Report by TAPOL about growing
tensions over the Theys murder investigation
December 31 2001
Reports appearing in the press
point to a growing tension between the various
arms of the security forces, in particular
between the police force and the army and
between certain units within the army over
investigations into the assassination of Theys
Eluay, the chairman of the Papuan Presidium
Council who waa abducted on 10 November and
whose body was found a day later.
An army team of investigation
has been in Jayapura since Friday to conduct
its own investigations. The central government
said last week that it would announce the
composition of an 'independent' team of investigation
'before the end of the year'. But this has
not happened, suggesting that the central
government may have put their move on hold
until the army's investigations in Jayapura
have been completed.
The new chief of the Indonesian
police, Police General Da'i Bachtiar, stunned
the general public with his statement published
on 29 December (Cendrawasih Pos) that evidence
so far collected points to members of Kopassus
based in the Tribuana Kopassus base being
responsible for the crime. As will be recalled,
Theys had spent the evening of his abduction
at the Kopassus base and was abducted only
a short distance away as he was being driven
home by his driver who has since disappeared.
Da'i said it was difficult for the police
to investigate members of this elite unit
as the police have no powers to interrogate
members of the army. He hoped that the military
police would soon get involved in the investigations.
Another obstacle was that witnesses
were afraid to come forward as they felt under
threat from certain quarters. He said it was
also important to eliminate existing frictions
between the forces so that the investigation
could go forward.
He insisted that the police
were not afraid to face the consequences,
if evidence pointed to the involvement of
Kopassus. 'We must operate on the basis of
the facts on the ground without abandoning
the principle of the presumption of innocence,'
he said. He also said that the driver Aristoteles
Masoka, was the key to the investigations.
If he could be found, things would progress
much faster.
Meanwhile, the same paper reports
that the army team is collaborating with the
regional police force and has seen the evidence
already collected. The army team, headed by
Brig.General Marbun, had been sent to Jayapura
to seek clarifications about the involvement
of army 'oknum' (rogue) elements in the murder.
The regional police chief, Drs Made Mangku
Pastika, said that if investigations pointed
to army involvement, the role of the police
would end.
The police chief also said that
the murder of Theys had put the future of
the special autonomy law into doubt. It is
not unlikely that the motive for the killing
was to thwart special autonomy. He said opposition
to special autonomy law comes from two directions,
from those who want independence and from
those who think that the law 'gives too much
away to the Papuans' and will therefore be
likely to further encourage independence.
Several days ago, the three
leading human rights NGOs in Jayapura, ELSHAM,
the LBH and Kontras, stated their total opposition
to moves by the government and the military
to investigate the crime, because they are
aimed at 'localising' the crime and treating
it as an 'ordinary crime' and not as an extra-ordinary
crime involving state institutions. They believe
that the killing was politically motivated
and insist on the government setting up an
independent international team that would
include the UN Human Rights High Commissioner's
office and international organisations such
as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch
as well as the National Human Rights Commission.
The team should have powers to investigate
state institutions including the President,
the Supreme Congress, the DPR, the Minister
of the Interior and the national intelligence
agencies. It was important to be able to establish
whether the crime only involved individuals
or involved institutions.
According to Papua Pos of 29
December, the army team now in Jayapura was
limited to seeking clarifications about the
case to determine whether anyone from the
army was involved. If the team was able to
establish that army elements were involved,
then a full blown army investigation would
be conducted, and the police would no longer
be involved. If the case involved joint investigations
between the military and civil forces, then
a konseksitas investigation would be launched.
Investigations would have to start all over
again because police findings would not be
permitted if the case goes before a military
court.
This paper also reported the
national police chief, Da'i Bachtiar, as saying
that evidence pointed in the direction of
a link between the Tribuana Kopassus base
and the crime. If this were so, this would
be a matter for army investigation.
These press reports point in
the direction of an attempt by the army to
take over control of investigations from the
police. The army, which is clearly on the
defensive because of overwhelming evidence
already collected by the Jayapura police and
by ELSHAM about Kopassus involvement, now
seems to be intent on a damage limitation
exercise. This could make any move by the
central government to set up its own team
irrelevant and leave it to army investigators
to scapegoat members of Kopassus who would
go for trial in a military court, and put
a stop to any further investigation into the
assassination. Hence, while chief of police
Da'i's remark about Kopassus involvement is
stunning, it could in effect open the way
for the army to conduct its damage limitation
operation.
RTE 1 Radio (national broadcaster)
Saturday File
22 December 2001
[Extract, relevant to West Papua]
Cathal Mac Coille, presenter, on the subject
of the possibility of bringing the Generals
accused of human rights abuses in East Timor
to justice, asked:
"The point has been made about the understandable
reservations of the East Timorese, nevertheless
the people with serious blood on their hands,
the organisers of violence have moved on,
have moved out elsewhere, and if the international
community doesn't indicate by way of having
an international tribunal, if it dosen't indicate
some determination to deal with these people,
they will perhaps use the same methods somewhere
else."
In reply, Liz O'Donnell, TD, Irish Junior
Minister for Foreign Affairs, said, inter
alia:
"It is true there is now a repeat performance
going on in West Papua, and that is very worrying"
Papuan rights group rejects
inquiry into independence leader's death
JAKARTA Dec 18 (AFP)
[ See Els-ham report on Theys
killing at www.gn.apc.org/tapol/r011213theys.htm
]
The leading human rights group
in Indonesia's Irian Jaya province on Tuesday
rejected as a whitewash a proposed government
inquiry into the murder of independence leader
Theys Eluay.
"This is a state crime,
state institutions are implicated, so how
can they be involved in any inquiry?"
John Rumbiak, of the Institute for Advocacy
and Human Rights (Elsham), told AFP.
The government is currently
considering a proposal by the National Human
Rights Commission for a 'National Independent
Team' to investigate Eluay's death. Under
the proposal the government, military, and
police would be part of the so-called 'independent'
body.
Rumbiak said the military's
special forces unit Kopassus was so closely
implicated in Eluay's killing on November
10, that neither the military nor the government
should sit on the proposed inquiry.
"Here in Jayapura we are
calling it an assassination, not a murder.
This is an extraordinary crime involving the
state. It is a highly political killing,"
he said by phone from Irian Jaya, known locally
as Papua.
Eluay, who headed the pro-independence
Papua Praesidium, was abducted by an unidentified
group of people as he drove home from a military
Heroes' Day celebration hosted by the local
Kopassus unit, in Jayapura on November 10.
His body, bearing signs of asphyxiation,
was found in his car at the bottom of a ravine
the following day.
Eluay's driver, who escaped
and reported his abduction by 'non-Papuan'
people, has subsequently disappeared.
"Based on our interviews
including with the police, it's already been
concluded that Kopassus are very much implicated,"
Rumbiak said.
"But we think Kopassus
have been victimised, they did what they have
been told, instructed to do. The masterminds
of this assassination have to be investigated."
Rumbiak said Megawati's national
day speech on August 16 and her reports on
separatism in the province following her visit
there as vice-president early last year advocated
a zero-tolerance policy towards separatist
activities.
"So when you look at these
policies clearly outlining their intention
and their acts towards the Papuan separatist
activities, from our perspective the assassination
of Theys Eluay is a state crime. It is no
ordinary crime," Rumbiak said.
Since questioning at least seven
Kopassus agents over the killing, police have
complained that they have met "a dead-end"
in their inquiries, Commission member Bambang
Suharto told AFP.
Suharto led a fact-finding mission
on Eluay's death to Jayapura from December
3 to 7. He said that of six possible explanations
for Eluay's death, he most believed that it
was a conspiracy aimed at destabilising the
central government in Jakarta.
Rumbiak said Suharto and the
human rights commission have no credibility
in the eyes of the Papuan people, since several
inquiries into past cases of extrajudicial
killings have gone nowhere and resulted in
no convictions.
"To be honest the Commission
is entangled in so much politics, it is dominated
by the military, and we don't see that any
inquiry they set up would function independently,"
he said.
"What we need now is a
truly independent team made up of international
human rights experts that have the credibility
and independence and respect to investigate
the security minister, the intelligence chief,
all those relevant state bodies."
Appeal by Franciscans and
Dominicans (Geneva)
Geneva, 14 December 2001
FRANCISCANS INTERNATIONAL and
DOMINICANS for Justice and Peace demand an
independent investigation into the Murder
of Theys Hiyo Eluay and an end to human rights
abuses in Papua by the Government of Indonesia.
Franciscans International and
Dominicans for Justice and Peace remain gravely
concerned by the politically motivated murder
of Mr.Theys Hiyo Eluay, Papuan community leader,
on 10 November 2001.
The integration of Papua a former
Dutch colony - into the Unitary State of Indonesia
took place in 1969. This event utterly failed
to adequately address the concerns of the
Papuans, a people that have since suffered
gross and flagrant violations of their human
rights and fundamental freedoms by the Government
of Indonesia. The Government of Indonesia
has embarked upon along-term campaign of extra-judicial
executions, violence against women, torture,
arbitrary detention, intimidation, harassment
against the Papuanpeople.
The Inquiry Team on Human Rights
Abuses (KPP HAM), established by the Indonesian
National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas
HAM) in February 2001,concluded that these
gross violations of the Papuan people's human
rights onstituted crimes against humanity.
Despite this State-sanctioned
campaign of brutality, Mr. Theys Eluay sought
to bring long-lasting peace to Papua by engaging
the authorities in order to formulate an endurig,
political solution that would adequately address
his people's legitimate grievances. He sought
to incorporate the Papuan peopledirectly into
this process and foster a national and international
dialogue on the question. Mr. Theys Eluay
rejected Government of Indonesia s offer of
special autonomy , as it is not an appropriate
final response to the real problems and rightful
demands of the Papuan people.
Mr. Theys Eluay was murdered
less than two months before the Government
ofIndonesia s plan to impose its special autonomy
law on January 1st, 2002.
According to numerous local
reports, the possibility of Indonesian military
involvement cannot be discounted in the murder
of Mr. Theys Eluay. Despite repeated pleas
to the Government of Indonesia and the National
Commission for Human Rights, there has not
yet been an independent investigation into
the murder of Mr. Theys Eluay.
Franciscans International and
Dominicans for Justice and Peace:
1. Strongly urge the Government
of Indonesia to end its impunity by authorising
and providing total support to an immediate
and thouroughly independent investigation
of Mr. Theys Eluay s murder, pursuant to Indonesian
Law, No. 26 (2000), on Human Rights Courts.
2. Call upon the Government
of Indonesia to adhere to international human
rights norms and standards and immediately
end the practice of extra-judicial execution,
violence against women, torture, arbitrary
detention, intimidation, harassment and other
forms of State-sanctioned violence in all
regencies, including Papua.
3. Urge the Government of Indonesia
to fulfil its obligations under the Second
Amendement of the 1945 Constitution Art. 28
I (4): the protection, promotion, enforcement
and fulfilment of human rights are the responsibility
of
the State, in particular the government.
4. Call upon the Government
of Indonesia to invite the Special Rapporteur
on the human rights and fundamental freedoms
of indigenous people to visit Papua and to
provide them with complete and unhindered
access to individuals and communities and
to fully collaborate with all the relevant
thematic procedures of the Commission on Human
Rights.
7000 DEMONSTRATORS OUTSIDE
PAPUA GOVERNOR OFFICE
Jayapura, 13 December 2000
ELS-HAM
An estimated 7000 determined
demonstrators, mostly Papuan university and
college students, are jamming the front yard
and the road in front of the governor's office
today staging their protests over a number
of political issues concerning the current
situation of Papua, including the poor handling
by police of the assassination case of the
late Theys Hiyo Eluay, chairman of Papua Presidium
Council. Today is the third day. High on demonstrators
demands are :
(1) to immediately and wisely
provide answers to Mr. Eluay's death, including
human rights abuses and violations having
occurred since 1962 to 2001. And the inclusion
of an independent international investigation
team to this case;
(2) to immediately open a National and International
Dialog on Political Status of West Papua;
(3) strongly rejects the Special Autonomy
Legislation for Papua since special autonomy
is not the wish of Papuan people,
(4) strongly rejects the dispatch of more
infantry troops into Papua and, on behalf
of all Papuan students and the people of Papua,
we earnestly call for an immediate withdrawal
of all organic and non organic security forces
out of Papua as Papua is not in the state
of war. We strongly urge that our demands
are seriously brought into action.
So far Papua Governor, Jaap
Sallosa, refuses to meet the protesters. The
bulk of protesting students are from the state
Cenderawasih University who were transported
to the governor's office on trucks and buses.
At this time of writing no government official,
including the governor himself, was known
to have met the demonstrators.
New Zealand Ambassador inquires
about Theys killing
Tuesday, 11 December 2001
[Report received from Jayapura,
probably based on Antara article. TAPOL]
[Note: This visit should be
seen as a sign of the concern of the diplomatic
community in Jakarta at the slow pace of the
investigations into the Theys assassination.
TAPOL]
Jayapura - While on a working
visit to Jayapura on Monday, New Zealand's
ambassador to Jakarta, Chris Elder, inquired
about efforts underway to solve the case of
the murder of Theys Hiyo Eluay, chairperson
of the Papuan Presidium Council. Nothing clear
is yet known about the case. Deputy Governor
Constan Karma told Antara in Jayapura on Tuesday
that he had received a visit from the New
Zealand ambassador and members of his staff.
During the meeting, the ambassador
asked for information about what has been
done to investigate the killing of Theys Eluay
and to discover the motive for the crime.
'I told the ambassador that
he should speak to the chief of police, Drs.
Made Mangku Pastika,' Karma said.
The ambassador also conveyed
the condolences of the New Zealand government
and people to the people of Papua on the death
of Papua's pro-independence leader.
THEYS KILLING IS A CRIME
AGAINST HUMANITY THAT MUST BE INVESTIGATED
BY AN INDEPENDENT COMMISSION
Tapol Press Release
30 November 2001
TAPOL strongly condemns the
decision of the Indonesian Government to set
up a joint military and police team to investigate
the abduction and killing of Theys Hiyo Eluay
on 10-11 November and reiterates its call
made immediately after the body of Theys Eluay
was found nearly three weeks ago for the Indonesian
Government to set up an independent team to
investigate the crime.
In a letter today to the Minister
of State at the Foreign Office Ben Bradshaw,
Carmel Budiardjo of TAPOL said:
'The circumstances in which
Theys Eluay was abducted and later killed
strongly suggest that the military may have
been involved in the crime. Moreover, it has
been established by our contacts in Jayapura
that the local police reached a point in their
investigations that made it impossible for
them to proceed any further. The reason for
this is clear: the police have no powers to
investigate criminal actions by the military.'
Theys Hiyo Eluay, the chairperson
of the Papuan Presidium Council, was abducted
on 10 November, a short distance from the
Tribuana base of the army's elite corps Kopassus,
on his way home after having dinner at the
base. His driver Aristoteles Masoka made a
distressed phone call to the wife of the victim
to inform her of the abduction, and has since
disappeared. The body of the victim was discovered
on the following day. An autopsy found that
he died as a result of foul play and his body
showed signs of strangulation and swellings.
In a press conference in Jayapura
today, Papua's leading human rights organisation
ELSHAM described the crime as 'an act of terror
and provocation by the security forces aimed
at stirring up conflict in Papua', and said
that it was 'pre-meditated and politically
motivated'. In other words, it was a crime
against humanity.
In such circumstances, the decision
of the Indonesian Government to leave it to
the police and military to investigate this
crime will not satisfy the basic requirements
for a thorough investigation to identify not
only the perpetrators of the crime but also
those who masterminded and planned it.
The circumstances suggest that
members of Kopassus may have been involved
in the crime. These special forces have a
history of involvement in abductions and killings.
In the months before the fall of President
Suharto in May 1998, Kopassus was responsible
for the abduction and murder of a number of
Indonesian pro-democracy activists. After
Suharto's removal from power, some low-ranking
members of Kopassus were tried in court for
the crimes and given derisory sentences. The
investigations also led to the 'honourable
dismissal' from the army of Lieutenant-General
Prabowo who was the commander of Kopassus
at the time.
In its letter to Minister Ben
Bradshaw, TAPOL called on the British Government
to urge the Indonesian Government to set up
an independent team to investigate this crime
against humanity. The commission should be
free from the military and should include
academics, human rights activists and persons
with the necessary forensic skills. Someone
from Papua should be included and the commission
should be instructed to make its findings
public.
