TEMPO No. 31/VI/April 04 - 10, 2006 National In the Sanctuary of the Sago Jungle
Police continue to hunt down the masterminds behind the bloody demonstration at Abepura, Papua. A MALE voice reverberated at the other end of the telephone. "I am still in the jungle," he said in a weak tone. The sound of crickets chirping also came through. "We cannot state our location, as otherwise the security personnel may get us," said the man. He was Hans Gebze. Tempo contacted him via his cellular phone last week. For one month now, the 28-year-old man has been hiding in the sago forest. He fled because police were after him in the aftermath of the bloody demonstration in front of Cenderawasih University in Abepura, Papua, in early March. In the incident, four policemen and one air force officer died. The demonstration, which demanded the closing down of mining company Freeport, was motivated by the United Struggle Front of the People of West Papua (Pepera) and the Street Parliament organizations. Hans, being Pepera's General Chairman, and Jefrison Pagawak, the Chairman of the Street Parliament, are seen as the masterminds of the masses' mobilization. Hans did keep his hiding place secret. The former student of the Yogyakarta College of Environmental Engineering only described the location as being about 50 kilometers away from Jayapura. Accompanied by two friends, he has to hide out in the deep forest. At night they suffer from the cold. "Our condition is very difficult. We keep ourselves alive by consuming whatever edible we can find," he said. Their empty stomachs are filled only with tuberous plants, cassava, sago and bananas, all of which can be easily found in the Papua jungles. For the first two days, there were heavy rains. At that time they had no chance yet to find shelter. Hans and his friends continued to be haunted by fear of being pursued by security personnel. Only after the rains and their fear had subsided were they able to set up a shack made from dry leaves. Aside from Hans's group, some 200 other people have fled into the jungle. They are spread over a number of locations, separated 2-5 kilometers from each other. That is Hans's estimate formed from communication through couriers and cellular phones with other points during their hiding in the jungle. Couriers are used whenever they run out of phone batteries. To recharge their batteries, they have to walk 3 kilometers to the nearest village from their hideout. According to Hans, some of the fugitives have managed to cross into Papua New Guinea. They comprised two women and one man. The next group to go to that neighboring country will be larger, consisting of some 50 people. This group will be followed by 55 other people are ready to enter Papua New Guinea via another entrance. The demonstration in Abepura involved about 800 people comprising students and residents living in the mountainous area behind the Cenderawasih University campus. Some of the students already returned home and are now studying again at their campus. Hundreds of other students, however, are now still in hiding. Many others have been detained and declared suspects by police. "No fewer than 73 have been detained," said Hans. The spokesman of the Indonesian embassy in Papua New Guinea, Sandjaya, can not say for sure that there were Papua students crossing into the neighboring country. The Papua New Guinea Foreign Department, for its part, claims not to have received any request for asylum from them thus far. The Speaker of the Papua People's Assembly, Agus Alue Alua, however, has confirmed that more than three people have crossed the border. Right now, there are still many residents and students who are wary of returning to their homes or their campus, for lack of security guarantee. The Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal & Security Affairs, Widodo A.S., appealed to the students to return to their campus forthwith. He assured them that the security apparatus no longer made searches and nabs suspected residents or students. He made the promise when attending a graduation ceremony for 900 students of Cenderawasih University last week. Nonetheless, the former Commander in Chief of the Indonesian Military (TNI) asked the culprits to turn themselves in. Police, for their part, refuse to wait for the culprits to surrender. Last week, Nelson Rumbiak and Bensiur Morin were arrested and subsequently declared new suspects. Nelson was nabbed before he managed to flee to Manokwari, and Bensiur at Tanah Hitam, Abepura. "Both suspects are university students," said Ast. Sr. Comr. Paulus Waterpauw, Director of Undercover and Criminal Affairs of the Papua Regional Police Command. The two students are presently in Papua Police custody. Nelson has been declared a suspect in the seizing of tear gas from a police officer killed in the incident, while Bensiur had allegedly collected funds for the demonstration. Different from Hans's claim, police cited the number of suspects arrested thus far in the Abepura case as 19. Spokesman of the National Police Headquarters, Brig. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam, too, reaffirmed that the perpetrators would be hunted down wherever they went. "We will keep chasing them in the forests," said Anton. Following the arrest of Bensiur, police will also trace the involvement of foreign non-governmental organizations as donors for the demonstration. In the midst of police efforts at capturing the perpetrators, a number of reports were circulating. Senator Natasha Stott Despoja was quoted by The Weekend Australia as saying that 16 people had been murdered by the security apparatus in the aftermath of the Abepura clash. The senator from the Democratic Party got the report from a local Papuan NGO. Pepera spokesman Arkilaus Baho, too, claimed to have received reports about murders in Papua. However, he had only heard about the finding of six bodies at Arso, Abepura. The identities of the alleged victims are not yet known. "Quite probably, traces of the bodies have been intentionally removed," said Arkilaus. He received the reports from the families of those accused of having been the perpetrators of the action in Abepura. Ast. Sr. Comr. Paulus Waterpauw dismissed the reports. "Nonsense. Of late, there has been a rumor about the finding of bodies in several places, but on-the-spot checks showed there were none," he said. In his view, the rumors circulated through cell phone text messages. Police have seized one cellular phone to uncover the network that has circulated those text messages. The report has also been heard by Kontras, the NGO on missing people and victims of violence. Kontras coordinator Usman Hamid refrained from rashly concluding that the report was false. He has sent a team to Papua to conduct an investigation. Regrettably, the Kontras team still meets with difficulties in obtaining information because residents tend to be tight-lipped and still fearful. Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono contended that there was an effort at turning the Abepura demonstration into some kind of Santa Cruz tragedy, the shooting incident at the cemetery in Dili in 1991. In that action 200 people died. The Santa Cruz tragedy was condemned by the world and increased support for the independent East Timor movement. A member of the House of Representatives Defense Commission, Yorrys Raweyai, also questioned the clash, saying that it gave the impression of being prearranged. "Just look, the clash occurred on the third day, after the sound of gunshots had been heard," he pointed out. Even so, he was reluctant to mention its mastermind. Hans Gebze denied that the Abepura action had been engineered, even masterminded by foreign quarters. As he has it, the action in Abepura was purely a move by the Papua residents demanding the closure of Freeport. Pepera has never received funds from the Australian International Crisis Group, as stated by Jefrison Pagawak in last week's edition of this magazine. "We obtained the funds for the demonstration from student contributions," he said. Hans also refused to be cited as an activist of the Free Papua Movement. The various accusations hurled have made Hans and hundreds of residents and students even more fearful. They will remain in hiding in the sago forests. "We will emerge only when the situation is truly safe. However, those of us who have rashly been threatened to be declared suspects will seek political asylum," Hans said. Eduardus Karel Dewanto, Lita Oetomo (Jayapura), Erwin Dariyanto and Oktamandjaya (Tempo News Room) [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] *************************************************************************** Berdikusi dg Santun & Elegan, dg Semangat Persahabatan. Menuju Indonesia yg Lebih Baik, in Commonality & Shared Destiny. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppiindia *************************************************************************** __________________________________________________________________________ Mohon Perhatian: 1. Harap tdk. memposting/reply yg menyinggung SARA (kecuali sbg otokritik) 2. Pesan yg akan direply harap dihapus, kecuali yg akan dikomentari. 3. Reading only, http://dear.to/ppi 4. Satu email perhari: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 5. No-email/web only: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 6. kembali menerima email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! 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