2) OPM isn’t a ‘terrorist group’ – the Indonesian state is, says Wenda
3) Interfaith communities should exercise restraint: MUI-Papua office
4) Japan vows to help Papua send native students to Fukuoka
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1) West Papua liberation army or TPNPB: Criminals, terrorists, or freedom fighters?
TPNPB Paniai Commander Demianus Magai Yogi (holding the megaphone) - Jubi/Dok
News Desk March 29, 2021 6:06 pm
West Papua No. 1 News Portal | Jubi
Jayapura, Jubi – The people who choose to fight for the freedom of Papua Land, or internationally known as West Papua, with guns have been called criminals by the Indonesian government. Recently, it wanted to call the people “terrorists”. But who are they?
Armed groups who demanded West Papua’s independence from Indonesia have existed for decades. The seeds of rebellions grew in the 1960s, the decade when the Dutch and Indonesian governments got into a long and convoluted negotiation to get what we know now as Papua Land or West Papua. The process did not involve many Papuans, and this has been the source of protest and anger among some native Papuans.
May 1, 1963 was the day when the United National Temporary Executive Authority (UNTEA) handed over West Papua into Indonesia’s hands
In West Papua, the government and pro-government institutions celebrated every May 1 as the day when Indonesia came out a victor over the Dutch colonizers. For some native Papuans, May 1, 1963 was the beginning of Indonesia’s occupation in West Papua.
Since then, armed groups affiliated to OPM have fought the Indonesian government to demand separation.
Narrative wars
Indonesian government, however, did not acknowledge these fighters as part of the Free Papua Movement. Over the years, they had several labels to call the armed groups. Nowadays, the fighters are under the command of West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), a group the government calls an “armed criminals group”. The Indonesian Military (TNI) and the National Police had also called them “armed criminals separatists group”.
In the last few years, they were mulling over another label: terrorists. The idea surfaced again last week, when the head of National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) spoke at the House of Representatives in March 2021 to put TPNPB into the terrorists category.
How a history is told, however, is always the privilege of the victor and the powerful.
‘Think again’
The director of Democracy Alliance for Papua, Latifah Anum Siregar, said on March 25, 2021 that the government should be careful in labelling TPNPB as terrorists. “I think, pardon my blunt words, the government has run out of ideas on how to deal with TPNPB,” she said.
She acknowledged that the definition of terrorism in the Law No. 5/2018 on terorrism crimes, was very general, allowing everyone to be called a terrorist. But to label TPNPB as terrorists, the government should think carefully, she said.
“We know that TPNPB/OPM has different characteristics with terrorists. TPNPB/OPM had one purpose, aspiration to achieve political sovereignty. That’s one difference,” she said.
Terrorist groups, on the other hand, only fought for their own personal or group’s goal.
She also said the location of TPNPB’s operation was only in Papua Land, which is different than terrorist groups.
“TPNPB/OPM does not have a personal goal, they fight for bigger cause, which is [Papuans] political sovereignty,” she went on.
Latifah, who was part of Papuan Peace Network, said she condemns violence against civilians but she said TPNPB did not attack civilians randomly. They usually killed civilians when they believed they were the military and the police spies.
She said there was a definition in the terrorism law that terrorists attacks were targeted at random people, not selected.
Papua Legislative Council member, Laurenzus Kadepa, said the government had been at their wits’ end in dealing with TPNPB, so they proposed the terrorism label.
He believed that the label would prompt questions from several parties, including international communities.
He suspected that Indonesian government wanted to dampen the support of some foreign countries toward Papuans’ fight for independence because no country would ever support terrorists.
“Meanwhile, if the Indonesian government let the TPNPB be known as OPM, many countries would support it, because they saw it as part of human rights,” Kadepa said.
Earlier, the executive director of United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP), Markus Haluk, challenged Indonesian government to answer honestly, “who are the real terrorists in Papua Land?”
The deputy coordinator of the advocacy department at the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), Arif Nur Fikri, said the very general definition of terrorism were a threat to many people because the government could use their own interpretation on who were the terrorists.
He said Kontras had criticized the general definition since the deliberation of the revisions to the law.
“This time, TPNPB is the one that perhaps would be called terrorists. Tomorrow? Who knows,” he said.
‘Won’t be a solution for Papuans’
Executive director of Amnesty International Indonesia, Usman Hamid, said classifying TPNPB as terrorists would not end the human rights violations against Papuans, especially those perpetrated by the security personnel.
