Yogyakarta, July 20th 2020—The 5th Papua Strategic Policy Forum event is back with a discussion titled “The Urgency of Creating a Human Rights Court & Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Papua” which was held by UGM Papua Taskforce and The Center for Capacity and Cooperation Building Fisipol UGM. The event was held online through Zoom and live streamed on Youtube. The discussion started with a presentation by Beka Ulung Hapsara, an Education and Counseling Commissioner in the National Committee of Human Rights. He said that the issue of papua is very complex, not just about the inequality but also the law enforcement in Papua. He said that there are only four human rights violations in Papua that are being investigated. Therefore, the Papua Truth and Reconciliation Commission (KKR) needs to investigate now. In the future, KKR will also create a clarification of Papua’s history, establish reconciliation steps, and ensure that there will be no more human rights violations in Papua in the future.
The second speaker, Victor Mambor as a Papuan senior journalist explained about the role of the press in Papua. “So far, the media’s role can’t be fulfilled in Papua. The role of the media is to be a verificator, mediator, and an oversight towards authorities,” Victor said. “Only a small amount of media fulfills that role. There are still many ‘wild’ reporters. They deliver news that are ordered by someone, so they don’t cover both sides. Conflicts are sometimes reduced to such a way that it is seen as a fight that will never be resolved,” Victor reiterated.
To respond to the issue said by the first two speakers, Michael Manufunfu as a senior ambassador said that there are three solutions to the human rights issue; the development, cultural, and spiritual approach. Other than that, Latifah Anum Siregar as the director of the Democration for Papua Alliance also agrees with the fact that there are a lot of media who write the news just for framing. “We don’t have enough information because there is only one story,” Latifah said. Latifah also agrees with the urgency to create a KKR to give justice to the victim, eradicate impunity, admit to past mistakes, and establish trust without violence in the future. “Instead, what exist now is fear and counter insurgency,” Latifah explained.
Next, Gabriel Lele as the researcher for the Papua task force said that there needs to be a peace dividend as an entryway towards Papua issue. However, there is still some concern by the government that human rights court will only create a bigger issue compared to simply solving the problem through the military and cops. Gabriel also elaborated several psychosocial alternative approaches for Papua. “While waiting for a formal KKR process, this process can be done by the government. We also need a socio anthropological approach,” Gabriel said.
The discussion series with different themes aren’t held without a reason. Bambang Purwoko as the Head of the Papua Task force said that the discussion series will be important for the proses to perfect the Papua Special Otonomy Laws.