Pejabat Solomon: Ini bukan soal intervensi, tapi penegakan HAM

Aksi masyarakat Kepulauan Solomon memberikan dukungan pada ULMWP di Honiara, Juli 2016 - Jubi/Victor Mambor — Aksi masyarakat Kepulauan Solomon memberikan dukungan pada ULMWP di Honiara, Juli 2016 – Jubi/Victor Mambor

Jayapura, Jubi – Pernyataan Menteri Pertahanan RI, Ryamizard Racudu, yang memperingatkan para pendukung West Papua di kawasan Pasifik, khususnya Kepulauan Solomon, untuk tidak mengintervensi urusan Indonesia di Papua ditanggapi santai oleh pejabat tinggi pemerintahan Negara Kepulauan Solomon.

“Berita soal pemerintah Indonesia bertaruh melawan para pendukung West Papua bagi saya sama sekali tidak mengejutkan,” kata seorang pejabat tinggi senior tersebut yang tak disebutkan namanya kepada Solomon Times, Selasa (1/11/2016).

Dia juga mengatakan tidaklah bijaksana mengatakan pihaknya sedang mengintervensi urusan internal Indonesia. “Kami hanya mengangkat persoalan yang menjadi perhatian kami terkait situasi saudara-saudari Melanesia West Papua,” ujarnya.

Sebagai sama-sama anggota PBB, lanjut dia, penghormatan terhadap Hak Asasi Manusia(HAM) adalah salah satu kunci utama Piagam PBB. “Itulah sebabnya kami meminta PBB untuk mengirimkan tim penilai independen untuk mencari tahu fakta-fakta di lapangan dan untuk melaporkannya kembali ke seluruh anggota.” katanya.

Pihaknya sama sekali tidak menganggap permintaan itu mustahil, dan hal itu juga bukan hal baru di PBB karena menjadi bagian proses yang ditetapkan PBB. “Untuk itulah Kepulauan Solomon dan negeri-negeri Pasifik lainnya meminta PBB menggunakan mekanisme tersebut,” ungkap pejabat itu.

Pernyataan Menteri pertahanan Indonesia minggu lalu itu kini mendapat respon balik dari masyarakat sipil Australia dan Kepulauan Solomon.

Respon masyarakat sipil Australia

Ryamizard dalam Forum Dialog 2+2 yang keempat antar pemerintah Indonesia dan pemerintah Australia, seperti dilansir CNN Indonesia Kamis (27/10/2016) lalu menyoroti ‘tangan-tangan’ dari negara lain yang dinilai mencampuri urusan Papua.

“Saya sampaikan kepada Australia, menegur saja, saya sudah bilang dari awal, saya tidak pernah ikut campur urusan negara lain. Negara lain juga tidak perlu ikut campur urusan kita (Indonesia),” kata Ryamizard di Kompleks Istana Kepresidenan, Kamis (27/10/2016).

Hal itu dikritik sebagai salah paham oleh peneliti dari Universitas Nasional Australia, Program Society and Governance in Melanesia, Stewart Firth kepada RNZI, Selasa (1/11/2016).

“Mereka adalah negara-negara berdaulat. Khususnya terkait Kepulauan Solomon, negara itu berhak mengangkat persoalan West Papua sebagai negara berdaulat juga, dan Australia tidak berada dalam posisi yang baik untuk menganjurkan mereka hal berbeda,” ujar Dr. Firth.

Menurut dia bantuan bilateral Australia kepada negara itu tidak lantas membuat negaranya dapat menentukan kebijakan luar negeri negara lain.

Sementara Joe Collins, penggerak Australia Papua Association (AWPA)-Sydney juga angkat bicara terkait permintaan Jakarta tersebut. “Ini permintaan memalukan. Sudah jadi kewajiban seluruh bangsa di dunia yang peduli pelanggaran HAM tak saja di West Papua melainkan juga dimanapun itu terjadi,” kata dia seperti dikutip Solomon Star, Rabu (2/11/2016).

“Justru Kepulauan Solomon dan enam negara Pasifik lainnya yang sudah peduli mengangkat masalah pelanggaran HAM Papua ke Sidang Majelis Umum PBB ke-71 lalu itu harus dihargai dan karena telah berani berbicara untuk West Papua,” kata Collins.

Dia justru menyayangkan pemerintah Australia sendiri yang tidak mengikuti jejak Pasifik untuk turut mengecam pelanggaran HAM yang terus terjadi di Papua oleh militer Indonesia.

Isu MSG

Dr. Firth juga menduga sensitivitas Jakarta terkait isu West Papua ini sangat tampak dari banyaknya perwakilan dari kementerian yang berbicara terkait persoalan itu.

“Apa yang mengkhawatirkan Indonesia adalah persoalan keanggotaan di Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) belakangan ini mereka asumsikan memberi nilai politik simbolik bagi aktivis-aktivis pro kemerdekaan Papua,” ujarnya dengan mengambil contoh peningkatan penangkapan aktivis pro MSG di West Papua sebagai wujud nyata kekhawatiran tersebut.

Senada dengan itu, pejabat tinggi Solomon tersebut tetap menyerahkan keputusan keanggotaan West Papua di Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) kepada para anggota MSG sendiri.

