Tag: merdeka

Manokwari Tense as Indonesians shoot dead Priest and Son

WARNING: THE PHOTOGRAPHS CONTAINED HERE ARE HIGHLY GRAPHIC AND DISTRESSING

September 16, 2010

URGENT IN MANOKWARI

Large numbers of fully armed police, including members of the Australian trained, armed and funded Detachment 88, are blockading Manokwari after the police shooting of a priest and his son on Wednesday.

Rev. Naftali Kuan (58 years old) from the GPKAI Church and his wife (Mrs. Antomina Kuan, 55 years old) and their twenty-three year old son Septinus were trying to calm their church members when BRIMOB officers short the three of them. Rev. Naftali and his son Septinue were shot dead, and Antomina was shot in the neck and is intensive care at Manokwari Hospital.

Allegations by Indonesian police that a mob attacked them with stones causing them to open fire in self-defence are completely untrue, according to witnesses.

In Manokwari on Wednesday, 15 September 2010 at 18:30, an Indonesian on a motorcycle seriously smashed an elderly Papuan woman, an Arfak tribal elder. The incident occurred in front of BRIMOB headquarters in Rendani Manokwari, and the motorcycle rider ran into BRIMOB office rather than helping the woman to hospital.

Papuans spontaneously gathered in front of the BRIMOB office calling for the driver to take responsibility for the incident. When BRIMOB officers rejected their pleas, frustrated locals started throwing stones at them.

At the moment Rev. Kuan and his son are being carried by thousands in a peace rally in front of the West Papua Governor’s office. The mourning demonstrators are calling on BRIMOB and the central government to take responsibility for their assassinations, and crimes against indigenous Papuans.

Piter Hiyowati of The West Papua National Authority is calling for an urgent dispatch of UN militarized peace-keepers in West Papua to contain the excesses of the Indonesian security forces against the indigenous population which Yudhoyono’s government in Jakarta appears to be unwilling to impose normal standards of military discipline.

SMH: Activist's death blamed on anti-terrorism squad 'abuses'

Activist’s death blamed on

anti-terrorism squad ‘abuses’

Yusuf Sipakoly ... ‘I have rights to express my opinion.’Yusuf Sipakoly … ‘I have rights to express my opinion.’

JAKARTA: In his last interview, the Malukan political prisoner Yusuf Sipakoly, said: ”I believe the truth will surely arrive, although it walks slowly.”

Mr Sipakoly, who died on Monday, was one of many activists in the eastern Indonesian province to allege gross human rights abuses by Detachment 88, the Indonesian anti-terrorism unit partly funded by Australia.

Sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2007 for possessing a small separatist flag, the Herald spoke to him less than two weeks ago while he was in an Ambon hospital hooked to a dialysis machine.

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”I was tied with nylon [by the Detachment 88 officers] and my head was covered with a bucket,” he said. ”Then they started beating me until I urinated in my underwear …

”Another police officer, not Detachment 88, hit me with a wooden block while another officer hit me all over my body.”

Mr Sipakoly also alleged he was forced to drink hot water infused with carbon paper.

The 52-year-old father’s subsequent kidney and stomach ailments were a result of the mistreatment, he said.

”I didn’t commit subversion; I never carried gun and pointed it at anyone or anything; I never launched any violent attack against the state, but I only wanted to prove that I have rights to express my opinion.”

Although no action was ever taken against those who allegedly beat him, Mr Sipakoly was among 70 people interrogated in 2007 and given long prison sentences.

Another dozen men were arrested last month for planning a peaceful protest and alleged similar abuses.

Yesterday the Indonesian police chief, Bambang Hendraso Danuri, confirmed police would investigate the new claims of torture, highlighted in a Herald investigation this week.

A prominent human rights lawyer, Johnson Panjaitan, said that despite several attempts to raise the alleged abuses with Indonesian authorities, this was the first time they had agreed to launch an investigation into the alleged abuses.

But he said the exercise was pointless unless the investigation was independent and undertaken by the Indonesian government’s human rights and police watchdogs.

“This is an important case,” Mr Panjaitan said.

However, Indonesia’s Co-ordinating Minister for Politics, Law and Security, Djoko Suyanto, said he doubted the claims were true.

Dr Giay: Papuan people face a host of problems

 JUBI, 12 September 2010

The chairman of the Synod of the Evangelical Church (Kingmi) of Papua,
Dr Benny Giay, said that many problems continue to bear down heavily on
the Papuan  people in the Land of  Papua. Many young people face a host
of very complex problems, from awareness of their own identity in the
face of influences coming from outside Papua, to alcoholic drinking,
HIV/AIDS, and the absence of any democratic space.

'Many problems are occurring every day, compelling us to confront them
together. At the very least, people feel the need to stand up and fight
back, and dont like the idea of simply accepting things as they are.'

Dr Giay was speaking at the conclusion of a Spiritual, Cultural and
Sports Week run by the Kingmi Church in Enarotali on Saturday, 9
September. The theme of the week was 'The Need for Change in order to be
Strong.'

The problems cover a wide range of issues, social, economic, political,
cultural, the search for knowledge, acts of violence and human rights
violations. All these things are acutely felt by the Papuan people.
'There are so many excesses, they make us feel very insecure.'

What we need to do is to turn to God with prayer and also work very
hard, he said. 'All forces in society, including the Church, have the
responsibility to  focus on the problems confronted by the people.'

