1) Govt has been talking to Papuan separatists
since December: Djoko
2) 'Indonesian
Government Cannot Referee Papua Conflict': Pastor
3) Autonomy model for Papua ‘needs altering’
5) Papua election awaits court over DPRP role
6) Papua Reports Another Death in Latest Tribal
Clash
---------------------------
1) Govt has been talking to Papuan separatists since December: Djoko
Bagus BT Saragih, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | National |
Wed, 06/20/2012 8:38 AM
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The government says that it has been in talks with the
separatist Free Papua Movement (OPM) since last year — months before the start
of the latest wave of violence in Papua that has killed 17.
The talks with the
OPM began in December and had not been easy, as members of the group had to be
coaxed to “leave the mountains and join society,” Coordinating Political,
Legal, and Security Affairs Minister Air Marshall (ret.) Djoko Suyanto said on
Monday.
“The government has continued to approach the OPM by sending a
delegation,” Djoko told reporters in Jayapura on Monday as reported by Antara
news agency.
The delegation, which includes several high-ranking
military, police and intelligence officials, left Jakarta for Jayapura on
Monday.
Among the delegation are Djoko, National Police chief Gen. Timur
Pradopo, Indonesian Military
(TNI) chief Adm. Agus Suhartono, and
National Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief Lt. Gen. Marciano
Norman.
The
government has continued to blame the OPM for the deteriorating security
situation in Papua while declining to provide concrete evidence of the group’s
complicity in the violence that has wracked the province in recent
months.
Police officers, for example, shot and killed Papuan activist Mako
Tabuni in Waena on June 14 for allegedly resisting arrest for his supposed
involvement in seven violent attacks.
Mako was deputy chairman of the National
Committee for West Papua (KNPB), which supports a referendum on Papuan
independence.
Tabuni’s supporters retaliated by setting ablaze dozens of
vehicles and properties in the city.
The incident was the latest in a series
of bloody incidents involving civilians and security officials.
The delegation
from the central government held a closed-door meeting with religious and
tribal leaders soon after their Indonesian Air Force Boeing 737 landed at
Sentani Airport in Jayapura, Papua, on Tuesday.
Also in attendance at the
meeting were Papua Legislative Council speaker Jhon Ibo, Papuan People’s
Assembly speaker Timotius Murib and Interim Papua Governor Syamsul Arief
Rivai.
Djoko and his entourage then met with members of the Papua General
Elections Commission (KPUD).
Local politics have been touted as one potential
cause of the renewed violence, following the
postponement of the
provincial gubernatorial election.
The officials left Jayapura for Timika
later on Tuesday and are expected to arrive in Manokwari, the capital of West
Papua, on Wednesday.
Djoko has said his agenda in Papua was part of the
government’s commitment to promote dialogue to address the situation in the
region rather than stepping up security measures.
Contracted separately, Haris Azhar, the coordinator of the
Commission for
Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), said he
welcomed the government’s initiative to promote dialogue.
Haris, however, said
that the security and intelligence officials had picked the wrong time for the
meeting, as many Papuans remained angered, fearful and on edge over the violent
attacks.
“Papuans are now psychologically uncomfortable. Papuans are still
losing confidence to the
government, particularly following the
amateurish actions of the National Police and TNI troops,”
Haris said.
-------------------------------------------
2)
'Indonesian Government Cannot Referee Papua Conflict': Pastor
Markus Junianto
Sihaloho | June 20, 2012
A Papuan pastor calling for justice and
an end to the violence in the restive province told the Jakarta Globe on
Tuesday that a dialogue between Papua and the Central government is urgently
needed.
But pastor Socratez Sofyan Yoman
suggested that a neutral “referee” mediate the dialogue.
“Let’s put it this way: There are two
parties who are fighting, and it needs to be refereed,” pastor Socratez said.
“If the government tries to mediate, that is not fair — how could the murderer
become the referee? It’s nonsense.”
Coordinating Minister for Political,
Legal and Security Affairs Djoko Suyanto is currently on a working visit to
Papua after being dispatched by the president to address the escalating
conflict that has taken lives of both civilians and security officers.
Djoko came to Papua with National Police
chief Gen. Timur Pradopo, Indonesian Military Chief Adm. Agus Suhartono and
National Intelligence chief Lt. Gen. Marciano Norman.
But Socratez said that the visit is
totally useless without the government’s willingness to sit down with the
Papuan people and have a meaningful dialogue with a neutral arbitrator —
Socratez added that the Papuan people have little trust the Indonesian
government.
“We should talk together, but it should
be an honest dialogue,” he said. “We should make an agreement [with] one
neutral nation or neutral non-governmental organization. Or it can be one
public figure like Kofi Annan or Nelson Mandela.
“We can find dignified solution from the
dialogue,” the pastor added.
The government has accused the Free
Papua Organization (OPM) for many of the recent attacks, a claim which Socratez
dismissed.
“It was not OPM,” he said. “They fight
for the people, for the welfare of Papuans. They would not do such things. The
[question] for us is: Why are Indonesian officers killing here?”
Socratez suggested that the Indonesian
government might be ashamed to admit they have failed in Papua, and are trying
to save face by blaming other parties.
“The point is, the government has
failed, so they [commit] violence,” Socratez said. “It is the only tactic to
run away from their responsibility.”
------------------------
3) Autonomy model for Papua ‘needs altering’
Bambang Muryanto, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta |
Archipelago | Wed, 06/20/2012 10:38 AM
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The special autonomy granted to Papua is considered to
have failed to improve the lives of its people and as a result the government
has been urged to make changes to the model of autonomy.
