Pemuda Baptis Papua di Wamena

Jumat, 24 Februari 2012 21:43

Dirikan ‘Negara Federasi’ karena Tekanan Rakyat’

Pengakuan Saksi Pada Sidang Lanjutan  Kasus Makar Forkorus Cs

Terdakwa Kasus Makar ‘Presiden Negara Republik Federal Papua Barat’ (NRFPB), Forkorus Yoboisembut usai Sidang menyapa para simpatisan di luar Pengadilan Negeri (PN) Klas I A Jayapura.

JAYAPURA- Pembentukan ‘Negara Republik Federasi Papua Barat (NRFPB), dalam kongres Rakyat Papua III lalu, bukan tanpa alasan. Pembentukan ‘negara baru itu’ dilakukan karena adanya tekanan rakyat Papua melalui Kongres III.
Demikian antara lain penuturan saksi, atas nama Elieser Awom  dalam sidang lanjutan kelima terdakwa kasus makar, Forkorus Yoboisembut, Edison Gladius Waromi, Agustinus M. Sananay Kraar, Selpius Bobii dan Dominikus Sorabut, di PN Jayapura, Jumat (24/2).
Sidang yang masih mengagendakan pemeriksaan saksi-saksi tersebut tidak dimulai tepat waktu alias molor dari jadwal sebelumnya, ini lantaran 9 orang saksi dari pihak sipil, tidak hadir.
Ya, Jaksa Penuntut Umum (JPU) yang diketuai Julius D. Teuf, SH. dan dibantu Ahmad Dematubun, SH. Maskel Rambolangi, SH. Mychel Rambi, SH. dan Steven P. I. Rumambi, SH. dalam sidang kemarin, akan menghadirkan sembilan orang saksi, diantaranya Helena Hera, Elieser Awom, Pdt. Marthen Meage, Linus Marweri, S.TH. Hans Makbori, Simon Wanggai, Jhon Bernat Done, Yulius Awom Aparay, Paulus Oluknum Wagayak dan Hans Wakabori. Sementara sayang yang hadir hanya satu orang atas nama, Elieser Awom, itupun datangnya terlambat.
Tepat pukul 09.05 WIT sidang lanjutan terhadap kasus makar Forkorus, Cs. dibuka Majelis Hakim yang diketuai Jack Johannis Oktavianus, SH. MH. yang juga merupakan Ketua PN Klas I A Jayapura ini didampingi empat hakim anggota diantaranya, I Ketut Suarta, SH. MH. Syors Mambrasar, SH. Willem Marco Erari, SH. dan Orpa Marthina, SH. serta dibantu dengan dua Panitera Pengganti (PP) yakni Elsye Mebri, SH. dan Faisal Munawir, SH.
Meski sudah dibuka, namun sidang lanjutan tersebut terpaksa diskors selama 30 menit, untuk menunggu kehadiran para saksi dalam kasus makar kali ini, tapi tepat  pukul 10.03 WIT, saksi atas nama Elieser Awom telah hadir, maka saat itu juga persidangan langsung dilanjutkan kembali oleh Majelis Hakim.
Menurut Elieser Awom dalam keterangan di hadapan persidangan menyatakan, dalam KRP III lalu yang hadir kurang lebih sekitar 4ribu orang, namun kenapa yang dijadikan saksi dalam persidangan kasus makar ini hanya Sembilan orang saja. Ia juga menceritrakan bagaimana proses pendekrarasian Negara Federasi Papua Barat itu berlangsung sampai penangkapan Forkorus dan sejumlah orang lainnya termasuk saksi oleh aparat kepolisian. 
“Setelah dilakukan penangkapan usai KRP III, kami langsung dibawa ke kantor polisi, dimana kami dari malam hingga pagi harinya tidak diberikan makan, kami diperiksa mulai Tanggal 19 s/d 20 Oktober 2011, oleh pihak kepolisian dalam keadaan di bawah tekanan,”akunya.
Saksi juga mengatakan, ia  hadir dalam KRP III itu pada hari akhir pelaksanaan dari KRP III tersebut.  “Kami menyuarakan suara rakyat, apalagi KRP III ini mempunyai izin dari Pemerintah Indonesia dan setahu saya yang menjadi penanggung jawab atas KRP III itu adalah kelima terdakwa yakni Forkorus, Cs,”katanya.
Dikatakan, KRP III yang kami lakukan itu merupakan atas tekanan rakyat Papua Barat, sehingga kami juga mengumandangkan pembentukan Negara Republik Federal Papua Barat (NRFPB) dan memilih Forkorus Yoboisembut sebagai Presiden NRFPB dan Edison Waromi sebagai Perdana Menteri NRFPB serta wilayah dari NRFPB itu termasuk Jayapura sampai Merauke dengan bendera Bintang Fajar, sedangkan lagu kenegaraan dari NRFPB adalah Hai Tanahku Papua.
“KRP III ini setahu saya atas dasar diberikannya surat ijin dari Menkopolhukkam RI, dikarenakan saya hadir pada hari ketiga atau hari terakhir pada saat pendeklarasian NRFPB tersebut, saat saya berada di dalam tempat pelaksanaan dari KRP III, saya melihat Forkorus Yoboisembut sedang membacakan deklarasi di atas mimbar menggunakan pengeras suara dan dua (2) jam kemudian kami mendapatkan tembakan dari aparat keamanan untuk membubarkan pelaksanaan KRP III Tersebut,” ungkapnya.
Elieser Awom menyatakan, spanduk atau baliho NRFPB itu terpasang di dalam tempat KRP III, kami tidak benar kalau dikatakan mendirikan suatu Negara di atas Negara, tapi kami hanya memulihkan suatu Negara dari Papua Barat. Dimana secara adat maupun hukum Papua adalah milik dari rakyat Bangsa Papua Barat.
Ia menyatakan, saat itu kami yang berjumlah 400 orang langsung ditangkap oleh aparat dan di bawah tekanan, seperti kami ditendang dan dipukuli.
Sementara itu, keempat terdakwa, Edison Waromi, Selpius Bobii, Dominikus Sorabut dan August Sananay Kraar mengakui semua penyampaian dan keterangan saksi  itu benar.
Sedangkan Forkorus  menyatakan pihaknya tidak memisahkan diri, tapi Negara Indonesia yang harus memisahkan diri, dikarenakan kami yang mempunyai tanah di Papua Barat ini, maka secepatnya pendeklarasian yang dibacakan saat itu, harus diserahkan ke PBB, sehingga Papua Barat mendapatkan pengakuan dunia Internasional, apalagi prosesnya sedang berlangsung.
Sementara Penasehat Hukum (PH) kelima terdakwa terdiri dari Gustaf R. Kawer, SH. M.Si. Johannis H. Maturbongs, SH. Robert Korwa, SH. Olga Helena Hamadi, SH. M.Sc Latifah Anum Siregar, SH. menyatakan,  saksi ditangkap dan dibawa ke kantor Mapolda Papua dengan mendapatkan tekanan dari aparat keamanan saat dilakukan pemeriksaan. Sekedari diketahui, sidang lanjutan kemarin seperti biasanya selalu mendapat pengawalan ketat dari aparat kepolisian.  Sesuai rencana, sidang akan dilanjutkan Selasa (28/02) pekan depan. (CR-36/don/l03)
http://www.bintangpapua.com/headline/20165-dirikan-negara-federasi-karena-tekanan-rakyat

Wendegobak Dibumi Hanguskan

Pembumi Hangusan oleh Brimob Polda Papua pada 30/12/2011

Puncakjaya News. Hari ini jam 10.00 WPB, si Jago merah telah membumi hanguskan perumahan Guru dan masyarakat di Kampung Wondenggobak Distrik Mulia, Kabupaten PuncakJaya sekita puluhan Honai dan rumah yang beratapkan seng juga ikut dibakar. Jarak kampung ini dari Kantor Bupati 4-5km. Pembakaran dilakukan oleh Aparat Brimob (Brigade Mobil) Polda Papua yang bertugas di Wilayah Puncak Jaya.

MENGENANG STEVE BIKO DARI SOUTH AFRICA

Stephen Biko (18 December 1946 – 12 September 1977)^[1] was a noted anti-apartheid activist in South Africa in the 1960s and 1970s. A student leader, he later founded the Black Consciousness Movement which would empower and mobilize much of the urban black population. Since his death in police custody, he has been called a martyr of the anti-apartheid movement.^[4] While living, his writings and activism attempted to empower black people, and he was famous for his slogan "black is beautiful", which he described as meaning: "man, you are okay as you are, begin to look upon yourself as a human being".^[5] Despite friction between the African National Congress and Biko throughout the 1970s^{[Need quotation to verify]} the ANC has included Biko in the pantheon of struggle heroes, going as far as using his image for campaign posters in South Africa's first non-racial elections in 1994.^[6]

Early life

Biko was born in King William's Town, in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. He studied to be a doctor at the University of Natal Medical School. Biko was a Xhosa. In addition to Xhosa, he spoke fluent English and fairly fluent Afrikaans.

He was initially involved with the multiracial National Union of South African Students, but after he became convinced that Black, Indian and Coloured students needed an organization of their own, he helped found the South African Students' Organisation (SASO), whose agenda included political self-reliance and the unification of university students in a "black consciousness."^[7] In 1968 Biko was elected its first president. SASO evolved into the influential Black Consciousness Movement (BCM). Biko was also involved with the World Student Christian Federation.

Biko married Ntsiki Mashalaba in 1970.^[8] They had two children together: Nkosinathi, born in 1971, and Samora. He also had two children with Dr Mamphela Ramphele (a prominent activist within the BCM): a daughter, Lerato, born in 1974, who died of pneumonia when she was only two months old, and a son, Hlumelo, who was born in 1978, after Biko's death.^[2] Biko also had a daughter with Lorraine Tabane, named Motlatsi, born in May 1977.^{[citation needed]}

In 1972, Biko was expelled from the University of Natal because of his political activities^[7] and he became honorary president of the Black People's Convention. He was banned by the apartheid regime in February 1973,^[9] meaning that he was not allowed to speak to more than one person at a time nor to speak in public, was restricted to the King William's Town magisterial district, and could not write publicly or speak with the media.^[7] It was also forbidden to quote anything he said, including speeches or simple conversations.

When Biko was banned, his movement within the country was restricted to the Eastern Cape, where he was born. After returning there, he formed a number of grassroots organizations based on the notion of self-reliance: Zanempilo, the Zimele Trust Fund (which helped support former political prisoners and their families), Njwaxa Leather-Works Project and the Ginsberg Education Fund.

In spite of the repression of the apartheid government, Biko and the BCM played a significant role in organising the protests which culminated in the Soweto Uprising of 16 June 1976. In the aftermath of the uprising, which was crushed by heavily armed police shooting school children protesting, the authorities began to target Biko further.

Death and aftermath

The Rand Daily Mail story, authored by Zille, that exposed the cover-up of anti-apartheid activist Biko's death in police custody.

On the 18th of August, 1977, Biko was arrested at a police roadblock under the Terrorism Act No 83 of 1967 and interrogated by officers of the Port Elizabeth security police including Harold Snyman and Gideon Nieuwoudt. This interrogation took place in the Police Room 619. The interrogation lasted twenty-two hours and included torture and beatings resulting in a coma.^[7] He suffered a major head injury while in police custody, and was chained to a window grille for a day.

On 11 September 1977, police loaded him in the back of a Land Rover, naked and restrained in manacles, and began the 1100 km drive to Pretoria to take him to a prison with hospital facilities. However, he was nearly dead owing to the previous injuries.^[10] He died shortly after arrival at the Pretoria prison, on 12 September. The police claimed his death was the result of an extended hunger strike, but an autopsy revealed multiple bruises and abrasions and that he ultimately succumbed to a brain hemorrhage from the massive injuries to the head,^[7] which many saw as strong evidence that he had been brutally clubbed by his captors. Then journalist and now political leader, Helen Zille, along with Donald Woods, another journalist, editor and close friend of Biko's, exposed the truth behind Biko's death.^[11]

Because of his high profile, news of Biko's death spread quickly, opening many eyes around the world to the brutality of the apartheid regime. His funeral was attended by over 10,000 people, including numerous ambassadors and other diplomats from the United States and Western Europe. The liberal white South African journalist Donald Woods, a personal friend of Biko, photographed his injuries in the morgue. Woods was later forced to flee South Africa for England. Donald Woods later campaigned against apartheid and further publicised Biko's life and death, writing many newspaper articles and authoring the book, Biko.^[12] Speaking at a National Party conference following the news of Biko's death then-minister of police, Jimmy Kruger said, "I am not glad and I am not sorry about Mr. Biko. It leaves me cold (Dit laat my koud). I can say nothing to you ... Any person who dies ... I shall also be sorry if I die."