He said that people need to be supported by their faith. 'As people
created by God, we must all focus on people's problems and complaints
and also on their aspirations.'

'Young men and women must be guided by their faith and need help to
ensure that their potentials can be developed in every field of life.'

Dr Giay also hoped for collaboration with other churches in confronting
a variety of phenomena that are threatening the very existence of our
people in the Land of  Papua.

-------------------------

[Nothing new for nearly a week from Bintang Papua, no doubt because of
the Idul Fitri gatherings and events. TAPOL]

SMH: Counter-terrorism squad to stay in Papua

Tom Allard

Media Information – FYI
September 14, 2010

JAKARTA: Detachment 88 has a legitimate role in countering separatism and will remain in Papua, where a long-simmering independence campaign has been running, the unit’s commander, Tito Karnavian, has confirmed.

In an interview with the Herald, Brigadier General Karnavian said Papua was different to Maluku, another Indonesian province where members of the counter-terrorism unit have been accused of abuses and from where they will soon leave.

General Karnavian pointed to shootings last year near the US-owned Freeport mine, in which an Australian worker, Drew Grant, and others died, as evidence that separatists in Papua were using ”tactics of terror”.

”Any group using violence against civilians must be seen as a terrorist group. It’s not just Islamic groups,” he said.

”You can’t confine Detachment 88 only for Islamic groups. That would be used by Islamic groups to say that we are just an extension of the Western powers against Islam.”

Independence supporters dispute that their armed wing, Organisasi Papua Merdeka, was involved in the Freeport shootings, blaming Indonesian military and police who lost the lucrative job of guarding the gargantuan gold and copper mine.

One analyst, who asked not to be named, doubted whether Detachment 88 should play a significant role in suppressing separatism and said it could prove counter-productive.

”It’s a huge mistake to brand separatist activity as terrorism – activities designed to create fear – when you are trying to find a political solution in places like Papua,” the analyst said.

Australia and the US fund and train Detachment 88, Indonesia’s elite counter-terrorism unit, and value its skill in preventing terrorist attacks, uncovering networks and arresting offenders.

But the nations have been concerned by repeated allegations of abuses in Maluku and are wary of being linked to its counter-separatist activities.

In response to the Herald’s revelations yesterday about abuses in Maluku, l an Australian Foreign Affairs spokesman said: ”Det-88 has not sought assistance from Australia in any investigations or operations to counter internal separatist movements.”

Brigadier General Karnavian said an imminent restructuring of Detachment 88 would see its forces outside Jakarta, including those in Papua, focus on ”intelligence gathering rather than investigations”.

Under the new arrangements, forces would report directly to Jakarta. At present, General Karnavian said he had no control over Detachment 88 police outside the capital, including those in Maluku. ”They were instructed directly by the head of police or head of detectives in the province,” he said.

An Indonesia analyst from the Australian National University, Greg Fealy, welcomed the restructure. ”There are some well trained, highly professional Densus [Detachment 88] officers at the national level, but regional units often reflect local police culture and preoccupations, including a greater tendency to use violence.”

Mobilising a Papuan peace force in Sabron by DAP!

Mobilisation of P3 force by DAP!

Bintang Papua, 3 September 2010

Mobilising a Papuan peace force in Sabron

Without making a lot of noise, the Dewan Papua Adat (Papuan Customary Council) has now mobilised its own force in response to the rising political tension in Papua.

They have mobilised more than 500 people for a Papuan Peace Force (P3) and yesterday they took part in a rally in the forecourt of the home of the chairman of DAP, Forkorus Yaboisembut.

This mobilisation of forces has also taken place in other places such as Manokwari, Biak and Sorong.

Forkorus said that this mobilisation is in response to the intensifying political situation in Papua, which means that a force is needed to protect the authority of DAP, its personnel, its land and its natural resources.

He said that orders had been given to each Korda (district coordinator) to send forces to Jayapura but because of time pressures, on this occasion, it occurred in each respective region.

‘Normally this would take place at Kemtuk Gresik but on this occasion, we held it at the DAP office although some mobilisation also took place in Biak, while in Manokwari, joint prayers were held.

‘We are aware that the political situation in Papua has intensified. Therefore in order to safeguard a peaceful atmosphere, this is being done in order to avoid anything happening here like what happened in East Timor, should an independent Papua emerge.’ [This is clearly a reference to the situation that arose in East Timor following the referendum held in 1999 which voted overwhelming in favour of Timorese independence. On that occasion, an estimated one thousand people died and tens of thousands were forced from their homes by the Indonesian military.]

He want to say: ‘We must respect each other.’

He said that should the UN agree to a referendum being held, the P3 forces would stand ready to safeguard everyone thus reducing the possibility of acts of revenge by those unsatisfied with the agreement by the UN (for a referendum).

He also said that as a follow-up to today’s event, the DAP will visit all parts of Papua for the creation of P3 forces throughout the territory. He also said that ‘the force has already been set up. It now remains for us to identify its function and equipment, so as to ensure that it plays the role of keeping the situation peaceful, on both sides of the political divide’.

Members of P3 have been mobilised in a number of places such as Dapabre, Genyem, Kentut Gresik, Sentani, and Abepura, including Polimak Jayapura, amounting to altogether 500 people.

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