November 28, 2019 7:00AM EST
2) Indonesia: Free Peaceful Papua Activists
Dubious Treason Charges for 22 Detainees for August Protests
(Jakarta) – Indonesian authorities should drop treason charges and release at least 22 activists detained since August 2019 for peaceful acts of free expression concerning Papua, Human Rights Watch said today. These abusive prosecutions show backtracking by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s administration in dealing with the human rights situation in West Papua and Papua provinces.
Ahead of Papuan nationalists’ “Independence Day” on December 1, foreign diplomats and United Nations officials should monitor demonstrations in Papua and West Papua provinces and the law enforcement response.
“Papua may be a sensitive topic in Indonesia, but that’s no excuse for rounding people up and sending them to prison for peaceful acts of expression,” said Elaine Pearson of Human Rights Watch. “The authorities should drop charges and immediately free people detained for just possessing flags or organizing a protest.”
Each year Papuans attempt to raise the Papuan national Bintang Kejora (“Morning Star”) flag. That frequently results in clashes with local security forces who consider this to be a treasonous activity against the Republic of Indonesia.
Human Rights Watch takes no position on Papuan claims to self-determination, but supports everyone’s right, including for independence supporters, to express their political views peacefully without fear of arrest or other forms of reprisal. The arrest and imprisonment of people for peacefully participating in symbolic flag-raising ceremonies amounts to arbitrary arrest and detention in violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Indonesia is a party.
Indonesian authorities arrested the 22 people in August and September following at times violent demonstrations in Papua and West Papua provinces during which thousands of people took part in rallies protesting racism against Papuans. The protests took place after a video circulated of Indonesian militias racially abusing indigenous Papuan students outside their dormitory in Surabaya on August 17.
Papuans demonstrated in at least 30 cities across Indonesia, including Jakarta. Rioting Papuans burned down the local parliament building in Manokwari, as well as prisons in Sorong, West Papua province, and Jayapura, Papua province.
Most of the 20 men and 2 women awaiting trial in 4 cities are charged with treason (makar) under articles 106 and 110 of Indonesia’s Criminal Code. The maximum penalty under article 106 is 20 years in prison, which can be doubled if also convicted of mobilizing others to commit treason, under article 110. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has previously criticized articles 106 and 110 for being “drafted in such general and vague terms that they can be used arbitrarily to restrict the freedoms of opinion, expression, assembly and association.”
The authorities have also accused Veronica Koman, an Indonesian human rights lawyer who has tweeted videos and photographs of the unrest, of “provoking” the demonstrations. Indonesian police asked the Australian consulate in Surabaya “to track her down” in Australia and indicated they would issue an Interpol red notice against her.
Those held at the four detention centers are listed below.
In Jakarta
Police arrested two Papuan students, Charles Kossay and Dano Tabuni, on August 30 in connection with a rally two days earlier outside the State Palace in Jakarta for protesting racism against ethnic Papuans and unfurling the Morning Star flag.
On August 31, police arrested Ambrosius Mulait and Issay Wenda, who were protesting the arrest of Kossay and Tabuni outside the Jakarta police headquarters. Later that evening, police arrested three female activists, releasing two but detaining Ariana Lokbere, a theology student at the Indonesian Christian University.
Police also separately arrested Surya Anta Ginting, the coordinator of the Front of the Indonesian People for West Papua. Ginting, who in 2016 had publicly apologized for Indonesian repression against indigenous Papuans, is the first non-Papuan Indonesian to be charged with treason for supporting a referendum in West Papua. All of them are now detained at the Salemba and the Pondok Bambu detention centers in Jakarta.
In Balikpapan, East Kalimantan
Police arrested eight Papuan activists in Jayapura including two student leaders Alexander Gobay and Ferry Gombo, as well as six activists associated with the West Papua National Committee (KNPB), a political organization that seeks a referendum on West Papua's future. They are Buchtar Tabuni, Steven Itlay, Assa Asso, Agus Kossay,Hengki Hilapok, and Irwanus Uropmobin.
