[Kabar-Irian] News:April 5-10 2007

[Admin-Editors Kabar-Irian]

KABAR IRIAN NEWS

March Apr 5-10

TOPICS

* A freedom fighter exposed
* New report sheds light on 2002 Papua shooting
* Papua discussed in Dutch Parliment
* Murder at Mile 63 (Full Report)
* Papua Muslims hold first congress
* Police arrest three Philippine vessels for alleged poaching
* Jayapura regency empowers villagers, improves welfare
* Budget constraint limits Air Force development: Air Chief

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http://www.theage.com.au/news/in-depth/freedom-fighter-exposed/2007/04/07/1175366530644.html?

page=fullpage#contentSwap1

A freedom fighter exposed
Tom Hyland
April 8, 2007
Jacob Rumbiak (centre) and his lawyers outside the Melbourne Magistrates
Court last week.

Jacob Rumbiak (centre) and his lawyers outside the Melbourne Magistrates
Court last week.
Photo: Michele Ferguson
AdvertisementAdvertisement

LATE on the afternoon of February 28, 2005, Jacob Rumbiak, a former
political prisoner, torture victim,

refugee and internationally known fighter for West Papua's freedom,
boarded a Melbourne suburban

train, bound for Sandringham.

About 4.30pm, as the train travelled between North Brighton and Hampton
stations, a female passenger

saw him masturbating, with a backpack on his lap. Closed-circuit TV
footage matched the evidence she

subsequently gave to police.

Within an hour, Rumbiak — at the time a senior research associate at RMIT
University — had returned to

the city and got on a Frankston-bound train. When the train left Richmond
station, a woman who had

boarded at Melbourne Central saw Rumbiak masturbating, again with his
backpack on his lap.There was

no CCTV footage of this incident.

At 9.15 that night, Rumbiak was on another Frankston line train. A woman
who boarded the train at

Flinders Street saw him masturbating behind his backpack as the train
approached Spencer Street. CCTV

footage matched her evidence to police.

After a two-day hearing in Melbourne Magistrates Court last week,
magistrate Jane Patrick declared she

was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the person the women had seen
masturbating was Rumbiak.

She found him guilty on three counts of wilfully and obscenely exposing
himself in a public place.

Rumbiak, who described himself as a political activist in court, had
pleaded not guilty and denied being on

the trains at the time of the offences.

Patrick dismissed two similar charges, relating to events alleged to have
happened on Sandringham line

trains in January and May 2005.

If Rumbiak was humiliated as Patrick delivered her verdict last Wednesday,
he showed no sign of it. A

short, softly spoken, bearded man wearing a dark suit, yellow shirt and
striped tie, he stood with his hands

clasped in front of him.

When the court adjourned, he shook hands with the investigating police
officer, Detective Senior

Constable Daniel Ryan.

While his case went unremarked upon and unreported in courtroom number 19,
Rumbiak, 49, is no

ordinary accused.

He has been feted by activist, academic and church groups as a symbol of
West Papua's resistance to

Indonesian oppression. In the media, he's characterised as a freedom
fighter. He travels widely, in

Australia and overseas, and has given briefings to foreign ministries in
London, Tokyo and elsewhere.

His supporters describe him as the foreign affairs co-ordinator for the
West Papua National Authority,

which claims in effect to be a shadow government-in-exile.

In 2002, amid a blaze of publicity that angered the Indonesian Government,
he was invested as a senior

research associate in the Globalism Institute, a research centre at RMIT
University.

The institute's website said his research involved "continuing to create
awareness, conditions and relations

for nation building, peace-seeking dialogue between West Papuans, West
Papua and Indonesians and

between both nations and the international community".

His contract with RMIT was not renewed in 2005, pending the conclusion of
his court case.

Institute director Paul James told The Sunday Age the research associate
role was an honorary, unpaid

position, which sought to draw on Rumbiak's expertise, particularly on
issues of reconciliation.

"I support Jacob and vouch for his integrity and cannot imagine he would
engage in these activities,"

James said, adding it was possible Rumbiak's contract would be renewed
once he had served any

sentence imposed by the court.

James' shock at the verdict will be shared by West Papua's local
supporters, some of whom allege

Rumbiak has been the victim of Indonesian surveillance and harassment
since he arrived in Australia in

1999.

In court last week, his barrister foreshadowed a pre-sentence plea that
would focus on Rumbiak's "long

history". He didn't elaborate, but Rumbiak's history includes time as a
guerilla and political prisoner who

suffered torture and solitary confinement.

A pre-sentence psychiatric report is likely to focus on the long-term
psychological effects of torture. But

there are other parts to Rumbiak's story.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Mark Higginbotham told the court Rumbiak was
involved in a "prior matter", in

2002 for a "quite similar type of incident".

He gave no details, but in September 2002 Rumbiak was arrested and charged
with wilfully and obscenely

exposing himself on a Frankston-bound train. That case was not resolved
until 2004, when Rumbiak was

given a six-month good behaviour bond.

Nor was the court told that Rumbiak is scheduled to appear in Melbourne
Magistrates Court later this

month, over an alleged incident on a Virgin Blue flight from Sydney to
Melbourne last October.

As well, it appears police investigators were unaware that, while on a
speaking tour of Japan in 2004,

Rumbiak was arrested in Tokyo and fined for exposing himself on a train.

On Wednesday, magistrate Patrick told Rumbiak he would receive a
community-based order when she

sentences him next month.

"I'm not planning to send you to jail, but requiring you perhaps to do
some community work and

counselling," she said.

Rumbiak's barrister, Wayne Toohey, told the court he would present a
psychiatric pre-sentence report at

the next hearing.

Toohey said his pre-sentence plea would refer to Rumbiak's "10-year
incarceration in a foreign land 


not in relation to criminal matters but freedom fighting and the like".

In an extensive interview with The Age in 2000, Rumbiak told of his
childhood serving with guerillas fighting

for West Papua's independence from Indonesia.

He was later educated in Java and has degrees in mathematics and
geography. (While his supporters

regularly give him the academic title of "Dr", he appears not to have a
doctorate.) In late 1989, during the

repressive years of the Soeharto dictatorship, he was arrested for
non-violent pro-independence activity.

At the time he was a university lecturer.

He was sentenced to 17 years' jail for subversion and provocation and
ultimately served nine years and

eight months.

He alleges he was tortured in a series of Indonesian prisons, including
being subjected to electric shocks.

Twice he was threatened with death, including once when he was trussed up
in a military aircraft and told

he would be thrown out mid-flight. He spent more than two years in isolation.

His account of the abuses he endured are consistent with the widely
documented testimonies of other

political prisoners during the Soeharto era.

His last year in jail was spent in Jakarta with East Timorese resistance
leader Xanana Gusmao. After the

fall of Soeharto, he was released into house arrest.

In 1999 he managed to get to East Timor, from where he narrowly escaped to
Australia amid the

destruction and killing unleashed by the Indonesian army's militia forces
after the vote for independence.

He was granted a protection visa and subsequently Australian citizenship.

A medical expert on the impact of torture, who declined to be named, said
the often-hidden psychological

effects of torture sometimes included sexual dysfunction.

A spokesman for Amnesty International said: "For the survivors of torture
the worst consequences are

often psychological. There are many forms and degrees of torture and all
leave psychological scars."

Pending his sentence hearing next month, Rumbiak is free on bail, the
terms of which will allow him to

travel overseas to continue his campaigning for West Papua. He is
considering an appeal.
Journey from the jungle to the courts
¦Born March 11, 1958, in Ayamaru village, in the Sorong district of what
was then Dutch New Guinea.

¦Early childhood was marred by Indonesian military infiltration, which
forced his family to flee to the

jungle. As a young boy, he served with pro-independence guerillas.

¦In 1977, his family took advantge of an amnesty and he was sent to Java
to study.

¦Obtained degrees in mathematics and geography. Played in the Indonesian
national soccer team.

¦Returned to West Papua (then called Irian Jaya) in 1987, working as a
university geography lecturer.

¦Arrested in 1989 for advocating a non-violent campaign for independence.

¦Sentenced to 17 years' jail for provocation and subversion. Spent time in
a series of Indonesian jails,

where he was tortured.

¦Released into house arrest in 1998 (below) after the downfall of Soeharto.

¦In 1999, travelled to East Timor and then ecaped to Australia, where he
became a leading figure in the

movement to free West Papua.

---

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/08/news/indo.php

New report sheds light on 2002 Papua shooting
By Peter Gelling
Published: April 8, 2007

JAKARTA: A report to be released Monday suggests that a second group of
shooters, possibly associated

with the Indonesian military, were involved in the 2002 killings of two
Americans and one Indonesian in the

Papua Province.

Antonius Wamang, a Papuan who belongs to a decades-old, low-level
separatist movement, confessed to

the shooting, saying he thought he was shooting at soldiers. He was
sentenced to life in prison last

November.

But, according to court records, Wamang had access to only three weapons,
indicating there other

shooters at the scene.

The shootings took place on a road near the Freeport-McMoran gold and
copper mine. Freeport-

McMoran, a U.S.-owned company, had long paid Indonesian security forces to
protect its mine in the

troubled province.

But in August 2002, at the time of the killings, Freeport was under
pressure to suspend those payments. In

the past, Indonesian soldiers had orchestrated attacks to extract benefits
from the company. Many human

rights workers have suggested that this spurred the killings.

Eben Kirksey, an American anthropologist who has been investigating the
shooting for nearly two years,

and an Indonesian journalist, Andreas Harsono, are the authors of the new
study, which was paid for by

the Joyo Indonesian News Service, a New York-based nonprofit media group.

The authors of the report gathered information from a ballistics analysis
conducted by the Papuan police

days after the gunmen opened fire on a caravan carrying English teachers
traveling through checkpoints

along the road to the Freeport-McMoran gold and copper mine.

That analysis found that 13 different guns were used and that more than
200 shots were fired from several

different angles.

The ballistics report was presented and debated during Wamang's trial,
which was open to the public, and

distributed by human rights organizations and others. Yet it received
little attention and was not reported in

the media.

"We are the first to publicly identify a smoking gun," Kirksey said. "In
fact, we have unearthed evidence

of 10 smoking guns. This means that there was another group of shooters,
wielding enormous firepower."

Dino Patti Djalal, a spokesman for the president, disputed the suggestion
of military involvement in the

shootings. "If there is new evidence they should submit it to us and we
will pursue it in a court of law," he

said. "If they don't, it is just another attempt at political propaganda.
The media should be very suspicious

of this kind of report."

