Human rights activists have condemned the weekend arrest across Indonesia of hundreds of West Papuan students and activists marking what separatists consider to be the restive Indonesian province’s historical date of independence.
Among the 537 people swept up in police raids across eight cities and towns on Saturday was Australian Ronda Amy Harman, who police said yesterday would likely be deported for breaching immigration laws that prohibit tourists from participating in political activities.
Police in the east Java city of Surabaya, where Ms Harman was arrested with 233 Papuan students, told The Australian the students were arrested for their own protection after an authorised rally earlier in the day was attacked by nationalist paramilitary groups armed with sharpened bamboo sticks and rocks. Sixteen West Papuans were injured in the attacks.
“Everyone has been released without charges except for the Australian woman who we handed over to immigration. They will decide what to do with her,” police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera said.
Surabaya immigration said there was no evidence Ms Harman had attended Saturday’s rally and denied she was in custody, but added they wanted to question her further ahead of her likely expulsion.
“We are keeping her safe because she was in a Papuan student dormitory which was surrounded by locals and people from mass organisations who were angry that the students staged a demonstration demanding Papuan independence,” Surabaya immigration chief Tarmin Setiawan said. “We are keeping her passport and I have assigned officers to keep an eye on her. We don’t want her to get into trouble again.”
Indonesian authorities are sensitive about West Papua, a resource-rich but deeply impoverished province where a separatist insurgency has been ongoing for more than five decades.
Ms Harman, 35, is the third Australian to be detained this year by authorities in relation to West Papua, after Sydney PhD student Belinda Lopez was arrested in August as she prepared to celebrate her honeymoon at a West Papuan cultural festival, and BBC bureau chief Rebecca Henschke was detained in February while reporting on a health and malnutrition crisis in the eastern part of the province.
The Perth activist, an Aboriginal woman who friends say has been involved in the West Papuan freedom movement for several years, was arrested with the West Papuan students in a Surabaya dormitory just before midnight on Saturday as students marked December 1, 1961, when the Papuan Morning Star flag was first raised.
Perth friend Janet Parker told The Australian Ms Harman, who also volunteered in a Fremantle cafe for the poor, was “a tough nut who would be able to handle herself OK”.
Amnesty International yesterday described the weekend arrests, which included raids in West Papua and four other cities, as another “act of intimidation” by Indonesian authorities against West Papuans.
Successive Indonesian governments have sanctioned the violent suppression of West Papua’s independence movement, fearing its success could encourage similar movements in other provinces.
Indonesia’s National Commission on Human Rights has estimated more than 10,000 people were killed in West Papua during the 32-year Suharto era, which ended in 1998.
The arrests are in stark contrast to Sunday’s rally in which close to half a million people gathered in central Jakarta to hear hardline Islamists flout strict electoral laws by issuing a thinly veiled call for followers not to vote for President Joko Widodo at presidential elections next April.
Amanda Hodge is The Australian’s South East Asia correspondent. Based in Jakarta, she has covered war, refugees, terror attacks, natural disasters and social and political upheaval from Afghanistan to Sri Lanka…
OPINION: A largely forgotten part of the Pacific, West Papua, has an increasing profile in Canterbury as well as elsewhere in New Zealand.
This is largely due to a network of support groups like West Papua Action Canterbury (WPAC) who have worked hard over the past decade to raise the profile of the Indonesian-occupied country.
This year alone, Canterbury has hosted Australian activist Robert Stringer and West Papuan film-maker, environmentalist and United Nations consultant Wensislaus Fatubun.
At noon on Saturday, December 1, West Papua's national day, the annual city council-assisted raising of West Papua's "Morning Star" flag took place at New Brighton.
Raising this flag in West Papua could see one end up in jail for 12 years.
I first became aware of the plight of West Papua when working in neighbouring Papua New Guinea in the 1970s, when West Papuan refugees were coming over the border and being pushed back by a then unsympathetic PNG, which was under the thumb of Australia, which in turn was being pressured by Indonesia.
Originally part of the Dutch East Indies, West Papua was prepared by the Dutch for independence until the United States became aware of the rich mineral deposits in West Papua and, wanting to keep Indonesia from going Communist, pressured the United Nations into granting Indonesia a limited trusteeship in 1963, prior to West Papuans having a fair and free vote on their future in 1969.
That vote was anything but free and fair, with hand-picked Papuan representatives being forced at gunpoint to vote for Indonesian control. Unwisely, the UN sanctioned the vote and West Papua lost its membership of the Decolonisation Committee of the UN.
What followed has been 55 years of brutality from Indonesia (as previously in East Timor) with claims of thousands arrested, tortured and up to 500,000 being killed. American and other transnationals have open access to West Papua's abundant minerals and rain forests.
Wensislaus Fatubun has pointed out that we are complicit in importing oil palm kernel for stock food and Kwila hardwood products from forests and oil palm plantations on land stolen from Papuans, and on which they depend for their existence.
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has committed New Zealand to helping achieve a "reset" in the Pacific, whereby Pacific nations can achieve greater control over their destiny, but unfortunately this doesn't appear to apply to West Papua, which Peters (largely for trade reasons) still sees as part of Indonesia.
Parliamentary lobby groups, notably Pacific and Maori MPs, are seeking to change this by advocating that West Papua be readmitted to the Decolonisation Committee of the United Nations.
The Canterbury United Nations Association is also weighing in with a forum early next year entitled "Pacific Re-Set: the case for West Papua". Christchurch City Councillor Raf Manji, who has studied International law and particularly West Papua, will chair the forum.
Brian Turner is the convener of West Papua Action Canterbury
2) Jokowi Orders Military, Police to Investigate the Papua Killings
3) Indonesia probing reports dozens of workers shot dead in Papua
4) Papuan students removed from Surabaya after rally
5) Tuberculosis is still a major problem in Jayapura Regency
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1) Unknown Armed Men Kill Dozens of Workers in Papua
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A group of armed men is believed to have murdered 31 workers at the Trans Papua construction site located at Nduga District, Papua. The Papua Police is currently investigating the possible planned execution.
According to the Papua Police, the killing began when the armed group killed 24 workers which are employees of state-owned PT Istaka Karya. The remaining 8 people that managed to rescue themselves after seeking refuge at a Legislative Member’s house were picked up by the armed group, which followed with the killing of seven people.
One of the workers that managed to flee is yet to be found.
Papua Police Spokesman Grand Commissioner Ahmad Musthofa Kamal said that police have mobilized its joint team comprised of police and Army Forces.“We are always prepared to evacuate the victims and arrest the suspects,” said Ahmad in a written statement on Monday, December 3.
News about the killings initially broke out after it was announced by Pastor Wilhelmus Kogoya, a known figure at the Yigi district where the bloody scene took place. The murders were strongly suspected to take place on Sunday, December 2.
2) Jokowi Orders Military, Police to Investigate the Papua Killings
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has ordered the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) Commander Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto and National Police Chief General Tito Karnavian to further investigate news related to the killing of 31 workers in Nduga, Papua.
“I ordered the TNI Commander and Police Chief to crosscheck news related to the incident considering that current information is still unclear. We need to know if it’s true,” said Jokowi at the Bidakara Hotel on Tuesday, December 4.
Jokowi said that the areas in the vicinity of Nduga are widely considered to be a “red zone” for the existence of security threats often seen in the area by armed groups.
“However, we deeply understand that developments on Papuan ground is a daunting task and still faces the risk of encountering situations such as these,” said the president.
According to Jokowi, the incident will not halt the numerous infrastructure developments across areas in Papua and that the government will not be deterred by threats coming from armed groups.
31 workers at the Trans Papua construction site located at Nduga District, Papua, were presumably executed by an unknown armed group on December 2.
3) Indonesia probing reports dozens of workers shot dead in Papua
04 Dec 2018 02:57PM
WAMENA, Indonesia: Indonesia is investigating reports that 31 construction workers were shot dead by separatist rebels in restive Papua province, the public works minister said Tuesday (Dec 4), as he halted construction in the area.
If the killings are confirmed, they would mark the deadliest bout of violence in years to hit the region, which has long been at the centre of a low-level independence insurgency.
"We're shocked and saddened to hear the media reports this morning," public works minister Budi Hadimuljono told reporters in Jakarta.
"All work is going to be suspended (in the area) given this incident," he added.
The employees of state-owned contractor Istaka Karya were building bridges and roads as part of efforts to boost infrastructure in the impoverished region, he said.
Citing a local police officer, Indonesian media reported late Monday that the workers were shot dead on Sunday in Nduga, a district in the centre of the far-flung region on the western half of New Guinea island, just north of Australia.
The alleged killings were reportedly carried out by rebels who have led a decades-long insurgency against Jakarta's rule. Indonesia routinely blames separatists for violence in Papua.
Some workers reportedly managed to escape the shootings, which were allegedly sparked by separatists angry at some workers who were taking pictures of a pro-Papua Independence activities.
Foreign media need permission to report from Papua and obtaining reliable information is difficult.
The alleged killings come as more than 500 activists - including an Australian - were arrested in a nationwide police crackdown that coincided with rallies on Dec 1, a date many Papuans consider should be the anniversary of their independence from the Dutch.
Papua declared itself an independent nation on that date in 1961, but neighbouring Indonesia took control of the region by force in 1963. It officially annexed Papua in 1969 with a UN-backed vote, widely seen as a sham.
Jakarta keeps a tight grip on the resource-rich region, which has been the scene of a low-level independence insurgency since the late Sixties.
Papua experienced several outbreaks of violence this summer including the killing of three local people, allegedly by rebels.
The deaths followed a gunfight that saw a small plane carrying 15 police officers - sent to oversee the local elections - was shot at as it landed at Nduga.
Some of the violence has been centred on protests against a huge gold and copper mine operated by US-based firm Freeport McMoRan - a frequent flashpoint in the local struggle for independence and a bigger share of the region's rich resources.
4) Papuan students removed from Surabaya after rally
Jakarta/Surabaya | Tue, December 4, 2018| 10:41 am
Karina M. Tehusijarana and Wahyoe Boediwardhana
Police in Surabaya, East Java, ordered 233 members of the Papuan Student Alliance (AMP) to leave the Papuan student dorms on Jl. Kalasan where they were staying on Monday following a rally that turned violent on Saturday.
Around 300 Papuan students gathered in Surabaya from various cities across Java and Bali, to hold a rally on Dec. 1 to commemorate what some Papuans claim to be the birth of the West Papua nation in 1961.
The students marched from the Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI) studio on Jl. Pemuda to the Grahadi Building on Jl. Gubernur Surya and made speeches calling for the right of Papuans to self-determination. They also displayed images of the Morning Star flag, a symbol of the Papuan independence movement.
The situation became tense when around 200 people from various mass organizations, including the Communication Forum of Indonesian Veterans’ Children (FKPPI) and Pancasila Youth (PP), arrived on the scene to stage a protest against the AMP.
The counter-protestors accused the Papuans of committing treason and the two camps launched verbal attacks on each other, which escalated into a physical clash, resulting in injuries to 17 people.
On Saturday night, when the students had returned to the student dorms, Surabaya Police surrounded the building and detained the 233 AMP members, two non-Papuan students, and an Australian citizen.
The 233 Papuans were released on Sunday evening, under the condition that they immediately leave the dorms and return to their respective homes.
Fifty students were put on a bus headed to Malang, East Java, 90 others were sent to other cities, while 80 were sent back to their residences in Surabaya. The remaining 13 were residents of the Jl. Kalasan dorm.
AMP human rights lawyer Veronica Koman confirmed the release of the students and condemned the police’s actions as “forceful removal” that violated the students’ civil rights.
“It clearly violates their freedom of movement as well as their freedom of expression,” she told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) Surabaya commissioner Fatkhul Khoir agreed. “What happened to the students is in violation of the principles of human rights that state that every citizen has the right to chose where to stay,” he told the Post.
The two non-Papuan students, Fachri Syahrazad and Arifin, had been thought missing after the police raid on the dorms, but were actually being held in a separate police station in Surabaya. They were also released on Sunday.
The Australian citizen, identified as Ronda Amy Harman, was handed over to the Surabaya immigration authorities. Veronica said Ronda had not taken part in the rally and was at the dorm to meet her boyfriend, who is an AMP member.
“I have spoken to immigration officials and they told me she is being ’secured’ at a hotel but I have not been allowed to see her,” she said. “It is my understanding that she is likely to be deported. This is the third time this year that a foreign citizen has had problems with immigration because of their connection with Papua.”
In February, Australian journalist reporting for BBC Indonesia, Rebecca Henschke, was told to leave Papua after she posted several tweets criticizing the provision of aid. In August, Australian PhD candidate Belinda Lopez, who was planning to visit Papua, was barred from entering Indonesia for unspecified reasons.
East Java Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Frans Barung denied allegations that the police had violated the students’ rights, claiming that the officers were actually trying to ensure their safety.
“Police deliberately brought [the students] to the station to protect them from the threat of groups opposed to the AMP,” Frans said.
This article was originally published in The Jakarta Post's print edition on Dec. 4, 2018, with the title "Papuan students removed from Surabaya after rally"
5) Tuberculosis is still a major problem in Jayapura Regency
Published 4 hours ago on 4 December 2018
By pr9c6tr3_juben
Jayapura, Jubi – Jayapura District Health Office conduct a public consultation on the Regional Action Plans (RAD) on the tuberculosis control ahead to the elimination of tuberculosis for Jayapura Regency 2030.
Giri Wijayantoro who represented Jayapura Regent said TB is a public health problem that turns to a challenge worldwide and Indonesia is one of the countries with high TB prevalence.
“Based on the survey on TB prevalence 2013-2014, TB prevalence has reached 1,600,000 cases while the incident of TB is 1,000,000 cases. Meanwhile, the mortality caused by TB is 100,000 cases,” Giri said in Sentani on Thursday (29/11/2018).
Meanwhile, in Jayapura Regency, TB is still a principal health problem that causes a high mortality rate. In 2017, there were 30 people died of tuberculosis after malaria, traffic accidents and other causes.
“The objective of the consultation of the regional action plan on TB control to the public and regional government offices is to obtain feedback as well as to reduce the tuberculosis prevalence in Jayapura Regency and Papua Province,” said Giri.
In the meantime, Khairul Lie, the Head of Jayapura District Health Office hopes that all stakeholders will involve in the preparation of the Regional Action Plan.
“We want the number of new cases to decrease by 90% and to reduce the mortality rate to 95% based on the cases occurred from 2014 to the present. These steps will include in the RAD,” he explained.
Based on the survey 2014, there are 324,000 cases which TB case detection in Indonesia is around 32 %.
“There are 68% cases identified as not treated or have been treated but have not been recorded by the program. this has spurred the handling of national TB control to continue the intensification, acceleration and innovation of programs through a national strategy to tackle tuberculosis,” said Giri. (*)
The government in Jakarta has decided to suspend construction work on some parts of the trans-Papua road project following reports that armed Papuan rebels have allegedly killed dozens of workers in Nduga regency, Papua.
Public Works and Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono told reporters on Tuesday the government would suspend the construction of 35 bridges on the 278-kilometer road that is to connect Wamena and Mamugu.
“With this incident, we will stop all the work from Wamena to Mamugu while waiting for the situation to be conducive [for continuing],” he said.
The National Police and the Indonesian Military (TNI) are still investigating claims that between 28 and 31 workers building a bridge on Yigi-Kali Aurak River in Nduga were shot dead by members of a National Liberation Army of West Papua faction led by Egianus Kogoya.
According to the police, the incident took place after one of the workers — most of whom come from South Sulawesi — took a photo of a pro-Papuan independence ceremony on Saturday.
The workers were reportedly murdered on Sunday.
Two state-owned construction firms — PT Istaka Karya and PT Brantas Abipraya — are responsible for the construction work along the road.
PT Istaka has been assigned to build 14 bridges, 11 of which are under construction. PT Brantas, meanwhile, has been tasked with building 21 bridges and is currently working on five of them.
PT Brantas has halted the construction of some bridges based on the recommendation of the Papuan military command, Basuki said.
“In Papua, we couldn’t work without guaranteed security. The security coordinating center called for the projects to be suspended.”
The development of the 4,300-kilometer trans-Papua road in Papua and West Papua provinces in Indonesia’s easternmost provinces is expected to be completed this year, Basuki said last year.
Despite the work suspension, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, who is seeking re-election and has been touting his infrastructure drive in his campaigns, made assurances that the development in Papua would continue.
“Papua's infrastructure development will not stop because of this.”
The government, along with PT Istaka Karya, the construction company for which the allegedly murdered men worked, has yet to confirm the number of victims in Sunday’s killings. It was previously reported by the National Police that as many as 31 workers had died.
“There were 28 workers in the location — the workers came from South Sulawes i— which we expect to be victims now, but we will confirm it later,” PT Istaka Karya's president director, Sigit Inarto, said. (ggq)
2) Jokowi orders military, policy chiefs to check on Nduga incident
Reporter: Antara 26 minutes ago
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) ordered the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) commander and the National Police chief to check the latest conditions in Nduga, Papua Province, after a shooting incident that reportedly killed 31 people.
Jokowi instructed TNI Chief Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto and the National Police Head General Tito Karnavian, after it was reported that the Armed Criminal Group (KKB) on Sunday attacked PT Istaka Karya workers and killed 31 of them.
"The incident occurred in Nduga District, a region which was given a red mark and a region that I once visited. This morning, I ordered the TNI commander and the National Police chief to check the conditions there, because the (information) about it is still confusing," Jokowi noted when opening the World Anti-Corruption Day (Hakordia) 2018 event in Jakarta on Tuesday.
On Dec 2, 2018, 31 workers from PT Istaka Karya, who were engaged in construction and building the Trans Papua project, were killed by KKB in Kali Yigi and Kali Aurak in Yigi Sub-District, Nduga District, Papua.
"Since there is no signal there, it is important to check whether the conditions of the incident are same as those mentioned in the report. We realize that even though the development in Papua is indeed very difficult to carry out and can still be hindered by incidents such as the reported one, the development in Papua should continue," the president added.
In the meantime, Public Works and Public Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono expressed regret for the murder of the workers in the fifth segment of the Trans Papua construction site under the government`s focus to improve connectivity in Indonesia`s easternmost province.
"The Wamena-Heberna-Kenyam-Mumugu section is the fifth segment of Trans Papua, stretching 278 kilometers," Hadimuljono informed the press here, Tuesday, following a report on the murders.
"I am waiting for information from the Kodam commander. I will go down there. Right now, we cannot as yet confirm the number of the victims -- whether 24 or 31 people -- since it is yet to be checked and confirmed," he revealed.
Reporting by Desca Lidya Natalia, Andi Abdussalam Editing by Andi Abdussalam
1) Separatism violence intensifies in Indonesia's restive Papua Province
Source: Xinhua| 2018-12-04 17:48:51|Editor: Shi Yinglun by Abu Hanifah
JAKARTA, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- Separatism-related violence in Indonesia's easternmost Papua Province has intensified recently, with killings against road construction workers and attacks against a military outpost. The fresh violence occurred as separatist groups commemorated what they called as Independence Day on Dec. 1. A group of militants identified as Civilian Criminal Armed Band (KKSB) made an ambush on a military outpost in Nduga regency, killing a soldier and injuring another. A military officer overseeing the attack scene said Tuesday that efforts to evacuate the remains of the killed soldier and the injured one were underway at present, with helicopter being used due to the tough terrain.
"This (the ambush) has a relation with the previous killing against road construction workers, perpetrated by the KKSB," local media quoted Deputy Commander of Cendrawasih Military Command Dax Sianturi as saying Tuesday.Papua Provincial Police Spokesperson Mustafa Kamal confirmed on Monday that 31 workers constructing the government-initiated Trans Papua road were killed by KKSB on SundayThe KKSB insurgents initially killed 24 workers at the road construction site in Kali Yigi and Kali Aurak, Mustafa said.They chased the other eight workers, who managed to flee, and killedanother seven, whom they captured. Another worker also managed to escape from the insurgents' chase.Reports said the killings were prompted as the insurgents found the workers taking photos of them conducting ceremony to observe their independence day.Mustafa added that efforts to pursue the KKSB insurgents and retrieve the bodies of the killed civilians were hindered by telecommunications problem and tough terrain in the remote regency.Responding to the latest development in Papua, Indonesian President Joko Widodo stressed that efforts to develop economy in the province must continue despite the challenging situation. "We know that the process would be hard due to extreme geographical condition and security issue. Development in Papua must be expanded and carried on. It should not be stopped because of such an incident," the president said here on Tuesday. The Trans Papua road project spans from Papua's northern city of Sorong to the easternmost city of Merauke and is expected to be completed next year. The 4,325-km road would provide convenience land transport for locals and logistics, lowering the cost of transportation, the main driving factor of economy in this easternmost province, which has been lagging behind other regions for decades.
2) Papua Govt: Istaka Shooting Violates Human Rights
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Papua Provincial Government condemned the murder of dozens of Istaka Karya workers by a group of armed men in Yall District, Nduga Regency, on Sunday, December 2, 2018.
The Papua Provincial Secretariat's deputy Doren Wakerkwa, said in Jayapura on Tuesday that the incident was a serious human rights violation, and was a security threat for Papuans.
"If you want war, do not attack civilians. That it is a human rights violation," he said.
According to Doren, the killing of workers who were building the TransPapua road bridge in Kali Yigi and Aurak was execrable.
"We hope that the District Government of Nduga and the local community will provide as many information and access to help the authorities arrest the murders and evacuate the victims," he said.
Doren is also concerned that incident will affect security in Papua, which — if allowed to continue — would disrupt the development process in the province.
Antara wrote that Rev. Wilhelmus Kogoya from Yigi District has reported the massacre at Yigi River and Aurak River that killed 24 workers of Istaka Karya.
From his report, it was revealed that two workers fled and survived, and are now safe in the Mbua District.
Meanwhile, eight others in the Yall District were rescued by family member of Alimi Gwijangge, who served as Deputy Chairperson of the Nduga Regency DPRD. They are safe and have been taken to the Koroptak District, Papua.
3) House Speaker Calls on TNI-Polri to Investigate Papua Shooting
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - House of Representatives speaker (DPR) Bambang Soesatyo condemned the shooting in Papua. The incident had caused the death of dozens construction workers employed by Istaka Karya.
