Buctar, Aksi Penangkapan Bagi Aktivis Papua adalah sebuah spirit baru untuk melakukan perlawanan yang lebih radikal

Buctar Tabuni Bersama Alm. Mako Tabuni

Jayapura Voice Baptist,--  Ketua Parlement nasional papua barat Bucthar Tabuni mengatakan, Apa yang di lakukan oleh TNI/POLRI dan densus 88 terhadap seluruh aktivis KNPB adalah sebuah spirit baru untuk melakukan perlawanan yang lebih radikal dan militan. hal di sampaikan melalui akun facebook" Buctar Tabuni 17/10.

Dia juga menulis," dilihat dari sisi manusia biasa adalah membawa sebuah ketakutan seumur hidup namun sebagai seorang pejuang adalah sebuah spirit baru untuk melakukan perlawanan yang lebih radikal dan militan. Untuk itu, di harapkan kepada semua aktivis KNPB jangan takut, jangan gentar, jangan lari dan jangan menyerah".

Dia menambahkan "Ingat! Kematian dalam membela kebenaran adalah kemuliaan bagi kita dan penjara adalah istana bagi kita."

Dalam akunnya di beri suatu penguatan atau spirit bagi anggota yang saat ini sedang dalam incaran kepolisian polda papua. ini kitipan yang di kirim akirim di akun facebook buctar tabuni.

"Apa yang di lakukan oleh TNI/POLRI dan densus 88 terhadap seluruh aktivis KNPB, jika kita lihat dari sisi manusia biasa adalah membawa sebuah ketakutan seumur hidup namun sebagai seorang pejuang adalah sebuah spirit baru untuk melakukan perlawanan yang lebih radikal dan militan. Untuk itu, di harapkan kepada semua aktivis KNPB jangan takut, jangan gentar, jangan lari dan jangan menyerah. Ingat! Kematian dalam membela kebenaran adalah kemuliaan bagi kita dan penjara adalah istana bagi kita. Tetap TEGAR dan berdiri KOKOH. Maju....dan LAWAN. Buctar Tabuni."

Hal ini sampaikan atas keprihatinan sebagai pimpinan aktivis yang belakangan aparat gabungan yang sedang melakukan pengejaran dan penangkapan terhadap aktivis papua. Buctar saat ini berada dalam penjara atas vonis Hakim8 bulan penjara dengan  tunduhan pengurusakan LP abepura di tahun 2010 silam". (tw)

Buchtar Ancam Ungkap ‘Aktor’ Utamanya

Terkait Kasus Pengrusakan Lapas Abepura yang Menyeretnya Sebagai Terdakwa 

Buctar Tabuni (photo Binpa)

JAYAPURA – Ada yang menarik dalam sidang lanjutan kasus pengrusakan Lapas Abepura dengan terdakwa Ketua Parlemen Nasional Papua Barat, Buchtar Tabuni (Mantan Ketua Umum KNPB), di Pengadilan Negeri Klas 1A Jayapura, Jumat (21/9), kemarin.

Dalam sidang kemarin, selain minta keringanan, Buchtar juga mengancam akan membuat laporan polisi dan akan membeberkan siapa sebenarnya  aktor utama kasus pengrusakan Lapas Abepura tersebut.

Hal itu diungkapkan dalam sidang pembelaan (eksepsi) dari Buchtar Tabuni, yang tertulisnya dibacakan lima penasehat hukumnya atas tuntutan 1 tahun penjara dari Jaksa Penuntut Umum, dalam sidang di ruang sidang utama. Sidang ini dipimpin Hakim Ketua, Haris Munandar,SH.

Dikatakan, ancaman itu akan dilakukan bila ia bebas. Buctar merasa bahwa kasus kerusuhan yang berujung pada pengrusakan fasilitas Lapas Abepura pada 3 Desember 2011 lalu, ada orang lain yang lebih pantas dijadikan terdakwanya. Hanya saja Buctar tidak menyebut siapa orang yang dimaksud  tersebut.

Selain itu, ia juga menyatakan dalam pembelaan lisannya bahwa kasus kerusuhan di Lapas, termasuk larinya sejumlah Narapidana hingga menelan korban jiwa atas nama Miron Wetipo dalam pelariannya, adalah sebagai satu konspirasi.

Salah satunya adalah bertujuan untuk menjelekkan kredibilitas Kalapas Baru, Liberti Sitinjak yang saat pelantikannya menuai protes dari Kalapas sebelumnya, Antonius Ayorbaba. Bahkan sempat menyinggu ada proyek bernilai milyaran terkait kasus tersebut.

Sidangnya sendiri berlangsung aman dan tertib, meski sekitar 50 orang pendukung dan simpatisan serta aktifis KNPB sempat menggelar  demo dan meneriakkan tuntutan pembebasan Buchtar Tabuni tanpa syarat. Kelompok Massa KNPB   yang  dikoordinir Victor Yeimo  berjalan  menuju Pengadilan Negeri Jayapura, selanjutnya  massa yang berjumlah sekitar  40 an orang itu membentangkan spanduk bertuliskan, Segera bebaskan Buctar  Tabuni, Ketua Parlemen West Papua tanpa syarat.

Dalam aksi  Demo itu, massa KNPB  seperti dilontarkan Viktor Yeimo minta kepada aparat penegak hukum untuk segera membebaskan Buctar Tabuni, karena selama beberapa kali persidangan tak dapat membuktikan keterlibatan Buctar dalam kasus yang dituduhkan kepadanya yakni melakukan pengrusakan Lapas Abepura pada 3 Desember 2010 lalu,  yang dinilai tak berdasarkan fakta hukum  persidangan.

Sedangkan dalam nota pembelaan yang dibacakan para penasehat hukumnya, Gustaf Kawer,SH,M.Si; dan sejumlah pengacara lain, menyatakan agar terdakwa dibebaskan, karena unsur-unsur yang menjadi dasar tuntutan dan dakwaan Jaksa Penuntut Umum tidak ada yang terpenuhi.

Yaitu unsur barang siapa, unsur terang-terangan, unsur bersama-sama melakukan kekerasan, dan unsur terhadap orang atau barang.

“Dengan tidak terbuktinya salah satu unsur dari dakwaan saja, maka dianggap secara hukum tindak pidana yang didakwakan dalam dakwaan kesatu ini tidak terbukti secara sah dan meyakinkan,” ungkap penasehat hukum terdakwa saat membacakan analisa hukum atas kasus tersebut.

Dalam  awal nota pleidoi dari Buchtar yang dibacakan para penasehat hukumnya juga menyatakan bahwa terdakwa menyayangkan atas proses penangkapan terdakwa pada tangal 7 Juni 12 di Lampu Merah Abepura, karena tanpa menunjukkan surat tugas maupaun surat penangkapan.

Dan pada saat terjadi keributan di dalam Lapas Abepura, dalam nota pembelaannya, Buchtar menyangkal terlibat dalam aksi pengrusakan. Justru menyatakan ia yang berusaha menenangkan massa untuk tidak berbuat anarkis serta tidak masuk ke ruang steril.

Atas dibacakannya nota pembelaan tersebut, Majelis Hakim menyatakan langsung diberikan vonisnya, namun tidak bisa langsung disampaikan, karena harus dibuat konsepnya. Sehingga sidang ditunda hingga Selasa (25/9).(aj/ven/don/l03)

Sumber : Bintang Papua

Buchtar Dituntut 1 Tahun Penjara

Bucthar Tabuni

JAYAPURA - Mantan Ketua Umum KNPB, Buchtar Tabuni yang kini diangkat menjadi Ketua Parlemen Nasional Papua Barat (PNPB), Selasa (18/9) kemarin dituntut satu tahun penjara oleh jaksa Penuntut Umum (JPU) Ahmad Kobarubun,SH.

Tuntutan tersebut, dibacakan dalam sidang yang berlangsung di Ruang Sidang Cakra,  Pengadilan Negeri Klas 1a Jayapura, yang dipimpin Hakim Ketua, Haris Munandar,SH.

