Tag: Indonesian State Violence

Press Release issued by the Papuan People’s Coalition for Truth (KRPBK)

Press Release issued by the Papuan People’s Coalition for Truth (KRPBK)
[Received by TAPOL on 12 January 2011]

OTSUS (Special Autonomy) is a catastrophe, which is the most appropriate
word to to describe the role f the Indonesian Republic in binding
together Papua and Jakarta with their offerings to quell the the Papuan
people’s calls for MERDEKA.

We all know that since the enactment of OTSUS, the blood of the Papuan
people has been shed more than ever before, in all corners, in the
mountains, the valleys, along the coasts and in the cities.The
aspirations of the people have been stifled by legalistic measures that
have put the rights of the people behind bars. The stigma of separatism
is being increasingly stoked up and linked to the struggling Papuan
people. The Papuan people are being marginalised in their own homeland.

We still remember 15 August 2005 when the entire people came out onto
the streets throughout the territory of the Land of Papua, calling for
OTSUS to be handed back to the Indonesian government, but the fact is
that the Indonesian government doesn’t care about this. OTSUS continues
to be imposed by force with a series of actions that are destroying the
lives of the indigenous Papuan people. One such action was the
establishment of the MRP (Majelis Rakyat Papua) which was said to be
the cultural representative of the Papuan people, but was deliberately
created as a toothless institution.

On 8 – 9 June 2010, the Papuan people held a Grand Assembly (MUBES)
which adopted eleven recommendations as their solemn and most important
agreement. We all agreed that these eleven recommendations were born
out of the desperation of the Papuan people because of the tricks by
Jakarta.

On 17 July 2010, mustering all their forces, the Papuan people came out
onto the streets to hand back OTSUS and to demand that the Indonesian
government immediately implement the eleven recommendations of MUBES.

But the government has been struck by forgetfulness. Official agencies
such as the provincial assembly (DPRP) and the governors have simply
ignored these demands. In order to safeguard their hold over the Land of
Papua, an OTSUS Evaluation Committee was set up which has been rejected
by the people. An Indonesian-style agency, the Lembaga Masyarakat Adat,
was set up as a counter-weight to the Dewan Adat Papua (Traditional
Council of Papua). A committee for the recruitment of members of the
MPR was set up under the control of the Kesbangpol (a government agency
the name of which we cannot identify) to recruit members of the MRP.
These measures were taken to safeguard the election of the governors and
deputy governors of the provinces of Papua and West Papua, bearing in
mind that it will be up to the MRP to decide who are chosen to become
the governors and deputy governors.

The recruitment of the members of the MRP , based on a special
regulation, is now in progress in various parts of the territory and
will be completed shortly.

On 10 January 2011, a ministerial meeting was held in Jakarta to set up
two MRPs and on 18 January, the recruitment of the members of the MRPs
will be finalised, their names will be made public and they will be
sworn in on 31 January 2011.

All these facts show clearly that the Indonesian government, the DPRP
and the governors of the provinces of Papua and West Papua have violated
the wishes of the Papuan people. OTSUS, the offering made by Jakarta to
the Papuan people, has been rejected by the Papuan people who demand
that their political status should be established as a sovereign nation
and state.There can be no compromise this for would only lead the
Papuan people to many long years of suffering in their own homeland.

As the people of this homeland, what more can we do to continue with our
resistance? The only word is RESIST!

The Papuan People’s Coalition for Truth (KRPBK) demand the following:

1. That the establishment of the second MRP should be halted because
this does not conform with the wishes of the Papuan people who have
already rejected OTSUS.

2. To call on donor countries to immediately end their contributions to
OTSUS funds via the Indonesian government because OTSUS has failed.

3. The DPRP should immediately convene a plenary session to decide on
its response to the eleven recommendations made public by MUBES on 8 – 9
June 2010.

4. That the Lembaga Masyarakant Adat created by the government should be
dissolved because it does not represent the indigenous peoples in the
seven traditional regions of the Land of Papua.

5. That the Papuan conflict should be resolved immediately by granting
the Papuan people the right to self-determination.

The eight components of the KRPBK are:

Osama Usman Yogobi. KRPBK

Musye Weror, Students Council of UNCEN

Marthen Agapa, Coordinator of Parjal

Jack Wanggai, National Authority of West Papua

Simon Alua, chairmaan of AMPTPI.

