Jakarta Globe, Katharina R. Lestari & Ryan Dagur, May 18, 2015
Jakarta. Indonesia’s release of five Papuan political prisoners earlier this month must be quickly followed by granting amnesty to political prisoners from neighboring Maluku province, activists say.
President Joko Widodo shakes hands with freed Papuan political prisoners during a ceremony in Abepura prison in Jayapura on May 9. (AFP Photo/Romeo Gacad) |
Jakarta. Indonesia’s release of five Papuan political prisoners earlier this month must be quickly followed by granting amnesty to political prisoners from neighboring Maluku province, activists say.
At least 24
pro-sovereignty activists from Maluku remain behind bars, according to Samuel
Weileruny of the Maluku Civil Community Advocacy Center. These include nine
political prisoners who were sentenced in mid-January to prison terms of up to
four years on charges of treason.
“What we
fight for is the truth, and we do it in peaceful and dignified ways,” Weileruny
told Ucanews.com in an interview.
He said
that jailing political activists for treason was improper.
“Treason
means a threat expressed with violence. People committing treason should at
least have weapons so as to equally fight against the state. But we don’t do
that,” he said.
Pro-sovereignty
activists in Maluku have long advocated for an autonomous state known as the
South Maluku Republic (RMS).
RMS
attempted to secede in 1950 but was defeated by Indonesian forces the same
year. A low-level armed struggle followed on Seram Island until 1963. But in
recent years, the movement has become more symbolic in nature, with activists
participating in banned RMS flag-raising and peaceful ceremonies.
Simon Saija
is one such activist. He was among the nine arrested last year for marking the
April 25, 1950, anniversary of RMS’s original declaration of independence.
After President Joko Widodo earlier this month granted clemency to the five
Papuan political prisoners, one of Saija’s relatives, who did not want to be
named, said political prisoners from Maluku also deserve leniency.
“The fight
of political activists in both Maluku and Papua isn’t the same, but they both
fight for their rights,” the relative said. “So don’t just send them to jail.”
Yanes
Balubun, a lawyer for the nine Maluku defendants, didn’t want to compare the
situation in Papua with the one in Maluku, but he noted that they are now both
peaceful movements.
“This is
the same political stance, which is done in a peaceful way. So the Indonesian
government should treat them the same,” he told Ucanews.com.
Moshe
Tuwanakotta was jailed in 2004 after he brought an RMS flag to a peaceful rally
that year. He questioned why some Papuan political prisoners were released, but
not activists from Maluku.
“Political
prisoners in Maluku must be released too, just like our friends in Papua. Why
did Jokowi grant clemency only to Papuan political prisoners? Maluku also has
political prisoners,” he said.
Joko
granted clemency to the five Papuan political prisoners on May 9 during a trip
to Papua. The president had earlier visited Maluku, though he did not announce
any clemency deals there.
Andreas
Harsono, the Indonesia researcher for Human Rights Watch, said he met with the
Papuan political prisoners after their release. Their accounts of a
conversation with Joko lead him to believe that prisoners from Maluku may
eventually be freed as well.
“If we see
from Jokowi’s talk with those released Papuan political prisoners, it seems
that freedom will also be afforded to political prisoners in Maluku,
remembering that many political prisoners remain behind bars,” he said.
Either way,
many observers see Joko’s clemency deal for the Papuans as being insufficient.
Activists
say clemency implies an admission of guilt; they are arguing instead for a
general amnesty.
“We hope
that [the president] grants amnesty or abolition instead of clemency,”
Weileruny said.
“Clemency
is a pardon, it means we are guilty. If we are guilty, it means that what has
been done, like torture and limitations on our rights, is justified.”
This story
was first published by Ucanews and was edited for style by the Jakarta Globe.
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