2) Bishops from New Zealand and Polynesia issue joint protest on West Papua abuses
3) Indonesia never compromises in tackling armed criminal group
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1) Military to continue crackdown on rebels in Papua despite local criticism
Jakarta / Mon, December 17, 2018 / 07:24 pm
The government is maintaining its security focused approach as it hunts down members of an armed rebel group believed to have been responsible for the killing of dozens of construction workers on Dec. 1 in Nduga Regency, Papua, despite local figures' plea for the government to end the armed conflict in the easternmost province.
"The laws, [even] international law, allow us to do that. When there are people who declare hostility against the government, it is justified to carry out military action [to address the issue],” Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto said in Jakarta on Monday.
The Indonesian Military (TNI) has been accused of killing five civilians as it continues to hunt down the armed rebel group, which is linked to the Free Papua Movement (OPM). The government has denied the allegation.
"We are not trying to violate human rights, we are trying to stop the violations. There will be more victims if we remain calm," he added.
The government will also not negotiate with rebels in Papua.
"They attempted to mess with the country, and we don't want to listen,” he said.
Local leaders in Papua have accused the TNI of using explosives and firing guns while hunting down the rebels, resulting in collateral damage and putting civilians caught in the armed conflict in greater danger.
Rev. Benny Giay, chairman of the Kemah Injili Church Sinode of Papua, confirmed that five civilians — two in Mbua and three in Yigi — had been killed when security personnel were attempting to retrieve the bodies of the construction workers, who were employed by state-owned company PT Istaka Karya.
"I'm pretty sure that [explosives] were involved. There were seven [explosions] in Yigi and five on Mount Kabo," he told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
He added that hundreds of villagers across Nduga had fled into the forests since Dec. 3 because of the military crackdown. Their precise whereabouts remain unknown.
Odizeus Beanal, the director of the Amungme tribal council (Lemasa) claimed he had been told there was a civilian casualty in Nduga because of a military raid.
“TNI soldiers have also launched attacks outside the war zones. They prefer to remain in the village and torture the villagers or kill innocent people,” he claimed.
Wiranto denied the allegations, saying the TNI had never used explosives in Papua.
"[Explosives] are expensive. This is their propaganda,” Wiranto said. (ggq/swd)
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2) Bishops from New Zealand and Polynesia issue joint protest on West Papua abuses
Posted on: December 17, 2018 5:06 PM
Bishops from the Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia (ANZP) have expressed their “deep disappointment” at what they say is the continued suppression of the first people of West Papua. The political status of West Papua is disputed. In the 1940s, with the collapse of the Netherlands East Indies, Indonesia claimed sovereignty over all of the former colony but the Dutch retained control over West Papua. In the 1960s, Indonesia invaded the island and a later UN-brokered peace deal resulted in 1,000 “elders” voting to become part of Indonesia in a disputed election.
Last year, the an ecumenical pastoral solidarity group from the Christian Council of Asia visited West Papua and described “grave human rights violations” in the region.
At the end of last week, 11 ANZP bishops and bishops-elect, including the two Primates, Donald Tamihere and Philip Richardson, and the Primate-elect, Fereimi Cama, issued a statement calling for the Indonesian authorities to “halt all state-sanctioned abuse and violation of human rights”. In their statement, they express their "deep disappointment" at the continued suppression of the first people of West Papua, and call on governments within their jurisdiction - New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga Samoa, American Samoa and the Cook Islands – to take a four-fold course of action.
These include putting West Papua on the agenda in international forums, and tracking the sale of West Papuan-sourced goods “which accelerate the marginalisation of West Papuan people from their own land” so that these can be banned as imports.
The bishops say: “we stand with our sisters and brothers in West Papua in their struggle to determine their own political destiny, and we pray that the Indonesian government will halt all state-sanctioned abuse and violation of human rights there.”
They call on their governments “to clearly express support for the people of West Papua in the redress of their historical injustices” and to “continue to draw attention to the sustained ethnic violence and ongoing denial by the Indonesian government of the first people’s right of self-determination, and the abuse of their natural resources by foreign corporations.”
