Monday, April 28, 2014

1) Troops search for armed group

1) Troops search for armed  group
2AIR FORCE MEMBER SHOT DEAD BY POLICEMAN
3) West Papua: my people need Australia’s help before it is too late
4) Biak Fair closed after shooting incident
5) SHOOTINGS IN PUNCAK JAYA CRIMINAL ACTS, ARMY SAYS

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1) Troops search for armed  group
The Jakarta Post, Jayapura | Archipelago | Mon, April 28 2014, 5:30 AM
The Army is continuing the hunt for the armed gang believed to be responsible for the fatal shooting of First Sgt. Rahman Hakim, a member of the Cendrawasih Military Command, on Friday.
“We lost one of our best soldiers in the shooting. We still have not identified the group as it [the shooting] happened very fast,” the military command spokesman Lt. Col. Rikas Hidayatullah told Antara on Saturday.
He said the military had increased patrols around the area of the shooting.
Rahman was shot dead by the unidentified group at a military post in Mulia district, Puncak Jaya regency, Papua at about 3 p.m.
The victim was buried with full military honors led by the military command chief of staff Brig. Gen. Hinsa Siburian at Kusuma Bangsa Heroes Cemetery in Jayapura on Saturday.
“First Sgt. Rahman was protecting Papua from armed groups. Hopefully, the loss will motivate us all to create a peaceful Papua,” Hinsa said.


http://tabloidjubi.com/en/?p=2180

2) AIR FORCE MEMBER SHOT DEAD BY POLICEMAN

Jayapura , 27/4 ( Jub ) – A member of the Air Force special unit was shot dead by a policeman at a market in  Biak Numfor on Sunday.
First Private Wardana allegedly allegedly took out a bayonet belonging to a member of the police mobile brigade unit (Brimob), identified as NW, and wounded him in the head, police said.
NW in turn used his gun to shoot Wardeni. The fight was triggered by the consumption of alcohol, police said.
Papua Police spokesman Senior Commissioner Sulistyo Pudjo Hartono said that the incident happened because if a lack of coordination between the Biak police chief, the local Brimob commander and  Air Force colleagues.
“Unknown to each top leader, members of Brimob and TNU AU members met again at the night market. They quarreled and fought. As a result, Pratu Wardana was shot dead and the member of Brimob was injured on his head and hands because of a sharp tool,” Sulistyo said on Sunday ( 27/4).
Papua Police Chief  Inspector General Tito Karnavian said he had contacted the local Air Force chief Rear Marshal Asnan Muhidir, the local military commander and Biak police to discuss measures to prevent future conflicts.
Sulistyo said the police chief has also an evaluation on the performance of the Biak Brimob chief.
“We convey to the public and military comrades that this issue is purely a personal matter and has nothing to do with the policy of the force at all,” he said.
Police investigating the crime scene found a bullet, a bayonet, a white Q brand watch  and a pair of Adidas sandals.
The team then visited the families of the victim.
“The perpetrator will be flown to the Papua police by police aircraft tomorrow morning ( 28/4 ) at 07.00,” he said. (Jubi/Indrayadi TH/ Tina )
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3) West Papua: my people need Australia’s help before it is too late
By Benny Wenda
 
