Seven regional executives representing all the customary regions of West Papua have declared their support for the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) gaining full membership of the Melanesian Spearhead Group.

The executives are of the ULMWP ‘provisional government’ in the Indonesian-ruled Melanesian region.

The ULMWP declared this political support in a statement this week in advance of the forthcoming MSG summit in Port Vila, Vanuatu.

ULMWP’s executive, legislative and judicial councils had earlier made a declaration in support of full membership in Jayapura on 4 June 2023.

ULMWP president Benny Wenda had separately announced his support for MSG full membership, saying “our agenda is now totally focused on consolidating support for full membership”.

According to the statement, the whole of the West Papuan liberation movement stood united behind the shared goal of MSG full membership.

The seven customary regions of West Papua and the executives representing them are: Anim-Ha Region – Mathias Tambai; Bomberay Region – Erik Fimbay; Domberay Region – Markus Yenu; Lapago Region – Herman Kossay; Mamta/Tabi Region – Beny Yantewo; Meepago Region – Habel Nawipa; Saireri Region – Edison Kendi.

While MSG membership comprises the Melanesian states of Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, there is a long-established precedent in a political grouping, the Kanak and Soclalist National Liberation Front (FLNKS), representing New Caledonia as a full member.

19 arrested
Meanwhile, the human rights watchdog Tapol reports that the Indonesian government “continues to tread on the right to peaceful free expression in West Papua”.

“This can be seen from arrests and treason charges against three members of the peaceful independence campaign group, the National Committee for West Papua (Komite Nasional Papua Barat, KNPB), in Tambrauw Regency, Southwest Papua province,” the agency said in a statement.

The arrests took place on 9 June 2023, in Sarwom village, where 19 people were taken into custody.

Those arrested were a mixture of members of the coordinating body for the KNPB from neighbouring Maybrat regency, as well as local members.

The head of West Papua area police claimed that those arrested had been proclaiming the founding of the KNPB in Tambrauw, and calling for the independence of West Papua from Indonesia.

Police also claimed that the group put up a fight, being arrested with TNI support.

However, activist groups stated that they were actually only eating food and drinking coffee together without disturbing anybody in the local area, when the police arrived with weapons.

Activist groups also fiercely denied the “police insinuation” that the KNPB had links to the West Papua National Liberation Army – Free Papua Movement (Tentara Pembebasan Nasional Papua Barat – Organisasi Papua Merdeka (TPNPB-OPM)).

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Esther Haluk, a women’s rights activist from GARDA Papua, is among West Papuan activists who have condemned a declining state of freedom of speech in the Melanesian region.

Speaking in a recent online discussion on “Status and Trends of Freedom of Expression, Assembly, and Digital Rights in West Papua”, she said there was a growing sense of fear among Papuans who wished to openly voice their opinions due to the Indonesian government’s response.

Haluk said that the deterioration of freedom of expression in Papua could be traced back to 2019 when large-scale protests erupted in response to instances of racism.

She said individuals from the Papuan community who had participated in those protests were subsequently arrested and imprisoned.

“Some Indonesian people call us monkeys but when we fight against it, we are arrested. We are victims,” Haluk told the discussion organised by SAFEnet and TAPOL this week.

According to Haluk, whenever Papuans exercised their freedom of expression to voice the truth, they were consistently met with opposition from the military and police forces.

Haluk shared that she personally experienced being arrested for participating in a peaceful protest in May 2022. However, at the police station she was questioned about her social media posts instead.

Facebook account hacked
“So at that time we were taken to the police station not because of the protest but rather due to our social media posts. My Facebook account was hacked three times after I posted some comments on the news,” Haluk explained.

Haluk said the policies implemented by the Indonesian government did not align with the wishes of the Papuan people, particularly over the splitting up of Papua province to  establishment new provinces.

However, when Papuans protested against the policy, they were arrested.

“We refuse to accept the policies enforced in Papua because they do not positively impact our lives,” she said.

“We are witnessing ecological destruction that poses a threat to our existence, as well as issues of land appropriation.

“It is our fundamental right to express ourselves and engage in peaceful protests, yet the government responds by deploying a significant number of military and police personnel to suppress Papuan voices,” Haluk said.

She said Indonesia as a democratic nation should uphold and honour the freedom of expression of Papuans.

Peaceful protests
In Haluk’s view, the way the Indonesian government treated Papuans indicated that Papuans were not viewed as a part of Indonesia.

“We intended to conduct a peaceful protest, so why did the government resort to sending in the police and military to forcibly disperse us?

“We were simply exercising our rights, so why the use of such excessive force by the military and police?

“Based on our experiences as Papuans, it feels as though our rights hold no significance and are not acknowledged within Indonesia,” Haluk said.

Ian Moore of the human rights campaign TAPOL revealed in the forum that there were 21 instances of arbitrary dispersals that took place in 2022, according to the Tapol West Papua 2022 report “Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Assembly”.

Moore highlighted that most of the incidents occurred in Papua province, particularly in the capital Jayapura. However, similar incidents were also reported in other parts of West Papua, especially in Sorong, and Central Papua.

Moore said that various police units were involved in the dispersal of peaceful demonstrations in Papua, ranging from standard units to special task forces such as the Nemangkawi Task Force, the Mobile Brigade Corps, and police intelligence agencies

Papuans ‘oppressed’
Made Supriatma, a researcher at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, said the state continued to oppress Papuans by deploying military forces to deal with their protests.

This response, Supriatma added, was “excessively brutal” and amounted to repression against Papuans.

Supriatma said that various protests by Papuans indicated a growing sense of nationalism, particularly among the youth in Papua.

The Indonesian government should engage in dialogue with Papuans to address their concerns and listen to their demands.

“Papua has a strong movement, and young Papuans are eager to voice their opinions and participate in protests, even in the face of military repression,” Supriatma said.

Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A lively 43sec video clip surfaced during last week’s Pacific Islands Forum in the Fiji capital of Suva — the first live leaders’ forum in three years since Tuvalu, due to the covid pandemic.

Posted on Twitter by Guardian Australia’s Pacific Project editor Kate Lyons it showed the doorstopping of Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare by a melee of mainly Australian journalists.

The aloof Sogavare was being tracked over questions about security and China’s possible military designs for the Melanesian nation.

But Lyons made a comment directed more at questioning journalists themselves about their newsgathering style:

“Australian media attempt to get a response from PM Sogavare, who has refused to answer questions from international media since the signing of the China security deal, on his way to a bilateral with PM Albanese. He stayed smilingly silent.”

Prominent Samoan journalist, columnist and member of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) gender council Lagipoiva Cherelle Jackson picked up the thread, saying: “Let’s talk western journalism vs Pacific doorstop approaches.”

Lagipoiva highlighted for her followers the fact that “the journos engaged in this approach are all white”. She continued:

‘A respect thing’
“We don’t really do this in the Pacific to PI leaders. it’s a respect thing. However there is merit to this approach.”

A “confrontational” approach isn’t generally practised in the Pacific – “in Samoa, doorstops are still respectful.”

A thread⤵️
Let’s talk western journalism vs. Pacific journalism doorstop approaches. You will see in this, that the journos engaged in this approach are all white. We don’t really do this in the Pacific to PI leaders. It’s a respect thing. However there is merit to this approach. https://t.co/GcsJVDICFb

— lagipoiva (@lagipoiva) July 14, 2022

But she admitted that Pacific journalists sometimes “leaned” on western journalists to ask the hard questions when PI leaders would “disregard local journalists”.

“Even though this approach is very jarring”, she added, “it is also a necessary tactic to hold Pacific island leaders accountable.”

So here is the rub. Where were the hard questions in Suva — whether “western or Pacific-style” — about West Papua and Indonesian human rights abuses against a Melanesian neighbour? Surely here was a prime case in favour of doorstopping with a fresh outbreak of violations by Indonesian security forces – an estimated 21,000 troops are now deployed in Papua and West Papua provinces — in the news coinciding with the Forum unfolding on July 11-14.

In her wrap about the Forum in The Guardian, Lyons wrote about how smiles and unity in Suva – “with the notable exception of Kiribati” – were masking the tough questions being shelved for another day.

“Take coal. This will inevitably be a sticking point between Pacific countries and Australia, but apparently did not come up at all in discussions,” she wrote.

“The other conversation that has been put off is China.

“Pacific leaders have demonstrated in recent months how important the Pacific Islands Forum bloc is when negotiating with the superpower.”

Forum ‘failed moral obligation’
In a column in DevPolicy Blog this week, Fiji opposition National Federation Party (NFP) leader and former University of the South Pacific economics professor Dr Biman Prasad criticised forum leaders — and particularly Australia and New Zealand — over the “deafening silence” about declining standards of democracy and governance.

While acknowledging that an emphasis on the climate crisis was necessary and welcome, he said: “Human rights – including freedom of speech – underpin all other rights, and it is unfortunate that that this Forum failed in its moral obligation to send out a strong message of its commitment to upholding these rights.”

Back to West Papua, arguably the most explosive security issue confronting the Pacific and yet inexplicably virtually ignored by the Australian and New Zealand governments and news media. The final PIF communiqué failed to mention West Papua.

In Suva, it was left to non-government organisations and advocacy groups such as the Australia West Papua Association (AWPA) and the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre (FWCC) to carry the Morning Star banner of resistance — as West Papua’s banned flag is named.

The Fiji women’s advocacy group condemned their government and host Prime Minister Bainimarama for remaining silent over the human rights violations in West Papua, saying that women and girls were “suffering twofold” due to the increased militarisation of the two provinces of Papua and West Papuan by the “cruel Indonesian government”.

Spokesperson Joe Collins of the Sydney-based AWPA said the Fiji Forum was a “missed opportunity” to help people who were suffering at the hands of Jakarta actions.

“It’s very important that West Papua appears to be making progress,” he said, particularly in this Melanesian region which had the support of Pacific people.

Intensified violence in Papua
The day after the Forum ended, Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC) general secretary Reverend James Bhagwan highlighted in an interview with FijiVillage how 100,000 people had been displaced due to intensified violence in the “land of Papua”.

He said the increasing number of casualties of West Papuans was hard to determine because no humanitarian agencies, NGOs or journalists were allowed to enter the region and report on the humanitarian crisis.

Reverend Bhagwan also stressed that covid-19 and climate change reminded Pacific people that there needed to be an “expanded concept of security” that included human security and humanitarian assistance.

In London, the Indonesian human rights advocacy group Tapol expressed “deep sorrow” over the recent events coinciding with the Forum, and condemned the escalating violence by Jakarta’s security forces and the retaliation by resistance groups.

Tapol cited “the destruction and repressive actions of the security forces at the Paniai Regent’s Office (Kantor Bupati Paniai) that caused the death of one person and the injury of others on July 5″.

It also condemned the “shootings and unlawful killings’ of at least 11 civilians reportedly carried out by armed groups in Nduga on July 16.

“Acts of violence against civilians, when they lead to deaths — whoever is responsible — should be condemned,” Tapol said.

“We call on these two incidents to be investigated in an impartial, independent, appropriate and comprehensive manner by those who have the authority and competency to do so.”

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Plans to establish “food estates” were announced by the Indonesian government at the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic because, it said, it wanted to ensure Indonesia’s food security.

But as AwasMIFEE! and TAPOL show in their new report released today, Pandemic Power Grabs: Who benefits from Food Estates in West Papua?, these plans would seem to benefit agro-industrial conglomerates and oligarchs with close connections to figures in the government.

Based on previous and current plans, food estates could lead to ecological ruin and further sideline the indigenous population in West Papua, says the report.

The report details planned food estates and the involvement of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry.

A second linked report will examine in more detail the involvement of the Ministry of Defence and the military in food estates.