“Ini kan sama saja dengan keanggotaan terhadap FLNKS-Kalaedonia Baru di MSG, persis, dan faktanya (keanggotaan) ini justru sejalan dengan pendirian MSG,” ujar pejabat senior itu.

Dia mengatakan Perancis juga pada awalnya tidak suportif terhadap gagasan FLNKS untuk bergabung ke MSG, “tetapi mungkin mereka sadar pentingnya membiarkan FLNKS mengangkat persoalan mereka di forum yang tepat,” ujarnya.

Solomon memiliki ikatan kebudayaan dan sejarah yang kuat dengan rakyat West Papua, sehingga, lanjut dia, “kami tidak bisa berpangku tangan ketika dugaan pelanggaran HAM mengemuka lagi dan lagi. Karena itu kami gunakan segala macam forum yang tepat untuk mengangkat masalah ini, bukan untuk intervensi tetapi mengingatkan diri kami sendiri atas kewajiban kami terhadap nilai-nilai dan prinsip unviersal tertentu.”(*)

November 4, 2016 0

Indonesia’s US Backed Special Forces Engaged in “Murder and Abduction”

Documents Leak from Notorious US-Backed Unit as Obama Lands in Indonesia Secret Files Show Kopassus, Indonesia’s Special Forces, Targets Papuan Churches, Civilians

JAKARTA – Secret documents have leaked from inside Kopassus, Indonesia’s red berets, which say that Indonesia’s US-backed security forces engage in “murder [and] abduction” and show that Kopassus targets churches in West Papua and defines civilian dissidents as the “enemy.” The documents include a Kopassus enemies list headed by Papua’s top Baptist minister and describe a covert network of surveillance, infiltration and disruption of Papuan institutions

Secret documents have leaked from inside Kopassus, Indonesia’s red berets, which say that Indonesia’s US-backed security forces engage in “murder [andThe disclosure comes as US President Barack Obama is touching down in Indonesia. His administration recently announced the restoration of US aid to Kopassus.

Kopassus is the most notorious unit of Indonesia’s armed forces, TNI, which along with POLRI, the national police, have killed civilians by the hundreds of thousands.

The leaked cache of secret Kopassus documents includes operational, intelligence and field reports as well as personnel records which list the names and details of Kopassus “agents.”

The documents are classified “SECRET” (“RAHASIA”) and include extensive background reports on Kopassus civilian targets — reports that are apparently of uneven accuracy.

The authenticity of the documents has been verified by Kopassus personnel who have seen them and by external evidence regarding the authors and the internal characteristics of the documents.

Some of the Kopassus documents will be released in the days to come, in part via this website.

Those being released with this article are about West Papua, where tens of thousands of civilians have been murdered and where Kopassus is most active. Jakarta has attempted to largely seal off Papua to visits by non-approved outsiders.

When the US restored Kopassus aid last July the rationale was fighting terrorism, but the documents show that Kopassus in fact systematically targets civilians.

A detailed 25-page secret report by a Kopassus task force in Kotaraja, Papua defines Kopassus’ number-one “enemy” as unarmed civilians. It calls them the “separatist political movement” “GSP/P, ” lists what they say are the top 15 leaders and discusses the “enemy order of battle.”

All of those listed are civilians, starting with the head of the Baptist Synod of Papua. The others include evangelical ministers, activists, traditional leaders, legislators, students and intellectuals as well as local establishment figures and the head of the Papua Muslim Youth organization.

The secret Kopassus study says that in their 400,000 – person area of operations the civilians they target as being political are “much more dangerous than” any armed opposition since the armed groups “hardly do anything” but the civilians — with popular support — have “reached the outside world” with their “obsession” with “merdeka” (independence/ freedom) and persist in “propagating the issue of severe human rights violations in Papua,” ie. “murders and abductions that are done by the security forces.”

(See SATGAS BAN – 5 KOPASSUS, LAPORAN TRIWULAN I POS KOTARAJA, DANPOS NUR WAHYUDI, LETTU INF, AGUSTUS 2007, p. 8, 12, 9, 6, 5, )

http://www.scribd.com/doc/41522587/Satgas-Ban-5-Kopassus-Triw

Given that the Kopassus report states as settled fact that security forces do “murder, abduction,” those who they define as being the enemy can be presumed to be in some danger.

In its’ discussion of “State of the enemy” Kopassus identifies the enemy with two kinds of actions: “the holding of press conferences” where they “always criticize the government and the work being done by the security forces” and the holding of private meetings where they engage in the same kind of prohibited speech. (LAPORAN TRIWULAN p. 9)

The Kopassus “enemies” list — the “leaders” of the “separatist political movement” includes fifteen civic leaders. In the order listed by Kopassus they are:

