Tag: Tunaliwor Kiwo

AWPA: West Papua 2010 Chronology of events

The Australia West Papua Association has produced a very useful chronology of all key events that occurred in West Papua in 2010.  The full document can be accessed here: West Papua 2010 Chronology of events,

The introduction is reprinted below:

Human rights situation in West Papua[1]

The human rights situation in West Papua continued to deteriorate in 2010. One incident in particular highlighted the worsening human rights situation and that was the shocking video footage of West Papuans being tortured by Indonesian soldiers. The video showed several men in military fatigues torturing two Papuans. The soldiers in the video threaten the two men with sharp weapons and pressed a burning bamboo stick against one of the men’s genitals. The torture of the men prompted a wave of international criticism with human rights organisations around the world condemning the actions  of the Indonesian military.  This incident was not an isolated incident and in further evidence of  human rights abuses another report  accused the police of burning down the village of Bigiragi in the Puncak Jaya district.  The report said that 16 Mobile Brigade officers had burned the village to the ground on October 11. The report said that at least 29 homes were destroyed in the incident leaving at least 150 people homeless

Military operations in Puncak Jaya

A number of  military operation took place in the Puncak Jaya region in 2010 and in fact security operations have been ongoing in the Puncak Jaya region for years . Security forces  conduct regular sweeps  (military operations) in the area to pursue members of the Free Papua Movement (OPM).  Many reports have pointed out the the security forces have great difficulty distinguishing  between what the term separatists  and the general public. These operations leave the local people traumatised and in fear for their lives.  In a report in Bintang Papua (29 June)  The local chief of police admitted that “the OPM  are all over the place including in the town of Mulia, mingling with the community. He said that because the features of the mountain people are almost the same as other people in the area, ‘it is making it very difficult for us to differentiate  between who is OPM and who is just an ordinary member of the community”. This statement raises great concerns that civilians are in danger of being targeted as members of the OPM. During these military operations villages have been destroyed as well as  gardens and livestock. In September  the House of Representatives (DPR) Law Commission deputy chairman, Tjatur Sapto Edy lamented the military operations in the Puncak Jaya Regency following a report by the  National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM). Tjatur said there should be no more military operations and such approaches  are no longer suitable in a democracy. A report by Komnas HAM’s Papua chapter revealed 29 cases of rights abuses occurred in Puncak Jaya regency from 2004-2010, including the torture and rape of villagers in March 2010 by law enforcers.

In September  an article in the the SMH alleged that Indonesia’s elite counter-terrorism unit, Detachment 88, brutalised a group of separatists, repeatedly beating them in detention. Australia helps fund Detachment 88.  The report also said the Australian Government had sent an official to the Indonesian province of Maluku to investigate the  claims but an Australian embassy official denied there was an investigation going on although an embassy officer had visited Maluku as part of a regular program of provincial visits.

Leaked Kopassus report

In November investigative journalist Alan Nairn released a secret report by a Kopassus task force which shows a list of West Papuans engaged in human rights work are a target of the Indonesian Special Force Group, Kopassus. The list includes members of civil society organisations, church groups , activists, students and  members of the MRP.  The report can be found on his blog at

http://www.allannairn.com/2010/11/breaking-news-secret-files-show.html

In December cables released by WikiLeaks in relation to West Papuan human rights confirmed what NGOs  have been telling their governments for years, that it is the Indonesian military that are one of the main problems in West Papua.

The cables revealed that US diplomats blame the government in Jakarta for unrest in West Papua due to neglect, corruption and human rights abuses.  That Indonesian military commanders have been accused of illegal logging operations and drug smuggling from West Papua into Papua New Guinea, and also that a lifting of the US ban on training with Kopassus was made a condition of Obama’s  visit to Jakarta.

Also in December the coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), a major Indonesian human rights group accused the National Police of being the state institution guilty of committing the highest number of acts of violence against the public in 2010.  In the Jakarta Post (7/12/10) , the Papua chapter of the National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM) reported a 70 percent increase in the number of cases of violence in Papua, most of which were allegedly committed by security officers. The Jakarta-based Legal Aid Foundation  in another report said Indonesian law enforcers routinely torture suspects and convicts to extract confessions or obtain information. The groups report found beatings, intimidation and rape are so commonplace they are considered the norm. It also found that few victims believe they have the right to lodge complaints.