Buchtar yang disidang terkait kasus pengrusakan LP Abepura pada 3 Desember 2010, tampak didampingi penasehat hukumnya, Gustaf  Kawer,SH,M.Si. Hadir di persidangan Buctar tetap mengenakan  stelan seragam kebesarannya yakni baju dan celana loreng.

Dalam amar tuntutannya,  JPU menyatakan bahwa yang memberatkan adalah karena perbuatan terdakwa meresahkan masyarakat, mengakibatkan korban Kantor Lapas Klas IIA Jayapura mengalami kerusakan berupa kaca jendela, pintu panel, gembok dan atap genteng, sehingga tidak dapat dipakai lagi.
Sedangkan hal yang meringankan adalah, terdakwa bersikap sopan dan mengakui terus terang perbuatannya di persidangan, menyesali perbuatannya, sudah pernah dihukum.
Sehingga JPU meminta Majelis Hakim untuk memutuskan :

- Menyatakan Buchtar Tabuni terbukti secara sah dan meyakinkan bersalah melakukan tindak pidana ‘pengrusakan’ sebagaimana diatur dan diancam pidana dalam pasal 406 ayat (1) KUHP, jo pasal 55 ayat ayat (1) ke-1 KHUP. -    Menjatuhkan pidana terhadap terdakwa Buchtar Tabuni berupa pidana penjara 1 (satu) tahun dengan dikurangi selama terdakwa berada dalam tahanan dan dgn perintah terdakwa tetap ditahan.
- Menyatakan barang bukti berupa, dua buah batu, lima pecahan kaca ( irampas untuk dimusnahkan).
- Menyatakan supaya terdakwa Buchtar Tabuni dibebani membayar biaya perkara sebesar Rp. 1000,- (seribu rupiah)  
Atas tuntutan tersebut, melalui Penasehat Hukumnya, Buchtar Tabuni  meminta waktu untuk mengajukan pembelaannya pada Jumat (21/9) mendatang. Sehingga oleh hakim ketua, sidang ditunda dan dilanjutkan hari Jumat tgl 21 september 2012 dengan agenda sidang pembacaan pembelaan oleh penasehat hukum terdakwa.
Usai sidang, Gustaf Kawer SH menyatakan bahwa dari fakta persidangan tidak ada kesesuaian antara satu saksi dengan saksi yang lain, maka pihaknya tetap berpendapat Hakim Ketua harus berani untuk membebaskan Buchtar Tabuni dengan alasan,  kasus pengrusakan lapas merupakan kasus yang cukup lama.
“Dalam kejadian tersebut dalam fakta persidangan bahwa Buchtar Tabuni sama sekali tidak terlihat dalam kasus pengrusakan dan tidak ada kesesuaian antara satu saksi dgn saksi yang lain,” ungkapnya.

Gustaf juga menyatakan bahwa sebenarnya Buchtar ditangkap pada 6 Juni 2012 lalu terkait kasus penembakan yang terjadi di sekitar Kota Jayapura, tetapi polisi tidak ada bukti keterlibatan Buctar Tabuni, sehingga mengenakan BUCTAR TABUNI atas kasus pengrusakan Lapas Abepura yang sudah lama.

Juru Bicara KNPB, Wim Medlama dalam SMS yang  diterima Bintang Papua menyebutkan bahwa pada prinsipnya KNPB meminta tegas kepada, Jaksa Penuntut Umum dan majelis hakim, untuk bertindak bijaksana dan profesional. “Kalau hukum bilang tidak bersalah, atau bersalah kenapa ulur-ulur waktu tuk membacakn materi tuntutan. KNPB sgt kesal penerapan Hukum d tanah Papua perlu d pertanyakn,’ ungkapnya.

Ia mengatakan bahwa pada Jumat (21/9) nanti KNPB bersama Rakyat West Papua akan turun ke Pengadilan Negeri Klas 1A dengan kekuatan penuh untuk meminta agar Bucthar Tabuni dinyatakan tidak bersalah dan dibebaskan tanpa syarat.

Sumber: http://bintangpapua.com/

'Doa' Buchtar Dari Penjara Untuk Mako

Buctar Tabuni & Mako Tabuni (Photo Dok)

Jayapura Voice Baptis (16/9)--- Ketika Musa (Mako) Tabuni, Ketua I Komite Nasional Papua Barat (KNPB) di tembak mati, Ketua Umum Buctar Tabuni berada di dalam tahanan. Buctar tidak pernah menyaksikan mayat saudaranya hingga masuk ke liang kubur.

Sekalipun Buctar tidak hadir dan tak pernah melihat mayat kolega perjuangannya, namun doa Buctar menyertai Musa Tabuni. Melalui akun facebooknya, buchtar.tabuni@facebook.com, Buchtar menuliskan

doa buat kolega sekaligus saudaranya itu, Jumat 13/9.

"Sahabat karibku! Aku tahu Kau telah pergi untuk selamanya, tanpa seijin ALLAH yang berhak mencabut nyawamu, namun Aku pesan kepadamu. Jangan pernah, Kau ikut bawa pergi jiwa dan semangat perLAWANan kepada musuhmu yang adalah musuhku dan musuh kita bersama. 

Tinggalkanlah jiwa dan semangat perLAWANanmu bersama kami, supaya kami tetap dan terus berjuang untuk membebaskan masa depan negeri dan anak cucu kita, agar masa depan negeri dan anak cucu kita tidak boleh di jajah lagi. Seperti kita di jajah hari ini.

Sahabat karibku! Kepergianmu membuat jiwaku sakit, sedih dan tergetar marah. Andai saja kau pergi, lalu 1 tahun kemudian kau harus kembali untuk menemuiku, saat itu juga aku harus memukulmu sebagai tanda untuk melepaskan jiwa ragaku yang sedang sakit dan bergejolak ini. Namun karena kau telah pergi untuk selamanya di alam baka sana, maka yang harus ku lakukan adalah aku harus jatuh tersungkur di hadirat TUHAN YESUS, lalu memohon penghiburan jiwaku yang sedang bergejolak karena kepergianmu.

Sahabat karibku! Aku janji. Aku akan terus berjuang bersama Kebenaran KRISTUS buat pembebasan negeri dan masa depan anak cucu kita. Semoga ada waktu TUAHAN yang indah buat kemerdekaan bangsa kita, sebagai tanda pembalasan kepada musuhmu yang adalah musuhku dan musuh kita bersama. Dan saat itu juga kita akan katakan: Perjuangan melawan kolonial NKRI dari tanah perjanjian, Papua Barat telah selesai dan selamat jalan penjara tuaku NKRI.  

Editor: (Jubi/Mawel)

Buchtar Tabuni: Sidang Tanpa Saksi, Membosankan

A

Bucthar Tabuni Ketua PNWP (ft M-selankah)

Jayapura, Voice Baptist – Ketua Parlemen Nasional West Papua (PNWP), Buchtar Tabuni kepada wartawan di Jayapura, Kamis, (13/9) mengatakan capek dengan proses pengadilan atas dirinya yang digelar tanpa saksi selama lebih dari dua bulan ini. Ia juga mengatakan dirinya didiskriminasi dalam proses persidangan.

“Selama dua bulan lebih  sidang terus berjalan. Tapi, tidak ada saksi dan saya sangat capek dengan proses hukum ini. Ada diskriminasi hukum terhadap persidangan ini,” kata Buctar  kepada wartawan di halaman Pengadilan Negeri Klas IIA Abepura, Jayapura, Papua.

Ia juga menuturkan kondisi badannya yang mulai tidak stabil. “Selama empat bulan ini saya tinggal di tahanan Polda Papua. Saya tidak kena cahaya matahari dan udara sengar. Sekarang, kondisi badan saya  tidak stabil. Badan saya kuning. Kalau saya berdiri kepala pusing,”katanya.

Pantauan media ini, sidang lanjutan pada Kamis,  13 September 2012 bertujuan  mendengarkan keterangan saksi. Tetapi,  tidak ada saksi yang dapat dihadirkan.  Sidang untuk mendengar saksi sempat ditunda beberapa kali karena sejumlah saksi tidak hadir dalam persidangan.

