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Category: Asia Report

  • SAFEnet concerned Jakarta’s virtual police unit may create ‘Orwellian state’

    Asia Pacific Report

    The Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network (SAFEnet) – an institution concerned with freedom of expression in the digital world – has criticised Indonesia’s newly established virtual police (VP) unit formed under the national police headquarters that is tasked with monitoring the activities of netizens.

    The programme, the brainchild of Indonesian police chief General Listyo Sigit Prabowo, was formed to prevent indictments under the Information and Electronic Transaction Law (UU ITE).

    SAFEnet executive director Damar Juniarto is concerned however that instead of providing a sense of security the virtual police would in fact give rise to new fears.

    The reason being that virtual police officers would intrude too far into the private lives of citizens in the digital sphere.

    “This will instead give rise to new fears, where the police can appear at any time in citizen’s private [digital] space,” said Juniarto when contacted by CNN Indonesia last week.

    Juniarto said that it was if the virtual police were reviving an Orwellian state. The term Orwellian state refers to a system and public situation that is anti-freedom and anti-openness and is taken from a fictional work by author and journalist George Orwell.

    One of the criteria for an Orwellian state is when the state continuously monitors what is being done by its citizens.

    ‘Correcting’ citizens
    In such a situation, continued Juniarto, the state can directly correct citizens who are deemed to be in error. Instead of feeling protected, people will in fact feel threatened and fearful.

    “Even without this direct police presence, people are already afraid of the threat of the UU ITE [being used against them], never mind with methods such as this,” he said.

    Not only that, Juniarto emphasised that the virtual police negate the space for people to defend themselves if a posting on the internet is deemed to be hate speech or violate the ITE Law.

    The virtual police, according to Juniarto, would in fact negate the judicial process so people would only have one option – to obey or be punished.

    Juniarto revealed that the virtual police’s presence have already turned people’s discussions in digital space into something has to be treated or cured. He is also concerned that they would destroy the climate of discussion and debate on digital media.

    “So the VP needs to be corrected so their implementation prioritises education, not appearing as a figure which wants to punish disobedient citizens,” said Juniarto.

    Earlier this week, the police officially launched the virtual police unit to monitor potential violations of the ITE Law on the internet.

    Healthy cyber world
    According to national police spokesperson Inspector General Argo Yuwono, the virtual police’s presence in digital space is a form of maintaining security and public order so that activities in the cyber world can be clean, healthy and productive.

    “Through the virtual police, the police will provide education and notifications if what is written is a criminal violation, request that it not be written again and be deleted,” Yuwono told journalists.

    According to Yuwono, the virtual police had already sent warnings to three accounts recently. One of the accounts had posted a picture with the caption “Don’t forget I’m a thief”.

    “Virtual police alert. Warning 1. The content on your Twitter account uploaded on February 21, 2021, at 3.15 pm local time has the potential to be criminal hate speech.

    “In order to avoid further legal proceedings you are asked to make a correction to the social media content after you have received this message. Salam Presisi [predictability, responsibility, transparency, justice],” said Yuwono reading out the contents of the warning.

    Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was “SAFEnet Kritik Aksi Virtual Police Terobos Ruang Privat Warga”.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Veronica Koman challenges Jakarta’s different stands on Burma and Papua

    Asia Pacific Report

    Human rights lawyer Veronica Koman has challenged the contrasting positions taken by the Indonesian government in response to calls to resolve the Papua problem and in its response to the military coup in Myanmar.

    Koman said Indonesia’s position on the Myanmar coup had been very good, but not its attitude on the Papua issue.

    “It’s funny, Indonesia pays no attention to international pressure to resolve the conflict in Papua, but has the courage to stand up to Myanmar, which is actually a very good move”, said Koman during a webinar held by the Milk Tea Alliance Indonesia last Sunday.

    Koman said the Indonesian public could not take a position of indifference in addressing the coup in Myanmar.

    This is because, according to Koman, what has happened in Myanmar could well happen in Indonesia as well.

    “I think that the problem of the coup d’etat in Myanmar is a mutual problem, it doesn’t mean that with the coup in Myanmar we as Indonesians can just be ambivalent, let alone our ASEAN neighbours, so it’s very important that Indonesia stands in solidarity [with the Burmese people],” she said.

    “Because, what is happening in the region is actually very influential. Don’t consider it something inconsequential, because if we look at the Arab Spring it took place [across an entire] region.

    Militarism ‘can spread too’
    “Revolutions can spread, so why can’t militarism [too],” said Koman.

    Koman noted that the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) and the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) had stated that the military in Indonesia were becoming more of a problem because they were now taking part in guarding demonstrations by civil society.

    According to Koman, the thing that actually differentiates Indonesia from Myanmar is only the coup itself.

    “Actually it’s the same, just in Indonesia there hasn’t been an obvious coup d’etat, yet the military in Indonesia is already involved in civil [affairs] through regulations which allow the TNI [Indonesian military] at civil demonstrations,” said Koman.

    Leaving this aside, Koman is calling on the Indonesian public to speak out in order to pressure the government to take a firmer stand on the Myanmar coup d’etat.

    Koman said that this represents a moment for the people of Southeast Asia to rise up against undemocratic tendencies in the region.

    “Because there is something which is known in international circles as the ASEAN way, and this has been criticised by many people, it means just staying quiet as if they support each other’s non-democracies,” she said.

    Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was “Veronica Koman Singgung Sikap RI di Isu Papua dan Myanmar”.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • RSF protests over 11 journalists held in Myanmar coup military crackdown

    Asia Pacific Report

    Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is dismayed by the sudden intensification of the ruling junta’s crackdown on journalists during the past three days, one month after the military coup in Myanmar on February 1, and warns the junta of its responsibility in the eyes of history.

    In all, at least 28 journalists have been arrested in the course of the past month of pro-democracy street protests, against which – after hesitating for weeks – the junta suddenly began making much wider use of deadly force last weekend.

    But, whereas reporters covering past protests were quickly released after being arrested, things have changed radically in the past few days, and at least 11 journalists were in detention, said the RSF statement.

    The latest to be arrested was Kaung Myat Naing (aka Aung Kyaw) of the Democratic Voice of Burma news agency, who livestreamed police coming to arrest him at his home in the far south city of Myeik at around 10:30 pm on Tuesday.

    You can hear him ask the police if they have a warrant, to which they respond with shouts and gunfire.

    “We call on Myanmar’s government to order the immediate and unconditional release of all the journalists currently detained, and to drop the charges against them,” said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk.

    “It is absolutely crucial that reporters should be able to cover this dramatic moment in Myanmar’s history. The generals who took power must realise that the world is looking at them and that history will judge them.”

    Badly beaten
    The 11 journalists currently detained include Chinland Post reporter Salai David, who was arrested on Tuesday morning in Hakha, the capital of the western state of Chin.

    Monywa Gazette reporter Lay Min Soe was arrested yesterday in Monywa, in the central region of Sagaing, but was released later in the day after sustaining injuries in the beating he received from the police.

    A Chinese reporter for the Xinhua news agency was meanwhile hit by rubber bullets while covering a protest in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, in the south of the country.

    Six journalists were arrested in various parts of the country on February 28.

    YamaNya Taing reporter Lin Tun was released the next day after being arrested in the southern city of Mawlamyine. 74 Media website reporter Paung Lan Taung was released later the same day after being arrested in the northern city of Myitkyina.

    Ye Yint Tun, a journalist with the Than Taw Sint newspaper, was jailed after being arrested in the southwestern city of Pathein.

    Chun Journal editor Kyaw Nay Min was taken to Inn Sein prison after being arrested in Yangon. Freelance reporter Soe Yarzar Tun suffered the same fate.

    The sixth journalist to be arrested on February 28 was Shin Moe Myint, a Yangon-based psychology student who was covering the protests as a freelancer. Two witnesses told RSF she was badly beaten before being bundled into a police van and taken in the direction of Inn Sein prison.

    She was finally released on Tuesday.

    Multiple arrests
    Six reporters were arrested on February 27 while covering protests in their respective cities. Associated Press photographer Thein Zaw and Myanmar Pressphoto Agency photographer Ye Myo Khant were briefly arrested in Yangon’s Hle Dan district.

    Myanmar Now reporter Kay Zon Nwe was livestreaming the crackdown on a protest at Yangon’s Myaynigone Junction when the police arrested her and took her away. Freelance editor Banyar Oo was also arrested and sent to Inn Sein prison.

    In the central region of Sagaing, the staff of the Monywa Gazette reported on Facebook that their CEO Kyaw Kyaw Win was badly beaten by plainclothes police on February 27 before being taken away in a police van.

    He was released the next day. Hakha Times CEO Par Pwie was also released the next day after being arrested while livestreaming a protest in the western state of Chin.

    Myay Latt newspaper’s Zar Zar was arrested in the central city of Magway. She was released the same day.

    Two years in jail
    According to the information obtained by RSF, which has not been confirmed by the authorities, the 11 journalists currently being detained are to be charged under article 505 (a) of the penal code with spreading false information, which carries a possible two-year jail sentence.

    Those close to Ye Myo Khant, one of the photographers arrested on February 27, said they shared this fear.

    On February 26, before this wave of arrests, RSF posted a video of Yuki Kitazumi, a Japanese reporter and documentary filmmaker, being arrested in Yangon. He was released the same day.

    Wai Yan, a Chinese photojournalist working for the Xinhua news agency, was also briefly arrested on February 26.

    Two Monywa-based reporters, Tin Mar Swe of MCN TV News and Khin May San of The Voice magazine, were quickly released after being arrested on February 25 but have been charged under article 505 (a) of the penal code.

    The February 1 coup cut short a transition to democracy in Myanmar and has set press freedom back 10 years, back to when prior censorship was the rule and independent media were constantly persecuted.

    Myanmar is ranked 139th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2020 World Press Freedom Index.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Myanmar’s Bloody Sunday – security forces ‘live tracking’ media, protesters

    By Phil Thornton in Bangkok

    The Myanmar army, police and militia’s use of violence against peaceful protestors reached another level on Sunday, February 28.

    By 5pm, local media reported at least 19 confirmed killings and another 10 unconfirmed. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) spoke to journalists covering the nationwide protests.

    Toe Zaw Latt, a video journalist and production director with Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), is not surprised by the brutality or the extreme force used by the security forces.

    “It’s their assignment,” he said. “This is what they’re trained to do. Arrest people for exercising their democratic rights. Shoot them, beat them with iron bars, use powerful slingshots to fire bolts, and metal spikes.

    “Use tear gas and fire live ammunition into crowds of unarmed people. They want to silence journalists, but we need to report.”

    Toe Zaw Latt was 17 in 1988 when he first faced the military’s violence. He prays the violence in 2021 does not reach the level experienced in 1988 when security forces fired live ammunition into crowds of peaceful protesters, killing thousands.

    “Thousands of us had to take refuge in neighbouring countries. Protest leaders and other activists were jailed for years, tortured and denied any human rights in prison,” he said

    Military blackouts
    DVB, an independent media company, has managed to keep broadcasting, despite the crisis and enforced country wide military blackouts.

    “They pulled the plug on us, but we now rely on our satellite being outside the country,”  said Toe Zaw Latt. “We’re managing to operate 24/7 and every two hours we have a 30-minute news bulletin plus our live social media platform.”

    In 2021, technology is changing how journalists and protesters record abuses, he says.

    “Everyone now has a smartphone and everyone can record the military’s crimes against humanity. But I fear for my staff’s security.

    “We are easily identified as journalists by our equipment and PRESS signage, but we are still targeted by security forces because they don’t want their brutality and crimes recorded.”

    Protesters and journalists are not the only ones using technology. Security forces are using surveillance tools to “live” track protesters’ locations, listen in on conversations and trawl through computers and phones.

    Justice for Myanmar, undercover advocates who campaign for justice and accountability in the country, released a number of reports implicating Western companies in the supply of surveillance technology now used by the military to track its pro-democracy opponents.

    Israeli surveillance technology
    The Ministry of Home Affairs budget files, obtained by Justice for Myanmar and reported in The New York Times, “indicate that dual-use surveillance technology made by Israeli, American and European companies made its way to Myanmar, despite many of their home governments banning such exports after the military’s brutal expulsion of Rohingya Muslims in 2017.”

    Justice for Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung said:“The military are now using those very tools to brutally crack down on peaceful protesters risking their lives to resist the military junta and restore democracy, and to move against journalists who are exercising their right to report on protests.”

    Despite military surveillance, arrests and violence, Toe Zaw Latt says journalists seem determined to keep reporting.

    “It’s challenging for reporters working in these conditions. They [security forces] just start walking into residential streets and start shooting, they’re like mad dogs. Our professional equipment marks us as a target, but we’ll continue to do our job.”

    Aye Win, (not her real name) works for an international news agency in a major city, said it’s the unseen violence that worries her the most. “We fear most what we can’t see – snipers and the thought of what they will do to you when they take you to the barracks or jail,” she said.

    Gunshots, loud can be heard in the background as Aye Win describes an army truck outside delivering more troops to the area. “It’s now 5.30pm and it’s not safe to go out. My female colleagues are scared…not of the crackdown, but of the unseen brutality. I worry about my freelancers, they have no protection, media laws are weak. Police have no respect for journalists, if you get too close they grab and steal your equipment.”

    Evolving security tactics
    Ng Maung has been on the frontline since the coup started on February 1 and has noticed how the security forces tactics have evolved.

    “They have started to remove their identification badges. Our PRESS logo is now a target. Not knowing where snipers are is a huge fear, we now need protection from bullets.

    “If I can see them I’m not scared. It’s not safe to be on the streets at any time. Ten journalists have been arrested already.”

    Toe Zaw Latt explained even if journalists work for international agencies or for a small local media outlet or as a freelancer there is no guarantees for their safety or protection of their right to work without interference from security forces.

    “No one is safe under this military government. We’re all in immediate danger, but at the same time we have to report, we can’t stay silent.”

    The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners an independent organisation founded and run by former political prisoners reported as of March 1 that 1,213 people have been arrested and 913 remain in detention.

    AAP said security forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protestors and journalists and live ammunition was also fired at residential homes. Reports of security forces looting and robbing have been confirmed by video footage shared by credible sources on social media.

    Toe Zaw Latt said people have responded by trying to secure their neighbourhoods. “Residents are blocking the roads to stop the police and army from entering, the community are protecting student protestors.

    “There’s no rule of law in Myanmar, but people are helping activists and journalist with food, refuge and lifts. They treat people battling the effects of tear gas.

    “They have even given us masks to stop the risk of covid spread. People say the military is a bigger risk than covid – they’re far more dangerous to the people of Myanmar.”

    Phil Thornton is an adviser for IFJ in South East Asia.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Myanmar’s Bloody Sunday – security forces ‘live tracking’ media, protesters

    The Myanmar army, police and militia’s use of violence against peaceful protestors reached another level on Sunday, February 28.

