TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – The West Papua National Liberation Army-Free Papua Organization or TPNPB-OPM highlighted the expulsion of people being treated at the Paniai Regional General Hospital (RUSD), Central Papua. The civil forces—later called the armed criminal group or KKB—said that the authorities used hospital facilities as a place of refuge.
“Because they were afraid of facing TPNPB, the Indonesian National Army used the Pania Regional General Hospital (RSUD) as a ‘human shield’ to protect themselves from TPNPB attacks,” said the spokesperson for the TPNPB-OPM National Command Headquarters Management, Sebby Sambom, in a written statement after -patient expulsion, Sunday, May 26 2024.
TPNPB-OPM quoted testimony from health workers regarding this incident, urging the patient to leave the treatment room. In this testimony, the hospital official stated that, for mutual safety, the Paniai Regional Hospital was temporarily closed in view of the dynamics of the Paniai situation. “Especially around the Paniai Regional Hospital, it has been used as a military base,” said a Paniai Regional Hospital officer, as quoted by Sebby.
The testimony explained that hospital employees were very traumatized by the situation in Paniai. He asked for prayers from the public so that the situation at Paniai Regional Hospital returns to normal activities. He said that the presence of the apparatus would have an impact on the safety of all hospital crew and patients. “We are afraid that wherever there are security forces, that will be the target of security disturbances,” he said.
“We feel that the targets were doctors, nurses, all RSUD employees, and more specifically patients who were being treated,” read the written testimony. According to Paniai Regional Hospital officials, the hospital is not a military base. The hospital environment is a base for sick people.
In his testimony, he stated that doctors and nurses obeyed the basic calling in accordance with the vision and mission of Paniai Regional Hospital. He stated that the TNI had violated the service code of ethics, especially violating humanitarian law. “In conclusion, the officer said, ‘This world still exists because righteous people still exist,'” said Sebby.
TPNPB-OPM Headquarters stated that on May 25 2024, a patient reported information from the Paniai Regional Hospital that the 3rd floor of the Regional Hospital in Enarotali, Paniai, was occupied and filled with TNI. “The patients at the Paniai Regional Hospital were told to go home because the TNI had occupied the Regional Hospital as a TNI defense headquarters to face the TPNPB-OPM,” said TPNPB-OPM.
TPNPB-OPM assessed that the hospital occupation had occurred in Intan Jaya. The patient’s healing house was used as the TNI-Polri headquarters. “So patients are forced to go home and sick people are afraid to come for treatment at the hospital,” said Sebby.
Paniai Resort Police Chief, Adjunct Senior Commissioner Abdus Syukur Felani, denied there was any expulsion of patients from the hospital. He said that the news was not true. He asked the public not to easily believe information whose source is unclear.
“It is not true that there is an expulsion of patients, in fact the presence of the TNI-Polri is to provide a sense of security to both patients and health workers,” said Abdus in a written statement on Sunday, May 26 2024. He said that the TNI-Polri secured the RSUD because it was a vital object that needed to be secured. to provide a sense of security to the community.
According to him, closing the door to the Emergency Room at Paniai Hospital is a precautionary measure. The hospital staff closed the emergency room door. The reason is that the door lock is broken. “To prevent theft from occurring in the room, RSUD officers closed it,” said Abdus.
Jayapura, Papua (ANTARA) – The Jayapura/1701 Military Command (Kodim) is building a comfortable public toilet in Naira Village, located 133 km from Jayapura, Papua Province’s capital, to help locals lead a clean and healthy lifestyle, a military officer stated.
Building the public toilet in Naira Village, which administratively belongs to Airu Sub-district in Jayapura District, is part of the 120th TNI Manunggal Masuk Desa (TMMD) Community Service Program, according to the Indonesian Military (TNI) press statement published here, Monday (May 20).
The TMMD Program is the continuation of ABRI Masuk Desa (AMD), which is TNI’s community service program, introduced and routinely carried out during the leadership era of Indonesia’s second president, Suharto.
The availability of the public toilet would hopefully help villagers improve their quality of life amid a lack of basic sanitation facilities in the village, 120th TMMD Task Force commander, Major Afandi, stated.
Apart from building the comfortable public toilet, the TMMD personnel also launched a public awareness campaign to help the villagers get familiarized with a clean and healthy lifestyle, he remarked.
The public awareness campaign was carried out by collaborating with those from the district’s health office and other government agencies, he added.
As reported earlier, Indonesian soldiers in Papua are required to multitask amid the government’s incessant efforts to bridge the regional development gap between Papua and other provinces.
Soldiers deployed in the Papua region are required to be responsive in seeking solutions to problems and challenges faced by Papuan communities in their daily lives.
They are also expected to play the role of problem solvers for local communities amid their central task to defend the country’s territorial integrity and guard the safety of Indonesians.
The geopolitical and geostrategic position of Papua, which shares land and sea borders with Papua New Guinea, occupies a significance in matters of Indonesia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Over the past few years, soldiers stationed in the region have been facing security threats posed by armed Papuan separatist groups operating in several districts.
Despite the security-related challenges, soldiers have actively engaged in community service activities, highlighting their commitment to supporting local populations.
Several personnel of the Indonesia-PNG Border Security Task Force, for instance, have been assisting locals through community services, such as voluntary teaching, mobile libraries, and street cleanup programs.
Elisa Sekenyap, Jayapura — A peaceful demonstration by Papuan students in Balinese provincial capital of Denpasar on Wednesday May 1 to commemorate the day Papua was annexed into the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI) has been blocked and repressed by police.
Earlier, according to the notification letter submitted to police, the protesters planned to gather at the Renon Field eastern parking area then hold a long-march to the location of the action at the American Consulate in Denpasar.
The plan however was not realised because officers from the Bali regional police (Polda) and the Denpasar city municipal police
(Polresta) rushed to intercept the protesters, who were then forced to disperse at exactly 12 noon.
Chronology of incident
Field coordinator Derimon Kepno said that the Papuan students had been gathering at the eastern parking area since 6.30 am after moving off from the Papua dormitory and several other locations in the city.
