Tag: brutality

Confirmed reports: Indonesian security forces prepare to attack Congress 3 gathering to disperse participants

Confirmed reports: Indonesian security forces prepare to attack Congress 3 gathering to disperse participants

BREAKING NEWS

October 18, 2011 1045 Jayapura time.

westpapuamedia.info

Credible local stringers for West Papua Media have sent urgent messages reporting that several hundred fully armed Indonesian police and military are taking up offensive positions outside the offices of the DPRD, The Papuan People’s Provincial Assembly. Two Indonesian Army Pansers with .50 calibre machineguns, one company of soldiers from the TNI and 1 SSK (Strategic Company – 150) of Brimob paramilitary police in full combat gear are making manoeuvres to attempt to dissolve the gathering of the Third Papuan Peoples‘ Congress, which has attracted up to 20,000 delegates from all over Papua.
see from last night: http://youtu.be/1UqFQgHA0hs

Please stay tuned for further information and reports

URGENT ACTION

West Papua Media has been provided with phone numbers for the head of Police in Abepura, who is responsible for ordering his troops not to attack the Congress gathering.  Please call  Polsek Abe +62967581230/+62967581110 and tell them that they will be held to account for all of their actions.

Please demand the police immediately return their troops to barracks, and take their heavy weapons off the streets; and allow West Papuan delegates to return home safely.

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DAP chairman calls for the withdrawal of police and army from around Freeport

JUBI, 13 October 2011In connection with the shooting dead of Petrus Ayamiseba  who worked at the catering department for workers at Freeport, the Dewan Adat Papua  has declared that  it is essential to withdraw army and police troops from area around the Freeport mine.

Speaking on behalf of DAP, Dewan Adat Papua, Forkorus Yaboisembut said that the chief of the Indonesian police, the chief of police in Papua and the commnder of the XVII Cenderawasih Command should withdraw all their troopa who are currently deployed in the vicinity of the mine. He said that it was important for the police and the security forces to stop exerting pressure on the company. They should also be ordered to stop exerting pressure on the workers.

‘The security forces should stop interfering in any way with the company,’ he said. ‘The two sides involved in a dispute must find a solution together. If they are subjected to pressure, the dispute will never be solved,’ he said.

He also said that the Indonesian govrnment should urge the company to provide a clarification about its  revenues. ‘If the government can convince the company to review the wages that they  pay to the workers, the dispute can be speedily resolved,’ he said.

Meanwhile, the lawyer, Yan Christian Warinussy said that the shooting of Petrus Ayamiseba was a gross violation of human rights, and he hoped that the Papua branch of the National Human Rights Commission would speedily hold a meeting with  the chief of police in Papua, Police Inspector-General  Bigman Lukkaman Tobing to press for this shooting incident to be resolved in the human rights court. He said that if this does not happen,  the police will claim that this was nothing more than a criminal act.

He want on to say that the shooting to death was a breach of Law 39/1998 regarding safeguarding actions undertaken by the people.

Warinussy also said that  the company should halt all their provocative actions. ‘The company and the workers should sit down together to discuss the rights of the workers.’

Warinussy said that he was currently in Timika and was carrying out his own investigations and he said that he would be having a meeting with the chief of police in Mimika and with the company. The results would be conveyed to the chairman of the  Papuan branch of the National Human Rights Commission. Matius Murib.

Petrus Ayamiseba who was 36 years old died when he was struck by a burning rod of tin belonging to the police while he was taking part in a demonstration at the Gorong-Gorong Terminal.

During the incident, another person was also killed, namely  Jamil, a member of Brimob.

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Three hundred Freeport workers ordered home

Bintang  Papua, 14 October 2011Freeport orders 300 workers to ‘go home’

Timika: Reports that workers at Freeport have intimidated and threatened  other workers for refusing to take part in demonstrations and not wanting to go on strike have led to around three hundred Freeport workers being order to go home [dirumahkan’], according to the management of Freeport-Indonesia. Sixty of the three hundred  are staff-level employees joined the strike that commenced on 15 September.

The president-director and CEO of Freeport, Armando Mahler in Timika said on Thursday that the decision to order them home  was taken because they  were involved in intimidating workers who remained at work  and did not join the strike. ‘At the time, many of of the workers felt afraid and threatened. They fled from their barracks and went into hiding. The families of some of the workers who continued to work were also warned that their homes would be burnt down,’  said Armando.

He went on to say that after the strike is over and operations at the Freeport return to normal, the management intends to conduct an investigation to determine what mistakes each of the workers who were ordered home  had made.

