http://www.smh.com.au/world/death-in-papua-political-intrigue-clouds-miners-murder-20091120-iqud.html
Death in Papua: political intrigue clouds miner's murder November 21, 2009 Unsolved murder ... Drew Grant and daughter Ella, and his funeral last July. Photo: Joe Armao Villagers may be scapegoats for Indonesia's military activities, writes Jonathan Pearlman. AS dawn was breaking across the Indonesian province of Papua on a Saturday last July, an Australian mine worker, Drew Grant, set out with friends along the winding road near the Freeport mine for a weekend of golf. The driver and fellow mine worker, Lukan Biggs, would later recall that he heard a sharp pop and thought the car had skidded off a stone. But then the back-seat passenger started to scream: Mr Grant had been hit by a bullet that pierced the roof. The 29-year-old - just back in Papua after visiting his wife and baby in Melbourne - probably died instantly. In the aftermath, six villagers from the nearby town of Timika were rounded up by police and held without trial for four months. The men insist they are innocent - scapegoats caught in the murky politics of one of the world's most lucrative mines - and that they confessed after being beaten with rifle butts and threatened with shootings and electric shocks. On Tuesday, five of the men were apparently released: their lawyers say all six still face charges and are yet to be given a trial date. ''They were blindfolded and the police said if they did not confess they would be taken to the bush and shot,'' Dackson Beanal, whose five family members were among the six in jail, said. ''There were other threats. They were beaten up . Simon and Apius were handcuffed for almost two months.'' Mr Grant's murder was one of several military-style shootings and ambushes in the past four months around the Grasberg mine, which reputedly has the world's largest recoverable copper and gold deposits and is owned by an American company, Freeport-McMoran. Two other people have died: a Freeport employee, Markus Rante Allo, and a policeman, Marson Pattipeilohy. But the shootings continued despite the six men's detention. Analysts say the attacks, which involved skilled marksmen and military-issue bullets, bear the hallmarks of the Indonesian military. Some say they are linked to a long-running dispute between the army and the police over the job of providing security for the mine. Others say they are linked to disputes over local business opportunities or are a warning to the Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, to resist pressure to reform the military. According to Indonesia's Tempo magazine, the shooting of Grant - and each subsequent attack - occurred in areas around the mine with mobile phone coverage, which would suggest high levels of planning and co-ordination. The magazine reported sightings of a group of armed men dressed in black who were filmed on security cameras near the mine and stopped by guards the day after Mr Grant was killed. But the group has never been identified or arrested. About 24 men were arrested after the shootings. Most were released without charge. But, according to a local lawyer, Eliezer Murafer, six men were kept in three police stations across the province and charged with the attacks. They are: Simon Beanal, 30, who apparently suffers a mentally disability, Eltinus Beanal, 26, Tommy Beanal, 25, Apius Uamang, 39 - all residents of Timika - and two employees of the mine, Dominikus Beanal, 25 and Amon Yawame, 30. Mr Murafer told the Herald that the four Timika residents were at home at the time of the shootings and the two Freeport employees were in their hotel. ''They are worried they will be made the scapegoats for the incidents. They have been waiting such a long time and there is no certainty they will be brought to trial.'' The Beanal detainees are members of a well-known Papuan clan which gained global fame in the late 1990s when an elder, Tom Beanal, launched a lawsuit in the US accusing Freeport of cultural genocide and environmental damage. Mr Beanal lost the case but was subsequently - along with other community leaders - recruited to the board of Freeport's Indonesian subsidiary in an apparent attempt to quell local opposition. An expert on Papua at the Australian National University, Chris Ballard, said the suggestion the villagers could have carried out the attacks was ''farcical''. ''These people were obviously never involved,'' he said. ''These recent shootings are far in excess of any of the attacks in the past. They would have required a well-resourced and well-trained unit or units of the security forces . It was never credible that the local community was responsible. ''They stand to gain nothing from these attacks. The arrests were followed almost immediately by a string of further shootings . It should be a source of embarrassment to the Indonesian Government.'' The Australian Federal Police, which sent two officers to the region after Mr Grant's shooting, refused to comment on the case. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was monitoring the investigation. ''We remain in close contact with Indonesian authorities on the investigation,'' a spokeswoman said. ''As the shooting occurred in Papua, responsibility for investigating the shooting lies with Indonesian authorities . We are unaware that any arrests have taken place in relation to Mr Grant's murder.'' Mr Grant's father, Leigh, said he has received occasional updates from the federal police, which have mainly been based on local media reports. ''I have in the back of my mind that we will probably never find out who it was,'' he said. ''They might say they have caught the people who did it, but who knows if they are the actual people who did the shooting? They're saying it's the indigenous people, but I think it is more likely to be the military or police . We just want to move on and not dwell and get our lives together.'' Papuan separatists, who were blamed for an attack in 2002 in which two American teachers and an Indonesian were killed, have publicly denied involvement in the attacks. A lecturer at the Australian Defence Force Academy, Clinton Fernandes, said the military was probably behind the shootings and was trying to justify its presence in Papua by raising the spectre of a separatist insurgency. ''The Indonesian military need to maintain its presence in Papua and want to ensure that the police no longer try to claim security of the mine area,'' Dr Fernandes said. ''Without an insurgency, the army has to go back into the barracks and reduce its size and its budget and its influence. By staying in West Papua, the military gets access to funds and resources and arms and promotions.'' [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
