Tag: Detachment 88

Australian Greens: Government fails to cut ties with torture unit

Australian Greens

Government fails to cut ties with torture unit

Media Release | Spokesperson Scott Ludlam

Wednesday 8th December 2010, 4:46pm

The Australian Greens have criticised the Government for failing to take action in response to allegations an Indonesian unit supported by Australian authorities has used torture against peaceful protestors.

On November 4 this year Greens legal affairs spokesperson, Senator Scott Ludlam, called on the Government to stop funding Detachment 88, an Indonesian “counter-terrorism’ unit that has been linked to a series of human rights abuses.

“Demonstrators arrested in Ambon, in Maluku, unveiled their independence flag at an event at which the Indonesian president was present – this had nothing to do with terrorism whatsoever. They were subsequently jailed and many of them tortured and hospitalised,” Senator Ludlam said. “70 political activists in Maluku have been imprisoned since 2007.”

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade reported this week that the total Australian Federal Police financial support for counter-terrorism initiatives in South East Asia in the 2009/10 was $16.3 million. DFAT said while the AFP is not directly involved in Detachment 88 operational activities, the AFP’s support to the Indonesian National Police includes that unit.

Senator Ludlam said that while Australian officials provide support to Detachment 88, it is not enough to leave investigations of the unit’s conduct in the hands of the Indonesian authorities.

“We are told the AFP does not have the power to investigate what Detachment 88 has done, but it does have the power to stop funding and supporting the unit,” he said. “The United States introduced a ban on training or assisting Detachment 88 members in Maluku in 2008 after the allegations of torture first emerged in 2007, but our Government has not issued a similar ban, which is much-needed.”

Detachment 88’s major facility at the Jakarta Centre for Law Enforcement Co-operation was established in 2004 with almost $40 million of Australian funding. According to its website, most of the counter-terrorism seminars at the Centre are run by the AFP, and it is a major beneficiary of $16.3 million in annual funding allocated to the AFP to combat terrorism in south-east Asia.

http://scott-ludlam.greensmps.org.au/content/media-release/government-fails-cut-ties-torture-unit

Related Articles
2

Brimob should act professionally and be loved by the people

Bintang Papua, 15 November 2010

Abridged in translation

Brimob should act professionally and be loved by the people
The commander of the Brimob unit in Papua has called on his men to avoid acts of violence in resolving problems that may arise. Speaking on the occasion of Brimob’s 65th anniversary, Police Commissioner Prasetyo said: ‘We need to be firm but without using violence. We may feel angry but we should not act in a spirit of anger.,’ he said.

Saying that these words were aimed at members of the force in Papua, he acknowledged that this would involve a process, over time. ‘It’s not something that is easy to do, like turning your hand upside-down and could take quite a long time.’

He said that the changes must start from the top. ‘We must set an example. We should not behave arrogantly towards the people but behave as leaders towards their subordinates, and stop beating up people.’

Measures were also being taken to reinforce the number of personnel and improve their equipment to ensure that they preserve security in those places where their presence is needed, without bringing in extra forces from elsewhere.

He referred to statements made recently by a number of Papuan leaders concerning the TNI (armed forces) and the police that had been reported in the media about the use of violence towards Papuans. He said that in principle, the presence of Brimob in these places was legitimate.’If any of our members behave incorrectly, then they should face sanctions,’ he said.

The national chief of police spoke abut the history of Brimob which was established in November 1946 as a special police force that had been active during the Japanese occupation of Indonesia. In 1961, Brimob was highly praised by President Suharto.

He said that the occurrence of many disturbances within the community meant that the presence of Brimob was necessary. It was, he said. a unit that was trained to handle all high-intensity disturbances of security.

[Comment: Brimob is a special unit of the Indonesian police force, Polri. Some years ago, it was decided that the Indonesian army, the TNI should take a back seat in West Papua and it would left to the police force to be in charge of maintaining ‘security’ in Papua. Members of the regular police force are frequently condemned in many parts of Indonesia for using violence against ordinary members of the public and for corruption. But as far as we know, it is only in Papua that Brimob has been brought in and deployed on a permanent basis.

