Tag: Indonesian National Police

Indonesian colonial Media meddling inspires indp journalist to slam “fake journalism” in Papua

WEST PAPUA MEDIA Op-Ed:

June 30, 2012

An open letter from Victor Mambor, Head of the Jayapura Branch of the Alliance for Independent Journalists, has been circulated around Papua, highlighting the pervasive involvement of Indonesian intelligence personnel and military agendas in the Papuan press.

This letter (see below) comes at a time when the Indonesian-run colonial press in West Papua is coming under repeated attack from both Papuan and Indonesian religious and civil society figures, independent media and human rights organisations, for its unethical and blatantly false reportage of the recent upsurge in  “unknown killings” in Papua, referred to as OTK (orang tidak ketahui or unknown persons, now wryly referred to across Papua as Orang Terlatih Khusus or Specially Trained People).

Indonesian owned media outlets in Papua have long been identified with Indonesian intelligence and propaganda activities, with many outlets being directly owned by military officers for profit, and almost all media outlets coming under the control (either willing or not) of Indonesian intelligence personnel.

West Papua Media wrote a detailed section in the 2011 Pacific Media Freedom report and highlighted the issues faced with press freedom in West Papua, which detail the tactics Indonesian occupation forces use to limit factual reportage in Papua, and to dissuade journalists from doing their job.

However, as time wears on, the Indonesian colonial press is becoming even more blatant in pushing an agenda in step with the Indonesian military agenda.  This agenda is being keenly felt by members of the nonviolent civil resistance movement and Papuan civil society, particularly members of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB), who are being blamed for the OTK campaign despite no evidence being presented to prove the military assertions, with what little evidence present having been entirely fabricated by a Police to terrified to point the finger at the real perpetrators of violence in Papua – their big brothers in the military.

This spreading of falsehood has reached a crescendo around the assassination of KNPB leader Mako Tabuni, who was gunned down in an execution on June 14 by Australian trained Detachment 88 officers in Jayapura.  Justifying their criminal act, Indonesian police have variously claimed that they shot Mako in self defence, despite many witness claims that he was shot in the back while on the ground.  Indonesian police then fabricated evidence including placing a handgun on his body in the hospital, and loudly announcing that Mako was responsible with other KNPB members for the series of OTK shootings, including the shooting of a German tourist.  This is despite the unchallenged fact that all shooting were carried out with men in broad daylight who made no attempt to hide and nonchalantly drove away in the DS (Police) plated Avanzas.

This was reported uncritically by many in the colonial Indonesian press in Papua, with ironically perhaps, the truth telling in Indonesian metropolitan media coming from independent human rights journalists who went out a their limbs by telling the story of the peaceful activist and freedom fighter whom they had all met and spent time with in his attempts to non-violently raise the issue of his peoples suffering under colonial genocidal policies.

Yet the shootings continue, even with the official suspect dead, with nary a comment coming from the colonial press, a situation that is a direct repetition of the assassination of Kelly Kwalik on December 16, 2010.  Kwalik was also blamed for the OTK shootings that have plagued the giant Freeport Grasberg Gold and copper mine for many years, shootings widely blamed on a spat between Brimob police and the TNI for control of mine protection and illegal gold mining businesses.  Again, despite the assassination of Kwalik (again by Detachment 88 officers), the shootings continue, and will continue as long as the Indonesian security forces use conflict as a way of guaranteeing their presence.  A presence that’s only purpose is to exploit natural resources and make the General’s money – at the heart of why Papuan people resist the colonisation of their Land.

Leader of the indigenous Papuan Kingmi church, the Reverend Benny Giay, was this week in Jakarta to brief international diplomats about the shootings and recent massive increases in state violence against Papuan people.  In his briefing, he said that when the government has claims shootings are carried out by separatist groups, Papuans respond to those claims with their usual: “Oh itu lagu lama. The authorities are playing the old song.”

As Mambor has outlined in his letter, Giay made a series of formal complaints to the Indonesian Press Council and journalists’ associations about the lack of integrity of Indonesian so-called journalists in Papua and of their non-factual scapegoating of ordinary Papuans for separatist and violent actions.  This seems to have already threatened powerful people, as a source close to Giay had told West Papua Media that he was physically threatened by a member of the security forces during his advocacy work in Jakarta.

