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.