Mr. Herman Wainggai, CEO of West Papuan Human Rights Center, condemns the killing and decapitation of four innocent West Papuans, and calls for an independent investigator and prosecutor to handle the case. He warned that a military tribunal will coverup the truth.
On behalf of the West Papuan Human Rights Center here in Washington, D.C., I strongly condemn the killing of four innocent West Papuan indigenous men by members of the Indonesian elite forces. The killing is a sign that the military operators throughout Indonesia are not controlling their own soldiers, and it seems that a coverup is underway. Quite frankly, it is not the first time such killing took place against our people. These soldiers have been doing this for quite a while and received little to no attention at all. Here are few examples of how Indonesian forces killing our people:
This innocent man was tortured and murdered, and an Indonesian officer captured his last words. What the video didn’t show is why he was targeted. There’s no evidence that the Indonesian officers in this video were charged or prosecuted for killing an innocent unarmed man, but the evidence is out there. Another video circulated a few years ago of an innocent West Papuan being subjected to torture by Indonesian interrogators. They used a snake, which appeared to be a python, to threaten the young suspect.
Here’s another video of a young man being beaten up in broad daylight in the street for everyone to see. In any democratic country, such action would be considered ‘hate crime’, but in West Papua, it is happening quite frequently, and these officers got away with it.
Indonesian coverup is not new
The Indonesian government has been engaging in this kind of killing for the past five decades, and most of the killers were never charged. For instance, the killing of Australian journalists in East Timor at the height of their fight for independence, and the Biak Massacre of the late 1990s were not properly investigated by the Indonesian government, instead the killers were either retired comfortably or promoted to very important jobs in the Indonesian government and military. Here’s an example:
General Wiranto was the ‘Minister of Defense’ during the 1998 massacre in Biak where more than two hundred innocent West Papuans – including women and children – were massacred by the Indonesian forces under his watch. He was never held accountable for his role in that mass killing of innocent people. Instead, he was promoted. President Joko Widodo appointed him in 2016 as his military advisor, sparking outraged throughout West Papua and the world.
INDONESIA: THE APPOINTMENT OF GEN. WIRANTO AS TOP SECURITY OFFICIAL SHOWS CONTEMPT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS (Amnesty International)
We know what these people are capable of doing, and the fact that these murderers – who executed four innocent West Papuans and then dismembered their bodies – are going to be tried in a military court, is the beginning of the government cover up of the case. We believe the Indonesian government is doing this to isolate the trial from the public, diminishing the ability of the press to report the trial.
An independent investigator is the answer
To ensure that an unbiased investigation is achieved, an independent investigator or a team of investigators is needed. This is the job of the United Nations Human Rights office. The UN Human Rights Council should pressure the Indonesian government to allow an investigative team from their office to look into the matter, and other alleged Human Rights violations in West Papua. The Indonesian government can also invite Asian investigators or a team from the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), which Indonesia is a member, to look into this case.
We believe that an independent investigator is the only answer if the Indonesian and the international community want the truth to come out. The fact that these killers are members of the Indonesian Elite Forces, makes an impartial military investigation and court hearing highly unlikely to produce reliable information. They are more likely to burry the truth.