1) Fallout from Indonesian officials confronting media
2) 2017 Pacific Forum summit quieter
3) A wrap up of the 48th Pacific Island Forum Leaders meeting
4) More of the same: human rights in West Papua, July-September 2017
5) Papua’s last Dutch pastors
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1) Fallout from Indonesian officials confronting media
There's more fallout from a confrontation between media and Indonesian officials at the Pacific Island Forum Leaders summit in Samoa's capital last week after the topic of West Papua was brought up.
A protest supporting West Papua's independence was staged during the summit outside the Forum's venue which upset Jakarta.
Sela Jane Hopgood reports.
TRANSCRIPT
The co-ordinator of the Samoa First union, Jerome Mika was the person who led the West Papua protest during the Forum summit in Apia. Mr Mika disagreed with comments that followed from the Indonesian government representative, Franzalbert Joku, that the forum was not the place for the Papua issue to be raised.
"The theme of the whole Pacific Leaders Forum was about looking at leadership and being able to find ways to be able to help and prosper our Pacific region, so I think it's important for us to be dealing with issues of West Papua especially when in Samoa we had our independence in 1962 and West Papua's been colonised since 1960s and I think it's important for us to stand up for our Pacific brothers and sisters and we ask as a Pacific Leaders Forum that they consider working through putting West Papua on the decolonisation list."
Indonesia's Ambassador to New Zealand, Samoa and Tonga, Tantowi Yahya, was alongside Mr Joku at the heated press conference where local journalists were taken to task. He was later asked if it was reasonable to expect Samoan and Pacific journalists not to ask questions about West Papua.
"No, it's not our authority to say that, but our concern was only that we are afraid that those quote unquote additional issues would overshadow the main objective of the conference."
He told ABC that Indonesia sees reporting from international media in regards to West Papua as unbalanced.
"In many ways what happens lately, many that speak of Papua do not really know what happens in Papua today. In other words, they are not well equipped about the information in a balance manner. They have been pampered with informations, which sometimes are fabricated news, twisted news and even hoax and we from Indonesia don't really get the right chance to tell the people about what happened."
The General Secretary for the Pacific Conference of Churches felt the comments made by Mr Joku about West Papua 'doing fine' did not make sense. Reverened Francois Pihaatae was not impressed.
"Whatever the Indonesian say, I will never, never believe that something is fine in West Papua because we have evidences that that the living out everyday, the killing of the people."
Mr Mika found Mr Joku's remarks about the state of West Papua disgusting.
"I think it's arrogant and we won't be bullied by people like the Indonesian representative and I think that it also shows just the sort of behaviour and the condescending behaviour that we are getting as Pacific when we should be standing together for our West Papua brothers and sisters. We should also be speaking out as a collective rather than as an individual."
The West Papua independence issue was not advanced at the Forum summit as hoped by supporters. But several Pacific countries plan to raise their concern about Papua to the United Nations.
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2) 2017 Pacific Forum summit quieter
This year's Pacific Islands Forum Summit, held last week in Apia, was heavily influenced by a meeting of foreign ministers last month, according to the head of TNC Pacific Consulting, Tess Newton Cain.
Ms Newton Cain and Mathew Dornan of the Development Policy Centre have compiled a blog article assessing the meeting.
Ms Newtown Cain told Don Wiseman 2017 was a far quieter event than in the recent past and some of this is due to the impact of the foreign ministers on the agenda.
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3) A wrap up of the 48th Pacific Island Forum Leaders meeting
9:08 pm GMT+12, 13/09/2017, Samoa
By Tess Newton Cain, Matthew Dornan
Last week the 48th Pacific Islands Forum Leaders meeting was held in Apia, Samoa. The meeting’s theme, the ‘Blue Pacific’, was unsurprising given this year’s focus on oceans. But it was interesting nonetheless, given the increasing use of terms like the ‘blue economy’ (PIDF) or ‘blue Pacific’ (PIFS) to define Pacific regionalism – much as the ‘Pacific Way’ was used in the past.
This year was the first since the establishment of the Framework for Pacific Regionalism not to include a process through which the public are invited to make submissions on what leaders should discuss. That process, which sees proposals assessed by a Specialist Sub Committee on Regionalism (the SSCR), was never intended to occur every year. Its absence this year might therefore be explained in terms of needing to take stock of issues raised previously. Except, many issues identified through the process previously, and which we would expect to see followed up, have seemingly been set aside. They are cervical cancer, ICT, and improved business processes for the private sector.
