PROMOTING HUMAN RIGHTS, PEACE AND DEMOCRACY IN INDONESIA

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3 September 2002

TAPOL has today called on the British Government to press for the creation of an impartial and independent team to investigate the killing on 31 August of three Freeport employees.

In a letter to the Minister of State Mike O'Brien, TAPOL said that, without a moment's hesitation and with no evidence to hand, the army commander, Major-General Mahidin Simbolon, blamed the OPM for the killings and launched an operation to hunt down members of the OPM. It pointed out that the local OPM commander, Daniel Koyoga, has denied that his men were involved in the outrage and furtheremore the overall commander of OPM in the region, Kelly Kwalik, had given his support to efforts to create a Zone of Peace in West Papua, only five days before the killings, in talks with human rights activist, John Rumbiak.

TAPOL said that the incident had happened at a time when there is widespread dissatisfaction in West Papua at the failure of the government's investigation into the November 2001 assassination of independence leader Theys Hiyo Eluay to probe the background to the crime and discover who engineered it. It follows shortly after the provincial police chief, Made Mangku Pastika, announced the launch of a special operation, Operasi Adil Matoa, the express purpose of which is to crack down on so-called separatist groups. According to sources who have seen the document setting out the aims of the operation, one objective is to brand the Papuan Presidium Council as an illegal organisation, in order to provide the grounds for it to be banned.

Carmel Budiardjo of TAPOL said: 'In such a volatile situation, it is essential that the killing of Freeport personnel should be properly investigated by a team of impartial, independent investigators, which should include the participation of international experts. Otherwise, we fear that the promising efforts of civil society in West Papua to create a Zone of Peace will founder and conflict will spread, along with yet more violations of human rights.'

TAPOL called on the British Government to:

1. Launch an initiative, along with its partners in the European Union, to press for the establishment of an independent team of investigators, including an international dimension, to investigate the latest outrage in Timika.

2. Give full support to civil society in West Papua to its efforts to create a Zone of Peace.

3. Urge the Indonesian Government to order a cessation of military operations in and around Timika, in order to prevent the outbreak of armed clashes and human rights abuses there.

ENDS

The full text of the letter is available at http://tapol.gn.apc.org/let020903.htm

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