Tag: Puncak Jaya

Pax Christi International Statement on the Situation in the Papuan Provinces of Indonesia

Pax Christi International Statement on the Situation in the Papuan Provinces of Indonesia

Human rights issues arising from the transfer of the western half of New Guinea from Netherlands to Indonesia in the 1960s threaten to flare up again if Papuan concerns are not addressed peacefully.

Pax Christi International made a written intervention on the occasion of the 15th session of the Human Rights Council: 13 September – 1 October 2010.

The Human Rights Council should urge the Indonesian Government to enter meaningful negotiations with the leadership of the representative Papuan bodies without pre-conditions and under international mediation.

Recently, political tension in the Papuan provinces of Indonesia has increased, particularly over the past two months as Papuan people across all sectors have openly rejected the 2001 Special Autonomy Law (OTSUS). The high hopes for greater self governance brought about by the autonomy law, have withered away as its implementation is obstructed by the Indonesian authorities. From the start OTSUS has been hamstrung by delays in the Central Government’s empowering regulations and systematic interference by Indonesia’s political and military bureaucracies. Money allocated to the provincial government for development, education and health is being absorbed by a vastly increased bureaucracy as regencies grew from nine to thirty, each with its own military, police and intelligence agencies. Because these funds are depleted by corruption, the maintenance of buildings, public servants’ wages and military operations, healthcare and education are in serious decline. The hopes for greater self governance have also been swamped by the persistent migration from other parts of Indonesia which rendered the Papuans a minority in their own country. The ever growing numbers of police and military personnel, countering any form of Papuan opposition with severe and sometimes deadly force as well as the central government’s plans for clear-felling millions of hectares of rainforest can only confirm the fears of the Papuans for their very survival as a people. The rejection of OTSUS has been accompanied by public demonstrations, including one of more than 20,000 indigenous people in Jayapura on 8 July. Pax Christi International fears that such demonstrations of discontent by indigenous people will lead to increasingly violent suppression by the Indonesian authorities. Recent reports speak of “sweeping” operations in the regency of Punkak Jaya, the central highlands area in the vicinity of major mining operations. This practice, where military units focus on a particular area to “sweep” out any real or suspected resistance to the takeover of land or resources, was already a feature of the early years of Indonesian occupation of West Papua, resulting in extensive loss of life and destruction of indigenous infrastructure.

Full statement here: Pax Christi International Statement on the Situation in the Papuan Provinces of Indonesia

DPR Laments Military Operation in Papua

Important development – for media information

DPR Laments Military Operation in Papua

From Tempo http://www.tempointeractive.com/hg/nasional/2010/09/06/brk,20100906-276937,uk.html

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:The House of Representatives (DPR) Law Commission deputy chairman, Tjatur Sapto Edy lamented the military operation in Puncak Jaya Regency, Papua, following the National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM) report. According to Tjatur, such approach is no longer suitable with the democracy that is being practiced in the country.

“There should be no more military operations,” he told Tempo last weekend. Human rights violation normally takes place in areas that have such practices, he said.

Komnas HAM, in meeting with the Law Commission in Jakarta last Friday, reported that a military operation was taking place in Puncak Jaya, Papua. According to Komnas HAM’s deputy chairman Yoseph Adi Prasetyo, the information was based on reports from the Papua people. “The operation was held at the request of the local government,” he said after the meeting.

The reason for the operation, Yoseph said, was because the local people held a series of demonstrations in protest of the local regent, who was allegedly involved in a corruption case. Police posts in Puncak Jaya were also attacked, reportedly by the Free Papua Organization (OPM) led by Buliat Tabuni. Demonstrators suspected of being OPM member were to be arrested.

That is why the Puncak Jayawijaya Regent Lukas Enembe, according to Yoseph, invited the 753 Battalion from Nabire to carry out a military operation with funds from the regional government. The operation began last April and is continuing. Based on the information gathered by Komnas HAM, 50 people have died during the execution of this military operation.

Etha Bullo, a politician from the Democrat Party in Puncak Jayawijaya, denied any wrongdoing. According to Etha, Puncak Jayawijaya regent’s policy was a persuasive measure to ensure security in the area. “It is not true that people have died. Lukas just called me and everything is okay,” Etha.

Meanwhile, Tjatur Sapto has promised to obtain more data concerning the military operation and to study it further to obtain clarification. He hoped all parties will avoid violent acts to prevent negative results. “I will ask for clarification from related parties,” he ended.

