Tag: Human Rights and Liberties

LP3BH report on the trial of five students in Manokwari

Report from LP3BH, the Merauke-based legal aid institute, regarding the charges against five Papuan students who are currently on trial for subversion, makar:First of all, the charges  against the five students, Alex Duwiri, Yance Sekeyab, John Raweyai, Penehas Serongon and Jhon Wilson Wader are not that they unfurled the 14-star flag but that they took part in a long march by students from the State University of Papua – UNIPA – which started at the university campus in Amban, Manokwari on 14 December and went to the Information and Communications Service of the district of Manokwari in Sanggeng, Manokwari.

The five students were arrested  because their faces were identified in photographs taken by a member of the police force in Manokwari while they were taking part in a rally by about fifty students who were on a long march from Amban to show their support for the action to mark the 22nd anniversary of the Proclamation of the Independence of West Melanesia  on 14 December 2010.

Alex Duwiri was arrested somewhere near the the location of the action because his face had been identified in a photograph, while John Raweyai was arrested because he was the Master of Ceremonies of the action. John Wilson Wader was arrested while he was arranging the chairs that were being used during that ceremony, while Penehas Serongan and Yance Sekeyab were arrested outside the Women’s Institute which was about one kilometre from the rally as they were leaving the  event just before it had been broken up by the police. They had left slightly earlier because they wanted to get back to the university to attend a lecture there.

Then, what happened on 14 December 2010 was that Melkianus Bleskadit was taking part in an event to mark the 22nd anniversary of the Proclamation of the Republic of Melanesia that took place  near the premises of the Information and Communications Service  of the district of Manokwari in Sanggeng Manokwari.The event was attended by about one hundred Papuan civilians. Yance who was also there  had been asked to say a prayer and give a vote of thanks at the end of the ceremony.

Bleskadit got onto the platform to deliver his speech but all of a sudden, the crowd started yelling Papua, which they did three times, and Bleskadit pulled out a 14-star flag  and held it up in his hands, whereupon the Manokwari police who were present got onto the platform and arrested him.

Thirdly, the trial of Melkianus Bleskadit and Dance Yenu was held on the following day, Tuesday, 13 June at which  witnesses for the prosecution were heard, as well as some expert witnesses who had come from Makassar. One of the witnesses was an Indonesian language expert, another was an expert in criminal code and the third was an expert in governance law.

Fourthly, the five students are indeed facing the charge of makar based on Article 106 as well as Article 160 on incitement.

Finally, we have not heard anything about pressure being put on the media  regarding their coverage of this case in the Manokwari district court..

From Yan Christian Warinussy

This message was sent in response to a query received by LP3BP from Josef Benedict of Amnesty International.

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Numerous problems in Papua since OTSUS was enacted

JUBI. 15 May 2011Since the enactment of OTSUS, the special autonomy law for Papua, a pile of problems have hit Papua. There has been no decline in the number of problems; on the contrary, they have steadily increased.Many buildings have been constructed that are of no benefit to the indigenous population. Take for instance the construction of commercial premises and the fate of Papuan businesspeople. ‘These buildings are for other people,’ said Olga Helena Hamadi, Director of the Commission for Disappearances and the Victims of violence, KontraS, on Saturday.

As for the demands for permanent business premises for Papuan businessmen, they are still struggling for this to happen. Their future is still very much in the air. The kind of premises they have been calling for have not been built by the government. The premises that have been built do not last long even though they have been calling for this since 2004., she said.

OTSUS makes provision for a Commission of Truth and Reconciliation to be set up but all that has happened since OTSUS has been the creation of a National Human Rights Commission which means that human rights violations, acts of violence and shootings are only dealt with by the Komnas HAM. The result is that many cases have got stuck, some of which got no farther than a court hearing. There has been no follow-up.

Furthermore, there has been no proper accounting for OTSUS funds. No procedures are in place to control the use of these funds. There is no accountability because no procedures have been put in place.

She said that all these things point to the failure of OTSUS, which has failed because no procedures have been put in place.

