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Although the Habibie government had encouraged the National Dialogue, it was clearly not pleased with the political direction it was taking and the widespread support for independence being expressed in the province. From April 1999, the government withdrew its support for the National Dialogue and reverted to methods characteristic of the Soeharto-era in an attempt to stifle the independence movement, rounding up its pro-independence activists and censoring further discussion on the subject. But with the major changes underway nationwide after the fall of Soeharto, in Papua, as elsewhere, opposition voices could no longer be so readily silenced. The result was an uncertain atmosphere in which, even as the government's crackdown on activists was in progress, Papuan leaders continued to assert their right to advocate for Papuan independence.
On March 28, 1999, six independence activists from Bade47 were told by local authorities that they should go to Merauke to represent the residents of their town in a meeting with a local government official, the district head. Upon arrival three of them were detained and three were told to report daily to the police in Merauke. Those ordered to remain in Merauke and report to the police each day were: Elias Mahuse, a forty-three-year-old teacher, who was accused of having assisted a group of former OPM members who had come through Bade to campaign for West Papuan independence several months earlier; and two teachers, forty-seven year old Anton Anweng and Hubertus Wanewop, forty-three, who were charged in connection with their retyping (for lack of a photocopy machine) of the above-described survey of Papuan views on independence, which had been distributed to thirty-two villages in theEdera subdistrict. The three who were detained were Yustus Wafom, a forty-seven-year-old official in a local office of the Education and Culture Ministry, and two men, both farmers, Kayus Yibim and Marius Yimsi, accused of having assisted the group of former OPM members in their campaign for West Papuan independence. The two men said they had complied but only out of fear that they would suffer reprisals if they refused. The men were eventually released in September. 48
On March 30, 1999, Irian Jaya's Governor, Freddy Numberi, issued a secret radiogram, a copy of which Human Rights Watch has since obtained,49 in which he ordered postponement of the National Dialogue because, he asserted, it had produced no concrete results. His message instructed security forces to monitor activists and report all new developments. It also instructed officials in the territory to strictly enforce a 1998 law on public meetings which limits the size of permissible gatherings and requires advance notice to the police.50
Also on March 30, Max Mahuse, the director of YAPSEL, a leading environmental organization in Merauke, was summoned by the police and questioned about his involvement in helping organize the Merauke delegation to the National Dialogue.51
On April 6, the head of the traditional community in Manokwari district, Barnabas Mandacan, sought legal protection after learning that the local police chief had issued orders to interrogate him and to chase "dogs who are demanding independence" out of the city.52
On April 17, provincial police chief Hotman Siagian issued an order banning any further discussion of the meeting with President Habibie. The text of the order, set forth in its entirety below, called for systematic violations of free expression, assembly, and association rights, and required that pro-independence organizations, communications posts, and neighborhood patrols be shut down:
Police of the Republic of Indonesia, Irian Jaya Region
Police Announcement
No. POL: MK/01/IV/1999
Considering:
1. That activities related to the discussion and dissemination (socialisasi) of the results of the meeting with President B.J.Habibie with delegates of the people of Irian Jaya by those calling themselves the Team of 100 and the formation of West Papua separatist organizations, communications posts (posko), and neighborhood patrols (satgas) has caused uneasiness, discord, and fear which, if left unattended, may disturb stability, safety, and order in the Irian Jaya police district.
2. That in order to safeguard order and guarantee general safety as well as develop the obedience of members of society toward the law, it is considered necessary to issue this announcement which is applicable in the entire administrative jurisdiction of the Irian Jaya police.
Recalling:
1. Indonesian Criminal Code Articles 154, 160 and 510.
2. Law No. 9/1998, concerning Freedom to Express an Opinion in Public.
3. Law No. 8/1981, concerning the Indonesian Criminal Code.
4. Law No. 28/1997, concerning the Police of the Republic of Indonesia.
Announces
1. Bans activities related to the discussion and dissemination of the results of the meeting with president B.J. Habibie with delegates of Irian Jaya which are being carried out by a group that calls itself the Team of 100 in the Irian Jaya police district.
2. Bans the formation of the National Committee of West Papuan Youth (Komite Nasional Pemuda Papua Barat) and similar organizations in the Irian Jaya police district.
3. Bans the building of communications posts (posko) referred to as West Papua posko and similar posko affiliated with the separatist movement in the Irian Jaya police district.
4. Bans the formations of neighborhood patrols (satgas) referred to as West Papua satgas and similar groups in the Irian Jaya police district.
5. All mentioned in points 1, 2, 3 and 4 above are ordered to disperse and stop their activities no later than 3 x 24 hours after the issuing of this announcement.
