2) (West Papua Action Auckland) Letter re COVID 19 and political prisoners in Indonesia and West Papua
3) Clashes of the Police and Military in Mamberamo Raya caused three policemen killed
4) Rights group calls for independent investigation into TNI shootings in Papua
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1) A shooting victim killed in Mimika was a student of UMN Tangerang Selatan
The bodies of Eden Armando Bebari (19) and Ronny Wandik (21), two shooting victims in Mimika on Tuesday (14/4/2020) settled in Timika Public Hospital. – Courtesy. Patrice Wetipo
Published 1 day ago on 18 April 2020 By Admin1
Jayapura, Jubi – Eden Armando Bebari (19 years old), a victim of shootings allegedly committed by the military in Mimika Regency was a third-semester student of Computer Engineering at Universitas Multimedia Nusantara in Tangerang Selatan, Banten. His family firmly confirm that he was civilian and not a member of the armed insurgent group in Papua.
Eden Armando Bebari is one of two civilians who mistakenly became a shooting target by the military task force at Mile 34, PT Freeport Indonesia complex on Monday (13/4/2020). Another death victim is Ronny Wandik (21 years old).
His father Demi Bebary when contacted by Jubi on Tuesday afternoon (14/4/2020) was unable to hold back his tears throughout the phone conversation. He regretted circulating news about the shooting chronology claiming Eden and Ronny were members of the armed insurgent group in Mimika, Papua.
“It said that such evidence including cigarettes, ammunition, group-identity bracelets, identity bracelets, shotgun and long-barrelled gun found on the scene. It was not true because this boy was only 19 years old. He was a college student who knows nothing about this kind of stuff” told Bebari to Jubi.
When contacted by Jubi on Tuesday at 3.20 p.m. Papua time, Bebari and his wife had just arrived in Timika and was on their way to Timika Public Hospital. They departed from Sentani, Jayapura Regency on the same day using a plane owned by the Air Force.
Demi Berbari told Jubi that he and his wife stayed in Jayapura and could not return home in Kwamki Lama, Timika, due to the travel ban in Papua following the COVID-19 outbreak. As a result, the couple had to separate with their four children. Eden was a third child of their four children. He had two older sisters and a young sister.
Bebari described his son Eden was a cheerful child. He liked to go fishing every time he came home from Tangerang during the school break. Eden, said Demi, was with his friend Ronny to go fishing on Monday when the incident happened.
“He always goes fishing to bring food home for his siblings,” Bebari said in a halting voice.
“But…what was happening….The military must be responsible for this incident. They [Eden and Ronny] were not [members of] the armed insurgent group. They were just kids. They were students, college boys. He [Eden] is my only son, the one and only….., but they took him away from me. It happened because of the task force built their military post here. They should know [the habit of] the locals here,” he said, crying.
Therefore, Bebari said he and his family would set a meeting with the military commander in Mimika, asking him to be responsible for his members’ act toward his only son. Eben will turn 20 years on 29 August 2020.
“I ask the perpetrators to be arrested and taken to a civil court. I don’t want them [the perpetrators put on a trial] in a military court. I also ask the National Human Rights Commission to do an investigation,” Bebari pleaded.
Military Commander will appoint an investigation team to investigate the shooting incident.
The Military Commander of XVII Cenderawasih Herman Asaribab along with Papua Police Chief Inspector General Paulus Waterpauw and Papua Military Intelligence Agency Chief Brigadier General Abdul Haris Napoleon arrived in the hospital mortuary at the Mimika Public Hospital on Tuesday afternoon. They came to meet the families of the shooting victims in Timika, while the families were ready to submit their charges.
After listening to their aspirations, the Military Commander Asaribab explained that they came to commit necessary actions in addressing the shooting incident which killed two young men and to expresses their condolences towards the families.
“I am here with the Papua Police Chief and other officers to help the people who are currently in grieve. We also want to express our condolences,” he said.
Furthermore, he declared to deploy an investigation team to investigate this incident. “There would be an investigation team appointed to investigate the incident thoroughly, and of course, it would be a legal process in progress,” he said.
Meanwhile, Papua Police Chief Paulus Waterpauw admitted that the security condition in Mimika is not conducive lately. There were violent acts towards the military and police as well as employees and some facilities of PT Freeport. Therefore, the military and police need to deploy the security forces to protect people and secure the security, including around the complex of PT. FI.
