PUBLISHED 25 FEB 2022
combat-heavy approach and replace it with a softer, ‘humanistic approach‘ instead. This move has been publicly supported by Vice President, Ma’ruf Amin, who oversees Papua policies, and the army chief of staff, General Dudung Abdurrachman.
The new approach will see soldiers in Papua doing more civic missions to win the hearts and minds of the Papuans. Apart from carrying out combat missions, soldiers will also function as teachers, healthcare workers, or infrastructure builders. It is hoped that by being closer to the ground, the troops would succeed in persuading tribal leaders not to support the rebel groups.
To operationalise the new approach, existing ‘non-organic combat troops’ in Papua, currently under the command of military units outside Papua, will be reassigned to the army’s Papua regional territorial units.
One problem with this approach is that it is widely known that the military commands in Papua do not have sufficient personnel and territorial units to deal with security disturbances. There would always be a need for non-organic troops from outside Papua. Between 2019 to 2021, according to Hipolitus Wangge, a graduate student at the Australian National University who compiled the data on military deployment, on average, around 9,000 additional troops were deployed per year to Papua.
The existing territorial organisation of the army in Papua, particularly at the district level (Kodim) and below, is woefully inadequate. There are only 22 Kodims in the region. (It is estimated that a Kodim in Papua comprises around 700-900 troops.) Ideally, there should be 60 Kodims in the two Military Regional Commands (Kodam) in Papua. Gen. Perkasa plans to add eight new Kodims in the near future.
To make up for the personnel shortages and reduce dependence on combat forces outside of Papua, so-called “Special Autonomy Non-Commissioned Officers” (NCOs, Bintara Otsus) have been created. The military and police plan to recruit 3,000 indigenous Papuan youths to serve in the police and army. This recruitment program has been underway since early 2020, when Gen. Andika was still the army’s chief of staff. These Special Autonomy NCOs are being educated and trained in Java. They have been “grafted” in Kodims throughout Java to learn about the TNI’s ‘territorial approach’ – which is unique to Indonesia and emphasises the military’s ‘dual-function’ (dwifungsi) doctrine of engaging in both military and civic missions.
Significantly, funding for the training of this Papuan unit is drawn from the Special Autonomy Fund rather than the state budget. It suggests that this move is being driven by the intent to use more indigenous Papuans to deal with Papuan separatism. But herein lies some potential dangers. The creation of the Special Autonomy NCOs has the potential to sow divisions among indigenous Papuans and perpetuate the conflict rather than extinguish it.
Activists and civil society organisations have responded to the shift in security approach with caution and some scepticism. Several organisations, including the National Human Rights Commission, welcomed this plan – partly because there had initially been some misunderstanding in equating the new humanistic approach with the withdrawal of troops from Papua.
Others have been more cynical. Reverend Socrates Yoman, President of the Fellowship of the Baptist Churches of West Papua (PGBWP) said that the move was ‘just a change of clothes’ for the non-organic troops. Similarly, the West Papua National Liberation Army spokesman, Sebby Sambom, did not believe the TNI’s promise to withdraw non-organic troops from Papua and dismissed the humanistic approach as ‘nonsense’.
Putting cynicism aside, any genuine move to de-emphasise combat missions and prioritise civic missions may be a bit of a gamble and premature, because the security situation in Papua has continued to deteriorate. Based on data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), attacks by the National Liberation Army/Free Papua Organization (TPN/OPM) against the TNI have increased sharply over the past three years.
Number of TPN/OPN Attacks on TNI/Polri, 2015 – 2021
| Year | Number of Attacks |
| 2015 | 12 |
| 2016 | NA |
| 2017 | 13 |
| 2018 | 25 |
| 2019 | 34 |
| 2020 | 73 |
| 2021 | 137 |
Source: ACLED
Usually, the ‘territorial approach’ is carried out only after combat operations are completed successfully. Operations aimed at winning the hearts and minds of the population are usually directed at maintaining military gains obtained after combat operations. The sharp spike in the number of attacks between 2020 and 2021 suggests that the combat operations are far from complete.
It is still too early to measure the success and sustainability of Gen. Perkasa’s shift in security approach for Papua. Furthermore, he has only ten months to fully implement his plans, as he is due to retire at the end of this year. But based on the current realities on the ground, it looks like achieving success could be a long shot.
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2) Papua rights activist Victor Yeimo rejects treason charges
Suara Papua – February 22, 2022
Atamus Kepno, Jayapura – The preliminary court hearing against West Papua National Committee (KNPB) international spokesperson Victor Yeimo was held at the Jayapura District Court in Abepura, Papua, on Monday February 21.
During the hearing, the public prosecutor read out the indictment in which he charged Yeimo under the makar (treason, subversion, rebellion) articles.