It also urged the British Government
to impress on the Indonesian Government the
need to ascertain the whereabouts of the key
witness, Aristoteles Masoka, who was driving
the car when Theys Eluay was abducted and
who has since disappeared, and to take firm
measures to offer protection to all persons
willing to come forward as witnesses.
In conclusion, Carmel Budiardjo
said: 'Without a proper investigation of this
crime against humanity that wins the confidence
of the Papuan people and the international
community, we fear that the aftermath of this
horrific crime can only further inflame passions
in the territory and result in yet more disturbances
and unrest.'
TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights
Campaign
111 Northwood Road, Thornton Heath, Croydon
CR7 8HW, UK.
tel +44 020 8771 2904 fax +44 020 8653 0322
tapol@gn.apc.org www.gn.apc.org/tapol
The Irish Times, 29 November,
2001
World News
West Papua transfer a 'sham'
DUBLIN - The former minister
for foreign affairs, Mr David Andrews, said
yesterday that the international community
and the UN should revisit the "sham"
of the "Act of Free Choice" by which
the now troubled and separatist former Dutch
colony of West Papua (Irian Jaya) was transferred
to Indonesian control in the 1960s, writes
David Shanks.
His comment follows an admission
last week by the man in charge of the hand-over
for the United Nations, Mr Chakravarthy Narasimhan,
that the process of consulting 1025 elders
was "just a whitewash". Mr Narasimhan
was then undersecretary-general of the UN.
"The mood at the UN was
to get rid of this problem as quickly as possible,"
he said. Mr Andrews also called for "a
fully independent inquiry" into the recent
murder of the separatist Papuan leader, Theys
Eluay.
Island Demands Justice for
Murdered Leader
The Sunday Tribune (Ireland)
November 25th, 2001
Tens of thousands lined the
streets of West Papua's capital Jayapura last
week for the funeral of murdered independence
leader, Theys Eluay.
Eluay (64) who was leader of
the West Papuan Presidium, the leading pro-independence
movement for the vast jungle-covered half-island
of two million people that is Indonesia's
most eastern province, was a well-known moderate,
and tried to maintain good relations with
Indonesian civil and military officials.
The day he was murdered, he
had attended an Indonesian army (TNI) ceremony
near his home to commemorate Indonesia's "Heroes
Day".
Shortly after leaving for home,
his car was stopped by a group of men with
"non-Papuan features" according
to his driver who managed to call Eluay's
wife on his mobile. The driver then disappeared.
The next day, Eluay's body was found in a
ravine near the New Guinea border. Indonesian
officials claimed he had died of natural causes.
Doctors' reports said, however, he had been
strangled.
As news of his death spread,
gangs of Papuan youths attacked and burned
shops belonging to Indonesian migrants in
Sentani. And several thousand people marched
to the main police station in Jayapura shouting,
"we want justice."
Few Papuans doubt where the
real responsibility lies: with the Indonesian
government and the TNI. "What is clear
is that the No 1 enemy is the Indonesian government,
because we are struggling for independence,
but through peace and dialogue," said
another Presidium member Taha Al-Hamid.
There seems little chance of
the murderers being brought to justice. Indeed,
Eluay may have been the most prominent victim
to date of Operation "Sangat Rahasia"
(Top Secret) run by the TNI, whose contents
have only recently been revealed in documents
leaked to the Indonesian Human Rights Campaign
in London. With world attention diverted to
Afghanistan, and the international media banned
from West Papua, the TNI feels it has a free
hand to deal with pro-independence movements
there and in Aceh.
The document reveals that at
a meeting in Jakarta on 8 June, 2000 senior
officials of the TNI, the police and secret
services, drew up a plan to undermine West
Papua's independence movement by taking "preventative
and repressive action" to divide, discredit
and destroy the Presidium and Papuan struggle.
Under former Indonesian Presidents Habibie
and his successor, Abdul Rahman Wahid, some
effort was made to acknowledge the grievance
felt by Indonesia's outer islands, most notably
Aceh and West Papua. Under Wahid, Papuans
were allowed to fly their own flag, the Morning
Star, and even call themselves Papuans, which
had been a criminal offence under Suharto.
At that time Eluay and other Papuan leaders
were able to meet the reformist Indonesian
president to voice grievances and make the
case for independence. Although Wahid rejected
independence, he nevertheless supported a
dialogue.
The West Papuan Presidium was
formed in July 1998 after the massacre by
soldiers of many peaceful protestors on Biak
island off the north coast. The massacre galvanised
Papuan opinion and led to even pro-Indonesian
Papuans such as Eluay, who had been an MP
for the ruling Golkar Part for 15 years, to
change sides and support independence.
Although over 100,000 Papuans
have died at the hands of the Indonesian military
over three decades, the Presidium opted for
peaceful methods to achieve independence.
Nothing less than independence would satisfy
Eluay said last month: "We do not want
to be part of Indonesia any more. We are a
separate people with our own culture and identity."
More recently, the Presidium
appointed lawyers to challenge the legality
of the 1962 New York Agreement which had forced
Holland to cede West Papua to Indonesia; and
also the dubious 1969 Act of 'Free' Choice
where 1,025 hand picked Papuan tribal chiefs-including
Eluay-voted for full "integration"
with Indonesia. The Presidium has continually
demanded a referendum on independence similar
to that held in East Timor in 1999.
And Indonesian migrants mostly
from Java and Sulawesi, who now make up 40%
of the population, completely dominate the
economy and government, causing fierce resentment.
"The so-called development
policies of Jakarta are seen by Papuans as
a new form of colonialism that exploits our
resources and marginalises us," says
John Rumbiak of human rights groups, Els-Ham.
Papua's incorporation into
Indonesia was a farce, top U.N. officials
say
By SLOBODAN LEKIC
Associated Press Writer
[This article by Slobodan Lekic
is a major break through. Narasimhan who was
central to the whole UN involvement in West
Papua in the 1960's has publicly
admitted that it was a sham.....]
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Wracked
by separatist struggles across its vast
chain of islands, Indonesia is being especially
haunted by a referendum 32
years ago that former U.N. officials now admit
was a sham.
The region in question is Irian
Jaya, Indonesia's easternmost province, and
the referendum legitimizing the Dutch colony's
annexation is proving to be a
source of intensifying separatist fervor.
U.N. officials who conducted
the 1969 vote by tribal chiefs now say most
citizens of the province covering the western
half of New Guinea island were
intentionally excluded from the process.
''It was just a whitewash.
The mood at the United Nations was to get
rid of
this problem as quickly as possible,'' said
Chakravarthy Narasimhan, a
retired U.N. undersecretary general who handled
the takeover.
''Nobody gave a thought to
the fact that there were a million people
there
who had their fundamental human rights trampled,''
he said in a telephone
interview from his home in Madras, India.
The ballot immediately sparked
an uprising in the region, which is also
known as Papua. Indonesia's army has failed
in repeated attempts to crush
the rebellion, and support for independence
has strengthened since Gen.
Suharto, Indonesia's dictator, was forced
from office in 1998.
In the past, bloody protests
have erupted on Dec. 1, the anniversary of
Papua's 1961 independence proclamation. So
Indonesian security forces are
bracing for more trouble Saturday, the 40th
anniversary of the proclamation.
Independence activists have
been further galvanized by the U.N.-supervised
referendum in 1999 that allowed nearby East
Timor to break away from
Indonesia and become independent after years
of fighting Indonesian forces.
They are demanding a similar plebiscite for
Irian Jaya.
The mysterious killing on Nov.
10 of Theys Eluay, a prominent
pro-independence politician, has added to
tensions. Many Papuans accuse the
government of responsibility for the death
of Theys, who was found strangled
after attending a dinner with Indonesian army
commanders.
Opposition to rule from Jakarta
appears almost universal among Papuans. But
the Indonesian government is adamant about
holding the region, the nation's
biggest and home to rich natural resources.
When the Dutch originally granted
independence to the Indonesia archipelago
in 1949, they retained control of Papua, arguing
it had no ethnic,
linguistic or cultural links with the other
islands.
Unlike Indonesia's mainly Malay
inhabitants, Papuans are racially distinct
Melanesians. While 85 percent of Indonesians
are Muslims, Papuans are either
Christians or animists.
The Netherlands announced it
would grant statehood to Papua and set up
a
local legislature Dec. 1, 1961.
Indonesia reacted by launching a series of
cross-border incursions.
The invaders were easily routed by Dutch marines.
But the U.S.
administration of President Kennedy feared
a military defeat could drive
Indonesia into the Communist bloc and pressured
the Dutch to hand over the
colony.
The Dutch eventually agreed,
and in 1962 the United Nations was brought
in
to prepare a ''one man, one vote'' referendum
for self-determination by
1969. Within a year, however, the world body
relinquished administration of
the region to Jakarta, and left Suharto's
military dictatorship in charge of
preparing for a democratic plebiscite.
The Indonesians, sensing overwhelming
opposition to the takeover, decided
to canvass only 1,025 hand-picked supporters.
The result, not surprisingly,
was a unanimous vote for integration.
Lobbied intensely by Washington,
the U.N. Security Council endorsed the
vote.
''Suharto was a terrible dictator,'' Narasimhan
said. ''How could anyone
have seriously believed that all voters unanimously
decided to join his
regime? Unanimity like that is unknown in
democracies.''
Other former U.N. officials
agreed. ''It wasn't our most glorious hour,''
said Brian Urquhart, another retired U.N.
undersecretary general.
''It was arranged to have the
U.N. put the seal of good housekeeping on
the
easiest but not necessarily most democratic
way to resolve the problem,'' he
said in a telephone interview from his home
in Massachusetts.
Hero chief becomes 'mulch
for the people'
By CHRIS McCALL
SENTANI, WEST PAPUA
The Age
Sunday 18 November 2001
Wailing, beating drums and hooting
like birds, a throng of tearful mourners
converged here yesterday to pay their last
respects for slain separatist
leader Theys Eluay.
At the football field where
he was buried under a hastily erected shelter,
with traditional carving on its pillars and
a corrugated steel roof to keep
off the sun, a banner quoted Mr Eluay's own
words.
"Let my body and blood
become mulch for the struggle for an independent
Papua," it read.
At least 10,000 mourners attended.
Among them were representatives of local
police, who kept a discreet presence during
the event. The banned Morning
Star flag was everywhere to be seen, over
Mr Eluay's coffin and flying
defiantly around it. No action was taken to
stop it.
Yet the ceremony did not pass
without controversy. It was briefly held up
as
a group of Papuans from other areas demanded
the members of the separatist
Papuan Presidium Council, which Mr Eluay chaired,
give an account to them.
There has been frustration at the presidium's
failure to get results since it
was appointed at a Papuan Congress last year.
There was also friction over
how and where the murdered leader should be
buried. Dani tribesmen from the remote Baliem
valley had offered to mummify
him, a traditional practice there for great
chiefs. Others wanted him buried
at the provincial legislature, where he long
sat as a legislator and where
his body briefly lay in state after it was
discovered last Sunday.
In the end, his family's wishes
were followed. He was buried in traditional
lands of the Sentani people, of whom he was
chief.
Mr Eluay's former deputy Thom
Beanal vowed Mr Eluay's death would not mean
the end of the independence struggle.
Agence France-Presse
November 17, 2001
10,000 mourners bury Irian
Jaya pro-independence leader
[The date in paragraph should
be November 10, not September 10.]
About 10,000 people, some delirious
with grief, gathered peacefully for the
funeral of Irian Jaya independence leader
Theys Hiyo Eluay, who died
mysteriously last week.
Mourners staged a two-hundred
meter (yard) procession from Eluay's home
on
Saturday, some 50 kilometers (32 miles) west
of the provincial capital
Jayapura, to a soccer field where the charismatic
leader was buried.
The emotional crowds sang religious
hymns as Eluay's body was laid to rest in
the field, which has been redesignated a "Papuan
Heroes" cemetery.
Members of the pro-independence
Papua Task Force militia carried Eluay's
coffin, which was draped in the secessionist
Morning Star flag. A tribal rite
was performed before the procession.
The throngs, many of whom had
come from other regions in the sprawling
province bordering Papua New Guinea, showered
the coffin with flowers. Many
mourners shed tears and screamed: "Father,
don't leave us behind."
Papua is the name that independence
activists use for Indonesia's easternmost
province, the scene of sporadic separatist
unrest for decades.
Residents climbed trees and
roofs of their homes to catch a glimpse of
the
ceremony, which was attended by senior officials
from the local government,
police and military.
"We thank God that the
ceremony went peacefully. We have passed a
critical
moment," Reverend Herwan Awom, a member
of the pro-independence Papua
Presidium which Eluay had headed before his
death, told AFP.
In his funeral message, the
deputy chief of the presidium, Tom Beanal,
called
on the United Nations to hold a referendum
on self-determination in Irian
Jaya.
Security was tight with police
deployed along the road leading to Eluay's
home, checking visitors who wanted to attend
the ceremony. Many had feared
violence would erupt during the funeral.
The province was on top military
alert against possible rioting, the state
Antara news agency reported.
Eluay, 64, who was the chieftain
of the Sentani tribe, went missing on his
way home on September 10 from a military ceremony.
His driver, who is still
missing, told the family in a brief telephone
call that they had been
abducted by a group of non-Irianese.
The Jayapura police chief, Senior
Commissioner Daud Sihombing, said he had
been informed that Eluay's driver was alive
but that his whereabouts were
still unknown.
Eluay's body was found the following
day in his crashed car. The face was
darkened and the tongue was sticking out.
The national police have described
the death as "unnatural" and sent
investigators to the remote province. Rights
groups have described the death
as an assassination.
Eluay and four other members
of the presidium had been on trial on charges
of
subversion for demanding independence.
The group had rejected Jakarta's
decision to grant the resource-rich province
greater autonomy, as had the Free Papua Movement
which has been waging a
low-level guerrilla war.
The autonomy law, which takes
effect next month, renames the province Papua.
It will have its own flag and anthem and will
keep between 70 and 80 percent
of revenues from its natural riches.
Rebels, sometimes using primitive
weapons including bows and arrows, have
been fighting sporadically for an independent
Melanesian state since the
former Dutch colony became an Indonesian province
in 1963.
Independence supporters say
a 1969 UN-sponsored plebiscite, which reaffirmed
Indonesian sovereignty over Irian Jaya, was
flawed.
Nov. 11, 2001: Abducted Papuan
separatist leader found dead
[This criminal act which is
likely to have profound political repercussions
in Papua, appears to have been deliberately
perpetrated in order to plunge
Papua into a state of confusion and unrest.
The international community
should take action to impress upon the Indonesian
government to need for an
immediate investigation into the premeditated
kidnap and murder of Papua's
foremost pro-independence figure. TAPOL]
JAKARTA (JP): Papuan separatist
leader Theys Hiyo Eulay was found dead in
his
abandoned car near the Papua New Guinea border
on Sunday, less than 24 hours
after his reported abduction, Antara reported.
Theys, who was undergoing a
trial for his separatist campaign in a court
in
Jayapura, was found inside his Kijang car
on the road near the border town
of Skouw, an Antara reporter said.
Marks of wounds were found around
his wrists and there was dry blood on his
body, the reporter said, adding that police
and investigators were already
on the scene.
Some of the car windows were
shattered and the car appeared to have hit
a
tree and stopped 50 meter short of a ravine.
Theys, the chairman of the Papuan
Presidium Council, had been on trial along
with three other presidium members, on charges
of subversion.
They were accused of fanning
separatist sentiments when they organized
a
massive congress in April last year (sic,
May-June) in which they demanded
a referendum for self determination for the
people in Irian Jaya, or Papua as the territory
is now unofficially called.
Although on trial, the four
were not under police arrest. The court trial
had been scheduled to resume on Monday.
The House of Representatives
in Jakarta last month passed a new law granting
sweeping autonomy for Papua. But many separatist
leaders said the law was
not enough and they insisted on independence
from Jakarta.
Theys was traveling from Jayapura,
capital of the province, to Sentani some
45 km when he was abducted by a group of unidentified
men on Saturday night.
His driver, who was dumped by the kidnapers,
reported the abduction to his
wife, who in turn notified the police
STATEMENT ISSUED ON 20 OCTOBER
2001 BY THE PAPUAN PRESIDIUM COUNCIL
The Papuan Presidium Council
(PDP) and the Chair and Secretary-General
of the
Panel of the Papuan Presidium Council held
a meeting in Kotaraja on 19 and 20
October. The meeting discussed the following
agenda items: Implementation of
the People's Mandate, Intensification of Military
Operations and Armed
Resistance which has resulted in Human Rights
Abuses, the Basic Rights of the
Papuan People, the Intentions of the Central
Government with regard to
Special Autonomy for Papua, and the PDP Strategy
towards these issues and regarding the Rectification
of History.