Reverend Socrates Sofyan Yoman, chair of the Papua Baptist Synod Markus Haluk head of the Association of Indonesian Middle Mountains Students (AMPTI) and an outspoken critic of the security forces and the US mining giant Freeport McMoRan Buchtar Tabuni, an activist who, after appearing on the Kopassus list, was sentenced to three years prison for speech and for waving Papuan flags and was beaten bloody by three soldiers, a guard, and a policeman because he had a cell phone Aloysius Renwarin, a lawyer who heads a local human rights foundation Dr. Willy Mandowen, Mediator of PDP, the Papua Presidium Council, a broad group including local business people, former politcal prisoners, women’s and youth organizations, and Papuan traditional leaders. His most prominent predecessor, Theys Eluay, had his throat slit by Kopassus in 2001. Yance Kayame, a committee chair in the Papuan provincial legislature Lodewyk Betawi Drs. Don Agustinus Lamaech Flassy of the Papua Presidium Council staff Drs. Agustinus Alue Alua, head of the MRP, the Papuan People’s Council, which formally represents Papuan traditional leaders and was convened and recognized by the Jakarta government Thaha Al Hamid, Secretary General of the Papua Presidium Council Sayid Fadal Al Hamid, head of the Papua Muslim Youth Drs. Frans Kapisa, head of Papua National Student Solidarity Leonard Jery Imbiri, public secretary of DAP, the Papuan Customary Council, which organizes an annual plenary of indigenous groups, has staged Papua’s largest peaceful demonstrations, and has seen its offices targeted for clandestine arson attacks Reverend Dr. Beny Giay, minister of the Protestant evangelical KINGMI Tent of Scripture church of Papua Selfius Bobby, student at the Fajar Timur School of Philosophy and Theology (LAPORAN TRIWULAN p. 6) Reached for comment, Reverend Socrates Sofyan Yoman of the Baptist Synod laughed when told he headed the Kopassus list. He said that churches were targeted by TNI/ Kopassus because “We can’t condone torture, kidnapping or killing.” He said that he has received anonymous death threats “all the time, everywhere,” but that as a church leader he must endure it . He said the real problem was for Papua’s poor who “live daily in pressure and fear.”

Markus Haluk said that he is constantly followed on foot and by motorcycle, has been the subject of apparent attempts to kill him, and receives so many sms text death threats that he has difficulty keeping current with the death-threat archive he tries to maintain for historical and safety purposes.

One threat, written months after his name appeared as a target in the Kopassus documents promised to decapitate him and bury his head — 200 meters deep, while another imagined his head as a succulent fruit to be devoured and swallowed by security forces.

But as a famous figure in Papua, Haluk enjoys, he thinks, a certain kind of protection since when security forces have actually arrested him it has at times touched off street uprisings.

Village Papuans, he said, enjoy no such advantage. For them, being targeted by Kopassus “can get you killed. If there’s a report against you, you can die.”

Contacted in prison, Buctar Tabuni, the number three enemy on the Kopassus list, told of getting a death threat with a rat cadaver, described living with round-the-clock surveillance, and said the threats to him repeatedly stated that “you will be killed unless you stop your human rights activities.”

Three days ago, writing from his prison cell, Buctar Tabuni called on President Obama to cut off aid to TNI and back a democratic vote on Papuan independence. He told me that Indonesia follows the US lead and that the US was complicit since, as he wrote Obama, US-trained “troops in cities and villages all over West Papua treat the people like terrorists that must be exterminated.”

Anti-terrorism was indeed Obama’s main argument for restoring US aid to Kopassus, but the documents make clear that Kopassus mainly targets unarmed civilians, not killers.

In fact, the main unit that wrote the secret documents, SATGAS BAN – 5 KOPASSUS, is ostensibly doing anti-terrorism, with the Kopassus Unit 81, Gultor.

Obama justified the Kopassus aid restoration to Congress by saying that the initial US training would be given not to Kopassus as a whole but only to its’ anti-terror forces. The White House and Pentagon suggested that these forces were less criminal than the rest of Kopassus and of TNI/POLRI, but the documents establish that they, like the rest, go after civilians like the Papuan reverends and activists.

Reverend Giay said, when reached for comment that TNI, Kopassus and POLRI were making the case that “it’s OK to kill pastors and burn churches since the churches are separatist.”

Among Giay’s collection of anonymous sms death threats was a political missive demanding that “the reverend stop using the platform of the church to spread the ideology of free Papua.”

Giay said that “they need ideological and moral support from the Indonesian majority and the media” so they use Kopassus and others to attack the churches as constituting security threats.

He compared TNI/Kopassus actions in Papua now to those earlier in East Timor and the Malukus where “they created this conflict between Muslims and Christians” to expand their presence and get more money and power.

By Allan Nairn
Global Research, November 10, 2010
CommonDreams.org 10 November 2010

Url of this article:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/obama-in-jakarta-secret-files-indonesia-s-us-backed-special-forces-engaged-in-murder-and-abduction/21852

Reverend Giay said that “local pastors have been targeted. They kill them off and report them as separatists.”

The Kopassus documents boast that “in carrying out the operational mission of intelligence in the kotaraja area, we apportion work in order to cover all places and avenues of kotaraja society…” (LAPORAN TRIWULAN p. 11).

The files show that Kopassus indeed penetrates most every part of popular life. In addition to plainclothes Kopassus officers who go undercover in multiple roles, Kopassus fields a small army of non-TNI “agents” — real people with real lives and identities, who are bought, coerced or recruited into working covertly.

