Team established to probe rights violations in Irian<\/p>\n
JAYAPURA (JP): Minister of Human Rights Affairs Hasballah M.
\nSaad announced on Saturday the establishment of a special team to
\nprobe humanitarian crimes in Irian Jaya.<\/p>\n
Speaking to journalists after meeting with pro-independence
\nadvocates and local leaders in Jayapura, Hasballah said as an
\ninitial step, he had sent a team of four to the province to
\ngather facts from the people.<\/p>\n
The team will fully cooperate with local non-governmental
\norganizations (NGOs) and human rights organizations, like the
\nInstitute for Policy Research and Advocacy (Elsam), he claimed.<\/p>\n
Its working method will eventually follow the fact-finding
\nteams that probed human rights abuses in Aceh, Sambas, West
\nKalimantan, Maluku and Tanjung Priok, Jakarta, the minister
\nfurther noted.<\/p>\n
\"Many reports of human rights abuses actually are just an
\nexpression of social conditions and not legal facts. That is why
\nthe cases could not be processed in the court,\" Hasballah
\nexplained.<\/p>\n
Citing his experience in handling human rights cases in other
\nprovinces, the minister cautioned that it could be a tough task
\nto prove past human rights crimes in Irian Jaya. He also stressed
\nthat the investigation could not be concluded overnight.<\/p>\n
The minister held a dialog on Saturday with among others local
\nchurch leader Rev. W. Rumsarwir and Baptist church secretary
\nSofyan Nyoman at the State Building in Jayapura.<\/p>\n
Rumsarwir told the minister to truly resolve human rights
\ncases rather than just making empty promises.<\/p>\n
Rumsarwir asserted that human rights abuses had begun with the
\nintegration of the territory into Indonesia in May 1963.<\/p>\n
Sofyan pointed out that the frustration of the Papuans was
\nbased on their feeling of being treated with discrimination by
\nthe central government for 37-years.<\/p>\n
\"Those are among the factors why people here are demanding
\nseparation from Indonesia,\" Sofyan said.<\/p>\n
Following a plebiscite under the aegis of the United Nations
\nand a New York agreement with the former Dutch colonial power,
\nWest Irian became part of Indonesia in May 1963.<\/p>\n
Ten years later, then president Soeharto renamed the province
\nIrian Jaya (Glorious Irian).<\/p>\n
Covering an area of some 422,000 square kilometers, the
\nprovince is three and a half times the size of Java. However
\nstatistics in 1995 show that the population was only about two
\nmillion.<\/p>\n
Demands for separation have been increasing and a recently
\nconcluded Papuan People's Congress resolved that the province be
\nindependent from Indonesia.<\/p>\n
During Saturday's dialog, Hasballah refused to touch on
\nindependence demands, saying he had no legal capacity to discuss
\nthat issue.<\/p>\n
\"I need to listen and gain a better understanding about the
\nreal situation and people's sentiment here,\" said Hasballah.<\/p>\n
After the dialog, Filep Karma, a senior leader of the Free
\nPapua Movement (OPM), handed a Morning Star separatist flag to
\nthe minister.<\/p>\n
Papuan Presidium Council's Secretary General Thaha Al Hamid
\nexpressed his distrust of the minister's human rights team saying
\nthe government had launched several investigations before without
\nany concrete results.<\/p>\n
\"Several times members of Komnas Ham (National Commission on
\nHuman Rights) visited Irian Jaya and gave a dozen
\nrecommendations. But the reports were never followed up. So it is
\nsimply time wasting, money wasting,\" added Thaha.<\/p>\n
Hasballah, a native Acehnese, whose province is also facing a
\nseparatist movement, became the first minister to visit the
\ncountry's easternmost province since the Papuan People's
\nCongress.<\/p>\n
Summons<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Papuan Presidium Council Chairman Theys Hiyo Eluay,
\nexpressed his ire over a police summons to question him over the
\ncongress which demanded independence for the province.<\/p>\n
Theys asserted that the Congress was held after receiving
\napproval from President Abdurrahman Wahid, who also is called as
\nGus Dur.<\/p>\n
\"Even President Gus Dur agreed with the congress,\" Theys
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The government did initially help finance the congress under
\nconditions it did not assert Irian Jaya independence. Since then
\nthe government has attacked the congress as illegitimate.<\/p>\n
In a separate development the National Committee of Youth
\nOrganizations (KNPI) has protested the government's decision to
\nallow the separatist Morning Star flag to be flown as long as it
\nwas smaller and beneath the Indonesian national flag.<\/p>\n
They maintain that the decision is an affront to Indonesian
\nnationalism and unity.<\/p>\n
KNPI chairman, Adhiyaksa, said that the government should show
\na persuasive but clear stance against separatism in order to
\nmaintain Indonesia's sovereignty over the province.<\/p>\n
\"Besides employing a persuasive approach, the government
\nshould also take strict measures against separatist activities,
\nincluding the hoisting of the OPM flag,\" he told journalists at a
\npress conference in Jakarta on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Adhiyaksa said the government should advance development
\nprograms, especially in the economic and education sectors, to
\nwin the hearts of the Papuan people and international support for
\nthe province's continued integration.<\/p>\n
He said the government should also investigate atrocities in
\nthe past and control military operations to create a sense of
\nsafety among local people.<\/p>\n
\"The government must guarantee that the Papuan people can
\nconduct their daily activities free from the military's terror
\nand intimidation and make sure that they are 'lords' of their
\nhomeland,\" he said. (eba\/rms\/prb\/)<\/p>",
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