Australian Government Letter To Australia West Papua Assn

Friday, 15 July 2011, 9:23 am
Press Release: Scoop Letters

Australian Government Dept of the Prime Minister and Cabinet 1 July 2011

Dear Mr Collins

Thank you for your letter of 7 June 2011 to the Prime Minister regarding West Papua. I have been asked to reply on the Prime Minister's behalf.

The Australian Government has long recognised the territorial integrity of Indonesia , including by signing and ratifying the Lombok Treaty between our two countries.  The best chance for a secure and prosperous future for the people of Papua and West Papua lies within an integrated Indonesian state.

Australia has a strong track record of representations urging the Indonesian Government to ensure the human rights of all Indonesians are respected and believes this is the most appropriate avenue for such dialogue. In November last year, the Prime Minister discussed the issue of human rights in Papua with President Yudhoyono during her visit to Jakarta. In December 2010,  the Minister for Foreign Affairs , Mr Rudd, raised concerns about video footage depicting the torture of two Papuan men with the Indonesian Foreign Minister, Dr Natalegawa.  The Australian Embassy in Jakarta also discussed Papua with Dr Natalegawa in October and raised the issue with senior officials from the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in November 2010.

Indonesia has made progress in relation to human rights over the past 11 years, with fewer reports of abuse and more evidence of restraint by the military.  The Australian Defence Force provides ongoing training to the Indonesian military that emphasises human rights awareness , accountability and respect for the rule of law. We believe that our support for increased professionalism within Indonesia's security forces will continue to result in improvements to their human rights record.

The Yudhoyono Government's policy of Special Autonomy for the Papua provinces has economic development and improved governance as its top priorities . Indeed , the Papuan provinces receives a greater allocation of central government funding per capita than other regions in Indonesia. We strongly support endeavours to improve the welfare of the Papuan people.

We also continue to raise with Indonesia the importance of accessto the Papuan provinces for credible observers , including foreign media. Staff from the Embassy regularly visit the Papuan provinces (most recently in May 2011) and discuss issues of concern with a range of stakeholders , including NGO representatives and local government officials.

Thank you for bringing your views to the attention of the Government

Original AWPA Letter To The Australia Government

 AWPA (Sydney)

7 June 2011

Re Pacific Islands Forum

Dear Prime Minister,

On behalf of the The Australia West Papua Association (Sydney), I am writing to you concerning the issue of West Papua[1]. The human rights situation in West Papua has continued to deteriorate since the last Pacific Islands Forum (PIF)  summit in Port Vila, in 2010. One incident in particular highlighted the worsening human rights situation and that was the shocking video footage of West Papuans being tortured by Indonesian soldiers. The video showed several men in military fatigues torturing two Papuans. The soldiers in the video threaten the two men with sharp weapons and pressed a burning bamboo stick against one of the men’s genitals. The torture of the men prompted a wave of international criticism with human rights organisations around the world condemning the actions  of the Indonesian military.  The soldiers who were put on trial for the torture of the two West Papuan men only received light sentences of between 8 and 10 months. The soldiers were not even charged with torture but with disobeying orders. The message West Papuans will take from this is they will receive no justice under Indonesian rule.

This incident was not an isolated incident and in further evidence of  human rights abuses another report  accused the police of burning down the village of Bigiragi in the Puncak Jaya district.  The report said that 16 Mobile Brigade officers had burned the village to the ground on October 11. The report said that at least 29 homes were destroyed in the incident leaving at least 150 people homeless

There is also a systematic campaign by the military and police to intimidate individuals involved in human rights work in West Papua. In November an investigative journalist released a secret  report by a Kopassus task force which shows a list   of West Papuans engaged in human rights work are a target of the Indonesian Special Force Group, Kopassus. The list includes members of civil society organisations, church groups , activists, students and  members of the MRP.

In December, cables released by WikiLeaks  revealed that in the opinion of US diplomats,  they blamed the government in Jakarta for unrest in West Papua. According to the leaked US diplomatic cables the US believes that the Indonesian  Government is causing unrest in West Papua due to neglect, corruption and human rights abuses.

Also In December the Papua chapter of the National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM) reported a 70 percent increase in the number of cases of violence in Papua, most of which were allegedly committed by security officers. The Jakarta-based Legal Aid Foundation  in another report said Indonesian law enforcers routinely torture suspects and convicts to extract confessions or obtain information. The groups report found beatings, intimidation and rape are so commonplace they are considered the norm. It also found that few victims believe they have the right to lodge complaints.