The Papuan Consultative Assembly
and the Second Papuan Congress in 2000 gave
a mandate to the Papuan Presidium Council,
thereby making it the lawful and representative
body of the Papuan people, at home and abroad,
in the struggle to uphold their basic rights,
including their civil and political rights,
by peaceful means, while giving priority to
a Dialogue to Rectify History, nationally
and internationally.
As holder of the Mandate of
the Papuan People, the meeting issued the
following statement:
1. The Papuan People express
their deep appreciation to the leaders and
people of the member states of the Pacific
Islands Forum for their solidarity
and support for the Papuan people's struggle
for the restoration of their
political rights and sovereignty by peaceful
means. The Papuan people also
urge the Dutch Government, the Government
of the Republic of Indonesia, the
Government of the United States of America
and the United Nations to honestly
and responsibly reconsider their role in the
political conspiracy against the
status of the land of Papua (Dutch New Guinea
or West Irian).
2. For 36 years, the National Liberation Army
Free Papua Organisation
(TPN/OPM) has conducted a guerrilla struggle
in the bush for an Independent
Papua in keeping with the innermost yearnings
of the people of the land of
Papua. While expressing the highest respect
for their struggle, we call for an
end to armed confrontation and to work together
to press for peaceful efforts
through political dialogue in the struggle
for the Political Rights and
Sovereignty of the Papuan nation.
3. We most earnestly call upon the Indonesian
National Armed Forces (TNI) and the Police
of the Republic of Indonesia (Polri) who have
made it a habit of using repressive military
operations to stop these military operations.
These operations have resulted in hundreds
of thousands of deaths among the Papuan people.
The land of Papua is no longer a Military
Operations Zone. The TNI/Polri should adopt
a different approach which is humane, which
respects the dignity of the Papuan people
and their basic rights and should actively
strive to resolve the Papuan political conflict
by means of a just and democratic political
dialogue.
4. The Central Government has now given its
full support for Special
Autonomy, after the Papuan People demanded
the restoration of their political
rights and sovereignty. But this will not
promote a comprehensive, peaceful
solution to the Papuan political conflict.
The Indonesian Government is
trying to impose this social contract. It
has not only ignored the aspirations of
the Papuan people but, with the arrogance
of those in power, it has shown no
understanding of the real substance of the
Papuan question and has forced
through the wishes of those in power. The
enactment of the law on Special
Autonomy is yet another example of the way
in which the fate of the Papuan
people has been decided by others, just as
happened with the New York
Agreement of 1962 and the People's Consultation
in 1969. Bearing in mind this political tragedy,
the Papuan people urge the Central Government,
the Parliament (DPR), the Regional Government
and the Regional Assembly (DPRD) to ensure
that all political decisions that relate to
the fate of the Papuan people should be based
on wishes and sovereignty of the Papuan people.
The Papuan Council
herewith declares that it firmly rejects Special
Autonomy for Papua and will
wage a peaceful and democratic struggle for
the restoration of the political
rights and sovereignty of the Papuan people.
Development is the right of the
people and the responsibility of the government
and must be implemented in
full accord with the political aspirations
of the people. Throughout their
struggle, the Papuan people have never demanded
Special Autonomy. What they demand is a
Dialogue on the Rectification of History,
and acknowledgement of legal and
political rights for the land and people of
Papua.
5. The Papuan people deeply regret the Indonesian
Government's policy of
discrimination. In the case of Aceh, it continues
to seek dialogue while
rejecting peaceful dialogue with the Papuan
people. Ever since the Papuan
Consultative Assembly and the Second Papuan
Congress of 2000, the Papuan
people have consistently called for Political
Dialogue between the Papuan people and
the government of the Republic of Indonesia.
The Indonesian government must
explain the background and the reason for
the discrimination in its approach
towards the political conflicts in Aceh and
Papua.
6. The Papuan people regard the arrest and
trial of the Presidium and
Papuan Council Panel members who have been
accused of rebellion as a legal
process aimed at the entire Papuan people.
The Papuan people support all
efforts to uphold the supremacy of the law
but, for the sake of justice, the
Indonesian government must show a greater
will and more actively push for the
resolution of the Papuan question by political
means, in step with actions to
arrest and put on trial the Papuan people.
7. We call upon the entire Papuan people to
resist all forms of
provocation and the policy of divide and rule
and to do everything in their power to strengthen
the unity of the people in the spirit of Papuan
nationalism. Based
on this awareness, the Papuan Council calls
on all sectors of society to be
pro-active in ensuring consolidation and conciliation
in the spirit of One
Nation One Soul. All Papuans must restrain
themselves and avoid doing
anything that could lead to people discrediting
each other, because the struggle to
restore the political rights and sovereignty
of the Papuan people is a noble
struggle based on the aspirations of all the
sons and daughters of the land of
Papua.
Jayapura, 20 October 2001
On behalf of the Papuan Presidium
Council:
Theys Hiyo Eluay
Rev. Herman Awom, S. Th
Moderator
Thaha Mohammad Alhamid,
Secretary-General
HOTSPOTS OF VIOLENCE AND
BRUTALITY EMERGING IN MANY PARTS OF WEST PAPUA
Report prepared by TAPOL
on the basis of information received on 19
October
2001 from ELS-HAM, the Jayapura-based Institute
for Human Rights Study and
Advocacy.
While the situation in Wasior
(Manokwari district) continues to
deteriorate, there are clear indications of
a wave of brutality by the
security forces in other parts of West Papua.
In some cases the brutality
has been sparked by actions from the TPN,
(Tentara Pembebasan Nasional),
the armed wing of the OPM but the brunt of
the brutality is felt by civilians.
[Note: the army's regional command
in Jayapura, under its commander
Major-General Mahidin Simbolon, has concocted
a new name for the TPN, 'KSB'
which stands for 'kelompok separatis bersenjata'
or 'armed separatist
gang', insisting that there can only be one
army in the territory, the TNI.]
Ilaga, Central Highlands
Following three days of clashes between the
TPN/OPM and the security forces
(TNI and the Indonesian police), a number
of extra troops were flown into
Ilaga where they have been behaving very brutally
towards the local
population. As a result, local people, including
non-Papuans, have fled to
sub-distrct Simak in the district of Mulia.
ELS-HAM sources report that all
the villages in the sub-district of Ilaga
are now occupied by army and
police, and a number of school buildings and
churches have been burnt down,
along with all their contents.
According to this report, the
events leading up to the three-day clash in
Ilaga were as follows:
On 25 September, a TPN/OPM unit
led by Titus Murib, while on patrol from
their base in Desa Pinapi , met up with a
man from Desa Kuyawagi who
suggested that they go and seize weapons from
a TNI base in Ilaga, so as to
increase their own supply of weapons. They
followed his advice.
Three days later, on 28 September
a police office named Harun was attacked
while on his way home from prayers and his
weapon was seized. The Kimmak
village head who saw this happen threw a rock
at one of the TPN men
involved in the attack, hitting TPN member
Ikiapik Murip in the back. He
fell to the ground and his two colleagues
fled. Members of the local police
force and army command, Koramil, came to the
scene and shot Ikaipik Murip
dead as he lay on the ground.
The news of Murip's death spread
through the area, leading to three days of
clashes between forces of the TPN/OPM and
the security forces. The security
forces then called in reinforcements from
Nabire and Timika, after
spreading (false) reports that three of their
men had been killed. The
reports led to a lull in the fighting, but
when the TPN men realised that
the reports were false, they responded by
burning down local government
offices.
We were informed in an earlier
comment by a local Catholic police that
feelings in the area were already running
high because assurances that had
been given by the security forces when two
Belgian hostages were released
some weeks earlier had been breached.
On 1 October, additional troops
were dropped in the area by helicopter. As
they were landing at Amunggarub in Ilaga,
the troops opened fire, injuring
a local man. After landing, nearby houses
were destroyed and livestock were
shot dead. Many of the local people fled.
One TPN member, Das Kokoya, was
shot dead but his body has not been found.
Wamena town tense
After a local man named Thomas Hubi, 35, was
shot dead, normal life in the
town came to a standstill, with shops closing
and no one seen on the
streets. Armed troops were out in force.
An ELS-HAM local contact reports
that the victim was shot in the mouth and
the bullet exited through his brain. A plea
by the victim's family to the
local police to investigagte the murder has
not been heeded.
Angered by the lack of any investigation,
the victim's family said they
wanted to take action but were prevailed on
not to do this by the local
ELS-HAM volunteer.
ELS-HAM in Jayapura has warned
that any delay in police action following
this murder could result in retaliatory action
against the police and cause
new problems in Wamena, a year after the Wamena
Tragedy of 6 October 2000.
Arrests of 7 TPN members in Kali Kopi, Timika
Following a report in The Jakarta Post on
Friday that seven members of
TPN/OPM had been captured by the army in Kali
Kopi, Timika, the local press
has reported that two of the seven men were
taken to hospital under heavy
guard. One of the men, AW, is known to have
undergone an operation but the
nature of his condition is not known. Tight
security surrounds the two men
in hospital.
The other men are reported to
be under investigation and are likely to face
charges connected with possessing weapons.
One TPN member, John Magai, was
shot dead when the seven men were arrested,
and five soldiers were killed,
according to an ELS-HAM source.
People attending a funeral feared
dead in Kampung Pama, near Timika
Meanwhile, a church source in Timika told
ELS-HAM on 16 October that troops
based in Timika involved in operations in
Kali Kopi surrounded Kampung Pama
in the village of Nagaro, Kali Kopi, 6 kms
east of Timika. It is feared
that some inhabitants of the village have
been shot dead.
The source reports that on 14
October, a large crowd of people from Timika
travelled in a number of vehicles to Kampung
Pama to attend the funeral of
an acquaintance, Anderaes Koyoga, 35, who
had died following a snake bite.
Before leaving Timika, they had made their
intentions known to the local
police and had been given the go-ahead to
make the journey.
However, on the following day,
while a large crowd of mourners was gathered
in Kampung Pama, the area was surrounded and
attacked the security forces.
Three people, including one woman, managed
to escape the encirclement and
say that they fear that some people were shot
dead during the operation.
The area is now sealed off making
it impossible for church officials and
humanitarian activists to monitor the situation.
A church official in
Timika has appealed to the regional commander,
Major-General Simbolon to
withdraw his men and allow church officials
to enter.
TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights
Campaign
Gus Dur to testify in court
October 17, 2001
R.K. Nugroho, The Jakarta
Post, Jayapura
Former president Abdurrahman
"Gus Dur" Wahid is scheduled to
appear at the
Jayapura District Court on Oct. 22, 2001,
to give testimony on behalf of
several executives of the Papuan Council Presidium
(PDP) who have been
charged with subversion.
A team of lawyers who accompanied
the defendants in the subversion case, said
they had gained confirmation from the former
president that the latter would
testify in court.
"We have met with Gus Dur
at his residence in Jakarta and he has confirmed
his readiness to testify. Gus Dur will arrive
in the city on Oct. 22 from
Bangkok, where he is scheduled to deliver
a speech during a seminar on
international terrorism," Latifah Anom
Siregar, coordinator of the lawyers
team, said upon arrival here from Jakarta
over the weekend.
Gus Dur is to give testimony
in connection with his Rp 1 billion contribution
for the Dec. 1, 2000 Papuan People's Congress
in the city.
Aside from Gus Dur, Bambang
Wijoyanto, director of the Foundation of
Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI) and
former Irian Jaya deputy governor
Djopari, will also appear as witnesses in
the court session. Bambang is to
testify as an expert witness while Djopari
is to testify to the court in
relation to his role of granting permission
for the congress to be held.
Theys Hiu Eluay, PDP chairman,
Thaha Al Hamid, PDP secretary-general, Don
A.
Flassy, chairman of the Independent Youth
Organization, Rev. Herman Awom and
John Mambor, a PDP member, are facing life
imprisonment for their alleged
involvement in the movement to incite the
Papuan people to fight for the
province's independence.
The congress had sparked clashes
between PDP supporters and local riot police
leaving scores of police personnel and civilians
injured. At least six people
were killed in a bloody clash between proindependence
Papuans and security
personnel in Merauke a day after the congress.
The defendants appreciated Gus
Dur's willingness to provide testimony to
the
court.
"For the Papuan people,
Gus Dur is not only a statesman but also an
intellectual who has a special place in the
hearts of the Papuan people,"
Thaha Al Hamid, PDI secretary-general, said.
Paul Barber
TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign
The following is the text
of the letter to Mary Robinson, drafted at
the
Second West Papua Solidarity in Germany, held
in Neuendettelsau from 15 -
17 October 2001.
Mary Robinson,
United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights,
Geneva,
Switzerland
16th October 2001
Petion against Human Rights
Abuses of West Papuan People
by the Indonesian Military and by the Indonesian
Police Force
Your Excellency,
We, the delegates attending
the Second International Solidarity
Conference on West Papua held in Neuendettelsau,
Germany, from 15-17th
October 2001, wish to express our alarm at
the continuing human rights
violations committed by the Indonesian military
and police in West Papua.
Most specifically, we call for the ongoing
military and police operations
in Wasior subdistrict of Manokwari and Ilaga
in the Central Highlands to be
halted immediately. These operations are causing
great suffering, and loss
of life and property. We are particularly
concerned about the savety of
human rights defenders, who have been threatened
and prevented from
carrying out their work. We strongly condemn
the pressure being exerted on
the local media for reporting human rights
abuses. We urge you to impress
upon the Indonesian government the need to
convene a Human Rights Courts in
Makasar, to consider the crimes against humanity
committed by the police in
Abepura in December 2000. We call on you to
consider sending the Special
Rapporteurs for Extra-judicial Killings, Torture,
and Freedom of
Expression, and the Working Group on Arbitary
Detention to West Papua as
soon as possible.
TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights
Campaign
111 Northwood Road, Thornton Heath, Croydon
CR7 8HW, UK.
tel +44 020 8771 2904 fax +44 020 8653 0322
tapol@gn.apc.org www.gn.apc.org/tapol
Secret operation launched
to undermine and destroy the pro-independence
movement in West Papua
October 12, 2001
TAPOL
It can now be revealed that
top-ranking Indonesian government officials
and
military and police intelligence agencies
were so disturbed by the stunning
success and political impact of the Grand
Congress held in Jayapura last
year that led to the creation of the Papuan
Presidium Council (PPC), that
they conspired to launch a counter-intelligence
operation to undermine and
destroy all pro-independence activities in
West Papua.
The plan was put into operation
in June 2000, initially for a six-month
period, to be following by a second phase.
(We also have received leaked
copies of documents from the police force
in
Irian Jaya to the chief of the Indonesian
police, marked 'Secret' and dated
November 2000, which contain operational plans
of the provincial police 'to
handle the activities of the separatist Free
Papuan movement in order to
uphold the law'. We hope to be able to produce
a summary of the contents of
these documents in due course.)
Much that has happened in West
Papua especially since October 2000 when
provocative actions by the police in Wamena
in the central highlands led to
a major incident during which dozens of people
were killed and 22 Papuans
were tried and convicted of subversion for
flag-raising activities and for
being members of the Papuan Presidium Council's
local panel should be seen
in the context of this secret intelligence
operation.
An insight into what the security
forces planned fifteen months ago will
show that many of the events that have cost
dozens of lives and forced many
thousands of people in Wasior to flee their
homes are the result of an
intelligence operation that was set in motion
to reverse the eruption of
pro-independence demonstrations and activities
that were such a striking
feature of the political situation in West
Papua in the months following
the Grand Papuan Congress that took place
in May-June 2000.
The plan for this intelligence
operation is set forth in a set of documents
marked 'Sangat Rahasia' - Top Secret - that
was leaked to human rights
activists in Jayapura and passed on to TAPOL.
We have no doubt that the 23
pages of documents and diagrams are authentic.
The documents reveal that on
8 June 2000, just days after the Papuan
Congress ended, a meeting was convened by
the head of the Directorate for
'Kesbang dan Linmas' (which probably stands
for 'Development and Protection
of Society) of the Ministry of the Interior
'to discuss ways of handling
the problem of Irian Jaya (Papua) following
the Papuan People's Congress'.
