Veronica Koman Hands Data on Papuan Victims to Jokowi

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A number of human rights activists claimed to have handed data on political prisoners and the death toll in Papua to President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo on Monday morning, February 10, during the latter's state visit to Canberra, Australia.

One of the activists, Veronica Koman, said her side urged the President to halt the political and humanitarian crisis in the country’s easternmost province and demanded the Australian parliament discuss the human rights violations in Papua during the two countries’ bilateral meeting held this week.

“Our team in Canberra has succeeded to hand the documents to President Jokowi directly. The documents include names and locations of the 57 Papuan political prisoners who are charged with treason and detained in seven cities across Indonesia,” said Veronica via a press release.

“We have also handed names and the ages of 243 civilian victims who died during the military operations in Nduga since December 2018, either they died because of security officers, illness, or hunger in refugee camps,” she added.

Veronica recalled that at the beginning of the President’s first administration term back in 2015, Jokowi released five Papuan political prisoners. The act was considered a new hope for Papuans, she said.

“However, at the beginning of his second term, 57 people were charged with treason and are now awaiting trials. This will only worsen the conflict in Papua,” she underlined.

She added many governors, regents, church leaders, traditional leaders, academicians, activists, and university students had urged the President to withdraw military personnel from Nduga since December 2018, yet to no avail.  

President Jokowi has received the data on political prisoners and dead victims in Papua. “Including names of 110 dead children out of the total 243 civilians, will the President keep ignoring the request?” Veronika Koman said.

HALIDA BUNGA FISANDRA