Activists from the West Papua National Committee or the KNPB returned to the streets for their 14th action on Thursday August 15, to commemorate the 1962 New York Agreement, the day when power over West Papua was transferred from the Netherlands to Indonesia.
Several locations where demonstrations were to be held, both in Jayapura city and Jayapura regency, were blocked by police. Even though the KNPB claimed to have obtained a permit for the action from police.
As many as 36 protesters emerged from the direction of Buper Waena where they marched in six lines carrying KNPB flags and written demands on A4 carboard placards.
"No room for racism" and "The Indonesian state must be immediately held accountable for human rights violations in Papua" read the placards. The demonstration was tightly guarded by dozens of police officers with water cannons.
KNPB field coordinator Mesias Silak, after negotiating with police, was finally given permission to gives speeches and convey their demands.
The speeches proceeded peacefully, during which the KNPB members remained in line cordoned off by raffia rope. At around 1.45 pm the action was joined by around 50 people who arrived from the direction of the Abe Expo Waena Bridge.
Simultanious rallies by the KNPB marking the New York Agreement were held in several other parts of Papua.
Students in Jayapura protest New York Agreement and racism
Hundreds of students from various universities in Jayapura city held a protest on the Cenderawasih University (Uncen) campus on Thursday in which they took up two main issues: "The injustice of the 1962 New York Agreement and rejecting the racism experienced by the Papuan people".
Action coordinator Enis Dapla emphasised that the 1962 New York Agreement was legally flawed because it did not involve the Papuan people.
"The agreement became the basis for the annexation of Papua by Indonesia through the 1969 Pepera [The 1969 UN sponsored referendum on West Papua's integration with Indonesia], which we consider illegal and ridden with manipulation", said Dapla.
In addition, Dapla also highlighted the issue of racism that continues to be felt by the Papuan people.
"Racism is not only the enemy of Papua, but also the enemy of the world. This action is a form of student resistance against all forms of racism, not only in Papua but throughout the world", he explained.
The protest action that was initially planned to last until late afternoon was limited by the police to 12 noon, however the students continued the action on the grounds of the Uncen Faculty of Teacher Training and Education (FKIP) secretariat.
"We didn't violate anyone's rights, but the police continue to limit the action. In fact they entered the campus area, which should not be allowed according to the law", said Dapla.
The students emphasised that during the action they conveyed their aspirations peacefully and without anarchic acts. "Freedom of expression and expressing opinions in public is the right of every citizen, including students", he said.
Laba Heluka, a student activist from the Uncen Faculty of Law, emphasised that the issue of racism was a major focus during the action.
"Racism is a global enemy. We demand that there is no more racial discrimination against the people of Papua, both in the world of education, work and health services", he said.
Heluka also criticised the restrictions on freedom of expression that continue to occur in Papua, especially with regard to peaceful protest actions. "Even though Law Number 9/1998 guarantees freedom of expression in public, in fact Papuan students are often restricted and silenced", he said.
Give Papua the right to self-determination
The KNPB along with indigenous Papuan communities and various organisations in Greater Sorong also commemorated the New York Agreement in Sorong city on Thursday.
Wespa Papwes Gombo, a representative of the Independent Indigenous People of Papua (MAI-P) said the action was to remember the New York Agreement which was made unilaterally without involving the Papuan nation which a year earlier, on December 1, 1961, had issued a manifesto of independence to stand alone as a nation and a state.
Gombo said that Indonesia manipulated the mandate of the New York Agreement on self-determination through the 1969 Act of Free Choice. Out of the 809,337 West Papuans who had the right to vote, only around 1,026 people were selected and quarantined, and just 175 people were then forced at gunpoint to vote to join Indonesia.
In Indonesia's report to the UN, the reason given for this was that Papuan people were still "primitive and backward". "This racist view was used by Indonesia to gain international support for its colonisation of West Papua", said Gombo.
A similar view was expressed in a speech by Eskop, a law student from the Sorong Muhammadiyah University, who said that today the Papuan nation is marking 62 years of colonisation by the Indonesian colonialists.
