[Kabar-Irian] Irian News - 1/30/06 (Part 1 of 2)
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- Morning Star Flag displayed 11 minutes
- Papuan Arrested for Flying Flag
- RI seeks return of asylum seekers
- Diplomatic scrap over refugees
- Australia must help plight of West Papuans
- West Papua: Genocide continues
- Concern for West Papuans’ safety
- Who are the asylum seekers?
- Group says asylum seekers face death if sent back to Papua
- Papuans tell of beatings and torture
- Papuan asylum seekers on Christmas Island allowed first access to
outside assistance
- West Papua terror warning
*****************************
Cendrawasih Post
Translated and abbreviated by KI
Monday 30 January 2006
Morning Star Flag displayed 11 minutes
*The flag-raiser was caught right away and is being held by the Police.
Sentani - Local Sentani residents were surprised on Saturday to see the
Morning Star flag displayed. Fortunately local authorities saw it in time
and removed it quickly so it was only displayed 11 minutes.
The flag was raised at about 1.30 pm at the Sentani District Offices while
the staff were off work.
The flag was already raised on the flag pole when it was noticed by
residents. With no obstructions it was on view for everyone to see.
Someone realized the police had to be notified and called the Police.
Shortly thereafter the Police arrived and removed the flag.
It was not long before the culprit was apprehended (Yakob Ambo Mamori 25
years old)
>From his confession it was discovered that Yakob was only one of those who
collects left over soft drink and other cans for resale to recyclers. The
police say he had no motive at all. He claimed that someone told him to do
it and this person he had only known 3 days.
Yakob said that, "I was only doing what I was told and I have no idea why
I was told to do this or to what purpose."
He also did not make any promises to the instigator. "I only knew him 3
days and then he gave me the flag with the instructions to raise it. I
don't know his name or his id."
Yakob said that while he was affixing the flag to the flag-pole no one
intefered or tried to stop him. After that he went to the market and was
surprised when a few minutes later the police came and arrested him.
The police continue to investigate and consider what to do as the culprit
was only following orders and not acting on his own.
According to the Police the flag raiser is mentally unwell and this has
been confirmed by local residents so no one is holding him responsible.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Jakarta Post
Monday, January 30, 2006
Papuan Arrested for Flying Flag
Jayapura, Papua: A man was arrested by Jayapura Police officers Saturday,
allegedly for hoisting the outlawed Morning Star flag, the symbol of the
Papuan independence struggle.
Jacob Mamori, 25, was arrested following reports from residents who saw
four people putting up the flag at the Sentani district office at 1 p.m.
The police officers said they were still hunting down the other three
suspects.
"Based on witness information ... we apprehended the suspect, who at the
time of the arrest, was in the market," said head of Jayapura Police's
crime unit, First Insp. Sudjadi.
According to chief of Jayapura Police, Adj. Sr. Comr. Jacob Kalembang, the
man, who works as a scavenger at Sentani market, admitted that he helped
raise the flag, but added that he was told to do so by "unidentified
people".
-- JP
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Jakarta Post.com
National News
January 28, 2006
RI seeks return of asylum seekers
Jakarta: President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has requested that Australia
return 43 Papuan Indonesians who are seeking political asylum there.
Foreign Affairs Minister Hassan Wirayuda said the President had talked to
Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Friday about the asylum seekers.
Yudhoyono also asked Howard to facilitate a meeting between two of the
asylum seekers and Indonesian officials, so that the Papuans' stories
could be heard.
Hassan said the Papuans should not be granted any form of asylum because
they did not qualify.
The asylum seekers say the Indonesian government is carrying out ethnic
cleansing in Papua and that they face political persecution there. The
government has repeatedly denied the accusations.
-- JP
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Sun-Herald
Diplomatic scrap over refugees
By Russell Skelton
January 29, 2006
Australia and Indonesia are headed for a diplomatic crisis over the fate
of 43 West Papuan asylum seekers whose claims of persecution now appear
likely to be recognised.
