AWPA update
Summary of events in West Papua (5 Nov.-16 Dec. 2019)
Summary of events in West Papua (5 Nov.-16 Dec. 2019)
A snapshot of events
West Papuan National Flag Day. 1st December
Fifty eight years after the West Papuan National flag was flown for the first time officially beside the Dutch Tricolor on the 1st December in 1961, supporters around the world raised the West Papuan flag in a show of support for the West Papuan people. However, in West Papua, the same act of raising the Morning Star flag lead to the arrest of over a 120 people (leading up to and on the 1st) with over 60 facing possible charges of treason. A report in Tabloid Jubi (9 December) on a number of incidents of arrests
In Sydney for the 10th year in a row, the Inner West Council raised the flag on its Leichhardt Town Hall on the 29 November leaving it flying for 3 days. AWPA thanks the council for its support.
Photos/release at https://awpasydneynews.blogspot.com/2019/11/media-release-west-papuan-flag-raising.html
Photos of various flag raising around the world in an ABC Indonesia article
Regular Vigil for West Papua
MARCH FOR INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY
Sydney. Held on Sun 8 Dec 2019
Sydney. Held on Sun 8 Dec 2019
JOIN ABORIGINAL PEOPLES' DEFENCE OF HUMAN RIGHTS
Human rights abuses against Aboriginal peoples are at a crisis point.
More children are being forcibly removed than at any time in Australia’s history. The torture of black youth in the Don Dale detention centre in Darwin is happening across the country and examples of extreme police brutality and killings of Aboriginal people in custody are being exposed every week. These abuses are rooted in a continuing invasion and denial of First Nations sovereignty…………..
Supports of West Papua also joined in rally
Photos Rally. Solidarity with West Papua – Free all political prisoners
DFAT office Sydney. 10 December
84 treason cases brought against activists in the last three months,
including six activists in Jakarta who are being held in prison for speaking out in
support of Papuan self-determination and unfurling the Papuan flag.
Photos at
Rockin for West Papua
A series of concerts in support of West Papua were also held
around the 1st December including in Sydney.
79 ACP States call for human rights situation in West Papua to be addressed
Vanuatu Daily Post Dec 14, 2019
The 79 Member States of the Africa Caribbean Pacific (ACP) group have passed a resolution at this week’s 9th ACP Summit of Heads of State and Government calling for urgent attention to be paid to the ongoing human rights crisis in West Papua. The ACP resolution supports and adds substantial additional diplomatic weight to the resolution passed by the Pacific Islands Forum in August this year which called on all parties to protect and uphold human rights and work to address the root causes of the conflict by peaceful means, and which strongly encouraged Indonesia and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to provide an evidence-based, informed report on the human rights situation before the next Pacific Islands Forum Leaders meeting in 2020.
The resolution which was endorsed unanimously by all ACP Heads of State Summit held on 9th and 10th December 2019 in Nairobi, Kenya, calls on all concerned parties to:
a) Conduct a mission to West Papua and provide an evidence-based, informed report on the human rights situation before the next meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders in July 2020;
b) Allow international media access to West Papua to provide independent coverage on the human rights situation ahead of the next meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders in July 2020;
c) Work together to address the root causes of the conflict in West Papua by peaceful means, and protect and uphold the human rights of all residents in West Papua; and
d) Seek to include the human rights situation in West Papua as a standing item on the agenda of the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Vanuatu was represented at the Summit by Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ralph Regenvanu, Ambassador of Vanuatu to the ACP, John. H Licht, and Chairman of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), Mr. Benny Wenda.
Vanuatu initially sought the support of the ACP group on the issue of the Vanuatu Ambassador in Brussels introduced a draft resolution on West Papua for the first time at the level of the Committee of Ambassadors in July 2018.
This resolution was then tabled at the 108th Session of the ACP Council of Ministers in Brussels on the 13th and 14th of December 2018, which was attended by Minister Regenvanu. Regenvanu recalls, “We almost had the resolution endorsed at the Council meeting, where we witnessed first-hand that while almost all the ACP Member States supported the resolution, it was one of our own Pacific Member States that had issues with and could not support the resolution, resulting in it not being approved at that time”. The Council meeting then mandated the Committee of Ambassadors to reconsider the resolution and try and get a consensus on an agreed text, particularly from the Pacific region.
