Open season again for Indonesian military trolls and ‘fake news’ campaign on West Papua

Censured or punished? Conflicting reports about the alleged punishment of the two
Indonesian Air Force military policemen who stomped on the head
of young Papuan Steven Yadohamang at Merauke last week. IMAGE: Yumi Toktok Stret

 
By DAVID ROBIE in Asia Pacific Report

IT IS open season again for Indonesian trolls targeting Asia Pacific Report and other media with fake news and disinformation dispatches in a crude attempt to gloss over human rights violations.

Just three months ago I wrote about this issue in my “Dear editor” article exposing the disinformation campaign. There was silence for a while but now the fake letters to the editor – and other media outlets — have started again in earnest.

The latest four lengthy letters emailed to APR canvas the following topics — Jakarta’s controversial special autonomy status revised law for Papua, a brutal assault by Indonesian Air Force military policemen on a deaf Papuan man, and a shooting incident allegedly committed by pro-independence rebels – and they appear to have been written from a stock template.

• READ MORE: Outrage over Indonesian officers for stomping on disabled Papuan teen’s head
• ULMWP calls for suspension of Indonesia from UN rights council over assault on deaf Papuan
• Indonesian military duo to be punished for attack on deaf Papuan
• Other West Papua human rights reports

And they all purport to have been written by “Papuan students” or “Papuans”. Are they their real names, and do they even exist?

Outrage over Indonesian officers for stomping on disabled Papuan teen’s head

Two Indonesian Air Force military policemen stomping on the head of a deaf
Papuan teenager, Steven Yadohamang, in the Merauke region on 26 July 2021.
IMAGE: Screenshot from video

By YAMIN KOGOYA

Shocking video footage showing a brutal and inhumane assault on a deaf Papuan teenager named Steven Yadohamang has emerged from the Merauke region of Papua and sparked outrage.

This assault occurred on Monday, July 26, 2021, around Jalan Raya Mandala, Merauke (Jubi, July 27).

The video shows an altercation between the 18-year-old and a food stall owner. Two security men from the Air Force Military Police (Polisi Militer Angkatan Udara, or POMAU) intervened in the argument.

• READ MORE: Indonesian military duo to be punished for attack on deaf Papuan
• Other articles about West Papua by Yamin Kogoya
• More West Papua coverage

One of the officers grabbed the young man and pulled him from the food stall. The victim was slammed to the pavement and then stomped on by the Air Force officers.

The two men, Serda Dimas and Prada Vian, trampled on Yadohamang’s head and twisted his arms after knocking him to the ground. The young man was seen screaming in pain, but the two men continued to step on his head and body while the officers casually spoke on the phone.

West Papuans reject Jakarta plan for extension of special autonomy

 

Papuan students demonstrating against extenson of the special autonomy law for Papua
and provincial expansion plans in front of the Ministry of Home Affairs
in central Jakarta on Monday. IMAGE: APR special

A West Papuan correspondent has compiled and translated this special article for Asia Pacific Report and Cafe Pacific drawn from Papuan news media.

THE INDIGENOUS people of West Papua have rejected the extension of special autonomy and the planned expansion of new provinces announced by the central government of Indonesia.

The rejection comes from grassroots communities across West Papua and Papuan students who are studying in Indonesia and overseas.

Responding to the expansion of a new province, Mimika students demonstrated in front of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Jl. Medan Merdeka Utara, central Jakarta, this week.

• READ MORE: More than half million Papuans sign petition opposing Indonesia’s Special Autonomy extension
• Other West Papua reports

Representing Mimika students throughout Indonesia and abroad, about 30 students who are currently studying in Jakarta, took part in the protest on Monday.

A statement received by Asia Pacific Report said that the Mimika regency students throughout Papua, Indonesia, and globally rejected the division of the Central Papua province and return the provincial division to the MRP and DPRP of Papua Province, and return the customary institutions (LEMASA & LEMASKO) to the tribal and Kamoro indigenous communities in Mimika regency.