[Kabar-Irian] News: Feb 21-22 2007

[Admin-Editors Kabar-Irian]

KABAR IRIAN NEWS

Feb 21-22 2007

TOPICS

* Clamor for new regions threatens storm of chaos
* Papua, Jakarta should address regional division
* Indonesia targeting peaceful Papua protests
* Jakarta criticised on Papua rights
* Frightful flights
* Vatican call on Catholics to build Papua peace
* Rights watchdog urges release of Papuan 'political prisoners'
* Indonesia: Free Political Prisoners in Papua
* Jakarta represses Papuan dissent
* Rights group calls for release of Papuans
*  Indonesia is continuing to arrest activists in Papua
* Human Rights Group Reports Abuses in Indonesia’s Papua
* Jakarta blasted on Papuans' rights

---

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20070221.E02&irec=1

Clamor for new regions threatens storm of chaos

Hyginus Hardoyo, Jakarta

The euphoria of regional autonomy, introduced six years ago with the aim
of helping improve the welfare of people in the regions, sparked a
seemingly endless drive to

establish new provinces, regencies and municipalities.

The latest demand came earlier this month by representatives of four
regencies in southern Papua -- Merauke, Mappi, Boven Digoel and Asmat --
to create a South Papua

province.

Other representatives from Sorong regency in western Papua met with the
Papuan Legislative Council in the Papua capital of Jayapura in the middle
of January to demand

the creation of a Southwest Papua province.

The petition for the creation of Southwest Papua province, however, was
criticized as being incorrectly addressed because the territory in
question is located in West Irian

Jaya province, a new province, which was recently renamed West Papua.

In response to these demands in Papua and throughout the country, the
central government is of the opinion that the partitioning of Papua should
be temporarily halted.

Home Minister M. Ma'ruf said the government has also asked that six bills
on the creation of new administrative regions in Papua, proposed by the
House of

Representatives, be further clarified before deliberations continue.

The six would-be regencies in Papua are Yalimo, Central Mamberamo, Nduga,
Lanny Jaya, Dogiyai and Puncak.

These six are among 16 proposed new regencies in the country currently
being deliberated at the House. They come after seven new regencies and
municipalities were

created last year.

Mar'uf said that only five of the proposed regencies were viable, namely
Angkola Sipirok (in North Sumatra), East Manggarai (East Nusa Tenggara),
Kubu Raya (West

Kalimantan), Pesawaran (Lampung) and Serang (Banten). The establishment of
Padang Lawas (North Sumatra), Tana Tidung (East Kalimantan) and Tual
(Maluku)

regencies still needs further clarification, according to the minister,
while proposals on the formation of other would-be regencies failed to
satisfy existing regulations.

The central government appears overwhelmed by demands for new
administrative regions, due mainly to the absence of clear-cut criteria.

Initially, the partitioning of restless provinces proved to be an
effective way to carry out the government's implied divide-and-rule
strategy to weaken any demand for

independence or separation. Now conditions are completely different.

The absence of a national strategy on managing the establishment of new
administrative regions has been utilized by local people and leaders to
pursue their aspirations.

Whether their proposals are approved or not depends only on a set of
administrative requirements they have to meet.

Anybody can propose the creation of a new administrative region, with the
help of locals at the grassroots level, who can easily be manipulated to
agitate for the demand.

And this excitement is easily spread. If one region gets permission to set
up its own administration, soon others want the same treatment.

Residents and leaders are competing to take advantage of this opportunity,
which in many cases is not for the benefit of the people but mainly for
the interests of the

leaders, Purwo Santoso, head of Regional Autonomy and Local Political
Development Studies at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, said
recently.

Their main objective in the establishment of new administrative regions is
simply to get cash assistance from the central government, especially
general allocation funds.

The chance to be become a local official is also there, he said.

At a time when the central government's burden, especially in the
financial sector, is becoming larger, regional autonomy undermines its
control over the regions.

In the end what we end up with are lots of new regions that fail to
progress as well as expected, due mainly to the absence of quality
leadership and human resources. Take

Papua as an example, where the annual allocation of Rp 6 trillion
(US$631.57 million) in autonomy funds has yet to bring about significant
progress for the province, which

has a population of about two million.

Badly needed health, education and transportation services still pose
major problems in the resource-rich province. The provincial
administration has never been

transparent about where these huge amounts of money are being spent.

Regional autonomy also has failed to encourage creativity on the part of
impoverished regencies in East and West Nusa Tenggara to develop their
existing potential and

improve the well-being of residents.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has insisted on a number of occasions
that despite the implementation of decentralization and regional autonomy,
Indonesia still

constitutes one nation based on Pancasila as its state ideology.
"Indonesia is not a Javanese nation, a Kalimantan nation, a Sumatra
nation, a Sulawesi nation and others,"

he said.

However, we seem to be increasingly heading in this direction. Demands for
new administrative regions are no longer based on a determination to
improve the welfare of

residents, but simply on differences in ethnicity or religion.

