The Neglected Genocide
Decades of conflict in Papua, Indonesia, continue to cost the lives of civilians, soldiers and resistance group members. Ongoing human rights violations range from extrajudicial killings and intimidation of journalists to discrimination in health care, education and access to economic opportunities. These are just the tip of the iceberg where violations of indigenous Papuans are concerned and these violations shape current Papuan perspectives on Indonesia. In this context, a solution for both indigenous Papuans and Indonesian national interests has so far remained out of reach.Responding to...
Tidak Ada Tahanan Politik? Pembungkaman protes politik di Papua Barat
*Herman dan teman-temannya memulai hari baru di LP Wamena, daerah pegunungan tengah Papua Barat. Mereka tidak tahu apakah mereka dapat makan hari itu, dan merindukan kabar tentang keluargakeluarga mereka, yang tinggal jauh di gunung-gunung, menghabiskan berjam-jam naik truk.Ditangkap tanggal 20 November 2010 di Yalengga, Kabupaten Jayawijaya, orang-orang yang hanya petani biasa ini sedang berada dalam perjalanan dalam suatu pemakaman. Mereka membawa bendera Bintang Kejora yang dilarang itu1 – simbol kemerdekaan Papua – sebagai penghormatan terhadap keyakinan politik yang dimiliki oleh orang...
No Political Prisoners? The suppression of political protest in West Papua
*Herman and his friends begin another day in Wamena prison, in West Papua’s central highlands. They do not know whether they will eat today, and long for news of their families, who live up in the mountains, some hours away by truck.Arrested on 20 November 2010 in Yalengga, Jayawijaya district, the men were ordinary farmers on their way to a funeral. They were carrying the banned Morning Star flag1 – a symbol of Papuan independence – out of respect for the political beliefs of the deceased. Arrested and tortured by the military, the men were found guilty of treason under Article 106 of the...
Papuans Behind Bars: March 2013
Papuans Behind Bars is a new project about political prisoners in West Papua. Our aim is to provide accurate and transparent data, published in English and Indonesian, to facilitate direct support for prisoners and promote wider debate and campaigning in support of free expression in West Papua.Papuans Behind Bars is a collective project initiated by Papuan civil society groups working together as the Civil Society Coalition to Uphold Law and Human Rights in Papua. It is a grassroots initiative and represents a broad collaboration between lawyers, human rights groups, adat groups, activists,...
Papuans Behind Bars: Feb 2013
Update: February 2013Papuans Behind Bars is a new project about political prisoners in West Papua. Our aim is to provide accurate and transparent data, published in English and Indonesian, to facilitate direct support for prisoners and promote wider debate and campaigning in support of free expression in West Papua.Papuans Behind Bars is a collective project initiated by Papuan civil society groups working together as the Civil Society Coalition to Uphold Law and Human Rights in Papua. It is a grassroots initiative and represents a broad collaboration between lawyers, human rights groups,...
Papuans Behind Bars
Update: January 2013Papuans Behind Bars is a new project about political prisoners in West Papua. Our aim is to provide accurate and transparent data, published in English and Indonesian, to facilitate direct support for prisoners and promote wider debate and campaigning in support of free expression in West Papua.Papuans Behind Bars is a collective project initiated by Papuan civil society groups working together as the Civil Society Coalition to Uphold Law and Human Rights in Papua. It is a grassroots initiative and represents a broad collaboration between lawyers, human rights groups, adat...
Testimony of Frengki Uamang
VICTIM OF GRAVE TORTURE IN TIMIKA, 27 NOVEMBER 2012Name: Frengki UamangDate and place of birth Weah, 5 April 1977Education -Occupation PeasantReligion Protestant (Gereja Kemah Injil Papua)Status A family manPerpetrator Members of Police Force, Mimika ResortDate and time 27...
Indonesia’s unresolved mass murders: undermining democracy
This report gives an historical overview of the 1965–66 massacres, persecutions, and continuing discriminatory policies against alleged communists and their descendants in Indonesia. It shows how such practices have over the years also been extended to other groups, contributing to a state of political repression, inter-ethnic and inter-religious conflicts. Failure to address the past could fuel conflict and even result in further atrocities. The briefing concludes that a truth-seeking process, official historical clarification, and a genuine reconciliation process through judicial...
MIFEE: Two major reports published
Two major reports were published this month about the enormous land-grab taking place in West Papua. The Merauke Intergrated Food and Energy Estate, popularly known as 'MIFEE' has already robbed indigenous peoples of their land, caused horizontal conflicts and threatens social and environmental catastrophe in Papua's southern province of Merauke. The investigation by Indonesia's Tempo magazine and the report by activist group Awas MIFEE provide a critical insight into the ominous project which threatens to swallow a huge area of Indonesia's most secretive province.'An Agribusiness Attack in...
An Agribusiness Attack in West Papua
In the far south of West Papua lies a vast flat land of forests, savannah and swamps. It is the homeland of the Malind Anim people who largely still live by hunting and gathering food. But maybe not for much longer. Such a wide expanse of land that seems so suitable for cultivation has not gone unnoticed in the Indonesian capital, many thousands of kilometres away in Jakarta, and nor for that matter, further afield.The areas around Merauke have long been seen as having great potential for large-scale plantation enterprises. While the forests of Indonesia's other large islands, Sumatra and...