West Papua suffered from a number of natural disasters in 2010 including a 7.1magnitude earthquake  that occurred of the northern coast of Papua in June,  destroying a number of  villages with loss of life on Yapen island.  In October the town of Wasior was hit by flash  floods  causing severe damage leaving over 158 people dead, 145 persons missing and thousands left homeless. There was some debate if the cause of the floods was due to deforestation in the surrounding areas or was due to  unusually heavy rainfall

Political prisoners

It is difficult to known the exact number of political prisoners who are in jail in West Papua because of the difficulty of access and restrictions on the gathering of information in the territory. In Amnesty’s  International Report for  2010, it states

“At least 114 people were detained for peacefully expressing their views. The overwhelming majority were peaceful political activists who were sentenced to terms of imprisonment for raising prohibited pro independence flags in Maluku or Papua”.

And in an  extract from Human Rights Watch World Report for 2010, in relation to West Papua.  “Indonesian authorities have responded to a longstanding, low-level armed separatist insurgency in the provinces of Papua and West Papua with a strong troop presence and often harsh and disproportionate responses to non-violent dissent or criticism. Human Rights Watch has long expressed concerns over anti-separatist sweeps by the police, which often result in individuals who peacefully express support for independence being arrested and detained on charges of treason or rebellion (makar).

West Papua -one of our nearest neighbours

West Papua is one of our nearest neighbours and the West Papuan people face great challenges including  ongoing human rights abuses, the exploitation of their natural resources with little or no benefit to themselves, the danger of becoming a minority in their own land as the result of migrants arriving daily and a  HIV/AIDS epidemic.

The Australian Government has  always been concerned about instability in the region to our north but as events in 2010 have shown, it is the Indonesian military which  are causing the instability in West Papua. The recent reports of the torture of West Papuans by the Indonesian security forces and the information from the WikiLeaks cables about US concerns at the activities of the TNI in relation to West Papua, aptly show this.

Recommendations.

The Australian West Papua Association  (Sydney)

urges the Australian Government to re- think its policy of ties with the  Indonesian military until such time that Indonesian military  personnel involved in past human rights abuses are brought to justice and the culture of the Indonesian military becomes of an  acceptable standard to both the Australian people and Australian military. In the short term we urge the Government to put a moratorium on the training, funding and any ties between  the Australian military,  Detachment 88 and the special forces unit Kopassus, until a full inquiry is held into the activities of these units in relation to human rights abuses in the archipelago.

urges the Australian Government to sent a fact finding mission to West Papua to not only investigate the human rights situation in the territory but to see how Australia can  help the West Papuan people in capacity building in the fields of health  and education. We thank the Australian Government for the funding it has already given to aid  projects in West Papua but urge more aid-funding to support health programs and medical organizations (local and international) working on the ground in West Papua and in the long term to support the training of the West Papuan people themselves as health professionals.

There are a number of Indigenous  human rights NGOs in West Papua and the Australian Government can  strengthen  the  human rights situation in West Papua by supporting these organisations  with financial aid,  capacity building and education.

We recommended that human rights defenders working in human rights organisations in West Papua be funded to attend human rights courses in Australia and the region.. There are a number of programs in Australia which can  advance human rights and empower civil society in West Papua through education, training and capacity building. These programs are suitable for individual human rights defenders and community advocates.

We also call on the Australian Government to urge the Indonesian President to release all West Papuan political prisoners as a sign of good faith to the West Papuan people.

The problems in West Papua won’t be solved by Jakarta  deploying more troops to the region or conducting more military operations. What the West Papuans are asking for is dialogue between Jakarta  and West Papuan representatives.  AWPA calls on the Australian Government to urge the Indonesian Government to dialogue with representatives of the West Papuan people to solve the issues of concern held by the West Papuan people.

[1] AWPA (Sydney) uses the name “West Papua” to refer to the whole of the western half of the Island of New Guinea. However, “West Papua” at this time is divided into two provinces, Papua and West Papua.

Related Articles
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Is violence against Papuans not an abuse of human rights?

Bintang Papua, 3 January 2011

Is violence against Papuans not an abuse of human rights?

Jakarta: The TNI (armed forces) has denied that violence perpetrated by army officers which resulted in the deaths of some Papuans can be
regarded as human rights violations. This relates to an incident in
Puncak Jaya in March 2010, which became public when a video of the
incident was circulated widely on the internet.

‘When this was investigated, it was not regarded as a violation of human rights but of acting against orders and not within the methods of interrogating detainees,’ said Lieut.General M Noer Muis, during his
reflections at the end of the year. Muis said that in order to investigate whether human rights violations had occurred, the TNI set
up an investigation team.

