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ASIA-PACIFIC: West Papua conflict NEWS DIGEST
Financial Times, Oct 13, 2000, 83 words

West Papua conflict

Indonesia's cabinet yesterday banned the raising of separatist flags in the province of West Papua, also known as Irian Jaya, where last weekend more than 30 people were killed in clashes between security forces and independence activists. The banning is a sign of the growing impatience of the government of Abdurrahman Wahid, Indonesian president, towards separatism in some parts of the country.

Mr Wahid's security minister, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, yesterday said that a civil emergency in the North Moluccas, torn by Christian-Muslim conflict, may be lifted if violence has subsided. Tom McCawley, Jakarta

Copyright © The Financial Times Limited

BBC MONITORING INTERNATIONAL REPORTS: INDONESIA: VANUATU TO RAISE WEST PAPUA AT PACIFIC SUMMIT IN KIRIBATI
BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom, Oct 11, 2000, 179 words

Text of report by Radio New Zealand International on 11th October

The Vanuatu prime minister, Barak Sope, says the issue of Papuans seeking independence will be raised at the Pacific Forum meeting in Kiribati later this month. Mr Sope says Vanuatu and Nauru will put the secessionist conflict on the agenda, although at least two other Forum members, Papua New Guinea and Australia, have said they regard Papua - also known as Irian Jaya - as an integral part of Indonesia. He says the UN-administered process which led to the former Dutch colony being annexed by Indonesia in the 1960s was flawed.

Mr Sope says Australia has to change its stance, because force used by the Indonesian authorities will fail in suppressing the independence drive of the Papuans. He says Australia also accepted Indonesia's annexation of East Timor, only to change its mind.

[Sope] We'll be talking to our other Melanesian friends, like Solomons and Fiji. We will start it off. I remember when we started to talk about New Caledonia. I mean, Australia and New Zealand didn't support it. They used to water down Forum resolutions on that, even [on] the nuclear [issue], against the French.

Source: Radio New Zealand International, Wellington, in English 0800 gmt 11 Oct 00 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC.

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WORLD NEWS: UK: Pledge over British-made jets NEWS DIGEST
Financial Times, Oct 5, 2000, 163 words

MILITARY EXERCISES

Pledge over British-made jets

British-manufactured Hawk jets will be used in military exercises in the skies over the mineral-rich Indonesian province of West Papua, the government said yesterday. West Papua, also known as Irian Jaya, is home to a separatist movement, demanding independence from Indonesia. The British Foreign Office says it has received a guarantee from Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, senior Indonesian security minister, that the aircraft will not be used to "infringe the rights of civilians". Robin Cook, foreign secretary, suffered embarrassment over his "ethical" foreign policy shortly after the 1997 election when the government decided to proceed with the supply of Hawks to Indonesia. Mr Cook sought assurances from the Indonesian government in July last year that the Hawks would not be used to thwart freedom of expression or violate other human rights after they were deployed over East Timor in the run up to a referendum on independence. Mr Bambang said that the jets, which military sources now say are stationed in Biak, West Papua, will be used for training exercises in Papua, possibly in the mountainous interior. Tom McCawley, Jakarta.

Copyright © The Financial Times Limited

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Sumber : koridor.com

Mungkin Gunakan Militer di PapuaGus Dur Bersedia Bertemu Presidium

koridor.com [19 Oct, 12:08] Presiden Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur), tetap konsisten mengedepankan sisi budaya, dalam penyelesaian Papua Barat (dulu Irian Jaya-Red). "Yang berubah, hanya policy," ujar Jubir Presiden, Wimar Witoelar kepada koridor.com.

Gus Dur kata Wimar, juga mengedepankan aksi non violence, dengan target win-win solution. "Namun yang terjadi di Papua, opsi penyelesaian budaya yang diberikan Gus Dur, berubah kepada gerakan politik," kata Wimar Witoelar, Kamis (19/10).

Wimar mengakui, pemerintah sedang merewiew kebijakan yang diberikan,

dalam menyelesaian persoalan Papua, guna menghindarkan atau menghentikan setiap gerakan politik, yang secara bebas ingin memerdekakan diri.

Untuk itu, pemerintah sedang menyiapkan Juklak (Petunjuk Pelaksanaan), menyangkut pengibaran bendera Bintang Kejora untuk masing-masing pihak, agar semua memahaminya dan menghindarkan adanya korban jiwa.

