Tuesday, June 26, 2012

1) Papuan Delegation Tells Its Side of the Story in Wake of Violence


1) Papuan Delegation Tells Its Side of the Story in Wake of Violence
2) KNPB members will surrender to the police.
3) Police urged to publicise the photo of Mako Tabuni's bag
4) Those who shot Tabuni must be brought to justice
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1) Papuan Delegation Tells Its Side of the Story in Wake of Violence
Philip Jacobson | June 26, 2012
A group of Papuans was in Jakarta on Tuesday to give their own account of the recent escalation of violence in their home region, which they say has been distorted by imbalanced media coverage and statements by authorities who assert that separatists are behind it.

Meanwhile, reports of arrests continue to flow out of Papua as a police crackdown there intensifies, with the Jayapura Police chief announcing on Monday that his forces had detained three people responsible for “spreading fear and terror” in the province.



The three — Jefry Wandikwo, Zakius Saplay and Calvin Wenda — allegedly acted in conjunction with slain independence activist Mako Tabuni to perpetuate a series of shootings in Jayapura, including a seemingly random attack on a German tourist.

Mako, who was deputy chairman of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB), was shot dead earlier this month by plainclothes police sent to arrest him.

Officers say they had to shoot Mako because he resisted arrest and made a grab at one of their guns. But witnesses interviewed by the National Commission on Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) say the police were in their cars when they gunned him down.

“This is nothing new, these gross human rights violations against those accused of being supporters of separatists,” Rev. Benny Giay, who was part of the delegation from Papua and spoke at Kontras on Tuesday, told the Jakarta Globe after the event. “This is how they try to weaken, try to control the civilians.”

Jayapura Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Alfred Papare said Calvin was involved in the shooting of the German tourist while Jefry and Zakius killed someone else and committed arson along with Mako.

The police are still looking for Andi Muk, Slamet Kosay and Dani Wenda, Alfred said.

“Although we arrested the three we believe are behind the act of violence and shooting, to this day we cannot conclude definitively the motive behind these acts. But what is certain is that they have spread fear and terror among residents,” Alfred said.

On Sunday, the Australia-based Institute of Papuan Advocacy and Human Rights (IPAHR) reported that the police had arrested five other KNPB members: Zakeus Hupla, Wayut Aspalek, Niel Kogoya, Niel Wolom and Ishak Elopere.

KNPB, which campaigns for a referendum on Papuan self-determination in coordination with international organizations like the Britain-based Free Papua Movement, is seen by Indonesian authorities as a dangerous separatist organization.

Its members and supporters, meanwhile, including Giay, say it acts peacefully.

An International Crisis Group report from 2010 said the organization consisted of “mostly university-educated students and ex-students who adopted a militant left-wing ideology and saw themselves as revolutionaries, fighting the Indonesian state and the giant Freeport copper and gold mine near Timika ... they increasingly saw that the only hope of achieving their cause lay in showing the world that Papua was in crisis — and that meant more visible manifestations of conflict.”

A rebuttal to that report authored by the University of Sydney’s West Papua Project that same year stated,

“We have found instead that the KNPB is primarily a media and information clearinghouse that expresses mainstream views held by a wide spectrum of Papuan civil society and political organizations ... the ICG report is biased and poorly conceived and researched.”

Benny Wenda, the Papuan exile who founded the Free Papua Movement, said the security forces saw Mako as a threat because of his advocacy.

“That’s why they killed him,” Benny told the Globe. “It really upset me, really.”
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2) KNPB members will surrender to the police.
Bintang Papua, 25 June

MEMBERS OF KNPB WILL SURRENDER T O THE POLICE

Jayapura: Victor Yeimo, the international spokesperson of the KNPB, the  National Committee of West Papua. has announced that members of the KNPB will soon be surrendering en masse to the police in Papua.  He said that they are absolutely convinced that  the series of violent actions that have occurred in Jayapura  were nothing to do with the KNPB. He said that the series of shootings and acts of violence were part of a big scenario  the mastermind of which is not yet known.

This is why the KNPB has decided to put pressure on the police  to investigate these incidents that were the work of  'mysterious ' or unknown people. 'The police need to investigate this As yet, they have not be able to say who was responsible and have not made any arrests. The KNPB suspects hat this is all part of a huge scenario by the state authorities  which has quite deliberately been stirred up by the police and the military.'

With regard to the shooting of Mako Tabuni, this was a violation of the law of the land. 'If the state has respect for human beings the case of Mako would have been handled according to due process, and not resulted in loss of life.'

He went on to say that the shooting of Mako Tabuni is clear evidence that the law here in this country does not side with the  Papuan people. There are no grounds whatever for allegations that the KNPB was responsible. Such activities are not part of the policy of the KNPB which has from the very start declared its  intention to struggle along with the Papuan people in accordance with the principle  of respect for human life  and has totally rejected the path of violence.

This is why all members of the KNPB will gather together and surrender to the police. The KNPB is not a terrorist organisation. If it were to be proven that someone from the KNPB  was indeed involved, this would be in order to stigmatize the organisation which  is waging  a struggle for independence and for a referendum. 'This is why we will be surrendering in the near future,' he said, without mentioning any date.


[Translated by TAPOL]
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3) Police urged to publicise the photo of Mako Tabuni's bag
JUBI,  26 June 2012

The Papuan people are still very concerned about the shooting of Mako Tabuni on 14 June. Alius Asso, chairman of the Nayak Asrama  in Abepura, has called on the police to publicise the photo they took of Mako Tabuni at the time of the killing, which shows the bag that he was carrying at the time.

'We want the security forces to show us the photo of the bag he was carrying. This is very crucial because the police have alleged that Tabuni had a pistol and bullets in his bag.'

The photo was taken as Tabuni was standing eating a snack at Perumnas III Waena, Asso said: 'This is very strange  How would he have got hold of a pistol and bullets? It is up to the police to prove this,' he said.

He also denied that Mako Tabuniwas was in any way responsible for the shooting of a German at Base G and for the series of shootings that occurred at the time. 'What proof do the police have of this? They should have arrested Tabuni and questioned him instead of shooting him dead.'

Asso went on to say that Mako Tabuni was not a terrorist. On the contrary he was involved in the struggle of the Papuan people.

It should be recalled that the police told journalists that they had been forced to shoot Tabuni because he was trying to resist as they arrested him. They alsoalleged that they found 16 calibre 38 bullets in his bag.
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4) Those who shot Tabuni must be brought to justice
JUBI, 25 June 2012

According to the Network for Law Enforcement and Human Rights in the central highlands, JAPHPT, the Criminal Code requires that those who were responsible for shooting Mako Tabuni should be brought to justice.

If the police believed that Tabuni was the mastermind of all the shootings, they should have arrested him and produced evidence of this. The chairman of the JAPHPT,  Theo Hesegem, said that the way the police had handled the arrest, along with the shooting of Tabuni, had eliminated any evidence  they might have had about what Tabuni was carrying.

They have also, in the processs, demonised the Papuan people and damaged Indonesia's reputation in the international community.

Indonesia is a state that recognises the rule of law and should act in accordance with the Criminal Code regarding the person who shot Tabuni.

Meanwhile, the chief of police  of Jayapura City, AKB Alfred Papare now admits that its reputation has been damaged by the shooting of Tabuni. He went on to say however that the police  had acted in accordance with police procedures because of reports that the victim was in possession of a firearm

Translated by TAPOL

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