At the beginning of June (2011)  the human rights watchdog Imparsial launched a new report on the impact of the military presence in West Papua. The report, “Human Rights Implications of the Military Presence in Papua From the Old Order to the Reform Era,” was based on research carried out from September 2010 to May 2011. An extract from an article in the Jakarta Globe about the report (June 1, 2011 )  below.

“Imparsial is urging the de-militarization of Papua to be conducted soon because the military approach only brings human rights violations,” said Al Araf, program director of Imparsial. Since the country’s so-called reform era, he added, human rights conditions in the region had been marked by intimidation, torture and sexual violence. He said the handling of conflicts in Papua  -home to a low-level but persistent insurgency by the Free Papua Organization (OPM), which has been active since the 1960s — had not changed even though the leadership of the republic did change several times. “In general, the security approach in Papua has not shifted. The government still uses the military approach as the main instrument to prevent conflicts in Papua,” Al Araf said.

It is now 48 years since Indonesia took over the administration of West Papua from the United Nations Temporary Executive Authority (UNTEA) in 1963 and the people of West Papua still continue their struggle for self –determination. The West Papuan people face great challenges including  ongoing human rights abuses, the exploitation of their natural resources with little or no benefit to themselves, the danger of becoming a minority in their own land as the result of migrants arriving daily and a  HIV/AIDS epidemic. The issue of West Papua will not disappear and AWPA believes that it should be of great concern to the Forum that the situation in West Papua  could deteriorate further leading to instability in the region.  The problems in West Papua won't be solved by Jakarta  deploying more troops to the region or conducting more military operations.

To avoid such a dangerous situation  AWPA believes the PIF can play an important role in helping facilitate dialogue between genuine representatives of the West Papuan leadership and the Indonesian Government . The West Papuan people have been calling on the international community for years to support such dialogue as a way of solving the many issues of concern in West Papua. We urge the PIF leaders to offer to help mediate such a dialogue.

We note that this year  is the  40th anniversary of the Forum and congratulate the Forum on it achievements over the past 40 years. We also note that in  recent years the PIF has expanded the various categories for those who can attend as observers.   New Caledonia and French Polynesia, previously Forum Observers, were granted Associate Membership in 2006. Current Forum Observers include Tokelau (2005), Wallis and Futuna (2006), the Commonwealth (2006), the United Nations (2006) and the Asian Development Bank (2006), with Timor Leste as Special Observer (2002).

AWPA believes that in this  40th year  of the Forum the time is now right to bring the  Melanesian people of West Papua back into  the Pacific community. (A West Papuan representative attended the first SPC Conference and West Papuans continued to participate in the SPC meetings until the Dutch ceded their authority to the United Nations Temporary Executive Authority (UNTEA) in 1962.)

AWPA urges the  PIF Leaders to have the issue of West Papua on its agenda  at its September summit and to not only  discuss the deteriorating human rights situation in West Papua but to  make a public statement of concern regarding the human rights situation in the territory. We also urge the PIF  to raise concerns about the human rights situation in West Papua with the Indonesian President.

AWPA calls on the PIF leaders to grant observer status to  genuine representatives of the West Papuan people who are struggling for their right to self determination  at the 42nd Meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum to be held in  Auckland in September 2011.

A number of governments have supported the autonomy package for West Papua  stating that the it is the best way forward for the West Papuan people. Although funding for the autonomy package has flowed to West Papua it has only benefited some elites and the bureaucrats with no benefit for the majority of West Papuans, which is why it has been rejected. We believe that it is pointless for  governments to keep saying the autonomy package is the best way forward. Even a revised Special Autonomy in whatever form it might take will never satisfy West Papuans demand for self determination. West Papuans have lost  trust that Jakarta will ever develop West Papua for the sake of the Papuans. The Forum can help by urging Jakarta to dialogue with the Independence Movement to find a lasing solution.

We also call on the Forum leaders to urge the Indonesian President to release all West Papuan political prisoners as a sign of good faith to the West Papuan people and urge the Forum to send a fact finding mission to West Papua to investigate the human rights situation in the territory

Yours sincerely Joe Collins AWPA (Sydney)

[1] AWPA (Sydney) uses the name “West Papua” to refer to the whole of the western half of the Island of New Guinea.

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