On a visit to London this week, Peneas Lokbere, a young West Papuan who survived the Abepura killings in 2000, said that many of the survivors are still suffering from the after effects of that incident, physically or psychologically.
Peneas was speaking on behalf of Komunitas Survivor Abepura, the Community of Abepura Survivors (KSA) and is also co-ordinator of the PBHI (Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association) office in Jayapura, West Papua. He has visited several European countries to spread awareness about the first Abepura incident in 2000 as well as other incidents that have occurred in West Papua in the past few years. He also drew attention to the failure of Indonesia's judicial system to bring the perpetrators of these crimes to justice.
His European trip was sponsored by Peace Brigades International (PBI), an organisation which provides protection for human rights activists in all parts of the world. Accompanying him was Rudolf Kabayong, from the Peace and Justice Secretariat (SKP) of the Jayapura Diocese.
The First Abepura incident occurred on 7 December 2000. On that day, the local police headquarters in Jayapura was attacked; one police officer and a security guard were killed. In response, police conducted "sweepings" of three student dormitories and several other places at 2am the following morning. One hundred and fifty people, including nine women and a seven-year old child were rounded up and taken into custody. On the trucks that drove them away, they were maltreated and taunted with racist remarks. The men were later separated from the women and subjected to very harsh treatment. Their hair was shaved off and in some cases pulled out with flesh, which they were forced to eat. This has clear racist overtones as all Papuans have frizzy or curly hair unlike most other Indonesians who have straight hair. Another taunt was: "You eat pig meat which is why you look like pigs."
The women captives were burnt with cigarettes and told that they were no good for anything but looking after the home. During the round-up, two of the men died in their cells and one died during raids on the dormitories.
The treatment of these West Papuans was witnessed by a Swiss journalist named Oswald Iten who was being held in police custody in connection with a separate incident and held for nine days. He later spoke about what he had seen, which was published in an Australian newspaper:
He described how he was able to peer through the bars of the cell-block leading to the guardroom where the men were being held. "About half a dozen policemen were swinging their clubs at bodies that were lying on the floor. "After returning to his cell, he said: "I could still see the clubs, staffs and split bamboo whips at their work. Their ends were smeared with blood and blood sprayed on the walls all the way up to the ceiling."
Later Iten witnessed the death of one of the prisoners, Orry Doronggi.
"The last to enter (my cell) was a large man, who fell over the bodies on the floor and lay groaning. He tried repeatedly to straighten himself up, only to fall back down again... In the back of the big man's head, there appeared to be a coin-sized hole through which I believed to spot some brain tissue. After nearly an hour and a half of groaning and spasmodic movement, his suffering body neared its end. About two metres from me, his powerful body raised itself again and his head struck the wall. A final laboured breath issued from him, then his head dropped down on the cement floor... After a while, three lackeys came and dragged the body out. I later learnt that the man who had been tortured to death was named Ori Doronggi.
I saw a picture of his corpse in the newspaper, Cendrawasih Pos. The dispatch said three dead Papuans had been brought to the morgue and the police stated that they had died in the fighting". [Sydney Morning Herald, 9 January, 2001, re-published in TAPOL Bulletin, No. 161, March/April 2001.]
Peneas said that three men had died on the first day: Orri Ndoronggi, Jhonu Karungu and Elkius Suginiap. A fourth man, Arnold Mundu Soklayo, died four years later, in April 2004; he had been totally paralysed since the incident. Three others also died in 2004: Upenus Kogoya, Robi Wonda and Temandur Koyoga. Another two died in 2005, Daud Lkbere and Patianus Lokbere, and Denni Degei died in 2006.
Komnas HAM investigation
The Abepura incident was subsequently investigated by the National Human Rights Commission, Komnas HAM, which concluded: "This case constitutes a gross violation of human rights and should be prosecuted under the rights tribunal law rather than under the Criminal Code." The Commission named 25 police officers as suspects, of whom 21 were members of the elite police force, Brimob and four were high-ranking police officers in West Papua. The Commission's findings were submitted to the Attorney-General for him to take the matter further.
Two months earlier, in November 2000, Indonesia had adopted a Human Rights Law, according to which gross violations of human rights should be tried before a Human Rights Court. It was the Human Rights Court in Makassar which was entitled to try cases occurring in West Papua.
