AWPA condemns the killing of two West Papuan demonstrators in the Yahukimo regency

Australian West Papua Association (Sydney)

Statement.  AWPA condemns the killing of two West Papuan demonstrators in the  Yahukimo regency

16 March 2022

The Australia West Papua Association condemns the killing of two West Papuan demonstrators in the  Yahukimo regency on Tuesday the 15 March 2022.

 

A Benar news article  reported that Indonesian security forces killed two people and wounded several more when they fired into a crowd of peaceful protesters numbering in the hundreds.  The demonstrators had been protesting against the proposal to create new provinces in the territory.

Indonesian Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian has proposed dividing  Papua into six provinces,  Southwest Papua, West Papua, Central Papua, the Central Highlands, South Papua and Papua Tabi Saireri although the proposal is still being discussed.

Joe Collins of AWPA said, “more provinces mean more security forces in each province which will lead to more human rights abuses, more involvement of the security forces in resource extraction and from Jakarta’s point of view a case of divide and rule”.   West Papua is already one of the most militarised areas of the archipelago. 

The division of West Papua is  opposed by West Papuans and there have being ongoing protests against the division over the past week.

On the 8th March hundreds of Cendrawasih University students took to the streets in a rally  opposing the creation of new provinces in Papua.

On Friday the 11 March 90 Papuan students were arrested during a protest  near the Presidential Palace complex in Central Jakarta although later released.

And in Wamena on the 10th March thousands took to the streets of Wamena protesting the division.

 

Photo from Benar News) An anti-government protester is treated for a gunshot wound at the Dekai Hospital in Yahukimo, a regency of Indonesia’s Papua province, March 15, 2022. [Piter Lokon/BenarNews]

It was also reported that a number of shops were burned during the protest in the Yahukimo regency.

Joe Collins said, "it is tragic that nearly 60 years after Indonesian took over administration of West Papua from the UN in 1963, West Papuans are still being killed in peaceful rallies protesting against the injustice they suffer under Indonesian rule. It is also tragic that Canberra continues to ignore the ongoing human rights abuses committed by the Indonesian security forces in West Papua".

Ends

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Reported on KNPB News FB page concerning rally in the  Yahukimo regency

BREAKING! The police brutally shot dead Erson Weipa (21), a peaceful protester who refused to expand today. Erson from the Mek tribe was also involved in coordinating the peaceful demonstration. He exhaled while at Dekai Hospital. Police also shot dead Yakob Meklok (39). Three others, Lucky Kobak (21), Anton Itlay (23), Setti Kobak (22) are still critically in the hospital. Dekai with police gunshot wounds. The other three who were shot are still missing.

and KNPB News FP

Until this afternoon, thousands of masses of Yahukimo people still occupy the heart of Dekai, rejecting Otsus, the expansion of new autonomous regions in Papua, and demanding independence. They demanded the Regent of Yahukimo, Didimus Yahuli, and the DPRD to stop the unilateral compromise for Pemekaran, because Yahukimo was still under military emergency.

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