SANDY INDRA PRATAMA

International League of People's Struggle supports West Papua

News

In Amsterdam on August 21, The International League of Peoples’ Struggle, passed resolutions to support the struggle for justice in West Papua.

Full text of resolutions below:

RESOLUTION ON WEST PAPUA
21 August 2010

The International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) expresses its unreserved support for the aspirations of the people of West Papua for freedom and justice for the West Papuan peoples.

The situation in West Papua continues to deteriorate with military operations against the West Papuan people backed by US and Australian interests.

Since March 2010, the Indonesian reactionary government has launched military operations, among others, in Puncak Jaya, Papua province. The operations aim to destroy the people’s struggle to defend their land and natural resources from national and multinational company plunder. The military operations have caused great danger on the lives of the people, destitution and grave violations of human rights.

The International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) also calls on the world people to support the following demands:
– To immediately stop and suspend all military and paramilitary operations against civilians;
– To immediately stop the so-called anti-terror troops (Detachment 88) funded by the United States and Australia, from being utilized against the people expressing their right to protest and demonstrate;
– To immediately release all political prisoners without prejudice; and
– To bring all perpetrators of human rights violations to justice.

RESOLUTION ON DISCUSSION AND DIALOGUE

21 August 2010
The International Coordinating Group (ICG) supports the initiative by the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) Australian Chapter, in conjunction with the ILPS Indonesian Chapter, to organize discussion and dialogue with the West Papuan people.

—

DAP Hubula area office torched in Wamena

Attackers have burned down DAP’s (Dewan Adat Papua – Papuan Customary Council) Hubula area office on the outskirts of Wamena in West Papua’s Central Highlands. Coming days before a public event planned there and amidst a state campaign of intimidation against DAP, the attack is believed to have been coordinated by Indonesian military and police intelligence and adds to the climate of repression facing West Papuan activists.

(more follows after latest images)


During the night of August 25 2010, unknown attackers torched the Hubula area office of DAP (Dewan Adat Papua – Papuan Customary Council) in Kama village, Wamena district, in West Papua’s Central Highlands region. Three members of PETAPA (Penjaga Tanah Papua – Defenders of the Land of Papua) who were sleeping in the wooden thatch-roofed building managed to escape unharmed. The office had been completed in May 2010, and was scheduled to host a public unveiling on September 1.

DAP is a Papua-wide network of customary communities working to uphold the cultural rights and restore the self-determination of indigenous Papuans; its presence is particularly strong in the Wamena region. In the weeks leading up to the attack, local DAP members have built new communication posts (‘posko’) in several villages surrouding Wamena. In response to DAP’s growing organized rural community presence, the Kapolres (regional police commander) travelled to the sites of of upcoming posko unveilings and warned local community leaders against associating with DAP, calling it a ‘wild organization’ and accusing it of disturbing the peace. Amidst the growing tension, additional units of Brimob’s (Police Mobile Brigade) US-funded counter-terrorism unit, Special Detachment 88, have been deployed to Wamena from the Papuan capital Jayapura. In the eyes of DAP activists, the burning of their Hubula office carries all the signs of being organized by state security forces: “This attack is clearly the work of Indonesian intelligence agents, who are worried about the widespread support for DAP at the grassroots level in the region” according to DAP spokesperson Dominikus Sorabut.

On August 23, members of Indonesia’s state security and intelligence agencies, including BIN (State Intelligence Body), the US-funded Kopassus (Military Special Commando) and Regional Police, organized a meeting with a select group of local ‘tribal chiefs’ known as BMP (Barisan Merah Putih – Red and White Front). BMP is an indigenous militia sponsored by the Indonesian security forces and linked to LMA, the official state customary organization with close ties to the Indonesian military. After the meeting, a notice was repeatedly broadcast on their behalf on state radio RRI urging local people to stay away from DAP activities and alleging that DAP’s opening of posko ‘disturbs public security’. Though neither BMP nor LMA can claim any widespread support among indigenous Papuan society, the ongoing support they receive from the military and the latest violent incident raise the specter of the type of Kopassus-organized anti-independence militia violence previously seen at the peak of the brutal repression of East Timor’s struggle to secede from Indonesia.