    By 5pm, local media reported at least 19 confirmed killings and another 10 unconfirmed. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) spoke to journalists covering the nationwide protests.

    Toe Zaw Latt, a video journalist and production director with Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), is not surprised by the brutality or the extreme force used by the security forces.

    “It’s their assignment,” he said. “This is what they’re trained to do. Arrest people for exercising their democratic rights. Shoot them, beat them with iron bars, use powerful slingshots to fire bolts, and metal spikes.

    “Use tear gas and fire live ammunition into crowds of unarmed people. They want to silence journalists, but we need to report.”

    Toe Zaw Latt was 17 in 1988 when he first faced the military’s violence. He prays the violence in 2021 does not reach the level experienced in 1988 when security forces fired live ammunition into crowds of peaceful protesters, killing thousands.

    “Thousands of us had to take refuge in neighbouring countries. Protest leaders and other activists were jailed for years, tortured and denied any human rights in prison,” he said

    Military blackouts
    DVB, an independent media company, has managed to keep broadcasting, despite the crisis and enforced country wide military blackouts.

    “They pulled the plug on us, but we now rely on our satellite being outside the country,”  said Toe Zaw Latt. “We’re managing to operate 24/7 and every two hours we have a 30-minute news bulletin plus our live social media platform.”

    In 2021, technology is changing how journalists and protesters record abuses, he says.

    “Everyone now has a smartphone and everyone can record the military’s crimes against humanity. But I fear for my staff’s security.

    “We are easily identified as journalists by our equipment and PRESS signage, but we are still targeted by security forces because they don’t want their brutality and crimes recorded.”

    Protesters and journalists are not the only ones using technology. Security forces are using surveillance tools to “live” track protesters’ locations, listen in on conversations and trawl through computers and phones.

    Justice for Myanmar, undercover advocates who campaign for justice and accountability in the country, released a number of reports implicating Western companies in the supply of surveillance technology now used by the military to track its pro-democracy opponents.

    Israeli surveillance technology
    The Ministry of Home Affairs budget files, obtained by Justice for Myanmar and reported in The New York Times, “indicate that dual-use surveillance technology made by Israeli, American and European companies made its way to Myanmar, despite many of their home governments banning such exports after the military’s brutal expulsion of Rohingya Muslims in 2017.”

    Justice for Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung said:“The military are now using those very tools to brutally crack down on peaceful protesters risking their lives to resist the military junta and restore democracy, and to move against journalists who are exercising their right to report on protests.”

    Despite military surveillance, arrests and violence, Toe Zaw Latt says journalists seem determined to keep reporting.

    “It’s challenging for reporters working in these conditions. They [security forces] just start walking into residential streets and start shooting, they’re like mad dogs. Our professional equipment marks us as a target, but we’ll continue to do our job.”

    Aye Win, (not her real name) works for an international news agency in a major city, said it’s the unseen violence that worries her the most. “We fear most what we can’t see – snipers and the thought of what they will do to you when they take you to the barracks or jail,” she said.

    Gunshots, loud can be heard in the background as Aye Win describes an army truck outside delivering more troops to the area. “It’s now 5.30pm and it’s not safe to go out. My female colleagues are scared…not of the crackdown, but of the unseen brutality. I worry about my freelancers, they have no protection, media laws are weak. Police have no respect for journalists, if you get too close they grab and steal your equipment.”

    Evolving security tactics
    Ng Maung has been on the frontline since the coup started on February 1 and has noticed how the security forces tactics have evolved.

    “They have started to remove their identification badges. Our PRESS logo is now a target. Not knowing where snipers are is a huge fear, we now need protection from bullets.

    “If I can see them I’m not scared. It’s not safe to be on the streets at any time. Ten journalists have been arrested already.”

    Toe Zaw Latt explained even if journalists work for international agencies or for a small local media outlet or as a freelancer there is no guarantees for their safety or protection of their right to work without interference from security forces.

    “No one is safe under this military government. We’re all in immediate danger, but at the same time we have to report, we can’t stay silent.”

    The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners an independent organisation founded and run by former political prisoners reported as of March 1 that 1,213 people have been arrested and 913 remain in detention.

    AAP said security forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protestors and journalists and live ammunition was also fired at residential homes. Reports of security forces looting and robbing have been confirmed by video footage shared by credible sources on social media.

    Toe Zaw Latt said people have responded by trying to secure their neighbourhoods. “Residents are blocking the roads to stop the police and army from entering, the community are protecting student protestors.

    “There’s no rule of law in Myanmar, but people are helping activists and journalist with food, refuge and lifts. They treat people battling the effects of tear gas.

    “They have even given us masks to stop the risk of covid spread. People say the military is a bigger risk than covid – they’re far more dangerous to the people of Myanmar.”

    Phil Thornton is an adviser for IFJ in South East Asia.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Democratic struggle won’t end with ITE law revision, says Koman

    By a special Asia Pacific Report correspondent in Jakarta

    It was September 2019, and exiled Indonesian human rights lawyer Veronica Koman was enjoying her final days in Australia. Her studies at the Australian National University in Canberra were almost over and all that was left was to wait for graduation day.

    One afternoon, Koman’s mobile phone rang. There was an SMS message from a friend in Indonesia.

    Her colleague informed her that the police had declared Koman a suspect.

    Since August 17, 2019, the Papua issue had been heating up. Racist actions by rogue security personnel against Papuan students in the East Java provincial capital of Surabaya had triggered a wave of public anger.

    Protest actions were held in several parts of the country, including in Papua. The government even cut internet access in Papua after several of the demonstrations ended in chaos.

    In the mist of this critical situation, Koman was actively posting on Twitter, sharing information about the mass movement in Papua.

    On September 4, Koman was officially declared a suspect. Police charged her under multiple articles, including the Information and Electronic Transaction (ITE) Law.

    ITE law ‘is so rubbery’
    Aside from the ITE Law, Koman was also indicted under Law Number 1/1946 on Criminal Regulations, Article 160 of the Criminal Code (KUHP) and Law Number 40/2008 on the Elimination of Racial and Ethnic Discrimination.

    “I had thought about what articles would perhaps be used to criminalise me. I strongly suspected it would be the ITE. It turned out to be true, because the ITE is so rubbery,” explained Koman when contacted by CNN Indonesia.

    Koman said that it was easy to use the ITE Law to criminalise people. Aside from the “rubber” (catchall) articles, the law does not require much evidence. A screen capture from the internet is enough, and the case can go ahead.

    She believes there has been a tendency to use the ITE Law to silence activists over the last few years and she gave several examples of cases in Papua.

    Koman said that several Papuan activists were indicted under the ITE Law in 2020. They were accused of committing hate speech, yet the activists only criticised police policy.

    “Hate speak must contain SARA [hatred based on ethnic, religion, race or inter-group]. Not for hating the police, that has now become hate speech. The tendency in Papua is like that, the ITE Law’s interpretation of hate speech is like that.

    “Yeah, I was confused, upset,” she said laughing.

    After being declared a suspect, Koman was also put on the wanted persons list (DPO). Because she had been declared fugitive, she was unable to return to Indonesia after her graduation.

    “The problem was, if I got imprisoned, who would report alternative information (about Papua)? If they want to arrest me, then arrest me, but I’m not going to turn myself in,” she said.

    Agreement with Widodo
    Koman supports President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s recent proposal to revise the catchall articles in the ITE law, saying that the law violates freedom of expression.

    She related how she was often teased by her followers on Twitter. They say she wasn’t afraid to criticise the government because she had unwillingly ended up on the DPO. Meanwhile, they are afraid to criticise because of the ITE Law.

    For Vero – as Koman is known – there is a serious issue behind the jokes by her followers. She says freedom to express an opinion in Indonesia is violated by the ITE law.

    “[Indonesian] citizens don’t have to be imprisoned by the ITE law for their rights to be violated, no. When citizens feel afraid to express themselves, express an opinion, then their rights have already been violated,” said Koman.

    Nevertheless, Koman warned that the struggle to uphold democracy will not end with the planned revisions to the ITE Law. She hopes that the public will take part in monitoring steps to improve the quality of democracy in Indonesia.

    “Don’t be satisfied because President Jokowi hopes that the move to revise the ITE law will restore democracy. That’s just one step, there’s still a lot of homework to be done to restore democracy”, she said.

    Waiting for Widodo’s ‘seriousness’
    Many are now waiting for Widodo to demonstrate his seriousness in abolishing the catchall articles in the ITE law. So far he has asked Indonesian police chief General Listyo Sigit Prabowo to draft guidelines on interpreting the law.

    “All that it needs is political will. Does he want to do it or not, or is it just lip service?” asked Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) chairperson Asfinawati when contacted by CNN Indonesia.

    According to data released by the Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network (SAFEnet), the catcall articles in the law which need to be abolished include Article 26 Paragraph (3), Article 27 Paragraph (1), Article 27 Paragraph (3), Article 28 Paragraph (2), Article 29, Article 36, Article 40 Paragraph (2) a, Article 40 Paragraph (2) b, and Article 45 Paragraph (3).

    Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was “Nasib Jerat UU ITE: Jadi DPO dan Tak Bisa Pulang Kampung”.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Myanmar’s junta plans draconian cyber-security law to stifle dissent

    Pacific Media Watch newsdesk

    Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has condemned a proposed cyber-security law in Myanmar that would organise online censorship and force social media platforms to share private information about their users when requested by the authorities.

    This would violate the confidentiality of journalists’ data and sources, and the public’s right to reliable information, says the Paris-based media freedom watchdog RSF.

    The draft law, which has just been leaked, is clearly designed to prevent pro-democracy activists from continuing to organise the demonstrations that have been taking place every day in cities across Myanmar in response to the military coup on February 1.

    The State Administration Council – as the new military junta euphemistically calls itself – sent a copy of the proposed law to internet access and online service providers on  February 9.

    And the junta is expected to make it public on February 15.

    The draft law, which RSF has seen, would require online platforms and service providers operating in Myanmar to keep all user data in a place designated by the government for three years.

    ‘Causing hate, destabilisation’
    Article 29 would give the government the right to order an account’s “interception, removal, destruction or cessation” in the event of any content “causing hate or disrupting unity, stabilisation and peace,” any “disinformation,” or any comment going “against any existing law.”

    This extremely vague wording would give the government considerable interpretative leeway and would in practice allow it to ban any content it disliked and to prosecute its author.

    Article 30, on the other hand, is very specific about the data that online service providers must hand over to the government when requested: the user’s name, IP address, phone number, ID card number and physical address.

    Any violation of the law would be punishable by up to three years in prison and a fine of 10 million kyats (6200 euros). Those convicted on more than one count would, of course, serve the corresponding jail terms consecutively.

    RSF submission
    “The provisions of this cyber-security law pose a clear threat to the right of Myanmar’s citizens to reliable information and to the confidentiality of journalists’ and bloggers’ data,” said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF Asia-Pacific desk.

    “We urge digital actors operating in Myanmar, starting with Facebook, to refuse to comply with this shocking attempt to bring them to heel. This junta has absolutely no democratic legitimacy and it would be highly damaging for platforms to submit too its tyrannical impositions.”

    Facebook has nearly 25 million users in Myanmar – 45 percent of the population. Three days after the February 1 coup, the junta suddenly blocked access to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

    But many of the country’s citizens have been using VPNs (virtual private networks) to circumvent the censorship.

    The proposed law’s leak has coincided with social media reports of the arrival of many Chinese technicians tasked with setting up an internet barrier and cybersurveillance system of the kind operating in China, which is an expert in this domain.

    Earlier this week, RSF reported the comments of several journalists who have been trying to cover the protests against the military coup, and who said that press freedom has been set back 10 years in the space of 10 days, back to where it was before the start of the democratisation process.

    Myanmar is ranked 139th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2020 World Press Freedom Index.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Myanmar’s junta plans draconian cyber-security law to stifle dissent

    Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has condemned a proposed cyber-security law in Myanmar that would organise online censorship and force social media platforms to share private information about their users when requested by the authorities.

    The draft law, which has just been leaked, is clearly designed to prevent pro-democracy activists from continuing to organise the demonstrations that have been taking place every day in cities across Myanmar in response to the military coup on February 1.

    The State Administration Council – as the new military junta euphemistically calls itself – sent a copy of the proposed law to internet access and online service providers on  February 9.

    And the junta is expected to make it public on February 15.

    The draft law, which RSF has seen, would require online platforms and service providers operating in Myanmar to keep all user data in a place designated by the government for three years.

    ‘Causing hate, destabilisation’
    Article 29 would give the government the right to order an account’s “interception, removal, destruction or cessation” in the event of any content “causing hate or disrupting unity, stabilisation and peace,” any “disinformation,” or any comment going “against any existing law.”

    This extremely vague wording would give the government considerable interpretative leeway and would in practice allow it to ban any content it disliked and to prosecute its author.

    Article 30, on the other hand, is very specific about the data that online service providers must hand over to the government when requested: the user’s name, IP address, phone number, ID card number and physical address.

    Any violation of the law would be punishable by up to three years in prison and a fine of 10 million kyats (6200 euros). Those convicted on more than one count would, of course, serve the corresponding jail terms consecutively.

    RSF submission
    “The provisions of this cyber-security law pose a clear threat to the right of Myanmar’s citizens to reliable information and to the confidentiality of journalists’ and bloggers’ data,” said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF Asia-Pacific desk.

    “We urge digital actors operating in Myanmar, starting with Facebook, to refuse to comply with this shocking attempt to bring them to heel. This junta has absolutely no democratic legitimacy and it would be highly damaging for platforms to submit too its tyrannical impositions.”

    Facebook has nearly 25 million users in Myanmar – 45 percent of the population. Three days after the February 1 coup, the junta suddenly blocked access to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

    But many of the country’s citizens have been using VPNs (virtual private networks) to circumvent the censorship.

    The proposed law’s leak has coincided with social media reports of the arrival of many Chinese technicians tasked with setting up an internet barrier and cybersurveillance system of the kind operating in China, which is an expert in this domain.

    Earlier this week, RSF reported the comments of several journalists who have been trying to cover the protests against the military coup, and who said that press freedom has been set back 10 years in the space of 10 days, back to where it was before the start of the democratisation process.

    Myanmar is ranked 139th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2020 World Press Freedom Index.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • China formally charges Australian journalist Cheng Lei – half year after being detained

    Pacific Media Watch newsdesk

    The Chinese government has formally charged Australian journalist Cheng Lei with “illegally supplying state secrets overseas”, almost half a year after she was first detained, reports ABC News.

    Lei has been held since August last year under a form of detention that allows Chinese police to imprison and question a suspect for up to six months without access to lawyers.

    Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said Chinese authorities advised Australia late last week that they had formally charged Lei, meaning an official investigation into her conduct would now begin.

