MSG chair denies claims of lack of commitment

Manasseh Sogavare Photo: RNZI

The chairman of the Melanesian Spearhead Group has denied a media suggestion that he is not committed to the upcoming special leaders' summit.

Manasseh Sogavare, who is also Solomon Islands' prime minister, has singled out the Pacific Islands News Association for an item claiming he would not be attending the upcoming MSG summit.

The suggestion by PINA's item that leaders were not giving serious attention to the MSG summit has been strongly rejected by Mr Sogavare.

The MSG summit, which was originally scheduled for Port Vila at the start of the month, was postponed at the last minute.

This has been attributed from various parties to either a brief period of instability in Solomon Islands politics or the busy schedule for leaders of MSG full members: Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Solomons, Vanuatu and New Caledonia's FLNKS Kanaks movement.

In the last week or so the summit was re-scheduled for this weekend in Papua New Guinea's capital by PNG prime minister Peter O'Neill.

However the MSG chairman is unable to be in Port Moresby at this time as the Solomons parliament is still in session.

Furthermore, Mr O'Neill is in Japan to attend the G7 summit in PNG's capacity as an outreach country.

Mr Sogavare's office proposed that the MSG summit be held from the 29th of May to the 1st of June.

However, Mr O'Neill reportedly told the MSG Chair that these dates would be unsuitable for PNG due to commitments next week as host of an African, Caribbean and Pacific group summit in Port Moresby around the same time.

The office of the MSG Chair said it would be consulting with leaders on new dates and venue for the special leaders' summit.

However the schedule changes, and uncertainty around the date of the summit, have added to perceptions of disharmony within the MSG.

It remains unclear why the summit venue was shifted from Vanuatu to PNG.

However there has been clear discord over two issues expected to be addressed at the upcoming summit.

One is the MSG chair's well-publicised frustration over Indonesia's response to the MSG's deep concerns about West Papua, a sentiment which other MSG members have echoed.

The other issue is the premature announcement of Fiji diplomat Amena Yauvoli as the new Director General of the MSG, something which PNG and Vanuatu took exception to.

However Mr Sogavare said there was no question as to his and other leaders' commitment to attending the MSG Summit as there were important agendas to be discussed.

These include the motion by Vanuatu for the granting of full MSG membership to the United Liberation Movement of West Papua.

Sumber : http://www.radionz.co.nz/

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Asian human rights group condemns ‘illegal arrests’ of Papuans

West Papuan protesters with the Morning Star flag ... call for release of 15 arrested at Mimika, Papua. Image: West Papua Media

The Asian Human Rights Commission has condemned the forced dispersal of peaceful Papuan protesters and their illegal arrest in Kampung Bhintuka-SP13 field in Mimika, Timika district, this week.

“We have been informed that 12 protesters were taken into police custody in Kuala Kencana for further investigation and questioning,” the AHRC said in a statement.

“Prior to the protest, the indigenous Papuans had informed the police of their intention to call for an end to rampant human rights violations in Papua.

“Despite this, the police suddenly forcibly dispersed the demonstration, with the claim that one of the protesters called for a referendum in his speech for indigenous Papuans who suffer from rampant violations conducted by the Indonesian security forces.”

The AHRC said it had also learned that the police had warned and intimidated local religious leaders to avoid political activities and speaking about human rights violations and referendums in churches.

“Over the last year, countless cases of forced dissolution of protesters in Papua and West Papua province have been observed. In all of these cases, the police have not taken the responsibility to examine whether or not the use of excessive force was lawful.”

At the same time, civilians did not have effective complaint mechanisms to challenge the police’s use of excessive force and abuse of power, said the AHRC.

Protection obligation
“As state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights with the promulgation of National Law No. 11 of 2005, the Indonesian government is obliged to ensure that the right to freedom of opinion and assembly is protected, as noted in Article 21 of the Covenant:

“The right of peaceful assembly shall be recognized. No restrictions may be placed on the exercise of this right other than those imposed in conformity with the law and which are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public safety, public order (ordre public), the protection of public health or morals or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.”

