2) Indonesia’s political system has ‘failed’ its minorities – like West Papuans
3) Ministry works on export potential of Wamena coffee
4) Papuan students arrested a rally in Bali calling for election boycott
5) AMP and LBH protest arrest of Papuan students at election boycott rally
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1) Indonesia election: violence-wracked province calls for independence
By Angus Watson, CNN
Updated 0001 GMT (0801 HKT) April 16, 2019
A West Papuan activist holds a banner demanding independence.
(CNN)As Indonesia's presidential candidates draw massive crowds to rallies across the country, leaders in the resource-rich but restive twin provinces of Papua and West Papua have called for an election boycott and their own vote to secede from the Southeast Asian archipelago-nation.
Neither incumbent President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, nor his main electoral rival Prabowo Subianto have addressed the surge in violence in the provinces collectively known by pro-independence campaigners as West Papua.
During presidential debates in which the pair have sparred on human rights and national security, the issue has not warranted a single mention. But on the western side of New Guinea island, in Indonesia's far east, a decades old insurgency has flared with violence.
Last December, militants from the Papuan Liberation Army admitted to attacking and killing up to 31 people working on the Trans-Papua Road Project, a highway that will bisect the resource-rich province.
Joko had touted the project as a key part of his presidency's focus infrastructure, a 4,300-kilometer-long investment open up access to vast gold and copper deposits and highland villages.
Hundreds of troops moved in to the already militarized Nduga region to try to capture rebels. The counter insurgency measures resulted in 32,000 displaced residents, according to the highest estimates made by rights group Frontline Defenders -- who plan to submit their findings to Indonesia's Human Rights Council.
The Indonesian army has disputed the claim, saying that reports of destruction to villages are a "hoax."
"In the early weeks after the killings -- security forces had established a monopoly on the channels of information," said Richard Chauvel, an Indonesia expert at the University of Melbourne. But despite Indonesia's apparent military lockdown.-- with no foreign journalists and few rights groups granted access to Papua -- unconfirmed reports of violence have continued to leak out.
The United Nations is currently in negotiation with the Indonesian government to send a Human Rights Council Delegation to West Papua, though no date has yet been set.
CNN has reached out to the Indonesian government and Indonesia's Permanent Mission to the UN for further comment
A vote of their own
Indonesia has shared the mountainous island with neighbor Papua New Guinea since 1969, when just over 1,000 people from the local Melanesian population were handpicked to vote in "Act of Free Choice," a vote critics say was anything but free.
The disputed referendum, which was noted in a 1969 UN resolution, confirmed Indonesia's takeover of Papua and West Papua from the territory's colonial rulers, the Netherlands.
A continuous low-level insurgency has plagued the region ever since, with Indonesia's military establishing themselves as a central part the governing status-quo, said Chauvel.
Violence has marked the relationship between roughly four million Papuans and their Indonesian rulers. Amnesty International said that between 2010 and 2018, 95 Papuans fell victim to extrajudicial killings at the hands of Indonesian security forces.
"West Papua is a militarized zone. People's everyday life is colored by harassment and intimidation at the hands of security forces," said Benny Wenda, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee in self-imposed exile in the UK who leads a global push for rights in Papua.
"Everywhere you go there are armed soldiers and police. This is normal. West Papua is seen as a colony of second-class citizens where Indonesia's army can do whatever it likes," added Wenda.
Now, as close to 200 million Indonesians prepare to choose between candidates Joko and Prabowo, Papuans are demanding a vote to be released from Indonesian rule.
Earlier this year Wenda, as a guest member of the Vanuatu delegation, presented a petition to the UN Human Rights Commissioner Michelle Bachelet, requesting that the UN pressure the Indonesian government to allow Papua another referendum on independence. It was signed by 1.8 million Papuans -- half the population.
"This petition was bravely smuggled from West Papua across the border into Papua New Guinea then to Europe," Wenda said.
The Indonesian government later criticized Vanuatu for inviting Wenda into their UN delegation to see the human rights high commissioner.