Four Indonesian soldiers who testified at the trial said they had returned
gunfire after arriving at the

scene, which prosecutors said at the time accounted for the discrepancies
in the ballistics report.

Patsy Spier, an American who was wounded in the attack and whose husband,
Ricky Lynn Spier, was

killed, has long lobbied for a resolution to the shooting. Spier said she
distributed numerous copies of the

ballistics report, including to the FBI.

---

http://www.minbuza.nl/nl/actueel/brievenparlement,2007/04/Beantwoording-vragen-leden-Van-der-Staaij-

-Voordew.html



Recently the Foundation Pro Papua (the Netherlands) informed the spokesmen
of foreign affairs of all

political parties about the situation in Papua. In connection of this, the
Dutch parliament had some

questions towards the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Drs. Maxime J.M.
Verhagen. These questions have

been answered on April 5th 2007.

( Translation Pro Papua - propaua at gmail.com )



Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Netherlands. April 5th 2007

I would like to offer you, also on behalf of the Minister of Developmental
Cooperation, the answers to the

written questions of Members of parliament Van der Staaij, Voordewind, Van
Baalen and Van Gennip

about the situation in Papua.



Question 1.

Are you aware of the article 'Indonesia: Thousands flee army operation in
West Papua'? Do you possess

information that confirms this disquieting news? In case you do, what are
the backgrounds and the goals

of this military operation? Do you share our concerns about the number of
displaced persons and the

situation in which they find themselves? Are you prepared to pass on these
worries to the Indonesian

authorities and to press for humanitarian measures?



Answer

I am aware of the article. According to my information, an attack of the
OPM on a military post on

December 8 2006 formed the background of the military operation. In the
weeks following the event,

several smaller actions, in which weapons were captured, would have been
carried out by the OPM. In

reaction to this, combined police- and military actions were started in
the beginning of January 2007 in

order to track down the stolen weapons and the OPM-group.

            According to a report issued by the Collective Organization of
Churches (PGGP) on January 29

2007, the unrest has led to a great number of persons being displaced, as
well as to 4 casualties because

of malnutrition. According to the churches people are slowly beginning to
return to the villages. The

churches and the local government are providing temporary help. The
situation in the province is being

discussed regularly with the Indonesian government, both on the
bureaucratic and the ministerial level.



Question 2.

How do you judge the observations that the American Administration has
made in the Indonesian Country

Report on Human Rights Practices 2006 in relation to the human rights
violations, among which the fact

that during 2006 torture of suspects was most widespread in Papua? Do you
raise the matter of human

rights violations in Papua regularly in your contacts with the Indonesian
government?



Answer

The report of the US administration is one of the many reports about the
human rights situation in Papua.

The human rights violations in Papua remain a subject of concern. The
Dutch government calls attention

to the situation in Papua at every proper occasion and on every level,
also at the European level.



Question 3.

Have you, in the meantime, perceived improvements in the functioning of
the Court of Human Rights in

Makassar, with regard to the treatment of cases concerning human rights
violations in Papua? For

example, have the human rights violations in Wasior (2001) been put to the
Court? Meanwhile, has the

Attorney-General submitted new cases concerning Papua to the Court?



Answer

The cases of Wasior and Wamena haven't been put before the Human Rights
Court yet. The Attorney

general is of the opinion that the inquiries of the human rights
commission Komnas HAM are incomplete

and has returned the file. Komnas HAM is prepared to adjust the reports
only if the AG indicates that, on

the basis of the reports, the conclusion can be drawn that human rights
violations are taken place.

As indicated in my answer of February 17 2006 to questions of
Parliamentary Member Haverkamp, the

Netherlands have discussed the matter with the AG. Besides that, the Dutch
ambassador has spoken with

the chairman of Komnas HAM. As we speak, no progress has been made in
these cases. Komnas HAM,

which puts cases of human rights violations before the AG, has not taken
up any new human rights cases

since the Wasior- and Wamena-cases.



Question 4.

Do you know of the report Protest and Punishment: Political Prisoners in
Papua? Do you share the

conclusions of Human Rights Watch regarding the inadmissible treatment of
peaceful political activists

from Papua by the Indonesian authorities? Are you prepared to devote
yourself, along the lines of the

report, to the improvement of their position?



Answer

I have knowledge of the HRW report. Among other things, the report takes
up the issue of limitations on

freedom of speech and freedom of peaceful assembly and association. At the
same time, the report

indicates that because of limitations on access to Papua, finding reliable
information is extremely difficult.

The recommendations of HRW are being reviewed in relation to the formation
of the Dutch position on the

situation in Papua.



Question 5.

Are you prepared to ask for clarification from the Indonesian government
about the reasons for the very

restrictive policy of admission to Papua for journalists, diplomats, and
NGO's? Are you prepared to

strongly request lifting these restrictions?



Answer

The Netherlands have repeatedly raised the matter of the restrictive
admission policy with the Indonesian

authorities. The reservedness of the Indonesian authorities mainly
concerns journalists; NGO's and

diplomats actively involved in human rights and (inter) religious matters.
Several EU-member states, as

well as other members of the international community in Jakarta, such as
Australia, Canada and the US,

are regularly raising the issue with the Indonesian authorities.

            Diplomats involved in developmental cooperation and economic
affairs are experiencing relatively

little trouble with getting admission to Papua. The same goes for
employees of development banks (World

bank, Asian Development Bank); UN-organizations (such as ILO, UNDP,
UNICEF); the European

Commission; and NGO's and journalists occupied with 'neutral' matters like
scientific inquiry, environment,

education, health care, and local government.

            The Dutch ambassador has recently brought a visit to the
provinces of Papua and West Irian

Jaya. The purpose of the visit was to gain insight in to the local
situation, especially regarding socio-

economic affairs.



Question 6.

Can you inform us about the current state of affairs regarding the
execution of the Papua Special

Autonomy Law? From what does it appear that the Indonesian government
feels strongly about the good

implementation of this law? Besides that, have extra regional and national
resources for the development

of Papua been freed up, as promised by the Indonesian President?



Answer

At the end of 2005, the MRP was established by the Indonesian government.
Gubernatorial elections for

the provinces of Papua and West Irian took place in 2006. Both newly
elected governors have made a

priority of the execution of the Special Autonomy Law and socio-economic
development of the population.

            Papua receives substantial additional resources from the
central government in order to support

this development. Both governors have asked for support from the
international community. An

international consortium of donors, in which the Netherlands are actively
participating, is now cooperating

with the national and provincial authorities to draw up and implement a
plan to use the autonomy

resources for the benefit of the people. Besides that, President Yudhoyono
has announced freeing up

extra resources by means of a presidential instruction and intensifying
the efforts for the development of

Papua and West Irian.



Question 7.

To what extent have the Netherlands been seeking attention for the issues
mentioned in section 5? Have

the Netherlands succeeded in widening the attention of the EU from Aceh to
Papua? Has this resulted in

any action undertaken by the EU?



Answer

See also answer to question 5.

The situation in Papua and  West Irian Jaya has been the subject of
continuous deliberation between EU

-representatives over the course of the last few years. The EU regularly
points out human rights violations

to the Indonesian authorities

 ---

http://etan.org/news/2007/04mile63.htm

(KI NOTE: Audio files can be downloaded from the website above)

 Joyo News/Pantau Exclusive Report
Murder at Mile 63

By S. Eben Kirksey and Andreas Harsono

    *

      Ambush
    *

      The Cover Up

U.S. intelligence reports linked the Indonesian military to the 2002
murder of American school teachers in

Timika, a mining town in the remote Indonesian province of Papua. Despite
these reports, and opposition

from the U.S. Congress, the Bush Administration removed a decade-old ban
on funding for military

education programs in Indonesia. An Indonesian court charged that Antonius
Wamang, an alleged

Papuan guerrilla, was the ringleader of this attack and sentenced him to
life in prison on 7 November

2006. Six other alleged coconspirators were given sentences ranging from
18 months to seven years in

jail. The same day that the sentences were handed down, Pentagon officials
announced a “new era of

military co-operation” with Indonesia. Yet, rigorous standards of evidence
did not prevail in this

Indonesian court and questions remain about whether Wamang’s group acted
alone. This report is based

on internal police documents, court records, and eyewitness accounts.
Antonius Wamang, Decky Murib,

Patsy Spier and more than 50 other sources were interviewed in Timika,
Jayapura, Jakarta and

Washington DC.
A TRIP TO THE BIG CITY

When Antonius Wamang boarded a passenger jet in September 2001 at Timika’s
airport in Papua, his

heart was pounding—he was on a mission to get weapons and ammunition in
Indonesia’s capital of

Jakarta.[1] Born in the remote highland village of Beoga in 1972, Wamang
was a young boy when

Indonesian Brigadier General Imam Munandar launched Operation Eliminate
(Operasi Kikis) in the

highlands of Papua.[2] Anti-personnel Daisy Cluster bombs, mortars and
machine-guns were used

against Papuan villagers who were armed with bows and arrows.[3] Nearly 30
years later, Wamang found

what he thought was an opportunity to buy arms and to fight back against
the Indonesian military.

Wamang told us he flew alone and was met at Jakarta’s airport by Agus
Anggaibak, a sandalwood dealer

with ties to the Indonesian military.[4] According to Janes Natkime, who
has long known both Wamang

and Anggaibak and currently heads the Warsi Foundation in Timika, “Agus
Anggaibak set up everything,

he lobbied the officers and arranged the money.”[5] Anggaibak had earlier
visited Wamang’s group in

their jungle hideout, encouraging them to raise money to buy guns. He
brought a rifle with him. Anggaibak

showed off this weapon in Wamang’s camp. Identifiers were etched into the
gun: “MODEL P88-9, Col 9

mmp AK, Made in Germany.”[6]

Anggaibak promised to help Wamang obtain weapons like the one he was
carrying, as well as other guns,

from arms dealers in Jakarta.[7] Like all groups in West Papua’s Tentara
Pembebasan Nasional (National

Liberation Army)—a group without a clear hierarchical command structure
founded in 1971—Wamang’s

group was poorly armed.