The following year, on 2 February 1978, the Attorney General of the Eastern Cape stated that he would not prosecute any police officers involved in the arrest and detention of Biko. During the trial, it was claimed that Biko's head injuries were the result of a self-inflicted suicide attempt, not those of any beatings.

The judge ultimately ruled that a murder charge could not be supported partly because there were no witnesses to the killing. Charges of culpable homicide and assault were also considered, but because the killing occurred in 1977, the time limit for prosecution had expired.^[13] On 7 October 2003 the South African Justice Ministry officials announced that the five policemen accused of killing Biko would not be prosecuted, because there was insufficient evidence, and because the time limit for prosecution had elapsed.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was created following the end of minority rule and the apartheid system, reported in 1997 that five former members of the South African security forces who had admitted to killing Biko were applying for amnesty. Their application was rejected.

Stephen Biko authored a book titled: I Write What I Like.

Influences and formation of ideology

Like Frantz Fanon, Biko originally studied medicine, and, like Fanon, Biko developed an intense concern for the development of black consciousness as a solution to the existential struggles which shape existence, both as a human and as an African (see Négritude). Biko can thus be seen as a follower of Fanon and Aimé Césaire, in contrast to more multi-racialist ANC leaders such as Nelson Mandela after his imprisonment at Robben Island, and Albert Luthuli who were first disciples of Gandhi.^{[14][15][16][17]}

Biko saw the struggle to restore African consciousness as having two stages, "Psychological liberation" and "Physical liberation". The nonviolent influence of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. upon Biko is then suspect, as Biko knew that for his struggle to give rise to physical liberation, it was necessary that it exist within the political realities of the apartheid regime, and Biko's nonviolence may be seen more as a tactic than a personal conviction.^[18]

Biko's relevance in the present

In the present post-Apartheid South Africa, Biko is now revered across the political spectrum despite obvious ideological differences. Many of these people see Biko's philosophy as irrelevant after 1994. However, in 2004, he was voted 13th in the SABC3's Great South Africans.

However, many present-day social movements, activists, and academics continue to stress the relevance of Biko's black consciousness. This includes a strong critique of voting by academic Andile Mngxitama who has said that if Biko were alive today, he would not be supporting any political party, would not even vote, but would be marching with the social movements against government.^{[19] [20] [21]}

Tributes

Apart from Donald Woods' book called Biko, his name has been honoured at several universities. Locally, the main Student Union buildings of the University of Cape Town are named in his honour and each year a commemorative Steve Biko lecture, open to all students, is delivered on the anniversary of his death. Internationally, the University of Manchester's student union, the Steve Biko Building, on the Oxford road campus, is named in his honour. Ruskin College, Oxford has a Biko House student accommodation. The bar at the University of Bradford was named after Biko until its closure in 2005. Numerous other venues in Students Unions around the United Kingdom also bear his name. The Santa Barbara Student Housing Cooperative has a house named after Steve Biko, themed to provide a safe, respectful space for people of colour. A street in Hounslow, West London, is named "Steve Biko Way". At the University of California, Santa Cruz, there is a section of dormitories named "Biko House" located in the Oakes College Multicultural Theme Housing. The Steve Biko Institute was founded in Salvador, Brazil to support the education and pride of Black Brazilians.^[22] The Pretoria Academic Hospital was renamed the Steve Biko Academic Hospital^[23] in 2008. Durban University of Technology has acknowledged Steve Biko’s contribution to South African Society by naming its largest campus after him. A bronze bust of Steve Biko was unveiled in Freedom Square on this campus as a tribute to him. Peter Gabriel and the Hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest each named a song after him in his honour.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Biko (Updated 14 September 2011:5:12)

Human rights ‘fundamental’ in member countries and worldwide, says UN chief

18:02 September 7, 20113 comments

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at today's press conference in Auckland. Photo: Henry Yamo / PMC

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Henry Yamo
“Human rights are an inviolable and fundamental principle of the United Nations charter and the United Nations is always very strong in committing to ensure that the human rights of everybody in member countries and elsewhere are fully protected.”
So said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during a joint press conference with the NZ Prime Minister John Key in Auckland today.
Ban’s statement came after he was questioned by journalists who asked what measures were being taken by the UN to address the reports of human rights abuses in Fiji and West Papua.
The secretary-general said the issue of human rights was something that should be discussed with the Decolonisation Committee of the United Nations General Assembly, adding that it could deal with any country regardless of whether it was an independent state or self-governing territory.
Ban Ki-moon: “And when [the issue] comes again, whether you are an independent state or a non-self-governing territory or whatever, the human rights is inalienable and a fundamental principle of the United Nations.
“We will do all to ensure that people in West Papua, their human rights will be respected.”
Reporter: “Will a human rights fact-finding mission be dispatched to West Papua at some time?”
BKM: “That is the same answer [to a previous question on Fiji] that should be discussed at the Human Rights Council among the member states.
Normally the Secretary General acts on the basis of a mandate given by inter-governmental bodies.”
Throughout the conference, human right groups from West Papua and Fiji were protesting outside the Forum venue at Sky City, calling for the United Nations to give recognition to the issues of human rights in their respective countries.
Groups protesting in Auckland to attract attention from the United Nations included the Free and Democratic Movement of Fiji, based in New Zealand as well as members of the West Papua National Coalition for liberation (WPNCL) and the Auckland-based Indonesia Human Rights Committee.
Representatives of the two groups said they would take their call further to the United Nations General Assembly that would be held later this month.
Henry Yamo is a Masters in Communication Studies student from Papua New Guinea on the Asia-Pacific Journalism course at AUT University.