The escalation in intimidation, manipulation and repression being organized by the state security forces sends an ominous signal of Jakarta’s unwillingness to heed growing calls to resolve the political conflict in Papua through peaceful dialogue. The latest attack against DAP comes on the heels of unprecedented widespread mass mobilization, with a wide coalition of Papuan groups uniting to reject Jakarta’s Special Autonomy package, demanding a referendum on independence, internationally mediated dialogue, the closing of the US-owned Freeport MacMoran gold and copper mine, and a halt to the transmigration that threatens to reduce Papuans to an indigenous minority. Mass rallies in all the main towns of Papua have been met with repression and threats from security forces. While Papuan activists such as Filep Karma, Buchtar Tabuni and Victor Yeimo continue to be imprisoned for organizing rallies calling for self-determination, the recent murder of Papuan journalist Ardiansyah Matra’is has extended the climate of intimidation to the press, making it even more difficult to access critical coverage of unfolding events in Papua.

Meanwhile, in the Puncak Jaya region near Wamena, police and military units continue to carry out harsh collective punishment against local communities suspected of supporting the poorly-armed OPM units operating out of remote mountain strongholds. Calls by Papuan human rights advocates for the state forces to cease their punitive operations have been met with disregard and intimidation, with the outspoken church leader Socrates Sofyan Yoman summoned for interrogation regarding his criticism of police action. In the face of such threats, DAP leaders have shown no intention of backing down from their community mobilization in defence of indigenous rights and livelihoods. The international community has an important role to play in pressuring the Indonesian security forces and their Western backers to withhold from violent repression of Papuan activists.

To contact the head of regional police in Wamena and to urge him to stop intimidating DAP, please call Kapolres Jayawijaya, GD S. Jaya at (+62) 8123881989.

An Indonesian-language message to be conveyed could be:

“Kami minta Polres segera hentikan tindakan represif terhadap Dewan Adat Papua di Wamena. Terima kasih.”

(Translation: “We ask Regional Police to stop repressive actions against DAP in Wamena. Thank you.”)

News from Papua: Police will persist in summoning Sokrates; Police urged to stop summoning Sokrates; Lawyers speak out about Sokrates case

Bintang Papua, 19 August 2010

Abridged in translation

Police will continue to summon Sokrates
The police force in Papua have said that they will persist in summoning
Duma Sokrates Yoman to appear for interrogation, in connection with his
allegation that the incidents in Puncak Jaya are part of a business
project of the army and the police (TNI/Polri).

Sokrates Yoman is president of the Fellowship of Baptist Churches in Papua.

The chief of police in Papua now says that his patience is exhausted and
they regard him as a witness. ‘In two or three days,’ said the Wachyono,
head of public relations of the police, ‘we will summon him as a
witness, instead of just asking him for clarifications,’ he said.

Yoman Sokrates has twice been invited by the police to give
clarifications about the events in Puncak Jaya and his charges that the
TNI/Polri are engaged in business activities in Puncak Jaya. After his
failure to respond to two summonses, he will be summoned as a witness,
on the basis of article 112 of the criminal code which states that
anyone summoned as a witness or as the accused is under obligation to
appear. If he still refuses to appear, he will be sent an official order
to appear. ‘This is what the law states and is not just what the police
are saying,’ said Wachyono.

As has been reported earlier, Sokrates Yoman has been accused of trying
to ‘corner’ the army and the police in connection with a series of
shootings against civilians in Puncak Jaya that have been going on since
2004.

Earlier reports in Bintang Papua stated that Sokrates Yoman declared
that he was undaunted by the police summons. He said that many people
have spoken out about the situation in Puncak Jaya but, ironically, he
was the only person to have been summoned by the police. He accused the
police of behaving unfairly and unprofessionally. ‘It is my belief that
the law enforcement agencies are acting on the orders of a sponsor who
are keen to exert pressure on me as a church leader,’ said Sokrates.

He was quoted as saying that he was ready to face the consequences and
would never run away. I will remain in my office or at home because this
is our homeland.’

Sokrates has called on the legislative assembly in Papua, the DPRP, to
summon the military commander of Papua and the chief of police of Papua
to explain what they have been doing and what their strategy is
regarding the situation in Puncak Jaya which has been going on for six
years.

‘We need to know who are the brains behind this and who stands to gain
from incidents that have resulted in many victims among the ordinary people.

