VOA, 06 February 2006
Indonesian Defense Minister Admits Some Human Rights Abuses
in Papua
By Nancy-Amelia Collins, Jakarta
The Indonesian defense minister has acknowledged that some military and police
personnel have committed rights abuses in the eastern province of Papua. He says,
however, any abuses are not part of a systematic policy.
[PHOTO: Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono.]
Indonesian Defense Minister Juwarno Sudarsono told journalists Monday what human
rights groups have been saying for years - that some members of the police and
military are committing human rights abuses in Papua.
"I grant that there's been incidence of some brutality and torture and rape involving
some of our troops, but there's a tendency to blanket all this into a notion that all of
those are efforts of systematic and institutional," he said.
Juwarno made the remarks in response to questions about 43 Papuans, who fled to
Australia last month seeking asylum.
The group accuses the Indonesian government of genocide against the people of
Papua. While Australia has yet to decide their fate, the Indonesian government has
asked that the asylum-seekers be sent home.
[PHOTO: West Papuan protesters march toward the local parliament building to
demand that Indonesian troops leave the province in Jayapura, the capitol of West
Papua, Jan. 23, 2006.]
Separatists in Papua, formerly known as Irian Jaya province, have been fighting for an
independent state in a low-level insurgency since the former Dutch colonial power
ceded control to Indonesia in 1963.
Rights groups have long accused the Indonesian military and police of committing
abuses against civilians as they fought insurgents.
Juwarno also defended a de facto ban on foreign journalists wanting to visit Papua.
Visits are rarely allowed. The defense chief says his government thinks visits by
foreign journalists disrupt national unity, and stir up separatists.
"Your role as a magnetic attraction to Papuans of all stripes of political and ethnic
sense of identity will create this sense of danger among people from outside Papua
that the foreigners are trying to instill a sense of division, by creating human rights
standards, which you feel are important for you, but also for Papuans," he said.
Juwarno warned foreign journalists not to take chances of trying to enter the province
without permission.
"My concern is that some overzealous police or military will mishandle you,
manhandle you. That's a big problem for us," he said.
The defense minister says the government will issue guidelines to foreign companies
in Indonesia, seeking military protection for their operations.
The U.S. mining company, Freeport-McMoRan, has been accused of illegally paying
millions of dollars to security forces to guard a mine in Papua.
Juwarno says the new guidelines will entail all payments being made voluntarily, and
through a civil agency, such as the Ministry of Minerals and Mines.
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