On June 25, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)
announced the results thus far of an FBI investigation
into the August 30, 2002 assault on a group of U.S.
citizens within the mining operations area of New
Orleans-based Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold, Inc., in
Timika, West Papua, Indonesia. In a press release issued
the next day, the RFK Memorial Center for Human Rights
responded that the announcement raised many more
questions than it answered about the investigation of
the crime. Portions of the press statement follow; for
the full text, please see:http://www.rfkmemorial.org/human_rights/1993.htm.
The federal grand jury indictment names a single
Indonesian citizen whom it contends was a leader of a
group of Papuan independence fighters known as the Free
Papua Organization (Organisasi Papua Merdeka or
OPM). The Indonesian military (Tentara Nasional
Indonesia or
TNI) and Freeport corporate management were quick to lay
blame on the OPM at the time of the attack. The TNI's
claim, however, soon fell apart in the face of evidence
contained in the initial investigation carried out by
the Indonesian police, as well as the research of the
Papuan human rights organization ELSHAM, all of which
point to the Indonesian military having played a central
role in the attack.
Those investigations and research pointed out, among
other findings, that Papuan independence elements lack
the weaponry and ammunition to conduct a sustained
45-minute attack. The site of the attack is tightly
secured by the TNI, rendering the area impossible to
access or exit without TNI cooperation. The attackers
were well-trained sharpshooters. The attack transpired
only a few hundred meters from permanently staffed TNI
security posts, but TNI personnel appeared on the scene
only after the assault ended
The RFK Memorial Center for Human Rights takes no
position on the guilt or innocence of the individual
accused. However, any conclusion that the TNI was not
instrumental in the attack ignores a bloody past record
replete with instances of TNI organizing, equipping and
directing 'militia' attacks in order to evade
responsibility and ñ in the case of Freeport, to justify
its 'security' presence in the area for which Freeport
makes multi-million-dollar payments to the TNI on an
annual basis. [See related item below re: Indonesian
President Approves Proposal to Withdraw Military from
'Guarding' Freeport.] The TNI's use of such a modus
operandi is evident in its use of the infamous East
Timor militias as proxies to wreck havoc in East Timor
during and after the United Nations-sponsored referendum
in 1999.
Justice in the matter of the Timika attack ñ which
killed two U.S. citizens, one Indonesian citizen and
wounded eleven others ñ requires a thorough
investigation not only of who might have participated in
the assault, but more importantly, who organized,
enabled and directed the attackers.'
Declassified U.S. Documents Open Window on U.S. Role
in Indonesian Takeover of West Papua
The Washington, DC-based National Security Archive
has released previously classified U.S. government
documents revealing that the U.S. ignored reporting from
its own officials that detailed Jakarta's efforts to rig
what was to have been a 1969 United Nations-supervised
plebiscite on the sovereignty of West Papua, thereby
ensuring that the territory would remain under
Indonesian control.
The documents, released to mark the 35th anniversary
of the 1969 'Act of Free Choice' (AFC), show that the
U.S. government acquiesced to Indonesian government
actions that denied the people of West Papua their right
to a genuine act of self-determination as pledged in an
earlier U.S.-brokered agreement between the governments
of The Netherlands and Indonesia. The U.S. also ignored
clear evidence of human rights abuses and intimidation
by the Indonesian military targeting Papuans in the
run-up to the AFC.
The documents reveal that then-U.S. National Security
Advisor Henry Kissinger advised President Richard Nixon
to back the Indonesian government's takeover actions in
West Papua. (According to corporate records filed with
the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, Kissinger has
since profited personally from Indonesian control over
West Papua as a board director and retained consultant
to the mining company Freeport McMoRan, which since 1967
has held a contract with the Indonesian central
government to mine West Papua's copper and gold
deposits.)
Parliamentarians, Nobel laureates and other eminent
persons and institutions around the globe are pressing
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to order a review of
the U.N.'s role in the AFC.
U.S. and Australian Forces Meet at Senior Level with
Indonesian Special Forces Unit
The Australian daily The
Age has
reported that the U.S. military participated alongside
personnel from the Indonesian Special Forces (Kopassus)
at a multi-lateral anti-terror conference held in
Australia in mid-June. The U.S. military recently has
kept Kopassus at
arms length due to its record of egregious human rights
abuses.
Representing Kopassus at
the multi-national conference was the commander of
Indonesia's Detachment 81, the special counter-terrorism
force within Kopassus.