Special Investigation: State terror campaign around Jayapura

Friday, 9 September 2011, 11:52 am
Article: West Papua Media Alerts

Indonesia extends brutal state terror campaign around Jayapura whilst scapegoating Papuans

Child kidnapping, arbitrary arrests, shootings and beatings of West Papuan civilians to divert attention from military destabilisation of civil resistance.
Special Investigation by Nick Chesterfield at westpapuamedia.info, with special correspondents in AbepuraA massive upsurge in “mysterious acts of violence” around the Jayapura region of West Papua has many local observers blaming Indonesian security forces. There is a dedicated offensive to “crush separatism” and dissuade Papuan civil society from engaging in advocacy for self-determination, ahead of a planned Third Papuan People’s Conference and amid escalating mass civil resistance for independence.

September 7, 2011

An eight-year-old Papuan girl was abducted by police and scores of civilians have been arbitrarily detained and beaten by Indonesian forces in an aggressive security sweep campaign around Jayapura, West Papua.
In the latest crackdown 13 members of the Wakno Baptist Church were arrested on August 31 in Kotaraja, a suburb of Jayapura, by Police and Detachment 88 anti-terror troops. Heavily-armed plain clothes troops, BRIMOB paramilitary police and intelligence officers raided the houses of Giki and Giben Kogoya just before 0500 local time, looking for perpetrators of an attack that killed several Indonesian colonists in Nafri on August 1. Local human rights activists reported that many locals fled into the forest, fearing for their lives, after warning shots were fired.
The raid at the shepherd's house was witnessed by scores of local residents. Police chased a terrified eight-year-old, Desi Kogoya, catching her in the forest just before dawn during the arrest of her family, but the whereabouts of Desi and several of her family members were unknown for several days. Jayapura Police returned her to her family around lunchtime on September 7 after initially denying arresting the child or having her in custody, despite the witnesses telling Baptist priests that they saw her being dragged away and bundled into a truck.
The Fellowship of Baptist Churches of Papua has condemned the kidnapping of Desi, saying "that she is just a child that has no idea of the activities of her parents." In a statement, a spokesman for the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) labelled the kidnapping of Desi Kogoya “a clear violation of Indonesian Human Rights Law” and has demanded that police immediately bring her home. “This is a clear violation of Indonesia’s obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child.”. At time of writing it was unclear as to the current condition of Desi.

On August 15, Jayapura District Police Assistant Senior Commissioner Imam Setiawan accused Dani Kogoya, the alleged Jayapura area commander of the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPN-OPM), of responsiblity for the Nafri attack – despite the violence being initially linked by police to “unknown persons”. Credible independent observers have widely linked the violence to elite security forces intent on violent destabilisation of pro-independence civil resistance, part of a deepening campaign of seemingly random violence against West Papuan civilians.
Indonesian security forces have a long record of arbitrary arrests and violent actions against civilians in the Kotaraja and Tanah Hitam neighbourhoods, with several military operations causing displacement of civilians and their families. In December 2010 a particularly brutal operation resulted in the arrests of 8 local men. Residents accused the military and police of planting weapons and evidence to link Dani Kogoya to acts of violence also blamed on “unknown persons”.
The neighbourhoods are strongholds of Dani and Lani families, who have moved to Jayapura for education or employment opportunities absent from their home tribal areas – in the Baliem Valley and highlands. The Kogoya clan, like many in local area, is a large Dani clan from the highlands of West Papua, with members in the pro-independence movement, ordinary farmers, and public servants.
Local sources say Dani Kogoya had never visited Biben Kogoya's house, and Police concede that he escaped the raid. The Fellowship of Baptist Churches in Papua has reported that the men arrested were forced by police to pose as perpetrators of the violence in Nafri. During a welfare visit to the Jayapura Police cells on August 31 the arrestees told PGBP General Chairman, Socratez Yoman, that they were not involved.
Those arrested were Desi Kogoya (8) and 13 other family members including Tinus, Arinus and Wen Wenda; and Mis, Bodi, Denias, Yawanus, Siki, Yeskiel, Yusman, Ekimar and Panius Kogoya. Of the 12 people arrested on August 31, ten were eventually released from Polsekta Jayapura, leaving two men – Ekimar Kogoya (22) and Panius Kogoya (20) – still undergoing interrogation.
Ther are fears for the safety of Desi, as the arresting officers have denied all knowledge of her. The family are gravely concerned police may have tortured and killed Desi, and are desperate to find her.
Deep Scepticism at scapegoating
The arrests are being greeted with great scepticism by a highly traumatised local population. They accuse police of deliberately failing to find the real perpetrators of multiple acts of violence, and of scapegoating West Papuan people.
Indonesian Police in Jayapura have issued numerous contradictory statements surrounding the recent upsurge of violence, especially the Nafri case. According to the Jakarta Post the Papua Police spokesman, Senior Commander Kombes Wachyono, said on September 1 that the incident was simply a criminal act and had nothing to do with the Free Papua Organization (OPM).
Ferry Marisan, director of local Papuan human rights organisation ELSHAM Papua, told Radio Kbr68h that those arrested were simply not at the scene of the Nafri attacks, and were high school and college students committed to nonviolent civil resistance for Papua. Marisan, based on extensive investigations by ELSHAM, suspected the police of fabricating the case to link the detainees to the “separatist” OPM, and convict them of the violence – taking suspicions away from the security forces . "According to us, from ELSHAM (view) it's not something new for police officers to always blame Papuans, put them on trial, and to prosecute them as the actual perpetrators. (With) Elsham’s longer investigation, we also find other evidence. There are some people other than Papuan people; we can definitely say they are part of the shooting. " Marisan said.
Socratez Yoman, the Chairman of the Baptist Church, also demanded security forces find and arrest the genuine perpetrators of all the violence. “'Unknown Persons' (OTK) are to be sought and arrested instead of the little people being scapegoated. Orchestrated theatre such as this must be stopped because it just destroys the authority and public view of the government and security apparatus in Indonesia and the international community. The authorities have failed to protect the people. We hope and we ask the security forces to free the two detained civilians. Do not be injured or injure the conscience of the people of God," Yoman said.
According to local human rights and activist sources, it seems the police are fully aware of the real perpetrators of ongoing acts of violence, which is most likely connected to operational and funding competition between Police paramilitary forces and the elements of the rogue special forces, Kopassus.
The KNPB Sentani branch were even more blunt. “None of the 13 arrested as TPN-OPM suspected of the Nafri incidents are truly the perpetrators, as seen from several cases according to our investigations. TPN are not the murderers, but the perpetrator is Kopassus (Army Special Forces)”, said a KNPB spokesperson. Papua Police have been making arbitrary arrests and sweeps all over the city and Kotaraja, but the case has not yet been solved. “Papua Police need to stop sweeping and conducting activities that are not fundamental, because this unprofessional behaviour of Police has resulted in many Papuans becoming victims of abuse. The Indonesian police, army and BRIMOB in Papua must stop the injustice in Papua.”