Speaking in Jakarta on Tuesday, December 4th, Bambang expressed his anger over what happened at Nduga Regency.
Bambang requested the Army and the National Police to investigate the incident in Istaka Karya. He said that the House's Commission I will coordinate with law enforcement to work on the case.
"I ask the TNI-Polri to thoroughly investigate the shooting," he said.
Thirty-one workers were building a bridge Yigi and Aurak River at Nduga Regency, a project by PT Istaka Karya, on Sunday, December 2. At the workers' camp, they were shot at by a group of gunmen.
As of Monday night, the Papua Regional Police had identified 24 of the victims.
Eight men reportedly escaped and ran to the home of a DPRD member. But the armed group came for them.
"Seven were killed and one ran away. We haven’t found him yet," Papua Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Ahmad Musthofa Kamal said on Tuesday, December 4.
4) Indonesia attack: Gunmen kill 24 construction workers in Papua
1 hour ago
At least 24 construction workers have been killed by gunmen in Indonesia's eastern province of Papua, officials said.
A soldier was also shot dead when a team of police and security forces were sent to investigate Sunday's killings, authorities added.
The workers had been building a road and bridges in the remote and mountainous Nduga region.
Police have blamed the deaths on separatist fighters.
Insurgents calling for independence have been active in Papua for decades.
The BBC's Rebecca Henschke in Jakarta says that if the killings are confirmed it will be the deadliest bout of violence in years in the restive province.
What do we know happened?
Military spokesman Colonel Muhammad Aidi said the incident started when members of an "armed criminal separatist group" held a ceremony to commemorate what they considered to be their independence day on 1 December.
Col Aidi said one of the workers from the construction company PT Istaka Karya was reported to have taken a photograph of the group, which angered them and triggered the attack.
The bodies of the workers were found near a bridge they were building, he said.
Police and troops who arrived in the area on Monday to investigate came under gunfire, leaving one soldier dead and another wounded, officials said.
Who are the separatists?
Papua declared independence from the Netherlands in 1961 but was incorporated into Indonesia eight years later, becoming its easternmost province.
There has been a low-level separatist insurgency for decades but the Free Papua Movement is described as a fragmented and poorly armed rebel group.
The Indonesian government heavily restricts access to the region by foreign journalists, citing security concerns, so independent information is scarce.
Construction work in the dense jungle is part of President Joko Widodo's infrastructure push, an attempt he says to bring development and prosperity to the resource-rich area.
However, Papuan leader Timotius Murib recently told the BBC: "We don't need development, because with development we lose control of our land."
Work on the road has been postponed until the area is secure, Indonesian Public Works Minister Basuki Hadimuljono told reporters.
Papua is home to one of the world's largest gold and copper mines, operated by US firm Freeport-McMoran, but it remains the poorest province in Indonesia.
Papua shares the island of New Guinea with the independent country Papua New Guinea.
5) Authorities Found 4 Survivors of Papua Shooting
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The national armed forces (TNI) and police joint team has found four victims of an attack done by the suspected armed group in Kali Yigi-Kali Auruk, Yigi District, Nduga Regency, Papua. The four victims managed to escape and survived the attack.
“The four survivors were Martinus Sampe, an Istaka Karya employee, suffering gunshot wound to his left leg, Jefrianton, an Istaka Karya employee, suffering gunshot wound to his left eyelid, Irawan, a Telkomsel employee, and John, a public health center officer,” said the Head of Public Relations of the Papua Regional Police Senior Comm. Ahmad Musthofa Kamal through an official statement on Tuesday, December 4.
The four survivors have been evacuated to Wamena, Jayawijaya.
Based on information from the four survivors, the TNI post in the Mbuma District was destroyed by the armed group's attack. One TNI member died in this incident, while the conditions of 31 other project workers were unknown.
Kamal suspected that the mastermind behind the killing of 31 Istaka Karya workers was an armed group led by Egianus Kogoya. The Egianus group is known to often carry out a series of shooting in the Papua. Egianus once took hostage dozens of teachers and health workers in the Mapenduma, Nduga, in October.
The shooting of the Istaka Karya workers took place on December 2, around 3:30 p.m., in Kali Yigi and Kali Aura, Yigi District, Nduga Regency, Papua.
To date, the police together with the TNI are still trying to discover the whereabouts of the victims in these two places; Kali Yigi and Kali Aura. Based on information gathered, the death toll allegedly reached 31 people.
6) Rising political violence overshadows Jokowi’s populist policies in Papua
Jayapura/Jakarta | Tue, December 4, 2018| 06:15 pm
Arnold Belau and Kharishar Kahfi
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has done more than any of his predecessors to build Papua and West Papua, the nation’s easternmost provinces that have long been plagued by extreme poverty and violent separatism.
Jokowi, who is seeking reelection in 2019, has sped up infrastructure development and implemented a policy of uniform fuel prices in the two provinces—where market prices for fuel would be much higher than in other regions —to boost the local economy and bring prosperity to Papuans.
The populist policies, however, have failed to put an end to the desire of some Papuans to be independent from Jakarta.
Mass killing
The region has seen increasing political violence in recent days, with the latest incident taking place on Sunday, when a rebel group led by Egianus Kogoya allegedly massacred at least 28 workers hired by state-owned construction firm Istaka Karya in Yigi district, Nduga regency, Papua.
The group, believed to be a faction of the National Liberation Army of West Papua (TPNPB), also killed an Indonesian Military (TNI) member and injured another.
The workers, mostly from South Sulwesi, were assigned to build a 275-kilometer section to connect Wamena and Mamugu, which is part of Jokowi’s signature trans-Papua road project.
Construction of the 4,300-km road through Papua and West Papua is expected to finish in 2019.
National Police and TNI personnel have been deployed to the location of the alleged massacre to verify the report and recover the bodies of victims, if a massacre did take place.
“Our duty and priority is to rescue those who are still alive and check if the number of victims reported in the media is correct,” National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. M. Iqbal said in Jakarta on Tuesday.
The alleged massacre took place only days after police arrested more than 500 Papuans taking part in nationwide rallies on Dec. 1 to commemorate what some Papuans claim to be the birth of the West Papuan nation in 1961.
The lawyer of the arrested Papuans, Veronica Koman, said in a statement on Saturday that 537 people had been arrested in Kupang in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), Ternate in North Maluku, Manado in North Sulawesi, Makassar in South Sulawesi, Jayapura, Asmat and Waropen in Papua and Surabaya in East Java. Of the total, 322 were arrested in Surabaya.
In Papua, 90 people were arrested in separate places and at different times.
Hundreds of people march in Surabaya on Saturday under the banner of the Papuan Students Alliance (AMP). (JP/Sigit Pamungkas)
On Friday, a day before the rallies, a force of the military and National Police searched the headquarters of the National Committee for West Papua (KNPB) in Kampung Vietnam in Jayapura. The joint force also arrested Larius Heluka on Friday.
The following day, the joint force arrested 89 people in Abepura in the Jayapura municipality, in separate places in Jayapura regency and in Yapen regency. All 90 have since been released.
In Surabaya, which saw one of the biggest Dec. 1 rallies, a clash occurred between about 300 people grouped under the Papuan Student Alliance (AMP) and other groups that accused the Papuans of treason.
Seventeen people were injured, with some sustaining head wounds.
AMP spokesperson Dorlince Iyowau said the Papuans only demanded the right to decide their own fate.
“Our main demand is the right to decide our own fate, as a democratic solution for West Papua. We want Papuans to have their own political rights,” Dolince said.
The East Java Police and Surabaya Police deployed 1,055 police officers, aided by two Army groups and the Surabaya Public Order Agency (Satpol PP), to disperse a clash between members of the Papuan Students Alliance and other groups that accused them of committing treason. (JP/Sigit Pamungkas)
Human rights groups have condemned the arrests, calling on the authorities to release the arrestees and respect the rights of the Papuans.
“This is a clear and shocking violation of Papuans’ human rights to freedom of expression and assembly. These people did nothing, but peacefully attend public events,” said Amnesty International Indonesia executive director Usman Hamid.
“These arbitrary arrests add to the long list of acts of harassment, intimidation and arrests faced by Papuans this year.”
Usman further said: “The police must bring to justice the attackers and should not be arresting peaceful Papuans – it should instead respect and protect their right to come together in peace and say what they think, in a safe environment.”
Populist policies
Responding the reported violence in Nduga, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, who is seeking reelection and has been touting his infrastructure drive in his campaign, gave assurances that the development in Papua would continue.
“Papua's infrastructure development will not stop because of this.”
Jokowi has drawn support from Papuans, winning 72 percent of the vote in the region during the 2014 presidential election.
Since he was elected President in 2014, Jokowi has visited Papua eight times, with the last visit taking place in April this year, when he vowed to accelerate development in Papua.
Warm welcome: A female vendor greets President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo during his visit to the Mama-mama Market in Jayapura, Papua, on April 11. (JP/Nethy Dharma Somba)
During his visit, Jokowi directly handed over land certificates to around 3,000 Papuan residents. He also visited the Mama-mama Market in Jayapura, which was finally built under the Jokowi administration after years of delay.
Jokowi has also insisted that his fuel price policy would work, even though the policy would force state-owned energy company Pertamina to shoulder Rp 800 billion in subsidies annually.
The President said the most important consideration was not the money, but social justice for all Indonesians. “We should not let just one or two people enjoy the fuel prices enjoyed in other parts of the country, while others have to buy fuel at a higher price.”
'Referendum as solution'
Analysts, however, said Jokowi’s populist policies were not enough to contain the separatist sentiment.
“The separatist sentiment in Papua is still strong, because the government, in particular President Jokowi, has not tackled the root of the problem yet, from the Papuan perspective,” Adriana Elisabeth, head researcher on Papua studies at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), told the Post via telephone on Tuesday.
“The root of the problem includes discrimination and marginalization, priority of development, and violence as well as the violation of human rights.”
“Jokowi’s infrastructure development only focused on the structures, and not yet on the human resources,” she further said. “All of the problems are correlated.”
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo gets ready to inspect the progress of trans-Papua road project by trail motorbike in Wamena on May 10. (Courtesy/State Palace)
National Committee for West Papua chairman Agus Kossay deplored the reported mass killing in Nduga, saying civilians should not have been killed in an ongoing war between the TNI and the TPNPB.
“The KNPB as the media of the Papuan people called on the two militaries to focus on their respective targets. They must not disturb civilians.”
In light of the incident, the KNPB argued that political rights was an important issue for Papuans.
Agus said the solution offered by the committee was for Indonesia to hold a referendum on whether it should stay with Indonesia, “so that we can address the problem of Papua peacefully and honorably.”
“Indonesia is a democracy so [Indonesia] could show the Papuans and the world that there is democracy in Papua, and in a democracy all parties that are against Indonesia should be given the right to speak.”
Meanwhile, Papuan figure Theo Hasegem conveyed his condolences over the reported death of the construction workers. “We are saddened, because the action is wrong. The action will create a huge problem for civilians in Nduga,” he said, as quoted by suarapapua.com on Tuesday. (ggq/spl/ahw)
7) Minister Hadimuljono expresses regret over murders of workers in Papua
Reporter: Antara 11 hours ago
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Public Works and Public Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono regrets the murders of workers in the fifth segment of the Trans Papua construction site under the government`s focus to improve connectivity in Indonesia`s easternmost province.
"The Wamena-Heberna-Kenyam-Mumugu section is the fifth segment of Trans Papua, stretching 278 kilometers," Minister Hadimuljono informed the press here, Tuesday, following a report on the murders of construction workers building a bridge in Papua.
The road construction work will be completed this year, but the development of 35 bridges is still ongoing.
"PT Istaka Karya is building 14 bridges, and the construction work for 11 of them is underway," he revealed.
"Meanwhile, PT Brantas Abipraya Persero is working on the construction of 21 bridges, the work for five of which is underway," he stated.
"The incident being reported this morning occurred in the bridge section," he revealed.
"This will not dampen the spirit to continue to forge ahead. The construction will continue for the sake of ensuring social justice for every Indonesian," the minister remarked.
"We are sending troops regarding the incident and its victims. Hence, I confirm that yes, the incident took place in Wamena in Trans Papua`s fifth segment," he stated.
Despite security obstacles, the local community does not object to the Trans Papua development. The ministry has established coordination with the commander of the regional military command (Kodam) in Papua.
"I am waiting for information from the Kodam commander. I will go down there. Right now, we could not as yet confirm the number of the victims -- whether 24 or 31 people -- since it has yet to be checked and confirmed," he revealed.
A group of armed men is believed to have murdered 31 workers at the Trans Papua construction site located in a remote village in Nduga District, Papua Province.
The bodies of the victims are still being held by the murderers.
Reporting by Anggarini Paramita, Fardah Assegaf Editing by Andi Abdussalam
Note. A selection of the article on the shootings in West Papua which has gone a bit viral in the main stream media. A lot about this incident is unclear including the number of killed which various between 19 and 31.
Although most articles state that those killed were construction workers it it has been reported that up to 400 Army Engineers have been used in the construction of the road particularly in areas of difficult terrain.
With the security forces preparing to undertake a military operation to find those responsible, AWPA is concerned that local villagers in the area could suffer from attacks by the security forces during any military operations that takes place. In the past the military have burned homes and destroyed food gardens causing the local people to flee in fear to the bush. In July 2018 a military operation took place in the same area causing large numbers of local people to flee the area.
Editorial Board The Jakarta Post Jakarta | Wed, December 5, 2018 | 08:26 am
Several quarters have persistently been calling for dialogue between the government and representatives of Papuan people, including resistance groups, to end the violence in the natural resource-rich province once and for all and turn it into a land of peace. Such a noble vision, however, has remained elusive, not only because of the lukewarm responses from past and current governments, but also because of the sporadic acts of violence that only beget more violence and, hence, a cycle of revenge that nobody knows how to stop. The latest report of the killing of at least 24 workers of state construction company PT Istaka Karya in the highland regency of Nduga shows Jakarta has not completely won the hearts and minds of Papuans, despite the many initiatives the government has undertaken, especially during the administration of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo. Jokowi has translated his attention to Papua into massive infrastructure development in the region, particularly a trans-Papua road to free remote villages from decades-long isolation. He has also implemented a one-price fuel policy that is meant to bring some economic equality to Papua and West Papua and he visits the region frequently. The attack on workers constructing bridges for the trans-Papua road by members of a West Papua National Liberation Army faction led by Egianus Kogoya on Sunday, according to police, is expected to undermine the government’s new approach and its hard work. This approach would take years to bear fruit, but in the meantime it proves the commitment of the government to help the once forgotten Papua close its gap with other parts of the country. Public Works and Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono said the construction of 35 bridges on the 278-kilometer road that is to connect Wamena and Mamugu would be suspended indefinitely following the incident, which was reportedly triggered by a worker who photographed a group of people gathering to commemorate the struggle for Papuan independence on Saturday. A joint police and military operation has been launched to hunt down the armed group responsible for the killings, probably the deadliest by such a group in Papua so far. This is exactly where the government needs to exercise caution because in the past security measures against alleged Papuan separatist group members were prone to human rights abuses. There have been allegations, sometimes proven, of atrocities against civilians accused of abetting the separatists. Such reports have arisen in part because Papua is practically closed to the outside world, despite President Jokowi’s policy to open it up. Use of violence is not the answer to the violence. Now that the police are holding a group responsible for the Sunday killings, the government must focus on law enforcement rather than on authorizing a security operation over which the public can hardly demand accountability. With the transfer of special autonomy funds to Papua ending in 2021, security problems may escalate. A dialogue to comprehensively address the Papuan paradox — which suffers poverty, illiteracy and injustice despite its rich natural resources — therefore remains the best solution to creating lasting peace.
—————————————————————————————
2) Cammi interviewed on shootings in West Papua.
Cammi Webb-Gannon interviewed by The Australian Broadcasting Corporation
3) Komnas HAM demands transparency on Papua massacre
Jakarta | Wed, December 5, 2018 | 07:43 pm
Mobile Brigade officers head from Wamena to Nduga, where 19 construction workers are believed to have been shot dead, on Tuesday. Authorities are investigating reports that the construction workers were shot dead by separatist rebels in the restive province of Papua. (AFP/Anyong)
The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has urged the National Police, the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the government to be transparent in investigating the mass killing of construction workers in Nduga regency, Papua.
A rebel group led by Egianus Kogoya allegedly massacred 19 workers hired by state-owned construction firm Istaka Karya to work on the trans-Papua road project in Yigi district, authorities said.
The group, believed to be a faction of the National Liberation Army of West Papua (TPNPB), also killed a TNI member and injured another on the following day.
Commission chairman Ahmad Taufan Damanik said that whoever was behind such “brutal and inhumane” actions could not be tolerated. He said the government should pay more attention to this case, because killings in Papua had happened repeatedly.
“We ask the law enforcement authorities to immediately arrest and process the suspects. We ask for the case to be as transparent as possible,” Damanik said at his office on Wednesday.
He added that the background of killings in Papua often remained unclear.
The commission also requested that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo ensure the protection of witnesses and guarantee that costs for the physical and non-physical recovery of victims and witnesses are covered.
“I also hope that the Witness and Victim Protection Agency can work together with the government to handle this matter,” he said. (ggq)
4) Mily, police joint team to evacuate rebel attack victims
Reporter: Antara 16 hours ago
Jayapura, Papua, (ANTARA News) - The military and police joint team is readied to evacuate victims of the armed Papuan rebel attack from the site in Yigi and the top of Mt Tabo in Nduga District, Papua Province, Cendrawasih Military Commander Maj Gen Joshua Sembiring said.
The evacuation will be started on Wednesday by deploying troops through land and air routes, Sembiring said when contacting from Jayapura on Wednesday.
"For the first stage, the team would evacuate victims around Yigi and Mt Tabo," he said, adding that he could not confirm the number of victims that would be evacuated.
Sembiring is currently in Wamena with Papua Police Chief Insp Gen Martuani Sormin.
Earlier on Tuesday, the joint team has evacuated 12 civilians from Mbua, four of them are workers of PT Istaka, who managed to flee and sought refuge in the Mbua military post. The military post was then attacked by the rebels and one soldier was killed in the attack.
The attack on Sunday (Dec 2) by the armed group killed 31 workers of PT Istaka Karya, who were engaged in construction and building the Trans Papua project.
Spokesman of the Papua Provincial Police Senior Commissioner A.M. Kamal remarked that an Indonesian soldier was also killed in an attack on a military post on Sunday. The confirmation on the death of the Indonesian soldier was received from four workers of PT Istaka Karya who survived the attack.
On Tuesday morning, 153 military and police personnel were transported to Mbua, which is the closest sub-district to Yigi Subdistrict, he remarked, adding that two of the four workers who survived the killing sustained shot wounds when they were found by the on-duty security personnel.
5) TNI Deploy More Personnel to Evacuate Victims of Papua Killings
TEMPO.CO, Jayapura - The Military Regional Command (Kodam) XVII in Cendrawasih deployed one additional group from Infantry Battalion (Yonif) 751 VJS Sentani to strengthen the joint personnel assigned to Nduga, Papua following the killings against Istaka Karya workers.
“The military personnel are now in Wamena, departed from Sentani boarding Hercules aircraft,” Kodam XVII Cendrawasih Commander May. Gen. Joshua Sembiring told Antara today, December 5.
Earlier, as many as 169 joint personnel from Indonesian Military and National Police deployed to Nduga to evacuate the victims killed by an unknown armed group in Yigi District.
Other than personnel, four helicopters including one unit of MI and Bolco were deployed for the evacuation process. Joshua said the team was still evacuating workers and wounded personnel.
According to Joshua, the evacuation effort started from Kali Yigi area and around Mount Tabo, but the joint team hampered by the weather and geographical conditions. “We hope there is no significant constraint,” he added.
Previous reports recorded a total of 31 people at the Trans Papua construction site were allegedly killed by armed groups on late Sunday, December 2. During the killings, the workers were building bridges in Yigi River and Aurak River, Yigi District, Nduga Regency, Papua.
6) Authorities to Evacuate Papua Shooting Victims Today
TEMPO/Maria Rita Hasugian
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Army said they and the police will evacuate victims of shooting by armed groups in Nduga District, Papua today. The law enforcement will evacuate the workers and employees of PT Istaka Karya and TNI members who are victims of the incident.
Commander of the XVII Cenderawasih Kodam Maj. Gen. Joshua Sembiring said the armed forces and the police will dispatch troops both on land and water, assisted by helicopters.
"For the initial phase, the troops will evacuate the victims around Yigi and Mount Tabo," Joshua told Antara on Wednesday, December 5. He said that he couldn’t tell for sure how many will be evacuated.
At present, said Joshua, he and the Papua Regional Police Chief Insp. Gen. Martuani Sormin are still in Wamena. He said the officers are racing against time as weather changes quickly in the evacuation site.
On Tuesday, December 4, joint forces of the army and police evacuated 12 civilians from Mbua. Four of them were employees of PT Istaka who managed to escape and were secured at the TNI Mbua Post. They were also attacked by same armed groups, leading to the death of a TNI member.
Thirty-one workers of the Trans Papua road project who were building bridges at Yigi River and Aurak River in Nduga Regency were allegedly killed by an armed group on Sunday night, December 2. The Papua Police suspect that 24 people were killed on the first day, while eight people tried to escape—seeking refuge in the home of a DPRD member. Seven of them were "picked up" and killed by the armed men, while one is still missing.
7) West Papua Liberation Army claims responsibility for mass killing
Arnold Belau The Jakarta Post
Jayapura | Thu, December 6, 2018| 12:03 am
The West Papua Liberation Army (TPNPB) has claimed responsibility for the attacks that led to the death of 19 PT Istaka Karya construction workers and one Indonesian Military (TNI) soldier in Nduga regency, Papua. However, they claimed the workers were soldiers, not civilians.
“Yes, we conducted the operations in Kali Aworak, Kali Yigi, and at the Mbua TNI post, and we are ready to take responsibility. The attacks were led by Makodap III Ndugama commander Egianus Kogeya and operations commander Pemne Kogeya,” the spokesperson, Sebby Sanbom, said in a written statement on Wednesday.