Participants at the meeting
included top-ranking officials from the key
military and police intelligence agencies
and from key government
departments. They included the Second Deputy
Head of BAKIN (the
government's intelligence agency), two officers
from Directorate A of BAIS
(army intelligence), an official of Paban
C-1 of BAIS, the commander of
Kopassus Second Battalion, the intelligence
chief of KOSTRAD (the army's
strategic reserve corps), Paban-IV (?) from
armed forces hearquarters, a
top official from another Interior Ministry
department, a senior officer
representing the TNI's territorial chief of
staff, the intelligence chief
and another official of the Police Force (Polri),
and an official from the
Foreign Ministry. [Note, some of the acronyms/designations
of the persons
attending are difficult to decipher.]
In a letter to the Minister
of the Interior, Ermaya Suradinata, head of
'Kesbang dan Linmas' reporting the results
of the meeting, said that the
meeting had concluded:
+ that social/political conditions
in Papua following the Papuan Congress
had become very volatile and that agreement
had been reached to take
speedy, concrete actions to anticipate ever-growing
support in Irian Jaya
and more generally throughout Indonesia;
+ the population right down
to the villages were in a state of euphonria
over the question of Independence, that a
conspiracy of those in favour of
Independence was becoming very solid and that
efforts were underway to
spread the results of the Papuan Congress
to all corners of the territory,
to the whole of Indonesia and even to the
wider world.
+ that agreement had therefore
been reached to set up a special taskforce
with a Work Programme designed to handle political
developments in Irian
Jaya (Papua);
+ that the work programme of
the taskforce should take careful account
of
the special characteristics of society in
Irian Jaya - tribal and religious
elements - in designing an overt and covert
(clandestine) programme of work.
The meeting also agreed that
government agencies and officials should adopt
a common language in dealing with Irian Jaya
so as to avoid sowing
confusion among local officials, that there
was the need for a 'legal
umbrella' to protect those who would take
repressive actions, that local
government bodies should be cleansed of persons
contaminated with
pro-independence ideas such as Don Flossi
and Philip Karma, and that the
strategic target of the taskforce should be:
community leaders, religious
leaders, traditional leaders, youth and student
leaders and the local media.
A second document that sets
out the operational plan in detail states
in
the introductory paragraph that the Papuan
Presidium Council was the
creation of the OPM to promote its plan to
liberate West Papua. The OPM
strategy consists of three parts, the armed
struggle which consists of
attacking TNI posts, murdering civilians and
kidnaps, political actions
which consists of demonstrations, reshaping
public opinion, raising the
Kejora flag and setting up local organisations
like the Satgas Papua, and
diplomatic activity which consists of trying
to influence international
opinion, creating organisations abroad, using
international NGOs and
setting up a provisional government.
The response must be threefold,
to change the state of affairs in the whole
territory, to set up a network of communications
and to carry out
diplomatic activity as a counter to the pro-independence
forces.
The first objective aims to
create more conducive conditions in Irian
Jaya,
improve the functioning of local government
so as to win the hearts and
minds of the people in favour of remaining
within the Unitary Republic of
Indonesia and creating a situation that is
attractive to investors.
The communications network should
direct its attention towards people who
are in a position to influence public opinion;
this should be done within
the territory as well as outside Irian Jaya
to deal with efforts to win
support elsewhere. The targets are identified
as being traditional leaders,
tribal chiefs, religious leaders, intellectuals,
youth and students.
Diplomatic activity is aimed
at winning the support of the international
community in favour of Indonesia's continued
sovereignty over Irian Jaya.
(The results of these efforts can be seen
in the international pressure
that was brought to bear on Nauru to refuse
to allow Presidium Council
representatives to attend the Pacific Islands
Forum held in August this
year, a complete reversal of the position
adopted last year when PPC
representatives were granted observer status.)
Agencies taking part in the
operation include the departments of foreign
affairs, of defence and security and of the
interior, the police force, the
armed forces, the Bakin and BAIS intelligence
agencies and the regional
government. The mass media must also be involved,
along with Papuan
community and religious leaders and local
NGOs that support the Indonesian
Government.
The operation will be conducted
at two levels, open or overt activities
involving the general public and covert or
clandestine activities involving
intelligence operations and efforts to co-opt
the services of certain
individuals in positions of leadership in
the community.
Activities will include accelerating
the progress towards autonomy at the
provincial and district level supported by
financial incentives from the
centre, the creation of more district-level
and municipal-level
administrations, accelerating the process
towards splitting West Papua up
into several provinces, building churches
and other religious centres as
well as schools, improving the means of transportation
and other facilities.
The history of Irian Jaya's
integration into the Republic should be widely
promoted.
In order to improve the communications
network with the population, there
should be a campaign to recruit and train
people as members of civil
defence and people's resistance. (In other
words, creating militias.)
Efforts should be made to improve the interaction
and social intercourse
between locals and newcomers - transmigrants
- and to strengthen relations
between local communities and local army and
police command posts.
The plan also envisages the
conducting of inter-active dialogue, locally,
regionally and nationally around the theme
of the unity of the state. There
should also be regular gatherings of people
at which affirmations are made
in favour of supporting the territorial integrity
of the Unitary State of
Indonesia (NKRI), encompassing Irian Jaya.
TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights
Campaign
INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY MUST
ACT TO HALT JOINT FORCES TEAM SENT TO WASIOR
TO HUNT DOWN ARMED CIVILIAN GROUP
Summary by TAPOL, October
12, 2001
A report received Thursday from
the Advocacy Team for Wasior states that a
joint forces team has been dispatched to Wasior
to crush a civilian armed
group led by Daniel Awom. The team was spotted
departing by sea from
Manokwari on Wednesday evening.
One source says that the team
is headed by police commissioner Asep
Yarkasih from the police force and includes
members of the Indonesian army
(TNI), police, some retired army officers
and local civilians. They are
armed with M-16s. The civilians have been
included to help show the way for
the others. The team is carrying large amounts
of money to offer as rewards
for apprehending the targets. Another source
says that the joint forces
team was formed by the Trikora military command.
Kodam XVII Trikora.
At first, it was thought that
the team was made up of 15 persons but others
were spotted already on board as the team
was about to depart.
One of those taking part in
the operation said the special operation would
last for one month and that if it failed to
reach its target within that
time, reinforcements would be brought in to
help conduct sweepings. The
operation is due to start on 15 October; three
days later, on 18 October, a
large-scale operation will be launched.
One of the team members, Soleman,
drew attention to a team member from
Brimob, the police force's special commandos.
'If we dont track them down,'
Soleman said, 'much more powerful operations
will be mounted against
kampungs'. Brimob, the most brutal unit in
Indonesia's police force, POLRI,
has been spearheading operations in Wasior
for the past five months.
Soleman warned that all fact-finding
teams working to investigation
developments in Wasior should disband because
their activities could only
result in more victims. He also accused local
NGO's of taking action only
in order to raise money for themselves.
A group of women from the police
force women's organisation, Bhayangkara,
was also on the ship; they are tasked to channel
supplies to the local people.
For the past five months, the
police force have been conducting sweepings
-
search and destroy operations - in Wasior
to hunt down a group headed by
Daniel Awom believed to have been responsible
for the attack on the
plantation, CV Vatika Papuana Perkasa on 13
June, which killed five members
of Brimob and some civilian employees; the
gang also captured weapons and
ammunition.
During the past five months,
these operations by Brimob have led to the
capture and maltreatment of 144 civilians,
the extrajudicial killing of 12
people, the arrest of fifty people who now
face prosecution. 27 people are
now under house arrest. In addition, 29 people
have disappeared, 12 people
have died and dozens of homes have been burnt
down. Hundreds more have fled
their homes while close on 10,000 people in
Wasior now live in a state of
constant fear.
These atrocities in Wasior seem
to count for nothing internationally where
all thoughts are now focused on events in
the Middle East and the war
launched by the US and its allies in Afghanistan.
At the very time that the war
against terrorism is being waged in
Afghanistan, Brimob troops supported by the
Indonesian army are conducting
operations to hunt down and destroy armed
groups in Wasior, Ilaga and
Sarmi, in West Papua. No one can predict how
many innocent men, women and
children will be the victims of these operations.
Papuans victims of brutal
repression
The Courier Mail [Queensland,
Australia]
9 October 2001
David Costello, foreign editor
INDONESIAN President Megawati
Sukarnoputri last month spelt out a blunt
message for the people of Irian Jaya: You
will never gain independence.
And according to human rights
activists she is backing up her rhetoric with
a more repressive approach in the rugged province
where separatist West Papuan guerillas have
waged a long bloody struggle against Jakarta.
John Rumbiak, supervisor of
the West Papua Institute for Human Rights
Study and Advocacy (Els-Ham), says Ms Megawati
is operating on two fronts.
"The first is this repression,
deployment of additional forces in West Papua
and this infiltration of the groups and arresting
people to create fear," he said.
"The second is the offer
of greater autonomy."
The crackdown is bad news for
Els-Ham which has built an international reputation
documenting abuses in Irian Jaya.
Mr Rumbiak, 39, a West Papuan
who has studied in Canada and the US, claims
that cycle of conflict will go on if the grievances
of his people are not addressed.
As a human rights activist,
Mr Rumbiak is cautious about indentifying
too closely with the independence cause.
"I'm not talking about
independence. I talk about self-determination.
I am talking about a just and democratic process
to allow all parties to sit down and resolve
this problem," he said.
But he scoffed at Indonesian
claims that human rights violations have stopped.
"I was so angry when Indonesian
officials went to the Pacific Islands Forum
in August, saying that in the past six months
there was no human rights violation,"
he said.
"In a June operation in
the Wasior area alone, 94 people were arbitrarily
detained and tortured, even one death in police
custody, 10 extra-judicially killed, 51 houses
burnt down.
"No human rights violations?
What are we talking about here."
On the autonomy front, a special
package due to be implemented later this year
does have significant sweeteners, including
an offer to hand back 80 per cent of mineral
royalties to the province.
This is a key concession given
that Irian Jaya contains the massive American-controlled
Freeport gold and copper mine at Grasberg,
the largest single contributor to Indonesian
tax revenue. But Mr Rumbiak said the autonomy
offer failed to address the fundamental problems
in Irian Jaya.
"It is not coming out from
an understanding of why the people are demanding
independence," he said.
"The people believe their
right to self-determination has been denied.
People have been seeking justice for many
many years and they haven't got any."
Mr Rumbiak said a Home Affairs
Department report leaked in October last year
spelt out the strategies of offering special
autonomy while employing security forces to
step up clandestine actions within secessionist
groups.
He said another aim was to prevent
the internationalisation of the issue by lobbying
foreign governments not to support the West
Papuan cause.
Independence activists such
as Papua Council Presidium representative
Franzalbert Joku are convinced that Australia
used its influence to prevent West Papuans
from taking part in this year's Pacific Islands
Forum in Nauru.
Mr Rumbiak concurred with that
view.
"You see what happened
in Nauru recently," he said.
"Nauru and Vanuatu had
been very supportive (of the West Papuan cause).
After the visit of former president Abdurruhman
Wahid to Australia, that changed."
Mr Rumbiak acknowledged that
the Australian Government had raised the issue
of human rights abuses but said that this
was not enough.
"The Australian Government
has got to make sure that the repression measures
now taken by Jakarta towards West Papua have
to be stopped immediately," he said.
Mr Rumbiak said human rights
violations in Irian Jaya go right back to
1969 and the UN-supervised "Act of Free
Choice" which approved the incorporation
of the former Dutch colony into
Indonesia.
It has long been claimed that
the 1025 men selected to vote on behalf of
an indigenous population of 800,000 were coerced
into accepting integration.
"The 1969 Act of Free Choice
was fraudulent and false," he said.
"We proved this by interviewing
and documenting people involved.
They were saying they were coerced. Basically
they were put in camps, picked up by the Indonesian
officials, many of them were illiterate and
many of them were not Papuans. There was a
lot of intimidation. Some were threatened
with death."
Mr Rumbiak said since then Indonesian
forces have operated within a culture of impunity
with personnel committing abuses usually escaping
justice.
He cites as an example an Els-Ham
report into military actions around the Freeport
mine in 1994-95 which found there had been
16 summary executions.
These incidents had been verified
by Komnas Ham, the official Indonesian human
rights agency, but only one low-ranked officer
had been convicted in relation to these killings.
Mr Rumbiak is also critical
of the heavy involvement by the Indonesian
military in the local economy and said generals
had become rich through mining and timber
ventures.
He also pointed to heavily military
protection for controversial foreign concerns,
particularly the massive Freeport mine.
He said an Els-Ham investigation
had revealed that Freeport employed hundreds
of military personnel, including troops from
Kopassus, Indonesia's feared special forces.
Received from Joyo Indonesian
News
Jayapura, 5 October 2001
APPEAL BY SIX RELIGIOUS LEADERS
IN PAPUA
[Summary only]
Statement by:
Rev. Herman Saud, chair of the
Synod of the GKI
Rev. John Gobay, chair of Synod of GKII
Mgr Leo Laba Ladjar OFM, Bishop of Jayapura,
Rev. S Sofyan Yoman, secretary general of
the Union of Baptist
Churches in Irian Jaya
Drs H Zubeir D, Hussein, chair of the Muslim
Council of Irian Jaya,
Rev. Mestian Towolom, chair of the Synod of
GIDI
We ask the forgiveness of the
people because we who are called
upon to carry out a humanitarian mission have
again failed to
protect human dignity and life and have been
unable to prevent the
use of violence in the course of expressing
opinions or handling
problems that have arisen in our beloved land.
We affirm that we
will continue to fight for the interests of
the victims to the
best of our ability.
Acts of violence are become
a normal state of affairs in various
parts of Papua and have led us to fear that
more violence could
happen. The following are some of the incidents
that have occurred
recently:
1. The attack on 13 June 2001
in Wondoboi, Wasior sub-district,
Manokwari, when five members of Brimob and
one civilian were
killed at a plantation, CV Vatika Papuana
Perkasa, by a group of
armed men who the police allege were from
the TPN/OPM. Following
that incident, the police force conducted
a large-scale operation
against the population, resulting in the arbitrary
arrest and
torture of at least 16 employees of the plantation,
maltreatment
of members of the general public, the murder
of at least six
persons, internal displacement of villagers
from at least three
villages, the burning down and destruction
of at least 51 houses,
the disappearance of at least seven people
and the sealing off of
Wondama up to the present day.
2. The kidnap in Nengke village,
Pantai Timur sub-district,
Jayapura district on 25 June of Hubertus Wresman
by a group of
masked, armed men, believed by the local people
to have been
members of Kopassus, the army's elite corps.
The case was raised
with the military commander of the Trikora
military command who
conducted a joint investigation with the police
and the GKI Synod.
However, witnesses of the kidnap were unable
to identify the
perpetrators, following which members of the
GKI Synod and the
Director of ELS-HAM were accused of vilifying
the reputation of
Kopassus. But the fact is that nothing is
known to this day about
the whereabouts of the kidnapped man.
3. A dispute and fight between
members of the TNI's 611 infantry
battalion and members of Brimob in Serui,
Yapen-Waropen on 23
August which resulted in the death of two
TNI members and injuries
to several others.
4. The discovery in Kali Maro,
Merauke district of two bodies on
12 September which were identified as Willem
Onde and Yohanes
Tumin, leaders of the TPN/OPM in Merauke.
This led to feelings of
uncertainty and fear among the people because
the security forces
have said nothing about how these deaths occurred.
5. An attack on 17 September
by members of TPN/OPM in Pantai
Timur, Jayapura district on six persons engaged
in survey work for
the company, PT Salaki, one of whom was killed
while the other
five were injured.
6. An attack on 23 September
by members of TPN/OPM on a
TNI/Kostrad post in the vicinity of transmigration
site SP-7
Bonggo, Jayapura district, during which two
soldiers were killed ,
four were gravely injured and several transmigrants
were taken
hostage. One TPN/OPM member was killed during
the attack.
Following this incident, troops from the regional
military command
launched military operations against the TPN/OPM
group involved.
7. An attack on the DPRD (local
assembly) building in Serui,
Yapen-Warpen district on 23 September by hundreds
of people,
following an act of robbery and maltreatment
against local people
who were travelling on a boat from Serui to
Dawai.
8. An attack on 28 September
on military and police installations
in Ilaga, Puncak Jaya district by members
of TPN/OPM, fllowing
which the security forces conducted a counter
attack against the
TPN/OPM. It has not been possible to investigate
the situation in
the area following this incident because of
its remoteness and
because of very poor communications.