The establishment of Bangka-Belitung province, for example, was demanded
because residents claimed they were not culturally and ethnically part of
South Sumatra, while

Banten province was created because local representatives did not like the
control of the Sundanese in West Java.

Without proper handling, demands for the formation of new administrative
regions will become increasingly bizarre and out of control.

If this is allowed to happen, the best way to describe the situation might
be the old adage, "Siapa menabur angin akan menuai badai", which literally
means, "Whoever sows

the wind shall harvest the storm."

The author is a staff writer at The Jakarta Post.

---

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20070221.F03&irec=2

Papua, Jakarta should address regional division

Neles Tebay, Jayapura

While the Law No. 21/2001 on special autonomy for Papua has still not yet
taken root, there are growing aspirations for the division of Papua into
smaller provinces.

Former President Megawati Soekarnoputri pushed forward the division of
Papua into separate provinces with her Presidential Instruction No.
1/2003.

The creation of Central Irian Jaya province was postponed due to conflict
amongst the Papuans, but West Irian Jaya province came into existence --
even without having a

legal basis -- thanks to the strong support of the government in Jakarta.

The demand for the creation of Southwest Papua province was delivered to
the provincial legislative council on Jan. 15, 2007. If approved, the new
province's territory

would include one municipality and four regencies from the West Irian Jaya.

On Feb. 12, 2007, the goal of forming South Papua province was declared in
Merauke. The province's territory would include the Papuan regencies of
Merauke, Mappi,

Asmat, and Boven Digul.

Separately, a motion for the formation of Central Irian Jaya province has
resurfaced, and is being debated in Nabire. A special committee for the
establishment of

Bomberay province has already been formed. It is envisioned that Bomberay
would cover the West Irian Jaya regencies of Fakfak, Kaimana and Bintuni,
and Mimika in

Papua.

In responding to these demands, the proper implementation of the special
autonomy law should be the prime consideration.

The creation of new provinces only can be supported by Jakarta and Papua
if the autonomy law can take full effect in all provinces. If regional
divisions obstruct the

enforcement of the law, then Jakarta and Papua must have the courage to
oppose aspirations for the creation of new provinces.

Poverty eradication should be the second, but no less important, criterion
to consider.

Today some 440,578 families, or 81.52 percent of Papuan families, are
categorized as poor.

Papua Governor Barnabas Suebu has announced that some 72.72 percent of
people in the province live in poverty or even absolute poverty. This
shows that local people

have not benefited from decades of exploitation of the province's natural
resources such as oil, gold, copper, forests, and fish by multinational
and domestic companies.

The governor was correct when he called this situation ironic, but he
needs to reflect on what he did to improve Papuans' welfare when he led
the province between 1993

and 1998.

Jakarta and Papua must ensure that the whopping special autonomy fund will
not be spent on building new government offices and buying new cars for
government officials

in the new provinces. The money must be spent on poverty alleviation.

There should be a third criterion for the division of Papua: the
empowerment of the newly created regencies.

In the six years since the enactment of the special autonomy law, 15 new
regencies were formed in Papua on top of the 12 old regencies and two
municipalities. It looks as

if more regencies will be created in the future.

There is the undoubted fact that all the newly created regencies still
suffer from a lack of human resources and basic infrastructure. Many jobs
in the regencies remain

vacant. The regencies, then, need skilled and qualified public servants to
properly run government offices.

The regencies need clean, good government to provide the best services to
the public. But this remains elusive. Besides, the regencies are still
fully dependent on the

provincial government for financial support.

In such a situation, it would be wise for the central and provincial
government to first, empower the newly formed regencies; and second,
create new provinces based upon

these strong regencies. New provinces should only be formed in Papua if
both Jakarta and the provincial government are convinced it would empower
the regencies.

There may be more criteria for allowing new provinces to exist in Papua.
But the point is that Jakarta and Papua need some kind of criteria for
judgment. Those criteria

should not be decided unilaterally by one party.

Each party must be committed to using the same criteria for all aspiring
new provinces, lest they spark unnecessary disputes.

The formation of West Irian Jaya is a lesson for both the central and
Papuan governments as they face the current flood of demands for new
provinces in the territory.

Uneasy relations between Papua and West Irian Jaya are the consequence of
the central government earlier pushing of its wishes for regional division
on Papua.

Conflict between Jakarta and Papua will continue unless they manage to
reach agreement on criteria for approving the formation of new provinces.
It will be impoverished

Papuans who will bear the brunt of any political conflict over regional
division.

It's time for the Papuan legislative council, the Papua People's Assembly
(MRP), the governor and the central government to hold talks and formulate
criteria to realize

aspirations the for creation of new provinces.

The writer is a lecturer at the Fajar Timur School of Philosophy and
Theology in Abepura, Jayapura.