Petrus Rumbiak, Papuan Youth

Alius Asao, SHDRP

Selpius Bobii,chairman of the Pepera Front

13

DAP leader rejects police moves to question him

Bintang Papua, 11 January 2011

Forkorus Yaboisembut, the chairman of the Papuan Indigenous Council, DAP
has reported that two members of the police force came to visit him at
2pm the previous day, saying that they wanted to take him to Jayapura
police headquarters to question him about a case of bribery in
connection with attempts to kill him some time ago.

Speaking by phone to Bintang Papua, Forkorus said that he was confused
by the police officers’ visit because, according to him, the case they
wished to discuss had been resolved in a collegial fashion within the
kampung. He said that there had been some misunderstandings between
himself and some of his grandchildren but the matter had been resolved
peacefully in November 2010. If the police now intend to investigate the
matter, this would be quite wrong because the matter had already been
resolved within the family.

‘There is no need for the police to investigate the matter,’ said
Forkorus, ‘because I have already told the media that the matter has
been resolved.’ He said that the money involved had already been
returned to its rightful owners within the family. The incident had
occurred when one of his grandchildren, under the influence of drink,
had made threatening remarks against him.

The local chief of police has denied that they had made any attempt to
take Forkorus in for questioning.

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COALITION OF UNITED PAPUAN PEOPLE FOR TRUTH (KRPBK) CALLS FOR DISBANDMENT OF THE MRP

[BACKGROUND COMMENT: News that preparations are being made for the creation of a new MRP has resulted in a number of comments from groups in Papua, most of which are very hostile to the idea, in view of the widespread dissatisfaction with Special Autonomy and calls for it to be ‘handed back’ The following is one of these comments, translated by TAPOL] 

COALITION OF UNITED PAPUAN PEOPLE FOR TRUTH (KRPBK) CALLS FOR DISBANDMENT OF THE MRP

Jayapura: A large number of  people who are members of the KRPBK took part in a demonstration in Jayapura on Monday 11 January  protesting against the recruitment of members of the Majelis Rakyat Papua (Papuan People’s Assembly).  They called for the MRP to be disbanded without delay because Special Autonomy (OTSUS) has been a total failure.

The demonstration began with a series of speeches outside the office of the MRP, under the guard of security forces from the police and Brimob. The demonstrators then proceeded to the office of the DPRP, the Papuan provincial legislative assembly, to present their demands.

Representatives from several components of civil society in Papua stated their views in a series of speeches. They said that  OTSUS which had bound Papua to Jakarta has been declared a failure by all the Papuan people at the time when they declared that they had handed back the OTSUS law  to the Indonesian government on 12 August and 17 July 2010. This means that there is no question of recruiting members of the MRP. The MRP which was set up as the the cultural voice of the Papuan people within the framework of OTSUS had proved incapable of representing the views of the Papuan people because it turned out to be nothing but a puppet. This means that there is no longer any need for the MRP to continue to exist in Papua.

They also urged the DPRP to implement the eleven recommendations [see below] adopted by the Grand Assembly of the Papuan People in June 2010. They pointed out that there had been no reaction to these eleven recommendations and nothing had changed.

The demonstrators called upon the Euroopean Union, the US and other countries which have made contributions to OTSUS to end their financial support . They also called upon these countries and the international community to push for acknowledgement of the status of Papua as a sovereign state and an independent people.

If these demands are not speedily  implemented, the KPRBK said that it will occupy the offices of the MRP and the DPRP together with a far greater number of  people. This action will take place simultaneously throughout the national territory of West Papua.

The KRPBK demonstration then met the chairman of the Commission A of the DPRP who is also the chairman of the MRP recruitment comittee, Drs Ruben Magai, who explained that the authority to disband the MRP rests with the MPR – the People’s Consultative Assembly of  the Republic of Indonesia – and the matter could not be handled by the DPRP, nor does the DPRP have the authority to respond to the eleven recommendations of the Papuan People.

Ruben Magai also said  that a special committee to evaluate OTSUS had been set up and the evaluation would happen very soon. As for the recruitment of members of the MRP, that is also in progress, together with the selection of the new governor and deputy governor, which is to be carried out by the MRP.

The KRPBK said that they were not satisfied with the response of the DPRP. They read out a statement of their opinion, while at the same time saying that they would refuse to make any written statement to the DPRP about their aspirations  until such time as their demands had been met.

