Tag: genocide

News from Papua: Autopsy of Ardiansyah suggests he was murdered; Papuans will cease to exist in 50 years time

Slightly abridged in translation by TAOL

JUBI, 20 August 2010

According to a police statement, the autopsy of the body of Ardiansyah
Matra’is has revealed that he was struck several blows before falling
into the water and drowning in Maro River, Merauke.

Police public relations officer Untung Yoga told journalists that
several of his teeth were missing and there were swellings in several
parts of his body, all of which were likely to have been the result of
his having been struck with a blunt implement.

However, the police official said, before concluding the the victim had
been murdered, a further investigation would take place at the forensic
laboratory in Makassar.

The autopsy results confirm what members of his family said, namely that
there were unexplained things about his body when it was lifted out of
the river, in particular marks around his neck indicating that he had
been tortured and swellings in several parts of the body.

Investigations by the journalists organisation, AJI, conclude that he
left home at around 13.00 on the day he was reported missing. He
apparently met someone and may have spent about three hours with that
person but he never returned home afterwards. His car was found near
the location of the incident with no signs of having been damaged at
around 16.00. But several truck drivers who went back and forth across
the bridge (over the river) say they saw the vehicle at 16.00, which was
later removed at around 18.00 but was brought back to the original place
where it was found

A spokesman for the Alliance of Journalists AJI, Victor Mambor, said
that the police should immediately investigate who it was who murdered
Ardiansyah, adding: ‘It is highly likely that his murder is connected
with the terror situation for journalists which was occurring at the
time of Ardiansyah’s death, aimed at creating a tense situation in
Merauke.’ According to AJI, a week before Ardiansyah went missing, a
person who was not known to his family visited him several times and
spoke with him.

———————————-

JUBI, 18 August 2010

Papuans will no longer exist in 50 years time

An Arso community leader, Tyam Tua, believes that in fifty years’ time,
the Papuan people will have ceased to exist

‘This is because the forests that are the source of their everyday
livelihood will have been completely cut down,’ he said

The development that is now underway does nothing to safeguard the
welfare of the Papuan people, he said.

Pastor John Djonga also holds the same views. ‘If the government and the
TNI continue to pursue their present policies, the Papuans will have
disappeared and all that will remain is the name. The many killings of
hundreds of indigenous people mean that they will not last more than
fifty years,’ he said.

‘Also, the felling of trees such as has been happening in Arso and
their replacement with palm oil plantations will make it very difficult
for the local people to make a living and stay alive.’

Though no reliable data is available, it is thought that the total
number of Papuans is around one and a half million.

Pastor John Djonga is also quoted as saying that the situation in Papua
is still under threat, with discrimination against the Papuan people
happening in all fields.

They suffer discrimination in education and in health. ‘Special autonomy
should have stopped this from happening,’ he said.

The Papuans are also being marginalised and elbowed out by non-Papuans.

He went on to say that the churches are struggling to overcome these
problems but they are accused of being separatists. ‘All we are doing is
trying to put an end to the many wrong things that are happening,’ he said.

It also happens when people are recruited for the civil service.
‘Discrimination is very clear and it is occurring to this very day.’

————————-

News from Papua: Police will persist in summoning Sokrates; Police urged to stop summoning Sokrates; Lawyers speak out about Sokrates case

Bintang Papua, 19 August 2010

Abridged in translation

Police will continue to summon Sokrates
The police force in Papua have said that they will persist in summoning
Duma Sokrates Yoman to appear for interrogation, in connection with his
allegation that the incidents in Puncak Jaya are part of a business
project of the army and the police (TNI/Polri).

Sokrates Yoman is president of the Fellowship of Baptist Churches in Papua.

The chief of police in Papua now says that his patience is exhausted and
they regard him as a witness. ‘In two or three days,’ said the Wachyono,
head of public relations of the police, ‘we will summon him as a
witness, instead of just asking him for clarifications,’ he said.

Yoman Sokrates has twice been invited by the police to give
clarifications about the events in Puncak Jaya and his charges that the
TNI/Polri are engaged in business activities in Puncak Jaya. After his
failure to respond to two summonses, he will be summoned as a witness,
on the basis of article 112 of the criminal code which states that
anyone summoned as a witness or as the accused is under obligation to
appear. If he still refuses to appear, he will be sent an official order
to appear. ‘This is what the law states and is not just what the police
are saying,’ said Wachyono.

As has been reported earlier, Sokrates Yoman has been accused of trying
to ‘corner’ the army and the police in connection with a series of
shootings against civilians in Puncak Jaya that have been going on since
2004.

