Basy Lys
15 december 2006, 14:08
De Papua's die in het door Indonesië bezette West-Papua overleven zijn quasi rechtenloos.
De Vrije Wereld laat hen aan hun lot over, alhoewel alles erop wijst dat zij hetzelfde lot ondergaan als de Oost-Timorezen, die het slachtoffer werden van de Indonesische genocide waarbij een derde van de bevolking omkwam tussen 1975 en 2002.
http://www.koteka.net/
Out of a total population of 2,1 million in West Papua (latest census results from year 2000), the indigenous Papuan Melanesians currently number only 1,3 million, with the remaining 800,000 made-up of an assortment of opportunists and transmigrants from other parts of Indonesia who neither share nor respect the Papuan culture and identity. The Papuan population in independent Papua New Guinea across the border (PNG shares the border with West Papua on the island of New Guinea) currently stands at an estimated 5 million. The disparity in numbers clearly indicate genocide/ethnocide perpetrated on a massive scale by the Indonesian military against the indigenous population in just 40 years of oppressive and brutal rule. We say enough is enough.
…
Ever since the Indonesians set foot on Papuan soil, human rights abuses have been the rule of the day. In the antiquity or the dream time, the Indonesian quest had been Papuan slaves and the Birds of Paradise. Since 1962 however the quest has been for the rich mineral deposits [gold, copper, nickel, oil etc.], the vast virgin forest with its timber and the 'empty' land. The West Papuans have had to be removed from their land by hook or by crook. Political prisoners and detainees in West Papua / Irian Jaya continue to be subjected to ill treatment and torture by police and military authorities, particularly in the early stages of their detention. Indonesian security forces have also been responsible for the extra-judicial execution and 'disappearances' of suspected OPM (Organisasi Papua Merdeka - Free Papua Movement) activists and sympathizers both in West Papua and independent Papua New Guinea.
1. An Introduction to the Genocide
Dr. Kees Lagerberg reported that an estimated 300,000 people had disappeared without trace. This is an awful lot of people in anybody's language, but it is more horrific if one considers that the estimated population of the territory was about 700,000 in the early 1960, and about one million in the 1980's, when Dr. Lagerberg made the claim. Thus 30% of the population has simply vanished from the face of this earth. A small portion of this could be explained, the aerial bombardment claimed 80,000 lives, exile and refugees at its highest [ 1984-1985] totaled 13,000, known massacres 13,000, that totals roughly 106,000. So, where did the remainder go? If one looks at the abysmal level of health care system for the rural population, the disease statistics meagre though they are, one could not help but conclude that this population is rapidly declining directly or indirectly as the result of Indonesian government policies. As such these are man-made policies designed to eliminate a whole race of indigenous First Peoples. At the start of the accession to power in the territory, the Indonesian government policy was to eliminate all politically literate and educated West Papuan elite, because she feared that their presence will hamper the process of Indonesianisation [see "isolated" murders, and disappearances]. The government's Family Planning Programme which stresses the policy of smaller family size also spells disaster for this Melanesian race. Therefore there is an element of urgency to stem this decline lest this ethnic Melanesian race not survive beyond the first two decades of the 21st century.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/01/02/opinion/edtom.php
In Indonesia, the battleground has shifted
Tom Benedetti International Herald Tribune
TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2006
VANCOUVER The attention that the tsunami brought to the previously overlooked conflict in the Indonesian province of Aceh is contributing to an end to three decades of insecurity and terror there. But while Aceh may be moving toward peace, West Papua, at the other end of the Indonesian archipelago, has been witnessing the opposite trend - a sudden escalation of military activity by the same force that occupied Aceh, and East Timor before that.
For more than 40 years, the world has looked the other way while West Papua has been ravaged by the Indonesian military in a well-documented program of repression and plunder. In 2004, a Yale University report concluded that there is "a strong indication" of genocide against the Papuans.
…
http://tapol.gn.apc.org/reports/r061024.htm
Briefing for Forum Leaders on - The situation in West Papua
October 2006
37th Pacific Islands Forum, Nadi, Fiji
Recently, there has been increasing concern about the involvement of Indonesian police officers in human rights violations. A number of incidents of torture, ill-treatment and extra-judicial killings suggests systemic failings in the police force. Reports have emerged of a pattern of serious abuse – including beatings, kickings and assaults with rifle butts and rubber batons – by police officers against a number of Papuans detained following the 16 March clashes at Abepura. Sweeping of houses and student dormitories compelled students to flee into the forests, with police chasing after them.
The reports have also raised grave doubts about the fairness of the legal proceedings against those accused of involvement in the clashes. They highlight a lack of judicial independence, the failure of the judges to respect the presumption of innocence, the accused’s lack of access to lawyers, and the highly intimidatory atmosphere at court. The judicial authorities have failed in their responsibility to ensure due process and to protect those in detention vulnerable to abuse. If matters of this nature are not addressed as a matter of urgency, the lack of justice and the ongoing sense that the treatment of the Papuans is grossly unfair will constitute serious threats to peace in the territory.
Forum leaders are urged to question Indonesia’s policy of expanding its military presence – through an increase in the size and number of infantry battalions, new territorial commands, and the possible deployment of a new division of Kostrad (strategic reserve command) troops - in a territory that has a land border with one of the Forum’s own members. There is no security or military justification for the troop build-up, which can only add to tensions in West Papua and possibly the wider region.