But this behaviour by intelligence services and their not-very-opaque “journalists” is causing many independent media to look at other tactics to regain their Papuan voices.

Just as Victor Mambor has done with his heartfelt letter, the independent Papuan citizen media outlet UMAGI News has taken a bold step in publicly naming a group of Indonesian reporters that it believes are paid intelligence officers under the command of the Cenderwasih military command.

 
PAPUAN JOURNALISTS: STOP TERROR ON PRESS REPORTERS(PHOTOS: GOOGLE via UmagiNews.com)
In an editorial, UmagiNews  have argued that most Indonesians who serve in professional Media in Papua do not carry out the tasks and functions of a journalist.  “Whether in Print, electronic or online media, (journalists should) convey information what has happened, seen, heard, felt.  To be independent means to report the events and  facts  in accordance with the voice of conscience without interference, coercion, and the  intervention  of other parties including the owners of the press,” said the Umagi editorial.
“Accurate means truthful according to the objective circumstances when the event occurs; Balanced means that all parties have equal opportunity to have their views heard; and to not act in bad faith means no deliberate and sole intent of  the detriment of others.  Yet according to KM a Papuan independent journalist, most journalists who served in Papua have always worked closely with the military, which is a violation of  the journalistic code of ethics.”
Umagi News published the names of the following reporters whom it says it has gathered evidence that shows their active collaboration as informers and/or trained agents  with civilian or military intelligence services.  Umagi claims its information has come from sources within both the security forces, and from a TNI document from the command of the XVII/Cenderawasih Military Region Taskforce 6  “datasheet of  informants/agents”, signed by one Ahmad Fikri Musmar (NRP inf Captain 11,970,044,410,576).  All suspects are ethnic Indonesians and non-Papuan.

1). M. Imran (Contributor TV One) .

2). Robert Vanwi (Suara Pembaruan).

3). Safe Hasibuan (Bisnis Papua and Radio Elshinta).

4). Alfius (Pasifik Post).

6). Rio (Radio Enarotali RPD).

7). Agus Suroto (Metro TV).

8). Evarianus M Supar (2000-2002: Journalist at Radar Kupang Timor, 2003-2006: Journalist / Editor Timika Pos Daily, 2007 – Now:  Journalist and Antara’s Timika agent).

9). Anis (SCTV Contributor, Mimika) Note: The concerned had fled from Timika since the shooting of Kelly Kwalik.

10). Odyi (RRI Sorong, Chairman PWI Sorong).

11).Jeffry (Radar and Dita Sorong Sorong).

12). Angelbertha Sinaga (Pasifik Post).

West Papua Media has sought clarification from independent journalists and human rights sources in West Papua about the veracity of these names, and our sources have concurred with the accuracy of the names given in the Umagi report, though West Papua Media has not yet been able to see the document first hand. (UPDATE: WPM has possession of the original Kodim document and has verified all names contained, independently).
However this is not a new claim. For example, On May 16, The TNI held a major meeting with Indonesian press representatives in Sorong, and encouraged soldiers and journalists to work together to ensure “balanced coverage of the affairs of the function and duties of the TNI… so that it can be beneficial for society.”  The commander of the TNI in Sorong, Colonel Inf Wiharsa Eka, even exhorted all present to monitor events together, as “it runs the full atmosphere of intimate friendship, and even a means to know each other. The journalists should exchange phone numbers, either with me or Danyon commander (Commander Batalyon),” said the Colonel.  With friends like these soldiers, how could an honest journalist possibly have any fears of reporting events factually in Papua?
Papuan people reclaiming their own media space is an inevitable next step in the struggle for self-determination.  The building a free and robust credible independent media is the basis for any democratic society  – and indeed this is the core mission of West Papua Media.  But Indonesia’s deliberate manipulation of the truth and its corruption of the principles of journalism in West Papua, together with the ongoing and constant threats to brave professional and citizen journalists in Papua for telling the truth, are giving those committed to genuine journalism more impetus every day to give voice to the voiceless, and to help the voiceless roar in Papua.
(dedicated to the brave storytellers of freedom risking their lives everyday in Papua to bring light to a darkened place).
Nick Chesterfield @West Papua Media

———-

Open letter from Victor Mambor, Head of the Jayapura Branch of the Alliance for Independent Journalists

June 28, 2012, Jayapura

Respected Colleagues and Friends,

This is related to the many people that have recently commented that I (in my capacity as head of the Jayapura city branch of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) that covers the whole Land of Papua) have complained about, given reminders or admonishments or engaged in other actions that are basically protests against the (local or national) mass media’s reporting, considering it one-sided, deceiving the public, manipulatory, biased towards those in power and reflecting the interests of politicians and the security forces. In this regard I feel the need to communicate the following points:

1. AJI is a professional organisation of independent character and so places a high value on the media’s independence.

2. Journalists and their reporting are fully the responsibility of the editorial team at the journalist’s place of work, or where the news they produce is published.

