Wednesday, August 4, 2021

1) Bali LBH director reported to police for treason after assisting Papuan protesters


2) Rights NGO calls on Indonesian govt to address state racism, reform military
3) Carmel Budiardjo: A Lifetime Campaigning for Everyone in Indonesia
4) AWPA calls on PM to urge Jakarta to allow a PIF fact-finding missio
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1) Bali LBH director reported to police for treason after assisting Papuan protesters
CNN Indonesia – August 3, 2021

Jakarta – The director of the Bali Legal Aid Foundation (LBH), Ni Kadek Vany Primaliraning, has been reported to the Bali regional police for treason for allegedly facilitating a mass action by Papuan activists.

The report was confirmed by Vany when contacted by CNN Indonesia on the evening of Tuesday August 3. Vany sent CNN Indonesia a photograph of the official receipt of the public complaint, which was registered with the Bali regional police and dated Monday August 2, via a message application.

Vany has yet to explain in detail about the report but she suspects that it is related to legal assistance that they gave to Papuan activists conducting a protest. "Assistance for Papua comrades holding a protest actions", said Vany via an SMS message.

The receipt of the reports shows that it is a public complaint registered as Bali regional police report Number Dumas/539/VIII/2021/SPKT.

In the document it states that the person submitting the report is Rico Ardika Panjaitan SH, whose is an assistant advocate that resides in Datuk Bandar Timor sub-district in North Sumatra. The person being reported is Ni Kadek Vany Primaliraning as the director of LBH Bali.

The brief description of the report concerns an act of alleged makar (treason, subversion, rebellion) and conspiracy to commit makar. The report cites the victim in the case as being the "Constitution of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia" (NKRI).

Vany then explained about the action by activists from the Bali Papua Social Concern Front (FORMALIPA) Bali which resulted in her being reported to the Balinese police.

"The comrades asked for legal aid (assistance) related to a freedom of expression action. On the day of the action the comrades coordinated with us to leave their motorcycles at the LBH for safekeeping then marched to the Bali regional police to hold the action", she said.

During the march however there was an ormas (mass or social organisation) which blocked and assaulted the protesters. As a result they sought refuge on the grounds of the LBH Bali.

"Those assisting the action (LBH Bali) coordinated with police to protect the protesters, bearing in mind that the comrades had already sent a notification [of the action to police]. And, the action was an action to convey an opinion in public, even though the police still asked them to disband", said Vany.

"After a protracted debate, in the end the comrades were allowed to convey their views in front of the LBH Bali", she said.

In response to the report against Vany, which is suspected to be related to her providing legal assistance, Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) Chairperson Asfinawati that it would be inappropriate for police to pursues the report.

"The LBH Bali was acting in accordance with its capacity. This is fabricated, if it's followed up then the police will be endangering all lawyers or people at LBH", she said when contacted on Tuesday evening.

Asfinawati – known as Asfin by her friends – emphasised that the LBH's activities are in accordance with legislation as regulated under Law Number 16/2011 on Legal Aid.

When contacted separately, Rico Ardika Panjaitan, who submitted the police report, claimed that he reported Vany over a mass action by Papuan activists on May 31 this year.

At the time, he said, the Papuan demonstrators gave speeches in front of the LBH offices, one of which contained the statement, "That the red-and-white [national flag] is not Papua, Papua is the Morning Star [flag]".

It was this that made him report the LBH Bali for allegedly violating Article 106 of the Criminal Code (KUHP).

"According to my understanding, in legal terms, under Article 106 of the KUHP it is written, right, or it means one thing, meaning that when a part of the Indonesian territory wants to be given independence this is included in the category of makar. This means that in the case of the AMP [Papua Student Alliance] it fulfilled [the stipulations of] that article, right", he said when contacted on Tuesday evening.

In the case of LBH Bali meanwhile, he is accusing them of facilitating the Papuan mass action and therefore violating Article 110 of the KUHP.

"They (LBH) can be indicted under Article 110", said Panjaitan, who claimed to have made the report in an individual capacity although he received support from the group Patriot Garuda Nusantara of which he is a member.

CNN Indonesia has attempted to confirm the report with Balinese regional police public relations division chief Senior Commissioner Syamsi but as of this report being published has not received a response. (dis/kid)

[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Direktur LBH Bali Dipolisikan Dugaan Makar Bantu Massa Papua".]

Source: https://www.cnnindonesia.com/nasional/20210803203321-12-675999/direktur-lbh-bali-dipolisikan-dugaan-makar-bantu-massa-papua

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2) Rights NGO calls on Indonesian govt to address state racism, reform military

News Desk August 4, 2021 3:36 pm
Jayapura, Jubi – London-based NGO concerning human rights TAPOL has called on the Indonesian government to properly address institutional racism and hold accountable perpetrators of military violence against civilians in Papua, internationally known as West Papua.

