Papua Police chief, Inspector General Mathius Fakhiri, confirmed here that the joint team raided the house in the Obio residential complex on Pertanian Street at 2:54 a.m. Eastern Indonesian Time (WIT).
The raid was led by the head of operations of Yahukimo Police, Adjunct Commissioner Alwi Wairooy, and was carried out at two houses where the separatists were suspected to be holed up.
The team arrested 22 persons during the raid and seized sharp weapons, traditional weapons, and air rifles from them.
“Currently, they are still being questioned by investigators at the Yahukimo Police Headquarters in Dekai," he informed.
The arrested suspects include four students, two university students, and three kampong heads.
Earlier on May 4, 2023, a joint team arrested 9 persons during a raid on a house suspected of being a hiding place for an armed separatist group (KKB) on Paradiso Street in Dekai Sub-district, Yahukimo District.
A spokesperson for the Papua Police, Senior Commissioner Ignatius Benny Prabowo, said that during the raid, nine people were arrested and evidence was secured in the form of personal documents, electronic devices, sharp weapons such as arrows, axes, machetes, knives, scissors, air rifles, as well as a homemade weapon.
The Cartenz Peace Operation Task Force launched a hunt for six of the 9 separatists who allegedly murdered two residents of Statistik Dekai Street in Yahukimo District.
On April 30, the armed separatists reportedly raided the home of Yonatan Arruan and Asri Obet from Toraja, South Sulawesi, on Statistik Dekai Street.
Police officers found Arruan, a private worker, dead behind the house. Meanwhile, Obet, a farmer, was found dead in a field behind the house.
Related news: Security personnel continue to persuade Papuan insurgents: police
Related news: Security personnel continue to persuade Papuan insurgents: police
Free Papua Organisation (OPM) leader Jeffrey Bomanak has appealed to US President Joe Biden for a “proactive role” in ending Indonesia’s “unlawful military occupation and annexation” of West Papua.
He claims this illegal occupation led to the subsequent US “foreign policy failure” in protecting six decades of crimes against humanity.
Bomanak made this appeal in an open letter to the President — a harrowing 22-page document citing a litany of alleged human rights violations against Papuan men, women and children by Indonesian security forces — days before Biden’s arrival in the Papua New Guinea capital Port Moresby next week for a vital summit with Pacific leaders.
- READ MORE: Mass arrests and forced dispersals in West Papua on Human Rights Day
- Amnesty calls on Jakarta to free West Papuan activist Victor Yeimo
- Other West Papua reports
“Six decades of callous betrayal and abandonment – my people enslaved, imprisoned, assaulted, tortured, raped, murdered, massacred, poisoned, impoverished, and starved and forcefully relocated; villages bombed . . . every day of every week,” wrote Bomanak in the letter dated May 17.
He said that when West Papua was part of the Dutch colonial empire for 500 years, “we were never abused and mistreated . . . we were never subjected to crimes against humanity”.
However, under Indonesia’s colonial empire, “we have lived in a slaughterhouse with hundreds of thousands of victims — men, women, and children.
‘Gateway to hell’
“The New York Agreement, written and sponsored by your government on 15 August 1962 without any inclusion or representation of a single West Papuan, paved the road for this slaughterhouse.
“My people call this agreement ‘The Gateway to Hell’.”
Bomanak accused the US, along with Australia and New Zealand – “our Second World War allies” – of having treated the West Papuan people as “collateral damage” for “geopolitical convenience” when dealing with Jakarta.
“Unfortunately, these democratic Christian governments who we supported during the life-and-death cataclysm of the Second World War, abandoned both their duty to support international decolonisation laws and their duty of care to stop Indonesia’s barbarism against indigenous West Papuans — the rightful landowners of our ancestral lands,” he said.
Bomanak’s open letter cited horrendous case after case with gruesome photographic documentation.
“I would like to introduce you to some of these crimes against humanity and some of our victims,” he began.
“I have restricted the prima facie photographic evidence to not visually include the worst of the worst. Although, how this can be defined is a subjective detail beyond my assessment – they are all my suffering grandmothers and grandfathers, mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, sons and daughters.
“Every crime is personal. Every victim is family.
Mutilation and dismemberment
“Dismemberment is one of Indonesia’s defence and security forces specialties to instill terror and fear into village populations,” Bomanak said.
