Tag: black operations

Papuan politician criticises the security forces for failing to solve shooting incidents

Bintang Papua
 
August 3, 2013

Jayapura: While on the one hand, the human rights activist in Papua, Mathias Murib has urged the police chief in Papua, Drs Tito Karnavian, to investigate the shooting of three medical personnel who work at the Mulia General Hospital, a member of Commission A of the DPRP (provisional assembly) for Politics, Law and Human Rights has said that the intelligence activities of TNI/Polri (Indonesian Army and Police) in Papua are far from satisfactory. Every time a shooting incident occurs, all they say is that that it was perpetrated by ‘unknown persons’.

“There are large numbers of troops and intelligence agents spread all over Papua but they have achieved nothing. Moreover, a vast amount of money has been allocated to the security forces.”

These remarks were made by the chairman of DPRP’s Commission A for Politics, Law ad Human Rights, Ruben Magay S.I.P, speaking at the office of the DPRP in Jayapura.

According to Magay, who is  a member of Partai Demokrat, the activities of the TNI and Polri are highly questionable.

‘They always say that ‘unknown persons’ (OTK) are responsible and do nothing to give victims  a sense of justice.

There have been many shooting incidents against civilians, the most recent being the shooting of three medical personnel who work at the General Hospital whose names are Heri Yoman, 27 years old, who is reported to have died, as well as two nurses, Darson Wonda, 27 and Fritz Baransano, 42. both of whom were seriously wounded.when the ambulance in which they were taking a patient to the hospital was shot at by an armed gang in the District of Puncak Senyum, District of Tinggnambut on Wednesday, 31 July.

He said that incidents like this must be investigated by the intelligence forces and not simply blamed on ‘unidentified people’.

[Translated by TAPOL]

 

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Andreas Harsono: Is Repression Against KNPB Legal?

January 4, 2013

by OKTOVIANUS POGAU of SuaraPapua.Com

https://i0.wp.com/suarapapua.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/HARSONO-ANDREAS.jpg
ANDREAS HARSONO, Indonesia Consultant for Human Rights Watch. (FOTO: RIDHA/SuaraPapua)

SUARAPAPUA, Jakarta –  Human Rights Watch (HRW) consultant  for Indonesia, Andreas Harsono, questioned the actions of the Indonesian security forces whose shootings led to the death of 22 members of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) during the year 2012; 55 people were arrested, and hundreds of others were injured.

‘Given that 22 KNPB members died from shootings, dozens were arrested and unknown hundreds were injured, there has been no transparent judicial process, and no internal mechanism to question police procedures in Papua, we have to raise the question of whether this repression of the KNPB is legal?’.

The statement was re-affirmed by Andreas, when interviewed by suarapapua.com on Thursday 3rd Jan 2013).   According to Harsono , the police may justify their actions by incriminating KNPB members in violence, attacks on transmigrant settlers and security forces, but they still need to make their case transparent.

“The problem for police is working with transparency – can the police show this? At the same time, the KNPB needs to carry out an internal investigation in response to police accusations of involvement in violence’, he said.

Harsono also hopes that the organisation led by Victor Yeimo will quickly announce the outcome of the investigation, along with decisions to dismiss KNPB members found to be involved in acts of violence. As previously quoted, the KNPB head Victor Yeimo has stated that 22 KNPB members were killed in 2012 by Indonesian forces, 55 arrested and many among them are currently listed on the police wanted list.

(Translated by West Papua Media translators)

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Ruben Magay : KNPB is not a terrorist group

Tabloid Jubi

December 20, 2012

Jayapura (20/12) – Ruben Magay, Chairman of Committee A of the Papuan Legislative Council (DPRP), strongly insisted that it is not correct for certain parties to link the activities of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) to terrorism.

“For quite some time now, some parties have referred to the KNPB as a terrorist organization but I wish to reiterate that KNPB is not a terrorist group.  On the contrary they are an organization which promotes democracy in Papua and that is part of the controlling function and the ability to evaluate the performance of the government in the region,” said Ruben Magay on Thursday (20/12).

According to him, if so far, for some reason, weapons, ammunition and explosives have been found in Papua, the task of the intelligence is to uncover and find out the origin and the source of this material.

“We question the efforts put into this matter by the intelligence. Where did they obtain those guns? It is really the task of the police and the intelligence to answer that question.  At the governmental and institutional levels we need to make sure that we clearly define the status of terrorist groups and prove with strong evidence how such groups plan and carry out their actions,” he said.

According to Chairman Ruben, enforcing anti-terrorism laws in Papua, as envisaged by the Indonesian National Police (Polri), is also unnecessary.

“I believe such measures should not be deemed as necessary. If it is said that there are terrorists in Papua, I think we should turn our attention to the level of performance of the security apparatus.  It would be wrong to address one issue with another issue.  There are terrorists that are known to be implicated in explosions. The question is now: to what extent is the police able to ascertain them and subsequently how many further threats can be identified. This is what is important,” he said.

