Pacific
horror: A new Catholic report has shown allegations of recent military
and
police intimidation, beatings and torture, kidnapping and murder in
the country.
ALLEGATIONS of recent military and police intimidation, beatings and
torture,
kidnapping and murder in West Papua, have been documented in a
new Church report.
The report documents Muslims being radicalised
in the once predominantly Christian
Papuan provinces,
and “very active”
Muslim militias that burn down Papuan houses.
The report was
compiled by the Brisbane Catholic Justice and Peace Commission’s
Shadow
Human Rights Fact Finding Mission to West Papua, following a visit to
West Papua last month.
It has not yet been publicly released, nor comment sought from Indonesian authorities.
The
report documents religious, social and economic discrimination
including how the carve up of land for major development has benefited
multinationals and excluded Papuans from ownership and jobs.
It
refers to a slow motion genocide happening 250km north of Australia and
states that “the Indonesians want to replace the Christian religion with
Islam”.
The report author Josephite Sister Susan Connelly was
accompanied to West Papua
by Brisbane archdiocese’s Catholic Justice and
Peace Commission executive officer Peter Arndt.
During their fact-finding mission they interviewed more than 250 community leaders in
Japapura, Merauke, Timika and Sorong.
Sr
Connelly, a respected human rights advocate, likened her visit to West
Papua to
“stepping back twenty years when I first went to East Timor”.
“The same oppressive security presence everywhere, the same suspicion, bewilderment, frustration and sadness,” she said.
“The same fear. The same seemingly groundless hope.
“A
man took my hands in his and said, ‘We are in danger’. That simple
statement sums up for me the experience of the whole visit.
“The
Papuan people have lost so much, and are facing erasure as a people,
merely preserved as oddities of the past or artifacts to be photographed
for tourist brochures.
“They realise that their land is considered more valuable than they are.”
The fact-finding team heard many accounts of alleged military and police brutality and murder.
“There
is clear evidence of ongoing violence, intimidation and harassment by
the
Indonesian security forces,” Mr Arndt said on his return to
Brisbane.
“That is especially the case for Papuans expressing their support for particular political points of view.
“Authorities
want to close down any Papuan efforts to promote discussion about
self-determination, and they have applied a military response to deal
with the irrepressible desire of a large number of Papuans to promote
their cause for freedom.”
Based on his interviews across West
Papua, Mr Arndt (pictured) identified the instigators of alleged human
rights violations as members of the Indonesian army including Kopassus,
police including a special counter insurgency unit, Detachment 88, and
Indonesia’s intelligence agency, BIN.
“Even demonstrations about social issues such as access to education get broken up by authorities,” he said.
The
fact-finding team heard many examples of how the Indonesian Government
pushed
economic development, but ignored human rights.
“The Government has carved up the land and given it for exploitation to some
50 multinational companies,” the report said.
“The procedure is that the local government invites companies to come and gives permits.
“People
are usually shocked when the companies come to sign a MoU
(memorandum
of understanding) with them, showing them the permit and the map.
“If the villagers don’t agree to the proposal, the company goes back to the local government
and returns with the police.”
Troubling times: A group holds a Free West Papua protest in Melbourne.
In the 1970s, ethnic Papuans accounted for 96 per cent of the population.
Today
they are a minority 48 per cent, because of the rapid migration of
Indonesians from other more populated islands such as Java.
The report found that Papuans were now marginalised economically at the expense
of immigrants, the majority of whom are Muslims.
The report said there was “a movement for Muslims from Indonesia to replace Papuans in every sector”.
“The
Indonesians want to replace the Christian religion with Islam. Many
mosques are
being built everywhere. They want Papua to be a Javanese
Malay nation,” the report said.
“Radicalisation is happening in Papua, with some militias very active near the border with PNG.
“They
burn down the Papuan houses. They are recruited as illegal loggers.
Their camps and logging are well protected by the military.
“The
military are certainly killing the people, and closed access to
opportunity to Papuans in all areas of life constitutes a slow motion
genocide.
“The general opinion encountered was that Indonesia is a total failure regarding Papua and is just another coloniser.
“The Indonesian Government does not give opportunities to Papuan people or protect them.
“It
was said that most Church leaders try to deal with the problems one by
one, but the
whole picture should be looked at as a series of policies
designed to overcome the Papuan people.
“In every sector of government the system is composed of Indonesian tactics to destroy the Papuans.
“Beatings
and torture are used, but also the economic aspects of lack of
opportunity, the sidelining of the indigenous peoples, the taking over
of land by companies … are part of the plan.”
Accusations in the report
- A
young, wealthy businessman poisoned in 2015. He had financially
supported building an office for the National Committee for West Papua,
an independence-oriented group. He also funded Papuans being sent to
international conferences.
- A Papuan woman activist arrested in
2015 by police for holding a prayer service in support of an
international conference in London. She and her group were interrogated
for five hours.
- In January this year, 27 Papuan palm oil workers
were allegedly tortured by the Indonesian army’s special force
Kopassus. The men had previously complained to their company bosses
after they had not been paid for two months.
- A man aged 35 who
used to work for Papua’s Freeport gold mine was kidnapped in 2015,
killed, and his body thrown on the street. There was no sign of torture
and the police told his family that it was an accident.
- Police and military broke up community activities such as prayer meetings.
- In September 2015, 18-year-old Daniel Bowgow was killed. His father was a local prayer meeting leader.
- People
reported they couldn’t move freely at night to search for food for fear
of being kidnapped. The military and police use Papuan informers to let
them know of people’s movements.
Source- The
CatholicLeader
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