Submission to Ministerial Inquiry into use and operation of Foreign Charter Vessels

Indonesia Human Rights Committee,

Box 68-419,

Auckland.

22 September, 2011

Jenny Wood
MAF
PO Box 1020
Wellington 6140

Submission to Ministerial Inquiry into use and operation of Foreign Charter Vessels

Introduction

The Indonesia Human Rights Committee (IHRC) has been deeply concerned about the parlous situation of many Indonesian fishermen who are contracted to serve on foreign Charter boats in New Zealand waters.

There is no need to itemise the kinds of abuse suffered by these men as they have been well documented in the excellent research report: ‘Not in New Zealand’s waters, surely? Labour and human rights abuses aboard foreign fishing vessels’ by  Christina Stringer, Glenn Simmons and Daren Coulston,  recently published by the University of  Auckland in the News Zealand Asia Institute working paper series

However, from our perspective as an NGO working closely with human rights groups in Indonesia, it was a shock to find this level of abuse taking place under New Zealand’s jurisdiction.

In our work we are attempting to highlight the human rights violations experienced by vulnerable groups in Indonesia, especially in areas such as West Papua where the military maintains tight control over any expression of dissent. We did not expect to find similar kinds of abuse, including beatings and food deprivation amounting to a form of torture, to be happening in our waters at the hands of brutal fishing vessel operators.

To read the full article, click here: Submission to Ministerial Inquiry into use and operation of Foreign Charter Vessels

Strange Birds of Paradise out now on DVD

For details on purchasing a copy of this award-winning film, please click on the poster:

Strange Birds Of Paradise

Words: Angelique Kasmara

Imagine a secret war conducted on your doorstep. And not just any war, but one which pits stone-age farmers with bows and arrows against M-16s, tanks and fighter jets. In which over 100,000 men, women and children are ruthlessly murdered, and the natural resources of their land carved up between multinational corporations and the Indonesian government. For those of us in the Pacific and South-East Asia, the doorstep is ours.

When Charlie Hill-Smith first travelled to West Papua in 1999 as a carefree tourist (he documents in his blog that “masculine, sexy and practical, I decided right then and there, that penis gourds are the future and the future is gonna be mine!”), he was deeply disturbed to find out that the neolithic cultural paradise was an undeclared war zone. Neither in his native Australia or in the Indonesian islands he’d travelled in for over 15 years, had he heard a word of what was really going on in West Papua.

So in 2006, the filmmaker embarked on another journey. This time, it was to confront a basic question: how could these two vibrant cultures be at war and how can the rest of the world seemingly not care?

Describing the film as, “a creative reaction to international silence and a cross-cultural response to neo-colonial tyranny,” Hill-Smith revisits his own innocent tourist footage, and returns to Java to discover a local political resistance.  He collaborates with artists in Java to recreate Indonesian history and mythology as shadow theatre, and animators in Melbourne to reconstruct scenes of bloodshed.

Gaining further insight from a community of West Papuan musicians in Melbourne, such as Donny Roem, a recent exile who fled in a homemade canoe, and Jacob Rumbiak, a child soldier in the resistance movement, they introduce him to the beautiful songs of murdered musician and independence hero Arnold Ap. A soul-stirring concert at Melbourne’s Hamer Hall shows us how integral musical celebration is to West Papuan culture, and to their healing process.

The filmmakers return to West Papua to visit the places that their exiled friends call home. The scenes of the battered resistance and refugee camps along the Papua New Guinea border reveal the brutal reality of their situation and the ruthlessness of the government that is slowly massacring them. However, Hill-Smith is careful to convey throughout that he’s motivated by love for the whole of Indonesia, a country he first visited as a teenage exchange student.

The visually imaginative use of animation, shadowplay, music and story punches through a powerful message, of how artistic expression can transcend tyranny. And its gentle profundity made me ponder on how ignorance may be bliss but opening your eyes and heart brings the world to your door.