"The United Nations membership decided, almost 50 years ago, the final status of Papua as part of Indonesia," said Indonesia's UN representative Aloysius Selwas Taborat, adding that Vanuatu's comments are an outrageous challenge to that United Nations decision.
"The status of Papua and West Papua as a part of Indonesia is final, irreversible and permanent."
'It's their democracy'
The 2019 Indonesian national election is the second time that Papuans, like all Indonesians, will get to choose between Joko and Prabowo for president, with the pair facing off previously in 2014.
Voters in Indonesia's easternmost provinces turned out in droves for Joko last time around -- handing him roughly 70% of the vote.
Chauvel, of Melbourne University, said that Joko had largely disappointed those voters in the years since, failing to live up to promises to lift standards of living -- but the president has the distinct advantage of not having a military background, unlike his opponent.
"When Joko promised to improve rights for Papuans in 2015, key military figures within his own regime came out and undermined him," Chauvel said.
"The interest of security forces is to maintain the status quo, that's them governing Papua. Any movement by Joko to resist that is undermined."
Prabowo is a former member of that military, derided by so many in Papua for his involvement in counter-insurgency. In the late 1990s, Prabowo was a commander of the Kopassus elite special forces group that Human Rights Watch accuses of arbitrary arrests and beatings in Papua.
Wenda has called on Papuans to ignore the elections on April 17, despite local Papuan politicians vying for provisional jobs that day too.
"We are not part of Indonesia and their election has nothing to do with us," Wenda asserted.
"That is their democracy. We need to respect them, but we've voted in the past and the killing has continued.”
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2) Indonesia’s political system has ‘failed’ its minorities – like West Papuans
April 16, 2019
Indonesian army and police gather villagers in several sub-districts in Nduga and try to force them to “admit” to accusations that they are members of the pro-independence West Papua National Liberation Army (WPNLA). Video: Cafe Pacific
A human rights defender and researcher has warned in a new book published on the eve of the Indonesian national elections tomorrow that the centralised political system has failed many of the country’s 264 million people – especially minorities and those at the margins, such as in West Papua.
Author Andreas Harsono also says a “radical change is needed in the mindset of political leaders” and he is not optimistic for such changes after the election.
Harsono is author of Race, Islam and Power: Ethnic and Religious Violence in Post-Suharto Indonesia, a book based on 15 years of research and travel between Sabang in Aceh in the west and Merauke in West Papua in the East.
Founding President Sukarno used the slogan “from Sabang to Merauke” when launching a campaign – ultimately successful – to seize West Papua in 1961.
But, as Harsono points out, the expression should really be from Rondo Island (an unpopulated islet) to Sota (a remote border post on the Papua New Guinean boundary.
Harsono, a Human Rights Watch researcher since 2008, argues that Indonesia might have been more successful by creating a federation rather than a highly centralised state controlled from Jakarta.
“Violence on post-Suharto Indonesia, from Aceh to West Papua, from Kalimantan to the Moluccas, is evidence that Java-centric nationalism is unable to distribute power fairly in an imagined Indonesia,” he says. “It has created unnecessary paranoia and racism among Indonesian migrants in West Papua.
‘They’re Melanesians’
“The Papuans simply reacted by saying they’re Melanesians – not Indonesians. They keep questioning the manipulation of the United Nations-sponsored Act of Free Choice in 1969.”
“The Papuans simply reacted by saying they’re Melanesians – not Indonesians. They keep questioning the manipulation of the United Nations-sponsored Act of Free Choice in 1969.”
Critics and cynics have long dismissed what they see as a deeply flawed process involving only 1025 voters selected by the Indonesian military as the “Act of No Choice”.
Harsono’s criticisms have been borne out by a range of Indonesian activist and watchdog groups, who say the generals behind the two presidential frontrunners are ridden with political interests.
The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) and the Mining Advocacy Network (JATAM) have again warned that both presidential candidate tickets — incumbent President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and running mate Ma’ruf Amin as well as rival Prabowo Subianto and Sandiaga Uno — have close ties with retired TNI (Indonesian military) generals.
