Why is West Papua closed to foreign journalists?

 Opinion By. Socratez Sofyan Yoman - In TAPOL.ORG

Socratez Sofyan Yoman

Earlier this year I had a meeting with a friend who is a foreign journalist in Jakarta. During our conversation which lasted almost an hour, I asked him. ‘When are you planning to visit Papua to get information directly from there?’ My friend said: ‘We are not permitted by the Indonesian government to visit Papua. I have made several requests to visit Papua but the government has turned down all my requests.’ So I asked him: ‘Why are they not allowing you to visit Papua’ to which he replied: ‘The Indonesian government always says that it is not possible to guarantee the safety of foreign journalists in Papua. The OPM could kidnap or kill them.’

On hearing this, I burst out laughing which surprised my friend who asked me why I was laughing. I said because what government says is very strange; there is no justification for them to say such a thing.

This was not the first time I had heard this from journalists. Every foreign journalist has told me the same thing. My response has always been: ‘Isn’t it because they have something to hide. What is the Indonesian government doing to the Papuan people?’

If foreign journalists are not allowed to visit Papua, it must surely mean that the government has something to hide. If the Indonesian government has been helping the Papuan people to make progress in the past fifty years, then surely foreign journalists would be allowed to go there so as to be able to report on progress there with regard to education, health, the economy, culture and all aspects of life and make this information available to the international community.

One thing is certain. Papuans are not kidnappers, they are not murderers. Papuans want peace and have always respected other human beings throughout the ages. Long before the Indonesian government occupied and colonised Papua as a result of the New York Agreement on 15 August 1962, when administration of the territory was handed over by the United Nations to Indonesia on 1 May 1963 and the fraudulent Act of Free Choice took place in 1969. Ever since 5 February 1855, foreigners, white people from Europe have been coming to Papua as missionaries or evangelists. I would also mention Gotlob Geisler and Carl William Ottow and other foreigners who have visited Papua since 1855, that is to say 107 years before the Indonesian government annexed Papua in 1962. These foreigners stayed there with the indigenous Papuan people.

Johann Gotlob and Carl William Ottow arrived in Papua on Sunday, 5 February 1855. They landed in the Gulf of Doreh Mansiman, Manokwari. The moment they set foot here, they declared: ‘In the name of our lord, Jesus Christ, we set foot in this land!’ These two men brought us the Bible of Jesus Christ.

5 February 1855 is an historic day, a day full of holiness, bringing good news. It was the Bible, the holy word, which freed people from their sins and freed them from oppression and colonialism. The Bible respects the basic rights of mankind, recognises the dignity of the person. No more crying, no more bloodshed, an end to discrimination and exploitation of ordinary men and women because they have been freed from repression. The Bible of Jesus Christ is the holy book which belongs to all humanity, to the people of all ethnicities, to all nations.

When the two German missionaries arrived in the Land of Papua, they met the people, befriended them, stayed there, respected the people and recognised their right to life, their dignity and treated the people of Papua as equals. They never did anything to harm the Papuan people, either physically or mentally. Gotlob and Geissler were true, loyal friends of the Papuan people, in good times and bad times. There were no differences, no barriers. They brought love, justice and equality which flowed from the Cross which they brought.

The Indonesian government’s decision to refuse to allow foreign journalists to visit Papua is in sharp contrast with the mission of the Church and the heartfelt beliefs of the Papuan people. This refusal is an integral part of the government’s policy. It is a reflection of ‘Generative Politics’ about which Mr Nugroho wrote in The Jakarta Post on 10 June 2012. According to Mr Nugroho, Generative Politics is a political stance which has paralyzed, damaged and made the conditions of the Papuan people much worse. This has been the political approach of the Indonesian government for the last fifty years. The Indonesian government has refused to allow foreign journalists to visit Papua because they have to hide these ghastly facts, the widespread poverty in Papua and the many years of brutality to which the Papuan people have been subjected.

A lengthy struggle will be needed to change government policy which has been implemented for the last five decades. Almost 330 years ago, in 1780, William Wilberforce, a member of the English parliament, waged a 20-year struggle to end slavery. As an old man, he said: ‘I realise that changing public opinion is not as easy as clapping your hands; it takes decades to achieve things. You also need patience and total commitment to achieve lasting justice, reform and final victory.

