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Papuan independence leader Filep Karma refuses to be released from jail
Sydney Morning Herald - September 8, 2015
He is the first prisoner who has refused to leave jail in Indonesian Republic's 70-year history, according to the director of prisoner and custody services, Imam Suyudi, who says there is no government regulation to deal with the unusual situation.
Mr Karma was jailed for 15 years for treason in 2004 after raising the Morning Star flag, used by supporters of Papuan independence. He was due to be released from Abepura prison in Jayapura on August 17, after receiving remissions to his sentence due to good behaviour.
However Mr Karma wrote to Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly and said he would not accept the remissions because he was not a criminal.
"I am in jail because I expressed my aspirations peacefully, I flew the Papuan flag and I demanded Papuan independence in a peaceful way. I even asked for a permit to police before staging my peaceful protest," he told Fairfax Media through a source.
Mr Karma said prison governor Bagus Kurniawan had tried to persuade him to leave the prison but he refused to do so until his name was cleared and the treason charge abolished. "I heard he's going to Jakarta today to meet with the minister himself and report to the minister about my case."
The director of prisoner and custody services, Mr Imam, said there was nothing the prison could do.
"We cannot force him to leave. He still gets all the services and treatment provided to inmates even though he should not be a prisoner anymore. The only thing we can do is talk to him, hopefully one day he will agree to go out of jail."
A Papuan student activist told Fairfax Media independence supporters had persuaded Mr Karma he would look more powerful if he stayed behind bars.
"But I think it's wrong," he told Fairfax Media on the condition of anonymity. "It is better for him to see the latest situation in Papua today. It is more effective to fight from the outside."
The independence movement in Papua has proven impossible to eradicate for the last 50 years, according to a recent report by the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict Instead of trying to crush the movement, the report said, the Indonesian government should try to avoid further radicalisation.
It said there were four main factors that exacerbated anti-Jakarta sentiment and contributed to radicalisation: ineffective policing, impunity for security forces, the division of Papua into smaller and smaller local government areas and undermining customary law.
"Every time a Papuan is shot by police – in a demonstration, an operation or in the course of an arrest – the political temperature rises," the report said.
"Security forces everywhere in Indonesia need to move away from opening fire as the stock response to crowd control, but nowhere is the need greater than in Papua."
On August 28, two civilians were allegedly killed by military personnel and others injured in a shooting at the Koperapoka Catholic Church complex in Timika, Papua. TNI spokesman Major General Endang Sodik told CNN the sergeant was acting in self defence after he was attacked by locals.
The report, which was launched four days before the shooting, said the deaths of members of the independence movement were often explained as resulting from the victim pulling a knife or gun, resisting arrest or trying to flee.
"The default responses... no longer have any credibility, even if in a few cases they may be true," the report said. "Papuan casualties at the hands of security forces are only occasionally investigated and punished, and the more senior the officer involved, the less chance there seems to be of serious prosecution."
At least two investigations had been opened into the killing of four people in Paniai in December but no results had been made public despite repeated pledges by President Joko Widodo.
The report also suggested ending the use of makar (political crime) as a charge for non-violent crime and proceeding with amnesties for non-violent political prisoners.
"Swearing loyalty oaths should not be a condition of release, especially since those committed to returning to the movement will do so whether or not they swear an oath." (with Karuni Rompies)
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