The terrorist label, he said, could also be a pretext to silence freedom of expression and assembly in Papua.
National Commission for Human Rights officer, Amiruddin Al Rahab, said he acknowledged that violence had taken many lives in Papua, but labeling TPNPB as terrorists was not a solution, said Amiruddin.
He promised to talk to BNPT about its plan.
He said the best solution for Papuans was to uphold human rights and make sure everyone respect human rights.
Reporter: Arjuna Pademme
Editor: Angela Flassy
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2) OPM isn’t a ‘terrorist group’ – the Indonesian state is, says Wenda
By APR editor - March 28, 2021
Asia Pacific Report newsdesk
Indonesia has been accused of a ‘disgraceful attack on the people of West Papua’ by considering listing the pro-independence militia Organisasi Papua Merdeka (OPM) as a terrorist organisation.
The exiled interim president of the United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP), Benny Wenda has condemned the reported move by Jakarta, saying Papuans are generally in support of the OPM struggle for a free and independent West Papua.
“In reality, Indonesia is a terrorist state that has used mass violence against my people for nearly six decades,” Wenda said in a statement.
The ULMWP statement said the people of West Papua were forming their own independent state in 1961.
“On December 1 of that year, the West New Guinea Council selected our national anthem, flag, and symbols. We had a territory, a people, and were listed as a Non-Self-Governing Territory by the UN Decolonisation Committee,” Wenda said.
“Our flag was raised alongside the Dutch, and the inauguration of the West New Guinea Council was witnessed by diplomats from the Netherlands, UK, France and Australia.
“This sovereignty was stolen from us by Indonesia, which invaded and colonised our land in 1963. The birth of the independent state of West Papua was smothered.
Launched struggle
“This is why the people of West Papua launched the OPM struggle to regain our country and our freedom.”
The ULMWP said that under the international conventions on human rights, the Papuans had a right to self-determination, which legal research had repeatedly shown was “violated by the Indonesian take-over and the fraudulent 1969 Act of No Choice”.
“Under the 1960 UN Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, we have a right to determine our own political status free from colonial rule,” Wenda said.
“Even the Preamble to the Indonesian constitution recognises that, ‘Independence is the natural right of every nation [and] colonialism must be abolished in this world because it is not in conformity with Humanity and Justice’.”
Indonesia’s anti-terrorism agency wanted to designate pro-independence Papuan movements OPM and KKB as “terrorists”.
“Terrorism is the use of violence against civilians to intimidate a population for political aims. This is exactly what Indonesia has been doing against my people for 60 years. Over 500,000 men, women and children have been killed since Indonesia invaded,” said Wenda.
“Indonesia tortures my people, kills civilians, burns their bodies, destroys our environment and way of life.
‘Wanted for war crimes’
“General Wiranto, until recently Indonesia’s security minister, is wanted by the UN for war crimes in East Timor – for terrorism.
“A leading retired Indonesian general this year mused about forcibly removing 2 million West Papuans to Manado – this is terrorism and ethnic cleansing. How can we be the terrorists when Indonesia has sent 20,000 troops to our land in the past three years?
“We never bomb Sulawesi or Java. We never kill an imam or Muslim leader. The Indonesian military has been torturing and murdering our religious leaders over the past six months.
“The Indonesian military has displaced over 50,000 people since December 2018, leaving them to die in the bush without medical care or food.”
Wenda said ULMWP was a member of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), “sitting around the table with Indonesia”.
“We attend UN meetings and have the support of 84 countries to promote human rights in West Papua. These are not the actions of terrorists. When 84 countries recognise our struggle, Indonesia cannot stigmitise us as ‘terrorists’.
OPM ‘like home guard’
“The OPM back home is like a home guard. We only act in self-defence, to protect ourselves, our homeland, our ancestral lands, our heritage and our natural resources, forests and mountain.
“Any country would do the same if it was invaded and colonised. We do not target civilians, and are committed to working under international law and international humanitarian law, unlike Indonesia, which will not even sign up to the International Criminal Court because it knows that its actions in West Papua are war crimes,” Wenda said.
“Indonesia cannot solve this issue with a ‘war on terror’ approach. Amnesty International and Komnas HAM, Indonesia’s national human rights body, have already condemned the proposals.
“Since the 2000 Papuan People’s Congress, which I was a part of, we have agreed to pursue an international solution through peaceful means. We are struggling for our right to self-determination, denied to us for decades. Indonesia is fighting to defend its colonial project.”