In a first step towards granting them refugee status, immigration
authorities have ruled them to be potential refugees, after completing
health, security and identity checks.
The decision was made after intelligence officers interviewed them at length.
They will now be formally interviewed and their claims processed, although
a final determination on their status is not expected for months.
It is believed they have been identified as genuine high-profile,
non-violent political activists, and that several also offered credible
claims of torture and imprisonment. Among the group are unaccompanied
children of Papuan activists unable to flee.
In a sign of growing tension between Jakarta and Canberra, Indonesia
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono last week urged Prime Minister John
Howard to return them, saying they had no case for asylum. He assured Mr
Howard they would not be persecuted.
Indonesian authorities have not been allowed to have contact with them.
Jakarta is apparently deeply worried about the growing strength and
increasing prominence of the West Papua independence movement, fearing
more defections and further political instability.
The defections come at a time when Australia is working hard to strengthen
its military and security relationship with Indonesia.
It is believed the asylum seekers include members of several families
involved in the anti-Indonesian protest movement, which makes their claims
stronger.
A source on Christmas Island said: "It is not like the boats that arrived
in the past, where you might have 40 or 50 people with completely
different unrelated claims. This group is cohesive, highly educated,
articulate and readily identifiable, which makes their claims
exceptionally strong."
The asylum seekers, who fled West Papua by dugout canoe, were found 10
days ago at Mapoon on the Cape York Peninsula in far north Queensland.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Advertiser
Monday, January 30, 2006
Australia must help plight of West Papuans
Natasha Stott Despoja
The fate of 43 West Papuan asylum seekers now detained on Christmas Island
has highlighted the plight of their people. They deserve political asylum.
I have worked on this issue for years and implore our government to treat
them with compassion and respect.
Many countries have aspects of their history that cast a shadow on the
present - Australia and Indonesia are not immune.
Each country has a responsibility to account for past wrongs, whether that
involves quashing legal untruths, such as the doctrine we have seen in our
country of terra nullius, or saying sorry.
In West Papua, there are two clear issues requiring attention.
The first is the appalling human rights abuses. There is great evidence to
establish that grave human rights abuses have taken place against the West
Papuan people over a number of decades. At least 100,000 West Papuans have
been murdered by the Indonesian army. There is also evidence of wrongful
imprisonment, torture and general intimidation.
The first priority is to end these human rights abuses. This requires
further establishment and maintenance of proper democratic processes and
the rule of law in West Papua.
The history of atrocities committed against the West Papuan people stands
as a warning that Australia should not engage in joint military activities
with the Indonesian military's elite force, Kopassus. Its disregard for
human rights continues and Australia should have nothing to do with an
organisation that violates the rights of innocent civilians.
The second issue relates to the ironically named 1969 Act of Free Choice.
Under the terms of the agreement supported by the United Nations Assembly,
all West Papuans were to be given the right to vote on their future.
Instead, the Indonesian Government selected 1025 people to represent an
entire population of 800,000 who voted to remain a part of Indonesia. It
has since been revealed there was considerable duress involved: some of
those voters have claimed their lives were threatened.
Given these circumstances, the West Papuan people have never been given a
genuine opportunity to determine their future. They have been prevented
from exercising a fundamental right. It is time this was acknowledged by
Indonesia and by Australia. Then the challenge lies in determining how to
remedy the injustice. Should another vote for independence be conducted?
Who would be eligible to participate? To what extent would the more than
one million transmigrants who reside in West Papua affect the outcome of
the vote? What planning is needed to facilitate West Papuan independence
if that was the ballot outcome?
These issues are hard, but they should not dissuade us from remedying the
wrongs of the past and assisting the West Papuans to determine their
future.
Independence will not signal the end of West Papua's challenges – as we
have seen with Timor Leste - there are broader issues, including how the
West Papuan people benefit from their rich natural resources and how to
prevent further degradation of their environment.