Additionally, the director-executive, vice-president  and chief office administrator of the Freeport, Sinta Sirait, said that the decision to order home hundreds of workers meant that the third summons [see below] issued to non-staff employees who had joined the strike was in accordance with the Joint Working Agreement which had been agreed with the workers trade union, the SPSI.

Sinta called on all sides to respect the terms of the agreement that had been reached and not treat it as nothing more than a lip service. ‘We urge the workers not to think that being ordered home and then returning to work is only about establishing good industrial relations with the company.’

Another  manager of the company, John Rumainum said that in a spirit of goodwill, the company had called on the workers to return to work. The first summons was issued on 26 September,  followed by the second summons issued on 29 September and the third summons issued on 4 October.

He went on to say: ‘Those workers who returned to work before the third summons will be exempt from any sanctions But those who returned to work after the third summons, would be treated in accordance with the regulations…

He then said that all the sanctions issued by the company  would be reviewed, once the workers had returned to work.

[Translated and slightly abridged by TAPOL]

[COMMENT: This report reveals the attitude of the company towards hundreds of its employees who were clearly seeking to improve their working conditions during a strike that has been marked by  persistent threats from the company that runs one of the foremost and most profitable mines in the world. TAPOL]

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Photos: Indonesian Police open fire on student dormitory in Jayapura

By Nick Chesterfield/ westpapuamedia.info

October 13, 2011

Plain clothes Indonesian police agents in Jayapura opened fire late on October 12 outside a student dormitory, in another violent act of security force intimidation before the Third Papuan People’s Congress starts on October 16.

Local human rights sources and stringers for West Papua Media have reported that the Rasunawa dormitory, housing West Papuan students from Cenderawasih University (UNCEN) , came under attack at 11pm local time by five plain clothes police agents. The agents arrived in a new white Toyota Kijang with police license plate Ds. B 9481 PAA ( expiry June 2015).

Witnesses from the student dormitory, who have declined to be identified for their safety, have reported directly to West Papua Media that the agents arrived and started shooting immediately outside the dormitory. “For some reason, these five police goons (polisi preman) entered Rasunawaa and fired wildly, so that all the male resident of the three-story building came down and surrounded the five thugs”.

According to an activist with SONAMAPA WP (Papuan Students National Solidarity Organization) who was a witness to the altercation, the students interrogated the five men at the centre of the group. “They were feeling cornered and fired shots incessantly in the air, we think over 30 bullets were flying. ”

the Five Brimob Police shooters after being surrounded by Students

“We are still looking for eyewitnesses or if there is a gunshot victim from the incident or not – the investigation remains ongoing”.

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In dramatic scenes, the West Papuan students successfully detained the men until an entire platoon of uniformed police arrived, who then arrested the Indonesian gunmen by force. Uniformed police, also from Jayapura, were reportedly fired upon by one of the five men. However,the platoon of police also opened fire to disperse the crowd in order to retrieve their men.

Photographs of the incident provided to West Papua Media by witnesses appear to show the police vehicle used in the incident. According to the SONAMAPA WP activist, the new vehicle registration means the car has just been imported directly from Jakarta

A formal report has been made to the Rector of UNCEN, and students have reported to West Papua Media that they hold grave fears for a continuation of the incident, and for the safety of the residents of the Rasunawaa UNCEN domitories.

with local sources

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Greens call for release of West Papuans in custody

http://richard-di-natale.greensmps.org.au/content/media-release/greens-call-release-west-papuans-custody

 by RichardDiNatale in Media Release, West Papua

Greens’ spokesperson for West Papua, Richard Di Natale, has expressed concern over the arrests of West Papuan activists and is calling for their immediate release.

“The Greens are concerned for West Papuan human rights defenders, Henok Dori, Noak Kandipi and Melkianus Bleskadit, who were all arrested on their way to a conference last week, and are still in custody in Jayapura and Manokwari,” said Senator Di Natale.

“We understand that some of their colleagues have been released and we call for these West Papuans to be released.”

The conference was a preparatory event for the important Congress being held this weekend. The Congress brings together different human rights, faith and student groups across West Papua to discuss strategies for bringing peace and justice to the troubled Indonesian province.

“West Papuans have a right to meet and discuss their own future. This congress is a peaceful assembly. We ask the Indonesian government to stand by its stated support for the rights of its residents to move freely and assemble peacefully.”

The situation in West Papua remains critical, with a striking worker at the Freeport McMoran copper and gold mine shot dead this week, and further reports today of police shooting at a student dormitory in Jayapura.

Media contact: Andrew Blyberg             0457 901 600

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