Activists Call for Dialogue on Papua’s Future

Rights activists agree that the government should work to solve the problems besetting the restive provinces of Papua and West Papua through dialogue and by halting the violence and ongoing human rights violations by security forces there.
Poengky Indarti, the executive director of rights group Imparsial, said she hoped President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono could approach the Papuan people as part of efforts to solve the problem there, including initiating a dialogue with local people.

“Who else can we hope to become the strong figure that will be able to unite this nation but the president? Because he was elected after receiving the majority of the people’s votes,” she said on Sunday.

Poengky added that former president Abdurrahman Wahid had managed to involve the Papuan people in discussions by approaching them, including by allowing them to change the name of their region to Papua from the previous title of Irian Jaya, and to fly the pro-independence flag.

He also went to Papua himself to hold a dialogue with the local population.

However, she said that President Megawati Sukarnoputri, who replaced Wahid, undid his work by issuing the special autonomy law and splitting Papua into two provinces.

Poengky said the trillions of rupiah that had been poured into Papua to accelerate development there had not reached much of the population and that a large proportion of it had been used to line the pockets of local officials.
“This is one of the many things that made the people of Papua increasingly disappointed with the Central Government,” she said.

Meanwhile, Ridha Saleh, the deputy chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) on Sunday urged the security forces to refrain from conducting raids that lead to rights violations and subsequently have a significant impact on efforts to solve the problems in Papua through dialogue.

He said that the commission had already found several cases of human rights violations by security personnel following the violent breaking up of the Papua People’s Congress in Abepura on Oct. 17.

He said that even would-be pastors at the local Higher School of Philosophy in Abepura and tribal customary leaders had become victims to the violence by security forces.

Usman Hamid, an activist with the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (Kontras) said that he believed the security forces were bent on weakening pro-peace groups in Papua .

“Considering the context of raids conducted at the Higher School of Philosophy, it is apparent that the security forces target gathering places of peace activists,” Usman said.

He added that by pushing the notion that separatism was rife in Papua the authorities could justify asking for more troops and money.
Usman said the continuing violence by the security forces could make it hard for the Unit for the Acceleration of Development in Papua and West Papua Provinces to do its job.

Paskalis Kossay, a member of the House of Representatives from Papua, said that although the government’s special autonomy program for Papua is more than 10 years old, there has never been an evaluation conducted.

“It should have been evaluated after three years,” Paskalis said.
“The evaluation of the implementation of the Special Autonomy Law would also be the duty of this team. The president had already planned an evaluation by forming this team,” Velix Wangai, a presidential adviser on regional autonomy, said on Saturday.

Rights activist and former State Secretary Bondan Gunawan said that to settle the problems in Papua, the government should work in the field.

“Go deep into Papua, and look for information on why the violence happens,” Bondan told a public discussion on Papua over the weekend.

He said that if the violence and other problems in Papua are left to fester, unsolved for a long period, “then with time, there will be a wish to secede.”

Researchers from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) said that the problems in Papua concerned marginalization and discrimination.
One of the researchers, Adriana Elisabeth, said that the lack of development in Papua and also a failure of politics there meant there should be a complete re-evaluation of policy.

More>>http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/activists

SBY’s Papua team ready to roll

As violence escalates in Papua, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is ready to deploy his special team on Papua, established on Sept. 20, according to an aide on Saturday.

Velix Vernando Wanggai, the President’s aide on regional autonomy and development, told The Jakarta Post that the Unit for the Acceleration of Development in Papua and West Papua (UP4B) was ready for duty.

“The team is ready to accelerate development, chop down bottlenecks between the central and local governments and initiate breakthroughs to solve socioeconomic and political problems in Papua,” Velix said.


The Jayapura-born presidential aide explained that the team would initiate the “new deal for Papua”, saying the deal could spark a transformation in the way the government dealt with Papua. According to Velix, the new deal would embrace the local Papuans by inciting dialogue with strategic groups in the region.

Lt. Gen. Bambang Darmono, commanding officer in Aceh from 2002 to 2005 who was appointed UP4B chief, would soon start his work, Velix said. “Bambang Darmono is a capable and well-experienced figure in handling conflicts, especially with his previous experience in Aceh. Even though the conflicts in Aceh and Papua have different contexts, there are a lot of similarities.”

Indonesia is under international scrutiny for the rising violence in the restive region. On Saturday morning, a skirmish broke out between the military and unidentified armed people near PT Freeport, a US gold mining subsidiary.

The incident was preceded by the killing of Mulia Police chief Comr. Dominggus Oktavianus Awes by unknown assailants and the arrest of six Papuans for treason following the controversial Third Papuan People’s Congress in Abepura.

Velix said the UP4B would have a specific department assigned to supervise the use of Papua’s special autonomy funds to strengthen the budget’s control and evaluation system, “This would ensure that the money was being spent according to [Papua’s special autonomy] blueprint.”

The autonomy funds for Papua jumped into the spotlight following the government’s decision to increase the 2012 budget allocation for Papua by 23 percent. In the 2012 budget, the provinces of West Papua and Papua would receive Rp 1.64 trillion (US$186.96 million) and Rp 3.8 trillion, respectively; which are significant increases from this year’s budget, which allotted the two provinces Rp 1.33 trillion and Rp 3.1 trillion, respectively.

Despite the increase in next year’s budget, a House Commission I lawmaker from Papua, Paskalis Kossay, told the Post that the spike in autonomy funds was unnecessary, calling the 2011 allocation “big enough”.

In line with the UP4B’s objective to strengthen supervision of Papua’s special autonomy funds, Paskalis agreed that the government should impose stricter controls and thoroughly evaluate how this year’s funds were used, citing the fact that the Supreme Audit Agency found indications that Rp 4.12 trillion of the Rp 19.12 trillion in special autonomy funds for Papua and West Papua between 2000 and 2010 may have been misused or embezzled.

“So far, I have never seen an evaluation of [Papua’s] special autonomy funds. In fact, there should be a thorough evaluation [of Papua’s special autonomy funds],” Paskalis said.