---

http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSJAK6913._CH_.2400


Indonesia targeting peaceful Papua protests - group

By Ed Davies

JAKARTA, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Indonesia is continuing to arrest and hand
down heavy prison sentences to activists in Papua for peacefully
supporting independence in the

remote eastern area, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday.

Papua, two provinces on the west half of New Guinea island, has long been
under the scrutiny of Western groups critical of how Indonesia, the
world's most populous

Muslim country, treats the mainly Christian and ethnically distinct area.

Indonesian security forces have been fighting a low-level separatist
insurgency in Papua for decades.

"All too often Papuans not involved in the armed insurgency are caught up
in anti-separatist sweeps or arrested as troublemakers for peacefully
expressing their political

views," the rights group said in a report.

The report noted yearly problems when some activists tried to raise the
Papuan national flag on Dec.1 to commemorate the day in 1961 when colonial
ruler Holland offered

the area independence.

"Most years these attempts end in clashes with local security forces
intent on stopping what they see as treasonous activities," it said,
adding that arrests almost always

occur, and sometimes trials and convictions.

"At other times activists are arrested merely for publicly expressing
support for Papuan independence, or for attending peaceful meetings to
talk about self-determination for

Papua."

A senior Indonesian government official said the government did not
interfere in the courts, but if by flying a flag or holding protests
activists were shown to calling for the

break up of Indonesia, it was right they should be examined by courts.

"Nowadays, such things are rare. NGos are trying to blow things up so that
they can get funding," Setya Purwaka, head of the Papua desk at the office
of chief security

minister, told Reuters. He was responding to the general theme of the report.

COLONIAL ERA LAWS

The report said two sets of criminal laws were generally used, including
colonial era articles of Indonesia's Criminal Code, criminalising "public
expression of feelings of

hostility, hatred or contempt toward the government."

The other most often used was one outlawing rebellion, frequently used
against those arrested for alleged participation in, or support of,
separatism, the report said.

Jakarta took over Papua from Dutch colonial rule in 1963. In 1969 its rule
was formalised in a vote by community leaders which was widely criticised
as political theatre.

The report highlighted the case of two independence supporters, Filep
Karma and Yusak Pakage. It said the two were jailed in May, 2005, to 15-
and 10-year terms for

organising peaceful celebrations and flying the Papuan national flag in
the provincial capital of Jayapura on Dec. 1, 2004.

It also detailed other cases where it said defendants were convicted for
peaceful expressions.

"These convictions are not an aberration. They reflect government policy,"
the report said.

Owing to restrictions on access to Papua, the report said it relied on
interviews with defence lawyers, local rights groups and analysis of trial
documents.

Indonesia has denied any systematic rights abuses. Defence Minister Juwono
Sudarsono said last year there were some "violations" in Papua by rogue
elements in the

military but insisted these acts were perpetrated by individuals.

He also suggested the media exaggerated problems in Papua.

A 2001 law also gives Papua, with a population of two million, a bigger
share of revenue from its rich mineral and natural resources and more
freedom in running its own

affairs.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has said he wants to end conflict in
Papua and to speed up development.

The report urged Jakarta to unconditionally release anyone held or
imprisoned for peaceful expression of political views.

It also called for a repeal of some of the articles of law used in these
cases and to end restrictions on access to the area for journalists,
diplomats and human rights

organisations






© Reuters 2007. All rights reserved.

---

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6381357.stm


Jakarta criticised on Papua rights
Map showing Indonesia's Papua province
At least 18 people in Indonesia's Papua province are serving jail
sentences for peacefully expressing political views, Human Rights Watch
(HRW) says.

The rights group said several Papuans had been jailed in recent years for
their peaceful support for self-determination for the province.

Opposition to Indonesian rule in Papua has simmered since Jakarta took
over from Dutch colonial control in 1963.

An official in Papua denied anyone had been jailed for peaceful protest.

Jakarta has been fighting a low-level insurgency for decades, with small,
armed groups carrying out sporadic attacks on economic and military
targets in the province.

But there has also been continued non-violent protest from a much wider
section of society, the BBC's Lucy Williamson in Jakarta reports.

'Tool of repression'

The Human Rights Watch report highlights the cases of 18 people the group
describes as political prisoners.

It includes the case of Filep Karma, a 45-year-old civil servant convicted
of rebellion after organising peaceful demonstrations and raising the
Papuan flag. He received a

15 year prison sentence.

His case is not unique, HRW said.

"All too often Papuans not involved in the armed insurgency are caught up
in anti-separatist sweeps or arrested as troublemakers for peacefully
expressing their political

views," the organisation's report said.

The courts in Papua are "being used as a tool in political repression",
often handing down sentences harsher than those sought by the prosecution,
HRW noted.

The organisation calls on Jakarta to immediately release all political
prisoners in Papua and to drop any outstanding charges against individuals
awaiting trial

The government is also urged to repeal "vague and broad laws", which HRW
said enable prosecutions to violate international law.

