This is the 42nd in a series of monthly
reports that focus on developments affecting Papuans. This
series is produced by the non-profit West Papua Advocacy
Team (WPAT) drawing on media accounts, other NGO assessments
and analysis and reporting from sources within West Papua.
This report is co-published by the East Timor and Indonesian
Action Network (ETAN). Back issues are posted online
at
http://etan.org/issues/wpapua/default.htm
Questions regarding this report can be addressed to Edmund
McWilliams at edmcw@ msn.com.
Summary
* A UN official has
publicly reprimanded Indonesia for its refusal to
allow him into Indonesia to investigate charges that
Indonesian security forces have committed extrajudicial
killings. While most of those killings transpired in the
Suharto era, impunity associated with those crimes, many
committed in West Papua, continues.
* Human Rights NGOs
continue to report tension in West Papua over
unexplained kidnappings, assaults, poisoning and
killings. Human rights advocates appear to be a
particular target of these and other forms of
intimidation.
* The West Papua
Advocacy Team and the East Timor and Indonesia Action
Network have written to Secretary Rice about the
detention of a human rights lawyer, reportedly under a
Suharto-era law that was ten months ago declared
unconstitutional. The two organizations also express
concern about the unit that carried out the detention, a
US-funded element repeatedly accused of human rights
abuse. The US-based NGOs also call attention to
continuing pressure on other Papuan human rights
defenders.
* A Papuan religious
leader explains in compelling terms the basis of
Papuans' deeply rooted objection to the destruction of
their forests for profit.
* Papuan
Governor Barnebus Suebu has been honored by Time
magazine as an environmental "hero" for his opposition
to the Indonesian Government's efforts to destroy Papuan
forests in the name of development.
* Pacific regional
NGO's attending the 17-nation "Pacific Forum" have
called on participating governments to take action in
defense of Papuans including pressing for a review of
the "Act of Free Choice," the UN monitored
non-plebiscite widely acknowledged to have been a
fraudulent act of self determination through which the
Indonesian Government justified its coercive annexation
of West Papua.
* Many Papuans oppose
plan by the central government and Russia to place a
spaceport on Biak island. End Summary.
UN Official Raps
Indonesia For Blocking Access to Investigate Extrajudicial
Killings
UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial
Killings Philip Alston has expressed frustration over the
lack of response from Indonesia among other countries who
have refused to answer questions about charges of
extrajudicial killings. Indonesia has refused his repeated
requests for access in order to explore the charges. Alston
noted to international media on October 28 that Indonesia
and several other states "are failing the basic test of
accountability." He added that, "if a country has problems
of extrajudicial executions and doesn't let (me) in, that
should be of concern to the General Assembly and Human
Rights Council..." Indonesia is a member of the Human Rights
Council and of the Security Council and in November will
assume the presidency of the latter body. Alston noted that
Indonesia's failure to cooperate with his office in this
regard was "especially serious for (a) Human Rights Council
member ... because the council members are supposed to have
said, 'We promise to cooperate fully with the council' as
part of being elected."
Indonesian and international human rights
organizations have accused Indonesia of extrajudicial
killings in recent decades. While most of the killings
transpired during the Suharto dictatorship, the accused
perpetrators, usually Indonesian security and intelligence
personnel, continued to enjoy impunity from prosecution
under "democratic" regimes, including that of current
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Many of these extrajudicial killings, as
acknowledged by the US State Department's annual human
rights reporting have been committed in West Papua.
West Papuan Human
Rights Organizations Uniformly Note Growing Pressure
Kontras Papua (The Commission for
Disappearances and Victims of Violence) and the Catholic
Church's Office for Justice and Peace, among others have
noted to counterparts an increased atmosphere of fear and
suspicion, notably in the Jayapura and Timika areas.
Tensions are also high in Wamena. Much of this relates to
unconfirmed reports of killings , kidnappings and poisoning.
Human rights defenders have also been the target of
threatening and provocative anonymous text messages. The
head of the Papuan branch of the National Human Rights
Commission has been the victim of such threats for several
months and has also faced physical intimidation.
This October updating reflects a continuous
and some claim growing atmosphere of intimidation focused on
human rights advocates. The latest surge in intimidation
appears to have begun immediately following the visit of the
UN Secretary General's Special Representative Hina Jilani
who met with many of those now facing the most serious
pressure.
WPAT and ETAN Urge US
Government Action In Papuan Detention Case and Curbing of
US-Funded Purported Anti-Terror Unit
WPAT and the East Timor and Indonesia Action
Network
have jointly urged US action to prevent further injustice
targeting, among others, Papuan Human Rights Lawyer Iwanggin
Sabar Olif. Olif lkwas detained on October 18,
reportedly on charges of "insulting the President," a law
that was ruled unconstitutional by Indonesian courts in
December 2006. The letter notes that this detention
transpired in the context of a broader campaign of
intimidation against human rights activists and religious
leaders in West Papua. The two NGO's also reiterated concern
about "Team 88" a US-funded special police unit widely
accused of abusive techniques, including kidnapping and
torture that was involved in this particular detention.
Papuan Defense of
Their Forests Reflects Their Fundamental Importance in
Papuan Life
The Jakarta Post, October 26, 2007 published
an article entitled "Native Papuans fight against
deforestation." The author, Catholic Priest Neles Tebay,
describes why Papuans have so strongly resisted the
destruction of their forests by timber firms and those
seeking to develop oil palm plantations. Without referencing
the often illegal nature of these operations, Father Tebay
explains Papuans more basic objections to this destructive
exploitation. Excerpts follow:
Why do indigenous Papuans courageously
reject deforestation? Is the rejection a reflection of
what the central government calls "Papuan separatism"?
Is it a manifestation of being anti-government or
anti-development, the accusations made by the central
government in Jakarta for more than four decades? Is it
sign of not wanting to better their future?
The reasons behind the rejection are
related to their culture. Their rejection is rooted in
and guided by the life-giving values of local culture.
Papuans never see their virgin forests simply as a sea
of trees that can be cut down in order to make millions
of dollars.
The forest, for indigenous Papuans from
all tribes, has multi-dimensional meanings. Indeed,
Papuans never consider the forest as an enemy that has
to be eradicated from the surface of the earth. Rather,
it is first and foremost a member of the community.
Papuan community is composed not only of
living people, but also the dead, the spirits and
nature. That's why each community, both as a tribe and a
community within a tribe, always has its own forest
within a clearly defined territory. So, culturally
speaking, a Papuan can never be separated from the
forest.
It would also be a mistake if Papuan
forest was seen as a isolated thing from the Papuans
themselves, because the forest and the people form one
community. For Papuans, a forest can mean a living
pharmacy that provides all the necessary natural
medicines. In times of need, Papuans go to the forest to
collect natural medicine. The forest is also considered
a food store or a living supermarket, for it provides
vegetables, fruits, fish and animals. People used to get
the necessary materials for houses, traditional boats,
firewood and fences in their own forest.
It is a Papuan's belief that their
ancestors and deceased members of the community reside
in the forest. They are the guardians of the forest,
including plants and animals, owned by the community.
The forest, for Papuans, is a living temple, chapel or
mosque, where people come and pray. It is the place
where all rituals are conducted by a community or
individually. Papuans go into their ancestral forest if
they want to communicate with the ancestors or the dead.
The deeper sense of forest is expressed
in the Papuan saying "Hutan adalah mama" (the forest is
our mother). The forest is respected as a mother who
tirelessly cares for, protects and sustains all of the
members of the community, including the animals. Papuans
cannot imagine life without the forest. Emphasizing the
deeper meaning of forest, they say "Hutan kita, hidup
kita" (our forest, our lives).
It is for the sake of life that every
Papuan is educated from childhood the importance of
maintaining a correct relationship with the forest. We
can now understand that deforestation, for Papuans,
means destroying a living pharmacy, damaging the living
supermarket, destroying the place of worship, expelling
the ancestors and the dead and committing adultery
against the mother forest.
The central government should respect
Papuan culture, including the cultural understanding of
forest, and utilize it to protect the Papua's forests.
By doing so, the government and Papuans could jointly
prevent Papua's forests from being lost to
deforestation. Otherwise there will be war between
Papuans preserving Papua's forests and the central
government proposing deforestation.
Papuan Governor
Receives International Recognition for His Efforts to
Protect Papuan Forests
Time Magazine, in its October 29 edition,
has named Papuan Governor Barnebus Suebu a "hero" of the
environment. Suebu joins the ranks of such international
leaders as Nobel laureate Al Gore and Prince Charles who
have also been so honored. The award recognizes Suebu's
efforts to stop the Indonesian central government from
destructive "development" of Papuan forests through
devastating logging operations and development of oil palm
plantations which entails the elimination of vast stretches
of forest.
Notwithstanding Suebu's efforts, Indonesian
agencies, notably security agencies, continue to operate or
protect illegal logging and other destructive exploitation
of Papuan resources.
Concern over West
Papua Voiced at Pacific Forum
At a meeting of 17 Pacific Nations at the
"Pacific Forum" in Tonga October 12-15, representatives of
civil society organizations (CSO's), invited to the Forum by
Pacific nation governments issued a communiqué addressed to
Pacific nation leaders. The Appeal commended Forum Leaders
for their "continuous support ... to the issue of political
self-determination in the Pacific region and in other parts
of the world." The CSO's, referring to the "Pacific Plan"
under discussion at the Forum, noted, however, that the
"Plan" needed to focus more directly on a number of issues,
not the least of which was West Papua. The CSO's urged
Pacific leaders to:
* Request the review of the 1969 UN Act
of Free Choice for West Papua and the re-listing of West
Papua (and French Polynesia) on the agenda of the UN
Decolonization Committee;
* Maintain support to West Papua by
granting it observer status in the Forum and encourage
continuing dialogue between the Indonesian government
and West Papuan leaders on the issue of self-rule;
* Commission a fact-finding mission to
assess the human rights violations in West Papua;
* Promote cultural exchanges between
West Papua and the rest of the Pacific region, including
its inclusion in the Pacific Arts Festival and the South
Pacific Games.
Plans For Russian
Spaceport in West Papua Ignores Local Protest
Indonesian and Russian officials have
reached agreement to construct a spaceport on Biak Island in
West Papua. The project, scheduled for completion in 2010
when a Russian satellite is to be launched from the site,
has drawn protests from ordinary Papuans and from the Biak
Customary Council (Dewan Adat Biak).
The project to be developed at Frans Kaisepo
Airport will entail significant expansion and technical
development at that location. Such construction will likely
lead to additional migration into the area, a prospect
worrying to Papuans who face increasing marginalization as a
consequence of migration to West Papua from other parts of
Indonesia by people with greater skills and higher
education.
More generally, the major project has been
cited by Papuans as one more example of the central
governments failure to adequately consult with local
officials and civil society leaders regarding matters of
fundamental importance to Papuans.
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