3. AJI does not assume a capacity to take action against journalists or media who are considered to have taken action such as listed above. It can only take action if a member is considered to have violated the journalist’s code of ethics and that of AJI as a professional organisation.

4. I also truly understand how many colleagues and friends feel about reporting that tends to push indigenous Papuan people into a corner, and so seems to endorse the view that indigenous Papuans are separatists and the perpetrators of recent acts of violence. For this reason I very much support the actions Benny Giay CS has taken in making complaints to press and journalist organisations in Jakarta about this problem.

5. There is no need to feel hesitant or reluctant about placing limits on journalists during press conferences or activities. If it is suspected that someone is not a journalist, do not hesitate to remove them or report them to the police. There is no way to justify or defend journalists like this. Many journalists even have a dual job, also acting as informants for interested parties and are involved in the marginalisation of indigenous Papuans and feeding the stigma that they are separatists. Pay close attention to media or journalists who often mention the name Dani Kogoya or the confiscation of Morning Star flags, bullets etc. (this is about journalists present at the scene of an incident, not those reporting from police press conferences), or those that have produced features for television about young people who are OPM members, or journalists who are able to obtain special reports about the OPM or unrest in the interior connected to the OPM. These are the journalists and media which you should be cautious about. These no-good journalists’ space to operate must be curtailed because aside from selling out their profession they are also destroying Papua and propagating the stigma of Papuans as separatists. Watch out for and be careful with such journalists. Because from my own observations, many of us are so keen to progress that we do not act with caution and we are not aware if our activities are being recorded to be later reported to certain parties, and will be used in constructing counter-opinions.

6. An attendance list is vital for activities or press conferences. It means that if a media outlet or journalist was not present at an event but then writes report on the activity or what was mentioned in the press conference, it can be reported as a form of deception or unethical activity for a journalist. Such journalistic practices cannot be justified, but find fertile ground amongst journalists in Papua.

Those were the matters which I needed to communicate,

With thanks,

Victor Mambor

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GKI Report: Report about violent incidents in Papua between May and June 2012

JPIC Desk, GKI di Tanah Papua
15/06/2012

Several violent incidents and shoot outs have occurred almost every day during the last three weeks. Some of the shoot outs have been committed by unknown perpetrators, whereas for some incidents the perpetrators have been found. JPIC has collected, investigated and analyzed several cases, which are described below.

Cases Covered include:

  • A. Mysterious Shootings and Violence against Civilians in May 2012
    • 1. Security Forces attack civilians with firearms at Degeuwo (15.05.2012)
  • B. Incidents related to KNPB Demonstrations
    • 1. Yesa Mirin tortured and killed after escalations at Kampung Harapan (04.05. 2012)
    • 2. Death of Fanuel Tablo
    • 3. Sweeping Operations at Sentani
  • C. Mysterious Shootings and Violence against Civilians in June
    • Brutal Acts of Retaliation by the TNI Batalyon 756 at Wamena (06.06.2012)

For the full report, please download or read the embedded pdf below.

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Papuans allege Australian trained D88 personnel shot dead Mako Tabuni

Breaking News

West Papua Media

 21:00 (WPB) 14 June 2012

As tensions across West Papua ratchet up in the wake of the execution of KNPB leader Mako Tabuni, senior Papuan leaders accuse Australian and U.S trained Detachment 88 of being behind the slaying.

Domi Surabut, a senior Papuan Tribal Council leader from the Central Highlands sent West Papua Media the following message by sms at 21:35 tonight (AEST): “Mako Musa Tabuni was shot dead by Densus 88 with three bullets. Twice in the thigh and once in the stomach. His corpse is still being held at the Bhayangkara Police Hospital. His death will cause blood to flow. Please pray and urge peaceful intervention in Papua.”