Pandemic Power Grabs argues that the strong support for corporate plantation agriculture by the government in southern Papua and in other areas of Indonesia has the potential to increase corruption.

The Minister of Environment and Forestry has also seemingly backed off commitments to stop deforestation in Indonesia made at the COP26 summit in Glasgow in 2021.

Long-term impacts of Merauke failure
In the same week that the Indonesian government banned palm oil exports in the face of a global shortage of cooking oils, the report shows that while plans in southern Papua from 2007 for a Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate (MIFEE) failed, MIFEE had serious long-term impacts.

As the report states, MIFEE became a “major enabling factor behind the growth of oil palm plantations in the area which have severely impacted [on] West Papuan communities socially, economically and ecologically.”

The report includes:

• A chronology of past top-down agricultural development plans in West Papua
• How plans for food estates could potentially lead to the flourishing of corruption
• How this potential corruption is being facilitated by new legislation which gives new powers to the central government to grab land for food estates, also circumventing environmental safeguards
• That the growth of the plantation industry in West Papua over the last decade has highlighted many of the potential negative consequences indigenous people are likely to suffer under the current plans
• That it is not only indigenous communities’ livelihoods that are threatened by food estates but also their culture.

‘Enduring land grabs’
TAPOL chairperson Steve Alston commented: “Communities in southern Papua province have for more than 15 years had to endure land grabs and clearances for massive plantations.

“We have supported local NGOs to campaign for indigenous peoples’ rights and AwasMIFEE! has publicised and tirelessly reported on the situation.

“But despite it being within its power to review and halt food estates, the Indonesian government has failed to listen to local communities. They have been promised jobs on plantations but then sidelined as transmigrants from other parts of Indonesia have replaced them.

“The food security reasoning for food estates is actually very thin, what we’re seeing instead is cultivation of cash crops for exports, with the government taking a role to support this goal.

“In a time of global crisis for food production, we urge the government to act now to halt plans for food estates which dispossess Papuans of their land, lead to deforestation and will eventually ruin the land of Papua.”

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) has appealed to news media that reported on intimidation against the parents and relatives of human rights lawyer Veronica Koman to immediately make corrections.

Some media have revealed the identity and addresses exposing them to further violence, reports Tabloid Jubi in Jayapura.

The plea comes amid many protests among civil society groups about the harassment and the London-based Indonesian human rights organisation TAPOL condemned the increasing threats and attacks against Koman’s family in Jakarta.

Koman, a prominent advocate for West Papuan human rights, lives in Australia in self-imposed exile.

AJI chairman Sasminto Madrim said that mentioning the identity, names, and addresses of Koman’s family members in the news would lead to further “terrorism” acts.

“Regarding the news that reveals the identity of Veronica Koman’s family, we want to convey that there is no news worth a life,” Madrim said during an online media conference.

“The safety of the informants is paramount.”

Journalism code of ethics
Article 2 of Indonesia’s Journalism Code of Ethics (KEJ) reads: “Indonesian journalists use professional methods in carrying out journalistic duties.”

Madrim said that “being professional’ meant respecting the privacy of the source in certain cases, such as victims of terrorism, violence, or sexual violence.

Madrim further mentioned Article 10, which says: “Indonesian journalists immediately retract, rectify, and correct false and inaccurate news accompanied by apologies to readers, listeners, or viewers.”

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A United Nations expert has urged Indonesia to provide proper medical care to a Papuan independence activist to “keep him from dying in prison”, after reports emerged that his health had deteriorated, reports The Jakarta Post.

Victor Yeimo, 39, the international spokesman for the West Papua National Committee, was arrested in Jayapura in May.

He has been charged with treason and inciting violence and social unrest in relation to the pro-independence protests that swept the region for several weeks in 2019. Yeimo has denied the charges.

His trial went ahead in August despite repeated requests from his lawyer for a delay on medical grounds.

“I’ve seen it before: States deny medical care to ailing, imprisoned human rights defenders, which results in serious illness or death,” said Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders.

“Indonesia must take urgent steps to ensure the fate does not await Mr. Yeimo.”

Political trial adjourned
The human rights watchdog TAPOL reports that Yeimo’s political trial was adjourned by the District Court of Jayapura on 31 August 2021 until he was declared physically fit by the hospital.

On the same day, the court also dismissed his pretrial motion, challenging his arrest and detention for violating criminal procedural law, on the grounds that the main trial had begun.

Victor Yeimo was finally hospitalised on August 30 despite the court having issued an order to hospitalise him since the evening of August 27.

The prosecutors defied the court’s order, which caused uproar among the public.

Dozens of people protested in front of the prosecutors’ office and their residence on August 28.

Hundreds of people protested again at the prosecutors’ office on August 30 before the prosecutors finally honoured the court order and took Yeimo to hospital.

Victor Yeimo’s health has been a concern since the beginning of his detention in May 2021.

Health deteriorated
His health deteriorated as he was placed in isolation and did not receive proper food or any medication.

Yeimo’s lawyers repeatedly asked that he be treated but were denied the request by the authorities. He was afforded only perfunctory medical tests on August 10 and 20.

During his first and second hearings, he told the court that he had never been told the results of these tests and had never been given any medicines or prescriptions.

He pleaded for help to the judges.

The prosecutors, having withheld the medical results stating that Victor Yeimo must be hospitalised, finally shared the medical results dated August 20 with Victor Yeimo’s lawyers on August 26.

On the same day, the court issued an order for Victor Yeimo to be treated at the hospital from 9 am to 6 pm the following day.

The prosecutors only appeared to take him to the hospital at 4 pm. At the hospital, Victor Yeimo pleaded to stay, but was dragged out by armed police despite still being on a drip.

At 11 pm, the court issued an order for Yeimo to be hospitalised.