Following on from the December Council meeting, Vanuatu began a two-pronged diplomatic effort, both to build awareness within the non-Pacific ACP states in Brussels, and to build a consensus among the Pacific states both in Brussels and in the Pacific. At the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Foreign Ministers meeting in Suva at the end of July 2019, Minister Regenvanu managed to get a resolution on West Papua agreed to by the Foreign Ministers and inserted into the final outcomes statement of that meeting. That statement was then taken up to the PIF Leaders Summit in Tuvalu in August and adopted as part of the final communique of the Leaders meeting on the 16th August.
The Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat summarised this when she wrote to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Her Excellency Michelle Bachelet, on 5th September 2019, stating, “Leaders also welcomed the invitation by Indonesia for a mission to West Papua by your office and strongly encouraged both sides to finalise the timing of the visit and for an evidence- based, informed report on the situation be provided before their next meeting in Vanuatu next year. Given the Pacific Islands Forum’s human rights focus on West Papua, I formally request that your office consider including in your mission a minister from the Pacific Islands Forum, a Pacific civil society representative supported by one of my staff. I believe having a Pacific contingent would add value to your mission”.
By October, based on the clear direction provided by the Pacific Leaders in Tuvalu, the resolution on West Papua was able to be supported by all Pacific ACP (PACP) Member States, achieved through the consistent efforts of Vanuatu’s Ambassador John Licht as the PACP Coordinator in Brussels. With unified Pacific support, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea as the Pacific representatives on the Subcommittee on Political, Human Rights and Cultural Affairs chaired by the Ambassador of Zimbabwe, were success in achieving the endorsement of the ACP Committee of Ambassadors for the resolution in November, one month ahead of the Council meeting in Nairobi in December. At the Joint Meeting of the ACP Council of Ministers and the ACP Ministers of Foreign Affairs on the 8th December, which was chaired by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Papua New Guinea, the resolution was approved for submission to and final approval by the ACP Heads of Government at their Summit on the 9th and 10th December. The historic resolution, the first time the issue of human rights in West Papua has received support by so many member states of the United Nations, was finally adopted by ACP Heads of State and Government on 9th December at the Kenyatta Convention Center in Nairobi, Kenya.
Recent report by Papuans Behind Bars
New political prisoners, treason charges and lack of judicial transparency in political prisoner cases
Download in pdf format: PBB Jan 2018 – Oct 2019 EN.pdf Published: 20 November 2019
In Brief
Numerous political arrests have taken place in 2018 and 2019 as the Indonesian authorities attempt to suppress political protests in West Papua and Indonesia. In particular, treason charges have been used to an unprecedented extent to arrest political activists during August and September this year, in response to an apparent increase in support across Indonesia for the West Papuan self-determination struggle. Foreign as well as local human rights advocates are being subjected to similar scrutiny. Papuans Behind Bars (PBB) documents and identifies Papuan political prisoners/ detainees in order to bring to light their cases, and also monitors for fair and free trials. The people involved in gathering the data are lawyers from non-profit, independent legal aid institutions in West Papua who also provide legal assistance to political prisoners, human rights advocates and activists. They collaborate so as to get accurate data on the prisoners/detainees. PBB also analyses the consistency between the data it collects and any reports in the media. Most of these cases, however, are not reported in the media………………… https://www.papuansbehindbars.org/?p=3809
Cyber attack
Greennet (previously) is the oldest ISP in the UK, tracing its origins back to Fidonet, where it was a hub for radical progressive political movements, which has attracted retaliations (in the form of DDoS attacks by repressive states) and surveillance (Greennet was one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against GCHQ over surveillance activities that ended with the spy agency "admitting clandestine hacking activities"). Last month, Greennet was taken offline by a massive denial of service attack that it believes was aimed at suppressing this report from Papuans Behind Bars, which documents Indonesian political repression in West Papua, aimed at suppressing an independence movement. Greennet is calling on the wider internet to spread the word of this report so that the cowardly attempt to silence political reporting through denial of service is not successful. https://boingboing.net/2019/12/05/cowards.html
ACP Summit : West Papua Independence Leader Calls On Africa To End Colonialism In West Papua
Global Pan Africanism Network leader met West Papuan Independence Leader, Mr. Benny Wenda, on 8th December in Nairobi, Kenya. It was a defining moment for Africa -West Papua relations as West Papuan leader attended the 9th African Caribbean and Pacific Group of States summit. In a meeting with Daniel Mwambonu, the President of United States of Africa project and also the founder of Global Pan Africanism Network, Mr Benny Wenda was the first government official to be interviewed on United States of Africa page regarding the Indonesian propagated genocide against people of African descent in West Papua.