Issued: Jayapura, April 17, 1999
Head of Irian Jaya Police Drs. Hotman Siagian (Brig. Gen. Police)
On April 29, locally stationed police and soldiers, supplemented by troops brought in from Jayapura and Ujung Pandang, raided seventeen "posko" (short for pos komunikasi- "communication posts"-though the term also doubles as a short form of pos komando- "command posts") in a sweep of Serui town and neighboring villages in the Yapen Waropen district. The "posko" were buildings used by tribal communities (lembaga adat) and temporary meeting posts built by local youths.53
On May 5, seventy-nine people were detained when security forces raided the home of Cunradus Bauw in Fak-Fak. They were held overnight and fined for holding a meeting without a permit. Police confiscated documents and letters about the National Dialogue, as well as a machete, arrows, and two spears which Bauw said were sacred objects inherited from his parents. Afterwards, Bauw said, he received numerous intimidating phone calls, in which he would pick up the phone and hear someone whistling, laughing, or threatening his life.54
Muhammad Said Sabuku, another member of the delegation from Fak-Fak, was summoned by the police for questioning about National Dialogue-related activities on five separate occasions between March and June.55
On May 22, Frans Kamepict, a 33-year-old delegate from Merauke, received an envelope in the mail containing a bullet and a note warning that he would be killed if he continued working for independence.56
In July, an intelligence official at the Regional Military Command prevented the outspoken weekly, Tifa Irian, from publishing for two weeks.57 Tifa, founded in 1956 and published since 1961 by the Catholic Press Institute in Irian Jaya, had provided the boldest coverage of the National Dialogue throughout the year. The article which particularly upset the authorities, however, according to a Tifa journalist, was one which had appeared in June, which reported that military officials had provided a busload of Indonesian prostitutes to troops from neighboring Papua New Guinea (PNG) after the latter had secured the release of Indonesian hostages who had been abucted by OPM guerrillas andtaken into Papua New Guinea in May.58 The PNG troops were reportedly being feted at a hotel in Jayapura on June 11 when a Tifa reporter witnessed some thirty prostitutes being delivered to them by an Indonesian intelligence official whom the weekly named as Colonel Saragih.59
After the report was published, Colonel Saragih began contacting officials in Irian Jaya's thirteen districts and accused Tifa of aligning its coverage with the OPM. As a result, John Piet Wanane, the regent of Sorong, felt obliged to cancel advertising and subscription arrangements with the weekly: "Due to pressure from the District Military Command, institutionally, we are ending our working relationship with Tifa Irian. But privately, I continue to support Tifa."60
Next, Saragih contacted Tifa's printer, Tinta Mas, and two other presses in Jayapura, and instructed them not to print Tifa. This temporarily silenced Tifa but it reappeared two weeks later, when it was printed by the regional office of the Department of Information after lobbying from its press operators and with permission from the Ministry of Information in Jakarta.61 No other newspaper in Irian Jaya, however, commented on the two-week disappearance of the region's oldest newspaper,62 a clear indication that the press in Irian Jaya still felt itself to be operating under the shadow of military control.63
On July 28, five intellectuals involved in the National Dialogue were banned from traveling abroad.64 News of the ban, initiated by the military and justified on unspecified national security grounds, was leaked to the press; those affected never received official notification of it.65 They were team members Tom Beanal and Herman Awom; dialogue facilitators Dr. Benny Giay, a Protestant minister and professor, and Octovianus Mote, Jayapura bureau chief of Jakarta's best-known newspaper, Kompas; and Willy Mandowen, a professor of linguistics at Cenderawasih University and Executive Director of FORERI.66
At the same time, however, many National Dialogue participants pushed ahead with their activities, pointing out that Habibie had instructed them at the February meeting to go home and reconsider their demands, and that provincialpolice had no right to interfere with presidential instructions. On July 23 and 24, 1999, FORERI celebrated its first anniversary in the university town of Abepura, near Jayapura, and used the occasion to bring together twenty-five members of the Team of 100 at a Protestant guest house. At the meeting, the team compiled results of "ruminations"on the National Dialogue from their various districts. In August, fifteen of them departed for Jakarta to pass on to President Habibie a message which, over the intervening months, had hardened to "Merdeka Harga Mati" - essentially, liberty or death.67 Not surprisingly, they were not received by the government and hardly noticed in a Jakarta preoccupied with the upcoming referendum in East Timor and presidential elections soon after.
