Tag: Papuan people

All the ingredients for genocide: is West Papua the next East Timor?

 

By Jim Elmslie, University of Sydney

September 21, 2012

Allegations that Australia is funding death squads in West Papua have brought the troubled province back to Australian attention.

Blanket denials by both Indonesian and Australian governments – standard policy for such reports in the past, no longer cut the mustard.

The players respond

The killing of Papuan activist Mako Tabuni by Indonesian police was for Jakarta a legitimate operation against a violent criminal shot while evading arrest. That Tabuni bled to death from his untreated wounds while in police custody did not rate a mention.

The Australian response was more measured. Foreign Minister Bob Carr took the allegation that Tabuni had been assassinated seriously because the partially Australian funded and trained elite anti-terrorist organisation, Densus 88, was accused of playing a role in the killing.

Bob Carr raised the issue of human rights with foreign minister Marty Natalegawa in June this year in his first official visit to Indonesia EPA/Adi Weda

For once there was a direct Australian connection to the human rights abuses that have been happening in West Papua for decades. Australian taxpayers may indeed be helping to fund Indonesian death squads. Carr called on the Indonesians to make a full enquiry into the affair.

The Indonesian response was to appoint Brigadier General Tito Karnavian as Papua’s new Police Chief. This sends the clearest possible message that Jakarta intends to deal with the Papuan separatists’ insurgency with lethal force, rather than diplomacy and negotiation.

Many activists have been arrested and a concerted effort is underway to break the back of the urban based, non-violent Papuan rights organisations, such as Tabuni’s KNPB (Komite Nasional Papua Barat).

Independence

Most Papuans would favour independence over Indonesian occupation. This is a recipe for ongoing military operations, repression and human rights abuse as the Indonesian military and police hunt down “separatists”.

This seems to suit most players. West Papua is the Indonesian military’s last zone of exclusive control after the loss of Aceh and East Timor. It’s a fabulous prize to control as extensive (legal and illegal) logging, huge mining projects and massive development funds provide rich pickings for those in control, while incoming migrants are drawn in by economic opportunities unavailable elsewhere. It is really only the Papuans who are suffering in this massive free-for-all.

The plight of the Papuans is slowly but surely seeping into the global consciousness. While modern technology allows West Papua’s riches to now be exploited, it also allows the stories and images of Papuan suffering to emerge. Increased Indonesian militarisation and repression only exacerbate this trend.

A new East Timor?

This is the same trajectory that East Timor’s long struggle for freedom followed: an overwhelmingly dominant military on the ground but a growing sense of outrage within the international community, especially in the Western nations. This led Indonesia to be treated almost as a pariah nation and underpinned East Timor’s rapid shift to independence in the wake of Suharto’s fall.

While no other nation supports West Papuan independence, except Vanuatu sporadically, and the rule of the Indonesian state appears unassailable, a dangerous dynamic is developing.

As the situation in West Papua deteriorates, human rights abuses will continue, with the very real prospect of a dramatic increase in violence to genocidal levels.

The ingredients are there: stark racial, religious and ideological differences coalescing around a desire for Papuan resources and Papuans’ land, on one hand, and independence on the other. Indeed many Indonesians, as well as the Indonesian state, already view Papuan separatists as traitors.

This should rightly concern Australians: we are in a quasi-military alliance with Indonesia through the 2006 Lombok Treaty. We are a player, albeit minor, in these events. When there is a divide in the opinion of the political, military and bureaucratic elite, and that of the wider population, as occurred in Australia over Indonesia’s occupation of East Timor, the majority view tends to eventually prevail. And the majority view, formed by such programmes as the ABC 7.30 report, is moving to one of sympathy for the Papuans and antipathy towards Indonesia for what many see as a re-run of East Timor’s disastrous occupation. This does not bode well for relations between the two countries.

Words or bullets?

Indonesia runs the risk of having its widely heralded democratisation process stained by the Papuan conflict. There is also the fact that while West Papua remains a military zone the Indonesian army will continue to be unaccountable and largely outside of civilian control, stymieing anti-corruption efforts not just in Papua but through out the country. The consequences for the Papuans are abundantly clear: no basic rights and a life lived in fear.