Crackdown on peaceful protests
Peaceful protests demanding Victor Yeimo be released in seven cities across Indonesia during the period of 15 to 30 August 2021 were subjected to excessive use of force resulting in the death of protestor Ferianus Asso in Yahukimo, 104 arrests, and 40 people who were known to have been injured.

Those arrested have all been released. Internet freedom watchdogs found that the internet in Jayapura was shut down for three hours at around the time of Victor Yeimo’s trial.

Following TAPOL’s submission a week after Victor Yeimo’s arrest, the United Nations  Special Rapporteurs questioned the Indonesian government on the matter on June 30. The document was made public on August 31.

“We regret the government of Indonesia’s response which has distorted the facts. UN Special Rapporteurs on Human Rights Defenders, the Right to Freedom of Assembly, the Right to Health, and Anti-Racism yesterday have issued a press release calling for Indonesia to provide Victor Yeimo with ‘the basic care he so desperately needs’, said TAPOL.

“The UN experts also concluded that his prison conditions may have amounted to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.”

Given the gravity of the situation and the treason charges that Yeimo is facing, TAPOL said it would provide a summary of each of his trial sessions so that they could be properly and transparently monitored.

“We would encourage international organisations and interested experts to actively monitor his trial once it has been resumed,” TAPOL said.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

British and Indonesian human rights defender Carmel Budiardjo, founder of TAPOL watchdog and the movement’s driving force for many decades, has died peacefully aged 96.

TAPOL said in an announcement that she had died on Saturday and would greatly missed by an extensive network of people whose lives had been “touched — and sometimes transformed — by her passionate and determined campaigning for human rights, justice and democracy in Indonesia, East Timor, Aceh and West Papua”.

For many, she had been a great mentor as well as a beloved friend, TAPOL said.

TAPOL stands for “tahanan politik” or “political prisoners” in Indonesian.

Budiardjo, a British citizen then living in Indonesia, was imprisoned without trial by Indonesian authorities following former President Suharto’s rise to power in 1965.

An Amnesty International prisoner of conscience, Budiardjo was released after three years’ imprisonment and she returned to the UK.

In 1973, she founded TAPOL to campaign for the release of the tens of thousands of political prisoners following the 1965 atrocities by the Suharto regime and in support of the relatives of the hundreds of thousands who were killed.

Raised awareness of atrocities
Budiardjo was determined to raise international awareness about those atrocities and injustices in which many Western countries, including the UK, were “complicit in their attempts to halt what they saw as the rise of communism”.

Over the next three decades, TAPOL’s work broadened to encompass wider issues of human rights, peace and democracy in Indonesia, including in Aceh, East Timor and the contested Melanesian territory of West Papua.

“Wherever possible, and despite the extreme repression of the New Order regime, we built close relationships and collaboration with the very brave human rights defenders and pro-democracy campaigners there,” said TAPOL.

In 1995, Budiardjo received the Right Livelihood Award, after being nominated by the International Federation for East Timor.

With awareness growing also of the environmental damage being wrought by the regime on nature and local communities, in 1988 Budiardjo helped set up a sister organisation, Down to Earth, to fight for ecological justice.

Later, in 2007, Budiardjo and TAPOL were also founder members of the London Mining Network, established to support communities harmed by London-based mining companies.

“As Indonesia became more democratic during the 2000s, we increasingly turned our attention to the region of West Papua. There, human rights violations have continued, largely out-of-sight and un-discussed within Indonesia as well as internationally,” said TAPOL.

John Rumbiak Award
For TAPOL’s international work on West Papua, Budiardjo also received the John Rumbiak Human Rights Defender Award and was honoured as an “Eldest Daughter of Papua” by leaders of West Papuan civil society in 2011.

TAPOL is still today very much as Budiardjo set it up — a small organisation/network of committed staff, volunteers and collaborators, all aiming for a big impact.

“We remain committed to her ideals of promoting justice and equality across Indonesia, and are deeply grateful for all that she contributed and taught us,” the TAPOL statement said.

“Our thoughts and sincere condolences for this huge, sad loss go to Carmel’s family in particular, but also to all those across the globe who knew and loved her.”

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Human rights lawyer and Papua advocate Veronica Koman has formally reported the arrest of West Papua National Committee (KNPB) spokesperson Victor Yeimo to the United Nations Human Rights Commission.

The report was made by the UK based human rights organisation TAPOL with Koman as Yeimo’s lawyer.

“An urgent call in the name of West Papua pro-independence leader Victor Yeimo has been sent by the human rights organisation TAPOL and lawyer Veronica Koman through the Special Procedures mechanism of the UN Human Rights Commission,” said a TAPOL media release.

Koman, as Yeimo’s lawyer, said that there were indications that Papua regional police chief Inspector General Mathius Fakhiri would include additional charges against Yeimo.

“Papua regional police chief Mathius Fakhiri has indicated to the police that additional charges may perhaps be laid against Victor Yeimo so that he grows old in jail,” said Koman.

Based on this claim, TAPOL and Koman will be communicating with the UN over developments in Yeimo’s case.

“Because of this, we will be in close communication with UN officials in order to inform them of each and every development including if there is additional questioning or bad treatment,” she said.

Papua riots role ‘suspected’
Earlier, Nemangkawi Task Force head Senior Commissioner Iqbal Alqudusy had confirmed that Yeimo was arrested on May 9.

According to Alqudusy, Yeimo was included on the wanted persons list (DPO) in 2019 on suspicion of committing makar (treason, subversion, rebellion) and broadcasting a report or releasing information which could give rise to public unrest.

Yeimo has been declared a suspect for being the actor behind the 2019 riots in Papua based on witness testimony which cited him as the leader of a demonstration where he spoke about Papuan independence and allegedly incited the public to damage public facilities.

Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was “Penangkapan Victor Yeimo Dilaporkan ke Dewan HAM PBB”.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Campaigners at a TAPOL-hosted global webinar have called on the people of Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States and other countries to stop funding military training for Indonesian security forces who are “killing innocent West Papuans”.

