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Papua protestors forced to listen to patriotic songs

Patriotic Indonesian songs were playing in the detention center of the National Police's Mobile Brigade headquarters (Mako Brimob) in Depok, West Java, according to Jakarta Legal Aid Society (LBH Jakarta) lawyer Nelson Simamora, when he and other lawyers and friends of Surya Anta visited the activist, one of those detained for rallying to call for the liberation of Papua

Gisela Swaragita (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Tue, September 10, 2019

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Papua protestors forced to listen to patriotic songs

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span>Patriotic Indonesian songs were playing in the detention center of the National Police's Mobile Brigade headquarters (Mako Brimob) in Depok, West Java, according to Jakarta Legal Aid Society (LBH Jakarta) lawyer Nelson Simamora, when he and other lawyers and friends of Surya Anta visited the activist, one of those detained for rallying to call for the liberation of Papua.

Surya, who is the spokesperson of the Indonesia People's Front for West Papua (FRI-WP), was arrested on Aug. 31 for allegedly committing treason by protesting in front of the Merdeka Palace in Central Jakarta and other places on Aug. 28. Along with Surya, seven students from Papua involved in the same protest were also arrested.

Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) coordinator Yati Andriyani, who also advocated for the detainees, said that the legal team could not be sure if the songs were played specifically as a means of torturing the pro-Papua activists.

“We heard it when we were at the end of the visit and walking toward the car to go home. Therefore we could not make sure if the songs are played all day or every day and especially played for Surya and his friends,” she said.

Surya’s best friend, Suarbudaya Rahadian, a priest of the Salemba Blessing Community Church and editor of progressive Christians on the intellectual website Indoprogress, told The Jakarta Post that Surya was being held in isolation.

“Surya Anta said he is detained in a different cell from the other detainees. He only can get out of the cell and see sunlight during an interrogation or a meeting with lawyers,” Suarbudaya said.

Suarbudaya confirmed that the patriotic songs are continuously played in the complex for all detainees to hear.

He also said that their meeting was supervised tightly by the authorities, limiting their talk to formal conversation.

“Two meters to our right and left there were guards with rifles. Behind me was an officer in plain clothes recording our conversation on a video. In front of me was another person with a cellphone,” Suarbudaya said.

“Surya asked how our friends were outside. I only nodded. I guess he knows what I meant,” Suarbudaya added. “It was hard to talk in such a situation.”

Surya looked healthy and well fed, although he seemed a bit confused, Suarbudaya said.

“However, he looked a bit cheered up when he saw us,” he said.

Suarbudaya said he gave his friend books to ease his boredom: Eka Kurniawan’s Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash and Wilson Obrigados’s Aluta Continua.

The police claimed that they treated detainees well at the Mako Brimob detention center and that they did not use music to torture. However, Jakarta Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Argo Yuwono confirmed that the detainees are put in different cells to limit interaction.

“There are no isolation cells [in Mako Brimob]. All detainees have their own cells. [Surya's] cell is spacious and we provide a Bible for him to read,” he told the Post during a phone call on Friday.

“They are treason detainees. They are different from terrorist detainees. They can interact only if there are visitations, Argo said.

“If you can see sunlight there, it is not a cell. It is a fenced field,” Argo said. “That’s why if you want to be free and go anywhere freely, do not commit treason. We are patriotic [for the] unity of Indonesia,” he said.

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