1)
KNPB Secretariat office raided, 20 detained
2) MSG seeks proactivity on West Papua
3) The
Decolonization Dialogues
4) Police Brutality, Torture
Still Rife: Activists
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1) KNPB Secretariat office raided, 20 detained
A google translate of posting on KNPB webpage. Be-aware google translate can be a bit erratic.
Original bahasa link below
Secretariat KNPB Digoel Ransacked And Around Twenty KNPB Members Detained By Police officers Digoel
June 28, 2014 By: haanim Category: News
Chairman KNPB Digoel.
Digoel, KNPBNews - Today is Saturday, (06.28.14) hours of 17:00 to 18:00 WPB, Secretariat KNPB Digoel searched by police officers at the time Digoel KNPB Digoel regular meeting at the Secretariat of the way ambonggo KNPB public housing complex.
Secretariat KNPB Digoel searched by Police officers Digoel for no apparent reason, they came to the secretariat by using a track car Dalmas, a car patorli, approximately five motor vehicles amounted to about fifty police officers. At that time KNPB Digoel are conducting regular meetings in order to address the emerging political situation in the country and abroad and talk about self-determination agenda. The event was held at approximately 16:00 and 17:00 WPB WPB Police officers raided the secretariat Digoel KNPB and destroy all the attributes (the pictures affixed struggle), flag KNPB and other attributes as well as twenty members KNPB escorted to the Police and arrested. When now the chairman of KNPB Digoel are negotiating to issue its members. Until this news was raised they are still being held.
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Sekretariat KNPB Boven Digoel Digeledah Dan Sekitar Dua Puluh Anggota KNPB Ditahan Oleh Aparat Polres Boven Digoel
Boven Digoel, KNPBNews – Hari ini Sabtu, (28/06/14) jam 17.00 – 18.00 WPB, Sekretariat KNPB Boven Digoel digeledah oleh aparat Polres Boven Digoel pada saat pertemuan rutin KNPB Boven Digoel di Sekretariat KNPB jalan ambonggo complex perumahan masyarakat.
Sekretariat KNPB Boven Digoel digeledah oleh aparat polres Boven Digoel tanpa alasan yang jelas, mereka mendatangi sekretariat dengan menggunakan satu mobil trek dalmas, satu mobil patorli, kurang lebih lima kendaraan bermotor yang berjumlah sekitar lima puluh orang aparat polisi. Pada saat itu KNPB Boven Digoel sedang melaksanakan pertemuan rutin dalam rangka menyikapi situasi politik yang sedang berkembang di dalam negeri maupun di luar negeri dan membicarakan tentang agenda penentuan nasib sendiri. Kegiatan ini dilaksanakan pada jam 16.00 WPB dan sekitar jam 17.00 WPB aparat polres Boven Digoel melakukan penggeledahan sekretariat KNPB dan merusak semua atribut (gambar-gambar perjuangan yang ditempel), bendera KNPB dan atribut lainnya serta dua puluh orang anggota KNPB digiring ke polres dan ditahan. Saat sekarang ketua KNPB Boven Digoel sedang bernegosiasi untuk mengeluarkan anggotanya. Sampai berita ini dinaikan mereka masih ditahan.
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2) MSG seeks proactivity on West Papua
Updated at 4:27 pm on 28 June 2014
Melanesian Spearhead Group leaders say they want to take a more proactive approach alongside Indonesia to help address the development needs of West Papuans.
The leaders have just concluded their summit in Port Moresby where issues regarding the indigenous Melanesians of Indonesia's Papua region featured prominently on the agenda.
According to the summit's communiqué, the MSG seeks greater awareness on the situation in Indonesia's Papua and West Papua provinces in regard to special autonomy arrangements and their impact on the local population.
Elsewhere the leaders note the progress on greater autonomy in Papua and a recent announcement by the President of Indonesia to withdraw the military from Papua region.
However the MSG appears to have brushed off a formal application bid by the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation for membership in the MSG.
The coalition lodged its application over a year ago, and submitted documents of support from over seventy representative groups in Indonesia's Papua region.
The MSG had postponed its decision on the application pending the report from January's MSG Foreign Ministers fact-finding mission to Papua.
Vanuatu boycotted that trip because it was of the view that the mission's programme would not allow the MSG to obtain credible information to fulfil the MSG Leaders mandate, around making a decision on the membership bid.
The mission visited Papua region for less than a day.
The MSG leaders who attended this week's summit were Solomon Islands Prime Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo, his Vanuatu counterpart Joe Natuman, PNG's Peter O'Neill and the current MSG chair, Victor Tutugoro, representing the FLNKS of New Caledonia.
