Tag: Impunity

BOBII: PAPUA, A CHESSBOARD OF MASKED COLONISERS

Opinion/Analysis

By Selpius Bobii, exclusive for West Papua Media

January 3, 2014

Throughout previous colonial periods and still today, colonising states in any location of the world have had the same basic attitude. That is of making the colonised peoples their subjects and seizing the area’s natural resources.  Their first focus on taking over a land is always to breakdown and destroy the systems of the culture, whilst at the same time terrorising the people to bring them to submission and killing many in the process.

As the culture of a people is a strength that endures, so it must be broken down to make a people submissive to colonial domination. Once the strength of the culture of the people is broken, then the coloniser can relatively easily master the land and its natural resources.  The coloniser then continues to ‘eradicate’ the people off the land by both overt and covert means, making it easily available for its own people to settle and exploit. The instinctive behaviour of the coloniser is aimed at ‘killing and plundering’ and they use whatever means necessary to annihilate the people so they can seize the land and its resources.

In this modern era colonial powers have the very same attitude but they have changed their face and their methods are now ‘tidily wrapped’ in bilateral or multicultural arrangements between nations. But make no mistake, the character of the colonising nations has not changed and they still aim to see peoples bought into submission by whatever means to enable a plundering of their resources and the overpowering of their land. Whilst not obvious to those who aren’t on the receiving end of colonial domination, this ‘tidy wrapping’ of colonial powers methods in modern times is primarily in the form of foreign investment.  Developing nations fall for the bait of colonisers’ offering working relationships that will supposedly help them develop.

The giving of humanitarian aid by colonisers to developing countries does not arise from a true humanitarian concern but rather is a ‘way in’. Such instances provide opportunities to the colonising powers to work with local governments, organisations and religions so the latter act as a bridge to persuade the people into surrendering their land and its resources. This they achieve of course through manipulation and trickery combined with the ‘convincing’ approach of violence.

The colonising nations will always seek to smooth the ground and create pre-conditions conducive to meeting their end goal of exploiting a region’s natural resources. They do this in the modern era commonly through donating grants or equipment, or through the provision of humanitarian aid, military training and equipment / grants or monetary loans.  We need to take a step back to recognise that colonising powers are not just giving hand-outs from the kindness of their hearts but rather are actually often intentionally creating crises as a way of manipulating developing nations. As in times of desperate need for assistance there arises a ‘way in’ that does not attract international criticism.. These ‘created crises’ have a range of forms including humanitarian crises, monetary crises, government control crises and so on. Alternatively the colonizing power may take advantage of a natural disaster to give aid thereby also providing a way in. Once they have a ‘foot in the door’ they can then set up unilateral or bilateral working relationships with the developing country that provide for foreign investment. (1)

Those types of investment that are potentially most destructive and which can lead to the loss of a people from the face of the earth are primarily investments in mining, large-scale plantations / agriculture and the timber industry.  With the most destructive being the mining industry, as the wastes of  mining can absolutely destroy the entire living environment and ecosystems. Entire forests are destroyed and with it villages that had relied on the forest to live.  This destruction of the living ecosystem indirectly creates an economic and humanitarian crisis that contributes towards annihilation of the local ethnic race.

The global wide investment market has no sense of justice or injustice. That which major investors and their peripheral supporters (eg regional governments) strive for is massive profits and they have eyes for nothing else. The local community at the location of the investment project become but victims and in locations of major works that last for many years as in Papua the list of victims is endless. The land is ransacked, ruined and can no longer yield produce for the people sufficient for their survival. The people in the process are terrorised, tortured, humiliated, raped and killed. Victim after victim without ceasing……..

The land of Papua has long been something akin to a chessboard for the playing out of the economic, political and security interests of the masked colonial powers. Indonesia has had no hesitation to allow many of those countries who are ex-imperialist powers to join the game where there was something to be gained by Indonesia in the process.  The massive largely USA owned gold and copper mine PT Freeport in Papua provides clear proof of the mutual ongoing  ‘repayment’  from Indonesia to the USA for the latter’s assistance in facilitating the annexation of Papua into the Republic of Indonesia. It’s a fine example of how the game works with masked colonisers playing out their economic and security games. The dynamics that see PT Freeport continuing in Papua reveal the injustice, discrimination, marginalisation, human rights violations and humanitarian atrocities that ensure the continued profitability for those in power.  Dynamics that are leading to the destruction of the environment and entire ecosystem, which are leading to the annihilation of the Papuan ethnic race.

