3) Church leaders in Papua: “the current situation is a human tragedy”
1) Indonesian military cracks down on soldiers selling weapons to Papuan rebels
The illegal sale of government-issued weapons and ammunition by Indonesian soldiers to separatist rebels in the Papua region surged in 2022, military officials said, warning that service members caught aiding the separatists could face execution.
Twenty-seven cases of such illicit sales by army personnel were reported last year, compared with 10 in 2021 in six Papua provinces, Adm. Yudo Margono, commander of the Indonesian military (TNI), said this week.
The military will harshly punish any personnel involved in such transactions, including buying and selling illegal weapons, TNI spokesman Rear Adm. Julius Widjojono said. Headquarters will continue monitoring to prevent illegal weapons trading, especially in the far-eastern Papua region, he said.
“In the future, Adm. Yudo will impose maximum punishment, the death penalty, if military personnel are found to have committed wrongdoing,” Julius told BenarNews on Thursday.
Indonesia as a whole is notorious for corruption across the government and public sector.
“Apart from buying and selling, the abuse includes carrying weapons in inappropriate places, threatening people with arms,” Julius said.
‘An old practice’
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the rebel side and experts on the long-running Papuan conflict confirmed that such sales were occurring but did not comment on the volume or types of weapons sold.
The West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), the military wing of the Free Papua Organization, said such sales have been going on for a long time in Papua.
TPNPB spokesman Sebby Sambom said he bought three automatic weapons from Indonesian troops in Wamena, Papua Pegunungan province, for 300 million rupiah (U.S. $20,435) in 2007 and 2008.
“So, it’s an old practice. It’s not something new. Besides, not all TNI members hate Papuans,” he said.
Sambom said rebels obtained firearms by purchasing them from soldiers or seizing them from the Indonesia army and police.
Yones Douw, a human rights activist in Papua, confirmed that rebels had been purchasing and selling illegal weapons in Papua for years, both individually and in groups.
“Selling weapons in groups is difficult to detect because those who sell and buy protect each other. This is what causes a prolonged conflict that never ends,” Douw told BenarNews.
Supply and demand
Adriana Elisabeth, a researcher at the Papua Peace Network (Jaringan Damai Papua), an NGO focusing on conflict resolution, said the sources of firearms in Papua could come from anywhere, including from members of Indonesian military and police. She said the marketing of such firearms was related to the principle of supply and demand.
“The illegal arms trading involves many parties, including security forces and ordinary people,” Adriana told BenarNews. “That’s financially beneficial as well as a source of prolonged conflict. This condition also ‘commonly’ occurs in many armed conflicts in other countries.”
House member Yan Mandenas urged Yudo to take action against soldiers involved in selling weapons to armed separatist groups and prepare a strategy to prevent this from happening in the future.
“This is a serious violation, so it must be a strict penalty against those who sell weapons,” Yan told BenarNews.
The growing strength and expansion of the TPNPB coincided with an increasing number of factory-made firearms, according to a report published in July 2022 by the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC), a Jakarta think-tank.
In May 2021, the report said, police claimed that six-armed groups operating in Papua possessed 70 firearms – most were government-issued that were stolen or purchased from rogue military or police officers. The firearms included assault weapons manufactured by PT Pindad, the national munitions company.
Some independent estimates put the number of firearms possessed by rebel troops across Papua to be as high as 400 to 450, according to IPAC.
Reports of illegal arms purchases by the TPNPB have been making headlines since 2020. One high-profile case occurred in February 2021 when a soldier and two police in Ambon were arrested after allegedly attempting to sell weapons, according to IPAC.
Weapons and ammunition are either delivered by personnel who use their counterinsurgency assignment in Papua as an opportunity to carry them or hand them over to buyers who can transport them to Papua via sea routes, IPAC reported.
Victor Mambor in Jayapura, Indonesia, contributed to this report.
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian law enforcement claims to have arrested the supplier of firearms and ammunition for the armed criminal groups in the Papua highlands. The team tasked with handling security issues in the region – the Cartenz peace taskforce – revealed that the perpetrator was the head of the Kenyam District in the Nduga Regency.
Cartenz task force commander Faizal Rahmadani revealed that the arrest initially took place in early April. “The arrest was made in April and [the suspect] is being investigated deeper,” said Faizal on Thursday, May 4, 2023, as reported by state news agency Antara.
The district head in question is identified as MM (37), who was also investigated for indications of funding the armed criminal group in the region of Nduga.
Law enforcers also arrested 31 people allegedly involved in the armed criminal group which is believed to pose dangers to locals in the highlands. This specific area is suspected to be the main headquarters for the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), which is the military wing of the Free Papua Movement (OPM).
The Cartenz peace task force in Papua confiscated 13 various types of firearms and 710 ammunition from various calibers. Authorities also confiscated non-firearm weapons, cellular phones, radios, walkie-talkies, and the separatist flag.
ANTARA
World Council of Churches
https://www.oikoumene.org/news/church-leaders-in-papua-the-current-situation-is-a-human-tragedy
04 May 2023
3) Church leaders in Papua: “the current situation is a human tragedy”
Church leaders in Papua, in a position statement directed toward government officials, said “the current situation is a human tragedy,” expressed grave concern about extrajudicial killings and other violence, and called for immediate measures for a sustainable peace.