Rosa Moiwend, a member of the War Resisters International, said West Papuans wanted to live peacefully without any oppression by the military – this was the hope of the indigenous Melanesian people.

“If your government is actually behind this scenario, I think the main thing you have to do is to go and talk to your government, Parliament members and question them about your tax money,” she said.

“Where does your tax money go? Does it go to pay [for] the war or is the tax money used for the purpose of human lives?”

Moiwend said many people across the world loved peace and justice, so they were anti-military and war.

Stopping governments funding military training was a must for activists.

Moiwend, a strong Melanesian and Pacific woman, gave an inspiring message to activists around the world to stand up firmly and speak out about the arms business that was violating human rights and killing people everywhere, “including the lives of innocent West Papuans”.

Sharing militarist experiences
An organiser said a key objective of the webinar was to give an opportunity to lawyers, activists, and supporters of a Make West Papua Safe campaign to share their experiences of militarisation and militarised policing.

Other speakers in the London-hosted webinar on Monday included Elijah Dacosta, a TAPOL campaigner; Yohanis Mambrassar, a lawyer for West Papuan human rights activists; Yones Douw, head of the justice and peace department of the Papua Kemah Gospel Church; author and researcher Jason MacLeod, co-founder of Make West Papua Safe; and Zelda Grimshaw, a Make West Papua Safe campaigner.

TAPOL (Tahanan Politik) is a British-based organisation campaigning for human rights and democracy in Indonesia.

“TAPOL was founded in 1973, and in the beginning the TAPOL campaign was focusing on releasing political prisoners in Indonesia,” said Dakosta.

But later the seriousness of military occupation became increasingly important.

“We have expanded to raise awareness on human rights issue in Aceh, East Timor and West Papua,” said Dakosta.

Yohanes Mambrasar, a West Papuan lawyer gave an illuminating description on what has been happening over human rights violence by state institutions towards indigenous people of West Papua.

“There has been increasing repression. We are seeing violent actions by the TNI (Indonesian National Armed Forces) and police against unarmed peaceful civilians who are gathering to express their political aspirations. We can really see this increasing year by year, even month by month,” said Mambrassar.

Human rights advocacy
Mambrassar who has been working on human rights advocacy said that during 2019 and 2020 “we are seeing this crackdown on protesting West Papuans.”

But they were also seeing a lot of violence towards villagers, who were suspected of supporting independence or having “separatist sympathies”, such as in Nduga, Intan Jaya, and other regions.

He said the violence was now extended to the virtual world where some people who disseminated information on social media such as Facebook and YouTube would face cyber-attacks. They were even physically attacked by the police or armed forces.

RNZ Pacific reports that Indonesian military denied shooting civilians in Papua. Papua’s police chief said that reports of a new military operation in the troubled Nduga regency were a “hoax”.

However, Yones Douw, head of the justice and peace department of KIMI church (West Papua Kemah Gospel Church), said that violence had never stopped since Indonesia had occupied West Papua.

“Really the violence has not changed since 1961 to 1969, 1969 to 2020, and 2020, when special autonomy was declared here in West Papua – right through until today the violence has continued,” said Douw.

Douw, a human rights activist, said that when special autonomy was introduced, Jakarta said that West Papuans would be 90 percent independent.

Promises ‘only words’
He said this was “only words – in fact, we have been seeing increasing violence”.

“So, if special autonomy went the way it was supposed to, West Papuan people should be protected and cared for. But that has not happened at all,” Douw said.

“Why is [the violence] increasing like this? Well, if you find a pastor who is speaking about the suffering of his congregation, he will be called a separatist. Anyone who speaks about human rights will be called as separatist, anyone who speaks about the welfare of Papuan people will be labelled as separatist,” he said.

He said that the Indonesian laws granting freedom of expression did not hold in West Papua. Even journalists, human rights activists, and some church leaders could not work without feeling a sense of fear.

“These are school students who are being shot, these are student who are walking around their own villages and without even any question they are being shot.

“Imagine what it is like if you are an older person, there is just no freedom at all to move,” said Douw.

Stopping foreign support
Jason MacLeod, co-founder of Make West Papua Safe, said he had collaborated with New Zealand activist Maire Leadbeater and Rosa Moiwend in launching this campaign.

The campaign was “to stop foreign government support for the Indonesian police and military,” said MacLeod.

He said it was a peaceful movement seeking to stop New Zealand and Australian government funding and training for the Indonesian police and military which every day brutally repressed the indigenous people of West Papua.

Brisbane-based MacLeod, who has been working on West Papua issues for the last 30 years, said the motivation behind the founding of the Make West Papua Safe campaign was in response to students speaking out in Jayapura.

Asked what they had thought about the New Zealand and Australian governments’ help for the Indonesian military, the students replied that both governments “can go to hell”, said MacLeod.

The activists, lawyers, and human rights defenders called on the people in Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States, the Pacific, Africa, Caribbean, Europe and Asia to raise their voices support of stopping military oppression in West Papua.

Contributed by a postgraduate communication studies student at Auckland University of Technology.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Former Papuan political prisoner Filep Karma says President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo promised to release Papuan political prisoners during his administration.

Widodo made this pledge, said Karma, to five of his fellow political prisoners in Jayapura, Papua, who were released in 2015, reports CNN Indonesia.

“When the Bapak [Mr] president released my five friends from prison in Jayapura, he told them, this is reconciliation and I will free all political prisoners,” said Karma, as quoted on the UK human rights group Tapol’s YouTube account on Friday.

READ MORE: Papuans Behind Bars – the facts

Now however, he said, the number of Papuan political prisoners had instead grown to 46 who were to this day still incarcerated in jail.

Karma said that he had personally made a request for their release with Justice and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly. At the time, Karma asked Laoly to release four Papuan political prisoners who were incarcerated at the Nusa Kambangan penitentiary.

“He said that he would try to get them transferred from Nusa Kambangan to Ambon [North Maluku] and try to get them released. But to this day the four are still in prison,” he said.