Meanwhile Indonesia is celebrating its 79th anniversary of independence with the spirit of colonising West Papua. Yet on the one hand Indonesia claims to be an anti-colonial country, but on the other it also plays an active role in robbing the Papuan people of their right to self-determination.
Eskop said that Papuan Special Autonomy (Otsus), territorial expansion and all forms of enforced and brutal exploitation in the Land of Papua, were a continuation of racist colonialism that begun with the Trikora operation in 1961, the New York Agreement in 1962 and Pepera in 1969.
Eskop explained that Indonesian colonialism, which is ridden with racism, has resulted in reducing the number of indigenous Papuans to only 2,971,340 people out of a total population 5.4 million.
Even more tragic, the number of non-Papuan residents is now larger, with an annual growth rate 6.39 percent per year. Meanwhile the poverty and low life expectancy of Papuans continue to place Papua in first place in negative indicators for Indonesia.
Meanwhile, from the cities to the villages, migrants with company and military support dominate all productive sectors. "Our customary forests, the last fortresses against the threat of global warming, are now threatened. Of the 34.3 million hectares of primary forests in the land of Papua, 793,623 hectares were lost in 2021-2022 alone", he said.
Action coordinator Appull Heluka added that Indonesian colonialism with its militarism, continues to massively invade the entire land of Papua. The goal is to secure military businesses and investment.
He said that Indonesia's colonial military operations had created around 76,919 internally displaced people in seven regions, forcing them to leave their hometowns and live in uncertainty.
"The peaceful solution and humanitarian pause proposed by the Papuan Council of Churches and the ULMWP (United Liberation Movement for West Papua) were rejected by Jakarta, which prefers bloody [military] operations. We demand that they immediately leave our land, West Papua", he said.
The action proceeded safely and peacefully under the close guard of dozens of police personnel. During the action, the demonstrators read out a number of statements and demands, including rejecting all the forms of colonisation and oppression by the Indonesian colonialists in Papua.
They also asked Indonesia to respect the right of the Papuan people to determine their own future.
Two protesters injured by rubber bullets in Nabire
A KNPB demonstration protesting the New York Agreement in Nabire, Central Papua, on Thursday was confronted with violence by security forces.
KNPB Nabire Regional Management Board Secretary Zadrak Kudiyai told Jubi that two demonstrators, Andrias Gobay (a Dogiyai regional KNPB member) and Yosua Pigome, were struck by rubber bullets fired by security forces.
"They were shot at the resettlement beside the Nabire River, Karang Market. A rubber bullet was found in Andrias Gobay's thigh and the bullet has been removed, while Yosua Pigome was shot in the calf, the bullet has not been removed yet and he is currently still being operated on at Nabire District General Hospital (RSUD) emergency room", said Kudiyai on Thursday afternoon.
Kudiyai explained that hundreds of demonstrators who are members of the KNPB throughout the Meepago region held a peaceful demonstration centred in Nabire. "The demonstrators were shot, arrested, shot at with tear gas, and beaten. During the action one police officer was also injured in Siriwini", he said.
According to Kudiyai, they started the protest at 7 am at several different points. Protesters in front of the Satya Wiyata Mandala University (USWIM) campus were then taken away by police from the Nabire District Police using a crowd control vehicle.
Meanwhile protesters at the SP point were also picked up by police using two crowd control vehicles and taken to the Nabire District Police station.
"Meanwhile the demonstrators at the Siriwini point, police officers fired teargas and dispersed the demonstrators and one KNPB member was arrested by police", he said.
The protesters who were taken away by the police, said Kudiyai, are still at the Nabire Police station. "They have not been sent home yet", he added.
According to Kudiyai, the attitude of the police and TNI (Indonesian military) was very indiscriminate in handling the peaceful KNPB mass action. "This is very unreasonable, because this country guarantees democratic freedoms, but that's not like what we experienced in the field today", he said.
