Where the death of protesters occurred in West Papua, Indonesia (Photo courtesy of the Jakarta Globe)

By Joseph Juhn
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

JAKARTA, Indonesia – A day after the killing of two men by police, the Indonesian military deployed soldiers across Manokwari, West Papua, as thousands of residents took to the streets to protest. A woman was also injured at the shooting and remains in critical condition at the hospital.

A day earlier, Indonesian police opened fire when a dispute over a traffic accident got out of control, resulting in the killings.

In response to the deadly incident, and in rejecting allegations the police used excessive force, provincial police spokesman Wachyono said police were forced to use lethal force in self-defence when dozens of angry residents became violent after a motorist fled the scene of an accident in the city of Manokwari.

“Our members opened fire at the angry residents. They did it automatically in self-defence against people who brought knives, spears and wooden sticks,” he said.

However, Papuan tribal representative Dominikus Sorabut, from the Papuan Customary Council, said heavily armed police acted out of revenge after the mob pelted them with stones.
 
“The policeman who was hit by stones ran back to his station and came back with a troupe and acted blindly by shooting people,” he said.

On Thursday, soldiers had been deployed around important installations and at locations where crowds had been gathering.

“Our soldiers are helping the police secure Manokwari, particularly the heart of the city, crowded areas and vital installations, as requested by the Manokwari Police,” Edward Sitorus said, who is currently the district military commander in Manokwari.

“This has nothing to do with the demand by residents that all Brimob [the National Police’s Mobile Brigade] officers be pulled out of Manokwari,” he said. “We have not taken over security of the city. We are just assisting the police.”

It is widely known that Indonesia’s police are notorious for poor discipline, corruption and torture. 

They are also widely accused of serious human rights abuses against indigenous Melanesians in Papua, where a low-level insurgency has simmered for decades.

Earlier this month police killed seven people in Central Sulawesi province after locals rose up against them in anger at the death in custody of a local man who had been arrested by police for traffic violations.

It is reported that at least 32 officers have been questioned over the violence occurred earlier this month in Buol. 

Bambang, the Manokwari Police chief, was firm in his statement.

“So far we believe that our officers followed procedure. They were attempting to take control of the situation and fired warning shots. Those shots were ignored by the mob. Then, they opened fire to [stop the rioters],” he said.

“I am sure what they did was in accordance with procedure. But an investigation needs to be conducted to legally clarify matters,” Bambang added.

For more information, please see:

Jakarta Globe – Soldiers Patrol West Papua After Deadly Police Shooting – 17 September 2010

Yahoo News – Indonesia police kill two in Papua road riot – 17 September 2010

ABC News – West Papua police kill two in road riot – 16 September 2010

By David L. Chaplin II
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

MANILA, Philippines – A powerful political family is brought to trial for plotting what is known as the deadliest incident for journalists since 1992, when the Committee to Protect Journalists began recording journalist deaths.  On November 23, 2009, 57 people – 32 of them journalist and media personnel, were slaughtered as they traveled in Maguindanao province with intentions of filing “gubernatorial candidacy papers for a local candidate”.

Nine months later, there are 19 people who stand accused at trial, out of a total of 195 named in the overall prosecution, while 127 suspects remain at large. The ultimate question remains, “whether the people who ordered the killings – not just the triggermen — will ever be brought to justice. The well-known identities of the political in-group behind the killings are believed to be local allies of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Ampatuan Jr, then a local mayor, allegedly led the massacre to stop the rival from running against him for the post of governor of Maguindanao province in this year’s national elections.

Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia chief of HRW, said five people with knowledge of alleged abuses by Ampatuan and his supporters have been killed since the massacre. 

“It is difficult to fight these devils,” she told AFP news agency. Knowing the dark history of and rampant nature of political killing, she remarks, “We want to see the light of justice.”

The first witness is a man named Lakmudin Saliao, once sworn in he testified that Ampatuan’s father, Andal Ampatuan Sr., and brother, Zaldy Ampatuan, were present at a meeting on November 17 where they helped plan the massacre. The witness, a former house servant, said the family had discussed killing their political rivals six days before the ambush in which 57 people died.

Journalists in provincial Philippines have been killed regularly; typically they are gunned down by two men on a motorcycle, as they make their way to work, or drop off their children at school, or meet a source for lunch.

Since 2000, 32 journalists, other than those who died in Maguindanao, have been killed and in only five of the cases has there been even partial justice. In none of the cases have the more politically well-connected men who paid them and ordered the executions have ever been tried, let alone found guilty.

Convictions of the killers of journalists in the Philippines are so rare that CPJ’s Impunity Index, which measures the rate of successful prosecutions, ranks the country third worst, behind only Iraq and Somalia.

The Secretary of the Philippines’ Justice Department, Leila de Lima, has called the trial a “litmus test” for the country’s judicial system, according to press reports.  The Maguindanao “litmus test” will really be a report not just on the state of the nation’s judiciary, but a frank indicator of the country’s future.