The defense believes that the charges are excessive because what happened in August 2019 was a response to the racism which is rooted in the nature of the Indonesian population against Papuans.
The prosecution said that during the protest actions which ended in riots on August 29, 2019, there was verbal as well as written involvement of the defendant along with his colleague the chairperson of the KNPB, Agus Kossay, in demonstrations which were facilitated by the chairpersons of the Student Executive Council (BEM) in Jayapura.
"They [the chairpersons of the West Papua National Parliament (PNWP), the Federal Republic of West Papua (NRFPB), the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation (WPNCL) and the Free West Papua Campaign (FWPC), together with the defendant], called for, and took part in committing the act of makar with the maximum [aim] of all or part of the country's territory [separating from Indonesia]", said prosecutor Andrianus Y. Tomana in reading out the charge sheet at the Jayapura District Court on Monday.
According to the prosecutor, the defendant is being indicted for crimes under Article 106 of the Criminal Code (KUHP) in conjunction with Article 55 Paragraph (1) on the crime of makar, Article 110 Paragraph 1 of the KUHP on criminal conspiracy to commit a crime, and Article 110 Paragraph 2 on endeavoring to mobilise people or call on people to commit a crime.
"An alliance of several organisations made up of the PNWP, the NRFPB, the WPNCL and the FWPC, conducted political mobilisations overseas to get international political support so that it would be taken to and be discussed at the United Nations [General] Assembly in order to obtain political rights in the form of a referendum for Papuan independence", said the prosecutor.
In response, Yeimo conceded that it was true that he was involved as a participant in the anti-racist demonstration on August 19, 2019, however the action proceeded without problems and after it finished the protesters returned home in an orderly manner.
"I was arrested only because of the racism case, indeed I was involved and it's true there were speeches. But it was not just me that gave speeches, the DPRP [Papua Regional House of Representatives] spoke, the governor spoke, all of the Papuan people spoke at the time. So if I'm being tried, why aren't they being tried", he asked.
Yeimo explained that he attended along with other Papuan people in order to oppose and to fight against racism in the form of a demonstration and this opposition was conveyed peacefully at the Papua governor's office.
"I was involved in providing security for the Papuan protesters heading towards the governor's office, we conveyed our aspirations transparently at the governor's office, we returned home peacefully without incident. So I reject the charge of makar because the prosecutor is fabricating it all", he asserted.
Yeimo rejected the prosecutor's charges because racism is the mutual enemy of individuals, groups and institutions, nationally as well as internationally. So following the hate speech against the Papuan students in Surabaya, East Java, all the Papuan people felt struck to the core.
"The DPRP, the governor, everyone who exits in this land was struck to the core by these racist actions. I am a human being, not an animal, I'm not a monkey, I was struck to the core and I was involved in the anti-racist actions and I have the right to defend my nation", he said.
Meanwhile with regard to the actions which followed, Yeimo claimed he was not involved as an individual or organisationally in organising or planning the follow up actions.
"Indeed I myself was not involved there because I know that the second round of actions were organised by other parties to intentionally damage our struggle in Papua. To intentionally play people off against one another, migrants against indigenous Papuans", he explained.
Yeimo said he believes that the prosecutor's indictment is full of wild assumptions which involve the actions of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), the PNWP, the NRFPB, the WPNCL and the FWPC. He rejects the charges in subjective as well as objective terms.
"If you want to try [ULMWP Chairperson] Benny Wenda then please go ahead and try Benny Wanda, [ULMWP Deputy Chairperson] Buchtar Tabuni, [ULMWP Legislative Committee Chairperson] Edison Waromi, the ULMWP, the KNPB leadership, please go ahead and try them. If there is another case besides the racist incident please go ahead and try it because I think that it has already been tried", he said.
Yeimo said that he is not guilty in the case involving the actions against racism because racism is our mutual enemy.
"I am in no way guilty in this case because my involvement in the actions against racism was because racism is our mutual enemy. All of us, so we will fight together so if this hearing is to proceed properly I ask that this case be as just as possible", he said.
Victor Yiemo's lawyer meanwhile, Gustaf Kawer, said that his client is ill and must receive routine treatment.
"The condition of the defendant is that he is ill and is undergoing a six month program of treatment which was extended again to nine months. So there is still five more months", he explained.
Kawer said he hopes that the judges and the prosecution will look carefully at the medical condition of the defendant so the hearings can proceed smoothly.
"The defendant also [unclear] health is not upset by of course a process which is other then smooth, this is justice that must exist for the defendant", he said.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Victor Yeimo: Saya Tolak Dituntut Makar".]
Source: https://suarapapua.com/2022/02/22/victor-yeimo-saya-tolak-dituntut-makar/
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