Accompanying him was Vanuatu Ambassador Honorable Mr Adewale, a Vanuatu national of Nigerian descent who upon hearing the meeting was about West Papua , he came to show brotherly support to West Papua.
It was the first-ever state visit for the Independence leader for West Papua in Nairobi and he nostalgically recounted the immense support he received from the government of Senegal. Kenya was the second African nation to show such kind of solidarity with West Papua but this time support came from an international Pan Africanism organization and United States of Africa project.
Drama At Governors Office Vanuatu foreign minister Ralph Regenvanu could not make it to the meeting as Daniel Mwambonu's efforts to get the accreditation badge failed as he ended up being frustrated by receptionists at Nairobi governor's office. Mr. Mwambonu had an appointment with the Pacific Leaders at 1 Pm in the KICC but all the efforts to have accreditation badge fell on deaf ears. In spite of informing them that he had an important appointment with key Pacific Leaders attending the summit, one of them told him it was not possible to get accreditation to make it into Kenyatta International Conference Center (KICC).
The security officers that sent the founder of Global Pan Africanism Network to the City Hall to get the accreditation badge were baffled why he was denied accreditation badge yet many people who flocked there got accredited within a few minutes. This incident brought to limelight Kenya's cold feet approach towards Pan Africanism. The Global Pan Africanism Network not being invited for the summit in spite of playing a huge role in the reunification of all people of African descent in Africa, Caribbean and Pacific group of states speaks volumes how Kenya views Pan Africanism.
West Papua Independence leader First Ever Visit to Kenya:
In spite of the hurdles encountered the meeting was held at Nairobi's governor office the same place where Mr Daniel Mwambonu was denied accreditation badge.
His Excellency Mr Benny Wenda narrated how at tender age he was arrested and sentenced for 25 years for raising the morning star flag in West Papua and leading the Struggle against Indonesian colonialism in West Papua.
He managed to escape after he got political asylum in the United Kingdom where he has lived since then.
Racism in West Papua:
Mr Benny Wenda decried about systematic racism and colonialism against Indigenous people in West Papua. "I hand over this issue of West Papua to Africans please help us liberate West Papua. West Papua is an African issue because we are first Africans who left the continent ,thus Indonesians are calling us monkeys from Africa."
Mr Benny Wenda decried about systematic racism and colonialism against Indigenous people in West Papua. "I hand over this issue of West Papua to Africans please help us liberate West Papua. West Papua is an African issue because we are first Africans who left the continent ,thus Indonesians are calling us monkeys from Africa."
Genocide In West Papua Mr Benny Wenda said Indonesia has killed over 500,000 Papuans since 1963 and many more continue to perish in West Papua.
The situation is getting worse every day and Indonesia does not respect human rights of the Indigenous people in West Papua. He called upon Pan Africanists and African nations to support decolonisation of West Papua.
