1) Oxford ‘Free West Papua’ Office Furore Smolders on in Indonesia
2) Reports that six Papuan protesters were killed by police
3) PACIFIC BUZZ – A roundup of political and economic news by PiPP and Devpolicy
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1) Oxford ‘Free West Papua’ Office Furore Smolders on in Indonesia
Golkar questions West’s support for Indonesian control of Papua, citing East Timor precedent
By Ezra Sihite & Carlos Paath on 4:32 am May 8, 2013.
Category News, World
Tags: Indonesia diplomatic relations, Indonesia-UK, OPM Free Papua Movement, Papua
Category News, World
Tags: Indonesia diplomatic relations, Indonesia-UK, OPM Free Papua Movement, Papua
Noises of fury over the launching of a Free West Papua Campaign office in Britain continued to emerge from the Indonesian government on Tuesday, although one lawmaker was more philosophical.
Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said he could not understand why the British government was unwilling to take steps against the Free West Papua office, opened in Oxford last month.
“We see this as completely at odds with the enthusiastic friendship between our two nations, and hope they can understand why we feel so upset,” Marty said at the State Palace on Tuesday.
The minister said he assumed that the office had been established in accordance with Oxford local regulations, but asked that the British government nevertheless step in.
“One more time, we’re asking the British government to try to understand why this cannot be tolerated, what they’re doing,” Marty said.
But a prominent Indonesian lawmaker said that government should not be surprised by the development.
“The integrity of the Unitary State of Indonesia is in our own hands,” People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) Deputy Speaker Hajriyanto Thohari said in Senayan on Tuesday.
“We can’t leave it up to other nations. Of course the government has to stay on guard,” the senior Golkar Party figure added.
“We often hear that officially, international leaders, including from the big Western governments, say they’re supportive, that Papua is a part of Indonesia,” he said.
“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,” Hajriyanto said. “The West is always like that, you can’t trust them completely.”
Indonesian media has reported that the campaign office belongs to the Free Papua Movement (OPM), an armed paramilitary organization operating from various hotspots of dissent across Papua and West Papua provinces.
The Free West Papua Campaign, however, is an organization comprised predominantly of British citizens with the stated aim of highlighting the human rights situation in Papua and campaigning for a referendum on the future of the region.
The launching of the campaign office was attended by the local member of the British House of Commons for Oxford East, Andrew Smith, and an Indonesian-born Papuan, Benny Wenda.
Benny was granted political asylum by the British government following his escape from custody while on trial for what his supporters say were trumped-up charges designed to silence the Papuan leader.
Benny’s arrest came shortly after four Indonesian Special Forces (Kopassus) soldiers abducted and murdered popular pro-independence figure Theys Eluay.
During his 2002 trial on charges carrying a possible 25 year prison sentence, Benny escaped from detention with the help of sympathizers and made it across Indonesia’s border with Papua New Guinea. With the help of human rights activists, he made his way to Britain.
In 2011 the Indonesian government sought Interpol’s help by issuing a red notice requesting Benny’s arrest and extradition to Indonesia.
The red notice was however rejected by the international police organization in 2012 after an investigation concluded that the allegations against Benny were “politically motivated and an abuse of the system.”
After he was summoned on Monday by the Indonesian government, British ambassador Mark Canning issued a statement intended to defuse the tension.
“The position of [the] British government on this matter is quite clear. We respect the territorial integrity of Indonesia and do not support calls for Papuan independence. We regard Papua as being part of Indonesia.”
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2) Reports that six Papuan protesters were killed by police
Updated 7 May 2013, 17:46 AEST
Several protests were held on May the first to mark the 50th anniversary of the United Nations handover of West Papua to Indonesia.
The West Papuan Advocacy Team says some protestors were attacked by Densus 88, a special counter-terrorism unit of the Indonesian police which has received equipment and training from the Australian Federal Police.