——————————-

Police urged to stop summoning Sokrates
Bintang Papua 12 August 2010

The police summons to Sokrates and the failure to resolve the prolonged
conflict in Puncak Jaya has attracted the attention of the churches,
which are now calling for a national dialogue as the only way to resolve
the never-ending conflict.

On 12 August, a meeting held at the office of the Synod of the GKI was
attended by the leaders of all the main churches, Rev Miriono-Krey,
chair of the Synod of the GKI, Rev. Lipius Biniluk, chair of the Kingmi
Church in the Land of Papua, Dr Rev. Benny Giay, of the Fellowship of
Baptist Churches in Papua, Rev. Andreas Kogoya, and the Bishop of
Jayapura, Leo Laba Lajar.

The meeting reached agreement on several statements expressing their
concern with a number of cases in the Land of Papua and especially in
Puncak Jaya.

The church leaders called for a national dialogue to be held as soon as
possible to find a solution to all the problems in Papua on the basis
of the princiiples of justice, dignity and humanitarianism, mediated by
a neutral third party. The churches stated that they would consistently
and firmly fight for the rights of God’s people, in accordance with the
teachings of Jesus Christ.

The churches called on the governor of the province of Papua, church
leaders throughout the land of Papua, the Papuan Customary Council
(DAP), the Papuan People Assembly (MRP), the Papuan Legislative
Assmbly, DPRP, the military command of Papua and the chief of police of
Papua to enter into dialogue, facilitated by the church.

The church leaders also urged the chief of police to stop summoning
Sokrates Yoman, the president of the Fellowship of Baptist Churches.
They also called on the people living in the district of Puncak Jaya and
on the people throughout the Land of Papua to remain calm in face of the
on-going tragedy in the Land of Papua.

The DPRP and the MRP were urged to open their eyes and ears to the
series of shootings that have been occurring in the district of Puncak
Jaya and to summon the governor of the province of Papua as the civil
authority in Papua, the Papua chief of police and the military commander
as those responsible for the security situation to explain the many
incidents of violence that have been occurring in Puncak Jaya up to the
present.

In particular the chief of police should say what the police have been
doing to reveal those responsible for the terror shootings in that
district. The National Human Rights Commission representative office in
Papua should set up an independent team to investigate to discover the
people behind all this, and to produce accurate data in the interests of
law enforcement and for justice and truth.

——————————

Lawyers speak out about the Sokrates case
Bintang 13 August 2010

A number of lawyers have expressed their opinions about the police
summons to Sokrates Yoman, head of the Fellowship of Baptist Churches.
The fact that the police have made statements in the media has attracted
their attention.

According to the lawyer Gustaf R. Kawer, if Sokrates is regarded as a
witness, that means that there must also be a defendant. The police may
summon him up to three times and if he fails to appear, then force may
be used in accordance with the law.

If Sokrates is believed to be in any way connected to the accused, this
must be based on initial evidence. There should be two witnesses as well
as the necessary evidence. It is not correct for the police simply to
say something in the media and then go ahead and arrest Sokrates.

If it is simply about a statement made by Sokrates in the press, he is
protected by the law on the press. ‘According to the press law, when a
journalist publishes his comments, he should be confronted by the person
against whom the charge was made. Once the institution that has been
charged has used its right of reply, the matter should be regarded as
closed.’

If the matter results in defamation of the person in question, said
Kawer, it is premature of the police and means that they are acting
unprofessionally. They are simply reacting to something while at the
same time showing that they cannot accept criticism.

Speaking along similar lines as Kawer, Johannis Maturbongs, the
coordinator of Kontras, said that the army and the police should accept
the remarks made by Sokrates as a form of control from civil society.
‘The police summons was premature because all that Sokrates was doing
was exerting control on behalf of civil society regarding the events
that have been occurring in Puncak Jaya.since 2004.

What has been happening is highly regrettable because there have been
casualties not only among members of the security forces but also a
considerable number of casualties among the ordinary people. The events
there have been quite extraordinary yet the police have failed to
perform their function which is to discover the perpetrators. It is as
though the police are using the words of Soktrates as proof against
those responsible. ‘They are not treating Sokrates as a community
leader and church leader who is feeling deeply concerned about the
situation.’

Johanis also said it is the duty of the National Human Rights
Commission, KomnasHAM, in Papua as as well in Jakarta to respond.

‘It is up to Komnas HAM to thoroughly investigate what has been
happening in Puncak Jaya because there have been many civilian casualties.’

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