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Indonesia military linked to killings
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The
Age
September 26, 2002
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Indonesia military linked to killings
By Matthew Moore, Indonesia Correspondent, Jakarta
Four Indonesian soldiers were at the site of an ambush last month in which three
schoolteachers from the giant US-owned Freeport mine in Papua were killed,
according to new evidence released yesterday.
John Rumbiak, from the West Papua human rights group ELSHAM, said his group
had interviewed a witness who was with a group of nine members of the army's
special forces, Kopassus, at the ambush site on the day of the attack.
Four remained there before the lunchtime shootings on August 31, while the rest
walked on several hundred metres and heard the shots that killed two Americans and
one Indonesian and wounded 12 others, the witness said.
The witness was described as a former member of a civilian group set up to help
Kopassus.
Releasing his group's report on the first such shootings of Westerners in Papua, Mr
Rumbiak said the witness had been interviewed by police and was now in Papua's
capital, Jayapura, under police protection.
Papuan police chief Major-General I Made Pastika confirmed the witness had been
interviewed.
"We are still doing some cross-checks about this witness's information because there
are some discrepancies with the facts in the field," he said.
The shooting of all 10 teachers working at the US international school was followed by
mysterious security incidents, including the discovery of bombs close to the world's
richest copper and gold mine.
There has been little direct evidence produced by Papuan separatists or police to
identify the attackers.
None of the eight American survivors have spoken publicly about the attack. Most
have returned to the US after treatment in Townsville.
Mr Rumbiak's report said his investigations "confirmed by investigating police, indicate
OPM (Free Papua Movement) were not involved" and that evidence suggests "the
shooting was carried out by Indonesian military personnel or groups facilitated by the
TNI (military)".
General Pastika refused to say who he believed was responsible. Papua's military
commander, General Mahidin Simbolon, could not be contacted.
In a separate report yesterday, Amnesty International warned companies operating in
Papua and the Indonesian Government to pay more attention to human rights,
following an investigation of two attacks by armed groups in the Wasior district of
Papua from April to October last year that killed five policemen.
"As in the Freeport attack, the Indonesian authorities accused the . . . OPM . . . in
the absence of an effective investigation there are still doubts about the group's
involvement, and questions about whether they may have had military backing," the
report said.
Mr Rumbiak said there were rumours of attempts to use militias to create ethnic
conflict in Papua, as had occurred in East Timor.
He said that his staff had been followed by military intelligence and threatened.
"Military involvement in the shooting is also evidenced by the military's intelligence's
efforts to terrorise and intimidate police," the ELSHAM report said.
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