These retired officers are beholden to political interests and the prospect of resolving past human rights violations will “become increasingly bleak” no matter who is elected as the next president.
Kontras noted that nine out of the 27 retired officers who are behind Widodo and Ma’ruf have a “problematic track record on human rights”.
“Likewise with Prabowo Subianto and Sandiaga Uno where there are eight retired officers who were allegedly involved in past cases of HAM violations”, said Kontras researcher Rivanlee Anandar.
Prabowo himself, a former special forces commander, is implicated in many human rights abuses. He has been accused of abduction and torture of 23 pro-democracy activists in the late 1990s and he is regarded as having knowledge of the killing hundreds of civilians in Santa Cruz massacre in Timor-Leste.
90,000 killed post-Sukarno
Harsono’s 280-page book, with seven chapters devoted to regions of Indonesia, documents an ”internally complex and riven nation” with an estimated 90,000 people having been killed in the decade after Suharto’s departure.
Harsono’s 280-page book, with seven chapters devoted to regions of Indonesia, documents an ”internally complex and riven nation” with an estimated 90,000 people having been killed in the decade after Suharto’s departure.
“In East Timor, President Suharto’s successor B. J. Habibie agreed to have a referendum [on independence]. Indonesia lost and it generated a bloodbath,” says Harsono.
“Habibie’s predecessors, Megawati Sukanoputri and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, refused to admit [that] the Indonesian military’s occupation, despite a United Nations’ finding, had killed 183,000 people between 1975 and 1999.”
Harsono notes how in 1945 Indonesia’s “non-Javanese founders Mohammad Hatta, Sam Ratu Langie and Johannes Latuharhary wanted an Indonesia that was democratic and decentralised. They advocated a federation.”
However, Sukarno, Supomo and Mohammad Yamin wanted instead a centralised unitarian state.
“Understanding the urgency to fight incoming Dutch troops, Latuharhary accepted Supomo’s proposal but suggested the new republic hold a referendum as soon as it became independent. Sukarno agreed but this decision has never been executed.”
The establishment of a unitarian state “naturally created the Centre”, says Harsono. “Jakarta has been accumulated and controlling political, cultural, educational, economic, informational and ideological power.
Java benefits
“The closer a region to Jakarta, the better it will benefit from the Centre. Java is the closest to the Centre.
“The closer a region to Jakarta, the better it will benefit from the Centre. Java is the closest to the Centre.
“The further a region is from the Centre, the more neglected it will be. West Papua, Aceh, East Timor and the Moluccas are among those furthest away from Jakarta.”
The centralised political system needed a “long and complex bureaucracy” and this “naturally created corruption”, Harsono explains.
“Indonesia is frequently ranked as the most corrupt country in Asia. Political and Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd listed Indonesia as the most corrupt country in Asia in 2005.”
Harsono also notes how centralised power has helped a religious and ethnic majority that sees itself as “justified to have privileges and to rule over the minorities”.
The author cites the poet Leon Agasta as saying, “They’re the two most dangerous words in Indonesia: Islam and Java.” Muslim majority and Javanese dominance.
Harsono regards the Indonesian government’s response to demands for West Papuan “self-determination” as “primarily military and repressive: viewing Papuan ‘separatists’ as criminals, traitors and enemies of the Republic of Indonesia”.
He describes this policy as a “recipe for ongoing military operations to search for and destroy Papuan ‘separatists’, a term that could be applied to a large, if not overwhelming, portion of the Papuan population”.
Ruthless Indonesian military
“The Indonesian military, having lost their previous power bases in east Timor and Aceh, ruthlessly maintain their control over West Papua, both as a power base and as considerable source of revenue.
“The Indonesian military, having lost their previous power bases in east Timor and Aceh, ruthlessly maintain their control over West Papua, both as a power base and as considerable source of revenue.
“The Indonesian military involvement in legal businesses, such as mining and logging, and allegedly, illegal businesses, such as alcohol, prostitution, extortion and wildlife smuggling, provide significant funds for the military as an organisation and also for individual officers.”
