Overcoming Papua repression through peace<\/p>\n
Carmel Budiardjo, London<\/p>\n
Despite being chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights and
\naffirming its commitment to human rights, including self-
\ndetermination, at the recent Asian-African summit in Jakarta, the
\nIndonesian government has once again demonstrated its instinctive
\nmistrust of fundamental freedoms by its response to an
\ninternational meeting on West Papua.<\/p>\n
Just a day after my colleague Aguswandi argued in this
\nnewspaper that being hostile to foreign and domestic critics of
\nits human rights record harms Indonesia's reputation as an
\nup-and-coming democracy, on April 29 the government reportedly
\nattempted to stop a solidarity meeting convened in the
\nPhilippines to discuss ways of supporting the human rights and
\npolitical aspirations of the West Papuan people.<\/p>\n
The government's actions have once again highlighted its
\nrepressive approach to the West Papua problem. Its efforts to
\nsuppress freedom of expression and association internationally
\nreflect its far harsher policies on the ground where people are
\nmurdered, tortured, disappeared or thrown into jail for
\nexercising similar rights or for being suspected \"separatists\".
\nNational Commission on Humanrights (Komnas HAM), for example, has
\nfound evidence that following a series of military raids against
\nalleged \"separatists\" in Wamena in 2003, as many as nine people
\nwere killed, 38 were tortured and 15 others were arbitrarily
\narrested and detained. Komnas HAM suggests that crimes against
\nhumanity were committed.<\/p>\n
Fortunately the Philippines meeting went ahead as planned from
\nApril 29 to May 1 despite the verbal intimidation of participants
\nand direct appeals to the government in Manila and the Board of
\nthe University of the Philippines where the event was held. The
\nmeeting was attended by representatives from a number of Asian
\ncountries, including Thailand, South Korea, Indonesia, East
\nTimor, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines, as well as
\ndelegates from the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the
\nUnited Kingdom and Ireland.<\/p>\n
The international solidarity movement for West Papua is not
\nanti-Indonesia as alleged by foreign affairs spokesman, Marty
\nNatalegawa. It is pro-West Papua. Its objective is to support
\nthe Papuan people in their search for peace, justice and
\ndemocracy.<\/p>\n
One of the key concerns of the movement is to promote West
\nPapua as a \"Land of Peace\". This is an initiative supported by
\nreligious leaders of all faiths, local politicians, tribal
\nleaders, the police in West Papua, the Indonesian-appointed
\ngovernor, and the provincial parliament. It rejects the
\nincreasing militarization of the territory and aims to provide
\nspace for political dialogue and create conditions in which human
\nrights are fully protected, impunity is ended and proper
\nattention is given to the economic, social and cultural needs of
\nthe West Papuan people. It involves all people living in West
\nPapua and respects the diverse ethnic, racial and religious
\nnature of the society.<\/p>\n
These should also be the central government's objectives and
\nit is difficult to understand why instead it persists with
\nrepressive policies, such as the recent alarming decision to
\nincrease the number of troops in the province to around 50,000.
\nThe only conclusion to be drawn from this military expansion is
\nthat the security forces are intent on exerting even tighter
\ncontrol over the population as well as continuing to exploit the
\nbusiness opportunities presented by West Papua's abundant natural
\nresources. The troop increase will also increase concern about
\nillegal logging activities involving local military units.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian Army has a reputation for creating violent
\nincidents in order to provoke unrest and justify its continued
\npresence in the interests of security. The Papuans have shown
\nadmirable restraint in the face of such provocation, but have
\nsuffered grievously from military operations such as those
\ncurrently being conducted in the Puncak Jaya area of the Central
\nHighlands.<\/p>\n
The potential for an escalation of the conflict has also been
\nheightened by Jakarta's failure to implement special autonomy and
\nits divisive attempt to split the territory into three or more
\nseparate provinces.<\/p>\n
Among the issues considered by the Manila meeting was violence
\nagainst women. Delegates called for stronger support for West
\nPapuan women's groups and for the implementation of national and
\ninternational laws to protect West Papuan women against all forms
\nof violence in the home and from Indonesian state forces.<\/p>\n
The meeting also called upon Indonesia to allow immediate and
\nunfettered access to West Papua to the international media and
\nNGOs so they can see for themselves the conditions under which
\nthe West Papuan people are living. It also called for the release
\nof all West Papuan political prisoners wherever they are being
\nheld in West Papua or Indonesia.<\/p>\n
West Papua as a \"Land of Peace\" should be the guiding
\nprinciple of Indonesia's policy towards West Papua and should
\ninform the approach of all international actors, including
\nforeign governments, transnational corporations, religious bodies
\nand non-governmental organizations. The Indonesian government
\nwould be far better off responding positively to this initiative
\nthan wasting time generating bad publicity by bullying the
\nforeign friends of West Papua.<\/p>\n
The writer is a human rights advocate, who attended the
\nPhilippines meeting and works for TAPOL the Indonesia Human
\nRights Campaign in London.<\/p>",
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