He went on to say that it is not the people who talk about democracy that should be called terrorists; certainly not the people who were shot and whose actions were then put in such a scenario that later on it was stated that they were the terrorists. “No, that should absolutely not be the case.  For example, weapons and ammunition are being discovered in all kinds of places lately.  My question is: where did these guns come from?  It’s not as if we are talking about gold that can be panned by the local communities from underground.  So it would not be appropriate to apply these so-called anti-terrorism laws to Papua.  Let’s tackle this problem together in a responsible way and straighten out the issue of clarifying who the real owners are of these arms, ammunitions and explosives that were found in Papua.  It is obvious that the material was brought in from outside, so a first step would be to take measures to heighten the safety and tighten security checks at ports and airports.  That’s what is important,” said Ruben Magay. (Jubi/Arjuna/LT)

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Goliat Tabuni denies responsibility for recent Lany Jaya police killings

Bintang Papua
29 November 2012
Jayapura: Goliat Tabuni, the commander of the OPM battalion whose headquarters is in Tingginambut, Puncak Jaya, has denied responsibility for attacking a police station in Lany Jaya on 27 November, saying that his group does not operate in Lany Jaya.
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He said that his men are currently holding a summit conference (KTT) and earlier called on the security forces  not to attack them. ‘Our meeting has been taking place from 26 – 30 November.

Responding to a question about whether former members of his group might have been the perpetrators,  he denied any involvement by his men.. ‘They are not our former members and are not under my commend,’ he said.

He alleged that the perpetrators were from another group which operates in Lany Jaya. [We have omitted the names he mentioned.]

The attack against the police station in Pirime Lany killed three policemen, Inspector Rolfi Takubesi and two other police officers . Two people who were  involved in the attack were also killed.

There are thought to have been around fifty  people in the attack group who also succeeded in seizing three weapons from the police. The police, working together with the TNI – Indonesian military – are currently hunting down the killers.

The chief of the general staff of TPN/OPM, Teryanus Sattoalso said that they knew nothing about the attack on the police station in Pirime. ‘It may have been done by a group that is against us because we are currently very busy preparing for the inauguration of our top commander, deputy commander and members of the general staff who were appointed at our supreme meeting (KTT) last May,’ he said.

‘They are not under my command and we have quite a different agenda which is what we are focusing on now so we know nothing about the attack on the police. ‘After the inauguration  of our new command structure, we will be focusing on internal changes and consolidation.’

‘This is the follow-up of our decisions taken on 30 November after which our high command structure will be appointed. The new commanders will be sworn on in 30 November.

He went on to say that this means that the TPN/OPM today is not the same as the former TPN/OPM. ‘We have undertaken internal reforms  through our top-level meeting (KTT), bringing our organisation into conformity with military standards worldwide.’.

He finally called on media colleagues to be more conscientious in the way they write their media reports and check their information more carefully. ‘Some interviews were said to be of Goliat Tabuni,  but it turns out that it was Anton Tabuni who was speaking. This is something that we have frequently experienced, he said. On this day, Gen Goliat Tabuni was only interviewed by  the Australian media, as well as few local media contacts such as Bintang Papua, Kompas, Media Indonesia and Tempo.

[Abridged translation by TAPOL]

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Police in Papua claim to set up team to investigate terror incidents around Freeport

TITO KARNAVIAN
TITO KARNAVIAN (Photo credit: RubyGoes)

 

Bintang Papua,

 

 

9 November, 2012

 

Timika: The chief of police in Papua has announced that he will be setting up a special team to investigate recent acts of terror in the vicinity of the Freeport copper-and-gold mine which is located in the district of Mimika,

Inspector-General Tito Karnavian said that the special team will be charged with mapping the incidents and investigating each one so ensure that they are properly solved.

‘The team will be instructed to handle each case seriously. What happens at present that when an incident occurs, everyone talks about it  but then is disappears.’

The chief of police spent two days in the area with a number of officers and inspected the open pit mining (Grasberg) as well as the underground mines.

He stressed the need for the incidents to be handled seriously.  There have been a number of shootings in the Freeport area since 2009, but in most cases, the perpetrators have not been found.

During the past three years, he said, there have been ‘hundreds’ of shooting incidents leading to the death of twenty people which has included members of the police force, members of the company’s internal security force as well as local people who are involved in traditional mining.

As regards the general situation in Papua, the chief of police said that everything is quiet and under control.  He went on to say that there have been a number of terror incidents in Wamena which have been solved as well as  cases of the discovery of explosive material in Timika.  Six people who are thought to be involved in explosive material are currently in the custody of the police and are being interrogated. He said that the cases are being handled in accordance with legal procedures. ‘Anyone who is deemed to be guilty will be processed according to the law.’

[Translated by TAPOL]

 

(WPM Note: Bintang Papua has only reported what Karnavian has alleged.  However, the facts of the Wamena terror arrests, and also the facts surrounding the ongoing OTK shootings near Freeport have all pointed to the clear involvement of the security forces.  If this new Karnavian announcment is the pretext for another wave of crackdowns on local Papuan people instead of the perpetrators in the security forces who are making massive profit of protection rackets and illegal gold mining in Freeport, and in order to justify their security budget, then Karnavian must be aware that most of Papuan civil society knows this is just window dressing.  Karnavian knows full well the perpetrators of security incidents, he is just too afraid to go and arrest his big brothers in Kopassus.  This strategy is disingenuous, as arresting the wrong people will ensure that the OTK attacks continue, even after the alleged culprits have been extrajudicially executed by the Karnavian death squads of Detachment 88, funded, armed and trained by Australia, UK and the US.)

 

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