In the wake of many shootings that have occurred this month in the
West Papuan region capital of Jayapura and its environs, the human
rights group Kontras has challenged the role of the Indonesian
military and police and questioned the work of the state intelligence
agency.
The coordinator of Kontras (Commission for the Disappeared and Victims
of Violence), Olga Helena Hamadi, said the police should investigate
all the shooting incidents and reveal who was who behind them.
She said the TNI (Indonesian military), police and intelligence should
work harder on this issue.
“It is strange that all these shootings are occurring in the heart of
the city, yet not one of the perpetrators has yet been arrested,” she
said.
“The police should investigate these incidents. It is the duty of the
police to safeguard the security of our citizens. It is not enough
for the police to issue statements saying that these incidents are the
work of OTK – Orang Tak Kenal or Unidentified People.”
If the army and the police were finding it difficult to discover who
was who are behind these shootings, civil society groups should work
in collaboration with each other to work out a solution, she said.
The chairman of BUK (United for Justice), Peneas Lokbere, said the
police must have the confidence of the community.
“If they fail to reveal any of the forces that are behind these
incidents, they will lose the the confidence of the community,” he
said.
Albertus, a representative of the Franciscans Secretariat in
Jayapura, also said the police must reveal the people who were behind
these activities.
“The police are entrusted with the task of providing security and
tranquillity for the community,” he said.
Albertus added that the shootings had created fear and anxiety among
the people in general which makes it difficult for the community to
feel sure about their safety.
Source: Jubi – abridged translation by by the Indonesian human rights group TAPOL
As preparations were underway for mass non-violent demonstrations across West Papua on Monday, 30 April, an incident occurred simultaneously inside Abepura prison between prison guards and inmates. Local stringers informed West Papua Media that Selpius Bobii, one of the ‘Jayapura Five’ political prisoners (and organisers of the Third Papuan People’s Congress) had a verbal confrontation with a prison officer during lunch time, after prison officials refused his permission for a music rehearsal.
“The incident occurs between prisoners and prison officers April 30th, 2012”, said Gustaf Kawer, legal representative of the ‘Jayapura Five’ political prisoners.
A simple misunderstanding escalated into armed prison security forces sweeping and raiding inmates’ cells on Monday evening. West Papua Media was notified through local stringers on Tuesday that around 10pm, Monday, West Papuan local time, Selpius Bobii was taken out from his cell and taken away. Simultaneously, sweeping was carried out inside the prison that left several inmates bruised and beaten, and all inmates locked down indefinitely in isolation in their cells.
The West Papua Media team made direct contact on Tuesday night to the ironically named Head of Abepura Prison, Liberty Sutinja. Mr. Sutinjah said he “was not at liberty to speak over the phone due to (prison) protocol.”
West Papua Media rang Mr Sutinja again today, Thursday, 03 May 2012, around 11am local time but he refused to speak and switch off his mobile phone after the third attempt.
Mr. Kawer further mentioned that as of Monday, from May 1 to 7, 2012, visits and access to prisoners – including Mr. Yaboisembut and Mr. Waromi – from families, clergy and lawyers are effectively closed.
Kawar urgently calls for the Regional Office and Human Rights Office of Papua Province to open up access to the detainees in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. The regulations regarding visits outlines the terms and procedure guaranteed for prisoners rights to have access and visits whilst in prison.
Article 1, paragraph 32/1999 states that, “every prisoners and juveniles are entitled to receive visits from family, legal counsel or other or appointed person”.
Since Tuesday, unconfirmed reports sent to West Papua Media via SMS are stating that Selpius Bobii was believed to be transferred to Polda Papua – Papua Regional Police prison.
As this article went to press, information was provided by credible legal sources to West Papua Media that Selpius Bobii will be taken back to Abepura prison tomorrow, Friday, 04 May, 2012. According to the source, activities should be back to normal and prison visits from families are reinstated as of 3 May 2012.
westpapuamedia
*West Papua Media’s Editor is away recovering from serious health issues.
