Aktivis Kemerdekaan Papua Barat Ingin Indonesia keluarkan dari MSG

Aktivis Kemerdekaan Papua (foto ilustr)

Vanuatu berbasis gerakan kemerdekaan Papua Barat sekali lagi menerapkan untuk menjadi pengamat resmi dalam Grup Spearhead Melanesia.(Sumber: http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/)
Dan pada saat yang sama mereka ingin Indonesia menanggalkan status pengamat di dalam tubuh sub-regional.
Juru bicara gerakan, Dokter John Ondawame mengatakan Indonesia tidak pernah seharusnya status pengamat parut resmi dalam MSG.
Dia mengatakan aplikasi Papua Barat akan diserahkan pada KTT dijadwalkan berikutnya MSG pemimpin di Kaledonia Baru tahun depan.
Dokter Ondawame mengatakan mereka memiliki kesempatan yang lebih baik dari sekarang sedang diberikan status pengamat mengikuti perubahan kebijakan MSG internal.
Presenter: Hilare Bule
Pembicara: Dokter John Ondawame, dari kantor Papua Barat diplomatik di Vanuatu
ONDAWAME: Tujuannya adalah untuk mengirimkan aplikasi untuk MSG sehingga MSG yang dapat mengabulkannya status pengamat, karena ada pedoman baru dalam kebijakan MSG bahwa gerakan pembebasan Papua Barat dapat mengajukan permohonan untuk status pengamat dalam MSG. Ada kemungkinan untuk memungkinkan kemungkinan-kemungkinan baru. Tidak seperti tahun-tahun sebelumnya, kita tidak dapat menerapkan, dan ketika Anda menerapkan di masa lalu saya tidak berpikir kita bisa mendapatkan, namun sekarang kemungkinan karena kebijakan baru berubah dalam MSG juga. Pedoman baru memungkinkan kami untuk menerapkan untuk menjadi, untuk diberi status pengamat dalam MSG.
Bule: Jadi, ketika orang Papua Barat mengirimkan kembali aplikasi mereka untuk memperoleh status pengamat dalam MSG?
ONDAWAME: pertemuan MSG akan diselenggarakan di Noumea tahun depan. Jadi sekarang kami sedang mempersiapkan aplikasi kita untuk menyerahkan sebelum itu.
Bule: Dalam hal perjuangan rakyat Papua Barat untuk mendapatkan kemerdekaan mereka, apa yang akan menjadi dampak dari memperoleh status pengamat dalam MSG?
ONDAWAME: Pertama-tama dampaknya akan bahwa pertama-tama kita harus menghapus Indonesia dari status pengamat dalam MSG, karena Indonesia tidak memiliki hak untuk berada di sini sebagai pengamat dalam keluarga Melanesia. Kedua untuk membangun hubungan yang lebih kuat, untuk membawa kembali anak yang hilang dari Papua Barat yang di 96 ini sudah hukum, kembali ke keluarga Melanesia, kita harus meletakkan dasar. Ketiga, adalah kita ingin juga mengembangkan ide baru pembangunan politik budaya, ekonomi,, kita harus meletakkan dasar untuk mengembangkan mereka bagian penting dari pembangunan di masa depan.
Bule: Apakah saat ini dukungan keseluruhan dari negara-negara anggota MSG terhadap perjuangan masyarakat Papua Barat?
ONDAWAME: Setidaknya di tingkat pemerintah ada simpati, tetapi tidak ada satu lagi yang membawa kita serius, mengambil posisi dalam masalah ini. Tetapi pada tingkat masyarakat kita tahu ada dukungan di semua lapisan masyarakat, baik di Papua Nugini, Kepulauan Solomon, Fiji, Vanuatu, Kanaki, besar, dan saya yakin masalah ini tidak dilupakan oleh masyarakat dan pemerintah dari masing- negara di Melanesia.

Indonesia Terkorup Di Asia Pasifik

Foto Ilustrasi Korupsi

Indonesia menjadi negara paling korups dari 16 negara di kawasan Asia Pasifik menurut survei persepsi korupsi 2011 terhadap pelaku bisnis. Survei dilakukan oleh Political & Economic Risk Consultancy yang berbasis di Hongkong.

Demikian diungkapkan Kepala Satuan Tugas Sosialisasi Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi (KPK) Guntur Kusmeiyano, Rabu (22/2/2012), dalam seminar pemberantasan korupsi di Kota Pontianak, Kalimantan Barat.

“Di mata para pelaku bisnis, Indonesia merupakan negara paling korup di kawasan Asia Pasifik. Ini tentu berkaitan dengan kinerja birokrasi, sehingga persoalannya tidak akan selesai kalau hanya mengandalkan penindakan. Ini harus diatasi dengan mulai membangun komitmen,” kata Guntur.

Guntur menambahkan, di tingkat internasional, indeks persepsi korupsi Indonesia 1,9 dengan indeks 10. “Dengan angka sekecil itu, di mata dunia, Indonesia itu sejajar dengan negara-negara baru yang sampai hari ini masih dililit persoalan peperangan. Inilah dampak parahnya korupsi di Indonesia,” kata Guntur.

Sumber: http://news.tobaonline.com/

Pemerintah RI, sedang mengikuti irama lepas papua dari Indonesia

Opini by Turius wenda

Turius wenda

 Realita menunjukan bahwa lepasnya papua hanya tunggu waktu, walaupun pemerintah indonesia anggap papua sudah final (harga Mati) dalam keutuhan NKRI.