Australia, as a powerful neighbour only about 200km away, has a
responsibility to this region and West Papuan people.
Our priority must be to prevent further human rights abuses. This involves
listening to the accounts given by West Papuans and providing assistance
to ensure democratic processes are adhered to and the rule of law operates
effectively (this involves resources). The Timor experience demonstrated
the effectiveness of concerted action by the Australian government.
This should inspire us to play a role, particularly in relation to West
Papua.
-- Natasha Stott Despoja is the Democrats Senator for South Australia.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Green Left Weekly
February 1, 2006.
West Papua: Genocide continues
Kerryn Williams
The arrival on Australian shores of 43 West Papuan refugees on January 18
has put the spotlight on the long suffering — and determined resistance —
of the people of West Papua.
For more than two centuries West Papua was a Dutch colony. After Indonesia
became an independent republic in 1949, a dispute flared over West Papua’s
fate. The Netherlands argued that Papua was a separate geographic and
ethnic entity from Indonesia, with its own national character, and
prepared for self-determination for the territory. The newly elected West
New Guinea Council took office on December 1, 1961, adopting the Morning
Star national flag and a national anthem.
This was the “unmistakable beginning of the formation of a Papuan state”,
according to a report, released in November, that was commissioned by the
Dutch government to investigate the period.
However Indonesia, determined to control West Papua, began small-scale
military incursions in 1962, using arms supplied by the US. In August that
year, UN-sponsored negotiations between Indonesia and the Netherlands —
from which the West Papuan people were excluded — resulted in the New York
Agreement. This placed Papua under temporary UN administration before
handing over control to Indonesia.
Sham ballot
In 1969, the UN oversaw the farcical “Act of Free Choice”, in which just
over 1000 West Papuans, selected by the Indonesian military, “voted”
unanimously — out of a population of some 800,000. At gunpoint, and in
open meetings rather than by secret ballot, they “agreed” to remain under
Indonesian rule.
A December 9 bulletin issued by Tapol, the Indonesian Human Rights
Campaign, quotes Michel Pelletier, one of the UN observers sent to West
Papua in 1968 to monitor implementation of the New York Agreement. He
described their role as “superficial”, because the Indonesian military
were “hovering over the whole thing”, restricting the observers’
movements, and preventing them from investigating allegations of human
rights violations and from witnessing the many protests by West Papuans
opposed to Indonesian rule. The UN team was forced to leave as soon as the
Act of Free Choice was over. Nevertheless, the UN ratified the result on
November 19 of that year.
The Dutch report described the Act of Free Choice as a “sham”, noting that
by the time the Netherlands’ rule ended “the first signs of the violent
action taken by the Indonesian military, which would also characterise the
new administration in the coming decades, soon appeared. Rapid
impoverishment ensued, together with a substantial decline in legal
certainty and a loss of civil rights across the board.”
>From 1969 until October 1998 (five months after the overthrow of former
Indonesian military dictator President Suharto), West Papua was designated
as a “military operations zone”, giving the military free reign to combat
the resistance movement. Some 100,000 people have died during the
Indonesian occupation.
In May 1981, the Tribunal on Human Rights in West Papua, held in Papua New
Guinea, heard from Eliezer Bonay, Indonesia’s first governor of the
territory, that some 30,000 West Papuans had been murdered during 1963-69.
Free Papua Movement
Since its formation in 1965, the Free Papua Movement (OPM) has led armed
resistance to the Indonesian occupation. A 2001 Human Rights Watch report,
Violence and Political Impasse in Papua, noted: “In the three years since
[Suharto] fell ... a broad, civilian-based Papuan independence movement
has emerged along side the guerrilla fighters and, for the first time,
poses a serious challenge for Indonesia”.
In February 2000, 400 delegates met to discuss how to win independence,
then 3000 delegates met for a congress in May-June.