“At 8.50 am the protesters began a long-march towards the action point at the American Consulate in Denpasar. At 9.15 am they were intercepted and repressed by police.”
“At that time we were hemmed in and forced to disperse. The live recording on Facebook was also suddenly cut, because the network was interrupted. The Bali Polda and Denpasar Polresta deployed around 480 personnel just to stop the mass action, but we also insisted on going to the American Consulate, because before the action we had already sent a letter notifying [police about] the action”, explained Kepno.
At that moment, said Kepno, representatives from the Legal Aid Foundation (LBH) and Papua Student Alliance (AMP) met with the authorities to hold negotiations, but they reached a dead end and police remained determined to disperse the protesters.
“At 10.20 am the Bali LBH and AMP representatives negotiated with the police, but the police did not respond well and the police instead forbade the demonstrators from taking the protest to the action point at the American Consulate. Next we had a second negotiation but the authorities only gave us time for an action until 12 noon”.
“At 11.15 am the crowd was surrounded and the space [allowed] for the action was isolated so in the end comrades decided to change the method of action. So they put up posters on the side of the road so that the public could see them, because previously we were isolated.”
“Finally at 12.15 pm, comrades read out a statement. When we read out our statement, Brimob [paramilitary Mobile Brigade], Dalmas [crowd control unit] and a police water canon arrived at the location of the action. We knew that this was a way of upsetting our psychology, so we remained calm and read our statement”, he concluded.
Papuan student’s statement
AMP General Chairperson Jeeno Dogomo, as the person responsible for the action, said that Indonesia’s position in the land of Papua over the last 61 years is illegal.
Dogomo said this started on May 1, 1963, because the United States, the United Nations, the Netherlands and Indonesia had an interest in the land of Papua. “The handover of West Papua to Indonesia was without the knowledge of the Papuan people, therefore we declare this illegal”, asserted Dogomo.
He said that the annexation of the Papua region into the NKRI was carried out through a series of military operations in the context of thwarting the state of West Papua that was declared on December 1, 1961.
The declaration of the state of West Papua was organised by the representative political institution of the Papuan nation, namely Nieuw Guinea Raad (the New Guinea Council, NGR) with the approval of the Dutch royal government, which at that time occupied the Papua region in accordance with UN Resolution Number 1514.
However nineteen days later Indonesia’s founding president Sukarno issued the Trikora (the Triple Commands of the People) declaration at the Yogyakarta Northern Square which called for: (1) Disbanding the Dutch-made puppet state (2) Raising the red-and-white flag throughout the Land of Papua and (3) A national mobilisation to seize West Irian (as Papua was then called).
“Today’s situation is that the Papuan people are facing a situation of systematic and structured repression, intimidation and murder by the state after special autonomy was imposed in 2001. As a result, a prolonged conflict continues to occur where the TNI [Indonesian military] and Polri [national police] indiscriminately accuse civilians [of being separatists]”, he said.
Therefore, said Dogomo, they reject Indonesia’s presence in the land of Papua over the last 61 years and make the following demands.
– For 61 years Indonesia’s position in Papua has been illegal.
– Fully investigate the perpetrators of the torture of three civilians in Puncak regency, Papua.
– Audit Freeport’s assets and provide severance pay to its workers.
– Audit mine reserves and environmental damage.
– Withdraw all organic and non-organic TNI and Polri from the land of West Papua.
– Stop engineering conflicts throughout West Papua.
– Provide access to foreign journalists and provide information throughout West Papua.
– Investigate, arrest, prosecute and imprison human rights violators during Freeport McMoran’s presence in West Papua.
– Provide the right to self-determination a democratic solution for the West Papuan people.
Notes
Although it is widely held that West Papua declared independence from Indonesia on December 1, 1961, this actually marks the date when the Morning Star flag was first raised alongside the Dutch flag in an officially sanctioned ceremony in Jayapura, then called Hollandia. The first declaration of independence actually took place on July 1, 1971 when the Free Papua Organisation (OPM) unilaterally proclaimed West Papua as an independent democratic republic.
Operation Trikora was an Indonesian military operation aimed at harassing and forcing the Dutch out of Netherlands New Guinea (West
Papua) in 1961-62 rather than one intended to suppress a nascent independence movement.
[Translated by James Balowski. Abridged slightly due to repetition. The original title of the article was “Aparat Hadang dan Represi Aksi Demo Damai Mahasiswa Papua di Bali”.]
These tactical and technical steps were taken in an effort to comprehensively handle the capital city of Intan Jaya after the TPNPB-OPM attack
May 3, 2024 in Political, Legal and Security Affairs
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Author: Alexander Loen – Editor: Alberth Yomo
Jayapura, Jubi – A total of 20 Cartenz Peace Operation Task Force personnel were sent to Intan Jaya Regency, Central Papua Province following the attack on the Homeyo Police Station on April 30 2024 which resulted in the death of a teenager named Alexsander Parapak. Not only that, this Task Force will also investigate the burning of the Inpres Pogapa Elementary School building on Wednesday 1 May 2024, and the attempted attack on Koramil 1705-05/Homeyo on 2 May 2024 by an armed group suspected of being the West Papua National Liberation Army Free Papua Organization or TPNPB -OPM. This was conveyed by the Head of the Papua Regional Police, Inspector General Mathius Fakhiri in Jayapura City, Friday (5/5/2024).
“We hope today can be calmer. I am also trying today to be able to add additional personnel assistance and our helicopter can land safely because yesterday it couldn’t come in. “So today we are adding strength to take action,” said Fakhiri.
Fakhiri said that if additional personnel had arrived at Intan Jaya, his party would take tactical and technical steps in comprehensive handling of Sugapa, the capital of Intan Jaya. With the hope that in the future there will be no more disturbances.
“Our helicopter is under maintenance and the other is in Boven Digoel. Our personnel have also been shifted there. “When we arrive there, we will immediately take security measures together with the Intan Jaya Police,” he stressed.