‘After we investigated the actions of the officers on that occasion, we
saw that they were on duty at the time, and made clear their position
towards the people involved.’

Four members of the armed forces faced charges of using violence, and the four men were tried before a military tribunal in Jayapura.

They were acting in violation of their orders and taking actions that
were unacceptable such as beating, kicking and so on when dealing with members of an armed gang known as the OPM.

The four men were under orders from the regional government to restore peace to the area which is indeed an area of many disturbances and armed gangs. ‘We were informed that the men were members of armed gangs. At the start,’ he said, ‘the four officers conducted the interrogation in accordance with procedures, such as separating the men from the women, and interrogating separately those who were bearing arms.’

‘They were properly treated using methods of persuasion and we even gave them food, but nothing was achieved, even though according to
information, they were members of an armed gang.’

Eventually, the four officers used more violent methods , with the
result that the detainees confessed that they were members of an armed gang and weapons were discovered.

All these actions had been recorded on video as evidence to prove that the interrogation was conducted in accordance with armed forces operational procedures. However, unfortunately the video that was only intended for internal purposes was leaked, and was circulated widely on the internet.’When this happened it was interpreted as being inhumane treatment and was said to be a violation of human rights.’

Muis said that investigations were now under way to find out how this
leak had occurred. There are many possibilities about how this might
have happened, he said and the military commander of the Cenderawasih military command had been instructed to coordinate with the police and in the intelligence agency Bais to discover who it was who had circulated the video, because this was very damaging to the armed forces.

He said they had also consulted with Komnas HAM, the National Human
Rights Commission in the hope that Komnas HAM would explain the matter to the general public.

—————–

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KomnasHAM holds dialogue about cases of violence in Papua

JUBI, 8 December 2010

KomnasHAM is trying hard to discuss the continuing violations of human
rights and the use of violence still occurring in Papua, Ridha Saleh
told journalists in Jayapura on Wednesday. He said that after reporting
the videos of torture and the burning of prisoners’ vital organs to the
military commander of Cenderawasih Military Command, they were keen to have a dialogue and seek opinions about these violations that are still occurring in Papua.

He said too that prior to reporting the case of the videos, they had
undertaken investigations and collected data about these cases which
occurred recently in Puncak Jaya. They were told that according to the army and the local people, there are three elements who have been causing chaos in Puncak Jaya, the TPN/OPM, the Indonesian army and o-called unknown elements.

A dialogue had taken place with all these people and also involved some other people, including some academics, the department of law and human rights, the army and members of the community.. The dialogue took place at Swissbel Hotel in Jayapura.

[This is the first time we have read about such a dialogue having taken
place. TAPOL]

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IHRC: NZ must not stand apart on torture by Indonesia

—————

Indonesia Human Rights Committee,

Box 68-419,

Auckland

7 December, 2010

Media Information:

IHRC has written to Minister of Foreign Affairs, Murray McCully, and to Minister of Defence Hon Wayne Mapp to urge them to act over the West Papua torture scandal,   a high profile issue at the time of the Foreign Minister’s October visit toJakarta.  A widely distributed video clip of Indonesian military personnel perpetrating shocking torture on two men in the highlands of Indonesian controlled West Papua has put Indonesia’s lack of military reform under the spotlight.  However,Indonesia has opted to try personnel involved in a separate less serious case of videoed abuse, in a blatant attempt to defuse international criticism.

“Mr McCully has an absolute obligation to follow this up as he was given personal assurances at the time of his visit that those responsible for the grave crimes depicted on the video would be investigated and held responsible.  He should now act with the Minister of Defence to suspend military training ties with Indonesia in the face of this evidence of ongoing abuse and military impunity.

The letter to the Ministers follows: Maire Leadbeater: 09-815-9000 or 0274-436-957

Indonesia Human Rights Committee,

Box 68-419,

Auckland.

Hon Murray McCully,

Minister of Foreign Affairs,

Hon Wayne Mapp,

Minister of Defence,

Parliament Buildings,

Wellington.

7 December, 2010

Dear Mr McCully and Mr Mapp,

You are aware that there has been international consternation over the case of the Indonesian security personnel shown inflicting brutal torture on two highland Papuan men. The video clip, recorded in May 2010, depicted one of the men having a smouldering stick applied to his genitals while his companion was repeatedly threatened with a knife.