As readers will know, several serious cases of the use of torture against Papuans have been condemned after being widely circulated on the internet, and several officers were last week tried before a military court and given very light sentences for these terrible crimes. Reports of these incidents have not identified which police units were involved but it is likely that the personnel involved were members of Brimob. TAPOL]

0

Indonesian authorities suspected of launching cyber attacks on NGO websites

The websites of several NGO groups campaigning for human rights in West Papua have been under a serious DDoS attack for most of this week, forcing them offline as their servers have been overloaded. In the UK press, the finger of suspicion is focusing on the Indonesian authorities.

Survival International, the Asian Human Rights Commission, Friends of
People Close to Nature, Free West Papua Campaign and West Papua Media Alerts have seen their websites crippled in what is being described as a ‘coordinated cyber terrorism act’. All these campaign groups hosted video footage showing Indonesian troops torturing West Papuans, which has heaped shame on the Muslim majority country .

Channel 4 News in the UK tonight broadcast a report which also included footage from a demo held in West Papua earlier today. Newspapers including the Guardian and Yorkshire Evening Post have published reports on the cyber attacks, with more expected tomorrow.

Toby Nicholas, a new media expert at Survival International, said “What
they’ve done is remarkably effective and expensive – that’s why we think it’s linked to the Indonesian government or military authorities. There is no way this will stop our campaign for the tribespeople in West
Papua. If anything it makes us more determined.”

At the time of writing all the NGO websites remain down.

Links to news reports so far below. TV news report to follow:

Guardian newspaper:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/oct/28/survival-international-website-torture-video

Press Association:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5j6fx4NxV3iaYoS8jalBIv5svH4dA?docId=N0036491288275207847A

Orange:
http://web.orange.co.uk/article/news/cyber_attack_on_rights_charity#newscomments

Yorkshire Evening Post:
http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/Cyber-attack-on-human-rights.6603648.jp

Related Articles
1

AWPA calls on Julia Gillard to raise the human rights situation in West Papua on her visit to Indonesia

The Australia West Papua Association (Sydney)

Media release   25 October   2010

AWPA calls on  Julia Gillard  to raise the human rights situation in West Papua on her visit to Indonesia

The Australian Prime Minister will visit Indonesia on the 1 and 2 November to discuss ways to further strengthen the bilateral relationship and increase cooperation across a number of economic, security, development and environmental challenges.

Joe collins of AWPA said “in light of the recent reports of torture of West Papuans we are calling on the Prime Minister to raise the human rights situation in West Papua with the Indonesian President.
We are also calling on the Prime Minister  to send a parliamentary delegation on a fact finding mission to West Papua  to investigate the human rights situation in the territory”.

AWPA has regularly  raised concerns that any aid or training given to the military could be used against the West Papuan people  and we  again urge the Prime Minister   to put a moratorium on the training, funding and any ties between  the Australian military and any Indonesian units found to have been involved in human rights abuses.

Although the Indonesian military said they would investigate the incident we believe  a full independent inquiry held  by a relevant United Nations human rights organisation will be the only
inquiry
acceptable
to the West Papuan people and are urging the Prime Minister  to call for such an inquiry.

Info. Joe Collins Mob. 04077 857 97

————————————–

Australia West Papua Association (Sydney)
PO Box 28, Spit Junction, Sydney, Australia 2088
Email: bunyip@bigpond.net.au

The Hon Julia Gillard MP
Prime Minister
Parliament House
Canberra
ACT 2600

25 October 2010

Dear Prime Minister,

On behalf of the Australia West Papua Association (Sydney),  I am writing to you concerning your coming trip to Indonesia on the 1 and 2 November. AWPA would like you to raise the human rights situation in West Papua[1] during your talks with President Yudhoyono

I am sure  you are aware of the recent media reports on the torture of West Papuans by the Indonesian military in the Puncak Jaya region of West Papua. The torture of the West Papuans by the Indonesian military  was captured on video and shows in one scene a Papuan  man having a plastic bag forced over his head and screaming in pain as a burning stick is held to his genitals.  The horrific video has been seen around the world and rightly condemned. The Indonesian military has  confirmed that members of the TNI did torture the West Papuans.