While the communique didn't include a formal decision on the Coalition's membership bid, Mr O'Neill, earlier indicated that West Papuans would need to re-apply for membership as an "inclusive and united" group.
Mr O'Neill says the group would also have to consult with Jakarta.
Indonesia has observer status at the MSG.
Among other points of the communiqué, the MSG endorses more regular meetings with Jakarta on bilateral cooperation with specific focus on social and economic development and empowerment for West Papuans.
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GLOBAL JUSTICE
3) The Decolonization Dialogues
A Discussion with the Faith Community and Indigenous Peoples
“Repentance is Decolonization.” This was the topic of a side event to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, held at the Church Center for the United Nations. Organized by The Decolonization Alliance, the afternoon event was a discussion with responsive members of the faith community in dialogue with indigenous peoples about responsibility, atonement and rectification for the annihilation of both their culture and population due to colonization.
At the root of colonization lies the “Doctrine of Discovery,” a 15th century papal edict that gave explorers entitlement of non-Christian lands for their Christian monarchs. Based solely on religious identity, this “moral and legal right” is how colonial powers laid claim to their newly discovered lands, ignoring aboriginal possession. The doctrine became the modus operandi and the basis for law for the colonizing countries, including the United States’ expansion. The ultimate effect was the perpetual cycle of subjugation and poverty.
Leading into the discussion with members of the indigenous community, the Rev. Kathleen Stone, executive for environment and economic justice with United Methodist Women, said, “By debasing others, we debase all of us.”
Menase W. Kaisiepo of West Papua Melanesia, living in the Netherlands, promotes the social and political interests of his ancestral homeland. He spoke of the subjugation and occupation of his country, the western part of the island of New Guinea, by Indonesian forces. “We want self-determination,” he said of the peninsula with a population of three-quarters of a million people. “We welcome this call for reconciliation and are happy to have the support of The Methodist Church.”
Activist Rosa Biwango Moiwend, living in West Papua said, “This is the first time I meet my brother in exile who lives in the free world.”
She spoke of how in her indigenous religion there is a father and son, and when the Catholic Church came, the concepts were similar and acceptable. Then, the occupying church banned their native activities and cultural practices. “My generation has to learn the history of the land,” she said, as she held up a small flag, a symbol of resistance that activists in her country can be arrested for possessing. She spoke of how churches are important, as some of them allow and amplify the voice of the people. She shared that “some pastors are targeted by the military.”
At the root of colonization lies the “Doctrine of Discovery,” a 15th century papal edict that gave explorers entitlement of non-Christian lands for their Christian monarchs. Based solely on religious identity, this “moral and legal right” is how colonial powers laid claim to their newly discovered lands, ignoring aboriginal possession. The doctrine became the modus operandi and the basis for law for the colonizing countries, including the United States’ expansion. The ultimate effect was the perpetual cycle of subjugation and poverty.
Leading into the discussion with members of the indigenous community, the Rev. Kathleen Stone, executive for environment and economic justice with United Methodist Women, said, “By debasing others, we debase all of us.”
Menase W. Kaisiepo of West Papua Melanesia, living in the Netherlands, promotes the social and political interests of his ancestral homeland. He spoke of the subjugation and occupation of his country, the western part of the island of New Guinea, by Indonesian forces. “We want self-determination,” he said of the peninsula with a population of three-quarters of a million people. “We welcome this call for reconciliation and are happy to have the support of The Methodist Church.”
Activist Rosa Biwango Moiwend, living in West Papua said, “This is the first time I meet my brother in exile who lives in the free world.”
She spoke of how in her indigenous religion there is a father and son, and when the Catholic Church came, the concepts were similar and acceptable. Then, the occupying church banned their native activities and cultural practices. “My generation has to learn the history of the land,” she said, as she held up a small flag, a symbol of resistance that activists in her country can be arrested for possessing. She spoke of how churches are important, as some of them allow and amplify the voice of the people. She shared that “some pastors are targeted by the military.”
Unknown Struggles
Many of the indigenous struggles for recognition and respect are unknown to the general population.Minister of Foreign Affairs for The Hawaiian Kingdom Leon K. Siu spoke of the violation of international law when a coup d’etat overthrew the Queen Lili`uokalani of Hawaii in 1893.
An Apology Resolution from Congress in 1993 acknowledged that “Native Hawaiian people never directly relinquished to the United States their claims to their inherent sovereignty.” Siu advocates the use of international law to regain sovereignty. “We must decolonize the mindset.”
Siu further commented that “The United Methodist Church and the World Council of Churches have a conscience of what’s been done.”
“Repentance is really contrition,” said respondent Sarah Augustine from the WCC Indigenous People’s Interim Reference Group, “and is different from acts of reconciliation. It’s not enough to say ‘We repent.’ Reparation and redress is necessary.”