Papua menjadi daerah konflik dan kontroversial dari tahun 1969 sejak jejak pendapat (Pepera), Hasil Penentuan pendapat rakyat (pepera) menjadi kontrovesi internasioanal, ini di lihat dari proses pemilihannya sangat tidak demokratis atau di bawah pengawasan militer indonesia yang memaksakan para yang terlibat untuk bergabung dengan indonesia di bawah mocong senjata.

Perdebatan tentang sejarah PEPERA 1969 dilanjutkan karena peristiwa rekayasa PEPERA ini merupakan akar masalah Papua  yang sebenarnya dan dipermasalahkan oleh seluruh rakyat Papua sampai hari ini.

Banyak Korban Jiwa Rakyat Papua tidak dapat di hitung jumlahnya

Banyaknya jatuh korban jiwa rakyat papua tidak dapat di hitung dan tidak di data oleh para pihak, karena daerah papua sangat tertutup bagi pekerja kemanusiaan dan wartawan asing. Tertutup bagi media asing telah berlansung cukup lama hampir 50 tahun dari tahun 1961.

Realita konflik papua terjadi  berbagai dimensi sosial adalah, kekerasan aparat TNI/Polri dengan stikma separatis, OPM, Makar, gerakan kacau keamana (GPK), Teror, Intimindasi dan banyak lainya, yaitu, dominasi ekonomi, ilegal loging, dominasi hak politik, diskriminasi, intimindasi, teror, penyebaran Hiv/AIDS, transmigrasi tak terkontrol, Penyebaran agama mayoritas terhadapa kaum minoritas dan banyak lainnya yang mengarah pada pemusnahan etnis (genosida), namun tidak di ketahui oleh dunia karena tertutup akses untuk umum termasuk palang merah.

Hal ini berlangsung cukup lama dan ras malanesia yang ada di papua barat hanya tersisa 40 persen dari populasi orang asli papua.

Walaupun orang  papua berada pada kekajaman sistematis NKRI, tetapi perjuangan orang papua atas penentuan nasib sendiri tidak pernah berhenti dari generasi ke negerasi sejak tahun 1969.

Lahirnya UU Otsus No. 21 tahun 2001

Bergulirnya UU Otsus No. 21 tahun 2001, dimulai  dari  era reformasi tahun 1998, pasca tumbangnya Presiden otoriter dan berwatak militeristik, alm. Soeharto dari kekuasaannya, melalui demonstrasi besar-besaran yang digalang oleh seluruh komponen mahasiswa Indonesia merupakan terbukanya saluran demokrasi dan kebebasan bagi rakyat Indonesia.

Ruang demokrasi dan kebebasan ini menjadi peluang dan kesempatan berharga bagi seluruh rakyat Indonesia untuk menyatakan pendapat dan pikirannya dengan bebas dan teratur.  Khususnya, rakyat Papua yang sudah lama berada dibawah kontrol Daerah Operasi Militer (DOM) yang kejam dan jahat itu mendapat angin segar dan tidak disia-siakan kesempatan dan kebebasan ini.

 Rakyat Papua dari Sorong-Merauke bangkit dan berdiri untuk menyatakan perlawanan (resistensi)  dengan cara-cara elegan dan bermartabat seperti: demonstrasi besar-besaran di seluruh Tanah Papua yang  diiringi dengan pengibaran bendera kebangsaan rakyat dan bangsa Papua Barat, Bintang Pagi (Morning Star).   Tujuannya ialah untuk berdiri sendiri sebagai sebuah bangsa yang merdeka dan berdaulat di atas Tanah dan Negeri leluhur orang Papua.

Selain demonstrasi dan pengibaran bendera Bintang Pagi, ada pula peristiwa penting dan bersejarah adalah pertemuan Tim 100 duta-duta rakyat Papua dengan  Presiden RI, Prof. Dr. B.J. Habibie pada 26 Februari 1999. Apa yang disampaikan oleh Tim 100 dari Papua adalah: “ Bahwa permasalahan mendasar yang menimbulkan ketidak-stabilan politik dan keamanan di Papua Barat (Irian Jaya) sejak 1963 sampai sekarang ini, bukanlah semata-mata karena kegagalan pembangunan, melainkan status politik Papua Barat yang pada 1 Desember 1961 dinyatakan sebagai sebuah Negara merdeka di antara bangsa-bangsa lain di muka bumi. Pernyataan tersebut menjadi alternatif terbaik bagi sebuah harapan dan cita-cita masa depan bangsa Papua Barat,namun telah dianeksasi oleh Negara Republik Indonesia.”

UU No. 21 Tahun 2001  adalah hasil negosiasi, kompromi dan keputusan politik antara Pemerintah Indonesia dan para elit politik papua (tim 100) , ketika rakyat Papua mempersoalkan status politik dan sejarah diintegrasikan atau sejarah aneksasi Papua ke dalam wilayah Indonesia melalui rekayasa PEPERA 1969 yang saya sebut:  “sejarah palsu dan  cacat hukum” itu.  Dan juga lihat seperti yang telah dikutip pernyataan tanggal 26 Februari 1999.

Tetapi Perjuangan Kemerdekaan Papua terus berlanjut

Hal ini terbukti dengan generasi muda papua hapir setiap saat menuntut referendum atau kemerdekaan penuh dari indonesia. Para diplomasi OPM tidak pernah diam, terus melobi dan berjuang di luar negeri, ini terbukti banyak dukungan negara – negara melalui berbagia even.