Protesters in Meepago dispersed with teargas
KNPB members throughout the Meepago region were deployed in a joint action on Thursday centred in Nabire. They came from the Paniai, Dogiyai, Deiyai and Intan Jaya regencies and from Nabire itself.
The protesters, who had gathered at Karang Tumaritis Market in the morning were scheduled to hold a long-march to the Central Papua Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) and the Papua People's Council (MRP) offices located in Kali Bobo.
Upon arriving in front of the Karang Barat Gel-Gel Workshop, they were stopped by security forces who ordered them to disperse. Shortly after they began firing teargas to disperse the demonstrators.
SD, a resident of Karang Barat who witnessed the incident, said the demonstrators were marching peacefully in rank cordoned off by a rope. "When security forces using two Barracuda and crowd control trucks arrived at the location, [they] fired teargas and the crowd dispersed", they said.
Then, said SD, the protesters fled into residential alleys and the security forces chased after them firing teargas. "I saw them running away and one person was put in a police car and taken to the Nabire police station", they said.
Speaking at a cafe in Nabire, Nabire District Police Chief Assistant Superintendent Wahyudi Satrio Bintoro told reporters that based on his observations at several locations the situation was under control.
When Jubi.id asked about the use of rubber bullets and teargas, Bintoro said that police used standard operating procedures (SOP) in accordance with National Police Chief Regulation Number 1/2029 on the Use of Force during Police Actions.
"We implemented this from the start of our presence, right, we made an appeal, conveyed this, we encouraged them, but it turns out that their position was to carry out anarchic actions, throwing stones. Even our members who were in position there were hit by stones, injured", he said, adding that because of this, they used firm but measured actions using teargas.
Police disperse protest in Abepura with water cannon
Police used water cannon to disperse a peaceful action commemorating 62 years since the New York Agreement at the Abepura intersection in Jayapura city.
The action, which took place between 12:30 and 3:21 pm, was coordinated by the KNPB. Police personnel from the Jayapura city district police broke up the action before representatives from the protesters could read out their statements.
KNPB General Chairperson Warpo Sampari Wetipo said their demonstration was peaceful and open, therefore breaking up the action was an example of the practices of colonialism in the land of Papua.
"The colonialists will never give the slightest bit of space (freedom) to the people they colonise. They feel superior so they treat the Papuan nation arbitrarily", said Wetipo.
However, he continued to call on all Papuan people not to be weak, let alone retreat from the ranks of resistance against this oppression. They must continue to gather their strength and become a new spirit for the struggle of the Papuan nation.
"The Papuan people must not be weak, let alone retreat. (The dispersing of protesters) will (in fact) provide new strength and spirit so that (the Papuan people's struggle will) become more advanced and radical", said Wetipo.
Jayapura City Deputy Police Chief Senior Commissioner Deni Herdiana said they broke up the action because in their view the coordinator was unable to control the situation. According to Herdiana, there were indications that the protesters intended to commit vandalism, such as burning used tyres on the road that could disrupt security and public order in Jayapura city.
"We coordinated (agreed) with the korlap (field coordinator), namely giving one to two hours (for the masses to give speeches). However, the korlap was not committed so we took measured law enforcement efforts", said Herdiana.
In Jayapura city, around 700 security personnel were deployed to secure the 1962 New York Agreement commemoration events consisting of Indonesian Police (Polri) and TNI personnel.
"Polri and the TNI are safe guarding (securing the action) because it is approaching August 17 (Indonesian Independence Day). Currently, we have not secured (arrested) any demonstrators", added Herdiana.
-- Reporting by Ratty Auparai, Aida Ulim, Gamaliel Kailele, Hengky Yeimo and Pes Yanengga
[Abridged translation by James Balowski based on five articles by Jubi Papua on August 15. The original title of the lead article was "Aksi KNPB Protes New York Agreement Dihadang Pihak Keamanan".]
Source: https://jubi.id/polhukam/2024/polisi-bubarkan-aksi-protes-perjanjian-new-york-di-abepura/