Pro-independence leaders have called on West Papuans to boycott the Indonesian elections tomorrow.
Andreas Harsono launched his journalism career as a reporter for the Bangkok-based Nation and the Kuala Lumpur-based Star newspapers. In the 1990s, he helped establish Indonesia’s Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) – then an illegal group under the Suharto regime, and today the most progressive journalists union in the republic.
Harsono was also founder of the Jakarta-based Institute for the Studies on the Free Flow of Information and of the South East Asia Press Alliance (SEAPA).
In a separate emailed interview with me in response to a question about whether there was light at the end of the tunnel, Harsono replied: I do not want to sound pessimistic but visiting dozens of sites of mass violence, seeing survivors and families’ who lost their lost ones, I just realised that mass killings took place all over Indonesia.
“It’s not only about the 1965 massacres –despite them being the biggest of all– but also the Papuans, the Timorese, the Acehnese, the Madurese etc.
“Basically all major islands in Indonesia, from Sumatra to Papua, have witnessed huge violence and none of them have been professionally understood. The truth of those mass killings have not been found yet.”
- Andreas Harsono will visit Auckland on August 21-24 and attend the Melbourne Writers Festival in Australia in late August.
- Andreas Harsono (2019). Race, Islam and Power: Ethnic and Religious Violence in Post-Suharto Indonesia. Melbourne: Monash University Publishing. 288 pages.
- Are Chinese-Indonesian voters key to the election?
- Indonesian double standards over press freedom endanger safety of Papuan journalists
Professor David Robie is director of the Pacific Media Centre.
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3) Ministry works on export potential of Wamena coffee
16 hours ago
Jayapura (ANTARA) - The Agriculture Ministry's Quarantine Agency has encouraged economic growth in Papua by accelerating exports of agricultural products, especially coffee from the province's municipality of Wamena.
Coffee from Wamena (the capital of Jayawijaya district) has a distinctive taste, the agency's head, Ali Jamil, said here on Monday, adding that the coffee farms in Wamena cover an area of 1,910 hectares in 24 sub districts, including Walesi, Kurulu, Hubertus and Pyramid.
Wamena produces some 600-650 kilograms of coffee per hectare and its coffee production in 2017 reached some 125.8 tons, and this commodity is worth developing for exports, and even further, if it is well processed with good packaging and is ready to drink, he said.
He also pointed out that the export value of non-oil and gas products, especially in the agriculture sector, from Papua's capital city of Jayapura in 2018 reached Rp 35.6 billion, while as of March 2019, its export had reached 29.1 percent compared to that of the previous year which amounted to Rp 10.3 billion.
"With the current efforts, together with the Government of Papua, we believe the export target can double that of the previous year," he said.
EDITED BY INE
Reporter: Bambang Purwanto
Coffee from Wamena (the capital of Jayawijaya district) has a distinctive taste, the agency's head, Ali Jamil, said here on Monday, adding that the coffee farms in Wamena cover an area of 1,910 hectares in 24 sub districts, including Walesi, Kurulu, Hubertus and Pyramid.
Wamena produces some 600-650 kilograms of coffee per hectare and its coffee production in 2017 reached some 125.8 tons, and this commodity is worth developing for exports, and even further, if it is well processed with good packaging and is ready to drink, he said.
He also pointed out that the export value of non-oil and gas products, especially in the agriculture sector, from Papua's capital city of Jayapura in 2018 reached Rp 35.6 billion, while as of March 2019, its export had reached 29.1 percent compared to that of the previous year which amounted to Rp 10.3 billion.
"With the current efforts, together with the Government of Papua, we believe the export target can double that of the previous year," he said.
EDITED BY INE
Reporter: Bambang Purwanto
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via regwestpapua
4) Papuan students arrested a rally in Bali calling for election boycott
Kumparan - April 15, 2019
Kanal Bali, Denpasar -- Scores of Papuan Student Alliance (AMP) protesters from the AMP Bali City Committee (AMP KK Bali) were arrested by the Denpasar municipal police (Polresta) on Monday April 15 for holding an action during the cooling off period before the April 17 presidential and legislative elections.