“Special autonomy” legislation was adopted in September 2001, giving an
element of self-rule and returning a greater proportion of taxes and
royalties to West Papua. But in early 2003, under an Indonesian
presidential regulation, this autonomy was undermined by the partition of
West Papua into three provinces, involving the creation of new provincial
military commands. A new province, West Irian Jaya, was created.
In 2001, Papuan Presidium Council leader Theys Hiyo Eluay was murdered by
military personnel. The soldiers responsible received jail sentences of
just two years.
In 2003, the Indonesian military launched a terror campaign in the
highlands, raiding and burning villages, assaulting, raping, torturing and
executing villagers, and displacing hundreds of people.
A key site of conflict is the giant gold and copper mine operated by US
company Freeport McMoran, which has been in operation since the 1970s.
According to the Vanuatu-based West Papuan People’s Representative Office,
in a January 20 statement, “The presence of Freeport McMoran in West Papua
has not brought any appreciable benefits to the people ... Instead, the
exploitation of the mine has wrought serious damage to the local culture,
belief system, environment, social structure and political aspirations of
the people ... Freeport also promotes violence in the immediate region by
providing funds in the millions of US dollars to the Indonesian military
and security forces to maintain ‘security’ over the mine area, beside the
US$1 billion as annual dividend, paid last year to the Indonesian
Government.”
Dr Otto Ondawame, international spokesperson for the OPM, said in the
statement: “We cannot tolerate any more of these types of inhuman acts,
and call upon the people of West Papua to take all necessary peaceful
actions to close down the Freeport mine.”
On January 11, in a joint FBI-Indonesian police operation, 12 suspected
OPM members were arrested at Timika near Freeport. They were accused of
involvement in the 2002 murder of two US citizens near the mine. This is
despite one of the US survivors supporting accounts of the killing that
directly implicate the Indonesian military, and the principal suspect
admitting his role in the attack as a member of a military-sponsored
militia. Four of the 12 detainees are aged between 12 and 14 years.
The Indonesian daily Sinar Harapan reported on January 26 that a meeting
in Jakarta on January 23 decided to increase troop numbers guarding
Freeport mine.
Increasing military presence
The Human Rights Watch World Report 2006 described “a significant build-up
of troops in Papua” in 2005, “with reports of widespread displacement of
civilians, arson and arbitrary detention in the central highlands region”.
An August 2005 report by John Wing with Peter King from the University of
Sydney Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, Genocide in West Papua?,
found that “the [Indonesian] Republic’s armed forces act as a law unto
themselves with no real accountability for crimes against the Papuan
population”.
On November 23, Tapol reported that Indonesia plans to double its forces
in West Papua over the next five years and deploy a new division of
special combat troops known as Kostrad.
On December 1, Tapol reported that it had uncovered a secret directive
issued by West Papua’s chief of police on November 10 threatening to
charge anyone who protests on commemorative dates during November and
December under Indonesia’s anti-subversion laws, which carry a maximum
sentence of life in prison. On December 1, 2004, two people were arrested
for participating in a pro-independence demonstration in Jayapura and were
sentenced to 10 and 15 years’ jail.
On January 20, police shot and killed 15-year-old Moses Douw and seriously
injured two others. Police claim security personnel fired on a crowd of
protesters seeking authorisation to collect fees from motorists using a
nearby road, after some of the protesters allegedly assaulted a police
officer. However Benny Giay from the Indonesian human rights group Elsham
Papua told the January 21 Sydney Morning Herald that the murder occurred
when four students were ambushed on their way to school. Douw is a
relative of one of the Papuan refugees currently detained on Christmas
Island.
On January 23, Detik.com reported that protesters stormed the Papuan
legislative council building in the provincial capital Jayapura, demanding
the withdrawal of Indonesian troops from West Papua and calling for an
independent investigation into the January 20 killings.