The government should take the forced dissolution of protests and police excessive use of force seriously, particularly as a National Commission on Human Rights report states that the highest number of human rights violations in Indonesia, including Papua, are conducted by the police, said AHRC.

“Besides the failure of police reform, the government is also failing to evaluate its policy upon Papua and West Papua, despite the protection of indigenous Papuans being a priority of President Joko Widodo’s administration.”

The AHRC noted with concern that the law enforcement agencies and criminal justice system in Papua and West Papua provinces had themselves become part of the problem.

“As a result of the judicial mechanism failing to fulfill the right to justice for indigenous Papuans, Papuan people do not see that their rights are fulfilled and respected in the manner of Indonesian citizens by the government,” said AHRC.

“Rather, the presence of state security forces in the region has led to routine violence and the restriction of their freedom of opinion, assembly and thought.

‘Release all detainees’
“The government of Indonesia should therefore take immediate action to release all detained protesters who took part in peaceful demonstrations, and guarantee that any future peaceful protest is protected by the law and similar violations will not recur.

“The government should further evaluate the presence of the Indonesian security forces in Papua and West Papua province, particularly as the proportion of the forces is not equal to that of the local indigenous Papuans, and far from protection, their presence has only resulted in rampant human rights violations against the Papuans.

“Lastly, the government should be more consistent in implementing the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and show its seriousness by enforcing the law based upon fair trial principles.”

Merdeka: Media and the case for Papuan civil resistance

Sumber : www.asiapacificreport.nz

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NGO claims mixed results on Jakarta's Papua media policy

The Governor of Papua Province,Lukas Enembe, (far left), 
welcomes the Indonesian President Joko Widodo.

Human Rights Watch says Indonesia's new policy on foreign media access to West Papua has had mixed results.

It's six months since President Joko Widodo announced that restrictions on foreign journalists visiting Papua were being lifted.

While a handful of foreign journalists have visited, HRW says there is extremely uneven implementation of Jokowi's policy.

HRW Asia's deputy director Phelim Kine says that within elements of Indonesia's government and security forces, there remains severe resistance to allowing access to Papua.

"It's going to be a long-term process to bring those elements of the government and security agencies who have implemented these restrictions over more than a quarter of a century to step back and to allow foreign media to actually allow foreign media to actually have that unimpeded access that President Joko Widodo - to his credit - has announced should be the case."

Phelim Kine says foreign NGOs, UN rights experts and academics remain restricted from visiting Papua.

HRW is today releasing a new report, "Something to Hide? Indonesia's Restrictions on Media Freedom and Rights Monitoring in Papua", which also documents regular self-censorship by journalists based in Papua and the security forces' manipulation of local media outlets.

Mr Phelim Kine says the president's announcement in May was welcome but has been very unevenly applied.

He says it's important that president Widodo send an explicit directive on the policy for all Indonesian security agencies and ministries to follow.

"The absense of that document in a bureaucratic system provides wide wiggle room for bureaucrats to not let people go to Papua. The second thing - and this is hugely important - the government needs to lift its restrictions on access to Papua by international non-government organisations, UN experts and foreign academics."


Sumber : http://www.radionz.co.nz

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Two Indonesian soldiers convicted for Papuan deaths

Two Indonesian soldiers have been convicted and imprisoned for their role in the deaths of two Papuans in Mimika in August.

Jayapura port, Papua 

The Jakarta Post reports that the court sentenced Makher Rehatta and Gregorius R. Geta to prison terms of 12 years and three years respectively for murder and aggravated assault.

Two other soldiers are still on trial for their role in the incident in which the four soldiers, who were allegedly drunk, opened fire with assault rifles on a group of Papuans who were holding a local Thanksgiving ceremony in front of a church in Mimika regency.

Human Rights Watch has welcomed the conviction as a rare example of accountability over military abuses in Papua.