Police Chief Fakhiri admitted that he had received reports that in Intan Jaya there had been disturbances in security and order (kamtibmas) such as shootings. Government services will certainly be disrupted and paralyzed. However, he asked the government to continue providing services to the community.
“The only survivors are Polri and TNI personnel and the task force assigned there. “Meanwhile, other civil servants chose to leave to protect themselves,” he said.
Commander of the Joint Regional Defense Command (Kogabwilhan) III, Lieutenant General TNI Richard T.H. Tampubolon said the joint TNI-Polri apparatus had succeeded in cracking down on the TPNPB-OPM movement in Intan Jaya. “TPNPB has disturbed security and tried to control the Homeyo area for three days in a row, causing fear among the local community, some people even fled to protect themselves,” said Richard.
According to Richard, the armed disturbances and arson carried out by TPNPB also paralyzed community activities in the area. “Today the TNI-Polri security forces have succeeded in carrying out an action against the TPNPB group in the Homeyo District area,” he stressed.
Richard said the joint TNI-Polri apparatus assigned to Intan Jaya involved the Habema TNI Operations Command (KOOPS TNI) unit and the Nanggala Damai Cartenz Task Force. The results obtained from this operation are that the Homeyo District is gradually recovering from TPNPB’s sporadic actions.
He assessed that control of security is very meaningful for the smooth and conducive situation in the lives of local people in carrying out their daily lives and activities. “The firm crackdown operation against OPM in the Homeyo District area is an effort to create regional security that will support all processes of accelerating Papua’s development,” he said.
Komnas TPNPB spokesperson Sebby Sambom in a written release said that TPNPB Region VIII Intan Jaya troops managed to shoot 4 members of the Indonesian military and burn down an elementary school building on May 1 2024. “TPNPB-OPM Kodap VIII Intan Jaya Brigadier General Undius Kogoya is responsible for the deaths of 4 “TNI-Polri members and an empty back car,” said Sambom.
According to Sambom, the shooting incident occurred at 12.05 WIT afternoon in Enarotali Regency, precisely in Bibida Village. The incident started when members of the TNI-Polri entered without permission so we shot them. We hope that we don’t blame the people of Enarotali.
“We are also ready to carry out operations in Enarotali, Deiyai, Dogiyai and Nabire districts, these 4 areas are the TPNPB-OPM operational areas. “We convey this because Prabowo Subianto and top Indonesian military officials have agreed to discuss law enforcement, so before sending TNI-Polri troops, prepare the coffins of your members’ bodies and then send them,” he stressed. (*)
ASEAN BEAT | SECURITY | SOUTHEAST ASIA Indonesian Imperialism Is Alive – And Brutal – in West Papua In the restive eastern province, Cold War realpolitik continues to reverberate.
David Hutt By David Hutt April 26, 2024 Indonesian Imperialism Is Alive – And Brutal – in West Papua Supporters of the independence of the West Papua shout slogans during a rally commemorating the 59th anniversary of the failed efforts by Papuan tribal chiefs to declare independence from Dutch colonial rule in 1961, in Jakarta, Indonesia, Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020.
Credit: AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim Last month, videos emerged of 13 soldiers from an elite Indonesian battalion in West Java torturing a Papuan man, Definus Kogoya. According to Human Rights Watch, Kogoya “had his hands tied behind him and been placed inside a drum filled with water. The soldiers taunted Kogoya with racist slurs, kicking and hitting him. In another video, a man used a bayonet to cut his back. The water turned red.” The military, while apologizing for the incident, insisted that Kogoya was a member of the West Papua National Liberation Army and that he and two comrades – one of whom “died when he jumped from a military vehicle after arrest” – had burned down a clinic. Later, the police released the two alive men without charge.
At least 10 Papuan teenagers were killed by Indonesia’s military last September alone, while the implications of the 2019 Papuan uprising, the largest pro-independence mobilization in decades, are still being felt. Douglas Gerrard produced an excellent article on the conflict (“Indonesia Is Stepping Up Its Repression of West Papua’s Freedom Movement”) last year.
When the rest of Indonesia won independence in the 1950s, West Papua remained part of Dutch New Guinea. Jakarta wanted the entire territory. Sukarno’s first foreign minister demanded that Jakarta and its forces “get them down from the trees,” a racist notion of West Papuans that aped the racism of the European colonizers and which continues today. In the 1950s, Indonesian troops led some incursions into the Dutch colonial holdout but they were rebuffed, in part because Washington was unsure of which side to take, not least because Sukarno was still flirting with the communists.
But by the end of the 1950s, as the Cold War became more intense and Indonesia was seen as a country that had to become an ally, by hook or crook, the Americans made it known to the Dutch that they could no longer count on U.S. support for the status quo. Knowing that its empire would soon end and motivated to maintain some influence in Southeast Asia once it did, the Dutch cautiously favored independence for the West Papuans and supported the formation in 1961 of the New Guinea Council, which drafted a manifesto for Independence and Self-Government and declared the territory Papua Barat – “West Papua.”
Still, Washington wouldn’t support the effort. Instead, it orchestrated talks that led to the August 1962 New York Agreement. Jakarta gained control of West Papua (renamed West Irian), and after a brief transitional period overseen by the U.N., things were supposed to climax in (and Indonesia was obligated to hold) a referendum on self-determination.
Starting in July 1969, U.N. officials oversaw the so-called “Act of Free Choice,” an Orwellian term if there ever was one. The U.N. claimed it would be a fair election conducted under international scrutiny and by international norms. And all adults from West Papua were supposed to have a vote, per the U.N.’s rules. However, that wasn’t the case. Jakarta upped its attacks on West Papuan separatists, especially after Suharto became dictator in 1965. Having already decimated much of the separatist movement, Jakarta then handpicked 1,022 West Papuans to vote on behalf of the region’s 800,000 people in the plebiscite, despite committing to a universal ballot. Naturally, they voted unanimously in favor of integration with Indonesia.
In July 2004, on the 35th anniversary of this Act of Free Choice, the U.S. National Security Archive released declassified documents on U.S. policy deliberations, which I quote liberally from below. The violation of the Act of Free Choice was obvious long before the 1,000 or so Jakarta patsies were led forcibly into the polling booths. In 1968, U.S. embassy officials visiting the region noted that “Indonesia could not win an open election.” The U.S. ambassador, Marshall Green, fretted at the time that U.N. officials might “hold out for free and direct elections,” while Green stressed that all U.S. and Western officials should make known to their U.N. counterparts the “political realities,” meaning that Washington needed the vote to go Jakarta’s way because it was a committed anti-communist ally at the time.
By October 1968, months before the election, the U.S. Embassy wrote back to Washington in relief that U.N. officials had conceded “that it would be inconceivable from the point of view of the interest of the U.N., as well as the [Government of Indonesia], that a result other than the continuance of West Irian within Indonesian sovereignty should emerge.” Even still, Green’s successor as U.S. ambassador, Frank Galbraith, noted in 1969, the year of the “referendum,” that “possibly 85 to 90%” of the West Papuan population “are in sympathy with the Free Papua cause.”
Nonetheless, Nixon and Kissinger visited Jakarta in July 1969 while the referendum was underway. Kissinger instructed his boss, “You should not raise this issue” of West Papua, and advised that “we should avoid any U.S. identification with” the matter of independence or integration. This was from a man who described Suharto as a “moderate military man … committed to progress and reform.” (Or was that said by U.S. officials of Prabowo today?) In any case, Indonesia’s control over the region was accepted by the international community, West Papua became a formal part of Indonesia, and six years later Kissinger masterminded, shadowing another U.S. president, America’s support for Indonesia’s colonization and occupation of Timor-Leste.
Why do I write all this? For starters, it’s a story often forgotten. How many people have heard of West Irian or West Papua or know that there remains a separatist movement? And there remains the notion that Indonesian imperialism ended in the 1990s with the death of the Suharto regime. That’s true for Timor-Leste, though Indonesians traipsed off only through pools of blood. Indonesia’s imperialism is also back in the news as Prabowo Subianto, the incoming Indonesian president, is accused of war crimes during his time in occupied Timor-Leste as head of the Kopassus special forces. As I argued some months ago, it’s not always healthy to pick at history’s healing wounds, and Indonesia’s relations with Timor-Leste, despite its barbaric past, had been healing for several years. But it’s quite another thing for the majority of Indonesians to elect an alleged war criminal, which must surely re-open those wounds.
But, also, this history serves as a reminder that American foreign policy is at its most heinous and brutally hypocritical when it wants to appease dictators and tyrants for a greater cause. A few months ago, after the death of Henry Kissinger, I was asked by a newspaper to write an obituary. A family emergency meant I hadn’t the time. But, for research and pleasure, which aren’t mutually exclusive, I did re-read a number of biographies, including Niall Ferguson’s sonorous first volume “Kissinger: 1923-1968: The Idealist,” and its polar opposite, Christopher Hitchens’ “The Trial of Henry Kissinger,” a short pamphlet that dedicates a chapter to how Washington (and Kissinger) sold out East Timorese independence and permitted an Indonesian invasion in order to appease Suharto and to keep stoking anti-communism in Southeast Asia. Hitchens had no space, though, for West Papua. Yet he did write: “Those who willed the means and wished the ends are not absolved from guilt by the refusal of reality to match their schemes.”
Realpolitik didn’t die with Kissinger last November. It is found – although not to the same extremity as in the 1960s and 1970s – in U.S. policy in Southeast Asia today. It’s quite obvious that Washington doesn’t just tolerate but provokes the worst excesses of the Communist Party of Vietnam because of China’s hostilities with Hanoi. Equally, Washington is now seeking to make friends with Phnom Penh because it has realized that it cannot condemn Cambodian authoritarianism at the same time as deterring Cambodia’s friendship with Beijing, so support for Cambodian democracy has been ditched. Elsewhere, all effort is now on rivaling China. Liberation and liberty, not least in Myanmar, are the casualties.
Contributing Author
David Hutt is a journalist and commentator. He is a research fellow at the Central European Institute of Asian Studies (CEIAS), and a columnist at The Diplomat and Radio Free Asia.
Peaceful demonstrators were arrested and excessive force was used to break up protests. Military operations in Papua resulted in unlawful killings and torture and other ill-treatment. Pro-independence activists were imprisoned. Torture and other ill-treatment by security forces of criminal suspects was commonplace, in some cases resulting in deaths. Non-state armed groups in Papua were also responsible for unlawful killings. The government failed to conduct meaningful consultations with populations affected by controversial development projects. Indonesia remained heavily reliant on coal for energy generation and plans to phase out fossil fuels were inadequate.
Background Tensions in Papua increased following the taking hostage in February of a pilot, a New Zealand national, by members of the National Liberation Army of Free Papua Organization (TPNPB-OPM) at Paro Airport in the remote highlands of Nduga regency, Papua Pegunungan province. In response the Indonesian military raised the operational status in Nduga to “combat alert” and deployed additional troops to the area, raising fears for the safety of civilians there and in surrounding areas.
Freedom of assembly Security forces arrested peaceful demonstrators and used excessive force to disperse protests, often resulting in injuries.
On 5 August, police arrested 18 people who were resting in West Sumatra Grand Mosque in the provincial capital Padang during protests against plans for an oil and petrochemical refinery in Nagari Air Bangis village in Barat regency. Police removed other protesters from the building, some of whom were praying at the time, including women who were dragged from the mosque. At least five journalists who were live-streaming or reporting on the event were physically assaulted and threatened by police officers. All of those arrested, including community leaders and activists, students and lawyers, were subsequently released without charge. These events followed a six-day protest in Nagari Air Bangis by residents concerned about the risk posed by the construction of the refinery to their livelihoods and the local environment.
