1) Give peace a chance in Papua

2) Papuan students report Malang police chief over racist shoot to kill order

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https://www.thejakartapost.com/paper/2021/03/14/give-peace-a-chance-in-papua.html

1) Give peace a chance in Papua  

Editorial board Jakarta

Jakarta   /   Mon, March 15 2021   /  01:00 am

A Papuan Student Alliance (AMP) member has his face painted with the colors of the Bintang Kejora (Morning Star) flag during a protest on Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat, Central Jakarta, on Nov. 16. The protesters demanded that the government thoroughly investigate the killing of Papuan pastor Yeremia Zanambani in Intan Jaya, Papua, and withdraw military and police personnel from the country’s easternmost province. JP/Dhoni Setiawan(JP/Dhoni Setiawan)

When a conflict happens, an outsider’s view of the dispute and how to solve it tends to be free from any bias. This should be the case with the protracted scuffle in Papua between the central government, which persistently maintains its security approach as evident in its NKRI Harga Mati (Undisputed Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia) tagline, and local people who yearn for prosperity and justice in their own land.

The discourse about the future of Papua has come to the fore now that the government and the House of Representatives have moved to revise the 2001 law on special autonomy for Papua. The revision is pressing in particular because the special autonomy fund scheme to accelerate development in Papua and West Papua provinces will expire in November of this year.

Ahead of the crucial debate, tension and violence have continued to grip Papua. On Friday, a group of armed people held hostage the pilot and passengers of a Susi Air flight for two hours in the Papua highland regency of Puncak to express their disappointment with the government rural development fund that did not reach their village. A series of firefights took place in Nduga, Intan Jaya and Puncak last month between security troops and armed groups, which displaced hundreds of civilians who fled their homes for fear of attacks and intimidation.

Local Catholic Church leaders have renewed their appeal to both parties for an end to the violence through dialog between Jakarta and local people. Specifically, the Church asked the central government to stop sending reinforcement troops and let the local police and military take their own measures to maintain peace and order in a “proportional and professional” manner. The call has fallen on deaf ears as the Indonesian Military is preparing reinforcement troops to fight the rebel groups in Papua.

Many scholars have pointed to the failure of Papua’s special autonomy as a dignified effort to keep Papua as an integral part of the Republic. Data show that the poverty rates in Papua and West Papua remain the highest in the country, despite billions of dollars in special autonomy funds having been transferred to the two easternmost provinces, which are known for being rich in mineral, oil and gas resources.

 Infrastructure development, which President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has accelerated, has not succeeded in bringing peace. Instead, Papuans have continued to endure racial discrimination, among other injustices. In the latest incident, a group of Papuan students filed a report with the National Police against the Malang police chief for an utterance deemed racist when handling a rally held by the students on Friday.

In her criticism of the special autonomy, Sidney Jones of the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) says the policy has failed to empower Papuans, which is one of the chief goals of the 2001 law. Jones notes that then-president Abdurrahman Wahid took the right step in acknowledging Papuan political grievances without legitimizing separatism, but such an approach discontinued as soon as he was impeached in 2001. 

It is time for the government to listen to advice from scholars and nonpartisan people, who have no interest but restoration of peace and justice in Papua.

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https://www.indoleft.org/news/2021-03-12/papuan-students-report-malang-police-chief-over-racist-shoot-to-kill-order.html

2) Papuan students report Malang police chief over racist shoot to kill order

Tribune News – March 12, 2021

Igman Ibrahim, Jakarta – Malang city district police chief (Kapolres) Senior Commissioner Leonardus Simarmata has been reported to the police's professionalism and security affairs division (Propam) over alleged racial slurs when securing an International Women's Day (IWD) rally by Papuan students on March 8.

The report was registered by the Greater Jakarta Papua Student Alliance (AMP) in the name of Arman Asso at the national police headquarters Propam. The report was registered as Number SPSP2/815/III/2021/Bagyanduan dated March 12, 2021.

"Today we Papuan students officially reported Malang Kapolres Pak [Mr] Leonardus Simarmata for issuing an instruction and statement which was very racist and discriminatory against Papuan students in Malang city", said AMP lawyer Michael Hilman at the Propam building in Jakarta on March 12.

Hilman explained that Simarmata made the racist remark during a protest action held by the Papuan Solidarity Movement with the People (Gempur) in the East Java city of Malang on March 8.

At the time, the protesters were taking up themes about women's rights and opposing the extension of the Papua Special Autonomy Law (Otsus). The protest was later marred by a scuffle between students and police.

It was at that time that Simarmata is alleged to have made the racist statement which was seen as deeply offensive to the Papuan people.

"The racist remarks deeply hurt our feelings as Papuans, where as a senior [official] who should promote human rights and provide proper security services for demonstrations but instead made a statement which was very, very racist", said Hilman.

The racial remarks or words expressed by Simarmata were, "Shoot, just shoot, [spilling] the blood of [Papuan] students is halal [permissible under Islam]. Shoot, just shoot".

According to Hilman, the remark has inflamed Papuans in all corners of the county.

"We are concerned that this could spread like the 2019 incident in Surabaya. This is the same as what was done by police in Surabaya. So we are concerned that it will go viral on every social media group and it has already gone super viral and had responses on WhatsApp groups, this has to be reported so it doesn't spread in Papua", Hilman asserted.

Notes

The storming of a Papuan student dormitory in the East Java provincial capital of Surabaya in September 2019, which was proceeded by racist slurs by ultra-nationalist groups and security personnel which went viral on social media, led to widespread and sometimes violent anti-racist protests across West Papua.

[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Kapolres Kota Malang Dilaporkan ke Propam Atas Dugaan Ujaran Rasial Terhadap Mahasiswa Papua".]

Source: https://www.tribunnews.com/metropolitan/2021/03/12/kapolres-kota-malang-dilaporkan-ke-propam-atas-dugaan-ujaran-rasial-terhadap-mahasiswa-papua

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