In August, the International Crisis Group (ICG) urged the UP4B to start its work quickly in Papua, citing the special team’s massive authority that allowed it to address not only issues relating to Papua’s development, but also more sensitive problems such as land, conflict and human rights.

“Without [the UP4B], the chance for any positive change in policy is much lower, making the developments in Puncak Jaya a symbol of everything that is wrong in Papua for activists inside and outside Indonesia,” the ICG said as quoted from a statement on the organization’s official website. (sat)
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Kontras Accuses Police of Conflict of Interest in Papua

Rights activists announced on Friday that an investigation has led them to believe that police have involved themselves too deeply in labor disputes at the Freeport mine in Papua and tended to take the company’s side.

The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) said it found that senior police had threatened a labor organizer from the All-Indonesian Workers Trade Union (SPSI).

It said Sudiro, SPSI’s chief workplace organizer for Freeport’s Grasberg mine, had reported that Timika Police Chief Denny Siregar called him and made a death threat. Sudiro also said Papua Police chief Bikman L. Tobing had harassed him with insulting language.

According to Kontras, such aggressive language and threats constituted violence against the unionist.

“From the testimonies collected by Kontras [in Timika] on the sidelines of negotiations between workers and Freeport, the police chief pressured the SPSI leader to comply with the company’s wishes so that he did not become ‘tiresome’ to police,” Kontras investigator Haris Azhar said on Friday.

Police, according to Haris, had also leveled accusations of treason at striking workers and their union organizers.

“All they did was make demands for their improved welfare. How can the police accuse them of being separatists? It makes no sense,” Haris said.

Kontras’ report said the presumed reason for the police taking the gold and copper mining company’s side was Freeport’s documented direct payments to police officers based in the area.

He said the flood of money to police had created a conflict of interest when its people, nominally public servants, handled cases related to the company.

“When there’s a problem between Freeport and their workers, of course they choose to support Freeport,” he said.

National Police chief Timur Pradopo admitted on Friday that officers had received close to $10 million annually from Freeport, but he explained it away as “lunch money.”

Haris dismissed that, saying the receipt of money from the US-based company had severely damaged the police’s credibility.

“If the police chief thinks of it as extras, then what are his wages for?” he asked.

Haris said Kontras would report its findings to the Coordinating Minister for Politics and Security and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

“As far as I know, whether within the police law, the army law or the budget law, public servants should be paid only out of the state budget,” he said.

Separately, Human Rights Watch on Friday called for an independent investigation into the deaths of protesters in Jayapura on Oct. 19.

“Papuans peacefully calling for independence does not justify a deadly crackdown,” said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “President Yudhoyono has an opportunity to show Papuans that he’s concerned about their rights.”

“Police and military personnel have also been the victims of violence in Papua,” Pearson said, referring to Monday’s shooting of Mulia Police chief Dominggus Oktavianus Awes in Puncak Jaya.

“But police investigations have been woefully inadequate, and there is a need for independent investigations into this escalating violence.”

Read more, http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/

Green MP calls on NZ to pull out community police from West Papua

West Papuan miners at Freeport-McMoRan protest over wages and working conditions in a recent rally outside the local parliament in Tinika. Photo: Pacific Scoop

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By the PMC news desk

Green MP Catherine Delahunty has called on New Zealand to recall its community police unit from the Indonesian-ruled territory of West Papua, saying the training programme has been compromised by the brutal suppression of self-determination.

She told an Australian international radio programme yesterday that she would call on Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully to review the “whole scheme” because Papuan human rights had been undermined in the past few weeks.

At least six people were killed in last week’s crushing of the Third Papuan People’s Congress by military and paramilitary police forces in the capital Jayapura following weeks of unrest at the giant US-owned Freeport-McMoRan gold and copper mine near Timika.

Green MP Catherine Delahunty ... calls for a Bougainville-style peace approach to West Papua. Photo: Pacific Scoop

“We are validating an invalid situation, we are giving credence and credibility to a police force that are actively attacking their own citizens,” Delahunty told Radio Australia’s Pacific Beat programme.

“We know that torture and abuses by both the police and military are now commonplace and have been for sometime and we cannot say that New Zealand’s involvement is reducing the impact of those injustices.

“There is no evidence to suggest we’re making anything better, so we should be brave enough to say so.”

‘Flawed argument’
In response to a question by interviewer Bruce Hill that if Australia and New Zealand did not work with Indonesian security forces, the situation would not get better, Delahunty replied:

“I think that’s a very flawed argument and avoids the real issue, which is Australia and New Zealand can make things better when their governments challenge Indonesia to work towards peace, through a peace dialogue.

“Small community and policing initiatives on the ground help to whitewash the fact that the Indonesians are operating a regime in West Papua which is unjust, illegal and unsustainable and that we are allowing them to continue in our name.”

Delahunty contrasted NZ policy over West Papua with its positive contribution to peace in Bougainville and an end to the decade-long civil war.

“The New Zealand government could play a very positive role and a real leadership role,” she said.

“We know that they have prioritised trade over human rights and justice. We are going to call on them to take leadership so that we can hold our heads up in this region and be a country that has in the past shown real leadership to create peace dialogue.

“That’s what the people of West Papua want, they want a peace dialogue, they want international support from Australia and New Zealand and it’s not much to ask to call on human rights, an end to torture and for discussions between Indonesia and West Papuan leaders.”

Source: Pacific Media Watch 7693

NZ Media ‘blindfolded’ over West Papua crisis, say critics

from our partners at the Pacific Media Centre

Forkorus Yoboisembut … elected West Papuan “president” at the last week’s Papuan People’s Congress and arrested by Indonesian forces. Photo: EngageMedia Friday, October 28, 2011
Item: 7692
AUCKLAND(Pacific Media Watch): As tensions escalate in the Indonesian-occupied Melanesian region of West Papua, there is growing criticism over the lack of information in the mainstream New Zealand media about the troubled area.
Last week, the third Papuan People’s Congress was held in Abepura, on the outskirts of Jayapura. It was a peaceful rally of thousands of West Papuans who had gathered to celebrate their culture, hold talks and elect their representatives.
When the Morning Star flag was raised and cries of “merdeka” (independence) were heard by the strong Indonesian military presence, gunshots rang out and violencefollowed.