    “We have consistently raised concerns [about Cheng Lei] regularly at the most senior levels,” Payne said.

    “We have made a number of consular visits to her as part of our bilateral consular agreement – the most recent of those was on the 27th of January – and we continue to seek assurances of her being treated appropriately, humanely and in accordance with international standards, and that will continue to be the case.”

    Lei was working as a high profile anchor for China’s state-run English language news service CGTN.

    Payne said the charges against Lei were “broad” and she expected the investigation to continue for months.

    When asked if the Australian government believed the allegations against Lei were baseless, she said Australia was “seeking further advice in relation to the charges”.

    Lei has two young children living with her family in Melbourne.

    Last year, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said Lei was “suspected of carrying out criminal activities endangering China’s national security”, but did not provide any further details.

    In September, the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) media freedom watchdog and other press freedom groups urged the release of Cheng Lei, who had been detained incommunicado and without charge since 14 August 2020.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. Pacific Media Watch collaborates with Reporters Without Borders.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Don’t touch academic freedom – why the Philippine military action is so intrusive and gross

    Jamela Alindogan reports from Manila on the attack on academic freedom. Video: Al Jazeera

    Teachers and students in the Philippines are angry over the decision to allow military forces to enter the top state university. The 1989 deal was put in place to protect students from the warrantless arrests and constant surveillance by police and military forces that were common during the 1970s era of martial law. Mel Sta Maria at Rappler analyses the crisis.

    ANALYSIS: By Mel Sta Maria in Manila

    Because of the controversy resulting from the unilateral termination by the Defence Department (DND) of the University of the Philippines (UP) and the DND’s accord limiting the entry of security personnel inside UP, Commission of Higher Education (CHED) chair J. Prospero de Vera was quoted in news reports as saying a “panel of education experts will define the meaning of academic freedom and the role of security forces in the protection of academic freedom and the welfare of students.”

    CHED or a “panel of experts” will define academic freedom for the University of the Philippines?

    This is the most intrusive, gross, and unconstitutional governmental action that can ever be done in regard to education.

    No governmental agency should define how academic freedom should be operationalised in UP and, for that matter, in any educational institution, like Ateneo de Manila University, Far Eastern University, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, De La Salle University, Mindanao State University, University of San Carlos, University of Sto. Tomas, and others.

    The 1987 Constitution provides that “academic freedom shall be enjoyed in all institutions of higher learning” (Article 14 Section 5[2]). The operative verb is “shall” – not may, could, or any other discretionary word.

    “Shall” is a command which all must observe unqualifiedly. No exact definition was made for a very fundamental reason.

    From the constitutional deliberations, Commissioner Adolf Azcuna (who later became a Supreme Court associate justice) said: “Since academic freedom is a dynamic concept, we want to expand the frontiers of freedom, especially in education, therefore, we shall leave it to the court to develop further the parameters of academic freedom.”

    The intent of the framers
    The intent of the framers was not for the executive department, especially the CHED, to come up with an academic freedom “definition”. The task has been exclusively and particularly given to the Supreme Court “to develop further parameters of academic freedom”.

    The reason is so obvious. The executive and Congress are political departments often imbued by temporal, erratic, and slanted motivations. Education cannot be left to these people.

    And the Supreme Court did its job by enunciating the pillars of academic freedom. All institutions of higher learning have exclusively the constitutional right to decide on the following:

    1. who may teach;
    2. what may be taught;
    3. how it shall be taught; and who may be admitted to study. (Ateneo de Manila vs. Capulong et. al., GR No. 99327 May 27, 1993).

    Significantly, the Supreme Court did not provide any specific definition but only enumerated these 4 pillars so that academic freedom shall truly be expansive and free pursuant to the spirit and aspiration of the constitutional mandate.

    For the CHED or any “panel of experts” to make a definition and impose it on UP or other schools will “straightjacket” or constrict academic freedom, opening it up to further so-called qualifications in the future.

    If that happens, it will usher in the beginning of more, though gradual, intrusions. I dread the day when the CHED and the DND, on the pretext of “security” reasons, will give outlines or syllabus to teachers for them to teach students – worst, for the CHED or the police to sit in in a class to monitor whether the “right” “patriotic” lessons are properly taught.

    State indoctrination
    This is state indoctrination. An atmosphere of prior restraint will be created – a repugnant situation.

    The Supreme Court’s parameters are enough guidance. There is no need to add anything. Neither is clarification necessary. Let us leave it at that. Let the institutions of higher learning principally decide what kind of atmosphere their education will have.

    Justice Frankfurter, the most revered US Supreme Court magistrate on the subject of academic freedom, said: “It is the business of a university to provide that atmosphere which is most conducive to speculations, experiment, and creation.”

    And the University of the Philippines, to show fidelity to that “business of a university” to provide the right educational atmosphere to its professors and students, entered into the accord with the DND.

    UP grounds are public places which can be entered into by anybody. But, if they can be freely roamed by state agents with ulterior motives to monitor, overtly or clandestinely, UP’s academic community, education will be inhibited. That is not acceptable. The exclusionary nature of the accord therefore was important.

    Without it, there will be an atmosphere where professors and students may exhibit uncalled for reservations in their discussions and research, talking and investigating less freely lest they may be mistaken as seditionist or terrorist by state agents roaming around the campus.

    This undue self-restraint will destroy that “marketplace of ideas” which an educational institution should be.

    What about ‘mistaken incitement’?
    What if law or political science professors engage their students to research, debate, defend, or debunk the propriety or the pros and cons of socialism, Marxism, or even liberation theology, and roaming state agents, not experts in these topics, hear the discussions?

    It is possible that, mistakenly, these professors may be suspected of inciting students to commit terrorism and then apprehended.

    “This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or exercise their revolutionary right to overthrow it.”

    That quote is from Abraham Lincoln, one of the greatest United States presidents.

    “A revolution, woven in the dim light of mystery, has kept me from you. Another revolution will return me to your arms, bring me back to life.”

    This is one of the memorable quotes in El Filibusterismo, written by Jose Rizal.

    What if a theatrical play created, written, produced, and directed by students were staged revolving around those statements? State agents without expertise on these matters may suspect these students of fomenting radical ideas and arrest them. The mere thought of such possibilities can restrain free expression, discussion, and analysis.

    Accord termination ominous
    The termination of the UP-DND accord is ominous especially in the light of the Anti-Terror-Law (ATL), where mere suspicion is the threshold for an arrest based on the vague provisions of the law.

    Professors and students can be victimised by the ATL. For instance, government surveillance can be made on any suspected person except that “surveillance, interception, and recording of communications between lawyers and clients, doctors and patients, journalists and their sources, and confidential business correspondence shall not be authorized” (Section 16 of the ATL).

    Professors and students are not exempted. Also, while “confidential business correspondence” is exempted, confidential educational correspondence between professors and students are not. These omissions portentously tell volumes on the vulnerability of professors and students.

    With the UP-DND accord’s termination and the ATL’s implementation, the lure to control the conscience, the thought process, the learning, the outlook, the discernment of students, may just be too great for unscrupulous state officials to resist. This is disturbing.

    Government officials should not tinker with academic freedom. Many Filipinos benefitted from its unadulterated concept. Many more have served the country well, performed their civic duties consistently, and gave hope to future generations.

    A definition by a “panel of experts” will not only define for educational institutions what academic freedom is; more dangerously, it will effectively dictate to them what academic freedom is not; what it no longer means. That is destructive and constitutionally abhorrent.

    Dr Mel Sta Maria is dean of the Far Eastern University (FEU) Institute of Law in the Philippines. He teaches law at FEU and the Ateneo School of Law, hosts shows on both radio and YouTube, and has authored several books on law, politics, and current events.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Why Indonesia’s planned new Papuan provinces will cause division and destruction

    The politics of divide and rule and how Indonesia’s attempt to separate indigenous Papuans is an irrational and unrealistic proposal that will damage the cultural values of kinship and togetherness as Melanesian people, writes Dr Socratez Yoman.

    ANALYSIS: By Dr Socratez Yoman

    The Indonesian coloniser has become an ignorant ruler with deaf ears and with evil intention in fighting for the addition of new Papuan provinces without the population numbers to justify this.

    Provincial division is a serious problem because the population of Papua and West Papua does not meet the requirements to establish new provinces.

    The planned provinces will cause division and destruction of the cultural values of kinship and togetherness as Melanesian people.

    After Indonesia failed with a plan to move 2 million indigenous Papuans to Manado, the new strategy devised by the Jakarta authorities is to separate indigenous Papuans according to ethnic groups. This is a crime against humanity and is a gross human rights violation carried out by the state.

    The author followed the presentation from the Minister of Home Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, Tito Karnavian, to the Working Meeting of Commission I DPD RI in Jakarta on 27 January 2021 regarding the government’s version of the Provincial Expansion scenario which was not rational or realistic.

    The Minister of Home Affairs is not paying attention to the standards and requirements for the development of a new administrative area, such as area size, population, human resources and financial and natural resources.

    The criteria for a new government have been largely ignored, but political interests and remilitarisation have become the main mission. To be honest, the people and nation of West Papua do not need lots of division of districts and provinces.

    Military purpose for new provinces
    These new provinces are only for political and military purposes and to move excess population from Java.

    The proposal in summary

    1. Papua Province
    (the original province)
    Capital: Jayapura
    a. Jayapura Town
    b. Jayapura Regency
    c. Keerom Regency
    d. Sarmi Regency
    e. Maberamo Raya Regency
    f. Waropen Regency
    g. Kep. Yapen Regency
    h. Biak Numfor Regency
    i. Supiori Regency

    2. South Papua Province
    (new province)
    Capital: Merauke
    a. Merauke Regency
    b. Boven Digoel Regency
    c. Mappi Regency
    d. Asmat Regeny
    e. Peg Bintang Regency

    3. Central Eastern Papua Province
    (new province)
    Capital: Wamena
    a. Jayawijaya Regency
    b. Lani Jaya Regency
    c. Tolikora Regency
    d. Nduga Regency
    e. Maberamo Tengah Regency
    f. Yalimo Regency
    g. Yahukimo Regency
    h. Puncak Jaya Regency
    i. Puncak Regency

    4. Western Central Papua Province
    (still under debate)
    Capital: Mimika
    a. Mimika Regency
    b. Paniai Regency
    c. Deiyai Regency
    d. Dogiay Regency
    e. Nabire Regency
    f. Intan Jaya Regency

    5. West Papua Daya Province
    (previously mostly West Papua Province)
    Capital: Sorong
    a. Town of Sorong
    b. Sorong Regency
    c. Sorong Selatan Regency
    d. Maybrat Regency
    e. Tambrauw Regency
    f. Raja Ampat Regency

    With these additions Papua would have five provinces. The mechanism for provincial expansion is in accordance with Article 76 of the Special Autonomy Law with additional authority changes from the central government when there is a deadlock in the region.

    The total population of West Papua includes two provinces respectively: Papua Province 3,322,526 people and West Papua 1,069,498 inhabitants. The total is 4,392,024 inhabitants.

    Evenly dividing up population
    If the population is divided evenly from the total population of 4,392,024 the population for the five provinces are as follows:

    1. Papua Province will be inhabited by a population of 878,404 people.

    2. West Papua Province will be inhabited by a population of 878,404 people.

    3. The Province of Puppet I will be inhabited by a population of 878,404 people.

    4. The Province of Puppet II will be inhabited by a population of 878,404 people.

    5. The Province of Puppet III will be inhabited by a population of 878,404 people.

    The question is whether a province with a total population of 878,404 people is worthy and eligible to become a province?

    It is very important to compare with the population of the provinces of West Java, Central Java and East Java.

    1. Total population of West Java: 46,497,175 people.

    2. Total population of Central Java: 35,557,248 people.

    3. Total Population of East Java: 38,828,061 people.

    The question is why does the government of the Republic of Indonesia not carry out splitting the provinces of West Java, Central Java and East Java, which have the largest population sizes?

    ‘Transfer of excess population’
    As a consequence of a population shortage in this province, the Indonesian authorities will transfer the excess population of Malay Indonesians to these puppet provinces.

    The creation of these five provinces also have as their main objective to build 5 military area commands, 5 police area command bases, tens of military district commands and dozens of police district headquarters and various other units. The land of Melanesia will be used as the home of the military, police and Indonesian Malay people.

    The consequences will be that the indigenous Papuans from Sorong to Merauke will lose their land because the land will be robbed and looted to build office buildings, military headquarters, police headquarters, army district bases, and police district bases.

    Humans will be removed, made impoverished, without land and without a future, even slaughtered and destroyed like animals in a natural or unnatural way as we have experienced and witnessed until the present.

    There is evidence that a genocide process has been carried out by the modern colonial rulers of Indonesia in this era of civilisation. The crimes of the Indonesian colonial rulers continue to be exposed in public.

    In 1969, when the West Papuan people were integrated into Indonesia, the indigenous population was around 809,337 people. Meanwhile, the neighbouring independent state of Papua New Guinea has around 2,783,121 people.

    Since then, the indigenous population of PNG has reached 8,947,024 million, while the number of Indigenous Papuans is still only 1.8 million.

    Modern colonial ruler
    This fact shows that the Indonesian government is a modern colonial ruler which has occupied and colonised the people and nation of West Papua.

    Dr Veronika Kusumaryati, a daughter of Indonesia’s young generation in her dissertation entitled: Ethnography of the Colonial Present: History, Experience, And Political Consciousness in West Papua, revealed:

    “For Papuans, current colonialism is marked by the experience and militariSation of daily life. This colonialism can also be felt through acts of violence that are disproportionately shown to Papuans, as well in the narrative of their lives.

    “When Indonesia arrived, thousands of people were detained, tortured and killed. Offices were looted and houses burned. … these stories did not appear in historical books, not in Indonesia, nor in the Netherlands. This violence did not stop in the 1960s.”

    (Kusumaryati, V. (2018). Ethnography of the Colonial Present: History, Experience, And Political Consciousness in West Papua, p. 25).

    The Indonesian government repeats the experience of the colonial rulers of apartheid in South Africa. In 1978, Peter W. Botha became Prime Minister and he carried out a politics of divide and conquer by dividing the unity of the people of South Africa through establishing puppet states: 1. The Transkei Puppet State. 2. The Bophutha Tswana Puppet State. 3. Venda Puppet State. 4. The Ciskei Puppet State. (Source: 16 Most Influential Heroes of Peace: Sutrisno Eddy, 2002, p. 14).

    There is a serious threat and displacement of indigenous Papuans from their ancestral lands proven by the fact that in the regencies they have been robbed by the Malays and have been deprived of their basic rights for Indigenous Papuans in the political field. See the evidence and examples as follows:

    1. Sarmi Regency 20 seats: 13 migrants and 7 indigenous Papuans (OAP).

    2. Boven Digul Regency 20 seats: 16 migrants and 6 Indigenous Papuans

    3. Asmat Regency 25 seats: 11 migrants and 14 Indigenous Papuans

    4. Mimika Regency 35 seats: 17 migrants and OAP 18 Indigenous Papuans

    5. 20 seats in Fakfak District: 12 migrants and 8 Indigenous Papuans.