Mass militarisation and distributed violence
West Papuan civil society has become progressively more active in demonstrating discontent at Jakarta's failure to show the least concern for Papuan social, economic, development or security welfare. Increasing civil resistance has been emerging across Papua, with Jayapura a significant focus for regional grievances.
Jakarta is studiously ignoring Papuans’ core demand – removing its security forces from the streets. Local observers are seeing an increased display of muscle as the real demonstration of Jakarta’s resolve. Activists who have been identified as key figures in organising creative resistance are feeling the full force of the state, not limited to any single branch of state.
The current operation across the wider Jayapura region came after the Nafri attacks, with senior Indonesian military personnel vowing to militarily “crush all forms of separatism in the province”. The Indonesian military has publicly and clearly stated that it is not sympathetic to any demands for democratic space, and sees any act of dissent, peaceful expression, and even discussion, as evidence of separatism. In an address marking the end of Ramadan on August 35 at TNI headquarters in Jakarta, Commander Admiral Agus Suhartono declared that TNI will not negotiate with any separatist movement, especially the Free Papua Movement (OPM). "There are no [negotiations], none, in any shape or form,"
According to KontraS, The Commission for the Disappeared, the approach taken by the Indonesian military is illegal, as the deployment of troops was promoted by the TNI and not approved by the President or the Indonesian parliament. Without structures for accountability these deployments breach regulations. “The government should have learnt from past experience in Aceh and Timor-Leste that the security approach never solves problems but only intensifies the issues, making any solution even more difficult.”
“The illegal use of TNI forces also provides more evidence of the weak role of Polri in taking charge of security in Papua. Polri is increasingly showing that it lacks confidence in itself and its incapacity to take charge of security” said KontraS on September 3.

Since August 1, Indonesian security forces have been heavily deployed across the Jayapura region, conducting a campaign of indiscriminate and heavy-handed raids against civilians across an area from Genyem, west of Lake Sentani, to the PNG border. A special roaming correspondent for West Papua Media reported from Abepura that local people are deeply fearful of the military activities and indiscriminate targeting of civilians, and human rights workers and pro-independence activists particularly are on guard. Indonesian intelligence officers are monitoring every conversation and groups of more than three are being harassed across the military operations area.
The West Papua Advocacy Team said that the TNI's continued resort to the "security approach" in West Papua, manifested most clearly in continued "sweep operations" that displace Papuan civilians and cost civilian lives, is an ongoing tragedy for Papuans. “TNI unaccountability for its criminal activity, including systematic abuse of Papuan civilians and continuance of illegal "business operations" there, is a part of this continuing tragedy. But the TNI's behavior in West Papua also has implications for Indonesian democracy more broadly. The TNI's role in West Papua underscores that this institution remains above the law and insubordinate to the policy and direction of the civilian government. It constitutes a severe threat to the growth of Indonesian democracy.”
Many sectors of Papuan civil society, together with international human rights observers, are noting that this campaign is extending to all forms of political expression – peaceful, political and pastoral – and is causing terror to the families of those even who have not engaged in political activity.
Witnesses and correspondents are describing the atmosphere as a warzone, with soldiers on the streets and harassing groups, conducting training and random Stop and Search, and indiscriminately targeting Papuan youths during sweep operations to flush out perpetrators of recent violence. Activist sources have reported seeing many groups of “people who are new in town” roaming across all areas from the ferry terminal and throughout the city, acting in an intimidatory fashion. “There is only one organisation that can have people act tough on the locals on their first day in a new town, and we call them the ghosts,” said a foreign observer present during this upsurge, recently returned from Papua.
Armed Intelligence officers, working in conjunction with pro-Indonesian militias of Barisan Merah Putih and Aswain (Uni Timor Asawin / United Sons of Timor, the vehicle for ex-Timor militiamen led by the notorious indicted war criminal Eurico Guterres), are regularly shadowing activists and their families, and conducting random roadblocks in isolated streets, according to witnesses.