Deaths and mass arrests
The newly-elected “president” Forkorus Yoboisembut, chairman of the Papuan Customary Council (DAP), was arrested along with hundreds of others and reports emerged of up to six deaths.
On Monday, Indonesian police chief Adj. Comr. Dominggus Awes was gunned downon the tarmac of Mulia Airport. The People’s Liberation Army of West Papua or OPM, were accused of being involved but have since denied it.
And on a completely separate event, at least seven people have died over the past few weeks during the controversial strike over low wages at the US-owned Freeport McMoRan mine.
So far, only the public broadcaster, Radio New Zealand International, and independent media outlets such as Pacific Scoop have paid any attention. In the international pages of the main newspapers, Europe and other parts of the world have featured, but nothing about our own region.
NZ ‘not part of Pacific’
Dr Steven Ratuva, senior lecturer in Pacific studies at the University of Auckland, says New Zealand likes to consider itself a Pacific country, but can’t, as its interests lie elsewhere.
“There is nothing in terms of media coverage that gives the impression that New Zealand is part of the Pacific,” he says.
“It’s a dilemma that New Zealand is facing – on one level it claims to be a Pacific country but the New Zealand Herald has only one Pacific reporter, and TVNZ the same.”
Dr Ratuva sources his information from places such as West Papua from blogs as well as “internet sources outside the mainstream media”.
He says the main reason is politics.
“The [Pacific Islands] Forum, at the last meeting didn’t want to touch it. Indonesia is a significant player in the region and has links with Australia and New Zealand,” he says.
“Papua New Guinea doesn’t want to acknowledge it, even though it shares a border with West Papua, due to its fears of Indonesia.”
Dr Teresia Teaiwa, senior lecturer in Pacific studies, at Va’aomanu Pasifika Victoria University of Wellington, says mainstream print and television media leave a lot to be desired.
‘Inanely insular’
“If it’s not a major crisis or related to a major crisis, don’t expect it to be covered,” she says.
“I’ve stopped reading mainstream newspapers because of how inanely insular they are.
“I was surprised at how little coverage the Occupy Wall Street movement got in theDominion Post a couple of weeks ago. If a significant first world movement isn’t getting any serious attention in our newspapers, how can we expect informed and engaged journalism on issues in the Pacific Islands from New Zealand media?”
Dr Heather Devere from the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies says New Zealand is inward-looking.
“I do think we are more insular here,” she says.
“I’m not sure that it is so much a concerted effort to ignore rather than a genuine ignorance.”
Journalism education
While others say it is mostly economic pressures on newsrooms, Dr Devere says the issue with media goes back to the education of journalists.
“So many students seem to be attracted to the communication discipline as a chance to be a celebrity rather than an investigative journalist,” she says.
“There is very little content in the training so journalists do not have knowledge about the situations on which they have to report.”
Director of the Pacific Media Centre and journalism educator Dr David Robie is even more critical of the current New Zealand media role in informing the public about events in the region.
He says local media rely too much on international and digital syndications and few journalists dedicated to tailoring international news for a New Zealand perspective.
News judgment ‘parochial’
“There are very few genuine international affairs editors in New Zealand media organisations, specialists in global news who have either done the hard yards themselves as foreign correspondents or have expert background knowledge,” he says.
“So news judgment is often weak and parochial.”
He said it is a shame that New Zealand is shown up by other media organisations abroad.
“It’s extremely embarrassing and it makes a mockery of our claim to be part of the Pacific,” he says. “We really need to up our game.
“When a Middle East-based global news service like Al Jazeera find it important enough to send teams to cover New Caledonia and West Papua, for example, it is an indictment of our own coverage and news values that we fail to match this. I cannot recall the last time that I saw an in-depth TV report in New Zealand on the French Pacific.”
Melanesia loses out
Dr Robie says that most Pacific news published in mainstream New Zealand media is from the Polynesia, while Melanesia and Micronesia are largely ignored.
“It is very rare to see good, in-depth coverage of Melanesian and Micronesian affairs in New Zealand media, with the brave and committed exceptions of Pacific specialists such as Barbara Dreaver on TVNZ,” he says. He also praised Radio NZ International coverage.
“Yet two Melanesian nations are the economic ‘superpowers’ in the region – Papua New Guinea and Fiji. Since the fourth coup in December 2006, there has hardly been any serious journalism about Fiji any more other than extraordinarily biased polemics masquerading as journalism about the regime.
“The country’s censorship law and an inflexible regime don’t make it easy, but far better reporting could still be done in spite of the problems.
“In this context, West Papua barely exists. If even neighbouring Papua New Guinea falls below the radar then there is little hope for West Papua getting fair and informed coverage.”
Australia fares better
In the Australian media, Fairfax’s Sydney Morning Herald has been following the West Papua issue over the last few weeks.
Its coverage has compared with Radio Australia’s Pacific Beat programme. Yet here in New Zealand, no mainstream media has taken it up apart from Radio NZ International.
“I think we are extremely fortunate that there are still a few state-owned broadcasting outfits like RNZI in this country and ABC in Australia that have dedicated Pacific programmes,” says Dr Teaiwa.
“And I’m not sure whether to celebrate or lament this. But often some of the most illuminating stories come from student journalists who have not yet learned to surrender to the wider industry’s demands and values.”
Maire Leadbeater, from the Auckland-based Indonesia Human Rights Committee, and a campaigner for human rights in West Papua, wrote an article in a 2008 edition ofPacific Journalism Review about what she argued was New Zealand’s biggest media blind spot.
If we are unsure that very little has changed in the past three years, perhaps the New ZealandHerald’s approach to West Papua during the Rugby World Cup could clarify the situation:

‘West Papua‘s moment’
CupShorts took CupShorts jnr to Pt Chevalier playground where we bumped into an off-duty Green Party MP. “Why is the media so obsessed with the World Cup?” she asked. “Big issues are being missed. We just had a delegation here from West Papua and there was no press coverage on them at all.”
A fair point. And one that we’re only too happy to remedy. So, for the record, West Papua is currently part of Indonesia (no IRB ranking). However, if they got independence they might someday hope to rival neighbouring Papua New Guinea (rated 46th in the IRB rankings). Good luck to them.”
PMC

