1) West Papuan activist says Jakarta targetting peaceful separatist group.
2) West Papuan activist highlights opposition within Indonesian ...
2) West Papuan activist highlights opposition within Indonesian ...
3) Indonesia monitors foreign links to West Papua rebels
4) Another Police Post Burned in Papua
5) Noken museum to be built in Papua
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RNZI Posted at 02:01 on 06 December, 2012 UTC
A West Papua activist says Indonesia’s security forces are singling out the National Committee of West Papua, or KNPB, because of its peaceful commitment to Papuan self-determination.
In recent months, Indonesian special forces and police have arrested and, in some cases, tortured or killed a number of Papuan activists.
The Papua police chief has warned that he intends to crush the Papuan push for self-determination.
Joe Collins of the Australia West Papua Association says that the KNPB has proved the most effective group in terms of regularly mobilising Papuans to express their aspirations.
“And that is the basic fear of Jakarta, that the internatonal community is actually watching what’s going on. And the KNPB are the ones that are actually bringing the attention. There was a Kopassus (Indonesian special forces) report released a few years ago which had a quote which says they have more to fear from peaceful rallies and demonstrations than actually from the armed resistance because the peaceful rallies are bringing the attention to what’s going on.”
Joe Collins
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RNZI Posted at 03:54 on 06 December, 2012 UTC
A member of a group tasked with negotiating with Indonesia on behalf of West Papuans, says efforts to hold dialogue with Jakarta face numerous obstacles.
The five-man group, made up of exiled West Papuans, was selected at last year’s Papuan Peace Conference in Jayapura to prepare for dialogue with Jakarta over ongoing problems in the Papua region.
Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono called for dialogue with Papuan leaders and has met more than once with Papuan church representatives.
However since then, according to the US-based Octo Mote, access to government has been restricted for those working to discuss solutions for Papua.
“The radical strong group from the government, including the home affairs ministers, the political and law and human rights co-ordinating ministers, not to mention the military, strongly oppose this idea of dialogue.”
Octo Mote
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3) Indonesia monitors foreign links to West Papua rebels
BY:
PETER ALFORD, JAKARTA CORRESPONDENT
House of Gerard Michael Little in Tynong Nth, Victoria. Housemates Kevin Kelly (left) and Michael O'Shea with a picture of Gerard Michael Little. Picture: Stuart Mcevoy Source: The Australian
INDONESIAN security services have suspicions but no firm proof that individual foreigners had linked with Papuan armed secessionist groups.
"There are some suspicious that several foreign nationals personally maybe have links with those groups," Lieutenant Colonel Jansen Simanjuntak told The Australian.
Lt-Colonel Jansen, spokesman for the Cendrawasih Military Command which oversees Indonesia's two Papua provinces, was responding to the arrest and charging of an Australian man this week suspected of trying to join the secessionist fight.
Prosecutors told Brisbane Magistrates Court yesterday that 45-year-old Gerard Micheal Little was about to travel to West Papua to engage in "violent conflict against the Indonesian government" when he was arrested.
Little allegedly identified himself on a Facebook page as "Colonel G. Micheal Little, commanding officer OPM", the Free Papua Movement.
OPM has a thinly scattered and poorly armed wing engaged in sporadic clashes with Indonesian forces, usually the police.
Most recently, an OPM group in Lanny Jaya district, Papua, claimed responsibility for a November 27 attack on a police post that killed three officers.
There is no evidence yet available that Little had established contact with OPM, an outlawed organisation in Indonesia, and his lawyer suggested yesterday he might have been "lawfully invited" to "provide services" in West Papua.
However, the case is likely to fan long-held suspicions in TNI and BIN, the national security agency, that foreigners including NGOs and even missionaries, are fomenting unrest in the Papua provinces.
"Maybe (foreign individuals) help to link (insurrectionist) groups with foreign parties which can give moral support or material support," said Lt-Colonel Jansen.
However, he acknowledged, the security forces had not proved any foreign funding or weapons supply to the secessionists.
The Indonesian Foreign Ministry has not responded publicly to the Little arrest
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4) Another Police Post Burned in Papua
SP/Robert Isidorus | December 06, 2012
SP/Robert Isidorus | December 06, 2012
The fatal shooting of an escaped convict by police in West Papua’s provincial capital led a mob to damage several shops and burn a police outpost there on Wednesday.
Residents said the city was paralyzed after mobs set up road blocks across Manokwari and vandalized several shops. Another protesting group carried a coffin to the Manokwari district police headquarters.
“I am still seeking information on that,” said Papua Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. I Gede Sumerta Jaya when contacted by phone.
The first roadblock was set up on Jalan Yos Sudarso in front of the Swissbell Hotel in Manokwari at 2:00 a.m., according to residents, and similar roadblocks have since been erected at several other locations in town.
Residents said the unrest was sparked by the death of Timotius Ap, a prison escapee who was shot and killed by police officers on Tuesday as they attempted to arrest him in the Maripi Pantai area of South Manokwari. Police said the fugitive was resisting arrest.
Police also confiscated a home-assembled handgun and three bullets, as well as the motorcycle Timotius had been riding.
Unconfirmed reports said the police post at the Sanggeng market in downtown Manokwari was burned to the ground.
The incidents marked just the latest violence against police in the restive Papua region, where a variety of issues related to resource rights, perceived injustices and human rights abuses by security forces have plagued the nation’s easternmost provinces.
Last week, a group of some 50 men attacked and burned down a police post in the Papua district of Lanny Jaya, killing three officers.
Residents said the city was paralyzed after mobs set up road blocks across Manokwari and vandalized several shops. Another protesting group carried a coffin to the Manokwari district police headquarters.
“I am still seeking information on that,” said Papua Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. I Gede Sumerta Jaya when contacted by phone.
The first roadblock was set up on Jalan Yos Sudarso in front of the Swissbell Hotel in Manokwari at 2:00 a.m., according to residents, and similar roadblocks have since been erected at several other locations in town.
Residents said the unrest was sparked by the death of Timotius Ap, a prison escapee who was shot and killed by police officers on Tuesday as they attempted to arrest him in the Maripi Pantai area of South Manokwari. Police said the fugitive was resisting arrest.
Police also confiscated a home-assembled handgun and three bullets, as well as the motorcycle Timotius had been riding.
Unconfirmed reports said the police post at the Sanggeng market in downtown Manokwari was burned to the ground.
The incidents marked just the latest violence against police in the restive Papua region, where a variety of issues related to resource rights, perceived injustices and human rights abuses by security forces have plagued the nation’s easternmost provinces.
Last week, a group of some 50 men attacked and burned down a police post in the Papua district of Lanny Jaya, killing three officers.
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5) Noken museum to be built in Papua
Thu, December 6 2012 14:23 | 66 Views
Jayapura, Papua (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian government is planning to build a museum dedicated to Papua`s woven bag, Noken, in Jayapura, the capital of Papua, in 2013, said a local official.
The education and culture ministry has been planning to build a museum since November 2011. The construction will start next year in Jayapura, said Apolos Marisan, the head of the Papua and West Papua cultural heritage preservation office, on Thursday.
The museum will be built either in the cultural park or near the Negeri Papua Museum at Expo-Waena.
The education and culture ministry held a group discussion on Wednesday, to increase the public`s awareness of Noken.
During the discussion, it was mentioned that Papua has 257 tribes and local languages, and it is estimated that there are about 257 types of Noken.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has recognised Noken as an intangible cultural heritage item of Indonesia`s eastern provinces of Papua and West Papua.
"At 10.30am (Paris time), UNESCO recognised Noken as an intangible cultural heritage item of the people living in Papua. The Indonesian delegates, including those from Papua, who were present at the meeting, are proud of Papua," said Wiendu Nuryanti, Deputy Minister of Education and Culture, on Tuesday (December 4).
"We are keen on working with several parties to promote Noken. There is a possibility that we may request Indonesian fashion designers to include Noken in their collection of fashion accessories," she stated.
(KR-BSR/F001)
The education and culture ministry has been planning to build a museum since November 2011. The construction will start next year in Jayapura, said Apolos Marisan, the head of the Papua and West Papua cultural heritage preservation office, on Thursday.
The museum will be built either in the cultural park or near the Negeri Papua Museum at Expo-Waena.
The education and culture ministry held a group discussion on Wednesday, to increase the public`s awareness of Noken.
During the discussion, it was mentioned that Papua has 257 tribes and local languages, and it is estimated that there are about 257 types of Noken.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has recognised Noken as an intangible cultural heritage item of Indonesia`s eastern provinces of Papua and West Papua.
"At 10.30am (Paris time), UNESCO recognised Noken as an intangible cultural heritage item of the people living in Papua. The Indonesian delegates, including those from Papua, who were present at the meeting, are proud of Papua," said Wiendu Nuryanti, Deputy Minister of Education and Culture, on Tuesday (December 4).
"We are keen on working with several parties to promote Noken. There is a possibility that we may request Indonesian fashion designers to include Noken in their collection of fashion accessories," she stated.
(KR-BSR/F001)
Editor: Jafar M Sidik
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