The Jayapura High Court has found West Papuan human rights and social justice activist Victor Yeimo guilty of treason and sentenced him to one year in prison in an appeal judgement this week.

The verdict was delivered during a public session held by the panel of judges headed by Paluko Hutagalung, with Adrianus Agung Putrantono and Sigit Pangudianto, serving as member judges.

The charges against Yeimo, the international spokesperson of the West Papua National Committee, stem from his alleged involvement in the Papuan anti-racism protest condemning racial slurs targeting Papuan students at the Kamasan III Student Dormitory in Surabaya on August 16, 2019.

Yeimo was accused of leading the demonstrations that occurred in Jayapura City on August 19 and 29, 2019.

The Jayapura High Court imposed a harsher criminal sentence than the previous verdict on May 5, 2023.

In the previous ruling, the court found Victor Yeimo guilty of violating Article 155 paragraph (1) of the Criminal Code, which pertains to the public display of writings or images containing expressions of hostility, hatred, or contempt towards the Indonesian government.

Yeimo was then sentenced to 8 months’ imprisonment.

Stirred controversy
The earlier verdict stirred controversy because the charge of Article 155 paragraph (1) of the Criminal Code was not initially brought against Victor Yeimo. Also, the legal article used to sentence him had already been invalidated by the Constitutional Court.

On May 12, 2023, both the public prosecutor and the Coalition of Law Enforcement and Human Rights for Papua, representing Yeimo as his legal counsel, appealed against the court ruling.

In the appeal decision, the Jayapura High Court overturned the previous decision, found Yeimo guilty of treason, and upheld the initial one-year prison sentence requested by the public prosecutor.

The panel of judges at the Jayapura High Court stated that the time Yeimo had already spent in arrest and detention would be fully deducted from the imposed sentence and ordered him to remain in detention.

Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The Humanitarian Coalition for Papua says that the unilateral creation of three new provinces in Papua by the Indonesian central government is like repeating the management model of Dutch colonial power.

National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) head researcher Cahyo Pamungkas, who is part of the coalition, said that this policy would cause greater mistrust among the Papuan people against the government, reports CNN Indonesia.

“This top-down decentralisation which is being done arbitrarily by the central government is like repeating the model of Dutch power in order to continue exploiting natural resources and controlling the land of Papua,” said Pamungkas in a media release.

Pamungkas, who is also a member of the Papua Peace Network (JDP), said that the new Papua Special Autonomy Law (Otsus) and the policy on creating new provinces would be counter-productive.

Amnesty International Indonesia executive director Usman Hamid said that creating new provinces must involve the Papuan People’s Council (MPR) which represents the cultural interests of indigenous Papuan (OAP).

This is a mandate of Law Number 2/2021 on Papuan Special Autonomy (Otsus Law) as a form of protection for the rights of indigenous Papuans.

“Decentralisation in Papua must involve the MRP as the cultural representatives of OAP. This is regulated under the Otsus Law as a form of protection for the rights of indigenous Papuans,” said Hamid.

Call to wait for court ruling
Public Virtue executive director Miya Irawati said that the government must cancel or postpone the planned creation of new provinces in Papua until there was a ruling by the Constitutional Court (MK) on a challenge against the revisions to the Otsus Law which had been launched by the MRP.

According to Irawati, the move by the House of Representatives’ (DPR) Legislative Body (Baleg) and the government in agreeing to the draft law on the creation of three new provinces in Papua was a setback for democracy in Papua.

“We also urge the government to cancel the planned creation of new provinces in Papua or at least postpone the plan until there is a ruling by the MK in several months time,” said Irawati.

Indonesian Human Rights Watch (Imparsial) researcher Hussein Ahmad is concerned that the policy will be used to justify adding more military commands in Papua which have the potential to increase the level of violence and human rights violations.

“If there are three new provinces then usually this is followed by the formation of three [new] Kodam [Regional Military Commands] and new units underneath it which of course will impact on increasing the number of military troops in Papua,” he said.

The Papua Humanitarian Coalition is a voluntary partnership made up of a number of organisations and individuals including Amnesty International Indonesia, the Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI) Papua Bureau, Imparsial, the Jakarta Institute for Public Research and Advocacy (Elsam), the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), the Democracy Alliance for Papua (ADP), the Land of Papua Peace and Unity of Creation Synod of the Papua Injili Christian Church (KPKC GKI-TP), the Jayapura Diocese Peace and Unity of Creation Justice Secretariat (SKPKC Keuskupan Jayapura), the Public Virtue Research Institute, the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI) and BRIN researcher Cahyo Pamungkas.

