Nabire – West Papua National Committee (KNPB) member Gerson Pigai says that 101 KNPB activists who took part in demonstrations and were arrested by the Nabire District Police (Polres) on Thursday morning, August 15, including three others who were arrested prior to this for handing out leaflets, have now all been released and returned home.
“From all points, we estimate that around 101 people were arrested. On Thursday August 15 at 11 pm in the evening they were released ", Pigai told journalists during a press conference attended by KNPB members and leaders throughout the Meepago region in Kali Bobo on Friday August 16.
Meanwhile, the two KNPB activists who suffered injuries from rubber bullets, Andy Tebay and Yosua Pigome, are still being treated at Nabire Regional Public Hospital. In addition to this, said Pigai, eight KNPB members also suffered serious injuries as a result of being beaten by police officers using military boots, iron bars, rattan sticks and rifle butts.
"There were also things belonging to the protesters that were lost at the protest site and at the Nabire Polres. Items in the form of money, cell phones, belonging to the protesters that were taken, we're asking the police to return them to their owners immediately", he said.
Gerson Pigai reported in general terms the chronology of the action that resulted in the mass arrests by the police. The Meepago region KNPB held a demonstration against the 1962 New York Agreement while commemorating August as the Month of Racism at several points in Nabire on Thursday morning.
The protesters, said Pigai said, gathered at five points, namely Kali Bobo, Siriwini, the Karang Market, the SP 1 West Nabire intersection and the Jepara II Wadio Hotel. However, at every point they were approached by police from the Nabire District Police, the actions broken up and the activists taken to the Nabire District Police station.
"The masses began to arrive at the gathering points at around 7 am. The masses in Kalibobo had been giving speeches for around 10 minutes, police immediately moved in and took them away", he said.
According to Pigai, the police arrested a large number of people. They were then taken to the Nabire District Police station. "The brutal thing was the protesters were ordered to take off their shirts and sit in the hot sun", he said.
No democratic space in Nabire
Action coordinator and KNPB Nabire Secretary Zadrak Kudiyai explained that out of the five locations where actions were to be held, the planned action at the SP 1 had not even started and they were dispersed by police. Meanwhile in Kalibobo, the demonstrators were already at the location but were then arrested by police. Then in Siriwini, the police dispersed the masses at 12.46 pm.
"The police dispersed [protesters] without negotiating with the field coordinator at the gathering point", he said. "From the reports we received, there were three people who were arrested", he added.
Then in the case of the action at the Karang Market, they had reached the location of the action then marched as far as the Nabire River bridge. "The police blocked them from the direction of Wonorejo and from the direction of West Karang, and fired teargas, so the masses dispersed", he said.
Kudiyai said that the two protesters who were shot by security forces are still in the Nabire Regional Pubic Hospital (RSUD) in Siriwini. The two victims are Andrias Gobay (a member of the Dogiyai region KNPB) and Yosua Pigome. They were shot in the resettlement area beside the Nabire River.
"Both victims are in critical condition", he said. "Andrias Gobay and Yosua Pigome are currently still anaemic and they still have to be treated at Nabire RSUD", he added.
According to Kudiyai, the police's actions in breaking up the KNPB demonstrations at five points in Nabire violated the law and the security forces did not provide any space for freedom of expression.
"The police did not carry out security in accordance with applicable laws and regulations, including Protap [standard operating procedures] in accordance with Perkap (Chief of Police Regulation) Number 1,2029 on the Use of Force in Police Actions", he said.
Many interests in Nabire
Regarding the roadblock that was setup after the demonstrators were dispersed at the Nabire River Bridge, Kudiyai said that the KNPB was not responsible.
"After the protesters were dispersed, the KNPB protesters from greater Meepago retreated, so the KNPB was not responsible for the roadblock that started from the side of the Nabire River Transit to the main road in front of the Wonorejo Mosque, the KNPB was not responsible for that", he said.
The reason they are not responsible, said Kudiyai, is because at a second press conference they had made an appeal and stated that if problems occurred during the action while people were intoxicated or carrying sharp items then the KNPB was not responsible. "Because we know that there are many interests in Nabire", he said.
Kudiyai also suspects that the pursuit of migrants carried out by non-Papuans [or Indonesian citizens] in Wonorejo was a plot by the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) designed to disrupt the KNPB's actions and scapegoat the KNPB.
"We were not responsible from the start, we have already conveyed that we were not responsible because in Nabire there are many interests. So from the Transat to the mosque it is outside of our responsibility, because it's beyond our chain of command", he said.
He also highlighted the police's actions, which he considered were wrong, where all the demonstrators were ordered to sign a letter before being sent home, promising not to carry out any more KNPB actions.
"We consider this very wrong, because the Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia stipulates that every citizen has the right to express an opinion in public", he said.
Drive out colonialism, against racism
Kimot Mote, the field coordinator for the simultaneous action by the KNPB in Meepago on Thursday said that they took up the theme "Drive Out Colonialism, Against Racism" during the actions in Meepago.
"We issued a statement on the KNPB's position the other day during the joint actions by the West Papuan people to reject the illegal New York Agreement and against racism", he said.
The statement contained nine points, namely that Indonesia immediately open up democratic space in Papua, withdraw the military from West Papua, stop deploying the Indonesian military in West Papua, stop ecocide and genocide in West Papua and rejecting the companies PT Blok Wabu, PT Somaling and others in West Papua.
Then stop arresting Papuan pro-independence activists, that the United Nation immediately review the 1969 Pepera (the UN sponsored referendum that saw West Papua incorporated into Indonesia) and immediately hold a new referendum, that Indonesia immediately open access to foreign journalists in West Papua and that Indonesia immediately grant the right to self-determination for the West Papuan nation as a democratic solution.
Firm, measured action using tear gas
As reported earlier by Jubi.id on Thursday, 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.
"Yes, there were indeed some small ripples, but we have brought everything under control. The situation has gradually become conducive. Moreover this was from the Forkompimda [Regional Leadership Communication Forum], both provincial and district, both checked, the situation was able to be controlled", he said.
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.
Bintoro added, "There were even motorbikes belonging to residents that were torched. Then on the bridges, the pillars were also all removed. Therefore, we carried out firm, measured action using tear gas", he said.
Notes
The New York Agreement was signed on August 15, 1962 at the UN headquarters in New York, ending a territorial dispute between the Netherlands and Indonesia over the territory of West Papua. The agreement led to the so-called 1969 "Act of Free Choice" to decide whether West Papua would become independent or be incorporated into Indonesia. The UN sponsored plebiscite, in which 1,025 hand-picked tribal leaders were allegedly coerced by the military into unanimously voting for integration, has been widely dismissed as a sham.
- Rallies in Papua marking New York Agreement dispersed with teargas, rubber bullets. Jubi Papua – August 15, 2024
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "101 Aktivisnya Dilepaskan, KNPB Sebut Polres Nabire Tidak Memberikan Ruang Kebebasan".]