On the sidelines of the Papuan People’s struggle for self-determination, at a local level Papuan communities continue to resist the logging and mining industries that are destroying their forests. Here are two stories of recent community resistance from areas close to the Papuan capital Jayapura, translated from the Alliance for Democracy in Papua website http://www.aldepe.com.
1. Seeing their forest destroyed, Arso Villagers Burn Five Logging Camps.
Annoyed by hearing the sound of chainsaws almost every day, and in addition the reports of villagers who regularly enter the forest telling of finding loggers’ camps there, around 20 people from Arso, both young and old, agreed to check the forest for themselves.
Community Resistance against logging (file photo: "The forest eats the forest-eater" by manukoreri.net/westpapuamedia)
This area of forest is commonly called the ‘Golden Triangle’, and is divided between the territory of three villages, Arso, Workwana and Wambes.
As they had guessed they would, once inside the forest they found two sites used by loggers, which had been connected with a track made from offcuts of wood which the loggers would use, dragging the wood from behind a vehicle.
At the first site there was only one camp. At this camp they confiscated two chainsaws and took statements from three loggers who were at the location. They then forced the loggers to leave.
The group continued to the next location. Possibly because the loggers had received information from their friends at the first site, there was only one person left, and they didn’t find any chainsaws.
As their emotions rose some people almost hit out at the logger, but were held back by others. At this second location, four camps were found, complete with televisions, speakers, supplies of food and clothing and so on. Two vehicles used for dragging wood were also found. In their emotional state, the people destroyed and burned the camps and everything they found there, along with the camp at the first location. The two vehicles were also burnt.
According to statements from the loggers, they had been given permission by the customary chief of kampung Workwana, although the Arso villagers felt that they had been cutting trees far inside the Arso territory.
Several people interviewed in kampung Arso on Tuesday 6th March explained that they were still angry “It’s so sad to look at that forest, they even cut very small ironwood trees.” said Wenderlinus Tuamis, a youth who had participated that day.
Meanwhile, according to Franky Borotian, they had been allowing the logging to continue because previously a villager from Workwana had asked to use wood to build her house “a sister had asked for permission to build a house, but then it turned out someone used that permission for business purposes”, he said.
The problem has been passed over to the Customary Council (Dewan Adat). Villagers asked the Customary Council to use their wisdom to resolve the situation so that conflicts between the people would not emerge. Especially since the Golden Triangle had become the area which people rely on for food, as other areas have been taken over by two big oil palm plantations, state-owned PTPN II and PT Tandan Sawita Papua (Part of Peter Sondakh’s Rajawali Group)
2. Tablasupa Nickel Mining’s Drilling Rig Burned, Three Imprisoned
On the morning of 8th February 2012, local people from kampung Tablasupa, near to the Papuan capital Jayapura, burned a drilling rig belonging to the mining company PT Tablasupa Nikel Mining. The action was connected to an ongoing conflict between local people and the company, which plans to mine nickel on 9629 hectares of land, and is currently carrying out exploration activities. Although the company has been given a permit by the local Jayapura Bupati’s office, the people of Tablasupa feel that their rights as the holders of customary rights over the land have not been respected.
Two weeks after the machine was burnt, on February 20th, police arrested
three villagers. Saul Sorontouw, Lambertus Seibo and Kanisius Kromisian.
They have been charged under article 170 of the Indonesian penal code, and are being held in Jayapura police headquarters. While in prison Saul Sorontouw has been ill with gout, which has caused swellings in his knees. On February 28th police demanded statements from another six villagers, but they were allowed to go home that evening.
The following statement was released by villagers of Tablasupa the day
before the action:
Statement of opinion of the Sorontou-Okoseray-Kiswaitou Ethnic Group
As holders of rights to customary lands on the area covered by PT Tablasupa Nickel Mining’s Mine Enterprise Permit (IUP), Mining Rights (KP) and the Bupati’s recommendation that allows exploration in Kampung Tablasupa, Jayapura Regency
Regarding the as yet unresolved problems around PT Tablasupa Nickel Mining commencing exploration activities on customary land belonging to the people of kampung Tablasupa, the Sorontou- Okoseray- Kiswaitou ethnic group wishes to make the following declaration:
“Reject PT Tablasupa Nickel Mining” conducting exploration and mineral exploitation activities within the customary boundaries of the Sorontou- Okoseray- Kiswaitou ethnic group.
