1) President Widodo Should Revoke Award for Human Rights Violator

2) Recurring racism against Papuans

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https://www.tapol.org/news/committing-crimes-against-humanity-not-celebration

1) President Widodo Should Revoke Award for Human Rights Violator 

Committing Crimes Against Humanity is Not for Celebration

London, New York, Berlin 

Saturday 14 August, 2021

TAPOL, ETAN and Watch Indonesia! strongly condemn President Joko Widodo’s decision to grant ‘Bintang Jasa Utama’, one the highest national awards, to Eurico Guterres on Thursday, 12 August 2021. 

Guterres, an anti-independence militia leader in Timor-Leste, was one of the key figures who led and participated in a series of massacres and destruction in his homeland prior to and in the aftermath of the 1999 referendum, in which the vast majority of Timorese voted for independence from Indonesia. In close collaboration the militias and the Indonesian military committed multiple atrocities, killing over 1,400 civilians and leaving a trail of destruction in an attempt to subvert the referendum. For many years afterwards, Guterres encouraged the continuation of the humanitarian crisis of Timorese refugees in Indonesia. 

In 2002 he and ten others were indicted for crimes against humanity by the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET). He was one of only two people convicted of crimes against humanity by the Indonesian Ad-Hoc Human Rights Tribunal, although the conviction was overturned due to political pressure from the Jakarta elite. Two decades later Guterres and the Indonesian military officials ultimately responsible for the atrocities he committed, such as Wiranto and Prabowo Subianto, continue to enjoy impunity while holding positions of political power. Guterres’ “career” as a militia leader continued in 2003 when he established ‘Laskar Merah Putih’, an Indonesian militia group to counter self-determination movements in West Papua and Aceh. 

Honouring a perpetrator of crimes against humanity with one of the highest national awards affirms the impunity of state-backed crimes. “With Guterres on such a pedestal, President Joko Widodo’s hollow promises to pursue accountability for past human rights violations vanish even quicker. However, we shall not forget that Indonesia was and has been enabled by Western governments with their support to the occupations in East Timor and West Papua,” says Steve Alston of TAPOL.  

John Miller of the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) also emphasizes, “Impunity remains not just for Eurico Guterres but so many others, including those who have gone on to commit crimes in West Papua. This is an affront to the victims in Timor-Leste and across the Indonesian archipelago, and yet another setback in Indonesia’s efforts to democratise.”

“Rewarding Guterres not only symbolises the legitimisation of state- cum military-backed human rights crimes of the past and endows the perpetrators with impunity. Given the political weight of notorious military agents and the recent escalation in West Papua, it also conveys the chilling message that current and future perpetrators will enjoy government protection as well,” states Christine Holike from Watch Indonesia! “It is our responsibility to remind our respective governments to stop enabling human rights violations,” she adds.  

 

Contacts:

info@tapol.org

etan@etan.org

watchindonesia@watchindonesia.de

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A google translate.

Original Bahasa link

https://jubi.co.id/rasisme-terhadap-orang-papua-yang-terus-berulang/

Reporter: Zely Ariane January 26, 2021 10:51 pm

2) Recurring racism against Papuans

Papua No. 1 News Portal | Jubi

Jakarta, Jubi – The name of the Hanura Party politician, Ambroncius Nababan, was suddenly discussed by the public because he was racist towards a former member of the National Human Rights Commission, Natalius Pigai. On his Facebook page, Nababan who is also the Chairperson of Pro Jokowi-Amin Volunteers uploaded a photo of Pigai juxtaposed with a photo of a gorilla, because Pigai criticized the use of Sinovac's vaccine for COVID-19 vaccination in Indonesia.

In another upload, Nababan also commented on the news containing Pigai's statement that the people had the right to refuse the COVID-19 vaccination. Nababan's upload has been reported by a number of parties to the West Papua Regional Police (Polda).

CNN Indonesia launched the Head of the Public Relations Division of the Police, Inspector General R Prabowo Argo Yuwono in Jakarta saying the case was finally taken over by the Criminal Investigation Agency (Bareskrim) of the Police, because Nababan is domiciled in Jakarta. Argo stated that the Directorate of Cyber ​​Crimes, Bareskrim Polri, had also carried out an analysis related to Nababan's upload on his Facebook account.

Read also: West Papuan Batak community strongly condemns Ambroncius Nababan's racist remarks to Natalius Pigai

CNN Indonesia also launched a statement by Nababan who admitted that his upload on Facebook was intended for Natalius personally, and not for the Papuan people. Nababan admitted that he had been a candidate for legislative member from Papua, so he could not betray or insult the Papuan people, let alone commit racism.