A research team at
the Gadjah Mada University’s school of social and political sciences has
recommended what it calls the people’s welfare approach in Papua’s
autonomy.
The approach includes giving wider authority to the regional administrations
in governing except in particular affairs that fall under the authority of the
central government, such as defense, security and monetary policy.
“The
regional administration has to be given the freedom to develop their
institutions according to their respective sociocultural context to really be
able to improve the wealth of their people,” team member Cornelis Lay told a
seminar on Monday.
In the financial field, similarly, the central
government–regional administration relationship has
to be made asymmetric
and different from other regions in which spending has to be transparent and
pro-poor.
“But this ideal model has requirements,” team member AAGN Ari
Dwipayana said.
Other requirements, according to Ari, include full acceptance
of special autonomy on the part of local people, integrated and coherent
regulations at both the central government and regional administration levels
and the governability of both the central government and regional
administrations in managing the administrations and redistributing
resources.
The seminar was held amid an escalation in violence in Papua that
has claimed dozen of lives in the past few weeks.
A high-ranking military
entourage led by Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister
Djoko Suyanto is in Papua and has met with local elders and religious leaders
to talk over the issue.
Mada Sukmajati, a team member tasked with
conducting research on Papua, said the special autonomy allocation from Jakarta
to Papua had increased since 2002 until 2012 from Rp 1.3 trillion (US$137.8
million) to Rp 3.8 trillion. Yet, this did not improve the human development
index of the province.
Mada blamed the condition on the fact that the special
autonomy funds had been controlled by the elites and the community did not know
how the money was spent.
“In other words, there has been no positive
correlation between the [increase in] funds and the increase in the wealth of
Papuans,” he said.
He also said that much of the funds had been
misappropriated because the central government did not oversee the use of the
funds due to fears of prompting separation threats.
Other aspects to blame
include institutional conflict and a lack of trust in government
institutions.
In terms of authority, similarly, the team said the central
government had not issued enough government regulations on the implementation
of Papua’s special autonomy while at the same time the Papua provincial
administrations had not taken the initiative to issue bylaws on the
matter.
Sagrim, a resident of Papua who is the secretary of the Papua
Intellectual Institute, blamed the failure in special autonomy on unresolved
basic problems such as identity.
“We once got freedom in 1961. No matter how
much money is injected into Papua, it will never solve the problem,” Sagrim
said.
He said Papuans had lost trust in the central government because human
rights violations had never been brought to justice.
-----------------------------
RNZI Posted at 06:52 on 20 June, 2012 UTC
A rally has been held in New Zealand in response to recent violence in
Indonesia’s West Papua region including the alleged shooting of the
pro-independence leader Mako Tabuni last week. A small group gathered at the
Indonesian Embassy in Wellington, where a letter was presented by the Green
Party MP Catherine Delahunty, calling on the Indonesia government to end
oppression in West Papua.
Ms Delahunty says the recent spate of violence is the worst the region
has seen in a long while and says it is time international attention focused on
the region.
Susanna Ounei, a Kanak woman who was an activist in New Caledonia for
many years, says her people also stand by West Papuans.
“I just want to give my solidarity to the brothers and sisters
from West Papua, we’re determined to do something about it. In Kanaky they are
organising also their solidarity with the West Papuans there in Kanaky because
they are all brothers and sisters.” The political activist Susanna Ounei
----------------------------------------
5) Papua election awaits court over DPRP role
The Jakarta Post | The Archipelago | Wed, 06/20/2012 10:41
AM
JAYAPURA: The Papuan gubernatorial election has been
temporarily halted while the Constitutional Court considers protests about the
Papuan Legislative Council’s (DPRP) actions during the early election
stages.
The DPRP hosted the registration process and verified gubernatorial
candidates, activities viewed by many, including the General Elections
Commission (KPU), as intervening beyond its authority.
Coordinating Political,
Legal and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto said the dispute over the
issue of authority would be resolved. A 2011 regulation, Bylaw No. 6, gives the
DPRP authority to organize the registration and verification processes, while
another 2011 regulation, Law No. 15, states that the organizer of regional
elections is the KPU. “It’s purely about authority. Each side insists on their
own rights based on the regulations,” Djoko said. Seven pairs of candidates are
running for the election.
---------------------------------------------
6) Papua Reports Another Death in Latest
Tribal Clash
Banjir Ambarita | June 20, 2012
Another clash between tribesmen of two
villages in the Papua district of Mimika erupted on Wednesday, killing one
person and injuring 15 others.
The fight lasted about five hours,
involving residents of Harapan village and Amole village on Jalan Kanguru in
Kwamki Narama, in the subdistrict of Timika, according to Papua Police
spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Yohanes Nugroho Wicaksono. A total of three people
have died in a series of clashes between the two groups that began on June 6.
Yohanes said the villagers used bows and
arrows to injure each other.
He added that Wednesday’s fighting began
when one of the clashing groups challenged the other to fight.
“And then the two groups attacked each
other. … Victim Inus Magai died from an arrow injury to his right chest, after
he was admitted to Mitra Masyarakat Hospital,” Yohanes said on Wednesday.
He added that 15 others were injured in the
incident.
The latest violence occurred just two days
after a clash between residents of the two villages on Monday, which killed two
villagers.
The Monday clash, which also left one
person critically injured, broke out in the morning between around 500 men
wearing matching striped shorts and tribal jewelry, said an AFP correspondent
who saw four police officers struck by arrows while trying to arbitrate the
fight.
Four vehicles, including an armored police
truck, were torched in the violence.
The series of clashes began on June 6 after
the death of a tribe member in a road accident.
Several large tribes live side by side in
Mimika district, and killings are usually settled traditionally with
compensation and communal feasts.
JG, AFP
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