fully prohibited. To fulfil the promise Indonesia made in 1998 to the Indonesian people the Criminal Code needs to be reformed immediately. The victims of torture need our support.

# # #

About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation that monitors human rights in Asia, documents violations and advocates for justice and institutional reform to ensure the protection and promotion of these rights. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.

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Moanemani incident under investigation, say police

JUBI: 22 June, 2011
The chief of police of Nabire, AKBP Mohammad Rois said that the Moanemani
incident that occurred in the district of Dogiyai i s now under
investigation and was soon to be taken to court.

”Those of my men who were involved in that incident are being
questioned, and if there is evidence against them, firm action will be
taken.,’ he said.

The chief of police was responding to accusations made by the
Association of Students from the Central Highlands along with the
families of the victims that the legal process was under wraps with
regard to this incident when there were shootings and sweepings in
Dogiyai, as reported by the tabloid newspaper JUBI.

He declared that the police was firmly committed to investigate this
incident. which involved the burning down of people’s homes, the
beating of the police chief and the shooting of a number of civilians,
as well as the ‘togel’ (gambling) case.’We are handling them all,’ he said.

He denied that the case was being neglected and said that action would
certainly be taken against those of his men who were guilty. ‘This also
includes civilians who may have committed crimes; they too would be
brought to justice.’

He insisted that no one is this country is immune from justice.

Two civilians died in the Moanemani incident while three others were
seriously wounded. In addition, local people had burned down the office
of the chief of police as well as other places and were also trying to
burn down a place of worship.

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