The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Jayapura | National | Wed, May 29 2013
Dozens of Papuan convicts, many of them pro-independence activists who were sentenced to jail for treason, have rejected the proposal for their release under a government clemency or amnesty program, alleging that the move was only part of the government’s efforts to silence their voice.
A short statement, attributed to a group of 25 political prisoners currently jailed at the Abepura Correctional Facility, made available to The Jakarta Post on Monday, said that they wanted freedom for all Papuans from Indonesian rule.
Among the convicts was the 53 year old Filep Karma, who was sentenced to 15 years in jail for raising the outlawed Morning Star flag in the provincial capital of Jayapura in 2004.
Papua Legislative Council deputy speaker Yunus Wonda said that the granting of the clemency and amnesty was one of the points proposed by Papuan officials to the central government as part of the conditions for the implementation of the “special autonomy plus” for the Indonesian easternmost provinces of Papua and West Papua.
“There are a total of 20 points in our proposal. All of them were presented to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono including the proposal to grant freedom to all political detainees and prisoners in Papua,” he said in Jayapura.
Yunus was referring to a meeting between the newly-elected Papua Governor Lukas Enembe and Yudhoyono at the Presidential Office in Jakarta, last month, which was also attended by the Papua Consultative Assembly (MRP) chairman Mathius Murib and himself.
“The particular issue about the political prisoners was among the hot topics in the discussion. We got a sense that the President basically had no problem with the idea,” Yunus added.
Coordinating Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto said he had never heard of any plan to grant clemency or amnesty to the Papuan prisoners.
“As of [Monday], there is no request for clemency for Papuan political convicts, nor has it been proposed by the Law and Human Rights ministry,” Djoko said. “As for amnesty, I have never heard of it. The granting of amnesty is basically the President’s right, while he must also take into account the response in the House of Representatives,” he said.
Former treason convict from Papua, Semuel Yaru, said that he would also reject the clemency if he was still imprisoned.
“The offer comes with conditions that we have to be loyal to the NKRI [Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia] when it is obvious that our mission is to free Papuans from Indonesia’s ‘colonialism’,” he said in a statement.
Semuel said that most of the charges against political activists were designed to silence critical voices.
“The move to arrest us was also strange. The police charged us with treason when all we did was give voice to the aspiration of the Papuan people, an action that was supposed to be guaranteed by the principle of freedom of expression, which is actually stipulated in Indonesian law,” Semuel added.
Coordinator of local rights group National Papua Solidarity (NAPAS), Zely Ariane said that she would support the government’s move to release the prisoners as long as it carried no conditions for them. “Because the prisoners committed no criminal acts,” she said.
Zely alleged that the plan was politically motivated, part of a deal proposed by local elites to get material benefit.
“We are afraid that the concept would merely benefit Papuan elites,” Zely said.
London-based human rights watchdog Amnesty International, in its 2012 Indonesia report released earlier this month, also highlighted the series of alleged human rights violations in Papua and Maluku.
“Indonesian security forces, including police and military personnel, were accused of human rights violations in Papua. Torture and other ill-treatment, excessive use of force and firearms and possible unlawful killings were reported. In most cases, the perpetrators were not brought to justice and victims did not receive reparations,” the report says.
wo 29 mei 2013 - 8:38