Of course, like any terror campaign, “unknown persons” do not limit their victim to just one side, in order to create maximum terror and deniability. In an eerie simulacrum to his own stabbing in early 2011 after he broke a story on police abuse of detainees, journalist Banjir Ambarita reported the killing on August 23 of Captain Tasman, 53, from the Cendrawasih Regional Military Command. Unknown attackers fatally stabbed Tasman while he was motorcycling to work in the outskirts of Jayapura. In addition to the Ambarita case, this type of brazen attack bears strong similarities to the August 1 attack at Nafri, the delivery of a bomb on June 28 to the KumHAM office in Kotaraja, and many years of so-called "ninja" attacks from motorbikes that Papuan civilians have suffered for years.
This case, like so many others, has been unsolved, and police are showing no signs of hurrying any investigations. Papuan media sources have said that it absolutely critical for the TNI to be fully transparent with this investigation, and not blame Papuans immediately without credible evidence for an attack that bears all the hallmarks of Indonesian Islamist violence – especially in the use of the sword – or factional violence between members of the security forces involved in illegal business activities.
Gruesome and credible reports have been provided to West Papua Media detailing random attacks on students not necessarily connected with political activism. August 23 was a day of particular brutality, with similarities in all cases with the attack on Captain Tasman – connections that the police have so far refused to examine.
At 04:15 in the morning of August 23, two University students were attacked near the Cenderawasih University Campus (UNCEN) in Abepura, by perpetrators believed to be members of Kopassus from Abe Beach. Noris Selegani, 21, an International Relations Student at UNCEN, and Martinus Nayagau, 20, a student at the Department of Mines USTJ, were coming home on a motorbike from a University graduation party when a black four wheel drive Avanza blocked their path. According to interviews from human rights workers who visited the victims in hospital, the two students were rammed by the Avanza and fell off their motorbike, but then several men dressed in Police trousers and “police civvies” (bajupreman) jumped out the car and beat them.
Using martial arts techniques, the assailants punched at Noris’s heart three times in quick succession so he lost consciousness, then broke his jaw, and left and right hands and upper arms, causing deep lacerations at the breaks and paralysis. Martinus received significant head and eye injuries from the beating. The assailants left the two victims for dead on the road. A garbage truck brought the two unconscious victims to Abepura Hospital for treatment.
According to witnesses and medical staff, Noris and Martinus were denied trauma treatment for two days at the hospital by medical personnel, as armed police and army took over the emergency area and refused to allow treatment of Papuan casualties. It is still unknown why armed officers evicted Papuans from the emergency ward of the hospital on August 24, but treatment was only able to be provided after the armed men ended their occupation. The students finally received surgery on August 26 and are currently recovering from their ordeal.
According to KNPB, this is another clear case of Kopassus deliberately sacrificing the lives of the victims. “This is an act that violates the State guaranteed Right to life of Papuan people, the occurrence of this incident is clear that, together with the killings in the streets at Buper, Nafri and other places that the culprit was Kopassus. They make deception that the culprits are TPN-OPM, but this is not true. TPN-OPM know the rules, they cannot target civilians but only eternal enemy being the TNI or Police.”
Later on the 23rd, terrified university students contacted via a West Papua Media stringer, speaking on the condition of anonymity, provided an account of the brutal stabbing of their friend, a student at Cenderawasih Universty (UNCEN). The student, who was testing out a newly purchased telescope on the summit of a hill above the new UNCEN campus, was with a friend and were ambushed and stabbed by unknown assailants. KNPB activists considered the stabbing – at around 1pm on August 23 – highly curious on the day of the Tasman incident, when TNI and Police were on high alert and standby (siaga) everywhere.
Evidence has also come to light of another extrajudicial police shooting of a civilian in his front garden, during a security sweep. Marthen Wenda, 38, was shot through the thigh and beaten by Brimob police after being chased when falsely accused of being a thief at the Kangkung Outdoor Market, at 9pm on August 23. In video testimony provided to West Papua Media, Wenda described how he ran and was shot – extrajudicially – in his own front garden by a Bromob officer from Abeupra police station. Wenda sustained a deep gunshot wound in his thigh.
These unsolved acts of violence that have been occurring around the Jayapura region since August 1, have been attributed to "unknown persons", but are widely believed by many to be the work of security forces, with many acts of brutality being recorded against civilians in the aftermath. Police are reluctant to ever investigate, citing lack of evidence.
The KNPB believe these acts appear to be part of a scenario designed by certain quarters. "This scenario is being promoted by people who want to get their hands on funding. These acts of terror or intimidation are aimed at warning Papuans not to go on pressing for their human rights," said Mako Tabuni of the KNPB, speaking alongside Buchtar Tabuni, the general chairman of the KNPB, as well as Viktor Kogoya, during a press conference on 6 September.

A policy of terror to dissuade activism?
The ongoing brutality against civilians in Jayapura is not quelling the desire for independence or organising for campaign of civil resistance.
Activists from the two main civil resistance sectors – KNPB and West Papua National Authority (WPNA) have reported significant threats to personal security in the weeks since mass mobilisations were held across West Papua on August 2. Civil resistance activists linked to KNPB Abepura, who declined to be identified, told West Papua Media the violent acts are part of a destabilisation scenario and are linked to conflict between police and military. “After violence, the military are totally taking over the public space especially around KNPB's secretariat and Sofyan Yoman’s house, basically an invasion, putting lots of pressure on folks and demanding careful movements and security precautions.”
Once again, in the press conference on September 2, Mako Tabuni said KNPB would not be influenced by these incidents. “We, as the voice of the Papuan people, will continue to speak up for the human rights which are the true aspirations of the people of West Papua.”
Indonesian intelligence officers are continuing to threaten any activist that speaks out against the increasingly brutal colonial occupation of West Papua, extending intimidation even to churchmen who are not advocating independence and regularly engaging in activities that intimidate local people.
Indonesian Police on August 18 opened fire on a car of West Papua independence activists in Abepura, West Papua, after arresting three other activists from the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) for distributing pamphlets in support of demonstrations planned for August 20. Brimob Officer Bripka Numberi allegedly fired indiscriminately in pursuit of the vehicle of KNPB activists who had enquired to the safety of a detained friend, shooting 21 rounds into the car. After the vehicles occupants panicked and ran, Numberi continued to open fire on the unarmed group, shooting Demi Asso, Soni Kosay in the feet.
A Papuan farmer was killed in his garden at Arso on August 19 by soldiers from either Kostrad or Kopassus. After a terrifying day for local villagers who were threatened repeatedly by soldiers occupying their village and gardens, Das Komba, 30, was returning from his banana grove when gunfire erupted. His body was found on August 20, and police later came to exhume his body.
According to a statement from KontraS, the Papua Regional Military commander, Major-General Erfi Triassunu later confirmed that shots were fired by a member of the TNI - because they alleged that Komba “was preparing to attack his men.” He said he was not clear about what happened but claimed that Komba had tried to seize a weapon from his men who were on patrol in the area. According to Triassunu, his men could not possibly have shot someone at random. However, Bintang Papua reported an autopsy confirmed that there were fragments of ammunition in Komba’s body but the calibre of the bullets is not known. Witnesses said that Komba had been told to go home by three soldiers, but just as he turned round, intending to return home, they heard two gunshots. His body was not found until Sunday, two days after the shooting.
Local human rights sources, pro-independence activists and even clergy have reported to West Papua Media of a significant increase in threatening behaviour from military officers and regular anonymous SMS and phone threats against anyone expressing their opinions or reporting evidence of daily life in Papua. However the SMS threats are considered to be so routine by the recipients that they often do not both to keep them, and are impossible to verify.
West Papua Media was recently provided with significant and thorough confidential police documentation that details the techniques of SMS and cell phone monitoring and communication blocking strategies regularly utilised by security forces against civilians. Activists report they receive an influx of threats after they observe security agents acting suspiciously in their vicinity. One recent wave of threats was targeted at activists from the West Papua National Authority, telling recipients “to get ready for their execution date”.
WPNA activists have responded to these latest threats by simply redoubling their efforts for massive mobilisations ahead of the planned Third Papuan Peoples’ Congress. KNPB activists are also redoubling their efforts by ensuring that the SMS threats are simply countered with improved security practice and careful movement. KontraS is conducting a thorough investigation currently into the SMS threats.

