Tag: Jakarta

Medical personnel arrested in Jayapura for ‘inciting strike’

Bintang Papua, 15 March 2011

[Abridged in translation into English]

Eight nurses and midwives have been arrested in Jayapura for their
involvement in a strike that resulting in a halt to services at the
general hospital in Jayapura. They face charges of inciting their
colleagues to take part in a strike.

[See earlier reports about the strike of medical personnel who were
protesting against the failure of the authorities to pay incentives that
had been promised more than a year ago.]

The eight persons are being held by the criminal investigation unit of
the Papuan police command. The police claim that there is sufficient
proof that the persons had acted in violation of the law, forcing others
to engage in acts of violence and citing a number of articles in
Indonesia’s criminal code. Media attempts to contact the police for
confirmation of the arrest were unsuccessful.

According to Anum Siregar, one of the lawyers acting for the eight, a
group of fifty personnel from the security forces had gone to the homes of two of the persons and told them that they must report to police headquarters in Papua. The two women, Leni Ebe and Popi Mauri, then contacted the lawyer to inform her of what had happened. The two women then reported to the police as requested, in the company of the lawyer.

The two had earlier received notification from the police that they
would be summoned as witnesses in connection with the strike action of the hospital personnel.

According to Anum Siregar, after being questioned for several hours by
the police as witnesses, the police changed tack and indicated that they were being held as suspects. Soon after, the police took the six others into custody.

According to Bintang Papua, the eight detainees have been subjected to prolonged interrogations while other personnel from the hospital have rallied in support of their colleagues. Anum Siregar accused the police of acting in violation of the rule of law, saying that the medical
personnel were only acting in defence of their legitimate rights. She
also said that the action by the police would have a negative effect on the provision of services for patients at the general hospital.

‘The impact will not be felt by officials in the province because they
never go to the local hospital for treatment on occasions when they fall ill but fly to Jakarta or overseas for treatment.’

She also said that the arrests had led to expressions of solidarity from
members of the medical profession throughout the Land of Papua in
protest against the actions of the police.

Related Articles
3

Members of new MRP urged to resign

JUBI, 13 March 2011

The chairman of the West Papua Forum of Democracy (FORDEM), Salmon Yumame, has declared that the leaders of the MRP – Majelis Rakyat Papua – Papuan People’s Assembly – failed to have the courage to acknowledge to the public the mistakes made by the MRP in their commitment to the Papuan people. He accused them of being ‘banci’ or ‘perverts’ for misleading the people.

He said it was highly regrettable that the members of the MRP who had, together with the Papuan people, declared their firm rejection of the Special Autonomy Law 21/2001 which included the creation of the MRP, yet had allowed themselves to be nominated for membership of the second MRP. They had failed to have the courage to withdraw their names, so that the aspirations of the Papuan people could be comprehensively raised with the central government.

He expressed the hope that those who had already been chosen to become members of the MRP and were now waiting to be sworn in would withdraw and would, along with the Papuan people, demand that the central government respond to the eleven recommendations adopted in June 2010.

The recommendations were handed over to the Papuan Provincial
Legislative Assembly, the DPRP. He said that all the problems confronting the Papuan people were contained in those eleven
recommendations.

Salmon said that FORDEM will continue to organise peaceful actions,
press conferences and issue statements to express the aspirations of the Papuan people.

In June last year, the MRP, along with other components of the Papuan people, held a grand consultation which had resulted in the adoption of he 11 recommendations, which included calling for Freeport Indonesia to close down, for a dialogue between the Indonesian government and the Papuan people mediated by a neutral, third party, for the rejection of Special Autonomy and for a referendum.

2

DAP wants dialogue, not constructive communcations

Morning Star flag, Flag of West Papua
Image via Wikipedia

JUBI, 4 March 2011

Responding to recent moves to hold a dialogue between Jakarta and Papua, the chairman of DAP, the Papuan Traditional Council, Forkorus Yaboisembut, said that such a dialogue will not be acceptable if it takes the form of constructive communications.

‘Dialogue between Jakarta and Papua must be mediated by a neutral,
international party. There is no such thing as a dialogue between the
Indonesian government and the Papuan people being held within the
Indonesian Republic,’ he said.

He said that the offer of construction communcations as recently
suggested by the Indonesian government can only be to talk about
something like development because it would only be attended by district chiefs, the provincial legislative assembly (DPRP), the governor and the MRP.

What the Papuan people want is a dialogue at an international level, not a dialogue within the framework of OTSUS or Special Autonomy. He said that a neutral, internationally mediated dialogue would be able to fully accommodate all the basic problems in Papua.

‘Those who participate in the dialogue would carry with them the Kejora – Morning Star Flag – not some plastic party membership card. This isn’t what we want.’

He went on to say that the Papuan people have full confidence in the
Papuan Peace Network – Jaringan Damai Papua – to make all the
preparations for such a dialogue to take place.

He said that the dialogue would deal with a number of problems in Papua such as marginalisation, discrimination, the failure of development, the violation of basic human rights and the contradictory views of the Indonesian government and the Papuan people about the history of Papua.

‘In order to deal with all these questions, there must be a dialogue
that is mediated by a third, neutral party, not constructive
communications,’ he said.

Related Articles
6

West Papuans Call For Dialogue With Indonesia

(Note: West Papua Media was a participant in this conference, and a paper calling for development of Papuan media was a key part of this conference also.  Over the next fews weeks, we will be publishing a selection of observations from this conference, and a book will also be forthcoming from CPACS West Papua Project)

 

ABC News/Radio Australia
Friday, February 25, 2011

West Papuans Call For Dialogue With Indonesia

The ramifications of the fast moving events in Libya and the middle
east could be felt as far away as Papua in Indonesia, a Sydney
Conference has been told.