Divide and rule Papua
Editorial Board The Jakarta Post
Jakarta November 12, 2019
The government looks set to realize its plan to form two new provinces in Papua, or at least one of them, after hearing what it claims as “grassroots aspirations”. Without a comprehensive study and thorough review of the creation of new Papua administrative regions in the past, however, the initiative is no more than a perpetuation of Jakarta’s tactic to divide and rule the natural resource-rich territory and its people. Home Minister Tito Karnavian, whose illustrious career in the police force included a stint in Papua as the provincial police chief, said President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo was weighing the formation of new provinces in South Papua and the Central Highlands, separate from the existing Papua province, following his latest visit to the country’s easternmost territory at the end of October. In September, Jokowi received representatives of the Papuan people, who asked the government to create more provinces to speed up the delivery of public services. Tito has also been seeking House of Representatives approval of the plan, given an agreement between the executive and legislative powers in 2014 to indefinitely suspend the creation of new regional administrations due to budgetary concerns. Over the past five years, the government has received proposals for the formation of 318 new regions.
The government is aware of the moratorium, but Papua is an exception. Tito said not only had Papuans demanded new provinces be formed but intelligence reports had also pinpointed why such a demand should be accommodated.
A few would argue, however, that the push for new provinces in Papua is an effort to clamp down on growing resentment in Papua toward the central government, which to some extent has crystallized into demands for a referendum to choose to either stay with or separate from Indonesia. Such demands highlighted the recent, violent protests in Papua and West Papua, which stemmed from racial slurs targeting indigenous Papuans.
As some researchers have warned, new provinces would not end conflict in Papua. Instead, they might aggravate the infighting as the new regions would fuel further societal segregation. One of the Papuan figures who met Jokowi gave weight to such fears, saying the formation of South Papua province was necessary to end the domination of certain tribes in the bureaucracy.
Statistics show no correlation between the creation of new administrative regions in Papua and an improvement in people’s well-being. A new province and dozens of regencies were established after special autonomy came into effect in Papua in 2001, but Papua’s Human Development Index has remained the lowest in the country.
As former vice president Jusuf Kalla has learned, local elites are to blame for stalling efforts to bring prosperity for all in Papua. Many of the elites were behind the creation of new regions and are likely shouting the same demand just for their own survival. Jakarta can keep its control over administratively divided Papua, but it cannot stop the struggle for justice there.
Solve human rights abuse before discussing new provinces, Papua local council tells Jakarta
Benny Mawel The Jakarta Post Jayapura / Mon, November 18
The Papuan People’s Assembly (MRP) has reiterated its reluctance to Jakarta’s plan to establish new provinces in Papua, saying the administration of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo should first address human rights violations in the country’s easternmost region. MRP chairman Timotius Murib said the formation of new provinces would only “worsen the situation” in the region, as it might add more violence committed by the authorities in the name of security, worsen economic inequality and depopulate lands of natives Papuans. “We should sit together first. We should solve cases of human rights abuse before talking about forming new provinces,” Timotius told The Jakarta Postrecently.
Home Minister Tito Karnavian previously said the government would consider proposals from Papuan local figures regarding the establishment of two new provinces, namely South Papua and the Central Highlands, to be carved out of the province of Papua. The assembly, a state-sanctioned representative council consisting of Papuans, has previously rejected the plan. Timotius went on to tell the Post that the government should prioritize solving past and recent cases of human rights abuse, including a racial abuse incident in East Java in August, in which Papuan students in Surabaya were called “monkeys” and other things by security staff and members of mass organizations. The incident provoked local people across the provinces of Papua and West Papua to launch a series of protests condemning the racial abuse. Some of the protests eventually led to riots that damaged several facilities in cities and regencies across the restive provinces. “This human rights issue can’t be solved by forming new provinces. It requires eye-to-eye talks between children of the nation,” Timotius added.