“This practice has been used from the beginning of the Indonesian military occupation and is still being used.”
Bomanak provided documentation of a 35-year-old woman, Tarina Murib, who was allegedly beheaded by Indonesian security forces on 4 March 2023. – International Mother’s Day.
“Murdered and mutilated by the Indonesian military in Puncak Regency; villages and churches have been emptied as thousands more soldiers have been deployed in the area.”
Bomanak also cited the killing and mutilation on 22 August 2022 of four Papuan civilians by Indonesian special forces — Irian Nirigi, Arnold Lokbere, Atis Tini and Kelemanus Nirigi.
“[They] were beheaded and their legs were cut off before their bodies were placed in sacks and tossed into the Pigapu river.”
He raised cases of assaults on village elders and children.
“Using terror to make us fear to stand up for our right to freedom . . . our right to defend our ancestral lands from a hostile and barbaric invader.”
Infanticide
“It is estimated that 150,000 children have been victims of Indonesian crimes against humanity. This is the equivalent of a Holocaust,” said Bomanak.
“An evil forced upon West Papua for Cold War politics and to satisfy American mining company Freeport-McMoRan’s quest to be the beneficiary of West Papua’s spectacular mineral reserves rather than the Dutch, which would have been the case if West Papua had been decolonised in accordance with international law and if the rights of West Papua’s people to freedom and nation-state sovereignty had been respected,” he said.
Bomanak cited the case of nine-year-old Kris Tabuni, who died on 18 October 2022. His death is still unexplained.
Truth ‘distortion’
Bomanak condemned politicians and diplomats who “cannot envisage Indonesia leaving West Papua”.
“It is a step that is difficult for them to take. They respond to the injustice of the invasion and military occupation of our ancestral land with hand-wringing apologies while stating that the world is an unfair place.
“This is their personal maxim for hardship and crimes against humanity, and then they join in the plunder.
The historical truth is that West Papua — the western half of the island of New Guinea — has never been a part of Indonesia.
“Various legal, political and military arguments stating otherwise are all contrary to the norms of international laws and to justice.
“The Papuan nation is not part of the Indonesian Colonial State. The process of annexation on 1 May 1963, was forced onto my people.”
NZ hostage pilot
Bomanak also wrote about the hostage crisis involving 37-year-old New Zealand pilot Philip Mehrtens who was captured by the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), the armed wing of the OPM, on February 7.
Addressing President Biden, Bomanak said: “A war of liberation has been undertaken by my people since the fraudulent 1969 referendum.
“We have issued hundreds of warnings to both Indonesians and foreigners not to be in our land.
“Unlike, Indonesia, we will care for Philip Mehrtens, the same way we care for our brothers and sisters. He is safe with us, but he is at great risk from Indonesian air and ground combat operations.
“The Indonesian defence force has already suffered significant battle fatalities. We request a peaceful solution with the aim of Indonesia leaving West Papua.
“Perhaps you can appoint Ambassador Caroline Kennedy [Ambassador to Australia] to this role?”
Bomanak’s letter also tracks the many West Papuan peaceful political leaders who have been the victims of extrajudicial executions in an effort to “terrorise the independence movement”. They include the following:
“Arnold Ap was assassinated in 1984. Tom Wanggai died in mysterious circumstances while in prison which we believe was another extrajudicial execution in1989.
“Tribal leader Theys Hiyo Eluay was assassinated in November 2001. Filep Karma also died in mysterious circumstances which we believe was another extrajudicial execution in November 2022 at the same beach where Arnold Ap was executed.”
“President Biden, I could have easily filled 10,000 more pages with victims of this miscarriage of international justice, but I understand your time is limited with important matters of state and of international affairs.
“Sir, there is no honour in helping Indonesia maintain their lie, their deception, their treachery, and the six decades of crimes against humanity that many academics call ‘West Papua’s slow genocide’.
“The fraudulent annexation of my country is as much a story of dishonourable and deceitful Western governance.”
Concluding the open letter, Bomanak told President Biden that if Ukraine could have an investigation for crimes against humanity, then “after six decades of Indonesia’s crimes against humanity, West Papuans are entitled to justice through the very same measures of accountability and due process.”
The OPM has waged an armed resistance against the Indonesian military since 1969. The West Papuans argue that they should regain independence on the grounds that, unlike Muslim-majority Indonesia, they are predominantly Christian and Melanesian from the Pacific. Pro-independence views among Papuans are also motivated by Indonesia’s repressive rule in the Melanesian provinces.