Earlier reports in Bintang Papua stated that Sokrates Yoman declared
that he was undaunted by the police summons. He said that many people
have spoken out about the situation in Puncak Jaya but, ironically, he
was the only person to have been summoned by the police. He accused the
police of behaving unfairly and unprofessionally. ‘It is my belief that
the law enforcement agencies are acting on the orders of a sponsor who
are keen to exert pressure on me as a church leader,’ said Sokrates.

He was quoted as saying that he was ready to face the consequences and
would never run away. I will remain in my office or at home because this
is our homeland.’

Sokrates has called on the legislative assembly in Papua, the DPRP, to
summon the military commander of Papua and the chief of police of Papua
to explain what they have been doing and what their strategy is
regarding the situation in Puncak Jaya which has been going on for six
years.

‘We need to know who are the brains behind this and who stands to gain
from incidents that have resulted in many victims among the ordinary people.

——————————-

Police urged to stop summoning Sokrates
Bintang Papua 12 August 2010

The police summons to Sokrates and the failure to resolve the prolonged
conflict in Puncak Jaya has attracted the attention of the churches,
which are now calling for a national dialogue as the only way to resolve
the never-ending conflict.

On 12 August, a meeting held at the office of the Synod of the GKI was
attended by the leaders of all the main churches, Rev Miriono-Krey,
chair of the Synod of the GKI, Rev. Lipius Biniluk, chair of the Kingmi
Church in the Land of Papua, Dr Rev. Benny Giay, of the Fellowship of
Baptist Churches in Papua, Rev. Andreas Kogoya, and the Bishop of
Jayapura, Leo Laba Lajar.

The meeting reached agreement on several statements expressing their
concern with a number of cases in the Land of Papua and especially in
Puncak Jaya.

The church leaders called for a national dialogue to be held as soon as
possible to find a solution to all the problems in Papua on the basis
of the princiiples of justice, dignity and humanitarianism, mediated by
a neutral third party. The churches stated that they would consistently
and firmly fight for the rights of God’s people, in accordance with the
teachings of Jesus Christ.

The churches called on the governor of the province of Papua, church
leaders throughout the land of Papua, the Papuan Customary Council
(DAP), the Papuan People Assembly (MRP), the Papuan Legislative
Assmbly, DPRP, the military command of Papua and the chief of police of
Papua to enter into dialogue, facilitated by the church.

The church leaders also urged the chief of police to stop summoning
Sokrates Yoman, the president of the Fellowship of Baptist Churches.
They also called on the people living in the district of Puncak Jaya and
on the people throughout the Land of Papua to remain calm in face of the
on-going tragedy in the Land of Papua.

The DPRP and the MRP were urged to open their eyes and ears to the
series of shootings that have been occurring in the district of Puncak
Jaya and to summon the governor of the province of Papua as the civil
authority in Papua, the Papua chief of police and the military commander
as those responsible for the security situation to explain the many
incidents of violence that have been occurring in Puncak Jaya up to the
present.

In particular the chief of police should say what the police have been
doing to reveal those responsible for the terror shootings in that
district. The National Human Rights Commission representative office in
Papua should set up an independent team to investigate to discover the
people behind all this, and to produce accurate data in the interests of
law enforcement and for justice and truth.

——————————

Lawyers speak out about the Sokrates case
Bintang 13 August 2010

A number of lawyers have expressed their opinions about the police
summons to Sokrates Yoman, head of the Fellowship of Baptist Churches.
The fact that the police have made statements in the media has attracted
their attention.

According to the lawyer Gustaf R. Kawer, if Sokrates is regarded as a
witness, that means that there must also be a defendant. The police may
summon him up to three times and if he fails to appear, then force may
be used in accordance with the law.

If Sokrates is believed to be in any way connected to the accused, this
must be based on initial evidence. There should be two witnesses as well
as the necessary evidence. It is not correct for the police simply to
say something in the media and then go ahead and arrest Sokrates.

If it is simply about a statement made by Sokrates in the press, he is
protected by the law on the press. ‘According to the press law, when a
journalist publishes his comments, he should be confronted by the person
against whom the charge was made. Once the institution that has been
charged has used its right of reply, the matter should be regarded as
closed.’

If the matter results in defamation of the person in question, said
Kawer, it is premature of the police and means that they are acting
unprofessionally. They are simply reacting to something while at the
same time showing that they cannot accept criticism.