This series of incidents suggests
that violence is not incidental,
that there is a systematic and planned cycle
of violence, which
could go on without end. This cycle of attack
and reprisal has had
the following consequences:
1. Deaths and serious injuries
for members of the TPN/OPM and the
security forces, but even more so among the
ordinary people who have been
caught in between the two conflicting, armed
forces.
2. Internal displacement of
people, fleeing their villages in
search of safety after clashes or as the result
of operations launched
against the civilian population.
4. A blackout on efforts to
discover the facts, causing confusion
among the people and a lack of attention by
those in authority or the
general public to the needs of the victims.
Moreover, efforts by members of
the several religious groups and humanitarian
workers have been accused of
distorting the facts and besmirching reputations.
5. Incalculable material losses
have been sustained by people on
all sides.
The things we have listed above
are nothing new for us as
religious leaders and we have spoken about
such things repeatedly
in the past. Nevertheless, we once again wish
to state the following:
1. We call for an end to acts
of violence by the TPN/OPM and the
security forces - the army and police - in
view of the fact that
innocent people are the ones who suffer.
2. We call on the security forces
and the TPN/OPM to pursue the
path of dialogue, using the good offices of
a third party trusted
by both sides and to use the law to settle
the conflict between
them.
3. We call for the setting up
of a special investigation
commission on human rights, a KPP-HAM, by
the the National Human
Rights commission to carry out thorough investigations
to
establish the facts in cases where human rights
abuses are thought
to have taken place so that the cases can
be handled in accordance
with the law.
4. Full access to conflict areas
that have been sealed off to
enable humanitarian intervention by NGOs or
religious bodies to
help the victims, to provide emergency assistance
and counsel the
families of the victims.
5. We called on the police to
stop interrogating leaders of the
GKI Synod and ELS-HAM in connection with the
incident in Betaf.
6. We call on all sides to stop
using these acts of violence for
economic or political interests because this
only further
intensifies the sufferings of the victims
of violence.
7. We call on all sections of
the media, print as well as
electronic, to report the facts in full, so
as to serve the
interests of people who are the victims of
all these incidents.
Jayapura, 5 October 2001
Indonesia: Irian Jaya HIV/AIDS
Concerns
Australian Boradcasting Corporation
October 5, 2001
Analysis
By Mark Bowling
In the world's fourth most populous
nation - Indonesia - health officials
admit that with the country's ongoing political
and economic strife, little
has been done to combat the rapid spread of
HIV/AIDS.
Treatment is expensive, and
usually out of reach of common people, those
most
at risk of contracting the disease.
The capital, Jakarta, has the
highest rate of AIDS/HIV contraction. But
perhaps surprisingly it's Indonesia's most
far-flung province where HIV is
spreading at the most alarming rate.
Also known as Papua Province,
Irian Jaya is best known for its remote tribes.
Some which still practice stone-age traditions.
But health officials fear that
rapid contact with the outside world has
brought with it a menace.
A decade ago there were no recorded
cases of HIV/AIDS. This year there are
more than 500 cases so far.
It's not just that health officials
are more aware of the problem, and now
keep close records.
Djoko Soegianto, head of Indonesia's
AIDS program says it's no coincidence a
rapid increase in the number of AIDS/HIV cases
corresponds with the start up
of new mining and fishing ventures, with workers
coming from other provinces,
or from overseas.
"..the explosion will come
very soon if we do not do anything for prevention.
And then of course we need very very strong
support not only from the
government also from the non-government organization
and also from donor
agencies."
Health workers in Irian Jaya
blame foreign fishermen for introducing the
virus. It's now spreading rapidly.
The spread is being blamed on
Papua's free-wheeling sex industry. The town
of
Merauke, which is a base for visiting Thai
fishermen has the highest
incidence: the latest figures show 26.5% of
sex workers have tested HIV
positive.
There's little aids awareness.
One of the difficulties is convincing Papuan
men to wear condoms.
But most government funding
is now being spent on sex education; convincing
young Papuans to use condoms every time they
have sex.
Djoko Soegianto head of national
aids program "we started as a pilot project
in Merauke and Sorong. And then we adopted
the system from Thailand that
already successful on 100% condom use programme
there. If we don't focusing
on the targeted programme for HIV/AIDS prevention
and control, so there will
be disaster."
Some of those with AIDS end
up in the public hospital in Irian Jaya's
capital, Jayapura.
With most money spent on education
campaigns, health officials admit they
don't have the funds to buy drugs for treatment.
There's an urgent need for
international help.
Even Irian Jaya's remote highland
communities, are now considered vulnerable,
because of occasional visits by tribesmen
to sex workers in the towns and
cities.
also: New York Times, October
5, 2001: Poorly Prepared Asian Countries Warned
of AIDS Epidemic
[excerpt: In Jakarta, Indonesia, 18 percent
of women who work
in massage parlors and 40 percent of intravenous
drug users at
treatment centers are infected.]
TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights
Campaign
Irianese women targeted in
HIV/AIDS campaign
Jakarta Post
September 30, 2001
By Simon Sinaga
TIMIKA, Irian Jaya (JP): In
1985, a missionary's prediction about the
spread
of HIV/AIDS, then an alien disease in Indonesia's
far-flung province, caused
people in Irian Jaya to shrink in fear.
The missionary said that in
the Baliem Valley at the highlands of Wamena,
there would be many deaths and orphaned children
once the deadly HIV virus
infected people in that area.
Now, more than one-and-a-half
decades later, the missionary's concern has
proven not that far-fetched. Irian Jaya has
the highest rate of HIV/AIDS in
the country.
In fact, "the curve of
HIV spread here follows that of Papua New
Guinea or
the African curve; it has reached an alarming
level," said Dr. Paul
Crouch-Chivers of AEA, who is working for
mining company PT Freeport
Indonesia (PTFI).
Those who have contracted HIV
are mostly men in their productive years from
20 to 39 years of age and sex workers. But
military personnel, government
employees and a Catholic priest have also
been infected by the unbeatable
virus.
As of June this year, official
figures showed 599 people had contracted the
HIV virus, 224 of whom had developed full-blown
AIDS. More than half of them
have died.
The number of people infected
with HIV/AIDS in Indonesia has reached 1,956
overall, meaning Irian Jaya's figures make
up almost 30 percent of the
figure.
There has been no documentation
about the origin of HIV virus infection in
the easternmost island of Indonesia. Local
communities used to believe, and
some people still do, that it was introduced
by outsiders.
Doctors believe that the disease
was first contracted in Irian Jaya through
Thai fishermen docking in Merauke, the country's
and province's southernmost
port.
The first case of HIV infection
was officially reported in Merauke in 1992.
Two years later the first AIDS patient was
also identified in Merauke. Last
year, one case of HIV infection was found
almost every day, with Merauke now
making up more than half of the HIV/AIDS cases
in Irian Jaya.
Heterosexual intercourse has
been the main means of the spread of HIV.
"In Merauke, HIV cases
are mostly detected among people who keep
on changing
sex partners," said Fransisca Nuhunayan,
a campaigner for Santo Antonius
Foundation (YASANTO) that provides counseling
and support to HIV/AIDS
patients.
HIV transmission in Irian Jaya,
however, is part of a web of complexities.
In mining communities in Timika,
the presence of many lonely and unattached
miners has helped sustain the availability
of commercial sex workers. These
miners mostly come down to Timika over the
weekend for various purposes
including seeking prostitutes.
Crouch-Chivers said while the
HIV epidemic in Timika was in the early stages
"the annual incidence rate would continue
to increase unless there were
significant changes in sexual behavior by
using condoms or limiting the
number of partners."
Part of the speed of transmission
can be attributed to the Irianese way of
life. Doctors, health officials and NGO workers
say the male members of a
number of local communities still practice
free sexual relations such as
exchanging wives, passing on widows to younger
brothers and acquiring new
partners.
They say the potential for transmission
during tattooing, practiced by many
locals, cannot be underestimated. There is
also the habit of having sex
without foreplay that can easily injure genitals.
In Timika, for example, more
than two thirds of the 111 HIV cases are found
among the Irianese. By the end of this year,
the number is likely to be
confirmed at 200, said health officials.
Women
Officials, doctors and activists
said special attention needed to be directed
at mothers. Dr. Crouch-Chivers said that in
Timika, for example, there was
the potential for infection during pregnancy
and blood transfusion. "I am
sure we will start to see infected new-born
babies in the future."
Indeed, surveys by Irian Jaya
health agency show that sexual harassment
and
ill treatment of wives are still rampant among
the local population in Irian
Jaya villages and towns. They come in the
form of verbal attacks, forced
sexual activity and having sex with other
women with the wives' knowledge.
"Some of the women still
have sexual intercourse with their husbands
although
they know that their husbands are infected,"
said Dr. Gunawan Ingkokusumo, a
senior member of staff of a health agency
in Jayapura.
Much can be learned in the efforts
to curb HIV spread in Irian Jaya by
studying similar challenges in other countries.
More people, including the private
sector, the government and NGO activists
are now involved in programs and campaigns
to raise awareness and prevent the
wider spread of HIV. The media have also tried
to attract the attention of
the local population and migrant workers by
reporting on HIV/AIDS issues in
the news and by organizing seminars.
In Merauke, YASANTO has played
a leading role in awakening the awareness
of
the community to the danger of HIV/AIDS.
But Fransisca said it takes
more than just knowledge to halt the spread.
The
foundation has helped develop small businesses
in Merauke communities to
improve the people's wellbeing, thereby increasing
awareness of health
issues.
The small business program of
YASANTO has given special attention to mothers
and women in their productive age. "By
improving the welfare of women, we
improve the welfare of their families,"
said Fransisca.
Crouch-Chivers said his company's
had incorporated the sexually transmitted
diseases (STD) program from 1995. "The
virus is transmitted easily when a
person has unprotected intercourse, especially
when there is also coexisting
STD such as syphilis or gonorrhea."
Since the ready availability
of sex workers has become a major attraction
of
Timika, PTFI's program has reached out to
commercial sex workers, bars and
discos.
This approach has enabled widespread
dissemination of information and
condoms. The doctor cautioned, however, that
while awareness and knowledge of
prevention and the use of condoms has increased,
the situation has yet to
improve.
He said more people knew they
had to use condoms for safe sex with sex
workers but they tended to forget during sex.
Providing HIV/AIDS drugs for
infected people is not feasible in the near
future due to the steep costs.
Officials and doctors said sex
education about the dangers of HIV/AIDS would
take place effectively among families and
school-aged children.
Health official Ingkokusumo
has also called on the tribal foundations
and
local government to help with the campaign.
Ingkokusumo said the government
and local foundations needed to act promptly
to curb the fast-growing sex commerce in parts
of Irian Jaya, through the use
of condoms in red-light districts.
The doctor, who completed his
masters degree in medical anthropology with
a
research on the sexual behavior of Dani men
in Wamena, said that the
authorities could, for example, ban the sexual
activity that took place in
the Honai shelter house in Wamena.
He said the HIV/AIDS problem
in Irian Jaya was similar to a fire that ignited
in a dry forest.
"If we are not alert to
the fire, it will spread and scorch a big
part of the
human resources needed to build this province.
The concern (of the
missionary) that villages will be ravaged
due to HIV/AIDS may actually come
true."
TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights
Campaign
BIG TENSION IN RANSIKI -
ICRA INTERNATIONAL WITNESS OF INTIMIDATION
Survey of Icra - International
Commission for the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples - based in Paris
We just come back from Ransiki.
The situation is very very bad there.
We went there one week ago to
make a enquiry about the conflict in
Wasior. At mid day we went to the beach to
discuss with people. We came
back on the main road to take a taxi and we
saw one Papua being beaten
by two Brimob. We hide directly in a house.
The Brimob beat him very
strongly with his foot. He threat the Papuan
with his automatic gun. He
beats him on his testicles many times after
he used
his butt to beat him after the Papuan crawled
on the soil. It was
horrible.
Many times since we are working
on Papua struggle we heared this story
but when you see it, you realize the amazing
struggle of Papuan People
and the atrocities of Indonesian soldiers.
We hide in the house during
one hour. We left by the back door but one
javanese saw us. He tries to
follow us by taxi but we disappeared throught
the forest and cacao
plantation thank to clever Papua.
We came back several days after.
The familly told us that one man called
Awon has been catched by the police three
hours after we left
Ransiki. He is in big trouble. His wife and
his 5 children are
exhausted.
In Ransiki, the situation is
untenable since wednesday. They used
intimidation every day like we saw. Brimob
check every house to see if
there are no people without identity card
otherwise they put them in
jail and beat them.
Brimob raped two children several
times. When the parents take them back
they beat them also. One man of 20 year has
been beaten seriously with
the butt.
Please help Papua People there.
Brimob from Mollucu are very dangerous
people.
More information will follow
but we can't say now.
Lauxon Warloya
Icra International
The Independence Of West
Papua Is Inevitable And Non-Negotiable
from: John E. Somer, General
TPN
OPM Supreme Commander
Email: jsopm@hotmail.com
Organisasi Papua Merdeka
(OPM)
Free Papua Movement (FPM)
Public Statement
August 21, 2001
The Organisasi Papua Merdeka
(OPM) or Free Papua Movement (FPM)
has been the sole widely representative body
for the independence
aspirations of the people of West Papua all
through the past 38
years of our struggle. After carefully watching
recent regional
and international political changes, the OPM
feels it is necessary
to make our position clear in regard to what
is happening now in
Indonesia and the Pacific region in relation
to the issue of the
people of West Papua and their struggle for
independence. This is
to ensure there is no confusion by the regional
and international
community.
West Papua occupies a strategic
position between Asia and the
Pacific regions and between Muslim and Christian
dominated
societies. West Papua's population, natural
resources, land mass
and strategic geographical position make us
a powerful player in
the region. It is our belief that the process
of resolution of
independence for West Papua has the potential
to either stabilize
or destabilize the region. We see that changes
in the
international and regional context following
the end of the cold
war and since means West Papua independence
is inevitable. This
changing context led the OPM to see it is
possible to solve the
problem of West Papua independence without
violence. But we want
to be clear that our peoples' aspiration for
independence is
something that will not die. We are therefore
also ready to fight
to the last man if necessary to ensure we
secure justice and
independence for West Papua.
The OPM would like to thank
Nauru for highlighting the
disadvantage of West Papuan factions during
the recent Pacific
Islands Forum. Many of us don't see this disadvantage
and your
criticism is therefore constructive because
it made us look at
ourselves. It is the first time one of our
neighbors in the
Pacific talk honestly about this issue. However,
we see the
factions that exist in our liberation movement
as something that
is common to all liberation movements. It
is an internal matter
for us to resolve. We are united in our aspiration
for
independence.
At the same time, we are very
sorry because you have also shown
Nauru is not genuine in your support for justice
and
self-determination for West Papuan people;
it seems you have
interest to gain part of our land for yourselves.
600,000 West
Papuans have already sacrificed their lives
for our land during
the liberation struggle; they died for the
land of West Papua. So
you must be clear, the OPM will never allow
any part of our land
to be sold.
The revelation of your true
motivation in supporting us has caused us
to lose trust that our Pacific neighbors have
genuine interest in our struggle for justice.
It means we are suspicious that you and our
other neighbors in the Pacific can be easily
manipulated by colonial interests. If you
value peace and stability in our region, we
urge you to look at your self when you support
colonial interests against the interests people
of West Papua.
In response to Mrs. Megawati
Sukarno Putri's statements on
attaining office as Indonesia's 5th President
that independence
will not be tolerated for West Papua, we would
like to point out:
- -· Our stand is very
clear and that is that independence for West
Papua is not negotiable, so it is a waste
of time talking about
autonomy. West Papua people's aspiration for
independence will not
die and our 65,000 fighters are ready to fight
to the last man.
- -· We do not accept
your apology without independence. To us it
is
just another lie in a long line of lies, starting
with the
so-called Act of Free Choice and continuing
through almost 40
years of brutal oppression of our people.
It is time to stop
telling lies to the international community
about the reality.
- -· Mrs. Megawati has
been the leader of the Democracy Movement
in
Indonesia and many people believed in her
in the past 10 years.
Her recent statements show she is not genuine
and that she is
contradicting the principles of the democracy
movement in
Indonesia. Her presidency will not last long.
Indonesia today is not the same
as the Indonesia of yesterday. The
people of Indonesia want peace, justice and
democracy. To maintain
a large unitary state of Indonesia you need
a large military to
contain it, and a military state does not
allow democracy.