Kopassus Kotaraja area agents discussed in the secret personnel files include reporters for a local newspaper and for a national TV news channel, students, hotel staff, a court employee, a senior civil servant who works on art and culture, a 14 year old child, a broke, “emotional, drunken” farmer who needs money and “believes” that Kopassus will “take care of his safety,” a “hardworking” “emotionally stable” farmer who also is a need of funds, a worker who “likes to drink hard liquor,” is poor and “likes to believe things,” a motorcycle taxi driver, a cellphone kiosk clerk who watches people who buy SIM card numbers, and a driver for a car rental company who “frequently informs on whether there are elements from the Separatist Political Movement who hire rental cars and speak regarding independence/freedom (merdeka)” (SATGAS BAN – 5 KOPASSUS, POS I KOTARAJA, BIODATA AGEN, RAHASIA).

In the file, though, the word “merdeka” is not spelled out. In accord with Kopassus practice, only an initial is written, in quotation marks: “‘M’”, the unwritable, unspeakable M-word.

The documents support the longtime word on the street: you rarely know who is Kopassus. So best watch what you say if you care for safety, especially if what you say is “freedom.”

November 3, 2016 0

Solomon Islands Seeks to Host 2017 Melanesian Youth Parliament

Monday, 31 October 2016 9:03 AM, Solomon Times

The National Parliament and the Ministry of Women, Youth, Children and Family Affairs made their intentions known during the recent National Youth Parliament in Honiara.

Speaker of Parliament, Ajilon Jasper Nasiu, told participants that 20 youth parliamentarians will be selected from the current Youth Parliament to represent Solomon Islands in the 2017 Melanesian Youth Parliament.

“And from this Youth Parliament, a separate selection panel will select 20 youth parliamentarians, 10 boys and 10 girls to represent the Solomon Islands in next year’s Melanesian Youth Parliament.”

The Speaker of Parliament appeals to all youth parliamentarians participating in the current youth parliament to perform to their best in order to represent the country in the Melanesian Youth Parliament next year.

The objective of a Youth Parliament is to teach young people about some of the core principles of democracy, its values and how it functions. It also gives young people an opportunity to raise issues of concern, and in so doing feed into mainstream policy discussions or debates.

November 3, 2016 0

Tokoh Inggris Raih Gandhi Award 2016 Serukan Referendum Papua

Tokoh HAM Inggris, Peter Tatchell saat menerima Gandhi International Peace Award dari pengacara HAM Inggris yang terkemuka, Helena Kennedy QC, disaksikan oleh Omar Hayat dari Gandhi Foundation (Foto:scoop.co.nz

LONDON, SATUHARAPAN.COM – Isu pelanggaran Hak Asasi Manusia (HAM) di Papua tampaknya tak terbendung lagi untuk menjadi perhatian dunia. Semakin banyak tokoh mancanegara yang memberi perhatian pada masalah ini. Indonesia tampaknya harus semakin bekerja keras untuk mengupayakan dialog untuk meredamnya.

Sebuah amunisi baru bagi mereka yang mengangkat masalah pelanggaran HAM di kancah internasional, baru saja datang dari terpilihnya tokoh Inggris dan aktivis HAM negara itu, Peter Tatchell. Ia terpilih sebagai penerima Gandhi International Peace Award, penghargaan bagi tokoh yang berjuang memperjuangkan perdamaian secara nonkekerasan. Ia diganjar penghargaan itu atas pengabdiannya bagi kerja-kerja pembelaan HAM selama 50 tahun di Inggris dan di seluruh dunia.

Yang menarik, Tatchell mendedikasikan kemenangannya ini untuk pembebasan Papua. Ketika menerima penghargaan itu di London pada 31 Oktober, ia memanfaatkan separuh dari pidatonya berbicara tentang pelanggaran HAM di Papua. Kritik pedas terhadap Jakarta mendominasi pidatonya tentang Papua.

Tatchell menerima penghargaan tersebut dalam sebuah upacara di House of Parliement di London, Inggris. Yang menyerahkan kepadanya adalah pengacara HAM Inggris yang terkemuka, Helena Kennedy QC, yang juga merupakan anggota parlemen Inggris.

“Menerima penghargaan ini adalah kehormatan besar. apresiasi yang mendalam saya kepada Gandhi Foundation,” kata Tatchell, dikutip dari scoop.co.nz.

“Saya mendedikasikan penerimaan saya atas penghargaan ini kepada orang-orang heroik di Papua (Barat) dan perjuangan pembebasan mereka melawan penjajahan dan dan pendudukan militer. Sejak aneksasi oleh Jakarta pada tahun 1969, setidaknya 100.000, dan mungkin 400.000, orang Papua telah meninggal,” kata Tatchell, dalam pidato penerimaan penghargaan itu.

Berjuang 50 Tahun

Gandhi Foundation, lembaga yang memberikan penghargaan itu, mengatakan Peter Tatchell secara konsisten selama beberapa dekade memperjuangkan dan mempromosikan HAM dan hak LGBT. Tatchell, yang merupakan pendiri Peter Tatchell Foundation, dinilai telah membantu untuk membangkitkan pemahaman yang lebih besar dalam pikiran publik akan isu-isu penting dan menciptakan kondisi untuk memungkinkan hukum dilaksanakan dalam melindungi kelompok minoritas.

