Tag: west papua

Photos from KNPB mass actions in Wamena, Sept 2

Mass Rallies were held across West Papua by the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) on Thursday September 2. They demanded an immediate return of Special Autonomy, and called for a Referendum as the only solution to Papuan’s grievances.

In Wamena, several thousand people gathered to peacefully rally. Although security forces were present in large numbers, there were no reports from Wamena of any immediate security force violence or arrests directly related to the rallies.

Photos follow – please click on thumbnail for full size

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.

—

SMH: Papuans' Future an Open Question After Failure of Autonomy

MEDIA INFORMATION:

The Sydney Morning Herald
September 4, 2010
http://www.smh.com.au/world/papuans-future-an-open-question-after-failure-of-autonomy-20100903-14ucc.html

Papuans’ Future an Open Question After Failure of Autonomy

by Tom Allard

JAKARTA: A broad consensus is emerging in Indonesia that special
autonomy for the country’s fractious provinces of Papua and West
Papua has failed miserably.

> From military advisers to the President, Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono, to respected think tanks and the indigenous
population of the resource-rich region, there is near unanimity
that the policy introduced almost 10 years ago to placate
separatist sentiment has resulted in only deeper discontent.
However, there is little agreement on who, and what, is to
blame, or how to repair the situation.

As part of a dialogue to address simmering discontent in the
region, the Indonesian government would have to acknowledge and
apologise for the manipulated vote in 1969 that led to its
inclusion in the republic, said the Jakarta-based analyst for
the International Crisis Group, Sidney Jones, the author of two
recent reports on the provinces.

Ms Jones warned that ”increased radicalisation is likely” if
reconciliation efforts are not pursued by Dr Yudhoyono.

Jakarta’s failure to address human-rights abuses in Papua and
West Papua, the two Indonesian provinces that make up the
western half of the island of New Guinea, the continuing heavy
presence of security forces, an influx of migrants, rampant
corruption and persistent poverty are all undermining the
”special autonomy” offered to the region almost a decade ago.

Violence has worsened in the past two years, and the Papuan
People’s Council, the body set up under special autonomy to
represent indigenous values, decided to symbolically ”hand
back” special autonomy to the provincial parliament as part of
a wave of mass rallies that took place in June and July.

Ms Jones said Dr Yudhoyono must begin talks as a matter of
urgency, starting discussions informally to avoid ”posturing on
both sides” before engaging in a public reconciliation. New
governing arrangements must then follow for the region, which
remains the major source of separatist agitation across the
sprawling multi-ethnic nation.

”They are going to have to address the Act of Free Choice and
acknowledge that there was a manipulated process,” Ms Jones
said. ”An apology and an acknowledgement about it is needed to
get over the hump.”

The region, with its Melanesian indigenous population, was
initially excluded from the fledgling Indonesian state during
negotiations with the former Dutch colonial government,
remaining under the control of the Netherlands until the 1960s.

Western powers ceded to Jakarta’s long-standing demands for the
region’s inclusion in the republic, but only after a United
Nations sponsored vote of Papuans. Rather than a broad
referendum, a hand-picked group of just over 1000 Papuans voted
unanimously in the 1969 plebiscite to join Indonesia. The vote
was widely derided as farcical and unrepresentative, and it
remains a potent source of rancour among Papuans and their most
powerful weapon in challenging the legitimacy of Jakarta’s rule.

While Ms Jones does not advocate a new referendum on Papuan
independence, or view it as likely, it remains a central demand
of a coalition of Papuan groups and the Papuan People’s Council,
or Majelis Rakyat Papua, a body with authority to speak for the
Melanesian population under the special autonomy arrangements.

Jakarta has declined to even respond to the demands. Even so, it
may well be a disappointing exercise for independence advocates
as the two provinces’ population is now reckoned to be split
evenly between the indigenous people and migrants from elsewhere
in Indonesia.

Dr Yudhoyono, in his only concession to the unrest, agreed to
begin an ”audit” of the region’s special autonomy next year.

Jakarta is dissatisfied with special autonomy because the Papuan
provinces get more money from the central government than any
other – $1 billion a year, or about 10 times more than provinces
in Java – but have yet to see much economic progress.

A leading Papuan activist in the main city of Jayapura,
Frederika Korain, said the special autonomy funds were going to
non-Melanesian Papuans who dominate the economy.

”In some areas, all the shops belong to non-Papuans,” she said.

