Tag: Timika

Ex Freeport worker murdered, mutilated in Timika OTK killing

by West Papua Media

January 23, 2013

The body of Henok Rumansara where found in Kwamki Narama (Photo: Kobawes Kores / Fb)

Papuan civilians around Timika have again been made wary of military provocations that may potentially revive a bloody horizontal conflict, after a former Freeport mine worker’s mutilated body was found in a roadside trench on January 19.

Villagers from Kwamki Narama, just outside Timika, found the badly mutilated body of Hanok Rumansara, 40, from Biak, in a roadside ditch in front of the village.  The autopsy on his body found Rumansara was riddled with over 23 stab wounds, plus a number of injuries cause by blunt objects, according to his human rights observers.

A human rights worker with Komnas Ham, going by the pseudonym Kobewas Kores, posted information on social media that Rumansara had been picked up by a motorcycle taxi (ojek) rider to take him to Kwamki Narama.  Whilst on the road, a group of unknown persons (orang tak kenal or OTK) set up a road block, and was not seen again until his body was found, according to witnesses interviewed by human rights workers.

Indonesian police have claimed that though there is little information to work on, they are pursuing the culprits, according to citizen media website malanesia.com.  Police have also claimed they have interviewed several witnesses and have secured arrows, bow, an axe and wood.  However, Indonesian police have rarely showed a willingness to properly investigate OTK cases, which most credible observers in Papua laying the blame squarely on Indonesian special forces from either Kopassus or Densus 88.

A former worker at the contentious Freeport-McMoRan run giant Grasberg gold and Copper mine, Rumansara had reportedly been active in the ongoing Freeport industrial dispute, according to initial information.  It is unclear why Rumansara had lost his job at the mine, but he was amongst hundreds of workers who failed to regain their jobs after the record-breaking seven month strike ended in December 2011.

Many Papuan ex-Freeport workers have been reportedly stranded from their home regions after not receiving any or enough severance pay from the management of the most lucrative gold mine on the planet.  West Papua Media has no information at this stage to indicate that he was targeted in relation to his involvement at Freeport, or in the strike.  If this were the case, it would represent a major escalation that would backfire significantly on the perpetrators, given the high political organisation of Freeport workers who are already tense given the recent gassing deaths of several workers.

However, Local human rights observers have questioned if the latest OTK killing – the first since community-led peace building put an end to a bloody military-fostered inter-tribal war from 20 May to 5 October 2012 – was a deliberate act of provocation to upset the current fragile peace.  The 2012 horizontal conflict claimed over 2o lives in numerous OTK killings, as well as direct tribal violence, while police and Indonesian military conducted operations deliberately designed to incite violence.

‘Kobewas Kores’ believes that indeed there was an OTK killing, but they got their targeting wrong and killed a man from another part of Papua.

“Is it possible that the killing was deliberately done to give birth to a conflict breaking out in Kwamki Narama village? I think the scenario actually missed the target of an indigenous person to Kwamki Narama.   In this case there are specially trained parties, the Indonesian military is trying to sow confusion in Timika and Papua in general,” Kobewas said.

West Papua Media

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BREAKING NEWS: KNPB LEADER VICTOR YEIMO AMONG ARRESTS ON DECEMBER 1 FLAGRAISING DAY

BREAKING NEWS

West Papua Media

December 1, 2012

(Jayapura) Indonesian security forces have arrested several people in West Papua today as demonstrations were held to commemorate the 51st anniversary of the original declaration of West Papua’s independence.

Victor Yeimo, the Chairman of the West Papua National Committee, has been confirmed as being arrested by police, according to independent witnesses and direct communication with his brother.  It is currently unknown if Yeimo was arrested by the Australian funded and trained Detachment 88 counter-terror unit, who had committed to hunt Yeimo.

Several other people have been confirmed arrested jointly by Indonesian military (TNI) and police outside the headquarters of TNI battalion 752 at Expo Waena.  The two confirmed detainees are Usman Yogobi and Alius Asso, according to West Papua Media stringers at the scene.  More names will be provided as soon as confirmed.

Major rallies were also held in Melbourne (Australia), and were planned to be held in Sorong, Nabire, Fak Fak, Manokwari, Wamena,, Timika and Serui.  Information from these rallies have not yet been forthcoming.