Just days after the release of the video  another report surfaced of the burning of Bigiragi village, in the  Puncak Jaya district by officers from the police’s Mobile Brigade. An official from the Papuan Customary Council (DAP) told the Jakarta Globe  he had received graphic images of the destruction of Bigiragi village.

These incidents of human rights abuses committed by the Indonesian security forces are unfortunately not unusual and reports of  the Indonesian security forces conducting military operations looking for the OPM in the Puncak Jaya region  have been ongoing for years leaving the local people in fear and traumatised.

We understand that the whole island of New Guinea will always be strategically important to Australia and it is in the interests of the Australian Government to have a stable region to our north.  However, in West Papua, the policies of the Indonesian Government, compounded by the actions of the Indonesian security forces will lead to the very instability the Australian Government is trying to avoid.  Although Indonesia has made great progress towards democracy in recent years, unfortunately this has not translated to an improvement in the human rights situation in West Papua as the above incidents show.

AWPA and other civil society organizations have written regularly to Australian Governments over many years about our country’s ties with the Indonesian military. We have recently written to you concerning the torture of peaceful activists in Maluku. We have raised concerns that any aid or training given to the military could be used against the West Papuan people  and we again urge  you to put a moratorium on the training, funding and any ties between  the Australian military and any Indonesian units found to have been involved in human rights abuses.

Although the Indonesian military said they would investigate the incident we believe  a full independent inquiry held  by a relevant United Nations human rights organisation will be the only  inquiry  acceptable to the West Papuan people and urge you to call for such an inquiry.  We also urge you to send an Australian parliamentary delegation on a fact finding mission to West Papua  to investigate the human rights situation in the
territory.

Yours sincerely

Joe Collins
Secretary
AWPA (Sydney)

[1] AWPA (Sydney) uses the name “West Papua” to refer to the whole of the western half of the Island of New Guinea. “West Papua” at this time is divided into two provinces, Papua and West Papua.

Related Articles

No separatism in Papua, says military commander

Bintang Papua, 5 October 2010

[Abridged in translation]

No separatism in Papua, says military commander

According to the military commander of the Cenderawasih Command, there
are no separatist groups functioning in Papua any more, Security can
therefore be left to the police, with the army providing back-up when
called upon to do so, said Major-General Hotma Marbun. 'If there were
any separatists, we would crush them,' he said.

He was speaking on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the
Cenderawasih military command, he said. Asked about the 'Papua Peace
Force' which has been announced by Forkorus Yoboisembut, chairman of
DAP, the Papuan Traditional Council, Hotma said: 'There is no such
thing. I dont know anything about it. If it did exist, it wouldn't mean
anything. They are using the word peace, aren't they?'

A message was read out on behalf of the commander of the Indonesian
armed forces Admiral Agus Suhartono. He said that reflecting the
emerging global framework strategy and Indonesia's national interests,
the country is facing a number of threats to its national security
including security in South Maluku, terrorism, separatism, violations of
its borders, natural disasters, illegal activities (no mention about
what these are), horizontal conflicts and a lack of energy resources.

In the context of the strategic environment, he said that Indonesia
faces the threat of global warming and  continual endeavours together
with all components to safeguard the integrity of NKRI, the Unitary
State of the Republic of Indonesia. He then said that the armed forces
would continue to pursue the process of reformasi.



			

		
	
	

					
					



	
 

	

			
 
			
			
	
 

 


	 


	

		


			

				
				Create a website or blog at WordPress.com
				
			
				
							


			

				Up ↑