Indonesia’s military regional command in Papua has denied claims made by a pro-independence West Papuan group that abducted New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens more than a year ago that the army had staged a bombing attack, The Jakarta Post reports.

Responding to a claim by the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) that aerial bombing had taken place in an area in Nduga regency where Mehrtens had been taken hostage on February 7 last year, the Indonesian Military (TNI) said it had deployed only flyby operations there.

Lieutenant Colonel Candra Kurniawan, a spokesperson for the Cendrawasih Regional Military Command in Papua province, denied that any military operation involving aerial bombs had taken place.

He said soldiers from the Nduga District Military Command 1706 only carried out routine patrols in the region.

TNI denies bombing Papua district in bid to free NZ pilot – Archipelago – The Jakarta Post #jakpost https://t.co/gHCbBA5Uy4 pic.twitter.com/aKNW7nFmMJ

— The Jakarta Post (@jakpost) April 1, 2024

“This [patrol] was conducted together with the local community. There has been nothing like an air strike,” Candra told the Bahasa-language Tempo on Saturday.

He also rebuffed TPNPB’s claim that TNI soldiers had engaged in a firefight with members of pro-independence group.

“Many [TNI] members are in the field serving the community, the situation is also conducive,” Colonel Candra said.

On March 30, TPNPB spokesperson Sebby Sambom said in a statement received by Tempo that the military had deployed aerial attacks using “military aircraft, helicopters and drones” and destroyed four of the group’s posts in Nduga.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers.

This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. One clip shows the man’s head being beaten with a rod, while another has his back slashed by a blade that looks like a combat knife.

After initially denying the assailants in the footage were military personnel, the TNI issued on Monday a rare apology and said that 13 soldiers had been arrested following the viral video.

“I apologise to all Papuans, and we will work to ensure this is never repeated,” said Cenderawasih Military Commander in Papua Major General Izak Pangemanan.

That rare apology is a positive sign, but it is not enough. We have had enough pledges from the military about not inflicting more violence on Papuans, but time and again blood is spilled in the name of the military and police campaign against armed separatist [pro-independence] groups.

The resource-rich Papua region has seen escalating violence since 2018, when the military increased its presence there in response to deadlier and more frequent attacks, allegedly committed by armed rebels.

Throughout 2023 alone, there were 49 acts of violence by security forces against civilians recorded by the rights group Commission for Missing Person and Victims of Violence (Kontras) in the form of, among others, forceful arrest, torture and shooting. At least 67 people were injured and 41 others lost their lives in the violence.

Also according to Kontras, some of the arrested civilians could not be proven to have ties to the armed rebel groups, particularly the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB).

In regard to this week’s viral videos, the TNI claimed that the man beaten in the video was identified as Defianus Kogoya, a separatist [pro-independence activist] who planned to burn down a health center in Central Papua.

Whether Defianus was a rebel or civilian, what the soldiers did to him is unjustified, because no national or international law allows the torture of members of hostile forces.

The Geneva Conventions and its additional protocols have at least seven articles banning torture. There are also other sets of regulations banning cruel or inhuman treatment of captured enemies.

National regulations also prohibit security forces personnel from committing unnecessary violent acts. Article 351 of the Criminal Code mandates two years and eight months’ imprisonment for any individuals committing torture, a provision that also applies to military personnel.

Indonesian army apologises after viral Papua torture video – Archipelago – The Jakarta Post #jakpost https://t.co/GIYkp1pJ3s pic.twitter.com/8S9QswinJR

— The Jakarta Post (@jakpost) March 26, 2024

For soldiers, the punishment can be heavier as they face the possibility of getting an additional one third of the punishment if they are found guilty of torture by a military court.

The TNI also announced on Monday that it had arrested 13 soldiers allegedly involved in the incidents in the video. The investigations are still ongoing, but the military promised to name them as suspects soon.

These might be good first steps, but they may mean nothing if their superiors are not prosecuted alongside the foot soldiers. At the very least, the TNI must ensure that the 13 suspects are prosecuted thoroughly in a military court of justice.

The TNI should also work harder to prevent systemic issues that allow such violence to occur. A TNI spokesperson acknowledged on Monday that the military was far from perfect. That is good, but it would be better if the TNI actually worked in a transparent manner on how it addresses that imperfection.

Overall, the government and especially the incoming administration of President-elect Prabowo Subianto must make more serious efforts at achieving a long-lasting peace in Papua.