The head of Papua's Law and Human Rights Department denied that anyone had
been jailed for peaceful protest, but said that some people had received
sentences for

belonging to separatist organisations.

---

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6380701.stm


Washington diary: Frightful flights
By Matt Frei
BBC News, Washington

(Article includes an amusing reference to expereince in Papua)

Let's play a word association game. I say "bill of rights" and what comes
to mind?

Torture victims? Oppressed minorities? America's founding fathers? Abused
zoo animals?

This week the airline issued its own bill of rights after a disastrous
episode in which hundreds of travellers were left stranded when an ice
storm hit their hub at JFK airport

in New York.

In the worst scenario, a plane full of holidaymakers bound for the
Caribbean island of Aruba was left festering on the tarmac for more than
10 hours.

The plane's brakes had apparently seized up in the freezing cold and all
the gates had been taken up by other stranded aircraft.

You wonder why they couldn't just organise a rolling staircase and a bus.

Grovelling CEO

Blurry cell-phone snaps showed ashen-faced passengers in colourful shirts,
looking more like hostages than would-be revellers heading for the
tropical sun.

The company has now guaranteed every passenger who has to wait on one of
its aircraft for longer than 30 minutes beyond the announced departure
time a voucher for at

least $25.

The longer the wait on the plane, the more the voucher is worth.

Wow! I can't wait! Perhaps this means that jetBlue will merely keep its
customers lingering in the lounge rather than on the aircraft.

Nevertheless it was gratifying to see the company's CEO David Neeleman
grovel on television and carpet his website with mea culpas.

Worldwide abuse

In my job as a foreign correspondent I have had the privilege of being
abused by airlines all over the world.

There was the internal flight in Libya between Tripoli and Benghazi.


I looked out the window to see the suitcases still firmly rooted to the
ground

Send us your comments
After a 10-hour delay - no mea culpas and certainly no bill of rights -
the ground staff finally asked us to identify our bags, which had been
placed on the tarmac next to the

plane for security reasons.

We obeyed and then climbed aboard, grateful for the promise of imminent
transportation.

The engines roared into life, the wheels moved and we rolled
disconcertingly past the burnt-out wreckage of a previous flight, beached
on the runway like a decomposing

whale.

I looked out of the window to see the suitcases still firmly rooted to the
ground.

After much screaming and shouting from the passengers the plane came to a
halt, the luggage was loaded and we departed.

Disappearing dumplings

As we flew over the Sahara a delicious meal was being prepared in the
galley kitchen behind me.

After 10 minutes of chopping, sizzling and stirring, the gorgeous
Bulgarian stewardess appeared like a domestic goddess in an act of
redemption, carrying a plate of

steaming dumplings.

My favourite! How did she know?


There, sitting expectantly on the dirt floor, was a dislodged airline seat
- it was mine
She walked past me up the aisle and disappeared into the cockpit without
ever being seen again.

Then there was the internal flight in Irian Jaya, the eastern-most
province of Indonesia.

At Jayapura airport we weighed our television equipment on the kind of
vegetable scales usually used at the market.

I asked the man at the check-in desk about my seat.

"You get your seat round the corner!" he replied matter-of-factly.

I did as I was told and got exactly what the man had promised.

There, sitting expectantly on the dirt floor, was a dislodged airline
seat. It was mine.

It weighed a ton and I was expected to carry it to the plane so it could
be screwed into its rightful place.

Dangerous cargo

The plane seated 60. But most of the passengers were leaking barrels of
petrol.

Wamena airport, one of the world's highest and most dangerous, was our
destination.

I was convinced that if we weren't going to die in a plane crash we would
be slowly poisoned by petrol fumes.


The official flying time is 55 minutes - we were delayed by eight hours
I'm happy to say that I survived to see the ground staff at Wamena direct
our plane to its mooring, wearing penis gourds and little else.

But I find that when you're travelling for work you can put up with just
about anything.

When you embark on a family holiday with young children the threshold of
tolerance is pitifully low.

I still have nightmares about the short flight from Albany, New York to
Washington two summers ago.

The official flying time is 55 minutes. We were delayed by eight hours.

To make matters worse we were herded on and off the plane three times.

Were we on Candid Camera? Was this some weird new reality show?

Airline's 'lies'

Every time we were dished up another excuse.

First it was the weather in the Washington area. Then it was a mechanical
fault.

Finally the captain (who had an English accent) came clean:

"Everything the airline has told you is false," he said, verging on rage
and tears, which are two emotions best kept bottled up by any pilot about
to fly a plane.

"The reason for the delay is that too many aircraft coming over the
Atlantic are backed up and we are the last in line. We are the lowest in
the pecking order."

This was not an explanation that pacified four young children howling with
fatigue, boredom and hunger.

Add to that the pre-departure family striptease that is now de rigueur at
every airport in the US thanks to 9/11 and you have to admit that flying
isn't what it used to be.