A movement for greater autonomy or even independence from Indonesia has been active since Papua was absorbed by the Muslim state in 1969.

It has been at times ruthlessly suppressed by successive governments
in Jakarta, fearful of the loss of national unity and rich resources.

But observers say with demands for greater democracy reverberating
around the world there might be a new willingness in Jakarta to take
on board the calls for change.

Presenter: Karon Snowdon

Speakers: Peter King, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, Sydney
University; Jacob Rumbiak, coordinator of the foreign office of the
West Papua National Authority; John Otto Ondawame, Vice President of
the West Papuan National Coalition for Liberation.

SNOWDON: Indonesia has faced strong resistance to its rule in Papua,
or West Papua, as it’s also known. The complaints include the appalling human rights record of the security forces, lack of development, resource stripping, cultural insensitivity and unwelcome migrants.
Often these complaints have been ignored or dealt with inadequately,
but perhaps this is changing.

KING: The political situation in Jakarta is now being driven by events
in Papua and also international reaction to what’s happening in Papua.

SNOWDON: Peter King is the convenor of the West Papua Project at the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Sydney,
where he spoke at an international conference on Papua.

Peter King says the government of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has been embarrassed by the worldwide release of the video showing Papuan men being tortured by Indonesian security.

And by the symbolic return of special autonomy to Jakarta through huge public demonstrations in June last year. Indonesia’s effort at appeasement, special autonomy has been a failure.

KING: Anybody would be encouraged by what’s gone on in the Middle
East. And the Papuans are even more mobilised than those Arab
populations were – it’s a kind of permanent Papuan mobilisation
against Jakarta. And the tactic so far of cultivating an enriched
elite of bureaucrats and politicians, which has been the main
Indonesian strategy to pacify Papuans, plus the influx of migrants
from outside Papua, that’s not going to wash in the post-Tahir Square
milieu that we’re living in.

SNOWDON: And there has been something of a breakthrough.
Jacob Rumbiak was jailed for nine years, part of the time he spent
with East Timor’s Xanana Gusmao. He returned to Jakarta for the first time this month at the invitation of the Indonesian government. He’s now an academic and the coordinator of the foreign office of the West Papua National Authority, which he calls the transitional government of an independent West Papua. He was afforded high level access over two weeks of talks in Jakarta.

RUMBIAK: Visiting Jakarta is part of how to negotiate with Jakarta
about how to build trust between Jakarta and the people of West Papua.

SNOWDON [TO RUMBIAK]: To what end, independence or just more autonomy for Papua?

RUMBIAK: The aim is based on [democracy]. Let Papuans choose. If they want to integrate with Indonesia, it’s OK, but when they want to [be] independent, that’s the right.

SNOWDON: A lack of unity in the past has set back the resistance movement. John Otto Ondawame, the vice president of the West Papuan National Coalition for Liberation based in Vanuatu says a united call for dialogue for the peaceful resolution of issues with Indonesia mean the old divisions have ended.

ONDAWAME: Papuans are united in their aspirations for political change.

SNOWDON [TO ONDAWAME]: Are the groups working together successfully now?

ONDAWAME: Yes, we’re working together both inside West Papua in the
guerilla camp in the jungle and also in the outside world to raise the
voices of the West Papuans to the international community that we are
united.

SNOWDON: And he calls on the Melanesian Spearhead Group and the
Pacific Island Forum to do more to promote reconciliation between
Indonesia and Papua.

ONDAWAME: These two bodies must stand together to address the issue of West Papua and to send a fact finding mission to investigate the human rights situation in West Papua and other related issues.

SNOWDON [TO ONDAWAME]: Given the recent case of torture case against members the Indonesian military do you see any change in Jakarta and in the president’s office towards a better deal for Papua?

ONDAWAME: The culture of torture [by the] military has continued for
the past 54 years after occupation.

SNOWDON: Is there no improvement?

ONDAWAME: No improvement at all.

Related Articles
5

Ferdinand Pakage needs medical treatment, says SKPHP

JUBI, 17 February 2011

Peneas Lokbere, the chairman of SKPHP HAM Papua (Solidarity for the Victims of Human Rights Violations in Papua) has declared that they will continue to press for medical treatment for Ferdinand Pakage, a political prisoner, who is suffering from a badly damaged eye which has blinded him in one eye.

‘We will continue to fight for treatment after he was struck in the eye by an official of the Abepura Prison. This caused his eye to bleed and he is now not able to see any more with this eye.’

Lokbere said that what he really needs is a new eye but since this is not at present realistic, he must immediately get medical treatment to cure his current condition. In fact, Pakage’s family want him to have an eye transplant.

At present SKPHP is working closely with his family for the prison authorities to speed up medical attention to his condition. He said that they have been pressing for this since last year, when they sought permission for him to go to Jakarta, but the director of the prison, Liberti Sitinjak, said he would not allow the prisoner to leave Jayapura.

‘In 2010, Ferdinand heard a doctor at the General Hospital in Dok II say that he needs to have an operation in Jakarta. The doctor said that his eye was badly damaged and that even if he does get medication in Jakarta, he will continue to be blind.’

Ferdinand Pakage is a victom of the bloody UNCEN case which occurred on 16 March 2006. Actually, he knew nothing about what happened during that incident. When the incident was over, he left his house whereupon he was arrested and handcuffed by the police. He was accused of being involved in the killing of several members of Brimob when they were surrounded by a number of people.

After he was transferred to Abepura, he was tortured and struck by three prison warders: Alberth Toam, Victor Apono and Gustaf Rumaikewi. It was Alberth Toam who hit him in the face with a key. This struck him in the right eye which began to bleed.

He is currently being held with narcotics prisoners in the district of Jayapura.

Related Articles
0

Create a website or blog at WordPress.com

Up ↑