MRP member Nicolaus Degey said Jokowi had yet to fulfill his promises to Papuans to solve past human rights violation cases in the province, including the Paniai shooting in 2014. In the incident, five civilians, including four students, died, allegedly after being shot by security personnel in Paniai. “He [Jokowi] should fulfill such a promise, as it is already his second presidential term,” Nicolaus said. (kuk)
Veronica Koman Spills Reasons for Not Returning Yet to Indonesia
Translator: Dewi Elvia Muthiariny Editor: Petir Garda Bhwana
28 November 2019
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The lawyer and human rights activist Veronica Koman opened up about her reasons for not returning yet to Indonesia. The woman said she is deliberately staying in Australia as she is studying there. “First December is nearing, I think I will be more useful here,” Veronica told Tempo, Wednesday, November 27. “I mean, I will be free to provide information about conditions in Papua [from here, Australia].” As of date, the government deems December 1 as the anniversary of the Free Papua Movement (OPM). Veronica suspected that the government will restrict the access to information in the country’s easternmost province on that day. “So I will stay here to report the condition so that the public will obtain complete information,” she added. The woman was named a suspect of provoking the masses and spreading lies through social media regarding the riots at the Papuan students' dormitory in Surabaya, East Java. She was charged under the Electronic Information and Transactions or ITE Law. Speaking to Tempo, Veronica Koman who is a vocal advocate about issues on Papua claimed she was not surprised by the suspect naming. “I have predicted that I will be charged with vague articles of ITE Law,” she said.
SYAILENDRA PERSADA
Papua treason suspects’ pretrial appeal rejected, lawyers allege judge bias
Adi Briantika – The sole judge at the South Jakarta District Court, Agus Widodo, has rejected a pretrial suit by six Papuan political prisoners who have been charged with alleged treason. The judge said that the appeal was flawed in terms of the object of the appeal because it confused the legitimacy of the actions of police investigators in conducting raids, seizures and declaring the six as suspects. Meanwhile it was flawed in material terms because the subject of the appeal included the institution of the president in the structure of law enforcement agencies. “So the pretrial [suit] submitted by the plaintiff must be declared unable to be accepted”, said Judge Widodo.
Papua Advocacy Team lawyer Muhammad Busyrol Fuad stated that the judge did not look at the legal facts during the trial saying that the procedures followed during the arrest and indictment of the suspects were invalid. “We don’t think that the pretrial judge today looked at the legal facts which were presented in the trial. The judge did not consider all the facts. Such as, for example, the arrests the procedures followed were invalid”, said Fuad. He said that he regrets that the judge only looked at the formal aspects of the case.
Alleged bias
Fuad also believes that the judge was bias during the hearings. Because during the first hearing, the team of lawyers from defendant, the Metro Jaya regional police, failed to attend and the judge postponed the hearing by one week. Also when objections were raised during the hearing, the judge only responded to objections by the defendant. “Several times we made objections but the judge always overruled them, but when the defendant made an objection the judge always allowed it”, explained Fuad.
Papua Advocacy Team member Oky Wiratama Siagian took up the issue of casu quo (cq, a party’s capacity or position) in the appeal.
The order of the casu quo in the case was the president of the Republic of Indonesia, the national police chief, the Metro Jaya regional Police and the Metro Jaya General Crimes Detectives Directorate Sub-Directorate for State Security.
The judge was of the view that President Joko Widodo should not have been held liable in the context of the case. “The [issue of] cq should not have been a problem. Why? Because in pretrial [appeals submitted by] the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation they often use cq. There is jurisprudence here and we have often used this. If it’s about cq then the argument were trumped up”, said Wiratama.
Under Article 2 and Article 8 of Law Number 2/2002 on the National Police Force, the national police are responsible to the president. “We also included this in the concluding [remarks]”, said Wiratama. Wiratama said that the judge did not play an active role in the hearings and that pretrial appeals must be subject to the Criminal Procedural Code (KUHAP). “The fact is that during the trial, did the judge ever question any of the witnesses that we presented? No. Was the judge active? No. From this were think that the judge was bias in handling this case, right from the start he wasn’t impartial”, said Wiratama.
According to Wiratama, if there are indications that a judge is bias then they must withdraw from a trail.
Meanwhile the lawyer representing the Metro Jaya regional police, Assistant Superintendant Nova Irone denied that the judge was bias.
“What was bias? Clearly in the judge’s considerations, [he explained that] including the president as the subject of the pretrial appeal was an institutional error because the subject of the pretrial appeal was the police investigators and public prosecutor”, said Irone when contacted by Tirto.id on Tuesday.