Pada hari Selasa 28 Februari Australia-Pasifik Parlemen Internasional untuk Papua Barat (IPWP) diluncurkan di Gedung Parlemen, yang diselenggarakan oleh Partai Hijau dan dihadiri oleh beberapa anggota parlemen Australia, Vanuatu, Newzelan, PNG dengan tujuan untuk mendukung hak penentuan nesib sendiri papuan barat.

Senator Partai Hijau Australia Richard Di Natale mengatakan pihaknya mengajak menteri-menteri dan seluruh anggota parlement di Australia dan seluruh Pasifik untuk ikut bergabung dalam forum yang IPWP  tersebut. "Kami ingin lebih banyak orang ikut bergabung dan berikrar bahwa rakyat Papua Barat berhak untuk menentukan nasib sendiri (merdeka).

Sekalipun jakarta melalui anggota DPR dan pemerintah melakukan protes terhadap anggota parlemen di australia, namun para politisi australia berhasil membentuk forum IPWP regional australia – pasifik.

Forum IPWP adalah kelanjutan dari daerah eropa yang beberapa tahun lalu berhasil terbentuk di london IPWP dan ILWP bagi rakyat papua sebagai lembaga politik dan lembaga hukum internasional.

Irama ini sulit terbendung, indonesia menanggap tidak signifikan namun jejak ini tejadi seperti timor timur dulu yang akhirnya terjadi referendum (merdeka).

Kasus dan konflik pelanggaran ham di papua paling di dominasi oleh aparat TNI dan Polri serta pemerintah dan hal ini menjadi sorotan dunia. Para LSM dunia mendesak harus ada penyelidikan indenpenden di papua, tatapi pemerintah tetap melarang bagi pekerja kemanusiaan dan media asing untuk masuk ke papua.

Sekalipun jakarta menganggap papua sudah final tetapi dengan dinamika dan realita politik tetang papua maka kemungkinan besar papua akan lepas dari indonesia hanya tunggu waktu.

Penulis

Staf Litbag Badan Pelayan Pusat Persekutuan Gereja – gereja Baptis Papua (BPP-PGBP)

Comrades defy Emerson to join Greens in West Papua talks

Foto ilustrasi

ANGRY Labor MPs revolted yesterday and joined a cross-party parliamentary support group for West Papua despite warnings from the Acting Foreign Minister to steer clear of the meeting.

During yesterday's Labor caucus meeting in Canberra, Craig Emerson told MPs they should not attend a meeting of the International Parliamentarians for West Papua, which was organised by the Greens. Mr Emerson told backbenchers it was government policy that the province should remain part of Indonesia.

But several MPs including Laurie Ferguson of NSW, Fremantle's Melissa Parke and Claire Moore, Labor senator for Queensland, said that they planned to attend a meeting of the group anyway.

A fired-up Mr Ferguson told The Australian later he did not think Mr Emerson was across the portfolio when he came up with "this preposterous idea".

He said the minister's intervention was ridiculous and unprecedented. For decades Australian MPs of every persuasion had been free to support a very wide range of causes.

"In no way is the group about destroying the integrity of Indonesia's boundaries," Mr Ferguson said. "But that doesn't mean there should not be a discussion about a degree of autonomy for West Papua as there is in Aceh."

Mr Ferguson said that through the day other Labor MPs had declared their support for the West Papuans.

Mr Ferguson said those involved were concerned about human rights abuses in the province and the very heavy military presence there. "People have been jailed for 15 years for putting a flag up," Mr Ferguson said.

The Greens' spokesman for West Papua, Richard Di Natale, said it was disappointing that there should be division "over protecting the fundamental human rights of our neighbours in West Papua".

"Craig Emerson's stance on this issue is cowardly," he said. "I'm pleased that a number of Labor Party members took a stand."

Orginal news: Theaustralian.com.au/news

International MPs campaign to help West Papuans keeps building

Papuan Culture

A New Zealand MP who is part of the the International Parliamentarians for West Papua movement says the growth of the network can help foster change in Indonesia’s troubled eastern region.

Parliamentarians from Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand are expected to attend the Australia launch of the International Parliamentarians for West Papua outside parliament house in Canberra tomorrow.

A New Zealand Green Party MP, Katherine Delahunty, believes more regional parliamentarians will start to speak out against ongoing human rights abuses in Papua.

She admits that a lack of international awareness about West Papua in general has helped Indonesia suppress information about the abuses.

“Many MPs, once they have the information and have the information and an understanding of this issue, they recognise that as parliamentarians, there is a responsibility, a regional responsibility, to stand up against the dirtiest little secret in the Pacific region.”

Katherine Delahunty

News Content © Radio New Zealand International

Politisi Australia dan Pasifik Siapkan Gerakan Papua Merdeka

Bintang Kejora (sbr google)

Bergejolaknya 'bumi' Papua belakangan ini ternyata mendapatkan perhatian serius dari dunia internasional. Bahkan, bagi beberapa negara yang memang kerap menyatakan dukungannya terhadap Papua agar memisahkan diri dari Indonesia, seperti Amerika Serikat dan Australia.

Dan kini, informasi terbaru mengungkapkan bahwa sejumlah anggota Parlemen dari Australia dan sekitar Pasifik membuka sebuah babak baru, yakni semacam kelompok politisi internasional yang tujuannya cuma satu: mendukung Papua untuk Merdeka.