A Timebomb in Merauke
THE plantation and forest production projects under way in Merauke Regency at the southern tip of Papua, are in danger of unraveling. Last year, a wood-processing factory of PT Medco Papua Industri Lestari stopped operating for two months as a result of heated protests from local residents. Clearing of land for planting sugarcane by PT Cenderawasih Jaya Mandiri, a subsidiary of the Rajawali Group, also ran into trouble. Two tribal groups disputed over the amount of land to be used by the company. Similar conflicts have taken place in many other areas in Merauke, affecting over a dozen...
University of Sydney publishes West Papua volume
The University of Sydney has published an edited volume of papers representing the views of leading scholars and activists working on West Papua, including TAPOL's Paul Barber. This groundbreaking publication "represents the views of the world's leading scholars and activists currently working on understanding the conflict in West Papua" and is available to download in PDF form below. Further details about the University of Sydney West Papua Project, February 2011 conference, and subsequent book, can be found here.
New Report Reveals Extent of Papua Human Rights Violations
Following last month’s violent dispersal by Indonesian security forces of the Third Papuan Peoples’ Congress in Jayapura, Indonesia has been confronted with the full scale of human rights problems in Papua by the new Report ‘Human Rights in Papua 2010/2011. This was launched yesterday by the Faith Based Network on West Papua (FBN), Franciscans International (FI), and the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC).The Report portrays the bleak reality of the abuse of civil and political rights, as well as economic and cultural rights in Papua in 2010 and 2011. The aim of the Report is to raise...
Human Rights in Papua 2011/2012
2010 and 2011 have been particularly singular for the indigenous Papuans who live in the Western half of the Island of New Guinea. In 2010 episodes of torture perpetrated against Indigenous Papuans were displayed worldwide. Through shocking and horrific video images, the entire world has discovered how the Indonesian Army deliberately commits torture against Indigenous Papuans.The Indonesian government’s policy of isolating Papua from the rest of the world – not allowing access to foreign journalists, international human rights workers, researchers and diplomats – has not been able to cover...
Papua in a Cycle of Conflict: Violence is still occurring
There seems to be no end to conflict and violence in Papua. Discussions about the situation always focus on the problem of conflict, which only goes to show that something is amiss in the most easterly part of Indonesia.The many conflicts that occurred in the four months from April to July 2009 show that Papua never seems able to rid itself of the language of conflict. The violence has been an integral part of central government policy, particularly before and after the recent parliamentary and presidential elections.Why did violence escalate at the time of the recent elections when it spread...
Political party mapping in Aceh
While 34 national political parties will contest the general elections in April 2009, the contest in Aceh will be very different. This will be the only place where local parties will also participate.Six local parties have complied with the requirements needed to stand regarding minimum membership and having the required number of branches in the districts and sub-districts. Unfortunately some requests for recognition were rejected including a women's political party, several Muslim parties and a party combining members of GAM and the ulama party.The six parties which complied with the...
Ten Years After (1998-2008)
Celebrating Cap Go Meh in TangerangIt is universally accepted that one of the most important features of a healthy democracy is that it treats its minorities well. Applied to the Chinese minority in post-Suharto Indonesia, Indonesia has done quite well. Let's take several positive examples. Two laws were recently adopted in parliament, the Law on Citizenship in June 2006 and the Law on Citizens Administration in December 2006. Both laws were adopted Unanimously, recognising the fact that Chinese Indonesians are now legally recognised as 'Indonesia asli', native-born Indonesians. The...
The Abduction And Assassination Of Theys Hiyo Eluay
The abduction and assassination of Theys Hiyo Eluay (aged 64), chairman of Papuan Council Presidium, is a consequence of the culture of militarism and impunity since West Papua was annexed by Indonesia.[1] The violence started since the time when Sukarno, Indonesia's President, proclaimed TRIKORA (Triple Command of the People) on 19 December 1961 in Yogyakarta. The three points of TRIKORA were: (1) Disband the "puppet state" of West Irian created by the Dutch;[2] (2) mass mobilisation, (3) raise the red-and-white flag (the Indonesian flag) in West Irian ". At the time, many West Papuan...
Troop deployment to guard Exxon and other vital enterprises
A report from Aceh indicates the extent of troop deployment in North Aceh, nominally charged with protecting a number of Indonesia’s most prestigious industrial ventures, including Exxon-Mobil Indonesia and its associated refinery, PT ARUN.According to the report, which gives a detailed breakdown of troop deployment, at least 10,755 (ten thousand seven hundred and fifty-five) troops have been posted in 77 (seventy seven) different location in the district of North Aceh, including 30 (thirty) villages, 3 (three) schools, 2 (two) mosques and one shopping complex. The report states that two...
Update on Wamena political prisoners
The 22 West Papuans who were tried and convicted to sentences of up to four and a half years earlier this year in connection with the events in Wamena on 6 October 2000 have had their status as prisoners changed from imprisonment to town arrest. The change happened as the result of a decision of the Supreme Court on 20 July 2001 following an application by their lawyers to have their status as prisoners altogether revoked. The Supreme Court took into consideration guarantees made on their behalf by church leaders, community leaders and youth leaders that they would abide by the following...