Australia’s role
Tom Benedetti from Canada’s West Papua Action Network wrote in the January
2 International Herald Tribune that Indonesian military activity had been
escalating in West Papua, and the number of troops there has reached an
estimated 50,000.
Benedetti cited three major obstacles to peace in West Papua. The first is
that “foreign journalists and most researchers and aid workers are still
banned from West Papua. Unlike in Aceh after the tsunami, no-one is
looking.” The second is that the Indonesian military “earns millions
selling security services to resource companies such as the gold-mining
company Freeport-McMoran”. And finally, the majority of the Indonesian
military’s budget is funded from its own legal and illegal business
ventures, and “West Papua is the Indonesian military’s most lucrative area
of operations”.
The US and Australian governments have started to renew military ties with
Indonesia, following a temporary suspension in 1999 when Jakarta-backed
militias launched a violent rampage in the wake of East Timor’s
independence referendum.
The January 20 West Papuan People’s Representative Office statement noted:
“In the 1960s, the Government of the USA shamefully sold out West Papua as
a bribe to Indonesia for its cooperation in halting the spread of
communism in Southeast Asia and the Pacific. The USA is now trading off
West Papua to Indonesia once again in return for its cooperation in the
struggle against international terrorism and Islamic extremism.”
Jacob Rumbiak from the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation told
Radio Australia on January 23 that “human rights abuses and genocide [in
West Papua] have been done by the government and military of Indonesia so
... Australia has a responsibility to put pressure on Indonesia because
training the military ... and training facilities in Indonesia [are]
supported by Australia.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Green Left Weekly
February 1, 2006.
Concern for West Papuans’ safety
Sarah Stephen
Among the 43 West Papuan asylum seekers who were transferred to Christmas
Island on January 18 are four family groups. They are living in community
detention, under close guard.
A family of West Timorese asylum seekers is living in the house next door
to one occupied by a West Papuan family but, according to refugee advocate
Kaye Bernard, the West Timorese have been told by the Global Solutions
Limited (GSL) guards not to talk to the West Papuans.
Bernard told Green Left Weekly that a West Papuan father and son were
flown to Perth on January 20 with suspected tuberculosis. The father has
since been released into the community, but the son remains in hospital.
Bernard pointed out that this exposes the claim by the immigration
department (DIMIA) that it conducted thorough health checks before it flew
the asylum seekers to Christmas Island as a lie.
“It’s an example of the ongoing bulldust put out by the government. The
health checks at Weipa were totally inadequate”, Bernard explained. She
argued that DIMIA wanted to get the asylum seekers to Christmas Island as
quickly as possible and cut whatever corners it needed to.
Bernard has serious concerns about the use of the Christmas Island
processing and reception centre to detain asylum seekers for long periods.
She visited, and campaigned for the release of, 43 Vietnamese asylum
seekers detained there from 2003 to 2005.
“It was designed as a transitional facility for people intercepted at
sea”, she said. “The facilities aren’t there for anything beyond what a GP
can provide.”
Greens Senator Kerry Nettle, planning a visit to the island on January 29,
wasn’t given approval to meet with the West Papuans until a few days
beforehand.
DIMIA tried hard to find a pretext to bar her from contact with the asylum
seekers. First, it argued that the asylum seekers weren’t properly health
cleared — an embarrassing admission that the department hadn’t followed
protocols in Weipa.
Second, it claimed that not all the asylum seekers had completed their
primary interviews. Yet on January 27 DIMIA admitted that all interviews
had been finalised.
The final barrier, which may yet prevent Nettle from speaking directly to
the asylum seekers, is the requirement that her name be on the asylum
seekers’ visitors list, a bizarre catch-22 requirement since the asylum
seekers cannot put Nettle’s name on their “list” unless they know she’s
coming.
To date, DIMIA and GSL have barred all supporters, including Australia
West Papua Association members, from speaking with the West Papuans.