In his struggle for justice, Wilberforce also expressed the following beautiful ideas: (1) Christianity is the key to justice and well-being for a people. (2) The only people who can be trusted to struggle for peace and the nation’s well-being are those who have expressed remorse for their sins. (3) The only hope for a nation is its Christianity. I will accept no ideology that conflicts with the teachings of Christ. (4) If a nation only thinks about physical and cerebral things, they will lose their spirituality. (5) Every tyrannical action that is perpetrated in order to reinforce stability can only lead to the perpetuation of repression. (6) The commandments I have received from God have convinced me that the search for justice must be based on fear of the Almighty which does lead to anarchy and that history has shown that He is right. (7) I should at all times remember that it is my responsibility until my dying day not just to meditate but also to act. (8) The thing that has inspired me is an understanding of the existence of humanity. This is based on the opening words in the Book of Genesis which states that mankind was created in the image of the Almighty [Genesis 1:26-28].

It may very well be that the government’s decision to refuse to allow foreign journalists to visit Papua is because of recent incidents such as the hostage-taking incident in Mapenduma in 1996, the taking of a Belgian as a hostage in June 2001 and his release in August of that year, or the occasion when shots were fired at a German, Pieper Dietmar Helmut at Base G Coast on 29 May 2012 which was alleged to have been committed by an ‘an unidentified person’ (OTK). And there are a number of questions that need to be asked about the acts of violence and crimes against humanity which have occurred during the 50 years of Indonesia’s occupation of Papua.  (1) Were these actions perpetrated by a Papuan? (2) And if so, who masterminded these incidents? And who benefitted from these acts of violence?

During a conversation I had in August 2013 with General Maruf, Deputy Head of BIN, the State Intelligence Agency, I said: ‘Mr Maruf, there are many groups in Papua which have been organised by the OPM. Does anyone believe that there are sewing-machines in Papua to make Morning Star Flags? Is there a shop in the forest where it is possible to buy cloth to make Morning Star Flags? How is it possible for the OPM to get hold of so many weapons and so much ammunition? Every airport and entry point into Papua, by land, air or sea, is tightly guarded and every single thing that enters Papua is carefully examined by Indonesian security officials.’ In response, Mr Maruf said: ‘Only now do I realise there are groups in Papua which have been organised by the OPM.’

It should now be crystal clear to the reader that the kidnappings and shootings that have occurred in Papua were not committed by the genuine OPM but by a specially controlled OPM. Some readers may have read my book: Annihilation of Ethic Melanesians: Breaking the Silence about the History of Violence in West Papua (Permusnahan Etnis Melanesia: Memecah Kebisuan Sejarah Kekerasan di Papua Barat) 2007, which has been banned by the Indonesian government, by virtue of a decision of the Attorney-General. On pages 225-256, I wrote briefly about the genuine OPM and an OPM which was created by the Indonesia military and police. The violence and crimes against humanity have been used to stigmatise Papuans as separatists and are alleged to be acts of treason perpetrated by the OPM in order to create a myth portraying Papua as a region of conflict and is inaccessible to foreigners. Papua is being used as a training ground for the armed forces to get promoted, to make lots of money, a place where more and more troops are sent to combat separatism. Ottow and Geissler never did anything to stigmatise Papuans as separatists, treacherous rebels, as OPM, primitive, ignorant, backward people, cannibals, stupid and under-developed.

An intelligence expert, AC Manulang, former Director of BAKIN. Badan Inteligen Negara Indonesia, the Indonesian State Intelligence Agency, recently acknowledged ‘It is not unlikely and may often have happened that disruptive activities in various places have been masterminded from Jakarta. It is highly likely that these disturbances have been designed in Jakarta for a number of reasons. It is not logical to believe that local police chiefs would not seek the help of influential local leaders to prevent local communities from becoming uncontrollable. Action has been taken to deal with SARA [an Indonesian acronym for Social, Religious and Ethnic Disputes], in places like Maluku or other regions in eastern Indonesia. There have also been disturbances in western parts of the country. According to information I have received, there have been disturbances in Ambon, Lampung, Poso as well as in Papua. These disturbances should be regarded as serving the interest of the elite in Jakarta.’ [Indopos, Sunday 4 November 2012.]

