Refleksi :  Untuk melihat video footage, click situs dibawah ini :

http://www.indonesiamedia.com/2010/08/04/video-sheds-light-on-indonesia-military-actions/

Video sheds light on Indonesia military actions

JAKARTA, Indonesia - The jumpy video shows a prisoner lying in a jungle 
clearing in eastern Indonesia moments after troops allegedly sliced open his 
abdomen with a bayonet, sending intestines tumbling from his stomach.

Using the little life he has left in him, Yawen Wayeni lifts his arm into the 
air, and says weakly, "Freedom! Papua . Freedom!"

At the sound of his muffled voice, gun-toting, uniformed officers resting in 
the shade approach.

"Speak up," one taunts. "What? You all are never going to get freedom. As long 
as there are soldiers still."

One year after the activist's death, footage being circulated online is 
providing a glimpse into the actions of Indonesia's military in Papua, where an 
estimated 100,000 people have been killed since the former Dutch colony was 
integrated into the country nearly 50 years ago.

A low-level insurgency in the province remains an extremely sensitive issue for 
the government, which restricts access to foreign journalists, human rights 
workers and academics, making it difficult to verify claims of abuse.

Police have said Wayeni, captured for allegedly vandalizing several of their 
buildings and vehicles, was shot in the thigh and stomach while resisting 
arrest and that he died on the way to the hospital.

Harkristuti Harkrisnowo, a director general at Indonesia's Ministry of Law and 
Human Rights, said Tuesday she was unaware of the video but promised to 
investigate.

Indonesia has made tremendous strides toward democracy since emerging from 
decades of dictatorship under Gen. Suharto in 1998. Citizens today can vote 
directly for president and the country has been praised for reforms that have 
freed the media and vastly improved human rights.

But government critics in Papua are still given lengthy prison terms for 
peacefully expressing their views, organizing rallies or simply raising 
separatist flags. Many say they have been tortured in detention with electric 
shocks, beatings and cigarette burns.

 
Papuan protesters wearing tribal dress takes part in a rally demanding an 
independence referendum outside the U.S. embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The central government, which granted Papua special autonomy in 2001, denies 
such atrocities still take place. An Amnesty International report cited 
incidents of torture, excessive force and executions by security forces in 
Papua last year.

Others said the killing points to the persistence of violence in governing the 
far-flung, desperately poor region.

"For all their talk about how things have changed since Suharto's days, this 
particular murder is just another example reminding us how much remains the 
same," said Richard Chauvel, a senior lecturer at Victoria University in 
Australia who has written extensively about Papua.

The video also points to broader feelings that special autonomy - which gives 
Papuans greater control over their budget and economy - has done little to 
address key issues driving attitudes in the province.

Thousands have turned out in the streets in recent months demanding that 
candidates for elected office at the sub-provincial level be indigenous 
Papuans, something senior officials in Jakarta flatly rejected as 
"discriminatory," exacerbating tensions.

Sidney Jones of the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think tank, 
said government leaders, with few exceptions, "do not understand that the only 
way to stem an independence movement is through serious attention to political 
issues.

"At the same time, the Papuans themselves tend to blame Jakarta for everything 
that has gone wrong, without too much introspection what they themselves could 
do."

This is a huge gap, she said, that can only be bridged if high-level 
discussions are held about political issues.

Others believe outside pressure is required.

Fifty members of the U.S. Congress signed a letter calling on President Barack 
Obama to make Papua - the half of New Guinea that was invaded by Indonesia in 
1962 - "one of the highest priorities of the administration."

Even so, as part of efforts to shore up influence in the region amid increasing 
challenges from China, Washington last month lifted a decadelong ban on 
military assistance to a notoriously violent commando unit, known as Kopassus, 
which operates in Papua.

The seven-minute video appears to have been made by the Korps Brigade Mobil, or 
Brimob, the paramilitary police who took part in the arrest. It too has a 
legacy of abuse in Papua.

It's not clear how the clip made its way to the Internet, and few here have 
seen it.

The troops caught up with Wayeni at his home in the jungle village of Matembu 
on Aug. 3, 2009.

Wayeni's wife told the Commission for Disappearances and Victims of Violence 
that they tied his arms and legs to a log and forced him to chant "Free Papua!" 
before slicing him in the abdomen with a bayonet.

They all but ignored him as he stumbled to the ground, landing in a patch of 
rough grass and propping his head up on a log.

"Look, he's tired," one officer says as the prisoner's head lolls back, his 
eyes rolling.

The police ask Wayeni if he is an atheist and call him a "savage," saying his 
prayers will never be answered. They then ask how, in his condition, he thinks 
Papua will ever shake free of Indonesian rule.

"It's equally surreal and horrific watching as the grievously injured Yawan 
Wayeni answers teasing questions from uniformed Indonesia security forces about 
his political beliefs," said Phil Robertson, a deputy director at the New 
York-based Human Rights Watch.

Getting medical help, he notes, seems the furthest thing from their minds.

Despite his suffering, however, the dying man refuses to give in.

"This land was promised by God to us, the Papuan people," Wayeni says. "God, 
the suffering of the simple people, there are so many! They are crying, oh God!"

This post was submitted by ROBIN McDOWELL (AP).

<<ALeqM5hK2tVzB6h0z1Tzy9HInhYK1jau_g-300x205.jpg>>

Kirim email ke