Sebby denied, however, that the workers killed were civilians, claiming that they were members of the Indonesian Army Corps of Engineers.
Sebby said they had observed the workers for three months and were sure they were soldiers from Zipur working as a solid unit. Zipur is short for Zeni Tempur, an army unit specializing in engineering and technical aspects of battle infrastructure.
“Our targets are not wrong, we know which are civilian workers and which are TNI Zipur members, even if they wear plain clothes,” he said.
He added that the Papuans had not asked for the trans-Papua road the workers had been assigned to work on.
“Through this attack, we are telling the colonialist country of Indonesia that we are not armed criminals but true fighters for the freedom of the Republic of West Papua,” he said. “We did not ask for the trans-Papua road or development. The solution to the problem of Papua is independence and sovereignty as a civilized nation.” (kmt)
8) Indonesian soldier killed in separatist attack in Papua
Published 06 DECEMBER, 2018 UPDATED 06 DECEMBER, 2018
JAKARTA - A soldier has been killed in Indonesia's eastern province of Papua where security forces are hunting for a separatist group suspected of killing at least 19 workers building a bridge, a military spokesman said on Wednesday.
The killing of the workers is one of the worst outbreaks of violence in years in Papua, home to a simmering separatist conflict since it was incorporated into Indonesia after a widely criticized U.N.-backed referendum in 1969.
Colonel Muhammad Aidi said the number of workers killed in the attack had been revised down to 19 from 24, based on the latest accounts from four survivors.
The survivors were followed by separatist militants to a military post where a soldier was killed in a gunfight, Aidi said by telephone from Papua.
"The TNI (Indonesian military) post was attacked on Monday morning by a significant number of the armed group using military grade weapons, as well as spears and arrows," he said.
Aidi said on Tuesday a construction worker who took a photograph of separatists celebrating what they consider their independence day appears to have sparked the killings.
Some Papuans regard Dec. 1 as their independence day from Dutch colonial rule and hold rallies or raise separatist flags banned by the Jakarta government.
The military arm of the separatist group, the Free Papua Movement (OPM), said on its Facebook page on Wednesday it viewed the workers as members of the military and casualties of a war against the Indonesian government.
Indonesia officials say the workers were civilians employed by state construction firm, PT Istaka Karya, which is building bridges for the Trans Papua highway.
Since coming to power in 2014, President Joko Widodo has pledged to hasten development and open up access to the resource-rich province, including the Trans Papua road project to link remote areas.
Widodo said on Wednesday security for construction projects in Papua would be addressed by his government.
"The construction of the Trans Papua road needs to be continued and will never be stopped," he told reporters.
While separatists have been blamed for carrying out attacks, Indonesia's human rights commission has also urged Widodo to end rights violations by security forces in Papua. REUTERS
9) Police Chief: Papuan Armed Group used Stolen Firearms
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - National Police Chief General Tito Karnavian revealed that the perpetrators behind the attack that killed dozens of Trans Papua workers managed to obtain firearms from security personnel.
“First off, they usually get their firearms by stealing them from security personnel caught off-guard,” said Tito Karnavian at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, on December 5.
Furthermore, Tito suspects that the armed group also collected their firearms from weapons that were used in the Ambon conflict and firearms that were brought into Papua illegally from the New Guinea border, which Indonesian authorities have foiled several times in the past.
“A large number of firearms were available at the time. The police’s mobile brigade warehouse was even ransacked,” he continued.
According to Tito Karnavian, police and national armed forces (TNI) joint team has been mobilized to capture the group responsible for killing dozens of Papuan construction workers. He suspects that the armed group is comprised of 30-50 people.
“We have a larger platoon mobilized there. We are positive that we will be able to control the situation,” said the National Police Chief.
10) Jokowi Mourns Death of Papua`s Heroes of Development
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Standing at the Merdeka Palace press room, President Joko `Jokowi` Widodo said that the workers falling victim to a recent armed group attack inPapua are heroes of development.
“Let us pray together for the heroes of development in the Trans Papua project, may their soul be at a heavenly place,” said President Jokowi today.
An attack on Sunday, December 2, reportedly killed 31 construction workers of PT Istaka Karya who were constructing a bridge at Nduga over the Yigi and Aurak rivers.
Moreover, the Ministry of Public Works and Housing have been ordered to continue with the 4,600 kilometers construction project, which will see the Trans Papua highway connect areas that were previously isolated.
Following the attack, the president called for the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) Commander Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto and National Police Chief General Tito Karnavian to further investigate the tragedy and to arrest the group responsible for Papua shooting.
“I have ordered the TNI Commander and National Police Chief to hunt and arrest all perpetrators of the heinous crime,” said President Jokowi.
11) Govt, House to Discuss Term for Killer of Papua Workers
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko said he had not found the right term for the group that killed the Istaka Karya workers in Nduga, Papua.
“The term will bring the implication on who does what. [So], we can yet to decide,” he said in Jakarta, Wednesday, December 5.
Moeldoko said the Istaka Karya incident was a major event occurred in the forest area. The perpetrators were equipped with weapons. “Don’t be forced to use the term of an armed criminal group,” he said.
According to Moeldoko, if the perpetrators only commit criminal acts, the police must deal with them. However, if it is called as an armed movement, only the TNI (Indonesian Military) can handle it, as based on the rules.
Moeldoko said that a discussion between the government and the house of representatives (DPR) must first be done before using a term. In the near future, there will be a political response. “A political decision is probably needed to determine the term,” he said.
The Deputy Chief of Information for the XVII/Cenderawasih Military District Command Lt. Col. Infantry Dax Sianturi suspected that the murderer of 31 Istaka Karya workers in Nduga, Papua, was an armed group led by Egianus Kogoya.
Until now, Dax Sianturi has not been able to ensure the number of victims due to the shooting by the armed group since the Military (TNI) and Police joint team had not arrived at the suspected location of the killing. “We cannot confirm before we get the authentic evidence,” he said.
The shooting of the Istaka Karya workers was suspected carried out by the armed group on December 2, at around 3:30 p.m. in Kali Yigi and Kali Aura in Yigi District, Nduga Regency, Papua.
12) Killings in Nduga, KontraS: Circle of Violence in Papua
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence or KontraS strongly condemned the killing of dozens of civilians in Nduga, Papua.
“There is no reason to justify the violence and killing of civilians in the conflict in Papua,” KontraS Coordinator Yati Andriani said in a statement on Wednesday, December 5.
An armed group allegedly shot and killed 31 civilians, Istaka Karya workers who were building bridges in Kali Yigi and Kali Aurak, Yigi District, Nduga Regency, Papua on Sunday night, December 2. Before being killed, the victims were held hostage since Saturday afternoon. So far, there have been 24 people died.
According to Yati, the killing became an inseparable part of the chain and cycle of violence in Papua. She said that civilians were often the most vulnerable targets in any violence, either by the authorities or by pro-independence armed groups.
“So far, there has been no seriousness from the Government to continue the dialogue process and stop the security approach in dealing with conflict in Papua,” Yati said.
According to Yati, the killing incident also shows clearly that the approach to infrastructure development, which is the government ambitions in Papua, cannot necessarily restore the security situation and resolve violence in Papua. “Because the problems in Papua are not only limited to economic and development issues,” Yati said.
Yati called on the government and all parties involved in the conflict to stop the violence and attacks on civilians.
“And not targeting, let alone using violence against Papuan civilians who are often stigmatized as supporters of separatist groups,” Yati said.
According to Yati, such methods often occur in handling conflicts in Papua, which led to human rights violations and formed the chain of violence. The government, said Yati, needs to also carry out serious and comprehensive dialogue on various issues of political expression, poverty and injustice in Papua.
In response to the latest shooting in the Yall District, Nduga Regency, in West Papua, the Indonesian security forces are preparing to undertake a military operation to find those deemed responsible.
Joe Collins of AWPA said, “there have been many conflicting reports in relation to the incident including the number of those killed which varies between 19 and 31 dead”.
Although media reports have indicated that those killed were civilian construction workers it has also been reported that up to 400 Army Engineers are being used in the construction of the 4,300-kilometer Trans-Papua road in areas of difficult terrain.
The Commander of the XVII Cenderawasih Kodam Maj. Gen. Joshua Sembiring said the armed forces and the police would dispatch troops both on land and water, assisted by helicopters to evacuate the victims.Up to 170 troops are reported to be involved in the operation.
(Photo in Antara news report). The Police Mobile Brigade from Timika arrived in Wamena on Tuesday (4/12/2018). ANTARA PHOTO/Iwan Adisaputra/foc.
Collins said, “although more information on the incident will eventually emerge, there is real concern for local people involved in the area where military operations take place. The security forces will be under great pressure to find those responsible and could be tempted to retaliate or use a heavy handed security approach to the incident as has occurred in the past”.
(Benny Wenda from the Free West Papua campaign said we should also be -aware of the use of Indonesian propaganda in matters such as this incident).
In the past the military have burned homes and destroyed food gardens leaving the local people traumatised and in fear for the livescausing them to flee to the bush. In July 2018 a military operation took place in the same region of Ndugacausing large numbers of local people to flee the area. The Jakarta Post (15 July) reported at the time that human rights activists had urged the National Police and the Indonesian Military to withdraw their joint operation from Alguru in Kenyam, Nduga regency. The human rights organisations included the Papua Legal Aid Institute (LBH Papua) and the Papua chapter of the Indonesian Forum for Environment (Walhi Papua).
A section of the Trans-Papua Highway under construction. (Photo courtesy of the Public Works Ministry) Jakarta Globe (28 Nov 2017)
It is in the interest of the Australia Government to have a stable region to our north and it is hoped that our Foreign Minister Marise Payne will raise the matter with the Indonesian Government urging them to control the military during any military operations that will take place. This will save further lives in the conflict area.
It is also hoped that the foreign minister will raise the matter of the arrest of the arrest of over 500 West Papuans and their supporters in West Papua and Indonesia on the 1st December as the peacefully celebrated West Papuan national flag day. Ends ------------------------- Background
Public Works Ministry Teams Up With Army to Complete Trans-Papua Highway
There are many ways forward for the West Papuan people. A possible way is the UN Trust Territory Council (sorry not sure of correct term A bit rushed this morning)
Under authority of General Assembly resolution 1752, Charter of the United Nations article 81 and 85 part 1, West Papua came under UN occupation in September 1961. United Nations administration has been implemented by the Republic of Indonesia since May 1963, public access has been restricted since September 1963, there have been reports of extrajudicial executions since 1965, exploitation since 1967, and armed conflicts and political arrests since 1969 when Indonesia also conducted a process it calls the ‘act of free choice’. An United Nations motion to call on Indonesia to allow a referendum or act of self-determination by 1975 was defeated on 19 November 1969 and the United Nations has not discussed responsibility for the administration of the territory since that time. A Yale Law School study in 1994 reviewed the application of the law of genocide to the administration of the territory. The UN Secretary General has not yet placed the news of General Assembly resolution 1752 on the agenda of the Trusteeship Council.
West Papua independence leader urges calm after killings
Helen Davidson Thu 6 Dec 2018 16.17 AEDT Last modified on Thu 6 Dec 2018 16.48 AEDT
Sixteen bodies retrieved as leader Benny Wenda calls for diplomacy and transparency on what happened in Nduga
The exiled leader of the West Papuan independence movement has called for calm after independence fighters attacked and killed up to 31 people in a remote West Papuan district on Sunday.
On Thursday the Indonesian military said it had retrieved 16 of the bodies from the district of Nduga, which would be sent to the main town of Timika. None were identified.
Benny Wenda, the chair of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua(ULMWP), said it was hard to know exactly what happened at Nduga, amid conflicting reports on the long-running tensions, and without free access for media or human rights groups.
Indonesian authorities, which have not responded to requests for comment from the Guardian, have said civilian construction workers were killed by separatist militants.
Independence movement the Papuan liberation army, TPNPB, under commander Egianus Kogeya, claimed responsibility but said those killed were all members of the Indonesian military (TNI).
Wenda told the Guardian he couldn’t stop the liberation army but wanted to tell them the UMLWP wanted to solve the issue “diplomatically”. “We don’t want any bloodshed, we want Indonesia to come to the international table to discuss and we can agree to a referendum That’s what our campaign is about,” he said.
“In order for us to fix what is going wrong we have to know the truth, but we cannot trust the Indonesian government’s account about Nduga, or any incidents in regard to West Papua, and this is a problem.”
If the dead were not military the incident would mark the first time West Papuan fighters have fatally attacked civilians, and an extraordinary escalation in the more than 50-year-old conflict.
Wenda said Indonesia had a history of “creating violence” and using it to justify an increased military presence, and that this incident occurred just days after Indonesia arrested more than 500 people, reportedly including Indonesians, at West Papuan independence rallies.
“Indonesia has seen that ordinary Indonesian people have come out in support of our rights, and it sent a strong signal,” said Wenda. “Then, just after that, this incident happened. That’s a little bit of concern to me.”
Translations of TPNPB social media posts, accounts from members of the independence movement and local media reports suggest 24 men were killed in the initial attack while five of seven escapees were then tracked down and killed.
Two are believed to be still missing, according to Victor Yiemo, international spokesman for campaign group the West Papua national committee, KNPB.
Neither Yiemo or Wenda have been able to contact members of the TPNPB, who are believed to have retreated into the jungle, but Yiemo said villagers nearby told him there was continued shooting between the two sides.
He accused Indonesia of dominating media with propaganda calling TPNPB “terrorists”.
“[TPNPB] are our military and are fighting for our freedom and we support them.”
Jason Mcleod, a lecturer in peace and conflict studies at the University of Sydney, said
retaliation by Indonesian forces would likely be “swift and deadly”, with widespread civilian casualties. Indonesian media reported conflict had already begun.
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian soldiers on Thursday retrieved the bodies of nine construction workers killed by separatists in the province of Papua, where fresh fighting halted a search for the remaining dead, a military spokesman said.
Colonel Muhammad Aidi said efforts to retrieve more bodies from the weekend attack on a Papua construction site were halted after soldiers clashed with fighters from the separatist Free Papua Movement (OPM).
“We still haven’t been able to recover another seven because there was a shootout between the military and the separatist group,” Aidi said, adding that the bodies of 16 of the 19 workers killed in the attack had been located.
The nine bodies retrieved so far were flown to the town of Timika, he said. Most had gunshot wounds to the chest and head.
On Monday, members of the same separatist group attacked a military post near the construction site, killing one soldier.
A separatist conflict has simmered for decades since Papua was incorporated into Indonesia after a widely criticized U.N.-backed referendum in 1969.
In June, three bystanders were killed and a child wounded when Papua separatists fired at a plane transporting security personnel for regional polls.
“We will give the separatist group the chance to surrender and join Indonesia and we will make sure they are safe. If they resist, they will face our force,” Aidi said.
The OPM separatists said this week they viewed the construction workers
On Thursday, Widodo said on his official Facebook page “this incident emboldened us to continue the great task of building the land of Papua”.
OPM spokesman Sebby Sambon said on Wednesday government efforts to develop the province had marginalized Papuans.
“We don’t need road construction from Indonesia. When we become independent we can make our own roads that are as good as the ones in developed countries,” he told Reuters by telephone.
Reporting by Jessica Daminana and Gayatri Suroyo; Writing by Fransiska Nangoy; Editing by Ed Davies and Darren Schuettler
3) Indonesia steps up search for Papua massacre victims as 16 bodies found
Updated Dec 06, 2018 | 18:22 IST | AFP
Indonesia Papua massacre: The dead have not yet been publicly identified and the military did not supply details about how they were killed, saying autopsies would be conducted.
Jakarta: Indonesian security forces Thursday stepped up the grim search for victims of a massacre by suspected separatist rebels in restive Papua province, having retrieved 16 corpses so far, the military said. The fatalities, believed to be of construction workers, mark the deadliest bout of violence in years to hit a region wracked by a low-level independence insurgency. "This was a very cruel act," national military chief Hadi Tjahjanto told reporters in Papua, vowing to catch the "rebels" and "bring them to justice".
The bodies were being sent to the city of Timika from the remote district of Nduga, a mountainous region where the attack happened Sunday, the local military said. The dead have not yet been publicly identified and the military did not supply details about how they were killed, saying autopsies would be conducted. An earlier eyewitness account supplied by the military said at least 19 people had been killed, by execution-style shootings or having their throats slit. Previous local media reports put the number of dead as high as 31.
It was not yet clear whether all the dead worked for a state-owned contractor that has been building bridges and roads to boost infrastructure in the impoverished region, the military said. Another 20 people -- including five employees of the contractor -- have been evacuated from the area, but not all the company workers have been accounted for yet.
Some in Papua view Indonesia as a colonial occupier and its building work as a way to exert more control over a region that shares a border with Papua New Guinea, an independent nation. One soldier was killed and two were wounded earlier this week when they were sent to the remote site to investigate reports about the killings, according to authorities.
- Warning letter - On Wednesday, the military supplied an account from one survivor identified by his initials "JA" who claimed about 50 rebels entered the workers' camp on Saturday and led them away with their hands tied behind their backs.
The following day, the rebels shot dead a group of workers, while some tried to escape, the account said. The attackers allegedly recaptured half a dozen workers and slit their throats, according to the witness, who said at least 19 employees had been killed in all. A Facebook account purportedly run by the National Liberation Army of West Papua (TPNPB) said the armed group had killed 24 workers on the orders of regional commander Ekianus Kogoya.
Indonesia routinely blames separatists for violence in Papua and conflicting accounts are common. This weekend, about 500 activists -- including an Australian -- were arrested in a nationwide police crackdown that coincided with rallies on December 1, a date many Papuans consider their anniversary of independence from Dutch colonialists.
Papua declared itself independent on that date in 1961, but neighbouring Indonesia took control of the resource-rich region two years later on the condition it hold an independence referendum. Jakarta officially annexed Papua in 1969 with a UN-backed vote, widely seen as a sham.
A former employee of the state contractor, who worked in the area of the weekend attack, said rebels had warned the firm in writing last year that the work camp should be vacated around the independence anniversary. "The letter said 'we're asking that workers not disturb us and we won't disturb them,'" the 38-year-old told reporters in Papua. He did not provide a copy of the letter.
Papua experienced several spasms of violence this summer including the killing of three local people, allegedly by rebels. While construction workers have been targeted in the past, much of the violence has involved skirmishes between rebels and Indonesian security forces.
Some fighting has been centred around a huge gold and copper mine operated by US-based firm Freeport McMoRan -- a frequent flashpoint in the local struggle for independence and a bigger share of the region's resources.
Last Saturday marked widespread protests across Indonesia by West Papuan students and other activists.
A Papuan student protester holds a banner that reads, "Free Papuan People". (Image: EPA/Fully Handoko)
West Papua is in turmoil with the killing of 31 construction workers and a soldier, widespread protests and the arrest of 537 West Papuan activists across Indonesia. These events follow what West Papuan sources say have been the killing of numerous villagers in recent weeks.
Taken together, these events mark a significant escalation of the otherwise low-level conflict. In September, 1.7 million Papuans signed a petition calling for an act of self-determination, indicating that the desire for independence among indigenous West Papuans is as strong as ever.
The Indonesian government has blamed West Papuan separatists for the killing of the construction workers, most of whom were from Sulawesi, and a soldier on Sunday. Reports say that the construction workers angered locals by taking photographs of a protest on Saturday that marked the 1961 West Papuan declaration of independence, two years before Indonesia occupied the territory.
Indonesian military spokesman Colonel Muhammad Aidi said the incident occurred after members of an “armed criminal separatist group” held a ceremony to commemorate the 1961 declaration. He said that one of the construction workers a company building a bridge in remote region of West Papua took photographs of the protesters, which triggered the attack the following day.
Troops and police who went to investigate the attack were fired on, leaving one soldier dead and another wounded. United Liberation Movement for West Papua chairman Benny Wenda said there had been numerous clashes between the West Papua Liberation Army and Indonesian forces recently. “Bombing, burning houses, and shooting into villages from helicopters are acts of terrorism,” he said of the Indonesian military’s activities.
The West Papua Liberation Army had not previously been active in the Nduga-Wamena region where the attack took place and had no history of such attacks. However, the area is well known for clan violence. A self-described “faction” of the Liberation Army has, however, claimed responsibility for the attack.
There have also been past acts of violence undertaken by aggrieved locals. In at least one other case, too, a 2010 attack against a mine worker convoy was later shown to have been fomented by the Indonesian military seeking to restore their declining role.
Last Saturday marked widespread protests across Indonesia by West Papuan students and other activists. The protests called for a vote on self-determination in West Papua.
The protests follow the reorganisation of West Papuan activist groups in February under the umbrella United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP). There has been an upsurge in activism since the formation of the ULMWP.
Protests by around 300 West Papuan students in the Javanese port city of Surabaya on Saturday was met by at least as many paramilitary police and soldiers, and a nationalist counter-demonstrators who threw rocks and sharpened bamboo poles. Footage of that protest shows several injured people, with others being arrested.
In 2015, Indonesian President Joko Widodo declared that West Papua would be opened to outsiders, including the international community. However, the Indonesian military quickly contradicted Widodo’s proposal and the territory has remained all but closed to outside access, and foreign journalists remain restricted.
Papua has vast natural resources, including the world’s largest gold and second largest copper deposit at the $100 billion Freeport mine, but remains the poorest province in Indonesia. Low-level violence has continued in West Papua since the mid-1960s, in the past punctuated by major human rights violations of West Papuans by the Indonesian army and police.
Damien Kingsbury is Deakin University’s professor of international politics.
———————————————————————
5) OPM Admits Deadly Attack, Demand Independence
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Spokesman of the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) Sebby Sambom, confirmed the harrowing truth that his group the Free Papua Movement (OPM), was responsible for the bloody execution on numerous construction workers in Nduga, Papua.
Sebby maintained that the attack was carried out to express their demand of West Papua's independence from Indonesia.
"We demand our right toward independence and sovereignty," said Sebby in a phone interview with Tempo on Thursday, December 6, 2018.