However the NGO says it's only a start, since there are many other military abuses which have not been investigated.

In the rare cases where soldiers have been convicted by a military court, the sentences have been extremely lenient.

Sumber : http://www.radionz.co.nz

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Pacific News Minute: Unrest in West Papua After Police Shooting

Credit Wikipedia Commons

Protests in West Papua this week, after Indonesian Police shot two 17 year old boys - one of whom died. This is the fifth time this year that civilians have been fired on by soldiers or police in the restive province, with now eight reported killed.  We have more from Neal Conan in the Pacific News Minute.

According to reports, Indonesian police pursued two seventeen year old high school students near a market on Monday and opened fire.  Kaleb Bogau was hit in the chest and died on the scene.  Efrando Sabarofek was wounded in the chest and leg and was reported in critical condition.  As yet, there's been no public statement by police, but Kaleb Bogau's family described the shooting as a political assassination and reportedly refused an apology sent by text message from Paulus Waterpau, the regional chief of police.

The dead boy's father, the Reverend Obed Bogau, is active in a West Papuan independence group. Reports say he asked police to investigate both this case and an incident last month in the same area:  Timika, when soldiers fired into a group of ethnic Kamoros at a traditional celebration and killed two.  Shortly afterwards, an Indonesian Military Spokesman said the soldiers had been attacked by a mob and fired in self-defense, but the Regional commander, Brigadier General Supartidi, told the Jakarta Post that two officers were drunk when they fired into the crowd and had been arrested.

Last month, West Papuan activists appealed to the Pacific Islands Forum to send a team into West Papua to investigate human rights abuses.  The Indonesian representative bluntly told the Forum to "stay out of our business, and not to meddle in the internal affairs of a sovereign state".  There was no move to establish a fact finding mission.

Sumber : http://hpr2.org

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O’Neill : PNG akan Bicara Soal Papua Barat di PIF

Perdana Menteri PNG, Peter O'Neill berfoto bersama perwakilan CSO Pasifik usai pertemuan dengan CSO Pasifik - Jubi

Jayapura, Jubi – Isu Papua Barat terus berdengung di Pasific Islands Forum (PIF). Papua Nugini (PNG) sebagai tuan rumah, tak bisa menghindar dari isu ini. Peter O’Neill, Perdana Menteri Papua Nugini yang akan menjadi Ketua PIF berikutnya, menegaskan lagi posisi PNG dalam isu Papua.

Sebagaimana tradisi di PIF, Troika Leaders PIF yang terdiri dari ketua sebelumnya (Kepulauan Marshall), ketua saat ini (Palau) dan ketua selanjutnya (PNG) yang akan menjabat Ketua PIF selama beberapa tahun kedepan, diagendakan untuk bertemu Perwakilan Masyarakat Sipil Pasifik (CSO). Pertemuan Troika Leaders dengan CSO ini dilaksanakan Selasa (8/9/2015) pagi, usai jamuan makan pagi untuk delegasi PIF.

Menjawab pertanyaan CSO tentang isu Papua Barat yang menjadi satu dari lima isu yang diagendakan untuk para pemimpin PIF, O’Neill kembali menegaskan bahwa pemerintahnya akan berbicara soal Papua Barat dalam pertemuan para pemimpin PIF nanti.
“PNG akan Bicara Soal Papua Barat di PIF. Pemerintah PNG secara positif terlibat dengan Pemerintah Indonesia untuk masalah Papua Barat. Pasifik tidak bisa bicara tentang Papua Barat dalam isolasi. Pasifik harus bicara soal tentang Papua dengan Indonesia dalam satu meja yang sama,” ujar O’Neill.

Ia menambahkan, Pemerintah Indonesia dan rakyat Papua sudah berada dalam forum yang sama, yakni Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG). Dua pihak ini bisa secara langsung bertatap muka untuk menyelesaikan persoalan Papua. O’Neill menegaskan, ia berpegang pada asas kebudayaan Melanesia yang menghendaki masalah Papua diselesaikan di “para-para adat” Melanesia karena issue Papua Barat sudah tidak dapat disembunyikan lagi dan telah merupakan masalah regional.