"Gus Dur bukan tidak konsisten soal Papua. Dia sangat ingin bertemu dan berkomunikasi dengan Presidium Dewan Papua," tandas Wimar.

Namun Wimar belum bisa memastikan, kapan jadwal pertemuan tersebut karena Presiden Gus Dur, baru akan pulang dari Korea Selatan, tanggal 22 Oktober 2000. "Teknisnya akan diatur," tegas Wimar.

Persoalan di Papua kata Jubir Presiden ini, bukan sekedar persoalan budaya. Tetapi, menyangkut ketidak adilan ekonomi dan adanya keinginan merdeka dari rakyat Papua. Sehingga setiap cara penyelesaian, harus dipertanggungjawabkan.

Wimar mengakui, penyelesaian Papua yang mengarah pada penggunaan kekuatan militer dengan pertimbangan taktis, juga dimungkinkan secara bertahap, dengan segala keseganan yang dimiliki Gus Dur. "Karena gerakan kemerdekaan Papua, juga sudah tidak tulus," tandas Wimar Witoelar. (despen / ac)

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By CHRIS McCALL

JAYAPURA

Sunday 22 October 2000

He walked for a month to get to the central highlands town of Wamena to defend his flag. Now he is probably crippled for life - but his flag still flies.

Thousands like 19-year-old Yesaya Pupup have vowed to stop Indonesia from bringing down the long-banned Morning Star flag, the symbol of West Papuan independence. History might remember them as anonymous defenders of a lost cause, but they believe in that cause, even if it means death.

Yesaya last year trekked to Wamena in the Baliem Valley from his home near the Papua New Guinea border to the east. His aim was to defend the flag. Now he is recovering from a bullet wound to the leg in a poorly equipped public hospital in Jayapura.

On October 6, police in Wamena forced the flag down for a few hours. It triggered the worst violence in the Baliem Valley capital for years and may yet prove a turning point in West Papua's history. Jayapura police say 30 people died. Independence supporters put the number much, much higher.

Yesaya and his fellow patients receive basic treatment. For the first few days, they received none. They were flown to Jayapura by Australian missionaries a few days later. Yesaya has a bandage around the ankle, where he was wounded, and he is expected to have a permanent limp. Three wounded officers from the Indonesian Brimob riot police were in the same ward soon after the violence. They had arrow and spear wounds. They have been moved.

Papuans blame Brimob for the violence, saying they came to cut the pole of the Morning Star flag with a chainsaw. Around 500 young people were ready to die to keep the flag aloft, Yesaya recalls.

He says the Papuans were saying prayers while police were shooting, taking down the flag and cutting the pole with a chainsaw. A few hours later, hundreds, possibly thousands, of Papuans charged down from the hills around Wamena and counter-attacked, many wearing nothing more than a traditional penis gourd. "You could not count them," says Yesaya.

Police took up positions in shop kiosks, shooting at will. Several were captured by the Papuans and taken to nearby houses and killed. Traders from other parts of Indonesia took refuge in churches. The incident went on from 8am to 6pm. The next day, a new Morning Star flag was flying over Wamena - and still is.

Yoris Essegem, 25, was one of those who joined the masses who ran in to Wamena. He was shot in the back. After the fighting, he went to the town's hospital for treatment. There was no one to treat him. Instead of one wound, he now has three as a result of relatives trying twice, unsuccessfully, to remove the bullet.

Hospital staff in Wamena, mostly from other parts of Indonesia, fled after the fighting. No one dared to fly in to replace them, fearing any link to Brimob could mean death. Two weeks later, Wamena is still said to be tense. Papuans want all police withdrawn from the Baliem Valley. Jakarta is unlikely to approve such a move. Parts of the valley have long been a stronghold of the rebel Free Papua Movement. The atmosphere in Irian Jaya, as Indonesia calls its easternmost province, has changed since the Wamena violence. The separatist Papuan Guards claim to have thousands ready to defend the flag. The issue will not go away.

As a separatist leader, Theys Eluway is urgently seeking a solution in Jakarta. The West Papuans are gearing up for December 1, the day in 1961 when Dutch colonialists allowed them to first raise their flag. For Indonesia, flying any flag except its own remains a crime and Jakarta's politicians are determined it will stay that way.