There are other questions that need to be raised: (1) Why is it that the OPM has never kidnapped foreign missionaries who have been living for years in the interior of Papua, in places that are remote from the cities? (2) Why has the OPM never kidnapped any of the many foreign tourists who visit Papua on their own or in groups? (3) Why is it that the OPM has never kidnapped transmigrants who now live in places close to the forests and far from  the  cities, in places like Sorong, Manokwari, Nabire, Merauke or Keerom-Arso?

It is deeply distressing that State violence continues to occur in our sacred Motherland. This means that the Indonesian government and the security forces have failed to turn the indigenous Papuan people into Indonesians. Papuans have already expressed their dismay about all this on a number of occasions: (a) the Eleven Recommendations of the Papuan People’s Assembly on 9-10 June 2010. (b) The Joint Statement of Church Leaders issued on 10 January 2011. (c) The Theological Declaration of Church Leaders on 26 January 2011. (d) The Prophetic Message of Papuan Church Leaders to the President of the Republic of Indonesia adopted in Cikeas, Jakarta on 16 December 2011.

The same concerns were acknowledged by a number of member states of the United Nations: The USA, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Canada, Norway, South Korea, Japan, France, Germany, Mexico, New Zealand, Australia, Spain and Italy at a session of the UN Human Rights Council (UPR) on 23 May 2012 in Geneva, Switzerland.

Bearing these facts in mind, it is the now widely believed that the Indonesian government and the Indonesian security forces are themselves part of all this violence and that this situation has been created and kept alive so as to legitimise continued acts of violence in the Land of Papua and to utilise these conditions as an excuse to reinforce the security forces. The reason why foreign journalists are refused access to Papua is clear for all to see. It means that they can know nothing about and cannot expose the terrible truth regarding the State violence being committed against humanity, the impoverishment and annihilation of the Papuan people that has been going on for the last fifty years.


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The writer of this comment is the General Chairman of the Alliance of Baptist Churches. He is also the author of the following books:
Pemusnahan Etnis Melanesia: Memecah Kebisuan Kekerasan di Tanah Papua Barat. (See above)
 Suara Bagi Kaum Tak Bersuara. A Voice for the Voiceless.
 Integrasi Belum Selesai. Integration is Not Yet Complete.
West Papua, Persoalan Internasional. West Papua is an International Problem
Otonomi  Khusus Papua Telah Gagal. Special Autonomy for Papua Has Failed
Saya Bukan Bangsa Budak, I Am Not from a Nation of Slaves
Apakah Indonesia Menduduki dan Menjajah Bangsa Papua? Does Indonesia Occupy and Colonise the Papua People?

AS Pertanyakan Mekanisme Peliputan Pers di Papua

Jayapura, Seruu.com/news - Atase pers dari Kedutaan Besar Amerika Serikat, Troy E. Pederson, mempertanyakan sulitnya akses bagi wartawan internasional, termasuk dari Amerika, untuk meliput di wilayah Papua. Pertanyaan itu dilontarkan Troy dalam pertemuan dengan Aliansi Jurnalis Independen Kota Jayapura, Selasa (06/11/2012).

"Dengan adanya pertemuan ini, kami dapat mengetahui sedikit kondisi dunia jurnalistik di Papua, sehingga ke depan jadi pembelajaran juga bagi kami," kata Troy di Dante Cafe, Kota Jayapura, Papua.

Selain itu, kata Troy, pihaknya juga tak memiliki banyak data mengenai kondisi jurnalis di Papua ataupun akses informasi yang bisa diperoleh para jurnalis yang meliput di Papua. "Apalagi informasi ini baru dilihat di Jayapura saja, belum daerah lain di Papua. Sehingga masih butuh banyak pengetahuan dan pemahaman," kata Troy yang saat itu didampingi Senior Information Specialist dari Kedubes Amerika Serikat, Indar Juniardi.

Menurut Troy, ada banyak hal yang menarik dari Papua, tapi belum banyak diketahui, seperti isu-isu lokal.
Troy juga mengakui masih ada kendala terkait dengan persoalan independensi dan skill jurnalis dalam melakukan peliputan investigasi di Papua, termasuk kendala pendanaan dalam peliputan mendalam di wilayah pedalaman Papua. "Tapi hal ini tidak hanya terjadi di Papua. Di Jakarta sempat kami temui ada hal seperti itu," katanya. [tmp]

Indonesian parliament moves to defuse West Papuan ‘time bomb’

Prites

Indonesia’s House of Representatives has set up working committees to address the tense security situation in Papua and West Papua provinces.