“Dia secara konsisten berada di garis depan gerakan progresif, dari anti-apartheid hingga hak-hak Palestina, perlucutan senjata nuklir, reformasi demokrasi di Timur Tengah dan kampanye melawan undang-undang anti-teror kejam di Inggris,” demikian pernyataan Gandhi Foundation.

“Dia telah mencapai ini melalui keyakinannya atas protes non-kekerasan, yang merupakan prinsip-prinsip yang dianut oleh Mahatma Gandhi,” lanjut pernyataan itu.

“Dewan Pengawas Gandhi Foundation juga memperhitungkan keberanian pribadinya dalam menghadapi prasangka dan menempatkan dirinya kadang-kadang di jalan serangan kekerasan tetapi tidak pernah membalas dengan kekerasan. Dia telah berulang kali mempertaruhkan dirinya dalam penangkapan dan penahanan untuk mengekspos ketidakadilan, dan telah dipandang sebagai panutan oleh banyak aktivis hak asasi manusia,” demikian pernyataan Gandhi Foundation.

Berjuang Sejak Usia 15 Tahun dengan Prinsip Kasih

Tatchell mengatakan penghargaan yang diterimanya dia pandang sebagai pengakuan atas setengah abad bekerja untuk HAM, dimulai pada tahun 1967 ketika ia berusia 15 tahun.

“Tapi, tentu saja, perubahan apapun yang telah membantu membawa saya, ia tidak pernah dicapai oleh saya sendiri. Saya adalah bagian dari, upaya kolektif bersama Gay Liberation Front, Anti-Apartheid Movement, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, OutRage! dan belasan kelompok kampanye lain yang telah saya dukung selama beberapa dekade,” kata dia.

“Terima kasih saya kepada semua orang-orang untuk kebaikan mereka, kemurahan hati dan dukungan selama beberapa dekade. Hal ini jauh lebih dihargai – dan berharga,” kata dia.

Menurut dia, perjuangan non-kekerasan Gandhi yang sukses terhadap kekuasaan kolonial Inggris di India telah menjadi inspirasi abadi sepanjang 50 tahun kampanye HAM yang dia lakukan.

“Memaksa Inggris keluar dari India – pada saat Inggris adalah negara adidaya militer terbesar dalam sejarah dan bertekad untuk melanjutkan kekuasaan kekaisaran – itu luar biasa. Tapi itu semua lebih luar biasa lagi karena metode Gandhi mencapai pemerintahan sendiri dan kebebasan tanpa mengganggu bahkan satu helai rambut di kepala tentara Inggris. Gandhi menunjukkan potensi yang besar dari kekuatan damai rakyat,” tutur dia.

Ia menggaris bawahi bahwa kasih merupakan energi yang tak tergoyahkan.

“Mengikuti jejak Gandhi, motif usaha hak asasi manusia saya adalah kasih. Saya mengasihi orang lain. Saya suka kebebasan, kesetaraan dan keadilan. Satu-satunya perjuangan pembebasan yang layak diperjuangkan adalah perjuangan yang terinspirasi oleh kasih. Kasih adalah awal, tengah dan akhir pembebasan. Tanpa kasih, tidak ada pembebasan layak disebut,” kata dia.

Prinsip-prinsip nonkekerasan, menurut Tatchell, telah ia aplikasikan dalam berbagai aksi yang ia lakukan. Berbagai aksi yang sudah ia alakukan, termasuk aksi protes memperjuangkan hak LGBT di Jerman Timur (1973), melawan upaya penangkapannya atas perintah Presiden Mugabe dari Zimbabwe (1999 and 2001), seruan agar pasukan Inggris menolak penggunaan nuklir (1985), kritik terhadap 10 uskup Anglikan atas kolusi munafik mereka terhadap homofobia gereja (1994), protes terhadap Tony Blair atas perang Irak (2003), protes terhadap pelarangan pawai gay di Moskow (2007) dan upaya memblokade limousine diktator militer Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf (2008).

Dipersembahkan untuk Papua

Dalam pidatonya kemenangan itu, Tatchell cukup panjang lebar berbicara tentang Papua, dengan kritik yang sangat pedas terhadap Jakarta.

Ia antara lain menuduh program transmigrasi ke Papua “sengaja dirancang untuk membuat orang Papua menjadi minoritas di tanah mereka sendiri.”

Menurut dia, pelanggaran HAM di Papua meluas termasuk penangkapan massal. Ia mengeritik hukum di Indonesia, yang dengan mengibarkan bendera bintang kejora saja, orang bisa dihukum 10 sampai 15 tahun.

Di bagian akhir pidatonya, ia mengatakan dirinya berbagi solidaritas dengan rakyat Papua dan hak untuk menentukan nasib sendiri.

“Indonesia harus setuju referendum yang diawasi oleh PBB bagi masyarakat asli Papua, untuk membiarkan mereka memutuskan apakah mereka ingin tetap menjadi bagian dari Indonesia atau merdeka.”

ia menyerukan agar penjualan senjata oleh Barat ke Indonesia dihentikan. Demikian juga dengan eksploitasi ekonomi asing yang luas atas sumber daya emas, tembaga, minyak, gas dan kayu. Menurut dia, eksploitasi itu berlangsung tanpa persetujuan dari rakyat Papua.