The colonising nations hidden behind the masks of investors, have the ideal platform to step up from in Papua. As the government together with certain organisations and religions in Papua  are acting as a bridge connecting investors to the local community. The investors real goals have not changed from colonising powers of previous eras, striving to seize the natural resources and the land and to ‘eradicate’ the people in the process by whatever means necessary, hidden or overt. Killing can be direct such as instances where those with customary rights to the land oppose investors and their allies moving in. Or indirect such as where the local community in the area of the mine is killed slowly by the effects of contamination from toxic wastes of their food and water supply; or perhaps through starvation from no longer being able to farm their traditional lands and hence the sicknesses that result when people lose their villages and forests which are the source of their basic necessities of life.

Many nations have for years worked together with the State of Indonesia solely in furtherance of their own economic, political and security interests, to exploit the natural resources of Papua and its people, and so the countless numbers of victims who have fallen in order for those investors and Indonesia to achieve their goals. Indonesia and its allies are all members of the United Nations (UN), but clearly when it comes to the issue of Papua the Declaration of Human Rights and the rule of international law just ‘don’t apply’.  It’s time that those nations of the world responsible for the Papua’s subjugation together with the UN, acknowledged their wrongs in the previous period and through to today and break through those wrongs by making a way that acknowledges the independent sovereignty of the nation of Papua at law.

There are independent nations of the world that many years ago successfully landed people on the moon and yet there are still nations such as Papua that have not been given the chance to stand up and walk alone.  The determination of the people of Papua to stand and walk alone is strong but they have been knocked down again and again.  The matter of bilateral and unilateral working partnerships with other nations that are mutually profitable will of course be organised once Papua becomes recognised as an independent state. What is needed at this time is recognition at law by the UN and other nations of the world of Papua’s sovereign independence. As it is through this recognition that all forms of colonial domination by Indonesia in Papua can be brought to an end.

It is said that every individual, every group and every organisation can be an ‘ambassador for peace’ where they value and protect the human rights of some other person, family, tribe, group or nation, so that all can fully exercise their rights and obligations. Let’s each one of us be as ambassadors to truly realise peace on this earth this New Year.

 Footnote:

  1. Apart from the colonising effect of foreign investment, there is also types of domestic investment with that colonising effect. The domestic coloniser may act alone or work in conjunction with foreign investors to bring about the same ends of plundering the land and its resources and wiping out the local people to achieve that end.

Selpius Bobii is the  General Chairperson of Front PEPERA & Papuan Freedom Political Detainee in  Abepura Prison, Jayapura, from where he regularly contributes articles to West Papua Media.

 

 

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Karnavian: 11 prominent security cases in West Papua for 2013

From Victor Mambor at  Tabloid Jubi

December 1, 2014

Head of Papua Police, Inspector General of Police Tito Karnavian (Jubi)
Head of Papua Police, Inspector General of Police Tito Karnavian (Jubi)

Jayapura, 1/1 (Jubi) – Head of Papua Police, Inspector General of Police Tito Karnavian said, during the year 2013, there were eleven prominent cases related to Security and Public Order.

“There were eleven prominent cases during the Year 2013. Such as attacks carried by unidentified peoples, fifteen cases, and assault in the area of ​​PT Freeport Indonesia, eleven cases,“ said Tito Karnavian to reporters on Tuesday (31/12) night.

The eleven prominent cases are :
1. Tribal warfare, 3 cases;
2. Shooting in the area of ​​PT. Freeport Indonesia, 11 cases;
3. Mass attacks against members of the police, 6 cases;
4. Attacks by Armed Civilian/The National Liberation Army of Free West Papua Movement, 15 cases;
5. Deprivation against foreigners, 1 case;
6. Plane crash, 0 cases;
7. Protests against Special Autonomy Law, 3 cases;
8. Possession of illegal weapons , 4 cases;
9. Shootings by police, 3 cases;
10. Anarchist demo, 3 cases;
11. Raising of the Morning Star, 5 cases.