    6. Raja Ampat Regency, 20 seats: 11 migrants and 9 Indigenous Papuans.

    7. Sorong Regency 25 seats: 19 migrants and 7 Indigenous Papuans.

    8. Teluk Wondama Regency 25 seats: 14 migrants and 11 Indigenous Papuans.

    9. Merauke Regency 30 seats: 27 migrants and only 3 Indigenous Papuans.

    10. South Sorong Regency 20 seats. 17 migrants and 3 indigenous Papuans.

    11. Kota Jayapura 40 seats: Migrants 27 people and 13 indigenous Papuans.

    12. Kab. Keerom 23 seats. Migrants 13 people and 7 indigenous Papuans.

    13. Kab. Jayapura 25 seats. Migrants 18 people and 7 indigenous Papuans.

    Meanwhile, the members of the Representative Council of Papua and West Papua Provinces are as follows:

    1.  Papua Province out of 55 members, 44 Papuans and 11 Malays/Newcomers.;
    2. West Papua Province, out of 45 members, 28 Malays/Newcomers and only 17 Indigenous Papuans.

    Reverend Socratez Sofyan Yoman is a Baptist priest, author and human rights defender from Papua. He filed this article for Asia Pacific Report.

     

     

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Why Indonesia’s planned new Papuan provinces will cause division and destruction

    The politics of divide and rule and how Indonesia’s attempt to separate indigenous Papuans is an irrational and unrealistic proposal that will damage the cultural values of kinship and togetherness as Melanesian people, writes Dr Socrates Yoman.

    ANALYSIS: By Dr Socrates Yoman

    The Indonesian coloniser has become an ignorant ruler with deaf ears and with evil intention in fighting for the addition of new Papuan provinces without population numbers to justify this.

    Provincial division is a serious problem because the population of Papua and West Papua does not meet the requirements to establish new provinces.

    The planned provinces will cause division and destruction of the cultural values of kinship and togetherness as Melanesian people.

    After Indonesia failed with a plan to move 2 million indigenous Papuans to Manado, the new strategy devised by the Jakarta authorities is to separate indigenous Papuans according to ethnic groups. This is a crime against humanity and is a gross human rights violation carried out by the state.

    The author followed the presentation from the Minister of Home Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, Tito Karnavian, to the Working Meeting of Commission I DPD RI in Jakarta on 27 January 2021 regarding the government’s version of the Provincial Expansion scenario which was not rational or realistic.

    The Minister of Home Affairs is not paying attention to the standards and requirements for the development of a new administrative area, such as area size, population, human resources and financial and natural resources.

    The criteria for a new government have been largely ignored, but political interests and remilitarisation have become the main mission. To be honest, the people and nation of West Papua do not need lots of division of districts and provinces.

    Military purpose for new provinces
    These new provinces are only for political and military purposes and to move excess population from Java.

    The proposal in summary

    1. Papua Province
    (the original province)
    Capital: Jayapura
    a. Jayapura Town
    b. Jayapura Regency
    c. Keerom Regency
    d. Sarmi Regency
    e. Maberamo Raya Regency
    f. Waropen Regency
    g. Kep. Yapen Regency
    h. Biak Numfor Regency
    i. Supiori Regency

    2. South Papua Province
    (new province)
    Capital: Merauke
    a. Merauke Regency
    b. Boven Digoel Regency
    c. Mappi Regency
    d. Asmat Regeny
    e. Peg Bintang Regency

    3. Central Eastern Papua Province
    (new province)
    Capital: Wamena
    a. Jayawijaya Regency
    b. Lani Jaya Regency
    c. Tolikora Regency
    d. Nduga Regency
    e. Maberamo Tengah Regency
    f. Yalimo Regency
    g. Yahukimo Regency
    h. Puncak Jaya Regency
    i. Puncak Regency

    4. Western Central Papua Province
    (still under debate)
    Capital: Mimika
    a. Mimika Regency
    b. Paniai Regency
    c. Deiyai Regency
    d. Dogiay Regency
    e. Nabire Regency
    f. Intan Jaya Regency

    5. West Papua Daya Province
    (previously mostly West Papua Province)
    Capital: Sorong
    a. Town of Sorong
    b. Sorong Regency
    c. Sorong Selatan Regency
    d. Maybrat Regency
    e. Tambrauw Regency
    f. Raja Ampat Regency

    With these additions Papua would have five provinces. The mechanism for provincial expansion is in accordance with Article 76 of the Special Autonomy Law with additional authority changes from the central government when there is a deadlock in the region.

    The total population of West Papua includes two provinces respectively: Papua Province 3,322,526 people and West Papua 1,069,498 inhabitants. The total is 4,392,024 inhabitants.

    Evenly dividing up population
    If the population is divided evenly from the total population of 4,392,024 the population for the five provinces are as follows:

    1. Papua Province will be inhabited by a population of 878,404 people.

    2. West Papua Province will be inhabited by a population of 878,404 people.

    3. The Province of Puppet I will be inhabited by a population of 878,404 people.

    4. The Province of Puppet II will be inhabited by a population of 878,404 people.

    5. The Province of Puppet III will be inhabited by a population of 878,404 people.

    The question is whether a province with a total population of 878,404 people is worthy and eligible to become a province?

    It is very important to compare with the population of the provinces of West Java, Central Java and East Java.

    1. Total population of West Java: 46,497,175 people.

    2. Total population of Central Java: 35,557,248 people.

    3. Total Population of East Java: 38,828,061 people.

    The question is why does the government of the Republic of Indonesia not carry out splitting the provinces of West Java, Central Java and East Java, which have the largest population sizes?

    ‘Transfer of excess population’
    As a consequence of a population shortage in this province, the Indonesian authorities will transfer the excess population of Malay Indonesians to these puppet provinces.

    The creation of these five provinces also have as their main objective to build 5 military area commands, 5 police area command bases, tens of military district commands and dozens of police district headquarters and various other units. The land of Melanesia will be used as the home of the military, police and Indonesian Malay people.

    The consequences will be that the indigenous Papuans from Sorong to Merauke will lose their land because the land will be robbed and looted to build office buildings, military headquarters, police headquarters, army district bases, and police district bases.

    Humans will be removed, made impoverished, without land and without a future, even slaughtered and destroyed like animals in a natural or unnatural way as we have experienced and witnessed until the present.

    There is evidence that a genocide process has been carried out by the modern colonial rulers of Indonesia in this era of civilisation. The crimes of the Indonesian colonial rulers continue to be exposed in public.

    In 1969, when the West Papuan people were integrated into Indonesia, the indigenous population was around 809,337 people. Meanwhile, the neighbouring independent state of Papua New Guinea has around 2,783,121 people.

    Since then, the indigenous population of PNG has reached 8,947,024 million, while the number of Indigenous Papuans is still only 1.8 million.

    Modern colonial ruler
    This fact shows that the Indonesian government is a modern colonial ruler which has occupied and colonised the people and nation of West Papua.

    Dr Veronika Kusumaryati, a daughter of Indonesia’s young generation in her dissertation entitled: Ethnography of the Colonial Present: History, Experience, And Political Consciousness in West Papua, revealed:

    “For Papuans, current colonialism is marked by the experience and militariSation of daily life. This colonialism can also be felt through acts of violence that are disproportionately shown to Papuans, as well in the narrative of their lives.

    “When Indonesia arrived, thousands of people were detained, tortured and killed. Offices were looted and houses burned. … these stories did not appear in historical books, not in Indonesia, nor in the Netherlands. This violence did not stop in the 1960s.”

    (Kusumaryati, V. (2018). Ethnography of the Colonial Present: History, Experience, And Political Consciousness in West Papua, p. 25).

    The Indonesian government repeats the experience of the colonial rulers of apartheid in South Africa. In 1978, Peter W. Botha became Prime Minister and he carried out a politics of divide and conquer by dividing the unity of the people of South Africa through establishing puppet states: 1. The Transkei Puppet State. 2. The Bophutha Tswana Puppet State. 3. Venda Puppet State. 4. The Ciskei Puppet State. (Source: 16 Most Influential Heroes of Peace: Sutrisno Eddy, 2002, p. 14).

    There is a serious threat and displacement of indigenous Papuans from their ancestral lands proven by the fact that in the regencies they have been robbed by the Malays and have been deprived of their basic rights for Indigenous Papuans in the political field. See the evidence and examples as follows:

    1. Sarmi Regency 20 seats: 13 migrants and 7 indigenous Papuans (OAP).

    2. Boven Digul Regency 20 seats: 16 migrants and 6 Indigenous Papuans

    3. Asmat Regency 25 seats: 11 migrants and 14 Indigenous Papuans

    4. Mimika Regency 35 seats: 17 migrants and OAP 18 Indigenous Papuans

    5. 20 seats in Fakfak District: 12 migrants and 8 Indigenous Papuans.

    6. Raja Ampat Regency, 20 seats: 11 migrants and 9 Indigenous Papuans.

    7. Sorong Regency 25 seats: 19 migrants and 7 Indigenous Papuans.

    8. Teluk Wondama Regency 25 seats: 14 migrants and 11 Indigenous Papuans.

    9. Merauke Regency 30 seats: 27 migrants and only 3 Indigenous Papuans.

    10. South Sorong Regency 20 seats. 17 migrants and 3 indigenous Papuans.

    11. Kota Jayapura 40 seats: Migrants 27 people and 13 indigenous Papuans.

    12. Kab. Keerom 23 seats. Migrants 13 people and 7 indigenous Papuans.

    13. Kab. Jayapura 25 seats. Migrants 18 people and 7 indigenous Papuans.

    Meanwhile, the members of the Representative Council of Papua and West Papua Provinces are as follows:

    1.  Papua Province out of 55 members, 44 Papuans and 11 Malays/Newcomers.;
    2. West Papua Province, out of 45 members, 28 Malays/Newcomers and only 17 Indigenous Papuans.

    Reverend Socratez Sofyan Yoman is a Baptist priest, author and human rights defender from Papua. He filed this article for Asia Pacific Report.

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    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Myanmar coup: Asian response echoes ‘democracy comes with stability’ adage

    ANALYSIS: By Kalinga Seneviratne

    Both coverage in the Asian press and statements by neighbouring Asian governments reported in the media on the grabbing of exclusive power by the military in Myanmar reflects the traditional Asian adage that democracy should go hand in hand with economic and political stability.

    Thus, sanctions and external funding of protest groups (usually urban elites and the young) are discouraged.

    Myanmar is a member of the Association of South East Nations (ASEAN) regional grouping, which was instrumental in guiding Myanmar to transit from military rule to civilian rule a decade ago.

    The ASEAN secretariat issuing a statement through its current chair Brunei reiterated that “domestic political stability is essential to a peaceful, stable and prosperous ASEAN Community”.

    Sharon Seah, coordinator at the ASEAN Studies Centre at the National University of Singapore noted that the ASEAN statement this week WAs a slight deviation from the one that ASEAN made after the 2014 coup d’etat in Thailand.

    “What is new in this iteration is the fact that the grouping recognises that collective goals can be undermined by a member state’s political ructions,” she noted.

    Seah, in a commentary published by Singapore’s TODAYOnline news portal, points out that the current ASEAN statement “sounds familiar except that this time, ASEAN is far further along the process of regional integration and community-building, since the ASEAN Community blueprint was launched in 2015”.

    Pax Americana ‘is over’
    Further, she wrote, “Pax Americana, as Southeast Asia knows it, is over and the global world order has changed irrevocably”, thus external pressure (from outside the region) is not the way to go.

    Interestingly, China’s media – both Xinhua news agency and Global Times – have described the latest coup in Myanmar as a “reshuffle of Cabinet”. Their logic may have some substance.

    “Myanmar military announced a major cabinet reshuffle hours after a state of emergency was declared on Monday,” February 1, reported Xinhua from Yangon.

    It referred to a military statement that “new union ministers were appointed for 11 ministries, while 24 deputy ministers were removed from their posts”.

    It added that Union chief justice and judges of the Supreme Court, chief justices and judges of regional or state High Courts are allowed to remain in office as well as members of the Anti-Corruption Commission, chairman, vice-chairman and members of the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission.

    The military used sections of the 2008 constitution, to which Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) had agreed to when they took part in the 2015 elections and won on a landslide.

    This constitution allows the military to take over the government in the event of an emergency that threatens Myanmar’s sovereignty leading to “disintegrating [of] the Union (or) national solidarity”.

    It is debatable if such a situation exists and this could be the subject of argument in coming months.

    Nine years ago
    Luv Puri, a member of UN Secretary-General’s good offices on Myanmar writing in Japan Times (as a private citizen) this week noted that nearly nine years ago, Aung San Suu Kyi reluctantly decided to participate in a byelection to the Parliament and after being elected she was resolute in her cautiousness as the Western leaders sought her advice on how to approach the then President Thein Sein’s government.

    “She had earlier termed the whole process an instance of sham democracy,” recalls Puri, adding, “on February 1, 2021, she proved to be right as the military or Tatmadaw, as it is locally known, staged a coup in the wee hours”.

    Puri noted that the military’s grouse is that at least 8.6 million irregularities were found in voter lists and the ruling NLD government and its appointed election commission failed to review the 2020 elections results, with the latter saying that there was no evidence to support the military’s claims.

    The ruling NLD party won 396 out of 476 seats in the November 8 election, allowing the party to govern for another five years.

    “The contesting positions are symptoms of a deeper institutional malaise.

    “Constitutionally, three important ministries relating to national security, namely defence, home and border, are held by the military,” notes Puri.

    “The military nominates 30 percent of the members of Parliament.

    Existential battle ‘for political survival’
    “In an environment in which the military is fighting an existential battle for political survival, after ruling the country directly or indirectly since the formation of the republic, a military coup was an imminent possibility.”

    China and India, with Myanmar, sandwiched between them have reacted cautiously to the latest developments.

    Myanmar is essential for the success of China’s BRI (Belt and Road Initiative) while for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Look East” project Myanmar is an important lynchpin.

    India has a 1468 km border with Myanmar that runs along 3 north-east Indian states – Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram – all of which face ethnic and religious tensions.

    China has taken issue with Western media reports that it supported the military takeover in Myanmar.

    Global Times reported that China’s foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin has refuted such claims at a media briefing.

    “Such allegations are not factual,” he said in Beijing. He has also added that China was puzzled by a leaked document from the UN Security Council that China is supposed to have vetoed.

    “Any action taken by the Security Council should contribute to Myanmar’s political and social stability, help Myanmar realize peace and reconciliation, and avoid intensifying contradictions,” he told the media.

