2) In ‘good’ company
3) Papua Security Task Force Confiscates KKB Firearms, Ammunition
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1) More Papuans flee from homes amid ongoing armed conflict in Puncak
Jubi. News Desk May 20, 2021 5:16 pm
More and more Papuans are displaced amid ongoing armed conflicts. Courtesy of Vecteezy
Nabire, Jubi – Dozens of people from the Kabuki Village of Mabugi District arrived in Ilaga, the capital district of Puncak Regency, on Wednesday after two weeks of walking through the forest and passing two mountains. These people add to the number of displaced people who fled their homes due to escalated conflict between the Indonesian Military (TNI) and police and the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) since early April.
A Kabuki resident said that the displaced people from Kabuki Village walked through a very rough terrain which was the forest of Mount Gergaji and Mount Kelabo, famous for its narrow and steep slope. These people deemed hiking a better option than being in constant fear of the military and armed groups.
“We went through the sides of ravines, the roads [which normally] people cannot pass,” he told Jubi in a Whatsapp message on Wednesday, May 19, 2021.
The Kabuki residents will join the displaced people from North Gome District who have also fled to Ilaga. “For the time being, we will stay at the house of North Gome chief Herman Mom. The people gather in small groups according to their respective hometowns so that collecting data will be easier,” said the Jubi source.
He said that the government needed to record the total number of Puncak displaced people ever since the armed conflict escalated in the region. To date, the number of internally displaced people, including those who fled to neighboring regencies such as Nabire and Mimika, is estimated to be thousands.
The Jubi source said that they needed the government’s food assistance as they could not grow crops due to the displacement. “The government must turn up when the people need them, especially in these difficult times, because the people have chosen them to be the leader,” he said.
Another Jubi source who requested anonymity demanded the government to handle the armed conflict in Puncak seriously as it had made the people victims of human rights violations and losing access to basic facilities such as health and education.
“The government cannot miss this fact. The people are deeply traumatized. It is better to withdraw the military from Puncak,” she said.
Meanwhile, in Beoga District, two villages are already empty because all of the villagers of Dambet and Tinggilibet have fled their homes.
“Some fled to Wangbe [District], some to the East Beoga District, and the others to Timika [Regency]. The TNI and police, as well as the TPNPB, have entered Dambet and Tinggilibet. That is why the people left their hometowns, for their safety,” a Jubi source said on Wednesday.
“Some people in Dambet who initially chose to stay eventually fled to Milawak, Beoga’s capital, after gunfire erupted in TInggilibet on Tuesday. Beoga is gradually becoming a silent hill,” he added.
He further complained that the government had not paid attention to Beoga displaced people. “We have sent a message to the Puncak regional secretary to send us aids but they have not replied. Their phone number was out of reach when we tried to call. We tried repeatedly,” he said.
According to him, the Puncak Government once delivered food assistance after the murder of two Beoga teachers by the TPNPB on April 8 and 9. However, after that, there were no more aids coming from the government.
Armed conflict in Puncak continues ever since the killing of teachers suspected as Indonesian spies by the TPNPB. The TPNPB also shot dead a Papua spy chief and in response, the Indonesian government labeled them terrorists despite many civil groups were against the labeling.
On May 13, the TPNPB burned an elementary school building in Dambet, followed by the presence of the TNI and police in the village. On the same day, in Ilaga, a TPNPB soldier reportedly died in a crossfire. Another two soldiers of the TPNPB were shot dead on Sunday and one man injured.
Meanwhile on Tuesday, the crossfire between the TNI and police and the TPNPB in Tinggilibet have caused a number of stray bullets to hit the KINGMI Church. “The stray bullets hit and damaged the KINGMI Church, forcing the rest of the residents of Tinggilibet and Dambet to take refuge,” said the Jubi source.
Reporter: Hengky Yeimo
Editor: Aryo Wisanggeni G
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EDITORIAL
2) In ‘good’ company
Editorial board (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta ● Fri, May 21, 2021
Those that voted no — including North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, Russia, China — were regimes that were either brutal and repressive or simply not known for their democracy. To find Indonesia on this list is therefore perplexing. The country that had at one time championed for the inclusion of human rights and democratic principles in the ASEAN Charter, is now seen as voting against attempts to uphold those very principles internationally. Recent events in Myanmar and in the occupied Palestinian territory raise questions about the failure of the international community to intervene and stop bloodshed in these two countries.
The resolution would compel the secretary-general to bring this issue to his personal attention. The R2P, which was endorsed by all UN members at the Millennium Summit in 2005, allows for humanitarian intervention if a sovereign state fails to protect its own people. Given the atrocities being committed by the Myanmar junta and the Israeli government, this looks like a good resolution that Indonesia should have supported, not opposed or even abstained. The Foreign Ministry said Indonesia had voted over the procedural matters in the resolution, not against the R2P initiative itself, which Indonesia has fully supported since 2005. There is no need to create a new agenda as R2P is already included in the annual General Assembly, which is mandated to “follow up to outcome of Millennium Summit”, the ministry said.
This statement falls short of explaining of how Indonesia, which touts itself as the world’s third- largest democracy, could end up with the likes of North Korea and other countries that are repressing their own people. When it comes to observing democracy and human rights, Indonesia does not want to be associated with most countries in this group.
The vote also raises unnecessary speculation, now widely discussed on social media, about the real reason behind the “no vote”. One is the specter of R2P being invoked against Indonesia over the Papuan question. In spite of the recent escalation of violence in Papua, the situation on the ground is still too far to merit international intervention. Unless Indonesia botches its handling the way it did with East Timor in the 1990s, then we have nothing to worry about.
Or are we losing confidence that we can handle Papua humanely that we should vote against the latest resolution? It’s too late to change the vote now and Indonesia will have to deal with the unnecessary bad publicity it has created for itself. But one important lesson? Talk to other democracies before casting our vote at the assembly. They are the company we want to be associated with.
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3) Papua Security Task Force Confiscates KKB Firearms, Ammunition
Translator: Ricky Mohammad Nugraha
Editor: Mahinda Arkyasa
20 May 2021 22:38 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian military's Nemangkawi task force managed to confiscate firearms and ammunition in a location close to a primary school that was burned down by an armed criminal group (KKB) in Puncak, Papua.
"The Nemangkawi task force has secured pieces of evidence while they investigated a crime scene on Tuesday, May 18," said the Nemangkawi ops spokesperson, Grand Commissioner M. Iqbal Qudussy on Thursday, May 20, 2021.
The primary school that was allegedly burned down by the armed group was SD Mayuberi, which also witnessed a shootout between the criminal group with military and police personnel. The incident killed two people from the armed criminal group.
The Papuan joint security forces confiscated one SP-2 handgun along with 55 pieces of bullets of various calibers, a traditional weapon, and IDR 14,658,000 in cash.
ANTARA
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