 

TAPOL strongly condemns the recent abuse by two airforce personnel who beat a disabled Papuan man, Steven Yadohamang, in Merauke on July 27, 2021. The incident, which has been widely shared on social media, shows the two personnel slamming a man to the ground and stamping on his head. It is clear from the footage that Yadohamang does not possess the capacity to defend himself against two individuals who appear to be unconcerned with possible consequences.

A similar incident in Nabire took place the following day. A West Papuan man, Nicolas Mote, was suddenly smacked on the head repeatedly during his arrest despite not putting up any kind of resistance.

 

The incident, according to TAPOL, follows a spate of previous violent incidents committed by the security forces against West Papuans and is likely to raise further questions about what purpose increasing numbers of military personnel are serving in West Papua.

 

“Furthermore, the airforce and the Indonesian media, have described the soldiers as ‘rogues’. This assessment is not consistent with a pattern of violence committed against civilians that has been allowed to go unpunished in recent months and years,” TAPOL writes on its website.

 

“Indeed, had there not been such indisputable visual evidence of security force violence, it is entirely possible that the incident would not now be subject to further investigation by the authorities”.

 

TAPOL says that despite facing possible punishment, the perpetrators are likely only to receive light sentences because they will be tried in military courts, as following the end of the New Order period, civilian politicians did not push for military personnel to be tried in civilian courts.

 

Since 2019, there has been a steady build-up of military and police personnel in the two provinces of West Papua. Deployments and security force operations have increased further since April of this year, when Coordinating Minister for Politics and Security Mahfud MD designated the armed resistance movement, TPNPB, as a “terrorist” group.

 

At the time, Mahfud instructed military personnel deployed to West Papua not to “target civilians” during operations. But West Papuans and Indonesians have raised concerns that the designation itself would further stigmatise ordinary West Papuans.

 

TAPOL also highlights that in West Papua there are significant underlying problems with institutionalized racism by the authorities, including the security forces, and with the criminalization of West Papuans and Indonesians for expressing the right to peaceful expression and assembly.

 

TAPOL says that merely encouraging military restraint or promising punishment in military courts is not enough to address these issues. Therefore, TAPOL calls on President Joko Widodo and the House of Representatives of Indonesia to finish the post-Suharto agenda of reforming the military.

 

The law on the military already allows soldiers to be tried in civilian courts for committing non-military crimes. However, this progressive provision still cannot be implemented because the law on Military Courts has not been changed. This step, TAPOL says, is very crucial to combat a culture of impunity because the Indonesian military are one of the main perpetrators of human rights violations in West Papua.

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3) Carmel Budiardjo: A Lifetime Campaigning for Everyone in Indonesia
August 4, 2021 9:06AM EDT

Published in: Project Multatuli

Andreas Harsono Indonesia Researcher

In August 2005, I visited Carmel Budiardjo, then an 80-year-old human rights campaigner, in her London townhouse. We talked on the second floor, which was also the office for Tapol, the human rights organization that she helped set up in 1973 (in Indonesian, the word “tapol” stands for tahanan politik – political prisoner).

In the 1970s, Tapol led a global campaign to release the approximately 30,000 political prisoners held by the then-dictator, Soeharto. It prompted US President Jimmy Carter in 1978 to call for the prisoners’ release. Soeharto released almost all of them, keeping several dozen jailed in Jakarta. Tapol later became a leading voice on rights issues in Indonesia, particularly in the troubled areas of Aceh, East Timor and West Papua.

Carmel, who passed away in London on July 10 at 96, is among the very few people whose work in the region has been recognized in both conservative Muslim areas, like Aceh, and predominantly Christian areas, like East Timor and West Papua. Her efforts to release and then help political prisoners were immeasurable. In 1995, she received the Right Livelihood Award in Sweden. In August 2009, East Timorese President José Ramos-Horta, who had helped campaign for East Timor’s independence from Indonesia, presented her with the Order of Timor Leste. She also received awards from independent groups in Aceh and West Papua. She is probably the only person to receive such wide recognition from so many diverse groups in this archipelago.

202108asia_indonesia_carmel_budiardjo_rally.jpeg
Carmel Budiardjo (center) at a rally in front of the Indonesian Embassy in London.  © 2012 Lenah Susianty

In 2005, she and I talked about why many people living in Java, Indonesia’s most populous island and home to the capital, were oblivious to the disparities between Java, as Indonesia’s “core”, and the “outer islands” (which the Dutch colonists called the Buitengewesten, or Outer Territories). “It also applied to me when I lived in Jakarta in the 1950s,” she told me. “Only when I left Indonesia in 1971, I began to understand the problem. I was caught up by the concept of the liberation of West Papua in the 1960s. I had to be outside Indonesia to begin to think about the reality of Indonesia. West Papua is not necessarily a legitimate part of Indonesia.”