Refugee advocates are very concerned about the safety and well-being of
the West Papuans. According to a January 26 Project SafeCom media release,
Australia West Papua Association member Ned Byrne confirmed that a priest
in the West Papuan town of Wamena, who was the first political prisoner in
West Papua and whose three children are among those who sailed to
Australia two weeks ago, has been approached by Indonesian officials with
a list of names and asked to confirm that they were on the boat that made
it to Australia. The priest felt he had no choice but to confirm the list
of names.
Indonesian officials have already tried to gain access to the asylum
seekers. On January 18, officials travelled to Weipa to check up on the
West Papuans who had just arrived.
It was rumoured that DIMIA gave them access to the asylum seekers, but the
department claims that a junior delegation from the Indonesian consulate
arrived just a few hours too late. Even if this is true, Bernard points
out that their efforts to access the asylum seekers were completely
outside diplomatic protocols, unless the Australian government had given
them the green light.
It appears likely that, if Indonesian authorities haven’t already been
given access to the West Papuans, Australian authorities will happily
allow them in to interrogate the asylum seekers at some stage.
This is what happened to a family group of seven West Timorese asylum
seekers who reached land north of Broome on November 5. They presented
themselves to authorities to claim asylum and were taken to Christmas
Island after being hidden in Darwin for 10 days.
Bernard, who has spoken with one of the West Timorese men, was told by him
that DIMIA officers repeatedly asked whether any of the family wanted
access to their embassy. They said no, and explained that this was from
whom they were fleeing.
On their third day of detention they were told, “We’re now going to let
Indonesian embassy officials in to see you. They just want to have a look
at you.” The Indonesian officials questioned them about their names and
where they had come from. The family was frightened and in tears, but said
nothing.
Bernard says that she was told by an ABC reporter that DIMIA had informed
journalists that two of the West Papuans on Christmas Island has asked for
Indonesian consular access. Such claims possibly lay the groundwork for a
visit by consular staff.
All the asylum seekers now held on Christmas Island — eight West Timorese
and 43 West Papuans — have come to Australia fleeing Indonesian
authorities. Bernard said it is incredible that, of all the places they
could be detained, the Australian government deems it appropriate to hold
them in an offshore detention centre that’s five times closer to Indonesia
than it is to Australia.
The Project SafeCom media release echoes this point: “The fact that DIMIA
has placed Papuan families, men, women and children in staff housing,
openly visible from the beach on Christmas Island, places them, as well as
their families and relatives in West Papua, in a direct line of fire and
in direct danger of being identified by Indonesians”, who are able to
travel freely to Christmas Island, only 400 kilometres from the coast of
Java, under the guise of tourists.
As an aside, Bernard pointed out that the eighth West Timorese man being
held on Christmas Island arrived by boat near northern Queensland some
time in 2005. She said it was only by chance that she noticed the change
in the detention figures, indicating one new arrival on the island.
Bernard made sure he received legal assistance but wonders if anyone would
have known of his existence if she hadn’t pursued the issue. It is a
chilling example of the way the Christmas Island detention centre can be
used to “disappear” people, she said.
Bernard told GLW: “The West Papuans shouldn’t be treated any differently
from other asylum seekers. All people seeking asylum should be treated
with the utmost respect.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Green Left Weekly
February 1, 2006.
Who are the asylum seekers?
Sarah Stephen
One of the passengers aboard the outrigger canoe that landed on Cape York
peninsula on January 18 was a five-year-old child.
Reminiscent of so many stories of unaccompanied minors seeking asylum, the
boy’s parents, high-profile West Papuan independence activists, were
unable to escape and expect to die at the hands of the Indonesian
military. To give their son some chance of surviving, they put him on a
boat to Australia.