Gustaf Kawer, Penasehat Hukum (PH) Buchtar Tabuni seperti dilansir media ini, Selasa (11/9) lalu, mengatakan Bucthar Tabuni bersama dua anggota Komite Nasional Papua Barat (KNPB), Riber Weya dan Hengky Alua ditangkap pada 6 Juni 2012 dalam keterkaitan dengan beberapa kasus penembakan yang terjadi di Jayapura pada Mei-Juni 2012. Tetapi, kata dia, polisi kemudian tidak menemukan bukti keterlibatan Buchtar sehingga dikenakan kasus lama, yakni pengrusakan fasilitas tahanan sewaktu Buchtar di penjarahkan beberapa tahun lalu.

Aksi Yang di Pimpin Bucthar Tabuni Atas Tuntutan referendum Bagi papua (foto KNPB)

Buchtar Tabuni pernah dipenjarakan selama 3 tahun karena ia dianggap tokoh yang mengkoordinir puluhan ribu orang Papua pada berbagai aksi untuk menuntut referendum. Puncaknya ia ditangkap pada aksi demonstrasi damai di Jayapura untuk mendukung peluncuran International Parlementarians for West Papua ( IPWP).

Wakapolda Papua Brigadir Jenderal Pol Paulus Waterpauw seperti dikutip viva.co.id, Edisi 8 Juni 2012, mengatakan Polda Papua punya cukup bukti. Menurut Wakapolda, aksi demo menuntut refrendum yang dibubarkan Polisi, 4 Juni, yang berbuntut perusakan sejumlah marka jalan dan rumah warga sekaligus penganiayaan terhadap sejumlah warga.

“Ada sejumlah kasus melawan hukum yang dilakukan KNPB, dan Buchtar Tabuni sebagai koordinatornya bertanggung jawab,” kata Wakapolda seperti dikutip viva.co.id

Sumber Update: http://majalahselangkah.com/

Lawyer calls on judges to release Buchtar after all witnesses fail to appear

Bucthar Tabuni Caiman KNPB

Update Bintang Papua, 11 September 2012

Jayapura Baptist Voice,-- Gustaf Kawer, one of the lawyers defending the former chairman of the KNPB - National Committee of West Papua - said that the judges hearing the case of Buchtar Tabuni should have the courage to release the defendant in the absence of any witnesses to testify against him. The lawyer said this followed the decision yesterday to postpone a further hearing in the trial.

He said that from the start, he had commented that the the prosecutor in the case had shown no seriousness in handling the case against Buchtar. This is evident from the fact that none of the witnesses he had wanted to testify at the trial had appeared although several hearings had been held.

'In the latest instance, the witness Matius Murib was to have appeared but he didn't appear, even though he is known to be in Jayapura and his home address in known, so why did he not appear?'

The lawyer said Matius Murib is known to be well acquainted with the case and the judges should consider that if there is no evidence to prove that Buchter was responsible for damaging the prison in any way, which was to have been proven by the witnesses all of whom had failed to appear, then the judges should take the bold step of simply releasing the man who is now on trial.

The lawyer also spoke about the many shootings that have been occurring in the city of Jayapura which have been linked to Buchtar, which was nothing more than a set-up. He said that Buchtar had been linked to the shooting of Wiron Wetipo but that case has already been solved, so it was clear that the authorities were trying to make a scapegoat of Buchtar. Buchtar was arrested on 6 June 2012 which was just at the time when some shootings occurred in Jayapura which was followed by the arrest of Buchtar, whereas Buchtar was not in any way connected with those shootings. So instead of being charged with the shootings, he now faces the charge of inflicting damage on the Abepura Prison in 2010, which means that he should have been arrested in 2010.

At the time, it was said that there were plenty of witnesses and now they were not even able to call Matius Murib as a witness.

The lawyer said that the panel of judges should postpone further hearings until Matius Murib could be called as his testimony would be crucial for this trial. Gustaf insisted that there were plenty of witnesses who could give testimony regarding the damage inflicted on the prison, yet the prosecutors were not able to get any of these witnesses to appear.

As is known, the hearing on 10 September was again postponed .

At the hearing held yesterday, the prosecutors were still not able to bring any witnesses to court.who would be able to testify about Buchtar's alleged damage to the prison. The prosecutors has also been unable to summon Liberty Sitinjak who would have been a key witness about the incident on 3 December 2010.

The prosecutor announced that Liberty was unable to appear to testify, even though he has been summoned three times. And now, the hearing held on 10 September was also suspended until 13 September while it was being said that Matius Murib, who was formerly and member of the National Human Rights Commission, would also not be able to appear.

It has now been announced that the hearing that is due to take place on 13 September which was originally intended to hear testimony from witnesses would now be devoted to questioning the defendant, Buchtar Tabuni.

Translated by Carmel Budiardjo

Proses Pengadilan Buchtar Tabuni Tak Profesional

 Update VB

Bucthar Tabuni dan Alm. Mako tabuni (Photo knpb)

Jayapura (10/9) --- Pengamanan yang dilakukan aparat kepolisian dianggap berlebihan, sedangkan proses pengadilannya sendiri tak dilakukan dengan profesional. Hal ini diungkapkan Penasehat Hukum Buchtar Tabuni, Gustaf Kawer usai persidangan Buchtar Tabuni, saat ditemui di halaman Pengadilan Negeri Klas IIA Abepura, Jayapura, Senin (10/9).

“Jika pengamanan berlebihan seperti yang terjadi hari ini (Senin, 10/9), sebenarnya melanggar satu asas di persidangan. Ini adalah sidang terbuka untuk umum, siapapun berhak hadir. Pengamanannya berlebihan sedangkan proses persidangannya tak profesional,” kata Kawer.

Seperti diketahui, persidangan Buchtar Tabuni sebagai tersangka pengrusakan dan pengeroyokan di Lapas Abepura pada 3 Desember 2010 itu, ditunda hingga Kamis (13/9) mendatang. Ini karena ketidakhadiran saksi, dimana pada persidangan nanti, penasehat hukum tersangka berjanji mendatangkan saksi, yaitu Matius Murib. “Hari Kamis (13/9) nanti adalah persidangan terakhir dengan saksi terakhir Matius Murib. 

Kalau Mantan Kalapas, sudah cukup, sudah tidak dapat hadir lagi karena sudah tiga kali pemanggilan,” demikian kata Achmad Komarubun, Jaksa Penuntut Umum dalam persidangan ini kepada wartawan, usai persidangan.

Menurut Kawer, proses pengadilan tidak profesional itu, maksudnya saksi seharusnya dapat dihadirkan tepat waktu, tapi nyatanya tak seperti itu. Hakim juga dalam memimpin sidang, seharusnya benar-benar independen, yang artinya tak berpihak kepada negara atau korban.

Dalam persidangan Buchtar Tabuni pada Senin (10/9) hari ini, dihadiri sebanyak 40 personil Dalmas dari Polresta Jayapura dan diback-up full oleh Polsek Abepura yang dipimpin oleh Kabagops Polresta Jayapura,
Kiki Kurnia. (Jubi/Aprila Wayar)

Sumber: Tabloidjubi.com/

Papuan Patience Worn Thin

by, John Mcbeth - Straits Times

Papuan

German biologist Pieter Helmut and his wife were walking up the beach after swimming near the Papua provincial capital of Jayapura when a bearded gunman suddenly got out of a van and opened fire.

Helmut, 54, had emergency surgery for life-threatening bullet wounds to the stomach and thigh. He was lucky to survive the May 29 attack, unusual even by Papuan standards.

He was among the victims of a spate of random shootings in and around Jayapura in May and June which left six people dead, including a 16-year-old student.

Indonesia's Papua province was once again in the headlines and back on the Cabinet agenda.

With government hardliners in the ascendency, there is now every sign that youthful Papuan militants, only loosely affiliated to the separatist Free Papua Movement (OPM), have lost patience with the dialogue process and are taking the fight to urban areas.

"Everything suggests that there is going to be more trouble in Papua unless the government can produce a policy that will have an immediate and visible impact on how ordinary Papuans are treated," the International Crisis Group warned in a recent report. It said the recent violence has exposed the lack of a coherent government strategy to address the many dimensions of conflict in Papua, with well-meant programs falling victim to security imperatives or rent-seeking by police or soldiers in resource-rich areas.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono seems to be playing both sides, telling Papuan leaders in private that he supports talks to resolve Papua's many problems, and then saying publicly that there is no need for talks at all, as he did in a major July speech.