As of 21:30 tonight the Indonesian police are still refusing to release his body to Tabuni’s family saying that they will bury him themselves.

As outrage builds church, tribal and independence leaders from the nonviolent movement are urging their followers to maintain discipline fearing that a violent reaction will give the TNI and Indonesian police all the justification they need to crush the independence movement.

In a text circulating around activist circles Selphius Bobii, a political prisoner writes “The killing of Tabuni is part of a scenario to destroy the Papuan struggle’s commitment to a peaceful path and push Papuans towards violence. So let’s control ourselves. Don’t get caught in this scenario which will only weaken our peaceful struggle that right now is echoing across our country and up to the UN.”

As armoured personnel carriers, water cannons and heavily armed troops position themselves around the streets of Jayapura tonight that commitment will be sorely tested.

WPM 22:00 (AEST) 14 June 2012

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KNPB leader Mako Tabuni shot dead by Aust-funded Indonesian Detachment 88 troops; riots in Jayapura

Breaking News
West Papua Media

June 14, 2012

Angry scenes have reportedly erupted in Jayapura and across West Papua after officers from the Australian- funded and trained Detachment 88 counter-terror troops shot dead the secretary-general of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB), Mako Tabuni, during a botched arrest attempt while he was chewing betel nut at a kiosk in Abepura, West Papua early on Thursday morning.

According to credible independent church human rights sources in Jayapura that spoke to witnesses in Waena, Mako Tabuni was shot and wounded by heavily armed Indonesian police as they stormed

image
Mako Tabuni as he lie dying in Jayapura (KNPB/ westpapuamedia)

the area outside the student dormitories at the Cenderawasih University Abepura.

Mako Tabuni.

Senior members of KNPB have told West Papua Media that Tabuni had been walking with friends to buy and eat Betel Nut from a kiosk near the university.  After he separated from his friends, they heard gunshots. and  they saw a white Avanza car drive up and ambush Tabuni, according to his friends.  Tabuni was shot at least six times, according to both witnesses and journalists in Jayapura.

image
Mako Tabuni as he lie dying in Jayapura (KNPB/ westpapuamedia)

Police took Tabuni to the police hospital in Jayapura, where he reportedly died from his wounds soon after arrival.  The Kapolres (police chief) has told media outlets including West Papua Media via SMS that Tabuni was killed because he resisted arrest and attempted to seize the weapons from the Detachment 88 troops.   According to the It has been confirmed independently that the Australian-funded and trained Detachment 88 troops were in command of the arrest operation.  Tabuni was unarmed at the time of his arrest, which is a violation of the United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials.

KNPB contacts report that a combined team of military and POLRI, BRIMOB, Detachment 88, and Intelligence officers are raiding dormitories of Papuan students in Abepura, chiefly those of highland origin students who are the traditional support base of the KNPB.    In this sweep, security forces have confiscated books, bags, clothing, computers, phones, and cameras.  Security forces are also conducting searches across Abepura, Jayapura, Kotaraja, Waena, Sentani and several other places.  Many students have been severely beaten and arrested in dormitories in Waena and Asrama by over six companies of Indonesian army (TNI) and Police. KNPB sources have expressed fear that the students, already beaten severely and taken to Rusunawa police centre, will be tortured and possibly killed by occupation forces.

Supporters of Tabuni have reacted angrily and have taken to the streets and are allegedly burning houses belonging to military and police in the Ruko, Waena and Abepura areas, in an eerie reversal of the June 4 rampage by Indonesian soldiers in Wamena.

Security forces are reportedly on the streets with orders to shoot rioters dead on sight, and the situation is described as extremely tense.  It is not clear if those who have caused property damage are in fact  members of the pro-independence movement, or are undercover Indonesian intelligence officers.

A senior highland human rights activist in Jayapura, whom West Papua Media cannot identify for safety reasons, told West Papua Media that the entire Papuan population is living in a state of constant trauma and fear due to the escalation of Indonesian repression.

“Pro-Independence activists and Papua human rights workers have become the operating target of the (ongoing)shootings, not to mention all the KNPB activists the security apparatus are seeking,” said the source.

“Finally, I spoke with three of our members hiding in the suburbs.  If the Indonesian security forces are still after us, then they would not want or like it if we had entered the woods and hid,” he said.

” To step into the forest is for avoiding premature death.”