Detachment 81 was responsible for the kidnapping,
torture and murder of anti-Suharto activists in 1998. In
West Papua, Kopassuspersonnel
were responsible for the abduction, torture and
assassination of Papuan civic leader Theys Eluay in
2001.
U.S. Senators Urge U.N. to Appoint Special
Representative for West Papua and Aceh
In a June 28 letter to U.N. Secretary General Kofi
Annan, 19 U.S. Senators called for him to appoint a
Special Representative to Indonesia to monitor and
report on the situations in West Papua and Aceh and to
'make recommendations regarding steps the U.N. Security
Council and General Assembly might undertake to end the
troubling and deadly conflicts that continue to engulf
these regions.'
Citing long-standing and well-documented concerns
regarding the human rights situation in West Papua and
the Indonesian government's recent act of bad faith in
unilaterally dividing the territory into separate
provinces, the Senators stated that 'The international
community has remained too quiet for too long regarding
the conflicts in Aceh and Papua. The scale of human
rights violations in these two Indonesian provinces
warrants special international attention.'
Indonesian President Approves Proposal to Withdraw
Military from 'Guarding' Freeport McMoRan's Mine in West
Papua (and ExxonMobil's Natural Gas Operations in Aceh)
Indonesia's interim Coordinating Minister for
Political and Security Affairs Hari Sabarno told The
Jakarta Post in
late June that President Megawati Sukarnoputri has
approved a draft decree that would end military's role
in providing security at the country 's estimated 66
'vital' mining, oil, gas and other installations. The
decree would place security responsibility with the
respective corporations operating the installations and
charge police with improving their capability to provide
security at these sites. The decree also contains a
loophole permitting police to 'invite' the military to
provide security at installations.
Presidential frontrunner Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
reportedly originally proposed the policy change when he
served as Indonesia's mining minister. The Indonesian
military has opposed the decree because payments for
security services received from mining, oil and gas
multinationals like Freeport McMoRan's gold and copper
mining operations in West Papua and ExxonMobil's natural
gas facilities in Aceh provide the military with a
significant source of income. Indeed, roughly only one
third of the military's operational budget is covered by
the Indonesian government, with the remaining two thirds
raised by the military itself, using a number of legal
and illegal methods.
Military personnel financially supported by Freeport
and ExxonMobil have committed severe and well-documented
human rights violations. As one western analyst told the
Brisbane Courier
Mail, 'The military has done a terrible job in these
regions and companies have to accept a huge risk in
having military security. They are paying them millions
and yes they perpetrate human rights abuses. You just
can't conduct ethical resource investment here with
security provided by the military.' (Source: 'Military
to quit mine protection,' Marianne Kearney, The
Courier Mail, June 26, 2004)
The announcement on approval for the draft decree
comes on the heels of reports last February that the
military intended to renege on a related proposal made
last year by Indonesian Armed Forces Commander Gen.
Endriartono Sutarto to remove military troops from
Freeport's mining operations, instead maintaining the
controversial deployment of a reported 550 personnel in
the area. Sutarto proposed the troop removal in response
to revelations that Freeport was making direct payments
of roughly $6 million a year to the military.
U.S. Church Conference Passes Resolution Supporting
Justice and Self-Determination for West Papua
The California-Nevada Annual Conference of the United
Methodist Church (UMC) recently passed a resolution on
West Papua, calling on the Conference to urge the U.N.
Secretary General to 'institute a timeline for a review
of the United Nations 'Act of Free Choice.'' The
resolution also urges the international division of the
UMC, the General Board of Global Ministries, to make the
issue of self-determination for West Papua a priority
for social justice purposes and to support education of
its church members on the issue.
RFK Reporting & Analysis on Indonesian National
Elections in West Papua
(Report from Miriam Young, Program Officer, RFK Memorial
Center for Human Rights)
I observed the July 5th presidential elections as a
member of the election monitoring delegation of the
U.S.-based Carter Center. This report considers the
specific voting-day irregularities and climate that I
observed directly as well as overall contextual
information and analysis that is relevant to evaluating
the election experience in West Papua.
The Carter Center, which sent approximately 30 teams
throughout the country, received permission to send
observers to West Papua and Aceh, but only after much
bureaucratic delay. Observers were allowed only in the
capital of Aceh, Banda Aceh. In the Malukus, which have
been plagued by Indonesian military-backed religious
sectarian violence since 2000 (see related item below
re: Laskar Jihad.), observers were allowed to go to the
island of Ternate in North Maluku, but not to Ambon in
the South, which has been experiencing a recurrence of
the violence.