Wakil-wakil dari Vanuatu, Selandia Baru,
Papua New Guinea dan Australia telah diundang untuk ikut bergabung dalam International Parliamentarians for West Papua. Kelompok ini menurut rencana akan diluncurkan di Australia pada awal pekan depan.

Senator Partai Hijau Australia Richard Di Natale mengatakan pihaknya mengundang menteri-menteri di Australia dan seluruh Pasifik untuk ikut bergabung dalam forumt tersebut. "Kami ingin lebih banyak orang ikut bergabung dan berikrar bahwa rakyat Papua Barat berhak untuk menentukan nasib sendiri," katanya menandaskan.

Sumber:  Radio-Australia

Human rights abuses and the question of genocide in West Papua

Asia-Pacific Journalism, Pacific Media Centre

18 January, 2012

Published:http://www.pmc.aut.ac.nz/human-rights/west-papua

 

Papua Human Rigths (foto PMC)

After a period of Dutch control, possession of West Papua was handed to Indonesia in a deal brokered by the US. This deal, known as the New York Agreement of 1962, promised West Papuan self-determination which led to the 1969 Act of Free Choice. This act, later branded as the “Act of No Choice”, was stripped of any legitimacy as a little more than 1000 hand-picked West Papuans representing a population of close to one million voted unanimously under military threats and coercion to retain Indonesian sovereignty. Reported incidents of human rights abuses inflicted on the West Papuan people at the mercy of the Indonesian military includes widespread violence, killings, torture, disappearance, rape, sexual violence, transmigration schemes, forced relocation, and the spread of infectious diseases such as HIV which has seriously harmed the existence of the West Papuan people. This article is a newspaper analysis of the Jakarta Globe, The New Zealand Herald, and The Sydney Morning Herald media coverage. Nigel Moffiet reports.


ANALYSIS: It can be argued that Indonesian abuses in West Papua are crimes consistent with the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide as a consequence of exploitation, transmigration, West Papuan displacement, targeted military brutality at West Papuan communities, and the systematic spread of infectious diseases. Given genocide is not a term to use lightly extreme caution must be made in using the label so as to avoid “the risk of setting up taxonomies of genocide, or opening crucial space in debates for re-engaging precisely the kinds of discourses that enable and naturalise it in the first place” (Banivanua-Mar, 2008, p. 586). Yet, the debate is taken seriously with the interests of ‘prevention and restitution rather than simply definition in order to “more effectively work backwards to a deeper and more practical understanding of how genocide happens” (Banivanua-Mar, 2008, p. 596-597). In this context, I also carry out media analysis and reportage of West Papuan human rights abuses and the question of genocide by The Jakarta Post, The New Zealand Herald, and The Sydney Morning Herald.
  
Analysing human rights abuses within West Papua involved searching for the words “West Papua” and “genocide” within the archives of the three newspapers’ respective search engines. Surprisingly, the Jakarta Post had the most content fitting this description with 25 articles, followed by the Sydney Morning Herald with five articles and The New Zealand Herald with six.

Exploitation of West Papuan land and resources

The province of West Papua is rich in natural resources and since Indonesian rule government and military officials have been involved in the extraction this wealth through mining and forestry. The consequences of this exploitation has been dire for the Papuan people and has led to human rights abuses as observed by West Papuan campaigner John Rumbiak who stated that “all abuses in West Papua were caused by military and police presence aimed at protecting mining firms, forest concessions and timber estates exploiting natural resources”(Wing & King, 2005, p. 2).

Part of the systematic abuse towards the Melanesian people of West Papua included denying them the right to work or gain any wealth from their own natural resources in favour of generating work and wealth for the Indonesian Javanese population. On a 1980 visit to West Papua, a US professor noted a “planned influx of Indonesian workers, including more than 2000 families that were scheduled to be ‘dropped’ near two major oilfields in order to implement a ‘policy of non-employment of Melanesians in the oil industry’” (Brundige et al, 2004, p. 26).  This is also evident in the US-owned Freeport copper mine which in 1982 employed 452 expatriates, 1859 Indonesians, and only 200 Papuans who were employed as unskilled laborers” (Brundige et al, 2004, p. 26).

Intensifying the problem is the relocation of villages due the seizure of land. In June 1980, the Amungme tribe from the Tembagapura region were relocated to a coastal area that had widespread malaria creating an epidemic that killed 216 children. Freeport failed to provide food or medicine during the epidemic and the Indonesian government failed to assist despite the official acknowledgement of the epidemic” (Brundige et al, 2004, p. 26-27).

The exploitation of West Papua’s timber resources and exploitation of West Papuan labour is another problem with evidence of serious breaches of human rights. One of the documents of abuse includes the relocation of the Asmat tribe from the southern coast of West Papua by Jakarta-based timbre companies. The Asmat people were forced into compulsory labour which included the deforestation of their own land at below-subsistence wages with threats of arrest for those who refused to work. This relocation and enforced labour within the timber industry had such an impact that an Indonesian environmental group warned that the Asmat people were “on the brink of cultural starvation after a decade of enforced ironwood logging” (Brundige et al, 2004, p. 28).

A major 2005 report by Indonesian based environmental organisation Tilapia and the UK and US-based Environmental Investigation Agency found that the Indonesian military and government officials are involved in the illegal smuggling of up to 300,000 cubic meters of timber a month from Papua to China. This illegal smuggling is valued at more than US $1 billion (Wing & King, 2005, p. 4).