Aim to ‘improve public services’
DPR Speaker Puan Maharani claimed that the formation of three new provinces was to improve public services and social welfare.

Maharani said the additional provinces were aimed at accelerating even development in the Land of Cenderawasih as Papua is known.

“The additional provinces in the eastern part of Indonesia are intended to accelerate even development in Papua and to better serve the Papuan people,” said Maharani in a media release.

The chairperson of the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Central Leadership Board said that the additional provinces were aimed advancing Papua and increasing the level and dignity of the Papuan people.

Maharani confirmed that the deliberations on the draft law on the creation of the new provinces will still be in line with Law Number 2/2021 on Otsus.

“In the deliberations on this draft law later it will pay attention to the aspirations and needs of the Papuan people”, said Maharani.

Baleg DPR Deputy Chairperson Achmad Baidowi said that the names of the three new provinces could still be changed.

Changed names
Earlier, it had been decided that the names would be Anim Ha for South Papua, Meepago for Central Papua, and Serta Lapago for the Papua Central Highlands.

“If there is a wish to change them, it can be done during the deliberations”, Baidowi told journalists.

Baidowi explained that the traditional names used for the prospective provinces were a recommendation from the Baleg. He claimed that the names were chosen in accordance with the wishes of the public and academic studies.

“Certainly we recommended that the traditional names be included in the draft law. For example Papua Central Highlands would be what, then Central Papua what, South Papua what”, he said.

Earlier, the Baleg agreed to the Draft Law on the Provinces of South Papua, Central Papua and Papua Central Highlands during a plenary meeting held on Wednesday April 6. The draft law will then be taken to a DPR plenary meeting for deliberation.

The draft law regulates the creation of three new provinces which will cover a number of existing regencies.

South Papua will have Merauke as the provincial capital and cover the regencies of Merauke, Mappi, Asmat and Boven Digoel.

Central Papua province’s provincial capital will be Timika and cover the regencies of Mimika, Paniai, Dogiyai, Deyiai, Intan Jaya and Puncak.

Papua Central Highlands provincial capital will be Wamena and cover the regencies of Jayawijaya, Puncak Jaya, Lanny Jaya, Mamberamo Tengah, Nduga, Tolikara, Yahukimo, and Yalimo.

Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was Koalisi: Pemekaran 3 Provinsi Baru Papua Ulangi Model Belanda.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A law professor in Noumea says New Caledonia is now faced with a period of high uncertainty — be it political, economic or institutional.

Mathias Chauchat said referendum voters were made to believe that with yesterday’s no vote, the provisions of the 1998 Noumea Accord had become void.

The Noumea Accord lapsed with yesterday’s third referendum on full sovereignty.

However, Chauchat told Caledonia TV even after three no votes, the structures created by the Noumea Accord remained in place because their irreversibility was enshrined in the French constitution.

He said the no campaign was selling its supporters a dream of being able to change them like an organic law as it was possible in all other French overseas departments and territories.

But Chauchat said that to change accord provisions, there first needed to be a 60 percent majority in both the National Assembly and the Senate to alter the constitution, which in the current political situation was difficult.

He said the provisions cover the entire political construct, including the make-up of the electoral roll, of the assemblies and the collegial government as well as the economic re-balancing within the territory.

Chauchat said the French government may claim that the end of the Accord makes it obsolete, but he said this would end up in France’s Constitutional Court, where the pro-independence parties would continue their fight for respect of the accord.

As a result, he said, New Caledonia was now faced with instability, particularly over plans to open the electoral roll to more recent arrivals from France, who under the Noumea Accord cannot vote in provincial elections.

Referendum result confirmed
The French supervisor of New Caledonia’s third and last independence referendum said the high level of abstention had had no impact on the “sincerity of the vote”.

Presenting the official result, Francis Lamy said the rules don’t make voting mandatory and there was no minimum participation required.

Turnout was 43.9 percent, down from almost 86 percent last year, following a boycott by the pro-independence camp.

A total of 96.5 percent voted against independence.

Lamy also said there had been no significant irregularity and polling was calm.

His assessment was based on reports from more than 250 magistrates and officials deployed to polling stations territory-wide.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz