By Joseph Juhn
Impunity Watch, Oceania

TIMIKA, Indonesia – One man was killed and at least three injured in a clash between Indonesian police and dozens of locals on Monday. The incident occurred over a security check dispute in the restive province of Papua, an official said.

Stationed Police at an airport in Wamena district had wanted to check two bags that were “suspected to contain suspicious items” arriving from Jayapura district but were refused permission by these individuals, according to Wachyono, provincial police spokesman.

“They (the locals) then attacked police with sharp objects and stones. In that situation, police had to open fire,” he said.

Three policemen were injured by flying stones, he added.

“Police wanted to check those bags because several times, we’ve found evidence that ammunition and weapons had been sent through Wamena,” Wachyono said.

As a result, three people were arrested for allegedly attacking the police, he added.

However, Papuan tribal representative Dominikus Sorabut, from the Papuan Customary Council, said the locals were members of the council’s security body and the bags had contained berets.

He alleged that one of the group members was killed and two others injured after police shot at them, but police denied the charge and said an autopsy needs to be carried out to determine the cause of death.

This incident is one of series of violent clashes in recent months between Indonesia police and local population whose anger and distrust against the government are escalating. Just last month, police killed two men and wounded a woman after a dispute over a traffic accident got out of control in West Papua province.

Indonesia’s police are widely accused of violating and abusing the basic rights of indigenous Melanesians in Papua, where a low-level insurgency has simmered for decades.

As a result of the growing concern over instability in this region, the United States has called for Indonesia to move forward on autonomy in its Papua region and emphasized that it would not overlook human rights violations.

Representative Eni F.H. Faleomavaega, the chairman of the Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and the Global Environment, called on Indonesia to end violence and resolve the internal problems in West Papua during a hearing on West Papua issue on September 22, 2010.

Faleomavaega said that the people of West Papua have suffered for a long period of time at the hands of Indonesia’s brutal military and police forces, and many experts suggest that West Papuans have been subjected to genocide.

“Whether or not genocide has taken place, one thing is clear. Indonesia’s military has committed indisputable crimes against humanity through the murder, torture and rape of more than 100,000 West Papuans,” the Chairman added.

For more information, please see:

The Jakarta Globe – One Killed in Papua Clash with Indonesian Police – 4 October 2010

Radio New Zealand – US Calls On Indonesia To Advance Papua Autonomy – 3 October 2010

China.Org – Indonesia urged to end violence in West Papua – 28 September 2010

By Joseph Juhn
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

SYDNEY, Australia – A FIJI man died in detention center in Australia just hours before he was to be deported to Fiji. Immigration authorities are investigating the death of Josefa Rauluni, who refugee advocates say jumped from a roof after his plea to stay in Australia failed.

Refugee advocate Sara Nathan said three Tamil asylum-seekers were also staging a roof-top protest at Villawood and threatened to jump off, only a day after Rauluni’s death.

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship reported that Rauluni, the 36-year-old Fijian national had been held in Villawood since August 17. 

On Sunday, September 17, Rauluni wrote to the New South Wales Ministerial Intervention Unit after receiving notice that he will soon be deported. In the letter, he expressed, “I cannot describe my utter disappointment with your decision,” and asked to delay his return to Fiji and said if he was to be deported to Fiji “then send my dead body.”

“He was given deportation papers this morning,” Ms Nathan said.

“About 15 minutes before he was due to be handcuffed, he climbed the building where he pleaded to be allowed to stay in Australia, even if it is in detention, as he feared persecution if he returned.”

“It is time Australia processed asylum-seeker applications and gave asylum to genuine refugees rather than rejecting them for political gains,” she said.

Rauluni’s death follows a string of suicide attempts and hunger strikes in Australian detention centres this year.

In March up to 100 detainees went on a hunger strike in the Villawood centre following the suicide attempt of a Chinese detainee.

Also, earlier this month more than 80 asylum seekers broke out of a detention centre in Darwin to protest at poor conditions of the centre.