At the same time, the Unit for the Accelerated Development of Papua and West Papua (UP4B), which was widely seen as laying the groundwork for a prospective dialogue when it was created last November, has now been told to stay away from politics.

UP4B head Bambang Darmono, a retired two-star general who played a crucial role in the 2005 Aceh peace process, told foreign journalists recently that his job was simply to "coordinate and facilitate" government development programs.

Papua's political leaders consider the territory's 2001 Special Autonomy Law to be a failure, not necessarily because it doesn't hit the right notes, but because it was hurriedly enacted without consultation with the Papuans.

Likewise the UP4B. Despite the need for vastly improved governance and an end to endemic corruption, the unit and other central government interventions are regarded as efforts by Jakarta to decentralize.

While Darmono agrees that the security situation "doesn't look comfortable," he and other senior officials fail to see the irony in their criticism of international news reports when foreign reporters are banned from Papua and have to rely on often biased accounts from both sides.

The sharp increase in bloodshed has not been confined to Jayapura. At least 16 civilians, including a village headman, and eight soldiers and policemen, have been killed across Papua and neighboring West Papua province over the past three months.

Two weeks after Helmut was wounded, patrolmen shot dead wanted activist Mako Tabuni, a member of the supposedly non-violent West Papua National Committee (KNPB), set up four years ago to campaign for a referendum on Papuan independence.

The KNPB was at the center of a row in early 2010 when Western and Papuan rights groups challenged an International Crisis Group report asserting that the committee was part of a growing "radicalization" of the Papua resistance movement.

Whether "radical" is the appropriate word or not, police claim to have telephone intercepts and forensic evidence showing that Mako, KNPB leader Buchtar Tabuni, Maluk Tabuni and three other suspects were responsible for the Jayapura shooting spree.

Police insist Mako was killed while trying to escape, but such is the level of mutual distrust, they will have a hard job convincing anyone of that. There have been far too many other cases with a similar disregard for Papuan lives.

Tabuni is a common name, but Mako and Buchtar were cousins and the KNPB is believed to have links to Goliat Tabuni, leader of one of the OPM's most active guerilla groups in the mountainous Puncak Raya region far to the west.

The violence is taking place in a political vacuum, with the Supreme Court hearing Papua governor Barnabas Suebu's claim that he is entitled to a third term and the Constitutional Court soon to rule on whether only indigenous Papuans can run for public office.

The government supports the view that candidates must be Melanesians. But for all of Papua's special autonomy status, that would set a troubling precedent, and ignores the fact that non-indigenous people now comprise half of Papua's population.

Some officials believe separatists are using the long delay in holding local elections to fuel communal tensions and create the impression of rising instability in a troubled territory.

President Yudhoyono bizarrely sought to play down the level of violence to journalists in early June, saying the prolonged low-intensity conflict could not compare with Afghanistan and Syria.

Complaining about what he called "cause and effect," he referred to a June 6 incident in the highland town of Wamena. Rioting soldiers killed one man and wounded 15 others after a soldier was stabbed to death for running his motorcycle over a boy
.
Yudhoyono said the OPM wants to provoke an over-reaction to attract global attention, a frank admission that security forces still lacked the discipline and training required in a such a highly charged environment.

Reprinted courtesy of The Straits Times (jakarta-globe)

TV Papua, vreedzame demonstratie in Fakfak en openbare recht zitting in West-Papua

TV Papua, Vandaag in ons journaal en terugblik op 2 gebeurtenissen uit West Papua.

In Fak Fak was er een vreedzame demonstratie gehouden door de Papua's.
Ze riepen de Indonesische authoriteiten op, om alle politieke gevangen in West Papua vrij te laten.
Ook Het onrecht, ongelijkheid en discriminatie dat nu ruim 50 jaar structureel aanwezig is in West Papua moet stoppen.
De demonstranten droegen grote borden met foto's van onder andere Hilary Clinton, Parlementariers en andere politieke figuren.

 

West Papua wordt ruim 50 jaar gekoloniseerd door Indonesie en de realiteit in West Papua is verre van een Democratie.
De Papua's willen een VN interventie, aangezien het blijkt dat Jakarta totaal geen wil heeft om de Papua's perspectief te bieden. en
Op 26 juli jongsleden was er een openbare rechtszitting in West Papua, met Filip Karma en Buchtar Tabuni.
Tijdens de zitting werden ze door de Rechter uitgehoord en ondervraagt.
(Bron: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwAhkP5j71M&feature=player_embedded)

Indonesia's Grasp on Papua Questioned Amid Unrest

Update-news

A spate of shootings in Papua over the past month is fueling charges that trigger-happy Indonesian soldiers are only exacerbating unrest and pro-independence sentiment in the resource-rich region.

Indonesia has maintained a strong military presence since it annexed the former Dutch colony in 1969, despite granting it more autonomy in 2001. Some estimates suggest that more than 14,000 troops patrol the restive province.

“Special autonomy isn’t working because Jakarta has failed to win the hearts of Papuans,” said Socratez Sofyan Yoman, a Baptist minister and pro-independence activist.

“Their military and police treat us like animals. So we’re seeking better dialogue and an end to the intimidation,” he said.

Part of the movement to escape Indonesia’s grasp is to claim more benefits from a wealth of natural resources in Papua, which has attracted foreign giants such as BP and US miner Freeport McMoRan.

Violence occurs regularly at Freeport’s massive gold and copper mine, a symbol of the Papuan struggle, with many claiming a spiritual attachment to nature and resenting outsiders who they say strip the land bare of resources.

Since a German tourist was shot and wounded on a Papuan beach on May 29 by suspected separatists, seven civilians and a soldier have died in shootings and other violence, according to the human rights group Kontras.

Police have tended to blame the pro-independence Free Papua Movement (OPM), which celebrated its 47th anniversary on Sunday. It urged Papuans to raise its banned Morning Star flag for the occasion.

But police now suspect that the National Committee for West Papua (KNPB), a separatist youth group, is behind some of the violence.

KNPB representatives, however, say the group is unarmed and accuse police of trying to orchestrate violence to blacken the independence movement and of covering up investigations into fatal shootings committed by its officers.

They point to the shooting and killing of KNPB vice chairman Mako Tabuni last month, an incident that led infuriated pro-independence activists to demand a full explanation from the national parliament.

“We came to Jakarta to ask the president for a new approach,” Septer Manufandu of the Papuan NGOs Cooperation Forum said.

“They say they want dialogue with us, but they continue their intimidation through their soldiers and police,” he said.

Police claimed Tabuni was armed and resisted arrest before they shot him, but activist groups quoted witnesses as saying he was shot by men in plainclothes from a passing car.

Activists also claimed that soldiers acted with impunity on June 6 when they opened fire on the town of Wamena, shooting 17 people, killing one and torching 87 homes in response to the murder of a soldier by someone in the community.

Police said the soldier had been stabbed after he knocked down a child while riding a motorcycle. But information is hard to verify because foreign journalists are de facto barred from the region.

The Reverend Benny Giay, a prominent activist, said Jakarta needed to ask why there was such strong pro-independence sentiment in Papua, Indonesia’s easternmost province, which occupies half of the island of New Guinea.

“It’s because we are treated like animals, like nothing, on our own land. Our sentiments didn’t just fall from the sky,” he said.

However, Jakarta refuses to revisit the 1969 UN-backed “Act of Free Choice” referendum that validated its claim to Papua. The referendum was widely seen a sham, with Jakarta hand-picking 1,026 people to vote on behalf of all Papuans.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Friday that there would be “no discussion or dialogue about the separation of Papua” and that Indonesia’s sovereignty over Papua was “legal and final.”

The government has tried to engage local leaders in dialogue to implement policies that suit both sides, but Papuans are growing weary of the process, analyst Muridan Widjojo from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences told AFP.

“It’s a little contradictory — Jakarta wants to take a dialogue approach at the same time it takes a militaristic approach, so it has lost the trust of the people,” he said.

