West Papua Report
February 2007
This is the 33rd in a series of monthly reports that focuses
on developments affecting Papuans. This reporting series is produced
by the West Papua Advocacy Team (WPAT) drawing on media accounts,
other NGO assessments and analysis and reporting from sources within
West Papua. The West Papua Advocacy Team is a non-profit
organization.
SUMMARY
- Military operations in the Punjak Jaya region of West Papua have
reportedly forced thousands of Papuan civilians
to flee to the surrounding forests and mountains where there is
little or no food, shelter or medical help. Civilian deaths have
already been reported. Local human rights organizations have
appealed to the European Union and UN Human Rights Organizations to
press Jakarta to halt these operations and to send observer
missions. The West Papua Advocacy Team has made similar appeals to
the U.S. State Department and National Security Council, but have so
far gone unanswered.
- Security officials, in league with a Chinese fishing firm, have
tortured 14 Papuan fisherman who sought to
protect their traditional fishing areas. One fisherman was
reportedly killed.
- A major Indonesian naval operation off West Papua's southern
coast which has frightened villagers along the coast, according to
Indonesian Naval officials, is intended as a
warning against foreign intervention in West Papua and to the local,
lightly armed pro-independence resistance.
- Police have sided with Indonesian Church
officials in a dispute pitting Papuan Church officials seeking
to establish a Papuan Synod for the Kingmi church, second largest
Christian congregation in West Papua, against the Jakarta-based
Indonesian Synod.
- Meanwhile, the central government has
announced that vast tracks of old growth forest in West Papua and
elsewhere will be put up for open tender for logging permits in
February.
Military Operations in West Papua's Highlands
Displace Thousands of Civilians
An Indonesian military campaign targeting the Goliat Tabuni
faction of the Papuan armed resistance in the remote Punjak Jaya
region in central West Papua has displaced thousands of Papuan
civilians who have fled to the nearby forests and mountains. Others
have fled to neighboring villages where very crowded conditions have
led to increased incidence of diarrhea, hepatitis and malaria. A
reliable church source reports that over 200 children are ill.
According to multiple sources on the ground, these internally
displaced persons are now cut off from their gardens as well as
inter- and intra-village commerce as well as access to adequate
shelter or medical care. These local sources report deaths among
these civilians including a mother and her two children who drowned
trying to flee across a stream on January 4. Brimob (Police Mobile
Brigade) forces killed a 71-year-old man on January 4 and four persons
were reported to have died due to inadequate food, shelter and
medicine on Jan 17.
The most affected people are from the Lani tribal group. After
the military destroyed the local district office, an
elementary school and a polyclinic in Yamo, between 3,000 and 5,000 people
fled in the direction of Wano and then on to Guyage. Local officials
have tried to arrange a ceasefire between the Indonesian security
forces and the armed Papuan resistance but without success. Church
leaders who have raised the humanitarian crisis with government
officials in Jayapura, the provincial capital, have found them
unresponsive. Local government medical officials have refused to
provide medical assistance to Lani medical workers alleging that the
aid might wind up with the resistance.
As reported in the previous month's West Papua Report, the grave
human consequences of past Indonesian military operations in the
West Papuan highlands gave rise to urgent concerns about the plight
of civilians trapped by the latest offensive. Beginning in the fall
of 2004 and extending into early 2006, Indonesian military
operations destroyed villages and forced flight of thousands of
civilians into the jungles to escape marauding Indonesian soldiers
who burned churches and leveled houses. The military's refusal to
permit access to this besieged population, even for provision of
humanitarian relief by local church leaders and aid workers gravely
exacerbated the crisis. Following the same disastrous policy, local
sources contend that the military has once again placed tight
restrictions on civilian travel in the affected region.
Restrictions on access also apply to local and foreign
journalists, human rights monitors or humanitarian assistance
providers. These restrictions afford the security forces carte
blanche powers to violate fundamental human rights norms and even
Indonesian law.
Local sources have identified specific units involved in the
current operations. Observers note that these are among the most
brutal and unaccountable of Indonesian security forces including TNI
Battalion 753 from Nabire, Kopassus (notorious special forces
troops), Brimob and intelligence units.
Local Papuan civil society leaders have appealed to the European
Union and the United Nations Human Rights Commission to press
Jakarta to halt the operations and to send observer missions. The West
Papua Advocacy Team's appeals to the U.S. Department of State, National
Security Council and the U.S. Embassy in Indonesia as of the date of publication have gone
unanswered. Various offices in the U.S. Congress have been apprised
of the growing humanitarian crisis.
Security Personnel Torture 14 Papuans,
One Killed
A January 26 Agence France Press (AFP) item reports that
Indonesian security forces, working for a Chinese fishing company,
detained and tortured 14 Papuans trying to protect their traditional
fishing area.
The report cites the Institute for Papuan Advocacy and Human
Rights, noting that 14 fisherman from the Yawasir tribe were beaten
and tortured when they asserted their customary fishing rights by
removing fishing nets belonging to fish-processing firm PT Minatama
Mutiara. One of the victims, Titus Yun, reportedly died. The
incident occurred on December 21, 2006 near the southern end of the
border with Papua New Guinea.
An Indonesian employee of the Chinese-owned company and three
local men acting as police deputies detained and abused the 14 from
the Mariana Strait, it said, citing church sources in the coastal
town of Merauke.
Sources at the Institute told AFP: "The abuses appear to be a
retaliation by the Indonesian military and the fish processing
company PT Minatama Mutiara," adding that the attackers tried to
make the incident look like a tribal clash. In fact, the Institute
spokesperson noted, "The Yawasir people were making efforts to
protect their marine resources from impacts of the commercial
fishing companies."
Major Indonesian Naval Exercise Frightens
Papuan Villagers
Sources in West Papua claim that Indonesian naval exercise off
the shore of West Papua have disrupted the lives of Papuans living
in coastal areas near the exercise.
In the early morning of January 7, Papuans in Kaimana, a small
town on West Papua's southern coast, were awakened by deafening
explosions from amphibious tanks and warships
conducting unannounced operations. The operations, which lasted
until January 23, frightened and disrupted the lives of nearby
residents.
Reporting by TEMPO interaktif indicated that the exercise was
carried out by Armada Jaya Fleet XXVI whose base is in Surabaya,
East Java. The navy allegedly deployed 7,500 personnel and the full
range of the Indonesian navy's war machine including submarines,
aircraft warships, and the latest weaponry, including testing of the
RM-Grat, their newest missile.
According to TEMPO, the exercise simulated an operation aimed at
relieving West Papua from foreign occupation. The landing point
chosen "to liberate West Papua" was Kaimana, situated near the major
town of Timika. According to comments of Indonesian Naval Chief of
staff Admiral Slamet Soebijanto, the exercise was intended in part
as a message to the Papuan armed resistance and to the international
community that the Indonesian navy was prepared to protect the
territory of the "Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI)."
Its principal impact appears to have been the intimidation of local
Papuan civilians living near the operation.
Jakarta Plans Further Destruction of
Papuan Rainforests
In late January, Agence France Press reported international
protests against plans by the Indonesian central government to
auction permits to log old growth forests in West Papua and
elsewhere in the archipelago. The report noted that in early
February old growth forest in West Papua and other locations would
be offered up for biding. The other sites, notably in Maluku and
Kalimantan, like West Papua, constitute areas where local
non-Javanese indigenous peoples have long protested the destructive
exploitation of their lands.
Greenpeace led the international protest, noting that
more than one million hectares of forest lands were affected.
"Instead of taking drastic measures to reverse the destruction of
our remaining forests, the forest ministry is hell-bent on issuing
new permits to the highest bidders," Greenpeace Southeast Asia
campaigner Hapsoro said in a statement.
AFP noted that Indonesia loses about 2.8 million hectares (6.0
million acres) of forests each year, one of the highest rates of
deforestation in the world. West Papua has some of the last
areas rainforests in Indonesia, which are home to a rich variety of
plant and animal life. New species are discovered in West Papua
regularly.
Police Take Sides in Papuan Church
Dispute
Local sources have told the West Papua Advocacy Team that Papuan
church leaders seeking to set up a church synod separate from the
central Indonesian synod (CAMA) face growing pressure from their
police-backed opponents. The independent Papuan synod of the KINGMI
church in Jayapura has been forced by police to abandon some church
properties, forcing the church to conduct Sunday services in a
gymnasium. Police have also forced Papuans out of their church in
nearby Sentani.
In Jakarta, Papuans peacefully occupied the offices of the
Indonesia Synod to demand that the Jakarta synod stop alleging that
the Papuan synod supports the Papuan armed resistance.
Back issues of West Papua
Report
|