O’Neill sangat berharap, hal ini bisa menjadi keputusan PIF dalam beberapa hari kedepan. Harapan O’Neill ini didukung oleh dua anggota Troika Leaders lainnya. Ketiganya juga berjanji pada perwakilan CSO, akan membawa lima isu yang diusulkan oleh Sekretariat PIF dan masyarakat sipil Pasifik dalam pertemuan para pemimpin PIF dalam beberapa hari ke depan. Kelima isu tersebut adalah perikanan di Pasifik, perubahan iklim, dugaan pelanggaran Hak Asasi Manusia (HAM)di Papua Barat, kanker serviks dan Informasi, Komunikasi dan Teknologi.

Apa yang disampaikan oleh O’Neill ini tak berbeda jauh dengan sikap PNG dan Fiji dalam pertemuan pemimpin Melanesia Spearhead Group (MSG) bulan Juni lalu di Honiara. Saat itu, dua negara ini berpandangan masalah Papua Barat harus diselesaikan dengan melibatkan Indonesia. Perdana Menteri Fiji, Veroqe Bainimarama jelas menyebutkan United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP) yang diterima sebagai observer di MSG merupakan badan yang signifikan mewakili pandangan orang-orang Papua Barat di luar Papua. Ia juga percaya bahwa ULMWP memiliki pandangan tentang apa yang seharusnya dilakukan untuk rakyat Melanesia di Papua Barat.

Keputusan MSG menerima ULMWP sebagai observer, kata Bainimarama adalah untuk kepentingan semua orang.
“ULMWP harus dibawa ke dalam proses perubahan bangsa Melanesia di Papua. Ini kesempatan untuk ULMWP. ULMWP harus menggunakan hak istimewa ini untuk bekerja sama dengan MSG membawa perubahan untuk rakyat Papua Barat,” kata Bainimarama.

Saat itu, Bainimarama juga mengatakan semua pihak dalam MSG harus melangkah menuju era baru, kerjasama semua pihak untuk mencapai hasil terbaik bagi bangsa Papua Barat. Indonesia dan Papua yang diwakili oleh ULMWP, kata Bainimarama, bisa berdiskusi tentang rakyat Papua Barat di rumah yang sama, MSG.

Setelah pertemuan dengan CSO ini, O’Neill menyampaikan kepada wartawan bahwa United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP) telah mendaftarkan aplikasi keanggotaan di PIF. Namun O’Neill berpandangan, aplikasi tersebut akan ditolak oleh para pemimpin PIF.
“Itu butuh waktu. Saya pikir para pemimpin belum akan menerima aplikasi itu,” ujar O’Neill.

Kenn Mondiai, Ketua PNG Union for West Papua (PNGUWP) yang menghadiri pertemuan CSO dengan Troika Leaders PIF mengatakan CSO di Pasifik menyampaikan kepada Troika Leaders bahwa isu penentuan nasib sendiri termasuk dengan Papua Barat telah diangkat di berbagai forum pemimpin Pasifik selama bertahun-tahun. Tapi sangat sedikit yang dilakukan untuk menangani pelanggaran hak asasi manusia di Papua Barat yang berkembang dan terus membanjiri media.

“Sekarang waktunya. Dan pemimpin Pasifik saat ini harus bertindak untuk menyelesaikan masalah ini secara adil dan damai. PNG memiliki peran penting untuk bermain di forum ini. Dan sebagai tuan rumah serta ketua PIF untuk periode berikut, kami menyerukan Perdana Menteri Peter O’Neill dan rekan-rekan Pasifik untuk bertindak secara moral dan sadar ketika berunding tentang Papua Barat,” kata Mondiai. (Victor Mambor)

Sumber : http://tabloidjubi.com

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