My observations were limited to the Jayapura
municipal area of West Papua ñ the geographic equivalent
of observing the voting for the entire state of
California based on visits to polling sites in
Sacramento. I observed polling stations in a variety of
neighborhoods ñ a middle class/affluent non-Papuan,
mixed Papuan and non-Papuan, mixed poor area of Papuan
and non-Papuan where there had been serious registration
problems during the April legislative elections, a
mainly transmigrant settlement and a poorer mainly
Papuan settlement on the edge of a transmigrant
settlement.
Overall there was a lack of enthusiasm among the
voters on election day, despite a good turnout in
numbers (approximately 75%, lower than the 90% turnout
for the April legislative elections). This turned out to
be a nationwide observation, so it was not specific to
Jayapura. Many reasons have been given for the lack of
visible enthusiasm ñ that it reflects the growing
democratic maturity in the population (not consistent,
however, with long-time Asian democracies such as the
Philippines, India and Sri Lanka where elections are
always eventful), that Indonesians were not excited
about their range of choices among the candidates, even
that they were tired from having gotten up in the early
morning hours to watch the final World Cup soccer game.
My team of two persons observed many small
irregularities in the voting process throughout the day.
For example, voters' fingers were not checked for ink
when the voters presented themselves at the polling
station, the ink used was not indelible, some
registration lists ñ while present at the polling
station, were not checked, ballot boxes were placed too
close together, some of the polling station officials
were not well trained, and there were generally no more
than one or two party witnesses present at any one
polling station. Still, when looked at as a whole, none
of these factors would seem to have altered
significantly the outcome of the vote.
The main problem encountered was that of the double
punching of the paper ballots which occurred as a result
of voters not unfolding the ballot papers before making
their punch. In at least one polling station, officials
informed us that half of the ballots had to be counted
as invalid because of this double punching. News of the
national election officials' decision to count these
double-punched ballots reached West Papua only after the
polling stations closed, since it is two hours ahead of
Jakarta time. The sub-district office, the first stage
where ballot boxes were collected, became the site of a
laborious re-examination of the invalid ballots. In the
office my team observed, the re-counting of invalid
ballots from eight polling stations was done carefully
and conscientiously despite the clear fatigue of all
involved.
Two police officers as well as several 'civil guards'
were posted at each polling station throughout the
country. In areas with a greater Papuan presence, I did
observe a heavier Indonesian police presence in the
vicinity. At least half of these police officers carried
automatic weapons casually across their chests
Indeed, threats of and actual police violence have
marred the electoral experience in West Papua. On the
eve of Indonesia's April 5 parliamentary elections,
Indonesian police shot dead a Papuan who peacefully
urged fellow villagers to protest the elections by
boycotting the vote (see RFK Center April 2004 Papua
Report). Police officials said they shot Marius Kogoya
for allegedly trying to discourage people from voting in
the legislative election. At the same time, more than 40
percent of the voting irregularities that required
re-balloting in the April 5 nation-wide election
transpired in West Papua. Moreover, many Papuan
communities were prevented from exercising their
franchise because they did not receive the necessary
voting equipment in time for the ballot.
In West Papua, the vote yielded Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono (SBY) with the top number of votes, Gen.
Wiranto second, with current President Megawati
Sukarnoputri third. Nationally, the positions of Wiranto
and Megawati are reversed. This reflects the strong
presence of the Golkar political party in the region
which, however, still was not able to dislodge SBY from
first place. With much more at stake for the two
candidates (Yudhoyono and Megawati) in the run-off
election, to be held September 20th, there is likely to
be more incentive to find ways to influence the
election.
Papuans are deeply disappointed in the actions of the
current president, thus Yudhoyono is the only one who
may offer some change. He has stated that he would
implement the Special Autonomy Law for the territory,
and would favor non-military means to resolving the
four-decades-long conflict between Papuans seeking
self-determination and the Jakarta-based Indonesian
central government. It remains to be seen whether he
will be successful in bending the military to his will
rather than the other way around.
Civil society organizations believe that outside
monitors are of limited use in deterring election fraud.
This may be true. There are many opportunities to
subvert an election other than manipulating the ballots
themselves, such as the use of targeted violence by
government forces or intimidation via increased troop
presence. An international presence does, however, allow
an opportunity for outside observers to gain access to
areas otherwise difficult to reach. The Carter Center
will keep a small group of long-term observers in the
country until October, including in West Papua, from
which a broader picture may emerge.
