Human Rights Watch have just released a lengthy report concluding that Indonesian human rights abuses in West Papua are ongoing and widespread. According to HRW, Indonesian police in West Papua "appear to be routinely committing serious abuses, such as extrajudicial executions, torture and rape, with impunity".
One man, brutalised by Indonesian police for raising the West Papuan flag, recalled,
"My teeth fell out. Blood flowed out. I was hit. I was kicked twice and then in the stomach twice again. I was kicked in the nose, the mouth and the teeth. More kicks were ordered and this was repeated. I could not count the number of times. I saw all my friends given the same treatment. Blood was flowing from them and they were forbidden from going to the toilet. They ordered us to swallow our blood. My nose was bleeding. They ordered us to swallow the blood again. I do not know the name of the officer in command. They all punched us, taking turns."
The case of Col. Siagian is a perfect example of the impunity discussed by Human Rights Watch above. Siagian, who in May declared that he would "destroy" anyone who "betray[s]" Indonesia, has twice been indicted for crimes against humanity in East Timor and has been directly linked to the execution of civilians in pro-independence demonstrations. Now a regional military commander in West Papua, Siagian recently stated,
'What is absolutely certain is that anyone who tends towards separatism will be crushed by TNI [the Indonesian army].
In the interests of NKRI [an acronym for Negara Kesatuan Republik Indonesia, Malay for The Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia], we are not afraid of human rights. We are quite prepared to imprison anyone, or dismiss them from their posts, whenever such is in the interests of the NKRI',
emphasising once again that the Indonesian military - armed by both the U.S. and Britain - will violently crush any attempt by the occupied people of West Papua to organise politically for their right to self-determination. Given the above, it is perhaps unsurprising that a coalition of over 30 NGOs have launched a campaign to remove this thug from West Papua altogether.
HRW emphasise that the lack of access to West Papua for journalists and human rights workers makes it difficult for us to know what is really going on there. Indonesia heavily restricts media access to West Papua, and, according to UN Special Representative Hina Jilani speaking last month, human rights defenders working there face torture, arbitrary detention, harassment and threats from police, military and security forces (including death threats). Only last week, Rep. Eni Faleomavaega (D-AS) was refused permission to visit West Papua by the Indonesian government.
HRW describe how Indonesian police officers and soldiers conduct "sweeping" operations, looting, killing, raping and burning their way through villages in search of OPM guerillas. For example, in August 2005 a 'sweeping' operation was undertaken in Puncak Jaya in an effort to capture Goliat Tabumi, an OPM leader. As the troop presence increased, some 16,000 civilians - well aware of the Indonesian forces' reputation for brutality - fled into the surrounding jungles, where they were forced to remain for around four months. "It is not known how many died," report HRW. While they were gone, Indonesian troops reportedly 'destroyed houses and buildings, and looted or burned gardens and fields', and 'established roadblocks and patrols through the area, preventing displaced persons from returning to collect food from whatever gardens were not destroyed.'
It is reported that eight West Papuans were "arrested" by Indonesian forces today at the conclusion of the four-day tribal council in Jayapura. The justification given by the Indonesian police for the arrests is that the Morning Star - the West Papuan flag - was raised at the beginning of the council. Under the so-called Special Autonomy Law, signed in 2001, West Papuans are permitted to fly the flag, but this hasn’t stopped the Indonesian government from suppressing such demonstrations of cultural identity, often violently. A Human Rights Watch report released in February concluded that, '[a]t least 18 Papuans are serving sentences in Indonesian jails simply for peaceful acts of freedom of expression and opinion' in clear violation of international law, whilst cautioning 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'.
Filep Karma and Yusak Pakage are two such political prisoners, currently being held in Abepura Prison. They were arrested in 2004 for raising the Morning Star and in May 2005 they received 15 and 10 year prison sentences respectively. Amnesty International considers both men to be prisoners of conscience and has called on the Indonesian government to release them and all the other political prisoners currently rotting in Indonesian jails. According to Amnesty,
‘More than 60 prisoners of conscience have been sentenced to prison terms since 1998. Hundreds more political prisoners have faced trial in the provinces of Aceh, Papua and Maluku, and Amnesty International believes that many may have been convicted solely for the peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of expression.’
Amnesty’s 2007 Annual Report confirmed that "[t]orture and ill-treatment of detainees and prisoners" in Indonesia remains "widespread". It continued,
‘Twenty-three men were reportedly ill-treated during police interrogation to make them "confess" to involvement in violence during a demonstration in Jayapura, Papua, in March. Before their trial in May, 16 of the defendants were reportedly kicked by police officers and beaten around the head and body with rifle butts and rubber batons to make them admit their guilt in court. Those who refused to acknowledge the charges were allegedly beaten and kicked by police when they returned to detention.
Prison conditions fell short of minimum international standards. Detainees lacked access to adequate bedding, health services, adequate food, clean water and hygiene products. They were subjected to physical and sexual violence and suffered from severe overcrowding. Juveniles were sometimes held together with adults, and women detainees were sometimes guarded by male guards.’
On 12th June 2007, TOP TV (Papuan Local TV), Cenderawasih Post and Papua Post (newspapers) published a report by Filep Karma about the violence and extortion being committed by Indonesian prison officers. According to a reliable source, as a result of this report Filep was ‘violently dragged’ along the ground for 40 meters, tearing his shirt and injuring his feet and back-bone. Prior to Filep’s report, he received a health check every Monday and Thursday at the regional hospital. As of June 25, the health checks had completely stopped since the report.
Despite the fact that West Papua is one of the most resouce-rich areas in the world, it remains the poorest region of Indonesia, with over half of children below five undernourished. As Step Vaessen recently reported for Al Jazeera,
‘Travelling with the governor to the remote village of Kokanao, we saw how bad the situation had become. There is no road, no electricity and not enough water. Most of the villagers here die young.
Karismus, a retired village head, shares his house with four families – 18 people in total. He says he was promised a new house many years ago, but it never came.’
British and American firms, and governments, are heavily complicit in all of this. Britain has never supported West Papuan independence, for reasons candidly explained by Lord Harries of Pentregarth during a recent House of Lords debate:
"A number of powerful countries have strong economic ties to Indonesia, not least in the arms trade, and will be only too anxious not to make a fuss about this matter, as they were anxious not to make a fuss about it at the time of the so-called "Act of Free Choice" in 1969. We are, of course, one of those countries."
To take the most obvious example - Freeport McMoRan, a U.S. company, operates the Grasberg mine in West Papua, the largest single gold deposit in the world and the third largest open-cut copper mine. It is one of the, if not the, biggest single sources of revenue for the Indonesian government, paying generous royalties - which, together with taxes and dividends, totalled 1.6 billion dollars last year - in return for subsidies and protection by the TNI. Freeport Indonesia is almost 10% owned by the Indonesian government, and reported revenue of $5.79 billion last year. As Human Rights Watch point out, the direct involvement of the Indonesian security forces with the mining corporations, together with the 'lucrative taxes which flow to the Indonesian state, provide powerful motives for the state to retain tight control' over West Papua. In other words, our continued exploitation and theft of Papuan natural resources are a major factor in Indonesia's determination to deny West Papuans their right to self-determination.
Down but not out, Yusak Pakage last week succeeded in climbing the roof of his jail and flying the Morning Star flag for five minutes, a powerful symbol of the enduring West Papuan struggle for justice. Thus far, they have struggled alone.
For an overview of the political background to the situation in the West Papua, see my article here. See also this short documentary from 2003.