Sending more troops has proven to merely lead to escalation. The incoming government should consider the possibility that fighting fire with fire, only leads to a bigger fire.

This editorial in The Jakarta Post was published yesterday, 27 March 2024, under the title “Stop fighting fire with fire”.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Activists have condemned alleged terror and intimidation against Papuan human rights activists and called the police to thoroughly investigate an alleged arson attack at Papua Legal Aid Institute (LBH Papua) on Monday.

The Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI) and Papua Humanitarian Coalition, condemned the alleged attack of burning a motorcycle in the garage of the LBH Papua office on Monday morning in Abepura district, Jayapura, Papua.

The Papua Humanitarian Coalition, which comprises a number of human rights organisations and activists, including Amnesty International Indonesia, Kontras and Public Virtue Research Institute, called on the police to thoroughly investigate the incidents and prevent similar attacks from recurring, reports The Jakarta Post.

“The Humanitarian Coalition for Papua is urging the Indonesian police to immediately and fully investigate the alleged attack on the LBH Papua office”, said the coalition in a statement.

The coalition is also urging the police to quickly arrest and bring the alleged perpetrators to court to be tried in a fair and open manner.

It is also asking the government to take firm measures to prevent similar attacks against human rights defenders, reports CNN Indonesia.

Early on Monday, a motorbike parked in the garage of the LBH Papua office in Jayapura was set ablaze. LBH Papua staff found a fuse smelling of kerosene and a plastic bottle containing left over petrol.

Not the first attack
The coalition said this was not the first incident of its kind to occur against human rights defenders, both in Papua and other parts of Indonesia.

Looking at the pattern of these incidents, it was reasonable to suspect that the attack was related to LBH Papua’s work handling cases of human rights violations and assisting victims of these violations, the statement said.

The victims include students, workers, traditional communities and activists.

In November 2021, the Jakarta home belonging to the parents of exiled human rights lawyer Veronica Koman, who has been actively speaking out about human rights violations in Papua, was attacked by two unidentified individuals who threw a packet containing explosive materials into their garage.

In September the same year, the LBH office in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta was attacked by a Molotov cocktail bomb.

“To this day, no one has been declared [a suspect] in these two cases”, said the coalition.

“Attacks against Papuan human rights defenders also represent an attack on democracy. So the government cannot be allowed to view this problem lightly, especially since the government has repeatedly pledged to immediately resolve the Papua problem, including the problem of human rights”, the coalition said.

Translated by James Balowski for Indoleft News. The original title of the article was Polisi Didesak Usut Kasus Dugaan Penyerangan Kantor LBH Papua.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The unanimous House of Representatives decision in Indonesia last week to endorse the revised Papuan Special Autonomy Law shows, yet again, the propensity of the Jakarta elite to dictate the future of the territory, despite persistent calls to honor local demands.

This “new deal” is not likely to end violence in the resource-rich provinces, which stems in large part from Jakarta’s refusal to settle past human rights abuses there.

On paper, the revision offers some of the substantial changes needed to help Papuans close the gap with the rest of the nation. For example, it extends special autonomy funding for Papua and West Papua to 2041 and increases its amount from 2 percent to 2.25 percent of the general allocation fund, with a particular focus on health and education.

The Finance Ministry estimates that over the next 20 years, the two provinces will receive Rp 234.6 trillion (US$16 billion).

The revisions also strengthen initiatives to empower native Papuans in the policy-making process by allocating one fourth of the Regional Legislative Council to native, nonpartisan Papuans by appointment. They also mandate that 30 percent of those seats go to native Papuan women.

Under the new law, a new institution will be established to “synchronize, harmonize, evaluate and coordinate” the implementation of special autonomy. Headed by the Vice President, the new body will answer to the President and will have a secretariat in Papua. The previous government formed a presidential unit to accelerate development in Papua and West Papua (UP4B), but President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo dissolved it shortly after taking office in 2014.

The chairman of the special House committee deliberating the revision, Komarudin Watubun, a Papuan, described the new law as “a breakthrough” as it would require the government to consult the Papuan and West Papuan governments in the drafting of implementing regulations.

But this is where the core problem of the special autonomy law lies. In democracy, respecting the will of the public, including dissenting views, is vital to the lawmaking process, precisely because the laws will affect that public. Public scrutiny should precede rather than follow a law, but in the case of the special autonomy law, that mechanism was dropped from the House’s deliberation, which lasted seven months, under the pretext of social distancing to contain the spread of covid-19.

