A leading researcher on West Papua says the trial of five Papuan leaders for treason has hallmarks of being another public relations disaster for Indonesia.
The five were arrested last October at the Third Papuan People's Congress where they raised the outlawed Papuan 'Morning Star' flag and declared independence.
Five Papuan political leaders are on trial for 'treason'. support them by emailing the message to the Indonesian government
Despite their activities being of a peaceful political nature, five Papuan leaders are standing trial in an Indonesian court. If convicted they are likely to face prison sentences of 20 years or more.
Dear friends,
TAPOL has become very concerned about two Papuan political prisoners who are seriously ill. While many of us are working long-term on the issue of political prisoners in Indonesia, in the short-term these people are in pain and need help now. We aim to raise #1,000 in the next week to help pay for their medical care, and are writing to ask for your help.
Timika, Papua – The military in Papua will give maximum assistance to the local police in maintaining security in the concession area of mining company PT Freeport Indonesia in Timika district, its commander, Maj Gen Erfi Triassunu, said.
Index: ASA 21/006/2012
Amnesty International welcomes the acknowledgement by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono that security forces have committed human rights violations in the region of Papua. The President said further that he wants an end to repressive actions by the military and police in Papua.
Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The recurrent shooting incidents in Papua and the fact that none of the perpetrators has been caught have severely hampered development in the province, according to a local legislator who has called on the police and military to immediately solve the cases.
Jakarta – Problems related to Papua are Indonesia's internal affair. The United State has never considered the Papua problem in its cooperative defense relationships.
Banjir Ambarita, Jayapura – A Czech man arrested in Manokwari on Wednesday worked as a journalist. He was arrested after taking pictures of a pro-independence demonstration in the West Papua capital.
Timika, Papua – Unidentified gunmen have attacked a group of workers near Freeport-McMoRan's gold and copper mine in eastern Indonesia, wounding several of them.
Company spokesman Ramdani Sirait said the shooting of the workers from a local contractor occurred on Thursday morning.
Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Police in Papua have been criticized for not doing enough to investigate a string of shootings that have killed at least three people in the past month.
Yan Christian Warinussy – The appointment and deployment of Major-General Mohammad Erwin Syafitri (former deputy chief of BAIS, Indonesia's joint strategic intelligence agency) as commander of KODAM XVII Cenderawasih Papua is clear proof that the Land of Papua is still an area of operations of Indonesian military intelligence.
The National Police on Wednesday accused the group associated with Temy Kwalik, a local Papuan who was linked with the Free Papua Organization (OPM) separatist movement, as being responsible for the deadly shooting of one of its Mobile Brigade (Brimob) officers.
Tomorrow five West Papuan men will face charges of treason for peacefully declaring independence from Indonesia. Why isn't Australia sending legal observers to the trial, asks Tom Clarke.
A police officer from the Mobile Brigade, Brig. Ronald, was killed by unidentified gunmen while on a routine patrol in the area of PT Freeport Indonesia on Tuesday.
Banjir Ambarita – A Mobile Brigade police officer serving two years in prison for smuggling firearms into West Papua has been dishonorably discharged from the force.
An ethics panel hearing the case, headed by Comr. Sudarsono from the Papua Police, issued its decision against Haeruddin Arifin after a daylong hearing on Saturday.
The Jayapura administration is planning to require male residents to undergo circumcision in an effort to cut HIV/AIDS transmission rates in Papua.
Edison Muabuay, an administration spokesman, said the program was spurred by numerous studies worldwide that found circumcision to be an effective tool against the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Nethy Dharma Somba, Timika – Strikers have finally returned to work after a long work stoppage at giant copper mining company PT Freeport Indonesia (PT FI) in Papua, following the signing of a Joint Working Agreement (PKB) between the PT FI Mining, Energy and Chemical Workers' trade union and the company's management.
One man was critically injured and another missing after reportedly being ambushed by a group of armed men in Papua's Mulia district on Thursday, the latest attack against civilians in the province.
Arientha Primanita – The government has vowed to improve the infrastructure and welfare of the people of Papua, but stopped short of committing to an all-inclusive dialogue to address the problems afflicting the restive province.
The Australian Government's silence on human rights abuses in the region has once again been put in the spotlight, with the Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC) and International Lawyers for West Papua (ILWP) urging the Foreign Minister to speak up in defence of basic rights such as freedom of expression and assembly.
Washington – The United States called Tuesday on Indonesia to ensure due process and address grievances in the restive Papua region after a court indicted five activists for treason.
Nick Chesterfield with local sources in Jayapura – The treason trial against the leaders of the Third Papuan People's Congress in Jayapura was adjourned on Monday until February 8, after a short hearing that Indonesian authorities moved at the last moment preventing many supporters from attending.
[This hand-written statement is signed by the five Papuans who went on trial in Jayapura on 30 January 2012, and is translated in full by Carmel Budiardjo, TAPOL.]
Banjir Ambarita & Mary Anugrah Rasita, Jayapura – Education experts and officials have decried the poor state of schools in Papua in the wake of a revelation that half of all students at a state elementary school in Jayapura, the provincial capital, were illiterate.