Karma related how in Papua, a person could be arrested over free expression. They would be taken by the police to jail, detained and sentenced for years.

This, he said, began to improve when the international community put pressure on Indonesia and provided support to his group.

Later, however, Karma suspects that Indonesia has returned to handing out long sentences to Papuan political prisoners.

Voicing an opinion without suffering violence is not an easy thing for a Papuan person to do, he said. He claims to have once submitted a request for a permit to police to hold a Kamisan (Thursday) action in Papua, but it was rejected by the police.

Charged with treason
In February, seven Papuans were arrested and charged with makar (treason, subversion, rebellion) – Hengki Hilapok, Alexsander Gobai, Steven Itlay, Bucthar Tabuni, Irwanus Uropmabi, Fery Kombo and Agus Kossay.

All of them are being tried at the Balikpapan District Court in East Kalimantan on charges related to their alleged involvement in riots in Papua in late 2019.

In September 2015, President Widodo visited the Abepura Penitentiary in Kamkey, Kota Baru sub-district, Abepura.

There, he personally presented a letter of agreement granting clemency to five Papuan political prisoners. The five political prisoners who were released were Apotnalogolik Lokobal (sentenced to 20 years in prison), Numbungga Telenggen (life imprisonment), Kimanus Wenda (19 years in prison), Linus Hiluka (19 years) and Jefrai Murib (life imprisonment).

“On this day we have released five people, this is a whole-hearted effort by the government in the context of ending the stigma of conflict that exists in Papua,” said Widodo in his greetings as quoted in a release by the Cabinet Secretariat.

The president asserted that the clemency was an initial step in developing Papua without conflict.

“This is an initial [step], later after this it will be followed up by giving clemency or amnesty to other [prisoners] because there are around 90 people who are still in prison. Once again this is an initial start to the release [of prisoners],” said Widodo.

Discrimination towards Papuans
A human rights lawyer in Jayapura, Anum Siregar, believes that the government is discriminative and takes a different position towards Papuan people and other Indonesian citizens.

He said Papuans were easily arrested and charged with makar just because they flew the Morning Star independence flat or voiced their views. In one such case, those who were arrested were investigated without a lawyer and beaten.

“Meanwhile in Jakarta, people who talk about overthrowing the government, creating a new Parliament, a new country, are still not tried. There is discrimination between what happens in Papua and Jakarta,” he said.

Siregar said that repressive actions by the government would only worsen the situation in Papua. By continuing to arrest and detain political prisoners, he said, the government would instead create a greater desire for Papuan independence.

Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft. The original title of the article was “Filep Karma Ungkap Janji Presiden Bebaskan Tapol Papua.”

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

On June 2, the Jayapura District Prosecutor’s Office issued 33 pages containing charges against the defendant Irwanus Uropmabin.

In the document, the Public Prosecutor concluded that Irwanus Uropmabin was proven to have violated Article 106 in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) of the Criminal Code, and stipulated a five-year prison sentence for the defendant.

READ MORE: Seven more people in Indonesia detained for ‘treason’

Irwanus is a student activist who was arrested on August 29, 2019, for participating in an anti-racism protest in West Papua in September last year.

In the demonstration, he was appointed as the security coordinator.

Papuans Behind Bars reported that Irwanus, along with six other political prisoners, were moved from Mako Brimob Jayapura to BalikPapan Class IIB East Kalimantan prison on October 4, 2019.

The transfer violated the Criminal Procedure Code.

Accused of ‘being the brains’
On the same day, the Public Prosecutor also read out charges against Buchtar Tabuni, a leader of “National Parliament of West Papua” accused of being the brains behind the Papua Uprising of 2019.

Despite maintaining his innocence of involvement in organising the Uprising, Tabuni has been charged with Articles 106, 110, and 160 of the Criminal Code, including treason charges.

The District Prosecutor’s office has demanded 17 years imprisonment for Buchtar Tabuni.

Tabuni is a prominent leader who has been repeatedly imprisoned for peaceful protests demanding independence for West Papua.

He has been repeatedly tortured by the Indonesian authorities during these imprisonments. This latest detention is his third.

“These sentences are excessive and at best an attempt to make examples out of West Papuan political activists who are simply trying to exercise their civil and political rights,” said TAPOL in a statement.

“These rights are protected by international principles as well as Indonesia’s national Constitution.

“West Papuans have been denouncing the injustice of these heavy sentences, as the racist perpetrators in Java who triggered the mass protests were either freed or only sentenced to 5, 7, and 10 months imprisonment.”

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Seven more people have been detained in Indonesia for alleged treason since a complaint filed with the United Nations last month, says the human rights watchdog TAPOL.

The complaint was submitted to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and UN Special Rapporteurs by Jennifer Robinson and Veronica Koman with the support of TAPOL on 15 April 2020.

Ten days later, April 25, more than 100 people participated in a peaceful rally commemorating the declaration of the South Moluccan Republic 70 years ago.

At least 23 people were arrested on that day. Most of them were released except the seven people detailed below.

Three people marched into the Maluku regional police headquarters in Ambon around 3.45 pm while carrying a large Benang Raja independence flag and shouting “Mena Muria”.

They are currently detained at Maluku regional police detention centre and have been charged with Articles 106, 110 and 160 of the Criminal Code:

Simon Viktor Taihitu, born 29 October 1963;

Abner Litamahuputy, born 25 January 1976, who had been imprisoned previously for his political activities

Janes Pattiasina, born 9 December 1968.

The four others are detained at Ambon police resort detention centre and have been charged with Article 106 of the Criminal Code. Their heads were shaved.

Derek Taihuttu, born on 28 October 1961. Taihuttu, a farmer, was arrested at 2 am and has been charged with Article 106 of the Criminal Code. Police arrested him based on the information provided by MS who had been arrested earlier that day for posting a photo with a Benang Raja flag on Facebook. MS told police that the instruction came from Derek Taihuttu.