Democracy can only exist if the Indonesia
state is modified which
will allow the military to be put back to
the barrack. The
independence of West Papua is therefore in
the best interests of
Indonesian democracy.
John Howard's statement in support
of maintaining the unitary
state of Indonesia during his recent visit
to Indonesia (which he
chose against attending the Pacific Islands
Forum) is interference
in the domestic affairs of another state.
He should realize that
such arrogance puts innocent Australians in
danger. Australia
continues to defend its own interests as though
Indonesia is the
same as before. The reality is that Indonesia
is changing and
Australia should accept this and formulate
new foreign policy
accordingly.
Australians fought and died
in this region in WWII to defend
freedom and democracy against fascism. Why
then do you continue to
support a fascist military state? West Papuans
made a contribution
in defending Australia in WWII; Australia
should compensate us
with political will to defend our right to
freedom and justice.
West Papuan people have survived
almost 40 years of oppressive and
brutal Indonesian colonialism. We have suffered
too long, but we
have been patient and continue to look broadly
to ensure peace and
stability for our region. We want to solve
the issue of
independence for West Papua with peace and
dialogue, but these
kinds of attitudes can push us to ignore the
common regional
interests and to pursue our aspiration for
independence through
whatever means we can. Thank you.
John E. Somer, General TPN
OPM Supreme Commander
Email: jsopm@hotmail.com
THIRTY-SECOND PACIFIC ISLANDS
FORUM
from AWPA
THIRTY-SECOND PACIFIC ISLANDS
FORUM
Republic of Nauru
16 - 18 August 2001
FORUM COMMUNIQUÉ
Regional Security
17. The Forum welcomed the progress
on reaching an agreed basis for a
comprehensive political settlement in Bougainville.
18. The Forum welcomed the holding
of elections in Fiji commencing on 25
August 2001.
19. The Forum expressed its
support for the efforts of the Solomon Islands'
Government and people, and the work of the
International Peace Monitoring
Team in the Solomon Islands and welcomed the
decision to hold elections
later this year.
20. Forum Leaders expressed
continuing concern about violence and loss
of
life in the Indonesian province of Irian Jaya
(West Papua). They encouraged
the Indonesian Government, the sovereign authority,
to ensure that the
voices of all parties in the province are
heard in order to achieve a
peaceful resolution of their differences.
Forum Leaders welcomed the recent
presentation of special autonomy proposals
to Indonesia's Parliament. They
also urged all parties to protect and uphold
the human rights of all
residents in Irian Jaya (West Papua). Forum
Leaders agreed to follow closely
developments in the province.
________________________________
Australia West Papua Association, Sydney
PO BOX 65
Millers Point
Australia 2000
Tele/fax 61.2. 99601698
_________________________________
August 15, 2001 - Franzalbert
Joko Interview
SBS TV (Dateline Program)
Tomorrow, the representatives
of 16 nations will gather in Nauru for this
year`s Pacific Islands Forum. But missing
from the guest list will be representatives
from West Papua - an Indonesian province seeking
independence. Although the West Papuans were
given entree last year, this time around,
host nation Nauru has told them they are not
welcome. Indonesia, on the other hand, is
joining the Forum for the first time. I spoke
earlier with Franzalbert Joku of the Papua
Presidium Council.
JANA WENDT: Mr Joko, welcome
to Dateline. Why do you believe that your
representatives have been barred from the
South Pacific Forum?
FRANZALBERT JOKU, WEST PAPUAN
INDEPENDENCE LEADER: Jana, it was an event
that was not unanticipated. Ever since we
made it to Tarawa, the forum last in Kiribati,
we more orless half expected that we would
run into some turbulent waters, because Australia
and other larger countries made it known openly
that we were not welcome there, and the issue
was sensitive, given the close relations of
Australia and other countries such as my own,
Papua New Guinea have with Indonesia. Indonesia
also from the day announcement was made that
it was being allowed in as a post-forum dialogue
partner, statements to that effect were also
distributed through their embassies opposing
West Papuan
participation at the forum.
JANA WENDT: Are you saying that
Australia has been lobbying other member
nations to exclude you?
FRANZALBERT JOKU: That is not
a new event, Jana. For the past 30 years or
so, successive Australian governments have
been uncomfortable with the West Papuan independence
struggle for regional and stability consideration.
So we are not surprised that this eventuated.
JANA WENDT: Well, let me just
say that a spokesman for Foreign Minister
Downer has said that Australia has had no
contact with Nauru, either on a governmental
or a diplomatic level and that Australia has
not been lobbying. What do you say?
FRANZALBERT JOKU: I don't expect
him to say anything else. Given the sensitive
nature of the issue at hand and that is the
standard diplomatic line to take. And I accept
that.
JANA WENDT: And yet last year,
after the conclusion of the forum, you were
full of praise, were you not, for Australia?
FRANZALBERT JOKU: Because Australia
allowed the consensus will to emerge and eventually
being incorporated into the official communique,
even though Australia had very strong reservations
about its inclusion, inclusion of a position
statement by Pacific Islands Forum.
JANA WENDT: So Mr Joko, what's
changed then between last year and this year
to harden Australia's attitude?
FRANZALBERT JOKU: Nothing has
changed. I think what has happened is that
there has beena lot of pressure, I know from
Indonesia on Australian Government because
if you recall, after the Tarawa Forum, accusations
were levelled from Jakarta at Australia, even
though they probably knew that Australia didn't
quite support the West Papuan issue being
discussed, and let alone being included in
the forum communique. But Indonesia put the
blame squarely on Australia. And I think Australia
had to find a way to crawl out of that kind
of uncomfortable position in my view.
JANA WENDT: The issue of your
being excluded from the forum, the reason
that is being given by the president of Nauru
is that your people are bitterly divided and
he says that you need to get your own house
in order. How do you respond to that?
FRANZALBERT JOKU: Jana, this
is the same old line which has been used by
Indonesia, by Australia and various other
countries to dampen the rising nationalism
in West Papua. I'm not surprised that the
same line has been used. And incidentally,
the statement by President Rene Harris - At
first glance, I thought it came from Canberra
because it's almost word for word with the
argument Prime Minister Howard advanced at
the leaders retreat and later on at the formal
session of the forum itself, arguing that
West Papuans were not worth listening to,
were bitterly divided and so on. So we're
not surprised what has happened and we think
we know where it came from.
JANA WENDT: Mr Joko, the forum
kicks off tomorrow. Indonesia will have status
there. You have no voice. That's a severe
setback, isn't it?
FRANZALBERT JOKU: If you look
at it that way. But for us, the forum is only
part of a broader process to take up our issue.
Our faith is not going to be decided at Nauru,
or at any other forum. We wanted to give,
and still do, to give opportunity for leaders
and countries of this region to have a say
and contribute towards finding a sustainable
solution to the West Papuan problem. But forum
is not everything. If the leaders in this
country, governments in this region are not
going to listen to our pleas for help, then
we will take the West Papuan issue further
afield, and hopefully there will be other
parties who may be willing to listen to us.
JANA WENDT: Franzalbert Joko,
we must leave it there. Thank you very much
for your time tonight.
FRANZALBERT JOKU: It's a privilege
talking to you Jana and hope to see you soon.
________________________________
Australia West Papua Association, Sydney
PO BOX 65
Millers Point
Australia 2000
Tele/fax 61.2. 99601698
_________________________________
http://www.zulenet.com/AWPA/wpglue.html
Brimob troops will not be
withdrawn
Received from ELS-HAM, Jayapura,
14 August 2001
Jayapura: The two companies
of Brimob troops which were brought into
Manokwari following the killing of five Brimob
men will not be withdrawn
until those responsible for the killings have
been apprehended.
Commissionder Zulkifli AR, head of public
relations of the police force in
Irian Jaya, insisted that the Brimob troops
are not in any way disturbing
law and order in Wasior.
He blamed 'irresponsible elements'
for inciting people in Wasior to flee
their homes.
He was speaking in response
to a call (for Brimob troops to be withdrawn)
made by Lukas Sabarofek, member of the Indonesian
parliament, the DPR,
during a meeting with the regional assembly
in Jayapura. (kor)
WEST PAPUA APPEALS FOR HELP
10 August 2001
PRESIDIUM DEWAN PAPUA
International Relations
Post Box 4609 Phone/Fax: +675 3230832
Boroko NCD Phone: +675 3112184
Papua New Guinea E-mail: jokuf@yahoo.com
In accordance with the Resolution
of the Second Papuan People's Congress
2000, which stipulated that peaceful endeavours
be employed in the
pursuit of a just and sustainable solution
to the political conflict in
West Papua, the Papua Council Presidium hereby
appeals for financial
assistance to meet the cost of mounting an
international legal challenge
to determine the political status of West
Papua.
The West Papua case is a question of international
law and a major human
rights problem that needs to be resolved urgently
and conclusively. The
persistent abuse of human rights in West Papua
by Indonesia is an issue
that must concern all who cherish the basic
values of decent and
democratic societies.
As part of our strategy, the Council has resolved
to pursue legal
challenges in all appropriate venues in its
quest for self-determination
and the cessation of human rights violations
in West Papua. The Council
has engaged the services of a leading Australian
international lawyer,
Professor Sam Blay, of the University of Technology,
Sydney, to lead a
team of consultants well versed in international
conflict resolution.
Since the team has commenced
work, the Council would be grateful if all
financial contributions could be remitted
to the following account name:
"The West Papuan Benevolent
Cultural and Self-Help Association Limited",
PO Box 128 Kings Cross, NSW 1340, Australia.
ANZ Bank, Eastgardens, NSW,
Australia. Account number: 012-201 1007 39427.
All contributions will be fully
receipted and individually acknowledged.
On behalf of the Papua Council
Presidium
(signed)
Franzalbert Joku
Moderator
International Relations
*************************************************************
OTTIS SIMOPIAREF
Van Uvenweg 134-I
6707 BH Wageningen
The Netherlands
Ph.: +31.6.25575496 (The Netherlands)
+49.177.5664926 (Germany)
Email: osimopiaref@netscape.net
http://www.koteka.net
FREE WEST PAPUA from the Indonesian Occupation
*************************************************************
West Papua separatists prepare
to fight in court
Sydney Morning Herald, 9 August 2001
by Hamish McDonald
A Sydney law professor will
head an international study into whether
there are grounds for a legal challenge to
the incorporation of
Western New Guinea into Indonesia in the 1960s.
Professor Sam Blay, a specialist in international
law at the
University of Technology, Sydney, has been
engaged by the
pro-independence Papuan Council Presidium
in what is now the
Indonesian province of Irian Jaya, called
West Papua by its
separatist movement.
The Netherlands, as the former
colonial power, as well as the United
States and Australia as interested parties
that exercised influence
at the time, may be challenged in international
courts to resume
responsibility. Under heavy pressure from
the US, The Netherlands
reluctantly handed over the territory to Indonesia
in 1963 after a
brief United Nations interregnum. In 1969
the UN accepted an "act of
free choice", consisting of a vote by
a
panel of 1,000 representatives effectively
chosen by Indonesian
intelligence operatives.
Speaking in Sydney yesterday,
the Presidium's international spokesman,
Franzalbert Joku, said the Papuan body believed
it had a strong case
to overturn the legal base of Indonesian rule.Self-determination
was a
legal right premised on freedom of choice
and a
state of self-government advanced enough to
make a responsible choice,
and should be exercised through democratic
processes based on
universal adult suffrage. Failure to meet
these requirements, and the
abuses and intimidation surrounding the 1969
process, rendered the act
of free choice invalid, Mr Joku said.
Ghanaian-born Professor Blay,
formerly dean of law at the University
of Tasmania, is an expert in the law of self-determination
with long
experience in Australia, Germany and the US.
He will engage a team of
lawyers from The Netherlands, Indonesia and
other countries. He said
the aim would be to use the law to get UN
member nations to address
the case. This could be, for example, by seeking
a declaration from a
Dutch court that Dutch conduct before decolonisation
amounted to
dereliction of duty, or to get the UN General
Assembly to seek an
advisory opinion from the International Court
of Justice in The Hague.
"Without the law, the West Papuans have
no basis to argue a case," he
said.
The Papuans, meanwhile, bitterly
condemned the revocation of visas by
the Nauru Government to their delegates, preventing
them appearing at
next week's Pacific Islands Forum meeting
on the tiny island nation.
Several Papuan delegates attended last year's
forum in Kiribati. Mr
Joku accused the Australian Government of
lobbying against the Papuan
presence at the forum. "We believe it
is a case of a larger neighbour
twisting the arm of a smaller country to conform
to the wishes of the
big power in the region." Indonesia will
make its first appearance at
the forum as a new "dialogue partner".
(SMH 9/8/01)
Papua Post, 28 July 2001
Abepura case returned to Komnas HAM
Attorney-General's office says: documents
incomplete
(Summary)
The Attorney-General's office
has returned documents relating to the
Abepura case to the National Human Rights
Commission because it says the
documents are incomplete. The case relates
to an incident in Abepura, on
the outskirts of Jayapura, when police raided
student hostels. Two people
were killed during and after the raids. (Komnas
HAM set up a special
investigation team under Albert Hasibuan which
conducted an investigation
into the case during which it encountered
many obstructions from the police
and the Jayapura office of the Juatice and
Human Rights Ministry. Komnas
HAM hopes that this will be the first case
to be tried before Indonesia's
permanent human rights court sitting in Makassar,
having identified this as
a case of gross human rights violations. The
Komnas HAM team also named a
number of senior and middile-ranking police
office who should be brought to
account for the atrocities.)
The Attorney General's office
has given Komnas HAM thirty days in which
to
complete the dossier. This includes producing
material of a formal,
legalistic nature as well as a detailed chronology
of the incident.
The Attorney General's decision
means that Komnas HAM will need to devote
more time to complying with the AG's request.
[Comment: The Abepura investigation
is considered as being a test case for
the effectiveness of the Human Rights Law
of 2000, as senior officers could
face indictment, possibily bringing the police
force as such into
disrepute. The police force, in particular
Brimob, is in the forefront of
violations in West Papua. Much will depend
now on who is appointed attorney
general in Megawati's cabinet, the composition
of which is expected to be
announced on Wednesday. TAPOL]
THE PROSPECTS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
IN INDONESIA
TAPOL, the Indonesia Human
Rights Campaign
23 July 2001
The installation today of Megawati
Sukarnoputri as president of Indonesia
confronts civil society and the human rights
community in Indonesia with new
challenges, after two wasted years under the
presidency of Wahid Abdurrahman.
Whatever his intentions when
he accepted his election as president in October
1999, Wahid soon proved incapable of achieving
anything in advancing the
programme of reformasi that was supposed to
be the hallmark of his government.
This was because the forces rallied against
him, the well-entrenched 'New
Order' elements as well as the armed forces,
were determined to sabotage such
efforts.
For months before he was deposed,
activists were warning that the encirclement
tactics used against him were shaping up into
a coup d'etat. The former
president was effective only during his first
few months in office when he
sacked senior army officers, most notably
General Wiranto, the TNI
commander-in-chief who was responsible for
the disastrous events in September
1999 in East Timor. By the middle of 2000,
it was evident that Wahid was
losing the political battle against the old
forces. As the offensive against him
escalated, his own erratic handling of the
crisis damaged his reputation as
someone who was able to run the country and
resulted in a yawning vacuum at
the heart of government.
Reformasi virtually became a
dead letter and all efforts to bring the men
responsible for past violations of human rights
and crimes against humanity
were frustrated by the legislature and by
the executive's failure to overhaul
the judiciary, in particular the judges and
the public prosecutors office.
Although the armed forces only occupies 38
seats in the People's Assembly,
they were able to block any serious reform
measures.
The former president became
the target of a virulent hate campaign in
the free
press, one of the most important achievements
of the post-Suharto era. This
reflects the fact that most of the print media
is owned by former Suharto
cronies who know that substantial reform measures
will jeopardise their
vested interests. Not only was Wahid portrayed
as being incompetent and corrupt but
also as the root cause of the country's economic
and political crisis.
The military had their own grievances
against the Wahid government.
Discredited by decades of human rights violations
and licking their wounds over their
defeat in East Timor, they reluctantly agreed
to take a back seat in political
and economic affairs, and began to speak as
if reform of the armed forces and
the end of their dwifungsi role was on their
agenda. But by the beginning of
2001, they had been able so effectively to
consolidate themselves internally
that they were in a position to strike back.