Indonesia: Independent Investigation Needed Into Papua Violence

Ensure Proper Treatment of Detainees

• 
  Police arrest attendees of the Third Papuan People Congress in Jayapura, Indonesia's Papua province on October 19, 2011.
  © 2011 Reuters

• 
  Armed security forces atop one of several armored personnel carriers surrounding Zaccheus field in Abepura on the morning of October 19, 2011.
  © 2011 Oktovianus Pogau/Pantau Foundation

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Prosecuting Political Aspiration

Indonesia: Stop Prison Brutality in Papua

Papuans peacefully calling for independence does not justify a deadly crackdown. President Yudhoyono has an opportunity to show Papuans that he’s concerned about their rights by seriously investigating these deaths.

Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch

(New York) – Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono should immediately establish an independent investigation into the deaths of at least three protesters and the ongoing violence in Papua, Human Rights Watch said today.

On October 19, 2011, Indonesian police and the army fired warning shots to disperse approximately 1,000 Papuans gathered for a peaceful pro-independence demonstration in the Papua provincial capital, Jayapura, after one of the leaders read out the 1961 Papua Declaration of Independence. In an ensuing crackdown by the security forces on the demonstrators, at least three people were killed and dozens were injured. Witnesses said several had gunshot wounds.

“Papuans peacefully calling for independence does not justify a deadly crackdown,” said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “President Yudhoyono has an opportunity to show Papuans that he’s concerned about their rights by seriously investigating these deaths.”


The involvement of security forces in the violence, as well as government denials of any wrongdoing, demonstrate the need for an independent investigation, Human Rights Watch said. While the military announced that the National Police were investigating the incident, the government has already said that the police and military acted appropriately. “The government did not find any abuse of power nor mismanaged approaches by the security officers,” said presidential spokesman, Julian Aldrin Pasha. “Police officers and security forces just accomplished their duties mandated by the state.”

Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that at about 2:30 p.m. on October 19, at the “Third Papuan Congress,” Forkorus Yaboisembut, chairman of the Papuan Customary Council, read out a 1961 Declaration of Independence, and said that he and Edison Waromi, the president of the West Papua National Authority, had been elected by the Congress as president and prime minister respectively of the “Democratic Republic of West Papua.”

About 30 minutes later, the event concluded and the crowd started to disperse, but about 1,000 people remained in the field, talking, and socializing. At approximately 3:30 p.m., the police and military, who had deployed anti-riot trucks and surrounded the field since midnight the night before, began firing military assault weapons over the crowds and into the air.

Witnesses said that most of the people in the field began running. Others stopped and surrendered, putting their hands up. The police then arrested approximately 300 people, ordering them to strip down to their underwear. Witnesses say that security forces pistol-whipped or beat those they arrested with rattan canes and batons, resulting in several injuries.
Many others fled into the woods near the field, with some using a road by a nearby school and military outpost. Witnesses said the police and military forces followed into the woods and there arrested numerous others.
The three reported deaths are:

• Daniel Kadepa, 25, a law student at Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Hukum Umel Mandiri. A witness said that Kadepa died from gunshot wounds to the head after soldiers fired on him as he was running away.
• Max Asa Yeuw, 35, a member of the Penjaga Tanah Papua (Papua Land Guard or PETAPA).
• Yakobus Samansabra, 53, a member of PETAPA, had bullet wounds to his torso, reportedly in the back.

Several other PETAPA members had gunshot wounds.
Indonesian security forces should abide by the United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms, Human Rights Watch said. These which call upon law enforcement officials, including members of the armed forces, to apply nonviolent means before resorting to the use of force, to use force only in proportion to the seriousness of the offense, and to use lethal force only when strictly unavoidable, to protect life. The principles also provide that governments shall ensure that arbitrary or abusive use of force and firearms by law enforcement officials is punished as a criminal offense under their law.
Police have since released all of those arrested except for six men, five of whom were charged with treason, and one charged with possession of a sharp weapon:

• Forkorus Yaboisembut, chairman of the Papua Customary Council, probably the most prominent pro-independence leader in Papua. Documents from Indonesia’s special forces, or Kopassus, leaked by Australian media in August, have revealed that Yaboisembut was on the top of the military’s watch list. Kopassus reportedly placed informants around Yaboisembut, including his neighbors and a journalist.
• Edison Waromi, president of the West Papua National Authority.
• Dominikus Surabut, secretary of the Papuan Customary Council in La Pago region.
• Selpius Bobii, a social media activist, who organized the Papuan Congress. He eluded the police crackdown, but surrendered to police on October 20, accompanied by his lawyers and a Papuan journalist.
• August M. Sananay of the West Papua National Authority.
• Gat Wanda, a member of PETAPA, charged with possessing a sharp weapon.

The six men have had access to lawyers. Human Rights Watch has previously documented torture and ill-treatment of political detaineesby police and prison guards in Papua, and the failure of the government to hold those responsible to account.
“Past mistreatment of Papuan political prisoners means the safety of these detainees is also at risk,” Pearson said. “Those detained should be treated fairly and have access to Indonesia’s human rights commission and local human rights groups.”
This incident follows a string of violent incidents in Papua since July, including:

• On July 31, a deadly clash between two local Papuan groups in Puncak Jaya, Papua, that claimed 17 lives. Leaders of both groups were planning to run for office for the same political party.
• On August 1, the fatal shooting of three Javanese migrants and an Indonesia soldier, in Nafri, Jayapura. Police later arrested 15 Papuan villagers, including several children, in Horas Skyline village, Jayapura, allegedly beating and kicking the detainees. All but two of those detained have been released without charge.
• On August 3, the fatal shooting of Pvt. Fana Suhandi, a member of the Army 753^rd Battalion, as he guarded a military post in Tingginambut in Puncak Jaya. A sniper shot at a military helicopter that had arranged to transport his body from Puncak Jaya.
• On August 22, in Mulia, the capital of Puncak Jaya, the fatal shooting by a sniper of an unarmed motorcycle taxi driver near a post of the Army 753^rd battalion. Media reports say the victim may have been an army informer.
• On August 23, Army Capt. Tasman M. Noer was stabbed to death by two men as he rode his motorcycle in broad daylight near his home in Abepura. A witness to the attack was beaten and hospitalized later the same day.
• Since October 10, the killings of at least four people at the Freeport mine site in Timika, southern Papua. More than 2,000 workers stopped work in July and again in September demanding wage increases. Freeport has replaced workers on strike with other miners. On October 10, one of the striking workers was killed by police and several others injured. Several police officers and two journalists were also injured in the melee. Unidentified gunmen shot dead three non-Papuan workers on October 14.
• On October 24, two unidentified men shot dead Mulia police chief, Dominggus Oktavianus Awes, in Mulia, Puncak Jaya. The men seized his pistol and used it to shoot him in the face.

Police investigations into these incidents have lacked transparency, and it has been difficult to gather information about the progress of investigations. Police efforts to hold the killers accountable have been frustrated by a lack of serious investigations, equipment, and manpower. In some areas, police have not gone to the crime scene or collected evidence due to concerns for their safety.
Documenting human rights violations during protests and other events is especially difficult because of restrictions, since 1962, on access to Papua for foreign human rights monitors and journalists. Human Rights Watch called on the Indonesian government to lift these restrictions. Human Rights Watch takes no position on the self-determination of the Papuan people.
“Police and military personnel have also been the victims of violence in Papua,” Pearson said. “But police investigations have been woefully inadequate, and there’s a need for independent investigations into this escalating violence.” 
Read more>>http://www.hrw.org/news/

Indonesia: Repeal New Intelligence Law

Overbroad Provisions Facilitate Repression

Indonesia should protect its citizens against terrorism and other threats, but the loose language of the intelligence law invites dangerous misuse. If the government wants a good intelligence law, it needs to start over.

Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch

(New York) – Indonesia’s recently enacted intelligence law could be used to impose repressive practices reminiscent of the Suharto era, Human Rights Watch said today. The Indonesian parliament, which passed the law on October 12, 2011, should repeal or amend the act to meet international human rights standards, Human Rights Watch said.

“Indonesia should protect its citizens against terrorism and other threats, but the loose language of the intelligence law invites dangerous misuse,” said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “If the government wants a good intelligence law, it needs to start over.”

The new “Law on State Intelligence,” contains vague and overbroad language that could facilitate abuse, Human Rights Watch said. Article 6 broadly authorizes the Indonesian State Intelligence Agency (Badan Intelijen Negara, BIN) to engage in efforts “to prevent and/or to fight any effort, work, intelligence activity, and/or opponents that may be harmful to national interests and national security.”

“Opponent” is loosely defined as any “party from inside and outside the country engaged in effort, work, activities and action that may be detrimental to national interest and national stability.” BIN’s activities include efforts “to prevent, to deter and to overcome” – the meaning of which is vague – “every possible threat to the national interest and national security.”

Human Rights Watch said the law’s broad provisions could be used to legitimize government efforts to oppress political opposition. The phrases “national stability” and “opponents” were common terms during Suharto’s rule, from 1967 to 1998, invoked to justify crackdowns on pro-democracy activists, students, and human rights groups. Earlier draft versions of the law contained even more worrisome provisions, but they were removed as a result of advocacy by legal and civil society groups.

The new law also contains provisions that could be used to violate freedom of speech and the press, Human Rights Watch said. Articles 44 and 45 broadly state that “anyone” who deliberately or even negligently leaks confidential information about intelligence activities is subject to imprisonment. This language could easily be used to prosecute journalists, political opposition members, or human rights activists who publish information in the public interest about government abuses. For instance, journalists who produced media reports in August 2011 revealing that Indonesia’s military intelligence services were involved in the surveillance of activists, politicians, and clergy in easternmost Papua province might be subject to prosecution, Human Rights Watch said. The Papua revelations were based on hundreds of pages of internal military documents from 2006 to 2009 that Australian journalists had obtained. Indonesian authorities have a track record of using legal mechanisms to threaten journalists and civil society activists.

“Indonesian authorities have long used dubious laws as a pretext to harass civil society and silence government criticism,” Pearson said. “The new intelligence law will make repression even easier.”

The law grants BIN the power to conduct surveillance under a court order. Under Article 31, BIN has “special powers” to intercept communications and examine the flow of funds “strongly suspected for the financing of terrorism and separatism.” Because Indonesian courts are not adequately independent of political interference or BIN pressure, Human Rights Watch is concerned that granting BIN surveillance powers, even with court oversight, will allow the agency to use spying as a tool of political repression against opposition parties, political activists, and indigenous groups. Surveillance of civil society was common during the Suharto era.

Human Rights Watch called for improved and independent oversight of BIN. The new law establishes BIN as the chief intelligence body in Indonesia under the president’s direct control. Regulation of agency activities is subject only to the Office of the President and to parliamentary oversight. Until the law is repealed or revised the government should create an independent mechanism reporting to parliament to oversee the intelligence agency, such as an inspector general or ombudsman, Human Rights Watch said.

Another provision of the law could be misused to protect abusive members of the intelligence agency from prosecution or to provide the agency with legal cover if it decides not to cooperate in criminal proceedings, Human Rights Watch said. Article 17 states that BIN officers and their families are entitled to receive “protection” – a term that is not defined – when an intelligence officer is “carrying out his intelligence duties, efforts, work, activities and functions.”

Human Rights Watch said that lack of cooperation from BIN officials hindered the prosecution of former BIN director Maj. Gen. Muchdi Purwopranjono for the murder of human rights defender Munir bin Thalib in September 2004. After Purwopranjono’s acquittal, an independent team examining the trial in 2010 found that, among other problems, BIN had not cooperated or handed over key documentation that may have been necessary to support the prosecution’s case.