While there are no quick or easy solutions to this conundrum, one choice is manifestly clear: does the answer lie in more words or more bullets?

Jakarta has so far rejected meaningful dialogue in favour of a beefed up security approach. Australia, and Australians, should forcefully criticise this as being against our own, and Indonesia’s (let alone the Papuans’) long-term interests.

If the West Papuan conflict continues to follow the East Timor trajectory this problem will continue to grow, relations will become strained and tensions rise. It’s worth remembering that Australia and Indonesia very nearly came to blows over East Timor. Let’s learn from the past and encourage, and promote, meaningful dialogue between all parties.

Jim Elmslie does not work for, consult to, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has no relevant affiliations.

The Conversation

This article was originally published at The Conversation.
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KNPB ask police to prove what charges were against Mako Tabuni

 

Bintang Papua,
6 September 2012
Jayapura: At a time when the media is busily reporting about plans for a dialogue between Papua and Jakarta, following the visit to Papua by the Presidential Consultative Council under the leadership of Dr Albert Hasibuan, the KNPB – National Committee for West Papua, has responded by saying that there are issues that need to be discussed before any dialogue can take place.

‘Our way to solve the Papuan problem is for a referendum to be held and for the Papuan people to have the freedom run their own affairs in a state of their own.,’ said KNPB spokesperson, Wim R. Medlama, who spoke with two other activists alongside. He said  people should not be spending too much time  talking about the dialogue, because ‘the support in favour of freedom is widespread, down to the very roots of Papuan society’.

Another issue that he spoke about was the accusations that had been levelled against the late Mako Tabuni. After the arrest of Danny Kogoya for alleged terrorism and the acts of violence that have been happening in the city of Jayapura,  led the KNPB to ask a number of questions. The police were directing their allegations  these acts of terror against the late Mako Tabuni.

‘We call on the police to reveal who these people are who have been involved in the series of shootings, and we would like to hear the evidence about this. And now the same charges are being levelled against Danny Kogoya, so we would really like to know what facts the police have in relation to all this,’ said Medlama.

He said that when Mako Tabuni was shot and killed, all the allegations about the shootings had been directed against the late Mako Tabuni, and then after the arrest of Danny Kogoya, all these allegations were directed against him. ‘So what we want to know is what are the facts that have been discovered about all these shootings?’

The KNPB also said that the police should say what ammunition they had discovered at the office of Danny Koyoga. The KNPB accused the police of  making this up so as to be able to close down the democratic space for activists in Papua.

The KNPB also called on the police to reveal the truth about the shooting of the German citizen in Base-G, and about the burning of vehicles and their drivers in the Waena cemetery.

{Translated by Carmel Budiardjo]

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No terrorists in Papua, says governor

 

 

Bintang Papua,
9 September 2012
Manokwari: The governor of the province of West Papua, Abraham O. Atururi, said that there are no terrorists operating in Papua. He said that there are groups in Papua who are demanding independence for Papua, such as the OPM/TPN but these groups are quite different from the terrorists who are conducting acts of terror and shootings and bombings that are occurring  in Java and other parts of Indonesia.’If people say that there are Papuans who want independence, that is indeed true, but there are no terrorists.’

The governor was speaking at a public meeting in Manokwari.

The governor made this statement in order to contradict statements by political commentators  in the local press in Jayapura, claiming that terrorists are operating in Papua.

The paper also reported that the deputy chief of police in Papua, Brigadier-General Paulus Waterpauw recently denied that members of Densus 88 were operating in Papua.

(This is in contrast to the fact that the commander of Detachment 88, Tito Karnavian, was last week made the new Papua Police Chief, and repeated statements by police claiming Detachment 88 credit for apprehending so-called “terror suspects” across Papua in recent years – and significant video and photographic evidence of their presence at both armed raids, and against non-violent gatherings).[Translated by Carmel Budiardjo]

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Lawyer complains of lack of professionalism as Buchtar trial

 

 

JUBI, 10 September 2012The tight security by the police round the courthouse  while the trial of Buchtar Tabuni was  in progress was described as being unprofessional by a member of the legal team of the defendant.