In addition, Papua Police had eleven operation carried out in the year 2013.
Eleven of these operations include Operation Mantap Praja II,  Operasi Mantap Praja III, Operasi Sahabar Matoa, Operasi Simpatik Matoa, Operasi Dian, Operasi Patuh Matoa, Operasi Zebra Matoa, Operasi Lilin Matoa dan Operasi Aman Matoa III.

“To eradicate corruption, from ten activities with 122 existing cases in police report, the State suffered a loss of Rp. 58,166,994,730, – but money returned to the state was Rp. 15,066,951,566, – , ” said Tito Karnavian.

Papua Police have predict public order and security situation (Sitkamtibmas) for 2014 will still be dominated by mass demonstrations relating to the Legislative and Presidential Elections. (Jubi/Aprila Wayar/Victor Mambor)

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Bobii: Indonesian Armed Forces, the main Anti-Peace Agents in Papua

By Selpius Bobii  writing from Abepura State Prison, Jayapura

 Opinion

December 24, 2013

Every religion teaches values of goodness and kindness and has teachings that are intended to create happiness and peace on this earth and in eternity.  We hear so many people speak of the importance of peace, but the reality is that it’s not that simple to realise peace in our everyday lives. In the Papuan province of Indonesia it feels like peace is so far from becoming a reality for the indigenous people who live there.

Of late the Cenderawasih XVII Military Commander in West Papua has been coining the phrase “Peace is beautiful” and yet at the same time the Indonesian Armed Forces continue to be the number one culprit committing acts of violence and humanitarian atrocities against the indigenous people of Papua.  Behind the mask of these sweet words the Armed Forces are clearly acting very much against the creation of peace in Papua.

 Peace can be realised in a place when every person, every group, every faction, respects the rights of others; and this extends to nations and tribes. Where each is able to exercise their rights and at the same time fulfils their obligations towards others. It seems however in Papua that the realisation of peace is something that’s incredibly difficult to achieve, with the root cause of that being the lack of recognition of the very basic political rights of the people of Papua by all three Indonesia, the USA and the United Nations (UN).

(UN)involved in Papua's desire for Peace; very involved in its atrocities (Photo: Public domain)
(UN)involved in Papua’s desire for Peace; very involved in its atrocities (Photo: Public domain)

With the USA and UN’s active support throughout the entire process of annexation of Papua into Indonesia in the 1960’s, they indeed played a part in the actions of violence and atrocities against the indigenous people of Papua.  They achieved their goal of making Papua into ‘the kitchen of the world’, opening it to the many international companies that have been stripping Papua of its rich natural resources ever since. It was not to end at the annexation of Papua, as they have continued these last more than 50 years to support Indonesia’s hold on Papua which in turn keeps the door open for exploitation of the land.  There have been various forms of aid and in particular joint programs in security and defence, which of course are critical to Indonesia’s continued domination of Papua.

The Indonesian Armed Forces have by intention made Papua into a centre of conflict, but for what end?  In so doing they create a situation where the indigenous people can be paralysed, can be annihilated and the world just keeps quiet, with Indonesia saying they are dealing with the conflict. The result?  Papua remains permanently part of Indonesia and its natural resources can be exploited with ease by international parties.

Let’s not be fooled that the partnerships going on between Indonesia and other nations of the world in the areas of security and defence are aimed at peace building and protecting the people of the region as claimed. Nothing could be further from the truth! The reality is they have quite the opposite goal! The Indonesian Armed Forces are the main agents intentionally creating violence, bondage and theft of natural resources, discrimination, marginalisation, injustice, terror, intimidation and humanitarian atrocities against the indigenous peoples of the land of Papua. Their military and civilian operations both overt and covert are intended to slowly but surely annihilate ethnic Papuans.