Speaking along similar lines as Kawer, Johannis Maturbongs, the
coordinator of Kontras, said that the army and the police should accept
the remarks made by Sokrates as a form of control from civil society.
‘The police summons was premature because all that Sokrates was doing
was exerting control on behalf of civil society regarding the events
that have been occurring in Puncak Jaya.since 2004.

What has been happening is highly regrettable because there have been
casualties not only among members of the security forces but also a
considerable number of casualties among the ordinary people. The events
there have been quite extraordinary yet the police have failed to
perform their function which is to discover the perpetrators. It is as
though the police are using the words of Soktrates as proof against
those responsible. ‘They are not treating Sokrates as a community
leader and church leader who is feeling deeply concerned about the
situation.’

Johanis also said it is the duty of the National Human Rights
Commission, KomnasHAM, in Papua as as well in Jakarta to respond.

‘It is up to Komnas HAM to thoroughly investigate what has been
happening in Puncak Jaya because there have been many civilian casualties.’

News from Papua: Filep Karma refuses offer of remission; Census time: huge increase in population of Papua

Articles from Bintang Papua, 17 August 2010
Abridged in translation

While prisoners everywhere will await anxiously for the moment when they
may receive remission of their sentence, this is not the case with a
prisoner charged with ‘makar’ (treason).

Filep Karma (who is serving a 15-year sentence) has once again rejected
the government’s offer of a remission. He made his decision known in a
two-page letter addressed to the minister for law and human rights,
Patrialis Akhar.

At a place in the prison where he was able to make contact with
journalists, he said that he rejects all offers of remission.

‘I consider that I am not guilty of anything. The mere expression of my
democratic rights is not allowed. Yet, in Jakarta, when someone sticks a
photo of the president on the backside of a buffalo, this is not
considered to be a crime.’

He said he would also refuse any offer of clemency.

In the opening paragraph of his letter copies of which are addressed to
26 other addressees including the Indonesian president and Amnesty
International, he said:

‘I, the undersigned, declare in full consciousness of what I am doing
and free from any pressure from any quarter, that I have rejected the
efforts by the government since 2005 to grant me remission by the
department of law and human rights and I shall do so into the
foreseeable future for as long as I continue to have the status of
political prisoner conferred by the Republic of Indonesia.’

He went on to say that this was being done as an act of protect against
all manner of actions by the authoritiesof the Republic of Indonesia in
violation of the Pancasila philosophy and the 1945 Constitution.

As is known, the national day 17 August is always an occasion for the
authorities to grant remission, and on this occasion, it included the
release of fourteen convicted prisoners being held in Abepura Prison
while 115 prisoners were granted remissions of between two and six months.

The remissions were granted in a ceremony led by the law and human
rights minister and the deputy governor of Papua, Alex Hasegam when the
remission letter was given to each of the prisoners in question.

On the same occasion, one prisoner, Filep Karma, who was neatly
dressed, managed to come forward holding a morning star flag in his
hand. But this had nothing to do with being granted remission; it was to
move a sack of garbage to a truck.

—————————–

Huge increase in population of Papua

The population of the province of Papua has now reached 2,851,999, which
represents a far greater percentage increase than the national increase
of 1.49 percent.

[The report in BPapua refers throughout to the ‘province of Papua’,
presumably meaning this this does not include what is now the province
of West Papua.]

This was announced by the head of the Statistics Bureau of the province
of Papua who said that this was still a provisional announcement
because there would be further announcements about the composition of
the population including ethnicity, migration as well as the number of
births and deaths.

Another official of the bureau said that the huge increase was partly
due to having started from a low base, so the percentage increase
appears to be very high. In addition, he said, the census in 2000 was
far from being complete because the political situation at the time was
very tense, with on-going demands for a referendum and independence for
Papua, with the result that some districts were unable to carry out the
census.

He said that the number of males was in excess of the number of females,
with a recorded difference of 13 percent.

The place with the greatest densisty is Jayapura with 278 persons per
square kilometre followed by Biak with 58 persons per square kilometre..
Mamberamo has the lowest density of all, with only one person per square
kilometre.

[Comment: We can only await the promise of more detailed information
about the ethnic composition of the population, bearing in mind the
reported regular arrival of in-migrants from other parts of Indonesia.
It could very well be that the point has been reached at which Papuans
now account for a minority of the inhabitants, a trend that can only
increase with the recent launch of the MIFEE project in Merauke. TAPOL]

West Papua is Indonesia’s Palestine.

West Papua is Indonesia’s Palestine.