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3) Interfaith communities should exercise restraint: MUI-Papua office
11 hours ago
Jayapura, Papua (ANTARA) - The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) in Papua has called on interfaith communities to exercise restraint following a church bombing attack in Makassar City on Sunday.
"Let us place trust in the police to handle this case. It is so dangerous if it is kept unresolved," MUI-Papua Office Head Syaiful Al Payage stated.
Payage denounced the suicide bombers, who blew themselves up at the Catholic church's gate on Sunday morning, as the attack was not justifiable on any grounds.
"We are optimistic that the National Police would solve the case and hunt those responsible for the bombing attack down," he stated.
Payage highlighted the importance of the police's successful crackdown on the perpetrators to ensure that congregations can perform their religious rituals in a secure and comfortable manner.
In tackling the rising threats of extremists' ideology, the MUI-Papua Office head suggested to the Ministry of Religious Affairs to strengthen preventive measures through education.
Two suicide bombers blew themselves up outside a church on Kajaolalido Road in the Baru neighborhood area of Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi Province, on Sunday.
The couple attempted to enter the church compound but to no avail after security guards stopped them at the gate when a Palm Sunday Mass service had recently concluded.
Some 20 people, including churchgoers and the church's security guards at the gate, got injured in the blast.
The suicide bombers, who reportedly belong to a JAD network, died shortly after conducting their attack by using a pressure cooker bomb at about 10:30 a.m. local time.
Since 2000, Indonesia has become the target of terrorist attacks, and the spread of radicalism and terrorism continues to threaten the nation.
ANTARA highlighted the repeated incidents of assaults by suspected terrorists and armed Papuan rebels on civilians and security personnel in 2020.
On May 22, 2020, for instance, notorious armed rebels reportedly shot at two medical workers -- Almalek Bagau and Eunico Somou -- from the Wandai Health Center in Intan Jaya District, Papua Province, while they were delivering drugs for COVID-19 patients.
In another incident on June 1, 2020, a lone wolf assaulted Brigadier Leonardo Latupapua, a policeman of the Daha Selatan police precinct in South Kalimantan Province. Latupapua succumbed to grave injuries following the early morning attack.
On June 21, 2020, a man unexpectedly attacked Second Brigadier Hanif Ariyono, a driver of Deputy Chief of Karanganyar Police Commissioner Busroni's official vehicle, with a machete in Karanganyar District, Central Java Province.
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4) Japan vows to help Papua send native students to Fukuoka
6 hours ago
Jayapura, Papua (ANTARA) - The Japanese government has hinted that it is ready to help native Papuans take their graduate diploma in agricultural studies in Fukuoka Prefecture.
Japan is committed to making the Papua provincial government's vocational program successful, said Education Attaché at the Japanese Embassy in Jakarta, Takahashi Yusuke.
As of this year, there are six native Papuans opting for higher education in Fukuoka, he informed in a press statement that
ANTARA received in Jayapura on Monday.
The Japanese government's support would cover the administrative processes for immigration and cooperation, and Japanese language and cultural training, Yusuke said.
On behalf of the Japanese government, he praised the Papua provincial administration's scholarship scheme for native Papuans studying in Fukuoka.
The provincial government has made the right decision to send native Papuan students to Fukuoka to pursue vocational programs at universities, he remarked.
Fukuoka is one of the Japanese cities whose agricultural sector is well-developed, and its universities are listed in the world class groups, he said.
In Japan, the number of international university students from Indonesia is large enough, he said. But, the figure is expected to go up, including students from Papua, he added.
Meanwhile, assistant director of the Japan Foundation, Hiruta Mari, said she would help make the vocational program for native Papuan students a success.
The Japan Foundation would provide Papua’s scholarship recipients with Japanese language teaching materials and language training with trainers, she informed.
Secretary of the Papua Human Resources Development Agency's (BPSDM's) team for educational cooperation, Karsudi, had visited the Japanese embassy in Jakarta recently.
The visit was aimed at following up on the cooperation in human resources development with the government of Japan's Fukuoka Prefecture, Karsudi said.
During the visit, BPSDM team members also met with representatives from the Japan Foundation to get information on the Japanese language and the cultural education program, he added.
Under the Papua provincial government's scholarship scheme, 60 native Papuans would be sent to Fukuoka to pursue graduate diplomas in agricultural studies, he said.
The native Papuan students would be trained at Japanese universities in the prefecture so they can gain expertise in agriculture, he added. (INE)
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