https://www.thejakartapost.com/academia/2020/09/29/building-papua-anew.html
Editorial Board The Jakarta Post
Jakarta / Tue, September 29, 2020 / 08:25 am
In the last few years, Indonesia has entrusted its young diplomats with countering attacks predominantly from Pacific countries over alleged human rights abuses against Papuan people. The government’s tactic has naturally earned applause at home, as it might show Indonesia only needs little effort to fend off accusations from nations that do not qualify as “representatives of the people of Papua”.
On Saturday, Silvany Austin Pasaribu took center stage at the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly as she delivered Indonesia’s response to Vanuatu Prime Minister Bob Loughman, who in an address during the general debate session asked Indonesia to solve the alleged atrocities against indigenous people in Papua.
Vanuatu, in the name of solidarity among Melanesian people, has been campaigning for an independent state in Papua. In the future, Indonesia must look for some clever way to trick those rallying support for Papua’s independence, given the open era that will sooner rather than later allow the world to watch over what is really happening in Papua. The government will likely think twice about isolating Papua after in June the court ruled as unlawful the internet shutdown in Papua and West Papua last year, even though it was done for security reasons.
Thanks to information technology advancements, more information will stream from Papua to the rest of Indonesia and the world as an alternative to the government’s claims and official statements regarding the easternmost province.
After previous president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono offered a new deal, his successor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo realized the old promise of developing basic infrastructure on Papuan soil. More roads have been built to connect the many dots across the natural resource-rich province, but it turns out the gap between the local people and their leaders in Jakarta is widening. Racial discrimination against indigenous Papuans has continued unabated, as the government has not done enough to stop it. In the eyes of government critic Benny Giai, racism served as the basic building block of national development in Papua.
Last year’s mass protests in Papua and West Papua, which followed racial slurs against Papuan students in Java, show the fragile relationship between Jakarta and outlying Papua even almost 60 years after the latter’s integration with the Republic. The #PapuanLivesMatter campaign, which came just after the racial incident in the United States in June, is a further reminder that Papua will remain a burning issue unless the government takes the right action to end the decadeslong conflict once and for all. The government recently offered to extend the special autonomy status for Papua as a dignified measure to bring peace and prosperity to Papua. Pros and cons have marked the plan, which if materializes, will continue the huge transfer of money to Papua and West Papua.
But as had been demonstrated in the period of special autonomy so far from 2002 to 2020, during which Rp 94.24 trillion (US$6.3 billion) went to the two provinces, money does not result in peace, let alone prosperity, in Papua. To build Papua anew, Jakarta needs to listen to voices that have so far been left unheard.
Just days after the Republic of Vanuatu made statements on West Papua at the UN General Assembly and the UN Human Rights Council, armed Indonesia police have stormed Cendewasih University to shoot, beat and arrest students for peacefully calling for their right to self-determination. Indonesia is a pariah state, systematically violating human rights during the gatherings of the world’s nations.
Firstly, on behalf of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua and the people of West Papua, I want to thank and congratulate the government of Vanuatu for your bravery, consistency and courage in speaking out for our struggle at the UN. Every year, you have spoken the truth in the UN whilst Indonesia has fed the international community lies. You are always on the right side of history. Even in the middle of our global crisis, you still stand firm for democracy, human rights and truth.
To the rest of the world: this is an emergency situation in West Papua. Students are being shot and beaten for peacefully holding banners calling for their rights. Yesterday (September 28) Cendewasih University was stormed by hundreds of joint Indonesian security services, including the notorious Brimob police special forces, just because Papuan students gathered to express their beliefs. Videos show shots being fired, water cannons used, and police officers with riot shields and assault rifles confronting unarmed students. Many students have fled campus in response. We do not know how many have been shot.
This reminds us of what happened in August last year, when West Papuan students were barricaded, racially abused, tear-gassed and arrested in Surabaya. We have been suffering under increasing military operations for the past two years. In Intan Jaya regency, seven church congregations have been recently displaced, adding to the dozens of churches and 40,000 civilians displaced by two years of military operations in Nduga regency. Nduga is empty now. The Indonesian military has cleansed it of Indigenous people.
The people are rejecting Jakarta’s attempts to re-impose fake ‘Special Autonomy’ on us. Special Autonomy means a pastor being killed as he tends to his farm. Special Autonomy means 20 years of losing our land and forests. Special Autonomy means 1,000 new Indonesian troops, what war criminal Indonesian Defence Minister, Prabowo, is calling ‘Special Autonomy soldiers’.
The military presence in West Papua has doubled in the last two years alone. Today’s events show how Indonesia will respond to any attempt to dissent from its colonial project in West Papua: with extreme force. Indonesia claimed in its response to Vanuatu’s statement at the UN General Assembly that there are no human rights abuses in West Papua. Their huge lies have been exposed only days later.
President Joko Widodo spoke out for the Palestinian people at the UN. The West Papuan struggle is the same as the Palestinian struggle, but President Jokowi refuses to see it. He talks of national liberation, but says nothing of the oppression in West Papua. He speaks of multilateralism whilst refusing to listen to the will of 18 countries in the Pacific Islands Forum and 79 countries in the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States on West Papua. President Widodo, it is time for you to sit down with me and reach an international agreement to hold a referendum on West Papua. No more excuses.
West Papua is not a domestic issue any more. The UN High Commissioner wants to visit West Papua, but is being blocked by Jakarta. Indonesia’s cold genocide in West Papua is an international issue, and it is not going away. No matter how many of us Indonesia beats, kills or imprisons, we will continue to build our struggle until we win a referendum on independence. The emergency is going to intensify, and the world needs to pay attention.
Benny Wenda
Chairman
ULMWP
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Five people within the first ring—or Ring One—of Freeport Indonesia's (PTFI) area have died from Covid-19. Ring One covers the company's workers and experts, as well as family members and household staff living together with them.
"Five people died in Papua, and Freeport has 724 confirmed cases of Covid-19," MIND ID president director Orias Petrus Moedak said.
Of the total cases, 561 have completed isolation whilst 158 are still active cases.
Freeport recorded the most Covid-19 deaths among companies under MIND ID as the holding company of mining SOEs. In total, there have been six deaths reported from MIND ID.
But Oris said that the mortality rate in MIND ID's circle is quite small, "less than 0.5 percent of the total number of cases."
MIND ID had reported 1,219 cases of Covid-19, of which 235 underwent surgeries and 978 have completed quarantine. The remaining 63 are suspects.
In Freeport, Orias said, the testing conducted in the site has been quite massive due to the high traffic of employees traveling between Timika and Tembaga Pura. To date, Freeport has conducted 16,220 PCR tests and 37,603 rapid tests.
Read: 51 Workers Contract to Covid-19; Freeport Continues Operation
Francisca Christy Rosana
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