Agence France-Presse/JG

Victor Yeimo Menduduki Jabatan Ketua Umum KNPB

"Rakyat Papua Barat tak perlu ragu dengan keberadaan KNPB. "KNPB tak mati bersama Mako Tabuni di tangan penjajah yang berusaha mendegradasi gerakan KNPB. KNPB tak mati, sekalipun serdadu-serdadu KNPB di tembak, dikejar-kejar dan di penjarakan, seribu prajurit KNPB siap melakukan pelawanan bersama rakyat sampai titik darah penghabisan Ketua Umum KNPB baru Victor Yeimo"

Victor Yeimo bersama Buctar Tabuni

Jayapura (1/8)---Akhirnya, Victor Yeimo terpilih sebagai Ketua Umum Komite Nasional Papua Barat (KNPB) melalui kongres luar biasa (KLB) dan Rapat Akbar di Timika, Kabiupaten  Mimika, pada tanggal 18 - 21 Juli 2012 lalu. "KNPB tak membutuhkan seribu pemikir, KNPB hanya membutuhkan satu pemikir untuk seribu pekerja Papua Merdeka," kata Victor Yeimo, saat acara pelantikan pengurus KNPB di Pos Tujuh, Sentani Kabupaten Jayapura, Rabu (31/7) lalu.

Acara pelantikan ini disambut meriah massa pendukung KNPB dengan teriakan kata "revolusi" dan juga kata “kita harus akhiri". Sehingga dengan semangat revolusioner itulah, Victor mengatakan tindakan adalah perwujudan kata-kata. "Kata-kata harus menjadi nyata dalam tindakan. Kita harus mengahiri," kata Victor yang sebelumnya menjabat sebagai juru bicara Internasional KNPB.

Untuk mencapai perjuangan Papua merdeka, menurut Victor, banyak pemikir orang Papua akhirnya tidak perna berhasil. Sehingga, kata Victor, KNPB tak membutuhkan banyak pemikir, tapi membutuhkan satu pemikir dan banyak pekerja. "Kepengurusan baru ini tak mengubah agenda perjuangan. KNPB tetap diposisi wacana referendum. Target kita referendum harus terjadi. Maka, tahun kemarin KNPB wacana refrendum, tetapi tahun ini KNPB akan mendorong kepada tahapan riil menuju referendum,” katanya.

Menurut Victor, pria asal pengungan tengah Papua yang kerap kali dengan topi hijau dengan satu bintang merah di depan ini mengatakan, pemerintah Indonesia yang berusaha mendegar dari gerakan KNPB di Papua Barat. "KNPB dengan tegas mengatakan tidak akan pernah mundur selangkah pun. KNPB selalu bersama dan memediasi rakyat  Papua Barat berjuang dengan bermartabat,” katanya.

Selain itu, Victor mengatakan, rakyat Papua Barat tak perlu ragu dengan keberadaan KNPB. "KNPB tak mati bersama Mako Tabuni di tangan penjajah yang berusaha mendegradasi gerakan KNPB. KNPB tak mati, sekalipun serdadu-serdadu KNPB di tembak, dikejar-kejar dan di penjarakan, seribu prajurit KNPB siap melakukan pelawanan bersama rakyat sampai titik darah penghabisan,” katanya.

Sekadar diketahui, pelantikan ini berlangsung dalam ibadah syukur yang dipimpin Pdt. Marten Su. Usai ibadah, pelantikan dilakukan. Sejumlah jabatan diroing. Misalnya saja, Vicotor Yeimo sebelumnya menjabat Juru Bicara Internaional KNPB menjabat Ketua Umum KNPB mengantikan Buctar Tabuni, yang kini menjabat Ketua Parlemen Nasional West Papua (PNWP). Agus Kossay sebagai Wakil Ketua KNPB menggantikan almarhum Mako Tabuni. Sekretaris Umum KNPB, Ones Suhuniap menggantikan Agus Trapen. Terus, Juru Bicara Nasional KNPB diduduki Wim R. Medlama.

Sumber: Jubi
 

Benny Giay: "Journalists in West Papua doing the same thing with Journalists in SouthAfrica during Apartheid Era"

Benny Giay (photo jubi)

Jayapura Jubi, (26/7)---Benny Giay, Chairman of the Synod of Kingmi on West Papua said that news of Papua, published by local and national mass media (Indonesia) have occurred in South Africa in the apartheid era. Investors and the government should control the public mind in a discriminatory manner through journalists and mass media.

"I think the news in the history of the community/state totalitarian and repressive m edia owner are required to follow the will of the regime. They, the media managers or journalists who write the story from the perspective of a victimized by totalitarian and repressive regimes are considered as trouble." Benny Giay said totabloidjubi.com, Wednesday (27/6) in Jakarta via mobile phone.

In the same place, Septer Manufandu, Executive Secretary of Foker LSM Papua also saidthat the mass media and journalists have been instrumental in Papua to fertilize the stigma of separatist andalso helped construct the public opinion that the perpetrators of terror and violence these days is the Papuans.

"The news media and journalists are very discriminating. This is a problem for us Papuans, because news like this fosters separatist stigma and make people think that the perpetrators of current terror and violence are the Papuans.

Though police are not able to prove it." Septer said to reporters in Jakarta, Tuesday, June 26th.
According to Benny Giay, these circumstances indicate that the media managers or journalists in this context has a discriminatory act. However, he also understands if this situation can sometimes occur because of the ruling regime had a stake in the media in which journalists work.

"Noam Chomsky have a view about this culture in which the investor or the authoritiescontrolling the public mind with the one-sided message that discriminated against a group that was sacrificed. Journalists in West Papua doing the same thing with Journalists in South Africa during Apartheid Era in the 1950s or in Indonesia in the 19th century. Nothingnew in Papua. " Benny Giay said to confirms his view.

Press freedom in South Africa does have a fragmented history. Some sectors of the South African media can openly criticize the system of apartheid and the National Party government, but they are
hampered by government censorship for years. Besides, not many journalists in the apartheid era, which could draw a clear boundary between truth and the interests of the ruler. Also of particular interest from the media companies they work for. At the time of apartheid, the control of journalists and mass media is very powerful. Mass media are dominated by noise and information from the

One example is the death of Steve Biko, a South African student leader who founded the Black Consciousness Movement. On August 18, 1977, Biko was arrested by the police of Africa. Biko was
arrested on charges of violating South Africa Act, No. 38, 1967 on Terrorism. He was interrogated by police officers from Port Elizabeth, Harold Snyman and Gideon Nieuwou dt. Interrogation that lasted twenty-two hours, including torture and beatings that resulted Biko coma. 

He s uffered serious head injuries while in police custody and was chained to a window grille for a day. Mass Media in South African did not wrote this torture, but wrote Biko was arrested for violating the Terrorism Act, until a journalist and now political leader, Helen Zille, along with Donald Woods, who is also a journalist and an editor, reveal the truth behind Biko's death.

Steve Biko died shortly after arriving at the Pretoria prison, on 12 September 1977. The police claimed his death was the result of a hunger strike which he did. But an autopsy revealed bruises and abrasions that led to Biko give up on a brain hemorrhage from a large wound in his head. An autopsy was used as powerful evidence that Biko was brutally beaten by his captors.

The attitudes of mass media in South Africa during the apharteid era on Biko's death is almost equal to the attitude of local and national mass media in Indonesia againstthe death of Mako Tabuni, the Vice Chairman of the National Committee of West Papua (KNPB). 

Journalists and mass media only writing base on the view of the police without any express testimony of the witnesses. Mako Tabuni, reported by newspapers shot to death because he tried to fight back to the police, while some witnesses expressed Mako Tabuni was shot without warning. (Jubi/Victor Mambor)

Filep Karma : "Saya bukan Warga Negara Indonesia tetapi Warga Negara Papua Barat"

Filep Karma Saat Bersaksi PN Jayapura (photo jubi)

Jayapura (26/7)--- Filep Karma, Tahanan Politik (Tapol) Papua menolak disumpah saat dihadirkan sebagai saksi dalam persidangan Buchtar Tabuni (BT) di Pengadilan Negeri (PN) Klas IIA Abepura, Jayapura - Papua.

