In
New York, Papua I can’t breathe
Galuh Wandita ; A member of the Coalition for Justice and Truth
(KKPK);
Director of Asia Justice and Rights
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JAKARTA
POST, 12 Desember 2014
Eric
Garner was an African-American man, unarmed and not dangerous, selling
cigarettes on the sidewalk in Staten Island, New York. A brush with the
police quickly escalated into a life and death situation. Caught on camera
saying “I can’t breathe” 11 times, as a police officer secured him in a
chokehold, Garner lost his life.
Last
week, a grand jury exonerated the police officer who had held down Garner
from criminal liability. The American public reacted swiftly, adopting
Garner’s last words — “I can’t breathe” — to describe a growing frustration
toward racism and violence against African Americans, especially within the
police force.
As we
celebrate our commitment to human rights here in Indonesia, there is news
about another massacre in Papua.
According
to a Papuan civil society coalition, military personnel from Battalion 753
opened fire on a crowd of unarmed protestors in Enarotali, Paniai, Papua on
Dec. 8, killing four high school students: Alpius Youw, 17; Yulian Yeimo, 17;
Simon Degei, 18; and Alpius Gobai, 17; and another man.
Like
Garner (and the Ferguson) case, it started with a small incident that quickly
escalated with overtones of racism. Allegedly, some young people gathered at
a Christmas nativity scene were drawn into an altercation with members of the
military driving by in a vehicle.
The
incident led to one of the young boys being beaten. He was brought to a
nearby hospital. The next day, angry community members set up a roadblock and
when military personnel arrived in the same vehicle thought to be the one
used in the incident the night before, the community members wrecked the
vehicle.
According
to the press report, the military personnel retaliated by shooting their guns
in the air and destroying parts of the crèche. In reaction to the shooting, a
crowd began to gather in a field nearby. They began to perform a traditional
dance that signified a demand for accountability from the military and
police.
The
incident occurred less than 100 days since President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s
inauguration. During this short time span, he has already made a statement to
establish a new military command for Papua, as if adding more soldiers were a
solution to the ongoing lack of trust and disappointment felt by many
indigenous Papuans.
Under the
2001 Special Autonomy Law for Papua, the central government acknowledged that
it had “yet to fulfill the feeling of justice […] and yet to respect human
rights” in Papua. Article 46 of the law, titled “human rights,” states that
human rights can be achieved through three mechanisms: a human rights court
with jurisdiction over crimes against humanity and genocide, a truth and
reconciliation commission to clarify and establish the history of Papua and
formulate and determine reconciliation measures, and third, a Papua branch of
a national human rights commission.
However,
13 years since special autonomy was granted, only the branch office has been
established. Jakarta has steadily reneged on its promises to reconcile a
bloody history in Papua and commitment to justice and reconciliation.
Sadly,
since special autonomy was put in place, more outbreaks of killings and other
violence have been rampant in Papua. The only case brought to the human
rights court in Makassar was the Abepura case of 2000, but this resulted in
the acquittal of the two police officers indicted.
As the
news about the killings in Enoratali hit the media, with pictures of the
bodies of the high school students quickly going viral on social media, I
found it difficult to breathe.
My
father, Soedjatmoko, was a diplomat who argued for international recognition
of Papua’s integration into Indonesia in 1969. Were he still alive, I believe
he would be distressed to hear about the continuing bloodshed.
Papua is
again in a chokehold of violence, and the rest of the country seems
uninterested. We turn a blind eye to our own racial profiling and inability
to deliver justice that continues to perpetuate a cycle of hatred and
violence in Papua.
In
October this year, the Coalition for Justice and Truth (KKPK), a national
coalition of human rights organizations, launched a report based on a
year-long civil society inquiry into Indonesia’s violent past.
During a
public hearing held as part of the report’s launch in Jakarta, two victims
from Papua also testified. One man was a torture survivor who was detained
with about 900 others in 1967. He was electrocuted and made to do forced
labor gathering stones and building a government radio station.
He
witnessed some 100 detainees being sent to Java, where they were detained
together with political prisoners from 1965 for a couple of years. He was
freed in 1969, but detained again in the 1980s.
He also
spoke about how people from Jakarta lacked an understanding of the Papuans.
Closing his testimony, he said: “I do not feel I need to exact revenge from
those who tortured me [...] instead, we must build on the language of love
because it can be heard by those who are deaf and seen by those who are
blind.”
Jokowi’s
administration must respond to the Enarotali killings with an independent
investigation and push for an overhaul of Jakarta’s approach to dealing with
the conflict in Papua.
It must be able to provide a listening ear and open a dialogue based on
love and hope for peace, not bloodshed. Indonesian social media campaigners
should adopt the “I can’t breathe” campaign to highlight the racism against
Papuans, which is so prominent in our daily interactions with our Melanesian
brothers and sisters. ●
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