He claimed that the TPNPB rejects the Trans Papua infrastructure development currently ongoing in West Papua. "Our principle is that we refuse any program related to the development of West Papua. We only demand our independence," Sebby insisted.
Prior to the attack on 31 construction workers, the armed rebel group had attacked the Indonesian Army as a protest against the construction project. However, the first attack did not produce the reaction the group wanted.
Sebby Sambom also said that the execution of the innocent workers in Papua was already planned three months prior to the attack. The TPNPB and OPM had monitored the project from afar before commencing the deadly attack.
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - National Police Chief Tito Karnavian said that economic factors had triggered attacks in Papua, including the recent shooting of bridge project workers in District Yall, Nduga Regency.
"The main problem of armed groups' attacks is the development projects, the welfare [of the community]," Tito said after attending a press conference with President Joko Widodo at Presidential Palace, Jakarta, Wednesday, Dec. 5.
According to Tito, these groups are eager to show their existence allegedly due to the slow development of infrastructure projects, which is caused by the geographic structure. However, the government does not stop to open road access of Trans Papua for 4,600 km.
President Jokowi, said Tito, supports the development project by ordering Public Works and Public Housings Minister Basuki Hadimuljono and the national military TNI to build the road.
"They're waiting for the development; [since] this project opens access for them. But these armed groups can hardly wait [for the project to soon be finished], so they show their existence [by launching attacks]."
The harsh geographic condition hampers the development process of the Trans Papua project. The police chief said such incidents often used to happen in West Papua but since the development in the region has been running well, the disruptions rarely occur.
On December 2, dozens of Istaka Karya workers were attacked by an armed group in Kali Yigi and Kali Aura, Nduga Regency, Papua. The information on the number of casualties is yet to confirm but previously, reports said it reached 31 people.
Last week, Mongabay, Tempo, Malaysiakini and Earthsight’s The Gecko Project published an investigation into the story behind the Tanah Merah project, an enormous palm oil development in Papua, Indonesia, whose owners remain shrouded in secrecy.
Observers say what while Papuans have a right to development, the Tanah Merah project is clearly intended to benefit the wealthy and connected individuals who have coalesced around it.
Watchdog groups want Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s administration to investigate the permits underpinning the project with an eye toward cancelling them. They have also called on authorities to implement a new regulation requiring companies to disclose their beneficial owners.
The Indonesian government must put an immediate halt to land clearing in the Tanah Merah project, a vast stretch of land earmarked to become the world’s biggest oil palm plantation, environmental advocates and anti-graft watchdogs say.
Spanning 2,800 square kilometers (1,100 square miles), nearly five times the size of Chicago, the land sits at the heart of one of the world’s last great tracts of unbroken rainforest, on the giant island of New Guinea.
Only 2 percent of the land has been cleared, but if the entire project area is cleared as planned, it will release as much carbon as Virginia does annually by burning fossil fuels.
Well-placed observers argue the project is clearly intended to benefit the cabal of wealthy and connected individuals who have coalesced around it, and will fail to deliver development to the indigenous Papuans living in its shadow. They are calling on Indonesian authorities to cancel the licenses underpinning the project, or subject them to special scrutiny as part of an ongoing review of existing permits.
The Tanah Merah project was the subject of a joint investigation published last week by Mongabay, The Gecko Project, Tempo and Malaysiakini. The article revealed how the ownership of the project has been concealed by a maze of shell companies, front shareholders, fake addresses and offshore secrecy jurisdictions, making it impossible to tell who will benefit from the destruction of the rainforest in Boven Digoel district, Papua province.
Even local government officials are in the dark about who is behind the project, greenlit during a chaotic period in the district. Some of the permits for the project were issued by a politician who was in jail at the time on unrelated charges of corruption, for which he was later convicted.
“The forests of Boven Digoel are immensely important to the indigenous people[s] of New Guinea, whose culture and livelihoods depend on the bushmeat, sago and fruits the forests provide and its clean flowing rivers,” Gemma Tillack, forest policy director at the Rainforest Action Network (RAN), wrote in an email. “The region is also a global biodiversity hotspot with species found nowhere else on Earth.”
She called the Tanah Merah project a “scandal” that “reveals how Indonesia’s rainforests and communities are being sacrificed for the greed of overseas investors and corrupt politicians, pretending to be promoting development.”
Oil palms on the edge of the Tanah Merah project. Image by Nanang Sujana for The Gecko Project.
Indonesia is the world’s top producer of palm oil, an edible oil found in countless consumer products as well as biofuels. At the same time, the country has lost more tropical forest since the turn of the century than any nation but Brazil, largely a result of unbridled plantation expansion. This deforestation has catapulted Indonesia up the ranks of the world’s top greenhouse gas-emitting countries and put it on the front lines of the global extinction crisis.
“Far too often these problems are treated as though they are caused by a group of rogue individuals on the ground,” said Eleanor Nichol, campaign leader at Global Witness, an international NGO that campaigns against corporate secrecy.
“The reality … includes a handful of incredibly powerful and well-resourced multinational companies and elite businesspeople, who hide their identities behind anonymous companies incorporated in secrecy jurisdictions like the Cayman Islands and Singapore. This anonymity allows these people to finance wide-scale destruction of climate-critical rainforests without scrutiny or consequence.”
The identities of some of the investors behind the Tanah Merah project have come to light. Malaysian logging firms Shin Yang and Rimbunan Hijau have stakes in the project. Shin Yang is a major shareholder in the sawmill under construction, and Rimbunan Hijau is a minor shareholder in a company with land for a plantation.
Another shareholder is Chairul Anhar, secretary general of the Indonesia-Malaysia Business Council. And another is Desi Noferita, whose brother, Edi Yosfi, is known as a powerbroker in the National Mandate Party, or PAN, an influential Indonesian political party.
The billionaire Saeed Anam family of Yemen has also been linked to the project, although representatives of the family’s conglomerate, the Hayel Saeed Anam Group, deny involvement.
Most of the companies with land for a plantation in the project are owned by holding companies registered to secrecy jurisdictions in the Middle East or Singapore, making it impossible for observers to identity the true shareholders.
“We need to call time on anonymous companies,” Nichol said. “This year the UK demanded its Overseas Territories open up, and all EU member states are about to introduce public registers of the real owners of anonymous companies, so they won’t be anonymous anymore. The rest of the world needs to follow suit.”
Children fishing in Meto village, Boven Digoel. Image by Nanang Sujana for The Gecko Project.
In March, Indonesian President Joko Widodo issued a regulation giving companies one year to disclose the identities of their “beneficial owners” to the government, although in a young democracy like Indonesia it is not a given that such a regulation will be enforced.
“This case is a clear example of why enforcement of the new regulations on beneficial ownership is so important, to ensure that whoever is behind a project like this is held to account,” said Arie Rompas, a forest campaigner with Greenpeace Indonesia. “If the license review process promised by Jokowi’s government through the palm oil moratorium is to be credible, concessions such as these must be revoked.”
In September this year, President Jokowi, as he is popularly known, declared a freeze on the issuance of new permits for palm plantations and ordered a review of all existing permits. Phil Aikman, campaign director for Southeast Asia at Mighty Earth, called the Tanah Merah project a “case in point” of why the moratorium on new permits “didn’t go far enough.”
“The moratorium should also have applied to rainforest and peatland areas in existing concessions, such as those held by shady shell companies in the Boven Digoel district in Papua,” he said.
Permits issued for palm plantations across Papua, including in Boven Digoel, are marked by “many irregularities” and a “lack of transparency,” said Mufti Ode, of Forest Watch Indonesia.
“The impact is that many companies have emerged who only want to seize natural resources without regard to environmental conditions and the rights of indigenous peoples,” he said. “Companies proven to have violated the licensing process and who fail to recognize the existence and rights of the people must [have their licenses] revoked.”
Eric Wakker, co-founder of sustainability consultancy Aidenvironment, called for the Indonesian government to issue a stop-work order on development within the project and to review the permits underpinning it.
“Given its history, to me it is clear that this Tanah Merah problem is the governments’ of Malaysia and Indonesia to sort out, which minimally begins with a stop work order and subsequent transparent review of the issued permits,” he said. “The current governments are in power because people voted for clean development, so that means they must be seen to undo previous governments’ mistakes as well.”
He said he hoped Indonesia’s anti-corruption commission, the KPK, would take a look at the Tanah Merah project, and even work with Malaysia’s anti-graft agency, the MACC, which is “now much more free to operate than previously” following the ouster of former Prime Minister Najib Razak’s government earlier this year.
“Of course, this is not to deny Papuans the right to development but this [Tanah Merah] project isn’t the way to deliver that to them,” Wakker said.
Moses Wine returns from hunting in the forest in Meto. Image by Nanang Sujana for The Gecko Project.
Tillack, of RAN, called on “any banks, investors or consumer good manufacturing companies connected to actors behind the Tanah Merah project” to “immediately cut ties” with them. She pointed out that Unilever and Nestlé, two of the biggest palm oil users, had already stopped buying from the Hayel Saeed Anam Group.
“As the world’s leaders unite in Poland to solve the climate crisis, we must call on political leaders to do what they can to ensure that the Tanah Merah project does not proceed,” she said. “If we lose this fight, if Shin Yang builds its giant sawmill, we will not only lose virgin rainforests that are the thriving heart beat of Indonesia, we will lose the one chance we have to limit temperate increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius [2.7 degrees Fahrenheit] and stabilize our climate.”
Banner: Yanuaris Kobi, a member of the Auyu tribe, with his traditional costume. Image by Nanang Sujana for The Gecko Project.
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Ready for action: Indonesian Military personnel prepare to board a helicopter in Wamena in Papua on Wednesday to retrieve the bodies of the construction workers killed in Nduga. The soldiers hunted for rebels suspected of killing 19 construction workers and one soldier in the restive province of Papua, as an eyewitness account supplied by the military described a grisly mass execution. (AFP/Anyong)
At least 20 people have been killed in Nduga regency, Papua, by an armed group with ties to the Free Papua Movement (OPM).
The casualties include 19 workers of state-owned construction company PT Istaka Karya, who were assigned to build a 275-kilometer section to connect Wamena and Mamugu as part of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s flagship trans-Papua road project. One Indonesian Military (TNI) soldier was also killed.
What happened?
According to the account of surviving Istaka Karya worker Jimmi Aritonang, which he relayed to the Cendrawasih Military Command, an armed group kidnapped 25 workers from the Istaka Karya camp in Nduga regency on Saturday and forcefully marched them to the nearby Karunggame River.
On Sunday, the workers were once again forced to move, this time toward the Puncak Kabo hill. On the way there, they were ordered to squat and line up in five rows. The gunmen then shot at the workers, killing 14 on the spot, while the remaining 11 pretended to be dead.
The gunmen then left the victims and continued their journey to Puncak Kabo. The 11 workers who had played dead attempted to escape, but they were spotted. The rebels caught and killed five of them, while the other six managed to escape toward Mbua. Four, including Jimmi, have been secured by TNI forces, but the other two were still missing as of Wednesday.
Early on Monday, the TNI post where Jimmi and his friends were being protected was reportedly attacked by a group of rebels armed with guns, arrows and spears. One soldier was killed and another injured in the attack.
How many casualties?
National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian and Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto confirmed on Wednesday that 20 people had been killed by the rebels.
"Nineteen workers and one TNI [Indonesian Military] soldier died," Tito said on Wednesday. This number seems to be based on Jimmi's account.
Initially, police had said that 31 workers were feared to have been killed by the gunmen. Istaka Karya president Sigit Inarto said, however, that there were only 28 workers at the location.
A joint military-police task force recovered 15 bodies from the area near the location of the incident on Wednesday night.
“Our joint forces have found 15 bodies and will continue the search tomorrow,” Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Martuani Sormin Siregar told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
Cendrawasih Military Command spokesperson Lt. Col. Dax Siburian said the joint military-police search team in Yigi district had found the bodies and a survivor named Johny Arung in the area around Tabo hill. Johny was evacuated to the Mbua TNI post.
“The bodies have not yet been identified, so we cannot confirm whether the 15 victims are all PT Istaka Karya workers,” Dax told the Post.
Who was responsible?
A faction of the National Liberation Army of West Papua (TPNPB) led by Egianus Kogoya has claimed responsibility for the deaths of the construction workers and the TNI soldier.
“Yes, we conducted the operations in Kali Aworak, Kali Yigi and at the Mbua TNI post, and we are ready to take responsibility. The attacks were led by Makodap III Ndugama commander Egianus Kogeya and operations commander Pemne Kogeya,” OPM spokesperson Sebby Sanbom said in a written statement on Wednesday.
Sebby denied, however, that the workers killed were civilians, claiming that they were members of the Indonesian Army Corps of Engineers (Zipur).
“Our targets are not wrong, we know which are civilian workers and which are TNI Zipur members, even if they wear plain clothes,” he said.
What is the government's response?
Jokowi has pledged that the government will hunt down those responsible for the shootings and that it will not halt infrastructure development in Papua.
“Currently, the TNI commander is in Papua to handle the attack by an armed group in Papua that has resulted in the deaths of workers that were assigned to build the trans-Papua road,” Jokowi said on Wednesday. “Let us pray together that the heroes of the trans-Papua development are welcomed at God’s side. I have also ordered the TNI commander and the National Police chief to pursue and arrest all the perpetrators of that savage act.”
He said there was no room for such armed groups in Papua or anywhere in Indonesia.
“This only makes us more determined to continue our great duty to develop Papua,” he said.
Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko called on the police and military to be proportionate in their response to the attack.
“The TNI should not be provoked,” he said on Wednesday. “The TNI and police have to show professionalism and work proportionately.”
He also called on domestic and foreign human rights groups to look at the incident with “open eyes.”
2) Year Ender - Development in Papua remains priority despite security challenges by Fardah
Reporter: Fardah Assegaf 16 hours ago
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The fact that President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has visited Papua nine times since December 2014 shows that his administration gives special attention to the development programs in the country`s easternmost province.
Jokowi`s first visit was in December 2014, just over a month after he was sworn in as Indonesia`s seventh president in October 2014. At that time, the president promised the Papuans that he would frequently visit the province.
His latest visit was on Nov 16, 2018, where he personally reviewed the construction works of Trans-Papua road development project. The section he checked was on Kilometer 23 between Merauke and Sota in the district of Merauke.
The Trans-Papua road, spanning 4.6 thousand kilometers, is expected to improve connectivity on Papua Island, which comprises Papua and West Papua Provinces.
Trans-Papua will cut time in the transportation of goods, logistics, and people`s movement in Papua, which has difficult terrain as a large part of its land area is still covered by thick forest and swamps.
The implementation of the Trans-Papua development project has so far been smooth, until Dec 2, 2018, when the public was shocked by reports of murders of more than a dozen workers of the road development project.
Indonesia`s security officers have, so far, discovered 16 bodies of slain workers employed by PT Istaka Karya Construction Company.
Jimy Aritonang, one of the survivors of the terror attack, recalled that some 50 armed men belonging to an outlawed group, led by Egunius Kogoya, had taken 25 workers from their camp to Mount Kabo.
On arriving in the remote mountainous area, the criminals shot the workers, whose hands were bound. Some 14 men died on the spot, while 11 others pretended to be dead and later attempted to escape. However, five were later recaptured and killed by the criminals, while several others managed to reach a military post.
The criminals chased them and later got engaged in a shootout with several military officers. One officer, identified as First Sergeant Handoko, was killed in the attack, while another one was injured.
Jokowi on Dec 5, 2018, expressed condolences on behalf of the Indonesian people, who mourned the deaths of the workers.
He immediately assigned Commander of the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto and Deputy Police Chief Commissioner General Ari Dono to go to Papua to handle the tragedy, and arrest every perpetrator involved in the murders.
"I affirm that there is no place for armed criminal groups like this in the land of Papua as well as in every corner of the country," he stated.
The incident has, in fact, strengthened the nation`s determination to develop Papua, he remarked.
Chief of the Presidential Staff Moeldoko condemned the terror attack and described the murders of the civilians as barbaric.
The government has deployed 150 military and police personnel to protect the people of Papua and construction workers.
The former commander of TNI, however, reminded that the military and police officers should remain professional in carrying out their tasks and not be provoked.
The determination to continue the project implementation was also voiced by Tjahjanto.
"Insha Allah (God Willing), next week, development of the bridge and (Trans-Papua) road will resume," the marshal noted in Timika, Mimika District, Papua, on Dec 6, 2018.
The TNI and Indonesian Police (Polri) will set up a joint security team to guard the construction work of bridges and roads in Nduga.
Restive Papua Island has been given a special autonomy status. However, it seems that the development programs have not met the public`s expectations, although the government has set up the Papua and West Papua Development Acceleration Unit (UP4B) in 2012 to boost Papua`s development.
Challenges in Papua, a home to vast and intact forest area and one of the world`s largest gold mine, are very complex. Security disturbances are quite a problem, but the central government has determined to deal with the problem professionally.
A total of 30 police officers had been shot dead and 57 were injured by members of criminal and separatist groups over the last 10 years (2008-June 2018) in Papua.
In addition to police officers, a total of 78 civilians were shot dead, and 117 others were wounded by outlawed groups in Papua, according to Inspector General Boy Rafli Amar, chief of the Papua Provincial Police, in a statement on the security reflection of the first semester of 2018, on July 3, 2018.
"We continue to handle the groups in accordance with the existing procedures," he remarked, adding that the police would never shoot the killers without following the standard of operation, he added.
In October 2017, some 1.3 thousand people, comprising of over 850 indigenous Papuans and 346 migrant workers, had been held hostages by an armed criminal group (KKB) in several villages in Tembagapura, Mimika, for about three weeks.
A joint military and police task force of Indonesia managed to release them and drive away the hostage takers on Nov 17, last year.
This year, a number of teachers were also reportedly kidnapped and raped by armed criminal group members. The Indonesian security later managed to release and save the victims.
The latest case was when 15 teachers were kidnapped for 14 days (Oct 3-17, 2018), and several of them were raped by the same Egunius Kogoya-led criminal group that killed the construction workers in Nduga.
Despite the security challenges, development activities in Papua must continue in accordance with the government`s programs.
Security personnel will guard companies, including state-owned enterprises, carrying out construction work in Papua.
3) Yigi River bridge construction to resume next week: Military chief
Reporter: antara 9 hours ago
Timika, Papua (ANTARA News) - Construction of a bridge over Yigi River located in Yall Sub-district, Nduga District, Papua Province, will resume next week, Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) Commander Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto stated.
"Insha Allah (God Willing), next week, development of the bridge and (Trans Papua) road will resume," the marshal noted here, Thursday.
The TNI and Indonesian Police (Polri) will set up a joint security team to guard the construction work of bridges and roads in Nduga, which are part of the Trans Papua project, he revealed.
The military will coordinate with the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry for the resumption of development activities in the country`s easternmost province of Papua.
On December 2, 2018, armed criminal group members murdered several workers building a bridge over Yigi River.
The joint TNI and Polri team has, so far, discovered 16 bodies of slain workers employed by the PT Istaka Karya construction company.
The team managed to evacuate eight survivors and move eight bodies from Nduga to Timika, Mimika District, on Thursday.
Jimy Aritonang, one of the survivors, recalled that some 50 armed men belonging to an outlawed group, led by Egunius Kogoya, had taken 25 workers from the camp to Mount Kabo.
On arriving in the remote mountainous area, the criminals shot the workers, whose hands were bound. Some 14 men died on the spot, while 11 others pretended to be dead and later attempted to escape. However, five were later recaptured and killed by the criminals, while several others managed to reach a military post.
The criminals chased them until the military post and got engaged in a shootout with the officers. One military officer, identified as First Sergeant Handoko, was killed in the attack, while another one was injured.
Reporting by Evarianus Supar Editing by Fardah Assegaf
1) Papua: How Jokowi is trying – and failing – to win hearts and minds
Arie Ruhyanto
Jakarta | Thu, December 6, 2018| 03:33 pm
Papuans take part on a parade in Surabaya, East Java province, on December 1, 2018, during a commemoration of the independence day of Papua from Dutch colonial, which is then commemorated every year by separatists as a symbol of their freedom from Indonesia. (AFP/Juni Kriswanto)
JAKARTA, INDONESIA —
Rebels in Indonesia's troubled Papua province demanded Friday that the government hold negotiations on self-determination for the province and warned of more attacks.
Sebby Sambom, spokesman for the West Papua National Liberation Army, the military wing of the Free Papua Movement, said in a telephone interview they attacked a government construction site last weekend because they believe the project is conducted by the military.
Ironically, these events took place as the Indonesian government makes a tremendous effort to develop Papua – which makes up the western half of the island of New Guinea and includes the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua. In fact, no other Indonesian region outside Java receives so much attention, with the nation’s president, Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, visiting two or three times annually in recent years.
But while his attention has been appreciated, Jokowi has also been accused of having a poor attitude to human rights abuses and state violence in the region. And while the president enjoys wide public support in Papua, the aspiration of Papuan self-determination is gaining traction both domestically and internationally.
The Jokowi Way
Since Papua was granted special autonomy (or “Otsus”) status by Indonesia in 2001, Jokowi’s prosperity-based approach has focused on developing infrastructure and improving connectivity. The government’s 4,330km Trans-Papua road project, for example, aims to put an end to the isolation of many Papuan communities.
Jokowi also introduced the “BBM Satu Harga”, a national standard price for fuel. This policy aims to bring down the cost of fuel in Papua, which can reach Rp50,000-100,000 (£2.70-£5.40) per litre, nearly ten times the average price nationally. The pricing policy has proved popular, although in practice Papuans in the region’s highlands only enjoy the standard national price once or twice a month due to supply constraints.
During Jokowi’s presidency, central government funding has also increased for both Papuan provinces. In 2016 alone, the central government allocated a 85.7 trillion rupiah (£4.6 billion) development fund for Papua and West Papua. On top of this Otsus fund, both provinces also have benefited from additional infrastructure spending.
But while Papua has received a larger share of the country’s development fund than any other region, its public service provision is among the worst in the country. Major public health disasters are commonplace, such as the recent measles outbreak in Asmat Regency, which along with malnutrition killed hundreds of children. In fact, Papua has been at the bottom of the national human development index for decades.
Jokowi has also focused on developing security, deploying thousands of additional soldiers to the region. Although aimed at strengthening national defence, there are ongoing concerns about human rights abuses in the region. A recent report by Amnesty International indicates that extrajudicial killings involving security personnel are still taking place in Papua.
Jokowi has also been criticised for failing to deal with such abuses when they occur. So far, none of the human rights cases relating to Papua have been resolved during his administration, leading to growing Papuan distrust of Jakarta (Indonesia’s capital and the seat of the national government). According to one Papuan leader I interviewed:
Jakarta is busy chasing away the smoke but not trying to put out the fire.
Self-determination
Against this backdrop, the campaign for Papuan self-determination is growing. While there is some armed resistance, most Papuans campaign peacefully through democratic action such as mass rallies and social media campaigns. Domestically, this peaceful campaign is directed by the National Committee of West Papua (KNPB), the Papuan Student Alliance (AMP), and The Democratic People’s Movement of Papua (Garda Papua). These organisations are mostly supported by Papuan youths and students.
But they have also been active beyond Papua, including in many of Indonesia’s biggest cities, such as Yogyakarta, Jakarta, Bandung and Surabaya on the island of Java, Denpasar on Bali, Medan on Sumatra, and Makassar and Manado on Sulawesi. Recently, the cause also received support from non-Papuan groups, such as the Jakarta-based Indonesian People’s Front for West Papua (FRI WP).
Nor is this just a domestic issue. The United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) was established in December 2014, two months after Jokowi took office, and has since been building support for the cause among Pacific nations. Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands and Tuvalu have raised the Papuan issue in UN forums many times.
Which all goes to show that the Indonesian government’s strategy in the region has been less fruitful than expected.
Time to reflect
Jakarta’s trust-building project in Papua is falling short because of the government’s narrow perspective of the problem. Since the late 1990s, all Indonesian presidents except Gus Dur have tended to make the Papuan issueall about economic development. Other crucial issues stated in the “Otsus Law”, such as Papuan identity, local political parties, law enforcement, human rights and the protection of indigenous people, have been overlooked.
Consequently, rather than facilitating the emergence of a strong and autonomous Papuan government, Otsus has made Papua even more dependent on Jakarta. And as the human rights issues remain unaddressed, the slogans of self-determination are being shouted even louder.
Jakarta and Papua must now come together and reconsider the best options for a more constructive future relationship. For if the 17 years since the region was granted Otsus status have revealed anything, it’s that economic development alone is not enough to win the hearts and minds of the Papuan people.
2) Police yet to find link between armed group and OPM in Papua
Reporter: Antara 6 hours ago
Yogyakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia Police Head of Public Relations Division Brigadier General Muhammad Iqbal said here on Friday the police had not yet confirmed if the armed criminal group that killed workers in Nduga, West Papua, recently was connected to the Free Papua Movement (OPM) organization.
"Our team is still conducting law enforcement operations and after they complete them, the groups involved and whether they are affiliated with OPM will be confirmed in detail," he said at the Yogyakarta Regional Police Headquarters.
Although the OPM has claimed responsibility, the police said they would not hurriedly jump to a conclusion but would take it into consideration.
"We have our own Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) and because this is within the corridor of law enforcement, the police would be at the forefront, while the military (TNI) would only help. We understand there has been a narrative by someone claiming to be an OPM spokesman. We will take it into consideration but we have not yet confirmed the same. We will not be provoked by their propaganda," he said.
He said the police already know which group the criminals come from. "We know where they come from. Perhaps their narrative has spread in the media. Just let us pray and help the police and TNI so the legal process can be carried out immediately. We will find them wherever they are," he said.
Iqbal said that a joint police and TNI team has kept the situation in Nduga under control, evacuated the victims and released the Trans-Papua road construction workers held by the group.
"More than a dozen dead victims have been evacuated and even brought to their families. We will conduct a scientific investigation process. That is the SOP that we are conducting," he said.
On December 2, 2018, armed criminal group members murdered several workers building a bridge over the Yigi River.
The joint TNI and Polri team has, so far, discovered 16 bodies of slain workers employed by the PT Istaka Karya construction company.
The team managed to evacuate eight survivors and move eight bodies from Nduga to Timika, Mimika District, on Thursday.
Jimy Aritonang, one of the survivors, recalled that some 50 armed men belonging to an outlawed group, led by Egunius Kogoya, had taken 25 workers from the camp to Mount Kabo.
On arriving in the remote mountainous area, the criminals shot the workers, whose hands were bound. Some 14 men died on the spot, while 11 others pretended to be dead and later attempted to escape. However, five were later recaptured and killed by the criminals, while several others managed to reach a military post.
The criminals chased them to the military post and got engaged in a shootout with the officers. One military officer, identified as First Sergeant Handoko, was killed in the attack, while another was injured.
Reporting by Luqman Hakim, Yoseph Hariyadi Editing by Suharto
3) Rebels Demand Indonesia Negotiate on Papua Independence
December 07, 2018 9:12 AM Associated Press
"Trans-Papua road projects are being carried out by Indonesian military and that is a risk they must bear," Sambom said. "We want them to know that we don't need development, what we want is independence."
Indonesia's government, which for decades had a policy of sending Javanese and other Indonesians to settle in Papua to dilute the number of indigenous people, is now trying to spur economic development to dampen the separatist movement.
Local media have reported that army engineers are involved in several sections of a trans-Papua road network that will connect cities and districts in the province.
"Our leaders have declared a war zone since last year and warned that the trans-Papua road construction should be stopped, but Indonesia has ignored it," Sambom said.
He called for the government to agree to peace talks similar to ones that led to another province, Aceh, becoming semiautonomous, or a "real referendum" on independence as occurred in the former Indonesian territory of East Timor.
"If Aceh and East Timor can get that opportunity, why don't we?" said Sambom, who said he was speaking from an area near the border with neighboring Papua New Guinea.
Papua is a former Dutch colony in the western part of New Guinea. A declaration of independence from Dutch rule on Dec. 1, 1961, was rejected by the Dutch and later by Indonesia.
An insurgency has simmered in Papua since the early 1960s, when Indonesia annexed the region. It was formally incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 after a U.N.-sponsored ballot that was seen as a sham by many.
Following Sunday's attack, security forces have retrieved the bodies of 16 workers employed by PT. Istaka Karya, a state-owned construction company, to build bridges on a section of the trans-Papua road, Papua police spokesman Suryadi Diaz said.
Authorities believe the armed group killed 19 construction workers, based on the accounts of survivors. They have rescued 24 survivors, including seven workers, and are searching for two missing workers and the bodies of three others.
A soldier at a military post near the site was also killed by the armed group.
Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has ordered the military and police to arrest the perpetrators of the worst separatist attack during his administration and said he will not tolerate "armed criminals" in Papua or the rest of the country.
He said the attack will not dissuade his government from continuing to develop Papua, including the 4,600-kilometer (2,875-mile) trans-Papua road, which his administration has claimed is widely supported by local people.
The road, which will stretch from Sorong in West Papua province to Merauke in Papua province, is expected to be completed next year and help boost economic development in both provinces.
National police chief Tito Karnavian on Wednesday estimated the strength of the armed group at not more than 50 people with about 20 weapons, and said more than 150 police and soldiers have been sent to restore security in Nduga district, a stronghold of the separatists.
Sambom, however, claimed the rebels have 29 operational area commands in Papua, each with 2,500 members.
"We vow to intensify our fight for independence with guerrilla hit-and-run attacks," he said.
1) Papua Rebel Attack Raises Questions about Indonesia’s Infrastructure Push
Ahmad Syamsudin and Victor Mambor Jakarta and Jayapura, Indonesia
Indonesian soldiers and police officers carry the bodies of victims of a massacre by suspected separatist rebels in Papua province, Dec. 7, 2018. AFP
2018-12-07
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s government has often argued that far eastern Papua province was long neglected, while officials pushed for a massive infrastructure strategy to connect the jungle-covered region as a way to winning the hearts and minds of locals.
Now, that thinking is being questioned after separatist rebels attacked workers who were building roads and bridges in Nduga regency as part of the Trans-Papua Highway project, killing at least 20 people, including a soldier on Dec. 2.
The killings, whose details remain sketchy, represented the single most-serious attack by the separatist rebels in many years.
“I don’t think Jokowi asked the West Papuans what they wanted, which was a mistake,” said Damien Kingsbury, a professor at Australia’s Deakin University who specializes in politics and security in Southeast Asia.
“Had he done so, they would probably have answered they do not want their environment destroyed by new roads and bridges, or the influx of outsiders that implies,” he told BenarNews.
Jokowi’s approach to Papua had failed after the government reneged on its promise to open up Papua to outsiders, including to foreign journalists, according to Kingsbury.
The Trans-Papua Highway stretches more than 4,300 km (2,687 miles) from Sorong, the largest city in West Papua province, to Merauke regency, and is scheduled to be completed in 2019, a presidential election year. It is part of the Jokowi administration’s drive to improve infrastructure in the Papua region, where road networks are limited.
In response to the killings, authorities have sent more about 300 police and soldiers to Nduga to hunt the suspects.
A defiant Jokowi has vowed to go ahead with the infrastructure projects in Papua despite the setback.
“We will never be afraid. This (attack) has only strengthened our resolve to carry on with our great task of developing the land of Papua,” he told reporters at the State Palace in Jakarta on Wednesday. “There’s no place for armed criminal groups in Papua and throughout the country.”
Papua is one of the archipelago’s poorest regions despite its rich natural resources. The area where the violence took place was at about 1,500 meters (about 5,000 feet) above sea level.
Jokowi has visited Papua at least eight times since taking office in 2014, a sign that he is paying close attention to the country’s easternmost region.
He has repeatedly emphasized that lower transportation costs due to better infrastructure will make things more affordable in Papua, which makes up the western half of the island of New Guinea.
“While his attention has been appreciated, Jokowi has also been accused of having a poor attitude to human rights abuses and state violence in the region,” Arie Ruhyanto, a doctoral researcher at the University of Birmingham, said in a piece published on Conversation.com on Wednesday.
“Jokowi has also focused on developing security, deploying thousands of additional soldiers to the region,” he said. “Although aimed at strengthening national defence, there are ongoing concerns about human rights abuses in the region.”
Rebels reject infrastructure projects
In a phone interview with BenarNews on Wednesday, Sebby Sanbom, a spokesman for the West Papuan National Liberation Army (TPNPB), the military wing of the Free Papua Movement, made it clear that the separatist group rejected the government’s infrastructure projects.
“This attack is a message to the colonial government of Indonesia that we are fighting for the freedom of the West Papua Republic. We are not asking for the Trans-Papua roads or other development,” Sebby said.
Sebby has said that those killed during what he described as an “exchange of fire” were not civilian workers, but soldiers from the army’s engineering detachment.
He said the group that carried out the attack was led by Egianus Kogoya, the local leader of TPNPB.
On Thursday, Sebby told the Jawa Pos news website that the insurgent group had 29 regional commands and 2,500 personnel.
He described the separatist army as “world class.”
“They (the Indonesian military) may have more personnel, but nature is with us. Forests and valleys are with us and we will not surrender,” Sebby told Jawa Pos.
In a phone interview with the Associated Press on Friday, Sebby demanded that the government hold negotiations on self-determination, and he warned of more conflicts.
“Trans-Papua road projects are being carried out by Indonesian military and that is a risk they must bear,” Sebby said. “We want them to know that we don’t need development, what we want is independence.”
A self-motivated faction
Kingsbury, the Australian university professor, said attacks such as the one on Dec. 2 were easy to pull off.
“It’s not hard for the rebels to obtain weapons, with even members of the security forces contributing to the black market in their sale.”
“An attack such as this takes minimal planning,” he said.
Kingsbury said the group responsible for the attack appeared to be a self-motivated faction that supported the TPNPB but was not under its direction or control.
Meanwhile, there are fears that the security forces could respond disproportionately to the killings, which could lead to more human rights abuses, analysts said.
“Any security and law-enforcement operation must be conducted proportionally and must not lead to casualties among civilians,” said Al Araf, executive director of Imparsial, a Jakarta-based human rights watchdog.
Al Araf said focusing on the economy while neglecting other issues was a mistaken approach.
“The economic gap is not the only factor, there are also the historical aspects, human rights violations that have never been resolved and the marginalization of the Papuans,” he told BenarNews.
“Development is important, but the government needs to adopt an approach that is more inclusive and give Papuans a leading role to find solutions,” Al Araf said.
The killings occurred after police arrested more than 500 activists in rallies across Indonesia on Dec. 1, the date regarded by most Papuans as their independence day from the Dutch.
Papua declared its independence from rule by the Netherlands on Dec. 1, 1961, but it was rejected by the Dutch and later by Indonesia.
In 1963, Indonesian forces invaded the region and annexed it following a contentious referendum in 1969. During the plebiscite, according to rights groups, security forces selected only more than a thousand people to agree to the region’s formal absorption into the archipelagic nation.
Public Works Minister Basuki Hadimuljono defended the construction work on the Trans-Papua highway, saying ordinary Papuans supported it.
“The project has been communicated well to the local people,” he said. “Residents supported it and even told us that they would guarantee the security.”
2) Komnas HAM Former Chief: Jokowi Has No Thoughtful Plan for Papua
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Former commissioner of National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM), Natallius Pigai, opined the Joko `Jokowi` Widodo`s administration did not have thoughtful planning to carry out the Trans Papua project in the conflict-prone area. Thus, he added, it became one of the conflict triggers that caused casualties.
“[The government] must have a well-planned strategy. Soeharto himself did not dare [to start the development project] because of potential conflict,” said Natallius in a phone call on Saturday, December 8, referring to the second President of Republic of Indonesia.
He also criticized policies issued by Jokowi that involving military forces for the project. The involvement of Indonesian military Forces (TNI) personnel in conflict-prone regions is a high-risk order considering it is potentially disturbed public security and order in Papua.
According to Natallius, civil workers also felt serious threats when they stayed with TNI while on work. “People who are threatened are civil workers because they stay among military forces,” he added.
During the planning of Papua toll road development project, Natallius along with Sipil Society had staged a protest to Jokowi in light of the involvement of TNI in the project in the conflict-prone region. However, the government maintained to deploy armed personnel. "Until what we've been worrying about happened; the shooting incident that took ones' life."
Earlier on December 2, a shooting carried out by an armed group killed 31 workers of Istaka Karya, while building bridges in Yigi River and Aurak River, Nduga, Papua.
Massacre of workers rekindle forgotten insurgency in Indonesia’s Papua
COMPILED FROM WIRE SERVICES ISTANBUL
Published 13 hours ago
The recent massacre of civilian workers by separatist rebels in Indonesia's restive Papua province has cast a spotlight on one of the world's longest-running insurgencies, with no end to the bloody conflict in sight.
The killings are a marked escalation from decades of mostly sporadic skirmishes between poorly armed and disorganized guerrillas and a powerful Indonesian military accused of human rights abuses against civilians.
Rebels demanded that the government hold negotiations on their territory's self-determination and warned of more attacks following a raid on a construction site that left at least 16 dead and three others missing.
An insurgency has simmered in mineral-rich Papua since the early 1960s, when Indonesia annexed the region that was a former Dutch colony. It was formally incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 after a U.N.-sponsored ballot that was seen as a sham by many. More recent grievances fanned by marginalization of the ethnic Melanesian population and widespread rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings.
Sebby Sambom, spokesman for the West Papua National Liberation Army, the military wing of the Free Papua Movement, said in a telephone interview Friday that they attacked a government construction site last weekend because they believe the project is conducted by the military.
Security forces have retrieved the bodies of 16 workers hired to build bridges on a section of the trans-Papua road, Papua police spokesman Suryadi Diaz said.
Authorities believe the armed group killed 19 workers, based on the accounts of survivors. They have rescued 24, including seven workers, and are searching for two missing as well as the bodies of three others. A soldier at a military post near the site was also killed.
Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has ordered the military and police to arrest the perpetrators of the worst separatist attack during his administration and said he will not tolerate "armed criminals" in Papua or the rest of the country.
He said the attack will not dissuade his government from continuing to develop Papua, including the 4,600-kilometer (2,875-mile) trans-Papua road, which his administration has claimed is widely supported by local people.
The road, which will stretch from Sorong in West Papua province to Merauke in Papua province, is expected to be completed next year and help boost economic development in both provinces, the poorest in Indonesia.
"Trans-Papua road projects are being carried out by Indonesian military and that is a risk they must bear," Sambom said. "We want them to know that we don't need development, what we want is independence."
Indonesia's government, which for decades had a policy of sending Javanese and other Indonesians to settle in Papua to dilute the number of indigenous people, is now trying to spur economic development to dampen the separatist movement.
"Our leaders have declared a war zone since last year and warned that the trans-Papua road construction should be stopped, but Indonesia has ignored it," Sambom said.
He called for the government to agree to peace talks similar to ones that led to another province, Aceh, becoming semiautonomous, or a "real referendum" on independence as occurred in the former Indonesian territory of East Timor.
"If Aceh and East Timor can get that opportunity, why don't we?" said Sambom, who said he was speaking from an area near the border with neighboring Papua New Guinea.
National police chief Tito Karnavian estimated the strength of the armed group at not more than 50 people with about 20 weapons, and said more than 150 police and soldiers had been sent to restore security in Nduga district, a stronghold of the separatists.
Sambom, however, claimed the rebels have 29 operational area commands in Papua, each with 2,500 members.
"We vow to intensify our fight for independence with guerrilla hit-and-run attacks," he said.
"There has never been an attack of this type of scale by separatist guerrillas," said Damien Kingsbury, professor of international politics at Australia's Deakin University.
"The outbreaks of mass violence to date have been perpetrated by the Indonesian military."
Papua, which shares a border with island nation Papua New Guinea, just north of Australia, remained a Dutch colony for more than a decade after the Netherlands relinquished its former East Indies territories to a newly independent Indonesia in 1949.
Despite laying the groundwork for Papuan self-government, the Netherlands came under pressure from a White House fearful about communism spreading across Southeast Asia.
So it agreed in 1962 to place Papua under temporary U.N. administration before it was ceded to Indonesia a year later, on the condition it hold an independence referendum.
The vote -- called the Act of Free Choice -- is widely viewed as a sham. About 1,000 handpicked Papuans unanimously chose to remain part of Indonesia, allegedly under the threat of violence. Jakarta cites the referendum as proof its control is legitimate.
But for some Papuans, who are ethnically different and share almost no cultural ties with the rest of the sprawling archipelago, it was the start of another colonial occupation that has seen them dispossessed of land where their ancestors lived for centuries.
Much of the insurgency has centered around a huge gold and copper mine operated by U.S.-based firm Freeport McMoRan, seen locally as a symbol of environmental devastation and exploitation of Papua's enormous mineral wealth.
Since his 2014 election, President Joko Widodo has overseen an unprecedented development push, including the ambitious the highway, but analysts say it may be too little, too late.
"If Papua is part of Indonesia, it should've been built up in the same way as other regions," said Adriana Elisabeth, a Papua expert at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences.
The depth of discontent was underscored last year when 1.8 million Papuans signed an ultimately unsuccessful petition asking the UN to recognize a self-determination vote.
Most victims of the weekend massacre had their hands tied together with some suffering gunshot or knife wounds and blunt-force injuries, authorities said. One worker was almost decapitated.
The faction of the National Liberation Army of West Papua (TPNPB), which claimed responsibility, is one of the independence movement's most militant groups and its actions could spark copycat attacks, along with a deadly military response, according to the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict.
While the brazen attack may signal an emboldened rebel strategy, the actions taken by a local faction on its own highlight an armed struggle beset by clan rivalries, competing interests and with no formal command structure, analysts said.
Regardless, the killings may hurt an independence movement that has struggled to capture the attention of the international community, Deakin University's Kingsbury said.
The Free West Papua Organisation (OPM), which includes armed and political pro-independence groups, has little international backing outside a small number of Pacific island nations.
It does not receive significant funding or arms from abroad, the group and analysts say.
"Independence has not received much support because Indonesia is a significant international actor with many differing friends," Kingsbury said.
The rag-tag armed movement poses little threat to a country of some 260 million people, but Jakarta has had little success stamping out the insurgency.
The rebels say they remain committed to fighting for independence, while Indonesia has shown no interest in coming to the bargaining table.
"If you tell the government it should hold talks about Papua's independence, they don't want do that," Elisabeth of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences told AFP.
March for International Humans Rights Day Sydney (9 December 2018) Representatives and supporters from various campaigns joined with Aboriginal Peoples’ in the "Defence of Human Rights March in Sydney for International human Rights Day". Human rights abuses against Aboriginal peoples are at a crisis point. More children are being forcibly removed than at any time in Australia’s history. The torture of black youth in the Don Dale detention centre in Darwin is happening across the country and examples of extreme police brutality and killings of Aboriginal people in custody are being exposed every week. These abuses are rooted in a continuing invasion and denial of First Nations sovereignty.
At the rally Aboriginal leaders were joined by representatives from other campaigns and marginalised peoples standing up against brutal human rights abuses by the Australian government and by various colonialist governments from around the world. It is the same government torturing refugees in offshore detention, persecuting Muslims, destroying the environment and denying social equity and trying to criminalise trade union activism in the building industry and beyond.Individual speakers' topics include: People affected by fracking, West Papua, Brazil, Yemen., Palestine Refugee advocates, Stolen Children, Children smuggling , Deaths in custody. Closing Juvenile Detention Centres Women killed in domestic violence and Workers Rights being reduced.
1) TNI denies explosive use during rescue after Papua shootings
News Desk The Jakarta Post
Jakarta | Sun, December 9, 2018| 07:25 pm
Ready for action: Indonesian Military personnel prepare to board a helicopter in Wamena in Papua on Wednesday to retrieve the bodies of the construction workers killed in Nduga. The soldiers hunted for rebels suspected of killing 19 construction workers and one soldier in the restive province of Papua, as an eyewitness account supplied by the military described a grisly mass execution. (AFP/Anyong)
A spokesperson for the Indonesian Military’s (TNI) Cendrawasih Military Command, Lt. Col. Dax Sianturi, denied reports that a joint team of military and police personnel involved in a rescue mission to save victims of recent mass shootings in Nduga, Papua, had carried explosives or fired guns during the process.
“It’s fake news,” he said on Sunday as quoted bytempo.co. He said the helicopter utilized to carry dead bodies on Dec. 2 was a logistics carrier. “It was not an assault vehicle. So how could we use bombs?” he said.
Tabloidjubi.com reported that four civilians were shot dead when security personnel tried to retrieve the bodies of construction workers of state-owned company PT Istaka Karya that had been shot by an armed group linked to the Free Papua Movement (OPM).
Samuel Tabuni, a youth leader, said his relatives were shot by the security personnel. “Two in Mbua, Two in Yigi. They were shot during the rescue process,” said Samuel as quoted by tabloidjubi.com.
After rescuing victims and civilians, the joint security team is still looking five construction workers who remain missing.
Papua Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Ahmad Kamal said PT Istaka Karya recorded 28 workers in the camp in Yigi district, where the killings took place. At least 16 died during the attack by the armed group that was led by Egianus Kogoya. Among the casualties was an employee of the Papua road project.
Seven workers were found alive, three of whom are injured and receiving treatment at Caritas Timika Hospital. A member of the police’s Mobile Brigade is also being treated at the hospital for injuries.
2) 15 confirmed dead in Nduga incident; locals’ complaint is a root, says the Church Leader
Published 5 hours ago on 9 December 2018
By pr9c6tr3_juben
Trans Papua Road Section in Nduga Regency – Ministry of Public Works
Jayapura, Jubi – Papua Police confirmed fifteen dead in the shooting incident reportedly occurred in Puncak Kabo, Yal Sub-district, Nduga Regency. Papua Police Public Affairs Chief Senior Commissionaire Ahmad Musthofa Kamal said 19 people shot in the incident that caused 15 deaths. Currently, the fifteen corpses have successfully concentrated in one location for evacuation on Thursday (06/12/2018).
“So, the total of shooting victims are 19 which 15 died, three injured while one survived and had evacuated on Tuesday (04/12/2018),” said Kamal in the press conference held at Jayawijaya Regional Police Headquarter on Wednesday night (05/12/2018).
Further, Kamal said the joint evacuation team discovered all victims in Yal Sub-district and continued searching for other victims who worked for PT. Istaka Karya that consist of a field manager and twenty-four workers.
Earlier, Military Public Affairs Chief Colonel Muhamad Aldi stated that a criminal group had executed the employees of PT. Istaka Karya in a location identified as Puncak Kabo.
It begins with the locals’ complaint Separately, the Rev. Dr Benny Giay, the Chairperson of Papuan Kingmi Church Synod, said the incident that reportedly killed 24 workers of road construction in Nduga Regency triggered by a suspected military member who took a picture of the community worship on 1 December 2018.
“There’s worship attended by the community, local government and a man who’s suspected military member,” Giay forwarded a message from a resident to Jubi on Wednesday (05/12/2018).
“When residents saw him taking the pictures, they were scared. So, they asked the guy to remove his photos, but he denied,” added Giay.
He then left the scene and went to the military post, while people couldn’t make him delete his pictures.
Meanwhile, the worship continued to 2 December 2018. The residents who came to the event asked him to remove the photos. Then, there was gunfire near the military post that caused more than ten casualties.
“This is a sequence,” he said.
Moreover, the Rev. Giay added that a polemic whether the dead victims are civilians or soldiers, it should refer to the policy of President Joko Widodo during his visit in Wamena in 2016.
“The point is that President Widodo has trusted the military to build the road following his visit to Wamena in 2016,” he said.
Soon after this agreement in January 2017, the West Papuan Liberation Army who’s has power over this region refused the road construction and gave a war threat.
Therefore, according to Giay, no wonder if the locals suspected the workers as the army. They reckon that ordinary people might not want to work in the region under the security threat.
Separately, the Corporate Secretary of PT. Istaka Karya Yudi Kristanto confirmed that there were 28 workers joined in the bridges construction project in the Yigi River and Aworak River located in Nduga Regency Papua. He also ensured that there had never been any problems regarding their construction project there.
Meanwhile, Papua Police stated that a survivor Bharatu Wahyu who’s a member of Mobile Brigade also evacuated to Wamena public hospital on Wednesday night (5/12). He got shot at the right arm, left shoulder and neck in the gunfire when the security forces attempted to find the victims.
“The plan is to evacuate the bodies to Wamena because most of their families are living in Wamena. But it depends on the weather, if it’s bad we’ll send them all to Timika,” said Kamal.
According to him, soon they’ve got the news of 31 dead; the joint security force immediately came to the scene for confirmation. Therefore, it was only the initial information.
Meanwhile, Jayawijaya Police Chief Adjunct Senior Police Commissionaire Yan Pieter Reba appealed the victims’ families and those who want to find further information about the victims to come to Jayawijaya Police
Headquarter or Military District Command 1702/Jayawijaya.
“We provide a post in the police headquarter and military district command as well. So, if people want the information about their families, they can come directly to these posts for checking the truth,” he said. (*)
Military sweep inNduga Regency-local villagers flee
In response to the latest shooting in the Yall District, Nduga Regency, in West Papua, the Indonesian security forces are undertaking a military operation to find those deemed responsible
Local media in West Papua have reported that residents from Mbua, Yall and Yigi have fled to the forest to avoid the sweep by a joint police and army force. Up to 1500 people have been displaced.
According to Pastor Benny Gia, (in a report in Jubi 9 December) during a previous sweeping operation that took place in June and July 2018, 50 families in the village of Alguru - referred to as the hideouts of armed groups - had fled to the forest. In addition, around 150 people fled to Timika and 116 people left Nduga to go to Agats, Asmat.
Joe Collins of AWPA said, " today is International Human Rights Day, the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and we have the Indonesian Security forces causing local people to flee in fear because of a security operation taking place in the Nduga regency to find those deemed responsible for the shooting of construction workers last week.
In previous sweeps the security forces have burned homes and destroyed food gardens".
The Communion of Churches in Indonesia (MPH-PGI) expressed deep concern with the approach of violence in resolving the Papuan problem, both committed by civil society, armed groups and State officials.
"The approach to violence, in any form, in our opinion, will never solve the problem, besides only creating new injuries which in turn will create a cycle of violence," wrote the Rev. Dr. Henriette T.H. Lebang, General Chair of PGI through a PGI pastoral message regarding the events in Nduga. PGI calls on all parties to stop all forms of violence and resolve various problems that exist by sitting together to discuss them in a civilized and dignified manner.
Collins said, "governments in the region should be greatly concerned at the worsening situation in West Papua. Just over a week ago on the 1st December over 500 West Papuans were arrested simply because they took part in peaceful rallies tocelebrate their national day or their National flag dayThe Aust Gov. continuous to say that the human rights situation in West Papua is improving but the ongoing crackdown on peaceful demonstrators by the Indonesian security forces proves otherwise”.
A spokesperson for the UN UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in a media release stated
"While we acknowledge the complexities of the situation in Papua, we are troubled by the crackdown over peaceful demonstrations and increasing reports of excessive use of force by security forces, harassment, arbitrary arrests and detentions in Papua, including harassment and threats to lawyers working on these cases. Such acts may serve as a means of restraining the legitimate exercise of the rights to freedom of association, peaceful assembly, freedom of expression and risk undermining these fundamental human rights for the population at large. Our Office and UN human rights mechanisms have repeatedly raised concerns over recent years about the human rights situation in Papua”
Photo in Jakarta Post 9 December
Ready for action: Indonesian Military personnel prepare to board a helicopter in Wamena in Papua on Wednesday to retrieve the bodies of the construction workers killed in Nduga. The soldiers hunted for rebels suspected of killing 19 construction workers and one soldier in the restive province of Papua, as an eyewitness account supplied by the military described a grisly mass execution. (AFP/Anyong)
As in AWPA’s previous release, 6 Dec. https://awpasydneynews.blogspot.com/2018/12/media-release-increasing-tension-in.html we are calling on our Foreign Minister Marise Payne to raise the matter with the Indonesian Government urging them to control the military during any military operations that will take place. This will save further lives in the conflict area.
ends
Supporters of West Papua in Sydney take part in march for International Human Rights Day
The Indonesian government’s long and difficult task of developing Papua just got a lot harder after Free Papua Movement (OPM) rebels slaughtered at least 16 construction workers who were building a 4,320-kilometre highway that will bring migrants into the once-remote Central Highlands in greater numbers than ever before.
It is thought to be the bloodiest single incident in Papua since the controversial UN-administered 1969 Act of Free Choice made the former Dutch-controlled territory a formal part of Indonesia, sparking an independence struggle that continues today.
The OPM’s armed wing, the West Papua National Liberation Army, claimed responsibility for the massacre, which suggests that the decades-long conflict may have entered a dangerous new stage despite the rebels having very few modern firearms.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo made it clear that the attack wouldn’t discourage the government from finishing the long-delayed Trans-Papua Highway by the end of next year. ‘This only makes us more determined to continue our great duty to develop Papua’, he said.
With the highway and Jakarta’s new mass rapid transit system as centrepieces, Widodo has presided over arguably the biggest infrastructure construction boom in the nation’s history, using it to press his claims for a second term when Indonesians go to the polls next April.
The OPM wants to stop the road, which cuts a meandering path through challenging terrain from the coastal city of Sorong in the western Bird’s Head region across the Central Highlands to Merauke on the southeast coast bordering Papua New Guinea.
In March last year, separatist gunmen upped the ante by ambushing and killing four construction workers on a section of the highway in the rugged district of Puncak Jaya, 120 kilometres northwest of Wamena, the quasi-highland capital in the Balian Valley.
While the highway will sharply reduce the costs of fuel and other basic needs in Papua’s interior, local leaders worry about the social impact, saying the tribes aren’t prepared for the influx of migrants, who now outnumber native Papuans by as much as 60:40 across the once-roadless region.
The combined population of Papua and West Papua provinces is estimated at 3.6 million, 1.7 million of whom are listed as indigenous. Many of them are highland tribespeople living in the 10 districts that straddle the road as it winds along the region’s mountainous spine.
Still fresh in many minds is the violence which erupted in 2015 in Tolikara, north of Wamena, after local church leaders forbade Muslims from celebrating the end of the Ramadan fasting month. Although only one person died, it was a taste of what a toxic mix of community tensions and poor governance can do.
That discord hasn’t been helped by better-educated migrants getting most of the senior positions in the creation of new administrative regions, a process known as pemakaran which is more common in Papua than anywhere else in Indonesia.
Since 2000, the number of kabupaten, or districts, alone has grown from nine to 29 in Papua province and from three to 13 in West Papua, all aimed at satisfying local political demands and getting access to funding rather than improving the quality of administration.
The 1 December massacre in the central mountain district of Nguda follows a series of pin-prick attacks dating back to local government elections last June and has led to fears of the military and the police overreacting, as they have done in the past.
Ironically, the death toll is the worst since a deranged Indonesian special forces lieutenant, armed with an assault rifle, killed 11 soldiers and five civilians in an airport hangar in Timika, the largest town on Papua’s south coast in 1996. He died in prison years later.
Employed by a state-owned construction company, the workers were building a bridge in Nduga, a long-time OPM hotspot lying northeast of Freeport, Indonesia’s heavily guarded Grasberg mining operation which has been a favoured rebel target in the past.
The killings were reportedly triggered by one of the workers filming a pro-independence flag-raising ceremony, an activity banned by the government that has often led to mass arrests and a violent security crackdown.
The OPM claims the video-cameraman was in fact a government intelligence agent, one of a network of paid informers across Papua. There are conflicting reports about what exactly transpired in the lead-up to the massacre, with even the initial casualty estimates varying between 24 and 31.
According to one unverified social media account, the gun-toting rebels rounded up the workers at their construction camp, tied their hands and then marched them to the Karunggame River, where they were shot or hacked to death.
In a separate incident on 3 December, one soldier died when the same assailants struck a nearby territorial battalion security post, forcing the small unit there to withdraw until the arrival of helicopter-borne reinforcements from Wamena.
Nduga and neighbouring Puncak Jaya were both the scene of election-related violence, including two separate incidents when rebel snipers opened fire on passenger aircraft readying for take-off at Kenyam, the Nduga district capital. Two pilots were wounded.
Changing demographics and efforts to improve the welfare of native Papuans have always been controversial, given the legacy of former president Suharto’s now-defunct transmigration program, under which 750,000 migrants settled mostly in western Papua.
Since then, unassisted migrants from Java, Sulawesi and neighbouring islands have followed in growing numbers, settling in West Papua’s coastal towns, the Papua province capital of Jayapura, and around the boom town of Timika, which also serves as Freeport’s logistics base.
Widodo has visited Papua six times since taking office in 2014, more than any other president, and was pictured earlier in the year touring part of the Trans-Papua road on a motorcycle. But he has so far failed to follow through on his commitment to a sustained peace dialogue.
With former military commander General Moeldoko taking over as the president’s chief of staff last January, even efforts at a limited dialogue focused on health, education and the environment have gone nowhere.
There has always been a high level of mistrust felt among defence and home affairs officials, who believe that any talks with indigenous Papuan leaders will inevitably lead to demands for independence. If any pretext was needed, the massacre will only harden that stance.
Police Should Investigate Worksite Killings; Military Should Show Restraint
December 9, 2018 9:55PM EST
(Jakarta) – Indonesian police should investigate a Papuan armed group’s killing of at least 17 people, including a soldier, at a construction area in Nduga in Papua’s densely forested Central Highlands on December 2, 2018, Human Rights Watch said today.
The circumstances of the killings remain unclear. Papuan militants should cease unlawful killings, and the Indonesian government should ensure that its security forces act in accordance with international standards and not commit abuses in response to the attack.
“A Papua militant group’s attack on a worksite raises grave concerns that require a full investigation,” said Elaine Pearson of Human Rights Watch. “Militants and responding security forces should not inflict harm on ordinary Papuans.”
The West Papua National Liberation Army (Tentara Pembebasan Nasional Papua Barat), the military wing of the Free Merdeka Movement (Organisasi Papua Merdeka), claimed responsibility for the killings, saying those killed were military personnel from the Indonesian Army Corps of Engineers. An army colonel said that three of the survivors of the attack were military personnel working as engineers. Sebby Sambom, a spokesman for the Papuan armed group, told the media that the attacks were organized by the militant’s group’s third Ndugama Command. He said they had monitored the workers for three months and concluded that they were engineering corps personnel wearing civilian clothes.
However, Indonesia’s public works minister, Basuki Hadimuljono, said that those killed were workers from state-owned companies PT Istaka Karya and PT Brantas Abipraya, sent from Sulawesi to work on the 4,300-kilometer Trans Papua highway. He said that only the soldiers protecting the workers were armed, including the one killed in the attack.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo said in reaction to the attacks that, “I have ordered the Armed Forces commander and the Police Chief to pursue and capture all the perpetrators of such rude and violent acts.”
In West Papua, December 1 is widely commemorated as the day West Papua declared nationhood. In 1961, under Dutch rule, an elected council consisting mostly of indigenous Papuans commissioned the creation of a national anthem and flag. On December 1, 1961, the West Papuan Morning Star flag was flown beside the Dutch tricolor for the first time. Indonesia took control over Papua with United Nations recognition in 1969.
Over the last five decades, some Papuans have resisted Indonesian rule. On December 1, 2018, more than 500 students were arrested in more than 10 Indonesian cities after peacefully raising the Morning Star flag and demanding a referendum on independence.
Indonesia’s National Police initially announced that the killings in Nduga were in retribution for a worker taking photographs of Papuan militants organizing a flag-raising ceremony near a road and bridge construction.
More than 100 military and police officers were evacuating the dead and injured, and engaged in a military operation against the militants.
Human Rights Watch has long documented human rights abuses in Papua’s Central Highlands, where the military and police have frequently engaged in deadly confrontation with armed groups. Indonesian security forces have often committed abuses against the Papuan population, including arbitrary detention and torture. A lack of internal accountability within the security forces and a poorly functioning justice system mean that impunity for rights violators is the norm in Papua.
The Indonesian security forces should exercise care when operating in Nduga, directing all security personnel to treat Papuans in accordance with international standards. They should transparently investigate and hold accountable anyone implicated in a criminal offense. Both the military and the police should allow journalists to operate independently in the area. Nduga is an extremely remote area where no journalists have had access since the attacks.
A decades-long official restriction on foreign media access to Papua and controls on Indonesian journalists there have fostered that lack of justice for serious abuses by Indonesian security forces and fueled resentment among Papuans.
“The situation in Nduga is muddled in large part because no journalists can independently go into the area to interview witnesses and verify what happened,” Pearson said. “Having independent monitors on the ground will help deter abuses by both the militants and security forces, which would benefit all Papuans.”
3) More deaths as Indonesia hunts Papuan Liberation Army
2:26 pm today
Four civillians have reportedly been killed in Papua province as Indonesian security forces continue their pursuit of the West Papua Liberation Army.
The Liberation Army claimed responsibility for killing as many as 31 Indonesians, mainly road construction workers, earlier this month in the Highlands region.
Local media reported that Indonesian military and police had retrieved 16 bodies from Nduga regency, having deployed a major joint operation there.
According to Tabloid Jubi, four Papuans were killed, including a priest of the Kingmi Church Synod, as troops sought to evacuate bodies of massacre victims.
There are humanitarian concerns for hundreds of Nduga residents - from Mbua, Yall and Yigi - who fled to the forest to avoid the joint operation.
Antara reported that Nduga's regent, Yarius Gwijange, said he had received unconfirmed reports that some civillians had been victims of "mis-shootings" of the joint operation.
He appealed to police and military to ensure civillians were not caught in the crossfire of their battle with the Liberation Army.
While the number of victims of the massacre remains unclear, the chairperson of Papua's Kingmi Church Synod, Benny Giay, said there were 24 people killed, all workers of a major road construction project.
Local people suspected the construction workers were military personnel, Dr Giay said.
This was because Indonesia's President Joko Widodo commissioned the military to build the major Trans Papua road network two years ago.
A spokesman for the Liberation Army last week said it attacked the workers after one of them was caught photographing a ceremony to mark the anniversary of 1961's West Papuan declaration of independence.
West Papuan rights to freedom of speech and peaceful assembly have been defended by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in a response to the mass arrests of Papuan protesters during flag raising ceremonies earlier this month.
“These are indigenous people at the end of the day,” says spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani.
“So they are trying to defend their rights to be able to pray and to be able to retain their culture, their links to their land, but also the Papua region of Indonesia has not benefitted from all the economic development that the rest of the country has had.
Shamdasani said in a radio interview with UN News that while President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo had been initiating development projects, “the problem here is that the people haven’t really been consulted.
“There haven’t been meaningful consultations [with] the people who are actually affected by this.”
In the interview, Shamdasani put into context the recent arrests of nearly 600 citizens who were detained for participating in West Papua’s national day, December 1, a global event for commemorating the first raising the Morning Star flag – banned by Indonesian authorities.
She also answered questions about development, armed conflict, and trying to gain access to the region.
Behind the West Papuan protestsThe UN interview transcript:
[UN NEWS] The mass arrest of demonstrators in Indonesia who were attempting to mark a national day for indigenous people in the east of the archipelago, has been condemned by the UN human rights office, OHCHR.
More than 500 activists were detained at the start of the month – though they’ve since been released.
Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani explained to UN News’ Daniel Johnson what’s behind these latest developments.
Ravina Shamdasani (RS): Last weekend there were peaceful protesters in the Papuan region of Indonesia who were celebrating what they call the “West Papua National Day,” and some 500 of them were arrested, detained. They were all subsequently released within 24 to 48 hours, but this does not take away from the fact that they should not have been arrested in the first place, and that this is not the first time this has happened.
It happens year after year and on several occasions during the year as well.
Daniel Johnson, UN News – Geneva (UN):What exactly are they protesting for apart from the fact that it’s their national day?
RS: Quite often these protests are protests for independence from Indonesia and of course we understand that the situation is complex. The Indonesian government is certainly not happy with these protests, but these people have their right to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression. So there was really no reason to arbitrarily detain them.
UN:As a minority what particular rights are they trying to defend and what are they trying to say is being threatened?
RS: Well, these are indigenous people at the end of the day. So they are trying to defend their rights to be able to pray and to be able to retain their culture, their links to their land, but also the Papua region of Indonesia has not benefited from all the economic development that the rest of the country has had. The rates of malnutrition are quite high. Now the current president of Indonesia has been initiating development projects. The problem here is that the people haven’t really been consulted. There haven’t been meaningful consultations of the people who are actually affected by this.
UN: Why is that? What structures are there in Papua, in Indonesia, to do this or not?
RS:The president has his analysis that the problem is one of economic development, um so he is trying to tackle that. But what we have emphasised, and what our previous High Commissioner during a visit to Jakarta in February of this year emphasised, was that development can of course bring with it access to many fundamental goods and services that can vastly improve people’s well beings, but if they cannot voice their concerns, and if they can’t participate in these decisions, the resulting development may not really increase their welfare, because it doesn’t really address the problems that they have.
UN: Ok, and what is your presence on the ground in this part of Indonesia given that it’s a huge country archipelago?
RS: We do not have a presence in Indonesia but we have a regional office in Bangkok that covers Southeast Asia – So we are, you know, in close contact with human rights defenders, civil society, government officials as well.
We have actually been seeking access to this region for quite awhile now. In February the High Commissioner was promised access, and we are still in discussions with the government of Indonesia to make that happen.
UN:This issue is not one that I’ve seen very often having been here what four years now. What’s your hope for the follow up and how many other similar cases are there that go really beneath the radar of international mainstream media?
RS: Too many international mainstream media tend to focus on the big conflicts. However there are many places like Papua, which are quite small, which have historic kind of long standing structural issues and unfortunately may not come up to the radar until there is an outbreak of conflict
What our office tries to do is try to ring the alarm bells early on, before the situation rises to the level of an armed conflict.
UN: You’re not suggesting it’s at that level now? Of course.
RS: No we’re not suggesting it’s at that level now, but there are many grievances, and we’ve seen this in many parts of the world where grievances are unaddressed, or there’s a suppression of dissent. And then people take the law into their own hands because they feel they are not being heard.