Karma menolak disumpah berdasarkan Matius 5:36-37. Persidangan Buchtar Tabuni terkait pengrusakan Lapas Abepura Tahun 2010 lalu oleh narapidana itu menghadirkan satu-satunya saksi pada hari ini adalah Filep Karma. Persidangan dimulai pada Pkl. 12.00 WIT dan berakhir pada Pkl.12.25 WIT.

“Saya bukan Warga Negara Indonesia tetapi Warga Negara Papua Barat,” demikian kata Filep Karma dalam persidangan ini. Karma juga menolak diambil sumpah berdasarkan Matius 5:36-37. Karma yang mengaku tidak beragama tetapi Murid Kristus ini juga berdebat kurang lebih 20 menit dengan Hakim Ketua, Haris Munandar terkait sumpah tersebut dan juga tentang identitasnya sebagai saksi.

Menurut Hakim Ketua, bila tidak ada sumpah maka tidak dapat dibuktikan kebenarannya. Sumpah harus diambil dari saksi berdasarkan aturan dalam Kitab Undang-undang Hukum Pidana (KUHP) yang berlaku di Indonesia.

“Untuk apa saya diambil sumpah? Di dalam Matius 5 ayat 36 bilang, Janganlah engkau bersumpah demi kepalamu, karena engkau tidak berkuasa memutihkan atau menghitamkan sehelai rambutpun dan ayat 37 bilang, Jika ya, hendaklah kamu katakan: ya, jika tidak, hendaklah kamu katakan: tidak. Apa yang lebih dari pada itu berasal dari si jahat,” demikian kata Karma di dalam persidangan.

Tidak mau bertele-tele, Hakim Ketua kemudian meminta pihak Jaksa Penuntut Umum (JPU) untuk dapat memastikan apakah Karma akan digunakan sebagai saksi dalam persidangan BT. JPU dengan tegas menyatakan bahwa Karma tidak akan dipakai dalam persidangan Buchtar Tabuni. (JUBI/Aprila Wayar)

Sumber: Jubi

Fear, Grief and Hope in Occupied West Papua

The complex and volatile situation in West Papua raises questions about the role of international advocacy

Papuan Rally KNPB (photo martin)

The months of May and June have seen new waves of terror sweep through the troubled region of West Papua. Tens of “mysterious killings” have been reported, occurring mostly in the Papuan capital of Jayapura. Security guards, students, and soldiers have been shot dead; a woman’s mutilated body was found; and a German biologist narrowly survived being shot in the chest at a popular beach. With worldwide coverage of these incidents, the Indonesian security establishment has manipulated the climate of terror to justify more intense repression of Papuan nationalist groups. This campaign climaxed on June 14 with the assassination of Mako Tabuni, the vocal deputy chair of KNPB (West Papua National Committee) – an organization that has been at the forefront of mass mobilizations demanding a referendum on Papuan independence. While advocates in the West have recently seen more success in terms of putting Papuan human rights on the international community’s agenda, this international visibility has been matched in Papua by the proliferation of forms of state terror. This increasingly tense situation may demand a re-evaluation of the work of international solidarity advocates.

Here published: Intercontinentalcry.org/

(Not-so-)Mysterious Killings

The latest incidents in Jayapura have been shrouded in uncertainty and subject to wildly contrasting interpretations. Human rights activists in Jakarta and Jayapura, accustomed to seeing the hand of security forces behind such “mysterious” terror, have issued statements critical of Jakarta’s “security approach”, suggesting that the army and police are themselves responsible for the violence. While these critical views have informed international news coverage, Indonesian news coverage has tended to give more space to police statements evoking shadowy “unknown persons” and pinning the blame on the student activists of KNPB as well as the wider network of underground Papuan nationalist resistance, OPM (Free Papua Organization).

Politically speaking, it is hard to see what Papuan nationalists could gain from inflicting public terror. Human rights activists have pointed out the professional aspect of the shootings, suggesting sniper expertise only available to elite state units such as Kopassus (Army Special Forces Commando) or Densus 88 (the Australian- and US- funded Police counter-terrorism unit). As with the fatal shooting ambush on a bus outside Jayapura last August, which took place the day before a major KNPB mass rally (itself timed to welcome a conference on Papuan independence in the UK), the latest killings appear to have been staged by powerful elements in the security forces so as to disrupt grassroots pro-independence mobilizations.

The recent episode also recalls the massive campaign of “petrus” (contraction of penembakan misterius, “mysterious shooting”) against so-called “criminals” in Jakarta, used by Suharto’s New Order regime to entrench its power in the 1980s. The police attributing the label “criminal” to KNPB leaders such as Mako Tabuni feeds a perception that Indonesian governance in Papua continues to employ a version of the “politics of fear” that sustained the New Order for so long.

The new petrus campaign in Jayapura, and the assassination has set the stage for, and has unfolded alongside other forms of terror. Just a week before Mako Tabuni’s murder, an outbreak of brutality was triggered in the main highlands town of Wamena when two Indonesian soldiers on a motorcycle struck a Papuan child. After some local residents reacted angrily by stabbing the soldiers to death, the soldiers’ fellow troops from the notorious Infantry Battalion 756 “Wim Ane Sili” (local Dani language for “House of the Sound of War”) descended on the scene armed with bayonets and rifles, and unleashed a vengeful swath of destruction. 

The attacks left several locals dead or injured, an entire village razed to the ground, and hundreds of Papuan residents displaced to the bush.  Battalion troops then rampaged through Wamena town, burning regional government buildings and the homes of both indigenous Papuans and Indonesian settlers. In the aftermath of the violence, with many residents still in hiding, local human rights activists evoked the memory of the October 2000 incidents known as “Bloody Wamena” (Wamena Berdarah) – when deadly riots and a massive crackdown followed police attacks on posts flying the Morning Star flag of Papuan nationalism.[1]

In a Context of Fear, KNPB Mobilizes

Recent events in Wamena have reflected tensions in Jayapura. KNPB is known to have an especially strong support base among students from the highlands region around Wamena who have settled in the coastal metropolis of Jayapura. Highlanders are often subject to especially severe forms of the racism that most Papuans face in the Indonesian urban context. Though KNPB’s mass mobilizations have been largely peaceful, stereotypes of violent and chaotic highlanders have been used to build fear of their politics via conspiratorial text messages presumably circulated by intelligence agents – a form of rumour that many Papuans refer to as “terror” (teror).

In the face of fear and intimidation, KNPB has continued to mobilize, organizing mass protests to denounce the role of state security agents in creating the climate of terror. In a press release days before Mako Tabuni’s death, KNPB suggested that state agents had played a role in the shooting of the German scientist, as a response to Germany’s criticism of Indonesia’s human rights record in Papua at a recent UN session.[2] Security forces have responded to KNPB’s challenge with unrestrained aggression, deploying Barracuda mobile tanks and live fire against unarmed protesters, and arresting KNPB chair Buchtar Tabuni on his way out of a meeting at the provincial parliament convened by political leaders to discuss the deteriorating security situation. This is the volatile situation within which Indonesian forces (in this case, reports suggest it was Densus 88) have been able to eliminate a courageous and articulate voice of Papuan resistance.[3]

While Western governments periodically pay lip service to the importance of upholding human rights in Papua, one can guess at the deep (though surely unstable) complicities linking the interests of transnational capital, global governance institutions, and the military intelligence regime on Indonesia’s Pacific frontier zone. The brutal crackdown underway against KNPB targets a group that has articulated a sophisticated anti-imperialist critique of the neo-liberal development policies being forced on Papuans by the Indonesian security state, the global resource companies that help fund it (notably US mining giant Freeport MacMoran and British oil and gas giant BP), and the foreign governments and international institutions who occasionally criticize Indonesia’s human rights performance but who are hostile to Papuan challenges to the status quo of Indonesian sovereignty. This is the global context that enables multiplying forms of terror and allows for the assassination of Mako Tabuni.[4]

The latest wave of killings and repression has come at a moment when KNPB has been intensifying its regional outreach work, enacting a program for a “West Papuan Parliament” that would channel forms of direct democracy towards the goal of self-determination. The prospect of a politicized and mobilized anti-imperialist network spreading throughout the regions of Papua is surely viewed with suspicion by both the Jakarta intelligence establishment and the international players with interests in the region.