The many forms of both visible and hidden violence and humanitarian atrocities undertaken by the state of Indonesia against indigenous Papuans are intended to stifle the political aspirations of Papuans for independence and at the same time annihilate the people. In the face of this continued violence against their people the indigenous peoples of Papua continue to express their opposition to the many human rights violations by peaceful and dignified means, primarily by means of peaceful demonstration. Yet even the narrowest space for a voice calling for democracy has been blocked by the Armed Forces in recent times, especially by the Provincial level of Indonesian Police.  The Provincial Police are known for their practice of taking advantage of occasions when there are peaceful demonstrations to create conflict and to terrorise, torture, kill, arrest and imprison Papuans who struggle peacefully for change.  Indonesia’s Armed Forces are constantly manipulating activities of the Struggle to create incidents of violence. Nevertheless Papuans continue to struggle peacefully in keeping with their decision at the 2000 2nd National Papuan Congress.

And so in the midst of all this, now it is Christmas. Where all parties in Papua hear of the message of ‘the coming of the King of Peace’.  A message that reminds humanity that Jesus Christ came to bring peace to this earth.  A message that starts to have real meaning only when entire communities of humans make space to allow for peace in their hearts.  To that end let’s all prepare our hearts with simplicity, faithfulness, honesty and love for one another. We are each one of us reminded by the message of Christmas.

It is dearly hoped that the message of Christmas will also touch hearts and bring awareness to those who are committing the many forms of violence against indigenous Papuans. That there might be a commitment to bring an end to all forms of oppression towards indigenous Papuans and to enter into dialogue between Jakarta and Papua with a neutral facilitator. To reach that end we need to be ready and willing to humble our hearts, to be faithful, honest and to act in love. Only in that way can we bring peace to the land of Papua.  We are all called to bring an end to the latent conflicts in Papua and to create peace, no matter who we are and wherever we may be.

Peace and joy at Christmas to all and throughout 2014!

Footnote:

  1. 1.       The Dutch previously tried to prepare Papua to become an independent nation whilst still under their control, with those preparations reaching a peak on 1 December 1961. However less than a month later on 19 December 1961 Indonesia by a political and military invasion marked by what’s known as Trikora (a three prong command which demanded the dismantlement of the “puppet” Papuan state created by the Dutch; the raising of the Indonesian Red and White flag over Papua; and preparation for a general mobilisation in Papua) succeeded in annexing Papua into the Indonesian Republic.

Selpius Bobii is the  General Chairperson of Front PEPERA & is a Papuan Freedom Political Detainee imprisoned in  Abepura State Prison, Jayapura, Papua, for another Christmas.

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Key Findings of the Biak Massacre Citizens Tribunal

http://www.biak-tribunal.orgBiak Massacre Citizens Tribunal

WaterTowerCrop1

December 16, 2013

Key Findings

  1. 1.      The massacre followed a flag-raising led by Filep Karma, an Amnesty International Prisoner of Conscience

Filep Karma testified at the tribunal via prerecorded video since he is currently in prison.  He told the tribunal: “In my oratory [at the flag-raising] I said that Papuans must fight peacefully.” “The flag appeared on the top of the tower on July 2, 1998, at about 5:00 a.m. Some seventy-five people gathered beneath it, shouting freedom slogans, singing songs and dancing traditional dances” (Human Rights Watch 1998: 6).

At 2:30 in the afternoon of July 2 “a joint police and military operation attempted to disperse the crowd at the base of the water tower.  They launched canisters of tear gas into the crowd with no apparent effect.  When a low-ranking police officer, a second-class sergeant, beat an elderly demonstrator named Thonci Wabiser, the crowd spontaneously retaliated, demolishing a truck belonging to Indonesian security forces” (Kirksey 2012: 44).  A standoff ensued for days.

 

  1. 2.      Local and regional officials were involved in the planning of the attack

Tineke Rumakabu testified that two officers of the Indonesian security forces were at the water tower on July 3rd.  These commanders—namely Colonel Agus Hedyanto, who was Biak Military Commander (Dandim) and Colonel Johnny Rori, the Biak Police Commander (Kapolres)—negotiated with the crowd and asked that the flag be lowered.  These same commanders were later involved in planning the attack.  “At 1:00 a.m. on July 4, the local military brought nine village heads together to discuss a strategy for attack, and both the subdistrict head (camat) and the subdistrict military commander told the village heads that each man was responsible for bringing thirty men into the city.” (Human Rights Watch 1998: 8).

