by Max Bartels 

Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

Manokwari, West Papua 

West Papua is the western half of the of the Island of New Guinea, the other half being the nation of Papua New Guinea. West Papua has been under the control of the Indonesian government since the late 1960s when a vote mandated by the U.N ended in a sham where only a handful of the indigenous population were allowed to vote.  As a result of the vote the province remained in the hands of the Indonesian government against the will of the majority of the local population.

 The West Papuan Independence movement has since had the goal of expelling Indonesian occupation from West Papua. There have been many similar incidents over the years but the most recent was in April. There was a shooting near the border with Papua New Guinea where the resistance fighters shot an Indonesian border guard and set a car wash on fire. The resistance fighters raised the flag of West Papua as a symbol of resistance.

There seems to be a split amongst West Papuan leaders on the best approach to achieve their goals. Some support the actions of the independence movement, most of these leaders now live in a exile in countries and islands around the South Pacific. Other leaders, mainly those in the West Papuan congress believe that it is better to work with the Indonesian government to achieve a better standard of living within the province.

In February the Guardian reported an incident in a West Papuan village where the Indonesian military and police woke up the locals at 3am and shuffled all the families into the town square to be questioned for their involvement in the resistance movement. Many people were interrogated with guns held to their heads, others were arrested and beaten and some families were forced to burn down their own homes.

The resistance movement has a lack of outside international support. While it has been reported that the Indonesian government has committed many human rights offenses to the indigenous population of West Papua, the Indonesian government still has the support of the Australian government. Indonesia is an import political ally for Australia and therefore Australia has not been unwilling to support the movement. West Papuan exiles have also been denied entry into Australia.

Recently two French journalists attempted to enter West Papua in an attempt to film a documentary on the resistance movement. Both were arrested for visa violations, France and the U.S have appealed to Indonesia to lessen their restrictions on journalism in West Papua.

For more information, please see:

The Guardian — West Papuans Beaten and Had Guns Held to Head In Military Operations — 3 February 2014

The Guardian — West Papuan Independence Fighters Injure Two in Border Shooting — 8 April 2014

The Guardian — West Papuan Independence Movement- a History — 28 August 2013

The Sydney Morning Herald — Indonesian Authorities Arrest French Journalists in west Papua in the Company of Separatists — 8 August 2014

by Max Bartels

Impunity Watch reporter, Oceania 

Suva, Fiji

A year ago a video surfaced on YouTube of Fijian security personnel beating two handcuffed prison escapees, one of the detainees was beaten with batons and metal bars while the other was viciously mauled by a dog that was encouraged by its police handlers. The man was mauled so badly that his leg was eventually amputated due to the severity of his injuries. After the video surfaced there was a public outcry to investigate the matter, police then dated the video to a year before its release and claimed that they would pursue an investigation.

It has been a year since the case was first brought to the police, they have since closed their investigation saying they would examine their findings to look for possible prosecutions. The investigation closed last December and still no cases have been presented for prosecution. Amnesty International in both Australia and New Zealand are speaking out on the matter saying the interim military government is protecting its own and obstructing justice. Amnesty claims that it is widely known in Fiji who the men are in the video and that all the evidence in the case is very clear and there is no excuse if the case isn’t taken any further.

After the video originally surfaced a year ago the military head of the government, Prime Minister Bainimarama said that he would stand by his men. Bainimarama has since stepped down as Prime Minister to pursue the upcoming elections, however he appointed a replacement Brigadier- General Tikoitoga. Tikoitoga has expressed the same views as Bainimarama saying that in many cases where the military or the police use force such as in the video it is to keep people from creating a potentially dangerous environment.

Since the accusations from Amnesty and accusations from the Fijian People’s Democratic Party, the political party running in opposition to Bainimarma, the Police Commissioner of Fiji  has said that he will continue the investigation and also investigate all complaints from the Fijian public relating to police and military brutality. Furthermore, the Commissioner has said that it does not matter who the subject of the investigation is, be they military or politician, no one is above the law.

These accusations come at a critical time for Fiji, which is undergoing political upheaval as the military government that seized power by a coup in 2006 has decided to step down and allow general elections. Despite pressure from Australia and New Zealand over the torture video the interim leaders of Fiji have not responded. In spite of widespread accusations of police and military abuses Bainimarma is ahead on the polls and he has looked in other directions for international trade and support mainly to China, India and Indonesia. The military government is not willing to take the torture matter any further, and with the video having little effect on the outcome of the elections it seems the leaders of the military government will maintain power.

For more information, Please see:

ABC News Australia — Amnesty Accuses Fiji of Delays in Police Over Alleged Torture of Prisoners — 7 March 2014

The Fiji Times — Police Promise Probe — 26 July 2014 

The Fiji Times — Serious Allegations — 28 June 2014

The Sydney Morning Herald — Fiji Military Leader Admits Beatings Torture — 20 June 2014

by Max Bartels 

Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania 

Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea 

Papua New Guinea (PNG) has been in the grips of a fraud scandal that goes to the very top of the country’s political structure. The Prime Minister Peter O’Neil himself has been accused of siphoning off millions of dollars of public money to a private law firm. The key evidence in the case against O’Neil is a letter he allegedly signed authorizing $31 million dollars to be sent to a prominent PNG law firm.