...
De Vrije Wereld laat hen aan hun lot over, alhoewel alles erop wijst dat zij hetzelfde lot ondergaan als de Oost-Timorezen, die het slachtoffer werden van de Indonesische genocide waarbij een derde van de bevolking omkwam tussen 1975 en 2002.
http://www.koteka.net/
Out of a total population of 2,1 million in West Papua (latest census results from year 2000), the indigenous Papuan Melanesians currently number only 1,3 million, with the remaining 800,000 made-up of an assortment of opportunists and transmigrants from other parts of Indonesia who neither share nor respect the Papuan culture and identity. The Papuan population in independent Papua New Guinea across the border (PNG shares the border with West Papua on the island of New Guinea) currently stands at an estimated 5 million. The disparity in numbers clearly indicate genocide/ethnocide perpetrated on a massive scale by the Indonesian military against the indigenous population in just 40 years of oppressive and brutal rule. We say enough is enough.
…
Ever since the Indonesians set foot on Papuan soil, human rights abuses have been the rule of the day. In the antiquity or the dream time, the Indonesian quest had been Papuan slaves and the Birds of Paradise. Since 1962 however the quest has been for the rich mineral deposits [gold, copper, nickel, oil etc.], the vast virgin forest with its timber and the 'empty' land. The West Papuans have had to be removed from their land by hook or by crook. Political prisoners and detainees in West Papua / Irian Jaya continue to be subjected to ill treatment and torture by police and military authorities, particularly in the early stages of their detention. Indonesian security forces have also been responsible for the extra-judicial execution and 'disappearances' of suspected OPM (Organisasi Papua Merdeka - Free Papua Movement) activists and sympathizers both in West Papua and independent Papua New Guinea.
1. An Introduction to the Genocide
Dr. Kees Lagerberg reported that an estimated 300,000 people had disappeared without trace. This is an awful lot of people in anybody's language, but it is more horrific if one considers that the estimated population of the territory was about 700,000 in the early 1960, and about one million in the 1980's, when Dr. Lagerberg made the claim. Thus 30% of the population has simply vanished from the face of this earth. A small portion of this could be explained, the aerial bombardment claimed 80,000 lives, exile and refugees at its highest [ 1984-1985] totaled 13,000, known massacres 13,000, that totals roughly 106,000. So, where did the remainder go? If one looks at the abysmal level of health care system for the rural population, the disease statistics meagre though they are, one could not help but conclude that this population is rapidly declining directly or indirectly as the result of Indonesian government policies. As such these are man-made policies designed to eliminate a whole race of indigenous First Peoples. At the start of the accession to power in the territory, the Indonesian government policy was to eliminate all politically literate and educated West Papuan elite, because she feared that their presence will hamper the process of Indonesianisation [see "isolated" murders, and disappearances]. The government's Family Planning Programme which stresses the policy of smaller family size also spells disaster for this Melanesian race. Therefore there is an element of urgency to stem this decline lest this ethnic Melanesian race not survive beyond the first two decades of the 21st century.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/01/02/opinion/edtom.php
In Indonesia, the battleground has shifted
Tom Benedetti International Herald Tribune
TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2006
VANCOUVER The attention that the tsunami brought to the previously overlooked conflict in the Indonesian province of Aceh is contributing to an end to three decades of insecurity and terror there. But while Aceh may be moving toward peace, West Papua, at the other end of the Indonesian archipelago, has been witnessing the opposite trend - a sudden escalation of military activity by the same force that occupied Aceh, and East Timor before that.
For more than 40 years, the world has looked the other way while West Papua has been ravaged by the Indonesian military in a well-documented program of repression and plunder. In 2004, a Yale University report concluded that there is "a strong indication" of genocide against the Papuans.
…
http://tapol.gn.apc.org/reports/r061024.htm
Briefing for Forum Leaders on - The situation in West Papua
October 2006
37th Pacific Islands Forum, Nadi, Fiji
Recently, there has been increasing concern about the involvement of Indonesian police officers in human rights violations. A number of incidents of torture, ill-treatment and extra-judicial killings suggests systemic failings in the police force. Reports have emerged of a pattern of serious abuse – including beatings, kickings and assaults with rifle butts and rubber batons – by police officers against a number of Papuans detained following the 16 March clashes at Abepura. Sweeping of houses and student dormitories compelled students to flee into the forests, with police chasing after them.
The reports have also raised grave doubts about the fairness of the legal proceedings against those accused of involvement in the clashes. They highlight a lack of judicial independence, the failure of the judges to respect the presumption of innocence, the accused’s lack of access to lawyers, and the highly intimidatory atmosphere at court. The judicial authorities have failed in their responsibility to ensure due process and to protect those in detention vulnerable to abuse. If matters of this nature are not addressed as a matter of urgency, the lack of justice and the ongoing sense that the treatment of the Papuans is grossly unfair will constitute serious threats to peace in the territory.
Forum leaders are urged to question Indonesia’s policy of expanding its military presence – through an increase in the size and number of infantry battalions, new territorial commands, and the possible deployment of a new division of Kostrad (strategic reserve command) troops - in a territory that has a land border with one of the Forum’s own members. There is no security or military justification for the troop build-up, which can only add to tensions in West Papua and possibly the wider region.
...