NSW Greens senator-elect Lee Rhiannon said the incident proved the federal government needed to “immediately revisit” its refugee policy.

“The tragic death this morning of a young man from Fiji underlines the suffering many asylum- seekers are experiencing because of the inhumane handling of refugee applications by the federal government,” Ms Rhiannon said. 

Accordingly to the current Australian government policy, those who arrive by boat with no valid document are taken into immigration detention on Christmas Island or to centres on the mainland while their reasons for being in the country are investigated and verified.
 
Just this year, authorities have stopped boats carrying about 4,000 asylum seekers.
 
Prime Minister Julia Gillard is in talks over opening a regional processing centre for refugees in neighboring East Timor.

For more information, please see:

Fiji Times – Death Before Deportation – 21 September 2010

The Australian – Detainee Killed in Villawood Fall Faced Deportation to Fiji, Warned ‘Send My Dead Body’ – 20 September 2010

What’s On Xiamen – Fijian Detainee Josefa Rauluni, 36, Leaps to Death from Roof of Australian Centre – 21 September 2010

By Joseph Juhn
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

Prisoner Filep Karma in prison in 2009, while enduring difficulties urinating. (Photo courtesy of Bintang Papua/Hendrik Yance Udam)

JAKARTA, Indonesia – A Papuan political prisoner in Jayapura’s Abepura prison says ongoing pressure by the international community is crucial to force Indonesia to address human rights abuses.

Filep Karma, age 51, has been in the Abepura prison for over five years after the district court found him guilty of treason when he raised the outlawed Papuan Morning Star flag and organized a pro-independence rally in late 2004.

Karma has been openly advocating for Papua’s independence from Indonesia. He has been on numerous occasions arrested and held in detention by the Indonesian military, most notable one being in 1999, when the Biak district court found him guilty of treason for leading and giving speeches at the Biak protests. Despite being sentenced for six and a half years in jail, he successfully appealed this sentence, won his appeal, and was freed that year.

In 2001, when members of the Indonesian special forces (Kopassus) killed then-Papuan-leader Theys Eluay, which dramatically raised political tensions in Papua, Karma became more involved with the independence movement.

Three years later, Karma helped organize an event on December 1, 2004, to celebrate the anniversary of Papua’s independence from the Dutch. The event was joined by hundreds of Papuan students, who chanted “freedom” and displayed the Morning Star Flag, which led to Karma’s arrest.

Today Filep Karma is probably one of Papua’s most popular pro-independence leaders as he never advocated violence as a means of obtaining liberty and independence.

“We want to engage in a dignified dialogue with the Indonesian government, a dialogue between two peoples with dignity, and dignity means we have no use of violence,” Karma said.

There have been critical moments, too. In August 2009, after experiencing difficulties urinating, Karma requested medical assistance from the staff of Abepura prison, only to be denied of any treatment or transfer to other medical clinic for diagnosis.

After long fight and intervention of various NGOs, Karma finally received prostate surgery in September 2010, a year after he first made requests for urgent treatment which prison authorities repeatedly denied.

He claims that international awareness of his plight has substantially helped improve the prison’s treatment of his health condition and brought positive change at the notorious prison.

“Because every time we report everything to people in the world, it makes shame for the Indonesian government. They changed the head of the prison. That’s why now, they will try to do best for the people,” he said.

For more information, please see:

Radio New Zealand – Papua prisoner calls for pressure to halt abuses by Indonesia – 20 September 2010

Human Rights Watch – Prosecuting Political Aspiration – 22 June 2010

By Polly Johnson
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

DENPASAR, Indonesia – In a final attempt to avoid the death penalty, ‘Bali Nine’ drug mule Scott Rush made an emotional appeal to an Indonesian court on Thursday.

“I wish to say to you, my parents, my family, and the community, how sorry I am for the crime that I have committed and the pain that I have caused,” Rush told Denpasar’s District Court on Thursday.

Rush was nineteen years old when he was arrested at Denpasar airport with more than a kilogram of heroin strapped to his body. He was convicted of attempting to smuggle more than eight kilograms of heroin from Bali into Australia. Originally sentenced to life in prison, Indonesia’s Supreme Court unexpectedly increased his penalty to death.