“Indonesian activists are rightly concerned about a law encouraging surveillance of their activities and one that could provide immunity to abusive intelligence agents,” Pearson said.

Read more>>http://www.hrw.org/news/

Related Materials: 

Indonesia: Military Documents Reveal Unlawful Spying in Papua

Indonesia: Reopen Inquiry Into Activist’s Murder

More Coverage: 

Indonesia’s Draft Law on Intelligence: A Threat to the Nation?

Pastor Neles Tebay (kiri) dalam jumpas pers kemarin

Kongres Rakyat Papua (KRP) III yang berakhir dengan deklarasi negara Federasi Papua Barat pada Rabu (19/10) berujung penangkapan terhadap para peserta, bahkan dilakukan hingga ke kamar-kamar frater, pastor, dan bruder di Abepura, Jayapura.

Tiga orang aparat berpakaian seragam dan preman hendak memasuki biara itu, namun dihadang oleh Pater Gonsa Saur OFM di tangga. Dia melihat aparat keamanan berpakain preman menerobos masuk ke kamar makan dan ruang tamu biara itu, kisah Pater Gonsa seperti dikutip pimpinan OFM Papua Pastor Gabriel Ngga OFM dalam jumpa pers bersama Rektor Sekolah Tinggi Filsafat dan Teologi (STFT) Fajar Timur, Abepura, Pastor Neles Tebay, Rabu (26/10) sore.

Diantara para aparat itu, kisah Pastor Gabriel, ada yang membawa senjata laras panjang dan pendek. Karena mendapat tekanan berkali-kali. Pater Gonsa akhirnya meminta mereka kalau bukan penghuni rumah boleh keluar kamar, akhirnya beberapa orang keluar. Namun banyak peserta kongres tetap bersembunyi di biara itu untuk menyelamatkan diri.

“Kamu boleh membawa mereka, tetapi jangan memukuli mereka,” kata Pater Gonsa kepada pihak aparat seperti dikutip Pastor Gabriel.

Seorang perempuan juga ditarik keluar dari biara. Seorang anggota aparat keamanan tiba-tiba menerobos ke lantai II. Tapi,  Pater Gonsa memintanya turun.

Sementara Pastor Neles Tebay, mengutip kesaksian salah seorang pastor projo menceritakan bahwa di Seminari Tinggi Yohanes Maria Vianey, yang dikelola Keuskupan Jayapura, banyak peserta kongres bersembunyi menyelamatkan diri. Aparat yang berusaha mencari peserta kongres  dan mereka menodongkan senjata api di kepala Pastor Yan You selaku pimpinan rumah. Tiga kali dia diancam ditembak.

“Kamu menyembunyikan mereka,” kata aparat-aparat itu. Tetapi Pastor Yan You tidak gentar. Dia malahan minta aparat untuk menembak saja dirinya. “Bunuh saja saya, tembak saya, ayo,” ujarnya.

Aparat kemudian mendobrak pintu, memasuki ruang dan mengeluarkan orang-orang yang  bersembunyi. Sementara para frater mengumpulkan peserta kongres yang lari menyelamatkan diri di aula. Frater-frater juga mengikhlaskan kamarnya sebagai tempat perlindungan, kata imam itu.

Pastor Neles mengatakan para frater mengenakan jubah mereka dan menjaga peserta kongres. Tetapi ketika aparat datang, beberapa orang menyerahkan diri dan digelendang keluar oleh aparat. Melihat itu para frater pun berpesan agar para aparat tidak berlaku kasar kepada peserta kongres.

Ia melaporkan para peserta kongres bersembunyi di Seminari Tinggi Yohanes Vianey milik Keuskupan Jayapura, Asrama Katolik “Tauboria” untuk mahasiswa, Seminari Tinggi Interdiosesan “Yerusalem Baru” milik lima Keuskupan Se-Tanah Papua, kampus STFT Fajar Timur.

Artikel terkait: Kronologi peristiwa

Read more>>http://www.cathnewsindonesia.com/biara/

Gereja, aktivis desak SBY tangani serius Papua

Beberapa pastor Protestan yang terus menyuarakan perdamaian di Papua (Dok)

Komisi HAK KWI dan Persekutuan Gereja-gereja di Indonesia (PGI) bersama para aktivis HAM dari 35 LSM desak Presiden Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono untuk segera menangani kekerasan di Papua.

“Kami, warga negara Republik Indonesia meminta dengan tegas kepada Presiden Republik Indonesia Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono untuk menyelesaikan persoalan di Papua dengan membangun dialog sejati yang damai yang menghormati martabat dan hak budaya rakyat Papua,” demikian pernyataan bersama mereka yang disampaikan dalam konferensi pers di kantor KontraS (25/10).

Mereka menyatakan amat mengkhawatirkan perkembangan situasi penegakan hak asasi manusia di Papua.

“Kami meminta presiden memerintahkan Panglima TNI segera menarik seluruh personel TNI non organic  dari Tanah Papua,” lanjut pernyataan itu.

Forum itu juga meminta presiden memerintahkan Kapolri Jenderal Polisi Timur Pradopo agar segera melindungi dan menciptakan rasa aman di tengah rakyat Papua.

“Kami menuntut adanya penyelidikan perkara secara akuntabel, mengedepankan rule of law dan prinsip-prinsip hak asasi manusia atas setiap praktik pelanggaran HAM yang terjadi di Papua,” lanjut pernyataan itu.

Mereka juga menyatakan dukungan dialog damai bagi Papua serta selalu memberikan dukungan moriil kepada saudara-saudara di Papua untuk tetap berjuang meraih kesetaraan di negeri ini.

Papua menjadi ladang subur kekerasan, kata mereka, ketika negara lebih memilih untuk menghadirkan aparat keamanan dalam skala masif, ketimbang meningkatkan derajat warga Papua setara dengan warga negara Indonesia lainnya.

Mereka mencontohkan, dua orang buruh PT. Freeport  tewas dalam aksi demonstrasi serta seorang intel polisi kritis telah menunjukkan fakta aktual yang tidak bisa kita abaikan.

