536 the Contemporary Pacific • 31:2 (2019) Papua
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536 the contemporary pacific • 31:2 (2019) photos/a.601667066615820/18804168 nity were quite diverse. Some believed 28740831/?type=3 that the tpnpb would never attack rnz, Radio New Zealand. 2018. UN civilians, and some regretted it. Sebby Approves New Caledonia Voter Registra- Sambom, the spokesperson for the tion. 17 September. https://www.radionz tpnpb, made it very clear, however, .co.nz/international/pacific-news/366594/ that the tpnpb was responsible and un-approves-new-caledonia-voter had planned the attack three months -registration in advance (Hadi and Ayu 2018). Tromeur, Françoise. 2018. Gaël Yanno Despite these claims, the truth à la tête du Congrès, analyse et réactions. remains far from resolved since none nouvelle calédonie 1, 30 July. https:// of the state’s legal institutions con- la1ere.francetvinfo.fr/nouvellecaledonie/ ducted investigations to establish facts. gael-yanno-tete-du-congres-analyse Indonesia’s national human rights -reactions-611974.html commission (Komisi Nasional Hak Wasmer, Etienne, and Quentin David. Asasi Manusia Republik Indonesia, or 2012. Rapport sur la situation économique Komnas ham) issued a press statement de la Nouvelle-Calédonie: “Et si la declaring that “such an act carried out prospérité n’était pas éternelle?” August. by the armed group is a serious human Available from https://larje.unc.nc/fr/le rights violation” (Tempo.co 2018a). -rapport-wasmer-sur-la-situation The public statement, however, did -economique-de-la-nouvelle-caledonie-2/ not prompt Komnas ham to under- take a proper fact-finding mission, even though it is the only legal institu- tion in the country that has subpoena Papua authority to look into allegations of Papua concluded 2018 with a tragic human rights abuses. As a result, both incident when thirty road workers and the victims’ families and the public one soldier in Nduga District were live with one-sided stories about the killed by the West Papuan National incident. Liberation Army (Tentara Pembebasan In contrast, the government’s Nasional Papua Barat, or tpnpb), response was to immediately deploy one of the military wings of the Free troops to hunt down the tpnpb. This Papua Movement (Organisasi Papua decision shows that a heavy-handed Merdeka) led by Egianus Kogoya approach remains the most preferred (Tehusijarana 2018). The workers option for state authorities in deal- were working on an infrastructure ing with Papua’s security. Still, two project that penetrated the isolation months after the incident, it remained of the Papua Central Highlands. The unclear whether the joint operation incident constitutes the largest number between the Indonesian police and of civilian casualties by a non-state the military had captured the group. armed group in Papuan history. The Instead, the public was informed that tpnpb insisted that the workers were many Nduga residents, especially double agents who worked for the women and children, had fled their Indonesian military in disguise. The homes and taken refuge in Wamena responses from the Papuan commu- or Agats for safety. At the time of political reviews • melanesia 537 writing, these vulnerable groups were cities in Indonesia, such as Ambon, living in dire conditions and required Yogyakarta, Surabaya, and Makassar. immediate humanitarian assistance. Statistically, the coalition docu- Father John Djonga, a local Catholic mented the ten most common patterns priest who shelters internally displaced of human rights violations, the top persons from Nduga, made a public three being political arrests in relation appeal: “Please help us since we are to political events (1,201 cases); viola- overwhelmed with thousands of refu- tions of victims’ health (648 cases); gees. Nobody helps us to date” (pers and torture (80 cases) (icp 2019). comm, 20 Jan 2019). He had already Unlike in previous years, in 2018 established a temporary school to we have seen new players involved in shelter some four hundred internally the raids, namely mass organizations displaced children. (organisasi kemasyarakatan, or ormas) The worker tragedy was not such as the Front Pembela Islam entirely unprecedented. Five months (Islamic Defender Front), the Pancasila earlier, a number of violent incidents Youth, the Community Forum for had occurred. tpnpb members shot Sons and Daughters of the Police and at Dimonim Air and Trigana Air Armed Forces (Forum Komunikasi commercial aircrafts that carried Putra Putri Purnawirawan dan Putra ballots for the regional elections, Putri tni Polri, or fkppi), and the injuring the pilots of both aircraft Association of Sons and Daughters of and killing three civilians during the Army Families. These organizations Trigana Air attack (Gumilang 2018; take a more active role in