Papua: Military Approach that Failed?

FINAL TEST

Papua: Military Approach that Failed?

Papua is fragile nowadays. The security that is demanded by all of Papuans till now cannot be upheld by the Indonesian government. People are being the victims. Not to mention, many died in the demonstrations and riots. The victims are not merely from the civil society but also coming from the foreign people and the military troops. The gun shootings are heard everywhere. Some people claim that this harassment is caused by the separation organization, Free Papua Movement (Indonesian: Organisasi Papua Merdeka, abbreviated OPM). However, the statement already denied by Indonesian Institute of Science (Indonesian: Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia, abbreviated LIPI). They suspected that the party involved in this harassment was the military itself.

Papua is located far from the touch of Indonesian government. Many people speculate that the government of Indonesia is getting weak to recover Papua. Many countries have begun to support Papuans to have their own sovereignty. It is because the Indonesian government has failed to preserve the security or even to win the trust of these 2.851.999 Papuans.

The Deployment of the Indonesian National Armed Forces (Indonesian: Tentara Nasional Indonesia, abbreviated TNI) since 3 years ago is considered failed to occupy the security among Papua. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) firstly claimed that this deployment was needed since Indonesian government would like to erase the separation organization, OPM from Papua land. President SBY also said that the deployment was for creating stability. By this order, the troops work with Polisi Daerah or regional police to maintain the security.

However, what is coming as a problem is the effectiveness of the TNI itself. Can they approach the headquarters of the OPM?

Until now, the TNI cannot directly attack the post of the OPM since they get burden of the geographical aspect. This reason is not reliable. The point is, the government has stated that the TNI has to overcome this problem by gradually arresting the doer. In the reality, the TNI just moves inside the city. The commitment to condemn terrorist is not significantly done by them. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is no longer pushing them. People need to see that the commitment is granted by the real action. The notion appearing right now is no one should become the scapegoat and no one shoots people first without any court at the very first place.

In addition, public now is having lack of trust toward the policy coming from the government. They see that with many TNI staying in Papua, it will no longer create stability as what is intended. The recent incident literally showed to the government that the TNI had been unaccepted there. The people are getting easier to be provoked to avenge such as the case happened to Pratu Ahmad Ruslan, an officer of the TNI. He was attacked by the people since he unintentionally hit a child named Devi Wanimbo. There is sentiment from the Papuans and it makes them not really close to the TNI.

Moreover, the controversy of the TNI’s existence in Papua has begun since the middle of 1998 when the top of harassment happened in the Soeharto regime. These troops were showing their arrogance and arbitrary harassment to the people. Thus, it influenced the acceptance of Papuans as well as the trust upon this party.

There are three aspects that have to be considered regarding to the presence of military approach in Papua. Whether or not the government policy in appointing this party has been appropriate enough to preserve and emerge the security upon Papua.

Firstly, the presence of military troops approach to solve the problem is considered exacerbating the recent harassment done by the military itself. The government sees the OPM movement as a big threat. Rather than evoking the sympathy and trust toward the Indonesian government, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in his order sent the TNI to Papua. Based on the law number 34/2004, he believes that by preserving the security of Papuans can promote their trust. He wants to show that the OPM should be erased from Papua. Well, it is right to stop the separation organization but reflecting to the status quo right now, people get more scared of the military existence and not by the OPM action.

Right forward from now, the government policy determines the destiny of the people in that country. The deployment of the military troops can be done if there is a military operation need in one area. It should not be deployed just because there is a demand from the intelligence or the military commander. The duty of the TNI is clear. They drive the military operation such as war, separatism organizations, terrorist and so on. If yes, those requirements are happened, thus the president must deploy the Indonesian National Armed Force. However, does it the policy that is demanded by Papuans and regarded with the Law of Indonesia?

The additional existence of the Indonesian National Armed Force is actually rejected by Papuans. Seemingly, people do not want to have the TNI in the land of Papua. The policy actually has the controversy which does not regard to the law number 34/2004. Moreover, the deployment is not in line with the previous policy holding by the government to use the cultural, economic, and social approaches toward Papuans.