The reports detailed in this investigation are just the tip of the iceberg, and of course are only a small over all area of Papua. Many more reports of threats, intimidation and acts of violence against both ordinary Papuans and activists have been received in the past month by West Papua Media, but cannot be published at this stage as they cannot be verified.
Currently, significant military operations are still going in the Puncak jaya and Tingginambut areas of the highlands, designed to flush out the troops of Goliat Tabuni. In Paniai regency, thousands of security forces are occupying villages of the Mee people, and local church officials are helping to broker significant peacebuilding measures to limit the civilian displacement and potential for conflict. In Serui, local organisers from the West Papua National Authority are daily threatened with murder by Kopassus and Kostrad troops, with entire villages occupied to intimidate one activist living there.

At time of writing, it was unclear if Indonesian security forces were acting with or without clear direction of Jakarta. However, Jakarta is at a crossroads with international attention on Papua. On September 7 at the Pacific Island’s Forum meeting in Auckland, the visiting United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon was drawn into the Papua issue, but was unequivocal in his response. “whether you are an independent state or a non-self-governing territory or whatever, the human rights is inalienable and a fundamental principle of the United Nations. We will do all to ensure that people in West Papua, their human rights will be respected,” Mr. Ban told reporters.
West Papuan civil resistance activists understand that their internal consolidation is being greeted with trepidation from Jakarta. By the violent actions of the last month, the “unknown persons” of the TNI are increasingly desperate to nip this desire for freedom in the bud and are trying every little black bag trick they can think of. However, according to most observers in the ground in Papua, the military’s black bags are becoming increasingly transparent, and aided by increasing capacity for citizen media, Papuan civil society is becoming increasingly impatient for – and capable of – the disciplined change that is going to shake Jakarta at its foundations once again.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1109/S00067/special-investigation-state-terror-campaign-around-jayapura.htm

Papua NGOs welcome UN’s Ban’s comments

Posted at 00:49 on 09 September, 2011 UTC

Non-government organisations which have been campaigning on behalf of self determination for the people of Papua in Indonesia say they’re encouraged by the statement from the United Nations Secretary General Ban ki-Moon.
Mr Ban told media on Tuesday in Auckland that the UN will do all it can to ensure the human rights of West Papuans are respected.
Peace Movement Aotearoa, which represents a large number of New Zealand NGOs, says Mr Ban must immediately appoint a special representative to investigate the situation in West Papua.
It says there’s needs to be a review of the circumstances and outcome of the controversial 1969 Act of Free Choice, under which Indonesia got UN support to absorb Papua.
It also says he should try to convince the Indonesian government to allow free access to West Papua for media and NGOs.
The group also says the Pacific Islands Forum leaders must also act without delay and send a fact-finding mission to West Papua to investigate the human rights situation and to support a peaceful dialogue.
And it says the New Zealand government can play a key role in mediating and beginning that dialogue process.
New Zealand’s foreign minister, Murray McCully says officials will be meeting with West-Papuan activists.

“I have said hullo to them and I have asked the director of our Pacific Division to meet with them and I understand that’s happening.”

News Content © Radio New Zealand International
PO Box 123, Wellington, New Zealand

http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=62997 

Harawira discusses West Papua with Ban Ki-moon

Mana Party Hone Harawira

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 9:51a.m.

By Lloyd Burr
Mana Party leader Hone Harawira took the opportunity to talk about the indigenous affairs of Indonesia with foreign delegates at the Pacific Islands Forum in Auckland yesterday.
Mr Harawira called for the United Nations to support peace talks between the indigenous people of the Indonesian province of West Papua and the Indonesian Government.
One of the delegates he spoke to at the Forum was United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Harawira says he “took the opportunity with both hands”.
Mr Harawira released this press statement this morning:
It’s not often that you get to meet somebody as important as Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations so Hone Harawira, MANA leader and MP for Tai Tokerau, took the opportunity with both hands.
“Welcome to Aotearoa, Mr Secretary General,” said Mr Harawira. “Can I please ask that you support peaceful dialogue between the Indigenous People of West Papua and Indonesia, to put an end to the killings there and to find a strategy to get Indonesia out of a land that isn’t theirs.”
Harawira met the UN Secretary General at the formal welcome for all the leaders attending the Pacific Forum, which was held yesterday at The Cloud down on the Auckland waterfront.
“Pity I didn’t have some information packs to hand out because they were all there,” said Harawira, “but I did manage to speak to a number of the leaders about West Papua and I think some of them quietly agreed with the suggestion that Indonesia quit West Papua as soon as possible.”
Back in the early 1960s when the former Dutch New Guinea was being prepared for independence, Indonesia waged a bloody campaign to invade and occupy the territory, with the support of the US. That occupation was ended when the UN approved West Papua being incorporated into Indonesia in 1969, following a rigged referendum of only 1,000 hand-picked West Papuans.
“The people of West Papua have been fighting for their independence ever since” said Harawira, “and New Zealand has had a role in that war - training the Indonesian military and police in return for favourable trade deals with the Indonesian government.”
“New Zealand has the opportunity to put that distasteful period in the past,” said Harawira, “by supporting two simple requests of the people of West Papua – a fact-finding mission to clarify the situation in West Papua, and peaceful dialogue between the Indigenous people of West Papua and the Indonesian government.”
“To do any less would be to sanction our support for the brutal military occupation of West Papua and to ignore the killings of an indigenous people who lack the capacity to defend themselves.”