In response to the growing corruption that runs rampant in PNG the government faced pressure from both the public and from international powers such as Australia and the United States to investigate the problem. The former Attorney General of PNG, Mr. Kua formed a task-force to investigate the corruption. When the task-force turned their attention to Prime Minister O’Neil he not only disbanded the task-force but fired Attorney General Kua and the police commissioner at the time. This reaction from Prime Minister O’Neil was not only in response to the investigation turning toward him but also because the task-force and the police issued an arrest warrant for the Prime Minister. O’Neil accused the task-force of being compromised by political and media ties.

O’Neil denies all allegations of corruption and obtained a court order to prevent his arrest. This order has been appealed in the PNG courts and the arrest warrant was upheld, O’Neil was told to cooperate fully with police. The Court also reinstated the corruption task-force to continue their investigations into the PNG Prime Minister and his government. Now that the Court has ruled on the arrest warrant O’Neil has said that he will cooperate fully with the investigation and police.

The former head of the task-force who was sacked by O’Neil, a Mr. Koim has visited Australia to leverage support against O’Neil.  He visited Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop as well several Australian newspapers in order to drum up support. There is support in PNG for the idea of appointing an Australian judge to oversee the investigation into the corruption as well as involving Australian police. Tony Abbott, the Prime Minister of Australia is under increasing pressure to use Australian assets in the investigation to halt the flow of corrupt funds from PNG to Australia.

O’Neil has since appointed a new Attorney General, Mr. Pala. Mr. Pala has said recently that he believes all the transactions between O’Neil and the private law firm are legal and has advised the corruption task-force to drop the case against the Prime Minister. These statements have resulted in an outcry from supporters of the original investigation, who believe the new Attorney General is protecting Prime Minister O’Neil.

For more information, please see:

The Guardian — Papua New Guinea National Court Reinstates Anti-Corruption Task-force — 8 July 2014

The Sydney Morning Herald — Abbott Urged to Act on PNG Allegations — 24 June 2014

ABC Australia News Network — Court to Rule on Peter O’Neil Arrest Warrant Case — 27 June 2014

The Guardian — PNG Prime Minister to Co-Operate After Court Rejects Stay of Arrest Warrant — 1 July 2014

SBS News — Australians Join PNG Pm’s Fraud Probe — 17 June 2014

by Max Bartels 

Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania Desk 

Jakarta, Indonesia

Indonesia has one of the largest Muslim populations in the world; there is now a popular push in the country for religious uniformity among Muslims and a growing intolerance of other religious and even other splinter sects of the Muslim religion. There have now been 264 incidents of religious violence in Indonesia as of 2012 with many more occurring in the past 2 years.

Most recently the Indonesian Ahmadiyya sect of Islam has come under attack from Islamists. In the past there have been many violent attacks of the Ahmadiyya communities of Indonesia from mobs and protesters resulting in many deaths. However, the recent problem stems from the Indonesian government who has been slowly restricting the rights of the Ahmadiyya communities. The government has been shutting down Ahmadiyya mosques all over the country citing the need to maintain religious uniformity as the justification for the intrusion.

There has been a growing trend of support form Middle Eastern countries in Indonesia. Countries like Saudi Arabia flow money into religious institutions and schools in Indonesia in an attempt to increase the Islamist sentiment. The current president of Indonesia while not an Islamist himself has appointed many to his council. With support in the government the radical Islamists have had freedom in their acts of repression and the government has passed many decrees against religious minorities and allowed radicals to act violently without repercussion. These decrees have included mandating that every citizen have an identity card, which indicates their religion; these cards have been a source of discrimination for religious minorities.

In the past Indonesia has been proactive about curbing terrorism in the country. The concern for Australia and other western nations is that the growing domestic religious intolerance will lead to intolerance aimed abroad. Indonesia in the past has always prided itself on maintaining a large peaceful Muslim population with little to no radicalization. This increase in violence could bring in or develop radical Islamist and terrorist groups.

It an election year in Indonesia and there and there will be a new government to step in and change the current downward spiral of religious intolerance. Both candidates for the presidency have come out in support of religious tolerance. They realize that without improving conditions for religious minorities in the country that they lose the support of the international community. Both candidates have said that they plan to eliminate regulations and decrees that repress religious minorities and increase education and social welfare in order to tackle the problem.

For more information, please see:

UCA News — Indonesian Election Candidates Promise Religious Tolerance — 19 June 2014

Amnesty International — Arbitrary Closure of Ahmadiyya Highlights Religious Repression — 27 June 2014

The Guardian — Indonesia’s Growing Religious Intolerance has to be Addressed — 5 February 2014

The Wall Street Journal — Indonesia’a Religious Tolerance Problem — 24 February 2014