Pressure soon mounted for the perpetrators to be brought to justice, but it was not until 2003 that the Human Rights Court in Makassar began the hearings. Only two of the suspects named by Komnas HAM were put on trial, Jhoni Wainal and Daud Sihombing. Much to the disappointment and anger of the survivors, the two men were acquitted on the grounds that the charges against them could not be described as gross human rights violations. According to the Court, these were "ordinary crimes" and should therefore be heard before a criminal court. The charges have been taken no further. Both men were released and have since been promoted. Peneas explained that the case had since been forwarded to the Supreme Court but he was not optimistic about the outcome.
Activities of the Komunitas Survivor Abepura
The KSA was set up in Jayapura on 4 April 2002. Its main objective is to pursue judicial means in pursuance of their rights. The KSA now has 102 members, all of whom are survivors and their families.
The KSA regards the Abepura incident as a typical example of many other incidents that have occurred in West Papua since 2000, all of which should be properly investigated and brought to court. These include:
The Wasior Incident in 2001
Villagers in Wondama has been in dispute for years about compensation from a local logging company for trees felled on their land. On 31 March, three employees of the company were shot dead in an attack by an unidentified group of men. Troops of Brimob, a very brutal elite force of the Indonesian police, arrived, to seek out the OPM, alleged to be responsible for the killings. Fearful of the arrival of these troops, many villagers fled their homes.
On 3 May, Brimob seized 22 men on their way home from attending a traditional event. Six of the men were shot dead, two were seriously wounded and the reast were arrested.
On 13 June, another attack on a logging company occurred, killing five members of Brimob who were standing guard at the company. This led to Brimob, together with the regional military command, launching OperasiPenyisiran dan Penumpasan (Sweep and Crush Operation). More Brimob troops were flown in and the region of Wasior was sealed off. They extended their operations to Ransiki where nine people were arrested and tortured, including a 15-year old schoolboy who was so badly beaten he fell unconscious.
Among the people arrested were a 51-year old primary school teached,Daniel Yairus Ramar, head of the local tribal council, who died from torture. His wife was later taken into custody. The police pressured her to say that her husband had been involved in the attacks on the logging companies, which she refused to do.
The Wamena incident in 2003
On 4 April, an ammunitions depot was attacked; weapons and a large quantity of ammunitions were seized. The Indonesian army (TNI) accused separatists of the attack, thought other sources believed that the army was behind the incident, to justify a crackdown.
Kopassus troops that has previously been withdrawn from the area were called back and up to thirty people were arrested, of whom nay were beaten and tortured. One young Papuan, Yapenas Murib, died in the hands of Kopassus. He died after being taken out to the street, in a very weak state. A noose was put round his neck and he was order to walk in one direction while a truck attached to the rope pulled in the other direction, causing him to fall and he was dragged along the ground. He died after choking on his food.
The army conducted sweepings throughout the area; many homes were burnt down, as well as three schools and a clinic. [For a detailed report of this incident, see TAPOL Bulletin No. 171/172, June-July 2003.]
Other incidents have occurred in West Papua, the most recent being the 16 March 2006 Incident when students at Cendrawasih University organised protests against the Freeport mining operations, after local people had been driven away for looking for gold in the debris left by the company. A clash occurred near the university when five members of the security forces who had tried to remove a blockage set up on the road by the students were killed or fatally injured. During the sweeps that followed, many students fled the area, across the border to Papua New Guinea where, as far as we know, they are still taking refuge.
Twelve days later, on 28 March, a masked man shot at students and three days later, the Kejora flag was unfurled at the University. In May 2006, a group of unidentified men attacked a military post in Arso, near the border with PNG.
None of these incidents have been subjected to proper investigation with a view to bringing those responsible to justice.
In reply to a question about these incidents, Rudolf Kabayong of the SKP said that although President Yudhoyono said after his inauguration as president that he would try to solve the Papua question, the Indonesians have used the military or security approach. He said that the military were seeking to instil fear among Papuans as a way of getting them to abandon their aspirations for freedom.
He also mentioned many other problems in West Papua, among them the decision to go ahead with dividing the province into several provinces, ignoring the need to consult first with the Majelis Rakyat Papua, which in 2003 conducted a public consultation about opinions regarding partition. Little attention was being paid to the many health problems in West Papua or to enabling economic activities to proceed.