On 14 August, security forces arrested seven people and used tear gas to disperse protesters who were blocking a road in the city of Bandung, West Java, to protest against the planned eviction of around 300 residents of Dago Elos, a suburb of the city. Those arrested included Dago Elos residents and a lawyer who was supporting them in the land dispute. All were released on 16 August but three were charged with committing violent acts. Several people were reportedly injured as a result of excessive use of force by the police.1
Freedom of expression Authorities continued to prosecute people for crimes against the security of the state for exercising their right to freedom of expression, including those calling for independence of Papua. At least three Papuan activists were imprisoned during the year for expressing their opinions.
On 8 August, Jayapura District Court found Yoseph Ernesto Matuan, Devio Tekege and Ambrosius Fransiskus Elopere guilty of treason under Articles 55 and 106 of the Criminal Code and sentenced them to 10 months’ imprisonment each. The three students were arrested in November 2022 while participating in a vigil at Jayapura University of Technology and Science to commemorate the 21st anniversary of the abduction and killing of pro-independence leader Theys Eluay, at which the Morning Star flag, a symbol of Papuan independence, was raised. All three were released in September having served their sentences.2
Unlawful killings At least 26 incidents resulting in unlawful killings by security forces were reported in Papua, involving a total of 58 victims.
In September, security forces shot and killed five Indigenous Papuans in Dekai, the capital of Yahukimo regency, Papua Pegunungan province. The security forces claimed that the five, who were aged between 15 and 18, were killed in a firefight with the TPNPB-OPM. Other sources denied that the youths were members of the armed group but rather were returning to their village having bought food in Dekai. Anyone leaving Dekai was required to report to a security post on the outskirts of the city and if they failed to do so they were automatically considered to be members of the TPNPB-OPM. The authorities had not initiated investigations into the alleged killings by the end of the year.
Torture and other ill-treatment Security forces subjected detainees to torture and other ill-treatment to extract information or confessions.
Torture and other ill-treatment remained commonplace in Papua, where incidents of arbitrary detention and torture also occurred in the context of military operations in and around Nduga regency. On 6 April, the military detained and tortured six Indigenous Papuans from Kwiyawagi village in Lanny Jaya regency, Papua Pegunungan province. The six, who included four boys, were transported by helicopter to the military headquarters in Timika, where 17-year-old Wity Unue died, reportedly as a result of injuries sustained from torture. The five others were released without charge on 20 April, but were reported to be in poor health. No one had been brought to justice by the end of the year.
In September, eight members of the narcotics division of Jakarta Metropolitan Police were named as suspects in the beating to death of a suspected drug dealer during interrogation in July. None of the eight had been charged by the end of the year.
In August, the body of Imam Masykur was found more than three weeks after he was abducted and tortured by three soldiers from the Presidential Security Force and the Indonesian military. According to the Asian Human Rights Commission, the three detained the 25-year-old in the capital, Jakarta, after accusing him of selling illegal drugs and demanded a ransom for his release. Imam Masykur’s body was found in a reservoir in West Java. In December, the three perpetrators were sentenced to life imprisonment and dismissed from the military.
Abuses by armed groups Eleven incidents resulting in the unlawful killings of 24 victims by the TPNPB-OPM in Papua were documented during the year.
On 28 August, a spokesperson for the armed group claimed that it had killed Michelle Kurisi Doga in Kolawa, Lanny Jaya regency, Papua Pegunungan province. At the time of her death, Michelle Kurisi Doga was travelling to gather data on displacement resulting from military operations in Nduga, but according to the spokesman they suspected her of being a member of military intelligence.3
The New Zealand national taken hostage by the TPNPB-OPM in February had not been released by the end of the year.
Economic, social and cultural rights The government failed to carry out meaningful consultations and effective human rights due diligence processes before allowing work to start on the Rempang Eco-City project, a multibillion-dollar industrial and tourism development project on Rempang Island. The project involves the relocation of around 7,500 residents from 16 villages primarily inhabited by the Tempatan Indigenous Peoples that would result in loss of access to their ancestral lands. The national development project met with strong opposition from Tempatan Peoples and other local communities. Consultations on the project were held with affected communities in August, but security at some of the meetings was reportedly heavy and observers described the meetings as a one-way dissemination of information from the government and the company to residents.
A series of protests against the acquisition of land for the Rempang Eco-City project were held in August and September, culminating in clashes with security forces on 7 September during which some protesters threw stones and water bottles and security forces responded with water cannon, tear gas and rubber bullets. At least 20 protesters were injured and approximately 25 pupils from two schools located near the site of the protests required hospital treatment from the effects of tear gas. Following the events of 7 September, new joint police/military security posts were established on the island. According to the local branch of the NGO Legal Aid Institute, at least 35 people were charged with using or threatening to use violence against officials carrying out their duties, which carries a maximum prison sentence of one year and four months.4
Right to a healthy environment Although Indonesia generated an increasing amount of its electricity from renewables, it remained heavily reliant on coal for electricity generation. Coal was also Indonesia’s biggest export product. Plans to phase out the use of fossil fuels in energy production, set out in Presidential Regulation No. 112 of 2022 on the Acceleration of Renewable Energy Development for Power Supply, were inadequate because, among other factors, although the regulation banned new coal-fired energy plants, it permits the development of those already planned. As such, the government proceeded with a planned 35 thousand-megawatt power generation project, agreed in 2015, involving the construction of 109 mainly coal-fired power plants across the country
Elisa Sekenyap, Jayapura — The Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC) says it deplores the recent sadistic torture of indigenous peoples of Melanesia in West Papua committed by the Indonesian government through members of the TNI (Indonesian military).
“Unfortunately this horrifying incident is only the latest in the six decades of Indonesian oppression of the people of West Papua”, PCC General Secretary Reverend James Bhagwan told Suara Papua on Sunday April 14 via email from Suva, Fiji.
The PCC’s statement was conveyed in connection with three Papuan civilians who were tortured by TNI officers in Puncak regency, Central Papua province, a video of which spread widely on social media not long ago.
Bhagwan said that the Indonesian government is a signatory to a number of United Nations conventions, which should guarantee the civil and political rights of its citizens, including West Papuans, regardless of their political ideology or religious beliefs.