Ratusan orang ditangkap, 3 tewas dan 6 orang lainnya dituduh telah melakukan kegiatan subversif, juga penembakan di Timika yang menyebabkan 3 tewas dan 1 kritis, serta kasus terakhir Kapolsek Mulia, Puncak Jaya juga meninggal akibat ditembak oleh pelaku yang belum diketahui.

Source:http://www.cathnewsindonesia.com/serius-papua/

Rudd called on to launch Indon inquiry

Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd has been urged to launch a Senate inquiry into Australian aid to Indonesia, with several people killed at a peace rally in West Papua.

About 5000 people attended the Papuan Peoples Congress earlier this month to discuss human rights issues and declare independence from Indonesian rule.

But Joe Collins, secretary of the Australia West Papua Association, said police and the Indonesian military used canes and batons to attackpeople.

He said six West Papuan people were killed in the incident and another six were charged with treason.

International news agencies are reporting that five people were killed but the Jakarta Globe newspaper also says six.

Mr Collins said the government should call on Indonesia to halt all military operations in West Papua to prevent further bloodshed.

"We also urge the government to hold an inquiry into how Australian aid and training to the Indonesian military impacts on the life of the West Papuan people," Mr Collins said.

He said the situation was deteriorating rapidly in the Indonesian-controlled province.

President of the Australian branch of the International Commission of Jurists, John Dowd, said Indonesia should stop denying West Papua its independence.

"There is a limit to how far you can suppress the will of a people," Mr Dowd told reporter in Sydney on Thursday.

"The main problem with West Papua is suppression."

Mr Dowd said Australia needed to do more to pressure Indonesia to stop human rights abuses in West Papua.

He emphasised the need for a free press and media scrutiny of the region.

"If Indonesia has nothing to hide, then why suppress the press?" Mr Dowd said.

Source More>>http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/news

CSW urges Indonesia to establish dialogue with Papuan people following brutal crackdown by military in West Papua

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) today urged the Indonesian Government to take urgent steps to address the grievances of the Papuan people after tension escalated in West Papua last week.

On 19 October, the Indonesian military and police brutally suppressed a peaceful Papuan People’s Congress after delegates raised the Morning Star flag, a symbol of West Papua’s resistance to Indonesian rule, and declared independence. At least six Papuan people were killed and six have been charged with treason. Several hundred were initially arrested, although many have since been released.

According to media reports, the police and military fired shots into the air to disband the gathering, but some soldiers reportedly pointed weapons directly at people. Delegates were beaten by the police and soldiers with batons, bamboo poles and rifle butts. Security forces raided a nearby Catholic seminary and priests’ residence.

In a chilling warning, the police chief in Jayapura, Imam Setiawan, told the media, “Whoever supports separatism or subversion activity, I will do the same as yesterday. I’ll finish them.”

Rev Socratez Sofyan Yoman, Chairman of the Alliance of Papuan Baptist Churches, told CSW, “We call on the Indonesian authorities to open the door for peaceful dialogue between the Papuan representatives and the Indonesia Government. Dialogue must take place without preconditions and be mediated by  a neutral party. The Indonesian military and police must respect the Papuan people’s dignity and rights and stop the violations. As church leaders we strongly support genuine dialogue between the Indonesia Government and West Papuan leaders to solve West Papua’s problems.”

CSW’s Advocacy Director Andrew Johnston said, “It is overwhelmingly clear that the Indonesian military and police used disproportionate force against a peaceful gathering, flagrantly violating human rights and brutally beating and killing unarmed civilians. As a member of the UN Human Rights Council, Chairman of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and a member of the G20, Indonesia has a responsibility to uphold the rule of law, protect human rights and respect international law. The tragic and bloody escalation in tensions serves as a wake-up call to Indonesia and the international community, that the grievances of the Papuan people must be addressed. Indonesia cannot continue to suppress the Papuan peoples’ freedom of expression as it did last week. Instead, a dialogue process is urgently needed, in which concerns about human rights, health care, education, development, environmental degradation and the impact of migration should be discussed, and Papua’s political future negotiated. We urge the Indonesian government to take the following steps to build confidence with the Papuan people, which has been further damaged by last week’s brutal crackdown: release all political prisoners, lift the ban on raising the Morning Star Flag, demilitarize Papua by reducing the military presence, and start to address the basic needs and rights of the Papuan people. The time for genuine dialogue is now.”

Published;http://dynamic.csw.org.uk/article

For further information or to arrange interviews please contact Kiri Kankhwende, Press Officer at Christian Solidarity Worldwide, on +44 (0)20 8329 0045 / +44 (0) 78 2332 9663, email kiri@csw.org.uk or visit www.csw.org.uk.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) is an organisation working for religious freedom through advocacy and human rights, in the pursuit of justice.

Gillard should say sorry, to West Papua

 Since August 2011, two peaceful protests have taken place in the West Papua province of Indonesia.

At the pro-independence rallies near Jayapura attended by around 20,000 people, a total of 5 people have been shot dead by police aggressively seen dispersing the crowd. It has been reported that over 300 people were arrested in the raids. Similarly, at a month-long strike at the Grasberg mine complex – jointly owned and operated by Anglo-Australian Rio Tinto and the American miners Freeport – a total of 7 people have been killed by Indonesian security forces. It is estimated around 12,000 workers are presently on strike at the mine.

Last night the AFP reported that an Indonesian police chief was shot dead:

Mulia city police chief Dominggus Awes was at the local airport, southwest of the provincial capital Jayapura, when two men began beating him, grabbed his gun and shot him with it, Papua police spokesman Wachyono told AFP.

“They punched him, took his pistol and shot him in the neck and face, hitting his nose. He was taken to a hospital and later died from his injuries,” he said.

 According to a report filed with West Papua Media, the Indonesian government are satisifed with the use of force at the protests:

Djoko Suyanto, the coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, also defended the government’s tactics, according to Antara.

“The police raided the rally because it was considered as a coup d’etat,” Djoko said. “They declared a state within a state and did not recognize the president of Indonesia.”

Australia has a long history with the people of West Papua, culminating in a decision by the John Gorton government on May 29, 1969. As I argue below, Australia betrayed the people of Papua at that time, and now Prime Minister Julia Gillard must seriously consider issuing a formal apology to its indigenous people.