“The security forces are, of course, to secure the condition and protect people, including those who live within the complex of PT. FI, as well as their management and the local government. However, given to the complex situation, sometimes it is difficult for us to distinguish the insurgent group members with ordinary residents,” said Waterpauw.
After having a dialogue with the two high-rank military and police officers, the victims’ families finally agree to bring home the victims’ bodies to Kwamki Lama and set their funeral on Wednesday (15/4/2020). (*)
Reporter: Yuliana Lantipo
Editor: Pipit Maizier
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2) (West Papua Action Auckland) Letter re COVID 19 and political prisoners in Indonesia and West Papua
West Papua Action Auckland
Box 68419
Auckland
19 April 2020
Rt Hon Jacinda Adern
Prime Minister
Rt Hon Winston Peters
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Parliament Buildings
Wellington
Dear Jacinda Ardern and Winston Peters,
There are 63 political prisoners detained in Indonesia on treason charges who have just made an urgent appeal for their release to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and UN Special Rapporteurs. This group of 63 pose no threat to society as all have been involved in peaceful protest actions. Yet they are in grave danger of contracting COVID 19 in Indonesia’s crowded and unsanitary prisons. Indonesia’s prisons are currently operating at twice their capacity.
We urge you to use your good offices with the Indonesian Government to support this appeal. We note that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights made an urgent call in March for Governments to ‘release every person detained without sufficient legal basis’ such as political prisoners and others detained simply for expressing critical or dissenting views.
The lawyers acting on behalf of the group have made detailed representations to back the claim that all of them are being arbitrarily detained in violations of international human rights standards. The group includes 56 indigenous Papuans, five Moluccans, one Indonesian and one Polish citizen. The great majority of the political prisoners (56) were arrested in the crackdown by Indonesian authorities during the mass protest movement in support of West Papua in 2019 (‘the West Papua Uprising’). The activities for which they have been detained range from displaying the West Papuan or Moluccan national flags, to participation in peaceful demonstrations or being members of political organisations which support self-determination: all internationally protected activities. All 63 political prisoners have been charged with treason (makar) under Article 106 and/or Article 110 of Indonesia’s Criminal Code, which can carry a sentence of up to 20 years.
In New Zealand it is common to see a representation of the West Papuan Morning Star flag on a t-shirt, a badge or on social media. A young Papuan woman, Sayang Mandabayan (34), has been charged with treason and remains in jail because she was found in possession of 1,496 small paper Morning Star flags. She has been separated from her three pre-school children and is only occasionally able to breast feed her youngest child. A picture of her breast feeding her child in prison went viral in Indonesia and beyond, with calls for her release.
The 63 prisoners also include Paulus “Suryanta” Ginting, spokesperson for the Indonesian People’s Front for West Papua (Front Rakyat Indonesia untuk West Papua), the first non-Papuan Indonesian to be charged with treason in relation to the West Papuan self-determination movement. Two of the Moluccan prisoners are an elderly couple who were found to have displayed the Moluccan flag inside their home. (https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/414508/political-prisoners-in-indonesia-appeal-to-un)
The New Zealand Government’s response to COVID 19 and to the protection of its citizens has been exemplary. Now that the crisis is under better control here, we should spare some compassion for people in other places. Please do all you can to amplify this just appeal for the liberation of blameless political prisoners. It could make the difference between life and death.
Yours sincerely,
Maire Leadbeater
Catherine Delahunty
(for West Papua Action Auckland)
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3) Clashes of the Police and Military in Mamberamo Raya caused three policemen killed
Published 1 day ago on 18 April 2020 By Admin1
Jayapura, Jubi – Three police officers reportedly be killed in disputes with military personnel in Kasonaweja, Mamberamo Raya regency on Sunday morning (12/4/2020). Papua Police Chief Paulus Waterpauw stated that misunderstanding had triggered clashes.
“The incident sparked off the misunderstanding but already solved on Saturday evening, at around 11 p.m. (Papua time),” said Waterpauw.
It began, Waterpauw said, when two police officers and their other four colleagues left their base to Kasonawaja. Therefore, Waterpauw has made sure that the rest of the police members and their families must obey the order not to leave the post. He has also scheduled his visit to Mamberamo Raya with Cenderawasih Military Commander.