During the day’s panels, Dr. Heather Murray Elkin of Drew University’s School of Theology said that resources must be made available so that theological educational institutions can provide necessary cross-cultural studies.
The Rev. Dr. Thomas White Wolfe Fassett, of Seneca Nation and emeritus general secretary of the General Board of Church and Society said, “I feel like a mole inside the institution…a Christian Native.”
When confronted with the idea that much of the decolonization issues are political, he said, “Spirituality is the higher form of political consciousness,” adding, “how does spirituality clothe our behavior?”
He drew attention to the Statement of Repentance by the Council of Bishops (2012, at the General Conference) that supports developing indigenous leaders, advocates for land and treaty rights, and supports tribal sovereignty, cultural preservation, and better health care, education and safety for indigenous peoples.
“People haven’t assimilated these statements,” he said. “We remain complicit in the oppression of indigenous peoples.”
Fassett commented that the panel was a good start for the fledgling organization. A following dialogue with The Decolonization Alliance would cover their goals and plans.
In addition to The Decolonization Alliance, which advocates for reform of the U.N. decolonization process, the dialogues were sponsored by the General Board of Church and Society, The United Methodist Church, United Methodist Women, and the World Council of Churches.
Posted or updated: 5/14/2014 11:00:00 PM
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4) Police Brutality, Torture Still Rife: Activists
Jakarta. Yeni remembers the day in 2011 when police stormed her home and arrested her brother on trumped-up charges.
“It was never clear why they arrested him,” she says.
Once in police custody, she says, he was tortured and killed.
“I wanted justice. Why did my brother die? Why did the police kill him? What had he done?” she says.
“So I took the case to the court. But during the trial I realized one thing: that justice is hard to find in this country.”
Only two low-ranking police officers were charged with killing Yeni’s brother. They were eventually convicted and sentenced to two and five years in prison.
Stories like Yeni’s remain common despite Indonesia’s claims to democracy; a culture of impunity for the security forces remains deeply entrenched in a country that only emerged from authoritarian rule in 1998, with observers warning of a growing nostalgia for a return to the iron-fisted ways of the strongman Suharto.
During his 32-year reign, Suharto relied primarily on the military to silence his critics. But since the start of the reform era 16 years ago, the military has been stripped of its powers over civilian policing, while the police have only grown in strength — and in their use of violence.
The police were responsible for 80 out of 108 recorded cases of torture of civilians between June 2013 and June 2014, according to a report published on Thursday by the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), a human rights watchdog.
Prison officials were responsible for 18 cases, and the military for 10, the report said.
In all, Kontras said, there were 283 victims: 20 died, 155 were severely injured, and one has gone missing.
The total number of cases is up from 100 in the 2012-2013 period, 84 from 2011-2012, and 28 from 2010-2011.
“Violence has long been a habit for law enforcement officers in this country,” says Haris Azhar, the Kontras coordinator. “For them, the use of violence and torture is like a sanctioned shortcut.”
He says much of the violence takes the form of torture of the victim during interrogation, usually to extract a confession, as in the case of Yeni’s brother.
“So even before the person has been formally charged or named a suspect, they’re already prone to falling victim to police brutality,” Haris says. “This is a serious issue that both the police force and the government need to pay attention to. But if they continue to overlook these cases, the violence will never end.”
The police have acknowledged the problem, but insist that instances of police brutality are far from common, and that the actions of a handful of rogue officers should not reflect on the police force as a whole.
“It’s certainly true that some of our personnel have deviated,” says Adj. Sr. Comr. Jayadi, the head of the general crimes sub-unit at the National Police’s detectives’ unit.
He cites the case of Yeni’s brother, saying it was an incident that “really shook us all.”
“But I have to remind people that the crimes that these kinds of officers perpetrate are not a legitimate reflection of the Indonesian police force as an institution,” he says.
“The National Police is an institution that stands strictly against the violation of human rights and prevailing laws,” Jayadi adds.
He concedes that the police brutality still being committed today has its roots in Suharto’s New Order era, when the police force was part of the dreaded military.
“It’s certainly not an excuse, but there’s no denying that there’s a sort of cultural holdover from military that persists in the police force until now,” he says.
Jayadi says that unlike in the past, when police brutality was shielded by impunity, there is now a mechanism in place to duly punish errant officers.
“If any of our personnel commits a violation, the police will investigate it and hand down the necessary sanctions, depending on whether they face a criminal conviction,” he says.
He also welcomes reports from the public about instances of police brutality, promising that the police will be serious about following up on any complaints.
“If we compare the situation we have now with the situation during the New Order, the mechanism for filing a complaint is much better now. But the public has to be proactive in reporting any violence to us, to help us tackle this issue,” Jayadi says.