The summation of this trial will not address one of the root causes of the massacre, the Philippines tolerance for locally run paramilitary forces, which under national laws are allowed to deputize local militias to combat Muslim separatist fighters in the country, the Ampatuan’s have built up what amounts to a large private army.

 “The government has not done anything to disable and disarm these paramilitary forces,” Evans said.

For more information, please see;

Al Jazeera English – Philippine massacre trial begins – 9 September, 2010

CNN – Trial expected to begin over Philippine massacre – 6 September, 2010

BBC – Ampatuan family ‘plotted Philippines massacre’ – 8 September, 2010

Huffington Post – The Worst Massacre You Never Heard Of – 23 August, 2010

By Joseph Juhn
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

JAKARTA, Indonesia – The Indonesian government has banned another leading NGO to work in Indonesia’s easternmost region. The West Papua Advocacy Team showed concerns that ordinary Papuans stand to lose considerable benefits.

Cordaid, a Dutch funding agency, has operated in West Papua for over three decades when Jakarta has refused to renew the agreement which expired in April of this year.

Cordaid’s main operation included assisting Papuan NGOs and social and economic development and empowerment for the poor.

In rejecting the extension, the government voiced suspicions regarding Cordaid’s involvement in supporting Papuan separatism, among other things.

Cordaid strongly denies this accusation. The Advocacy Team’s Ed McWilliams says Cordaid’s micro-financing programs have assisted various grassroots organisations in Papua.

“There’s no indcation that the Papuan government had anything to say in this decision. And of course it impacts the people of Papua. So once again, I think it’s an example of decisions being taken in Jakarta without any consultation with Papuan officials or civil society.”

Cordaid sector manager Margriet Nieuwenhuis also strongly denies that Cordaid helped Papua separatists.

“The participants met only with Mindanao community groups and women leaders, not with political actors,”

The government’s decision to ban Cordaid was criticized by prominent human rights lawyer Totdung Mulya Lubis who claimed that the decision was taken “too hastily” and without sufficient evidence.

“It could set a bad precedent and lead outsiders to believe Indonesia is isolating Papua,” he said. Lubis pointed out that the government needed foreign donors to help develop Papua, one of Indonesia’s poorest regions.

This banning of Cordaid from working in Papua parallels the decision to close down International Committee of the Red Cross in 2009. These decisions to shut down the operation of respected humanitarian organizations is consistent with the Jakarta policy to limit international assistance to, and awareness of, Papuans who for decades have suffered from a dearth of basic humanitarian services and respect for human rights.

It is especially noteworthy that closing the operation of these two organizations was exclusively decided by the Indonesian government with no involvement of Papuans.

For more information, please see:

Radio New Zealand – Decision to ban Cordaid from Papua taken exclusively by Jakarta – 9 September 2010

Scoop – Indonesian Government Blocks Humanitarian Group – 7 September 2010

Open Democracy – Indonesia’s Far East: Security and Politics – 18 August 2010

By Joseph Juhn
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

HONIARA, Tonga-Stephen Panga, Premier of the Guadalcanal, is calling for a law change ending immunity for the soldiers working under the Regional Assistance Mision to the Soloman Islands (RAMSI) and to make them subject to the laws and prosecution of Solomon Islands.

This statement comes after a deadly shooting incident occurred on August 12 when RAMSI troops were called to break up a rock-throwing incident in a village just out of capital Honiara. In the process, one civilian was allegedly killed by two soldiers.

This was the second civilian death since the arrival of the Australian-led RAMSI force in 2003. The troops came to end years of ethnic conflict in the Solomons.

In response to the incident, Solomon’s attorney general Gabriel Suri stated that Solomon Islands wants the right to charge the soldiers if necessary.

Mr. Suri further went on to say that there were two requests – the first to grant a waiver on the immunity of RAMSI officers and personnel to allow his office to take charge of any case where evidence suggests a need to lay charges.

The second request was for Tonga to give Solomon Islands the jurisdiction over the Tongan soldiers.

Tonga’s Solicitor General Fonokalafi avoided direct comment on the incident, although admitting that Tonga would conduct its own investigation into the shooting.

Premier Panga says it is wrong that those two Tongan soldiers responsible for the death of a civilian cannot be investigated in Solomon Islands under the present law. He further claims that the newly elected Solomon Islands parliament should introduce an amendment to the Facilitation Act, which would allow for a local investigation in future incidents.

“I’m supporting the RAMSI presence in this country but just to shoot down harmless people, people who don’t have arms with them. The police have a lot of skills to protect themselves in such situations.”

For more information, please see:

Radio New Zealand – Guadalcanal province chief calls for law change over RAMSI shooting death – 6 September 2010

Solomon Times – Tonga Still to Respond to Government Request – 30 August 2010