    “For India, which had cultivated a careful balance, between nudging along the democratic process by supporting Ms Suu Kyi, and working with the military to ensure its strategic interests to the North East and deny China a monopoly on Myanmar’s infrastructure and resources, the developments are unwelcome,” noted India’s The Hindu in an editorial.

    “The government will need to craft its response taking into consideration the new geopolitical realities of the U.S. and China as well as its own standing as a South Asian power.”

    ‘Share of uncertainties’
    The Indian Express also expressed similar sentiments in an editorial noting that new developments “will create its share of uncertainties” for India.

    “It must continue its engagement with Myanmar and leverage its influence with the Army to persuade it to step back,” added the Express.

    While Myanmar’s expat populations in places like Bangkok, Tokyo and Sydney have demonstrated calling for international intervention, within Myanmar people have taken a different strategy to confront the military takeover.

    Myanmar Times (MT), that is locally owned and published from Yangon, carried a number of reports on how this is shaping up. They reported about various aspects of civil disobedience campaigns initiated by trade unions, leading artists and the medical profession.

    MT reported that a movement, which urged Myanmar citizens to not buy and use products affiliated with the Tatmadaw has gone viral since February 3.

    The military has been linked to a large number of businesses in various sectors. They have been associated with food and beverage products, cigarettes, the entertainment industry, internet service providers, banks, financial enterprises, hospitals, oil companies, and wholesale markets and retail businesses, among others, the newspaper pointed out.

    MT also reported that “Myanmar celebrities, who usually make headlines for their latest albums, haircuts and fashion choices, have used their social media profiles for an entirely different purpose this week”.

    Singers change from cosmetics to disobedience
    Since the military seized power on February 1, “Myanmar’s singers, actors and artists changed their topic of interest from cosmetics to disobedience to the rule of the junta” noted MT.

    Among the celebrities are Paing Takhon who started his modelling career in 2014 and has amassed over 1 million followers on Facebook and filmmaker Daung with 1.8 million.

    Meanwhile, the Confederation of Trade Unions Myanmar (CTUM) and Myanmar Industry Craft and Service-Trade Unions Federation (MICS)  announced that they had resigned and are no longer part of government, employers and workers’ groups.

    The “Civil Disobedience Campaign” that was launched on February 2 is also joined by health-care workers in 40 townships, including doctors and nurses from 80 hospitals.

    Meanwhile, Seah argues that this month’s events are a big setback for ASEAN community building and to help in any democratic retransformation, an ASEAN-led commission to investigate the military junta’s allegations of electoral fraud could be set up, headed by a mutually respected senior ASEAN personality trusted by all sides.

    “For the commission’s findings to be accepted at the international level, support must come from ASEAN’s external stakeholders,” she argues.

    “The selection of the commission members must be transparent from the get-go and may require consultations with key stakeholders both inside and outside Myanmar (while) ASEAN should secure the agreement of the military junta to dial down to a state of limited emergency, refrain from the use of force against civilians and allow the functioning of government with specified conditions between the NLD and the military”.

    – IDN-InDepthNews, 04 February 2021

    IDN is flagship agency of the non-profit International Press Syndicate. This article by Kalinga Seneviratne is published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Myanmar coup: Asian response echoes ‘democracy comes with stability’ adage

    ANALYSIS: By Kalinga Seneviratne

    Both coverage in the Asian press and statements by neighbouring Asian governments reported in the media on the grabbing of exclusive power by the military in Myanmar reflects the traditional Asian adage that democracy should go hand in hand with economic and political stability.

    Thus, sanctions and external funding of protest groups (usually urban elites and the young) are discouraged.

    Myanmar is a member of the Association of South East Nations (ASEAN) regional grouping, which was instrumental in guiding Myanmar to transit from military rule to civilian rule a decade ago.

    The ASEAN secretariat issuing a statement through its current chair Brunei reiterated that “domestic political stability is essential to a peaceful, stable and prosperous ASEAN Community”.

    Sharon Seah, coordinator at the ASEAN Studies Centre at the National University of Singapore noted that the ASEAN statement this week WAs a slight deviation from the one that ASEAN made after the 2014 coup d’etat in Thailand.

    “What is new in this iteration is the fact that the grouping recognises that collective goals can be undermined by a member state’s political ructions,” she noted.

    Seah, in a commentary published by Singapore’s TODAYOnline news portal, points out that the current ASEAN statement “sounds familiar except that this time, ASEAN is far further along the process of regional integration and community-building, since the ASEAN Community blueprint was launched in 2015”.

    Pax Americana ‘is over’
    Further, she wrote, “Pax Americana, as Southeast Asia knows it, is over and the global world order has changed irrevocably”, thus external pressure (from outside the region) is not the way to go.

    Interestingly, China’s media – both Xinhua news agency and Global Times – have described the latest coup in Myanmar as a “reshuffle of Cabinet”. Their logic may have some substance.

    “Myanmar military announced a major cabinet reshuffle hours after a state of emergency was declared on Monday,” February 1, reported Xinhua from Yangon.

    It referred to a military statement that “new union ministers were appointed for 11 ministries, while 24 deputy ministers were removed from their posts”.

    It added that Union chief justice and judges of the Supreme Court, chief justices and judges of regional or state High Courts are allowed to remain in office as well as members of the Anti-Corruption Commission, chairman, vice-chairman and members of the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission.

    The military used sections of the 2008 constitution, to which Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) had agreed to when they took part in the 2015 elections and won on a landslide.

    This constitution allows the military to take over the government in the event of an emergency that threatens Myanmar’s sovereignty leading to “disintegrating [of] the Union (or) national solidarity”.

    It is debatable if such a situation exists and this could be the subject of argument in coming months.

    Nine years ago
    Luv Puri, a member of UN Secretary-General’s good offices on Myanmar writing in Japan Times (as a private citizen) this week noted that nearly nine years ago, Aung San Suu Kyi reluctantly decided to participate in a byelection to the Parliament and after being elected she was resolute in her cautiousness as the Western leaders sought her advice on how to approach the then President Thein Sein’s government.

    “She had earlier termed the whole process an instance of sham democracy,” recalls Puri, adding, “on February 1, 2021, she proved to be right as the military or Tatmadaw, as it is locally known, staged a coup in the wee hours”.

    Puri noted that the military’s grouse is that at least 8.6 million irregularities were found in voter lists and the ruling NLD government and its appointed election commission failed to review the 2020 elections results, with the latter saying that there was no evidence to support the military’s claims.

    The ruling NLD party won 396 out of 476 seats in the November 8 election, allowing the party to govern for another five years.

    “The contesting positions are symptoms of a deeper institutional malaise.

    “Constitutionally, three important ministries relating to national security, namely defence, home and border, are held by the military,” notes Puri.

    “The military nominates 30 percent of the members of Parliament.

    Existential battle ‘for political survival’
    “In an environment in which the military is fighting an existential battle for political survival, after ruling the country directly or indirectly since the formation of the republic, a military coup was an imminent possibility.”

    China and India, with Myanmar, sandwiched between them have reacted cautiously to the latest developments.

    Myanmar is essential for the success of China’s BRI (Belt and Road Initiative) while for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Look East” project Myanmar is an important lynchpin.

    India has a 1468 km border with Myanmar that runs along 3 north-east Indian states – Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram – all of which face ethnic and religious tensions.

    China has taken issue with Western media reports that it supported the military takeover in Myanmar.

    Global Times reported that China’s foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin has refuted such claims at a media briefing.

    “Such allegations are not factual,” he said in Beijing. He has also added that China was puzzled by a leaked document from the UN Security Council that China is supposed to have vetoed.

    “Any action taken by the Security Council should contribute to Myanmar’s political and social stability, help Myanmar realize peace and reconciliation, and avoid intensifying contradictions,” he told the media.

    “For India, which had cultivated a careful balance, between nudging along the democratic process by supporting Ms Suu Kyi, and working with the military to ensure its strategic interests to the North East and deny China a monopoly on Myanmar’s infrastructure and resources, the developments are unwelcome,” noted India’s The Hindu in an editorial.

    “The government will need to craft its response taking into consideration the new geopolitical realities of the U.S. and China as well as its own standing as a South Asian power.”

    ‘Share of uncertainties’
    The Indian Express also expressed similar sentiments in an editorial noting that new developments “will create its share of uncertainties” for India.

    “It must continue its engagement with Myanmar and leverage its influence with the Army to persuade it to step back,” added the Express.

    While Myanmar’s expat populations in places like Bangkok, Tokyo and Sydney have demonstrated calling for international intervention, within Myanmar people have taken a different strategy to confront the military takeover.

    Myanmar Times (MT), that is locally owned and published from Yangon, carried a number of reports on how this is shaping up. They reported about various aspects of civil disobedience campaigns initiated by trade unions, leading artists and the medical profession.

    MT reported that a movement, which urged Myanmar citizens to not buy and use products affiliated with the Tatmadaw has gone viral since February 3.

    The military has been linked to a large number of businesses in various sectors. They have been associated with food and beverage products, cigarettes, the entertainment industry, internet service providers, banks, financial enterprises, hospitals, oil companies, and wholesale markets and retail businesses, among others, the newspaper pointed out.

    MT also reported that “Myanmar celebrities, who usually make headlines for their latest albums, haircuts and fashion choices, have used their social media profiles for an entirely different purpose this week”.

    Singers change from cosmetics to disobedience
    Since the military seized power on February 1, “Myanmar’s singers, actors and artists changed their topic of interest from cosmetics to disobedience to the rule of the junta” noted MT.

    Among the celebrities are Paing Takhon who started his modelling career in 2014 and has amassed over 1 million followers on Facebook and filmmaker Daung with 1.8 million.

    Meanwhile, the Confederation of Trade Unions Myanmar (CTUM) and Myanmar Industry Craft and Service-Trade Unions Federation (MICS)  announced that they had resigned and are no longer part of government, employers and workers’ groups.

    The “Civil Disobedience Campaign” that was launched on February 2 is also joined by health-care workers in 40 townships, including doctors and nurses from 80 hospitals.

    Meanwhile, Seah argues that this month’s events are a big setback for ASEAN community building and to help in any democratic retransformation, an ASEAN-led commission to investigate the military junta’s allegations of electoral fraud could be set up, headed by a mutually respected senior ASEAN personality trusted by all sides.

    “For the commission’s findings to be accepted at the international level, support must come from ASEAN’s external stakeholders,” she argues.

    “The selection of the commission members must be transparent from the get-go and may require consultations with key stakeholders both inside and outside Myanmar (while) ASEAN should secure the agreement of the military junta to dial down to a state of limited emergency, refrain from the use of force against civilians and allow the functioning of government with specified conditions between the NLD and the military”.

    – IDN-InDepthNews, 04 February 2021

    IDN is flagship agency of the non-profit International Press Syndicate. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Indonesian doctors challenge Jokowi’s claim pandemic is ‘under control’

    Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo looks out of a car window after visiting the national heroes’ cemetery in Kalibata. Image: Kompas/Antara file

    By Ihsanuddin in Jakarta

    Jakarta Indonesian Doctor’s Association (IDI) chairperson Slamet Budiarto has challenged a statement by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo who has claimed that the Indonesian government has succeeded in bringing the coronavirus pandemic under control.

    Budiarto said he was confused about what parameters Widodo was using in making such a statement.

    “I don’t understand why Pak [Mr] Jokowi made such a statement. Perhaps in terms of the economy, I don’t know what the economy is like. What I do know is in terms of health,” Budiarto told Kompas.com.

    Budiarto asserted that in terms of health, the pandemic was clearly “out of control”. This could be seen from the first parameter – the high death rate.

    According to the Johns Hopkins University world covid-19 map, Indonesia’s total number of deaths today is 30,277.

    “Our death rate is the highest – number 1 among Asean countries – both in terms of percentage and number. I expect that by the end of the year there will be 100,000 deaths, by December 2021,” said Budiarto.

    The second parameter used by the IDI, meanwhile, is the rate of new daily infections. On the day of the interview, there were an additional 13,094 new cases.

    More than 1 million cases
    Today the accumulative number of covid-19 cases in Indonesia is 1,089,308.

    The deputy chairperson of the IDI confessed that he did not understand the parameters being used by Jokowi when he said the pandemic was under control.

    “Yes, well perhaps the President has another parameter. For us at the IDI the parameters are the death and infection rate,” said Budiarto.

    Regardless of the parameters being used, Budiarto is asking the government to focus on dealing with the pandemic in terms of health so the death rate can be brought down.

    He said he had already proposed to Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin that covid-19 patients with minor symptoms be treated at home under the care of general practitioners.

    “One doctor can monitor 10 people. Later they could be given incentives,” said Budiarto.

    In this way, hospitals will not be full and treatment rooms in hospitals can be used to focus on patients with medium and serious symptoms.

    ‘Death rate rising’
    “Right now the death rate is rising because hospitals are overloaded”, he said.

    President Widodo said recently that in 2020 and entering 2021 Indonesia had faced a number of difficult challenges. One of these was the covid-19 pandemic which had resulted in a health and economic crisis.

    Widodo, however, also claimed that Indonesia has been able to control both crises well.

    “We are grateful. Indonesia is among the countries that is controlling these two [health and economic] crises well,” said Widodo during a full working assembly session of the Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI) through the PGI Yakoma YouTube channel last week.

    Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was “Jokowi Klaim Pandemi Terkendali, IDI Bingung Apa Indikatornya”.

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    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Indonesian doctors challenge Jokowi’s claim pandemic is ‘under control’

    By Ihsanuddin in Jakarta

    Jakarta Indonesian Doctor’s Association (IDI) chairperson Slamet Budiarto has challenged a statement by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo who has claimed that the Indonesian government has succeeded in bringing the coronavirus pandemic under control.

    Budiarto said he was confused about what parameters Widodo was using in making such a statement.

    “I don’t understand why Pak [Mr] Jokowi made such a statement. Perhaps in terms of the economy, I don’t know what the economy is like. What I do know is in terms of health,” Budiarto told Kompas.com.

    Budiarto asserted that in terms of health, the pandemic was clearly “out of control”. This could be seen from the first parameter – the high death rate.

    According to the Johns Hopkins University world covid-19 map, Indonesia’s total number of deaths today is 30,277.

    “Our death rate is the highest – number 1 among Asean countries – both in terms of percentage and number. I expect that by the end of the year there will be 100,000 deaths, by December 2021,” said Budiarto.

    The second parameter used by the IDI, meanwhile, is the rate of new daily infections. On the day of the interview, there were an additional 13,094 new cases.

    More than 1 million cases
    Today the accumulative number of covid-19 cases in Indonesia is 1,089,308.

    The deputy chairperson of the IDI confessed that he did not understand the parameters being used by Jokowi when he said the pandemic was under control.

