Questions remain over the role of
Indonesia’s military in Papua and West papua provinces as calls for a peaceful
resolution to conflict in the disputed region continue.
Despite being frequently linked to
rampant human rights abuses in Papua, Indonesia’s military is being provided
with more weapons from both the US and Australia.
Although Jakarta has spoken of
efforts to reform the rights record of its troops, many Papuans are terrorised
by the spectre of the military and its shadow forces.
A surge of killings in Papua over
recent months have mostly been attributed by police to "unidentified
gunmen".
However they coincide with increased
operations by military to capture Free Papua Movement, or OPM, separatists.
The human rights activist, Denny
Yomaki, says village raids, violence and torture of Papuans by security forces
have been happening for years.
He says troops enjoy impunity for
abuses and continue to create a climate of fear in remote parts where people
have little contact with the outside world.
“And in the area where the natural resources are abundant,
that’s really the place where many of these inhumane treatments of the people
of Papua are happening.”
Local and foreign media are kept in
the dark as to the exact size and nature of Indonesia’s troop deployments in
Papua, although their presence is described as heavy and widespread.
The editor-in-chief of the Papua
newspaper, Tabloid Jubi, says the military rarely divulge clear information in
response to questions about alleged abuses.
There are signs that many hundreds
of troops have amassed on the border with Papua New Guinea but Victor Mambor
says the military doesn’t give much away.
“I spoke with the Commander in Chief about the military
there. They told us they can reduce the number of the military there but
people.. it must be granted that there will be no conflict there.”
Denny Yomaki says a central
component of the military presence in Papua is the work of undercover militia,
intelligence groups and the notorious special forces unit Kopassus.
“According to reports from eyewitnesses and victims, there
are people who they don’t know from before that cause trouble for them. In
towns and cities like Jayapura for example, sometimes we see at the
demonstrations that there are a lot of hooligans going round. It seems to be
uncontrolled. We don’t really know who actually organises them.”
However a Kopassus vice-commander,
who wishes to remain nameless, played down reports of growing violence in
Papua.
“I like Papua, its beautiful view and people. It’s beautiful
here. I love everything, the people, everything, I love it. People of Papua,
peaceful. Everything is normal to us in Papua, it’s normal.”
Indonesian police say they have
detained six separatist rebels over an attack which left four dead in Papua.
The announcement came a day after US
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on Indonesia to pursue dialogue and
ensure autonomy for Papua.
The East Timor & Indonesia
Action Network’s John Miller says that the US administration’s words on Papua
don’t match its actions.
He says Mrs Clinton doesn’t talk
about the source of the violence which he says is Indonesia’s security forces:
“Even as the US government deplores the violence, the US has
been opening up the spigot in terms of providing weapons to the Indonesian
military, which is what the military looks at. They expect some criticism for
the human rights situation in West Papua, as they used to expect for East
Timor. But what they look at is US actions and US actions are saying: You want
jet fighters? Here’s a bunch.”
Additionally, Australia’s Defence
Minister Stephen Smith this week indicated his government will begin selling
military equipment to Indonesia.
Via Joyo News from Radio New Zealand
International
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