Tag: Papua

New Matilda: SBY Ignores West Papua Murders


co-pro from New Matilda and West Papua Media

By Alex Rayfield

sby


Several West Papuan activists have been murdered this month and many have been forced to flee their homes. Witnesses say Indonesian security forces are responsible – but no one is listening in Jakarta, reports Alex Rayfield

West Papua is roiling. In the last two weeks a spate of shootings, killings and military violence has surprised even seasoned Papua watchers. But as West Papua bleeds, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhuyono remains silent.

The latest wave of violence started on 29 May when a 55-year-old German born man, Pieter Dietmar Helmut, was shot and wounded at a popular beach in Jayapura.

Although multiple witnesses identified the car from which a Papuan man allegedly shot Helmut, police are yet to make any arrests.

The same day Anton Arung, a primary school teacher, was fatally shot in the head by an unknown gunman as he was standing by a kiosk in the highland town of Mulia.

Four days later, activists from the West Papua National Committee (KNPB), a pro-independence youth organisation, protested the shootings. According to witnesses Indonesian police then opened fire.

Five people were wounded in the attack. 23 year-old Yesaya Mirin from Yahukimo village was shot dead while 29 year-old Panuel Taplo remains in a serious condition with bullet wounds.

When KNPB leader Buchtar Tabuni confronted the police at a second demonstration in the capital he was arrested, further inflaming an already tense situation.

Jailed independence leaders Dominikus Surabut and Selphius Bobii and Ruben Magay, a provincial parliamentarian not known for his pro-independence views, have publicly criticised the police’s handling of KNPB and called for Buchtar Tabuni’s release.

As tensions increased text messages circulated warning people to beware of “Dracula” and other such demonic denizens of the night. In West Papua warnings of Dracula and the like are code for people to stay off the streets because of covert military operations.

Similar SMS messages were sent before prominent independence leader Theys Eluay was assassinated in November 2001.

The following week was a particularly bloody one in Jayapura. On Sunday 3 June, university student Jimi Ajudh Purba was stabbed to death by unidentified attackers. A day later, 16 year-old high school student Gilbert Febrian Ma’dika was shot by unidentified assailants on a motorcycle and survived a gunshot wound to his back.

On Wednesday 6 June a civil servant was reportedly shot dead in front of the mayor’s office and the following day a further three people were reportedly shot, two of whom died. One of those attacked was a police officer, Brigadier Laedi.

On the following day, Friday 8 June, Teyu Tabuni, who was affiliated with KNPB, was shot dead as he was standing at a motorcycle taxi parking area in Jayapura. According to a witness, Yopina Wenda, Tabuni was shot four times in the head by a uniformed policeman who then fled the scene.

The following week on 10 and 11 June two more people were reportedly shot dead, one outside a shopping mall and the second close to Cendrawasih University in Abepura.

In the same week that mysterious killings rocked citizens of Jayapura, the highlands of West Papua also bled. On 6 June soldiers from Battalion 756, not regularly stationed in West Papua but brought in for combat duties, knocked over and killed a three year old child, Desi Wanimbo, while riding their motorcycle in the village of Honai Lama on the outskirts of Wamena.

Relatives of the child then allegedly stabbed one of the soldiers to death and badly beat a second.

New Matilda spoke to local Wamena based activists Simeon Dabi and Wellis Doba by phone who said that soldiers then went on a rampage burning 70 houses, killing 22 pigs (an animal highly valued by highland Papuans) while indiscriminately discharging their firearms.

Dabi and Doba both reported 11 people with serious injuries after soldiers shot, stabbed and beat residents. Hundreds fled into the mountains and jungle. Two more Papuans later died of injuries sustained from the military, 40 year-old Elinus Yoman and 30 year-old Dominggus Binanggelo.

Meanwhile in Yapen, an island off the north coast of West Papua, reports are filtering through of military operations. New Matilda spoke to one activist in Yapen who reported by mobile phone that around 60 people — 10 families from 14 different villagers — have sought refuge in the jungle after police and military launched search and arrest operations following a gathering of leaders held by the West Papua National Authority.

The Indonesian government’s response to recent shootings in Jayapura has been to call for assertive action including house-to-house searches for armed combatants. Lt. Gen. Marciano Norman, the chief of the Indonesian Intelligence Agency, told the Jakarta Post by phone that “We have no choice but to do the sweep, as civilians are not allowed to hold guns. Rules must be upheld.”

Ironically, Norman made these comments days before Police admitted a policeman shot dead KNPB activist Teyu Tabuni on 7 June.

