Indonesia Human Rights Committee,

Media Release: Call for New Zealand to end defence ties with the Indonesian military.

28 June, 2009

The Indonesia Human Rights Committee has written to Minister of Defence, Dr Wayne Mapp, to urge the New Zealand Government to suspend its defence ties with the Indonesian military.

Since 2007, New Zealand has had a programme of officer exchanges with the Indonesian military including annual hosting of an Indonesia military officer to attend the 6 month training course at the New Zealand Defence Force Staff and Command College.

Speaking for the Indonesia Human Rights Committee, Maire Leadbeater said “The call to suspend defence ties is urgent in the light of the report from Human Rights Watch which indicates that the Indonesian military continues to commit gross human rights violations, particularly in West Papua. While the report focuses on the offences of the Indonesian Special Forces, Kopassus, we believe that the report is just one further confirmation of the lack of genuine reform in the Indonesian military.”

Despite extensive documentation of historic military abuses, since the fall of the Suharto regime in 1998 no high ranking Indonesian military officer has been prosecuted for a human rights crime. On the contrary, those accused of black crimes in East Timor have been promoted and some have gone on to serve in West Papua.

Kopassus is not the only section of the military involved in current grave human rights abuses. Only last week a teenage boy was seriously injured when he was reportedly shot by an Indonesian military ranger in the border region.

The Indonesian military has not yet divested itself of its vast business interests, and the military continues to be involved in activities such as prostitution, extortion and illegal logging.

New Zealand’s defence ties confer a ‘seal of respectability’ on the Indonesian military and these ties should cease until the military is fully subordinate to the civilian government and upholds international human rights, including respect for the right of self-determination.

Indonesia Human Rights Committee

Hon Dr Wayne Mapp,
Minister of Defence,
Parliament Buildings,
Wellington.

28 June, 2009

Dear Dr Mapp,

The Indonesia Human Rights Committee urges the New Zealand Government to suspend its defence ties with the Indonesian military.

We are making this call now in the light of the just released report from Human Rights Watch which indicates that the Indonesian military continues to commit gross human rights violations, particularly in West Papua. This report focuses on the offences of the Indonesian Special Forces, Kopassus, but we believe that the report is just one further confirmation of the lack of genuine reform in the Indonesian military.

Since the fall of the Suharto regime in 1998 no high ranking Indonesian military officer has been prosecuted for a human rights crime. Officers have been brought before human rights courts – such as that set up in Jakarta to hear testimony about the grave 1999 crimes in Timor-Leste, and in Makassar where West Papua crimes were considered. But all have been acquitted.

This state of impunity has meant that some military commanders have become serial human rights violators. Take for example, Colonel Burhanuddin Siagin who faces two UN indictments in Timor-Leste for his role in the mayhem of 1999. He is alleged to have responsibility for the formation of one of the most brutal armed militia gangs that tormented the Timorese before they gained their freedom. Interpol issued a red notice for his arrest in 2003. Until last year Siagian was the military commander in West Papua, where true to form he threatened to ‘destroy’ those who did not support Indonesia.

In their report “‘What Did I Do Wrong?’: Papuans in Merauke Face Abuses by Indonesian Special Forces,” Human Rights Watch document how Kopassus soldiers operating in the town of Merauke, in Indonesia’s easternmost province of Papua, arrest Papuans without legal authority, and beat and mistreat those they take back to their barracks. There have been no serious efforts to investigate and hold abusive soldiers accountable.

Human Rights Watch interviewed more than 20 victims of abuse, family members, and witnesses about events that took place between August 2007 and May 2009 in Merauke. The international NGO believes that the cases reflect the abusive behavior of unaccountable soldiers and the failure of the Kopassus command structure.

Detainees recounted how soldiers beat them, often with a rubber hose, until they bled, or forced them to chew very hot raw chilies.

Kopassus is not the only section of the military involved in current grave human rights abuses. Last year on World Indigenous Peoples’ Day a Papuan was shot to death, allegedly by member of the military, and just last week a teenage boy was seriously injured when he was reportedly shot by an Indonesian military ranger in the border region. In both cases the individuals concerned were involved in normal peaceful activities at the time they were shot at. So far there has been no attempt to prosecute the perpetrators.

The Indonesian military has not yet divested itself of its vast business interests, and as the US State Department annual human rights report described, the military continues to be involved in activities such as prostitution, extortion of foreign and domestic firms and illegal logging.

The Indonesia Human Rights Committee calls on the Government to review the decision to resume defence ties with Indonesia. At the present time defence ties consist of officer exchanges and joint participation in multi-national activities. An Indonesia military officer has attended the 6 month training course at the New Zealand Defence Force Staff and Command College in 2007, 2008 and one is currently enrolled in this course.

I have just returned from an international conference on Security Sector Reform at which a wide range of speakers were essentially in agreement that military reform has stalled. It is likely that this is at least in part because major western nations have chosen to turn a blind eye to the continuing problems.

Although New Zealand’s defence ties are not large scale they do serve to confer a ‘seal of respectability’ on the Indonesian military just as such ties did during the Suharto era, when the regular training deployments to New Zealand were often kept out of the public eye.

We should take the advice of those who know the TNI’s brutality at first hand. Timor-Leste’s Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR) recommended that no state should resume military cooperation with Indonesia until the military is fully subordinate to the civilian government and upholds international human rights, ‘including respect for the right of self-determination.’

Yours sincerely,

Maire Leadbeater
(for the Indonesia Human Rights Committee)

ENDS

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