KNPB’s grassroots political mobilizations complement the higher-level manoeuvres of the leaders of groups such as WPNA (West Papua National Authority) and DAP (Papua Customary Council), who came together at last October’s Third Papuan Congress to declare the Federal Republic of West Papua (FRWP). As the Congress closed, police, army and intelligence units stormed the site, beating and arresting hundreds and killing several. The newly-proclaimed president and prime minister of FRWP, Forkorus Yaboisembut and Edison Waromi, remain behind bars along with Congress organizers and a growing list of political prisoners convicted of “subversion” (makar).[5]

What Kind of International Solidarity?

Given the complexity and volatility of the political situation, it is not clear what helpful role solidarity advocates can play. The Indonesian state and media do not hesitate to attribute signs of Papuan “separatist” agitation to the shadowy forces of a “foreign conspiracy” seen as responsible for East Timor’s independence. It is worth understanding Indonesian nationalist anxieties in their historical and geopolitical context: the Indonesian nation was founded when the then-revolutionary national army expelled Dutch colonialists from most of the archipelago after WWII; 15 years later, the military launched operations to chase the Dutch out of Western New Guinea as well (the Dutch finally retreated under US and UN pressure). At the time, the standard Indonesian nationalist narrative framed the incorporation of Papua as a question of opposing imperialism, and the West Papuan movement as colonial puppets.[6] 

 More recently, Western support for East Timorese independence – and signs of such support being extended to West Papua – have been easy to frame as vehicles for the West’s neo-imperial manipulation and pursuit of the region’s abundant mineral and petroleum resources. The more Western advocates succeed in focusing global attention on the plight of Papuans under Indonesian rule, the more the Indonesian security establishment can deploy the specter of a “foreign intervention” (like the UN’s intervention in East Timor) to mobilize Indonesian public opinion behind its harsh policing measures. The current moment poses a stark challenge to action-oriented observers: how to generate global solidarity against injustice in West Papua without strengthening the state’s pretext for terror?

Part of the answer may lie in the spaces for exchange that are being generated through networks like Intercontinental Cry: spaces where actors engaged in different worldwide struggles for justice can share perspectives (ideally) unmediated by giant corporations, intergovernmental institutions, INGO culture, or unreflexive settler-colonial privilege. To put in plainly: the international West Papua solidarity movement is in need of platforms for exchange that do not center the voices and perspectives of white people. Subject to numerous waves of colonization, displacement and militarization, West Papuans have political affinities with colonized, displaced, racially-deprived, and otherwise subjugated peoples at a global level. But the dynamics of history and geopolitics have produced a situation where mainly white NGO workers and human rights activists have largely monopolized international access to the scene of West Papuan resistance politics. 

Collaborations with leftists and rights activists in Indonesian cities have been key to the Papuan movement, as they were for East Timor; so have expressions of support by African-American and Pacific US legislators. Still, global Papua solidarity advocates have prioritized high-level lobbying towards Western powers, at the expense of possibilities for “South-South”/intra-“Fourth World” networking. For Indonesia’s deep security state to lose its “anti-imperialist” pretext for repression, solidarity linkages need to bypass neo-colonial adventurist-activist gatekeepers (including this author) – agents of what Teju Cole (referring to the “Stop Kony” debacle) has called the “White Saviour Industrial Complex”[7].

In the 1950s, when Dutch planners were forced to abandon their colonial project in Indonesia, they refocused their fantasies of “ethical” imperialism on the supposedly “blank slate” of Western New Guinea. These colonial agents framed Papuans as “primitives” requiring “development” before they could be allowed to govern themselves. The legacy of this history lives on in the Indonesian state’s colonization project, fed by media depictions of Papuans’ supposedly “backwards” life ways.[8] Throughout this history, Papuans have consistently been imagined as objects to be governed by others, rather than as political actors struggling for dignity.[9] Transnational human rights advocacy has succeeded in getting the story of Papuan suffering out there on the global stage; but the spectre of Western intervention is also justifying and motivating the terror it seeks to stop. Prevailing models of international advocacy may not be working for West Papua; they are easy for the security state to manipulate towards its own ends – which happen to suit other powerful global actors as well. Western-centric human rights champions need to consider making way for alternative paradigms of direct solidarity among colonized and displaced peoples.

Fear, Grief and Hope in Occupied West Papua was originally featured in People Land Truth, an eBook by Intercontinental Cry.

References

[1] See “Indonesia: Investigate military attacks on villagers in Wamena, Papua”, Amnesty International, June 8 2012, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA21/020/2012/en/1b64dac4-87d7-46c8-8950-f838afa35d87/asa210202012en.html

[2] See “German born tourist shot by “unknown persons” whilst on a beach in Jayapura”, http://westpapuamedia.info/2012/05/31/german-born-tourist-shot-by-unknown-persons-whilst-on-a-beach-in-jayapura/

[3] Police have acknowledged that they killed Mako Tabuni. They have alleged that he was responsible for several shootings; and that he resisted arrest, was in possession of a gun and tried to steal an arresting officer’s gun. Eyewitness accounts tell quite a different story: of Tabuni being shot point blank while being pinned to the ground by a group of men in civilian clothes.

[4] See footage of a speech by Mako Tabuni at a KNPB mass rally in Jayapura, in which he condemns the entanglement of Indonesian state power with foreign capital (in Indonesian): http://www.engagemedia.org/Members/yerry/news/papua-mako-tabuni-funeral-2

[5] See, for example, “Forkorus: International community must acknowledge the rights of the people of West Papua”, Jubi Online, http://westpapuamedia.info/2012/02/16/forkorus-international-community-must-acknowledge-the-political-rights-of-the-people-of-west-papua/

[6] For analysis of clashing Papuan and Indonesian nationalist historical narratives, see David Webster, “Narratives of Colonization, Decolonization and Recolonization in Papua”, http://activehistory.ca/papers/history-paper-3/

[7] See Teju Cole, “The White Savior Industrial Complex”, The Atlantic, March 21 2012, http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/03/the-white-savior-industrial-complex/254843/

[8] Scholar Danilyn Rutherford has documented this imperial legacy and its effects: see her new book “Laughing at Leviathan: Sovereignty and Audience in West Papua” (University of Chicago Press, 2012).

[9] Another new book shines light on this struggle, tracing West Papuan nationalists' approaches to the Indonesian state, international advocates, and global power centres: Eben Kirksey's "Freedom in Entangled Worlds: West Papua and the Architecture of Global Power" (Duke University Press, 2012).

Saksi Tak Hadir, Sidang Buchtar Tabuni Ditunda

DI Kursi Hijau Buctar Tabuni Ketua KNPB ( Photo Jubi)

Jayapura Jubi (23/7)--- Buchtar Tabuni, terdakwa dugaan kasus pengrusakan di Lembaga Pemasyarakatan (Lapas) klas II A di Abepura, Jayapura, Papua, 3 Desember 2010, kembali di sidang di Pengadilan Negeri Jayapura, Papua, Senin (23/7) siang. Namun persidangan tak berlangsung lama. Karena, saksi yang disiapkan Jaksa Penuntut Umum (JPU) tak hadir.

 
Dari pantauan tabloidjubi.com,sidang tak berlangsung lama. Hanya sekitar lima menit langsung ditunda. Diawal sidang, Ketua Majelis Hakim, Haris Munandar menanyakan JPU terkait saksi-saksi yang disiapkan untuk memberikan keterangan. 

 Menjawab pertanyaan hakim, Ahmad Kabarubus, Jaksa Penutut Umum mengatakan, kurang lebih ada 10 saksi yang direncanakan akan dihadirkan. Saksi pertama yang sudah dihubungi untuk memberikan keterangan adalah mantan Kalapas Abepura, Liberti Sitinjak yang sementara menjabat sebagai Kalapas Ambon. “Kami sudah hubungi pa Liberti beberapa hari lalu. Beliau katakan akan usahakan untuk hadir. Tapi, sampai sekarang belum ada,” kata Ahmad.