This is actually happening at a very low level in Papua at the moment. There are armed groups that are operating. In fact, just this week I believe a number of people were killed. These were government contractors who were there doing a development project.
They were killed by armed groups which of course is unacceptable, but you have to understand the root causes and you have to address the root causes.
4) Papua killings revive debate on decades-old conflict
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1) West Papua National Liberation Army: It’s an attack, not execution
Published 10 hours ago on 10 December 2018
By pr9c6tr3_juben
West Papua Liberation Army led by Egianus Kogoya – IST
Jayapura, Jubi – West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) finally spoke up regarding the murder accusation over them. They admitted being responsible for the shooting of people identified as the employees of PT. Istaka Karya that are building the Trans-Papua road.
“We are responsible for that. There was gunfire, and it’s an attack, not execution as stated by the Indonesian security forces,” the spokesperson of TPNPB Sebby Sambom told Jubi by phone on Wednesday (5/12/2018) denying the statement released by the Indonesian Army.
Earlier, the Chief of Cenderawasih Military Public Affairs Colonel Muhamad Aidi that the employees of PT. Istaka Karya executed in a location identified as Puncak Kabo.
Meanwhile, the West Papua National Liberation Army Commander for Region III Ndugama Egianus Kogoya continued Sambom, gave an order to his man Pemne Kogoya to attack several people in the Aworak River, Yigi River and Military Post at Mbua Sub-district.
Furthermore, he said the liberation army had been observing those who worked nearby both rivers. “They are soldiers, Indonesia Army Corps of Engineers, not civilians,” continued Sambon who’s in Papua New Guinea during the telephone.
In 2016, the Indonesian Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing contracted the Army Engineer as a working partner to build the Trans Papua Road. This agreement then followed by the decree issued by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono through Presidential Decree No.40 of 2013 which became a reference for military involvement in the construction of the Trans-Papua Road which earlier named Accelerating Development Road of Papua and West Papua (P4B).
The Army engineers deployed a total of 394 personnel that consist of Detachment-10 and Detachment-12 to work on the roads along Wamena-Habema and Habema-Mbua. Meanwhile, Battalion-18 build the roads along Mbua-Mugi and Mugi-Paro, and Battalion-14 build the roads along Paro-Kenyam and Kenyam-Mamugu. Each group has 107 personnel.
Under observation of Liberation Army
For approximately three months, the West Papua National Liberation Army has observed the workers of bridges construction at both Aworak and Yigi rivers and Mbua Military Post to examine their movement.
“Those who work along the Aworak River, Yigi River are purely soldiers of Engineers Detachment. The liberation army also knew that those who work on the trans-road and bridges construction project along the roads of Habema, Juguru, Kenyam until Batas Batu are military,” said Sambom.
Furthermore, according to him, even though these men dressed in civilian clothes or not wearing the uniform, they are still military. He also said that the liberation army is not a group of criminal as often called by the Indonesian Security Force. The West Papua National Liberation Army is fighting for the independence of West Papuan nation that aimed to liberate West Papua from Indonesia.
“We have delivered a statement of war at the beginning of 2018,” he said.
As quoted by tirto.id, the National Police Chief General Tito Karnavian said 20 people confirmed victims of murder in Nduga Regency Papua that consist of 19 employees of PT. Istaka Karya and a soldier.
“The temporary news reported 20 [victims], said Karnavian during a press conference held at the Presidential Palace Complex, Jakarta on Wednesday (05/12/2018).
Indonesian Propaganda
In the meantime, Benny Wenda, the Chairman of ULMWP, separately told Jubi (5/12) that the news of the workers’ massacres in Nduga as part of Indonesian propaganda.
“That’s my assumption. It happened due to the broader support from the Indonesian people to Papuans and their nation that showed on the last 1 December. So, Indonesia attempted to show the Indonesian people that Papuans are brutal and able to do massacre. This incident cannot be confirmed yet, but the narrative of ‘massacre’ has widely spread through social media,” said Wenda.
According to him, throughout 2018, before the ‘massacre’ of the bridge construction workers in Yigi Sub-district and the attack on the military post of Battalion Infantry-755/Yalet, there were at least several accusations launched by the Indonesian Army, including the shooting incident at Kenyam Airport, Nduga on 25 June; confinement and sexual violation against dozens of teachers and paramedics from 3 – 17 October in Mapenduma Sub-district, Nduga Regency. (*)
Rev. Sofyan Socratez Yoman says Widodo's 'fixes' not enough as restive province still suffers human rights abuses
Rev. Sofyan Socratez Yoman says he will not bow to pressure from authorities. 'I speak about truth and I'm not afraid because fear imprisons us, creating room for even greater persecution,' he says. (Photo by Ryan Dagur/ucanews.com)
Ryan Dagur, Jayapura Indonesia December 10, 2018
Papuan pastor Sofyan Socratez Yoman has been subject to military surveillance and seen his books banned, yet he remains undeterred in his fight for self-determination for West Papua.
As chairman of the Communion of Baptist Churches in Papua, Yoman is known as one of the few religious leaders who chose to support the province's battle for independence.
"This is the responsibility of my faith, my conscience, so I won't compromise," he told ucanews.com in the Papuan city of Abepura on Nov. 22.
Since it was annexed by Indonesia in 1963, Papua, a Christian-majority region, has emerged as a conflict hot spotwith torture, killings and arrests rampant.
An Amnesty International report said 95 people were killed between January 2010 and February 2018. Of those, 56 were not related to pro-independence activities. Thirty-nine were linked to peaceful political activities, including raising the Papuan independence flag, the Morning Star.
Another report by the International Coalition for Papua found that the number of arrests quadrupled from 1,083 in 2015 to 5,361 in 2016, mostly during peaceful protests.
On Dec. 1, 560 university students and activists were arrested during rallies held in several cities to commemorate what Papuans claim to be the birth of the West Papua nation in 1961.
Earlier on Nov. 19, Jayapura police arrested 126 students as they celebrated the 10th anniversary of the West Papua National Committee, a pro-independence group.
As a witness to the litany of violence,56-year-old Yoman said: "I cannot choose silence. I have an obligation to stand with my sheep. During all that suffering, the cross was being carried by Papuans."
Yoman uses various ways to voice his concerns — speaking from the pulpit, writing in the mass media, and authoring books.
He also raised his fears before former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono when he joined several Papuan religious leaders at a special meeting in 2011.
"I told him [Yudhoyono] that Papuans wanted self-determination because we haven't felt any [positive] change since joining Indonesia," he said.
In October 2017, he wrote an open letter to President Joko Widodo reminding him that Papuans had lost confidence in the government.
Human rights first
Yoman criticized the government's claims that it has done many things for Papua, saying the government has not addressed the core problems plaguing the province.
He conceded that roads and bridges have been built during the era of President Widodo, who last visited on Nov. 19, to inaugurate the Time Capsule Monument in Merauke, but he saw this as mere gestures.
"He didn't get to the heart of the problem, such as the ongoing human rights violations or the absence of solutions to past abuses. Indonesia doesn't have any firm commitment to resolving those," he said.
He cites the shooting of four students in Paniai on Dec. 8, 2014, by security forces. "It happened in broad daylight and the perpetrators were soldiers. However, they still haven't been arrested," he said.
He also mentioned the murder of Dortheys Hiyo Eluay in 2001 in Jayapura. Eluay was chairman of the Papua Presidium Council, a tribal organization, and was considered a hero by many Papuans.
"In 2016, one of the killers, Hartomo, was appointed head of the Strategic Intelligence Agency," Yoman said.
Widodo has visited the province on multiple occasions but the kidnapping and murder of indigenous Papuans has not stopped, he said.
"When the violence continues and more Papuans die, then we ask, for whom is all this development being done by the government? Human dignity is far more important than anything else."
Intimidation tactics
Yoman's outspoken views have seen him face various threats and forms of pressure.
In 2008, his book Eradication of Ethnic Melanesia: Breaking the Silence of the History of Violence in West Papua was banned by the government as it was considered a threat.
Three years later a leaked document of an Indonesian elite force listed him as the most watched figure in Papua.
But he claims he was never intimidated — or silenced. "I speak about truth and I'm not afraid because fear imprisons us, creating room for even greater persecution."
Hope for the church
Indigenous Papuans have hailed his efforts and those of other church leaders, even though most Catholics have not shown such courage.
"We hang our hope on people like him," said Agustinus Asso, 36, from Wamena. "What he says represents the will of the majority of Papuans. If all religious leaders could speak openly like him, the impact would be different, especially for human rights."
Papuan activists and students have urged Catholic bishops in the region to speak up about cases of rights abuse.
Franciscan Father Nico Syukur Dister, a professor at the Fajar Timur School of Philosophy and Theology in Jayapura, wrote that "the real-politics in West Papua makes it impossible for the church to remain neutral and hide [its] position."
The question of Papuan independence seems to be a political subject, but he said "the distinction between politicians' concern and the church's concern loses its relevance the moment we ask whether or not every nation has a right to own a country."
Many Papuans, the Dutch-born priest said, consider themselves part of a separate nation, not just a tribe in Indonesia, where their decolonization process was interrupted by international politics and military infiltrations in 1963.
"This complicated historical process, combined with military oppression, human rights violations, marginalization and exploitation of resources caused their integration with Indonesia to feel more like a colonial occupation," Father Dister said.
"With respect to that reality, isn't it an injustice that Papua is not yet independent; shouldn't it be part of the church's concern to raise the injustice that occurs in Papua?"
Markus Haluk, a Catholic and executive director of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), said that support from religious leaders, especially to voice human rights issues, was very important.
"Their vocation is clear, namely, to voice the suffering of the people," he said. "If the church is silent on our suffering, then we will ask whether the church is still our future or not."
The ULMWP was formed in 2014 as an umbrella organization uniting movements seeking independence.
Yoman said he hoped other religious leaders and congregations would follow his lead but that he plans to fight on regardless.
Dozens of West Papuans have been arrested by Indonesian police for demonstrating to mark World Human Rights Day.
Reports from Indonesia indicated as many as 90 Papuans were taken in by police in Timika after holding a public event to support human rights.
The pro-independence West Papua National Committee, or KNPB, has issued a statement saying its activists were among those taken in by police in Timika.
Offices of the KNPB's secretariat around Papua region were raided by police on 1 December, the anniversary of 1961's West Papuan declaration of independence.
Police arrested around 500 people for marking the anniversary last week.
4) Papua killings revive debate on decades-old conflict
By Deutsche Welle 2018/12/10 21:02
At least 20 people were killed in Nduga regency, Papua on December 2 after an armed group attacked the victims at a construction site. Nineteen of them were believed to be workers of the state-owned construction company PT Istaka Karya, which is currently building a bridge to connect Wamena and Mamugu as part of President Joko Widodo's flagship trans-Papua road project. One Indonesian Military (TNI) soldier also died in the attack.
Sebby Sambom, the spokesperson for the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) - an armed group with ties to the Free Papua Movement (OPM) - stated that his group was responsible for the bloody execution. He also insisted that his group had monitored the workers for several months and that they were military personnel in civilian clothes and not contruction workers. Sambom also said his group rejected the project. "We, TPNPB and the Papuans don't need the infrastructure from Indonesia, we only demand our independence," he told DW.
Following the killings, Indonesian president Joko Widodo ordered the army and the police to capture the people responsible for the murder. "There is no room for such armed groups in Papua or anywhere in Indonesia. We are not afraid. This only makes us more determined to continue our great duty to develop Papua," Widodo said at the presidential palace in Jakarta.
Human rights groups are worried that the government's response would lead to further unrest. "It is vital that the government response to the killings does not lead to further human rights violations," Amnesty International (AI) Indonesia's Executive Director Usman Hamid said, adding, "The unspeakable attacks must not be used as a pretext to roll back freedoms and a crack down on human rights."
Elaine Pearson of Human Rights Watch (HRW) also demanded a complete investigation saying, "Militants and responding security forces should not inflict harm on ordinary Papuans."
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Fighting an old battle
Prior to the violent killings, around 500 activists were arrested in a nationwide police crackdown that coincided with rallies on December 1, a date that many Papuans consider as their independence day from Dutch colonialists. In a statement after the incident, Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights wrote: "Our Office and UN human rights mechanisms have repeatedly raised concerns over recent years about the human rights situation in Papua."
Papua declared itself independent in 1961, creating its own national anthem and raising its national flag, called the Morning Star, next to the Dutch banner. Two years later, Indonesia began to assert its claim over the resource-rich province and officially took over Papua in 1969 with a United Nations- backed vote.
Papua has one of the world's largest gold and copper mines, operated by US firm Freeport McMoran, but this easternmost province in Indonesia remains the poorest. Freeport McMoran's mining activities have been widely held responsible for environmental destruction and exploitation of Papua's mineral resources, causing unrest in the region.
Military observer Aris Santoso said that the chain of violence that continued to this day could not be separated from that decolonization process. He criticized the fact that Jakarta had used violence in the past to restrict the aspirations of Papua's people. "The incident related to armed civilian groups in Nduga could be a response to the previous actions of Jakarta's elite, while the aspirations of the people in Papua themselves were ignored," Santoso told DW.
Made Supriatma, another Papua observer, said the government needed to start the peace process, but not before changing its mindset regarding the Papuans. "The Indonesian government believes that the dignity of Papuans can be achieved through development, especially infrastructure. If the authorities open up the isolated Papua areas, the economy would improve and the Papuans will feel better," he said.
In reality however, the opening of infrastructure would also mean the entry of economic competitors or outsiders, who would have better access to markets compared to the Papuans. "So now, if they were being asked, who would benefit from that development, the Papuans would say, we don't want the infrastructure," Supriatma told DW.
Human rights first
According to Supriatma, it is time for Jakarta to offer Papuans the dignity they deserve, and that the Indonesian government could begin by first dealing with human rights issues in that region. But before that, Indonesia needs to organize a referendum, Supriatma said, adding that it did not have to be like The Act of Free Choice (Penentuan Pendapat Rakyat, PEPERA) referendum that was held in 1969 to decide whether Papua should stay with Indonesia or become independent.
Experts have raised doubts about the plebiscite, with writers like Andrew J. Marshall and Bruce W. Behleer saying in their book "Ecology of Indonesian Papua" that several Papuans claimed they were forced to vote under pressure from the Indonesian military.
The new plebiscite would have to be different, Supriatma said: "Jakarta has to conduct a kind of plebiscite, not for asking whether Papua wants to join the Republic of Indonesia, but to ask them whether they want wider autonomy or not, and how the wider autonomy would be managed."
Indonesian troops 'kill Papua civilians' after deadly separatist attack
Four civilians have been killed by Indonesian troops hunting separatist rebels in the restive province of Papua, a local resident says.
Indonesian security forces have killed four civilians during an anti-insurgency operation in the restive province of Papua, according to a local resident.
Indonesian military troops prepare to be deployed to Nduga district where suspected separatists shot dead dozens of workers at a field in Wamena, Papua.
Papuan police spokesman Ahmad Kamal confirmed they were investigating the allegations.
"We don't know if they [the people killed] were members of the armed criminal group," he said, referring to the separatist Free Papua Movement, which has fought for Papua's independence from Indonesia since the 1960s.
"They may have been killed in a gunfight," he added.
Indonesian soldiers and police officers carry a body bag containing the body of a victim of separatist attack in Nduga.
EPA
But Tabuni said those killed were civilians, not members of the Free Papua Movement.
"One of them is my uncle, who was a member of the local church council," he said.
The construction workers were killed while they were building roads and bridges, part of President Joko Widodo's drive to improve infrastructure in Papua, where many areas are covered by jungle and road access is limited.
Indonesian troops and workers prepare coffins for the slain construction workers.
EPA
The Free Papua Movement had claimed responsibility for the earlier killings, saying it had targeted members of the army's engineering detachment who were enlisted to build roads.
1) Armed Papuan rebels who killed workers should be crushed: Politician
Reporter: antara 9 hours ago
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian security personnel should crush the armed Papuan rebels who had brutally killed 31 construction workers of the Trans-Papua Road project, and find the four missing workers, a politician said.
"This shooting case must be a lesson for all related institutions, including the National Police, Military, and National Intelligence Agency (BIN)," Deputy Chairman of the Great Indonesian Movement (Gerindra) Party, Sufmi Dasco Ahmad, said on Monday.
According to Ahmad, as revealed in his press statement made available to ANTARA here, the slaying of 31 Indonesian citizens is not a simple case. It needs to be handled comprehensively, but the priority should be given to the four missing workers.
No one can point fingers at a certain institution. Instead, the priority should be to find the four ill-fated workers whose whereabouts remain unknown, as the state should be able to protect each of its citizens, he remarked.
Capturing the perpetrators who killed the workers in Nduga District, Papua Province, on Dec 2, should also be conducted immediately to prevent them from repeating their acts of crime, he revealed.
In making this collaborative effort a success, all related institutions must be able to work in synergy by using all networks, resources, and technological capability.
The people, at large, have been awaiting the state`s tough actions against the armed Papuan rebels, he added.
According to Lt Col Dax Sianturi, the spokesman of XVII/Cendrawasih regional military command, as of last Friday, the Indonesian military and police personnel have found 16 corpses of workers in the sub-districts of Yigi and Mbua, Nduga District.
The security personnel continued to update information on the victims, including the workers of PT Istaka Karya. On the day of the shootings, 28 workers of PT Istaka Karya were on the ground, he noted.
Seven of them survived the brutal killings. Nine others were confirmed dead, while seven workers, who also died, could not as yet be identified. Five other workers were still missing, he noted.
The armed rebels also killed a soldier named Handoko and injured two other security personnel Sugeng and Wahyu, he added.
Reporting by Imam Budilaksono Editing by Rahmad Nasution, Yoseph Hariyadi
2) Police, TNI on Manhunt for Armed Group in Papua
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Papua Regional Police and the XVII/Cenderawasih Regional Military Command are still chasing down the armed group in Nduga District, Papua. The armed men are suspected to have attacked dozens of construction workers of PT Istaka Karya on Sunday, December 2.
"We have established a team to hunt down the culprits. We the Papua Police will not cease this pursuit until we arrest and prosecute them by law," Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Martuani Sormin told Antara, Tuesday, December 11.
Martuani said the TNI would give full support to the police in order to arrest, process and hand-over the armed group members—led by Egianus Kogoya—to the justice system.
Sebby Sembom, spokesman for the West Papua National Liberation Army, confirmed that the group was responsible for the attack. They claim that the attack was their way of protesting the construction of the Trans Papua road, and they want Papuan independence.
Martuani said the group is likely to have military standard firearms stolen from the army and the police, as well as smuggled from abroad. Sometime ago in Sorong, West Papua, the police revealed cases of firearms smuggling to Papua from Mindanao, the Philippines.
Regarding the pursuit, Martuani said the joint team faced considerable obstacles from the difficult terrains. "We are pursuing them on an altitude above 10,000 feet; with thin oxygen, steep slopes, unfriendly weather, no telephone signals," he said.
Meanwhile, Commander of the XVII/Cenderawasih Military Command, Maj. Gen. Yosua Pandit Sembiring, asserted that the construction of the Trans Papua road in Nduga Regency will resume immediately.
"The TNI Commander made it very clear that the construction of the Trans Papua road will continue, it will not stop," he said.
3) DPRP and MRP urged Komnas HAM to investigate Nduga’s case
Published 9 hours ago on 11 December 2018
By pr9c6tr3_juben
Jayapura, Jubi – Yunus Wonda, the heads of the Papuan Representatives Council (DPR Papua) made the calls after security forces allegedly killed four civilians during an anti-insurgency operation last week that followed the slayings of 17 construction workers by separatist rebels.
“We ask the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) to conduct a thorough investigation. They must investigate not only this December incident, but also what happened last July,” Yunus Wonda, chairman of the council, told Jubi on Monday (10/12/2018).
DPR Papua will set up a special committee to conduct an inquiry into what happened, Yunus added. But now, he said Nduga is still closed for any civilians, included member of DPR Papua.
Separately, Timotius Murib, chairman of the people’s assembly (MRP), said the MRP has formed a committee to investigate the Dec. 2 and 3 attacks by separatist rebels and also reports from church that mentioned 4 civilians dead during the evacuation.
“Because this MRP is a representative body for Papuan Indigenous People, we don’t see the Nduga case as a separate issue, but part of what has happened so far in Papua,” Timotius added.
Meanwhile on Monday, a local youth leader alleged that security forces shot dead four civilians on Dec. 3 and Dec. 5, including at least one clergyman, while troops were trying to retrieve bodies of the workers killed by TPNPB guerrillas in the Mbua, Yall and Yigi districts of Nduga.
“Two [were killed] in Mbua and two in Yigi. One [of those killed] in Mbua is my uncle. His name is Yulianus Tabuni,” Samuel Tabuni, a Papuan youth leader who once ran for office as the regent of Nduga, told Jubi.
Samuel stated his uncle was a member of the church assembly in Mbua, not involved in separatist movement.
He said relatives told him that government forces had pressured several pastors in the area to give them information about the rebels. (*)
Yangon, Myanmar | Tue, December 11, 2018| 09:16 am
Bobby Anderson
The massacre of construction workers pioneering a section of the trans-Papua highway in on Dec. 2 in Nduga, a remote area of highland Papua, has put that troubled province back in international headlines. And while the government of Indonesia’s ambitious road-building plan reflects in-part a coherent natural resource extraction policy, the killing of the workers implementing that policy serves to reflect a half-century of government failures when it comes to indigenous Papuans.
With this in mind it’s useful to consider both Indonesian government and separatist initiatives to resolve Papua’s myriad conflicts. Opposing sides cite the need for dialogue — but the definition of “dialogue” has markedly different meanings for each.
Dialogue first emerged as a policy tool in 2008 when the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) created a Papua “policy road map” for the consideration of the Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono government. The roadmap grouped the causes of Papua’s conflicts under four categories: first, marginalization of and discrimination against indigenous Papuans; second, the failure of equitable development; third, contending accounts of the history of Papua’s incorporation into Indonesia; and fourth, state violence against Papuans.