Tabuni and Itlay are former political prisoners. Human Rights Watch profiled Tabuni in 2010, when he was jailed in the Abepura prison, also for “treason.” Kossay is the chairman of the West Papua National Committee.
The eight were arrested between September 9 and September 17, and were moved to Balikpapan on October 4. The police have sought their trial in Balikpapan rather than Papua’s provincial capital, Jayapura, for “security reasons.”
In Manokwari, West Papua
Police arrested four activists who are now detained in the Manokwari police station, including Sayang Mandabayan, a former Sorong city council member. She was arrested on September 2 for bringing 1,500 small Morning Star flags through Manokwari airport. Three student activists were also arrested on September 19: Erik Aliknoe, Pende Mirin, and Yunus Aliknoe. The three students are charged with treason for making Morning Star flags.
In Sorong, West Papua
Police detained four student activists – Herman Sabo Yosep Laurensius Syufi, Manase Baho, Eteus Paulus, and Miwak Karet – at the Sorong police station for making and distributing Morning Star flags.
These prosecutions appear to reflect a fundamental shift by President Jokowi’s government regarding free expression and Papua, Human Rights Watch said. Jokowi promised in May 2015 to release political prisoners throughout Indonesia. The Ministry of Law and Human Rights, in charge of prison management in Indonesia, gradually released many of the country’s political prisoners. The most high-profile West Papuan political prisoner, Filep Karma, was released in November 2015. The authorities also freed political prisoners from the Moluccas Islands and moved eight from a remote prison island to an ordinary prison in Ambon, the Moluccas Islands capital, to be closer to their families.
By August 2017, Human Rights Watch estimated that only between 1 and 5 Papuan political prisoners remained behind bars, compared to more than 110 in May 2015.
A coalition of human rights groups and lawyers in Papua has listed 73 people arrested in Papua, West Papua, and Jakarta, including the 22 detainees. Human Rights Watch has not corroborated the information regarding the legal status of the other 51 people.
“The Indonesian government made significant progress in recent years by releasing nearly all political prisoners, yet recent arrests are threatening those fragile gains,” Pearson said. “As the December 1 anniversary approaches, Indonesian authorities should stop arresting and detaining people simply for waving flags or peacefully urging independence.”
————————————————
3) Can Cultural Approach Be the Answer for Papua?
BY :DIANA MARISKA
NOVEMBER 26, 2019
Jakarta. Members of Indonesia's Regional Representative Council and researchers say the government should prioritize a "cultural approach" to end decades of conflicts in Indonesian Papua.
A special committee on Papua has been set up by the council (DPD) to formulate feasible solutions to bring stability to the resource-rich region.
The committee's chairman Filep Wamafma has now said one of the reasons for the continued conflicts in Papua is the lack of a cultural approach from the government.
He said government programs to accelerate development in Papua are not what the people of Papua really want.
"A cultural approach is necessary. Papua does not need Monas [the National Monument] or malls because we rely more on our natural resources," Filep said during a forum group discussion organized by the Suara Pembaruan daily in Jakarta on Tuesday.
Filep said ignoring the wishes of the indigenous people of Papua had caused the government to miss its development targets in the region.
"Physical and non-physical violence will ruin all good intentions in a very short time. They will create distrust. We should use cultural, social, religious and traditional approaches. The political approach is no longer effective," Filep said.
He said the government should understand that historically in Papua the church used to govern the people, and that prior to church rule local customs and traditions had dominated.
A similar view was expressed by Bambang Shergi Laksmono, a researcher from the University of Indonesia's Papua Center. He said it is the central government's responsibility to convince the Papuans that modernization is what they need.
"At the moment, the sentiment is more, 'We don't need development, we need better livelihood,'" Bambang said.
He said the government had failed to make Papua's abundant natural resources — an integral part of the Papuans' culture — the basis of development.
"It makes people question whether or not improving livelihood is included as part of development," Bambang said.
Bambang also criticized the school curriculum used in Papua. "The curriculum in our vocational high schools is focused on preparing students for the automotive and construction industries. It's not suited to natural resource-based development that we want in Papua. The current curriculum is more suitable for students in large cities in Java," Bambang said.
