Wenda must be arrested

Benny Wenda must be prosecuted, not indulged like a lazy pretender asylum.

Now consider the Proceeds of Crime Act. Wenda led 50 people in a violence attack against a police station and burned down two shops in Papua in December 7th 2000. This has caused, according to evidences, the death of two innocent people.

Read complete article on Papua Story

Rectifying the past injustice

After several years blogging about Papua, I realise that most of the readers of my blog are human rights activists, academics, government researchers, separatist activists, Indonesian military and intelligence officials,  UK Police officials, Australian officials, well educated Papuans, mining business players, environmentalists, etc. I am only guessing by interpreting thousands comments that came to me. A very usual watchers of Papua.

I want to share my personal feeling while writing  articles in my blog. My first impression is there are so many hatred and threat to me, not only from Papuan separatist groups but also from Indonesia (possibly military). I have a thesis: perpetual conflict will only exist as long as there is no communication, and I can say that there is no real communication between Indonesian government and Papua separatist movement for more than 40 years.

UN Rights Meeting

What is the use of sending a big delegation to UN Rights Meeting in Geneva next March? For Papuan it is a real good gesture from Indonesian government to include representatives from Papua.

Here is the related news from Jakarta Globe:

Supersized Delegation Attending UN Rights Meet

It’s not a matter of who has been invited to attend the United Nations Human Rights Council Assembly in Geneva from March 2 to 27, but who hasn’t.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Monday that as well as its own delegation, it had asked for representation from the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights; the Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal and Security Affairs; the Coordinating Ministry for People’s Welfare; the Attorney General’s Office; the Ministry of Home Affairs; the National Police; the Indonesian Armed Forces; the Ministry of Social Affairs; the Ministry of Religious Affairs; the Constitutional Court; and the Judicial Commission.

The British Human Rights Report 2007

A very important note was stated in British Human Rights Report 2007.  I think it would be great if a peaceful dialogue among Papuan, Papua local government, Indonesia central government, Indonesian civil society, Papuan local NGO, and national NGO can be held openly and sincerely. The implementation of special autonomy should be discussed carefully in an honest atmosphere as a vital step to resolve the complex problem of Papua. Hostile action and negative propaganda by some radicals should be stopped. Violation of human rights by some military unit should also be stopped. At the same time, during the process of dialogue among parties in Papua, restrictions on access to Papua by NGOs and journalists should be loosen, so the world will see the reality of positive development in Papua. Hopefully, some irresponsible Papuan who take economical and political opportunity in foreign countries will realise that their action is only worsening the situation in Papua.

Suharto in Inside Indonesia

Most of Western media coverage on Suharto is in a bad tatste. Just like in my previous article titled The Death of Suharto, I would like to add one more comment on a subjective Western perspective. This time I will write a brief comment to an article in one of the most important Foreign Journal on Indonesia, Inside Indonesia. 

Human Rights Report on Papua

Human Rights Watch (HRW) is one of the most influential human rights defender in the world. However, it is clear that 2008 HRW report on Indonesia was made by too simple and too fast in jumping into conclusion. For example: about threats and intimidation against human rights defenders that HRW said significantly increased in Papua and West Papua was not clear and the evidents were not convincing. I am afraid that the HRW monitoring team in Indonesia consists of amateurs who do not understand the problem in Papua and West Papua.

The Hardliners on Either Side Need Each Other

I just read an enlightened article from Contradiction Blog with title Who supports what? I should congratulate the way the writer put the objective situation in Papua Indonesia.

It seems to me that the writer is a field researcher or activist who really understand that to distinct between different positions in Papua is often obscured. This may be too simple when we talk about the complexity of Papua’s picture. This may be the situation is really that simple and we can ignore the complexity which has been made for 40 years.