Human rights defenders in Indonesia’s province of West Papua continue to face torture, arbitrary detention and harassment from the country’s police, military and security forces, an independent United Nations expert said today after wrapping up a week-long visit to the Asian archipelago, which she said had also taken some positive steps in the legal realm.
Mon, 02/26/2007 - 06:12 — Sentral Info AMP, West Papua
JAKARTA (JP): An international human rights watchdog has accused the Indonesian government of detaining Papuan activists for their political views.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report, which was made available to The Jakarta PostY on Wednesday, that dozens of activists in Papua have been detained by theauthorities for expressing their views and raising the Bintang Kejora (Morning Star) separatist flag.
Activists Still Punished For Peaceful Expression
(Jakarta, February 21, 2007) – At least 18 Papuans are serving sentences in Indonesian jails simply for peaceful acts of freedom of expression and opinion, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. Such imprisonment violates international law and Indonesia’s international legal obligations.
CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australian rights activists on Monday criticised a security pact with Indonesia, telling parliament in a submission that it could help Jakarta brutally put down separatist groups in the archipelago.
The pact, signed on the Indonesian island of Lombok in November, aims to smooth often-prickly ties between the two neighbours and underline Australian support for Jakarta's sovereignty over restive provinces including the Papua region.
Part One: A Trip to the Big City - The U.S. Congress blocked moves to restore military aid to Indonesian following reports of its military’s involvement in the 2002 murder of American school teachers in Timika. The blockade was released after the indictment of Antonius Wamang by the Department of Justice. In May 2006 the Bush Administration announced a new Pentagon program that will provide up to $19 million to supplement existing programs for building Indonesian military capacity. Questions remain about whether Wamang acted alone. Where did Wamang obtain bullets?
West Papua slideshow :
http://www.arena.org.au/WP/wpMovie.swf
from ARENA magazine - Australia
(Macromedia Flash Player required. If you don't have it? Get it here)
Kimangkil-Kalanawan Mountains, we estimated 70 to 80 thousand hectares of Higaonon rainforest tribal lands situated within the boundaries of Misamis Oriental-Bukidnon-Agusan provinces in north-central Mindanao region. Major river-system such as; Pulangi, Agusan, Gingoog, Odiongan, Cabulig and Tagoloan emanates from its rainforest.
Indonesian government and military were accused for many years of gross human rights violations in West Papua (formerly known as West Irian). Accusations ranged from rape, torture, kidnapping, extra judiciary executions, murder, forced conversions to Islam, destruction of entire villages and forced resettlement of entire communities. As was in case of East Timor, majority of Indonesian public remained blissfully ignorant, unaware and uninterested in the issue. Media refused to conduct any in-depth investigation and report on those occurrences.
Will Christian arrogancy and aggression never end? Why evict tribal people from their forest homelands and force them into mission schools? Life in the forest was perfectly adapted to the natural environment over thousands of generations, and this harmony between man and nature is now being destroyed for progress and development. But progress and development for what?
Tribal people, once culturally uprooted by civilization, become the underdogs within the civilized society after a short while. This is the result of a UN recent study.