Even the agricultural curriculum teaches students in Papua how to plant fruits for export, like watermelon, using imported seeds.
"The government wants us to grow export commodities, not commodities for the local market. Why don't we teach them to plant sago, an endemic plant in Papua?" Bambang said.
"If part of the special autonomy [Otsus] budget was set aside for education, then let's use it to help Papuans be the owners of their own land," he said.
In the past decade, Papua has seen many cases of human rights violations and racial conflicts. The latest was the widespread unrest in Jayapura and Wamena in September, triggered by reports of racial abuse against Papuan students in East Java.
Infrastructure development initiated by the government under President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has been roundly criticized for not meeting the need of Papuans, and the region, which comprises two provinces, Papua and West Papua, remains one of the poorest in the country.
—————————————
4) Three Indonesians Stand Trial over Remarks that Sparked Papua Unrest
Yovinus Guntur W.
Surabaya, Indonesia2019-11-27
Three people went on trial Wednesday in Indonesia’s second-largest city on charges of hate speech and misinformation for allegedly provoking recent anti-Jakarta protests that turned deadly in the restive Papua region.
Syamsul Arifin, Tri Susanti and Ardian Andiansah, all civilians, heard their indictments read by prosecutors in separate courtrooms at the Surabaya District Court in East Java province.
The prosecutor, Muhammad Nizar, accused Tri of making false accusations on television that Papuan university students had desecrated an Indonesian flag in front of their dormitory in Surabaya by throwing it into a ditch during an anti-Jakarta protest in the city.
Tri’s allegations angered members of nationalist organizations, prompting a protest outside the Papuan students’ dormitory and a police raid on the building, the indictment said.
“It was found that these events were caused by a hoax motivated by ethnic and racial prejudices perpetrated by the defendant Tri Susanti,” the indictment said.
The indictment also accused Tri of sending WhatsApp messages to a nationalist group urging members to protest at the dormitory and claiming that the Papuans were preparing to attack with machetes and arrows.
In a separate trial, prosecutors charged Ardian with spreading information intended to incite hatred or hostility by allegedly uploading a video to his YouTube channel with the title “Papuans’ dormitory picketed by locals for refusing to raise the Red and White (Indonesian) flag.”
Meanwhile, Syamsul was accused of spreading racial and ethnic hatred through public speeches, his indictment read.
A lawyer for Tri, Sahid, said the indictment was vague.
“We will respond to it. We will uncover the facts and leave the cause to the judges,” Sahid, who goes by one name, told BenarNews.
The trials were adjourned until next week, during which witnesses are scheduled to be heard.
The Surabaya protests broke out on Aug. 16 after a flag pole at the Papuan students’ dormitory toppled and the flag was found in the ditch.
The students said they did not know what happened to the flag, but the next day, more protesters gathered outside the dormitory. Some in the crowd threw rocks at the building and hurled racist epithets such as “monkeys” and “pigs.”
Later, heavily armed riot police stormed the building and arrested 43 Papuan students, who were released hours later.
News about allegations that security forces had treated the Papuan students harshly and hurled racist abuse at them ignited mass protests, some of which descended into violence, and growing calls for a referendum on self-determination in the mainly Melanesian region.
Weeks of unrest in the region left more than 40 people dead.
Police have charged six activists with treason for flying the banned Papuan separatist Morning Star flag during a rally demanding a referendum on self-determination in Jakarta late August.
Police are also seeking the arrest of Australian-based Indonesian human rights lawyer Veronica Koman, whom they accuse of spreading misinformation through her social-media posts about police treatment of the Papuan students in Surabaya.
The provinces of Papua and West Papua make up one-fifth of Indonesia’s land mass. Only 5.9 million of Indonesia’s 250 million people live there.
The region has been the scene of a low-level separatist conflict since it was incorporated into Indonesia in 1969, after a U.N.-administered ballot known as the Act of Free Choice. Many Papuans and rights groups said the vote was a sham because it involved only 1,000 people.
Indonesian forces have been accused of gross human rights violations in its anti-insurgency campaign.
----------