Another likely explanation for the absence of a public submission process is political. The public consultation process in previous years has raised contentious issues time and time again. Last year, 13 of 48 submissions concerned West Papua – much to the dissatisfaction of the Australian, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinean governments. This year, in contrast, discussion of West Papua was limited to one un-critical line in the Forum Communiqué.
Climate change was still prominent, but in terms agreeable to all. Well, almost all. The Prime Minister of Tuvalu, Enele Sopoaga, vented his frustration after the Forum – both at its failure to endorse Tuvalu’s proposal for climate change insurance, and at its focus on issues not directly relevant to the Forum members, such as North Korea: “The Forum is supposed to discuss issues from its members and small island states… Why should they come to a Forum that only supports political wishes of the big countries?”
Notwithstanding this outburst, the Forum Leaders meeting this year did feature less outright disagreement than in previous years. The host, Samoa, can take some credit for this. The event appears to have been carefully managed, with the selection of a unifying theme and avoidance of unresolvable issues. The influence of foreign ministers may also have played a part. We suggested last year that the foreign ministers were where the real power lay in terms of what was on the agenda for the leaders. This year would appear to add credence that argument – and now their meeting is one of two to be given a ministerial charter, in line with the recommendations of the 2016 review of Forum regional meetings.
Unsurprisingly, issues of security were very prominent during the leaders’ discussions. Further to the deliberations of the Forum foreign ministers, the nomenclature of ‘Biketawa Plus’ appears in the communiqué. Leaders have tasked the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat to undertake a series of consultations with a view to presenting a ‘Biketawa Plus’ document for consideration in 2018.
Whilst it is too early to predict the precise detail of what such a thing would contain, the context in which it is discussed in the communiqué raises some concerns. The result of these consultations is expected to be a:
“foundation for strategic future regional responses recognising the importance of an expanded concept of security inclusive of human security, humanitarian assistance, prioritising environmental security, and regional cooperation in building resilience to disasters and climate change.”
Here, it is what is not said that is more important than what is. The current Biketawa declaration states very clearly that Forum members are committed to democracy, good governance, the protection of human rights and the maintenance of the rule of law. The communiqué does not refer to any of these items in its vision for ‘Biketawa Plus’. It is to be hoped that this means they will be preserved and restated robustly rather than left by the wayside.
The most noteworthy reference to human rights in this communiqué is the support that the Pacific Islands Forum has given to the candidature of both Fiji and Australia to the United Nations Council on Human Rights. Whilst it is hard to imagine leaders actively opposing these nominations, one has to wonder whether there were any misgivings (voiced or otherwise) given human rights concerns raised in relation to both Fiji and Australia.
Several other interesting things happened at and around the Forum meeting. Australia announced a Pacific labour scheme which, for the time being, will be open to citizens of Nauru, Kiribati and Tuvalu. Vanuatu signed up to PACER Plus after months of reluctance, though in doing so it identified visa free access to Australia as an issue to be discussed, whether bilaterally or regionally. And PNG announced that it will provide visa-free access to citizens of all Pacific Island Forum member nations (we assume this includes Australia, which of course has been criticised by PNG for its visa regime).
Visas will also feature prominently in the lead up to next year’s gathering. The host, President Waqa of Nauru, indicated last week that consideration would be given to waiving the prohibitive $8,000 visa fee for journalists who want to attend next year’s meeting of Forum leaders. It will be interesting to see if this offer extends to Australian journalists who have previously reported on the treatment of asylum seekers housed on Nauru.
Tess Newton Cain is the principal of TNC Pacific Consulting and a Visiting Fellow at the Development Policy Centre. Matthew Dornan is Deputy Director of the Development Policy Centre.
SOURCE: DEV POLICY/PACNEWS
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4) More of the same: human rights in West Papua, July-September 2017
Unsurprisingly, a litany of human rights abuses have continued to wrack occupied West Papua from July to September this year. As we documented, 2016 was a year of continued harassment, mass arrests, imprisonment and killings; 2017 has been similarly dire for West Papuans.
SEPTEMBER 13, 2017
Mass arrests
Under President Joko Widodo, mass arrest of non-violent demonstrators has become a favoured modus operandi for crushing Papuan dissent. In total, we believe that between July 1 and September 13, 329 people were arrested or detained by the Indonesian police in West Papua and Indonesia for expressing support for West Papuan self-determination.
Between June 30 and July 6, around 135 West Papuan people – including 35 children – were arrested, many of whom were tortured. The detentions were a response to disturbances following the arrest and imprisonment of Yanto Waine, a West Papua National Committee (KNPB) activist, for handing out leaflets. The Asian Human Rights Commission described the events as a “massive unlawful deprivation of liberty against Indigenous Papuans”.
