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Sample Letter to Write and Addresses
Dear friends, First, thanks to all for your participation and for making the West Papua week possible. As for taking action - the issue of human rights violations was a recurrent theme in the recent West Papua week. Amnesty International has issued lately several alerts and briefings on the situation in West Papua, see http://www.campeace.org/Campaigns/asa217400.htm http://www.campeace.org/WParchive/cauzo96b.htm Tapol has also issued an alert, see here and the Australia West Papua Association has issued a letter-writing campaign to protect the West Papuan refugees in PNG, see here I am not, however, aware of any current letter-writing campaigns on the political prisoners, other than the postcards the WP solidarity network is distributing and a letter-writing campaign CamPeace launched on the 2nd of February for want of one from a more established organisation. I am enclosing the CamPeace urgent action. It covers a lot of different things. Feel free to limit yourself to one or two issues, if you so wish. It could be useful to write a letter also to one of the Police Chiefs (addresses included at the bottom of the urgent action) as Wahid yields less and less power. With best regards, Nick Angelopoulos OPRC -------------------------------- Political prisoners & police torture of university students in West Papua CamPeace Urgent Action 2 February 2001 On several occasions last year Indonesian police shot into Papuan demonstrators who raised the Papuan flag next to the Indonesian flag, something for which they had received permission from the Indonesian president. At least 28 people were killed, dozens injured, hundreds arrested and at least 70 have disappeared. Of those arrested, several dozen are known to have been brutally tortured, some of them to death. Among them were students, women and children, one as young as ten years old. In a recent incident in which two Indonesian policemen were killed by enraged Papuans, after the policemen had taken down Papuan flags, over one hundred people were arbitrarily arrested and at least 35 were tortured, three of them to death. Here is a short excerpt from an eyewitness account of the torture of Papuan University students by a Swiss journalist who was arrested by the Indonesian police for photographing the arrest of West Papuan Presidium chairman Theys Eluay: "A mask maker would find it difficult to conjure out of his imagination such horrifically distorted faces and damaged twisted bodies. One of the tortured men was virtually blind and had to be led in by the hand by another prisoner; I couldn't tell whether his eyes had been totally destroyed or were merely swollen shut. The last one to enter was a large man, who fell over the bodies on the floor and lay there groaning horribly. He tried repeatedly to straighten himself up, only to fall back down again. Now and again the faces of guards appeared at the barred window, looking down impassively at the tangle of maltreated bodies. In the back of the big man's head, there appeared to be a coin-sized hole through which I believed to spot some brain tissue. After nearly an hour and a half of groaning and spasmodic movement, his suffering visibly neared its end. About two meters from me, his powerful body raised itself again and his head struck the wall. A final labored breath issued from him, then his head dropped down onto the cement floor.
At last his agony was over." Oswald Iten, Zuericher Zeitung. For the full story read here There is no evidence that any of the university students were involved in any manner in the attack against the policemen, although student leaders had declared a student strike until the question of self-determination was settled. Five of the foremost Papuan leaders were also arrested at the end of last year. They include the Presidium chairman Theys Eluay, the secretary general and muslim priest Thaha al Hamid, Rev Herman Awom and the anthropologist Don Flassy. These were the leaders who campaigned for non-violence and dialogue as a way to resolve the demands of the Papuan people. Their ways of campaigning involved setting up "Papua posts" where people did nothing more violent than pray for independence. In October 2000 some of these posts in Wamena were attacked by police and three people were killed and many more injured. The other method of campaigning involved holding a congress financed by the Indonesian President in which representatives of all tribes and community groups in the end rejected the so-called Act of Free Choice and asserted their independence from Indonesia. It is for this reason that they have been arrested and have been held over Christmas and to this time in prison while the Chief Prosecutor in Jakarta is unable to find incriminating evidence since the Congress was indeed funded by the Indonesian President. Their commitment to non-violence was such that their own guards were never armed. Whereas even Gandhi apparently once urged his son to use physical violence if necessary to protect him, the Papuan guards were told by their leaders not to use any violence against the police as their leaders were being taken prisoners. It is doubtful whether they will receive a fair trial as the Indonesian Human Rights Organisation Contras has revealed that the police themselves were responsible for the majority human rights violations in Indonesia last year. (see here) The