More to come – please stay tuned.

WESTPAPUAMEDIA

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Police chief calls on Papuans to ‘remain calm’ as 1 December approaches

Morning Star Moon Landing
Ironic Morning Star Moon Landing (Artwork: AK Rockefeller)

 

Tabloid JUBI

28 November, 2012

The police chief  of the district of Mimika, Jeremias Runtini has called on the people to ‘remain calm’ as1 December approaches. He said that people should act together to safeguard security and public order and should avoid getting involved in activities that tend towards subversion such as flying the Morning Star flag.

He said that to mark its anniversary, the OPM, Organisasi Papua Merdeka, the Papuan Freedom Movement, usually flies the Morning Star flag and other people join in this as well.

‘There is nothing special about 1 December,’ he said, adding that the police and the military will be patrolling the area, after mustering their men on Timika Indah Square,’ he told journalists, as 1 December approached.

He said that in anticipation of people flying the Morning Star flag, his men will be mounting patrols throughout the region of Mimika. ‘I very much hope that people will not get involved in activities that are in violation of the laws in force in the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia, ‘especially bearing in mind that flying the Morning Star flag is regarded as an act of subversion and is therefore against the law.’

Repeating his call for people to ‘remain calm’ and avoid doing anything that is against the law,  he called on people to support all the development activities that are being undertaken. ‘Let us join together and get involved in these development activities; I am ready to be a partner in these joint endeavours.’

He told journalists that during the three days approaching 1 December, the police will be at the top level of readiness during these three days.

‘All of us must think positively and refrain from doing anything that is in violation of the law, so as not to disrupt peace and tranquillity.’

[Translated by TAPOL]

(WPM NOTE: West Papua Media will be providing monitoring services for international media for December 1 events.  Please contact the editorial team to assist or report.  Donations are required to enable effective monitoring.)
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Police in Papua claim to set up team to investigate terror incidents around Freeport

TITO KARNAVIAN
TITO KARNAVIAN (Photo credit: RubyGoes)

 

Bintang Papua,

 

 

9 November, 2012

 

Timika: The chief of police in Papua has announced that he will be setting up a special team to investigate recent acts of terror in the vicinity of the Freeport copper-and-gold mine which is located in the district of Mimika,

Inspector-General Tito Karnavian said that the special team will be charged with mapping the incidents and investigating each one so ensure that they are properly solved.

‘The team will be instructed to handle each case seriously. What happens at present that when an incident occurs, everyone talks about it  but then is disappears.’

The chief of police spent two days in the area with a number of officers and inspected the open pit mining (Grasberg) as well as the underground mines.

He stressed the need for the incidents to be handled seriously.  There have been a number of shootings in the Freeport area since 2009, but in most cases, the perpetrators have not been found.

During the past three years, he said, there have been ‘hundreds’ of shooting incidents leading to the death of twenty people which has included members of the police force, members of the company’s internal security force as well as local people who are involved in traditional mining.

As regards the general situation in Papua, the chief of police said that everything is quiet and under control.  He went on to say that there have been a number of terror incidents in Wamena which have been solved as well as  cases of the discovery of explosive material in Timika.  Six people who are thought to be involved in explosive material are currently in the custody of the police and are being interrogated. He said that the cases are being handled in accordance with legal procedures. ‘Anyone who is deemed to be guilty will be processed according to the law.’

[Translated by TAPOL]

 

(WPM Note: Bintang Papua has only reported what Karnavian has alleged.  However, the facts of the Wamena terror arrests, and also the facts surrounding the ongoing OTK shootings near Freeport have all pointed to the clear involvement of the security forces.  If this new Karnavian announcment is the pretext for another wave of crackdowns on local Papuan people instead of the perpetrators in the security forces who are making massive profit of protection rackets and illegal gold mining in Freeport, and in order to justify their security budget, then Karnavian must be aware that most of Papuan civil society knows this is just window dressing.  Karnavian knows full well the perpetrators of security incidents, he is just too afraid to go and arrest his big brothers in Kopassus.  This strategy is disingenuous, as arresting the wrong people will ensure that the OTK attacks continue, even after the alleged culprits have been extrajudicially executed by the Karnavian death squads of Detachment 88, funded, armed and trained by Australia, UK and the US.)

