Security in Papua should be left to the police: ICG

Security in Papua should be left to the police: ICG

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Recurring violence in the easternmost province of Irian Jaya will
continue to rage unless authorities in Jakarta withdraw their
troops in the resource-rich territory and rely on local police
for security, an advocacy group said on Friday.

The Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) said in
its report on Papua released on Friday that successive violence
could not be separated from the presence of military troops in
that area.

"Security disturbances in Papua should be treated as a law
enforcement problem to be handled by the police, not the
military, and without excessive physical force," reads a
recommendation from the ICG report.

It even advises companies operating in Papua to avoid hiring
Indonesian security forces.

"Keep the Indonesian Military and police away from projects as
far as possible," it said.

The crisis group said Indonesian security forces had a
financial interest in resource extraction in Papua through their
direct involvement in logging and other activities and protection
fees paid by resource companies.

It said that numerous serving and retired officers, senior
state officials and others close to the government had logging
concessions or other business interests.

"Alongside the substantial tax and royalties accrued by the
state, these interests are a powerful reason for the Indonesian
state and its agencies to keep control of Papua," it said.

The group advised donor countries to send its missions to
Papua more often and said that "criminal behavior by security
forces, including in the illegal resource extraction and/or
tolerance for groups inciting communal violence, could erode
international support for Indonesian rule over Papua".

It singled out Laskar Jihad as one of the groups inciting
communal violence.

It said bloody violence involving indigenous people and
security forces, which has taken place since the 1960s, had
resulted in the loss of thousands of lives, and this would
continue if the current security arrangement remained.

Among the most recent victims were three employees of the
giant mining company, PT Freeport Indonesia. They were killed in
a well-planned attack on Aug. 31.

Conflict in Papua is characterized by sporadic violent clashes
between security forces and guerrillas of the Free Papua Movement
(OPM) and by the independence campaign of the Papuan Presidium
Council (PDP).

To make things worse, PDP chairman Theys Hiyo Eluway was
murdered in November last year and the case has not yet been
solved. One theory rests on the alleged rivalry between retired
generals over logging.

This has prompted the crisis group to advise donor governments
to urge the immediate creation of an independent team with full
access to military officers and other witnesses and sources of
information, including the "files and personnel of the Hanurata
and Djajanti companies".

According to ICG, the provincial administration should work
with the relevant national agencies and foreign donors to
restrict and gradually end the role of military-linked businesses
and contracting companies in the extraction of natural resources,
because it would be easier to address security issues if they
were separated from economic interests.

It said that the problems in Papua would never be thoroughly
solved unless two connected and very difficult issues were
tackled: the need to tackle the behavior and finances of
Indonesian security forces and the need to give meaningful
autonomy and a greater sense of justice to indigenous Papuans.

The ICG said that it noticed the central government had
offered the special autonomy package to Papua in an effort to end
the conflict. But it was a watered-down version of the original
bill drafted by members of Papua's educated elite.