May 2010
This is the 72nd in
a series of monthly reports that focus on developments affecting Papuans.
This series is produced by the non-profit West Papua Advocacy Team (WPAT)
drawing on media accounts, other NGO assessments, and analysis and reporting
from sources within West Papua. This report is co-published with the East
Timor and Indonesia Action Network
(ETAN) Back issues are posted online at
http://etan.org/issues/wpapua/default.htm
Questions regarding this report can be addressed to Edmund McWilliams
at edmcw@msn.com.
Summary
Indonesia's Special Forces (Kopassus) and U.S.-backed
Detachment 88 troops joined in an assault on peaceful demonstrators in
Manokwari. It is unclear if any of those initial detained remain in custody.
The Jakarta Post reports chronic malnutrition among Amungme and Kamoro
children who live in the shadow of the massive Freeport McMoran copper and
gold mine. A prominent leader of PDI-P has called for creation of truth and
reconciliation commissions for Aceh and West Papua. Pressure appears to be
building for a military response to dissent in West Papua, including the
targeting of NGOs. Leading human rights organizations and churches have
called for an end to mistreatment of political prisoners in West Papua and
an investigation of security force killing of activists. Indonesian
intelligence and special forces are attempting to create a false front
organization in Biak to replace a legitimate one established by the local
people.
Contents
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What is democracy if you can't have a rally? Where
is Yudhoyono? Why doesn't he pull back his
security forces?
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Security Forces Attack
Peaceful Demonstrators in Manokwari
Sources in West Papua reported on
the latest
security force assault on
peaceful demonstrators. The U.S.-organized and -funded Detachment 88
attacked peaceful protesters in Manokwari on April 22. The attacking force
also included BRIMOB (militarized police) and Dalmas (a special security
unit). Video
of the attack revealed
plainclothes officials also assaulting the demonstrators. (The plainclothes
officials may have been Kopassus or military intelligence (BIN) which often
work out of uniform.)
According to a
report from the scene, at least 17 of the estimated 700 protesters were
arrested. Most of this number, which included women and youths, were
subsequently released though there is some indication that some of these
were re-arrested, notably Mark Yenu, the leader of the Manokwari contingent
of the West Papua National Authority.
Video of the incident noted that demonstrators carried a banner calling for
a referendum for West Papua and rejecting dialogue as a means of resolving
the Papuan crisis.
Rally speaker Reverend Yoku called for the immediate release of those
"political prisoners" detained at the demonstration. The President of the
National Congress of the West Papua National Authority added, "What is
democracy if you can't have a rally? Where
is Yudhoyono? Why doesn't he pull back his
security forces?"
"As a recognized leader in West Papua, I call on
the US and the Netherlands, Australia and the 84 UN-member countries that
recognized the Act of No Choice in 1969 to take responsibility for the
decision they made. Let me say this, because 816,896 West Papuans were never
asked whether they wanted the Indonesian occupation. Forty-seven years
later, we still don't want them."
Freeport Ignores
Childhood Malnutrition at Its Doorstep
An April
9 Jakarta Post article describes the
inauguration of a program to provide supplemental food for schoolchildren in
the Timika area. The "Provision of Food Supplement to Schoolchildren"
project is intended to address chronic malnutrition among schoolchildren
that contributes to poor learning and equally chronic illiteracy.
Local education official Benny Tsenawatne said the Kamoro and Amungme tribal
communities generally lacked access to schools or health clinics, and
suffered from low human resource development.
The Post alludes to but does not explore the savage irony that this
malnourishment is a chronic concern in a community which serves as the base
for the Freeport McMoran gold mining enterprise which has channeled billions
of dollars to the U.S. corporation and to the Indonesian government. The
Kamoro and Amungme peoples whose land was expropriated by the mining
operation have long protested the devastation of their natural resources by
the mining operation and the human rights violations meted out by Indonesian
security forces acting in service of the mining giant.
To this litany of grievances can be added the plight of the local Papuan's
children. Freeport has ignored the Kamoro and Amungme children suffering
chronic malnutrition on its doorstep for decades. (On April
21 Reuters noted that
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc had reported a twenty-fold jump in
first-quarter earnings and that it was doubling its dividend as global
demand for metals has soared.)
Call for Truth and
Reconciliation Commission in West Papua
Indonesia's Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) has publicly
called for creation of a truth and reconciliation commission to
address the violation of human rights in Aceh and West Papua. Karimun Usman,
the chairman of the Aceh branch of the PDI-P, told the media April 22 that
the proposal was intended to address the government's reluctance to deal
with past human rights violations.
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The failure of Jakarta to take these steps
underscores the continued unwillingness of the central government to
confront the powerful Indonesian military which operate with
impunity before Indonesia's deeply flawed judicial system.
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The 2005 internationally-mediated Helsinki
agreement [PDF]which
ended conflict between the Indonesian military and the Acehenese
independence organization (GAM) required the Indonesian Government to
establish both a "human rights court" and a truth and reconciliation
commission. The failure of Jakarta to take these steps underscores the
continued unwillingness of the central government to confront the powerful
Indonesian military which operate with impunity before Indonesia's deeply
flawed judicial system.
The call for a truth and reconciliation commission for West Papua to deal
with decades of ongoing
security abuses and criminality targeting Papuans is a notable
acknowledgement by
a non-Papuan official of the need for an official review of security force
performance in
West Papua. The call for such a commission for West Papua provides tacit
support for an
internationally-mediated dialogue between Jakarta
and Papuans. That proposal, which has
drawn broad Papuan support as well as some backing from Indonesian academics
and political
leaders, is aimed in part at addressing decades of military abuse and
criminality.
