TNI soldiers involved in fatal shooting of Papuan teenager

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Tue, 06/23/2009 11:56 AM  |  National

Thirteen-year-old Isak Pesakot was shot and killed by Indonesian Military (TNI) soldiers patrolling in the Keerom regency, Papua, on Monday.

Lt. Col. Susilo, spokesperson of the Papua Military Command, confirmed the incident on Tuesday.

“TNI soldiers at Bewan military post in Keerom were responsible for the shooting. The incident is now under investigation,” he said as quoted by Antara state news agency.

Servo Tuamis, a local tribal chief, said Isak was walking home from a visit to a relative in Skoscahu, Papua New Guinea (PNG), with his brothers when they met a patrol team of eight soldiers and dogs. The three children ran away after being chased by the dogs and two of them climbed a tree to escape while Isak stayed on the ground.

“The children in the tree heard two shots and shouted that they were Indonesians and to stop firing,” he said.

Keerom is a border area between Indonesia and PNG and Servo said local citizens frequently crossed the border to visit their relatives.

Last week an officer of the Jayapura Police was detained by PNG authorities for allegedly illegally crossing the border at Wutung Beach in Keerom. (dre)

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Denni hooping (not verified) — Tue, 06/30/2009 - 3:27pm

All this fuss, it was only a Papuan, who are about on par with a Timorise. In any event, is it not written into the Indonesian constitution that the military and police have the unquestionable right to abuse and murder at will, and that the laws of the land are only made for 'ordinary' people to follow.

Vigo Property (not verified) — Sun, 06/28/2009 - 12:11pm

Helena van der Winden

Hi Helena.
No, it is all about getting oil, copper, gas and gold.

Su (not verified) — Sun, 06/28/2009 - 9:54am

Indonesia respects Papua as part of Indonesia, and definitely not to treat Papua as animals by all means. If the soldier shot the boy whether it is accidently or not, there will be punishment for this soldier. Indonesia will not order its soldiers to shoot people with no good reason. Please stop this ridiculous mind and support peace once for all. Thank you.

Borsa — Sat, 07/04/2009 - 5:13pm

Su, you must be joking, right? If you want peace, you need justice. At the moment there is no justice in West Papua. West Papuans who peacefully express their opinions are shot in the street, on public places or even at their schools and universities. Some who are arrested get 15 years in jail for having simply unfurled the Rising Star flag.

Meanwhile, those from the police, TNI or special forces who commit rapes, murders, indiscriminate shootings and other atrocities are never investigated properly. I am not aware of punishments for soldiers convicted of such crimes in West Papua. Those few who have been convicted because of international pressure have seen their sentences overturned later.

I have been to West Papua a number of times and I can testify that security forces there treat Papuans like animals.

Helena van der Winden (not verified) — Thu, 06/25/2009 - 9:12pm

I think the reason why the international community is quiet about Papua is because they have some kind of prejudice against the Papuans. They've seen that the East Timorese has not been successful after they gained their independence. In fact, the condition is East Timor has become worse.

Therefore, many countries see that it is unimportant for them to focus on Papua, especially in the current global political climate, where attentions are directed to countries like Iran, North Korea and Pakistan.

Willy kurniawan (not verified) — Thu, 06/25/2009 - 5:05am

this is in response to the "person" who posted the first comment.

i totally agree with you that the international community "must" do something about the human rights abuses that continues to take place in Papua by the Indonesian military. Unfortunately, the international community will not act until we Indonesians act and highlight the abuses that is taking place in Papua. In other words, it is not the international communities responsibilty to act at this point (perhaps intervention into Papua is wishful thinking) however it is ordinary indonesians like you and i that must stand together with the papuans to bring attention to the international community about these abuses. change beging with us -- citizens who care enough to stand up and do something about an issues that we care about. and i believe human rights is an issue that every individual should care about.

Ating (not verified) — Thu, 06/25/2009 - 4:49am

Indonesians in general see black Papuans as non-humans. That's why TNI chase and kill them in the jungle like animals!
Pure racism!

Ananda (not verified) — Wed, 06/24/2009 - 2:50pm

When a soldier from a third world country like Indonesia shoot some people in the border area or on security patrol, then the International (more likely western oriented values) persons will cry with dignity on human rights. However when western soldiers blow up women and children on the street of Iraq or on the mountains vilages of Afghanistan then it's called mistaken identity cases. Papua has still significant securities related border trespasses. It's not right for any soldiers to shoot unarmed civilians especially childs, however the behaviour of TNI has show some improvements. At least no one even media in here will cover it as honest mistakes and let it go just like western civilizations done it toward their soldiers behaviour in Iraq and Afghanistan

Borsa — Tue, 06/30/2009 - 7:25am

Dear Ananda, I think your comment is misplaced nationalism. Human rights are universal values, not only "western oriented thinking". Indonesia is part of the United Nations and has signed a number of international treaties and conventions where it affirms its commitments to protecting human rights. Yet West Papuans are deliberately killed like animals by TNI and Indonesian police and worse, those who commit murders against civilians in West Papua usually are not brought to tribunals.

You also compare the border in West Papua with the military operations in Iraq or Afghanistan. Sure, murders of civilians by foreign military forces have also occurred there. Those crimes have been investigated and harsh sentences have been imposed on those convicted. But there is a situation of real civil war in those two countries at the moment. You can hardly qualify the situation in West Papua as civil war. So you can't compare the situation in West Papua with civil war in Iraq and Afghanistan, nor compare the action of TNI in West Papua with that of foreign military forces in those countries.

Last, if you really want to point out the hypocrisy of some powerful western countries, then you could start questioning their propensity to close their eyes on the countless violations of human rights that have been occurring all over Indonesia for so many years, and still occur in a number of places, among which is West Papua.

I can see that among those readers of the Jakarta Post who are horrified by the crimes committed by TNI in West Papua and elsewhere are a number of Indonesians. And others with western names (I am one of them) do not necessarily agree with the West's aggressive military operations conducted in Iraq or Afghanistan or elsewhere.

Gherori (not verified) — Tue, 06/23/2009 - 5:16pm

I am so terrified with this case. This is not an accident. This is consciously done because Indonesian military always see the Papuans as animals. This has been their attitudes and killings in Papua are common for them. I ask for international attention to the human right problems in West Papua. The international communities must take an intensive action to solve this problem if you don't want to see lots of killings and human right violations in West Papua.

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