Tag: Papua Merdeka

Jakarta never pays attention to Papuan people, says DPRP member

[Apologies for delay in posting this cri de coeur from Papua.] 

JUBI, 31 March 2011

JAKARTA NEVER PAYS ANY ATTENTION TO PAPUA

Ever since Papua was incorporated  into the Indonesian Republic, the central government has never shown any goodwill. Whenever the Papuan people  scream about something or other, they remain silent [diam seribu bahasa] but go ahead and do something that is quite at variance with what the Papuan people want.

Yance Kayame, a member of the DPRP, the Papuan provincial legislative council, said that a host of problems confronting the Papuan people need to be properly resolved  and government policies from the era of Special Autonomy – OTSUS – should be implemented to the full. ‘But now that OTSUS is regarded as having been a failure, Jakarta must listen carefully to
the many complaints and wishes of the Papuan people.’

Although he still persists in struggling for the aspirations of the Papuan people, Yance acknowledges that Jakarta has never listened to the voice of the Papuan people.’Since former times, I have been a DPRP member who has constantly challenged Jakarta. But even though we are regarded as nobodies, we must continue to fight for the aspirations of the people.’

Yance said he hoped that the Jakarta-Papua dialogue, now being promoted by the Papuan Peace Network  will elicit a response from the government so that we can discuss together  all the problems that have been faced by Papuans until now. ‘Dialogue is necessary and Jakarta need not be allergic to it.We need to discuss everything calmly so as to find a way out.’

If there is no dialogue, he fears that all the claims about whether or not OTSUS has been a failure will rumble on. There will be no end to the dispute which can result in endless wrangling. ‘This is not what we want because it can certainly have an impact on development activities, on governance and many other things, with ordinary people feeling the consequences.’

He said that the government approach until now has been quite wrong, with the result that basic problems have not be solved. Jakarta must listen to the voice of the Papuan  people  so as to safeguard the integrity of the state and the continued existence of the special autonomy law 21/2001.

‘Papua has now gone global. Several countries around the world are  watching, and taking stock of the dynamics. This means that Jakarta must act wisely with regard to Papua, if they want to avoid being watched all the time,’ said Yance.

[COMMENT: We can but wait and see whether anyone within the government is listening. TAPOL]

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Pastor Neles Tebay on promoting dialogue between Jakarta and Papua

JUBI, 25 March 2011

Pastor Neles Tebay, co-ordinator of the Papua Peace Network – JDP – who has been focusing on promoting dialogue between Jakarta and Papua said that the provincial governments of Papua and West Papua have not yet reached agreement about the agenda of such a dialogue.

‘They have not yet issued statements officially supporting Jakarta-Papua dialogue. Even though they have not yet reached agreement, we will continue to promote dialogue,’ he said.

He said that the governments have not yet adopted a position towards dialogue because it is seen as being a separatist move and in
opposition to what the Indonesian state is working for.

He said that he respects this viewpoint. Any individual who works for
the government who expresses support for the idea of a Jakarta-Papua dialogue is in danger of losing his job because he is likely to be seen as a separatist.

‘Anyone working for the government who expresses support for a dialogue places himself in danger and could lose his job,’ he said.

Even so, he said, the JDP which was created in order to promote the idea of dialogue will continue to popularise the idea in various parts of Papua.

The JDP was set up in January 2010 and has 32 members who come from a number of organisations and institutions in Papua. However, they are not representing their respective organisations. ‘They are each working on a personal basis and doing their work on the basis of their personal inclinations,’ he said.

——————–

JUBI, 25 March 2011

Jakarta-Papua Dialogue is not the solution

Many people seem to think that a dialogue between Jakarta and Papua will result in a solution to Papua’s problems, but the JDP does not see
dialogue as being the solution.

The co-ordinator of the JDP, Pastor Neles Tebay, said whilst it is not the solution, dialogue would bring together the two disputing sides, the Papuan people and the Indonesian government, to discuss the various problems that are being faced but have not been solved. The aim would be to discuss the problems and agree to the best possible solution.

”No solutions have yet been found to a number of problems and the aim of pushing for dialogue is to try to find solutions to these problems.’