Antonius Wamang’s group, according to evidence presented in the Indonesian
court that later charged

him with murder and several witnesses, only had three aging weapons: an
SS1, an M16, and a bolt-action

Mauser. Following several weeks of intensive gold panning, and sandalwood
collecting, Wamang raised

money to purchase more guns. Anggaibak departed for Jakarta, with an
advance payment from Wamang,

where he began working on securing a deal. Wamang later flew to meet
Anggaibak. He brought sacks of

sandalwood probably worth more than 500 million rupiah ($50,000 USD) in
Jakarta.[8] On the international

market sandalwood fetches even higher prices. This rare wood is used to
make incense and perfume.

                Initially Anggaibak and Wamang stayed in a police guest
house in Jakarta. A sandalwood

middleman from Makassar named Mochtar introduced Anggaibak and Wamang to
some Indonesian army

and police officers. Well aware of how to exploit internal conflicts
within the Indonesian security forces,

Wamang hoped to secure weapons from one faction in hopes of attacking
another faction.

Sergeant Puji, a police officer, befriended Wamang while he was staying at
the guest house. Sergeant

Puji took Wamang and Anggaibak on trips around Jakarta. They toured around
while Puji asked them

about the activities of Papuan guerrillas around Timika. Puji said that he
wanted to help the movement: he

presented Wamang with a gift of six magazines of bullets (total 180
bullets) that could be used in

Wamang’s M16 or SS1 rifles. Puji also gave Wamang bullets for his
Mauser.[9] One night in the guest

house, Puji showed Wamang fifteen M-16 rifles. Wamang said he paid 250
million Rupiah ($25,000 USD)

for these guns and Puji held on to them for safe keeping.[10]

Later Wamang moved to Hotel Djody at Jalan Jaksa 35, a backpacker hostel
in downtown Jakarta.[11] He

probably checked in using a false name. “Mochtar was a regular guest
here,” said Herry Blaponte, the

hotel’s front office staff. Blaponte told us Mochtar had regularly made
sandalwood business deals with his

Papuan guests. Hotel staff remembered Mochtar as having a stocky build and
being well dressed. Their

memories of him are not fond, however, since he left without paying his
bill. Blaponte and hotel security

staff Mahmud Trikasno later told Indonesian chief detective Dzainal
Syarief that they did not remember

Wamang’s stay at their hotel. “I don’t remember his face,” said Trikasno.
Four cleaning service staff also

did not recognize Wamang, when presented with his picture some five years
after he says he stayed at

the hotel.[12]

One afternoon at Hotel Djody, according to Wamang, a stranger approached
him and Anggaibak. “I hear

you are looking to buy guns”, Wamang quoted the stranger as saying.
Eventually Anggaibak admitted that

they were. The stranger—Captain Hardi Heidi—said that he was an Indonesian
soldier from Surabaya.

Eventually Wamang paid for four additional guns from Hardi Heidi: two AKs
and two M-16s. As with

Sergeant Puji, Wamang arranged for Hardi Heidi to keep the weapons for
safe keeping until he was ready

to depart for Timika.[13]

Hardi Heidi introduced Anggaibak and Wamang to Sugiono, an active duty
Kopassus officer who pledged

to help transport the weapons to Timika.[14] Sugiono and Hardi Heidi had
interests similar to Sergeant

Puji’s—they wanted to hear about the activities of Papuan guerillas around
Timika.

On September 21, Wamang visited 40 Papuan delegates, who had just returned
from negotiations with

Freeport McMoRan—the New Orleans based company that operates a mine near
Timika with the largest

gold deposit in the world. They were making a stop in Jakarta and stayed
at Hotel Mega Matra. Excited to

see many fellow Amungme leaders, Wamang visited the hotel a number of
times. The leaders were

negotiating a profit sharing deal with Freeport’s management.

Wamang asked many delegates for money. According to delegate Eltinus
Omaleng, Wamang bragged

about how he had secured a shipload of weapons that were ready to be
shipped to Papua.[15] Wamang

needed the extra money to transport the weapons. Janes Natkime gave Wamang
1.5 million Rupiah ($160

USD), “Five days later he came back to the hotel, saying that the ship had
been rerouted to Aceh.”[16]

Wamang said that he had paid Sugiono nearly 50 million Rupiah ($5,400
USD)to ship the guns to Timika.

After a chartered boat was loaded with the weapons, Wamang claims that
Sugiono and Hardi Heidi gave

him the slip. The ship motored away with Wamang standing alone on the
dock.[17] Just prior to the boat’s

departure, Wamang said that he overheard a conversation between Hardi
Heidi and his wife. Wamang

quoted the wife as saying: “We should sell these in Aceh.”[18]

After calling associates back in Timika for more money, Wamang traveled
alone back to Timika on the

Kelimutu passenger ship.[19] Wamang arrived in Timika with only the
bullets that Sergeant Puji had given

him.[20] His extensive contacts with Sergeant Puji, with Sugiono, with
Hardi Heidi, and with Mochtar had

given him moments of hope. But his mission to obtain guns had ultimately
failed. Instead, Wamang

revealed his plans to launch an assault to these Indonesian officers and
gave them intelligence about the

activities of fellow Papuan guerillas.

THE AMBUSH

In early August 2002, Wamang started out on foot with at least six other
men, including Johny Kacamol,

Yulianus Deikme and Elias Kwalik, from a jungle camp near Kali Kopi[21].
Their destination was the main

road that connects Tembagapura, the mining town of Freeport McMoRan, to
Timika, a sprawling urban

center in the lowlands.

                According to Wamang, the journey took nearly three weeks.
Wamang, and his men, were

preparing to launch an armed assault on Indonesian military troops
traveling on this road. The group set

up a temporary camp in a ravine below mile 63 of the road.[22]

                One of Wamang’s co-conspirators, Hardi Tsugumol, was also
very busy getting ready for “an

action” on the road, according to Deminikus Bebari of the Amungme
Indigenous Council (Lemassa). In

the weeks leading up to the ambush, Tsugumol “amassed food and other
supplies,” wrote Bebari, in a

2002 report prepared for Indonesian police investigators.[23]

                When Hardi Tsugumol was a boy, growing up in a highland
village, he wanted to be a soldier.

[24] As an adult, Tsugumol cultivated relationships with Indonesian
soldiers stationed in Timika. In the lead

up to the ambush Tsugumol “contacted his friends in the military to buy
ammunition—300 bullets for

600,000 rupiah, via his friends who were in the Indonesian special
forces,” wrote Bebari.[25]

                On Saturday 31 August 20002, just before dawn, three men,
including Tsugumol, were “picked

up at the Kwamki Lama neighborhood by a white Toyota Land Cruiser from
Freeport’s Emergency

Planning Operation division,” wrote Bebari.[26] The EPO is a Freeport
division that provides logistical,

transportation and communication supports for the more than 3,000
Indonesian security personnel

stationed in the area.[27] Tsugumol, declined to reveal the identity of
the vehicle’s driver, saying that he

has to protect his “friend.” He only admitted that they had traveled along
the Timika-Tembagapura road,

past five checkpoints, that morning.[28] The 79-mile road has 14 military
posts manned by various units

such as Kostrad army reserves, the Marines, the Air Force’s Paskhas elite
unit, the Army Battalion 752,

the Army’s Cavalry, Brimob (Mobil Brigade) police troops as well as the
infamous Kopassus special

operations forces.

                Decky Murib, a Papuan man who works as a military
informant, said that ten soldiers picked

him up at Hotel Serayu in Timika at 8 am that same day. Murib often
accompanied Indonesian officers in

their operations. He said that he was surprised to see Kopassus Captain
Margus Arifin leading this group.

“He was supposed to be in Bandung,” said Murib. Formerly, Margus had been
the Kopassus liaison

officer at Freeport’s EPO office. Murib later told police investigators
that Margus brought him in a car with

license plate number 609 through the Freeport checkpoints and dropped him,
with four solders at mile 62

of the Tembagapura road. Margus reportedly continued north along the road
with the remaining soldiers.

[29] Margus Arifin denied Murib’s testimony, saying that he was in Bandung
that day. Kopassus

commander Major General Sriyanto Muntrasan told Tempo that Margus’s
signatures showed he was in a

Bandung military course.

                Freeport operates its check points to register every car
and person traveling along the road.

[30] Workers have to show their employee ID cards at the checkpoints.
Locals have to show special

permits issued by Freeport’s Community Liaison Office. There are also
special Freeport-issued visitor

cards. “Only the soldiers refuse to report at the checkpoints,” said Lexy
Lintuuran, Freeport’s corporate

security chief.[31] According to Linturan, a car with the license plate
609, the car Decky Murib claimed

he was in, passed through the checkpoints in the morning of the attack.[32]

                That morning a group of school teachers from the
Tembagapura International School, went on

a picnic around mile 62 of the road. The rugged terrain around this
high-elevation section of the road is

covered by old-growth cloud forest. Patsy Spier, who was part of this
picnic with 10 others, said that it

was rainy and foggy. “We ended up leaving the picnic early,” said Spier.[33]

                The teachers traveled in two white Toyota Land Cruisers.
Rick Spier, her husband, drove the

first SUV with four colleagues riding as passengers. Ted Burgon, the
school’s principal, sat next to Rick

Spier.

The first shots, fired by a sniper at Rick Spier’s SUV as it traveled down
the road, were deadly. The

windshield of Rick Spier and Ted Burgon’s car exploded. Within moments
they both sustained fatal

wounds.[34]

Wamang claims to not know who fired these first shots. In the initial
burst of gunfire it was hard to tell who

was shooting. “With everyone shooting, you can’t hear well .... If I had
shot first, then I would have been

able to tell,” recalled Wamang.[35] Wamang’s group was a rag-tag band of
teenagers and men with

limited weapons training.[36] They wore black shorts, black t-shirts, and
black plastic headbands. They

were all barefoot.[37]

Patsy Spier traveled in the second car driven by Ken Balk. She sat next to
Bambang Riwanto, her

Javanese colleague.[38] Suddenly, in the fog, Patsy Spier saw her
husband’s car stopped by the side of

the road. Another car was speeding towards her on the opposite side of the
road. “They ran Rick’s car off

of the road,” Spier thought. Turning around in her seat to get a good look
at its license plate, Spier felt a

sharp stab in her side. She had been shot. The windshield shattered. Blood
splattered all over the SUV

interior.[39]

                “I did not see the shooters,” said Patsy Spier. Ken Balk,
in the same car as Spier, saw a pair

of black army boots underneath a truck, some 20 yards away from where
their vehicle had come to a

stop.[40] Three other vehicles, a yellow Mac truck and two Canadian
Pacific dump trucks, were also

riddled with bullets.[41]

                “All of us were shot, wounded. Bambang was laying on top
of me, bleeding. I was worried

about my husband but the shooting just continued,” said Spier.[42] Bambang
died in the attack. Among

the 11 people who were wounded in the attack, there were three Indonesian
drivers. The two drivers who

were seriously injured, Loudwyk Worotikan and Johannes Bawan, were
employees of a Freeport contract

company. Mastur, the third driver, sustained light injuries.