An Indonesian Catholic lawmaker has called on the army chief to explain the alleged sales of arms and ammunition to rebel groups by military forces in the restive Christian-majority Papua region.
During a media briefing on May 16, Aryani said the case of arms sales to rebels deserves attention so that effective prevention and action steps could be taken immediately.
She responded after military chief Admiral Yudo Margono made public a report on May 6 that says there had been 27 cases of buying and selling of weapons and ammunition in 2022 by members of the military to Papuan rebels, a drastic increase from one case reported in 2021.
"We don't want this very crucial matter to go away without a clear resolution," she said.
Jones Douw, a Papua-based human rights activist and chairman of the Justice and Peace Department at Kingmi Church told UCA News that this is not a new problem but has been going on for a long time, both individually and in groups.
"It's just a shame that it really isn't being taken seriously. Even though this is an embarrassing matter that should be a serious record for the Indonesian government," he said.
Jones cited several previous cases, including three soldiers who were fired and jailed for life in February 2020 for selling weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition to pro-independence groups and another case on March 12, 2020, where a soldier was also jailed for life for selling firearms and 1,300 ammunition.
"When things like this recur, it's hard not to say that the conflict in Papua is sort of being allowed to," he said.
"On the one hand, the Indonesian apparatus has always claimed to be carrying out various forms of operations to crush pro-independence groups, but is instead arming them," he said.
Soldiers or police "want to take risks because the economic value is large," he said.
In a July 2022 report entitled Escalating Armed Conflict and a New Security Approach in Papua, the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) stated that the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPN-PB), labeled as an armed criminal group by the Indonesian government, is one of the rebel groups that received an increasing number of manufactured firearms.
The report stated that the TPN-PB is estimated to have 400-450 manufactured firearms of various types, from SS-1, M4, and M16, obtained by seizing or buying them from the military and police.
TPNPB gets money to buy weapons in various ways, ranging from ransoms for hostages, extorting local business owners, donations from sympathizers, and misappropriation of village funds provided by the government, it stated.
Papua declared independence in 1961 after the Dutch colonial rule ended. However, Indonesia annexed the territory within two years, promising to have an independence referendum. The subsequent voting in favor of staying as part of Indonesia was widely considered a sham.
Indonesia’s occupation of Papua triggered an armed struggle for independence. The government responded with a heavy military presence to suppress the insurgency. The conflict left thousands dead and tens of thousands displaced.
Currently, about 16,900 military soldiers with combat skills are stationed in Papua, according to the advocacy group, Imparsial.
Last month, the military beefed up combat operations in the region following the killings of five soldiers by the TPN-PB. The soldiers were killed during the efforts to free New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens, who has been held hostage since February.
4) Posts falsely claim 'United Nations to lead Papua independence boycott'
AFP Indonesia Published on Tuesday 16 May 2023 at 20:35
A video has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times after it circulated alongside a false claim that the United Nations will lead nations to boycott Papuan independence. But the clips used in the video show unrelated events. As of May 16, 2023, the UN has not made any statement in relation to boycotting Papuan independence. An international relations expert called the claim "irrational and sensational".
The claim was shared in a video posted here on Facebook on May 9, 2023, where it has been viewed more than 179,000 times before it was removed.
A narrator can be heard in the video saying in Indonesian-language: "The UN will bring 193 nations to boycott Papua's independence! Jokowi will terrorize the allies of the criminal armed groups!"
The post's Indonesian-language caption repeats the claim.
The 10-minute, 17-second video contains clips showing Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo meeting UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, a summit between Jokowi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, and leaders from other countries………………………………...
https://factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com.33EU7K3
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5) Broken promises: Zenegi residents in Merauke demand SIS accountability
News Desk - Zenegi 16 May 2023
Merauke, Jubi – The residents of Zenegi Village, a village located in Merauke’s Animha District in South Papua, consider the presence of Selaras Inti Semesta Ltd. (SIS), a subsidiary of the Medco Group engaged in plantation, for approximately 15 years has not yielded any positive outcomes for the local community.
SIS reportedly began conducting operations in Zenegi in 2008, and it holds a land concession from the government spanning 164,400 hectares that covers most of Zenegi Village, as well as Buepe Village in Kaptel District.
