Seven declared suspects for flying independence flags

Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura, Papua

Seven of 42 Papuans arrested on Thursday for flying the Morning- Star independence flag in Manokwari have been declared suspects and will be charged with treason under the Criminal Code, a police officer says.

Manokwari Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Dedy Kusnadi also said on Friday that the seven, identified as Carlos Yumame, Luter Duansiba, Ishak Toansiba, Han Mandacan, Terry Korayem, Yulianus Indem, and leader Yohakim Mensi, were being detained at the police detention center in Manokwari.

"The seven will be charged with treason as stipulated in Article 106 of the Criminal Code, which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment," Dedy told The Jakarta Post by phone from Manokwari.

"The remaining 35 people have been released because they did not have any idea about the plan to raise the independence flag," he added. "Some of them even attended merely because they were promised T-shirts."

Police arrested 42 Papuans in Manokwari early on Thursday for hoisting the flags symbolizing the independent state of West Papua inside the compound of an elementary school in Amban and at a transmitter belonging to state-owned radio station Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI).

The flag-raising ceremony was organized to commemorate the sixth anniversary of independence of the so-called West Papua state, which falls on Nov. 27.

The declaration of the West Papua state was first made by Michaeil Kareth in 1997 in Port Moresby, the capital of neighboring Papua New Guinea.

According to Dedy, Yohakim was a wanted man because he committed a similar violation last year. At the time, he led a flag-hoisting ceremony inside the compound of a junior high school in Fanindi Dalam, but managed to escape from police after the ceremony.

Papua Governor J.P. Salossa has banned the raising of separatist flags and urged the Papuan people not to celebrate the commemoration of the Papuan independence day on Dec. 1.

Security officers have approached local public figures and religious leaders to convey the ban, expecting that people would voluntarily follow leaders' calls.

Since 1999, Papuan people have tried to commemorate the independence of the state of Papua on Dec. 1 and to raise flags all around the territory.

On Dec. 9, 2000, local officials -- including former governor Musiran, former Trikora Military commander Maj. Gen. Albert Inkiriwang, former provincial police chief Brig. Gen. S. Wenas and former local council speaker the late TN Kaiway -- decided that the flag hoisting could only be held at residences of tribal leaders.

Due to the decision, the Morning-Star flag is still being raised at the house of Amungme tribal leader, the late Dortheys "Theys" Hiyo Eluay, in Sentani, Jayapura.

Theys was a former leader of the Papuan Presidium Council (PDP) who was killed in November 2001. Several soldiers of the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) were sentenced to jail after being found guilty of his murder.

A number of groups have been fighting since the late 1960s for independence for the oil-and-mineral-rich province. Many of them are factions of the Free Papua Movement (OPM), which has been waging a low-level guerrilla war with support from various ethnic groups in the region.

Demands for independence appeared to die down in 2002, when the government granted special autonomy status to the province, giving greater authority to the local administration to manage the province.

The central government, however, has dragged its feet in implementing the law, indefinitely delaying the establishment of the Papuan People's Council, the highest legislative body under the special autonomy arrangement.

Papuans were further angered by the government decision to partition the province into three, with most Papuans and analysts seeing the move as part of a divide-and-rule policy.

The government declared Papua -- a former Dutch colony -- as part of the Republic of Indonesia in 1963, and the declaration was formalized in 1969 following a U.N.-sponsored referendum widely known as Pepera.