Gustaf Kawer said: ‘The tight security round the courthouse  is a violation of the basic principles  of court practice. This is a public trial which means that anyone can come and attend it.  Excessive security  while the trial is in progress is very unprofessional,’ said Kawer.

Buchtar Tabuni is charged with having caused damage to the Abepura Prison on 3 December. The trial hearing was suspended and the trial will resume on 13 September, because witnesses did not turn up for the hearing as a result of which the lawyers  promised that they would produce the witnesses, said Matius Murib.

The hearing on 13 September will be the last occasion  for the witnesses to appear. The deputy director of the prison is adequate and will not be summoned again after having be summoned to appear three times.

Kawer said that the proceedings were not conducted professionally; the witnesses should have appeared at the appointed time but that did not happen. Furthermore, he said, the judge should behave  independently in the way he chairs the court and should not take sides either with the state or the victim..

At today’s hearing of the Buchtar Tabuni trial, there were forty people from Dalmas and the Jayapura police command, who were fully backed up  by personnel from the Abepura police command, who were headed by the head of the Jayapura police command, Kiki Kurnia.

[Translated by TAPOL]

 

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Paniai offensive intensifies as troops conduct house to house searches: reports

by West Papua Media and sources

September 6, 2012

Unconfirmed reports have been received by West Papua Media from reliable sources in Paniai district, West Papua, that troops from the notorious Indonesian Army (TNI) Battalion 753 Arga Vira Tama (from Nabire, Korem 174 – Kodam XVII/Trikora) are currently conducting major house to house sweeps in the remote hill areas outside Wegamo.

At least three companies of the Battalion 753, a unit linked to ongoing brutal human rights abuses and regular incidents of torture in Paniai, have been parachuted into the the headwaters of the Weya Creek of Bibida district in Wagamo, Paniai, according to credible human rights sources.

Reports are filtering through that the TNI is searching the villages around Weya Creek for the Paniai OPM/TPN leader John Yogi, who has eluded capture after a massive offensive that has displace over 12,000 since it began in November 2011.  However, Yogi has not been seen in the area according to local sources, who report that the local civilian population is bearing the brunt of interrogations and abuse from 753.

Witnesses have reported that troops from 753, supported by Indonesian Brimob police units, have been launching aggressive raids in villages since the evening of September 4, detaining and interrogating all villages and destroying property whilst seizing sharp items, including farming tools necessary for subsistence agriculture.  This is prompting fears of a repeat of the humanitarian crisis that developed last December when troops from 753 Battalion torched and destroyed food gardens, forcing thousands to flee to police run “care centres” in Enaratoli.  During the 2011 campaign, several people died of starvation and sickness in the care centres, whilst security forces attempted to capture Yogi.

It is unclear at this stage whether special forces troops from the Australian funded and trained counter-terror unit Detachment 88 are involved in this action, given their presence in major offensives throughout 2012 in pursuit of Yogi.

Disturbing reports from trusted sources have also emerged from the town of Moanemani, Paniai, of a major influx of combat troops and paramilitary police into the town since the weekend.  Fears are being expressed by credible community sources that a major crackdown is expected by security forces, because the military and police are stopping people in the street and ordering them to shave off moustaches and beards.

Local Papuan people traditionally wear facial hair as an assertion of Papuan identity, an act seen as separatist by clean-shaven Indonesian occupation forces.   Sources have also reported that civilians have been warned to bathe and wear new and clean clothing ahead of an expected offensive, and that local people are terrified that they are to be suspected and targeted as being OPM members, based purely on their traditional appearance.  West Papua Media has been unable to independently verify these reports, however these action are in line with ongoing offensives and abuses by security forces across Paniai regency in recent months.

Moanemani was also the site of a vicious spate of unprovoked killings by Indonesian security forces of civilians early in 2012.

More information as it comes to hand.

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