Opinion
August 16, 2010

John Ondawame is right. West Papua is on the verge of a “total intifada” (Ben Bohane, ‘West Papua warns of intifada against Jakarta’, Sydney Morning Herald, August 7 2010). Intifada means to “shake off” in Arabic. It has become a word used to describe the desire by Palestinians to free themselves from foreign occupation. The question is what kind of intifada is and will take place in West Papua? Will it be like the recent Palestinian intifada, led by a resurgent Hamas? An uprising of fury waged through political terror. Or will it be like the 1987 Palestinian intifada, a largely unarmed insurrection?

West Papua is the Indonesia’s Palestine. Papuans consider that their land has been occupied without their consent. Freedom of expression is prohibited, foreign journalists banned, migrants continue to pour into the country, and the police and military keep a repressive lid on boiling Papuan anger. It is also a modern day Avatar. Papuans are defending their land form the exploitative practices of resource extractive industries. For the Papuans theirs is a struggle for survival.

However, unlike Palestine and the film Avatar, resistance to the Indonesian government’s rule has overwhelmingly been through civilian based movements. Only last month, for instance, 20,000 plus people – students, women, young people, religious leaders, NGO activists, traditional chiefs, farmers and even members of the Majelis Rakyat Papua, West Papua’s indigenous senate – all converged on the capital and occupied the provincial parliament for two days to pressure the Papuan political elite to hand back Special Autonomy, a package or policy, finance, and legislation designed to give Papuans a measure of self-rule. After ten years of broken promises and still born hopes, Papuans concluded Special Autonomy had failed. It is a news story that should have been covered by every major media outlet. But here in Australia we heard next to nothing.

Now, as Bohane writes, Papuans are feeling abandoned by their Melanesian kin. At the recent Pacific Island Forum, Vanuatu tried to raise the West Papua issue but Papua New Guinea’s political leaders blocked the discussion. Again. The Australia and New Zealand governments also failed to raise their voice for on behalf of Papuan rights. Again.

Some Papuan leaders are now talking about making the territory ungovernable through mass civilian based non-cooperation with Jakarta. How long civil resistance continues depends not only on the tactical and strategic choices made by Papuan leaders. In part it also depends on whether solidarity movements in the region, including inside Indonesia, can raise the political and economic costs so that political leaders and foreign companies feel compelled to agree to what Papuans have been demanding for years: political dialogue with Jakarta and the international community about their grievances.

Will the international community support the Papuan’s right to rise up for freedom? Or will they send the same message they sent to the Kosovo Albanians? That international intervention and the goal of independence will only come about when there is armed struggle and mass violence. Surely we can all do better than that.

Jason MacLeod

(The writer lectures in political science at the University of Queensland.)

Komnas HAM calls on security forces to halt military operations in Puncak Jaya

Bintang Papua, 11 August 2010

Komnas HAM calls on security forces to halt military operations in Puncak Jaya

The Papuan branch of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) has called on the police and the army to immediately end their military operations in Puncak Jaya district because they will never solve the root of the problems in the area.

The Komnas HAM statement was made public at its office in Jayapura by deputy chairman Mathius Murib on Wednesday.

He said that from 17 August 2004 up to August 2010 the inhabitants of Puncak Jaya have lived in a constant state of trauma because of reports that dozens of people as well as members of the security forces have been shot dead and murdered in Puncak Jaya. ‘As a result, the people there are traumatised and unable to carry on with their activities, with some of them leaving the area in search of tranquillity elsewhere.’

Murib said that in order to avoid further casualties, the police and the army (Polri/TNI) should immediately stop all operations to hunt people down in Puncak Jaya district and consider other ways of resolving the problems there.

‘We believe that force of arms or other forms of violence will never resolve these problems and will only lead to yet more problems and more casualties.’

He also urged the civilian population in the area to remain calm and consolidate their efforts so as to be able to function normally, and to avoid being provoked by issues coming from irresponsible elements.

Murib said that Komnas HAM will be urging the district chief of Puncak Jaya as well as civil society, in particular the church, to draft a comprehensive account of developments during the current year.

He said that the role of the church was important because church mediation has been able to solve a number of problems in the Land of Papua, and moreover those involved in the conflict were all members of the church.

The Komnas HAM team which has just returned from Puncak Jaya has also called on senior police officers in Puncak Jaya to initiate legal proceedings against all those persons or groups deemed to be involved in the Puncak Jaya case from 2004 up to 2010.

‘The Puncak Jaya case is not a new case and thereforre all individuals or groups involved in the case for the past six years should be brought to account in accordance with the laws in Indonesia,’ said Murib, who has just returned from Puncak Jaya where he conducted investigations.

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