Pressure Grows
For Military Response to Political Dissent in West Papua
In recent weeks an apparently orchestrated effort has emerged aimed at
building support for increased military action to address growing peaceful,
political dissent in West Papua. Targets for a repressive "security
approach" to political problems are not simply the small armed resistance,
the "OPM," but also civilian political dissenters and human rights
defenders. Concern about military-on-civilian violence has been prompted in
part by Pucak Jaya District Chief Lukas Enembe who has
called publicly for
government action against unnamed NGOs, "domestic as well as foreign," whom
he alleged have been involved in recent attacks in the district by armed
groups. He claimed the activity amounted to efforts to "undermine the
Republic."
The District Chief resorted to the central government's rhetoric of labeling
critics as separatists, contending without evidence that the OPM was
"supported by NGOs and individuals who are in favor of a Free Papua." He
also sought to raise fears about a strengthening OPM, contending, again
without evidence that OPM personnel were equipped with modern automatic
rifles.
The remarks made by district chief Enembe alleging that NGOs are supporting
the separatist OPM have been
challenged by the NGO community. Budi Setyanto,
Director of the Institute for Civil Strengthening told
the media that in fact the
NGO community is dedicated to nonviolence. He noted that NGOs had long been
accused of supporting OPM activity in the Puncak Jaya and challenged those
like Enembe who make such false claims: "If there is any evidence that NGOs
have supported the OPM, please say which NGOs are involved and who it is
within these NGOs who are involved. If what they have done amounts to a
criminal act, then the persons should be charged in court. He explained
further that the government itself often established NGOs which lacked the
'common vision of the NGO movement." (Note item below which describes just
such Government efforts in Biak during April.)
The District Chief's comments coincided with what appeared to be propaganda
efforts to increase tensions, including especially ethnic tensions between
migrants and Papuans. Sources in West Papua have reported posting of fliers
in and around the Papuan capital and main airport at Sentani that proclaim
OPM a "terrorist" and "criminal" organization. Curiously, the fliers bear
information indicating they were produced by two NGO's in Jayapura, both of
which stoutly deny any involvement in the propaganda.
Assessing these efforts to increase tensions using false claims and
clandestine propaganda, a respected analyst believes that the effort is the
work of the Indonesian military, particularly those such as the special
forces, Kopassus, and the military intelligence, BIN, which engages in
intelligence and covert operations. That analyst notes that Kopassus has
around 1,000 soldiers operating in civilian clothes and stationed throughout
Papua's more than 30 regencies (districts). BIN personnel tend to be
positioned in West Papua's cities.
Indications that groundwork is being laid for a broad security force
crackdown is also reflected in aggressive security force actions against
peaceful demonstrations such as those in Manokwari, April 22, where film
shot of security forces clearly reveal beating of unarmed protesters. (See
report on that incident above.)
Rights Groups Decry Mistreatment of
Political Prisoners and Failure to Investigate Killing of Activists
International human rights defenders in
an April 22 press conference appealed to the Indonesian Government to end
discrimination targeting Papuans. The appeal, offered by the Indonesian NGOs
Kontras (the Commission for The Disappeared and Victims of Violence) and
Imparsial (the Indonesian Human Rights Monitor) as well as the U.S.-based
Human Rights Watch among others was published by CathNews
Asia.
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Peaceful dialogue involving all social and
governmental elements is the solution to overcoming disagreements in
Indonesia's largest province, they said.
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The CathNews report follows:
Rights groups and
churchmen have urged the Indonesia government to cease what they call
its discriminatory treatment of Papuan nationalists.
"We see the government and law enforcement
officials still stigmatize and single out those who allegedly favor
Papuan independence, including political prisoners," several
rights groups said in statement issued at an April 22 press conference,
UCA News reports.
The groups included the Commission
for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (Kontras), Indonesian
Human Rights Monitor (Imparsial), and Human
Rights Watch.
Peaceful dialogue involving all social and governmental elements is
the solution to overcoming disagreements in Indonesia's largest
province, they said. The groups also questioned what they called lack of
government action over the death of Yawan Wayeni, a Papuan political
activist. Wayeni was shot dead by local police in a sweep against
nationalist activists in Serui on Yapen Island.
The groups also raised the lack of medical treatment for Filep Karma, a
Papuan political prisoner who suffers from severe prostate problems.
They urged the Department of Justice and Human Rights to allow Karma to
undergo surgery at a Protestant-run hospital in Jakarta. "Law Number
12/1995 of the penal code stipulates the directorate general of the
department is responsible for the healthcare of all prisoners in jails
across Indonesia," they said.
They revealed that 68 political activists are being held in different
jails in Papua. "But they are not treated properly. They face
discriminatory and violent treatment including beatings," they said.
During the press conference, Reverend Benny Giay, a Papuan Protestant
pastor, said such discrimination was the result of a belief that most
Papuans want independence. He said many churches and NGOs in Papua come
under scrutiny because of their vocal defense of human rights. "We hope
that rights groups outside Papua, especially Jakarta, will support us in
speaking out against human rights abuses in Papua," he said.
Speaking with UCA News, Dorus Wakum, a Papuan human rights activist,
agreed that human rights activists were often seen as separatists.
"Being labeled a separatist is a character killer," he said.
Indonesian Intelligence and
Special Forces Seek to Create a Stooge Traditional Council in Biak
According to a report translated and released by TAPOL from an April
7 BiakNews report,
efforts are underway in Biak to create a false front organization to replace
the East Biak Traditional Council.
BiakNews reports that the
Indonesian State intelligence organization (BIN), the notorious Indonesian
Special Forces (Kopassus), and the local military command (Korem) are
orchestrating the effort. The initial effort to organize a stooge East Biak
Traditional Council was launched at an April 7 meeting held at Kopassus Post
08 in Biak Papua. The meeting was closed to the public.