Zenegi village head Natalis Basik-Basik told Jubi on Sunday, May 14, 2023, when SIS initially arrived in 2008, they attempted to communicate, negotiate, and socialize with the community.
The company also entered into various agreements with the local community and landowners’ clans. However, up to the present time, the community has not been shown or given any Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) document from SIS.
“SIS claimed that the agreement would be documented in an MoU, but to this day, neither I nor the people here have witnessed, received, or had the opportunity to read the document’s contents. They verbally informed us that the agreement pertained to the company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR),” Basik-Basik said.
Basik-Basik mentioned that SIS pledged to fulfill their social responsibility by contributing to the community’s welfare. This included constructing houses for the community, supporting children’s education costs from elementary school to college, and hiring local workers. The company also agreed to respect the community’s cultural practices, such as preserving sacred forests, sago hamlets, and hunting grounds.
However, said Basik Basik, the company only recruited local workers in 2010, and they were only employed for a year. Since then, none of the community members have been employed by the company. Additionally, the company has not delivered on its promises of supporting children’s education and constructing houses as initially stated.
Rather, the company’s presence in the forest area has had detrimental effects on the local community. The hamlets within forests that used to be hunting grounds for the community are now gone. As a result, residents have to travel longer distances of 1-2 kilometers by motorcycle to find game and obtain other natural resources.
“In addition to the hunting grounds becoming increasingly distant, our sago forests, sacred sites, and revered woodlands have also suffered damage,” Basik-Basik added.
He further said that the company caused conflicts within the community, particularly concerning land boundaries. Several landowners in Zenegi disputed and claimed ownership of lands that the plantation company was utilizing.
“There have been disputes among community members regarding land boundaries but the company never facilitated any collaborative efforts to resolve these issues,” he said.
Zenegi Village is home to 670 individuals, with 128 families residing there. The village consists of five clans: Gebze, Mahuze, Kaize, Samkakai, and Basik-Basik.
Residents feel cheated
Bonifasus Gebze, a community leader in Zenegi Village, claimed that SIS had deceived the community for the past 15 years of its operation as there had been no change taking place. One of the SIS’ promises was to provide education to the children in the village from elementary school to college, but no student have been funded by the company until now. Gebze believed that the promises were nothing but lies.
“If children were given education, many of our children would have become engineers or working somewhere at this point. But those promises are lies,” said Gebze
Apart from education, SIS made commitments to construct houses for a number of residents and offer agricultural assistance to the residents of Zenegi. Unfortunately, none of these promises have ever been realized by the company either.
“We are required to send formal letters to the company seeking assistance, but even then, the aid we receive is limited to condolences and holiday-related matters. Meanwhile, the initial promises made by the company remain unfulfilled,” Gebze further explained.
Another resident of Zenegi, Yohanes Paulus, expressed that the villagers had lodged complaints against SIS with the Merauke Council. Jubi reporters attempted to contact SIS representatives in Merauke City but were unsuccessful as the location was no longer occupied by the company. (*)
Head of Papua DKP Iman Djuniawal stated in Jayapura City, Tuesday, that the office had held a forum of regional apparatuses that convened strategic plans for the marine and fishery sector for the 2024-2026 period.
"On Monday (May 15), we held a meeting to arrange strategic plans in hopes of finding a way to maximize resource utilization in the marine sector," he remarked.
According to Djuniawal, the marine and fishery sector currently constitutes one of the main sources of income in the province. Bearing that in mind, efforts to improve inter-regional government coordination are deemed necessary to optimize the potential of the sector, he remarked.
"The establishment of New Autonomous Regions (DOBs) will surely have an impact on regional financing, which urges us to make innovation in order to better utilize available resources, such as in the marine, agriculture, plantation, and forestry sectors," he pointed out.
To support the idea, Djuniawal called on the province's regional governments to team up in arranging strategic plans while paying attention to respective conditions in each region as well as to existing dynamics.
"The arrangement of strategic plans will encourage all parties to ramp up every effort, so that it can be a reference in making improvements. Therefore, the efforts to combine every potential in every region will in turn help us achieve the targets that have been set by the central government," he noted.
He stated that during the meeting, the office and regional governments had discussed strategic issues in the fishery sector, with the objective of identifying problems and finding applicable solutions with regard to the current condition in the regions following the establishment of DOBs.
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