We wish you a Happy New Year 2012
(un-official translation)
First of all, we, the leaders of Churches in Papua would like to express our sincere thanks to the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Dr. H. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who invites and welcomes us to this meeting. Shalom,
Jayapura – An Indonesian court on Monday indicted five Papuan activists for treason for raising an outlawed Papuan flag and declaring the region independent.
The men, who led a peaceful pro-independence celebration attended by 5,000 indigenous Papuans on Oct. 19, face life in prison if found guilty.
The Indonesian government should show its commitment to peaceful expression by dropping the charges against these five Papuan activists. It's appalling that a modern democratic nation like Indonesia continues to lock up people for organizing a demonstration and expressing controversial views. – Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director
Human Rights Watch on Sunday called on Indonesia to drop treason charges against five peaceful protesters, a day ahead of their expected trial in the remote province of Papua.
Nick Chesterfield with sources – West Papua's civil resistance movement is believed to be organising major demonstrations to support West Papuan leaders facing treason charges in Indonesia's courts on Monday, January 30.
The Asian Human Rights Commission released an urgent appeal on Friday calling on Indonesian authorities to allow a political prisoner suffering from a tumor to receive medical treatment.
AHRC reported that political prisoner Kimanus Wenda, held at the Nabire prison in Papua, needs surgery on a tumor in his stomach.
Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-008-2012
Dear friends,
Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-005-2012
Dear friends,
Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – A regional election clash has once again erupted during campaigning for a local regent election in Papua, causing the death of a supporter of one of the election candidates in Tolikara regency.
The victim, identified as Yusuf Yikwa, 38, died on Saturday after being hit by an arrow in his chest.
Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – An unidentified armed group shot dead a civilian in Mulia district, Puncak Jaya regency on Friday at 8 p.m. local time, the first indiscriminate shooting to take place in Papua this year. The reason behind the shooting is unknown.
Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono reprimanded on Friday nongovernmental organizations that often criticized how the Indonesian Military (TNI) handles security in Papua, saying that they implied that the law should not be enforced in the country's easternmost island.
Jakarta – Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold's Indonesian unit has restarted concentrate shipments after a three-month strike ended in December, an official said on Wednesday, a sign that work at the world's second largest copper mine was returning to normal.
Jakarta – After 50 years, Papuans still feel that the Dutch government betrayed them by not honoring a past promise to give them independence, a Dutch newspaper reported.
Jakarta – A survey jointly conducted by the Partnership for Governance Reform (Kemitraan) and the Legal Aid Institute (LBH) found that torture is a common practice among members of the National Police in Papua and has become the chief means for extracting information from suspects.
Agus Triyono – A survey carried out by nongovernmental organizations between July and September last year showed there is a widespread belief among Papuans that the police committed most of the torture in the province.
Jakarta – Army Special Force (Kopassus) Commander Major General Wisnu Bawa Tenaya said the force's presence in Papua was to carry out part of the Army's main tasks in safeguarding and upholding the country's sovereignty.
Jakarta – The government is expanding its definition of "welfare" in its approach to Papua, and welcomes the assistance of foreign donors in developing Indonesia's eastern most provinces.
The government should pay attention to the campaigning being currently undertaken by Papua Merdeka groups abroad. These campaigns can be far more effective than the various armed operations currently being waged by the OPM – Organisasi Papua Merdeka.
This opinion was expressed by Poengky Indarti, executive director of Imparsial, speaking to journalists in Jakarta.
Jakarta – Vice President Boediono brushed aside fears of 'foreign intervention' in the event of donor development funds being more accessible in Papua.
"Don't seek ghosts in broad daylight," Boediono said on Wednesday. "The most important thing is for us to filter, be selective. Let's not close ourselves off (unnecessarily)," he remarked.
Banjir Ambarita & Antara, Jayapura – Citing an improved security situation in the restive province of Papua in recent days, nearly 500 additional officers deployed there to bolster the ranks of the provincial police will be withdrawn, a police spokesman said on Tuesday.
Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – As employees of miner PT Freeport Indonesia returned to work after their three-month strike, two men working for a contractor for the company were killed on Monday. The van they were driving was set on fire with the bodies inside.
Jakarta – Workers at a Freeport McMoran Copper & Gold Inc Indonesian mine on Tuesday halted their gradual return to work one day after gunmen shot two contractors dead on the road to the Grasberg mine, a union spokesman said.
It was unclear whether the halt also affected production at the mine in the central highlands of Papua, an island in eastern Indonesia.
AWPA calls on the Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd to raise the human rights situation in West Papua with the Indonesian Government during his visit to Indonesia.
Ulma Haryanto – Standards of living in Papua have continuously risen during the past 13 years, according to the Papua Office of the Central Statistics Agency, a claim vehemently disputed by researchers and activists.
General John Magai Yogi, the leader of the TPN/OPM Makodam Pemka IV Division in Paniai, declared in a letter that they will not withdraw a single step in their operations against the Indonesian army and police which have been under way since August, 2011.
Banjir Ambarita, Jayapura, Papua – Soldiers in Papua's Puncak Jaya district shot dead on Thursday a suspected member of a separatist group and seized a weapon, sources said.
The soldiers, from the Yonif 753 base in Nabire, were on a routine patrol in Puncak Jaya when they were confronted by members of the outlawed Free Papua Movement (OPM).