The reasons for our rejection of mining activities are as follows:
1. The whole territory of kampung Tablasupa is unsuitable for mining
activities.
2. The impact of mining activities would also damage the environment of
areas that fall within the territory of neighbouring villages.
3 To avoid mining activities causing conflict with the people and nearby villages.
4. The effect of mining activities will damage and desecrate the environment, and industrial pollution from the mine will contribute to global warming and affect the sources of clean water from the Cyclop mountains.
5. No consensus has been reached through a musyawarah system that would
represent an agreement between the people of Tablasupa and neighbouring
villages.
6. The holders of customary rights to the land have not given their approval (under the Law on Mineral and Coal Mining 4/2009 article 135, companies holing a Mine Enterprise Permit can only commence activities if they have obtained agreement from the holders of customary rights on that land).
7. The customary and human rights of the Sorontou- Okoseray- Kiswaitou
ethnic group must be respected and valued by all.
A solution to the development of kampung Tablasupa which supports the
social economy and also contributes to local business could include:
-building beach tourism and hotels
-developing fishing
-selling fresh water.
Such development would involve all the people of Tablsupa either as workers or taking roles in a management structure and could take the form of an enterprise or foundation that was formed by the people of kampung Tablasupa.
This is the message that the Sorontou- Okoseray- Kiswaitou ethnic group wishes to be known by the general public.
STATEMENT BY FIVE PAPUANS WHO WENT ON TRIAL IN JAYAPURA ON 30 JANUARY 2011[This hand-written statement is signed by the five Papuans who went on trial in Jayapura on 30 January 2012, and is translated in full by
Carmel Budiardjo, TAPOL]
Fully understanding and conscious of our basic human rights as Papuans of the negroid race, part of the Melanesian race who live in the land of the country of West Papua, inheritors from our ancestors, we herewith firmly declare that WE FIRMLY REJECT THE TREASON TRIAL AND OTHER SUCH TRIALS that has been mounted against the five of us, and we speak on behalf our colleagues and the entire nation of the Papuan people of the Nation of West Papua.
We call for an understanding of this declaration, a declaration of independence, in accordance with the principles of PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW, a law which should be lawfully accepted. And in this case, this declaration will bring us substantial happiness if it gains the recognition of the international community.
In order to gain substantial and dignified recognition from the international community, we have requested our international team of lawyers to notify and register our legal status along with the question of the annexation of the TERRITORY OF THE STATE OF WEST PAPUA at the International Court, with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Amnesty International and all member states of the United Nations, as well as other competent authorities.
We herewith categorically state that we are not prepared to make any statements or answer any questions that are based on the laws and accusations of treason by the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia, during the current trial for treason. It is very clear indeed that this is a matter between two nations and two states, that is to say, between the Papuan nation and the Indonesian nation, between the Federal State of West Papua and the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia.
The following are the reasons for our rejection of the trial for treason or any such trial:
[NB: The copy of the statement which we have received jumps at this point from page 2 to page 4 which suggests that the copy we have is incomplete.]
1. Our struggle and the struggle of those who have gone before us and the nation of West Papua and all members of the Papuan people up to the present day is a struggle for the restoration of independence and sovereignty of the Papuan Nation as one of our most basic political rights.
2. Bearing in mind that the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia annexed and continues to annex, the people and nation of the Papuan people since the TRIKORA command which was proclaimed by the former president of Indonesia, President Sukarno on 19 December 1961 in the city of Jogyakarta and which was followed up by the Indonesian military, from 1962 to the present day, by a variety of measures aimed at preserving the annexation.
3. Our struggle is not aimed as damaging or destroying any country in the world.
4. We do not intend to damage or destroy the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia.
5. We feel that our dignity has been defiled, that our basic political rights have been violated in our country, West Papua, which we inherited from our ancestors.
