West Papua Advocacy Team: Open Letter to President Obama on
The Eve of His Visit to Indonesia
The Honorable Barack Obama
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
November 4, 2010
Dear President Obama,
The West Papua Advocacy Team welcomes your upcoming visit to Indonesia as an
opportunity to deepen U.S.-Indonesia ties and to encourage further
democratic progress in Indonesia. This progress has been impressive in the decade since the overthrow of the Suharto dictatorship
and has facilitated
the expansion of U.S. cooperation with this important nation.
Critical to Indonesia's democratization is the expansion of respect for
human rights. However, respect for human rights -- and democratic progress more
generally -- continue to face threats from security forces that continue to evade full civilian control and remain largely unaccountable
before Indonesia's flawed judicial system.
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However, respect for human rights -- and democratic progress more
generally -- continue to face threats from security forces that continue to evade full civilian control and remain largely unaccountable
before Indonesia's flawed judicial system.
|
The United States maintains significant influence with
Indonesian military, due in large measure to the Indonesian military's
long-standing desire for U.S. training and equipment. It is imperative that
your administration employ this influence as leverage to promote the full
subordination of the Indonesian military to civilian control and
accountability before the law. The recent decision to
renew contact with the
notorious Indonesian Special Forces (Kopassus) and continued
U.S. support
for Detachment 88 ignore numerous credible reports of human rights abuse and
unaccountability before the law by both organizations.
This policy of support for Indonesian forces acting criminally and with
impunity sabotages the courageous efforts by Indonesian NGOs and citizens,
who often face intimidation as they work to secure fundamental reform of all
the Indonesian security forces.
Nowhere in the Indonesian archipelago is military insubordination,
corruption, abusive behavior and unaccountability more on display than in
West Papua, where the military continues to operate in a manner that
reflects the rules and practices fostered under the Suharto dictatorship.
Papuan human rights activists face intimidation, arrest, torture and
extra-judicial execution.
Recent video evidence of Indonesian security force employment of
torture targeted against Papuan civilians, continued security force
involvement in illegal activities including unlicensed logging, prostitution
and extortion, reveal rogue state forces bent on repression and the
plundering of Papuan resources.
Recently, the international community has been shocked by graphic
video
footage of Indonesian security personnel torturing Papuan civilians. Less
than ten days before your scheduled arrival in Jakarta
a cyber attack was
launched against international websites that carried the video. The resources required for such an attack indicate that elements
within the Indonesian government were behind it. This is in line with
determined Indonesian government efforts to prevent the international
community from monitoring developments in West Papua.
Also in recent weeks, Indonesian security forces
destroyed the Papuan
village of Bigiragi. For decades, especially in the Puncak Jaya region,
security force "sweeping operations" have driven villagers into the
surrounding mountains and forests where hundreds have died due to lack of
access to food, medical care and adequate shelter. Security force refusal to
allow humanitarian relief to these displaced civilians has exacerbated their
plight.
The United States played a central role in the undemocratic process by which
Indonesia annexed West Papua in the 1960s. Since then, the Papuan people
have suffered decades of marginalization due in large measure to the
government-organized migration of non-Papuans into West Papua and the
systematic failure of the government to afford minimal health care,
education, or employment opportunities for Papuans. Instead, the government
has colluded with Indonesian and international corporations to effectively
cleanse Papuans from their traditional lands with minimal or no
compensation.
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However, respect for human rights -- and democratic progress more
generally -- continue to face threats from security forces that continue to evade full civilian control and remain largely unaccountable
before Indonesia's flawed judicial system.
|
Your visit affords an opportunity to press for genuine reforms and further
democratization in Indonesia and specifically in West Papua. We urge you to
discuss with Indonesia's leaders the failure of their policies in West
Papua, notably the Indonesian government's resort to a "security approach"
which has exacted a tragic price on ordinary Papuans. The
Indonesian government's decade-old "Special Autonomy" policy has manifestly
failed to raise living standards and has been overwhelmingly rejected by
Papuan governmental and non-governmental organizations and by citizens
demonstrating peacefully in the thousands.
In your meetings with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono we urge you to
pursue real reforms that reflect the agenda of issues championed by human
rights advocates in West Papua.
These include:
-
an end to human rights violations, including an end to military "sweeping
operations" by Indonesian Special Forces (Kopassus) and others which
regularly displace thousands of Papuans;
-
replacing the culture of impunity with genuine accountability of military
and police personnel before the courts for past and ongoing human rights
crimes and corruption;
-
a transparent investigation of the torture of two Papuans revealed in recent
video footage and the prosecution and sentencing commensurate with the crime
of those responsible;
-
an end to the use of force by military and police against peaceful protests
by Papuans, whatever flags and banners may be used;
-
release of Papuan political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, including
all those who have been detained for peaceful protests;
-
cessation of the practice of conflating political protest with "separatist"
activity and an end to conflating such peaceful protest with "terrorist"
activity under the Indonesian government's functional definition of
terrorism;
-
demilitarization of West Papua and an end to military protection of and
operation of business operations, many of which have had a devastating
impact on Papuan natural resources;
-
an end to restrictions on access to and travel within West Papua now imposed
on international journalists, researchers, humanitarian workers and
diplomats and permitting the return of the International Committee of the
Red Cross (ICRC) to its offices in West Papua.
-
opposition to the employment of cyber attacks targeting websites
disseminating human rights and other information about West Papua;
-
and addressing persistent Papuan concerns including policies
such as "transmigration" and "special autonomy" which marginalize Papuans in
their own land.
We also urge you to encourage Indonesia to respond positively to
long-standing calls by the Papuan civil society and Papuan officials for a
senior-level, internationally mediated dialogue between the Indonesian
government and Papuan civil society, building on the success of the earlier
dialogue in Aceh.
Finally, we urge you to publicly acknowledge the historical reality that the
Papuan people have not been afforded the right of self-determination
inasmuch as the 1969 "Act of Free Choice" was a fraudulent exercise
undertaken under blatant coercion.
Your visit to that country, provide an opportunity for United States
involvement in support of civil society efforts to end the systematic abuses
suffered by Papuan over the past nearly five decades.
Sincerely,
Ed McWilliams, West Papua Advocacy Team