On July 8, West Papuan man, Theo Hesegem, a coordinator of the Advocacy Network for Law Enforcement and Human Rights (JAPH-HAM), was intimidated and insulted by the Indonesian military for defending Niko Hisage after he was tortured by the Indonesian military. It has been another year of high-profile human rights defenders being targeted: Papuan man, Nareki Kogoya, who works for the National Human Rights Commission (KOMNAS HAM), found himself detained and tortured by the Indonesian police on May 18.
To kick off the month of August, one West Papuan man, Yulius Pigai, was killed and seven other Papuans shot at a protest against construction company PT Putra Dewa Paniai. West Papuans had congregated after company workers refused to transport a Papuan to a local hospital. The police arrived and opened fire; such blatant violence caused ripples across Indonesia, although as Human Rights Watch noted, the coverage ultimately led to little more than a ‘wrist-slap’ for the police officers involved, and no criminal prosecutions – as usual.
On August 20, in another routine occurrence, 24 West Papuans were arrested by the policemerely for attending a meeting of the KNPB in Fakfak.
Yanto Awerkion
Often, mass arrests are a way of intimidating West Papuans, breaking up demonstrations and acts of resistance before those detained are released without charge. Sometimes, however, prominent Papuans are detained and threatened with lengthy prison sentences. Yanto Awerkion, regional coordinator of a KNPB, was arrested on May 30 in Timika for promoting the West Papuan People’s Petition. He remains behind bars today, and is facing charges of ‘rebellion’, with a possible 15-year jail sentence. He released a video from prison here.
Other abuses
The International Coalition for Papua (ICP) documented 17 cases of torture and ill-treatment in the region in the second quarter of 2017 alone. The ICP also recorded 37 violations of the right to health, and at least 3 assaults/obstructions of journalists. The ICP second quarter report records instances of police burning down a village hall, opening fire at non-violent demonstrations, attacking West Papuans with knives and beating journalists.
Of course, the recorded instances only make up a fraction of the total, as much abuse never makes it further than its immediate vicinity. The horrors documented in this article are but an infinitesimal slice of those the West Papuan people have faced routinely ever since the Indonesian invasion of 1963. These abuses are a manifestation of torture as a “mode of governance” by Indonesian security apparatuses, as academic Budi Hernawan describes it; they are manifestations of the systemic “threat to the Papuan peoples’ existence and survival as a culture and ethnic entity”, as the monitoring group Geneva for Human Rights put it last year. And as long as Indonesia’s elite international allies – the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand and others – continue to support the occupation, through silence, diplomatic facilitation and police training, then these atrocities will be all the harder to stop.
Ultimately, these human rights abuses are a “failed attempt to silence West Papuans non-violently expressing a political opinion”, as one report puts it. The West Papuan populace continues its valiant struggle – we should support them. Papua Merdeka!
To donate or see how else you can help the Free West Papua Campaign, see here.
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5) Papua’s last Dutch pastors
Posted: Wed, September 13, 2017 | 11:52 am
Three Dutch Catholic priests arrived in Papua more than 50 years ago following the transfer of authority of western Papua from the Netherlands to the Indonesian government.
It was a dark time for Papuans as they experienced human rights abuses and many tragedies.
The bitter memories of these abuses and tragedies are stamped on generations of Papuans.
Father Frans Lieshout arrived in Papua two weeks after the United Nations Temporary Executive Authority (UNTEA) turned over authority of the region to Indonesia in 1963.
Brother Jan Sjerp followed in 1969, at a time when the implementation of the “Act of Free Choice” was criticized due to the involvement of the Indonesian military.
Finally, Father Lambertus H. Hagendoorn arrived in 1970.
The three belong to the Order of Friars Minor (OFM) and for the last five decades they have lived in Papua, living on the go in mountainous or coastal areas in order to perform their duties.
While handling church and religious affairs, they are also engaged in agriculture and education, managing children’s dormitories and other activities. It is therefore not surprising that the priests have ample knowledge about the manifold problems the Papuans have faced since the transfer of authority took place.
Since the transfer of authority, the main issue in Papua has always been the violation of human rights.
In the beginning, the perpetrators were those who came from outside Papua but today, the Papuans themselves damage one another. There is a growing tendency toward abuse of power and corruption among indigenous civilian officials.
The three priests believe education is crucial to ending the seemingly endless crises in Papua.
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