Indonesian judiciary have failed to bring before a tribunal any responsible for the killing of thousands of students in Jakarta in 1998 or for any of the interminable human rights violations in West Papua committed under Suharto or after his reign. Those of you who have 65p to spare for postage, please print out, sign and send the following letter: Abdurrahman Wahid President of the Republic of Indonesia Office of the President Bina Graha, Jalar Veteran no.17 Jakarta Pusat Indonesia Date: Your Excellency, I commend your efforts for autonomy of Irian Jaya, Aceh and the other Indonesian territories and your wish to prevent the continuation of human rights atrocities in Indonesia. Unfortunately the recent events in Irian Jaya reveal that the military and police are continuing the brutal repressive tactics of the Suharto era. I urge you to continue to stand firm on your principles. Insist on the release of Theys Hiyo Eluay, Don Flassy, Thaha Al Hamid, Jhon Mambor, Rev Herman Awom, Rev Obed Komba, Rev Yudas Meage, Yafet Yelemaken, Murjono Murib and Amelia Yigibalom. Offer support to the Indonesian human rights organisations investigating allegations of arbitrary arrest, torture and deaths in police custody in Irian Jaya. Specifically, around the 2nd-3rd of December, 12 Papuans were reported killed when the police clashed with demonstrators. At least 101 Papuans were arbitrarily arrested in Jayapura and 7 Papuan demonstrators were arrested in Jakarta. Those arrested included women and children as young as 7 and were often beaten, some very seriously. According to human rights organisations, Elkius Suhuniab (18 years), a high-school student from Yali tribe was summarily executed by Brimob members who raided the student complex at Skyline, Jayapura, on 7 December, at 09.30 am. Johny Karrunggu (18 years), a student of STIE Otow Geisler (Economics College) Jayapura and Orry Doronggi (17 years), a high-school student, both from the Nduga tribe, were killed while at Police headquarters (Polres) Jayapura. Autopsies on the two bodies by Jayapura General Hospital revealed their deaths to be the result of beatings and torture. A fourth student was also reported killed by the police. A further 7 were reported to have been tortured in police custody.
The Swiss journalist Oswald Iten, also arrested at the time, reported that while he was held in custody at least 35 prisoners were severely beaten and tortured and their faces and bodies were badly disfigured. Johannes Bonai, the director of ELS-HAM was interrogated for 23 hours without sleep on the 15/16th of December because of the release of reports of these abuses by the police. A further 28 civilians were reported arbitrarily arrested in Sorong and placed in a "Corrective Institute", 6 civilians in the Merauke Police Station, 8 civilians in the Wamena Police Station and 6 civilians in police stations in Fakfak/Timika. A further 4 civilians were killed by Indonesian soldiers on the 15th of December and 2 were wounded when the soldiers fired without warning at a flag-raising in Tiom. These abuses follow recent police crackdowns in Sorong (22 August) and Wamena (6 October), where at least 15 are thought to have been shot dead by the police and scores injured and arrested during similar peaceful flag-raisings. In each case about a dozen became victims of police torture - one was tortured to death. According also to a report by Aaron Maness, a US citizen who was visiting Wamena when the troubles broke out on the 6th of October, the Papuans did not seek confrontation and were unarmed, except for traditional weapons. He also reported claims that two children were killed by the police in front of their parents and their bodies torn up and thrown to dogs. Please, offer your support to the investigation by KOMNAS-HAM of the allegations of arbitrary detention, beatings and torture by the police in West Papua. Please ensure that those in the police suspected responsible for these crimes are tried by an independent court of law according to international standards. I urge you to ensure any trials of people arrested on charges against the state are held under international standards of fairness with access to journalists, human rights workers and foreign observers. Please, also request that the Indonesian army does not trespass into Papua New Guinea (PNG) and that humanitarian supplies are allowed to reach Papuan refugees at the PNG border. I urge you to ask for U.N. refugee status for those unarmed civilians who seek to escape to PNG. Yours respectfully, Signed: As president Wahid is increasingly being sidelined by the Military and Police Chiefs, please edit this letter as you may see fit and post it also to: NATIONAL POLICE CHIEF Markas Besar Kepolisian RI Jl. Trunojoyo 3 Kebayoran Baru Jakarta Selatan Indonesia Fax: + 62 21 720 7277 or + 62 21 348 537 Salutation: Dear Commissioner-General Bimantoro CHIEF OF POLICE FOR PAPUA Head of Regional Police Papua Jl. Sam Ratulangie No. 8 Jayapura, Irian Jaya Indonesia Salutation: Dear Sir MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS Menteri Luar Negeri Jl. Pejambon No.6 Jakarta Pusat Indonesia Fax: + 62 21 3805511/360517/363750/3457782/360541/7245354 You may send a copy of your letter to: The Ambassador Indonesian Embassy in London 38 Grosvenor Square London W1X 9AD Fax. (020) 7491 4993 Salutation: Your Excellency
© 2002 The Diary of Online Papua Mouthpiece |
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