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Police websites hacked after Papuan students protest
Jakarta Post - July 19, 2016
"We cannot conclude if this is part of a reaction [to the police's handling of the protest], but we are still investigating those responsible," Yogyakarta Police spokesperson Adj. Sr. Comr. Anny Pudjiastuti told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
As of noon Monday, two sites – jogja.polri.go.id and tribatranewsjogja.com – had already been recovered. The third site, polresjogja.com was still paralyzed where its front page read: "Why so serious, introduce a little anarchy and everything becomes chaos. Great, you've shown us how justice works. Improve your brutality, Sir. Ps We'reNotSeparatists# GretzTomcat-Rebels-Tanpa Bicara-Virusa."
Hundreds of police personnel on Friday encircled the Papuan students dorm on Jl. Kusumanegara, Yogyakarta, as they were holding an event to support the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) to become a permanent member of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), which was being discussed in Solomon Islands from July 14 to 16.
Initially, they planned to stage a rally at Titik Nol in Yogyakarta city center that day, but was prohibited by Yogyakarta City Police. They then decided to just sing together in their dorm. Police arrested seven students from Papua and another from Ternate, North Maluku.
In the evening, police personnel who were on guard in front of the dorm also prohibited an Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) car from bringing food from the community to approximately a hundred students from Papua who had not eaten since morning. The food and drinks could only be delivered after a House of Representatives (DPR) legislator from the electoral district of Yogyakarta, Esti Wijayanti, arrived at the dorm.
Anny rejected the claims of many parties that police had acted repressively in handling the rally carried out by a group of Papuan students who are members of the People's Union for the Liberation of West Papua (PRPPB).
"If they hold a rally by displaying the symbol of the Free Papua Organization we certainly will not allow it. Repression is a last resort," she said.
Legal adviser of the Papuan students, Rizky Fatahilah, of the Yogyakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH), deplored the repressive police actions, which the latter also named student Obby Kogoya, 21, a suspect. He was accused, among others, of violating Article 212 of the Criminal Code for allegedly attacking police officers and faces a five-year prison sentence.
Obby initially had been arrested and his motorcycle seized by police for not having proper documentation. Rizky said Obby did not resist arrest.
"It was the first time in Yogyakarta that student demonstrators from Papua holding a peaceful protest have been severely repressed and even named suspects," he said.
The Indonesian Students Press Association (PPMI) reported that a student media activist from Sanata Dharma University in Yogyakarta, Benidiktus Fatubun, had experienced violence while covering the incident at the Papuan students dorm. He was interrogated and given rough treatment by plainclothes police officers.
On Monday, the situation at the dorm had returned to normal and there was no longer a tight security arrangement by police like that observed on the weekend.
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