“The Indonesian government should also do the same thing under what is called the Special Autonomy Law. However, people who express their rights as indigenous people, express voices that are different from the government, are routinely harassed and tortured brutally”, he said.
Bhagwan said it should be noted that Indonesia, which tries to be seen as a respected member of the international community, has been re-elected for another term as a member of the UN Human Rights Council (2024-2026).
“Do countries that supported Indonesia’s nomination as members of the UN Human Rights Council say they feel comfortable with these human rights violations?”
“With the end of the meeting of Melanesian Spearhead Group foreign officials and in anticipation of the next meeting of MSG leaders, the question is, how is it that the MSG is able to continue to allow Indonesia, which has policies and practices that demean dignity, weaken and eliminate women’s rights, children, Melanesian men and fellow MSG members, remain a member [of the MSG]?”
“Therefore in the name of justice, which is an expression of divine love, and when much of the Pacific people are reflecting on the betrayal, arbitrarily arrest, torture, fake trial and execution of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ, we call for the suspension, or even the expulsion of Indonesia from the MSG if they do not agree to facilitate a visit by the UN Human Rights [Commissioner] to West Papua”, concluded Bhagwan.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was “Gereja Pasifik Desak MSG Keluarkan Indonesia Jika Tidak Memfasilitasi Komisi HAM PBB Ke Papua”.]
It has been 60 years since Indonesia has refused humanitarian agencies and international media access to enter West Papua.
According to Benny Wenda, the President of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), Indonesia is comparable to North Korea in terms of media access. North Korea does not allow international media visits, and the situation in West Papua is similar.
Speaking with the Vanuatu Daily Post yesterday, Mr. Wenda said organisations such as the Red Cross, International Peace Brigades, Human Rights Agencies, and even the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) have been completely banned from West Papua for 60 years.
“Indonesia claims to be a democratic country. Then why does Indonesia refuse to allow, in line with calls from the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) and the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), a visit from the United Nations (UN) Commissioner to examine the human rights situation? It has been 60 years, yet Indonesia has not heeded this call, while the killings continue,” he said.
“If Indonesia truly upholds democracy, then it should allow a visit by the UN Commissioner. This is why we, as Melanesians and Pacific Islanders, are demanding such a visit. Even 85 countries have called for the UN Commissioner’s visit, and Indonesia must respect this as it is a member of the UN.”
The ULMWP also issued a statement, stating that over 100,000 West Papuans were internally displaced between December 2018 and March 2022, as a result of an escalation in Indonesian militarisation.
They reported that as of October 2023, 76,228 Papuans remained internally displaced, and over 1,300 Papuans were killed between 2018 and 2023, and a video of Indonesian soldiers torturing a West Papuan in Puncak has made international news.
In response to the disturbing video footage about incident in Papua, Indonesia stated that the 13 Tentara Nasional Indonesia (TNI) personnel (National Armed Forces of Indonesia) involved have been detained.
“The Embassy emphasised that torture is not the policy of the Government of Indonesia nor its National Armed Forces or Indonesian National Police,” the statement relayed.
“Therefore, such actions cannot be tolerated. Indonesia reaffirms its unwavering commitment to upholding human rights, including in Papua, in accordance with international standards.”
The ULMWP said Indonesian is lobbying in Vanuatu and the Pacific, presenting themselves as friends, while allegedly murdering and torturing Melanesians.
“For instance, in the Vanuatu Daily Post interview published on Thursday this week, the Indonesian Ambassador to Vanuatu claimed that West Papua was never colonised. This claim is flatly untrue: for one thing, the Ambassador claimed that ‘West Papua has never been on the UN Special Committee on Decolonisation (C-24)’ – but in fact, West Papua was added to the list of ‘Non-Self Governing Territories’ as the Dutch decolonised in the 1960s,” the Movement stated.
“According to the 1962 New York Agreement, West Papua was transferred to Indonesia on the condition of a free and fair vote on independence. However, in 1969, a handpicked group of 1,022 West Papuans (of an estimated population of 800,000) was forced to vote for integration with Indonesia, under conditions of widespread coercion, military violence and intimidation.
“Therefore, the right to self-determination in West Papua remains unfulfilled and decolonisation in West Papua is incomplete under international law. The facts could not be clearer: West Papua is a colonised territory.”
The Vanuatu Daily Post also asked some similar questions that had been posed to Indonesia on March 28, 2024, to which Mr. Wenda responded adeptly. Additionally, he provided insightful commentary on the current geopolitical landscape.
What do you believe Indonesia’s intention is in seeking membership in the MSG?
Indonesia’s intention to join MSG is to prevent West Papua from becoming a full member. Their aim is to obstruct West Papua’s membership because Indonesia, being Asian, does not belong to Melanesia. While they have their own forum called the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), we, as Melanesians, have the PIF, representing our regional bloc. Indonesia’s attempt to become an associate member is not in line with our Melanesian identity. Melanesians span from Fiji to West Papua, and we are linguistically, geographically, and culturally distinct. We are entitled to our Melanesian identity.
Currently, West Papua is not represented in MSG; only Indonesia is recognised. We have long been denied representation, and Indonesia’s intention to become an associate member solely to impede West Papua’s inclusion is evident.
Is Indonesia supporting West Papua’s efforts to become a full member of the MSG?
I don’t think their intention is to support; rather, they seek to exert influence within Melanesia to obstruct and prevent it. This explains their significant investment over the last ten years. Previously, they showed no interest in Melanesian affairs, so why the sudden change?
What aid is Indonesia offering Vanuatu and for what purpose? What are Indonesia’s intentions and goals in its foreign relations with Vanuatu?
I understand that Indonesia is an associate member of the MSG and contributes to its annual budget, which is acceptable. However, if Indonesia is investing heavily here, why aren’t they focusing on addressing the needs of their own people? I haven’t observed any Ni-Vanuatu begging on the streets from the airport to here (Golden Port). In contrast, in Jakarta, there are people sleeping under bridges begging for assistance. Why not invest in improving the lives of your own citizens? People in Jakarta endure hardships, living in slum settlements and under bridges, whereas I have never witnessed any Melanesians from West Papua to Fiji begging. So, why the sudden heavy investment here, and why now? —
I know what you think,” the source tells me. “That it’s fake. It’s not fake. It’s our life.”
