The West Papuan highlands have been plunged into a state of tension and fear, as Indonesian police shot dead a member of the indigenous community security group, Defenders of the Land of Papua. Indigenous Papuan activists are operating in a state of increased repression, surveillance and militarization backed by the Indonesian state's supporters in the US and Australia. Jacques Friedman reports.
On October 4th, a member of Petapa (Penjaga Tanah Papua - Defenders of the Land of Papua) was shot dead by Indonesian police in the West Papuan highlands town of Wamena. With this act of extrajudicial murder, the Indonesian security forces have stepped up their campaign of repression against the movement for indigenous rights and self-determination in West Papua. They have also revived painful memories of the Bloody Wamena incidents that rocked Wamena ten years ago, when Indonesian police and army forces brutally attacked community posts flying the Morning Star flag, leaving activists dead, beaten and imprisoned, and communities traumatized and displaced.
The increasing momentum of popular mobilizations against Indonesian rule, witnessed in the recent rejection of Jakarta’s manipulative ‘Special Autonomy’ law, is being matched by new levels of violent repression by the Indonesian police and military. On Oct. 4, DAP’s (Dewan Adat Papua - Papuan Customary Council) security wing Petapa came under severe attack, as four of its members were shot by police, killing coordinator Ismael Lokobal, age 34, and leaving another senior member in a coma. The incident happened after local airport police seized uniforms and cash being sent to Wamena from the coastal capital Jayapura. Petapa members attempted to negotiate the return of the seized goods but were denied by police. Soon a crowd had gathered at the airport police station and confronted the police; Wamena’s police chief was struck in the face by a rock. Police launched a violent pursuit of Petapa members, chasing them to their headquarters at the regional DAP compound nearby, where Lokobal was shot dead.
Sources on the ground have reported that in the aftermath of the incident, the situation in Wamena has become extremely tense, with the military patrolling the streets and enforcing a curfew. Local human rights advocates have sought in vain to negotiate a resolution to the crisis with local government and security forces leaders, and community leaders managed to prevent a rumoured attack against police forces by members of the victims’ clan. The tension persists, and DAP and Petapa’s status as targets for repression and surveillance by the state apparatus is more starkly confirmed.
Meanwhile, newly obtained graphic and disturbing video footage shows Indonesian state agents torturing suspected OPM (Organisasi Papua Merdeka – Free Papua Movement) supporters as part of their brutal scorched-earth counter-insurgency campaign [Note: More than a dozen NGOs, including Amnesty International have begun calling for a full, independent investigation into the torture and mistreatment of Papuans over the last two years].
There is an urgent need for solidarity and support as Papua-wide mobilizations continue to put pressure on the Indonesian occupation and its foreign backers – which include the US and Australian governments as well as foreign resource extraction companies such as Freeport McMoran and BP. This urgency is reflected as well by the recent disastrous flooding in Wasior, which Papuan NGOs blame on rampant logging around the area, and which has left over a hundred people dead and thousands displaced. In light of the ongoing tension and popular opposition to foreign rule, further mobilizations and incidents are expected in the weeks to come.
Jacques Friedman is an independent journalist who works in solidarity with the Indigenous Peoples of West Papua. You can more of his reports at his website, Independent and Unmerged
http://hepuru.wordpress.com/
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IndigenousPeoplesIssues.com reports
Papuan Caucus Condemns Burning Of Houses And Churches In Puncak Jaya. The Papuan Caucus in the Indonesian Parliament has strongly condemned the burning down of dozens of houses and churches in the district of Puncak Jaya, Papua. These incidents are thought to have been perpetrated by the security forces from June to October 2010.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NhnPkgeXSw
Footage shot last month has been released showing the effects of Indonesian military sweeping operations in the West Papua highlands. Filmed by villagers hiding in forests, the footage shows villages down in the valleys burning following an evening raid. The next day tearful villagers return to the remains of their homes. Evidence of burning of crops and gardens is also clearly visible.
Overview
US Indonesian relations are being tested again by videos showing colonial treatment of the Papuan population. The former Dutch colony held elections in 1961 and control was being transferred to the indigenous New Guinea Council until an arrangement promoted by the US National Security adviser suspended the decolonization process.
A Department of State summary declassified in 1995 stated it’s view that “annexation by Indonesia would simply trade white for brown colonialism”, and that “The underlying reason that the Kennedy administration pressed the Netherlands to accept this agreement was that it believed that Cold War considerations of preventing Indonesia from going Communist overrode the Dutch case.”
I knew it!!I got online today and seen volcano’s earthquakes in Indonesia and i thought to myself man they are getting pounded for a reason i wonder what they did wrong.Now i see i hope they see the errors of their ways and see that it is best to protect the earth instead of killing her protectors foolish people.
Me too, It’s been going on for far too long. It’s time to let the Papuans live as they want to live.
[...] Continue Reading: http://intercontinentalcry.org/wamena-bleeds-again-defender-of-the-land-of-papua-killed-by-indonesia… [...]
[...] Continue Reading: http://intercontinentalcry.org/wamena-bleeds-again-defender-of-the-land-of-papua-killed-by-indonesia… [...]
It is sad to see so much violence supporting projects of colonization and resource extraction. It might be worth remembering that people throughout Indonesia have suffered the repression of that country’s security forces. The oppression and devastation are of course most severe in West Papua, where state racism seems to enable dehumanizing acts of violence.
Anyone who wants to protest the continued support of Western Governments to the Indonesian security forces terrorizing West Papuans can check out ETAN’s campaigns, including a petition (http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/dont-train-indonesias-deadly-kopassus.html) against US training of the military special forces Kopassus, and its appeal to cease supporting Indonesia’s Special Police Unit Detachment 88 (http://etan.org/news/2010/09d88.htm).
Folks can also contact Freeport MacMoran to protest their support for torture in the form of protection payments to the Indonesian police and military. Freeport can be contacted as follows:
Headquarters
One North Central Ave.
Phoenix, AZ 85004
+1 602.366.8100
fcx_communications@fmi.com
Just a note to say that the links in the report to http://westpapuamedia.info/ are not working right now, in the wake of a cyber-attack against several sites that have shown the videos of Indonesian soldiers torturing Papuan men in the Puncak Jaya region of the highlands. While it is not known precisely who mounted this cyber-attack, it seems safe to assume that it is the work of Indonesia’s military intelligence. http://www.channel4.com/news/catch-up/display/playlistref/281010/clipid/281010_CYBERATTACK_28
Yeah, it was probably them. Hopefully people still have some copies of the video, though. And once it’s accepting submissions again, it might be a good idea to upload it to http://wikileaks.org/ for future reference.
The cyberattack took place after the videos had already been circulated to major media around the world, so the videos are still widely available. The Asian Human Rights Commission website is working: http://video.ahrchk.net/AHRC-VID-012-2010-Indonesia.html