Court Challenges to Jakarta's Plan to Partition West
Papua
Efforts by a broad cross section of Papuans to block
the Indonesian Government's efforts to partition West
Papua into three provinces saw some progress in June
when the State Administrative Court ruled against a law
that established Abraham Octavianus Atururi as governor
of the newly created province of 'West Irian Jaya.' The
Court ruled that the appointment was contrary to the
2001 law on Special Autonomy for West Papua (on which
President Megawati Sukarnoputri reneged when her
administration failed to implement self-rule measures
required by the law, and she instead issued the January
2003 executive order for partition).
Meanwhile, the court process calling for judicial
review of the decree ordering the division of West Papua
into three provinces is still ongoing in Indonesia's
Constitutional Court. RFK Human Rights Award Laureate
Bambang Widjojanto filed the case on behalf of West
Papua's provincial legislature speaker John Ibo and the
Advocacy Team for West Papua's Special Autonomy. In
testimony to the court, both the Governor of Papua and
the Bishop of Jayapura warned of the possibility that a
people's movement seeking independence is likely to be
the consequence if special autonomy is not implemented.
U.N. Protests Alleged Mistreatment of Papuan
Prisoners
In April 2004, U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture
Theo van Boven reported on the case of seven Papuan
prisoners held in connection with an April 2003 burglary
of weapons from a military garrison in Wamena who
reportedly continue to face mistreatment in detention.
Raising the case during the 60th U.N. Commission on
Human Rights (E/CN.4/2004/56/Add.1), van Boven stated
that he had sent two urgent appeals to the Indonesian
Government with regard to the allegation of arbitrary
detention and torture against several of the suspects in
the case.
Ms. Anum Siregar, a member of the legal team for the
'Wamena Seven,' announced that the prisoners have been
unable to meet with their families or to take physical
exercise as a consequence of the police/military
take-over of the facility used for meetings and exercise
(the 1702 Military District Command of Jayawijaya). The
legal team also contends that the prisoners are not
receiving needed medical assistance including for
illnesses associated with mistreatment at the hands of
the authorities.
The Indonesian National Commission on Human Rights
(Komnas HAM) has established an Inquiry Commission on
Human Rights Violations based on the allegation that the
military and police committed gross human rights
violations, including one death by torture, in its
pursuit of those who stole the weapons at the Wamena
military facility. This Commission is scheduled to
complete its investigation soon.
Judge Finds in Favor of Military in Slander Suit
Against ELSHAM
On June 30, the Jayapura District Court decided in
favor of the Indonesian military in a slander suit filed
against the Institute for Human Rights Study and
Advocacy (ELSHAM), West Papua's leading human rights
organization. The suit was based on public statements
made by ELSHAM Supervisor and RFK Indonesia Support
Group member John Rumbiak regarding alleged military
involvement in the August 2002 deadly ambush on Freeport
schoolteachers. (See related item, lead piece above.)
Presiding Judge Ebo ordered Rumbiak and then-ELSHAM
Director Johannes Bonay to publicly apologize to the
Indonesian Army, especially the Trikora Military
Command, through national print and television media and
pay a fine of Rp 50 million (US$5,263), a small
percentage of the Rp 50 billion sought by the military.
Aloysius Renwarin, ELSHAM's director and defense
lawyer for Rumbiak and Bonay, said ELSHAM would consider
filing an appeal. The other original defendants in the
slander suit ñ Koran Tempo daily and its chief editor,
and Suara Karya daily and its chief editor ñ reached
out-of-court settlements with the military.
Human Rights Court Denies Request to Halt Trial of
Senior Indonesian Police Commanders in West Papua; Court
Denies Police Abuse Victims' Class Action Lawsuit
Seeking Compensation
Indonesia's Human Rights Court has refused defense
motions to halt the trial of two senior police
officials, Deputy Chief Brig. Gen. Johny Wainal Usman
and Papua Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Daud
Sihombing.
The alleged abuses took place on Dec. 7, 2000, in the
town of Abepura, near the West Papua capital Jayapura
when, following an attack on the local police station by
unknown elements, the police detained, assaulted and/or
tortured more than 105 Papuans, many of them students,
whom the police suspected of having been involved in the
attack. Three of the detainees were tortured to death.