Minister McCully was visiting Indonesia at the time that the torture video was circulating and was  assured by Indonesian  Foreign Minister Natalegawa that the Indonesian government was  ‘deeply concerned’ and would conduct a thorough investigation.  I understand that a  personal  undertaking was given that the findings of the investigation would be presented ‘transparently.’

The Indonesian authorities accepted that the video was genuine, but instead of acting to investigate and try those responsible, they moved quickly to charge and tried military personnel who were responsible for a separate case of videoed abuse.  This separate event took place in March and involved the beating and kicking of a number of bound villagers.  The charges meted out to the military personnel responsible were relatively light – terms of imprisonment of seven and five months, scarcely commensurate with these brutal crimes against civilians.

The ploy has been described by some as a classic ‘bait and switch’ operation clearly timed and planned to deflect international scrutiny of the human rights record of the Indonesian security forces.    Not only is there no indication by Jakarta of any intention to investigate and try the military officers involved with the more serious case of abuse, but a spokesperson from the Indonesian Defence Ministry told the Australian media that the case is now closed.

We understand that the Australian Government is continuing to put the case that the more serious torture case should be investigated in line with assurances given to Prime Minister Julia Gillard prior to her recent visit to Indonesia.

The Indonesia Human Rights Committee urges that New Zealand support Australia in its appeal for a full investigation and for those responsible for these grievous abuses to be held accountable. New Zealand should suspend its military training ties withIndonesia, in the face of such clear evidence of military abuse and ongoing military impunity

Tragically the events depicted in the videos are not isolated or unusual cases of abuse.

In the past week there has been an escalation of violence and several disturbing reports of security forces injuring and killing civilians.  On November 28 a farmer, Wendiman Wenda was killed in Yambi, Puncak Jaya as he returned home from Church. The report we received said that he did not hear when the security forces called out to him, and when he did not respond he was shot.

On December 3, near Jayapura an escaped prisoner was killed in a violent police raid.  Komnas Ham, the Indonesian Human Rights Commission has criticised the conduct of the raid which it described as ‘extra-procedural’. There are also other reports of recent violence including two Papuans being shot in Bolakme on December 1 and on December 4,  a young peace activist, Sebby Sembon,  was summarily arrested as he was about to board a plane.

In West Papua the right to dissent is not respected. Those who take part in peaceful demonstrations risk charges of ‘makar’ or rebellion and lengthy jail terms. Meanwhile those responsible for a documented case of extreme torture are escaping sanction.

New Zealand must not stand apart and we look forward to your response,

Yours sincerely,

Maire Leadbeater

(for the Indonesia Human Rights Committee)

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Video Testimony of Torture Victim Tunaliwor Kiwo

Video Testimony of Kiwo

(Subtitle – English)

From Dewan Adat Papua via EngageMedia.org

In this video West Papuan farmer Tunaliwor Kiwo recounts the details of his torture by Indonesian soldiers on May 30 2010. Indonesian soldiers arrested Kiwo and his neighbor Telangga Gire on May 30 in Papua’s Puncak Jaya regency. This video was shot on October 23, 2010 and released by the Papuan Customary Council. Kiwo describes the torture he suffered for 2 days before escaping from the soldiers on June 2.

 

Related content

* News Item Transcript of Kiwo’s Torture Testimony (English)
* Video Torture of Tingginambut men (Papua) – English Subtitles
* Video Video Testimony of Kiwo (Subtitle – Bahasa Indonesia)
* News Item Transcript: Tunaliwor Kiwo Testimony (Bahasa Indonesia)
* Video Kiwo Testimony, High-res, no subtitles

Full Description

After the public release of the torture video the Indonesian government promised to investigate but now claims it cannot identify the perpetrators and is dragging it’s feet on taking action.

In the 10-minute torture video previously released to the public on October 18, soldiers are seen kicking Kiwo’s face and chest, burning his face with a cigarette, applying burning wood to his penis, and placing a knife to Gire’s neck. Indonesia is party to the UN Convention Against Torture and has strict obligations to promptly investigate and prosecute all incidents of torture and to ensuire that victims and witnesses are protected against all ill-treatment or intimidation as a consequence of any complaint or evidence given.

Copyright 2009, by the Contributing Authors. Cite/attribute Resource. dewanadatpapua. (2010, November 19). Video Testimony of Kiwo (Subtitle – English). Retrieved November 23, 2010, from EngageMedia Web site: http://www.engagemedia.org/Members/dewanadatpapua/videos/kiwotestimony_en.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License

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