But this time the police thought otherwise. On Tuesday (26/1/2021), Tempo.co reported that the Criminal Investigation Unit of the National Police named Ambroncius Nababan as a suspect in the alleged racism case against Natalius Pigai. "Yes, that's right," said Director of Cyber ​​Crime Brigadier General Slamet Uliandi when contacted by Tempo on Tuesday.

Natalius Pigai reminded that Nababan's actions were only part of the problem of racism being nurtured in Indonesia. Pigai said during the Joko Widodo administration, massacres, killings and human rights crimes in Papua tended to be based on racism. Pigai said that the state indeed maintains and manages racism as a means of beating anyone who is opposed to power.

Racism is an Indonesian problem

Papuan researcher from Georgetown University, United States, Veronika Kusumaryati said cases of racism against Indigenous Papuans (OAP) were always repeated. The repetition shows that racism against OAP is a structural and systematic problem involving deep-rooted culture and beliefs. Veronika emphasized that racism is not an individual issue, but is rooted in the beliefs, behaviors, and everyday systems of society that consider one race to be inferior to another.

“In terms of racism against Papuans, the roots of this racism have been going on for a long time and cover various aspects of the state and nation in Indonesia. In fact, Indonesian nationalism can be said to be rooted in the denigratiation of the Papuan people. For example, the word 'liberate' from Soekarno, and now the term 'NKRI is at a Dead Price'," said Veronika, who was contacted by Jubi on Tuesday (26/1/2021).

Veronika highlighted various previous cases of racism, where the perpetrators were not prosecuted. In a small number of cases of racism against Papuans, perpetrators were prosecuted, but received only light sentences. “In fact, Indonesia has Law Number 40 of 2008 concerning the Elimination of Racial and Ethnic Discrimination. However, the law is not understood and implemented even by law enforcers themselves," said Veronika.

The anthropologist, who has conducted research in Papua several times, stated that racist acts were not sufficiently resolved at the individual level, for example by apologizing. “Racism is a social and legal issue. Changes on a personal level alone are not enough. There must be a major overhaul in the belief system, including the education system, legal system, politics and others to create an anti-racist society,” said Veronika.

He appealed to individual Indonesians to learn why Papuans feel they are racially discriminated against. "Indonesians should listen, not patronize Papuans, because the Indonesians who have the problem of racism are Indonesians," he said.

“We must expose and reject racist thoughts and actions. Looking back at the foundations of this country. Don't eat the government version of it raw,” continued Veronika.

Must be talked about to the root

Veronika Kusumaryati invites the Indonesian public to redefine the concept of Indonesian nationality. According to him, the main difficulty in eradicating racist views in Indonesia is the ignorance of Indonesians who allow the definition of nationality to be dominated and dictated by military forces which are clearly undemocratic.

“In 1965, in my opinion, it was not only a defeat for the left, but in a big way for the Indonesian democrats. Of course, this is not just a problem for Indonesia, because the New York Agreement which allowed Indonesia to enter Papua was inspired by Western racist ideology, especially America. Indonesians often feel they have moral supremacy over racist Americans and Europeans. Indonesians feel that they are not racist because they are fighting against colonialism. However, it can be seen from our behavior towards westerners, Chinese and Papuans. Actually, Indonesia is racist too," he continued.

Veronika suspects that this reality is accepted by Indonesians, because since independence they have not achieved much. “Maybe it's a way to cover up Indonesia's coercion and exploitation in Papua. The problem [of racism] is not unique, because many other countries have it. However, accepting that Indonesia is nothing without Papua may be bittersweet," he said.

Also read: Natalius Pigai's Racism Case, this is the Police's appeal to Papuans

In August 2019, the public in Indonesia was shocked to see the anger of Papuans over the case of racism against Papuan students in Surabaya on August 16, 2019. The police had denied the racism and planned to hunt down the video spreaders of racist remarks against Papuan students. Finally, a number of demonstrations against the racism case in Surabaya developed into a mass rage.

One month after the racism incident in Surabaya, academic from The University of Queensland, Jenny Munro wrote in the online journal The Conversation, explaining that Indonesian racism is on the rise because Indonesians don't want to talk about what racism is, what it looks like, and what it means. as a result.

This academic who has been researching in Papua for more than ten years said that Papuans have long experienced racism in Indonesia. However, the Papuan people are always required to remain silent, for the sake of unity and harmony.

“Racism can have serious consequences. Racism causes people to be excluded from discussions about their own future. This can be used to deprive people of dignity, land, autonomy and rights,” he said. The issue of racism must be discussed openly, together, with a cool head of course. (*)

Editor: Aryo Wisanggeni G

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