1) A half century on, Papua still poisons neighbourly ties
2) Amnesty Urges Probe Into Papua Activist Deaths
3) OPM Office in Britain Damages Bilateral Relation
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1) A half century on, Papua still poisons neighbourly ties
COMMENT
West Papua marked its 50-year anniversary under Indonesian rule last week and three events amply reminded us why it is a festering sore within the country and a serious inhibitor of good relations between Indonesia and the rest of the world.
The news that three people were shot dead at banned commemoration ceremonies was not the most prominent of these events. The shootings barely raised a ripple in the media in Indonesia or in the West. A few deaths here or there sadly have become unremarkable.
The West is always like that; you can't trust them completely.
''The shooting was according to procedure,'' Papua Police spokesman Senior Commander I Gede Sumerta Jaya said later. The police had acted in self-defence, he said.
Indonesians outside Papua know political independence is a big issue in their easternmost province, but they view the problems there as largely economic. They believe a lot of money has been spent to achieve little. It weighs vaguely on their conscience, but they do not want to know the details, and their media lacks either the resources or the courage to spell them out.
The second event was a story in last weekend's Good Weekend magazine that West Papuan children were being trafficked out of the Christian-majority province to Java to be educated in Islamic boarding schools.
That news is potentially explosive in a country rife with religious suspicion and a growing undertow of bullying Islam, but it came as news to most Indonesians. Some, Christian and Muslim alike, reacted with alarm online, but the official reaction has been to try to avoid reacting at all.
The event that really made a splash was when exiled independence leader Benny Wenda opened a new campaign office in Britain. He rented a space, held an opening ceremony and invited the lord mayor of Oxford to attend.
However, for that event the full might of the Indonesian state swung into action. The British ambassador was ''called in'' to explain himself to the Indonesian Foreign Minister, Marty Natalegawa. Comments were made by MPs. Protesters held placards saying, ''UK support [free Papua] Indonesian support IRA''. An earnest opinion piece discussed the best way to ''isolate Benny Wenda'', a man who has already been chased from his country under threat of death and had a bogus Interpol arrest warrant - since overturned - issued against him by Indonesia.
The explanation to Natalegawa by British Foreign Secretary William Hague followed the form that we're familiar with from politicians around the western world, including Australia: ''We respect the territorial integrity of Indonesia … We regard Papua as being part of Indonesia.''
That, though, did not wash with one influential politician, Hajriyanto Thohari. It's worth quoting him at length, because rarely has the elite view of this subject been expressed so baldly.
''We often hear that, officially, international leaders … say they're supportive, that Papua is part of Indonesia. But look at the case of the exit of East Timor from Indonesia in the old days, how much the western nations said they supported our sovereignty. But along the way, due to the interference of foreign nations, the province was lost.
''The West is always like that; you can't trust them completely.''
Hajriyanto is the deputy speaker of the national parliament and from the Golkar party, which is part of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's governing coalition and the former vehicle for president Suharto.
With views like that, it's clear Papua will not be an easy subject for Australia any time soon.
2) Amnesty Urges Probe Into Papua Activist Deaths
Jayapura. Amnesty International has urged Indonesia to probe the deaths of three Papua independence activists who were gunned down as they protested 50 years of Jakarta’s control over the restive region.
Two men were killed last week at an anti-government rally in Sorong, western Papua, and a woman died in hospital on Tuesday from gunshot wounds sustained at the protest, according to Amnesty and witnesses.
Those in attendance said police had opened fire on the peaceful demonstration. However, police deny shooting the activists and say they fired over protesters’ heads in retaliation for being attacked.
Indonesian authorities must “set up a comprehensive and independent investigation into allegations of unnecessary use of firearms by security forces during the protests,” said Isabelle Arradon, Amnesty’s Asia-Pacific deputy director.
“Failure to take action will send a message that the security forces in Papua operate above the law,” she added in a statement late Thursday.
United Nations human rights chief Navi Pillay also expressed concern over the deaths.
The shootings happened on April 30 as protesters gathered to mark 50 years since Papua was placed under Indonesian control by the UN, witnesses told an AFP journalist.
Isak Klaibin, the brother of the female victim Salomina Klaibin, 37, who was also at the demonstration, said protesters were gathering peacefully when police opened fire.
He told AFP at the scene: “There was going to be no raising of the [separatist] flag, nor reading of documents about the [rebel] movement” at the service.
“But as we were gathering, we were surprised to suddenly hear gunshots.”
Abner Malagawak, 22, and Thomas Blesia, 28, died at the scene.
However, Papua police spokesman Gede Sumerta Jaya denied police had shot the activists, saying: “The shots were aimed upwards, it was self-defence because (we were) attacked.”
Jaya said Salomina Klaibin was a lieutenant in the separatist Free Papua Movement (OPM), and her brother was part of a local separatist group. He said police confiscated rifles and ammunition from the scene of the protest.
Violence occasionally erupts in Papua — the western half of New Guinea island in Indonesia’s extreme east — where separatists have for decades fought a low-level insurgency on behalf of the mostly ethnic Melanesian population.
Agence France-Presse
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3) OPM Office in Britain Damages Bilateral Relation
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta- Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro, said that Free Papua Organization (OPM) office in Oxford, Britain has a particular effect to the bilateral relation. "There is however a clarification between the two countries," said Purnomo to the Press at his office, Thursday.
At the clarification, England admitted that Papua is part of Indonesia. Purnomo has a clear understanding of the situation since Britain is a democratic country, saying that OPM is taking advantage of the British democracy principle by showing up to the international world. Furthermore, Purnomo added, British government will still support Indonesian government.
Purnomo gave another example. It is just like Australia, being an escape destination to the OPM, yet Australian government remains committed to Indonesian sovereignty with Papua as part of Indonesia.
Prior to this, OPM officially set up an office in Oxford, Britain. The opening was attended by Britsih Parliament member, Andrew Smith, Oxford Mayor, Moh Niaz Abbasi, Former Oxford Mayor, Elise Benjamin, and the Coordinator of Free West Papua Campaign (FWPC), Benny Wenda.
Also attending the opening were Papua New Guinea rugby player, Paul Aiton, Jennifer Robinson and Charles Foster from the international lawyer group for West Papua, Oxford University students, and other Papuans in the Netherlands and OPM supporters in Britain.
INDRA WIJAYA
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