    “Yes, well perhaps the President has another parameter. For us at the IDI the parameters are the death and infection rate,” said Budiarto.

    Regardless of the parameters being used, Budiarto is asking the government to focus on dealing with the pandemic in terms of health so the death rate can be brought down.

    He said he had already proposed to Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin that covid-19 patients with minor symptoms be treated at home under the care of general practitioners.

    “One doctor can monitor 10 people. Later they could be given incentives,” said Budiarto.

    In this way, hospitals will not be full and treatment rooms in hospitals can be used to focus on patients with medium and serious symptoms.

    ‘Death rate rising’
    “Right now the death rate is rising because hospitals are overloaded”, he said.

    President Widodo said recently that in 2020 and entering 2021 Indonesia had faced a number of difficult challenges. One of these was the covid-19 pandemic which had resulted in a health and economic crisis.

    Widodo, however, also claimed that Indonesia has been able to control both crises well.

    “We are grateful. Indonesia is among the countries that is controlling these two [health and economic] crises well,” said Widodo during a full working assembly session of the Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI) through the PGI Yakoma YouTube channel last week.

    Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was “Jokowi Klaim Pandemi Terkendali, IDI Bingung Apa Indikatornya”.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • State-sanctioned racism against West Papuans ‘shows Jakarta’s true agenda’

    Pacific Media Watch newsdesk

    More leading Indonesian figures have made racial slurs against Natalius Pigai, former chair of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) – and all West Papuans, says United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP) interim president Benny Wenda.

    “Since the illegal Indonesian invasion in 1963, Indonesian elites have made clear their racist plans to destroy Melanesian West Papuans as a distinct people,” said Wenda in a statement.

    Last month retired General Hendropriyono, former head of the Indonesian intelligence agency (BIN) and special forces (Kopassus) general, claimed that two million West Papuans should be separated from their Melanesian brothers and sisters in the Pacific and moved to the island of Manado in Indonesia.

    “This is racial ethnic cleansing, a genocidal fantasy at the highest levels of the Indonesian state,” Wenda said.

    Last week, one of President Jokowi’s most prominent supporters called a leading West Papuan human rights defender a “monkey”, the same racial slur that sparked the 2019 West Papua Uprising.

    Ambronicus Nababan, chair of the Pro Jokowi-Amin Volunteers (Projamin), made the racial comment about Natalius Pigai, former head of Indonesia’s leading human rights group.

    “These remarks stand in a long tradition. When Indonesia invaded our land, General Ali Moertopo said the Papuan people should be transferred to the moon,” Wenda said in the statement.

    ‘Obstacle to development’
    “In 2016, General Luhut Panjaitan said the Papuans should be transferred to the Pacific. Indonesia’s rulers have always seen us as sub-human, as an obstacle to ‘development’ that needs to be ethnically cleansed and killed.

    “My people rose up against this racism and colonisation in 2019. Thousands of students returned from the rest of Indonesia in an exodus from racism, dozens were killed by Indonesia, and hundreds arrested.

    “The Indonesian state punished those who spoke out with over 100 years of collective prison time. The killers and racists in the army, police and state-backed militias were allowed to go free.”

    These are not just statements from Indonesian officials, Wenda’s statement said.

    They were linked to the military operations that had displaced more than 60,000 people since December 2018. The racist attitudes “justify treating us as second-class citizens, torturing and imprisoning us for exercising our rights to free expression under international law”.

    Indonesia’s settler colonial project in West Papua had been built on racism.

    Wenda said this was why the ULMWP provisional government was formed on December 1 last year.

    ‘We are no longer accepting Indonesian law’
    “We are no longer accepting any Indonesian law, policy or proposal. We will not bow down to Indonesian rule any more. The provisional government is issuing the following four points:

    1. We reject all forms of Indonesian law enforced in West Papua;
    2. We support the 83 countries demanding Indonesia allow the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights into West Papua;
    3. The solution to West Papuan suffering is an independence referendum; and
    4. All West Papuans must unite behind the provisional government.

    “It is time to end this: no more torture, no more displacement, no more killing, no more discrimination. To all my people, those who are working in the Indonesian government, in the civil service, professionals, exiles, lawyers, those inside, in the highlands, coasts, islands and towns – we are no longer Indonesian citizens.

    “We are forming our own Melanesian nation. Come behind the provisional government, and we will peacefully reclaim our country and refuse Indonesia’s illegal occupation of our territory.”

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Civil rights groups raise concerns about Jokowi’s next police chief

    By Devina Halim in Jakarta

    The Security sector Reform Coalition says there are three problems which need to be addressed when the sole candidate for Indonesia’s next police chief, Commissioner General Listyo Sigit Prabowo, takes over the national leadership.

    The coalition is made up of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), Amnesty International Indonesia, the Human Rights Working Group (HRWG), the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH Jakarta), the Setara Institute for Democracy, the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI) and Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW).

    “We are of the view that if these problems are not evaluated then it will be difficult to have democratic policing under the Listyo’s leadership”, said coalition representative and Kontras coordinator Fatia Maulidiyanti in a media release last week.

    The coalition highlighted a statement by Listyo who stated that the police would provide a sense of security to investors. This was revealed during a fit and proper test at the House of Representatives on Wednesday, January 20.

    In relation to this statement, the Coalition believes that this has the potential for the national police to become a tool of the interests of capitalist or certain sections of the elite.

    Yet, according to Law Number 2/2002 on the Indonesian Police, the police are an instrument of the state whose role is to maintain security and public order, uphold the law and protect, safeguard and serve the public.

    “Moreover, we are concerned that this policy will increase the criminalisation or prosecution of environmental activists who often criticise and oppose corporations which damage the environment,” he said.

    Call for police ‘neutrality’
    The coalition is therefore asking Listyo to ensure that the police remain neutral in responding to the social, political and economic dynamics of society.

    The coalition also criticised Listyo’s plan to reactivate the Swakarsa Civilian Security Force or Pam Swakarsa because it has the potential to violate human rights.

    According to Maulidiyanti, there was no clarification on the issue of which organisation can be recruited as Pam Swakarsa or limits on the authority of the police to deploy Pam Swakarsa members.

    Aside from the potential to violate human rights, the police could also give rise to violent incidents, horizontal conflicts and the misuse of power.

    “[This must be avoided by] revoking Police Regulation Number 4/2020 on Swakarsa Security.” she said.

    Incidents of police brutality
    The coalition believes that continuing incidents of police brutality is because there has not been a thorough evaluation and the minimum levels of supervision and accountability. The other reason is the lack of firm punishments, in the form of ethical or criminal punishments.

    Thus the coalition is asking Listyo to conduct an evaluation into the matter.

    “Evaluate the excessive use of violence by firmly upholding the law and applying accountability for police officers who commit excessive violence in dealing with mass protest and improve the national police’s internal monitoring system,” said Maulidiyanti.

    President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has selected Listyo as the sole candidate to replace Indonesian police chief General Idham Azis.

    After taking part in the fit and proper test Wednesday, a DPR plenary session ratified a decision by the DPR’s Commission III to agree to Listyo’s appointment as the next national police chief.

    Listyo will later be inaugurated at a ceremony at the State Palace in Jakarta.

    IndoLeft News notes:
    Pam Swakarsa along with Islamic vigilante groups such as the now outlawed Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) were setup in 1998 by the police and military to counter student demonstrations ahead of the 1998 Special Session of the People’s Consultative Assembly, which was to hear the accountability speech of former President Suharto’s hand-picked successor President B.J. Habibie.

    Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was “Koalisi Soroti 3 Pernyataan Komjen Listyo Sigit yang Perlu Dievaluasi”.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • ULMWP accuses Indonesia of ‘ethnic cleansing’, aggression against Papuans

    Part of the militarised police convoy at Manokwari, West Papua. Image: ULMWP

    Pacific Media Watch newsdesk

    Indonesia has pursued a strategy of aggressive arrests and violence against peaceful demonstrations for independence since the announcement of a provisional government of West Papua and rejection of Jakarta’s “Special Autonomy” renewal last month, reports the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP).

    ULMWP chair Benny Wenda was named interim President of the provisional government on 1 December 2020 as the Papuan people roundly rejected renewal of the failed 2001 Special Autonomy law.

    Highlighting the vast resources the Indonesian state is dedicating to crushing dissent over  renewal of Special Autonomy status across West Papua, a large convoy of heavily-armed police vehicles was photographed heading toward demonstrations in Manokwari last week on January 11.

    On January 7, West Papuan activist Alvarez Kapisa was arrested by Indonesian security forces.

    Kapisa helped organise meetings where West Papuan’s overwhelmingly asserted their rejection of the colonial special autonomy law, calling for their legal right to self-determination, decolonisation and independence.

    Nine more Papuans were arrested in Biak and Supiori between January 4-7 by joint Indonesian military and police patrols for questioning over their support for Benny Wenda’s provisional government and rejection of special autonomy.

    In Biak, they include Yusup Daimboa, Soleman Rumayomi and Yermias Rabrageri, as well as five villagers in Supirori.

    In Serui, Frans Kapisa, Yonathan Ruwayari and Yuliana Rumbara have also been detained. The International Lawyers for West Papua has released a statement condemning their treating.

    KNPB leader abducted
    On January 4, at 5pm, popular activist and National Committee for West Papua (KNPB) leader Naftall Tipagau was abducted by police intelligence agents, alleged ULMWP.

    The husband and father was attacked and dragged into a black van in front of his family, in Intan Jaya, where military operations have displaced over 13,000 people.

    He is yet to be released and no charges have been made by police.

    Tipagau actively reported in Intan Jaya, where the Indonesian military has recently killed Papuan priests.

    The recently discovered Wabu Bloc of gold reserves is planned for extraction by Freeport McMoran, the mining company responsible for decades of environmental destruction and human rights abuses at the Grasberg gold and copper mine in West Papua.

    Papuans and political leaders around the world were horrified on January 6 as plans for a complete “ethnic cleansing” of Papuans were revealed by Indonesian General Hendropriyono.

    Plan to remove Papuans
    The retired Kopassus general and former head of the Indonesian State Intelligence Agency (BIN) declared his proposal to forcibly remove two million Papuans from their homeland and replace them with Indonesians.

    He stated his plans for Indonesia to “transmigrate these two million people to Manado and move two million Manadonese over to Papua. What for? So that we could racially separate them from Papuans in PNG, so that they could feel more like Indonesians instead of foreigners”.

    This plan for ethnic cleansing matches the history of Indonesian population management, described as settler colonialism by a recent study.

    In 1985, the head of the Indonesian “Transmigration” policy of population resettlement described the aim of the programme thus: “The different ethnic groups will in the long run disappear because of integration, and there will be one kind of man.”

    That same day, on January 6, Indonesian forces tortured and killed Mispo Gwijangge, a Papuan who was only 14 years old when he was first arrested in 2018. The 16-year-old boy was falsely charged with the killing of 17 Indonesian soldiers in Nduga, and was imprisoned and tortured for 333 days.

    In Serui, Papuan elder and chairman of West Papua National Authority (WPNA) Waropen regency, Jeremias Rabrageri, was arrested by colonial Indonesian forces on December 30 along with his son, Reiner Rabrageri, after declaring his support for Benny Wenda’s provisional West Papuan government.

    In the week before Christmas, 4850 TNI soldiers were deployed to West Papua to assist the Indonesian police. TNI soldiers were placed throughout West Papua to shut down the peaceful demonstrations marking two decades of failed special autonomy that ended on January 1 and the displays of support for Benny Wenda’s provisional government.

    Confession to torture
    This deployment comes alongside a confession on December 23 by an Indonesian military chief that TNI soldiers tortured, murdered and burned two West Papuan brothers in their custody, alleges ULMWP.

    The bodies of Luther and Apinus Zanambani were then thrown into a river in April 2020.

    This is not the only recent execution carried out. On 26 October 2020, Catholic Catechist Rufinus Tigau was also murdered by the TNI in a village raid.

    On the anniversary of Indonesia’s 1961 attempted invasion of West Papua, on December 19, Indonesian police arrested both Indonesians and Papuans who came together to peacefully protest 59 years of human rights abuses.

    Lombok was the signing place of a notorious treaty between Indonesia and Australia, in which the latter promised to avoid upsetting Indonesia’s occupation of West Papua.

    Indonesian police attacked West Papuan students peacefully protesting against Indonesian human rights abuses, arresting 18 students in Nabire on 10 December 2020.

    Fourteen members of the National Committee for West Papua (KNPB) were also arrested in Merauke and accused of treason on December 12, including chairman of the Merauke branch Charles Sraun, by Indonesian police, who also destroyed the KNPB office. They remain incarcerated and their families have been denied visitation rights.

    Media investigate Indonesian propaganda
    In December, Australian and British media began investigating the Indonesian government’s use of propaganda and fake social media accounts.

    Indonesian intelligence has been running a coordinated social media campaign to discredit the West Papuan independence movement, attributing online posts supporting Indonesia’s colonisation to UK politicians and Australian officials.

    This followed a Bellingcat investigation exposing Indonesia’s creation of fake profiles to disseminate pro-occupation propaganda that have flooded Facebook and Twitter in the past 12 months.

    On 12 January 2021, the Netherlands became the 83rd international state calling for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to be allowed into West Papua.

    This comes after similar calls by the UK government on November 11 following a declaration of concern over killings of Papuans by Indonesian forces by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

    Print Friendly, PDF & Email

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • ULMWP accuses Indonesia of ‘ethnic cleansing’, aggression against Papuans

    Pacific Media Watch newsdesk

    Indonesia has pursued a strategy of aggressive arrests and violence against peaceful demonstrations for independence since the announcement of a provisional government of West Papua and rejection of Jakarta’s “Special Autonomy” renewal last month, reports the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP).

    ULMWP chair Benny Wenda was named interim President of the provisional government on 1 December 2020 as the Papuan people roundly rejected renewal of the failed 2001 Special Autonomy law.

    Highlighting the vast resources the Indonesian state is dedicating to crushing dissent over  renewal of Special Autonomy status across West Papua, a large convoy of heavily-armed police vehicles was photographed heading toward demonstrations in Manokwari last week on January 11.

    On January 7, West Papuan activist Alvarez Kapisa was arrested by Indonesian security forces.

    Kapisa helped organise meetings where West Papuan’s overwhelmingly asserted their rejection of the colonial special autonomy law, calling for their legal right to self-determination, decolonisation and independence.

    Nine more Papuans were arrested in Biak and Supiori between January 4-7 by joint Indonesian military and police patrols for questioning over their support for Benny Wenda’s provisional government and rejection of special autonomy.

    In Biak, they include Yusup Daimboa, Soleman Rumayomi and Yermias Rabrageri, as well as five villagers in Supirori.

    In Serui, Frans Kapisa, Yonathan Ruwayari and Yuliana Rumbara have also been detained. The International Lawyers for West Papua has released a statement condemning their treating.