The six main groups that the police, military and intelligence agents consistently target in sweeping operations are leaders from the Federal Republic of West Papua who declared independence on 19 October last year, the pro-independence groups KNPB and WPNA, church leaders and tribal leaders.

All these groups are unarmed — fighting words notwithstanding — giving credence to activists’ claims that the purpose of the sweeps is not to maintain security but to trample dissent.

While police and the military blame Papuan separatists, human rights defenders in Papua point the finger at Indonesian security forces.

In an interview with the Jakarta Globe Ferry Marisan from the Institute for the Study and Advocacy of Human Rights in West Papua (ELSHAM) said that “Papua is a place for law enforcement to get promoted…. Isn’t it strange that after a series of shootings, the police cannot find the perpetrators? They always claim the perpetrators are unidentified gunmen. They analysed the bullet, conducted ballistic tests but the results were never made public.”

Human rights defenders in West Papua argue that the both the police and military have a vested interest in creating and maintaining conflict to justify their continued presence and to maintain lucrative legal and illegal business interests.

But it is not only business interests at stake. The security forces in West Papua also see themselves as bravely defending the Indonesian state from greater unravelling.

In their eyes this justifies covert operations. Last year New Matilda met two Papuans from Sorong who were paid to attend a ceremony in Manokwari where they were inducted into a civilian squad that would ostensibly assist the police with anti-corruption investigations.

The activists recited oaths of allegiance to the Indonesian state and were given uniforms and ID cards — viewed by New Matilda. Those present at the meeting were then told that a handful would be selected for combat training in Jakarta. In the shadow of Indonesian militia violence in East Timor in 1999 reports like these deeply trouble Papuans.

Local activists are not the only ones raising troubling questions about SBY’s handling of the situation in West Papua. Opposition MP Tubagus Hasanuddin, a member of the Parliament’s Defence Committee, told Radio Australia he wants answers.

“How can there be 30 shootings in one and a half years and not a single case solved?” he asked. “Twenty-seven victims have fallen. We must find out why.”

Hasanuddin’s figures may be on the conservative side but he is proof that there are Indonesians who want to see progress on finding a just and peaceful solution to the conflict in West Papua.

Church leaders like Fr Neles Tebay from the Papua Peace Network argue that action from Jakarta to reign in the security forces is essential because provincial legislators have no control over the police and military.

However, SBY is rapidly running out of time. His presidency expires next year and Papuans are increasingly calling for the United Nations to intervene.

It is said that deeply seated conflict polarises the protagonist’s positions. In West Papua those positions are hardening and the numbers of protagonists are increasing. The police and the military are defending a state that has lost all legitimacy in Papuan eyes.

This reality is not helped by the fact that many in the police and military — over 90 per cent of whom are are Indonesian — hold deeply racist views about the people they are meant to protect.

Politically Papuans’ interests are not represented by the provincial parliament. The DPRD, or local provincial parliament, find themselves caught between demands for independence from their Papuan constituents and a rigid refusal to enter into talks from Jakartan party bosses 3000 kilometres away — even talking is seen as too much of a concession to the independence movement.

In the middle are Papuans, seething with indignation over decades of abuse by the security forces and increasingly vocal about their demands for genuine self-determination.

Time may not be the only problem. Many doubt whether Susilo Bambang Yudhuyono is willing to spend any political capital making good on his repeated promises to solve the Papuan problem with “peace” and “dignity”.

On the contrary SBY has publicly stepped in to protect and defend the security forces when they have been accused of gross acts of violence against civilians and refused to countenance the evidence that state violence is a systemic problem in West Papua.

Downplaying the problem in Papua may win him friends in the military but in the Papuans’ eyes it makes him look ineffectual. It tarnishes his international image as a democrat and strengthens the hand of those inside and outside West Papua who call for independence.

This makes the voices of the church and senior tribal leaders calling for dialogue sound measured and reasonable. The only problem is there is no indication that SBY is listening.

With West Papua Media. 

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Rights activist condemns police for preventing activities by KNPB

JUBI, 5 June 2012

The independent human rights activist, Sebby Sambom, said that it was deeply regrettable that the police force in Papua had used acts of brutality to prevent the KNPB, the National Committee for West Papua, from conducting an action on Monday 4 June. As a result of the police actions, one life was lost and others were injured,  including KNPB members and members of  the security forces.

He said in a brief message to JUBI that the security apparatus had acted against the law and violated freedom of expression which is guaranteed according to Article 19, para (2) of the International Covenant  on Civil and Political Rights. Indonesia ratified the Covenant  under Law 9/1998.