                Another pick up truck was also shot but its driver, Daud
Tandirerung, managed to speed away

from the crime scene. Two colleagues, Yohan Jikwa and Kamame Moom, were
riding with Tandirerung.

They told investigators that they saw “two men in ski masks.”[43]
According to witnesses, and a

reconstruction by police investigators, the shooting lasted between 30 to
45 minutes.[44]

                 “We weren’t there very long. We immediately retreated,”
Wamang told us. We asked him,

“Were you there thirty minutes?” “No,” he said, “30 minutes is way too
long.”[45] They did not approach

the stopped cars. As Wamang’s group left the scene, the other unknown
gunmen continued shooting. No

one followed as they beat a hasty retreat on foot.[46]

                Andrew Neale, a Freeport expatriate, came upon the scene
from the north.[47] Neale jammed

his vehicle and drove back to the Kostrad military post about 500 meters
away at mile 64. According to

Lexy Lintuuran, Freeport’s security chief, the Kostrad company stationed
there “has more than 100

soldiers.”[48]

Why didn’t the Kostrad soldiers come sooner? Did they hear the 30-45
minutes of gunfire?

                When the soldiers finally arrived at the scene, the
attackers melted away. The soldiers briefly

fired their guns. Then the shooting abruptly stopped. “I assumed that the
shooters left after the TNI came,”

said Spier, using the acronym of the Indonesian military. She remembered a
soldier, dressed in full

camouflage and black boots, who stood over her, glaring down.[49] Victims
were immediately transported

to a nearby hospital and soon evacuated to bigger hospitals in Australia
and Indonesia.

                A total of thirteen guns were used in this assault on the
five cars, according to a leaked

ballistics report issued by the Police Central Forensic Laboratory (Pusat
Laboratorium Forensik Polri) on

19 December 2002: five M16s, six SS1s, and two Mausers.[50] “We had one
M16, one SS1, and one

Mauser,” Wamang told us.[51] Wamang’s account of his weaponry is
consistent with the evidence

presented by chief prosecutor Anita Asterida: his group carried a total of
three guns.[52] The prosecution

did not account for the ten other guns.

                Ch. Syafriani, one of the Lab’s ballistics experts,
reiterated the data contained in the original

ballistics report on 29 September 2006 in the Central Jakarta district
court —the lab analyzed 30 bullets of

5.56 caliber, 77 bullet fragments, 94 bullet casings of 5.56 caliber, 7
bullet casings of 7.62 caliber.[53] A

total of 208 bullets, shells, or fragments were recovered from the crime
scene.[54] Of the six magazines

given to Wamang by Sergeant Puji, he claims that only 1½ magazines (about
45 bullets of 5.56 caliber)

were used by his men that day.

                Wamang told us that other gunmen were present.[55] He saw
other men shooting into the cars,

but he could not clearly identify them. “The testimony of Anton Wamang and
others at the crime scene is

clear and consistent: there was a second group of shooters,” said Paula
Makabory, a human rights

worker in Timika who repeatedly interviewed Wamang over the course of
three years.

Evidence of a second group of shooters was not considered by the
Indonesian courtroom that recently

found Wamang guilty. An Indonesian police investigation questioned 30
soldiers, 44 civilians, and

conducted extensive forensic research. These police investigators found “a
strong possibility” that there

were Indonesian military shooters.[56]

                Why would the Indonesian military stage an attack at the
Freeport mine? One theory is linked

to the fact that Freeport paid a total of US$5.6 million in 2002 for
“support costs for government-provided

security.”[57] The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 imposed new reporting
requirements on U.S. companies

in the wake of the Enron corporate accounting scandal. After this measure
was passed into law, Freeport

was forced to disclose their payments to the Indonesian military. Under
public scrutiny, Freeport began

reducing official and unofficial payments to Indonesian security
forces.[58] The August 2002 attack may

have been orchestrated by the Indonesian military in a bid to convince
Freeport of their continued need

for security.

                On 1 September, one day after the attack, the body of “Mr.
X” appeared near the crime scene.

Senior Indonesian military officers claimed that their troops had shot one
of the Papuan guerrilla

attackers. Second Class Corporal Wayan, an Indonesian soldier with Satgas
Pam 515 Kostrad, claimed

to have shot Mr. X while patrolling a mountain near the crime scene at
11:40 am.[59]

                At 1:30 pm senior military and police officials—including
Papua police chief Major General I

Made Mangku Pastika—arrived at the side of the road where Corporal Wayan
was standing with the

body.[60] There were no blood stains on the ground near the body. The body
was sent to the

Tembagapura hospital at 3:30. Dr. Kunto Rahardjo conducted an autopsy. He
concluded that Mr. X had

been killed more than six hours before he was examined at the hospital.
Mr. X had not eaten for more than

12 hours before his death. He had suffered from a severe intestinal worm
infection and had a condition

called hydrocele which caused his testicles to swell to 17 cm in
diameter.[61]

                Corporal Wayan claims that Mr. X was standing on a small
ledge approximately ½ meter in

width on the side of a steep cliff when he shot and killed him. A police
reconstruction conducted on 10

September 2002 found no blood stains on the ledge, at the base of the
cliff, nor along the route where

Corporal Wayan and his patrol members reportedly dragged the body. The
Timika-Tembagapura road is

78 meters from the base of the cliff. This rugged terrain is covered with
dense roots and loose rocks.[62]

The police reconstruction deemed Wayan’s story implausible.[63] The body
reportedly fell 8 meters off

the cliff, yet did not have any broken bones. A report by Indonesian
forensics experts found that the blood

type of Mr. X was “O” and that dirt and leaves from the site where Wayan
claimed to have shot the man

did not contain any blood of this type.[64]

THE COVER UP

Elsham Papua, a human rights group which was involved in the Timika
investigation, issued a preliminary

report on 26 September 2002. It presented evidence “suggesting the
shooting was carried out by

Indonesian military personnel or groups facilitated by the TNI.”[65] The
BBC, Radio Australia, and many

Papuan newspapers covered the report. Two days later, the Indonesian
military announced that it was to

sue Elsham. A court summons arrived in November, announcing that John
Rumbiak and Yohanis Bonai,

respectively the supervisor and director of Elsham, were being sued for
libelous statements.[66]

Thugs raided Elsham Papua’s Jakarta office on 10 October 2002.[67] “During
the raid, the men seized

documents and computer diskettes containing Elsham reports on the August
ambush,” wrote the Jakarta

Post.[68]

Yohanis Bonai’s wife, Elsje, and other members of their extended family,
were attacked by unknown

gunmen while travelling by car near the border between Indonesia and Papua
New Guinea on 28

December 2002. Elsje Bonay was shot in both legs.[69] She survived the
attack, but after repeated

surgeries she still has difficulty walking. Tempo magazine ran a story
with the headline: “Shooting of

Papuan Human Rights Activist’s Family May Be Related to Timika Incident.”[70]

Brigadier General Raziman Tarigan, the second in command of the Papua
police, headed an Indonesian

police investigation. Tarigan worked closely with Elsham
investigators.[71] Tarigan told reporters that the

13 guns used in the attack were the types of weapons issued to soldiers
stationed in the area.[72] “Only

the military and Freeport workers pass through the area,” Tarigan was
quoted as saying by Koran

Tempo.[73]

Separately, I Made Mangku Pastika, Tarigan’s immediate superior, told
three aides to Coordinating

Minister on Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in a
meeting in the Timika police

station: “Gentlemen, this country belongs to all of us. If you do
something for the sake of the country and

the nation, well, please tell us first. So we’re not all in trouble.”[74]
Yudhoyono is now Indonesia’s

President. Saul Tahapary, a Freeport security consultant, was party to
this conversation, recalled that

Pastika was upset with attempts by the military to cover up their own
actions.

Soon Tarigan and Pastika were transferred off of the investigation to new
assignments elsewhere in

Indonesia. Pastika was assigned to investigate the Bali bombing that
killed more than 200 people.

Following the reports by Tarigan and Pastika, Indonesia’s Central Military
Police (Puspom TNI) sent a

team to conduct a “reconstruction.” According to Richard Saferstien’s text
on criminology, Criminalistics:

An Introduction to Forensic Science, a murder reconstruction involves
answering a series of questions:

(1) was there more than one person involved? (2) how was the victim
killed? (3) were there actions taken

to cover up what actually took place?[75] The Indonesian military
reconstruction did not rigorously attempt

to answer any of these three questions. In fact, this “reconstruction”
itself is further evidence of a cover

up.

Decky Murib, the military informant who claimed to be near the scene of
the crime, told us that he was

threatened and intimidated by Indonesian soldiers on 28 December 2002, the
day of the reconstruction.

[76] In the months prior to this day, Murib had worked with police
investigators to identify Kopassus

soldiers whom he alleged were at the crime scene: Captain Margus Arifin,
First Lieutenant Wawan

Suwandi, Second Class Sergeant I Wayan Suradnya, and First Class Private
Jufri Uswanas.[77] Murib

told us that he had changed his story as a result of threats by Captain
Margus on the day of the

reconstruction.[78] Captain Margus told Murib to not participate in the
reconstruction. Murib decided to go

into hiding.[79]

On 28 December 2002 at 11:30 am, the Indonesian military reconstruction
team traveled by bus to mile

58. Deminikus Bebari of Lemassa and Albert Bolang of the Legal Aid
Institute were accompanying the

team as outside observers. Bebari protested, saying that mile 58 was not
the place where Murib claimed

to have heard the shots. Murib initially told police investigators that he
had heard gun shots from his

position in between mile 61 and 62.[80] At this spot there was a large
pole, shipping containers, and a

place to sit.[81] The team then traveled approximately 500 meters up the
road and positioned themselves

under some umbrellas by the roadside. The pole and shipping containers,
from Murib’s testimony, were

nowhere in sight. Over four miles of road and the Hanekam tunnel separated
Bebari from the site where

Murib said he heard the shots.[82] But the military reconstruction team
refused to travel further up the

road.