The Jakarta elite have clearly left the Papuan People’s Assembly (MRP) behind as a representation of the customs and will of the provinces’ people, as well as the Papuan Legislative Council (DPRP), not to mention civil society groups, tribes and those who mistrust special autonomy and the government. In the words of MRP chief Timotius Murib, the revisions reveal Jakarta’s lack of good intentions for Papuan development.

This is not the first time the executive and legislative powers have colluded to bypass public consultation on a highly controversial bill. The tactic worked in the passage of the Job Creation Law last year, as well as the new Mining Law, and the approach is apparently repeating in the ongoing deliberation of the Criminal Code revision.

As long as the obsolete, Jakarta-centered approach remains intact, Papuan peace and prosperity will remain elusive.

This Jakarta Post editorial was published on 21 July 2021.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Indonesia has cut off the internet in West Papua to conceal its crackdown on the peaceful liberation movement, says a leading Papuan campaigner.

Benny Wenda, interim president of the United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP), has condemned the internet gag while Indonesia’s leading English-language daily newspaper, The Jakarta Post, has also criticised Jakarta’s actions.

In an editorial last Friday, the Post said that many people “suspect that the disruption to the [Papua] internet service in April was actually a deliberate move to silence anti-government critics and activists”.

“The government has been cutting off Papua from the outside world for decades by measures that included restricting foreign visitors, especially foreign journalists,” the newspaper said.

Jakarta remained “stubbornly insistent on maintaining its isolation policy for Papua”.

Erik Walela, secretary of the ULMWP’s “Department of Political Affairs”, is now in hiding, and two of his relatives — Abi, 32, and Anno, 31 — were arrested by the Indonesian colonial police on June 1.

Victor Yeimo, spokesperson of the KNPB, had already been arrested.

Stigmatised as ‘terrorists’
“I am concerned that all the ULMWP leaders and departments inside West Papua are now at risk after Indonesia has tried to stigmatise us as ‘terrorists’,” said Wenda.

“The head of Indonesia’s National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) has stated that it considers the entire liberation movement, including anyone associated with me, to be terrorists.

“Anyone who stands up to injustice in West Papua is now in danger. Indonesia is cutting off the internet to conceal its crackdown and military operations, continuing its long tradition of concealing information from the world by banning international journalists and spreading propaganda.

“The only way anyone can currently access the internet inside is by standing near a military, police, or government building.”

Wenda said Indonesian authorities had tried to label Papuan pro-independence groups “separatists”, “armed criminal groups”, and in 2019, “monkeys’”.

“Now they are labelling us ‘terrorists’. This is nothing but more discrimination against the entire people of West Papua and our struggle to uphold our basic right to self-determination,” he said.

“I want to remind the United Nations and the Pacific and Melanesian leaders that Indonesia is misusing the issue of terrorism to crush our fundamental struggle for the liberation of our land from illegal occupation and colonisation.”

21,000 troops deployed
More than 21,000 troops had been deployed in less than three years, including last month ‘Satan’s forces’ implicated in genocide in East Timor, said Wenda.

Densus 88, trained by the West, were also using their skills “against my people”.

These operations were being carried out on the direct order of the President and the head of the Parliament.

“My people are traumatised, scared to go to their gardens, to hunt or fish. Everywhere they turn there are military posts and bases,” said Wenda.

“How long will the world ignore my call? How long can the world watch what is happening to my people and stand by?”

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Pacific Media Watch

Violence against women is at epidemic proportions in the Asia Pacific.

The region’s governments, if they are to find ways of preventing domestic violence and support its victims, need reliable data, but getting the numbers is a difficult undertaking.

Public health researchers Dr Henriette Jensen and Dr Kristin Diemer join The Jakarta Post’s “Ear to Asia” host Ali Moore to discuss the quest to understand the dimensions of violence against women, and programmes aimed at bringing about lasting change.

Yesterday was International Women’s Day.

A podcast from the Asia Institute of the University of Melbourne.

Produced and edited by profactual.com. Music by audionautix.com.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk

A senior Jakarta Post managing editor has predicted it is possible that West Papua may face a self-determination vote following the Timor-Leste example and this could pave the way for independence.

Writing an opinion column in the Post today, Kornelius Purba warned the Papuan people may “fulfill their dream of independence much sooner than their expectations”.