The two police officers face potential jail terms of
25 years to life if found guilty of rights abuses,
including failure to prevent their subordinates from
committing rights violations. The two are also accused
of failing to hand over their subordinates to the
authorities for investigation and prosecution
At the same time, Justice Jalaluddin Amin dismissed a
class action claim for compensation lodged by the
victims of the police action, suggesting instead that
they pursue their claims in a separate proceeding with
the Jayapura Magistrate.
The demands for compensation include claims by 105
survivors as well as the family members of those who
died as a result of the police assault. In addition to
three Papuans confirmed killed in the 2001 assault, four
other victims of the assault died, reportedly due to the
consequences of police beatings and torture. Claimants
seek compensation for wrongful deaths, permanent
disabilities and other physical injuries. The claims
also include property loss and chronic psychological
damage, such as chronic traumatic syndromes resulting
from beatings and torture.
The plaintiffs noted that the Provincial Government
has provided no humanitarian assistance to the victims
such as for medical treatment or burial expenses.
Police Officials Fail to Respond to Summons in
Another Abuse/Murder Investigation
Former Papua Police Chief Inspector General I Made
Mangku Pastika did not respond to a summons by the
National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) to
testify about another abuse/murder case. At least 16
people were tortured and three killed in Wasior district
in Manokwari regency of West Papua, in 2001 when police
burned down dozens of homes in raids that were triggered
by the killing of six Brimob police.
Pastika's non-appearance reportedly was related to
instructions of the National Police chief (General Da'i
Bachtiar) for all police commanders to stay in their
offices during the month-long presidential campaign
period. A member of Komnas HAM, former Human Rights
Minister Hasballah Saad, indicated that Pastika may be
questioned after the election. In addition to Pastika,
three other police officials failed to respond to the
Komnas HAM summons. Pastika, widely praised for his
independent investigation of the August 2002 deadly
attack on Freeport McMoRan schoolteachers, was
transferred out of West Papua in October 2002 to lead
the police investigation of the nightclub bombing that
month in his native Bali.
Hundreds of Papuans Rally to Demand Dismissal of
Abusive Police
On June 15 in Biak's Numfor District, hundreds of
citizens rallied peacefully to demand the dismissal of
police officers suspected of beating a local official
last June 9.
The victim, Biak city sub-district head Johanes
Sopacau, reportedly is only the latest victim among
local officials who are regularly preyed upon by members
of the police Mobile Brigade (Brimob) which has long
intimidated local citizens with impunity.
Puzzling Death of Papuan Theological Student Possibly
Linked to Efforts to Halt the Islamicization of West
Papua's Highlands
Though rarely covered in the media, injury,
disappearance and death are the 'unexplained' penalty
for protest by Papuans. An example of what many view as
veiled intimidation took place in Jakarta in June.
Otopianus Wandikbo, a Papuan theological student,
died on Saturday, June 5, 2004 at the Jatinegara train
station in Jakarta where police contend he was hit by a
train. According to teachers at the theological college
in Jakarta where he was a student, however, Wandikbo's
minor injuries (a bloody chin and two bloody knees) were
not consistent with having been hit by a train.
Wandikbo was from the same village near Wamena as
Yustinus Murib, a Papuan leader who was killed by the
Indonesian military last November for his alleged
involvement in the burglary of a weapons depot (see item
above on Mistreatment of Papuan Prisoners). The death of
Wandikbo, who was active in Papuan student activities,
followed the recent submission of a formal proclamation
letter by the churches in Wamena contesting the building
of a mosque and pesantren (Islamic boarding school) in
Wamena. There is speculation that Wandikbo may have been
killed in retaliation for this attempt to challenge the
controversial Islamicization of the largely Christian
and animist Papuan Highlands.
Laskar Jihad: Purportedly Disbanded Islamic
Fundamentalist Militant Group Re-Surfaces
An Islamic fundamentalist militia that has operated
with the support of the Indonesian military in many
areas, including West Papua, has resurfaced. Laskar
Jihad, which announced its disbanding after the October
2002 bombing in Bali, has announced a comeback -
confirming broad suspicion that it had merely been
operating underground. Analysts say senior Indonesian
military elements formed Laskar Jihad to create chaos
that would destabilize the government of former
reformist president Abdurrahman 'Gus Dur' Wahid who
sought to establish civilian control over the military.
The group announced in late April it would send
thousands of fighters to Ambon city, Maluku province, as
long-running tensions there are rekindling. Laskar Jihad
was responsible for much of the fighting in the
2000-2002 period when thousands of Christian and Muslim
Moluccans died in sectarian violence.