Papuan activists are calling for urgent international attention to the rapidly deteriorating humans rights crisis in West Papua.  A senior KNPB activist has begged: “In this case our nation is pleading for UN Intervention to be done now, because Indonesia is planning to kill all us Papuans.”

More to come

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New Matilda: SBY Ignores West Papua Murders


co-pro from New Matilda and West Papua Media

By Alex Rayfield

sby


Several West Papuan activists have been murdered this month and many have been forced to flee their homes. Witnesses say Indonesian security forces are responsible – but no one is listening in Jakarta, reports Alex Rayfield

West Papua is roiling. In the last two weeks a spate of shootings, killings and military violence has surprised even seasoned Papua watchers. But as West Papua bleeds, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhuyono remains silent.

The latest wave of violence started on 29 May when a 55-year-old German born man, Pieter Dietmar Helmut, was shot and wounded at a popular beach in Jayapura.

Although multiple witnesses identified the car from which a Papuan man allegedly shot Helmut, police are yet to make any arrests.

The same day Anton Arung, a primary school teacher, was fatally shot in the head by an unknown gunman as he was standing by a kiosk in the highland town of Mulia.

Four days later, activists from the West Papua National Committee (KNPB), a pro-independence youth organisation, protested the shootings. According to witnesses Indonesian police then opened fire.

Five people were wounded in the attack. 23 year-old Yesaya Mirin from Yahukimo village was shot dead while 29 year-old Panuel Taplo remains in a serious condition with bullet wounds.

When KNPB leader Buchtar Tabuni confronted the police at a second demonstration in the capital he was arrested, further inflaming an already tense situation.

Jailed independence leaders Dominikus Surabut and Selphius Bobii and Ruben Magay, a provincial parliamentarian not known for his pro-independence views, have publicly criticised the police’s handling of KNPB and called for Buchtar Tabuni’s release.

As tensions increased text messages circulated warning people to beware of “Dracula” and other such demonic denizens of the night. In West Papua warnings of Dracula and the like are code for people to stay off the streets because of covert military operations.

Similar SMS messages were sent before prominent independence leader Theys Eluay was assassinated in November 2001.

The following week was a particularly bloody one in Jayapura. On Sunday 3 June, university student Jimi Ajudh Purba was stabbed to death by unidentified attackers. A day later, 16 year-old high school student Gilbert Febrian Ma’dika was shot by unidentified assailants on a motorcycle and survived a gunshot wound to his back.

On Wednesday 6 June a civil servant was reportedly shot dead in front of the mayor’s office and the following day a further three people were reportedly shot, two of whom died. One of those attacked was a police officer, Brigadier Laedi.

On the following day, Friday 8 June, Teyu Tabuni, who was affiliated with KNPB, was shot dead as he was standing at a motorcycle taxi parking area in Jayapura. According to a witness, Yopina Wenda, Tabuni was shot four times in the head by a uniformed policeman who then fled the scene.

The following week on 10 and 11 June two more people were reportedly shot dead, one outside a shopping mall and the second close to Cendrawasih University in Abepura.

In the same week that mysterious killings rocked citizens of Jayapura, the highlands of West Papua also bled. On 6 June soldiers from Battalion 756, not regularly stationed in West Papua but brought in for combat duties, knocked over and killed a three year old child, Desi Wanimbo, while riding their motorcycle in the village of Honai Lama on the outskirts of Wamena.

Relatives of the child then allegedly stabbed one of the soldiers to death and badly beat a second.

New Matilda spoke to local Wamena based activists Simeon Dabi and Wellis Doba by phone who said that soldiers then went on a rampage burning 70 houses, killing 22 pigs (an animal highly valued by highland Papuans) while indiscriminately discharging their firearms.

Dabi and Doba both reported 11 people with serious injuries after soldiers shot, stabbed and beat residents. Hundreds fled into the mountains and jungle. Two more Papuans later died of injuries sustained from the military, 40 year-old Elinus Yoman and 30 year-old Dominggus Binanggelo.

Meanwhile in Yapen, an island off the north coast of West Papua, reports are filtering through of military operations. New Matilda spoke to one activist in Yapen who reported by mobile phone that around 60 people — 10 families from 14 different villagers — have sought refuge in the jungle after police and military launched search and arrest operations following a gathering of leaders held by the West Papua National Authority.