It is a video of an act of torture in Gome, in central West Papua. It shows a man with his hands tied inside a water-filled drum. Men take turns beating and kicking the man, screaming racist slurs that have been an ominous ingredient of the Indonesian occupation of West Papua since the 1960s.
The tied man is incapable of any form of resistance. He is alone, the perpetrators are plenty. A bayonet cuts the man’s back and the water turns red. There is no way out of the entrapment without the assistance of his surroundings. But no one in the beating party is there to assist him – nor is Indonesia present in West Papua to assist its people.
The man’s name is Definus Kogoya. He was arrested on February 3, 2024, suspected of arson – a suspicion that was swiftly written off by the police. By then, however, another suspect, Warinus Kogoya, had perished when he “jumped” from a police truck, trying to escape.
Collective Punishment
In the hands of the military, Definus Kogoya was subjected to the collective frustration of the Indonesian army, which despite its dominance in terms of military and technological equipment has proved incapable of breaking down a popular rebellion in West Papua, consisting of both armed and non-violent resistance.
The torture video is a testament to the everyday violence, discrimination, and humiliation that Indonesian army personnel subject the West Papuan population to. Had the soldiers never eternalized their bestial act on video, it remains highly uncertain that any legal consequences would have eventuated – as is the case now.
Thirteen soldiers from the 300 Infantry Raider Battalion, stationed in conflict-ridden central West Papua, have been arrested, accused of torture. In the wake of the video’s wide circulation, the Indonesian military openly apologized to “all Papuan people” for the event. Benny Wenda, a prominent West Papuan political leader in exile in London, stated in a video comment that “torture is such a widespread military practice that it has been described as a ‘mode of governance’ in West Papua.”
Severe and Rampant Deforestation
The act of torture is a haunting mirroring image of Indonesia’s colonial policy in West Papua. It is about beating the soil free of natural resources. Large-scale deforestation to pave the way for palm oil operations and mining sites is so severe and rampant that significant parts of West Papua’s virgin forests have been turned into “pockets,” like oases in a desert.
“People are leaving their lands,” a source tells me. Where do they go? I ask. “Anywhere,” is the answer, another way of saying nowhere.
The controversial “Omnibus Law,” pushed through by outgoing Indonesian President Joko Widodo as a “policy of development,” includes the establishment of large-scale food estates to secure food availability for Indonesia, while also providing large areas of West Papua’s “unused areas” to mining, forestry, and infrastructure projects. All of these operations have been linked to continued deforestation, according to various environmental watchdogs who have also reported on a “significant underreporting” of methane emissions from Indonesia’s coal mines.
“A lot of land use and land-based investment permits have already been given to businesses, and a lot of these areas are already prone to disasters,” Arie Rompas, a forestry expert at Greenpeace, told The Associated Press.
A New “Blood-stained” President
President-elect and long-time military potentate Prabowo Subianto, controversial due to his tainted human rights record, has not only promised to continue his predecessor’s development policy in places like West Papua; he inherits an armed conflict that since late 2018 has shown Jakarta (and the rest of the world) that large portions of West Papuans simply won’t accept being treated as second-class citizens anymore.
What’s clearer – and worse from Jakarta’s perspective – is that their claim and request for a U.N.-observed referendum on independence from Indonesia, to make up for the “Act of Free Choice” in 1969, when a thousand “chosen” Papuans voted for “integration with Indonesia” at gunpoint, simply won’t go away despite Indonesia’s brutal military response. In Sentani, in northern West Papua on April 2, 77 people were sprayed with teargas and arrested for participating in a peaceful demonstration against the militarization of West Papua. Many were severely beaten, reported Human Rights Monitor.
The New Zealand pilot kidnapped last year and still in the hands of armed rebel forces is another political hand grenade for the president-elect. In February, the rebels said Phillip Mehrtens would be released, but did not specify when. Prabowo has proven more than capable of launching large-scale military operations in West Papua. In 1984, he ordered Indonesian special forces, the notorious Kopassus, to “clean up” outspoken independence advocates. Among the operations were various border crossings into Papua New Guinea in search of rebels. In the no-man’s land between PNG and West Papua, along Fly River, I interviewed displaced West Papuans who still recall the brutality and lack of mercy that Indonesian forces showed civilians during these mid-1980s military operations.
The IDPs Crisis Persists
The systematic brutality directed at West Papuans while in custody is mirrored by a total lack of presence when it comes to the more than 60,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) in the Central Highlands. The Secretariat of Justice and Peace of the Catholic Church stated in a November 2023 report that the “IDP crisis persists” and that people have perished in poorly functioning refugee camps due to the lack of the most basic access to food and healthcare. Many of the dead are minors, who lived their entire short lives on the run, after seeing their lands bombed by Indonesian forces (allegedly using chemical weapons) or becoming victims of land grabs. Land is not infrequently confiscated by mining, logging, and palm oil interests, or integrated as “available lands” for Indonesian transmigrants from Java and Sulawesi.
The existing infrastructure in the abandoned villages in the highlands has often either been demolished or damaged. Schools, churches, and health clinics are no longer places of education, collectiveness, and care, but instead turned into military headquarters, according to a 2023 Human Rights Monitor report. Humanitarian law is not respected, instead thousands of men, women, children, and elderly have been cast into a life “in subhuman conditions, without access to food, healthcare services, or education.”
A Stand Against “Settler Colonialism”
Esther Haluk, a West Papuan democratic rights activist who was among those arrested in a May 2022 military sweep, looks to the future with fear. The conflict, she underlined in a speech, “is not about color television or 3G internet, it’s about indigenous dignity and a stand against militarism.”