Transmigration and West Papuan displacement
As well as forcing many West Papuan tribes and communities from their land in order to exploit natural resources, Indonesia has also carried out systematic transmigration policy that has been designed to strip the West Papuan people of their identity making them minorities on their own land. By the end of 1984, the Indonesian government had set up 24 transmigration sites across 700,000 hectares of reappropriated West Papuan land. This resulted in 27,726 Indonesian families relocating on West Papuan land; close to 140,000 people over 10 years. Further more, the Indonesian government required that “Papuans be dispersed, with one Papuan family to every nine Javanese families, thus ensuring that the Papuans would become a minority in each area” (Brundige et al, 2004, p. 33).

This has resulted in the marginalisation of West Papuans within the cities as second class citizens to the extent that “propaganda posters sponsored by the ‘Project for the Guidance of Alien Societies’” urged the Papuans to relinquish their inefficient and primitive ways for the superior lifestyle of the Indonesians (Brundige et al, 2004, p. 34). As well as marginalisation within their own communities, transmigration has “led to the loss of traditional lands and forests where once local tribes used to hunt and gather food. There is no transfer of knowledge and technology to substitute for lost basic rights’ (Wing & King, 2005, p. 4).

Increased presence of Indonesian military

In a 2005, in a University of Sydney report for the West Papua Project, it was concluded that “the Indonesian armed forces (TNI) in Papua are the main source of suffering and instability in the province” (Wing & King, 2005, p. 2). Human rights abuses carried out by the Indonesian armed forces is only escalating as troop build up in the West Papuan region continues with incidents of rape, torture and extrajudicial killings. In 1981, the Indonesian military launched Operation Clean Sweep which resulted in rapes, assaults, killings, and looting of villages if anybody was suspected to be part of the Papuan independence movement Organisasi Papua Merdeka (OPM) (Brundige et al, 2004, p. 29). The operation aimed to “intimidate those suspected of supporting the OPM and to cleanse the boarder regions of Papua to make room for Javanese migrants”. Survivors of the operation reported that “whole families had been bayoneted to death and their bodies left to rot”. The Indonesian military also had the slogan: “Let the rats run into the jungle so that the chickens can breed in the coop.” By the summer of 1981 the operation escalated into the Central Highlands of West Papua were the Indonesian armed forces responded to suspected OPM activity by bombing the village of Madi in the Paniai basin. The attack included the use of napalm and chemical weapons against the villagers and killed at least 2500 people with estimates that the death toll could have even reached 13,000 (Brundige et al, 2004, p. 29).

Since then, Indonesian troop buildups have continued and between 2005 and 2009 up to 15,000 extra troops were deployed throughout the West Papuan region (Wing & King, 2005, p. 13). The result of this military buildup is that there is an increased level of human rights abuses and violent clashes between resistant West Papuans and the Indonesian military. This is catastrophic for local communities as the incidents are “used to justify the deployment of new troop reinforcements, which in turn lead to greater human rights abuses, reaction from aggrieved Papuans, then further militarisation. A dangerous and destructive spiral is thus perpetuated” (Wing & King, 2005, p. 7).

The spread of serious disease and HIV/AIDS

The disruption and upheaval to traditional West Papuan existence brought about through Indonesian colonisation and exploitation of the regions natural resources has also led to the spreading of serious disease. A Dutch missionary working in West Papua during the 1980s said infant mortality rates in the region were above 60 percent, and the average life expectancy no more than 31 years (Brundidge et al, 2004, p. 34). Of grave concern is the spread of HIV infection which is rising dramatically in the region to the extent that 40 per cent of Indonesia’s HIV and AIDS cases were located in Papua despite accounting for less than one per cent of Indonesia’s population. Another figure from 2002 shows that just over 20 people per 100,000 were infected with HIV in Papua, compared to only 0.42 people per 100,000 in the rest of Indonesia (Brundige et al, 2004, p. 34). Much has been suggested of Indonesia’s responsibility for the spread of such disease throughout the Melanesian population to the extent human rights groups say the spread of HIV is the result of systematic attempts to destroy the Melanesian population of West Papua. Interviews conducted with workers in Jayapura and Merauke who deal with prostitution and the spread of HIV suggest clear evidence “that there is security force involvement in prostitution at different levels” (Wing & King, 2005, p. 8). Leo Mahuye, a health worker in Merauke says HIV is spread by prostitutes who are brought in by the military to the extent that there is “an indication it is systematic killing…[a]s long as they are importing these women, as long as the military and the police back these activities here, they are committing killings” (Butt, 2005, p. 413).

The Jakarta Post

Searching for the words “West Papua” and “genocide” on The Jakarta Post’s online search engine returned 21 relevant articles between 2001 and 2011 relating to genocide and human rights abuses in the region. The articles were a mix of 14 opinion pieces and six news reports, as well as one question and answer article with West Papuan human rights campaigner John Rumbiak.

Of these 21 articles, one opinion piece and one news report both addressed the issue of genocide in the headlines. The first article published on 8 January 2001 titled “Is Indonesia becoming a genocidal society?” and despite its title it does more to contextualise the nature of genocide throughout history rather than draw any strong conclusions on West Papua. The article references the nature of genocide in Germany, Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and Burundi and makes the statement that the “cycle of genocidal society, which is already apparent in Maluku and other regions, must be broken by effective law enforcement measures”. The article makes this statement without any reference to West Papua or without further contextual evidence to back the statement up.