Albert Bolang traveled with a separate team, a Brimob mobile police unit,
to the site of the shooting at mile

63. Once both teams were in place, 20 bullets were shot in an automatic
burst. Radio contact was made

between the two groups. The reconstruction team and Bebari did not hear
the gunshots. Brigadier General

Hendarji, who headed the military reconstruction team, confronted Bebari
as they stood on the road

immediately after the shooting experiment. Bebari recounted Hendarji
saying “Since you did not hear any

gunshots then Murib’s testimony about the Timika shooting was a lie.”[83]

Deminikus Bebari told us “Decky might be a drunkard and an opportunist but
he was at mile 62. How

could we test whether he had heard the shots or not when I was placed four
miles away from his

position?”[84] In January 2003, Decky Murib was flown to Jakarta by
Indonesian military officials.[85]

Major General Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, the Indonesian military spokesman,
announced on 14 January 2003:

“Decky Murib lied.”[86]

The reconstruction took place at the height of President Megawati
Sukarnoputri’s effort to restore military

ties with the United States. Her chief security minister, Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono, told reporters, “There

are some things that do not match between the investigation results of the
police and the results of the TNI

internal investigation into the case.” Yudhoyono called for a
“synchronization” of the two investigations at

“the political level.”[87]

Recovering from her gunshot wounds, and mourning her lost husband, Patsy
Spier closely followed the

news as police investigators implicated Indonesian military troops in the
attack. When the Indonesian

military took over the investigation, and promptly exonerated themselves,
Spier began her campaign for

justice. After making a few tear-choked phone calls to the offices of
Washington policy makers, she

learned that the US government was poised to fund the controversial
International Military Education and

Training (IMET) program for Indonesian soldiers. “I just, I just couldn’t
believe it,” Spier told ABC

reporters, “If the Indonesian police had implicated the Indonesian
military, why would my government want

to give money to that military?”[88]

The Bush administration made military aid to Indonesia a high priority in
the post-September 11th era.

Indonesia is the most populous Muslim nation in the world. Following the
Santa Cruz massacre in East

Timor, the U.S. Congress had blocked military aid to Indonesia in 1992.
All military assistance to

Indonesia had been cut by the Clinton administration in response to the
bloodbath during the 1999

independence referendum in East Timor.[89] When Spier first came to
Capitol Hill in early 2003, human

rights groups—Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the East
Timor Action Network—were

losing a battle to keep restrictions on Indonesian military financing.

Spier’s presentations to lawmakers were well received. She secured
meetings with some of the top U.S.

government officials: Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, FBI
director Robert Mueller, key

Senators, and Congressmen.[90] Spier also met FBI agents Paul Myers, Brad
Dierdorf, and Ron Eowan,

men who she came to see as her personal “guardian angels.”[91]

Initially FBI agents were only permitted short visits to Timika. All their
interviews of witnesses were, at first,

conducted in the presence of Indonesian minders.[92] “We were objective,”
said Dierdorf during the

interrogation of a witness on 24 February 2005. “Our gut feeling initially
leaned away from Papuans,”

Dierdorf said. The Australian published a sensational headline on 28
October 2002, “FBI: Army Lied

about Papua Ambush.”[93] This story discussed the planting of false
evidence and removal of other

evidence from the scene of the killing. Despite repeated high-level
requests from the U.S. government,

including a personal appeal by President Bush, the FBI had continual
difficulties in gaining access to

witnesses and material evidence.[94]

Spier saw that restricting funds for the Indonesian military would provide
a financial incentive for

cooperation. Sen. Russell D. Feingold (D-Wis.) later sponsored an
amendment to prohibit “normalization”

of the U.S.-Indonesia military relationship. Sen. Wayne Allard (R-CO)
sponsored a parallel amendment

that prohibited the release of $600,000 in IMET military training funds.
Both amendments passed in

October 2003. Only “full cooperation” with the FBI in its investigation
into the Timika ambush would prompt

Washington to release these funds to the Indonesian military.

These congressional measures stymied Bush administration efforts to
restore full military ties with

Indonesia. Edmund McWilliams, formerly a U.S. Embassy political counselor
in Jakarta, told us, “The FBI

investigation, once it was finally launched, proceeded in the constraining
political context of an

administration policy which was pressing for rapid expansion of
U.S.-Indonesian military ties. I personally

observed FBI reluctance to accept or pursue information offered to it that
pointed to Indonesian military

involvement in the killings.”[95]

Over a two-year period, Elsham’s John Rumbiak presented the FBI with
specific details about Wamang’s

ties to the Indonesian military.[96] Senator Joseph R. Biden submitted
written questions about this case to

Dr. Condoleezza Rice during her January 19, 2005, confirmation hearing for
the position of U.S.

Secretary of State. Dr. Rice responded, “Although the investigation is not
complete, the FBI has

uncovered no evidence indicating TNI involvement in the Timika murders.”
Did FBI investigators brief

administration officials about Wamang’s trip to Jakarta and his extensive
contacts with military agents?

Were U.S. leaders informed about eyewitness reports of a second group of
shooters?

Decky Murib was brought as a prosecution witness in the defamation suit
against Elsham on 31 March

2004 in Jayapura, the capital of Papua. During the course of the trial,
Murib stayed in the personal guest

quarters of the Indonesian military commander for Papua. On 14 April 2004,
the Elsham legal defense

team staged a walk-out because the judges would not give them the
opportunity to cross-examine Murib.

The Elsham defense team was finally given the opportunity to question
Murib on 5 May 2004, but Murib

refused to answer any questions. On three separate occasions, Murib made
death threats to Bebari, the

human rights worker, in front of the court. The Elsham defense team asked
that the judges take note of the

threats. If bodily harm should come to their witness, the Elsham defense
team observed, Murib would be

suspected as the perpetrator.

Approximately one month later Bebari’s house was ransacked by an angry
mob. A group of men wielding

axes entered the house and grabbed Bebari’s wife, Nirmala Ohee, and their
three children. The men

destroyed books, clothes, and other personal property. They threatened to
kill Nirmala Ohee and the

children.[97]

On 24 June 2004, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director
Robert Mueller announced that

Antonius Wamang had been indicted for the murders at mile 63. The
indictment alleged that Wamang was

a guerilla fighter seeking independence from Indonesia. The U.S.
Department of Justice did not exonerate

the Indonesian military, but the Indonesian military subsequently claimed
exoneration.

Less than one week after Wamang’s indictment, the Jayapura district court
found Elsham guilty of libel.

The rights group was fined 50 million rupiah ($5,300 USD) on 30 June 2004
and ordered to publicly

apologize through national print and television media.[98]

Following the indictment, the U.S. Congress dropped provisions that tied
military education programs in

Indonesia to cooperation in the Timika investigation. Yet, Indonesian
authorities failed to capture

Wamang. Willy Mandowen, a Papuan politician, began talking with the FBI
and U.S. government officials

about negotiating Wamang’s surrender. He sent an e-mail to a public
discussion forum for Papuan

activists on 7 December 2005: “Tomorrow at Capitol Hill, Washington D.C.,
we are meeting with important

representatives of the U.S. Congress who are giving full support to help
us resolve our problems in West

Papua.”[99] Congressional staffers talked with Mandowen about the
possibility that FBI agents might bring

Wamang to stand trial in America.[100]

With Willy Mandowen’s help, Paul Myers and Ron Eowan of the FBI
coordinated an 11 January 2006

“meeting” at a small hotel in Timika called Amole Dua.[101] Invitations to
this meeting were sent to

suspects via Reverend Isak Onawame, a local church leader who is known
internationally for his work on

human rights. The Washington Post reported that the FBI pledged to
transport the suspects to the U.S. for

trial.[102] At the hotel, the two FBI agents told the 12 men attending the
meeting, including Antonius

Wamang and Reverend Onawame, to get into the back of a medium-sized truck.
The agents reportedly

promised to drive the men to the Timika airport and fly them out of
Indonesia. Instead of driving to the

airport, Myers and Eowan dropped the men at a local police station where
Indonesian troops with the elite

Brimob unit were waiting.[103]

Reverend Onawame was strip searched, deprived of sleep, and interrogated
at the police station along

with the other detainees. Another detainee, an elderly man named Jairus
Kibak, says he was hit by an

Indonesian interrogator on his forehead. Four of the men, who were never
charged with any crime, were

released the next day.[104]

Reverend Onawame was not released. Denny Yomaki of Elsham Papua, who met
with Reverend

Onawame in prison, said, “Interrogators extracted a false confession from
Reverend Onawame. He told

the police that he gave Wamang food.” Antonius Wamang has repeatedly said
that Reverend Isak

Onawame was not involved in the crime. “It’s fine if I am held
responsible,” Wamang said, “but, the

Reverend didn’t even help us with logistics.”[105]

The prisoners were soon transferred to the Indonesian Police Headquarters’
detention center in Jakarta.

They were not given their own cells to sleep in. Instead they all shared
the prison "TV room." Hardi

Tsugumol, who was charged with providing Wamang with logistical support,
developed serious heart

problems in June 2006. His medical treatment was delayed until late
August, when he underwent heart

surgery. Tsugumol also suffered from hepatitis and HIV/AIDS. One of the
prisoners’ lawyers, Riando

Tambunan, repeatedly asked the court to attend to Tsugumol’s health
problems. But, visits from doctors

were infrequent.

Judicial proceedings in Indonesia differ markedly from the United States,
where Wamang thought he

would be tried when he surrendered to the FBI. In Indonesia evidence is
not evaluated by a jury, but

instead by a government appointed team. The role of "prosecutor" and
"judge" (hakim) are not easily

distinguished. In Indonesia, hakim who do not toe the government line have
been assassinated. Evidence

of Indonesian military involvement in the murder was not presented to the
court by the defense team who

represented Wamang and the other defendants. The defense team did not have
funding available to

conduct proper discovery research.

Antonius Wamang was sentenced to life in prison by a Jakarta court on 7
November 2006. Two other

defendants, teenagers Johny Kacamol and Yulianus Deikme, were sentenced to
seven years in jail, while

the other four, including Reverend Onawame, Hardi Tsugumol and the two
church workers, were

sentenced to 18 months.[106] Tsugumol died on December 1st.