The circulating report said that the friction between the 755/20-3 Kostrad (Army) Infantry Battalion Task Force and the police in Mamberamo Raya started when a motorbike taxi driver had a hard argument with a police officer who did not pay the taxi rent as agreed. While the disagreement between them occurred, other motorbike taxi drivers reported to the military post. As a result, some military personnel came to the scene and beat up the police officer.
When Mamberamo Raya Police Chief Alexander Louw visited the battered police officer on Saturday (11/4/2020) at home, he also met other police members there. Therefore, he reminded them of not taking unnecessary actions because he already contacted the Military Post Commander of Yonif 755 to solve the disputes.
However, without acknowledgement of the regional police chief and other officers, some police members of Mamberamo Raya came to the military post in Kasonaweja on Sunday morning (14/3/2020) to resolve disputes between them that occurred two days ago. But, clashes between them were inevitable which later killed three police officers and injured two others.
The death victims are First Police Brigadier Marcelino Rumaikewi, First Police Brigadier Alexander Ndun and Second Police Brigadier Yosias Dibangga who are native Papuans. Some got shots on the neck, while others on tight,” said Police Commissionaire Anton Ampang, the Information Subdivision Chief of Papua Police.
Meanwhile, the injured victims are currently under intensive medical treatment. They are Second Police Brigadier Alva Titely with injury on the left tight, and Brigadier Robert Marien who suffered three gunshot wounds on his back.
Furthermore, The Information Subdivision of Papua Police Commissionaire Anton Ampang in the written statement to the press said the Papua Police and Cenderawasih Military Command had appointed a joint investigation team to investigate the incident involving their members in Mamberamo Raya.
“Cenderawasih Military Commander and Papua Police Chief have deployed a joint investigation team to the location for further investigation about the incident. They will collect information and check the actual chronology on the scene,” stated Anton Ampang in the written statement received by Jubi on Sunday (12/4/2020). (*)
Source: Antara
Editor: Pipit Maizier
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4) Rights group calls for independent investigation into TNI shootings in Papua
Kompas.com – April 18, 2020
Tsarina Maharani, Jakarta – The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) is calling on the government to establish an independent team to investigate the fatal shooting of two people in Mimika, Papua, on April 13.
Eden Armando Bebari (19) and Ronny Wandik (23) were shot dead during a TNI (Indonesian military) operation at Mile 34 in the PT Freeport Indonesia mining area.
“We are urging the government to immediately form an independent team to conduct an investigation and review the incident with the involvement of external monitoring agencies such as the KPAI [Child Protection Commission], the Komnas HAM [National Human Rights Commission], the LPSK [Witness and Victim Protection Agency] and the Kompolnas[National Police Commission]”, said Kontras Coordinator Yati Andriyani on Saturday April 18.
Andriyani is also asking Komnas HAM to conduct an independent investigation to look into alleged human rights violations in the case.
Furthermore, she is asking that the legal process proceed in a manner which is accountable, fair and transparent and is urging the commander of the TNI (Panglima TNI) and the Indonesian police chief (Kapolri) to ensure that the legal process does not conceal the truth behind case.
“[I] urge the Panglima TNI and Kapolri to ensure and guarantee that the legal process into the case is pursued in a fair and transparent manner”, she said.
“Including ensuring that the TNI and Polri [Indonesian police] or elements of the Polri and TNI not to pursue actions aimed at covering up any liability in this case in accordance with prevailing laws”, said Andriyani.
At the same time, Andriyani is asking President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to stop using a militaristic approach to maintain security in Papua. According to Andriyani, the government needs to prioritise peaceful and constructive dialogue with the Papuan people.
“[I] urge the president and his officials to stop using a security and militaristic approach in Papua. Hold peaceful and constructive dialogue with the Papuan people, including guaranteeing that there is no repeat of human rights violations in Papua”, she asserted.
As has been reported, two residents of Kwamki Narama district in Mimika, Eden Armando Bebari and Ronny Wandik, were shot dead at Mile 34 during TNI operations in the Freeport mining area.
Related to the incident, Cenderawasih XVII regional military commander Major General Herman Asaribab and Papua regional police chief Inspector General Paulus Waterpauw met with the families and relatives of the victims at the Mimika public hospital morgue.
Asaribab pledged that they will investigate the case. “There are officials who have already been appointed to conduct an investigation, so we can resolve [the case] and of course so a legal process can proceed”, said Asaribab on Tuesday April 14.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was “Kontras Minta Pemerintah Bentuk Tim Independen Investigasi Korban Penembakan TNI di Papua”.]
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