“The current situation is not the result of one particular incident, such as the case of a pilot being taken hostage,” reads the statement. “It is the result of a long history.”
The statement notes that, during the last four years, the situation has deteriorated drastically.
“According to our observations as religious leaders, after the racist incident in August 2019, developments were dominated by the application of a scenario that no longer intended to find a solution to the conflict or intended to find out the roots of the conflict (roots of racism, roots of discrimination, roots of marginalization, roots of increased political protest),” reads the statement. “The intention turned out to be to control the entire territory of Papua and paralyse all political resistance.”
The church leaders note that the role of the civil government in Papua has been reduced to the point that it is now disappearing.
“Moreover, more and more innocent people, civilians, have become victims,” notes the statement. “It turns out that Papuans can be arrested, beaten, accused of treason without any proper investigation.”
The church leaders urge recognizing the dignity of everyone involved.
“Of course news from the people on the ground is one of the true benchmarks for us, as leaders of the religious community, because they simply talk about their experiences, not about fantasies,” reads the statement. “The truth is very important to establish together, because it is the key to peace.”
The statement also urges a policy that is based on the root causes of the conflict.
“A number of constitutional rights have been removed and the atmosphere of democracy has declined significantly,” reads the statement. “These two elements are deeply felt in Papua.”
The church leaders call for restoring all basic constitutional rights. “An important part to restore the situation should be a focus on those who are internally displaced so that they receive the necessary services they need until they can return to their villages,” continues the statement. “It is impossible for a negotiation to be carried out where the threat of the authorities is at the door.”
The statement ends will a call for the dignity of every human being to be placed above anything else. “This is a top priority!” the statement concludes.
The results were presented to Vice President Ma'ruf Amin and several ministries, such as the Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs and Ministry of Defense.
"We have carried out seven rounds of study. The results have been presented to a number of ministries. We have also held a meeting with Mister VP," Widjajanto told journalists at the Presidential Palace Complex, Jakarta, on Thursday.
However, he said, specific results of the study were not yet available for public consumption.
"I cannot disclose the substance due to the study's undisclosed nature. This is the least I can tell," he emphasized.
Furthermore, the governor affirmed that Lemhannas would still continue the study as planned, including in the form of monthly monitoring studies.
Regarding the end result of the study, he emphasized that all rounds of study conducted by Lemhannas aligned with the theme of "Peace in Papua, for sure. Peace and welfare in Papua."
Earlier, at the end of 2022, Widjajanto had revealed his institution's plan to conduct a study in Papua. The study was meant to assess the level of readiness to hold the 2024 elections in four DOBs: Southwest Papua, Highland Papua, South Papua, and Central Papua.
Apart from the readiness of Papuan DOBs, he said Lemhannas would also conduct a special study on the escalation of violence in Papua.
He noted that the institution would start by studying the signs of violence.
"Later, we will proceed to figure out the structural roots of violence in Papua. The result will then be expected to determine whether the violence comes from historical, identity, or welfare distribution factors," he noted at the Lemhannas office on December 21, 2022.
In 2023, Lemhannas had included Papua as one of its main topics of study, along with seven others: democracy consolidation, digital transformation, green economy, blue economy, the new capital city (IKN) Nusantara construction, crises, and geopolitics.
Earlier, on April 4, 2023, Lemhannas had also attended a closed-door meeting with Commission I of the Indonesian House of Representatives to discuss studies and complexity of issues in Papua.
Related news: Tanah Papua Festival to promote local tourism: govt
Related news: TNI inaugurates statue to mark West Papua's union with Indonesia
The festival marks the beginning of the future economic progress of Sorong district, Southwest Papua, director of Nusantara tourism marketing at the ministry, Dwi Marhen, said here on Wednesday.
"This event offers a great opportunity for Sorong district to introduce its potential," he added.
According to him, the festival will seek to optimize the region's potential by introducing it to the public, hence, attracting more tourists in the future.
"This activity is very good so it needs to be done regularly because only through events like this, the region's potential will be famous," he said.
The ministry is targeting 7.4 million foreign tourist visits this year and 1.4 billion domestic tourist movements.
It will take seven movements of Indonesia's total population of 275 million to reach the 1.4 billion movements target, he highlighted.
Related news: Ministry to hold cross-border festival in Jayapura
According to him, optimizing the movement of Indonesian tourists is aimed at anticipating the global economic recession.
"The target is for one person to spend Rp2.4 million for transportation, hotel stays, souvenirs, and so on," he informed.
If 1.4 billion movements are achieved and each tourist spends Rp2.4 million, he said, there will be Rp3,210 trillion (around US$218 billion) circulating in the tourism and creative economy sectors.
Based on a survey, he said, the first reason tourists come to Indonesia is to see its cultural arts, not only nature.
"Southwest Papua is very rich in culture. The local government must present unique Papuan cultural attractions, and I think that will attract tourists," he added.
Foreign tourists also come to Indonesia to experience spectacular moments, he said.
"Like this festival; so not only beautiful sceneries attract tourists," he explained.
He then asked local governments to hold touristy events that can attract the attention of travelers.
Related news: Papua`s cultural diversity praiseworthy
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