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NB: The eleven recommendations were adopted by the MRP and the Indigenous People of Papua in June 2010 and call among other things for OTSUS to be returned to Indonesia, for an internationally-mediated dialogue with the Papuan people, for the holding of a referendum for Papuan independence, for the demilitarisation of Papua, for an embargo on international assistance for the implementation of OTSUS and for the closure of Freeport.

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Is violence against Papuans not an abuse of human rights?

Bintang Papua, 3 January 2011

Is violence against Papuans not an abuse of human rights?

Jakarta: The TNI (armed forces) has denied that violence perpetrated by army officers which resulted in the deaths of some Papuans can be
regarded as human rights violations. This relates to an incident in
Puncak Jaya in March 2010, which became public when a video of the
incident was circulated widely on the internet.

‘When this was investigated, it was not regarded as a violation of human rights but of acting against orders and not within the methods of interrogating detainees,’ said Lieut.General M Noer Muis, during his
reflections at the end of the year. Muis said that in order to investigate whether human rights violations had occurred, the TNI set
up an investigation team.

‘After we investigated the actions of the officers on that occasion, we
saw that they were on duty at the time, and made clear their position
towards the people involved.’

Four members of the armed forces faced charges of using violence, and the four men were tried before a military tribunal in Jayapura.

They were acting in violation of their orders and taking actions that
were unacceptable such as beating, kicking and so on when dealing with members of an armed gang known as the OPM.

The four men were under orders from the regional government to restore peace to the area which is indeed an area of many disturbances and armed gangs. ‘We were informed that the men were members of armed gangs. At the start,’ he said, ‘the four officers conducted the interrogation in accordance with procedures, such as separating the men from the women, and interrogating separately those who were bearing arms.’

‘They were properly treated using methods of persuasion and we even gave them food, but nothing was achieved, even though according to
information, they were members of an armed gang.’

Eventually, the four officers used more violent methods , with the
result that the detainees confessed that they were members of an armed gang and weapons were discovered.

All these actions had been recorded on video as evidence to prove that the interrogation was conducted in accordance with armed forces operational procedures. However, unfortunately the video that was only intended for internal purposes was leaked, and was circulated widely on the internet.’When this happened it was interpreted as being inhumane treatment and was said to be a violation of human rights.’

Muis said that investigations were now under way to find out how this
leak had occurred. There are many possibilities about how this might
have happened, he said and the military commander of the Cenderawasih military command had been instructed to coordinate with the police and in the intelligence agency Bais to discover who it was who had circulated the video, because this was very damaging to the armed forces.

He said they had also consulted with Komnas HAM, the National Human
Rights Commission in the hope that Komnas HAM would explain the matter to the general public.

—————–

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Civil and political rights violations will continue to occur in Papua

Bintang Papua, 4 January 2011

Civil and political rights violations will continue to occur in Papua

In this year of 2011, violations of civil and political rights [will]
still continue to occur in Papua, with such incidents as demonstrations,
shootings, torture, hostage-taking, killings and so on, which result in
conflict between the law enforcement agencies and civil society,
according to a human rights observer, Yusack Reba.

He said that freedom of expression is regarded by law enforcement
agencies as treasonous actions or separatism.

He said that there were two irreconcilable positions. According to the
state, every person is guaranteed the constitutional right to freedom
of expression, and there is nothing about people not being able to talk
about freedom. But according to the Criminal Code, expressions of
opinion are seen as being acts of separatism, which is treated by the
authorities as being a threat to the territorial integrity of the state.
As a result, the law enforcement agencies dont regard this as
expressing an opinion but as an act of treason.

He said that when people express their opinions in the provincial
legislative assembly (DPRP), this is not seen as an attempt to change
the philosophy of the state.

There is nothing in law that prohibits people from giving expression to
their aspirations but when such expressions go in the direction of
wanting independence, that enters into a diffrent legal framework. ‘But
if this is done peacefully and in a well-behaved manner, this is quite
legal and acceptable. If these are handled according to a different
procedure, human rights violations will be perpetrated in the form of
shootings, torture, and other actions.

He said that for the Papuan people, there are numerous instances of
human rights violations but they are not seen as being within the legal
framework and are not handled according to the rule of law, such as for
instance the Abepura case and other major cases which were not handled
by a proper court process.

‘This is why Papuan people have no confidence in the law as regards
actions to deal with human rights violations.

———————-

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