Edmund McWilliams, a retired US senior foreign service officer in Indonesia and spokesman for the West Papua Advocacy Team, told Cathy Harper he's received credible information about multiple deaths.
However, it's difficult to verify information out of Papua and the claims haven't been independently confirmed.
Police were contacted, but were unavailable for comment.
The Jakarta Globe quotes Indonesian police in Papua as defending the fatal shooting of two activists, saying they attacked police with sharp weapons and the officers were acting in self defence.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has released a statement expressing concern about claims of excessive force by police in the province.
Presenter: Cathy Harper
Speaker: Edmund McWilliams, a retired US senior foreign service officer in Indonesia and spokesman for the West Papua Advocacy Team
MCWILLIAMS: It was an attack by the security forces, apparently included Densus 88, which is a special anti-terror unit, against peaceful demonstrators. As far as we know these were peaceful demonstrations in which Papuans were raising the Morning Star flag, which is essentially a nationalist but also a cultural symbol for Papuans, and in a number of places this took place, and apparently there was widespread attacks on these peaceful dissenters.
HARPER: What's your best information about what exactly happened and where and how many people were involved?
MCWILLIAMS: Well the first report we had was that in Sorong that two people were killed and then subsequently we have seen reports which we regard as credible, that there were also four people killed in Timika and a number of people arrested. But then also additional people shot elsewhere, I believe on the island of Biak, which is on the north coast. And then we believe there were also some arrests or at least potentially detentions, we're not sure if these people are still under arrest, in the Jayapura area around the grave of Theys Eluay, the former Papuan independence figure.
HARPER: And when you say dissent, the protests were not even directly related to a West Papuan independence movement were they?
MCWILLIAMS: What we understand of course is that the event on May 1st was supposed to coincide specifically with Indonesian annexation of West Papua 50 years ago. That annexation took place without obviously the consent of the Papuan people, and this was a Papuan protest commemorating that event.
HARPER: You mentioned that you believe the forces responsible for the violence, Densus 88, can you explain what that is and I understand there's an Australian connection?
MCWILLIAMS: Yes there is, there's also a US connection. I should say we're not convinced that the Densus 88 forces were involved in all of the attacks, but certainly in some of them. Densus 88 was formed as anti-terror unit within the security forces of Indonesia at the behest of the United States with funding from the United States, but also with training and funding assistance from Australia among others. So there's a certain degree of US and we have to say Australian culpability, complicity in the acts that Densus 88, which has been a source of human rights organization criticism for many years.
HARPER: What do you know about the feeling on the ground at the moment?
MCWILLIAMS: Well we understand it's a very tense situation. What we're pleased with is that there has been a significant international reaction. The UN Human Rights Commissioner has spoken out very strongly, as have a number of organisations. So essentially we've seen a good international reaction. But unfortunately as in the past the security forces seem to be insensitive to such international criticism. They operate essentially in a rogue fashion not responsive to civilian government in Jakarta.
HARPER: Do you get any sense from the international community, particularly from governments like the US and Australia that there is or will be any sort of appetite to support any sort of independence movement in West Papua, because there doesn't seem to be any sort of those kind of messages coming from the Australian government at all at the moment, quite the opposite?
MCWILLIAMS: No I think what we're seeing unfortunately is consistent stand by governments of the United States and Australia, also the United Kingdom, which essentially say that they respect the territorial integrity of Indonesia, which of course is code for including Papua as part of Indonesia. These statements are very similar to what we saw of course with regard to East Timor as well. Those of us who are defending human rights in West Papua are simply calling for essentially the right of self-determination for the Papuan people, a right that's been denied them now since Indonesia assumed control of West Papua 50 years ago. But I think it's unlikely that we're going to see any effective change in US or perhaps a position of other governments with regards to territorial integrity of Indonesia. But we do hope that over time they will come to recognise that these
people, the Papuans, deserve the right to self-determination via referendum or whatever means would be possible.
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