Constantinus Siahaja, born on 25 May 1987. The farmer was arrested at around 4 am when he was asleep in Sidang Allah church in Hulaliu and has since been charged with Article 106 of the Criminal Code. Police arrested him based on the information provided by Derek Taihuttu that he kept a Benang Raja flag which was given by Derek Taihuttu.

Dominggus Saiya, born on 13 September 1968. He has been charged with Articles 106 and 110 of the Criminal Code for flying the Benang Raja flag on a flag pole outside his house.

Agusthinus Matalula, born on 5 August 1963. Police arrested him based on the information provided by Dominggus Saiya that Dominggus Saiya received the Benang Raja flag that he flew outside his house from Agusthinus Matalula. Agusthinus Matatula was given the flag by the late former notorious political prisoner Johan Teterissa. He has been charged with Articles 106 and 110 of the Criminal Code.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

TAPOL has condemned the political decision to cancel the early release of five political prisoners that were arrested in Jakarta for demonstrating in favour of self-determination of West Papua.

On April 24, the Central Court of Jakarta sentenced Paulus Suryanta Ginting, Ambrosius Mulait, Dano Tabuni, Charles Kossay and Ariana Elopere to nine months’ imprisonment; while Isay Wenda was sentenced to eight months.

A sixth prisoner – and they were known as the Jakarta Six – Isay Wenda was released last month on April 29 having served his full sentence, the human rights watchdog reports.

READ MORE: Jailing of Jakarta Six fuels virus fears over Papuan political prisoners

The Ministry of Law and Human Rights implemented a new policy on prisoners as a result of the covid-19 pandemic in early April, making provisions for the conditional release or assimilation of those who have served at least two-thirds of their sentences.

The remaining five political prisoners have to date served eight months and 12 days of their sentences.

Suryanta, Ambrosius Mulait, Dano Tabuni, and Charles Kossay are currently detained in Salemba Detention Center. Ariana Elopere is detained at Pondok Bambu Detention Center where 24 prisoners have tested positive for covid-19.

On Monday afternoon, the five remaining prisoners signed “letters of execution of sentences” and in the evening, guarantors signed “letters of assimilation”. The guarantor for Suryanta, Dano Tabuni and Ambrosius Mulait is the priest Suarbudaya Rahadian. The guarantor for Charles Kossay is his sister Sati Kossay.

Yesterday, at midday, they signed letters confirming assimilation release, tested negative for covid-19 and were given rice and instant noodles by the detention centre to take home.

After these preliminary steps which should have preceded their release, they waited a further 30 minutes and were then summoned by the Head of Registration of Salemba’s Detention Centre. He relayed to the prisoners that a political intervention from the central government had resulted in their planned release being cancelled.

The Jakarta Five will now serve out their full sentences before being freed on May 26.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

PACIFIC PANDEMIC DIARY: By David Robie, convenor of Pacific Media Watch

The jailing of the Jakarta Six – five Papuans and the first Indonesian to be convicted for a Papuan protest – in Indonesia last month has focused global attention on the plight of political prisoners in the face of a failing struggle against the coronavirus pandemic.

Already several analysts are warning that both Indonesia and Papua New Guinea are at risk of becoming coronavirus “failed states” and this will be of concern to Australia and New Zealand.

While Papua New Guinea has had only eight confirmed covid-19 cases so far – a spike is expected this month in spite of the state of emergency, Indonesia already has 10,843 cases with 831 deaths and the real toll is feared to be higher and climbing.

READ MORE: Tough coronavirus controls threaten Pacific, global media freedom

In Indonesia’s two Melanesian provinces of Papua and West Papua, the figures are reportedly 189 and 37 respectively with seven deaths overall and a new surge reported in the Mimika mining hub. Remote tribespeople have taken to setting up their own blockades to protect their villages.

“Countries with pre-existing conditions — poverty, limited healthcare, ineffective or corrupt governments — are fragile, and it is these countries that covid-19 is threatening to push to the brink of survival,” writes ABC’s foreign affairs correspondent Melissa Clarke.

She acknowledges those critics who suggest the United States has made a “solid start” for gaining such a dubious status, “but for the Australian government, the real concerns lie just to the north – Papua New Guinea and Indonesia.”

Human rights advocates and civil society groups are voicing their condemnation of Papuans  being held in crowded and risky Indonesian jails for taking part in peaceful demonstrations and a “Free West Papuan political prisoners” campaign has gone viral on social media.

Political prisoners still held
ETAN – East Timor and Indonesian Action Network, founded in 1991 and one of the most active US non-profit groups campaigning for human rights across Southeast Asia and Oceania, says that while Indonesia “struggles to contain the spread of covid-19”, the government still holds anti-racism and pro-independence prisoners in jails across West Papua, Jakarta and Balikpapan.

“In many cases, trials have continued against these political prisoners endangering the health of the prisoners, lawyers, judges and court staff,” ETAN says.

An urgent appeal to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and UN Special Rapporteurs was filed last month by advocate Jennifer Robinson and Indonesian human rights lawyer Veronica Koman, backed by the human rights organisation Tapol, on behalf of 63 political prisoners.

The legal papers demonstrate that all of the detainees are being “arbitrarily and unlawfully detained in violation of Indonesia’s international human rights obligations”.

The prisoners are 56 indigenous West Papuans, five Moluccans, One Indonesia, and one Polish citizen.

“While most of them are on remand and still awaiting trial, seven have been sentenced and others are currently on trials,” says Tapol.

“The great majority of the political prisoners – 56 – were arrested in the crackdown by Indonesian authorities during the mass political protest movement in support of West Papua last year – dubbed the “West Papua Uprising”.

Carrying, displaying flags
“The activities for which they have been detained range from simply carrying or displaying the West Papuan or Moluccan national flags, to participation in peaceful protests and being members of political organisations which support self-determination – all internationally protected activities.”