confronting cnn Indonesia 2018). These incidents Papuan students without any restraint were considered a bad omen, prompt- from the police. This action suggests ing the locals to flee their homes and that the police welcome their partici- take safety in the Asmat area (Tempo. pation in dealing with Papuan mat- co 2018b), even though they had ters and consider them proxies. The to walk and canoe across difficult, ormas not only encourage the police swampy terrain. to take harsh measures against Papuan In retrospect, the protracted students but even participate in clamp- conflicts in Papua have changed little ing down on the political activities of in the last five decades. The heavy- Papuans in their own neighborhoods. handed approach of the authorities The involvement of proxies in is not just meted out against Papuans handling security matters in Indo- inside Papua’s jurisdiction. Rather, nesia is not novel. On the contrary, it has become a common pattern for it is common for the state security the police to put pressure on Papuan apparatus to make use of illegality communities across the Indonesian and illegal groups for its own benefit archipelago. The International Coali- (Aspinall and van Klinken 2011). If tion for Papua has documented a we were to take a closer look at these persistent pattern of police brutality organizations, however, we would against Papuan students and their soli- be surprised to see that they do not darity groups. The police raided Pap- naturally come together as one front. uan students’ dormitories in various Rather, they compete and even oppose 538 the contemporary pacific • 31:2 (2019) each other based on their conflict- organized peaceful demonstrations. ing interests and affiliations. For In contrast, the police take no action instance, the Front Pembela Islam is when ormas take to the streets under well-known for campaigning on an the banner of an Islamist agenda. Islamist agenda, such as implement- This discrepancy resonates with what ing sharia law, raiding the places of Robert Cribb conceptualized as a sys- worship of religious minorities, and tem of exemption (2011). That is, the leading protests against former Jakarta law is unevenly implemented because Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama for policy makers accept bribes, induce- blasphemy. So it was unusual that this ments, favors, commissions, and so on militant group was protesting against in exchange for making decisions that Papuans and advocating for a nation- favor one party over the other. As will alist agenda. be discussed, this system of exemp- Similarly, the Pancasila Youth, a tions is also found in other dimensions legacy of Suharto’s New Order regime of Papua’s political sphere. that he deployed to silence opposi- In sum, unlike in previous years, tion, took to the streets to oppose during which the Papuans’ interna- Papuan students gathering in Surabaya tional campaign absorbed most of in August and December 2018 (see their energy, the 2018 Papua political Wismabrata 2018; Firman 2018b). chapter was largely colored by domes- fkppi’s Yogyakarta branch had been tic politics. This shift might be attrib- involved in rounding up the Papuan utable to a decrease in the intensity students in a dormitory in Yogyakarta of the work of Papuan leaders in the in 2016 (Maharani 2016), and its international lobby arena. Surabaya branch was now taking part While political events remain the in the protests against Papuan students focus of media attention, another big in Surabaya. During the Surabaya news item from Papua is the after- incident of 1 December 2018, the math of the prolonged negotiation police did not allow the proxies to act over Freeport Indonesia’s divestment. above the law after they attacked the Having secured an initial agreement Papuan student dormitories. Instead with Freeport Indonesia’s parent com- they arrested dozens of attackers for pany, Freeport-McMoRan, to divest in vandalizing properties. However, 2017, the Jokowi government man- the police also arrested and detained aged to take the agreement one step overnight more than three hundred further by signing a major deal with Papuan students for holding a gath- the company consisting of three issues: ering to commemorate what they divestment of Freeport Indonesia, refer to as Papuan independence day becoming a shareholder of Freeport (Firman 2018a). Indonesia, and buying shares of Rio If we juxtapose police treatment of Tinto Indonesia. This landmark deci- Papuan students in Jayapura against sion has given power to Indonesia to that in Surabaya, we can see little have full control over the subsidiary’s difference. In both cases, the police future following Freeport-McMoRan’s did not hesitate to use excessive force free reign since 1967. It is therefore against unarmed students who had understandable