She said that she was making these clarifications because  of a previous news report  that OTSUS had not failed.. ‘We dont agree that OTSUS has not been a failure, because since the enactment of OSUS, a number of problems have emerged.’

Translated by TAPOL

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The Indonesian State is responsible for the shooting of three civilians in Dogiyai

Press Release

The Indonesian State is responsible for the shooting of three civilians in Dogiyai

 

(JAKARTA, Friday, May 13th 2011) – The Anti-Militaristic Papuan Students’ Coalition urges the Head of the National Police to immediately dismiss the Heads of Papua provincial police, Nabire regency police and Moanemani district police after the shooting of three civilians that occurred in Moanemani district, Dogiyai regency, Papua.

This was stated by Frans Tomoki from the Anti-Militaristic Papuan Students’ Coalition during a press conference at the KontraS office, Jln. Borobudur No. 14, on Friday, May 13th.

According to Frans, shooting incidents have been occurring for nearly one month but haven’t been clarified yet. He also criticized the brutal behavior of  the police officers who shot at civilians without warning.

“There must be a warning before shooting, but the police directly opened fire without thinking of the possible consequences.  This  can be categorized as a serious human rights violation.”

According to Agus Okama Kosay, human rights violation have been going on in Papua since the territory was forcefully merged into Indonesia. “From 1961 on there have been human rights violation and tensions keep rising.”

In the Reformasi era, all the more since the implementation of the Special Autonomy Law, human rights violations should have decreased. But this eventually didn’t materialize. As compared to the Ancient and New Order eras, the Special Autonomy era is even worse.

“Why do Papuan people think that the Special Autonomy is a total failure?  Because human rights violations keep occurring  and the central government never tried to solve this problem,” Agus explained.

The Anti-Militaristic Papuan Students’ Coalition also urges the international community to lobby the Indonesian government to take responsibility  for the frequent serious human rights violations in Papua, including the shooting incident in Dogiyai regency.

Images of shooting sites, Dogiyai (IMages courtesy of witnesses on ground)

“The international community must lobby the Indonesian government to  thoroughly investigate several human rights violations in Papua,” Agus added.

The shooting of three civilians by police officers took place on April 13th, 2011, around 1.30 pm. It began as police officers raided a togel [illegal lottery] kiosk in Moanemani market housing complex. They seized the money belonging to the togel vendor who was just known as an agent working in fact for police members.

A group of people refused this and followed the police car to the district police station. The upset police officers shot at three civilians and wounded two others, directly in front of the district police station. Dominikus Auwe (24), Otniel Yobe (26) and Agus Pigay (24) died, while two of their friends were critically wounded.

As a consequence, local people were angered and torched the Moanemani district police station as well as several kiosks belonging to migrants from other islands, including the illegal lottery kiosk operated under the names  of First Brigadiers I Made Sudarsa and Eka. Papua provincial police sent two Brimob [Mobile Brigade] platoons to secure the area in Dogiyai and investigate the involvement of police officers but to date,  no further clarification was provided. (**)

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DPRP condemned for failing to keep its promises

JUBI, 12 May 2011

DPRP never keeps its promises

The chairman of Papuan Anti Militarism Solidarity, SRPAM, Elias Petege,
has called the DPRP, the provincial legislative assembly, a body that
always breaks its promises. So no one should be surprised that many of
the people’s aspirations have not been met. He said that to this day,
the DPRP has failed to keep its promise to meet the SRPAM in order to
discuss ways of solving the violation of human rights in Dogiyai.

‘Yesterday the DPRP accepted a request by our demonstration and promised
to meet us today but they didn’t keep their promise, without explaining
why.’

Petege said that during an action that took place yesterday, 11 May,
SRPAM called on the chief of police to dismiss the chief of police in
Papua, the chief of police in Nabire and the chief of police in
Moenamani because they had done nothing to halt the gambling that is
believed to have the support of the police in Moenamani.in the
sub-district of Dogiyai.

As a result, a fight broke out between the local police and the local
community during which several members of the community were killed.

