Papuan leaders want rights findings revealed
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta
Papuan religious leaders have urged the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) to reveal the findings of its probe into alleged human rights violations by soldiers and police in the troubled province.
They wrote to Komnas HAM to convey the demand for it to announce its findings of possible gross human rights abuses during two bloody incidents in Wasior in 2001 and Wamena in 2003.
Komnas HAM chairman Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara confirmed on Friday he had received the letter, in which the religious leaders insisted that Papuan people had the right to know the content of the probe results.
"Komnas held an investigation in the interests of the public, and we religious leaders in Papua ask for formal explanations of its outcome," said the letter, a copy of which was made available to The Jakarta Post on Friday.
The letter was signed by Papua's Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI) chairman Herman Saud, Jayapura Bishop Leo Laba Ladjar, local Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI) head Zubeir Hussein, Hindu leader I Nyoman Suda and Buddhist leader Arya Bodhi.
Komnas HAM set up an investigative team in November 2003 based on preliminary findings that soldiers and police committed extrajudicial killings and torture against civilians in the regencies of Wamena and Wasior.
In Wamena, at least seven Papuans were killed, 48 tortured and some 7,000 others, forced to flee, when soldiers raided their villages after separatist rebels broke into an Army armory on April 4, 2003 and stole 29 rifles.
Police were also blamed for the deaths of at least three people, the torture of 16 others and the torching of several houses in Wasior, as members of the police's Mobile Brigade (Brimob) launched sweeps there.
The incident took place on June 13, 2001 after a group of rebels attacked a logging company, guarded by Brimob. The raids lasted for two months.
Komnas HAM member Anshari Thayib, who led the investigative team, said his office would divulge the results of the probe that was conducted for four-and-a-half months, including several weeks in Papua.
"We are now concluding the final report of the investigation and will submit it to the Komnas HAM office by the end of this month," he told the Post.
If the findings are considered valid by a Komnas plenary meeting next month, the report will be presented to the Attorney General's Office for a follow-up, Anshari said.
"The investigation involved dozens of witnesses, both civilians and military personnel. The military was very cooperative as all witnesses were able to be questioned," he added.
The probe was preceded by a one-week preliminary inquiry in Papua from Sept. 8, 2003. Komnas HAM set up the investigative team in November.
Before commencing with the investigation, the commission reported the plan to President Megawati Soekarnoputri and announced the establishment of the team at the State Palace.