The pretrial suit was hearing a challenge against the arrest of six Papua activists following a demonstration in front of the State Palace on August 28 in which the Morning Star independence flag was flow. They were arrested on August 30 and 31. The six suspects are Paulus Suryanta Ginting alias Surya Anta (39), Anes Tabuni alias Dano Anes Tabuni (31), Charles Kossay (26), Ambrosius Mulait (25), Isay Wenda (25) and Arina Elopere alias Wenebita Gwijangge (20). The first five are currently being held at the Salemba prison in East Jakarta while Elopere is being held at the Pondok Bambu prison, also in East Jakarta.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was “Permohonan Praperadilan Surya Anta Cs Dinilai Cacat Hukum”.]
'We demand proof, not promises': Papuans urge Jokowi to bring justice to Paniai tragedy
Benny Mawel The Jakarta Post Jayapura / Mon, December 9, 2019
University students and human rights activists staged a rally on Sunday in Sorong, West Papua, demanding that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo fulfill his vow to settle a human rights violation case in Paniai, Papua. Five people, including four high school students, were allegedly shot and killed by Indonesian Military (TNI) soldiers on Dec. 8, 2014, during a protest in Paniai.
Five years later, demonstrators gathered at the Sorong urban park and put up leaflets that read, “We demand proof, not promises”. They called for the prosecution of those responsible for the shooting. “Papua does not need [more] security [personnel]. Papua only needs justice,” protesters chanted during the rally, demanding that the government show respect to Papuans “as human beings”. Jokowi promised to uphold justice and resolve the case in a speech delivered at a Christmas celebration in Papua’s provincial capital of Jayapura on Dec. 27, 2014, said Ambrosius Klangit, the field coordinator of Sunday’s protest,. Papuans and the victims’ families have since waited for Jokowi to fulfill his promise, he added. Klangit expressed concerns that instead of upholding his commitment to resolving the case, Jokowi’s administration seemed to be responsible for more human rights violations over the past five years. “If [the government] has exploited natural sources [in Papua], they should respect Papuans’ rights to ownership and life,” Klangit said.
The Paniai shooting is among the cases of human rights violations in Papua — including the 2001 Wasior and 2003 Wamena case — that Jokowi has vowed to settle since his first term in office. Activists and the victims’ families, however, have repeatedly criticized the government for making what they see as sluggish efforts to take action. Papuan human rights lawyer Yohanes Mambrasar argued that the government actually had the tools to resolve the Paniai case, citing a 2000 law that stipulates that rights abuse cases committed after the year 2000 should be resolved through the human rights court. “Therefore, there is no reason not to settle [the case],” he told reporters on Sunday. Yohanes said settling the Paniai case could be a barometer of Jokowi’s willingness to resolve other human rights violations in Papua. “When one talks about the development of Papua, one also talks about the settlement of rights abuse cases,” he said, “If [Jokowi] cannot solve the cases, Papuans can also measure Jokowi’s capability to develop Papua.” Although five years have passed since the incident, Papuans are still pinning their hope on new Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Mahfud MD — a well-known legal expert — to help them. “A lot of people are depending on [Mahfud],” Yohanes said. (sau)
Papuans desire happiness and peaceful than materials, says Filep Karma
Jubi15 December 2019 By pr9c6tr3_juben
Jayapura, Jubi – Papuan freedom advocate Filep Karma said what indigenous Papuans need from the Government of Indonesia are not about clothes, food or houses, but more related to emotional well-being.
It is more about security, safety and peace, Karma told Jubi, to comment about the implementation of Special Autonomy in Papua. He mentioned it while a break during the seminar on the investigation of the conflict in Nduga held by the Papua People’s Assembly (MRP) in a hotel in Jayapura City, Monday (9/12/2019).
According to this former political prisoner, when People’s Vote (Pepera) held in 1969, the Indonesian Government promised prosperity to indigenous Papuans if they wanted to join with Indonesia. However, until now, the Indonesian Government is considered being failed to embody its promise. Both Special Autonomy Law and Fund which annually delivered to Papua since 2001 are also not able to prosper the indigenous.