Next time I turn up at an airport, I'll be in my pyjamas, wearing
flip-flops and clutching my passenger's bill of rights!

---

http://www.cathnews.com/news/702/126.php

Vatican call on Catholics to build Papua peace


The Holy See nuncio to Indonesia has urged Catholic villagers in
Indonesia's Papua province to practise Christian values and build
inter-communal harmony in areas

known for tribal conflicts.

"There are many Papuan tribal and cultural values that are good, but there
are also traditions that are harmful and which cause death," Archbishop
Leopoldo Girelli,

apostolic nuncio to Indonesia, told parishioners of Morning Star Church in
Abmisibil, UCA News reports.

"The bad elements are, among others, tribal warfare, adultery, polygamy,
idol worship and belief in ancestral spirits," said the archbishop.

The prelate's 9-12 February visit to eight parishes in Jayawijaya
district, Jayapura Diocese, was the first such pastoral visit by a nuncio
to the area in Indonesia's

easternmost province. Wamena, capital of Jayawijaya district, is 3,465 km
east of Jakarta.

According to government statistics, the largely Protestant district has a
population of 313,961. Protestants make up 82 per cent, while Catholics
make up 15 per cent and

Muslims 1.5 per cent, with Hindus and Buddhists comprising the rest.

At Morning Star Parish, the nuncio urged Catholics to respect the dignity
of others, to practice church teaching on marriage, and to build a culture
of peace, justice and

love.

During the dialogue session with local Catholics, lay leader Beny Ningdana
said: "Abmisibil people, who dwell in the border areas between Indonesia
and Papua New

Guinea, sincerely welcome Pope Benedict XVI's representative to observe
our joys and sorrows."

Local people hoped the pope "will continuously give them spiritual support
and prayer for their welfare," he added.

Accompanied by several local bishops, Archbishop Girelli also visited
other parishes where Catholics welcomed the nuncio with traditional
dances. They also placed the

noken, a traditional Papuan bag made of netted material, around his neck,
along with headdresses made of Bird of Paradise plumes.

Nikolaus Lokobal, a prominent figure in Wamena, told UCA News that the
gestures in each parish indicated that the pope's representative had been
accepted by the

villagers as one of them.

In Wamena, thousands of people cheered as the nuncio and Bishop Ladjar
rode in an open truck around the town.

The nuncio warned Catholics in the village of Elagaiman not to engage in
tribal warfare anymore. "In the past, the Meage Elokpare and Bikosi tribes
always fought each

other, but they have ended the tradition of tribal warfare," said the nuncio.

War between the two tribes erupted in the 1970s, and ended with help from
Franciscan missionaries.

Observing that the parish church was built in an area formerly known for
tribal war, he said, "May this St. Emmanuel Church become a peace zone for
all tribes and a

place to pray for world peace."

Inter-tribal warfare is still a problem in various areas of Papua province
with recent fighting breaking out in Jayapura between the Simporo and
Babrongko tribes over the

boundaries of their tribal lands.

---

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailgeneral.asp?fileid=20070221211319&irec=1

Rights watchdog urges release of Papuan 'political prisoners'

JAKARTA (JP): An international human rights watchdog has accused the
Indonesian government of detaining Papuan activists for their political
views.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report, which was
made available to The Jakarta PostY on Wednesday, that dozens of activists
in Papua have

been detained by theauthorities for expressing their views and raising the
Bintang Kejora (Morning Star) separatist flag.

"HRW urges the Indonesian government to immediately and unconditionally
release all persons detained or imprisoned for the peaceful expression of
their political views,"

HRW said in the report.

The rights group also called on the government to drop all charges against
activists who are awaiting trial for their political activities, and urged
a public commitment by

Jakarta to ensure no further arrests of political activists in the
country'seasternmost province.

HRW also asked the government to open access to the province.

"End all arbitrary restrictions on access to Papua for journalists,
diplomats and human rights organizations," the report said.

The group said it could not provide exact figures on how many political
activists have been detained by authorities, given the restrictions on
access to Papua.

"It is impossible to establish with certainty. However, that this happens
with regularity is not in doubt," it said.(mtr)

---

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/02/21/indone15321_txt.htm

Full report downloadable here: http://www.hrw.org/reports/2007/papua0207/

Indonesia: Free Political Prisoners in Papua
Activists Still Punished For Peaceful Expression

(Jakarta, February 21, 2007) – At least 18 Papuans are serving sentences
in Indonesian jails simply for peaceful acts of freedom of expression and
opinion, Human Rights

Watch said in a new report released today. Such imprisonment violates
international law and Indonesia’s international legal obligations.
The 42-page report, “Protest and Punishment: Political Prisoners in
Papua,” documents how the Indonesian government continues to use the
criminal law to punish

individuals who peacefully advocate for independence in the eastern
Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Irian Jaya (hereafter referred to
as Papua). All the prisoners

have been convicted for treason or spreading hatred against the
government, for nonviolent activities such as flag-raising, or attendance
at peaceful meetings on self-

determination options for Papua.