This Anzac Day weekend, we opened the first ever Free West Papua campaign office in Australia. 
For more than 50 years, my people have suffered what I considered to be a slow-moving genocide under the repressive military occupation of Indonesia. During the second world war, the “Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels” of West Papua came to the aid of Australian soldiers. Now it is the West Papuans that need Australia’s help in order to end human rights abuses so that my people can be free to live in peace.
Indonesia’s response to West Papua advocacy abroad has been frighteningly vehement. After the opening of our UK office in 2013, Indonesia made a diplomatic complaint to the British government. Foreign minister Natelegawa said he could not understand why the British government was “unwilling to take steps against the Free West Papua office”, and the president even tweeted about it. The British ambassador in Jakarta was summoned and had to remind Indonesia of the protections enjoyed in democracies, pointing out that no steps would be taken against our office, since it “does not require [government] permission to open”.
Bob Carr revealed in his recent memoir that he had discussed the prospect of us opening an Australian office with Indonesia’s foreign minister at that time, and was told that Indonesia would “prefer [Australia] not to allow an office to open”. During his state visit to Indonesia last year, prime minister Abbott said last year that West Papuan activists were not welcome in Australia, and that Australia would not tolerate West Papuans’ demonstrations against Indonesian control.
But we hope that the Australian government will follow the example set by the British government: reminding Indonesia that, unlike in West Papua where people are sent to prison for 15 years for merely raising a flag, Australia is a democracy where freedom of speech is protected and where West Papuans and those who support us can speak out about our desire for self-determination.
The Australian public clearly has much sympathy for West Papua and for our cause – both historically and today. Australia initially prepared to go to war with the Dutch to prevent Indonesia’s invasion of West Papua in the early 1960s. As a result of Cold War real-politik and US pressure, Australia stepped out of the dispute. Much like the support for Indonesian control over East Timor until 1999, the Australian government has so far refused to acknowledge West Papua’s claim to self-determination out of concern for its relationship with Indonesia. Like in East Timor, the law is on our side. If Australia can change its position on East Timor, it can change its position on West Papua.
Despite the government’s current position, the Australian public remains supportive. An opinion poll commissioned in 2006 showed over 75% of Australians support self determination – including the option of independence – for West Papua. My last visit to Australia was for a 2013 TEDx event where I spoke alongside my lawyer, Jennifer Robinson. We received two standing ovations from a packed out Sydney Opera House, and I was overwhelmed by the support and encouragement we received from the audience.
Predictably, Indonesia was concerned. Some officials argued that Indonesia should cut diplomatic ties with Australia for allowing me the opportunity to speak about my people’s cause. A few days later, Australia’s then foreign minister Bob Carr responded in the Senate, saying that Australians supporting West Papua’s claim to self-determination was “an appalling thing to do”. In his memoir, Carr refers to our office opening in Oxford, alleging we are “provocateurs who encourage Papuans to put their lives on the line”, and spoke with concern about the prospect of an office opening in Australia.
What is appalling is how my people have been betrayed by the United Nations and by the international community and left to suffer at the hands of a brutal Indonesian military regime. What is appalling is Indonesia asking Britain and Australia to compromise on their own values and freedoms in order to silence us. 
We are not provocateurs, but advocates for the rights of the West Papuan people. As a leader in exile, I have an obligation and duty to my people to use the democratic freedoms I enjoy abroad to speak out about their suffering. The only people putting Papuan lives on the line are those who kill peaceful activists with absolute impunity (more than 22 of them were killed in 2012 alone).
My people’s lives remain on the line – and the nations who continue to support Indonesian control are complicit. We aim, through opening the office in Australia, to raise awareness about the illegality of Indonesia’s occupation, and about this ongoing violence.
Raising awareness is important, especially when Tony Abbott claims that West Papuans are “better not worse off” under Indonesia. This is just not true. It is estimated that more than half a million West Papuans have been killed since Indonesian occupation in the 1960s. We are the poorest province in Indonesia, despite being the richest in natural resources. Literacy is very poor – the worst in Indonesia. Health statisticsare grim. We are suffering an HIV/AIDS crisis with the highest rate of infection in Indonesia. There are at least 73 West Papuan political prisoners in Indonesia today. I cannot and will not remain silent while my people suffer.
Australia has before taken a stand against Indonesia in order to respect international law and protect West Papuans. In 2006, Australia granted asylum to 42 West Papuans after concluding (correctly) that, as activists advocating independence for West Papua, they would be persecuted if they were returned to Indonesia. This decision was taken in accordance with Australia’s obligations under international law, and Australia should be commended for standing by that decision despite Indonesia recalling its ambassador.
We hope that Australia will withstand pressure from Indonesia over the opening of our office. Lest we forget: by the time Australia changed its political position to support East Timor, close to a third of its populationhad been killed by the Indonesian military. My people need Australia’s help before it is too late.
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4) Biak Fair closed after shooting incident

Mon, April 28 2014 11:00 | 456 Views

Biak, Papua (ANTARA News) - The Biak Numfor district administration closed the Biak Fair on Monday after the shooting incident in which an elite Indonesian soldier was killed.

Private Wardi Deni of the Air Force special force was shot at by a sniper early at 03.15 on Sunday .

Deputy regent of Biak Thomas Alfa Edison Ondy said the decision to close the fair was to prevent similar incident. 

Thomas described the incident as a criminal case and called on local people to maintain security.

The case had been in the hand of the law enforcer to carry out investigation and to uphold the law, he said. 

A team of investigators from the Papua police headed by deputy chief of the Papua regional police Brig. Gen. Paulus Waterpauw already started investigation immediately after the shooting.

There was no official announcement whether the incident was an ordinary criminal case or involved separatists.

Papua is still a hot spot with separatists still threatening security in the countrys easternmost region. (*)

Editor: Heru
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5) SHOOTINGS IN PUNCAK JAYA CRIMINAL ACTS, ARMY SAYS


Jayapura , 27/4 ( Jubi ) – Shooting incidents that often occurred in Puncak Jaya were purely criminal acts, said chief of staff of military command XVII of Cenderawasih, Brigadier General Hinsa Siburian.
“Victims include a motorcycle taxi driver, a driver, teachers and even soldiers. It means that they are purely criminal groups and we will continue to pursue them,” said Siburian on Saturday ( 26/4) after attending the funeral of  Rahman Hakim, a 752 Infantry Battalion Raider sergeant who was killed in an attack by an an armed group on Friday.
He said that the presence of soldiers was to protect the citizens who live in that area from any disturbances including from armed criminal groups.
“The military exists to protect the people and local governments,” he added.
He said he had instructed the soldiers  to be vigilant.
“We will not add troops,” said Siburian.
The number of army posts in Mulia, Puncak Jaya will be moved to higher ground or strategic areas because they often became targets of shootings from criminal groups, he said.
Clashes between soldiers and an armed group broke out in Puncak Jaya regency on Friday ( 25/4 ), leaving  two members of the 751 Infantry Battalion Raider wounded. Rahman died later of his injuries.
Cenderawasih XVII military command spokesman Lt. Col. Rikas Hidayatullah said the incident began when officers from the security post Gurage Raider Battalion 751 Infantry Battalion were patrolling around the scene.
“Suddenly they were attacked by an armed group and as a result , Rahman and Polang got shot. After that, the perpetrators fled ,” Hidayatullah said. (Jubi/Indrayadi TH/Tina)
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6) Women call for end to military bases in Asia-Pacific


Press Release – Pacific Media Watch
AUCKLAND ( Pacific Media Watch ): Women peace campaigners from Aotearoa, Australia, Hawai’i, Japan, Philippines and Polynesia/Te Ao Maohi have called for the removal of military occupation and bases in the Asia-Pacific region.Women campaigners call for end to military bases in Asia-Pacific

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