Mahfudz Sidik, chairman of House Commission I, which oversees foreign and security affairs, said the two working committees were formed last week as part of the commission’s follow-up to a visit by legislators to the two provinces three months earlier in response to a string of armed attached blamed on pro-independence activists.

Mahfudz, from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), said the establishment of the committees was expected to prompt the government to take action, including initiating dialogues to address the underlying causes fueling the secessionist sentiment in the country’s easternmost provinces.


He said the commission had identified several fundamental issues that needed to be resolved, the main one being the general lack of trust among indigenous Papuans toward the central and local governments.
Another is the perceived redundancy of the presidentially appointed Unit for the Acceleration of Development in Papua and West Papua (UP4B). Other factors include long-held grievances over the discrimination against indigenous Papuans and the local governance crisis typified by the stalled gubernatorial election process.

“All these fundamental problems have been allowed to fester without any solutions,” Mahfudz said.
“If we continue to ignore them, we will be arming a time bomb.”

 Source: Pasific Scoop

Partai Buruh AU: Open Access to West Papua

In light of last night’s story on ABC’s 7.30 Report, Senator John Madigan and Democratic Labor Party Federal Secretary Mark Farrell are renewing their calls for the Australian government to demand complete openness and transparency from the Indonesian Government.

“The DLP has opposed the occupation of West Papua since Indonesian troops first landed decades ago and Senator Madigan has been fighting for the recognition of the people of West Papua since being elected to the Senate,” Mark Farrell said.

“It is clear to me that what Indonesia is imposing in West Papua is not democratic rule but a totalitarian regime over a country it wrongly claims ownership.”

“The Australian government needs to stop turning a blind eye to what will one day be recognised as the genocide happening on our doorstep.”
“If Indonesia is seriously expecting us to believe it is not engaged in the oppression of the West Papuan people then they must allow human rights observers and international journalists in to the country.” 

“Indonesia is not being transparent with the Australian people or the Australian government.”
“It is difficult to understand how the government of a democratic country like Australia can ignore the oppressive behaviour of a neighbouring country.”

“I want to know if Australian tax payers are financing the Indonesian oppression of the people of West Papua, and to what extent is the Australian military assisting the Indonesian government their efforts.”
“The people of Australia deserve a clear answer.”

Full Report: DLP(OpenAccesstoWestPapua)

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)

DAP Kecam Larangan Jurnalis Asing

Photo Ilustrasi

Nabire Voice-Baptist,--Dewan Adat Papua Wilaya Meepago, R.B. Pinibo melalui telepon selulernya kepada media ini, Jumat (22/6) mengecam larangan yang dikeluarkan oleh Indonesia atas wartawan asing untuk Papua.

 “Banyak wartawan asing yang ingin meliput aktvitas budaya orang Papua. Tetapi, negara batasi. 

Kami mengecam tindakan negara. Buktinya, sepanjang 2012 ini yang tercatat hingga hanya satu izin liputan ke Papua bagi jurnalis asing,” kata Pinibo. 

Ia mengatakan, budaya orang dan alam Papua itu unik. Karena itu banyak jurnalis tertarik untuk datang ke Papua. Kata dia, tidak hanya itu, kondisi kami saat ini di bidang pendidikan, ekonomi, dan kesehatan juga buruk. Maka, wartawan datang untuk meliput dan publikasikan supaya ada dukungan.

“Jangan lihat Papua dari kaca mata politik. Sejak dulu lihat kami dari kaca mata politik, makanya kami tidak maju-maju. Padahal kami juga ingin maju. Budaya kami maju. Pendidikan kami maju. Ekonomi kami maju. Semua bidang kami ingin maju. Saya bicara dri sisi adat,” katanya. 

Ia mengatakan, banyak orang salah kaprah lihat Papua. Masalah pendidikan, ekonomi, kesehatan itu beda dengan politik. “Secara politik orang Papua ingin merdeka. Itu bukan karena kami tidak sejahtera. Soal politik adalah masalah sejarah. Soal politik adalah soal harga diri bangsa. Itu ada yang urus katanya. Jadi, saya hanya bilang, Indonesia tolong kasih kesempatan wartawan asing untuk liput di Papua,”katanya. *

Source: Here