The students were holding an action calling on the public to golput -- to abstain from voting -- and rejecting the 2019 presidential election (Pilpres). The action had only proceeded for a short time before police moved in and took them away in a waiting police truck.
"We also secured a banner with the message 'Reject the Pilpres 2019" and "Golput". This is what they were conveying", said Denpasar municipal police Chief Senior Commissioner Ruddi Setiawan at the Denpasar police headquarters on Monday April 15.
Setiawan explained that right now it is the cooling off period before the elections and claimed that police had already told the action coordinator not to hold the action. But the protesters still took to the streets and held the peaceful action.
Setiawan also explained that police will conduct an investigation into what they were intending by holding the action.
"We know that the Balinese are a society that is full of tolerance, and want peace. By the holding of the action earlier, I saw that they did not want peace", he explained.
Setiawan also explained that the action did not have a police permit and the group had only provided a written notification of the action.
"They didn't have a permit. Expressing a view in public must have a permit. But they only provided a letter (notification). We explained the situation to them but they still held it and pushed ahead [with the protest]", said Setiawan. (kanalbali/KAD)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Aksi Tolak Pilpres, Mahasiswa Papua Diamankan di Polresta Denpasar".]
Source: https://kumparan.com/kanalbali/aksi-tolak-pilpres-mahasiswa-papua-diamankan-di-polresta-denpasar-1qtM8tR3ppQ
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INDOLEFT News service
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5) AMP and LBH protest arrest of Papuan students at election boycott rally
Detik News - April 15, 2019
Aditya Mardiastuti, Denpasar -- The Papua Student Alliance (AMP) is protested the arrest of student demonstrators at Renon Park in the Balinese provincial capital of Bali. The AMP said that it was a peaceful action rejecting the April 17 elections and they already had a police permit.
"The APM and the Bali YLBHI-LBH [Legal Aid Foundation] declare that there must be an end to the massive criminalisation of Papuan students. End all forms of violence, intimidation and discrimination against Papuan students in Bali", Bali YLBHI-LBH Deputy Director Ni Putu Candra Dewi told journalists in Denpasar on Monday April 15.
Candra also condemned the seizure of protest materials, violence and intimidated allegedly committed by police against the Papuan students. He also urged Bali Regional Police Chief (Kapolda) Inspector General Reinhard Golose to take legal action against officers alleged to have committed the violence.
"[We are] urging the Bali Kapolda to take legal action (disciplinary and criminal) against police for acting violently against seven of the protesters. [We] urge the government and law enforcement officials to protect freedom of expression, opinion, organisation and association which are a human right belonging to everyone without exception", asserted Candra.
Candra said that the peaceful action campaigning for golput -- to abstain from voting -- already had a police permit. The AMP had already sent a written notification of the action to the East Denpasar sectorial police (Polsek) on April 11.
Candra said that the peaceful action involving 29 people planned to hold a long-march from the East Renon parking area to the Renon traffic circle. According to the students they were blocked by police before they got to the Renon traffic circle.
"However before the protests reached the Renon traffic circle, the protesters were blocked by armed police officers and a Dalmas [crowd control] truck around 15 metres away. Before the AMP was able to convey its wishes, the police prohibited the peaceful action from being held", he said.
"Moreover seven AMP protesters were assaulted by police and dragged into the Dalmas truck which was already standing by on the grounds that 'today is a cooling off day', and as well as protest materials which were damaged such as posters, banners, a megaphone was also confiscated, an AMP flag was also seized", said Candra.
Candra said that advocates from YLBHI-LBH Bali accompanied the arrested protesters when they were being questioned by police.
The police meanwhile said that the action was broken up because it conflicted with the calls for a peaceful and calm election. The police also said that the banners used by the demonstrators were provocative and moreover, it is currently the cooling off period before the elections take place on April 17.