Ms Korain said any reconciliation would have to be preceded by
the end to abuses by Indonesian security forces, curbing the
growth of pro-Jakarta militias and a sincere effort to give
Papuans back their ”dignity”.

She flagged a continuing campaign of mass mobilisation by
indigenous Papuans. While most are determined to pursue
non-violent means to achieve their ends, there is a small but
growing element who support taking armed action.

President SBY intends to make evaluation of OTSUS after Ramadhan; DPRP's reaction

Bintang Papua, 31 August 2010

President SBY intends to make evaluation of OTSUS after Ramadhan

Responding to the political dynamics in West Papua where attention has been given to the Special Autonomy Law (OTSUS) for failing to improve the living conditions of the Papuan people, the Indonesian president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has begun to show that he has registered these developments.He has now said that he would soon make an evaluation of OTSUS in both Papua and West Papua. This will happen after the end of the fasting month, Ramadhan (which ends on 10 September).

During a one-hour meeting with members of the president’s special staff, they were told that the President had expressed his concern that, despite to large sums of money that have been allocated to Papua every year, the quality of life has not improved. The president believes that there is a need for a ‘Grand Design’ to deal comprehensively with the problems in West Papua.

He has said that the focus will be on improving the supply of foodstuffs, educational and health facilities and introducing an
affirmative policy to promote the role of the Papuan people.

As the first move, he would seek to improve communications between the central government and the DPRP, the DPRD, and the MRP.

The Grand Design would focus on a grand strategy, for the coming twenty years to develop several main sectors such as education, health and the people’s economy.

During the first five-year period they would investigate how many
Papuans had reached certain levels of education, how many hospitals had been built with OTSUS funds, how many doctors were working in the hospitals and so on.

Papua has been provided with plenty of money, which now amounts to Rp 28 trillion (approx. $2,800,000,000) which is far higher that the money allocated to other provinces. OTSUS money has risen from 1.9 trillion in 2002 to 3.5 trillion in 2008, then to 4.1 trillion in 2009, and even more in 2010.

Nevertheless, there have been many demands from the Papuan people to ‘return OTSUS to the central government’. There had been demonstrations in 2008, and now in 2010, people are calling for a referendum.

All this has drawn the attention of the president who has now decided to carry out an evaluation of OTSUS, in order to see whether this situation can be improved.

[This item is heavily abridged and is full of what I can only call
‘management speak’ about the government’s intentions.]
——————————–

Bintang Papua, 1 September 2010

The chairman of the DPRP, John Ibo and the chairman of the MRP, Agus Alua have said that the decision of the president to conduct an
evaluation of OTSUS is far too late. They pointed out that the OTSUS
law provides for the need to conduct an evaluation every three months.
Although an evaluation was undertaken by the DPRP in 2005, no one from the central government bothered to attend, even though they had been invited.

Nevertheless, an evaluation was very necessary. Whether the government was still keen to implement OTSUS would be discussed by the main executive bodies of the two provinces and the MRP at a meeting to be held in the third week of October.

According to Ibo, during the past nine years since the OTSUS law was
passed, he and others had been the subject of political suspicion and
stigmas, and accusations about the OPM. He himself has also been the
butt of criticism from the people about the implementation of
OTSUS. ‘Stigmatising people as OPM is an old yarn,’ he said. ‘We need a serious political discussion, in accord with the development of
democracy,’ he said

MRP chairman Agus Alua said that it is clear that OTSUS has failed in
four critical areas, health, education, the economy and the
infrastructure. But what is also important is that the dignity of the
Papuan people has been increasingly thwarted with Papuans being pushed aside or their very existence being threatened in their own land. He said that all this has nothing to do with money, but with their very right to life, their empowerment, the need for government to ‘side with’ he people, all of which the central government has failed to
understand. It’s not a question of money but the very right to life,
where Papuans are empowered in all aspects of political life. ‘This is
what we mean,’ he said.

‘But if the president now wants an evaluation of OTSUS, the people must be involved, without third party intervention. It is just between the people and the government, while the role of academics will be very important,’ he said.

The dean of the politics faculty of the Cenderawasih University, Derk
Vebluum said that he felt it was not too late to conduct the valuation.
As regard the four areas of concern, the economy, education, health and the infrastructure, there are no indicators available to measure
implementation. An example is about economic achievement, with Papuan women (‘mama-mama) not having a decent place for them to carry out their business. This has still not been attended to.

He said that the evaluation should involve the universities, the
executive, the provincial legislative assemblies , the MPR and the 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.”)

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