    KNPB leader abducted
    On January 4, at 5pm, popular activist and National Committee for West Papua (KNPB) leader Naftall Tipagau was abducted by police intelligence agents, alleged ULMWP.

    The husband and father was attacked and dragged into a black van in front of his family, in Intan Jaya, where military operations have displaced over 13,000 people.

    He is yet to be released and no charges have been made by police.

    Tipagau actively reported in Intan Jaya, where the Indonesian military has recently killed Papuan priests.

    The recently discovered Wabu Bloc of gold reserves is planned for extraction by Freeport McMoran, the mining company responsible for decades of environmental destruction and human rights abuses at the Grasberg gold and copper mine in West Papua.

    Papuans and political leaders around the world were horrified on January 6 as plans for a complete “ethnic cleansing” of Papuans were revealed by Indonesian General Hendropriyono.

    Plan to remove Papuans
    The retired Kopassus general and former head of the Indonesian State Intelligence Agency (BIN) declared his proposal to forcibly remove two million Papuans from their homeland and replace them with Indonesians.

    He stated his plans for Indonesia to “transmigrate these two million people to Manado and move two million Manadonese over to Papua. What for? So that we could racially separate them from Papuans in PNG, so that they could feel more like Indonesians instead of foreigners”.

    This plan for ethnic cleansing matches the history of Indonesian population management, described as settler colonialism by a recent study.

    In 1985, the head of the Indonesian “Transmigration” policy of population resettlement described the aim of the programme thus: “The different ethnic groups will in the long run disappear because of integration, and there will be one kind of man.”

    That same day, on January 6, Indonesian forces tortured and killed Mispo Gwijangge, a Papuan who was only 14 years old when he was first arrested in 2018. The 16-year-old boy was falsely charged with the killing of 17 Indonesian soldiers in Nduga, and was imprisoned and tortured for 333 days.

    In Serui, Papuan elder and chairman of West Papua National Authority (WPNA) Waropen regency, Jeremias Rabrageri, was arrested by colonial Indonesian forces on December 30 along with his son, Reiner Rabrageri, after declaring his support for Benny Wenda’s provisional West Papuan government.

    In the week before Christmas, 4850 TNI soldiers were deployed to West Papua to assist the Indonesian police. TNI soldiers were placed throughout West Papua to shut down the peaceful demonstrations marking two decades of failed special autonomy that ended on January 1 and the displays of support for Benny Wenda’s provisional government.

    Confession to torture
    This deployment comes alongside a confession on December 23 by an Indonesian military chief that TNI soldiers tortured, murdered and burned two West Papuan brothers in their custody, alleges ULMWP.

    The bodies of Luther and Apinus Zanambani were then thrown into a river in April 2020.

    This is not the only recent execution carried out. On 26 October 2020, Catholic Catechist Rufinus Tigau was also murdered by the TNI in a village raid.

    On the anniversary of Indonesia’s 1961 attempted invasion of West Papua, on December 19, Indonesian police arrested both Indonesians and Papuans who came together to peacefully protest 59 years of human rights abuses.

    Lombok was the signing place of a notorious treaty between Indonesia and Australia, in which the latter promised to avoid upsetting Indonesia’s occupation of West Papua.

    Indonesian police attacked West Papuan students peacefully protesting against Indonesian human rights abuses, arresting 18 students in Nabire on 10 December 2020.

    Fourteen members of the National Committee for West Papua (KNPB) were also arrested in Merauke and accused of treason on December 12, including chairman of the Merauke branch Charles Sraun, by Indonesian police, who also destroyed the KNPB office. They remain incarcerated and their families have been denied visitation rights.

    Media investigate Indonesian propaganda
    In December, Australian and British media began investigating the Indonesian government’s use of propaganda and fake social media accounts.

    Indonesian intelligence has been running a coordinated social media campaign to discredit the West Papuan independence movement, attributing online posts supporting Indonesia’s colonisation to UK politicians and Australian officials.

    This followed a Bellingcat investigation exposing Indonesia’s creation of fake profiles to disseminate pro-occupation propaganda that have flooded Facebook and Twitter in the past 12 months.

    On 12 January 2021, the Netherlands became the 83rd international state calling for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to be allowed into West Papua.

    This comes after similar calls by the UK government on November 11 following a declaration of concern over killings of Papuans by Indonesian forces by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Chancellor defends UP as ‘bastion of academic freedom’ against military

    By Lorraine Ecarma in Cebu City

    The University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV) will continue to stand against any threats to human rights, chancellor Clement Camposano has declared in response to the termination of a long-standing accord preventing military incursion on campus.

    In a Facebook post, Camposano said the academic freedom in the university was “not something anyone can abrogate”.

    “The University of the Philippines Visayas like the rest of the UP System, will remain a bastion of academic freedom,” he wrote.

    “This is not something anyone can abrogate. We will stand firm against any and all attempts to deprive us of our democratic rights.”

    The brief statement was posted on Monday, hours after news broke of Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana’s decision to unilaterally terminate the decades-old pact between the University of the Philippines and the Department of National Defence preventing military and police presence in all UP System campuses.

    In his official statement posted yesterday, the UP Visayas chancellor pointed to the tumultuous history between UP and the DND as the cause of the university’s apprehension.

    “Historical events that have shaped the relationship of UP and the country’s security forces—many of these leaving wounds that have yet to heal—explain the university’s strong apprehensio,” he wrote.

    ‘Sordid reality of recent killings’
    “While the Department of National Defence has given assurances that constitutionally guaranteed rights and freedoms would not be suppressed, these historical events and the sordid reality of recent killings, abductions, and other forms of human rights abuses widely believed to have been perpetrated by security forces cannot but leave us unassured.”

    Even before the scrapping of the accord, UP System universities in the Visayas have long decried unwarranted military and police presence in their campuses.

    One of the most recent instances was the arrest of 8 protestors, collectively known as Cebu 8, during a picket rally against the then anti-terror bill held in front of the UP Cebu campus last June.

    Videos of the arrest in social media showed police breaching the walls of UP Cebu to chase students and activists seeking refuge inside the campus.

    And despite the government’s assurance that the accord’s termination was not meant to suppress activism and academic freedom in UP, students, faculty, and staff from UP Cebu said they have not forgotten about the arrest of Cebu 8.

    The Unified Student Organisations of UP Cebu, along with the University Student Council, the All UP Academic Employees Union, and the university’s student publication Tug-ani came out with a joint statement condemning the termination.

    “We remember the violent dispersal of the June 5th protest against the then Anti-Terrorism Bill last year, wherein armed non-uniformed PNP personnel chased protesters inside the campus and groundlessly detained 8 individuals, including a bystander, now collectively known as the Cebu 8,” the statement reads.

    Death threats against union president
    The unified organisations also pointed out the arrest of UP Cebu alumna Myles Albasin of Mabinay 6 and the death threats received by faculty union president Regletto Imbong earlier this month as “one of one of the many UP-DND Accord violations and harassments” that had been committed.

    They added the termination of the UP-DND agreement was a disrespect to the martyrs from the university who died in the pursuit of democracy during martial law, and enjoined the administration to remain firm against any threats academic freedom.

    “For the DND to end this accord is already an admission of either their ignorance of the country’s history or their blatant disrespect of the martyrs who fought for the freedoms we enjoy today and now the Duterte administration is desperately trying to snatch away from us again,” they said.

    “We collectively call upon the UP administration, UP board of regents to affirm their mandate in ensuring that UP shall remain a zone of peace and refuge; to defend the university against the DND’s attempt of militarising our schools, and to stand and fight against all fascist manoeuvres that threaten our academic freedom and basic rights,” they added.

    In her official statement, UP Cebu chancellor Liza Corro said the abrogation without consultation of the agreement was “deeply concerning to say the least,” considering the many threats faced by UP Cebu.

    “Especially for us here in UP Cebu, as it came at a time, when our students and faculty members have been subjected to direct intimidation and threats, including red-tagging… We strongly condemned such acts of transgression and bullying,” Corro wrote.

    She went on to defend Imbong, describing him as an “academic scholar of good standing” who was active not only in the academe but also in campaigning for social justice.

    “His active engagements to help elevate social ills, is inherent in his basic task as a UP constituent, in fact as a good and responsible Filipino citizen. This does not make him an insurgent or a terrorist.

    “We strongly condemn any and all forms of baseless accusations and red-tagging among our constituents, faculty and students alike. They deserve our respect, not harassment,” she added.

    Asia Pacific Report republishes Rappler articles with permission.

    Print Friendly, PDF & Email

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Chancellor defends UP as ‘bastion of academic freedom’ against military

    By Lorraine Ecarma in Cebu City

    The University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV) will continue to stand against any threats to human rights, chancellor Clement Camposano has declared in response to the termination of a long-standing accord preventing military incursion on campus.

    In a Facebook post, Camposano said the academic freedom in the university was “not something anyone can abrogate”.

    “The University of the Philippines Visayas like the rest of the UP System, will remain a bastion of academic freedom,” he wrote.

    “This is not something anyone can abrogate. We will stand firm against any and all attempts to deprive us of our democratic rights.”

    The brief statement was posted on Monday, hours after news broke of Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana’s decision to unilaterally terminate the decades-old pact between the University of the Philippines and the Department of National Defence preventing military and police presence in all UP System campuses.

    In his official statement posted yesterday, the UP Visayas chancellor pointed to the tumultuous history between UP and the DND as the cause of the university’s apprehension.

    “Historical events that have shaped the relationship of UP and the country’s security forces—many of these leaving wounds that have yet to heal—explain the university’s strong apprehensio,” he wrote.

    ‘Sordid reality of recent killings’
    “While the Department of National Defence has given assurances that constitutionally guaranteed rights and freedoms would not be suppressed, these historical events and the sordid reality of recent killings, abductions, and other forms of human rights abuses widely believed to have been perpetrated by security forces cannot but leave us unassured.”

    Even before the scrapping of the accord, UP System universities in the Visayas have long decried unwarranted military and police presence in their campuses.

    One of the most recent instances was the arrest of 8 protestors, collectively known as Cebu 8, during a picket rally against the then anti-terror bill held in front of the UP Cebu campus last June.

    Videos of the arrest in social media showed police breaching the walls of UP Cebu to chase students and activists seeking refuge inside the campus.

    And despite the government’s assurance that the accord’s termination was not meant to suppress activism and academic freedom in UP, students, faculty, and staff from UP Cebu said they have not forgotten about the arrest of Cebu 8.

    The Unified Student Organisations of UP Cebu, along with the University Student Council, the All UP Academic Employees Union, and the university’s student publication Tug-ani came out with a joint statement condemning the termination.

    “We remember the violent dispersal of the June 5th protest against the then Anti-Terrorism Bill last year, wherein armed non-uniformed PNP personnel chased protesters inside the campus and groundlessly detained 8 individuals, including a bystander, now collectively known as the Cebu 8,” the statement reads.

    Death threats against union president
    The unified organisations also pointed out the arrest of UP Cebu alumna Myles Albasin of Mabinay 6 and the death threats received by faculty union president Regletto Imbong earlier this month as “one of one of the many UP-DND Accord violations and harassments” that had been committed.

    They added the termination of the UP-DND agreement was a disrespect to the martyrs from the university who died in the pursuit of democracy during martial law, and enjoined the administration to remain firm against any threats academic freedom.

    “For the DND to end this accord is already an admission of either their ignorance of the country’s history or their blatant disrespect of the martyrs who fought for the freedoms we enjoy today and now the Duterte administration is desperately trying to snatch away from us again,” they said.

    “We collectively call upon the UP administration, UP board of regents to affirm their mandate in ensuring that UP shall remain a zone of peace and refuge; to defend the university against the DND’s attempt of militarising our schools, and to stand and fight against all fascist manoeuvres that threaten our academic freedom and basic rights,” they added.

    In her official statement, UP Cebu chancellor Liza Corro said the abrogation without consultation of the agreement was “deeply concerning to say the least,” considering the many threats faced by UP Cebu.

    “Especially for us here in UP Cebu, as it came at a time, when our students and faculty members have been subjected to direct intimidation and threats, including red-tagging… We strongly condemned such acts of transgression and bullying,” Corro wrote.

    She went on to defend Imbong, describing him as an “academic scholar of good standing” who was active not only in the academe but also in campaigning for social justice.

    “His active engagements to help elevate social ills, is inherent in his basic task as a UP constituent, in fact as a good and responsible Filipino citizen. This does not make him an insurgent or a terrorist.

    “We strongly condemn any and all forms of baseless accusations and red-tagging among our constituents, faculty and students alike. They deserve our respect, not harassment,” she added.

    Asia Pacific Report republishes Rappler articles with permission.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Jokowi prioritised business interests at expense of jobs and lives, says HRW

    Indonesian President Joko Widodo … response to the covid-19 pandemic “weak, with low testing and tracing rates, and little transparency”. Image: IndoLeft/CNN Indonesia

    Pacific Media Watch newsdesk

    Human Rights Watch (HRW) has criticised the Indonesian government of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo for its weak health response to covid-19 which has brought Indonesia to its knees since March 2020, reports CNN Indonesia.

    The assessment is based on Indonesia’s poor rates of testing and tracing and minimal transparency. Furthermore, the government was both slow and incompetent in dealing with the covid-19 pandemic.

    In its annual World Report 2021 the human rights organisation highlighted that under President Widodo’s leadership the government had instead focused on regulations related to labour which harmed the rights of workers and damaged the environment.

    Yet the epidemic itself has killed at least 17,000 Indonesians and resulted in around 2.6 million people losing their jobs.

    “The response of President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo’s government to the covid-19 pandemic was weak, with low testing and tracing rates, and little transparency,” the report said.

    “The impact of the virus has been devastating, killing at least 17,000 people, and leading to the loss of 2.6 million jobs.”

    HRW Asia director Brad Adams said that the Widodo government never made dealing with the pandemic its top priority and focusing instead on passing laws that harmed workers and the environment.

    Pandemic not top priority
    “The Jokowi government never seemed to make the pandemic its top priority, focusing instead on passing a business-friendly law that harm workers and the environment”, said Adams as quoted from the HRW website by CNN Indonesia.

    According to Adams, which creating jobs and planning economic recovery are important goals especially in a pandemic, “but they should not come at the expense of fighting the virus or protecting the hard-fought rights of workers”.

    Adams said that the HRW also highlighted violations of the rights of women, religious minorities and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) groups.

    There were many cases of Muslim groups who threatened religious minority groups found in Indonesia but the government’s response this kind of intimidation was still very minimal.

    Adams said that according to HRW’s records, Indonesian police arrested at least 38 people for blasphemy across 16 provinces in 2020.

    The Supreme Court also rejected a petition to revoke the joint ministerial decree on houses of worship, which has been used to close down hundreds of churches since 2006.