Read more: http://www.3news.co.nz/Harawira-discusses-West-Papua-with-Ban-Ki-moon/tabid/419/articleID/224955/Default.aspx#ixzz1XkKmJlWc

WAWANCARA CLEMENS RANAWERY DENGAN BBC

Updated September 02, 2011 18:57:00

More than 40 years ago the United Nations recognised Indonesia's control over West Papua but of late the independence movement has been gathering momentum. Human rights groups say that over 400,000 people have been killed so far.
(Mark Colvin)

MARK COLVIN: It's been over 40 years since the UN recognised Indonesia's control over West Papua. But many West Papuans believe that recognition, that that recognition known as the Act of Free Choice, was a sham, and they've resisted the Indonesian military ever since.
It's been a complicated and often ferocious resistance. Human rights groups say that over 400,000 people have been killed. But recently, the independence movement's been gaining steam. Last month, thousands of West Papuans rallied for independence in the biggest protests in a decade.
Clemens Runawery is a former West Papuan politician, who's been involved with the independence movement since it began. He's lived in exile ever since 1969, when Australian officials stopped him leaving Papua New Guinea to press the UN for a fair vote on independence. He spoke to me from Brisbane.
CLEMENS RUNAWERY: The younger generations in Papua are now eagerly and forcefully wanting to get out from Indonesian rule.
MARK COLVIN: So they don't just want autonomy within Indonesia?
CLEMENS RUNAWERY: They don't want... Autonomy is not, it was just an appeasement strategy to show to the world 'well yes we are offering an autonomy to Papuans'. But that is not what we wanted.
You know there are several types of autonomy that we look at. The Bougainville autonomy is coming up, the parliament of PNG have endorsed the referendum that will become in the next two or three years, in 2015. The people in Bougainville will say as to whether to remain within PNG or to cede from PNG.
MARK COLVIN: Do you think that Papuans want to be part of Papua New Guinea or do they want to be a completely independent state of their own; what do they want?
CLEMENS RUNAWERY: They want to be completely independent on their own. Not to be part of Papua New Guinea. But once we are independent West Papuans can forge closer relationship with PNG because we are geographically and culturally one island with one, more or less, cultural identity and position.
MARK COLVIN: The Indonesians have used what they called transmigrasi to change the demographics of Papua; are Papuans, native Papuans likely to be outnumbered?
CLEMENS RUNAWERY: Oh yes. Well there are about 1.7 million indigenous Papuans and about 1.8 million non-Papuans so...
MARK COLVIN: So is it possible they could have a referendum and you would be simply out-voted because of that?
CLEMENS RUNAWERY: Yes, but then we need to define who are to go to the poll? And in our view, in my view, and we've been addressing this one quietly, the Indonesians who came after 1963 and born and grow up there, they will not be party to the referendum.
MARK COLVIN: You can imagine that they would be very frightened then that, you say 1.8 million people, that they....
CLEMENS RUNAWERY: Yes ...
MARK COLVIN: ... might just have their homes taken away and be sent back to Java.
CLEMENS RUNAWERY: No, no, no. When the referendum takes place they will not be taking part with it, only the Melanesians, the Papuans, or Indigenous population will go to the poll. They will have to stay out. But after the referendum they have a choice to decide, either to remain or to go home. It's up to them, we are not...
MARK COLVIN: Will they have ...
CLEMENS RUNAWERY: .... going to change them.
MARK COLVIN: ... the vote when you had an election, if you won the referendum?
CLEMENS RUNAWERY: Yes, if we won the referendum, or whichever way, but they will not be party or part of the referendum.
MARK COLVIN: Because there would be a danger of creating a new sort of Israel, a situation like Israel, wouldn't there?
CLEMENS RUNAWERY: Oh not only that but we're also observing what is happening in Fiji where the Indian Fijians are dominating the whole political and economical landscape there and we don't want that to happen. So we need to address this issue right now and we have to talk openly about it.
And our position is...
MARK COLVIN: So you, just to be clear there, you approve of the political repression of Indian Fijians who have been there for generations?
CLEMENS RUNAWERY: Oh yes.
MARK COLVIN: You approve of that?
CLEMENS RUNAWERY: We don't but we are learning from what is happening there. Demographic competition in Fiji is such that Fijians almost become minority, but what is happening there is that the Fijians still have a say, a lot of say, in the government bureaucracy and all that. But the natives...
MARK COLVIN: Fiji was working its way towards a fairly multicultural society and then there were a series of coups and the Fijians, as I say, repressed them.
CLEMENS RUNAWERY: That's right but...
MARK COLVIN: But do you approve of that...
CLEMENS RUNAWERY: ... that's another angle.
MARK COLVIN: ... do you think that's how it ought to go?
CLEMENS RUNAWERY: No, no...
MARK COLVIN: ...that Melanesian people should have more political rights than people who are not Melanesian?
CLEMENS RUNAWERY: That is a very contentious issue...
MARK COLVIN: That's why I'm asking.
CLEMENS RUNAWERY: ...we need to establish a clear political landscape whereby indigenous have a lot of say but we must also allow the non-indigenous, who have been in Papua for, say, four decades, they can stay.
But the problem is this: who brought them in? They themselves came in through transmigrasi, nobody asked them to come, West Papuans never asked them to come, we never invaded Java with the vast majority of Papuans, no. So they have to listen, they have to have respect to the local community because they own the land.
In Melanesia, in Papua people are attached to the land, land is the mother. If you kill the mother then you kill your life, you future.
MARK COLVIN: Exiled former West Papuan politician, Clemens Runawery, now an active member of the country's independence movement.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-09-02/west-papua-movement-gains-steam/2868768?section=world  (updated 5/09/11).