Even the government was, for example trying to erase Aceh Freedom Movement (Indonesian: Gerakan Aceh Merdeka, abbreviated GAM), in the end, they used diplomacy. The same situation happened in Papua. Many more murders happened after the presence of military. It assumed that the OPM sees the oppression from the government and they do not want to compromise. The OPM did not see any diplomacy way so simply they used gun if being attacked.

Separation is always demanded by the OPM. They think that Indonesian government is not capable in caring Papuans. Indonesian government is deemed to just exploit the wealth of Papua. For example, Freeport got the contract extension to dig the gold. Again, the existence of the TNI is justified there to secure the Freeport. The TNI is obligated to overcome the danger if OPM’s attacks within the area of Freeport.

While the unfairness regarding to Papuans as the owner of Papua land, the government just simply neglects their voices. It seems impossible even for Papuans to be involved in the project of digging gold. It is because the result of this project is only flowing directly to the central government in Jakarta and more to the US country.

The controversy even more heated when the government would like to deploy Densus 88. It was rejected by some organizations. The idea of deploying Densus 88 creates the notion of using more guns. People see that the repressive method is no longer appropriate.

Let’s see the reality; the problem recently is not because of terrorism but because of a bad economy. Thus, just fix it. The model that is needed in Papua and the OPM is persuasiveness, dialogue and social approaches. If the Indonesian Police would like to solve the problem on how to overcome the OPM, using the intelligence will be more effective for the early detection and to anticipate the situation.

Secondly, the government seems that they neglect the humanitarian abuses happened for a long time in Papua. Military tribunals are held rarely and lack of transparency. Furthermore, the charges for especially the TNI are frequently far from the seriousness of the abuses.

In January, for example, three soldiers from Battalion 753 were sentenced between eight to twelve months imprisonment. Despite video evidence of six soldiers torturing two Papuans, the tribunal only charged three of them. The case remains a big hole for the victims.

As reported by World Report 2012 of Human Right, in August, Jayapura tribunal only convicted three soldiers from the same battalion to disobeying order and they were sentenced to six, seven and fifteen month prison. The case was these three man shot and killed Kinderman Gire on the suspicion he was a separatist.

This is even worse; the recent case was the police shooting Mako Tabuni as he was suspected to be the master of shooting and harassment in Papua. He was an activist in the West Papua National Committee (Indonesian: Komite Nasional Papua Barat, abbreviated KNKB). The police claimed that Mako tabuni was trying to escape thus they must shoot him. This was not the intended proposal; nonetheless the universal law stated clearly that even the most dangerous terrorist cannot be shot just because he does rebel. This shooting provoked riot afterward. The supporters of Mako Tabuni got down to the street and made chaos.

The thing is, let the tribunal judge him whether or not he deserves the sentence. If it is true that the police have done some trials; still, it needs to be clear and reasonable in order not to create greater victims.

Thirdly, Papua needs more reliable policy to preserve the stabilization such as transparent court and open justice. It is obviously the government’s duty. If Presidents Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono wants to open the previous human right abuses tribunals, more people will get better trust to the government. It shows how much government would like to clear the unfairness and give better understanding between central government and Papuans. The government can probably erase the preconceived notion that the trial between military and the civil society is a way difference. Accordingly to the same position of people in the law, they must be treated equally.

There is no compromise for those who are deserved to get sentences of prison. Not to mention that the soldiers should be discharged if they abuse the human right. The other duty of government is to recover the rights of the victims in Papua whose right has been abused.

What actually happened in Papua are the reflection of the uncertainty upon the policy of power on power. The government as well is failed to present the justice, equality, assurance of political right, economic, social and cultural right that have not been enjoyed by Papuans. The government is better to consider what Papuans’ demand. The government needs to win their trust.

In short, the implementation of Law number 34/2004 needs more consideration. It is not as simple as calling someone to come for help. The deployment of the TNI or Indonesian National Armed Forces only can be done if there is political decision from the government and not merely by the president.

The duty of government is embracing the needs of the society. It is important for the Indonesian government especially the President to reconsider the existence of military troops in Papua. If the appointment of investigation and keeping peace can elevate the security then it also has to be transparent for the civil society of Papua in order to avoid misunderstanding and emerging the trust of them.

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