They had gathered to protest against a group of Indonesian soldiers, who they say had beaten a 12-year-old boy the previous night.
Penulis: Rebecca Henschke
Editor:
Five teenagers were killed in the western region of Paniai in West Papua last week when Indonesian police and the military opened fire into a crowd.
Human rights watch says at least 17 others, including five primary school children, were wounded and are now in hospital. Their report says police and military officers fired live ammunition at about 800 peaceful demonstrators, including women and children who had gathered outside the police station.
They had gathered to protest against a group of Indonesian soldiers, who they say had beaten a 12-year-old boy the previous night.
Deputy Head of the Indonesian police Badrodin Haiti has admitted the killings took place. He says they are still investigating whether the fatal shots came from the police or the military.
Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla has promised to follow up the deaths.
He says of course the government is concern and we will certainly push the security forces to investigate what happened.
Pictures of the dead have been shared across social media sites by West Papuan activists and supporters.
They are graphic images that show the young victims with bloody head wounds and gun shots in their stomachs, surrounded by mourners.
Yohannes Douw witnessed the killings and says his community is collecting evidence.
“Look at the photos! We have the bullets that were fired. If they were rubber bullets no one would have died, it was clearly live ammunition that was fired at us.”
The Ministry of Law and Security told KBR that they are willing to do a peace deal with the community in line with traditional law in Papua or hukum adat.
But the National human rights commission says that’s not acceptable. Commissioner Natalius Pigai says the security forces must be held accountable.
“This is clearly a human rights abuse and I have met with the Ministry in question and make it clear that with five people killed there is no such thing as a peace agreement. This is a human rights abuse. The government can go ahead and pay money to the victim’s families but we will still be carrying out an independent investigation.”
The UN Human Rights Office has expressed alarm at the killings and says it has “been concerned about regular reports of violence in Papua in the last few years”.
Human rights commissioner Natalius Pigai says the killings are not and isolated events.
“This is the reality in Papua. People talk about development but there is no economic development what is happening is our people are being killed by the military and the police. They live to kill. The land of Papua should not be used as a shooting range for the Indonesian military and police.”
West Papua has been under Indonesian rule since 1969.
Human rights commissioner Natalius Pigai is calling for police and the military to withdraw from the area where the killings took place.
But the spokesperson for the Indonesian military Fuad Basya says they will be doing the opposite.
“It doesn’t make sense to withdraw the military and the police after their has been a incident. What needs to happen after something like this happens is for us to send more police and the military into the area to restore law and agenda. If we are being stopped from entering that makes us suspicious that something is going on that we need to be alarmed about.”
President Joko Widodo has promised to open up the province to foreign media and improve human rights and bring economic development to the people there.
But doubt has been cast on his ability to improve the human rights situation after he appointed Ryamizard Ryacudu as his defense minister.
He infamously praised the soldiers who murdered renowned Papuan leader Theys Eluay in 2001.