When he tried to reshuffle the
TNI leadership, they began to defy his orders,
rather timidly at first but by May,
they were engaged in open mutiny against their
supreme commander. The main
conflict was how to handle the opposition
forces in Aceh and West Papua where
the pressure for self-determination is strong,
and the need to end impunity.
While many human rights activists
and NGOs did what they could to support the
flagging efforts of the president, they too
were unable to turn back the tide
unleashed against him and were forced to stand
by helplessly as he was
unceremoniously dumped by forces whose commitment
to reformasi is zero.
Deteriorating human rights
There has been a marked deterioration
in the human rights situation in the
past year. Scores of people are now being
held as political prisoners in various
parts of the country. Far from repealing articles
in the Criminal Code that
criminalise legitimate political activities,
'hate-sowing' crimes and
accusations of rebellion are again being used
in the courts of law.
The level of killings in Aceh
has reached monstrous proportions. In his
efforts to accommodate his political foes,
the former president agreed to issue a
presidential instruction in April which provided
the armed forces with a
'legal umbrella' to conduct military operations,
ending all hope of a peaceful
solution there. Numerous acts of provocation,
widespread arrests and
kidnaps by the armed forces in West Papua
have led human rights activists there to warn
that West Papua could soon become a 'second
Aceh'. Regional conflicts continue
unabated and there are now more than a million
internally-displaced people in
Indonesia.
The commitment of Indonesia's
new president to reform remains to be seen.
Her
close ties with the military do not augur
well for the upholding of human
rights, for a peaceful solution to the conflicts
in West Papua and Aceh and
for the restoration of the rule of law. Far
from being able to take such an agenda
forward, she may soon find herself mired in
the same snake-pit of political
intrigue that brought her predecessor down.
The struggle for human rights in
Indonesia is likely to become even more difficult
in the months and years to
come.
Daan Yairus Ramar (51), head of
the Council of the Tribal Wondama Community,
died a few hours after being interrogated by
criminal investigation police office in Manokwari,
Iptu. Arif Satrio.
Medical personnel at the general
hospital in Manokwari where his body was taken
said that his body was covered in lacerations
and bruises and his nose was filled with clotted
blood. An activist from the legal aid NGO, the
LP3BH, confirmed this after a meeting with a
doctor as the hospital morgue.
The police insisted that the prisoner
was ill when he arrived in Manokwari from Nabire
and had a high fever at the time and had died
of 'natural causes'.
Told about the death of their
relative, members of the victims family went
to the hospital to claim the body but were prevented
from doing so by the police. A human rights
activist was also denied access to the morgue.
The hospital authorities were under orders from
the police not to permit members of the victim's
family to have access to the body.
Relatives of the victim, Bram
Ramar, Nico Marani, John Haurisa and retired
Mayor TNI AD Purn. Yomaki met with the police
in Monokwari. Bram Ramar later said the police
had asked them to sign a statement to the effect
that they would not raise any questions about
legal responsibility for the victim's death.
Once they had agreed to issue
such a statement, they were permitted to take
the body home for burial. The relatives of the
victim later said however that they would press
for legal responsibility for Daan Ramar's death.
At the time of his arrest by the police in South
Yapen, he was accompanied by his wife Amelia
Wosiri (45 ), three daughters Ina Ramar (19
), Ani Ramar (16 ), Sisera (10) amd two other
daughterss. They were initially held in South
Yapen Selatan and later transfered to Nabire
and then to Manokwari.
The victim arrived in Manokwari
on Thursday by ship aboard the KM Umsini (18/7:15.00
WIT) together with three other prisoners from
Nabire. They were all handcuffed. According
to a source at the Nabire police station, they
had all been heavily tortured.
An ELSHAM volunteer reported on
Saturday (21/7) that the wife and three daughters
of the victim, along with three children from
Yotam Aronggear, were transferred to Manokwari
under heavy guard by members of Brimob. They
had been held in custody in Yapen Waropen. since
15 July 2001. The transfer to Manokwari was
against the wishes of the mother and children
because they had nowhere to stay in Manokwari.
They would have preferred to go
home to Nabire but that was not possible either
because their home in Yotam Arongger had been
torched by members of brimob and all their possessions
had been destroyed. Meanwhile in Jayapura, another
West Papuan, Anton Runggamusi who was shot by
members of the police on 5 July 2001 died two
weeks later. His body was taken by members of
his family for burial on Saturday. Relatives
of the victims later went to police headquarters
in Jayapura to protest about what had happened
to the victim.
ELS-HAM LEMBAGA STUDI DAN ADVOKASI
HAK ASASI MANUSIA
Institute for Human Rigths Study and Advocacy
Jl. Kampus ISTP Padang Bulan Jayapura-PAPUA
BARAT
Telp/Facx. 62 (0)967-581600.
E-mail : elsham-irja@jayapura.wasantara.net.id
The director of ELSHAM, the Institute
for Human Rights Study and Advocacy, Jaya Yohanes
G, Bonay, has received several death threats
by phone recently.
On 18 July, he received a phone
call at his office. The caller said, 'You haven't
got much longer to live, Pak Bonay', and put
down the receiver. A similar call was received
by his wife at home. That caller had identified
himself as 'Marthen', and asked for Pak Bonay.
After being given the phone number of ELSHAM,
he phoned there and made the same threat.
Director Bonay said that ever
since the organisation had been getting reports
from the father of the victim about the kidnap
of Huberthus Wresman (26) of Takar village,
Betaf, he had been receiving a number of strange
phone calls but it was only on Wednesday that
the caller actually spoke to him in this way.
ELSHAM, the Institute for Human
Rights Study and Advocacy, Jayapura, issued
the following Urgent Action on Monday, 16 July
2001
IMPACT OF SWEEPINGS AND CLAMPDOWN
IN WASIOR, MANOKWARI, WEST PAPUA
"Thousands Flee, Kidnaps and Torture
Everywhere, Houses Torched, Woman Shot Dead
and Her Baby Wounded by Security Forces" Jayapura,
16 July 2001
Everything that ELSHAM feared
about the 'Sweeping and Clampdown Operation"
against the civilian population being conducted
by the police backed by the regional military
command has been borne out by events.
The security forces are not capable
of safeguarding the basic human rights of the
civilian population in Wasior, Ransiki, Kaimana
(Fak-Fak) and Nabire who are the targets of
this operation. As is known, the operation being
conducted by the security forces came in the
wake of an attack by 'an unidentified group'
on 13 June which resulted in the deaths of five
members of Brimob and a civilian in the village
of Wondibai, Wasior subdistrict, Manokwari.
ELSHAM has interviewed a victim
and a witness as well as church officials from
the subdistrict and also from Nabire regarding
the operation. YY (59), an elementary school
teacher, told ELSHAM that he and four others
were tortured on 17 June by members of Brimob
at police headquarters in Wasior. He said that
six members of Brimob took turns in maltreating
them until they were black and blue. YY also
said that Brimob members torched the houses
of persons suspected of being involved in the
13 June incident. Kidnaps of civilians continue
to occur. On 20 June, Brimob kidnapped Henok
Marani (35), Felix Urbon (28), Y. Woisiri (28),
Cornelis Tambawa (30) and Orpa Tambawa (26)
in the villages of Tandia and Senderawoi, Wasior
subdistrict. The witness said that Cornelis
Tambawa and Orpa Tambawa have since returned
but the three others were declared to be MISSING.
On 26 June, a local resident found
a decomposed body in the forest between Senderawoi
and Tandia, and identified the body as being
that of Felis Urbon. Another witness, NM (40)
who returned to Manokwari from Wasior on 8 July
told ELSHAM that on 28 June, Brimob forces shot
dead a woman named Esther Matiopi (28) and wounded
her baby Nona Kabiay (3) in the foot, in the
village of Yopanggar, Roon island. Brimob also
shot and wounded Endemina Numayomi (20) in the
hand, while Cornelis Sumuay (50) , head of the
village of Yopanggar was seriously tortured,
and was struck on the head with a bayonet.
A local official of the GKI church
in Wondama, Wasior reported that Brimob forces
torched the houses of inhabitants of the villages
of Senderawoi, Isui and Wondoboy, While six
families still remain in Wondiboy,all the inhabitants
of the other two villages have fled to the forests.
It is estimated that about 5,000 civilians have
fled their homes in Wasior. Witnesses and church
officials have also reported that local residents
are daily compelled by Brimob to collect food
for them. Social and economic activities (tending
their gardens, hunting, fishing, going to school)
are completely paralysed and everyone lives
in a state of fear.
In Nabire, about thirty members
of Brimob were involved in an operation on 9
July during which they torched the home of Yotam
Aronggiar (34), and destroyed three outboard
motors, three vessels and 38 fishing lines belonging
to fishermen in the village of Sanoba, Nabire
town, causing losses worth more than Rp 150
million. Yotam Aronggiar is suspected of hiding
the perpetrators of the 13 June incident.
Brimob forces are in control of
the whole area of Wasior, Ransiki, Fak-Fak (Kaimana)
and Nabire. People's freedom of movement is
now severely restricted and human rights abuses
continued to occur.
ELSHAM therefore calls on all
human rights organisations, governments, religious
bodies, individuals, acadmics, students and
the general public who love peace, justice and
human right and democracy, especially those
in West Papua, to send faxes or cables to the
following authorities calling on them:
TO IMMEDIATE HALT THE SWEEPING
AND CLAMPDOWN OPERATION, TO WITHDRAW ALL THEIR
TROOPS AND OPEN UP THE REGION OF WASIOR TO HUMAN
RIGHTS AND HUMANITARIAN GROUPS AND TO BRING
TO JUSTICE ALL THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
VIOLATIONS.
National chief of police, fax:
62-21 720-1402
Regional police chief of Papua, Brig General
Made Mangku Pastika, Phone/fax: 62-967 533763/531717
District chief of police of Manokwari, Drs Budi
Bambang Santoso, Phone/fax: 62-986-211365
Copies please to:
Minister for Justice and Human Rights, Mohamad
Mahfud, 62-21 525-3095/522-5036
National Human Rights Commission, Phone/Fax:
62-21 392-5227
Your immediate action will mean a lot to those
who need your support.
Thank you.
On Tuesday April 10, he met with
Irish Government Junior Minister for Foreign
Affairs Ms Liz O'Donnell, TD and senior officials
at the Department of Foreign Affairs (see photo
to left).
Mr Rumbiak was interviewed for
national television station TV3's Ireland AM
breakfast programme on April 10.
Mr Rumbiak addressed a public
meeting in Trinity College Dublin on April 10
which was hosted by West Papua Action and the
One World Societies of Trinity College Dublin,
University College Dublin and Dublin City University
(see text below).
He also met with leading NGOs
in Ireland.
On April 11, interviews with Mr
Rumbiak together with Dr Peter Carey, fellow
and tutor in Modern History, Trinity College
Oxford, were broadcast on national radio's Today
With Pat Kenny morning radio show.
He visited the Irish parliament
on 11 April.
The Irish Times carried a piece,
with photo, on Mr Rumbiak's visit on April 12;
see at:
West Papua Institute for Human
Rights Study and Advocacy (ELS-HAM) April 11,
2001
(This paper was presented at the
briefing on "Human Rights in West Papua: Impunity
versus Accountability", hosted by the Society
for Threatened Peoples International, on 2 April
2001 in relation to the 57th session of the
UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland
and at the public lecture on Human Rights in
West Papua at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland
on April 10, 2001 hosted by West Papua Action
and University One World societies).
by John Rumbiak, Supervisor for
the Institute for Human Rights Study and Advocacy
(ELS-HAM) in Jayapura, West Papua.
West Papua, also known as Irian
Jaya, has been considered as the 26th province
of Indonesia since 1969. The Papuan people themselves
never freely agreed to be a part of Indonesia,
and they have always fought against this integration.
Several resistance movements, including the
Papuan Liberation Movement (OPM) which was created
in the early 1960's, have expressed the wish
of the Papuan people for the respect of their
right to self-determination. Throughout the
years, violence and repression have been the
main features of the Indonesian Government's
response to the West Papuan demand for the respect
of their basic rights, including their right
to self-determination.
Ever since May 1998, when the
Suharto regime came to its end and ever since
the so-called era of reformasi which replaced
that regime, the international community was
under the impression that positive changes would
occur in relation to the Human Rights situation
in the country. However, the Institute for Human
Rights Studies and Advocacy (ELS-HAM) did not
note such changes for West Papua. On the contrary,
the repression and development policies, all
planned and executed from Jakarta have only
contributed more to the alarming human rights
abuses in West Papua. The presence of the security
forces (the police and the military) is still
excessively dominant in the region, and troops
are continuously brought into West Papua, for
so-called security and developmental reasons.
As a result, the number of human rights violations,
including cases of extra-judicial killings,
arbitrary detention, torture and death in police
custody is increasing.
The Indonesian Government refuses
to resolve the core issue in a peaceful manner,
despite the demands of numerous Papuan representatives.
Instead of paying serious attention to the demands
of the Papuan people, they adopt a tactic of
enforcing the issue of so-called "wider autonomy",
an issue which is rejected by the great majority
of the Papuan people. As the idea is rejected
by the people, the Indonesian security forces
use this situation to commit more human rights
violations and to justify these abuses.
This briefing gives a description
of the underlying problems regarding the on-going
human rights abuses in the region.
"THE ON GOING HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
IN WEST PAPUA: underlying causes and a way forward.
Hopefully this presentation and
discussion will develop understanding and encourage
people to take concrete steps to stop the situation
of continuing human rights violations in West
Papua, and to bring justice to the people of
West Papua.
THE UNDERLYING PROBLEMS REGARDING
THE ON-GOING HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN WEST
PAPUA
What are really the fundamental
factors that continue to contribute to the on-going
human rights abuses in West Papua? Why are they
occurring? Is there any solution at all, and
if so, where to begin ? These are the questions
I want to deal with here.
There are at least five fundamental
factors that underlie on-going human rights
abuses in West Papua:
- Conflict between the Papuans
and the Indonesian authorities (and I mean particularly
the security forces) over
- The issue of the right to self-determination;
- The culture of militarism
- Development policies
- The silence of the international community
- The so-called "wider autonomy" offered by
Jakarta for West Papua.
1) The conflict between the people
of West Papua and the State over the issue of
the right to self-determination
For more than 40 years the people
of West Papua have been fighting for their right
to self-determination, which was violated by
the international community, through the 1969
UN supervised referendum, the so-called "Act
of Free Choice". Despite the circumstances under
which the Act of Free Choice was carried out
with only a few West Papuans selected, under
threat, to vote for integration with Indonesia,
the UN accepted the result, and thus accepted
that the ex-colony of the Netherlands as part
of the Republic of Indonesia. Thousands fled
to Holland, Papua New Guinea and to other South
Pacific countries, and the resistance movement
in West Papua has continued and increased ever
since. The Papuan Liberation Movement (the OPM),
established in 1960s, has led the fight until
today against the Indonesian occupation of West
Papua.
Meanwhile the Indonesian Government
continues to claim that West Papua, or Irian
Jaya as the Indonesian Government calls it,
is an integral part of Indonesia. Any kind of
resistance movement from the people is considered
as separatist action, and is dealt with by repression.
As a result, many thousands of lives have been
lost, (Amnesty International's figure is 100,000),
many people disappeared, hundreds of women raped,
and the conflict that continues to cause bloodshed
continues.
ELS-HAM has reported that during
the so-called period of reformation in Indonesia
between 1998 and 2000 there have been gross
and systematic violations of human rights. These
include approximately 80 cases of summary executions
and 500 cases of arbitrary detentions and torture.
There is also a marked increase in incidences
of torture and mal-treatment of detainees, which
in some cases have resulted in custodial deaths.
The Security Forces intimidate and threaten
human rights defenders and obstructs them from
performing their duties. The freedom of the
press has been curtailed, restriction have been
placed on local journalists while foreign journalists
are denied access to West Papua. ELS-HAM is
particularly concerned about the detention of
22 prisoners of conscience being detained at
the prison of Jayawijaya in Wamena.
The culture of militarism in West
Papua is another factor. With military operations
launched in areas where the resistance movement
of the people is believed to be going on, military
zones have been created. These areas are closed
to outside observers, people's freedom of movement
is very much restricted, and the war against
the people continues.
Foreigners who visit West Papua
have to obtain a permit called Surat Jalan from
the police.
With so much power, the military
also plays a major role in backing up large-scale
multinational economic activities in West Papua
such as mining e.g. gold and oil, and logging.
