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| Photo Deceased Autonomy, Papua Special Autonomy Rejection |
"Demonstration
as an expression of opinion in Papua has been muzzled. People
assembling in a place are even arrested let alone staging a
demonstration. That is what has happened in the past several months in
Sorong, West Papua, and now in Jayapura," Ferry Marisan, a member of the
coalition, told reporters in Jayapura on Tuesday as quoted by Antara
news agency.
Ferry was referring to the arrest last week of a number
of students demonstrating to reject a draft law on special autonomy at
the complex of the Papuan People Assembly (Majelis Rakyat Papua) and at
the campus of Cenderawasih University.Olga Helena Hamadi from Papua
Kontras, an NGO concerned mainly on the disappearance of activists, said
lately police in Papua had become more repressive instead of
persuasive.
Orginal News: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/
Police meet Cendrawasih student rally with force
The police forcibly dispersed a student mass rally held in front of
Cendrawasih University campus in Waena, Jayapura, Papua province, on Wednesday.
The decision was made after the rally blocked off the only access route
into the campus, thus disrupting studying activities.
The police arrested Buchtar Tabuni, former head of the West Papua National
Committee, who was spotted at the rally.
Orginal News: The Jakarta Post News
Students stage rally to protest Papua autonomy plus draft
Dozens
of Cendrawasih University students staged a mass rally to protest the
Papua autonomy plus draft currently being considered by the provincial
administration. The students argued that the draft didn't take into
account the interests of the people.
“The
draft accommodates only the interests of the elite. The people have
been left out of the deliberations, therefore we demand they be halted,”
rally coordinator Alfa Rohromana said on Tuesday.
Commenting
on the draft, Rev. Benny Giay from the Kingmi Kemah Injili Church, who
was also on site, said none of the government’s initiatives on Papua had
sought to include the public in the dialogue process.
More Orginal News: The Jakarta Post
NGOs describe tight muzzling of expression in West Papua
The Papuan Coalition of Civil Society Upholding Law and Human Rights
has accused Indonesian authorities of stifling freedom of expression in
West Papua.
The Jakarta Post reports that a coalition member, Ferry Marisan, says
that events in recent months show that in West Papua the demonstration
as an expression of opinion has been strictly muzzled.
This follows the arrests last week of dozens of students
demonstrating against a draft law on special autonomy at the Papuan
People Assembly as well as the campus of Cenderawasih University in
Jayapura
Mr Marisan says repression by authorities of freedom of
expression is a continuation of the old policy in Indonesia under the
former dictator, President Suharto.
More Orginal Nesw: Radio New Zeland Internasional