How Australia neglected the Papuans

New Guinea, geographically as well as historically, is Australia’s closest relative. Separated from the mainland during the last glacial period, the waters filled in what now separates them: about 152km of the Torres Strait.

While Australia and New Guinea both have enviable mineral stores, economic and political exploitation has left the latter as home to many of the poorest people on Earth. New Guinea is also an island of two histories.

The eastern half forms the independent state of Papua New Guinea – a status it has enjoyed since breaking from Australia in 1975. With its natural resources of oil and industrial metals, Papua New Guinea has long been exploited for its minerals by Australian firms at places like Ok Tedi and Bougainville.

The western half of New Guinea has had a lesser-known but equally tragic history centred around the Jayawijaya Mountain, home to the Amungme, and farther downstream, the Kamoro people. As with much of East Asia, the indigenes were under Dutch rule when a geological expedition in 1936 located a significant ertsberg (ore mountain) deep in the southwestern highlands. World War II intervened, and the Japanese claimed Indonesia and some of the western parts of New Guinea.

Following defeat in the war, the Japanese were marshalled back to their home territory, and Dutch colonialism resumed. Importantly, when Indonesian independence was obtained from the Dutch in 1949, few knew of the ertsberg (mineral ore) hidden deep in West Papua’s wilderness.

The Dutch began a ten-year Papuanisation programme in 1957 that would see West Papua handed back to the indigenes, and would create the independent state of West Papua around 1972.

Despite multiple territorial claims, the ore mountain lay dormant for over 20 years.

On March 6, 1959, the New York Times reported the presence of alluvial gold in the Arafura Sea just off the coast of West Papua. Reminded of their earlier discovery, Dutch geologists were said to be returning to the ore mountain, now simply known as Ertsberg.

Independence denied

The indigenes, meanwhile, as part of their programme toward independence, established a Papuan National Council and provisional government as well as their own military, police force, currency, national anthem, and flag. At the time, West Papua’s independence was due before the United Nations Decolonisation Commission, and representatives took part in various cultural and political activities throughout the region. By December 1, 1961, the West Papuan “Morning Star” flag had been raised alongside the Dutch for the first time. Many assumed that independence was imminent.

Unbeknown to both the indigenes and the Dutch, US mining company Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold was negotiating directly with Suharto – at the time an Indonesian army general – for a small group of its experts to prospect this ore mountain. The path into West Papua through Suharto promised to be fruitful for Freeport, since its board was stacked with the Rockefeller’s Indonesian oil interests who already were versed in the general’s way of doing business. An exploration agreement was reached, and soon after a geologist from Freeport was forging his way through the wilderness toward Ertsberg.

West Papua was about to change hands again.

Armed with Chinese and Soviet weapons, as well as an increasingly public friendship with the communists, Indonesia declared war on the Netherlands. To protect Western interests from the threat of communism, on August 15, 1962, the United Nations and the United States orchestrated a meeting between Dutch and Indonesian officials during which interim control of West Papua was signed over to Indonesia.

Six years of UN interregnum followed, after which a plebiscite would decide whether to form a separate nation or integrate into Indonesia. All 815,000 West Papuans were to vote in an Act of Free Choice.

To ensure a favourable outcome, the Indonesians worked to suppress Papuan identity. Raising the West Papuan flag and singing of the national anthem were banned, and all political activities were deemed subversive. Indonesia ruled through force, for self-interest. Alarmed by ongoing media reports, on April 5, 1967, in the British House of Lords, Lord Ogmore called for a UN investigation. By early 1968, with Suharto having assumed the presidency of Indonesia, a US consular visit almost unanimously agreed that “Indonesia could not win an open election” in West Papua.

West Papua still wanted its independence.

In a desperate attempt to secure West Papua’s right to self-determination, two junior politicians crossed the border into Australian-administered Papua and New Guinea on May 29, 1969. They carried damning evidence of Indonesian repression; the hopes of a yet-unformed nation rested on the politicians reaching the UN. As Australia and its allies were amenable to Indonesian control of West Papua, the two were imprisoned upon crossing the border until after the referendum.

Their brave plea silenced.

Between July and August 1969, less than a quarter of one per cent of the population – some 1,026 West Papuans – signed the country’s freedom over to Indonesia. The election, held under the aegis of the UN, was far from an act of free choice. The following day West Papua was declared a military operation zone, the local people’s movement was restricted, and expression of their national identity banned under Indonesian law.

Poor, neglected West Papua.

Who gained from Australia’s betrayal of the Papuan people?

Today the social and economic condition of the indigenous Amungme and Kamoro poses fundamental human rights concerns. Although Freeport-Indonesia directly or indirectly employs a large number of West Papuans and is regularly Indonesia’s biggest taxpayer, in 2005, the World Bank found that Papua remained the poorest province in Indonesia. With a marked rise in military personnel and foreign staff has come a number of social issues, including alcohol abuse and prostitution such that Papua now has the highest rate of HIV/AIDS in Indonesia.

Indonesian control of West Papua has been characterised by the ongoing and disproportionate repression of largely peaceful opposition. Few sustained violent interactions have occurred; however, in one major conflict in 1977, more than 1,000 civilian men, women, and children were killed by the Indonesian military in Operasi Tumpas (“Operation Annihilation”) after a slurry pipe was severed and partially closed the Ertsberg mine.

While the level of violence is difficult to establish, academics at the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Sydney maintain that up to 100,000 West Papuans may have been killed since Indonesian occupation.

They call what’s happening to West Papua “slow-motion genocide”.

What can Australians do now?

Australians must pressure their local MPs to call for an international inquiry into the killing of 12 Papuan civilians during peaceful protests since August 2011, as well as discussing the prospect of Australia issuing a formal government apology to the Papuan people for putting an end to their legitimate claim to sovereignty in 1969.

Find your federal MP here.

For further information, see my series of four essays on West Papua, published on Al Jazeera over the past month. Or check West Papua Media.

Follow NAJ Taylor on Twitter: @najtaylor