“This is a real form of settler colonialism, a form of colonization that aims to replace the indigenous people of the colonized area with settlers from colonial society,” she added. “In this type of colonialism, indigenous people are not only threatened with losing their territory but also their way of life and identity that’s been passed down to them from generation to generation.”
The situation in the highlands resembles that which has lasted for decades along the border between West Papua and Papua New Guinea. Along Fly River, in a political and socioeconomic no-man’s-land, entire generations have been sacrificed due to the lack of schools, proper healthcare, and long-term-sustainable job opportunities. PNG authorities were – and remain – less than interested in facilitating social service for the refugees, let alone being a spokesperson for a just and secure reintegration of the displaced back into West Papuan society. The same goes for the world community.
“They kill the future by displacing the young,” one source tells me. “It’s a slow genocide that will pick up speed with time.”
The birth of a “lost generation” in the highlands, left to be cared for by local churches while Indonesia keeps the door shut for U.N. and independent reporters to document the short- and long-term conditions for IDPs, takes place in a world occupied with Ukraine and Gaza. To make matters worse, leaked lists of personal information and telephone numbers of local independent reporters and human rights activists underlines an eagerness to pester anyone who sets out to document the reality in West Papua with threatening calls and messages.
“The people of West Papua are constantly hit by the forces of Indonesian colonial weapons,” a source tells me. “But we will never back down, we have no choice but to keep fighting for our right to live.”
* Note on sources: All sources are anonymous due to safety concerns. To minimize the risk of exposure their individual expertise, geographical domicile, and job titles are not presented, but they include human rights workers, environmental activists, and politicians.
GUEST AUTHOR
Klas Lundström Klas Lundström is an investigative reporter and writer, based in Stockholm, who has reported from Indonesia, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, and West Papua for various media outlets
Indonesian military probes viral video allegedly showing Papuan’s brutal torture by soldiers
Victor Mambor and Dandy Koswaraputra 2024.03.22 Jayapura, Indonesia, and Jakarta
A
2024.03.22 Jayapura, Indonesia, and Jakarta
Military officials in Indonesia’s restive Papua region said Friday they were verifying the authenticity of a video that has gone viral and appears to show Indonesian servicemen beating and cutting with a bayonet a man believed to be an indigenous Papuan.
Human rights activists demanded a swift inquiry to determine if soldiers were involved in what would be yet another case of torture and abuse, which is a longstanding accusation against Indonesian military and security forces in Papua.
The location and time of the alleged incident are unclear.
“We are verifying its authenticity,” Col. Gusti Nyoman Suriastawa, a military spokesman in Papua, told BenarNews. “If it is genuine, we need to determine where and when it occurred.”
The graphic video footage, viewed by BenarNews, shows men in trousers that resemble Indonesian military uniform fatigues, taunting the victim who is seen inside a water-filled drum.
“How does that feel? Head up! Head up,” the men say as they hit him and make incisions on his back with a bayonet.
As the men continue to inflict the wounds, the water in the drum can be seen turning red.
In a statement issued after the video was widely circulated, PAHAM Papua, a local human rights organization, issued a statement that makes the assumption that the abusers in the footage are members of the Indonesian Armed Forces [TNI].
“If the individual was suspected of criminal activity, the TNI should not have resorted to such brutal and sadistic torture as shown in the video,” PAHAM chairman Gustaf Kawer said.
“The act of torture inflicted on [the] civilian was extremely cruel, carried out by TNI [personnel without adhering to the principle of presumption of innocence.”
PAHAM urged the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) and the Indonesian military to conduct a “comprehensive investigation.”
Theo Hesegem, executive director of the Papua Human Justice and Integrity Foundation, urged authorities “to ensure that the perpetrators of the torture are processed swiftly.”
“It is clear that the individual subjected to torture is a native Papuan,” he said in a statement.
Komnas HAM, meanwhile, indicated that initial findings point to the incident taking place in the Puncak regency of Central Papua province.
“This compounds the toll of violence from the ongoing conflict in Papua, with suspicions pointing to torture by authorities,” Komnas HAM chairwoman Atnike Nova Sigiro Atnika said in a statement.
Rights groups have long accused Indonesian security forces of abuses in Papua, including arbitrary arrests, torture, and extrajudicial killings.
Papua, at the far-eastern end of the Indonesian archipelago, has seen an escalation in violence following an insurgent attack that resulted in the deaths of 19 road construction workers and a soldier in 2018.
The heavy military presence and ongoing violence have stifled development in the region.
On Friday, Rumadi Ahmad, a deputy chief of the Indonesian presidential staff, said that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo had committed to accelerating development in Papua, but these efforts would be hampered if the military was responsible for the violence in the video.
“While we hold a strong hope that our soldiers are not involved in such reprehensible acts, if proven true, the individuals responsible must be held accountable in accordance with the applicable rules and regulations,” Rumadi said in a statement.
He said the military played a strategic role “in bringing about a sense of security” in Papua.
“If the video is proven to be true, the actions by a few irresponsible individuals could be very disruptive to the development that has been planned and implemented so well,” Rumadi said.
Insurgents have also been responsible for civilian fatalities, targeting those they suspect of espionage for the authorities. In 2022, rebels killed eight employees of Telkomsel, the nation’s leading telecommunications provider, who were constructing cellular towers in the Puncak regency.
However, one armed separatist group, the West Papua National Liberation Army, quickly distanced itself from the incident in the video and condemned the acts therein, which spokesman Sebby Sambom attributed to the TNI.
“The actions of the Indonesian military and police are akin to [those of] ISIS terrorists,” Sambom said, referring to the Islamic State militant group.
Papua, a mineral-rich and underdeveloped region, has been grappling with a separatist insurgency for decades. The mineral extraction and alleged discrimination against indigenous Papuans by the Indonesian government have fueled the conflict.
Papuans have long felt marginalized economically and politically, despite the immense wealth their land generates.
The territory was incorporated into Indonesia in the 1960s after a controversial United Nations-backed plebiscite.
Many Papuans allege the vote was rigged and have since fought for independence.
Australia West Papua Association Adelaide 