The Indonesian government’s response to recent shootings in Jayapura has been to call for assertive action including house-to-house searches for armed combatants. Lt. Gen. Marciano Norman, the chief of the Indonesian Intelligence Agency, told the Jakarta Post by phone that “We have no choice but to do the sweep, as civilians are not allowed to hold guns. Rules must be upheld.”

Ironically, Norman made these comments days before Police admitted a policeman shot dead KNPB activist Teyu Tabuni on 7 June.

The six main groups that the police, military and intelligence agents consistently target in sweeping operations are leaders from the Federal Republic of West Papua who declared independence on 19 October last year, the pro-independence groups KNPB and WPNA, church leaders and tribal leaders.

All these groups are unarmed — fighting words notwithstanding — giving credence to activists’ claims that the purpose of the sweeps is not to maintain security but to trample dissent.

While police and the military blame Papuan separatists, human rights defenders in Papua point the finger at Indonesian security forces.

In an interview with the Jakarta Globe Ferry Marisan from the Institute for the Study and Advocacy of Human Rights in West Papua (ELSHAM) said that “Papua is a place for law enforcement to get promoted…. Isn’t it strange that after a series of shootings, the police cannot find the perpetrators? They always claim the perpetrators are unidentified gunmen. They analysed the bullet, conducted ballistic tests but the results were never made public.”

Human rights defenders in West Papua argue that the both the police and military have a vested interest in creating and maintaining conflict to justify their continued presence and to maintain lucrative legal and illegal business interests.

But it is not only business interests at stake. The security forces in West Papua also see themselves as bravely defending the Indonesian state from greater unravelling.

In their eyes this justifies covert operations. Last year New Matilda met two Papuans from Sorong who were paid to attend a ceremony in Manokwari where they were inducted into a civilian squad that would ostensibly assist the police with anti-corruption investigations.

The activists recited oaths of allegiance to the Indonesian state and were given uniforms and ID cards — viewed by New Matilda. Those present at the meeting were then told that a handful would be selected for combat training in Jakarta. In the shadow of Indonesian militia violence in East Timor in 1999 reports like these deeply trouble Papuans.

Local activists are not the only ones raising troubling questions about SBY’s handling of the situation in West Papua. Opposition MP Tubagus Hasanuddin, a member of the Parliament’s Defence Committee, told Radio Australia he wants answers.

“How can there be 30 shootings in one and a half years and not a single case solved?” he asked. “Twenty-seven victims have fallen. We must find out why.”

Hasanuddin’s figures may be on the conservative side but he is proof that there are Indonesians who want to see progress on finding a just and peaceful solution to the conflict in West Papua.

Church leaders like Fr Neles Tebay from the Papua Peace Network argue that action from Jakarta to reign in the security forces is essential because provincial legislators have no control over the police and military.

However, SBY is rapidly running out of time. His presidency expires next year and Papuans are increasingly calling for the United Nations to intervene.

It is said that deeply seated conflict polarises the protagonist’s positions. In West Papua those positions are hardening and the numbers of protagonists are increasing. The police and the military are defending a state that has lost all legitimacy in Papuan eyes.

This reality is not helped by the fact that many in the police and military — over 90 per cent of whom are are Indonesian — hold deeply racist views about the people they are meant to protect.

Politically Papuans’ interests are not represented by the provincial parliament. The DPRD, or local provincial parliament, find themselves caught between demands for independence from their Papuan constituents and a rigid refusal to enter into talks from Jakartan party bosses 3000 kilometres away — even talking is seen as too much of a concession to the independence movement.

In the middle are Papuans, seething with indignation over decades of abuse by the security forces and increasingly vocal about their demands for genuine self-determination.

Time may not be the only problem. Many doubt whether Susilo Bambang Yudhuyono is willing to spend any political capital making good on his repeated promises to solve the Papuan problem with “peace” and “dignity”.

On the contrary SBY has publicly stepped in to protect and defend the security forces when they have been accused of gross acts of violence against civilians and refused to countenance the evidence that state violence is a systemic problem in West Papua.

Downplaying the problem in Papua may win him friends in the military but in the Papuans’ eyes it makes him look ineffectual. It tarnishes his international image as a democrat and strengthens the hand of those inside and outside West Papua who call for independence.

This makes the voices of the church and senior tribal leaders calling for dialogue sound measured and reasonable. The only problem is there is no indication that SBY is listening.

With West Papua Media. 

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