“Remember what happened in East Timor 20 years ago could recur in Papua,” he wrote in his article after almost two weeks of unrest in the Melanesian Pacific region following a racist attack in the Java city of Surabaya on August 17.

READ MORE: East Timor style referendum could happen in Papua too

“We are too lazy to discern the roots of the Papua problem but resort to the use of force to make sure that family unity is intact, although some no longer regard the country as their home,” he wrote.

“The Papuans will only feel Indonesia is their true home when they find the love and equal treatment that they deserve as part of the family.”

Purba compared the Papuan crisis with Timor-Leste, which will be celebrating 20 years of independence from Indonesia on Friday.

“You may laugh at me now if I forecast the Papuan people will fulfill their dream of independence much sooner than their expectations, just like the way East Timor separated from Indonesia following the historic August 30, 1999, referendum,” he wrote.

“Many will no doubt blame the United States or Australia if a Papua exit comes to pass.

‘Blame ourselves’
“But seeing the racial abuse against Papuan students and the heightened reactions in Papua, we Indonesians, not just the government, should blame ourselves. We have treated the Papuans the same way we did the people of East Timor.”

While the Timorese were considering special autonomy or limited self-governance that Jakarta had offered in January 1999, Indonesia’s third president BJ Habibie gave East Timor the option of breaking free.

Seventy eight percent of the 345,000 Timorese voters chose independence in the referendum on 30 August 1999.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International condemned the Indonesian internet censorship in the wake of the blackout imposed last Wednesday, which Jakarta claimed was necessary to stem the wave of protests and “fake news”.

Responding to the decision of the Communications and Information Ministry to shut down mobile internet in Papua and West Papua provinces, Amnesty International Indonesia’s executive director Usman Hamid described it as an “appalling attack” on the Papuan people’s right to freedom of expression.

“This is not a time for censorship. These tensions are not an excuse to prevent people from sharing information and peacefully speaking their mind,” he said.

“In addition, the decision would also prevent people from documenting and sharing evidence of abuses committed by security forces, just as authorities are sending more security forces to the region.”

Call for investigation
Hamid said the immediate priority for the Indonesian authorities should be to launch a thorough and effective investigation into the root cause of the unrest – allegations of discrimination and unlawful use of force against Papuan students in Surabaya and Malang in East Java almost two weeks ago.

“Further restricting the exercise of human rights must not be the answer,” he said.

The Jakarta Post reports that prominent West Papua journalist Victor Mambor claimed he had faced intimidation and harassment for reporting on the internet blackout sanctioned by the government amid escalating protests.

The Indonesia Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI Indonesia), of which he is a member, reported that Mambor, the editor of Tabloid Jubi newspaper and a correspondent for The Jakarta Post, had fallen victim to “doxing” by a social media user with the Twitter handle @antilalat last Thursday.

Doxing refers to the publishing of private or identifying information about individuals on the internet, usually with malicious intent.

A day later, UK-based law firm Doughty Street Chambers announced that Mambor had filed an urgent appeal to UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression David Kaye regarding internet blocking in the provinces amid protests that have occurred since Monday.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Bambang Muryanto in Yogyakarta

Indonesia’s National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has demanded that state-owned airport operator PT Angkasa Pura I consider human rights aspects while working on the construction of a new airport in Kulonprogo, Yogyakarta.

The project should be free from human rights breaches, in particular when it comes to land ownership, the organisation said.

“Please, do not steal the citizen’s lands in the name of infrastructure development,” said Komnas HAM commissioner Choirul Anam.

READ MORE: Students reject new Yogyakarta airport, condemn forced evictions

Choirul added that he had received reports from local activists claiming that people of Glagah village were being forced by the company and police to give up their land.

Thirty of some 2700 families living on the disputed land reportedly insist on staying in their homes. Choirul suggested the company engage in dialogue with the people to find a solution.

-Partners-

“This is not only about land ownership; the eviction also threatens the people’s culture and social wellbeing,” he said, noting that violence could create even more problems.

Meanwhile, PT Angkasa Pura, through the manager of the New Yogyakarta International Airport (NYIA) construction project, Sudjiastono, claimed it had done everything in line with the law on land procurement for public utilities construction.

According to the regulation, he added, the company was allowed to forcibly evict people who refused to give up their land in return for compensation through the court.

“We’ve respected the people’s rights by giving them compensation, more than they deserve to get,” he said.

Bambang Muryanto is Yogyakarta correspondent of The Jakarta Post.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz