INDONESIA: Jakarta Post Take a Tough Stand on Papuan Death Controversy

Amnesty International has released a stunning report on the death of three peaceful protesters participating in the Third Papuan Peoples’ Congress rally on October 19th that came at the hands of Indonesian security forces. The human-rights group called for prompt action from the Indonesian National Police chief, asking him to respond to the Indonesian national human rights commission’s (Komnas HAM) findings of human rights violations. “We interviewed the participants at the congress and found out that 96 of them were assaulted. There were maybe more,” said Komnas HAM’s Papua Chairman Julles Ongge, as quoted by Indonesian news website tempointeraktif.com.

The Jakarta Post in particular has been covering this issue fully, publishing multiple front pages articles on both the incident itself as well as the responses from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Komnas HAM. These respected non-profits have condemned the actions of the security forces and continue to call for independent investigations as well as government responses to the alleged human rights violations.

Recently, the Jakarta Post, the leading English language daily of Indonesia, has published two forthright articles, one demanding an Indonesian government response into the Komnas HAM’s findings. It concludes: “The failure to bring perpetrators of these violations to justice in fair trials will reinforce the perception that the security forces in Papua operate above the law and fuel the ongoing climate of mistrust towards the security forces there.” The second Jakarta post article scrutinizes the government’s decision to down play and even ignore the reports of human rights violations at the congress.

The response of a Presidential spokesperson was this: “In principle, we have dealt with the Papua issue properly.”

For more information please visit:

 

Human Rights Watch

Amnesty International

Antara News

Jakarta Post

 

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