The DPRP was also called upon to immediately mediate between the two
sides in order to solve the problem. Via the intermediary of the deputy
chairman of commission A, the DPRP promised to hold a meeting with
SRPAM to discuss measures that need to be taken, but unfortunately this
turns out to have been nothing more than lip service.

In the opinion of Petege, the DPRP is simply not bothered about the
matter and has failed to respond to the aspirations of Papuan people.
The DPRP just allows human rights violations to go on happening in Papua
without lifting a finger,’ he said.

‘We feel very disappointed indeed and have lost all confidence in the
DPRP. Just imagine, we arrived at their office at 9am and stayed there
until 3pm, but there was no one at all at the office and no one there to
explain why they were absent.’

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SONAMPMA: Photo Report of Show of Support by Papuan people for Referendum

Port Numbay,  Papua.

from National Organisation for Student Solidarity of Papua.

 Peace and Freedom !

 We are reporting on the  Demonstration of the People of Papua demanding a Referendum about Self-determination on May 2, 2011 ; for the people of Papua to have the right to determine their own fate. The demonstration took place at the Post Office in Abepura, Jayapura, as shown below :

 – The Show of Support by the people of Papua was coordinated by the National Committee of West Papua, made up by the following organisations :  Organisation of Students and Youth, DAP, Women, Religions, Intellectuals of Papua, and the whole people of Papua from this area. They marched from Sentani, through Waena and Abepura, towards Jayapura (Imbi Park), starting at 8 am.

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While waiting for the people to arrive from Sentani, there were political speeches from the coordinating body, and from several support organisations , all carrying street banners, leaflets and pamphlets, attracting the close  attention of the security forces, there to  « keep the peace », also tried to obscure some of the pictures.  Some of the banners  were saying :  Some of the leaflets said « Papua, Yes ; Indonesia No. », with each of their flags illustrated. Others said « Referendum » and « Papua Merdeka ».

 –          At another coordination point (the campus of USTP) that morning a group began to gather in front of the campus gateway fronting onto Jalan Raya, Sentani, while others came from the campus of UnCen-Abepura. They had banners saying REFERENDUM. There were speeches and the people began to move towards the main square of the campus.

 –          A large group of people assembled at Imbi Park in the early morning, not to avoid observation, because there were thousands of people already assembled there.

 –          About 5 or 6 detachments of Police from Jayapura were there and 3 units of Brimob (mobile police), observing the demonstration with some bodyguards, using 7 or 8 trucks and other vehicles, some of them equipped with weapo

–          Speeches went ahead until about noon, with 600 people who had arrived from Sentani began to assemble at Expo Waena. The whole procession gathered there were about 1000 people, preparing for the Long March to the Post Office at Abepura.

 –          The Long March began at 1 pm, and proceeded towards Abepura.  At the TNI  post at SIPUR, the demonstrators were surprised by an escort of Mobile Ambulance, together with a group of TNI (Army), fully armed, who accompanied the demonstration.

 –         Mass action continued its long march to the Central (shopping) centre , Post Office-Abepura escorted by security parties mentioned above.

–          There were speeches, which were answered by cries of « Referendum » and « Papua Merdeka ».  They stopped at the traffic lights at the Post Office at Abepura and began to sit on the road. All other activities in the town were halted and the town closed down early.

–          The total number of people eventually numbered about 2000 to 2,500. At about 2.15, the procession from Jayapura began to arrived and gathered together with the others at the Post Office.  The numbers swelled even more. The demonstrators stayed at this place, and listened to speeches from some of the leaders of the different groups representing the protestors.

– This demonstration was carried out peacefully until 6 pm, helped by vehicles which helped to keep the peace,   dispersing the people peacefully,  after which they resumed normal economic activities on the streets.

– The demonstration today, after marching well with vehicles and on foot, went off well and peacefully without any violence.

This report that we have made is completed by the Organising Committee for the Demonstration, 2nd May 2011, with great care, and we thank you for reading it.

SONAMAPA

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