One News [New Zealand], Dec 01, 2003
Hundreds of Papuans defy police
Hundreds of Papuan separatists defied police, an Indonesian military shoot-on-sight
order and resurgent militia gangs to raise flags and demand a future free of Jakarta on
their outlawed independence day.
Activists in Papua gathered around a banned secessionist Morning Star flag and
vowed to continue their struggle for independence as Indonesia ordered hundreds of
extra police and troops onto the streets of the troubled province.
The flag flew outside the home of murdered pro-independence leader Theys Hiyo
Eluay near the provincial capital Jayapura for around an hour before it was cut down
by troops, witnesses said.
Eluay was murdered by Indonesian special forces troops in November 2001 and seven
soldiers were later jailed for the slaying, although Indonesia's army chief General
Ryamizard Ryacudu described the men as heroes and patriots.
Reverend Herman Awom, a former colleague of Eluay, said members of the
pro-independence Papua Taskforce raised the flag this morning to the strains of an
independence hymn, O Papua, My Land.
"God is behind our struggle," he said, vowing to continue the secessionist fight.
More than 500 people also attended mass to mark the anniversary.
Separatists have been waging a low-level war against Indonesia's administration in
Papua since the 1960s, when the former Dutch colony was handed to Jakarta by the
United Nations following a referendum widely seen as rigged.
Since then guerrillas belonging to the Free Papua Movement, known as the OPM,
have been fighting for full independence.
Separatist leaders say Papua first declared its independence 42 years ago on
December 1, 1961, eight years before Indonesia gained control.
As this year's commemoration loomed, a human rights activist warned pro-Indonesian
militia groups were again active in Papua, four years after they rampaged through
East Timor following its independence vote, killing more than 1,000 civilians.
One of the militia groups was the feared Laskar Merah Putih, or Red and White
Warriors, of former East Timor militia commander Eurico Guterres, Elsham Institute of
Human Rights Study and Advocacy Papua director Aloysius Renwarin said.
"Many former East Timorese are now living in Papua, and this could result in conflict,"
he told Detik.com.
Guterres was last year jailed for 10 years for human rights crimes in East Timor, but
is currently free pending an appeal.
Monday's anniversary came after authorities arrested 42 people for flying Morning Star
flags and said seven would be charged with treason for advocating Indonesia's
disintegration.
Papua region military commander Major-General Nurdin Zainal also told his troops -
including Kopassus special forces - to shoot pro-independence rioters on sight, while
Papua Governor JP Salossa banned the flying of flags and urged Papuans not to
celebrate.
Awom said ceremonies passed without violence, although in previous years they have
triggered clashes between police and separatists.
Indonesia's National Commission on Human Rights this month announced plans for a
legal investigation into army operations in Papua after an initial report found evidence
of extra-judicial killings and abuses over the past few years.
© AAP
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