Octovianus Mote, former Bureau Chief of the Kompas daily newspaper, gave testimony based on his interviews of regional military and police commanders in July 1998.  Major General Amir Sembiring, the Regional Military Commander (Pangdam Trikora), was in a direct command and control position during the attack.  According to direct evidence tendered by Mr. Mote to the Tribunal, Sembiring “gave permission to conduct the attack.”  Mr. Mote also corroborated reports that Colonel Agus Hedyanto, who was associated with the Special Forces and who served in East Timor, was the key local official involved in Biak.  “This was a very well-organized military attack, you know police, navy, and armed forces.  All of them organized the attacking of civilians,” continued Mr. Mote.  Brigadier General Hotman Siagian, the Regional Police Commander (Kapolda IrJa), was quoted by Antara news agency as saying “the police had ‘tolerated’ the actions of the Biak group since July 2 and finally had to order a crackdown” on July 6th (Prakarsa 1998).  Vice Admiral Freddy Numberi, who was then Governor and is currently Indonesia’s Minister of Transportation and Communications, described the victims a members of a “separatist movement that is headed towards treason” (Suara Pembaruan Daily, 8 July 1998).  General Wiranto, Commander of Indonesia’s Armed Forces, told reporters when asked about the massacre: “If there is a power that raises a flag, and it is not the Red and White flag [of Indonesia], then this is a betrayal of the military and of the entire nation.  This constitutes a betrayal and this is what we must stop!” (Suara Pembaruan Daily, 7 July 1998, punctuation in original).

  1. 3.      Scores of unarmed civilians were killed, buried in mass graves, and dumped at sea

A video testimony, by a woman named “Sarah”, described how the security forces initially surrounded the protestors in a giant letter U.  “The military and the police were lined up from the police compound around to the Inpress market.  The mobile brigade police (Brimob) that had flown in from Ambon were stationed at the petrol station.  Navy troops were down at the harbor.”  She describes how they were all shooting, “from four directions,” including the sea.

One woman, who testified to the Tribunal on condition of anonymity, described the first moments of the attack at dawn on July 6th: “The army and police were everywhere.  Bullets were raining down.  The sky was on fire.  We could hear them shooting people at the tower.”

Another witness, who testified under the pseudonym Raymond, described how he rushed to the water tower along with scores of other civilians as the shooting began.  After watching as many women and men were gunned down, Raymond was herded with other survivors towards the harbor.  He described how he was forced to stare at the sun, kneel in gravel for hours, along with dozens of others.

Sarah gave corroborating testimony: “My family and others were directed down to the harbor…We followed the other families with our hands up over our heads.  You could feel the bullets starting to fly over our heads…I could see so many children who had been killed.  They were shot on the wharf.  They died right there.”  Shortly after she arrived at the wharf, she overheard a Sergeant shouting out to the commander of a navy vessel: “Dock the ship!  Dock the ship!  Carry these people!”  She also overheard the reply from the captain: “I cannot dock, the ship is full of bodies.”  Sarah said that two ships then went out to sea.  “They were there at the harbor in the morning, there to take the bodies away.”  Later on “in front of the wharf a blue truck pulled up and took 28 bodies away,” Sarah said.  “I was sitting and counting, silently.  People who they had shot, they threw their bodies on the truck.  Later another container truck came in and took more bodies away.  We don’t know where they were taken.”

Ferry Marisan, Director of the human rights organization ELS-HAM Papua, investigated the killings in the weeks after the massacre and was a lead author of the subsequent report, “Names Without Graves, Graves Without Names.”  Mr. Marisan described how a fisherman first encountered dead bodies in the sea, off shore of Biak, on July 10th, four days after the massacre: “The fishermen discovered four bodies floating, but these fishermen were scared to take the bodies on shore…The bodies were mutilated, some of them lost their legs or their genitals were not there.  They were broken bodies. These bodies were found in the eastern part of Biak, but also in the western part of Biak people found other bodies.”  Mr. Marisan also gave direct testimony about a body he helped recover: “Near Biak city, just around the park, we found a female body without a head and genitals that was badly bruised and broken, damaged.  Another body we found was just a boy from junior high in his uniform.  Most bodies we found were badly damaged.  Either they lost their legs, the heads or their genitals.”

