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https://en.tempo.co/read/1566974/papua-liberation-group-admits-shooting-8-workers-in-ilaga
1) Papua Liberation Group Admits Shooting 8 Workers in Ilaga
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - West Papua Liberation Army - Free Papua Movement (TPNPB - OPM) claimed responsibility for the shooting in Kago Village, Ilaga District, at 13:00 Western Indonesian Time (WIB) Wednesday, March 2. The shooting killed 8 employees of telecommunication firm PT Palapa Timur Telematika (PTT).
“TPNPB under the leadership of Gen Goliath Tabuni and Major General Lekagak Telenggen are responsible for the shooting,” said the TPNPB - OPM spokesman Sebby Sambom via WhatsApp chat on Friday morning, March 4.
Sebby said there was no reason to justify the presence of civilians in the area since TPNPB had announced and asked them to immediately leave the war zone. “So all those who were shot were members of the TNI (Indonesian Military) and Polri (National Police),” he said.
He thus issued a stern warning that all immigrants should immediately leave the war area. “And all forms of development projects must be left emptied.”
Sebby also explained why TPNPB was fully responsible for this shooting. “The war order has been announced by the TPNPB General Operations Commander Major General Lekagak Telenggen in 2017 in Jambi, Puncak Jaya, Papua,” he said.
Previously, the Cenderawasih Military Command XVII spokesman Colonel Aqsha Erlangga confirmed that a number of employees of PT Palapa Timur Telematika had been shot dead while repairing Telkomsel's Tower Base Transceiver Station 3 in Kago Village.
“Eight workers of PTT died,” said Erlangga in a written statement, Thursday, March 3. He added that one worker survived the shooting by the OPM army.
Read: Papuan Church Leaders to Meet Military Commander over Shooting of Pastor
MOH KHORY ALFARIZI
Separatist rebels have killed eight technicians in Indonesia's Papua province, in the worst attack in more than three years, security authorities say.
The technicians were repairing a telecommunications tower operated by the country's largest carrier Telkomsel in Beoga district on Wednesday when members of the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) attacked them, police spokesman Ahmad Musthofa Kamal said on Friday.
Another worker found the bodies the following day and reported the incident to authorities, he said.
The TPNPB, the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement, claimed responsibility for the attack.
"We shot dead eight people. One person fell into a ravine when we shot him, so we don't know his fate," the group said in a statement.
The armed group urged the Indonesian government to stop a planned gold mine at the Wabu Block in Intan Jaya district, close a gold and copper mine operated by US-based Freeport McMoRan and bring rights violators to justice.
"As long as ...Freeport is still running, we will continue to fight and fight until the last drop of our blood," the group said.
Oi December 2018, 20 people were killed when separatist rebels attacked workers building the trans-Papua highway.
Papua, on the western half of New Guinea island, has been the scene of a separatist insurgency since the 1960s.
The mainly Melanesian region was incorporated into Indonesia in a UN-administered ballot in 1969.
Australian Associated Press
3) Interim President Wenda: We welcome UN call for urgent humanitarian access and action on child killings, disappearances, torture and mass displacement of our people
The eyes of the world are watching in horror the invasion of Ukraine. We feel their terror, we feel their pain and our solidarity is with these men, women and children. We see their suffering and we weep at the loss of innocent lives, the killing of children, the bombing of their homes, and for the trauma of refugees who are forced to flee their communities.
The world has spoken up to condemn the actions of Putin and his regime. The world also applauds the bravery and spirit of Ukrainians in their resistance; as they defend their families, their homes, their communities, and their national identity.
Last week, Indonesia’s permanent representative to the UN said that the military attack on Ukraine is unacceptableand called for peace. That innocent civilians ‘will ultimately bear the brunt of this ongoing situation’.
But what about innocent civilians in West Papua? At the UN, Indonesia speaks of itself as ‘a peaceful nation’ committed to a world ‘based on peace and social justice’.
This, on the very same day that reports came in of 7 young boys, elementary school children, being arrested, beaten and tortured so horrifically by the Indonesian military that one of the boys, Makilon Tabuni, died from his injuries. The other boys were taken to hospital, seriously wounded.
The Indonesian military is deliberately targeting the young, the next generation. This, to crush our spirit and extinguish hope.
These are our children that you are torturing and killing, with impunity. Are they not ‘innocent civilians’, or are their lives just worth less?
This, on the same week that UN experts themselves have called for urgent humanitarian access and spoken of ‘shocking abuses’ against our people, including ‘child killings, disappearances, torture and mass displacement of people’.
This is the acknowledgement our people have been crying out for.
Between 60-100,00 people are currently displaced, without any support or aid. This is a humanitarian crisis. Women forced to give birth in the bush, without medical assistance. Children are malnourished and starving. And still, Indonesia does not allow international access.
Our people have been suffering this, without the eyes of the world watching, for nearly 60 years.
In response, the Indonesian Ambassador to the UN continues with total denial, with shameless lies and hypocrisy. If there’s nothing to hide, then where is the access?
To Indonesia, I say this:
The international community is waking up and you cannot continue to hide your shameful secret any longer.
Like the Ukrainian people, you will not crush our spirit, you will not steal our hope and we will not give up our struggle for freedom.
We now demand you allow access for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, for humanitarian aid to our displaced people and to international journalists.
We now demand you withdraw your military.
We now demand you release political prisoners, including Victor Yeimo and the ‘Abepura Eight’.
We now demand our right to self determination and an end to the illegal occupation of our land.
Benny Wenda
Interim President
ULMWP Provisional Government
https://www.abc.net.au/radio-australia/programs/pacificbeat/west-papua-ukraine-media-representation/13779548
4) Ukraine's war with Russia has been making world headlines — so why isn't the conflict in West Papua?
International media has been facing scrutiny from indigenous groups in the Pacific, for the way it has been
covering the Russia-Ukraine war.
Some have highlighted "double standards" among journalists who have brought attention to the plight of
Ukrainians, while long-standing conflicts like those in Indonesia's provinces of West Papua and Papua are
often ignored.
Vanuatu's Opposition leader and former foreign minister, Ralph Regenvanu, said a media clampdown in
West Papua has made it difficult for media to report on the situation there.
"The media blackout is a big contributing factor," he said.
"In Ukraine, at least, we have journalists from around the world, whereas in West Papua, they're banned
completely."
This week, the United Nations issued a statement sounding the alarm on human rights abuses in Papua,
and called for urgent aid.
It also urged the Indonesian Government to conduct full and independent investigations into allegations
of torture, extrajudicial killings and the displacement of thousands of West Papuans.
But Mr Regenvanu said Indonesia has refused to allow independent observers into the territories.
"Indonesia has just refused point blank to do it, and has actually stepped up escalated the occupation
in the military, suppression of the people there," he said.
A senior US policy advisor drew heat from indigenous activists online after he tweeted: "I'm racking my
brain for a historical parallel to the courage and fighting spirit of the Ukrainians and coming up empty.
How many peoples have ever stood their ground against an aggressor like this? It's legendary."
Veronica Koman from Amnesty International said such commentaries about the situation in Ukraine
gnored the many instances of indigenous resistance against colonisation.
"West Papuans have been fighting since the 1950s. First Nations in Australia have been fighting since
more than 240 years ago," Ms Koman said.
"That's how resilient the fights are … it's just pointing out the the double standard."
Ms Koman said the West Papua and Papua provinces of Indonesia are currently experiencing some
of the worst humanitarian crises.
"60,000 to 100,000 people being displaced right now in West Papua due to armed conflict, and these
displaced people are mostly ignored," she said.
"They are not getting assisted and all because mostly they are in forests. And they are afraid to return to
their homes so are just running away from Indonesian forces.
"The situation is really bad and deserves our attention. And Ukraine war shows us that another world is
possible, if only there's no double standards and racism."
The piglets had recently been transported by the Peace Cartenz Task Force to the district aboard Rimbun Air's cargo aircraft, Head of the National Police's Public Relations Division Inspector General Dedi Prasetyo remarked.
"Purchased from one of the pig breeders expertly mentored by the Jayapura Vocational Training Center, the piglets' health is guaranteed," Prasetyo noted in a statement that ANTARA quoted here, Thursday.
The piglets will gradually be distributed to local farmers capable of independent swine breeding. Thus, they can later supply swine breeds to local residents in need, he remarked.
Related news: Armed Papuan terrorists' victims in Ilaga evacuated to Mimika Hospital
In future, the Peace Cartenz Task Force will continue its community empowerment program by focusing on developing pig farming in Yahukimo District.
To this end, the program package will include providing skills of building pig cages, developing vocational training centers for pig farmers, and drilling water wells, he noted.
The National Police officially launched the Operation Peace Cartenz covering the areas of Pegunungan Bintang, Yahukimo, Nduga, Intan Jaya, and Ilaga districts on January 17, 2022.
The operation, which focuses on community empowerment, intelligence, public relations, and law enforcement, will be in effect until December 31, 2022.
Related news: Jayapura city gov't expedites COVID-19 vaccination of elderly
According to ANTARA, Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko had stated that Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) unswervingly drew emphasis to prosperity-oriented approaches to tackle Papua-related matters.
Citing one of the shining examples of the Jokowi administration's prosperity-oriented approaches, Moeldoko highlighted various infrastructure construction projects in Papua and West Papua to enable them to be at par with other provinces.
President Jokowi also prioritized boosting the economic sector of Papua and West Papua by, for instance, enforcing the one-fuel price policy there as part of the government’s endeavors to create social justice for the local people, he pointed out.
Related news: MPR, govt agree to strengthen humanistic approach in Papua, West Papua
The government also remains focused on development of the health and education sectors in the two Indonesian provinces, he remarked.
Moeldoko believes that the second phase of special autonomy status granted for Papua and West Papua would be driven to fuel a new spirit in expediting developments to create prosperity in both provinces.
ANTARA noted that the central government had provided special autonomy funds worth Rp126.99 trillion to Papua and West Papua since 2012.
In Indonesia’s 2019 human development index, Papua and West Papua recorded scores of 64.7 and 60.84 respectively.
Related news: LPDP awardees must return to serve Indonesia: Mata Garuda
Related news: W Papua authorities foil attempt to smuggle 59 endemic birds, reptiles
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