Pada kesempatan itu, ia juga memperkenalkan Maria dan Koteka Wenda yang mewakili gerakan pembebasan Papua. “Mereka adalah pengungsi, pejuang dan keluarga dari pemimpin kemerdekaan Papua, Benny Wenda. Selamat datang kepada Maria dan Koteka, “kata Tatchell.

Sebagai catatan, Benny Wenda, juru bicara United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), yang memperjuangkan hak menentukan sendiri bagi Papua, sampai saat ini tinggal di Inggris. Sejumlah tokoh Inggris telah menyatakan dukungan bagi hak penentuan nasib sendiri bagi Papua. Di antaranya, tokoh gereja Inggris, Richard Douglas Harries, atau yang lebih dikenal sebagai Lord Harries of Pentregarth, dan Ketua Partai Buruh, Jeremy Corbyn.

Tentang Gandhi Foundation

Gandhi Foundation adalah sebuah lembaga amal terdaftar di Inggris yang bertujuan untuk menyebarkan pengetahuan dan pemahaman tentang hidup dan karya Mahatma Gandhi.

Tujuan utama lembaga ini adalah menjelaskan dan menunjukkan relevansi dari aksi dan pandangan Gandhi dewasa ini.

Hal itu dilakukan dengan mempromosikan nonkekerasan ketimbang perang dan agresi; ekonomi egaliter yang menekankan kepada ketahanan sendiri, kerjasama dan kepercayaan.

Lembaga amal ini juga mempromosikan gaya hidup sederhana, menghindari pencarian tak berkesudahan terhadap kepemilikan harta dan pengalaman semu. Cara ini dipandang sebagai langkah mendasar untuk melindungi sumber daya bumi
dan ekologi.

Gandhi Foundation telah memberikan penghargaan Gandhi International Peace Award sejak tahun 1998.

Editor : Eben E. Siadari

November 3, 2016 0

West Papua resources fray discussed alongside climate

RadioNZ – A conference getting underway in Sydney today looks to address two major areas of concern to people in the Pacific region in the same sitting.

‘At the Intersection: Pacific Climate Change and Resource Exploitation in West Papua’ runs for two days, hosted by Western Sydney University and the University of Sydney’s West Papua Project.

Deforestation is rife across New Guinea. Photo: RNZI / Johnny Blades

The keynote speaker is Vanuatu’s Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Ralph Regenvanu. Others attending include climate change scientists and West Papuan analysts.

The conference has been organised by Dr Cammi Webb-Gannon from Western Sydney University who said climate change and pernicious resource extraction in West Papua had a deep connection.

She said there was a need to find common strands of the two problems, and how it might it be useful to address them together.

“The Indonesian colonisation of West Papua is what has led to this gross resource exploitation, and the flow-on effects of human rights violations and environmental destruction in West Papua. So the two are very related,” she explained.

“They’ve never been discussed in tandem, but that’s the point of this conference, to do so.”

Dr Webb-Gannon said there were various critical issues that required attention.

She noted how the impacts of climate change throughout the Pacific Islands region highlight the importance of preserving West Papua’s rainforests from rampant logging and forest clearance.

“We want to question in this conference whether if we can halt or even stop some of the resource exploitation – whether that’s mining at Freeeport, gas mining along the coast of West Papua or even looking at reducing the land clearing in Merauke – then maybe this can help slow down Pacific climate change which is also quite alarming.”

The conference will utilise Open Space Technology to elicit creative strategies and policy advice from expert participants.

November 3, 2016 0

PM adjourns Parliament, six bills before committee

SolomonStarNews.com, Published: 02 November 2016

PRIME Minister Manasseh Sogavare has adjourned Parliament to November 14.

Six bills will be ready for deliberation by Parliament at the Second Reading stage when it resumes its final sitting for this year on the 14th of November.

The bills- Town and Country Planning (Amendment) Bill 2016, Land Surveyors Bill 2016, Child and Welfare Bill 2016, Adoption (Amendment) Bill 2016, Pacific Games 2023 Bill 2016 and Solomon Islands Tertiary Education and Skills Authority Bill 2016- were put through the First Reading Stage when Parliament convened yesterday morning for the final 2016 session.

After the first Reading of the Bills, Prime Minister moved a Motion of Special Adjournment seeking approval of the House to postpone the meeting to November 14 to allow the Bills and Legislation Committee to inquire into these bills and also for Cabinet to deliberate on the 2017 Budget and other bills to be brought to Parliament this session.

When moving the motion, the Prime Minister said:

“I would like to move that the adjournment of Parliament on Tuesday 2nd November 2016-the present meeting- shall stand adjourned till Monday 14th November 2016.

“The reason is that a number of bills have been submitted to Parliament and the Bills and Legislation Committee will need to inquire into before we can deliberate on them at the Second Reading stage when we resume our present meeting on November 14.

“This motion will also give a little more time for the Government to look at the (2017) Budget.

