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
---------------------------------
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.”
------------------------------------------------
fropm
Tapol
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]
---------------------------------------
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.
---
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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