In their letter, they refer to the Oceania regional Primates Meeting – or Fono – that took place in Fiji in March. The meeting bought together the primates from ANZP, Australia, Melanesia and Papua New Guinea, together with the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby. “The leaders heard harrowing stories of human rights violations in West Papua”, the statement said. “At last year's gathering, the Oceania Anglican leaders were moved by the passion of the Archbishop of Papua New Guinea, Clyde Igara, who proclaimed: ‘I am West Papua. I am Papuan’ – thereby acknowledging the unity and solidarity of all Papuans for the people of West Papua in their quest for independence.”
The bishops condemn the transfer of ownership to Indonesia, saying that “the West Papuan people were given no voice in the process” and that the UN-brokered agreement’s requirement for a ballot of West Papuans treated with “lip service” by the Indonesian government in an “electoral process [that] was corrupt.”
They say: “As a Church we are called to advocate for the integrity of all human life as created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). So, we add our voices to those of our Baptist and Catholic brothers and sisters, and to the voices of other faith and secular organisations who condemn the abuses of humanity and the environment which continue to occur in West Papua. . .
“We also endorse the resolution by the Pacific Conference of Churches, as the regional ecumenical body, to nominate two Pacific church leaders to visit governments and heads of state in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Nauru, Samoa, and Fiji in the next two years to bring the concerns of the Pacific churches on West Papua to their attention.”
- Click here to read the full statement
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3) Indonesia never compromises in tackling armed criminal group
Reporter: antara 5 hours ago
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Wiranto stressed that the Indonesian government had never compromised in tackling the armed criminal group in Papua that had killed citizens.
"We have never compromised, as our view is not equal for the groups," Wiranto noted at a press conference in Jakarta on Monday.
Wiranto said this was related to the case of the deaths of 31 workers in the Nduga area of Papua on Dec 2.
According to Wiranto, the government`s view was to not be equal to the groups that opposed the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI) and viewed them as having committed a mistake and had got lost.
He remarked that Indonesia, as a democratic country, will accept them again if they had realized and admitted to have been lost.
"Indonesia, as a democratic nation, will accept them if they are aware, but there is no negotiation in this process," he noted.
Wiranto said the Indonesian government had an opportunity to apply a military approach in combating the armed group in Papua.
He remarked that the international law allowed the use of weapons if there are groups that oppose the government by using weapons.
He viewed that the armed groups that killed innocent people could not be resisted only through a persuasive step by using words.
"This has been going on for a long time. I have dealt with groups in Aceh, Kalimantan, and Papua. When they held weapons, they felt great," he noted.
He noted that human rights activists must be fair to view and assess the problems in Papua lest the incident of the armed group involving the killing of construction workers in Papua was not said to be a violation of human rights.
Since he viewed that after the incident in Nduga there were no human rights activists who condemned the incident, he called on the nation to jointly defend the country from the armed groups trying to undermine national peace.
Reporting by Imam Budilaksono
Editing by Eliswan, Sri Haryati
"We have never compromised, as our view is not equal for the groups," Wiranto noted at a press conference in Jakarta on Monday.
Wiranto said this was related to the case of the deaths of 31 workers in the Nduga area of Papua on Dec 2.
According to Wiranto, the government`s view was to not be equal to the groups that opposed the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI) and viewed them as having committed a mistake and had got lost.
He remarked that Indonesia, as a democratic country, will accept them again if they had realized and admitted to have been lost.
"Indonesia, as a democratic nation, will accept them if they are aware, but there is no negotiation in this process," he noted.
Wiranto said the Indonesian government had an opportunity to apply a military approach in combating the armed group in Papua.
He remarked that the international law allowed the use of weapons if there are groups that oppose the government by using weapons.
He viewed that the armed groups that killed innocent people could not be resisted only through a persuasive step by using words.
"This has been going on for a long time. I have dealt with groups in Aceh, Kalimantan, and Papua. When they held weapons, they felt great," he noted.
He noted that human rights activists must be fair to view and assess the problems in Papua lest the incident of the armed group involving the killing of construction workers in Papua was not said to be a violation of human rights.
Since he viewed that after the incident in Nduga there were no human rights activists who condemned the incident, he called on the nation to jointly defend the country from the armed groups trying to undermine national peace.
Reporting by Imam Budilaksono
Editing by Eliswan, Sri Haryati
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