LIPI then proposed a four-pronged policy platform: first, recognition of Papuans as the traditional owners of their land; second, a new paradigm of development focusing on Papuans; third, dialogue in order to reach agreement on a shared history; and fourth, reconciliation through justice for the victims of past abuses.
While much of the roadmap is, for now, undeservedly and dangerously shelved, the dialogue it has recommended is not. It has become a scale upon which extreme positions are now marked.
The Indonesian government’s version of dialogue focuses on the less-political aspects of government involvement in Papua. The administration of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo stated an intention to partly follow the roadmap recommendations, but the need to address human rights cases was soon deprioritized in favor of dialogue around service delivery, mainly health and education.
Such a platform would likely lead to discussions beyond service delivery, and so the need for such a dialogue is there, but there is little appetite amongst elements of Papuan civil society for such discussions when government agents have and do kill Papuans with impunity.
This leads to the separatist definition of dialogue, best found in the position of Benny Wenda and the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP). There, a dialogue is solely about Indonesia’s unlawful incorporation of Papua into Indonesia through the staged “Act of Free Choice” in 1969, as well as the multitude of rights abuses which preceded and followed that act. This dialogue would take the shape of an international tribunal, in English, and would then lead to a referendum on independence.
Needless to say, a considerable gap exists between the two positions. Whether the gulf can be bridged in a manner acceptable to Papuan civil society and communities on one hand and the government of Indonesia on the other remains to be seen.
When it comes to dialogue, if Jakarta wishes to be taken seriously by its own citizens, Papuan citizens in particular, then human rights must be on the agenda of any future discussion. This is particularly poignant given that we have just passed the fourth anniversary of the Enarotali massacre, when security forces shot dead four Papuan teenagers and wounded at least 17 others on Dec. 8, 2014.
Jokowi himself promised justice for those victims but four years on none is forthcoming. The injustices of ruinous health and education systems are important, but not as important as an end to impunity. The government has the option to not discuss such human rights violations in a Papua dialogue only so long as it solves those cases outside of a dialogue.
The ULMWP’s position is as utopian as it is untenable. It is implicitly ahistorical in that it approaches the history of Papua’s illegal incorporation into Indonesia as somehow unique in the annals of a historically amoral world state system. It is not: Papua’s incorporation into the Indonesian state is another example of those on the margins contesting the sovereignty of exploitative states they felt and feel no part of. What sets Papua apart is that this incorporation is relatively recent, and that demands for independence are kept in the public eye by a media-savvy diaspora.
Until recently this diaspora was most distinguished by the rivalries within it. That has changed with the emergence of the ULMWP — a united front so far unique amongst Papuan independence advocates, although if history is a guide, it won’t last. The ULMWP, and its Papuan “wing”, the National Committee for West Papua, are popular precisely because they are uncompromising in their pursuit of a referendum.
But a lack of compromise is the privilege of a diaspora; ultimately, if the ULMWP wishes to maintain relevance, then it must both engage with the government of Indonesia and be pragmatic in its demands. The Indonesian government, for its part, needs to begin its own off-the-record discussions with ULMWP members.
There is also more than one Papuan “seat” at this table. Papuan civil society and church representatives still in Papua better understand the parameters constraining utopian demands. Along with the ULMWP, the government must more proactively engage Papuan notables such as Neles Tebay, Benny Giay, Socrates Yeoman, Dorman Wandikbo and others in a dialogue that it will find uncomfortable: one with little room for a referendum but does have room for rights.
Dialogue, for its part, must lead to policy changes. Ideally, it might lead to a broad-based renegotiation of a more equitable special autonomy package for Papua which might resemble Agus Sumule’s “Otsus Plus” (special autonomy plus) draft, which addressed migration, land rights and other issues palpable to the everyday lives of Papuans. Informed sources are already working with local stakeholders in Papua in pursuit of this.
Pragmatism is paramount. As of 2018, unregulated migration into Papua seems to be a policy in itself. If an accurate census is ever taken, it will likely reveal that as much as half of the highland Papuan population only exists in inflated voter lists, and that non-Papuans are a majority. Papua may boil, but it never explodes, and the government has no pressing need to engage in negotiations with separatist elements that don’t pose a threat to the state.
The ULMWP is most relevant to the government of Indonesia through its engagement with other Pacific nations, but Indonesian outreach will further close an already small window of opportunity. The ULMWP’s vision of the future is unrealizable, and it must act with the time it has.
***
The writer is a Myanmar-based research associate at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He authored Papua’s Insecurity: State Failure in the Indonesian Periphery, East-West Center Policy Studies, 2015.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.
5) TNI gives Papua Liberation Army ultimatum to surrender
10:18 am today
Indonesia's military (TNI) has given an ultimatum to the West Papua Liberation Army to surrender.
The Liberation Army claimed responsibility for killing up to 31 Indonesians, mainly road construction workers, this month in the Highlands of Papua province.
TNI and police have retrieved 16 bodies from Nduga regency, having deployed a major joint operation there in response to the massacre.
A TNI spokesperson Mohammed Aidi said that the Liberation Army should immediately surrender or be finished.
Colonel Aidi has denied media reports that the military is using aerial bombing against Papuan communities in the Liberation Army's stronghold area.
He said at present the joint forces have captured and occupied Nduga's Yigi and Mbua districts, and that villagers who fled from fighting to the bush are starting to return.
The TNI's response to the massacre has reportedly caused four fatalities among civilians, according to local media.
However, Colonel Aidi said that given the area where casualties were reported, it was unlikely they were pure civilians but rather those linked to the perpetrators of the massacre.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights turned 70 years old on Monday, a relatively young age for a crucial global document. It was adopted in Paris at the United Nations’ General Assembly on Dec. 10, 1948, after the world witnessed the destruction of two world wars. In the past weeks, riots in France’s capital and other cities, initially against a higher diesel tax, suggest that even advanced nations struggle to keep their citizens content.
This is why a fundamental agreement on what constitutes human rights is critical. Barely 20 years ago, Indonesia’s amendments of the 1945 Constitution finally incorporated universal basic rights.
But to claim on Human Rights Day that our country has seen so much abuse and tolerates the neglect of human rights because we only just recently adopted them is irresponsible; it is also a weak excuse.
The struggle for every Indonesian’s rights since 1998 shows people have a better understanding of what human rights are — particularly when theirs are being trampled on.
Therefore, after including universal rights in our Constitution, we are still in the phase of upholding them consistently for all citizens. Any form of neglect reflects the lack of exposure and the lack of victims’ ability to speak up — apart from attempts to cover up rights abuses.
Saturday’s long march under black umbrellas in Jakarta is a case in point. It was a demonstration demanding the passing of a bill against sexual violence, with advocates arguing that the Criminal Code fails to address the wide range of sexual crimes.
Many might wonder about all the fuss until an acquaintance or relative encounters harassment. The perpetrator usually gets off lightly for indecent behavior — and that is if the victim was able to speak up and see the case through court despite threats, as this is too often the case.
Some critics question the potential criminalization of husbands, saying it would be against their religion to recognize rape in marriage. But the Indonesian Congress of Women Ulema issued in 2017 a clear fatwa on this, declaring that all forms of sexual violence is haram — inside and outside marriage.
Another challenge in consistently upholding the universal rights of all Indonesian lies in the case of Papua. While we recognize the freedom of conscience, this often stops each year on Dec. 1 when Papuans rally to commemorate a different version of their independence than that understood by most Indonesians.
Similar to the earlier cases of Aceh and Timor Leste (formerly East Timor), any voice for independence is greeted harshly as an act of subversion without asking why anyone would want to separate from the Republic, even amid earlier reports of harassment and discrimination against Papuans and despite the 2001 Papua Special Autonomy Law, which was deemed a breakthrough.
Freedom of worship is another difficult lesson in consistency. It’s among the prickliest issues ahead of each election, which means continued misery for minorities.
We just hosted the Bali Democracy Forum for the 11th time, with the proposal for an “inclusive democracy”. At least this should mean ending inconsistencies on our own citizens’ rights.
7) Year ender - New era for W Papua in rail transportation
Reporter: Otniel Tamindael 7 hours ago
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The year 2019 is expected to be a new era for the Indonesian province of West Papua in terms of railway project, after years of experiencing difficult transportation problems.
The commencement of railway projects in West Papua in 2019 will increase the length of the railway line and will be a new era in railway transportation history since the first railway lines in Indonesia were constructed during the Dutch colonial rule.
History recorded that on June 7, 1864, governor general Baron Sloet van den Beele initiated the first railway line in Indonesia on Kemijen village in Semarang, Central Java.
It began operations on Aug 10, 1867, in Central Java, connecting the first built Semarang station to Tanggung for 25 kilometers.
By May 21, 1873, the line was connected to Solo, in Central Java, and was later extended to Yogyakarta.
By the 1920s, the system in Java had reached its greatest extent, with most towns and cities connected by rail, with branches and tramways connecting sugar plantations to factories.
And now the railway project will be expanded to areas outside Java and reach remote areas in West Papua Province.
The Central government has asked the regional administration of West Papua to accelerate preparation for the project to build railway track in the province.
The instruction from Jakarta will be on land clearing where the main tracks would be built and would pass through the city of Sorong, Sorong District, South Sorong, Maybrat, Teluk Bintuni, South Manokwari, and Manokwari.
The main track would extend between the city of Sorong and the city of Manokwari.
West Papua Transportation Office Chief Agustinus Kadakolo remarked in Manokwari on Monday that the groundbreaking of the railway project in the province will be carried out in 2019.
According to Kadakolo, the first phase of the construction of the railway line will be carried out around 100 kilometers from Sorong City.
The study on the Analysis of Environmental Impacts (Amdal) already exists, and now the West Papua Transportation Office is just waiting for recommendations from two districts, namely Bintuni Bay and Maybrat.
In the future, the railway line in West Papua will connect all regions in the province, except Raja Ampat Islands District.
Recommendation from the district and city governments in West Papua will become one of the conditions for the development of railway project.
The recommendation generally contains the support of the district and city governments for the implementation of this project, as well the readiness to participate in implementing their respective authority.
"We are waiting for the recommendation. If we receive it, we will immediately convey it to the governor of West Papua, who will submit it to the Ministry of Transportation. If in 2018 all regions submit the recommendations, we will carry out the groundbreaking in 2019," Kadakolo noted.
According to him, the initial construction of the railway project will be carried out through the provincial government budget. Furthermore, the project will be continued by the Ministry of Transportation through the Directorate General of Railways.
It is expected that this program can run smoothly, so that the West Papua Province can have new modes of transportation to accelerate development.
Like the railway program in Sulawesi region that had been started since 2017, the similar project in West Papua will connect strategic places in the province.
The railway lines in West Papua will be integrated with the port, so that it can facilitate the flow of goods distribution and passenger mobility.
In the Sorong region, the railway program will be implemented to support the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) which President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) will inaugurate later in 2019.
Originally, the president hoped to break the ground to mark the start of work to build the railway in July 2016 in Sorong, but it was delayed due to problems in land clearing.
Land was available and the Sorong city administration had approved it, but protracted bickering in land price delayed the decision.
While waiting for the agreement in land price negotiations between the city administration and the land owners, the railway directorate general and consultants were working on the details of engineering design (DED) of the whole tracks.
The details of engineering design on the main track were in final phase. The regional administrations, especially the Sorong city, Sorong District, South Sorong, Maybrat, Teluk Bintuni, South Manokwari, and Manokwari city administrations, were asked to prepare land and deal with land clearing.
The Central Government in Jakarta was waiting for report from the Sorong city administration on the progress made in land clearing and groundbreaking plan.
According to data from the Directorate General of Railways of the Ministry of Transportation, the Trans-Papua railway plan consists of Sorong-Manokwari (390 kilometers), Manokwari-Nabire (308 kilometers), Nabire-Timika (272 kilometers), Nabire-Sarmi (375 kilometers), and Sarmi-Jayapura (205 kilometers), which covers a total length of 1,550 kilometers.
The Trans-Papua railway development program includes the development of a new railway network in Papua and West Papua.
The financing details of these railways include Sorong-Manokwari, valued at Rp26,70 trillion; Sarmi-Jayapura, at Rp14,42 trillion; Manokwari-Nabire, valued at Rp23,67 trillion; Nabire-Sarmi, at Rp26,35 trillion; the Nabire-Timika portion, valued at Rp19,83 trillion, with the total pegged at Rp108,3 trillion.
Meanwhile, the first railway priority to build the Sorong-Manokwari track began in late 2017, and it will be completed in 2024; followed by Sarmi-Jayapura, which started in early 2018; Manokwari-Nabire, which will start as early as 2020; the Nabire-Sarmi stretch, which will be completed by the end of 2020; and Nabire-Timika, which will be completed by the end 2020.(*)
1) TNI Uses No Major Explosives in Papua Evacuation
TNI soldiers are preparing to take a helicopter to Nduga in Wamena, Papua, Wednesday, December 5, 2018. The joint forces continue to try to overcome the Armed Criminal Group (KKB) which allegedly killed 31 employees of PT Istika Karya while carrying out the Trans Papua route in Yigi rever and Aurak river in Yigi District, Nduga Regency, Papua. ANTARA PHOTO/Iwan Adisaputra
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta- Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Wiranto denied recent rumors accusing the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) had utilized explosive devices upon evacuating residents from threats posed by the Free PapuaMovement (OPM).
He maintained that only grenade launchers were used in TNI’s rescue attempt in Nduga District, Papua. Wiranto’s clarification came after the Nduga Legislative Council (DPRD), Ikabus Gwijangge, received a tip from locals that civilians had fallen victim to TNI’s evacuation process.
“The sounds created by it may seem similar to a bomb explosion to untrained ears. Bombs are dropped by the air assault, this one is launched from a grenade launcher. Don’t let unverified information like that spread,” said Wiranto today, Dec. 11.
Civilians in the vicinity of the conflict-stricken region of Nduga are currently being evacuated by a joint team comprising of Papua’s TNI personnel, Police Mobile Brigade (Brimob), and non-organic special ops such as the Kopassus. On December 2, as many as 28 construction workers were attacked by an armed group claiming to be from the Free PapuaMovement (OPM) which eventually killed 14 people at Nduga. Others managed to flee the scene but only four people made it to a local army base TNI Yonif 755 in Mbua. RYAN DWIKY ANGGRIAWAN
2) Minister denies military uses bombs to chase armed criminal group
Reporter: Antara 5 hours ago
Jakarta, Dec 11 (ANTARA News) - Coordinating Minister for Legal, Political and Security Affairs Wiranto denied that the Indonesian Military (TNI) used bombs to chase an armed criminal group that killed construction workers in Nduga District, Papua Province, on Dec 2.
"It is not true (that the TNI used bombs). The truth is that they used grenade launchers. For the knowledge of the general public, a grenade makes the same sound as a bomb, but they are different. A bomb is launched from air, while a grenade is fired from a rifle. Hence, there should not be mazy stories like those," he explained after a coordination meeting on the settlement of the Papua issue at the Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs here on Tuesday.
An integrated task force involving military and police personnel is conducting an operation to chase the armed criminal group.
"Admittedly, mazy stories have been circulating about the number of personnel. I should disclose that non-organic assistance units have been deployed. Hence, not only organic troops from Brimob (the National Police`s Mobile Brigade) unit and the TNI in Papua have been deployed but also non-organic troops from outside Papua have been sent there, be it from Brimob or Kopassus (the Army`s special force)," he revealed.
Both Brimob and Kopassus personnel are needed to chase the armed criminal group in Nduga District owing to the difficult terrain, he stated.
Wiranto said the government will never hold discussions with the armed criminal group.
"I will not hold any discussion with criminals. I did not reply to what they have claimed. Of course, their claim is not true," he clarified.
They have launched propagation to trigger public unrest and fear, he claimed.
"What is the point to reply to the claim. What is important is the government is always obligated to protect the state and its citizens," he added.
3) Four still missing after Nduga massacre: Minister
Marguerite Afra Sapiie The Jakarta Post
Jakarta | Tue, December 11, 2018| 04:04 pm
Four workers of state-owned construction company PT Istaka Karya are still missing after an attack nearly two weeks ago led by an armed group with ties to the Free Papua Movement (OPM) in Nduga regency, Papua, a senior minister has said.
Authorities have so far recovered the bodies of 17 victims who were killed in the attack, while another four workers were found alive, Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto told a press conference on Tuesday.
A joint police-military task force is still searching for the remaining four missing workers, who, according to survivors’ accounts, had been able to escape but suffered from stab wounds, he said.
"We hope that we will be able to find [the four] alive because they are actually our [infrastructure] development heroes," Wiranto said on Tuesday.
The 25 victims, who were kidnapped by rebels from the Istaka Karya camp in Nduga on Dec. 1, had been working on the construction of a 275-kilometer stretch of road connecting Wamena and Mamugu as part of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s flagship trans-Papua highway project.
In the meantime, security forces have continued their hunt for a National Liberation Army of West Papua (TPNPB) faction led by Egianus Kogoya that had claimed responsibility for the deaths of the construction workers and one Indonesian Military (TNI) soldier.
The TPNPB, however, claimed that the workers were not civilians, but members of the Indonesian Army Corps of Engineers (ZIPUR).
"The enemy [TPNPB], who attempted to retaliate, have escaped and the authorities are still making an effort to run after them," Wiranto said, "They have spread propaganda to scare people [...] They have committed inhumane crimes and we must fight against them."
4) Separatists in Indonesia's Papua reject surrender, demand referendum
11 Dec 2018 06:25PM (Updated: 11 Dec 2018 06:52PM)
JAKARTA: Separatist rebels in Indonesia's Papua province who killed a group of workers building a bridge this month have rejected government calls to surrender and instead demanded a referendum to decide the future of the area.
Security forces have launched an operation to hunt down members of the military wing of the Free Papua Movement (OPM), which claimed responsibility for killing at least 16 workers and a soldier in the mountainous Nduga area.
The OPM has said it viewed the men as members of the militaryand casualties in a war against Indonesia's government. Indonesian officials said the workers were civilians.
Papua, the resource-rich western part New Guinea island, has been plagued by a violent separatist conflict since the former Dutch colony was incorporated into Indonesia after a widely criticized U.N.-backed referendum in 1969.
In a video posted on YouTube on Monday, OPM spokesman Sebby Sambom read an open letter to President Joko Widodo in which he dismissed calls on their military wing, known as the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), to surrender and start dialogue.
Standing behind the banned separatist Morning Star flag, Sambom demanded Widodo hold another referendum for native Papuans to decide whether they want to be integrated with Indonesia.
"TPNPB will not surrender under any circumstances before the independence of the nation of Papua is realized from Indonesian occupation," Sambom said."The war will not stop before the demands of the TPNPB are carried out by the government of Indonesia."
He called for unrestricted access to Papua for foreign journalists and for the U.N. refugee agency and the international Red Cross to help take care of civilians caught up in the conflict. Sambom confirmed to Reuters on Tuesday the authenticity of the video.
A spokesman for President Widodo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In 2017, a senior government official, in response to a petition to the United Nations for a new referendum, said Papua was a legal part of Indonesia and already incorporated through a referendum process.
The OPM had accused the military of killing civilians in its operations which it said included bombings.
Chief Security Minister Wiranto rejected that accusation but said soldiers did use grenades in clashes.
Two soldiers were wounded on Tuesday and three separatists had been killed in clashes, the military said.
Since coming to power in 2014, Widodo has tried to ease tension in Papua by freeing prisoners, addressing rights concerns and stepping up investment, including through a Trans Papua road.
(Reporting by Agustinus Beo Da Costa and Gayatri Suroyo; Editing by Ed Davies)
5) Indonesia rejects rebels' demand on Papua independence talks
By NINIEK KARMINI Associated Press DECEMBER 11, 2018 — 6:55AM
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia's government on Tuesday rejected a demand by rebels in the country's restive Papua province to hold negotiations on the territory's self-determination, following a Dec. 2 attack on a construction site that left at least 17 dead.
An insurgency has simmered in Papua since the early 1960s, when Indonesia annexed the region that was a former Dutch colony. It was formally incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 after a U.N.-sponsored ballot that was seen as a sham by many.
Sebby Sambom, spokesman for the West Papua National Liberation Army, the military wing of the Free Papua Movement, said in a telephone interview last Friday that the attack on the government construction site was carried out because the group believes the project is being conducted by the military.
He called on the government to agree to peace talks similar to ones that led to another province, Aceh, becoming semiautonomous, or a "real referendum" on independence, as occurred in the former Indonesian territory of East Timor.
Wiranto, Indonesia's coordinating minister for political, legal and security matters, told a news conference in the capital, Jakarta, that the government will not open talks with the armed group, which he said was trying to instill fear into people.
"We will not talk with criminals," said Wiranto, who goes by a single name.
Security forces have retrieved the bodies of 17 workers hired to build bridges on a section of the trans-Papua road, Papua province military spokesman Col. Muhammad Aidi said. A soldier at a military post near the site was also killed.
They have rescued 27, including seven workers, and are searching for four others with stab wounds who are still missing. Aidi said rebel strongholds in Nduga district attacked a rebuilt military post Tuesday in the same district, injuring two soldiers in a shootout.
National police chief Tito Karnavian estimated the strength of the armed group in the district at not more than 50 people with about 20 weapons, and said more than 150 police and soldiers had been sent to hunt down the perpetrators.
More than 1,500 villagers in Mbua, Yall and Yigi villages have fled into the jungle because of the fighting, which witnesses said has intensified in the mountainous district since last week and killed at least four civilians.
A Christian priest from Kingmi church, Benny Giay, said two of the four men were members of the church assembly. They were killed inside the church by security forces during the evacuation process of the bodies of workers and survivors in Mbua and Yigi villages between Dec. 4 and 5, he said. Four other villagers were reportedly injured.
Giay said villagers who fled into the mountainous jungle were in danger of being sick from cold and hunger.
"All the victims were noncombatant," he said. "We urged all sides to restrain because innocent civilians will become the victims in this armed conflict."
In a telephone interview with The Associated Press last Friday, Sambom, who claimed that the rebels have 29 operational area commands in Papua, each with 2,500 members, vowed to intensify the fight for independence with guerrilla hit-and-run attacks.