  1. 4.      People were beaten, tortured, arbitrarily detained, sexually abused, and executed

Raymond presented testimony about indiscriminate beatings by police at the harbor.  He was taken with six truckloads of people to the regional police station (POLRES).  Fourteen people were crammed with Raymond into a cell.  Raymond was detained for two weeks and in the middle of the night guards routinely doused him with water during his detention.

Statements from Tineke Rumakabu, describe graphic scenes of sexual violence and torture after she was detained by Indonesian forces.  Mrs. Rumakabu described how she was tossed into a yellow truck on the morning of July 6, on top of people who were already dead or seriously wounded.  She was then taken to the military compound (KODIM).  Mrs. Rumakabu showed the Tribunal scars on her arms and described what was done to her while she was blindfolded and cuffed: “They cut my arm with a sharp bayonet and then they poured acid. When I screamed they burnt me with cigarettes.”

The blindfold was later removed and she was stripped naked in a room with twelve other women and girls.  “Then I saw a man [a soldier] showing me a little knife, the one that you use to shave, and he said ‘We are going to use this to cut off your vaginas, from above and below, and from the left to the right.’”  “I saw a little girl and they raped her and she died,” Mrs. Rumakabu told the Tribunal. “All over the place it was blood everywhere because women, their vaginas and clitoris’ had been cut out, and they had been raped many, many times.”  One of the women in detention, Marta Dimara was a friend of Mrs. Rumakabu.  “Martha said, ‘I would rather be killed than you rape me.’ They put a bayonet in her neck and then her vagina and also cut off her breasts and beheaded her.”  Mrs. Rumakabu told the Tribunal: “I was also tortured, a lit candle was penetrated inside me, they cut off my clitoris and they raped me.”  Out of the twelve women in detention with her, she reported: “Eight women were killed and four of us stayed alive.”


 

  1. 5.      Weaponry and equipment from international donors was used

At least two Navy ships were involved in the attack:

KRI Teluk Berau (534), Type 108. Source: Human Rights Watch Report, page 9 and corroborated by Eben Kirksey in a 2003 interview with an eyewitness. This ship belonged to the former German Democratic Republic (East Germany) and was manufactured in 1977 by VEB Peenewerft in Wolgast.  It was purchased, along with 12 other units of the same type, by the Indonesian Navy and transferred on August 25th 1993.  Formerly named the GDR Eberswalde-Finow (634), this ship was 90.7 meters long and weighed 1,900 tons.  It was used as an amphibious landing ship by the Indonesian marines (Marinir TNI AL).  The KRI Teluk Berau was armed with “a double barrel cannon with a caliber of 37 millimeters, a Bofors 40mm anti-aircraft gun and multipurpose autocannon, and two double barrel cannons with a caliber of 25 millimeters.”  (Source: Koramatim 2012)[i]

KRI Kakap (811), Source: Eben Kirksey’s photograph from July 6th, 1998.

The KRI Kakap-811 is a Fast Patrol Boat that was manufactured by PT. Pal Indonesia and has been in service since 1988.  It is armed with a Bofors 40mm and 20mm anti-aircraft guns and multipurpose autocannons as well as 12.7 mm machine guns.  This ship can carry one helicopter (Source: Koramatim 2013).

Sources Cited

Human Rights Watch (1998) “Indonesia: Human Rights and Pro-Independence Actions in Irian Jaya” Vol 10, No. 8 (C)

Kirksey, Eben (2013) Freedom in Entangled Worlds: West Papua and the Global Architecture of Power (Durham: Duke University Press).

Koarmatim (2012) “KRI Teluk Berau-534 Mengakhiri Pengabdiannya,” Available on-line: http://koarmatim.tnial.mil.id.  Updated: 28 September, 2012, 11:34.  Accessed: 12 November, 2013, 12:53

Koarmatim (2013) “KRI Kakap-811 Siap Amankan Perairan Perbatasan RI-Philipina,” Available on-line: http://koarmatim.tnial.mil.id.  Updated: 11 November, 2013, 13:51.  Accessed: 25 November, 2013, 23:18.

Prakarsa, Patrisia (1998) “Indonesian Troops Wound 24 in Irian Jaya Shooting” Agence France Presse, July 6.