“Indonesia claims to have become a democracy, but democracies don’t put
people in prison for peaceful expression,” said Brad Adams, Asia director
at Human Rights

Watch. “Real freedom of expression, assembly and association are still in
short supply for political activists in Papua.”

In June 2000, Linus Hiluka was charged with treason against the state and
spreading hatred for his association with an independence organization,
the Baliem Papua

Panel, which is accused of being a separatist organization trying to
destroy Indonesia’s territorial integrity and commit crimes against the
security of the state. At no point

was Hiluka accused of any violent or criminal activity. But he was
convicted and sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment.

On May 26, 2005, Filep Karma and Yusak Pakage were found guilty of
rebellion and spreading hatred against the government for the organization
of peaceful celebrations

on December 1, 2004 to mark Papua’s national day. For these acts, they
were sentenced to 15 years’ and 10 years’ imprisonment respectively.

In “Protest and Punishment,” Human Rights Watch only included cases where
the defendant was convicted for peaceful expression. There are many other
cases in Papua

where individuals have been charged with or convicted of crimes against
the security of the state where it was alleged that the defendant engaged
in or advocated violence.

Human Rights Watch did not include these cases in the report, even those
cases where the allegations of violent activity or advocacy did not appear
to be readily supported

by the evidence.

Human Rights Watch also pointed out that severe government-imposed
restrictions on access to Papua mean that it is difficult to identify all
such cases or to ascertain the

full extent of the human rights situation in Papua.

“Until Papua is opened fully to scrutiny there will be doubt and confusion
about the extent of abuse there,” said Adams. “As we saw in Aceh, closed
conditions create

breeding grounds for unchecked abuse. If the government has nothing to
hide, it should open Papua to the outside world.”

The courts in Papua have played a negative role in decisions regarding
cases of treason or spreading hatred. In almost every single case
documented in the report, the

courts handed down sentences harsher than those sought by the prosecution,
notwithstanding that the “offenses” of the defendants were acts of
legitimate peaceful political

expression.

“The judiciary isn’t acting independently and isn’t throwing out cases
that are clearly political in nature,” said Adams. “Instead of upholding
individual rights, the courts are

being used as a tool in political repression.”

Human Rights Watch called on the Indonesian government to immediately
release all political prisoners in Papua and to drop any outstanding
charges against individuals

awaiting trial. Human Rights Watch also urged the government to repeal the
vague and broad laws criminalizing the spreading of “hatred” and treason
to ensure that no

further prosecutions can take place in violation of international law. For
many years, Human Rights Watch has called for the amendment of the
Indonesian Criminal Code to

conform with international law in order to protect basic freedoms of
expression, assembly and association.

In 2006, Indonesia secured membership of both the United Nations Human
Rights Council and the UN Security Council. It also acceded to the
International Covenant on

Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights. These are signs that Indonesia wants to be
accepted as a rights-

respecting member of the international community.

“The repression detailed in this report shows Indonesia still has a long
way to go in guaranteeing real protections for basic human rights,” said
Adams. “There is a clear gap

between Indonesia’s international commitments and rhetoric and the reality
on the ground.”


---

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21266575-2703,00.html


Jakarta represses Papuan dissent

    * Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta correspondent
    * February 22, 2007

JAKARTA continues to brutally repress peaceful dissent in Papua, the
restive region in Indonesia's far east, an international report has found.
This is despite personal assurances given by President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono to John Howard last year that 42 Papuan asylum-seekers in
Australia had no case to

make.

Activists are still being jailed under loosely worded treason laws for
activities such as raising the Papuan flag - first formally flown by
independence supporters in 1961 - and

singing Papuan freedom songs, the report by New York-based Human Rights
Watch claims.

The report calls for Indonesia to repeal the colonial-era laws that have
made possible regular prosecutions against Papuan secessionists, and for
close neighbours such as

Australia to raise concerns over human rights abuses.

The 42-page document covers the cases of 18 Papuans known to be in jail
for peacefully protesting against Indonesian oppression, and suggests that
"given the closed

nature of Papua, there are likely other cases of which we are not aware".

A Papua police spokesman yesterday angrily denied the claims, saying "we
only have criminals in our jails".

A Justice Ministry spokesman, Ketut Sumawan, insisted the situation in
Papua had improved in recent years.

"If there is anyone behaving in an anarchic fashion, the police will of
course secure the situation but Papua looks to be safe now. There is no
one trying to raise the

(Morning Star) flag," Mr Sumawan said.

Papua was absorbed into Indonesia by a widely discredited 1969 referendum,
after former colonial ruler The Netherlands finally relinquished its hold
on the resources-rich

region.