Kontras’s Haris says an important part of the solution is to ramp up the pace of reforms in the police force.
“Both the National Police and the Indonesian Military must ensure that the internal mechanisms they have in place to deal with allegations of torture and ill-treatment of civilians are properly enforced, and that a mechanism of accountability exists,” he says.
He adds the same goes for the Justice Ministry, which is in charge of the country’s prisons.
He also says government oversight bodies — such as the National Police Commission, the Indonesia Ombudsman, Judicial Commission (for the country’s judges) and the National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM) — need to be strengthened.
Haris also urges the government, which has ratified the United Nations Convention Against Torture, to sign and ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture.
The latter, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2002, supplements the 1987 convention by establishing an international inspection system for places of detention.
“It was never clear why they arrested him,” she says.
Once in police custody, she says, he was tortured and killed.
“I wanted justice. Why did my brother die? Why did the police kill him? What had he done?” she says.
“So I took the case to the court. But during the trial I realized one thing: that justice is hard to find in this country.”
Only two low-ranking police officers were charged with killing Yeni’s brother. They were eventually convicted and sentenced to two and five years in prison.
Stories like Yeni’s remain common despite Indonesia’s claims to democracy; a culture of impunity for the security forces remains deeply entrenched in a country that only emerged from authoritarian rule in 1998, with observers warning of a growing nostalgia for a return to the iron-fisted ways of the strongman Suharto.
During his 32-year reign, Suharto relied primarily on the military to silence his critics. But since the start of the reform era 16 years ago, the military has been stripped of its powers over civilian policing, while the police have only grown in strength — and in their use of violence.
The police were responsible for 80 out of 108 recorded cases of torture of civilians between June 2013 and June 2014, according to a report published on Thursday by the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), a human rights watchdog.
Prison officials were responsible for 18 cases, and the military for 10, the report said.
In all, Kontras said, there were 283 victims: 20 died, 155 were severely injured, and one has gone missing.
The total number of cases is up from 100 in the 2012-2013 period, 84 from 2011-2012, and 28 from 2010-2011.
“Violence has long been a habit for law enforcement officers in this country,” says Haris Azhar, the Kontras coordinator. “For them, the use of violence and torture is like a sanctioned shortcut.”
He says much of the violence takes the form of torture of the victim during interrogation, usually to extract a confession, as in the case of Yeni’s brother.
“So even before the person has been formally charged or named a suspect, they’re already prone to falling victim to police brutality,” Haris says. “This is a serious issue that both the police force and the government need to pay attention to. But if they continue to overlook these cases, the violence will never end.”
The police have acknowledged the problem, but insist that instances of police brutality are far from common, and that the actions of a handful of rogue officers should not reflect on the police force as a whole.
“It’s certainly true that some of our personnel have deviated,” says Adj. Sr. Comr. Jayadi, the head of the general crimes sub-unit at the National Police’s detectives’ unit.
He cites the case of Yeni’s brother, saying it was an incident that “really shook us all.”
“But I have to remind people that the crimes that these kinds of officers perpetrate are not a legitimate reflection of the Indonesian police force as an institution,” he says.
“The National Police is an institution that stands strictly against the violation of human rights and prevailing laws,” Jayadi adds.
He concedes that the police brutality still being committed today has its roots in Suharto’s New Order era, when the police force was part of the dreaded military.
“It’s certainly not an excuse, but there’s no denying that there’s a sort of cultural holdover from military that persists in the police force until now,” he says.
Jayadi says that unlike in the past, when police brutality was shielded by impunity, there is now a mechanism in place to duly punish errant officers.
“If any of our personnel commits a violation, the police will investigate it and hand down the necessary sanctions, depending on whether they face a criminal conviction,” he says.
He also welcomes reports from the public about instances of police brutality, promising that the police will be serious about following up on any complaints.
“If we compare the situation we have now with the situation during the New Order, the mechanism for filing a complaint is much better now. But the public has to be proactive in reporting any violence to us, to help us tackle this issue,” Jayadi says.
Kontras’s Haris says an important part of the solution is to ramp up the pace of reforms in the police force.
“Both the National Police and the Indonesian Military must ensure that the internal mechanisms they have in place to deal with allegations of torture and ill-treatment of civilians are properly enforced, and that a mechanism of accountability exists,” he says.
He adds the same goes for the Justice Ministry, which is in charge of the country’s prisons.
He also says government oversight bodies — such as the National Police Commission, the Indonesia Ombudsman, Judicial Commission (for the country’s judges) and the National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM) — need to be strengthened.
Haris also urges the government, which has ratified the United Nations Convention Against Torture, to sign and ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture.
The latter, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2002, supplements the 1987 convention by establishing an international inspection system for places of detention.
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