Pastor Tebay said that so far, he has visited twelve districts in Papua
to hold consultations with people there. The districts he has visited so
far include Merauke, Biak, Enarotali, Timika, Wamena and Sorong.

He has also visited some other countries to discuss the question of
dialogue including PNG, Vanuatu and Australia where he met Papuans in a number of cities. Everywhere he went, he encountered a lot of enthusiasm over the idea of finding a peaceful solution by means of dialogue between Jakarta and Papua.

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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.

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Human rights situation raised with US diplomat visiting Papua

Bintang Papua, 16 February 2011

HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION REPORTED TO US DIPLOMAT

Biak: The traditional Papuan community in Biak reported the current
social and political situation in Papua to the first secretary for
political affairs at the US embassy, Melanie Higgins, when she visited
the office of DAP (Dewan Adat Papua) in Biak. Their representatives drew attention in particular to the human rights situation and the
deteriorating welfare since the enactment of the Special Autonomy Law (OTSUS) which had led to the failure of OTSUS.

The issue that came to the fore was that for the Papuan people the
solution was merdeka – independence. ‘This poured forth from the hearts of the indigenous people during their meeting with the US diplomat on Wednesday. They said that this would be the best solution for the accumulation of problems in Papua,’ said Yan Pieter Yarangga, chairman of DAP in Biak-Supiori, following his meeting with Higgins.

He said that the visit by Melanie Higgins was consistence with the US
decision to evaluate OTSUS in Papua. She was able to hear how OTSUS had been implemented in the ten years since its enactment.

Besides talking about the failure of OTSUS, they raised some specific
cases, such as the beating of a civilian by a member of the security
forces (TNI) over a land dispute regarding land being held by the Air
Force.

They also talked about such matters as history, the development process and the growing number of poor Papuans. Women who were present spoke about the growing number of HIV/AIDS victims in Biak and everywhere in Papua.

‘We talked about many serious problems which were an indication of
genocide. ‘But we very much regret the fact that according to the US
there is no genocide in Papua,’ said the chairman of the local DAP.

He said that the indigenous people of Papua nevertheless warmly
appreciated the visit by Melanie Higgins and the present position of the US, and understood their US support for NKRI (Unitary State of the
Republic of Indonesia.).

‘But they should realise that we will not retreat and will continue to
struggle until we reach a solution for the political status for the
people of Papua and hope that Melanie Higgins will pass on the views of the indigenous Papuan people to the US government, in so that they would be passed on to the central government in Jakarta for them to take steps in favour of a comprehensive solution of the Papuan problem.’

‘Actually, there were many problems to raise with her but time was
short, so we came to the conclusion that we should raise a number of
basic indicators about problems of a very substantial nature.’

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JUBI: PAPUANS URGED NOT STAND FOR MRP

JUBI, 10 February 2011

PAPUANS URGED NOT STAND FOR MRP

The legal aid organisation, LP3BH, has called on Papuans not to agree
to be nominated for a seat on the MRP (Papuan People’s Assembly) in the forthcoming elections. They should also reject the entire nominations process which is now being organised by two agencies, the Kesbangpol and the LMA.

Speaking on behalf of the LP3BH, its executive director, Yan Christian
Warinussy urged Papuans to reject any offers to be nominated for the
MRP. He said that by accepting nominations, Papuans would be indicating that they support the election of a new MRP. If Papuans refuse to be nominated, this will thwart the efforts of the government to continue with the election process.

He said that by adopting such a position, Papuans will be showing that they do not support the efforts currently under way throughout West
Papua to elect members of a new MRP in all parts of the territory.

On 26 January 2011, thousands of Papuans from a variety of communities and churches took part in a demonstration calling on the Papuan provincial council, the DPRP, to halt the election of members of the MRP. The demonstrators called on the DPRP, the central government and the provincial government to respond to the eleven recommendations adopted on 9 June 2010 by the grand assembly of Papuan communities and the MRP.

[These recommendations included the call for a referendum to be held in West Papua, for the Special Autonomy Law 21/2001 to be handed back to the government and for a dialogue between the Papuan people and the Indonesian government. The first MRP was set up in 2006 in accordance with the provisions of this law. Since late last year, there have been many demonstrations in West Papua calling for the ‘return’ of the special autonomy law to the government.]

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