No charges have been brought against Sergeant Puji, the police officer who
Wamang has fingered as

supplier of the bullets used in the attack. Evidence of the reported
involvement of Kopassus military

agents—Captain Margus Arifin, First Lieutenant Wawan Suwandi, Second Class
Sergeant I Wayan

Suradnya, and First Class Private Jufri Uswanas—has not been heard by a
court of law. Agus

Anggaibak, who reportedly inspired Wamang’s attack and helped him get
bullets, is now a member of the

government regional assembly in Timika.

The FBI does not yet consider this murder case closed.[107] Despite the
inconclusive outcome of this

investigation, the Bush administration has launched aggressive new
military aid programs for Indonesia.

Earlier last year a new Pentagon program was announced that will provide
up to $19 million in additional

funds for building Indonesian military capacity. The same day that Wamang
was sentenced to life,

Washington signaled a “new era of military co-operation” with Indonesia.[108]

***

This report is based on interviews with Antonius Wamang, Decky Murib,
Patsy Spier and more than 50

other sources in Timika, Jayapura, Jakarta and Washington DC. It is
sponsored by the Joyo Indonesia

News in New York and Pantau media group in Jakarta. S. Eben Kirksey is
completing his doctorate at the

University of California in Santa Cruz about the idea of freedom (merdeka)
in Papua. Andreas Harsono is

a Pantau journalist, currently writing his book, “From Sabang to Merauke:
Debunking the Myth of

Indonesian Nationalism.”



[1] Antonius Wamang, tape-recorded interview with SEK on 25 March 2005 in
Kwamki Lama, Timika;

interview with AH on 8-9 October 2006 in Jakarta.

[2] S. Sularto, 'Mereka yang Terpaksa Mengungsi', Kompas (Jakarta), 28
November 1977, pp. 7-8;

Carmel Budiardjo and Liem Sioe Liong, West Papua, pp. 119-20; Robin
Osborne, Indonesia's Secret

War, p. 145.

[3] Budiardjo and Liem, West Papua, pp. 119-24.

[4] Wamang, 25 March 2005; John Rumbiak, SEK interview, 24 February 2005,
Washington DC.

[5] Janes Natkime, AH interview 6 November 2006. Original quote: “Agus
Anggaibak yang atur, lobby

tentara, Agus yang setel semua, atur uang.”

[6] An activist attended the meeting and copied the specifications of the
gun down in his notebook. SEK

saw this notebook, 24 March 2005 in Timika.

[7] Wamang, 25 March 2005; John Rumbiak, 24 February 2005.

[8] Wamang, 25 March 2005, Timika; Deminikus Bebari interview with AH 13
October 2006 in Jakarta.

[9] Wamang, 25 March 2005, Timika.

[10] Wamang, 25 March 2005, Timika.

[11] Wamang, 25 March 2005, Timika.

[12] Herry Blaponte and Mahmud Trikasno, AH interview, 6 November 2006.
Police chief commissioner

Dzainal Syarief, who headed the Indonesian police investigation on the
Mile 63 case, declined to

comment for this story. AH showed Wamang’s photo to five other hotel
employees. None remembered his

face. They said they have many guests. The guest book does not show either
Wamang’s name nor his

alias P. Amug.

[13] Wamang, 25 March 2005, Timika

[14] John Rumbiak, SEK interview, 24 February 2005. Wamang, 25 March 2005.

[15] Eltinus Omaleng, AH interview in Jakarta, 6 November 2006.

[16] Like Papua, Aceh is an Indonesian province seeking independence from
Indonesia. It declared

independence in December 1976. Aceh guerilla fighters regularly attacked
Indonesian military positions.

In 2001, some of the worst attacks happened in Aceh. Arms circulated
easily in Aceh. Only in August

2005, the Free Acheh guerillas agreed to sign a peace agreement with Jakarta.

[17] Wamang, 25 March 2005; 8-9 October 2006.

[18] Wamang, 25 March 2005; 8-9 October 2006. Indonesian original: “Harus
kami jual ke Aceh.”

[19] Wamang, 25 March 2005, Timika.

[20] Wamang, 25 March 2005, Timika.

[21] Interview Antonius Wamang with SEK on 25 March 2005, Timika and with
AH on 9 October 2006,

Jakarta. Also Yulianus Deikme with AH 9 October 2006 in Jakarta.

[22] Wamang, 25 March 2005, Timika and 9 October 2006, Jakarta.

[23] Deminikus Bebari, “Kesaksiaan Saudara Hardi Tsugumol Tentang Pelaku
Penembakan di Mill 63.”

[24] Hardi Tsugumol, 22 March 2005, interview with SEK in Timika.

[25] Bebari, “Kesaksiaan Saudara Hardi Tsugumol Tentang Pelaku Penembakan
di Mill 63,” Original

reads: Hardy Tsugumol sangat sibuk dengan persiapan rencana aksi damai di
sekitar terowongan ruas

jalan Timika-Tembagapura, menyangkut : BAMA (Bahan Makanan) serta
kelengkapan lainnya.

Menghubungi teman-temannya anggota (Militer) untuk membeli Amunisi yang
berjumlah 300 Butir, dengan

harga Rp, 600.000 melaui salah satu temannya yang anggota Kopassus.” AH
checked this information

with Bebari in Jakarta, 13 November 2006.

[26] Bebari, “Kesaksiaan Saudara Hardi Tsugumol Tentang Pelaku Penembakan
di Mill 63,” Original

reads: Mereka dijemput oleh Mobil PT. Freeport Indonesia yang digunakan
oleh Department Army (EPO)

di Kompleks Pompa Dua Kwamki lama.

[27] AH interview with Lexy Lintuuran and Saul Tahapary, respectively PT
Freeport Indonesia’s senior

manager on corporate security and security consultant, in Jakarta on 6
November 2006.

[28] Kwamki Lama neighborhood is located near Timika. One has to pass five
checkpoints manned by

Freeport’s security and the Indonesian military to reach Mile 63. The five
checkpoints include Mile 28,

Mile 32, Mile 34, Mile 50 (one of the strictest) and Mile 58.

[29] “Kesaksian Deky Murib di Polda Papua Tentang Penembakan di Mile 62-63
Tembagapura”, Polda,

Jayapura, 18 September 2002. “Saran Tindak Lanjut BAP Saksi Sdr Decky
Murib (TBO Kopassus)”,

Timika, 28 September 2002.

[30] PT Freeport Indonesia Corporate Communications Department, Pedoman
Kunjungan, Jakarta,

August 2005. This manual prints a map of the mining area with the military
posts or “Milpos.”

[31] Lintuuran, AH interview in Jakarta, 6 November 2006. Original quote:
“Mereka seenaknya saja,

mereka masa bodoh. Yang tidak bisa kita kendalikan hanya mobil-mobil
keamanan.”

[32] Lintuuran, AH interview in Jakarta, 6 November 2006.

[33] Patsy Spier in AH interview in Jakarta, 13 October 2006.

[34] Dana Priest, “Nightmare and a Mystery,” Sunday, June 22, 2003; Page A01.

[35] Wamang, 25 March 2005, Timika. Original reads: Kalo bunyi sama-sama,
berarti tidak bisa dengar...

Kalau saya duluan berarti, itu bisa.

[36] Wamang, 25 March 2005, Timika.

[37] Wamang, 25 March 2005, Timika. Surat Dakwaan, Kejaksaan Negeri
Jakarta Pusat, Juni 2006

[38] Patsy Spier in AH interview in Jakarta, 13 October 2006. Patsy drew
the seating positions inside the

two vehicles. It is consistent with previous media reports, such as,
“Freeport victim's quest for answers

leads to Australia” in the Sidney Morning Herald, 27 February 2003.

[39] Patsy Spier in AH interview in Jakarta, 13 October 2006.

[40] Priest, “A Nightmare, and a Mystery,” page A01.

[41] Dudon Satiaputra, “Rahasia: Laporan Hasil Sementara Pemeriksaan TKP
Penembakan Kary. PT.

Freeport,” Jakarta, 19 December 2002.

[42] Patsy Spier in AH interview in Jakarta, 13 October 2006.

[43] Bebari, “Kesaksian Saudara Yonan Jikwa dan Kamame Mom Tentang Aksi
Pnembakan di Mill 63

Ruas Jalan Timika-Tembagapura.”

[44] Patsy Spier in AH interview in Jakarta, 13 October 2006.

[45] Wamang, 25 March 2005, Timika.

[46] Wamang, 25 March 2005, Timika.

[47] Priest, “A Nightmare, and a Mystery,” page A01.

[48] Lintuuran, AH interview in Jakarta, 6 November 2006.

[49] Priest, “A Nightmare, and a Mystery,” page A01.

[50] Dudon Satiaputra, “Rahasia: Laporan Hasil Sementara Pemeriksaan TKP
Penembakan Kary. PT.

Freeport,” Jakarta, 19 December 2002.

[51] Wamang, 25 March 2005, Timika.

[52] Surat Dakwaan Antonius Wamang, Kejaksaan Negeri Jakarta Pusat, Juni 2006

[53] Dudon Satiaputra, “Rahasia: Laporan Hasil Sementara Pemeriksaan TKP
Penembakan Kary. PT.

Freeport,” Jakarta, 19 December 2002.

[54] Dudon Satiaputra, “Rahasia: Laporan Hasil Sementara Pemeriksaan TKP
Penembakan Kary. PT.

Freeport,” Jakarta, 19 December 2002.

[55] Wamang, 25 March 2005, Timika. 8-9 October 2006.

[56] Quoted in Priest, “A Nightmare, and a Mystery,” page A01.

[57] Quoted in “Paying for Protection: The Freeport Mine and the
Indonesian Security Forces”, a report

by Global Witness, July 2005, p. 4. Captain Margus Arifin, the leader of
the rogue soldiers at the scene of

the crime according to Decky Murib, received USD$46,000 in March 2002
according to Global Witness.

[58] “Paying for Protection: The Freeport Mine and the Indonesian Security
Forces”, a report by Global

Witness, July 2005, p. 4.

[59] “Ringkasan Laporan,” Elsham Papua, 14 August 2003.

[60] “Ringkasan Laporan,” Elsham Papua, 14 August 2003.

[61] “Peristiwa 1 September 2002,” internal document, Polda Papua.

[62] “Ringkasan Laporan,” Elsham Papua, 14 August 2003.

[63] “Peristiwa 1 September 2002,” internal document, Polda Papua,
Original reads: “MR. X diduga bukan

TSK pelaku yg sebenarnya di TKP Mile 62.” “Audiensi Team Investigasi
Els-Ham Papua Dgn Polda

Papua,” Kantor Polres M-32, Mimika, 11 September 2002.