“I think Papuans have not measured the well-being of food, clothes or any materials. Instead, they want to happy and live peacefully, that the state can guarantee that they would not be kidnapped or arrested or executed. That’s the well-being that we want,” said Karma
Moreover, he also supports the plan of MRP and MRPB (People’s Assembly of West Papua Province) to evaluate the Special Autonomy through a public hearing with indigenous Papuans in 2020.
” Autonomy is a political confectionary. It sorts of a statement from the central government for Papuans to not ask for independence. Instead, we gave you this Special Autonomy. That’s it,” he said. But, he further said, if the evaluation found that the Special Autonomy failed to prosper the indigenous Papuans, the last alternative for Papuans is independence,” he said. “Because this (the Special Autonomy) was the highest offer from Indonesia to Papuans, therefore the Indonesian Government can no longer deny their failure by offering other development plans. Special Autonomy is the last and final offer from the Government of Indonesia,” he said.
In the meantime, Timotius Murib, the Chairman of Papua People’s Assembly, in responding to the questions of participants said those who have rights to evaluate the Special Autonomy are indigenous Papuans because they are beneficiaries of the Special Autonomy Fund. Therefore, Indigenous Papuans must determine whether the Special Autonomy should continue or not.
“In 2020, MRP and MRPB will collaborate to organise public meeting (on the Special Autonomy). People will determine what they want. No matter what, bitter or sweet, MRP will recommend people’s desire to the state and the world,” said Murib. According to him, in this sense, MRP has had an MoU with the United Nations. The United Nations will come to observe the implementation of the evaluation. (*) Reporter: Arjuna Pademme Editor: Pipit Maizier
Police arrest seven suspected militants in Indonesia's Papua
By NINIEK KARMINI | Associated Press | Published: December 14, 2019
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesian police said Saturday that they have arrested seven suspected Islamic militants in the country's easternmost Papua province as authorities beef up security ahead of Christmas and New Year's celebrations.
Papua police's deputy chief, Yakobus Marjuki, said the elite counterterrorism squad arrested a man, identified only as Karwanto, in a raid at a house in Sentani town in Dec. 5 after receiving a tip from intelligence that some members of the militant group have fled to Papua from other Indonesian islands since last year.
His arrest led police to six other suspects who were captured in the past week in Jayapura, the capital of Papua province. Police seized knives, laptops, explosive materials and a bomb from three houses rented by the suspects.
Marjuki declined to say what the suspects had planned in predominantly Christian Papua province. He said those arrested are suspected members of a local affiliate of the Islamic State group known as Jama'ah Anshorut Daulah, or JAD, from Lampung and Medan on Sumatra island.
JAD has been implicated in numerous attacks in Indonesia over the past two years and was designated a terror organization by the U.S. in 2017.
The arrests come as authorities announced Friday the launch of an annual security operation to secure the year-end festivities. For the operation, which will run through Jan. 1, Indonesia's police and military will deploy a total of 190,000 officers across the country. They will be tasked with securing churches, shopping malls, tourist destinations, airports and other places where crowds are expected to gather in large numbers.
Arrests of suspected Islamic militants are rare in Papua, a former Dutch colony in the western part of New Guinea that is ethnically and culturally distinct from much of Indonesia. It was incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 after a U.N.-sponsored ballot that was seen as a sham by many.
Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, has carried out a sustained crackdown on Islamic militants since bombings on the tourist island of Bali in 2002 killed 202 people, mostly foreigners.
The Jemaah Islamiyah military network, which was blamed for the Bali attacks, was neutralized following the arrests of hundreds of its militants and leaders. But new threats have emerged in recent times from Islamic State group-inspired radicals who have targeted security forces and local "infidels" instead of Westerners.
Opinion pieces/reports/media releases etc.
A REPORT BY THE ECUMENICAL FORUM OF PAPUAN CHURCHES "Vandalism and Violence Against Civilians Following Anti Racisim Demonstrations in Papua".
At AWPA Adelaide webpage
The Papua question for Jokowi’s second term
A revolution betrayed: The tragedy of Indonesia's Jokowi
Deafening silence as West Papua crisis deepens
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