Tag: merdeka

OPM pledge to increase attacks against Indonesian forces

Please note: this is a repost of a Indonesian press report. West Papua Media Alerts makes no assertion as to its accuracy.

The separatist Free Papua Movement, which has been engaged in a low-profile armed resistance against the Indonesian presence in the province since the 1960s, on Thursday threatened to step up attacks against the government until Papuan independence was granted.

“We, the people of Papua, remain steadfast in our initial stand to safeguard the dignity of the Papuan nation by gaining independence,” Anton Tabuni, secretary general of the group, known as the OPM, said in a video released to journalists in Papua.

“The people of Papua will continue to struggle to secede from the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia,” continued Tabuni, who claimed to be speaking on behalf of OPM commander Goliat Tabuni .

The video was released a day after armed men believed to be from the OPM ambushed and burned a convoy of three trucks carrying diesel oil and food in Pagargom, in the Tingginambut area of Puncak Jaya district.

“Whether civilians, plainclothes or uniformed security members, we will rid Papua of them,” Tabuni said.

The video also showed an OPM gathering in Tingginambut, believed to be a congress held by the organization on June 31. The meeting ended in a renewed resolve to fight for independence.

Papua Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Wahyono declined to comment, saying police had yet to see the video. “We have not watched the video, so we cannot comment on it,” Wahyono said. “But we are going to investigate it.”

Adrianna Elizabeth, a researcher of conflict areas at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), said the government should not dismiss the threat, even though the OPM was not a heavily armed organization.

“Even if the social and economic conditions of Papuans improve, the OPM will always be there because it wants its political demands to be met,” Adrianna said, adding that OPM’s vast network had spread throughout urban and rural areas in the territory.

“Human rights are not being upheld in the province and we should also realize that the Papuan autonomy law has not been well implemented,” she said, citing possible reasons for the persistence of separatist aspirations in the province .

In a report released in March, the global think tank International Crisis Group warned that some elements of OPM were becoming increasingly militant.

It also said OPM and the National Committee for West Papua (KNPB) — a group with its roots in the student movement — were likely behind the deadly attacks last year on workers near a mine run by a unit of Freeport McMoran Copper and Gold.

The ICG recommended broadening talks between Jakarta and Papuan leaders to address political, historical and economic grievances.

Meanwhile, police in pursuit of the perpetrators of Wednesday’s attack in Pagargom are concentrating on Tingginambut, known to be home to OPM’s central headquarters.

“Since [Thursday] morning, our officers have been hunting them, especially in the Tingginambut area,” Wahyono said, adding that a thick fog and the mountainous, thickly forested terrain were hindering the operation.

Wahyono said there were no plans yet to send reinforcements since the force already in Puncak Jaya was considered to be adequate. Papua Police have already deployed about 100 members of the elite Mobile Brigade (Brimob) to Tingginambut .

West Papuan people preparing for fresh wave of independence protests demanding referendum

Bintang Papua

The chairman of the KNPB, the National Committee of West Papua, Buchtar Tabuni has told the press that his organisation is preparing to consolidate and mobilise large numbers of people to occupy town centres across West Papua to draw international attention to the cause and, making the following demands:

Pepera, the Act of Free Choice is unlawful and must be handed back. A referendum should be held as soon as possible. International Parliamentarians for West Papua, the IPWP, and International Lawyers for West  Papua, the ILWP, together with the Vanuatu government should facilitate efforts to challenge the legal and political status of West Papua at the UN. And the KNPB wants to mediate the referendum by the people.

‘This is the most democratic way forward,’ he said, ‘as the way leading to independence. The idea to hold a referendum came from the Majelis Rakyat Papua, the Papuan People’s Council.’

He said that the referendum is the middle way towards resolving the West Papua conflict. The pepera occurred in the 1960s, with a huge amount of manipulation, violating basic international standards.

At the present moment, this matter is before the international community, a move to convince the UN to understand the illegality of Papua’s status as part of the Indonesian republic, NKRI. The IPWP and the ILWP were set up to press for these issues to be taken to the UN, and its members have been lobbying governments in their respective countries.

The process has been promoted by the Vanuatu parliament and government which have agreed to take the issue to the UN, namely to the International Court of Justice, and seek an opinion about the political status of West Papua. Similar pressure is under way by the governments of the PNG and the UK. [Comment: There is little evidence at the moment that this statement is true.]

The  process needs to be supported by the mass of the Papuan people, solidly demanding a referendum. The international community is beginning to underrstand what the Papuan people want while Jakarta is closing its eyes and doing nothing to seek a solution, even though thousands of people have demonstrated in support of the decisions of the MRP.

Papuans need to recognise that Indonesia is a colonial power which cannot be expected to find a solution by means of a referendum.

On 2 August, a campaign will begin to point out that the pepera took place at a time of brutal military repression in Papua. This will be the moment when the Papaun people’s  rejection of pepera will become part of a national campaign throughout the territory of West Papua.

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