AFI Awards 2011 4 nominations

IF Awards 2010 Best Documentary

Colorado Film Festival 2010 Best Documentary Feature

New Zealand could help a colonised people solve their problems with Jakarta

By Maire Leadbeater, Pacific Media Centre

28 January, 2011

My introduction to West Papua was flying for many kilometres over the vast grey tailings deposition area created by the infamous Freeport McMoran gold and copper mine.

The flight from Bali to the capital, Jayapura, stopped briefly at Freeport’s  Mozes Kilangin Airport, in  Timika.  The mine has brought immense wealth for its multinational owner and the Jakarta government, but for the local tribal people only pollution, displacement, poverty and militarisation.  It has been the same story for the exploitation of territory’s other rich resources, especially its virgin forests.

In Jayapura the economic and social marginalisation of the indigenous Melanesian Papuans is immediately obvious. Papuans are now close to becoming a minority in their own land as a consequence of decades of high migration from other parts of Indonesia.

To read the full article, click here: West Papuan Struggle For Peace and Justice Continues

Rusdi Marpaung’s visit to Aotearoa

10-14 December 2010

Impunity is like a ‘virus’

IHRC was very pleased to welcome Rusdi Marpaung as our guest at a seminar following our AGM on 11 December, 2010. Rusdi also addressed a public meeting in Whangarei, met with Auckland MPs and attended the Amnesty Aotearoa’s Human Rights Defender Award ceremony.
Rusdi is a Senior researcher with Imparsial—a prominent Indonesian human rights NGO focusing on monitoring state policies from human rights perspectives. Coming from a legal and media background, Rusdi was one of the 17 high profile human rights activists who came together to form Imparsial in 2002.
He has been actively campaigning for human rights and democracy since the Suharto years and was a close colleague and friend of the late Munir Said Thalib, tragically murdered in 2004. Rusdi has just completed his Masters degree in International Human Right Law and Policy at the University of New South Wales in Sydney.
Rusdi emphasised that the problem of legal impunity is like a virus in Indonesia which continues to spread and to influence the violent mentality of the security forces. The following is a summary of some of the key points from Rusdi’s presentations and discussions.

Click her for the full article: Rusdi Marpaung in Aotearoa

Palmed Off

‘Palmed Off’ is a short film by LifeMosaic based on the voices of indigenous people’s in 20 Indonesian communities. All have directly experienced the impacts of oil palm plantations taking over the land that they have lived on and worked on for generations. The community members offer testimonies on the impacts of oil palm plantations on their local economies, on the local environment, on their culture and on the prospects for the future generations. They feel it is urgent to tell their story. If you or your organisation would like a DVD copy of the film please contact us at info(at)lifemosaic.net

US Department of State: Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labour

2009 Report on Human Rights Practices: Indonesia

March 11, 2010

Indonesia is a multiparty democracy with a population of approximately 245 million. On July 8, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was reelected president in generally free and fair elections. April 9 legislative elections were complex, but domestic and international observers judged them generally free and fair as well. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the security forces, although the fact that the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) continued to be partly self-financed weakened this control.

The government generally respected the human rights of its citizens and upheld civil liberties. Nonetheless, there were problems during the year in the following areas: killings by security forces; vigilantism; harsh prison conditions; impunity for prison authorities and some other officials; corruption in the judicial system; limitations on free speech; societal abuse and discrimination against religious groups and interference with freedom of religion, sometimes with the complicity of local officials; violence and sexual abuse against women and children; trafficking in persons; child labor; and failure to enforce labor standards and worker rights.

During the year the country continued to make progress in strengthening and consolidating its democracy. For example, the Indonesian National Police adopted a use of force policy that strictly proscribes the use of deadly force and allows it to track and minimize the use of force by police. The government also continued the prosecutions of high-level officials for corruption.

RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom From:

a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life

The government or its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however, security force personnel committed a number of killings in the course of apprehending alleged criminals and terrorists.

On April 2, the North Jakarta police allegedly beat and shot Bayu Putra Perdana while he was in custody. According to a hospital autopsy, Bayu died as a result of torture.

The police continued vigorous action against accused terrorists. On August 7-8, the following members of the terrorist Jemaah Islamiya (JI) were killed in the course of raids on terrorist safe houses: Ibrohim, Air Setyawan, and Eko Joko. On September 16-17, in an exchange of gunfire, police killed the following additional JI members: Noordin M. Top, Hadi Susilo, Bagus Budi Pranoto, and Ario Sudarso.

Violence affected the provinces of Papua and West Papua during the year. For example, on the legislative election day, April 9, a group armed with traditional weapons attacked a police station in Bepura, police killed one of the attackers; in a separate incident, police in Nabire reportedly arrested protestor Abet Nego Keiya and allegedly punched, kicked, and beat him with rifle butts and stabbed him with bayonets until he died. On June 6, police killed two persons while recapturing an airstrip in Memberamo Raya District; a local official was also killed and four police were seriously injured. On June 24, police shot and killed Melkias Agape in the city of Nabire. On June 30, Police Mobile Brigade (BRIMOB) officers shot and killed Mika Boma and injured another four persons during a clash with rioters in Paniai. On August 3, members of the BRIMOB allegedly shot and killed tribal leader and former political prisoner Yawan Wayeni at his house in Mantembu village, Yapen Island, Papua. On December 16, the well-known separatist leader Kelly Kwalik died following a reported exchange of gunfire with police. Kwalik was armed and reportedly resisted arrest. His body was turned over to his family for burial. At year’s end there was no publicly available information regarding a police investigation.

Click here for the full article: US Department of State: 2009 Human Rights Report – Indonesia

Letter to Evans/Natalegawa: Sri Lankan asylum seekers

Foreign Affairs Minister Marty Natalegawa

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia
Jl. Pejambon No.6. Jakarta Pusat, 10110
Indonesia

Chris Evans

Minister of Immigration,

Parliament House,

Canberra, ACT 2600,

Australia

14 January, 2010

Dear Ministers,

We are very disturbed by the news that some 246 asylum seekers remain moored at sea off the Indonesian coast in the region of Merak.  As you know the people involved are Tamils from Sri Lanka and there are many children in the group, all of whom have been in this unresolved situation since last October.  Indonesian authorities intercepted their vessel after they were given assistance and intelligence information from Australia.

We understand that all would like the opportunity to claim refugee status and that some 109 of the group have already been recognised by the UNHCR as genuine refugees. Only 8 of the initial group have agreed to leave the boat on an understanding that they would have access to the UNHCR but this has not been granted and all are still held in cramped detention cells.

To add insult to injury, the Indonesian authorities gave Sri Lankan navy officers permission to interview the 8 detainees.   This action shows utter disregard for the safety of these asylum seekers and the safety of their families in Sri Lanka.  Under international refugee protocols it is mandatory that asylum seekers should be protected at all times from all renewed persecution by the Government of the country they have fled. Refugee advocates consider that Indonesia has committed the most serious breach of refugee protocols and undermined its stated commitment to sign and abide by the UN Refugee Convention.

We also read reports that some Indonesian police figures have been quoted as recommending that the asylum seekers be sent back to Sri Lanka.

In these circumstances, it is entirely understandable that the large group still on the boat choose to stay where they are rather than disembark in Indonesia and face indefinite detention or deportation to Sri Lanka

The conditions on board this boat have become very dire, especially from a sanitation point of view: there is only one toilet and gastroenteritis and diarrhea afflict many. At Christmas time one young man fell ill and died from an undiagnosed illness. Named as George Jacob Samuel Christin, 29, the man was clearly very ill for several days before his death but his hospital care was delayed until it was too late to save him.

Reports say that there is no one on board the boat with any medical qualifications, that medical supplies are rudimentary and that there are only 18 life-jackets. The boat has no anchor and is vulnerable to drifting off to sea. The shelter on board the boat is limited and the tarpaulins used for rain protection are now torn and inadequate.

There can be no doubt that Tamil citizens of Sri Lanka have reason to fear persecution as most have had their lives disrupted by extreme violence and internal displacement. Human Rights groups have called for the Government of Sri Lanka to be investigated for alleged war crimes committed during the recent conflict with the Tamil Tigers and the long drawn out siege of the Tamil areas in the North and East of Sri Lanka.

