Put in a broader context of the politics of torture in Papua, the cases of Gobay and Klembiap are not uncommon or isolated. Rather, they reveal a glimpse of the ways the Indonesian state has governed Papua for the last fifty years. In this context, torture is widespread and has become “a standard procedure” of the Indonesian state security apparatus in targeting pro-Papuan independence activists. As we notice here, the police use torture to extract confessions from suspects, to collect intelligence information and/or simply to exact shock and awe effects. If torture fails, suspects are charged with anachronistic laws such as Regulation 12/1951. This law was the product of the Dutch colonial power in its attempt to justify any arrest of pro-Indonesian activists back in early days of independence struggle. The maximum penalty of carrying a weapon is 10-year imprisonment.
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We are always told how primitive the Papuan people are; that we are the nobles in fine clothes while they are the koteka-wearing savages. We know that God created one of the most-stunning paradises on earth there, which we call Raja Ampat; that their land is rich in gold and natural resources. We are always told that not only do Papuans wear koteka (penile guards) but that they also harbor life-threatening separatists, and we are always told the number of soldiers killed by the OPM (Free Papua Movement). But what we’ve never been told is that Papuans are also human. We have never been told how they struggle for their lives; how they fight for their land and trees, to prevent some multinational corporation from raping them; how they honor nature and their ancestors. We have never been told their history; how they fought for their independence from the Dutch in 1961; how their fathers were threatened at gunpoint to vote in support of Indonesia’s occupation in the 1969 “Act of Free Choice”.
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Because it is virtually impossible for foreign journalists to obtain official permission to visit the territory filmmaker Dom Rotheroe and fixer Sally Collister travelled in the guise of tourists. Filming discreetly, keeping a low profile and evading the attention of the security police they managed to meet up with KNPB supporters and activists and hear a remarkable story of a people committed to doing whatever it takes to gain control of their own destiny.
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It is likely that most US citizens who consider themselves informed about global events are aware of the genocides in Rwanda, Bosnia and East Timor, yet it’s likely that few people in the US are aware of the ongoing genocide in West Papua, New Guinea.
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Between 1984 and 1986, more than 11,000 West Papuans fled east into PNG from the western, Indonesian half of New Guinea Island to escape political turmoil and economic discontent; the area’s longstanding secessionist sentiments towards Jakarta continue to simmer today. The many West Papuans — who share a similar Melanesian ancestry to Papua New Guineans — have integrated well in this nation of 7.3 million and would like to stay.
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Tribal Leader Benny Wenda is on a mission around the Caribbean to sensitize the region about the modern day colonialism in the country of West Papua, a province of Indonesia covering the western peninsula of the island of New Guinea.
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Dusk is falling across Melbourne and West Papua, but not over the dreams of the Papuan people. Today, remembering 51 years of oppression having been denied the right to self-determination, the West Papuan people gathered in Melbourne to celebrate their national day and raise awareness of the human rights abuses the people of West Papua still endure since the departure of the Dutch colonial governors. And on this day of remembrance, in Jayapura, the Indonesian government has once again denied the Indigenous people of West Papua the right to express their pride in their heritage and to gather peacefully.
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Despite glaring human rights concerns, western nations are lining up to feed the Indonesian military's (TNI) thirst for blood in West Papua. While the TNI engages in ethnic cleansing "sweeps" in remote areas of West Papua where separatists are believed to be hiding and is waging a relentless crackdown on peaceful Papuan activists, the US, Australia, UK, Germany and Brazil have all recently signed deals to supply Indonesia with more advanced weapons and technology in these brutal and illegal efforts.
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The Indonesian government has not taken sufficient steps to improve the dire situation, which has led to the appalling infant mortality rate of 18,4% among rural Papuans. Health centers are often vacant or even abandoned; there is not enough medical personnel or equipment and there is an insufficient, unvaried stock of medicine that is often past the expiration date.
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Made by Australian journalist Mark Worth, the film features rare archival film and eyewitness accounts. Worth spent much of his journalistic career reporting on the region before his sudden death in a hotel room in Jayapura shortly after this was broadcast on ABC in Australia in 2004.
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After almost 50 years of Indonesian rule, the reins of control are being pulled tighter than ever, with human rights groups saying the frequency and ferocity of abuse is on the rise.
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To most so called civilized people, the land is nothing more than a commodity, to be exploited and ultimately discarded in the name of Western ‘progress’ and greed. The human cost of progress is not only born by the ghosts and memories of a Gadigal Atlantis, but born to this day by the untold sufferings of countless indigenous people worldwide, people who are forced to witness the destruction of their traditional lands and culture, in the name of progress. Recent research has shown that autonomous tribal peoples have not chosen progress to enjoy its advantages, but that governments have pushed progress upon them to obtain tribal resources, not primarily to share with the tribal peoples the benefits of progress. It has also been shown that the price of forcing progress on unwilling recipients has involved the deaths of millions of tribal people, as well as their loss of land, political sovereignty, and the right to follow their own life style.
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Indonesia has been urged to pay close attention to the health and well-being of Forkorus and his colleagues who are now being held in Abepura Prison and to make sure that their conditions are being regularly monitored.
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Rio Tinto is bad news for many communities around the world. Its operations have failed to provide adequate protection of public health, the environment, workers and human rights. It is a scandal that it should be providing the metal for the London Olympic medals.
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After studying important documents at the Secretariat of the United Nations in relation to the Act of Free Choice, Yan Christian Warinussy of LP3BH concluded that the political status of West Papua is not yet final
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In another example of the power of popular resistance, Papua New Guineans this week appear to have successfully stopped the government from delaying elections and implementing a controversial Judicial Conduct Law that would allow the legislature to remove judges.
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April 5th, 2012, after 51 years, the West Papuan people reclaim their right to self-determination by re-installing a New Guinea Council in West Papua.
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Demonstrations organized by KNPB were held in Jayapura on April 2nd, and will be held again on April 5th to show support for the conference of the International Parliamentarians for West Papua (IPWP) to be held in the Dutch Parliament on April 5th.
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IN THE 1960S, WEST PAPUANS WERE SACRIFICED IN THE NAME OF COLD WAR POLITICS – AND THE UN DID NOTHING ABOUT IT. Thousands have taken part in rallies across West Papua and in Australia to mark the UN Secretary-General’s (UNSG) visit to Indonesia, calling on Ban Ki-moon to revisit UN mistakes that lead to the denial of West Papuans’ right to self-determination and to assist in resolving ongoing human rights abuses in Papua. UN peacekeeping was at the top of the agenda of the UNSG’s visit to Indonesia on Tuesday. West Papua was not, but many argue that it should be. After all, West Papuans are asking that the UN revisit its first – and flawed – administration of a post-conflict society. Observers hailed the success of the UN administration of East Timor and its successful transition to independence.
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“The Indonesian government brands us as separatists, and then hosts international fora to escalate support for what it says are ‘non-war military operations’ against us”
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