“There are also other bills including the Dual Citizenship Bill that still need to be submitted to Parliament. So we need that space of time to complete these tasks.”

November 2, 2016 0

Australian Activist Speaks Out Against Jakarta Request

Wednesday, 2 November 2016 8:29 AM, Solomon Times

Solomon Times Front Page Coverage on West Papua

Leader of the Australian West Papua Association (Sydney) (AWPA), Joe Collins, has spoken out against reports that Jakarta has requested Australia to pass on a message to the Solomon Islands to refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of Indonesia.

“This is an outrageous request as it is the duty of all nations to raise concern about human rights abuses not only in West Papua but no matter where they are committed.

“The Solomon Islands and the other six Pacific leaders who raised concern about the human rights abuses in West Papua (at the 71st Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September) are to be congratulated for their courageous stand on the issue of West Papua,” said Mr Collins.

He said that it is a pity that Australia does not follow the Pacific leaders in also condemning the ongoing human rights abuses committed by the Indonesian Military.

“Not only should Australia refuse the request of the Indonesian defence minister but should be supporting the Pacific leaders in calling on Jakarta to allow a PIF facing mission to West Papua.”

Indonesia’s Defence Minister was quoted by media as having requested Australia to pass on the message to the Solomon Islands, saying that as a major donor, Australia should raise the issue of non-interference with Solomon Islands.

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Joe Collins, along with AWPA’s Secretary Anne Noonan, were awarded the 2012 John Rumbiak Human Rights Defender Award.

AWPA’s role is to lobby and inform the Australian Government and the International Community and in particular regional organizations such as the Pacific Islands Forum and the Melanesian Spearhead Group to raise concerns about the human rights situation in West Papua.

November 2, 2016 0

Papuans in West Papua Only Have One Killer: The Malay Indos

PMNews asked the West Papua Revolutionary Army on recent killings happening in West Papua, who are the killers? Or Who is causing troubles in West Papua despite tens of visits to West Papua by the colonial president Joko Widodo. Lt. Gen. Amunggut Tabi says,

Papuans in West Papua Only Have One Killer: The Malay Indos. No one should be confused about it. Since its military invasion Indonesia has been here for gold, copper, timber, gas, oil, fish, you name it. And the human beings, native inhabitants, of an inferior and backward Melanesian race are seen as troublesome, as hindrance to the original purpose of invading, occupying and extracting the natural resources.

Amunggut Tabi continues,

Many Indnnesians use this expression, “New Guinea is a big Island, very big fo host all Indonesians, even still have more rooms to host all Malays from Java to Thailand, its natural resources terribly rich, it will take thousands of years to complete extract the natural resources, it is ripe, it is ready, however, it is a pity, it is disturbing, it is discouraging, that this island also has human beings, called Melanesian Papuan.

It is clear, that Melanesians in West Papua are seen as a “pity”, an obstacle, hinderance to the great Pan-Indonesia, Great Malay Republic as inspired by the first Malay-Indos President Sukarno.

Now, what is the solution that normal human being take when you see something or somebody is a “hindrance”? You solve it. You take the hindrance away. In this case, if Papuan as human beings are the problems, then Malay-Indos have to deal with them, and the only way is to kill-them-off.

Amunggut Tabi also stated,

I mean, wiping out Melanesians, not just Papuans, is on the agenda of Pan-Indonesia or Great Indonesia nation-state that was already designed by Sukarno. The mission is not yet complete until the Isle of New Guinea is fully occupied, and exploited, and the Papuans in this Island is completely wiped out.

I can guarantee this because I have read all secret-documents from Indonesian intelligence. Of course, we must purchase the information, but in the future time, they will take over Papua New Guinea, and later on Solomon Islands. It is just a matter of time, the plan is already in place and already in hands.

The most feasible approach to occupying the whole Melanesia starting from Raja Ampat Islands of West Papua westernmost ends is by wiping out the human beings who inhabit the Island. There is no other way ahead. They will never occupy already independent Papua New Guinea and other Melanesian nation-states just by killing the inhabitants but at least they already starting from West Papua. Once they wipe out and occupy West Papua, they will occupy Papua New Guinea in social, culture, technology, infrastructure, military, police.

Amunggut Tabi furthermore warned,

Of all human race in the world, Malay-Indos as Malay race is the most corrupt in their moral standard. They will always use women as the front-page, their window, their entry-point, their leading story. The most obvious example is the last UNGA interventions made by seven South Pacific countries was responded by Indonesia by presented what they called, “beautiful young Indonesian diplomat” and it then because spiral all over Indonesia. They do not care human beings are killed, and threatened to be wiped out from their own inherited land. Their focus was on that “one lady” that they regarded beautiful. What is the meaning of beauty when she tells lies in public speech? Beauty must rests in the heart, not in the skin.

Amunggut Tabi also mentioned the names, as examples, of Melanesian leaders who have been morally and politically defeated by Indonesia after giving them Indonesian ladies as their wives, or as their maids. Women is always in their forehead when they talk about dealing with other people, to defeat them:

They have, and they will offer ladies to many Melanesian politicians and key figures, and they will use all their powers to control Melanesian politics though back-doors, not front-doors. They have done so successfully with Papua New Guinea key figures. They will soon do it all over Melanesia. They will occupy Melanesia though back-doors. They are occupying West Papua though front-door. Melanesian leaders must read this reality rationally, and respond to it rationally, strategically, and wisely.

With all these background information, Amunggut Tabi said that Malay-Indos are the ones who want to see West Papua unstable, to see West Papuans wiped out from their homeland, to exploit and extract as many natural resources as possible in short time as possible.

He continues,

When you see any Melanesians die, mysteriously, openly, caused by illness or a sudden death, in remote villages or in crowded city, anywhere in Indonesia, hit by car or shot randomly, Melanesians must keep in mind, that surely, Malay-Indos are on their way wiping out Melanesian race. They are our killers. Any aid and development funds offer from Indonesia should be rejected, because their aid and money are full of Papuans’ blod.

November 1, 2016 1

Hon. Powes Parkop, the Governor of NCDC Port Moresby, the capital city of Papua New Guinea supports a Free West Papua

In a statement, Parkop said Papua New Guinea should be adopting a more moral and humanistic policy on West Papua instead of sticking to the immoral position of continuing to recognize Indonesia Sovereignty over the territory without question or conditions.

Parkop said he will be making submission to this effective to the NEC and will impress on NEC to change our policy.

“Otherwise I will be pushing for such changes in the next Government after 2017 General Election.

“I will be proposing that PNG adopt a position where while we acknowledge Indonesia control over the territory of West Papua, we must question the legality of the integration and call on Indonesia to correct this historical error so as to bring lasting peace and harmony to our region.

“We all know that so called Act of Free Choice in 1969 did not comply with the law as it exist in 1969 or since. We all know Indonesia invaded West Papua in 1962 and had military, political and administrative control of the territory in 1969 when the Vote on Integration was taken.

“We all know Indonesia only allowed 1000 people out of 1.2 million Papuans to vote in 1969. We all know that these 1000 people were selected and subject to undue pressure by the Indonesia.Indonesia is obliged to correct this historical mistake that continues to retard the progress of the Papua People and hinder their freedom.”

Parkop added that although the Government has made progress in addressing the Papuan issue on a bilateral and multilateral basis but our policy has not changed. Our policy to just recognize Indonesia Sovereignty over West Papua without reservation is immoral, outdate and inhuman. It is also against our conscience. It is also against the stand or position of all Pacific Countries including Polynesians and Micronesians.”

Indonesia invaded Timor Leste in 1975 and eventually allowed them to decide their future by a referendum 2000.We all applaud them for correcting that historical mistake. They should do the same with West Papua. Indonesia will be doing a service to humanity and to itself by making this honorable decision rather than to lie.

Parkop further added that as friends of Indonesia, we should not be afraid to speak our mind about the nature of our friendship including pointing out any impediment to a robust friendship.He said the future between PNG and Indonesia will be more robust and enhance if Indonesia relents and agree to allow Papuans to morally and legally decide their future by a properly supervised referendum under the United Nations.
“This is the policy PNG Government should adopt as it is moral, humanistic, legal and honest policy.”

November 1, 2016 0

Respect for Human Rights is a UN Principle

Tuesday, 1 November 2016 9:47 AM, Solomon Times

News that the Indonesian government is upping the ante against supporters of West Papua comes as no surprise, a well-placed senior government source said.

“It is no surprise to us, and I think it is not right to say that we are interfering with the internal affairs of Indonesia, we are simply raising an issue of concern regarding our Melanesian brothers of West Papua.

“We are all members of the United Nations, and the respect for Human Rights is one of the key cornerstones of the Charter,” he says.

“That is what we are asking from the UN, to send an independent assessment team to find out the facts on the ground and to report back to the members.”

He says that it is not an unreasonable request, nor is it unprecedented, it is a process established by the UN, and one that Solomon Islands and other Pacific countries are calling on the UN to use.

He says that the membership of West Papua in the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) is an issue for the MSG alone to decide.

“This is no different from the membership of New Caledonia’s FLNKS, no different, and in fact this is in line with the establishment of the MSG.”

He says that France may not have been supportive of the idea for the FLNKS to join the MSG, “but perhaps they recognized the importance of allowing the FLNKS to raise issues of concern in a proper forum.”

“We have historical and cultural ties to the West Papuan people, so we cannot stand idly by when allegations of human rights abuses are raised time and again.

“So we will use whichever fora we deem appropriate to raise such issues, not to interfere but to remind ourselves of our obligations to certain universal principles and values.”

The Defence Minister of Indonesia has urged the Australian government to rebuke Pacific states, in particular Solomon Islands, for raising Papua in global fora.

A Research Fellow at the Australian National University’s State, Society and Governance in Melanesia Program, Stewart Firth, told Radio New Zealand that “Jakarta has misinterpreted Australia’s relationship with Pacific countries.”

“These are sovereign states. And in particular in the case of Solomon Islands, Solomon Islands has a right to do that [speak out about West Papua] as a sovereign country, and Australia’s not in a very good position to tell them differently,” Dr Firth said.

With radionz.co.nz

November 1, 2016 0