Suara Pembaruan Daily (1998) “Menhankam/Pangab Jenderal TNI Wiranto: Pengibaran Bendera Bukan Merah-Putih Tindakan Makar” Suara Pembaruan Daily, 7 July.

Suara Pembaruan Daily (1998) “Akibat Kerusuhan di Irja” Suara Pembaruan Daily, 8 July.

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POLICE ACCUSED OF USING OTHER PRISONERS FOR THE ILL-TREATMENT OF YASON NGELIA

From our partners at Tabloid Jubi

by Benny Mawel

December 15, 2013

 

Aksi Pengalangan Dana Pegobatan Yazon
Raising money for treatment for Yazon Ngelia (Photo:Jubi/Mawel)

 

Jayapura,15/11— The Student Representation Council of the Politics and Civil Faculty at Cenderawasih University (DPM-FISIP-UNCEN) harshly condemns the parties responsiblefor  the imprisonment of Yason Ngelia, Chairman of the Executive Student Body (BEM) of the FISIP department, in Jayapura. Yason’s current condition brings a flood of disappointment as he is not in a good (physical) state as a result of the imprisonment.

The parties responsible for the imprisonment of Yason are the Papuan Governor and the Papua People Assembly.  The Cenderawasih University, with the involvement of 29 lecturers, have written an academic draft of the Special Autonomy Plus for Papua (or called for a Special Autonomy Papuan Government (for Papuans to run the provincial government). However, an individual student has reported he was physically abused by Yason which led to his arrest.

The recognition of the abuse against the student is the reason police have detained Yason, which led to the refusal of the students’ draft Otsus Plus.  Yason’s struggles to protect Papuan People from murder is systematically criminalised by the government through the acts of the police.

“The rector does not yet appear to be handling this problem,” said Septi Medoga, the head of the Student Representation Council of FISIP at Cenderawasih University to a reporter in front of the university gate in Waena-Abepura in Jayapura. (12/12)

The individual who claimed to be a victim of abuse from Yason, according to Septi, has never wanted to meet with members of BEM FISIP who want to solve this problem internally. “The student doesn’t want to meet with us.” He said.

Until today, according to Septi, Yason’s physical condition is declining rapidly as a result of his incarceration. “The police are using three other prisoners to beat Yason. His right temple has ruptured, his cheeks are bruised, his bones are broken and his back has been kicked hard,” said Septi, who spoke with Yason when he visited him in jail. This beating occurred on 20th November 2013 in the detention room of the police station in Jayapura.

Yason’s condition is rapidly deteriorating and he has not yet received any medical treatment. “We assess this to be neglect from the police, the e university, and of those who claim to be a victim of abuse from Yason, those who have dragged him behind bars” said Septi.

Because of this situation, Septi has taken the initiative to lead his friends to raise funds for the medical treatment Yason needs. “We will give the funds raised to Yason to give him the medical treatment he needs.” Early demonstrations occurred in front of the Cenderawasih University gates on Thursday. (12/12)

The fundraising will go from Monday (16/12) and will be placed at various central locations, like Expo taxi terminal, Abe Circle, and other universities in Jayapura.

The right to medical treatment is a fundamental human right for Yason, regardless of his status as a suspect. Septi is urging the Papua Emergency Health Unit (UP2KP) to take a step towards helping Yason. “We ask for Dr Alo Giyai to lend a hand to check Yason’s condition” he said.

When we asked about Yason’s release, Septi claims the head of BEM FISIP should be freed today, but the reason why not is still unclear. “The power of the law to send a letter of suspending the detention on 24th November, then until today there is still no reply from the police” he said.

Meanwhile, Pontius, the coordinator of fundraising for Yason’s medical treatment, hopes his activist friends from GEMPAR will stop demonstrations demanding for Yason’s freedom by blocking the gates of the universities, because this will slow down the process for his release. “Friends, please demonstrate without blocking the gates to campus, if they are kept shut, Yason’s release will take longer” he said.

This is definitely an internal problem that only the rector has no intention of solving a problem as trivial as this. “I am amazed with us having this institution. This institution has the authority to solve this problem alone, however the rector is hiding from it” said Pontius.

Editor : Victor Mambor

Translated by West Papua Media Translation team

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