 
Usai JPU memberikan penjelasan, ketua majelis hakim langsung menutup persidangan. “Karena saksi-saksinya belum ada maka sidang kami tunda,” kata ketua mejelis hakim, Haris Munandar. Ketika ketua majelis hakim hendak m enutup sidang, Gustaf kawer, pengacara terdakwa ngotot dengan hakim. Kawer meminta ketegasan dari hakim kepada JPU agar persidangan mendatang tak lagi molor dan diundurkan.

 
“Kedepan, asas persidangan harus dikedepankan. Hakim harus tegas dalam pemanggilan saksi-saksi,” tegas Kawer. Hakim sempat membantah dengan mengatakan, pihaknya tak bermaksud demikian. Namun, karena tak satupun saksi yang hadir maka sidang ditunda. Meskipun ada perdebatan, tetapi tak memakan waktu lama. Setelah perdebatan itu, hakim langsung m enutup sidang.

 
Sidang akan kembali digelar pada Kamis, 26 Juli 2012 mendatang, dengan agenda mendengar keterangan dari para saksi. Dalam surat dakwaan yang dibacakan oleh Jaksa PenuntutUmum (JPU), Ahmad Kabarubus, dalam sidang perdana, Rabu, 18 Juli 2012, terdakwa Buchtar Tabuni bersama-sama saudara Dominggus Pulalo pada Jumat, 3 Desember 2010 sekitar pukul 17.30 WIT bertempat dimuka umum di Lembaga Pemasyarakatan Abepura yang berlamat di Jalan Kesehatan Abepura, Distrik Abepura, Kota Jayapura yang masih termasuk dalam daerah hukum Pengadilan Negeri
Jayapura dengan terang-terangan dan dengan tenaga bersama dengan menggunakan kekerasan terhadap orang atau barang.

 
Catatan lain dalam surat dakwaan tersebut, Buchtar Tabuni bersama rekannya, DominggusPulalo adalah narapidana Lapas Abepura, marah setelah mendengar penjelasan saksi Liberti Sitinjak, kalapas Abepura saat itu) mengenai penyebab penembakan yang mengakibatkan kematian salah seorang narapidana Lapas Abepura yang melarikan diri dari Lapas tersebut sehinggaterdakawa Buchtar Tabuni dan Dominggus Pulalo berteriak dengan mengatakan “lempar, lempar saja kantor” kemudian mereka (Buchtar dan Dominggus) mengambil batu yang berada disekitar tempat tersebut dan melemparkannya kearah Aula, Kanto, Bengkel kerja di Lapas Abepura. (Jubi/Abubar).

Sumber: Tabloid Jubi

Sidang Kedua Buctar Tabuni Dihadiri Petinggi KNPB

Buctar Tabuni Ketua Umum KNPB ( foto Jubi)

Jayapura (22/7)---Sidang kedua Ketua Umum Komite Nasional Papua Barat (KNPB) Buctar Tabuni, Senin (22/7)di Pengadilan Negeri Kelas IA Jayapura, Abepura, Kota Jayapura, Papua dengan pembacaan keterangan saksi, dihadiri para petinggi KNPB.

Di ruang sidang terlihat Ketua I KNPB, Victor Yeimo, Ketua KNPB Wilayah Sentani Agus K, Juru Bicara KNPB Feronika H, Kepala Itelejen KNPB Ulo dan sejumlah anggota dan simpatisan KNPB lainnya. Jumlahnya ada sekitar 50-an orang dan lebih banyak dibanding sidang sebelumnya.

Sebelum sidang dimulai, para petinggi KNPB yang hadir terlihat berbicang-bincang dengan Buctar Tabuni di luar ruang sidang. Menurut Victor Yeimo kepada Buctar, KNPB tak akan pernah mundur selangka pun.
Sedangkan ketidakhadiran para anggota KNPB pada sidang perdana, Agus mengatakan, hal itu akibat mereka tak tahu informasi jadwal sidang. “Kami tidak hadir karena informasi sidang belum kami ketahui,” katanya.

Victor menilai ketidakhadiran anggota KNPB tak terlalu berpengaruh pada sidang. "Anggota KNPB hadir atau tidak, putusan pengadilan pejajah pasti jelas. Pasukan KNPB hadir atau tidak hadir tak akan pengaruhapa-apa dalam pengadilan pejajah,” katanya.

Selain itu, pasukan KNPB tak hadir, kata Victor, juga karena ada agenda lain. "Banyakagenda perjuangan yang sedang menjadi perhatian KNPB. Sehingga kami di KNPB lagi konsen banyak agenda di luar,” katanya.

Menurut Victor, ketidakhadiran KNPB tidak lebih pada ketakutan kepada pihak keamanan."Pihak keamanan yang harus takut kepada KNPB. Sebab KNPB pemilik negeri Papua Barat," katanya.

Persidangan Buctar dijaga anggota Polisi dari Dalmas Polresta Jayapura. Penjagaan persidangan Buctar tak seketat persidangan Fokorus Cs yang dijaga anggota Brimob Polda Papua dan anggota
Polresta Jayapura dengan Baracuda. Pengunjung sidang pun tak sebanyak saat persidangan Fokorus Cs. (Jubi/Mawel)

Sumber: Tabloid JUbi

Buchtar Disidang, Kemana Ribuan Militan KNPB?

Ketua KNPB Bucthar Tabuni (Photo Jubi)

Jayapura Jubi(18/7)--- Anggota Komite Nasional Papua Barat (KNPB) menghilang ketika nasib Buctar
Tabuni akan ditentukan di pengadilan. Sidang Perdana Ketua umum KNPB, Buctar Tabuni tanpa
kehadiran ribuan anggota KNPB.

Ribuan pengikut dan simpatisan KNPB menghilang, tidak memberikan dukungan moral kepada Buctar dalam persidangan perdana di Pengadilan Negeri kelas 1A Jayapura. Ribuan Anggota KNPB mungkin hilang karena SMS dan telepon teror. “Mereka mungkin menduga-duga, jangan-jangan, saya yang masuk dalam Daftar Pencaharian Orang (DPO), kemudian ditangkap,” kata salah satu anggota KNPB yang hadir dalam persidangan itu, yang tidak mau mempbulikasikan nama dalam pemberitaan ini.

Pria asli pegunungan yang tidak mau menyebutkan nama itu mengatakan, ketidakhadiran anggota KNPB ini tidak perlu terjadi. Karena tidak semua anggota KNPB masuk dalam daftar pencaharian orang. “Kita tidak semua masuk dalam DPO. Coba hadir memberikan dukungan ka…,” katanya kepada tabloidjubi.com, Rabu (18/7) di Pengadilan Negeri Jayapura, Papua.

Menurutnya, anggota KNPB tidak hadir di setiap persidangan itu menjadi bukti polisi berhasil membekuk militansi KNPB. “Coba hadir membuktikan kami juga ada. Kalo begini polisi akan pikir mereka berhasil,” lanjut anggota KNPB yang tidak mau dimediakan namanya itu.

Sementara itu, pengunjung sidang lain, menilai ketidakhadiran anggota KNPB itu, menjadi bukti siapa yang setia dengan perjuangan dan tidak; siapa yang menjadi sahabat dan tidak; siapa yang menjadilawan dan kawan.

“Saat-saat inilah terbukti siapa yang betul-betul menjadi sahabat dan yang hanya ikutramai,” kata Hendrik. Selain itu, Musa Abubar menilai anggota KNPB tidak mau mengambil resiko tuduhan yang tidak benar. Mereka melindungi diri dengan tidak menghadiri persidangan Buctar. “Mereka mungkin tidak mauambil resiko dituding yang tidak-tidak,” kata pria asli Serui ini.

Dalam pantauan tabloidjubi di lapangan, hanya 17 anggota KNPB yang hadir menyaksikan persidangan yang berlangsung dibawa pengawalan Dalmas Polresta Jayapura ini. Penjagaan persidangan Buctar tidak seketat persidangan Forkorus Cs yang dijaga ketat anggota Brimob Polda Papua serta anggota Polresta Jayapura dengan Baracuda. Pengunjung sidang pun tidak sebanyak persidangan Fokorus Cs. (Jubi/Mawel)