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