Founding Indonesian president Sukarno had made incorporation of Papua a
policy cornerstone, and the wealth eventually generated by the province's
vast gold and copper

reserves largely underwrote Indonesia's development during his successor
Suharto's regime.

But accusations of brutality remain a thorn in Jakarta's side,
particularly since the loss of East Timor in 1999 and the recent peace
deal in Aceh.

The tensions are magnified by the existence of a low-level armed
insurgency, sometimes identified as being run by the Free Papua
Organisation (OPM), although in reality

the resistance to central rule is spread far more broadly across the
clannish Melanesian society than just one group.

The Human Rights Watch report, entitled Protest and Punishment: Political
Prisoners in Papua, details the recent arrests and trials of several men
it says the court system

was unable to prove had any link with violent or secessionist activities.

"Often Papuans not involved in the armed insurgency are caught up in
anti-separatist sweeps or arrested as trouble-makers for expressing their
political views," the report

claims.

It cites in detail the cases of Filep Karma, 45, and Yusak Pakage, 26,
arrested after a demonstration and flag-raising in 2004 at Cendrawasih
University in the Papuan

capital, Jayapura. The demonstration was to commemorate the December 1,
1961, raising of the Morning Star in Jayapura but was not, the defence
argued, intended to

agitate for independence.

The defence also argued that Karma had in fact tried to settle tensions
between police and demonstrators as tempers rose during the incident.

Karma and Pakage were sentenced in 2005 to 15 and 10 years' jail
respectively, despite prosecutors asking for only five-year penalties
under the treason law provisions.

During their trial, the report notes, the Jayapura Legal Aid office
received a severed dog's head, attached to which was a note naming the
men's lawyers and signed "the

people of the Unitary Republic of Indonesia".

---

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/rights-group-calls-for-release-of-papuans/2007/02/21/1171733846362.html

Rights group calls for release of Papuans

Mark Forbes Herald Correspondent in Jakarta
February 22, 2007


INDONESIA should immediately release Papuan prisoners whose only crime was
to peacefully advocate independence, a Human Rights Watch report says.

The jailing of political prisoners for up to 20 years violated
international commitments and standards, the international watchdog's
study of the convictions of 18 activists

found.

Indonesia, which has just been elected to the United Nations Human Rights
Council, should be "incredibly embarrassed to have convicted new political
prisoners under

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's administration", said a Human Rights
Watch spokeswoman, Charmain Mohamed.

"These people did nothing wrong other than peacefully advocate
self-determination. These are core, fundamental rights, such as freedom of
speech and assembly."

The report, Protest and Punishment: Political Prisoners in Papua, called
for laws that ban criticism of the Government and advocating independence
to be repealed, and the

opening of Papua to international scrutiny.

"That flag raisers, or others peacefully campaigning for Papuan
independence, should be imprisoned for their activities is indicative of
how far Indonesia still has to go on

its journey to become a fully rights-respecting and democratic nation,"
the report says.

Indonesia has denied previous claims of human rights abuses in Papua,
which it controversially took over from the United Nations in 1969. It
condemned an Australian

decision to grant amnesty to 43 Papuan activists last year on the grounds
they feared human rights violations.

The report singled out several cases for harsh criticism and attacked the
conduct of trials. It details biased conduct by police, prosecutors and
judges.

The Asia director of Human Rights Watch, Brad Adams, said the judiciary
was not acting independently. "Instead of upholding individual rights, the
courts are being used

as a tool in political repression," he said.

"Indonesia claims to have become a democracy, but democracies don't put
people in prison for peaceful expression."

The study condemned the jailing of Filep Karma for 15 years in 2005. Mr
Karma raised the Papuan national flag during a public demonstration and
was convicted of

spreading hatred.

"His crime was nothing more than the expression of an opinion, the
expression of a belief," the report said.

A senior Indonesian official said the Government did not interfere in the
courts, but if by flying a flag or holding protests activists were shown
to be calling for the break-up

of Indonesia, it was right they should be examined by courts.

"Nowadays, such things are rare. [Non-governmental organisations] are
trying to blow things up so that they can get funding," Setya Purwaka,
head of the Papua desk at

the office of the Chief Security Minister, told Reuters.

---

http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/s1853560.htm

Last Updated 21/02/2007, 19:03:15


Human Rights Watch says Indonesia is continuing to arrest and hand down
heavy prison sentences to activists in the Indonesian province of Papua,
for peacefully

supporting independence.

The rights group says too often Papuans not involved in the armed
insurgency are caught up in anti-separatist sweeps, or arrested as
troublemakers for peacefully

expressing their political views.

The report notes yearly problems when some activists tried to raise the
Papuan national flag on December the first to commemorate the day in 1961,
when colonial ruler

Holland offered the area independence.

Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono says he wants to end the
troubles and to speed up development.