An article published on 19 August 2005 titled “RI condemns report by Aussie researchers on genocide in Papua” does more to address human rights abuses and genocide in West Papua in light of the University of Sydney’s Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies report Genocide in West Papua? The article provides diverging view points with Indonesia’s foreign ministry spokesman, Marty Natalagawa, calling the report “baseless” and Indonesia’s deputy military spokesman, Bibit Santoso, labeling the report “incorrect and untrue”. Yet the article uses more space quoting from the report and the centre’s director Stuart Rees, who says even though he is cautious using the word “genocide” this “significant document details the destruction of a people, their land and prospects”. The article also quotes one of Papua’s leading church figures, Rev. Socratez Yoman, who talks of the Indonesian military intimidation and says wherever there are Indonesian soldiers, “the militia and jihadists are there too. They are inseparable.”

There were five remaining news articles which addressed human rights abuses in West Papua and the issue of genocide through the sources that had been quoted. An article published on 8 April 2006 titled “Netherlands ‘respects’ RI territorial integrity” does little to address the issue of human rights abuse in West Papua rather it focuses mostly on the Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende’s recognition of Indonesia’s territorial integrity including Papua’s integration into Indonesia. It also focuses on Indonesian criticism of Australia’s decision to grant temporary visas to 42 Papuan asylum seekers. In this criticism the article mentions the Papuan activists have accused Jakarta of genocide.

A news article published on 20 May 2006 titled “RI asks Australia to recognise territorial integrity in treaty” focuses on Indonesia’s effort to ‘get assurances that no neighboring country will support the succession of Papua from Indonesia’ and asking for Australia to “express its commitment to Indonesia’s territorial integrity in a written agreement”.  Once again the article does little to address issues of human rights in the region by failing to quote West Papuan sources. It only puts some context to the story by saying that the “Papuans, including pro-independence activists and their families, have accused Jakarta of ‘genocide’ in Papua”.

The remaining articles focused more heavily on human rights abuses and the question of genocide. A news article published on 9 June 2007 titled “Papuans greet UN envoy with rallies, demands” focused on the visit of UN Secretary General on Human Rights Defenders Hina Jilani’s visit to the region. The article draws many sources and quotes around human rights abuses and the issue of genocide quoting West Papuan’s who had pleaded with Jilani and the UN to “stop the genocide of the Papuans” and “stop the killing in west Papua”. An article published on 27 January 2011 titled “RI, int’l public push for civilian court for torture”  focuses on the torture of two West Papuan and calls for the Indonesian soldiers who committed the torture to be tried in a civilian court rather than an Indonesian military tribunal. Lastly an article published on 18 October 2011 titled “ 5000 attend 3rd Papuan people's congress” focuses on the congress looking at the issue of human rights abuses in the region. It quotes organizing chairman Selpius Bobii who says “we greatly need support and solidarity from every party that upholds the values of democracy, basic human rights, honesty and justice for the sake of protecting the people of Papua from genocide”.

 The remaining opinion pieces provided various forms of context to the human rights abuses in West Papua written mostly by outside observers. The most critical opinion piece was written by Roman Catholic Priest Neles Tebay on 28 September 2006 titled “More questions for the ICG on Papua issue”. The article strongly criticises the findings of the International Crisis Group who denied allegation of genocide in West Papua and downplayed any human rights abuses in the region. Tebay asks “what was or were the true intent(s) of the military operations conducted against the Papuans then, if not to wipe out the people in whole or in part?”

Finally, a question and answers article with West Papuan human rights campaigner John Rumbiak on 24 March 2000 titled “No letup in security approach spells trouble in Irian Jaya” does a lot to provide context and a West Papuan view point to the situation in the region. It adds context to the abuses with reference to the 1969 Act of Free Choice and the political circumstances surrounding the act and Rumbiak articulates West Papuan grievances on a number of levels.

The New Zealand Herald
Searching for “West Papua” and “genocide” on The New Zealand Herald’s online search engine drew only five relevant articles dating from 1999 (two articles have not been dated).  Of these five articles, two are opinion pieces by Auckland Indonesian Human Rights Committee spokeswomen Maire Leadbeater, one is an opinion piece by former President of East Timor Jose Ramos-Horta, one news piece that briefly mentions Yosepha Alomang’s award for her “resistance against the destruction of rainforest, rivers and local culture caused by decades of gold mining in West Papua”, and another article that questions the right of four Indonesian military officers to study at Massey University in light of Indonesian military brutality.

Maire Leadbeater’s article (undated) titled “On the brink of genocide” is critical of the Pacific Islands Forum leaders' failure to address the issue of West Papua. In the article she contextualises West Papua by drawing parallels to East Timor and by mentioning the 1969 Act of Free Choice and the consequences of the act. She draws on human rights estimates that 100,000 Papuans have been killed as a result of Indonesian military brutality and she references The University of Sydney’s Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies report to make her claim that the situation in West Papua is approaching genocide.

Leadbeater’s second article (undated) “West Papuans Face Masters of Terror” cited the Yale report to draw attention towards crimes against humanity including “torture, disappearance, rape, extra-judicial killings and destruction of resources” and that the report “strongly indicated a breach of the United Nations genocide convention”.

Jose Ramos-Horta’s opinion piece on 13 September 1999 titled “A terrible price to pay for freedom” again draws a parallel between West Papua and East Timor and raises the question of crimes against humanity, including genocide.

