Irianese youths air grievances at House
JAKARTA (JP): Irianese youths have called on the Armed Forces (ABRI) to abandon its "security approach" when dealing with social and political problems in Indonesia's easternmost province of Irian Jaya.
A group of 70 youths who called themselves Communication Forum for Irianese Youths yesterday met with legislators of the House of Representatives (DPR) to air their grievances, ranging from human rights violations to government development policies which left many Irianese feeling like second-class citizens.
They were received by House Commission II for home affairs, led by Hari Sabarno of the Armed Forces faction.
"The security approach is not effective and only creates fear and frustration among people," said Hengky H. Jokhu, spokesperson for the group which consisted of university students from Bandung, Yogyakarta and Jakarta.
Hengky alleged that over past years there have been numerous arbitrary arrests made by security officials in the province, "proof that there are human rights violations in the province".
"Hundreds of Irianese have disappeared just like that," charged Hengky, who was among several Irianese youths arrested without warrants by Jakarta's security agency in March.
The group also criticized the military for slapping on "rebel" or "separatist" labels too easily when Irianese people dissented.
"Why is it so easy for the military to call us separatists or rebels every time we criticize or protest government policies?" Hengky questioned.
Hengky named a number of incidents over the past two years, including last March's rioting in Timika and the attempts of some Irianese to seek political asylum at foreign embassies in Jakarta, as expressions of Irianese people's dissatisfaction over government policies.
Hari Sabarno promised to convey the group's grievances to the government, but asked the group to back up their allegations with details. For instance, it should provide the names of people they calm are missing.
"Be careful...hundreds is a not a small number. You shouldn't have just said 'hundreds' like that without proof," he said.
Also during the meeting, the group brought to the House members' attention the disparity of opportunities in leading state and private institutions. "I've never heard of any Irianese governors or regents outside of Irian, but I know that there a lot of Javanese or Sumatrans who occupy influential positions in Irian," Hengky said.
"Even now, there are only three Irianese among the 500 members of the House of Representatives, one governor and several regents," he said. "We feel we're second-class citizens."
"If we're overlooked in most cases because, like many people say, we're short of quality human resources, then what has the government done for us all these years?" he quipped. (01)