---

http://mensnewsdaily.com/2007/02/21/human-rights-group-reports-abuses-in-indonesias-papua/

 Human Rights Group Reports Abuses in Indonesia’s Papua
February 21, 2007
VOA Top Stories, VOA, VOA Asia, VOA Politics

By voanews

U.S.-based Human Rights Watch says Indonesia should immediately release
political prisoners in Papua. In a report released Wednesday, the rights
group says Jakarta’s

actions in Papua are a stain on its democracy, and that reporting
restrictions in the area should be lifted. Chad Bouchard reports from
Jakarta.

Human Rights Watch strongly condemns Indonesia’s policy of arresting
peaceful protesters in Papua, saying this stands in the way of democratic
progress.

The new report highlights 18 political prisoners in Papua but suggests
there are likely to be many more abuses that have not yet been uncovered.

Foreign journalists, diplomats and human rights observers are banned from
visiting Papua. Human Rights Watch could not interview prisoners but spoke
to defense lawyers

and local human rights groups, and analyzed trial documents.

Human Rights Watch researcher Charmain Mohamed says while Indonesia is
making good progress in democratization, the government’s approach in
Papua is

hypocritical.

“I mean these are people who’ve been in prison and convicted purely for
peaceful expressions, mostly for raising flags or attending independence
meetings and they’re

getting prison sentences - in one case 15 years, other cases 10 years, 8
years - purely for peaceful expression,” said Mohamed. “And I think it’s
very important that these

kind of issues are exposed to the international community to show that
Indonesia has a very long way to go before it becomes a rights-respecting
country.”

The organization is calling for Indonesia to immediately release the 18
political prisoners, and drop outstanding charges against peaceful
protesters.

Mohamed says the report also demands that the Indonesian government lift
its restrictions on visits by journalists and international observers.

“Key thing to do would be to unconditionally release all of the political
prisoners in Papua and to make a public statement at the highest level
that they will commit to not

undertaking any further prosecution of this kind. The other key
recommendation would be to open access,” she said. “The international
community, donors to Indonesia

also have to continue to advocate for open access to Papua and the release
of the prisoners.”

Mohamed adds that Indonesia should repeal colonial-era laws used to
convict protesters on treason or rebellion charges.

Papua, formerly called Irian Jaya, is remote from the capital Jakarta in
geography, ethnicity and culture. It has a history of dispute with the
political center since its

controversial annexation from Dutch rule in 1963. Many of those arrested
have raised flags seen as a symbol of Papua’s independence movement.

Tensions flared in March 2005 when four police officers died in clashes
during a protest demanding closure of the large gold and copper mine owned
by U.S. company

Freeport.

Indonesia denies committing any human rights abuses, saying reported
violations are isolated incidents by rogue elements in the country’s
military.

---

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/jakarta-blasted-on-papuans-rights/2007/02/21/1171733842140.html

Jakarta blasted on Papuans' rights

February 22, 2007

INDONESIA is repressing and jailing Papuans who are peacefully advocating
independence and should release them immediately, a report by
international watchdog

Human Rights Watch says.

The jailing of political prisoners for up to 20 years violates
international commitments, the organisation's study of the convictions of
18 activists found.

Indonesia, which has just been elected to the United Nations Human Rights
Council, should be "incredibly embarrassed to have convicted new political
prisoners under

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's administration", Human Rights Watch
spokeswoman Charmain Mohamed said.

"These people did nothing wrong other than peacefully advocate
self-determination. These are core, fundamental rights, such as freedom of
speech and assembly."

The report calls for laws banning criticism of the Government and advocacy
for independence to be repealed and for Papua to be opened to
international scrutiny.

"That flag raisers, or others peacefully campaigning for Papuan
independence, should be imprisoned for their activities is indicative of
how far Indonesia still has to go on

its journey to become a fully rights-respecting and democratic nation," it
says.

Indonesia has denied previous claims of human rights abuses in Papua,
which it controversially took over from the United Nations in 1969.

It condemned an Australian decision to grant asylum to 43 Papuan activists
last year on the grounds that they feared human rights violations.

The report identifies several cases for harsh criticism and attacks the
conduct of trials. It details biased conduct by police, prosecutors and
judges.

The Asia director of Human Rights Watch, Brad Adams, said the judiciary
was not acting independently. "Instead of upholding individual rights, the
courts are being used

as a tool in political repression," he said.

The study examined only convictions for non-violent political activities,
such as flag-raising or attending peaceful meetings. There are also
concerns over restrictions on

free assembly, arbitrary detention and torture, the report says.

"Indonesia claims to have become a democracy, but democracies don't put
people in prison for peaceful expression," Mr Adams said.

The report condemns the jailing of Filep Karma for 15 years in 2005. Mr
Karma raised the Papuan flag during a public demonstration and was
convicted of spreading

hatred. "His crime was nothing more tha the expression of an opinion, the
expression of a belief."

The report also says it is impossible to determine the extent of human
rights abuses in Papua because Indonesia does not allow free access by
journalists, diplomats and

rights groups.