[64] Dudon Satiaputra, “Rahasia: Laporan Hasil Sementara Pemeriksaan TKP
Penembakan Kary. PT.

Freeport,” Jakarta, 19 December 2002.

[65] Elsham Papua, “What Happened at Freeport”, September 26, 2002.

[66] Andi Imran to Yohanis Bonai, “Somasi”, 15 November 2002.

[67] Alberth Rumbekwan, “Kronologi Peristiwa Pembongkaran Kantor
Perwakilan Elsham Papua di

Jakarta”, sent to westpapua at topica.com on 16 October 2002.

[68] “Office of Rights Group Probing Papua Shootings Attacked”, The
Jakarta Post, 28 October 2002.

[69] Nethy Dharma Somba, “Wife of Human Rights Activist Shot at Papua-PNG
Border”, The Jakarta

Post, 29 December 2002.

[70] “Shooting of Papuan Human Rights Activist’s Family May Be Related to
Timika Incident”, Tempo

Interactive, 28 December 2003 20:54:13 WIB.

[71] Soal Penembakan Di Timika Belum Ada Bukti Keterlibatan TNI, 09 Jan
2003, Available online:

http://www.tni.mil.id/news.php?q=dtl&id=232

[72] Dudon Satiaputra, “Rahasia: Laporan Hasil Sementara Pemeriksaan TKP
Penembakan Kary. PT.

Freeport”, Jakarta, 19 December 2002. “Police say Indonesian Army Behind
Papua Ambush”, Agence

France Presse, 26 December 2002.

[73] Tom Hyland “Police Blame Army for Papua Ambush”, The Age, 27 December
2002; “Police say

Indonesian Army Behind Papua Ambush”, Agence France Presse, 26 December 2002.

[74] Interview Saul Tahapary with AH 6 November 2006 in Jakarta. Original
quote: Mas, negara ini khan

punya kita semua. Kalau demi bangsa dan negara, ya kasih tahu dulu, supaya
kita ini tidak repot semua.”

According to Tahapary, Pastika made this statement to Maj. Gen. M. Yasin
(deputi Menko Polkam bidang

Politik Dalam Negeri), Brig. Gen. Mamat Rachmat and Drs. Yudho of
Coordinating Minister on Security

and Politics Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s office.

[75] Saferstien, Richard. Criminalistics: An Introduction to Forensic
Science, 7th Edition. Prentice Hall

(2001), p. 69.

[76] Decky Murib, tape-recorded interview with SEK on 26 March 2005.
Indonesian original: “Bapa mau

temabak saya, silahkan.”

[77] “Saran Tindak Lanjut BAP Saksi Sdr Decky Murib (TBO Kopassus)”,
Timika, 28 September 2002.

[78] Decky Murib, tape-recorded interview with SEK on 26 March 2005.

[79] Decky Murib, tape-recorded interview with SEK on 26 March 2005.

[80] “Berita Acara Pemeriksaan (BAP) Saksi Penembakan di Mile 63 Ruas
Jalan Timika-Tembagapura 31

August 2002”, report on interview with Decky Murib by Lemassa, 7 September
2002.

[81] “Kesaksian Deky Murib di Polda Papua Tentang Penembakan di Mile 62-63
Tembagapura”, Polda,

Jayapura, 18 September 2002.

[82] Deminikus Bebari, “Kronologi Pemeriksaan Saksi (Decky Murib) oleh
Puspom TNI atas Aksi

Penembakan Mill 63 Ruas Jalan Timika-Tembagapura”, 6 January 2003.

[83] Deminikus Bebari, “Kronologi Pemeriksaan Saksi (Decky Murib) oleh
Puspom TNI atas Aksi

Penembakan Mill 63 Ruas Jalan Timika-Tembagapura”, 6 January 2003.

[84] Deminikus Bebari interview with AH, Jakarta, 13 November 2006.

[85] Deminikus Bebari interview with AH, Jakarta, 13 November 2006.

[86] Kapuspen Tni : Kesaksian Decky Murib Bohong, 14 Jan 2003, Available
on-line:

http://www.tni.mil.id/news.php?q=dtl&id=239

[87] Tom Hyland “Police Blame Army for Papua Ambush”, The Age, 27 December
2002.

[88] Anthony Balmain, “Ambush in Papua”, Australian Broadcasting
Corporation, 7 August 2004.

[89] Dana Priest, “Nightmare and a Mystery”, Sunday, June 22, 2003; Page A01.

[90] Tim Shorrock, “Murder, She Said”, Mother Jones, March-April 2004.

[91] Patsy Spier, personal communication, Santa Cruz, 22 May 2004.

[92] Dana Priest, “Nightmare and a Mystery”, Sunday, 22 June 2003; Page A01.

[93] Don Greenlees, “Army Lied about Papua Ambush”, The Australian, 28
October 2002.

[94] Matthew Moore, “Find Freeport Killers, Bush Tells Megawati”, Sydney
Morning Herald, 21 December

2002.

[95] Ed McWilliams, “FBI”, e-mail sent to SEK on 4 November 2006.

[96] John Rumbiak, SEK interview on 5 February 2005.

[97] Deminikus Bebari, SEK interview on 24 March 2005 in Timika and 20
July 2005 in Washington D.C.

[98] “Rights Group Loses Libel Suit, Fined Rp 50m” The Jakarta Post, 1
July 2004.

[99] Willy Mandowen, “Kami Tidak Berpesta Atas Keringat Orang!”, sent to

komunitas_papua at yahoogroups.com from wmandowen at yahoo.com on 7 December
2005. Indonesian

original reads: Sekedar info bahwa esok 08 Desember 2005 pukul 16:00
bertempat di capitol hill

Washington DC kami akan bersua dengan wakil-wakil penting Kongres AS yang
telah memberi dukungan

terhadap penyelesaian secara menyeluruh dan manusiawi masalah Papua Barat.”

[100] Octovianus Mote, SEK interview, 11 January 2006.

[101] Ellen Nakashima, “FBI Said Involved in Arrest of 8 Indonesians”, The
Washington Post, 14 January

2006.

[102] Ellen Nakashima, “FBI Said Involved in Arrest of 8 Indonesians”, The
Washington Post, 14 January

2006.

[103] Raymond Bonner, “Indonesian Man Links Military to Shooting of U.S.
Teachers”, The New York

Times, 14 January 2006.

[104] Ellen Nakashima, “FBI Said Involved in Arrest of 8 Indonesians”, The
Washington Post, 14 January

2006.

[105] Wamang interview with AH, 9 October 2006

[106] “Wamang Divonis Seumur Hidup” Pikiran Rakyat, 8 November 2006.

[107] Patsy Spier e-mail to SEK on 2 December 2006.

[108] “US: Washington Signals New Era of Military Co-operation”, Radio
Australia, 11 November 2006.



see also U.S.-Indonesia Military Assistance page

Radio special: The Wire: Timika Killings
Download Timika Killings in MP3 format Part A, Part B

Produced by Erica Vowles

A new report looking into the killings of two US civilians and one
Indonesian near the Timika Freeport mine

in West Papua in 2002 presents strong evidence of involvement by the
Indonesian military in the killings.

Seven West Papuans were convicted last November for the murders. But
University of California

academic Eben Kirksey and Indonesian journalist and author Andreas
Harsono, are raising concerns

about not only the rule of law in Indonesia but also the continued power
of the military to act with impunity.

They provide fresh insights from Freeport mine employees and human rights
workers involved in the case

plus new evidence that the Indonesian military may have known about a
planned attack near the Freeport

mine a year before the deaths. Their views will undoubtedly put pressure
on the Indonesian government to

reopen the case. This exclusive report by Erica Vowles begins with former
US political secretary to the US

Embassy in Jakarta, Edmund McWilliams, who now works within the NGO
community.

---

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailnational.asp?fileid=20070409.G05&irec=4

Papua Muslims hold first congress

Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Papuan Muslims will hold an inaugural three-day congress in Jayapura
beginning Tuesday, which is

slated to attract 260 participants from 29 regencies and mayoralties in
Papua and West Irian Jaya.

Congress steering committee member Sayid Fadhal Alhamid said the Papua
Muslim Solidarity group was

established on Nov. 21, 1999, in Jayapura.

Members had originally planned to organize a congress in 2000, but due to
various reasons the realization

of this assembly took six years to occur.

A key focal point for the meeting will be the strengthening of ties
between various religious organizations,

the public and the provincial and local administrations in Papua.

According to the book Papua Dalam Angka (Papua in Figures), the province
is home to 1,154,420

Protestants, 409,722 Catholics, 341,057 Muslims, 4,267 Hindus and 1,625
Buddhists.

The Muslim congress will involve interactive dialog between the Papua GKI
synod, the Jayapura diocese,

the Baptist synod, the World Church Council, tribal leaders, cultural
observers and state and security

officials.

During the congress, the official name of the group will be changed from
Papua Muslim Solidarity to

Papua Muslim Council.

The organization, said Fadhal, was also open to non-Papuan Muslims. It is
not sectarian in nature and

aims to boost ties with traditional Papuan Muslim communities, as well as
promote human rights,

education, health and improvements in the community's economy.

Muslims are a minority group in Papua. They generally live in coastal
communities from the west to the

south. These include Raja Ampat, Teluk Bintuni, Babo, Inanwatan, Kokosa,
Kokas, Fakfak, Kaimana,

Teluk Arguni and Kayu Merah, all of which are in West Irian Jaya.

Those living in Papua province predominantly reside in Walesi, Hitigima
and Air Garam in Wamana

regency, as well as in Jayawijaya and scantily in Okaba and Asmat in the
southern Papua.

Fadhal said that although Muslims were a minority in Papua, sectarian
disputes had never occurred there.

Papua Governor Barnabas Suebu is scheduled to open the congress April 10,
while West Irian Jaya

Governor Bram Atururi will close it on April 12.

---

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailgeneral.asp?fileid=20070409154555&irec=6


Police arrest three Philippine vessels for alleged poaching

BIAK, Papua (Antara): Indonesian water police arrested three Philippine
vessels which were poaching in

the waters off the Pulau Moesbepondi island, Supiori district, Papua, on
Sunday.

Commandant of Youtifa 301 petrol boat of Papua's Water Police Directorate,
Adj. Snr Comm Sirwutubun,

said here on Monday that two of the vessels were used to load fish
cathings while the other one was used

to fish.

"Police are now detaining the three ships with 30 tons of catchings they
have cought in the Biak Numfor

waters," he said.

He said that the ships and their crew members were detained for intensive
investigation.

Sirwutubun said based on the preliminary investigation, the crew members
of the ships possessed

temporary stay permits which expired in March 2007.

He said that based on Law No. 31 / 2004 on fisheries, foreign fishing
vessels which possessed permits to

fish in Indonesian waters were required to unload their catch at an
Indonesian fish port.

The police officer said that it was suspected that the three vessels did
not comply with the standing rules.

(***)

---

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailnational.asp?fileid=20070409.G06&irec=5

Jayapura regency empowers villagers, improves welfare

Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura

While Papua Governor Barnabas Suebu has the Village Development Strategic
Plan program, Jayapura

Regent Habel Melkias Suwae has the District Empowerment Program (PPD) and
Village Empowerment

Program (PPK).

Despite their different names, all have the same mission of empowering the
people and improving their

welfare.

The PPD program was initiated in 2002 during Habel's appointment as
Jayapura regent between 2001

and 2006.

Initially Rp 1 billion (approximately US$110,000) was distributed to each
district in the regency to

commence the program.

Habel said that when he started disbursing the funds, many people felt the
money would only benefit

district heads.

"But I thought if we don't give our trust to rural people to improve their
lives, it will be difficult for them to be

independent, especially if they only participate in provincial
administration programs, which would most

likely not suit their needs," he told The Jakarta Post at his office in
Sentani.

The idea of establishing the PPD, said Habel, came about when he was
speaker of the Jayapura regental

council. There were so many programs proposed by villages through
development planning discussions

which could not be accommodated by the provincial budget.

When he became regent in 2001, he remembered the many rural program
proposals and came up with

the idea to launch the program by distributing Rp 1 billion to each
district to finance such programs.

Out of the Rp 1 billion, Rp 800 million was to be used for infrastructure
projects and Rp 200 million for

district office operational funds.

In 2003, the allocation of funds increased to Rp 1.2 billion. Of this sum,
Rp 1 billion was to be used for

infrastructure and Rp 200 million for district operational funds.

The next year, Habel also began disbursing Rp 100 million to villages
after village heads complained about

the fact only district heads were entrusted to manage the funds.

The PPD and PPK programs, said Habel, follow the working patterns of the
PPK which was funded by the

World Bank from 1999 to 2003, in which villagers periodically held
discussions before determining

projects to be financed by the World Bank.

"Various programs were proposed during village level meetings. Residents
would then decide on which

programs they considered most urgently needed by the community, such as
bridge and road construction

and clean water facilities," said Habel.

After only six years of operation, the program has enabled residents in
127 villages in Jayapura regency

to be able to manage their own development programs.

Habel said the programs have empowered people not only materially but also
mentally.

"They are taught to think of how to develop their villages and their
lives. Previously people only benefited

from government development programs, which often where not worthwhile.

"But by empowering people in this way, they are able to initiate their own
development programs that are

in accordance with their needs," said Habel.

He said that previously people had been treated as objects but through
these programs, people could

become subjects.

"The World Bank has trusted rural people, so why shouldn't I, a fellow
Papuan, also trust them?" asked

Habel.

He admitted there are still many weaknesses in the PPK and PPD programs
but that they were constantly

being improved.

He said the main goals of the programs were teaching people to be
independent, to earn their own money

and determine their village's development programs.

Giving people money in large amounts without teaching them to manage the
funds was not effective

because they would not be independent and would always rely on
contributions, he said.

"Giving them a fishing rod is more effective than giving them fish. Every
time they finish eating the fish,

they would ask for more. But if we give them a fishing rod, they can catch
their own fish when they need

to," said Habel.

The programs, he said, give people the chance to determine their own future.

The programs will be legislated through a local ordinance in the hope that
they will continue after Habel,

who is currently serving his second term, leaves office.

"The programs will be enacted as a bylaw so they will continue to run when
I'm no longer regent," said

Habel

---

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailnational.asp?fileid=20070409.H08&irec=7

Budget constraint limits Air Force development: Air Chief

Celebrating its 61st anniversary on April 9, the Indonesian Air Force
still faces many obstacles in carrying

out one of its main duties of guarding Indonesian airspace. The Jakarta
Post's Agnes Winarti and

Imanuddin Razak spoke with Air Force chief of staff, Air Chief Marshall
Herman Prayitno, recently on

these challenges.

Question: What are the Air Force's short-term targets to maintain
professionalism and improve deterrence

measures against external threats, such as border violations or even attacks?

Answer: For our one-year target, on a day-to-day basis, we are making
efforts to improve the readiness

of our weapons systems, which include airplanes and their weaponry, as
well as radar. Due to the lack of

a defense budget, we must be able to set priorities, especially in terms
of stockpiling spare parts. We

don't have much money to purchase spare parts at wholesale, so we try to
fulfill the requirements

according to each of the aircraft's needs, by their tail number. However,
sometimes that can be costly too.

Particularly if we only want to buy one specific item and we want it to be
delivered faster than the normal

shipment of six to 12 months. The current condition of our planes is that
less than 50 percent are ready,

on average. For example, of our 10 F-16 jet fighters, only four are ready
to fly. However, the new ones,

like the Colibri helicopters, are about 90 percent ready.

To improve professionalism, we focus on education and training. We have
three kinds of training.

Individual training, unit training and inter-unit trainings. The peak of
this training process is called the

Angkasa Yudha combat exercise. In 2008, we will also hold joint exercises
with the Army and Navy. If our

forces perform well in their education and training, this automatically
reflects on their professionalism,

which will result in a greater deterrence force for the nation.

What about the weaknesses?

This is a dilemma. Without an adequate budget, we will not be able to keep
our aircraft in good condition.

Yet, there's the impression that the Air Force is consumptive, in a way
that we keep asking for money, but

there are no obvious results like profits that companies could provide.

What are your plans for fighter aircraft? Will we keep buying aircraft
from Russia (Sukhoi jet fighters) or

will we return to purchasing from the U.S. after the embargo?

According to our foreign political principle -- free and active -- we have
several countries from which we

can purchase aircraft. We also buy domestically produced aircraft, such as
the CASA NC-212 and CN-

235. Our domestic aircraft industry is currently able to produce
transportation planes but not fighter

planes. So, in terms of fighters, we currently have four Sukhois from
Russia and we are still in the

process of buying six more in order to have a squadron of 10 Sukhois.

What is the condition of our F-16s?

We are still using our F-16s. The U.S. government embargo has ended, so we
have prepared a budget to

rejuvenate our F-16s. We have been cooperating on good terms with the U.S.
However, we do not have

any plans in the near future to purchase more hi-tech F-16s, because their
maintenance is costly. Due to

our minimum essential force strategy, up to 2009 we are not going to add
any new types of aircraft. All we

are going to do is to improve the readiness of our F-16s, F-5s and BAe Hawks.

Please explain more about the costs involved in purchasing and maintaining
aircraft?

First, the price of aircraft like the Russian Sukhoi is expensive, not to
mention the maintenance. The price

of the aircraft's spare parts is in the billions of rupiah. A plane can
fly a maximum of 500 hours. We can

calculate how much it costs to fly an aircraft for an hour by dividing the
price of its spare parts with its

maximum flight hours.

Any plans to add to the number of Air Force personnel?

Although we have plans to enhance our weaponry up to 2009, we will keep
increasing the number of our

personnel, especially to replace those who retire. The Air Force currently
has a total of 30,000 personnel,

which consists of 8,000 civil servants and 22,000 soldiers. By 2009, this
number will increase to about

35,000 personnel.

What is the ideal posture of the Air Force?

Unlike the Army, we are not benchmarked by the number of personnel we
have, but rather by our aircraft

and weaponry systems. Over the next 15 to 20 years, we will have at least
10 fighting squadrons. At

present, we only have seven fighting squadrons. We will probably add one
fighting squadron every five

years and the same for transportation squadrons.

It is rather difficult to calculate what is ideal, because everything
depends on existing threats. We are

currently in a peaceful condition. We plan to have a total of 28 radar
stations throughout the country. We

currently have 17 radar stations, with the latest installed in Biak, in
eastern Indonesia, last year. Every

year, we install new radar and at the same time, replace the old ones. We
will install our 18th radar station

in Merauke, also in Eastern Indonesia, at the end of this year.

What is the most serious threat in terms of air defense? From where will
that come?

We usually deal with territorial violations, which occur near state
borders such as around the Riau

archipelago, Ambalat (maritime area in the Sulawesi Sea), and Irian. The
violations have been conducted

by certain countries' aircraft that happen to be on training missions, and
also by civilian planes. They are

not real threats, of course. However, the Air Force is still offended if
they do not ask permission to fly over

our territory. So, I think there are still many regulations on sea and air
territory that need to be introduced

and accepted internationally. That kind of regulation is still open for
debate.

What about the Air Force's role in tackling smugglers at borders?

We should form a kind of joint force with the Navy, in addition to current
joint-patrol cooperation with

Malaysia and Singapore.

How does the Air Force deal with borders violation?

Violations usually happen in the Riau archipelago and Batam. Good
relationships have been built among

Indonesia and its neighboring countries Singapore, Malaysia and Australia.
We usually contact each

other by phone when something happens.

What is the composition of the Air Force's weapons system?

Seven fighting squadrons, consisting of F-16s, F-5s, Hawk Mk 53s, Hawk
100s, Hawk 200s, OV-10

Broncos and Sukhois. We also have five transportation squadrons, one
surveillance squadron of Boeing

737s and three helicopter squadrons.

What do you think about the rotation system for the appointment of the
Indonesian Military (TNI) chief by

the President?

I personally agree with the rotation system. But the system itself is not
written in the form of a legal

decision. It is the prerogative of the President, because the TNI chief is
an assistant to the President. It is

useful to get rid of any unhealthy sentiments. I have no problems with it,
because the rotation system can

give an impression of fairness.

How do you perceive local aircraft production?

It should be managed step by step, slowly, because the government does not
have much capital. PT

Dirgantara Indonesia (PT DI) has faced hard conditions since the economic
crisis. PT DI needs the

government's support to gain strength. For the time being, it is possible
to produce or provide some of the

spare parts for our transportation aircraft, but this is difficult for
fighter aircraft. Three types of domestic

aircraft, such as the CN-235, CASA NC-212 transporters and the Puma and
Super Puma helicopters,

have been supported by PT DI.

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