In its May Day message, ETAN condemned the conviction of the Jakarta Six for their “peaceful expression of their opposition to Indonesia’s heavy-handed rule in West Papua”.

“We call for the immediate release of these prisoners and other Papuans arrested for freedom of expression and for the investigation and prosecution of those responsible for the terrible violence perpetrated on them.”

A panel of judges at the Central Jakarta District Court found the six activists guilty of treason on April 24 for holding a protest in support of Papuan independence in front of the Presidential Palace in Jakarta in last August.

Jakarta court finds 6 activists guilty of treason for holding Papuan protest

The bench handed prison sentences to the activists – Indonesian People’s Front for West Papua (FRI-West Papua) spokesperson Surya Anta and students Charles Kossay, Deno Tabuni, Isay Wenda, Ambrosius Mulait and Arina Elopere – during a virtual verdict hearing. All activists were handed a nine-month prison sentence (including jail time already served), except for Wenda who was punished with eight months’ imprisonment

The defendants’ lawyer, Oky Wiratama, said she was disappointed with the verdicts and questioned the judicial process.

Amnesty International Indonesia director Usman Hamid said the treason charges might have been misused by the government against people who should never have been arrested or detained in the first place.

Students targeted
On August 16, the day before Indonesians celebrate independence, Papuan students in dormitories in East Java were targeted by students after rumours spread that the Papuans had “disrespected” the Indonesian flag.

Students and later vigilantes such as the Islam Defenders Front, a notoriously violent Islamist group, attacked West Papuan students, calling them “pigs,” “monkeys” and “dogs”.

Accounts of these attacks show Indonesian security forces directing attacks, and in later attacks participating in the violence against Papuans and Asia Pacific Report widely covered the crisis.

The challenge now is over the risks to these political prisoners languishing in their Indonesian jails. Reports suggest that covid-19 deaths in Indonesia may be substantially higher than officially reported. With the mass overcrowding, the prisons are likely to be vectors for the spread of the coronavirus.

In the Philippines, where jails are also congested, nearly 10,000 prisoners have been released in a bid to halt the spread of covid-19 after outbreaks at several facilities. While announcing the release of 9731prisoners, Associate Supreme Court Justice Mario Victor Leonen told media the justice system was “very much aware of the congested situation” in prisons.

‘Shameful’ media freedom threat
Meanwhile, World Press Freedom Day today is being marked by many statements honouring journalists and frontline workers at the heart of the coronavirus outbreak.

Among the first statements were from Australia’s Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) union for journalists which called for serious reforms to reverse a raft of “national security” laws that can be used to criminalise journalism and punish whistleblowers for telling the truth.

The union said  that Australia’s reputation as a healthy democracy was now at risk, adding that it was “shameful” that on World Press Freedom Day, three journalists who were the subject of police raids last year “still have the threat of prosecution hanging over their heads”.

In MEAA’s just-released annual The War on Journalism report, 89 percent of 2472 respondents in a survey stated the health of press freedom was poor, or very poor – a sharp deterioration from 71.5 percent in 2019.

“While covid-19 casts a shadow over journalism, we celebrate the bravery of those on the reporting frontline,” declared Journalism Education and Research Association of Australia  (JERAA) president Dr Alex Wake.

She said there was little to celebrate this World Press Freedom Day with Australia slipping five places to 26th in the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) World Press Freedom Index  – New Zealand dropped two places to ninth, and other Pacific countries such as Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Tonga have also slumped.

“Covid-19 is casting our struggling news industry into deeper turmoil, populist world leaders are cheering on attacks on journalists, and funding cuts at Australian universities pose a looming threat to journalism education and research,” she said.

However, Dr Wake added that colleagues could “honour the extraordinary work of our frontline reporters, many of them just out of our classrooms, putting their own safety at risk covering the covid-19 pandemic”.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Pacific Media Watch

The Indonesian human rights advocacy group TAPOL has denounced the sentencing by the district court of Central Jakarta which found six political prisoners guilty of treason yesterday and demanded their immediate release.

Paulus Suryanta Ginting, Ambrosius Mulait, Ariana Elopere, Dano Tabuni, and Charles Kossay were sentenced to nine months imprisonment, whereas Isay Wenda was sentenced to eight months imprisonment.

The six were arrested over their participation in a peaceful protest outside the State Palace in Jakarta on 28 August 2019, during which they flew Morning Star flags and chanted “Free West Papua”.

READ MORE: 63 political prisoners in Indonesia file urgent appeals amid virus pandemic

The first of their trials commenced on 15 December 2019. The prosecutors were seeking one year and five months imprisonment for each, except Isay Wenda, for whom prosecutors sought 10 months.

Suryanta, popularly known as Surya Anta, is the first non-Papuan Indonesian to be detained on treason charges over the West Papua self-determination cause.

The sentences include jail time that they have already served, including eight months for Isay Wenda with a release on 2 May 2020. The other five will still have to spend another month behind bars.

“One month is too long to be serving prison time in this critical pandemic period, as it is anticipated that Indonesia will reach its Covid-19 peak in the coming months,” said TAPOL in a statement.

Other West Papuan political prisoners charged with treason arrested during the uprising are on trial: seven in Balikpapan, four in Manokwari, four in Sorong, and one in Jayapura.

Twenty three political prisoners detained in Fakfak and 11 others in Sorong who were arrested in the lead up to 1 December 2019 and charged with treason are still awaiting trial.

The UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet has stated that political prisoners should be among the first to be released amid the pandemic.

Human rights lawyers Veronica Koman and Jennifer Robinson, with the support of TAPOL, have submitted a joint urgent appeal to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and UN Special Rapporteurs on 15 April 2020.

“We therefore reiterate the urgency of releasing all political prisoners currently detained in overcrowded prisons where it is impossible to practice physical distancing,” said TAPOL.

“To organise or participate in a protest and to wave flags are internationally protected activities as freedom of expression and assembly are guaranteed under international law”

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz