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https://en.jubi.id/police-confiscate-papuan-peoples-petition-leaflets/
1) Police confiscate Papuan People’s Petition leaflets
Restriction To Freedom Of Expression - News Desk 27 July 2022
Jayapura, Jubi – Activists of the Papuan People’s Petition (PRP) on Tuesday, July 26, 2022, distributed leaflets inviting people to join the protests on July 29 against Papua expansion and special autonomy. They gave the leaflets in three locations, namely the Waena taxi round, the fork in SPG Waena Street, and at the Old Terminal Expo Waena. However, they were dispersed by a number of police officers who confiscated their leaflets.
PRP spokesman Jefri Wenda said the police did so because they thought the distribution of leaflets had provoked the community to engage in demonstrations. Wenda regretted the police action because the PRP had followed the procedure as regulated by Law No. 9/1998 on Freedom to Express Opinions in Public.
“We have written to the police regarding the action plan. If the police later said there was no permit for distributing the leaflets, the police were mistaken, this is part of the notice we submitted,” Wenda told Jubi on Tuesday.
Wenda reminded the police that the law had guaranteed the right of every citizen to express opinions in public and the police did not have the authority to permit or prohibit protests.
After what happened on Tuesday, Wenda suspected that the rally on July 29 would again be hindered by the police. “The police have destroyed democratic values. Even worse, the police have silenced the democratic space for the Papuan people members of the PRP,” he said.
Even so, PRP Coordinator Warpo Wetipo asked people who want to take to the streets not to be afraid. He emphasized that the Papuan people would continue to carry out peaceful actions to reject the Special Autonomy for Papua and the formation of three new provinces resulting from the Papua expansion. “We will continue to convey our aspirations to the Papuan Legislative Council. We will be marching. Therefore, we invite all people to participate and support the cause,” he said.
Wetipo said that silenced democratic space is not new for Papuan people. “The disbandment of the protest, the beating of the mass, the blocking of the rally, even the shooting of Papuans are all nothing new for the Papuan people who continue to fight against the colonial state of Indonesia,” he said.
The United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) and the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), agreeing to mutually support each other’s independence struggles.
The Memorandum was signed on the WHEN in the WHERE by ULMWP Interim President Benny Wenda and Roch Wamytan, President of the New Caledonian (Kanak) Congress. It reaffirms the close bonds of solidarity and friendship between the Kanak and West Papua liberation movements. This historic step formalises the strong relationship that has long existed between the two groups, based on their common Melanesian identity and struggle against occupation.
The Memorandum sets out that both parties will support the other party’s independence in various domestic and international fora, including the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG). Interim President Wenda stated that its signing signalled the enduring importance of Melanesian solidarity, and invited all Melanesian and Pacific leaders to follow the FLNKS’ example and show that no Pacific nation is left behind in their fight for freedom.
On behalf of the ULMWP, Wenda has previously issued messages of solidarity and support for the FLNKS ahead of the first of the three referendums on independence held in Kanaky in November 2018. The most recent of these referendums, held in December 2021, was boycotted by pro-independence Indigenous Kanaks after the FLNKS’ request for its postponement due to rising Covid cases was denied.
Interim President Benny Wenda of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua said: “Like the Kanak leader Jean-Marie Tjibaou, all West Papuans dream of a Melanesia no longer divided by colonialism. As the founding father of Vanuatu, Walter Lini, said, ‘we will not be free until all Melanesians are free’. The Kanak struggle is the West Papuan struggle, and the West Papuan struggle is the Kanak struggle – we are occupied together, and we will be liberated together.”
Roch Wamytan, President of the New Caledonian Congress said: “”We have signed this accord because each of us are confronted by a process of decolonisation and emancipation. The people of Papua New Guinea with Indonesia and us with the French state. This process of decolonisation has not ended for us, it has been ruptured over time, to say the least.”
Contact: Interim President Benny Wenda (press@ulmwp.org)
Wamena, Jubi – As the law on the formation of new Papua provinces was passed, one of which was the establishment of the Mountainous Papua Province with its capital in Wamena, the Huwula Indigenous Care Team asked the local government to make regulations on customary land. The Mountainous Papua Province has never been the desire of the Huwula Indigenous People and the community rejects the stipulation of Wamena as the capital of the Mountainous Papua.
The group plans to convey its aspirations through a peaceful demonstration at the Jayawijaya Regional Legislative Council on Monday, July 25, 2022. However, they were not permitted by the police, even though the police in Indonesia, according to law, had no authority to permit or prohibit protests. The Huwula Care Team then held a media meeting in the Customary Council Office in Wamena, Jayawijaya Regency.
General action coordinator Welis Doga told Jubi that in the notice he sent to the police, he only stated that his party wanted to encourage the local government and lawmakers to make some kind of regional regulation regarding the protection of indigenous peoples’ lands in the Baliem Valley.
According to him, the Huwula Indigenous Care Team itself was established in order to protect customary lands due to massive land grabbing, as witnessed in Papua’s capital city of Jayapura today, wherein the indigenous people of Jayapura were marginalized or even eliminated.
“Therefore, we don’t want the same thing to happen again in Wamena, especially because the land in this valley is small,” he said.
Welis Doga hoped if there was regulation on customary land, the land would not necessarily be traded every time a new province was formed. “Those authorities can bring home the new autonomous region, we do not need it here, not in Wamena. The people in this valley do not want a new autonomous region,” he said.
He further expressed his disappointment with the security forces who limited people’s rights to protest, even when they had delivered the notification letter telling that the protest intended to convey nothing more than the call to protect customary lands.
Meanwhile, Jayawijaya Police Chief Adj. Sr. Come. Hesman Napitupulu confirmed that his party did not allow the protest. He said the police were worried about the protest turning into chaos as in previous demonstrations.
“We all know there was an incident in Jayawijaya where a flagpole was broken during a protest, we don’t want things like that to happen again. That’s why we don’t allow this action to be carried out. If the people want to express their aspirations, please convey them in an orderly manner, maybe write letters? So that the situation in our area can remain safe,” said the Jayawijaya Police Chief. (*)
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