Peaceful demonstrations supporting Papuan independence were held in several parts on the predominantly Christian Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua.

Thousands of West Papuans marched in the peaceful demonstrations in cities including Jayapura, Yakuhimo, Manokwari, Merauke and Sorong.

Demonstrators were demanding the United Liberation Movement for West Papua be accepted as a member of the Melanesian Spearhead Group.

"We have the right to be a member of the Melanesian Spearhead Group. We are Melanesians, we are not Indonesians," Bazooka Logo, spokesman for the pro-independence National Committee for West Papua, told demonstrators

"We say 'no' to Indonesia. Indonesia is not Melanesia. Indonesia is Malay, which doesn't have the right to be a member of the Melanesian Spearhead Group, but Papua does," Logo said.

44 West Papuans were arrested by Indonesian police during demonstrations.

13 demonstrators were arrested in Merauke, 11 in Jayapura, 5 in Yahukimo and 15 in Kaimana regency.

Father Neles Tebay of the Jayapura Diocese has said that the Catholic Church, in collaboration with all religious leaders, has jointly called for a peaceful dialogue to settle the Papua conflict.

"We will continue to promote dialogue until the formal dialogue between the Indonesian government and the Papuans represented by the United Liberation Movement for West Papua takes place for the sake of a lasting peace," Father Tebay told a meeting of several bishops from Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, April 9.

Source

• ucanews.com
• radionz.co.nz
• Image: jakartaglobe.

The Pacific Conference of Churches General Secretary, Reverend Francois Pihaatae, says Papuans are being killed and tortured merely because they want self-determination, a right guaranteed by the United Nations of which Indonesia is a member.

He said 500,000 Papuans have died since Indonesia annexed the territory in 1961.

Pihaatae said the situation in Papua was made worse by Indonesian denials when the evidence of abuse was clear.

"Social media makes it impossible for Indonesia to hide the atrocities committed by its security forces on a people who want to determine their political future for themselves."

The call came after the killing of a student in Timika and Indonesia's denials at the United Nations General Assembly of human rights abuses in the territory.

Rev Pihaatae said that despite the obvious, overwhelming evidence, the Indonesian government insulted the intelligence of Pacific people by its denials.

"Our leaders' silence will not make the issue go away," Pihaatae said.

"In the name of humanity we, the Pacific churches, call on our leaders to end this bloodshed and bring injustice in Papua to an end."

Source

• Facebook
• Image: freewestpapua.org

In the provincial capital, Jayapura, 30 people were arrested at a rally against Indonesian rule.

A person who was at the rally, Rosa, says there was a heavy security presence in the city, and as soon as the rally tried to march, the police moved in to break them up.

"Once the demonstrators started to walk or march the police threatened them and said 'if you step forward we will shoot you', so then they had an argument and just in a short time they were arrested, like, they caught them and put them into the police truck."

12 people were reportedly arrested by Indonesian security forces outside a maket in Manokwari on Thursday afternoon for distributing leaflets about a demonstration planned for Friday.

There were 22 protests around the world last Wednesday calling for free and open access to Indonesia's most secretive region.

Since West Papua's annexation in 1963, Indonesia has imposed a media blackout on the contested, resource-rich territory, allowing perpetrators of human rights violations to act with total impunity.

West Papua is one of the world's most isolated conflict spots. For decades, Indonesian security forces have brutally suppressed Papuan pro-independence movements.

The spokesperson for the main journalists' union in New Zealand has criticised the Indonesian blocking of access for international journalists in the West Papua region but says he is even more concerned about the "intimidation" of local Papuan journalists.

Brent Edwards, convenor of the EPMU's Print and Media Industry Council, told Pacific Media Watch the lack of access for international journalists had been a "big concern".

"But as important, if not more important, is the treatment of journalists in West Papua," he said.

"How free are they to go about their business of reporting free from fear of intimidation or government heavy-handedness?"

Source

• Radio New Zealand
• Radio New Zealand
• Pacific Media Centre
• Pacific.Scoop
• Pacific.Scoop
• Image: Humanosphere

According to a six-month Good Weekend investigation children, possibly in their thousands, have been enticed away over the past decade or more with the promise of a free education.In a province where the schools are poor and the families poorer still, no-cost schooling can be an irresistible offer.

But for some of these children, it's only when they arrive that they find out they have been recruited by "pesantren", Islamic boarding schools, where time to study maths, science or language is dwarfed by the hours spent in the mosque.

There, in the words of one pesantren leader, "They learn to honour God, which is the main thing."

It's not clear if the practice has government support or is part of official policy.
Source

• The Age
• Radio Australia
• Image: The Age

Examples of crimes by the Indonesian security forces include:

• The bombing of the parliament Jayawijaya building on 1 September 2012 by OTK (Orang Tak Dikenal)
• the throwing of bombs at the Jayawijaya police station traffic on 18 September 2012
• the discovery of a bomb in Timika, Friday, October 19, 2012
• the discovery of three bombs in Manokwari on October 9, 2012
• Explosion of three homemade bombs in Sorong on Sunday, October 28, 2012.

The press release states that 7.62 calibre ammunition has been discovered in nine different places, "5 TJ 5.6 bullets in as much as 121 points, 5.6 servant bullets in 20 points and the arrest of four youths known by the initials DIH (26), a resident of Organda, YP (28), a resident Sampan Timika, AK (24) a woman, a resident of Organda, and YJW (27) a Karubaga citizen. (Cenderwasih Pos News, Wednesday, October 31, 2012)".

The press release goes on to say that on the part of the Indonesian security forces there is a "systematic effort to thwart the Papuan demands to work towards a peace dialogue, to destroy the peaceful struggle of the Papua people for self-determination and to brand those Papuan who strive for independence as terrorists.

It says that "The security forces of the Republic of Indonesia must stop committing crimes against humanity by an engineered situation of bombs and ammunition discovery at the houses of indigenous Papuans" and that "The Government of the Republic of Indonesia immediately open a space for an unconditional peace dialogue between the Government of Indonesia and the Papuans, mediated by a neutral third party, as a political solution to the Special Autonomy has FAILED to answer the complexity of the issue of Papua".

The press release is signed by Sofyan Yoman Socratez, Chairman of the Central Body for the Fellowship of Baptist Churches in Papua.

Sources

• West Papua Media Alerts
• Image: Around the Fire