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Rapinus Tigau. Photo from
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November
9 2020 - The East Timor and Indonesia
Action Network (ETAN) condemns
the
recent murder of West Papuan Rapinus
Tigau, a Catholic Catechist in the
diocese of Timika, by the Indonesian
military. He was killed October 26,
2020, by members of Nemangkawi Task
Force (Satgas Nemangkawi), a joint
Indonesian military-police force in
Papua. The incident also saw the
shooting of a six-year old boy, who
survived.
We
urge the United States government to end
any cooperation with the Indonesian
security forces ( military and police)
due to their sustained record of
violence against Papuans.
Two decades into
Indonesia's democratization, army and
police violence against civilians
continues. This is especially true in
the territory of West Papua, home to
Indigenous Melanesian peoples. West Papua is a former
Dutch colony annexed by Indonesia in the
1960s in a process widely considered a
sham. Some 1200 Papuans voted out of a
population of around one million, and
they did so under a campaign of
intimidation and murder by the
Indonesian. Tens of thousands of Papuans
have died under the Indonesian military
occupation, and promises of "special
autonomy" have failed to resolve Papuans
grievances including dire poverty and
calls for an end to human rights
violations. Papuans are
Melanesians, ethnically distinct from
most Indonesians, and are subjected to
ongoing systemic and individual racism
by many within Indonesia., In August 2019, Indonesian students, police and
paramilitary groups attacked Papuan
students, calling them "monkeys," "pigs," and
"dogs." The violence spurred
demonstrations throughout Indonesia, and
led to a "Papuan Lives Matter" movement
inspired by Black Lives Matter in this
country.
The shooting in Timika
diocese is one of the latest incident in a
pattern of state violence against Papuan
civilians, routinely accused without
evidence of being "separatists." It is
also the second assassination of a
Papuan clergy member by Indonesian
security forces, following
the shooting
of the Protestant Pastor Yeremias
Zanambani in Intan Jaya on September 19.
Mass arrests and jail terms for "subversion" remain common, as do acts
of violence by the army and police,
denials of the right to food, and
internal displacement policies.
In October, the Trump administration
welcomed the serial human rights
violator Prabowo Subianto,
responsible for
numerous crimes in his time as an active
army officer. Prabowo is now Indonesia's
minister of defense. By welcoming him to
Washington, the Trump administration
overturned a 20-year ban on Prabowo
entering the United States imposed in
2000 because of his human rights record.
The visit sets a dangerous precedent
and may signal plans for further
cooperation with the Indonesian security
forces. President Trump has financial
stakes in Indonesian development
projects, perhaps helping to explain his
desire for a close relationship with its
leaders.
ETAN
has opposed U.S. security assistance to
Indonesia from its founding. The
organization remains opposed to any
close links with the Indonesian military
or police. We urge both the current and
incoming U.S. administrations to suspend
this assistance and condition any aid on
concrete improvements in Indonesia's
human rights record, especially in West
Papua.
When Tigau saw the
Indonesians rampaging near his home, he
simply stated "Please stop burning and
searching. We need to talk calmly."
Those were his last words, spoken just
before he was shot and killed.