Papuans who had viewed the National Dialogue as a good faith attempt at negotiation and a sign that the government might listen to their point of view, were deeply disillusioned by its abrupt interruption and the ensuing crackdown. At a meeting with members of the Indonesian National Commission on Human Rights in Jayapura in August, team member Agus Alua, a lecturer at the Catholic Theological Seminary, described it thus: "We sent our best men and women on a respectful visit to the president, and now we are treated like criminals."68
47 Bade is the capital of Edera subdistrict, Merauke, and is located roughly 200 kilometers northwest of Merauke city. 48 The men were charged with armed insurrection, but a trial was never held, apparently due to the change in administration from Habibie to Wahid and Wahid's order to release all political prisoners. 49 Gubernur Kepala Daerah Tingkat I Irian Jaya Radiogram Nomor: TX-200/454. Tanggal 30 Maret, 1999. 50 The law is "UU No 9 Tahun 1998 tentang Kemerdekaan Menyampaikan Pendapat dimuka Umum." 51 Surat Panggilan No. Pol: SP I/25/III/1999 Serse, Polri Resort Merauke. 52 Press Release, Lembaga Penelitian Pengkajian dan Pengembangan Banutan Hukum, April 6, 1999, signed by Yahn Christian Warinussy SH, Executive Director; and Surat NO. 25/LMA/MKW/IV/99, Lembaga Musyawarah Adat Kecamatan Manokwari, April 6, 1999, signed by Barnabus Mandacan. 53 Human Rights Watch interview in Abepura, July 25, 1999. 54 Human Rights Watch interview in Abepura, July 24, 1999. 55 Human Rights Watch interview in Abepura, July 24, 1999. 56 Human Rights Watch interview in Abepura, July 24, 1999. 57 "Tifa Yang Sulit Dibungkam," Tempo, July 18, 1999. 58 Human Rights Watch interview in Abepura, August 16, 1999. As described above, on May 5, 1999, an OPM group led by Hans Bomay seized eleven hostages near Arso, a town on the Papua New Guinea border, in an on a commercial plantation. The attack left four dead and three wounded. After Bomay took the hostages across the border and demanded money and weapons from the PNG government, PNG soldiers succeeded in rescuing the hostages unharmed on May 31 in the Bewani valley, where Bomay and his men had been based since the 1970s. Coverage of the incident in Tifa Irian and the Sydney Morning Herald quoted an Arso resident saying that Bomay's men had been seen in vehicles with Kopassus officers, and quoted a Bomay group member admitting that his group had links with Indonesian military officials. See "11 Sandera GPK Irja Dibebaskan," Press Release NO:30/PR/V/99, Indonesian Department of Foreign Affairs, June 1 1999; Andrew Kilvert, "Settlers rescued after being held hostage in PNG," Sydney Morning Herald, June 3, 1999;Andrew Kilvert, "Kidnaping points to ties between armies and rebels," Sydney Morning Herald, July 10, 1999. 59 Human Rights Watch interview in Jayapura, August 16, 1999. 60 "Tifa Yang Sulit Dibungkam," Tempo, July 18, 1999. 61 Ibid. 62 Human Rights Watch interview in Jayapura, August 16, 1999. 63 In general, however, Irian Jaya enjoyed considerable press freedom following the fall of Soeharto, like other parts of Indonesia. Intervention from military censors was less frequent, an editor said. Despite the economic crisis, new publications sprang up, supplementing Tifa Irian and Cenderawasih Pos, a daily published since 1987. The new papers -- weekly tabloids Irian Express, Irja Pos and Jubi -- offered a far greater diversity of viewpoints. Like Cenderawasih Pos, Irian Express was owned by the multi-paper chain Jawa Pos. Both were viewed as conservative and apt to reflect the views of the military. Irja Pos belonged to the Young Businessmen's Association (Himpunan Pengusaha Muda) and was more independent. Jubi, short for Jujur Bicara (Honestly Speaking), was founded by NGOs in Jayapura; its inaugural issue in September carried a cover story entitled "Was the Act of Free Choice Illegal?" ("Pepera Tidak Sah?") 64 Departemen Kehakiman, Direktorat Jenderal Imigrasi, Nomor. F4-IL.01.02-3.0178, July 28, 1999. 65 "Fasilitator DN Dicekal ke Luar Negri," Tifa Irian, Minggu Ketiga Juli 1999. 66 "Mempertanyakan Dasar Hukum Pencekalan," Tifa Irian, Minggu I-II Agustus 1999. 67 "Tim 100 Menjawab Habibie," Tifa Irian, 26-31 Juli, 1999. 68 Human Rights Watch was present at the meeting.