Rush’s parents flew from Brisbane to Indonesia last week to be there for the appeal.

“It’s been extremely stressful for him to have this death penalty on his head,” Lee Rush, Scott’s father said. “We just tend to get on with life on a day-to-day basis, but I know we struggle with it as well, as parents.”

At his appeal on Thursday, Rush, dressed in a white collared shirt and adorned with a crucifix necklace, read out his statement in court, not shying away from his fear of death.

“I often wake up having nightmares. I often think about the firing squad and how long it will take me to die,” Rush said. He said that he has had a long time to think, having already spent five and a half years in Bali’s Kerobokan Prison, two of which were spent in the prison’s death tower.

“I pray that I may be given a chance to show my remorse and to give back to the community in a practical way. I would like to be an ambassador against drugs. I am a living example of how drugs can destroy lives and do cause family and friends so much unnecessary pain and distress,” Rush added.

His legal team has argued that he played a minor role as a courier and was not the mastermind of the operation, relying on letters from former Australian Federal Police (AFP) commissioner Mick Keelty, who said that Rush was just a courier and not an organizer. Rush’s lawyers said that Keelty’s letters were not considered at Rush’s trial.

If this final appeal fails, Rush’s last chance will be to seek clemency from Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is notorious for showing no mercy to drug smugglers.

For more information, please see:

ABC News – Scott Rush in final death sentence appeal – 26 August 2010

Sky News – Rush’s final appeal resumes – 26 August 2010

Sydney Morning Herald – Drug mule Scott Rush pleads for his life – 26 August 2010

Sydney Morning Herald – Scott Rush’s final appeal to resume – 25 August 2010

ABC News – Bali Nine smuggler’s parents fly out for appeal – 9 August 2010

By Polly Johnson
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

NORTHERN TERRITORY, Australia – Child protection workers in Australia’s Northern Territory have told officials that international aid is needed for starving Aboriginal children.

In a submission to the Northern Territory’s government inquiry, the workers said that the situation is so bad that assistance from organizations such as the Red Cross or Oxfam is necessary, a shocking claim to emerge from one of the world’s most affluent nations.

The disturbing allegations come in the midst of Australia’s campaign election.

The Darwin Remote Office of the Northern Territory Department of Families and Children, the group responsible for child protection, also reported that children are often left to wander alone at night while their parents go out drinking. The report accused the authorities in the regions of not taking the problem seriously enough.

The inquiry submission called for the placement of child protection officers in Aboriginal communities. Currently, the Darwin-based team includes four welfare workers and four community workers who are responsible for fourteen thousand people in Darwin.

“The staffing resources that the NT government allocates to provide child-protection services to these and other remote communities is grossly inadequate and allows for little more than superficial child-protection responses,” the Darwin Remote Office team said in its submission

The team also recommended the enactment of an unborn infant-at-risk child category of child protection, in addition to parenting classes. There is a high rate of teenage pregnancy in the region.

Drug and alcohol abuse by parents, in addition to lack of education and high costs of fresh food, are major causes of malnutrition in children.

Aboriginal people only make up two percent of Australia’s population, yet suffer from high rates of imprisonment and mental health issues.

The inquiry came just days before the United Nations announced that it plans to examine Australia’s human rights record. Amnesty International’s Claire Mallinson says that Australia has failed to comply with human rights, particularly with respect to the Northern Territory region.

For more information, please see:

ABC Radio Australia – UN to critique Australia’s human rights record – 9 August 2010

SOS Children’s Village – Children from cut -off native communities have been found starving in one of the world’s richest countries – 6 August 2010

The Independent – Children found starving in rural Australia – 5 August 2010

Radio New Zealand – Severe malnourishment in young Aborigines reported – 5 August 2010

BBC – Aboriginal children ‘starving’, welfare workers say – 4 August 2010

The Australian – Indigenous children in remote centres ‘starving’ – 3 August 2010