 

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Papuan Baptist Church: “Indonesian Security Forces Must STOP Committing Crimes Against Humanity in Papua”

Fellowship of Baptist Churches in Papua

PRESS RELEASE

1 November 2012

The Central Body for the Fellowship of Baptist Churches are very concerned about Indonesian security forces towards God’s people in Papua. The cause for this concern came after General Kelly Kwalik killed in Timika on December 16, 2009 by Joint TIM – TNI, Indonesian Police, BRIMOB and Detachment 88, and Musa Mako Tabuni, Chairman of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) were killed by Detachment 88 on June 14, 2012 at Waena, Jayapura,  Papuans are confronted with strange and uncivilised events such as a bomb discoveries, bombings, and the arrest of Papuan civilians on suspicion of possessing ammunition throughout the entirety of Papua.

Examples include:

  • The bombing of the parliament Jayawijaya building on 1 September 2012 at 02:15 WIT by OTK;
  • the throwing of bombs at the Jayawijaya police station traffic on 18 September 2012 at 20:55 WIT;
  • the discovery of a bomb in Timika, Friday, October 19, 2012,
  • the discovery of three bombs in Manokwari on October 9, 2012.
  • Explosion of three homemade bombs in Sorong on Sunday, October 28, 2012 at 22.00.

As of October 30, 2012 there has been the discovery of 7.62 calibre ammunition in as many as 9 points, 5 TJ 5.6 bullets in as much as 121 points,  5.6 servant bullets in 20 points and the arrest of four youths known by the initials DIH (26), a resident of Organda, YP (28), a resident Sampan Timika, AK (24) a woman, a resident of Organda, and YJW (27) a Karubaga citizen. (Cenderwasih Pos News, Wednesday, October 31, 2012).

On Wednesday, October 31, 2012 and the Papua Regional Police arrested a civilian with the initials OG (27) for the alleged possession of Jayapura PTC ammunition.

From the whole combination of “scenarios” and engineered changes that feature indigenous Papuans as owners of ammunition and bomber gives the VERY clear impression of a SYSTEMATIC STRATEGY being applied by the Government of the Republic of Indonesia through the power of the security apparatus with multiple objectives, agenda and targets, namely:

  • A systematic effort to thwart the Papuan demands to work towards a peace dialogue;
  • Systematic efforts to destroy and criminalize peaceful struggle for self-determination rights (the right to self-determination) of the people of Papua;
  • A systematic effort to make the peaceful struggle for independence of Papuans become known as “terrorists”, so that the international community does not support the struggle of the people of Papua, and the Indonesian security forces instead become supported with funding from the Government of the United States and Australia, which has been instrumental in training and sponsorship of Detachment 88 to fight against “terrorists” in Indonesia.

All ammunition and bombs which have been found and detonated were not owned and operated by indigenous Papuans, but there are several false owners, suppliers and urgers of young Papuans to give truth to the “justification” that those involved in the  struggle of the people of Papua are in fact criminals and “terrorists”.

Recommendations:

  • The entire Papuan society, migrants and indigenous Papuans, do not easily believe that the bombs which were detonated and found, and ammunition recovered from the hands of indigenous Papuans is not true. because the struggle to find justice and political rights for the people of Papua is found through peace, which has already been shown to be true, and not through violence, which would only be a backwards change.
  • The security forces of the Republic of Indonesia must stop committing crimes against humanity by an engineered situation of bombs and ammunition discovery at the houses of indigenous Papuans.
  • The Government of the Republic of Indonesia immediately open a space for an unconditional peace dialogue between the Government of Indonesia and the Papuans, mediated by a neutral third party, as a political solution to the Special Autonomy has FAILED to answer the complexity of the issue of Papua. Peaceful dialogue with the following conditions:
    • Immediately release all political prisoners such as Filep Karma, Forkorus Yaboisembut and friends unconditionally.
    • Immediate withdrawal of all non-organic troops, which are not balanced by the number of indigenous Papuans.
    • The Government of the Republic of Indonesia immediately allow access for foreign journalists and humanitarian workers to visit Papua.
    • The Government of the Republic of Indonesia immediately inviting and allow the United Nation Special Rapporteur to visit Papua.

Chairman

The Central Body for the Fellowship of Baptist Churches in Papua,

Sofyan Yoman Socratez

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