6. No one, for whatever reason, has the right to make accusations against us or to convict us in a treason trial or any such trial. This is because we have become the subjects of our own laws as citizens of the nation and state of the Federal Republic of West Papua.
7. Based on the values of basic human rights, of democracy and the following universal laws:
a. The first article in the Preamble to the1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia.
b. Article15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations adopted on 10 December, 1948.
c. Article 1, para 1 of the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights adopted as UN Resolution 2200 (xxi) which has been in force since 23 March 1976,.
d. The Declaration on Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples in UN Resolution 1514 (xv) on 14 December 1960.
e. The basic principles of decolonisation , namely possidetis juris and the legal succession of the state to the colonial territories of the Dutch East Indies (Dutch Papua) since 19 October 1961.
f. ILO Convention No. 169, 1989 on the Rights of Indigenous and Tribal People.
g. The UN Declaration on the basic rights of indigenous peoples of 13 September 2007.
h. The Papuan Independence Manifesto of 19 October 1961 adopted by the Papuan National Committee.
i. Stipulations adopted by the Grand Congress (MUBES) of the Papuan people in 2000.
j. The Eleven Recommendations of the Second Papuan Peoples’ Congress and Indigenous Papuan People in 2010.
k. The decisions of the Second Papuan Peoples Congress in 2000.
l. The decisions of the Third Papuan Peoples Congress of 2011.
8. The Statement by the Indigenous Papuan People and the Papuan people is a truth based on analytical and practical categories. The analytical category means that the indigenous P apuan people are the Papuan nation, a negroid race of the Melanesian race, located in the South Pacific. Whereas the practical category is a political statement which was enunciated in the Manifesto of Papuan Independence of the Papuan National Committee on 19 October 1961 in Hollandia, the State of West Papua.
9. We democratically restored the independence and sovereignty of the Papuan people on 19 October 2011, at the Third Papuan Peoples Congress with the establishment of the Federal Republic of West Papua which was announced by the DECLARATION OF THE PAPUAN NATION IN THE STATE OF WEST PAPUA.
10. The government of the Republic of Indonesia and the governments of all other members of the United Nations, should without discrimination recognise and respect the democratic processes of the Papuan people at the Third Papuan Peoples Congress on 19 October 2011 in the form of the Declaration of the West Papuan Nation and State.
11. The application of the treason law against the Papuan people must be categorised as a violation of the basic and legal political rights of the Papuan nation.
We hereby call on to the Honourable Judges in this forum to annul the trial held in order to accuse us of TREASON and make similar charges against us. The solution to the independence of the Papuan nation which is our most basic political right must be sought by means of international mechanisms between the Federal Republic of West Papua and the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia, mediated by the United Nations.
In order to regulate the transfer of sovereign powers from the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia to the Federal Republic of West Papua, we intend to initiate a new phase of cooperation based on the principles of democracy, justice, peace, mutual respect and dignity. As is customary between independent and sovereign nations and states on Planet Earth.
Herewith our statement of REJECTION OF THE TRIAL BEING HELD TO ACCUSE US OF TREASON AND SIMILAR CHARGES.
Jayapura, 30 January 2012
Signed:
1. Forkorus Yaboisembut, President of the Federal State of West Papua.
2. Edison G. Waromi, SH, Prime Minister of the Federal State of West Papua.
3. Agust M. Sananai Kraar, SIP,human rights activist/staff
4. Selpius Bobii, activist/staff
5. Dominikus Subarat, activist/staff
A West Papuan leader-in-exile fears Indonesian security forces will violently suppress the 50th anniversary celebrations of the independence movement’s flag … the Morning Star.
Thousands of police, military and special forces are reportedly massing in the two provinces just north of Australia, ahead of Papuan rallies planned for Thursday.
On Monday, Indonesian police said no officers would face charges over last month’s crackdown on the Papuan People’s Congress.
The crackdown left three Papuans dead and there are claims dozens were tortured.
Stefan Armbruster spoke with London-based West Papuan leader Benny Wenda, for whose arrest Indonesia this week issued an Interpol Red Notice.
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