The military is instrumental in intimidating
people to give up their traditional rights,
so that their traditional lands can to be exploited
by multinational companies. PT Freeport Indonesia,
a subsidiary of the biggest US gold mining company
--- Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc, is
one example of a multinational corporation that
has been implicated in various human rights
violations by security forces deployed to protect
the company. The company denies any involvement
in the violations, but rejects any efforts by
independent parties to investigate its involvement
in the human rights violations.
Development policies such as transmigration,
logging, agriculture, mining, tourism, etc including
those being backed by world financial institutions
such as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank,
and governments such as the German and Canadian
Government which have backed the Transmigration
programs -- are performing a new kind of colonialism
and imperialism. Under these sorts of so-called
development, no compensation has been given
to the indigenous peoples, for the taking of
their land, the devastation of their environment,
the degradation of their culture and their marginalization.
The right to any real development
of the West Papuans has been almost totally
denied and violated in all of these kinds of
development .
4) The Silence of the International
Community
Though there have been continuing
human rights violations in West Papua because
of the under-lying reasons above, the international
community has remained silent and allowed this
cycle of human rights problems to continue to
happen. Issues of "state sovereignty", and economic
and political interests have been major blocks
to any kind of international interference, despite
the rhetoric of the importance of the universality
of human rights. With the crisis today across
the whole of Indonesia, the developed countries
again seem reluctant to condemn Indonesia over
the range of human rights violations that its
security forces continue to commit against innocent
civilians. These countries say that they support
President Abdurrahman Wahid who is trying to
uphold human rights and democracy in Indonesia,
but they do nothing to stop the hardliners,
those who resort to the rhetoric of "nationalism"
to justify their undermining of human rights
and democracy in Indonesia.
5) Wider autonomy for West Papua:
A solution or another new source of human rights
violations
The Indonesian Government is presently
claiming that giving wider autonomy to conflict
areas such as Aceh, Riau and West Papua is the
solution to resolving the problems in these
regions. However, in the case of West Papua,
the people have rejected this offer. On 28 March
2001 the Government of Papua Province held a
workshop in the capital Jayapura to discuss
autonomy, but all the West Papuans in the meeting
walked out, demanding their right to self-determination.
Outside the meeting, pro-independence supporters
clashed with security forces resulting in the
death of 1 person, and 13 being detained by
the police.
The government has failed to respond
wisely to the situation in West Papua, and is
failing to understand the fundamental problems
of why Papuans are continuing to demand their
right to self-determination. Instead the Indonesian
Government is trying to come to a hurried solution,
in the form of a wider autonomy deal.
The question of the right to self-determination
is a psychological need. It is about the self-identity
of a people or group that have been denied and
oppressed for many years. The Indonesian Government
needs to recognise and address this, before
anything can go forward.
So, to conclude, these are the
recommendations that ELSHAM makes for peaceful
progress of the situation , and for which we
would like your support:
Urge the Indonesian Government
to immediately release all the political prisoners
of conscience, especially the 22 prisoners in
Wamena, Jayawijaya.
Urge the Indonesian Government
to stop using repressive measures against the
people of West Papua when they exercise their
right to express their desire for self-determination,
and withdraw the troops deployed in West Papua,
including the 15 000 extra military personnel
that have been brought in over the last 6 months.
Urge the Indonesian Government
to investigate all human rights abuses committed
by the Indonesian Security Forces (the military
and the police) in the past and present, and
bring the perpetrators to justice. This is the
most strategic way to end impunity for human
rights abuses, and for the people to see justice
enacted.
Support the current investigation
being conducted by the Indonesian National Human
Rights Commission (KOMNAS HAM) on the Abepura
Incident of December 7, 2000, and encourage
the Institution to conduct similar investigations
into other human rights abuses that have occurred
across West Papua. Support the West Papuan NGOs,
community groups and church groups that are
working to protect and promote human rights
in West Papua/Irian Jaya. We believe that it
is by investing in the society, especially in
human rights education, the culture of respect
for human rights can really grow.
Urge the Indonesian Government
to commence and substitute for repressive measures,
a dialogue process with West Papuan representatives,
to peacefully, democratically and justly resolve
the West Papuan case. The churches in West Papua,
because of the influential role they have in
relation to both the people and the Government,
should be involved in facilitating such processes.
Support the suspension of the
offer of autonomy to West Papua, and urge instead
that dialogue to discuss the problems be held,
before an attempt to arrive at solutions. _____________________________________________________________
ELS-HAM: LEMBAGA STUDI DAN ADVOKASI
HAK ASASI MANUSIA
Institute for Human Rights Study and Advocacy
Jln. Kampus ISTP --
Padang Bulan, Jayapura -- WEST PAPUA
Telp/Facs : 62-967-581600/581520;
E-mail: elsham_irja@jayapura.wasantara.net.id
The Irish Times, World News, Saturday,
April 7, 2001
The UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights, Mrs Mary Robinson, committed herself
yesterday to improving human rights in the separatist
Indonesian province of West Papua when she met
a prominent Papuan rights activist in Geneva,
writes David Shanks.
The activist, Mr John Rumbiak,
is to visit Dublin next Tuesday where he will
meet the Minister of State, Ms Liz O'Donnell,
Trocaire, and address a public meeting.
Mr Rumbiak reported to the commissioner
on recent violations by Indonesian forces, in
particular of 22 prisoners of conscience, on-going
killings "and torture of West Papuans who try
to exercise their right to self-determination,"
according to a statement from West Papua Action
in Dublin. Mr Rumbiak's address will be in the
Swift Theatre (room 2041a), Arts Block, TCD
at 7.30 p.m. next Tuesday.
Talk by Swiss Journalist, Oswald
Iten at a Public Meeting in Dublin on Wednesday,
February 21st, 2001 about what he had witnessed
during his visit last December to Indonesian-occupied
West Papua.
"I work as a journalist for
a major Swiss newspaper and for that I went
to Papua New Guinea in 1993 in order to know
more about what's going on inside West Papua.
It never was easy to go there as a journalist.
I knew that so I went first from PNG and I walked
to meet the OPM guerrillas who are fighting
Indonesian occupation since the 1960s. After
three weeks of walking I met one of the commanders
of a local group of OPM fighters, and I was
shocked to see how they were living in the forest,
isolated so that they would not be in contact
with the Indonesian military.
"For them one act, almost
a religious act, was to raise the Morning Star
Flag. I couldn't understand this coming as I
do from central Europe. Everybody saluted. This
was very important for them. For them it is
a reminder of when they first declared independence
in 1961 during the Dutch colonial times. When
the Dutch always promised to the Papuans that
they would be independent; that after all was
the reason why the Dutch were still there after
they left the rest of their East Indies Colonies.
They knew it was impossible to unite this place
with their other former colonies; they knew
these people were different from those places.
"So this flag was a real
symbol. And many people got killed because they
were caught hiding this flag in their houses
or for daring to raise it in public. Later I
decided I wanted to see how life was in West
Papua.
"Later that same year, I
went as a tourist to see and talk with people
who have a different life to the rest of Indonesia
who wants to swallow them by bringing people
from Java and Sumatra so that they could outnumber
them finally.
"I find that the term Stone
Age to describe Papuans is inaccurate because
most Papuans have contact with western civilisation,
as it is called, and with Indonesians. And they
have decided they want to stick to their own
culture. So why should we label them with an
inferior expression like Stone Age. These people
live in the world today and they have a right
to live in their own way.
"Of course at that time in
Jayapura, I could not contact people and talk
to them because it would have endangered them.
It was very difficult for me to gather information.
"Last September I went to
Holland and met Papuans there and they told
me that the situation was better. The flag is
everywhere. I couldn't believe it: I had imagined
that such a situation would take fifty years.
So I decided I wanted to go back and see what
difference [there was] from seven years ago.
"Of course I heard about
December 1st and I decided that's the time to
start my trip. I wanted to go from Jayapura
into the mountains and valleys to visit some
of the places I had seen before. On November
28th I came to Jayapura. At that time I thought
it was okay because there were so many journalists
and camera crews and photographers. But immediately
I was followed-we all were-by plain-clothes
policemen, the guys with big sunglasses. I already
knew them and I said hello to them when they
were waiting for me in the morning when I left
my hotel and again in the evening. I saw them
so many times I even offered them a beer.
"The demonstration on December
1st was surprisingly calm. Everybody expected
a massacre. I remember in the morning hundreds
of policemen and watercannons and we journalists
wondered where should we stand in cased shooting
started. But nothing happened. It was quiet.
Only later we learned that the police killed
10 people in the countryside.
"However, it felt like a
'high noon' situation because the security forces
made it clear that they would not tolerate the
Morning Star flag after December 1st. So the
flag had to be lowered that day. And after:
the old regime would be back. That means shooting,
killing and imprisonment.
"The next day four plain-clothes
policemen waited for me in the hotel and said
I would have to go with them. I went to the
station and they questioned me for nine hours.
They not only wanted to know what I was doing
but who I had talked to and what they said so
as to get evidence against them. Some of those
I talked to from the Presidium were already
in jail. It all seemed so stupid. And around
midnight I thought I could go back to the hotel,
but they said: 'No, no. You are under arrest.
This is the jail.'
"I was completely surprised.
But I still had my mobile phone so I could call
my wife in Switzerland and our correspondent
in Singapore and told them I had been arrested.
They opened the cell and put me in there. The
conditions were terrible; it smelled of urine
and there were mosquitoes. There were Papuans
lying on the ground like sardines. The door
closed behind me, and the Papuans were surprised
to see me.
"They told me I was arrested
for not having a proper media visa and then
the Indonesians put me in a place where no other
journalists had ever been. So I had quite a
scoop from a journalistic point of view.
"That same night one drunk
Papuan entered into the cell and the policemen
were punching and kicking him in the face. I
got up from the floor; I couldn't bear to see
him. I went to the guard, put my hand on his
shoulder and said, "that's enough",
because he was lying on the ground. The guard
put up his hand and said to the Papuan, "kiss
it." The prisoner had to kiss it. When
he kissed it, the policeman smashed him in the
face again and knocked a tooth out. After this
he said, 'kiss it again'. He had to kiss it
again. Then he took the guy out and finished
him outside. That sort of thing repeated the
following nights.
"On December 7th, I woke
up at about 4.30 am and heard some noise in
the guardroom which was at the entrance of the
jail. I thought maybe the police were doing
morning exercise. There was no daylight in the
cell, although there was a neon light so there
was no difference between day and night.
"Then I thought it could
not be exercises because it sounded like someone
being hit. I went to the cell door and looked
through the bars. I was shocked by what I saw.
There were about half a dozen policemen and
they all had sticks, whips and bamboo canes
and they were beating on people lying on the
ground. I couldn't see how many people there
were lying on the ground. I just stared at this
scene in disbelief. At first I thought I was
dreaming but one policeman saw me and smashed
his stick against the bars. I said to him, "if
you do that don't be surprised if I watch."
I then said: "If you want me to stop watching,
you stop beating them." But when he seemed
to go to open to door I stepped back.
"From where I was sitting
in the cell I could see for over an hour how
this continued. Sometimes I saw policemen stepping
on the benches of the guardroom and jumping
on people lying on the ground.
"The bodies were red with
blood that splashed up to the ceiling. About
5.30am I heard the sound of a water hose. It
sounded like a new group of people being brought
in. At about 10 am, the cell doors opened and
over 40 prisoners were led in. They all had
their hair sprayed with paint. It was a new
batch of prisoners marked as one group. After
they were in, the door opened again and terribly
mutilated prisoners were literally thrown into
the cell. They were rolling and falling right
next to me. I was sitting about seven metres
from the door.
"One after the other, I could
count how many. One more was then led in. His
eyes were so swollen he couldn't see. I don't
know if he was blind. One frightened prisoner
said to me, "eyes cracked."
"The last prisoner they led
in was a huge man and he just fell over everybody.
He lay on the ground moaning and groaning. He
tried to lift himself up but he fell down. The
guards came now and then and looked through
the bars at this scene of beaten and mutilated
people. They didn't react or seem upset. To
us in the cell it was clear that this last man
was going to die. I think I saw a hole in the
back of his head and think I could see part
of his brain. He pulled himself up and put his
head against the wall. He was struggling for
breath. Then he fell over on the floor, and
stopped breathing. He was dead.
"It took about one and half
more hours for the police to come and drag the
body out. And some of the other people were
in such a bad condition I would have been quite
sure that others would die. Another man had
a hole in his skull right here [indicating the
centre of his forehead.]. And I could see the
bones of his skull.
"Then the guards came and
took me out and said: 'Stay out here. It smells
terrible in there.' They didn't even think that
it was terrible for me to see what they did.
For them it was terrible for me to be with those
stinking Papuans. So they said I could sit outside.
The number of prisoners had tripled and the
cell was absolutely crowded. They put me in
the guardroom. It was stained with blood and
later on the Swiss diplomat who had come to
see me saw all this blood which wasn't there
the day before. He almost vomited.
"We realised that I was a
witness and he said, I was now in danger because
I had seen something that I should never have
seen. The diplomat told me I should not be left
alone and that he would get me food. Each evening
he came and brought food - because he was afraid
that the Indonesian police could put poison
in it. That is a usual tactic they use in prisons.
They put poison in it, then you die. And there
is no proof they did anything to you.
"But then I found that the
guards were very kind to me. But the chief of
police, who came the next day, was very angry
and confiscated my mosquito net and I asked
him, 'do you want me to catch malaria', He said:
'You are like any other prisoner. If there is
malaria inside the cell then why shouldn't you
catch it too?' But even so the guards were quite
nice and they even tried to befriend me, which
I found very strange because I didn't want to
have anything to do with these killers.
"It was very amazing and
I came to the conclusion after a few days that
I was not in danger. Because the police considered
this to be very normal. One policeman who had
some English said to me: 'You must understand,
a police post was attacked and police were killed.
So this is normal. If they kill police, we kill
them.'
"Later in a [Indonesian]
newspaper, the man who was murdered by the police
was shown in a photo on the front page but the
police claimed he was killed in 'action'
I learned his name from the paper. It was Ori
Ndoronggi, a student from Wamena in the highlands.
His bad luck is that he was sleeping in a dormitory
next to the police post. Along with 35 other
friends he was arrested and tortured. Later
he was killed as were two others.
"On December 11th at 2.45
am, after the police chief had put me in a single
cell, I woke up again as three prisoners were
brought in. After the door closed police started
to beat them up. One fell right in front of
my cell. The police continued kicking them.
One policeman kicked him in the back of the
head and his head banged into the door of my
cell and the blood splashed onto me. When he
tried to lift his head, the other policeman
kicked him in the face and he was unconscious.
A third policeman with a rifle came and hit
him five times in the head with his rifle butt.
I thought this man is now dead. But next morning
he was still alive but in a terrible state and
they gave him no medical treatment. These policemen
were out to kill these prisoners. And the incredible
thing was they didn't care if I saw this.
"I was reminded of East Timor.
This sort of thing happened there... the army
and police aiding the militias and then standing
by and claiming that they had nothing to do
with the violence. It was just incredible.
"And finally after 12 days
in prison, I was put on a plane to Jakarta with
policemen and then deported me. It is incredible.
I was very lucky that I got away. I still think
about the people who were imprisoned with me.
They are still in prison. I don't know what
has happened to them. But they don't have a
bright future."
Mr. Oswald Iten, editorial staff-member
with Zurich daily Neue Zurcher Zeitung, and
Mr. Viktor Kaisiepo, Papua Presidium member
for Europe, visited Ireland from Tuesday 20
February to Thursday 22 February 2001.
On the morning of Wednesday, 21
February both Mr. Iten and Mr. Kaisiepo met
with Mr. Jim O'Keefe, TD, Fine Gael Spokesperson
on Foreign Affairs in the Dail (Irish parliament).
Fine Gael are the largest opposition party in
parliament.
They both addressed the Joint
Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs which
convened at 4.00pm on Wednesday, 21 February.
Mr. Viktor Kaisiepo, Papua Presidium
member for Europe, pictured speaking at a public
meeting in Dublin. (Photo: Paul Iwala)
At 8.00pm they spoke at a public
meeting in Buswells Hotel, Dublin.
Mr. Iten was interviewed for Five
Seven Live on RTE 1 national radio, which was
broadcast on Wednesday, 21 February.
The visit was also covered on
national Irish-language news between 1.00pm
and 2.00pm on Friday, 23 February, and in LA,
the Irish-language weekly, on 22/02.