"The most provocative thing was rejecting the 2019 Pilpres [presidential election]. Yet we have been promoting an anti-golput movement throughout Indonesia, and so forth. So if they turn their back on this it's the same as not supporting government policy. Even though they are aware of this and support [government policy] because they living in Bali, Bali is part of the NKRI [Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia]. Because as I've said before saying Papua is not part of Indonesia isn't allowed, according to me personally it's not quite right", said Denpasar municipal police operations division chief police commander I Nyoman Gatra when sought for confirmation on Monday April 15. (ams/fdn)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Aliansi Mahasiswa Papua dan LBH Bali Protes Polisi Amankan Pendemo".]
Source: https://news.detik.com/berita/4511736/aliansi-mahasiswa-papua-dan-lbh-bali-protes-polisi-amankan-pendemo
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INDOLEFT News service
Detik News - April 15, 2019
Aditya Mardiastuti, Denpasar -- The Papua Student Alliance (AMP) is protested the arrest of student demonstrators at Renon Park in the Balinese provincial capital of Bali. The AMP said that it was a peaceful action rejecting the April 17 elections and they already had a police permit.
"The APM and the Bali YLBHI-LBH [Legal Aid Foundation] declare that there must be an end to the massive criminalisation of Papuan students. End all forms of violence, intimidation and discrimination against Papuan students in Bali", Bali YLBHI-LBH Deputy Director Ni Putu Candra Dewi told journalists in Denpasar on Monday April 15.
Candra also condemned the seizure of protest materials, violence and intimidated allegedly committed by police against the Papuan students. He also urged Bali Regional Police Chief (Kapolda) Inspector General Reinhard Golose to take legal action against officers alleged to have committed the violence.
"[We are] urging the Bali Kapolda to take legal action (disciplinary and criminal) against police for acting violently against seven of the protesters. [We] urge the government and law enforcement officials to protect freedom of expression, opinion, organisation and association which are a human right belonging to everyone without exception", asserted Candra.
Candra said that the peaceful action campaigning for golput -- to abstain from voting -- already had a police permit. The AMP had already sent a written notification of the action to the East Denpasar sectorial police (Polsek) on April 11.
Candra said that the peaceful action involving 29 people planned to hold a long-march from the East Renon parking area to the Renon traffic circle. According to the students they were blocked by police before they got to the Renon traffic circle.
"However before the protests reached the Renon traffic circle, the protesters were blocked by armed police officers and a Dalmas [crowd control] truck around 15 metres away. Before the AMP was able to convey its wishes, the police prohibited the peaceful action from being held", he said.
"Moreover seven AMP protesters were assaulted by police and dragged into the Dalmas truck which was already standing by on the grounds that 'today is a cooling off day', and as well as protest materials which were damaged such as posters, banners, a megaphone was also confiscated, an AMP flag was also seized", said Candra.
Candra said that advocates from YLBHI-LBH Bali accompanied the arrested protesters when they were being questioned by police.
The police meanwhile said that the action was broken up because it conflicted with the calls for a peaceful and calm election. The police also said that the banners used by the demonstrators were provocative and moreover, it is currently the cooling off period before the elections take place on April 17.
"The most provocative thing was rejecting the 2019 Pilpres [presidential election]. Yet we have been promoting an anti-golput movement throughout Indonesia, and so forth. So if they turn their back on this it's the same as not supporting government policy. Even though they are aware of this and support [government policy] because they living in Bali, Bali is part of the NKRI [Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia]. Because as I've said before saying Papua is not part of Indonesia isn't allowed, according to me personally it's not quite right", said Denpasar municipal police operations division chief police commander I Nyoman Gatra when sought for confirmation on Monday April 15. (ams/fdn)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Aliansi Mahasiswa Papua dan LBH Bali Protes Polisi Amankan Pendemo".]
Source: https://news.detik.com/berita/4511736/aliansi-mahasiswa-papua-dan-lbh-bali-protes-polisi-amankan-pendemo
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INDOLEFT News service
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