Herman Wainggai, a prominent student activist in West Papua, is another of
those seeking political asylum in Australia. Australia West Papua
Association member Alex Rayfield interviewed Wainggai in 2001. Wainggai
told him, “For over 40 years we have been living under pressure from the
Indonesian military. Our heart is crying for independence.”
In a January 25 article on the New Matilda website, Rayfield wrote:
“Wainggai says he is deeply committed to the pursuit of West Papuan
independence through nonviolent means. When I first interviewed him in
2001 he had just come out of four months’ jail for organising and
participating in a rally and flag raising. When I returned to West Papua
in 2002 he was in jail again for another nonviolent action, and was not
released until 2004.
The article also described the fate of Wainggai’s uncle, Dr Thomas
Wainggai. “On 14 December, 1988, Dr Wainggai, together with several
hundred other West Papuans, participated in an illegal flag raising. He
was arrested by the Indonesian authorities and sentenced to 20 years’
imprisonment. Several other leaders who helped organise the protest also
received lengthy prison sentences. Dr Wainggai’s Japanese-born wife was
sentenced to six years’ jail for simply sewing the flag used in the
demonstration.
“Dr Wainggai died in prison in Jakarta in March 1996. The cause of his
death is not known but many West Papuans suspect that he was murdered by
the Indonesian military.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ABC/Radio Australia
Monday, January 30, 2006. 9:00am (AEDT)
Group says asylum seekers face death if sent back to Papua
Australian refugee advocates say they are alarmed by the Indonesian
Government making a direct request to Prime Minister John Howard for the
return of 43 Papuans.
Indonesian President Suslio Bambang Yudhoyono has assured Mr Howard that
the group will not be prosecuted if they are returned.
The asylum seekers are currently being held on Christmas Island, off the
coast of Western Australia, claiming genocide at the hands of the
Indonesian Government.
Rob Wesley-Smith from the group Australians for a Free West Papua says the
asylum seekers should be dealt with according to Australian law.
"The people have escaped from there because their lives are at risk," he
said.
"Their fathers have been killed, one of them was in jail for a number of
years himself, and this is the reality of the situation in West Papua - so
no way should they go back - they'd be killed."
Mr Wesley-Smith says they seem to have valid claims for refugee status.
"There's evidence that some have been mistreated and tortured and they're
a cohesive group and strongly politically motivated, and that there is no
way that they would be seen as a group to be sent back - that that's just
a preliminary assessment," he said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Age (Melbourne)
Papuans tell of beatings and torture
By Andra Jackson and Tom Allard
January 30, 2006
Papuan asylum seekers being held on Christmas Island have relayed graphic
and disturbing accounts of beatings and torture by the Indonesian
military, during interviews with Immigration officers over the past week.
A senior Immigration source said the 43 asylum seekers, who arrived by
boat in Australia 12 days ago, had a "very strong case" to be granted
refugee status, possibly within weeks. "Some of what has come out of the
interviews has been absolutely heart-wrenching," the source said.
The testimony included accounts of vicious bashings while in prison and
attacks on villages and livestock in retaliation for the Papuans agitating
for independence.
While rights groups and academics have recently released reports detailing
tens of thousands of deaths and even genocide, Indonesia says abuses no
longer occur in West Papua.
Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone yesterday said Indonesian demands for
the asylum seekers to be handed back would not stop or influence their
processing. Senator Vanstone told The Age their cases would be dealt with
on an individual basis and on their merits.
Speaking in Melbourne, she said the 43 would be treated no differently to
other asylum seekers. She had not been officially advised of any
Indonesian request and said any concern about Indonesian annoyance at
Australian now holding a total of 50 asylum seekers from Indonesia — 43
from West Papua and seven from West Timor — was a matter for the Foreign
Affairs Department.
She also said there was no need for New Zealand to offer to take some of
the Papuans, as New Zealand Greens foreign affairs spokesman Keith Locke
urged last week.
Criticising Australia for "imprisoning" the Papuans at a remote location,
he said New Zealand should help out the way it did with some of the
refugees stranded on the Tampa.
But Senator Vanstone said Australia had "a very long history of offering
protection herself to those people who need it and I see no need for that
to change".
The Tampa incident involved a much larger number of people and it took
longer to process them because many did not have any documents identifying
them, she said.
"This is not such a large number and I would hope we could have an initial
decision within two to four weeks from now, well within the 90 days."
Independent lawyers are going to Christmas Island this week to advise on
the asylum seekers' claims, she said.
Greens senator Kerry Nettle visited Christmas Island at the weekend and
met some of the Papuans. She called for them to be moved to the mainland,
where there is an established West Papuan community.
Senator Vanstone said it was not always possible in a larger community to
keep women and children out of detention straight way.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Radio New Zealand International
Papuan asylum seekers on Christmas Island allowed first access to outside
assistance
Posted at 3:09pm on 30 Jan 2006
Australian Immigration officials have allowed a group of Papuan asylum
seekers detained on Christmas Island their first contact with legal and
social representatives since arriving.
The 43 asylum seekers reached the far north of Queensland earlier this
month after a six-day voyage in a canoe from the Indonesian province of
Papua.
A spokesman for the Australia West Papua Association, Nick Chesterfield,
says the first outside access to the Papuans was achieved during the
weekend.
He says it took a lot of negotiation with Immigration officials just to
get limited telephone access to the asylum seekers..
"The lawyers for the refugees are actually up on Christmas Island at the
moment and they're still interviewing them claim by claim. There has been
access allowed on telephone phone very briefly by us. So we are actually
communicating and some things will be coming out in the next few days from
the communications with them directly of the reasons they fled." -- Nick
Chesterfield
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sydney Morning Herald
West Papua terror warning
By Tom Allard
January 31, 2006
The Indonesian military is using the same tactics of terror in West Papua
that were employed during its bloody reign in East Timor - and Australia
should step in and mediate a peace settlement, separatist Herman Wainggai
has warned.
Mr Wainggai, who led the 43 asylum seekers who arrived in Australia two
weeks ago, said abuses by the Indonesian military, often in cahoots with
militias, were terrifying the indigenous community.
"It's the same as with East Timor," he said yesterday from Christmas
Island, where the asylum seekers are being processed by immigration
officials.
"They have created militias and jihadis in West Papua. The people, and
especially activists for independence, are very scared."
The asylum seekers brought with them evidence - in the form of videos and
photographs - of their claims of repression by the Indonesian authorities.
The evidence supports their claim that they are seeking asylum because
their lives were at risk, said Nick Chesterfield of the Australian West
Papua Association, who called for the evidence to be kept safe.
Mr Wainggai said the military and police regularly raided campuses and
villages searching for independence sympathisers, while Indonesia's
intelligence network kept constant tabs on their activities.
Jailed twice for his political activism, Mr Wainggai said he had no faith
in Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's promise that, if they
returned home, the Papuans would face no reprisals.
Many such promises had been made in the past, he said, and bitter
experience meant they could not be accepted at face value.
"We don't trust Indonesia," he said.
Incorporated with Indonesia in 1969 after a vote widely discredited as a
sham, West Papua's Melanesian population has been running a long,
unsuccessful campaign for independence.
For this, West Papua has had little support from the international
community, he said.
And its activities have met with sometimes brutal treatment by Indonesia's
military.
Mr Wainggai said it was time for other countries, particularly Australia,
to take the fate of his people more seriously.
Dr Yudhoyono's personal intervention in the case of the asylum seekers
reflects the acute sensitivity in Jakarta about its resource-rich
province.
As the military build-up in West Papua continues, Dr Yudhoyono has floated
a new type of "special autonomy" for the province, including the creation
of an indigenous upper house of parliament in the province and more
regional development assistance.
-- With Andra Jackson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
KABAR IRIAN ("Irian News") www.kabar-irian.com
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