The Sydney Morning Herald

Searching for “West Papua” and “genocide” on The Sydney Morning Herald online search engine retrieved five relevant articles including two opinion pieces and three news articles between 2007 and 2011.

An opinion piece by Jennifer Robinson on 12 September 2011 titled “Leaks reveal it’s past time to speak for West Papua” draws attention to human rights abuses in the region and the level of surveillance and lack of transparency for journalists and human rights watch groups. On a visit to West Papua for a human rights group she mentions she was warned by an Australian diplomat that her “human rights work risked ‘becoming a political football'’ for [the Australian] government and that [she] was to ‘'keep [her] head down’”.

An opinion piece by Greg Poulgrain on 31 December 2009 titled “Oil and politics prove fatal mix for the people of West Papua” draws on West Papua’s colonial context since the Dutch and states that “[m]ilitary dominance in West Papua began in the 1960s and documents released under freedom-of-information from the US embassy in Jakarta in 1968 refer to the possibility of genocide occurring even then”.

On 18 June 2010 a news article titled “Papuans rally for independence” covers West Papuan protest to “reject the region’s special autonomy within Indonesia and demand a referendum on self-determination”. On 21 November 2009 a news article titled “Death in Papua: political intrigue clouds miner's murder” refers to the killing of an Australian mine worker in West Papua as the result of an Indonesian military assault. And on 27 March 2007 an article titled “Report warns against Lombok Treaty” refers to a security treaty with Indonesia that potentially restricts Australia's ability to speak out about human rights abuses. The article goes on to reference the University of Sydney’s Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies report on genocide in the region and quotes that “Australia will be providing training, funding and material aid to Indonesian forces who are engaged in what many Papuans believe is genocide against their people”.

Conclusion
Through widespread violence, killings, torture, disappearance, rape, exploitation of land, transmigration, and the systematic spread of infectious diseases, the West Papuan people are suffering human rights abuses at the hands of the Indonesian military to the extent that the nature of the abuses are consistent with the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. In terms of facing the nature of these human rights abuses and raising the question of genocide directly, the Jakarta Post was more consistent than either The Sydney Morning Herald or The New Zealand Herald in raising these issues within its content. The New Zealand Herald and The Sydney Morning Herald both had very limited content raising the question of genocide within West Papua. However, The Sydney Morning Herald had a more diverse and relevant spread of content in relation to human rights abuses and the question of genocide within West Papua whereas if it was not for the opinion pieces of Auckland Indonesian Human Rights Committee spokeswomen Maire Leadbeater, The New Zealand Herald would have had next to no content at all on this issue.

Nigel Moffiet researched and wrote this report as an Asia-Pacific Journalism postgraduate assignment at AUT University.

References
Books and journal articles:
Banivanua-Mar, T. (2008). ‘A thousand miles of cannibal lands’: imagining away genocide in the re-colonization of West Papua. Journal of Genocide Research, 10(4), December, 583-602.

Brundige, E.; King, W.; Vahali, P.; Vladeck, S.; Yuan, X. (2004). Indonesian human rights abuses in West Papua: Application of the law of genocide to the history of Indonesian control. Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic, Yale Law School.

Butt, L. (2005). ‘Lipstick girls’ and ‘Fallen women’: AIDS and conspirational thinking in Papua, Indonesia. Cultural Anthropology, 20(3), pp. 412-442.

Kirsch, S. (2010). Ethnographic representations and the Politics of Violence in West Papua. Critique of Anthropology, 30(1), pp. 3-22.

Sautman, B. (2006). Cultural genocide and Asian state peripheries. New York : Palgrave Macmillan

 Wing, J. & King, P. (2005). Genocide in West Papua? The role of the Indonesian state apparatus and a current needs assessment of the Papuan people. West Papua Project at the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Sydney.

News articles:
The Jakarta Post (2000). No letup in security approach spells trouble in Irian Jaya

The Jakarta Post (2000). West Papua: Will it become the next East Timor for Indonesia?

The Jakarta Post (2001). Is Indonesia becoming a genocidal society?

The Jakarta Post (2002). Soeharto and the grand scheme of things

The Jakarta Post (2005). RI condemns report by Aussie researchers on genocide in Papua

The Jakarta Post (2005). Founding West Irian Jaya province

The Jakarta Post (2006). Netherlands 'respects' RI territorial integrity

The Jakarta Post (2006). How to protect Papuans -- and RI-Australia ties

The Jakarta Post (2006). RI asks Australia to recognise territorial integrity in treaty

The Jakarta Post (2006). More questions for the ICG on Papua issue

The Jakarta Post (2007). Papuans greet UN envoy with rallies, demands

The Jakarta Post (2007). Indigenous languages in danger of disappearing

The Jakarta Post (2008). The possibility of indicting Soeharto after his death

The Jakarta Post (2008). On Timor Leste's present situation

The Jakarta Post (2008). New strategy behind separatism in Papua

The Jakarta Post (2009). He ain't heavy, he's a brother from Papua
  
The Jakarta Post (2009). Munir and the protection of rights defenders

The Jakarta Post (2009). Issues: `Who is responsible for poverty in Papua?'

The Jakarta Post (2010). Text your say: Gus Dur or Soeharto?