International law enshrines the principle of “non-refoulement”, explicitly prohibiting the forced return of refugees to areas where their lives are potentially in danger.  There have been recent reports that the Sri Lankan navy has been conducting a surveillance operation on the coastline and arresting those attempting to flee by sea.

We urge that these asylum seekers should have immediate access to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and that Australia and Indonesia should work together putting the needs of the asylum seekers before political considerations.

In the case of the asylum seekers who were previously held on board the ‘Oceanic Viking’ in Indonesian waters, international co-operation did prevail and we understand that this group will shortly be resettled in Australia and other western countries, including New Zealand.  We believe that the Merak group merit the same opportunity begin a life free from the threat of persecution.

Few asylum seekers manage to reach New Zealand because of its geographic isolation, but we will continue to lobby our Government to urge that New Zealand share in the regional responsibility for assisting Tamil asylum seekers, especially this group who are being held in a tortuous limbo.  New Zealand already has a large and well-settled Tamil community and could easily accommodate a significant number from this group.

Yours sincerely,

Maire Leadbeater

For the Indonesia Human Rights Committee

Copy to

Hon Murray McCully,

Minister of Foreign Affairs,

Parliament Buildings,

Wellington

The killings of 1965-66

Even now, Indonesians find it difficult to face the traumatic events of the past

Robert Cribb and Michele Ford

Prisoners captured during the Trisula Operation

Photograph taken at the Museum Brawijaya by Vannessa Hearman

In the course of little more than five months from late 1965 to early 1966, anti-communist Indonesians killed about half a million of their fellow citizens. Nearly all the victims were associated with Indonesia’s Left, especially with the Communist Party (PKI) that had risen to unprecedented national prominence under President Sukarno’s Guided Democracy. The massacres were presided over and often coordinated or carried out by anti-communist sections of the Indonesian army, but they also engaged wider elements of Indonesian society – both people who had reason to fear communist power and people who wanted to establish clear anti-communist credentials in troubled times.

The killings followed a coup which took place in Jakarta on the morning of 1 October 1965 in which six senior army generals were killed and a revolutionary council was formed, seizing power from Sukarno. For the whole of the New Order period, Indonesian authorities portrayed these events as a communist grab for power, which was to be followed by the wholesale slaughter of their opponents. Sceptics, by contrast, doubted the PKI’s involvement and even wondered whether the coup might have been a ‘black’ operation by conservative forces, intended to compromise the Party. Recent research, especially by John Roosa, who writes for this issue, has shown that the PKI leadership was closely involved in the coup, but that the aims of the operation were far more limited than a seizure of power.

Click here for the full article: Inside Indonesia: The Killings of 1965-66

Human Rights Watch 2009 Annual Report: Indonesia

Despite its growing reputation as an emerging Muslim-majority democracy, Indonesia saw little human rights progress in 2009. In July President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was reelected by a wide margin, providing him the opportunity to take more decisive action against impunity, religious intolerance, and other continuing threats to human rights. At this writing, there is little indication the government has the political will to do so.

Indonesia has a diverse and vibrant media sector, but freedom of expression continues to be undermined by powerful officials and business figures using criminal and civil defamation laws to silence criticism, and by repressive measures on expression in Papua.

Click here to read full article: Human Rights Watch 2009 Annual Report: Indonesia

Abdurrahman Wahid obituary

As president of Indonesia from 1999 to 2001, the partially blind cleric, known as “Gus Dur”, staunchly defended human rights, ethnic minorities and Indonesia’s secular tradition. At his funeral, the current Indonesian president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, praised him as the “father of multiculturalism and pluralism” who “raised awareness and institutionalised our respect for the diversity of ideas and identity, of religions, ethnicity and primordial ties”. Few countries have enjoyed a more cultured man at the helm of state – a journalist, scholar and enlightened cleric, he took great delight in jazz and classical music and had a special passion for Beethoven. His wit was almost equal to his erudition. Upon losing the presidency in 2001, he quipped: “You don’t realise that losing the presidency for me is nothing. I regret more the fact that I lost 27 recordings of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.”

Click here for the full article: The Guardian: Abdurrahman Wahid Obituary