Sebby accused the police for not respecting basic human rights which has resulted in the serious crisis situation now prevailing in Papua. ‘This is a humanitarian crisis  by a colonial government  which refuses to respect universal human rights,’ he said.

‘The fact is,’ said this former political prisoner, ‘that colonial powers never respect the situation of its colonised people.’

He said that the problems in Papua can only be resolved  if there is intervention by the international community.

‘We call  for the full attention and intervention of the international community, in particular, the United Nations and the UN Human Rights Council

[Translated by TAPOL]

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Imparsial: SBY must take action to stop the terror in Papua

JUBI, 11 June 2012

Imparsial, the Indonesian Human Rights Monitor, has expressed concern about the many acts of terrorism such as shootings by OTK – Orang Tak Dikenal  – in Papua. The executive director of Imparsial, Poengky  Indarti,called on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) to get involved in solving the problem and accept responsibility  for a situation that threatens the lives of civil society..

‘These mysterious killings  are a threat to innocent people and must be stopped without delay,’ she said. ‘The President must summon all the authorities, the chief of police, the military commander, the chief of BIN – the intelligence agency, and the Minister of the Interior and acting governors .He must take responsibility for safeguarding the lives of the people.

‘There are indications that  neither of the governors are conducting an oversight of the activities of the troops in Papua who seem to be out of control.’

‘This situation must not be allowed to continue,’ she said, adding that the  President ‘must immediately start making preparations for a Jakarta-Papua dialogue so as discuss what the problems are  in Papua.’

She also said that according to Imparsial one of the problems is the process of electing the governors. Her organisation sees the shootings as preparatory to the forthcoming elections of the governors. This is what happened some time ago in Aceh when the same kind of thing happened. There are vested interests in Jakarta who want to benefit from disturbances in the regions as the year 2014 approaches [the next round of presidential, parliamentary and gubernatorial elections.]

[Behind the speaker is a poster with the words: WHO IS THE MASTERMIND?]

[Translated by TAPOL]

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District chief criticises brutal actions by soldiers

JUBI, 6 June 2012

The bupati  (head) of the district of Jayawijaya, Jhon Wempi Wetipo, has expressed his deepest regret  at brutal actions taken by members of the 736 Wamena battalion  who went on the rampage, damaging a number of government facilities, following the death of a soldier who had been set upon by local people.

He said that the correct way to respond to the attack of one of their colleagues  was to hand the case over to the police for the matter to be handled in accordance with the law.

‘I very much regret what happened in Honai Lama, seeing it spread to the city. Facilities that have been built by the government should be guarded by forces of the state, not destroyed,’ he said.

‘What is the purpose of such actions? It means just destroying things that have been built with money from the people’.

He said that the various government authorities  in the district  will hold a meeting to discuss what needs to be done in this matter. The facilities that were destroyed included some offices and a shopping mall that had only just been built.

He said that the attacks on members of the security forces  had occurred after local people were infuriated because two men on a motorbike knocked down  a young child.

One of the soldiers who was attacked has since died  after a stab pierced his heart. The other soldier is in a critical condition afer been stabbed in the chest.

Following the atack on the soldiers,  dozens of their colleagues went on the rampage in the town of Wamena and the situation became uncontrollable. ‘Even the police were unable to do anything.’

[Translated by TAPOL]

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DPRP member warns: Continued detention of Tabuni could strengthen pro-independence ideas

Bintang Papua, 8 June, 2012
Weynand Watory, a member of Commission A of the DPRP, said that the arrest of Buchtar Tabuni and his two colleagues  would do nothing to help resolve the conflict in Papua. On the contrary, it would only intensify the conflict. He also said that the ideology of Tabuni would not end.  He pointed out that this was the second time that Tabuni had been arrested and that this would only encourage his supporters to continue with their activities.

He said that the best way forward would be for the  government to hold dialogue  with the Papuan people on the broadest possible basis to reduce  the spread of his ideas. He said that Tabuni had been able to establish a network of supporters not only in Jayapura  but also across the whole of Papua.

‘We can well imagine that more Buchtars will emerge everywhere,’ he warned.

‘Just see how their ideas are spreading everywhere. We need to make an evaluation of the system currently being used because it is clearly not the right way forward. It is up to the government to make a careful evaluation of  the way it is handling the problems in Papua. If we are honest, we will see that the problems are only getting worse and the approaches being made to minimalise the problems have only strengthened the pro-independence movement,’ he said.

Translated  by TAPOL

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