Seven declared suspects for flying independence flags
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.