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| Southeast Asia |
| Indonesia : Interview - President must stop Papua abuses |
| 2005-08-21 |
| Another one of theses silent dirty wars/ethnocides that are not reproted by the MSM, coz what happens to paleos is much more important. Jakarta, 19 August (AKI) - The day after an Australian report accused the Indonesian military (TNI) of committing widespread human rights abuses in the restive eastern region of Papua, one of its best-known academics said Indonesia's president should take swift action to put a stop to the genocide alleged to be occurring."The situation in Papua is dramatic, and it is president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's responsibility to act immediately and stop the TNI," Agus Sumule told Adnkronos International (AKI). "I have read the draft of the report before it was published. It is based on personal experiences and I believed that it is a snapshot of the actual situation in Papua," said Sumule, who is a sociology professor at Mankwari Unversity in Papua and member of the the Special Autonomy for Papua taskforce. The report, published by the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at Sydney University, gives accounts of rape, torture and civilian killings and says there has been a recent increase in large scale military campaigns in Papua, which are "decimating highland communities". Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman, Marty Natalegawa, has dismissed the report as "completely baseless and doesn't have even a hint of truth". The report claims military operations have lead to thousands of deaths and continue to cost lives in Papua - formerly known as Irian Jaya, and the scene of secessionist violence since Dutch colonial rule formally ended in 1962. Various non-governmental organisations have estimated more than 100,000 killed TNI's operations in the region. They accuse the TNI of exploiting virtually limitless powers granted it in Papua by Jakarta for financial gain. The Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies says it based its findings on the testimonies of hundreds of Papuans over the last two years. It describes how the TNI are involved in illegal logging and corrupt infrastructure and construction work; stablisation and manipulation of local politics; orchestration of attacks blamed on pro-Papuan independence groups; the introduction of illegal arms and militia training and recruitment, and prostitution and the spread of HIV/AIDS. "A culture of impunity exists in Indonesia which sees its highest manifestation currently in Papua and Aceh," the report's authors state. If the abuses by the TNI are not stopped immediately, the tribes of Papua risk extinction is the key message of the report. While arguing that Yudhoyono's immediate intervention is necessary to save the Papuans and recognising his merits, Sumule doesn't forget his past: "As president, Yudhoyono must be our interlocutor. At the moment, he is the best possible leader for Indonesia, much better than his predecessors Megawati Sukaroputri and Wahid Abdurrahman. But he a former general, nonetheless," the academic emphasised. Yudhoyono on Monday hailed the signing of a peace accord between the Indonesian government and rebels from the Muslim-devout province of Aceh. During his speech, he also spoke about the Papua, ruling out independence for the area, but saying a solution involving a form of special autonomy needed to be sought. This was one of the promises he made in the election campaign that swept him to victory last September. In 2001 Jakarta tried again to appease the Papuans, by granting them greater powers to manage their own affairs. The region was allowed to keep up to 80 percent of the profits from its sale of minerals and agricultural produce, and was also allowed to change its name from Irian Jaya to the locally-preferred name of Papua. But despite these concessions, the region has remained volatile. "Despite the gradual deterioration of the situation in the last few years, we remain hopeful," Sumule concluded. |
| Posted by:anonymous5089 |
| #2 No ethnic ties at all, John. Papua/ New Guinea people are Melanesians, no kin at all to Indonesians. By the way, its West Papua, not East. And the whole transfer of West Papua into New Guinea is extremely murky. As a Dutch colony, the argument was to combine it with other Dutch colonies into the new indonesia. There was a totally fraudulent referendum. And in the background (I have been told- would like to learn more on this) was the Freeport- McMoran mining company, sitting on four mountain ranges stuffed full of gold and copper, and very keen for a compliant national government to give the green light. Any Rantburgers got any more details on this story? The transfer, I mean. The story since then has been a low level war of independence, far below the radar, bows and arrows against automatic weapons. |
| Posted by: Grunter 2005-08-21 10:39 |
| #1 Still trying to figure out why Indonesia got a chunk of Papua. Ethnic ties only? |
| Posted by: John Fromm Gorilla 2005-08-21 09:52 |