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| Papuan Protest Indenpendent. |
AUCKLAND,
New Zealand (Pacific Scoop, July 3, 2012) – Indonesian Intelligence and
military forces have been accused of pushing their own agendas in the
Papuan press in an
open letter from Victor Mambor, head of the Jayapura branch of the Alliance for Independent Journalists (AJI), circulated in the
West Papua region.
This
letter comes at a time when the Indonesian-run colonial press in West
Papua is coming under repeated attack from both Papuan and Indonesian
religious and civil society figures, independent media and human rights
organizations, for its unethical and blatantly false reportage of the
recent upsurge in "unknown killings" in Papua, referred to as OTK
(orang tidak ketahui or unknown persons, now referred to across Papua
as Orang Terlatih Khusus or Specially Trained People).
Indonesian-owned
media outlets in Papua have long been identified with Indonesian
intelligence and propaganda activities, with many outlets being
directly owned by military officers for profit, and almost all media
outlets coming under the control (either willing or not) of Indonesian
intelligence personnel.
West Papua Media wrote a detailed section in the Pacific Media Watch 2011
Pacific Media Freedom report published in Pacific Journalism Review and highlighted the issues faced with press freedom in West Papua.
This
report details the tactics Indonesian occupation forces use to limit
factual reportage in Papua, and to dissuade journalists from doing
their job.
However, now the Indonesian
colonial press is becoming even more blatant in pushing an agenda in
step with the Indonesian military agenda.
This
agenda is being keenly felt by members of the nonviolent civil
resistance movement and Papuan civil society, particularly members of
the West Papua National Committee (KNPB), who are being blamed for the
OTK campaign despite no evidence being presented to prove the military
assertions, with what little evidence present having been entirely
fabricated by a police too terrified to point the finger at the real
perpetrators of violence in Papua – their big brothers in the military.
Mako Tabuni
Spreading falsehood
This
spreading of falsehood has reached a crescendo around the assassination
of KNPB leader Mako Tabuni, who was gunned down in an execution on June
14 by Australian-trained Detachment 88 officers in Jayapura.
Justifying
this criminal act, Indonesian police have variously claimed that they
shot Mako in self defense, despite many witness claims that he was shot
in the back while on the ground.
Indonesian
police then fabricated evidence including placing a handgun on his body
in the hospital, and loudly announcing that Mako was responsible with
other KNPB members for the series of OTK shootings, including the
shooting of a German tourist.
This is
despite the unchallenged fact that all shootings were carried out with
men in broad daylight who made no attempt to hide and nonchalantly
drove away in the DS (police) plated Avanzas.
This
was reported uncritically by many in the colonial Indonesian press in
Papua, with ironically perhaps, the truth-telling in Indonesian
metropolitan media coming from independent human rights journalists who
went out on a limb by telling the story of the peaceful activist and
freedom fighter whom they had all met and spent time with in his
attempts to non-violently raise the issue of his peoples suffering
under colonial genocidal policies.
Yet
the shootings continue, even with the official suspect dead, with nary
a comment coming from the colonial press, a situation that is a direct
repetition of the assassination of Kelly Kwalik on December 16, 2010.
Kwalik
was also blamed for the OTK shootings that have plagued the giant
Freeport Grasberg gold and copper mine for many years, shootings widely
blamed on a spat between Brimob police and the TNI for control of mine
protection and illegal gold mining businesses.
Shootings continue
Again,
despite the assassination of Kwalik (again by Detachment 88 officers),
the shootings continue, and will continue as long as the Indonesian
security forces use conflict as a way of guaranteeing their presence.
A
presence with its only purpose being to exploit natural resources and
make the generals’ money – at the heart of why Papuan people resist the
colonization of their land.
The leader
of the indigenous Papuan Kingmi church, the Reverend Benny Giay, was
last week in Jakarta to brief international diplomats about the
shootings and recent massive increases in state violence against Papuan
people.
In his briefing, he said that
when the government has claimed shootings are carried out by separatist
groups, Papuans respond to those claims with their usual: "Oh itu lagu
lama. The authorities are playing the old song."
As
Mambor has outlined in his letter, Rev Giay made a series of formal
complaints to the Indonesian Press Council and journalists’
associations about the alleged lack of integrity of Indonesian
so-called journalists in Papua and of their non-factual scapegoating of
ordinary Papuans for separatist and violent actions.
This
seems to have already threatened powerful people, as a source close to
Giay had told West Papua Media that he was physically threatened by a
member of the security forces during his advocacy work in Jakarta.
But
this behavior by intelligence services and their not-very-opaque
"journalists" is causing many independent media to look at other
tactics to regain their Papuan voices.
Just
as Victor Mambor has done with his heartfelt letter, the independent
Papuan citizen media outlet UMAGI News has taken a bold step in
publicly naming a group of Indonesian reporters that it believes are
paid intelligence officers under the command of the Cenderwasih
military command.
Papuan journalists: ‘Stop terror on press reporters’
In an editorial, UmagiNews has
argued that most Indonesians who serve in professional media in Papua
do not carry out the tasks and functions of a journalist.
"Whether
in print, electronic or online media, (journalists should) convey
information what has happened, seen, heard, felt. To be independent
means to report the events and facts in accordance with the voice of
conscience without interference, coercion, and the intervention of
other parties including the owners of the press," said the Umagi
editorial.
"Accurate means truthful
according to the objective circumstances when the event occurs;
balanced means that all parties have equal opportunity to have their
views heard; and to not act in bad faith means no deliberate and sole
intent of the detriment of others. Yet according to KM, a Papuan
independent journalist, most journalists who served in Papua have
always worked closely with the military, which is a violation of the
journalistic code of ethics."
Umagi
News published the names of the following reporters whom it says it has
gathered evidence that shows their active collaboration as informers
and/or trained agents with civilian or military intelligence services.
Umagi
claims its information has come from sources within both the security
forces, and from a TNI document from the command of the
XVII/Cenderawasih Military Region Taskforce 6 "datasheet of
informants/agents", signed by one Ahmad Fikri Musmar (NRP inf Captain
11,970,044,410,576).
All suspects are
ethnic Indonesians and non-Papuan. They and their media affiliations
are named on the West Papuan Media websitehere.
West
Papua Media has sought clarification from independent journalists and
human rights sources in West Papua about the veracity of these names,
and our sources have concurred with the accuracy of the names given in
the Umagi report, though West Papua Media has not yet been able to see
the document first hand.
However, this is not a new claim.
For
example, On May 16, the TNI [Indonesian military] held a major meeting
with Indonesian press representatives in Sorong, and encouraged
soldiers and journalists to work together to ensure "balanced coverage
of the affairs of the function and duties of the TNI… so that it can be
beneficial for society."
The commander
of the TNI in Sorong, Colonel Inf Wiharsa Eka, even exhorted all
present to monitor events together, as "it runs the full atmosphere of
intimate friendship, and even a means to know each other.
The
journalists should exchange phone numbers, either with me or Danyon
commander (Commander Batalyon)," said the colonel. With friends like
these soldiers, how could an honest journalist possibly have any fears
of reporting events factually in Papua?
Papuan
people reclaiming their own media space is an inevitable next step in
the struggle for self-determination. The building a free and robust
credible independent media is the basis for any democratic society –
and indeed this is the core mission of West Papua Media.
But
Indonesia’s deliberate manipulation of the truth and its corruption of
the principles of journalism in West Papua, together with the ongoing
and constant threats to brave professional and citizen journalists in
Papua for telling the truth, are giving those committed to genuine
journalism more impetus every day to give voice to the voiceless, and
to help the voiceless roar in Papua. ( Nick Chesterfield)