Carmel also spoke about the underlying causes of human rights abuses in Indonesia. The notions of a nation-state and a sense of equal citizenship are very thin in Indonesia. Many dominant identities, whether as Muslims or ethnic Javanese, are often used to discriminate against and repress minorities, which frequently led to violence. “I am not an advocate of breaking apart Indonesia,” she told me.  “But in West Papua and Aceh, there are strong feelings of injustice and their own nationalisms. West Papua was an international issue. The Act of Free Choice in 1969 was an absolute fraud.”

Carmel was born in London in 1925, between the two world wars, into a Jewish family, whose anti-fascist views influenced her left-wing politics. In 1947, she met Suwondo Budiardjo, a young Indonesian official, in Prague. They married and moved to Jakarta in 1952. She worked as a translator and later wrote economic analyses and speeches for both President Sukarno and the Indonesian Communist Party. When General Soeharto toppled Sukarno in 1965, her husband was jailed for “political offenses” and spent 12 years in prison without trial. Carmel herself spent three years in detention, also without trial, before her deportation in 1971. She wrote about these years in her heartbreaking memoir, Surviving Indonesia’s Gulag.

When she returned to London, her townhouse became a gathering place for activists from all backgrounds. Over Chinese food, she told me about the need for raising awareness about nation building and the stories of political prisoners, as well as about her hopes for Timor Leste, a new nation that ended Indonesia’s occupation and had no political prisoners.

Though much time passed since we last spoke, all of our conversations are still relevant to the challenges Indonesians and others face today. Carmel was a towering figure. As James Ross, a longtime Human Rights Watch colleague, wrote after hearing of her passing, “If there were a human rights movement Hall of Fame, Carmel would have been one of the first inductees.”


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4) AWPA calls on PM to urge Jakarta to allow a PIF fact-finding mission to West Papua

Statement -West Papua and the PIF

 

4 August 2021

It has been reported that the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) leaders are  meeting virtually on the 6 August. 



AWPA urges Prime Minister Scott Morrison (as leader of a PIF country) to urge Jakarta to allow a PIF fact-finding mission to West Papua to investigate the human rights situation in the territory. 


At the 46th PIF Meeting in Port Moresby, “Leaders requested the Forum Chair to convey the views of the Forum to the Indonesian Government, and to consult on a fact finding mission to discuss the situation in Papua with the parties involved".  However at this stage there has been no positive response from Jakarta to the request 

 

From the 46th Communiqué in relation to West Papua
17. Leaders recognised Indonesia’s sovereignty over the Papuan provinces but noted concerns about the human rights situation, calling on all parties to protect and uphold the human rights of all residents in Papua. Leaders requested the Forum Chair to convey the views of the Forum to the Indonesian Government, and to consult on a fact-finding mission to discuss the situation in Papua with the parties involved.

 

It is also very encouraging that in a media release (8 October 2020)

The Chair of the Pacific Islands Forum and Prime Minister of Tuvalu, the Honourable Kausea Natano, reaffirmed the importance of open and constructive dialogue on the human rights situation in West Papua (Papua).

"In line with the Forum Leaders decisions in Tuvalu in 2019, the Forum Chair has this week written to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Her Excellency Michelle Bachelet, requesting an update on the consultations with the Government of Indonesia concerning the invitation for a mission to West Papua (Papua). The Forum Chair further reaffirmed the Forum Leaders call for all parties to protect and uphold the human rights of all residents and to work to address the root causes of the conflict by peaceful means”.  https://www.forumsec.org/2020/10/08/pacific-islands-forum-chair-reaffirms-support-for-open-constructive-dialogues-human-rights-mission-to-west-papua-papua/

 

Joe Collins of AWPA said, "West Papua is one of our nearest neighbours and the situation in the territory continues to deteriorate with ongoing clashes between the security forces and the OPM (the Free Papua Movement).  The West Papuan people continue to be arrested intimated and killed by the security forces. A number of military operations have also taken place in the past few years. During these operations house are burned, livestock killed, leaving local people traumatised and in fear for the lives.  These operations have also lead to large numbers of internal referees fleeing to other regencies creating a humanitarian crisis.



AWPA believes that West Papua should be a priority foreign policy issue for Australia.
It is now 58 years since Indonesia took over the administration of West Papua from the UN in 1963 and the West Papuan people are still marching in the streets risking arrest and torture and calling for their right to self-determination. Australia should realize that West Papua is an issue that is not going away (no matter how much it wished it would) and it is in their interest to try and help solve the many issues of concern in West Papua. Otherwise we could see increasing conflict in the territory which in turn could affect the region. 

 

Although Australia thinks of itself as a regional leader and continues to try and influence the Forum on what should be on its agenda (or trying to keep West Papua of it), its lack of leadership in relation to climate change could undermine Australia’s influence at the Forum. 

If Australia wants to keep or win friends in the region it should start by listening to what the Forum leaders and the people of the Pacific are concerned about. 

 

AWPA (Sydney)

 

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