The Jakarta Post (2011). RI, int’l public push for civilian court for torture

The Jakarta Post (2011). 5000 attend 3rd Papuan people’s congress

NZ Herald (n.d.). Maire Leadbeater: On the brink of genocide

NZ Herald (n.d.). Maire Leadbeater: West Papuans face masters of terror

NZ Herald (1999). A terrible price to pay for freedom

NZ Herald (2000). Soldier students to finish studies

NZ Herald (2001) Journalists share top environment award

The Sydney Morning Herald (2007). Report warns against Lombok Treaty

The Sydney Morning Herald (2009). Death in Papua: political intrigue clouds miner's murder

The Sydney Morning Herald (2009). Oil and politics prove fatal mix for the people of West Papua

The Sydney Morning Herald (2010). Papuans rally for independence

The Sydney Morning Herald (2011). Leaks reveal it's past time to speak for West Papua

Blood money - Metro magazine
Genocide in West Papua?

Indonesian Forces Raid Papuan Independence Rally - 6 Dead

Article: Pacific Media Watch 
Indonesian Forces Raid Papuan Independence Rally - 6 Die, 17 Missing 
By Step Vaessen
October 25, 2011

Jakarta - Indonesian forces have raided a national congress of the West Papuan independence movement, reportedly killing six of its supporters and arresting hundreds more.

Exclusive Al Jazeera footage on Pacific Media Centre Online shows Indonesian forces opening fire as they clamped down on the three-day peaceful Third Papuan People's Congress in the outskirts of Jayapura last Wednesday.

Human rights groups say at least six people were killed while police claim only two died. Seventeen people are reportedly still missing

Amnesty International is asking the government to release the arrested leaders, who have been charged with treason.

Papuan groups have also requested that the United Nations investigate the violence.

The Indonesian government defended the security forces response, claiming participants of Wednesday's meeting were committing a "coup d'etat".

Journalists are banned from travelling to Papua, but Al Jazeera obtained exclusive footage of the raid.

Meanwhile, a full translation by the Indonesian human rights group TAPOL of the report received from KPKC, Synod of GKI, Indonesian Christian Church on 21 October 2011 says:

The Third Papuan People's Congress

The Third Papuan People's Congress was held from 17 October and attended by Papuans from across the territory of Papua. After facing difficulties regarding the venue of the Congress, the Congress was held in the Zakheus Tunas Harapan Padang field.

On 19 October, Prokorus [normally spelt Forkorus] Yaboisembut was elected the President of West Papua and the evangelist Edison G. Waromi was elected the Prime Minister.

Following the elections, Prokorus Yaboisembut read out the Declaration of a New State, the Federal State of West Papua, the symbol of the state - the Mambruk Bird; the currency - the guilder; the national anthem - Hai Tanahku Papua; and the national languages - Pidgin, Bahasa Indonesian, local Papuan languages and English, and the geographic territory of the Papuan Federal State.

The text of the DECLARATION OF AN INDEPENDENT PAPUA **and the confirmation of the Declaration of West Papua which was read out by Prokorus Yaboisembut stated: 'On this day, 19 October 2011, we proclaim the full independence and sovereignty of our state' and therefore the State of Indonesia must speedily end its occupation of Papua. All components of the leadership who were elected at the Third Papuan People's Congress shall immediately discuss the basic principles of the State of West Papua.

Selpius Bobii, the chairman of the Third Papuan People's Congress, declared: 'We the people of West Papua in this highest forum declare that the proclamation of the Papuan National Committee on 19 October 1961which now marks its fiftieth anniversary, was a time when the Papuan people lived freely, during the era of the Dutch/UNTEA and we want to return to the sovereignty which once existed.'

The declaration of the Papuan Congress is as follows:

1. The restoration of the Independence and Sovereignty of the Papuan people in the state of West Papua.

2. On this day, 19 October 2011, we declare our complete Independence and Sovereignty as the Papuan people and the state of West Papua.

3. The establishment and enactment of the Constitution of the State of West Papua.

4. The formation of the Government of West Papua shall come into being from the moment of the adoption of the Constitution on 19 October 2011.

5. The Indonesian government must quickly end its occupation from the moment of the adoption of the Constitution on 19 October 2011.

6. We propose that the Secretary-General of the United Nations and members of the UN, in particular the US Government and the Indonesian Government, should recognise and regularise governmental powers within the shortest possible time and register the state of West Papua as a member of the UN within the shortest possible time, in order to uphold human rights, democracy and just and basic rights in the world.

7. We grant a full, official mandate to International Parliamentarians for West Papua and International Lawyers for West Papua and supportive countries to advocate all matters with regard to the annexation of sovereignty and independence of the Papuan people and to follow this up through lawful international mechanisms or at the International Court, until such time as the full and complete transfer of power from the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia to the Federal Government of West Papua which has already been established and formulated at the Third Papuan Congress in Jayapura-Portnumbay, the Papuan part of Federal State of the Republic of Papua.

8. In the name of the Papuan people in the state of West Papua and the adoption of the Declaration of Decision No. 0012/03/10-2011 by the Third Papuan Congress, to consider and take cognisance of the general views of various components of the West Papuan people, as set forth in the reports of the commissions that were agreed at the Third Papuan Congress.

* Casualties identified:
http://westpapuamedia.info/2011/10/21/1530-21102011-updates-from-west-papua/

* Indonesia military opens fire at peaceful Papuan congress:
http://www.pmc.aut.ac.nz/pacific-media-watch/west-papua-indonesian-military-opens-fire-peaceful-papuan-congress-7672