2) Over 100 pro-independence activists arrested in Papua
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1) A member of Bawaslu Merauke arrested during Jokowi’s visit
Published 23 hours ago on 20 November 2018
By pr9c6tr3_juben
Agustinus Mahuze (centre) with his friends – Jubi
Jayapura, Jubi – Agustinus Mehuze, the Coordinator of Prosecution and Investigation Department of Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) Merauke, was arrested and checked by Merauke Police following his act of appointing a paper with a say “SOS Our Earth” when President Joko Widodo’s convoy crossed Lepro junction in Merauke on Friday (16/11/2018).
The president and group was visiting Merauke to inaugurate the Time Capsule monument.
Mahuze is known as an environmentalist and indigenous people activist as well as education practicioner in Merauke before he becomes a member of Bawaslu Merauke.
“At that time I was walking from Wasur toward the city. Around half past three in the afternoon, I saw the presidential convoy crossing Lepro. I took a paper and pencil and spontaneously wrote those words and lifted it to show to them. I wanted the president to see it and raise this environmental issue during the APEC Summit in Papua New Guinea,” Agustinus Mahuze told Juby by phone on Saturday morning (17/11/2018).
Then, a soldier who’s in charge to secure the event approached him and asked why did he hold up the paper, while police officers that were also in the scene seem not to be bothered with his act. They didn’t even bother to ask him. By contrast, the soldier intimidated him.
“The soldier asked from which organisation am I? I said I didn’t represent any organisation here. Then he checked my wallet and bag. I only have some documents related to my work at the Election Supervisory Body,” said Mahuze.
Then the soldier asked the police to bring Mahuze to Merauke Regional Police Headquarter for further investigation. Police then took him to the police station at around 3:30 p.m. and he was questioned in the general section of Merauke Police Headquarter before undergoing a follow-up investigation at the intelligence department.
However, the officer who’s in charge in the intelligence department was not there, so he had to wait until 18:00 before they let him go. “At six in the afternoon, the police said that I could go home and asked me to leave my telephone number so that they can call me. But only about thirty minutes I left their office, the police called me to return,” he said.
When they called, he was taking dinner with his friends who accompany him during the investigation in a place near the police station. So he returned to the police station and underwent the examination in the intelligence department.
“Shortly, I clarified the purpose of my writing and why I showed it. I gave the same answer as before that because I only want to raise the environmental issue and had no political purpose,” explained Mahuze.
After half an hour investigation, then the then let him leave.
However, Mahuze regretted the soldier’s attitude who questioned and intimidated him. “The police are very cooperative. But the intimidation by the military member shows that their attitudes in Papua has not changed,” said Mahuze. (*)
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2) Over 100 pro-independence activists arrested in Papua
Separatist leader detained on suspicion of plotting treasonous act; critics decry state clampdown on freedom of assembly
Katharina R. Lestari, Jakarta Indonesia November 20, 2018
Over 100 pro-independence activists were arrested on Nov. 19 in Jayapura, the capital of Indonesia's Papua province, as they were celebrating the 10th anniversary of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB).
The KNPB was established in 2008 by a group of NGOs to give the public a platform on which to campaign for political, social and other issues.
Among the 107 KNPB activists and sympathizers nabbed in recent days was Markus Haluk , executive director of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP).
The group was formed in December 2014 as an umbrella organization uniting three movements seeking independence for West Papua.
Police and military personnel detained Haluk and the others at a student dormitory in Pegunungan Bintang Regency, where they were planning to hold a public discussion to commemorate the KNPB's decennial.
They were released in the early hours of Nov. 20.
Gustav. R. Urbinas, the chief of police in Jayapura, told ucanews.com they had been apprehended so they could all be properly identified and the reasons for their public gathering clarified.
He said police would continue to crack down on any activities in the region considered potentially treasonous.
"As the chief of police for Jayapura I am obliged to know about the goal of such activities," he said.
"I must dismiss anything that is against the national interest. This was one of a number of illegal activities held by an organization that is not registered with the Political and National Unity Office," he told journalists, referring to the KNPB.
All large organizations in the country must register with their local chapter of the Political and National Unity Office, known as Kesbangpol, as the constitution obliges the government to manage their rights and obligations in the interests of peace and order.
Currently there are over 390,000 such organizations registered with the Kesbangpol.
Prior to the crackdown on the planned public discussion, police raided the KNPB's secretariat in Waena village and seized two banners advocating the pro-independence movement.
The authorities also took a printer, a T-shirt bearing the motif of the Bintang Kejora (morning star) independence flag, and an unlicensed motorcycle.
Ones Suhuniap, a national spokesperson for the KNPB, said the police damaged the secretariat's facilities and destroyed meals that had been prepared for consumption during the public discussion.
"They acted like thugs," he told ucanews.com.
Referring to the planned discussion, he said the aim was to reflect on the KNPB's journey over the past decade and plan activities for the coming year.
"We have always asked the police for permission [for such activities], but they reject our petitions every time," he said. "So there's no point asking for permission, as the answer is always the same."
He said the KNPB has been fighting peacefully for the right to have a say in politics and the right to self-determination, adding the latest spate of arrests has "educated us about how we need to press the fight in a more mature way."
Father Neles Tebay, coordinator of the Papuan Peace Network, called the police's response an attempt to stifle people's freedom of assembly and freedom of speech.
"I would have thought such an assembly would have been fine so long as they didn't pose a threat to [national] security," he told ucanews.com.
"They said it was just a public discussion, even if they harbor different political aspirations from those upheld by the police and military.”
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