    “Jokowi came to office promising progressive reforms, but in 2020 he seemed to give up any remaining intentions he had to protect rights and the most vulnerable,” Adams said.

    Limited access to Papuan provinces
    Indonesia, according to the HRW report, has also continued to limit access for international rights monitors and journalists to visit Papua and West Papua provinces, which have long been affected by unrest and rights violations.

    “It’s not too late for him to take bold steps to prioritise public health, reinstate labor and environmental protections, and protect free expression. His last years in office will define his legacy”, concluded Adams.

    Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was “HRW: Respons Jokowi Lemah terhadap Penanganan Pandemi Corona”.

    Print Friendly, PDF & Email

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Jokowi prioritised business interests at expense of jobs and lives, says HRW

    Pacific Media Watch newsdesk

    Human Rights Watch (HRW) has criticised the Indonesian government of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo for its weak health response to covid-19 which has brought Indonesia to its knees since March 2020, reports CNN Indonesia.

    The assessment is based on Indonesia’s poor rates of testing and tracing and minimal transparency. Furthermore, the government was both slow and incompetent in dealing with the covid-19 pandemic.

    In its annual World Report 2021 the human rights organisation highlighted that under President Widodo’s leadership the government had instead focused on regulations related to labour which harmed the rights of workers and damaged the environment.

    Yet the epidemic itself has killed at least 17,000 Indonesians and resulted in around 2.6 million people losing their jobs.

    “The response of President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo’s government to the covid-19 pandemic was weak, with low testing and tracing rates, and little transparency,” the report said.

    “The impact of the virus has been devastating, killing at least 17,000 people, and leading to the loss of 2.6 million jobs.”

    HRW Asia director Brad Adams said that the Widodo government never made dealing with the pandemic its top priority and focusing instead on passing laws that harmed workers and the environment.

    Pandemic not top priority
    “The Jokowi government never seemed to make the pandemic its top priority, focusing instead on passing a business-friendly law that harm workers and the environment”, said Adams as quoted from the HRW website by CNN Indonesia.

    According to Adams, which creating jobs and planning economic recovery are important goals especially in a pandemic, “but they should not come at the expense of fighting the virus or protecting the hard-fought rights of workers”.

    Adams said that the HRW also highlighted violations of the rights of women, religious minorities and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) groups.

    There were many cases of Muslim groups who threatened religious minority groups found in Indonesia but the government’s response this kind of intimidation was still very minimal.

    Adams said that according to HRW’s records, Indonesian police arrested at least 38 people for blasphemy across 16 provinces in 2020.

    The Supreme Court also rejected a petition to revoke the joint ministerial decree on houses of worship, which has been used to close down hundreds of churches since 2006.

    “Jokowi came to office promising progressive reforms, but in 2020 he seemed to give up any remaining intentions he had to protect rights and the most vulnerable,” Adams said.

    Limited access to Papuan provinces
    Indonesia, according to the HRW report, has also continued to limit access for international rights monitors and journalists to visit Papua and West Papua provinces, which have long been affected by unrest and rights violations.

    “It’s not too late for him to take bold steps to prioritise public health, reinstate labor and environmental protections, and protect free expression. His last years in office will define his legacy”, concluded Adams.

    Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was “HRW: Respons Jokowi Lemah terhadap Penanganan Pandemi Corona”.

     

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Body parts found at Sriwijaya Air crash site in Indonesia – 62 feared dead

    Pacific Media Watch newsdesk

    Body parts and debris were hauled from waters near Indonesia’s capital Jakarta today from a Boeing passenger plane that crashed shortly after take off with 62 people on board, reports The Jakarta Post.

    The Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737-500 plunged into a steep dive about four minutes after it left Soekarno-Hatta international airport in Jakarta on Saturday afternoon.

    No reasons have yet been given for the crash, with authorities focusing on a frantic search and rescue effort that appeared to offer no hope of finding any survivors.

    “As of this morning, we’ve received two (body) bags, one with passenger belongings and the other with body parts,” Jakarta police spokesman Yusri Yunus told Metro TV.

    The discovery came as a flotilla of warships, helicopters and divers were deployed off the coast of the sprawling city.

    Sixty-two passengers and crew were on board, including 10 children, all of them Indonesians, according to authorities.

    Sriwijaya Air flight SJ182 was bound for Pontianak city on Indonesia’s section of Borneo island, about 90 minutes flying time over the Java Sea.

    Crashed in Java Sea
    It crashed in the Java Sea near popular day-trip tourist islands just off the coast.

    Distraught relatives waited nervously for news at Pontianak airport on Saturday night.

    “I have four family members on the flight — my wife and three children,” Yaman Zai said as he sobbed.

    “(My wife) sent me a picture of the baby today…How could my heart not be torn into pieces?”

    Officials said today they would continue their search by sea and air while also using sonar radar to pick up more signs of the downed jet.

    Divers marked at least three sites at the suspected crash site with orange ballons, according to an Agence France-Presse reporter on the scene.

    “From our observation, it is strongly believed the coordinates match the ones from the plane’s last signal contact,” said Hadi Tjahjanto, head of Indonesia’s military.

    Hundreds of personnel from search and rescue, the navy, the police, with 10 warships also taking part in the search effort.

    Sudden dive
    Data from FlightRadar24 said the plane reached an altitude of nearly 3,350m before dropping suddenly to 100m. It then lost contact with air traffic control.

    Indonesian Transport Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said Saturday that the jet appeared to deviate from its intended course just before it disappeared from radar.

    Sriwijaya Air, which has about 19 Boeing jets that fly to destinations in Indonesia and Southeast Asia, has said only that it was investigating the loss of contact.

    It did not immediately comment when contacted by AFP again on Sunday.

    In October 2018, 189 people were killed when a Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX jet slammed into the Java Sea about 12 minutes after take-off from Jakarta on a routine one-hour flight.

    That crash – and a subsequent fatal flight in Ethiopia – saw Boeing hit with $2.5 billion in fines over claims it defrauded regulators overseeing the 737 MAX model, which was grounded worldwide following the two deadly crashes.

    The jet that went down Saturday is not a MAX model and was 26 years old, according to authorities.

    No immediate insights
    In its initial statements on Saturday’s crash, Boeing offered no immediate insights into the cause.

    “We are aware of media reports from Jakarta regarding Sriwijaya Air flight SJ-182. Our thoughts are with the crew, passengers, and their families,” the US-based planemaker said in a statement.

    “We are in contact with our airline customer and stand ready to support them during this difficult time.”

    Indonesia’s aviation sector has long suffered from a reputation for poor safety, and its airlines were once banned from entering US and European airspace.

    In 2014, an AirAsia plane crashed with the loss of 162 lives.

    Domestic investigators’ final report on the AirAsia crash showed a chronically faulty component in a rudder control system, poor maintenance and the pilots’ inadequate response were major factors in what was supposed to be a routine flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore.

    A year later, in 2015, more than 140 people, including people on the ground, were killed when a military plane crashed shortly after takeoff in Medan on Sumatra island.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • China enters 2021 a stronger, more influential power — and Australia may feel the squeeze even more

    ANALYSIS: By James Laurenceson, University of Technology Sydney

    Great power competition in the Asia-Pacific region has been building for years. But covid-19 has turbo-charged the shifts taking place and China has finished 2020 in a significantly stronger position compared with the US than when the year started.

    Meanwhile, Canberra’s relations with Beijing continue to deteriorate and there’s little reason to be optimistic that a sudden, positive turnaround will be seen in 2021.

    As competition rather than cooperation has become the dominant frame through which both Beijing and Washington view their bilateral relationship, each is increasingly sensitive to evidence that other countries in the Asia-Pacific region are supporting their opponent.

    The fundamental driver of China’s hostility towards Australia in 2020 stems from its assessment that Australia’s leaders have reneged on earlier commitments to never direct the country’s security alliance with the US against China.

    Prime Minister Scott Morrison has appealed for Australia and other middle and smaller powers to be granted “greater latitude” in how they manoeuvre between the US and China in the future.

    But the University of Sydney’s James Curran cautions against unrealistic expectations:

    Great powers simply don’t dole out strategic space to others.

    China’s power on an upwards trajectory
    At the end of 2019, China’s GDP stood at US$14.3 trillion. This was two-thirds that of the US GDP of $21.3 trillion.

    The fallout from covid-19 has accelerated the trend in China’s favour. The International Monetary Fund’s latest growth forecasts suggest China’s economy will jump from two-thirds to three-quarters the size of the US by the end of 2021.

    And when cost differences are accounted for and the two economies are measured in terms of their respective purchasing power, China’s GDP is actually already 10 percent larger than the US.

    Retail sales grew by 5 percent in China in November, compared to the same month last year, as the country’s economy continues its strong recovery. Image: The Conversation/Yang Jianzheng/AP

    According to the Lowy Institute’s “Asia Power Index”, which tracks power in the economic, military, diplomatic and cultural domains, the US still comes out on top, but its lead over China has been cut in half since 2018. This mainly reflected losses by the US rather than gains by China.

    And even before covid-19 hit, a survey of business, media and civil society leaders in Southeast Asia showed that Beijing was considered vastly more influential than Washington in the region, though this increasing power was viewed with apprehension.

    Nearly half said they had little to no confidence in the US as a strategic partner or provider of regional security.

    And when asked if the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) was forced to align itself with either the US or China, a majority in seven of the 10 ASEAN member countries chose China.

    The past year has also delivered dividends for China’s leaders domestically, with most citizens giving them high marks for their handling of the public health crisis, despite some initial anger over the government’s early attempts to cover up the severity of the pandemic.

    This reinforces already high levels of overall trust in the central government.

    The contrast with the US in this regard is stark. In May, a cross-country survey revealed that 95 percent of Chinese respondents had trust in their government, compared with just 48 percent in the US.

    Yet, China’s leaders still seem insecure
    All of these “wins” would naturally provide impetus for China’s international behaviour to become more confident and assertive.

    But President Xi Jinping’s worldview is another factor. In September, Xi exhorted Communist Party cadres to “maintain a fighting spirit and strengthen their ability to struggle”. The word “struggle” appeared more than another 50 times in the same speech.

    The Lowy Institute’s Richard McGregor says this reflects Xi’s view that China is in an

    existential struggle against an implacable enemy dead-set on destroying China.

    China’s diplomats had already been primed to embrace a “fighting spirit” in a speech delivered by Foreign Minister Wang Yi last November.

    All of this has meant that rather than projecting a self-assured poise, China’s international behaviour has frequently veered in the direction of bullying fuelled by insecurity.

    Australia has been on the front lines of this treatment — dialogue on the leader and ministerial level has been refused, exports have been targeted and propaganda campaigns have been deployed.

    Beijing’s intransigence has predictably led to the strengthening of coalitions like the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (comprised of the US, Australia, Japan and India), as well as deeper conversations among Japan, India and Australia about how to build greater resilience into supply chains that are currently heavily exposed to China.

    Defence pactChina warned Australia and Japan will ‘pay a corresponding price” if a new defence pact signed between the countries threatens its security. Image: The Conversation/Eugene Hoshiko/AP

    Greater use of carrots than sticks
    There is some evidence China is beginning to recognise its over-the-top behaviour is counterproductive, at least towards some countries, and make greater use of carrots rather than sticks.

    Its “vaccine diplomacy” in Southeast Asia is a case in point.

    Covid-19 has hit Indonesia particularly hard, hit with more than 600,000 total cases so far. But just last week, Jakarta received 1.2 million doses of a vaccine manufactured by a Chinese pharmaceutical company, Sinovac.

    China is touting this effort a “Health Silk Road”, with pledges to provide billions in aid and loans to mostly developing countries to help them recover from the pandemic.

    Sinovac vaccineBoxes containing coronavirus vaccines made by Sinovac arriving last week at a facility in Indonesia. Image: The Conversation/Indonesian Presidential Palace/AP

    Australia won’t have much latitude with a stronger China
    In the case of Australia, however, China is unlikely to put the stick down any time soon.

    As Dirk van der Klay, a research fellow at ANU, explains, painting a stark contrast between Southeast Asia and Australia serves the purpose of reminding the region of the benefits of staying in Beijing’s good books — as well as the costs of crossing it.

    While countries like the US, Britain and France have at least offered Australia some rhetorical support in its China predicament, Australia’s most significant Southeast Asian neighbours have been notably quiet.

    With China’s relative power set to grow further in 2021, Canberra might feel even more uncomfortable. But as former senior Singaporean diplomat, Bilahari Kausikan, remarked in October, Australia is “not in a unique position” as “almost everybody” in the region faces the same challenge of managing relations with China and the US to maximise their economic and security interests.

    Australia’s unfortunate distinction is that because its relations with China have already sunk to such depths, it has less ability to negotiate a path between the two great powers.

    Elevating partnerships with countries like Japan, India and Indonesia offers one way forward, but alongside this needs to be a pragmatic strategy for getting the China relationship at least back on an even keel.

    Tokyo, New Delhi and Jakarta have all had serious challenges with Beijing, but their relations never fell to the depths of the current China-Australia tensions. These countries might offer some useful advice here, too.The Conversation

    Dr James Laurenceson is director and professor, Australia-China Relations Institute (ACRI), University of Technology Sydney. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

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  • Former Rappler reporter Carmela Fonbuena is new head of PCIJ

    Carmela Fonbuena … recently launched a book on the Marawi siege on Mindanao Island, in the Philippines which she covered on the ground in 2017. Image: Rappler

    Pacific Media Watch newsdesk

    The Philippine Center For Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) has named former Rappler reporter and book author Carmela Fonbuena as its next executive editor, reports Rappler.

    “We are very pleased that Carmela has decided to be at the helm of PCIJ at a time when journalism in the Philippines and elsewhere is facing challenges on multiple fronts,” the PCIJ said in a statement.

    The transition comes at a time when freedom of the press is under siege in the Philippines by the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, whose allies have sought to bring down independent news outlets critical of his administration.

    Fonbuena succeeds Malou Mangahas, who led the PCIJ for 11 years, visited New Zealand as guest speaker of the Pacific Media Centre during its 10th anniversary celebration, and retired in early 2020.

    Floreen Simon, who stood in as acting executive director during the transition, will become the deputy executive director while still heading PCIJ’s training desk.

    Fonbuena’s work
    Fonbuena has been a journalist for 17 years, and has co-written four books on Philippine elections and government contracting.

    She recently launched a book on the Marawi siege on Mindanao Island, which she covered on the ground in 2017.

    Fonbuena was a senior reporter for Rappler from 2011 to 2018 and was the head researcher of GMA’s Bawal ang Pasaway public affairs programme. Prior, she worked as a researcher for the investigative news magazine, Newsbreak.

    Recently, she has been contributing in-depth pieces for the British news website, The Guardian.

    She earned an MA in political communication at Cardiff University in the United Kingdom as a Chevening scholar, and is a graduate of journalism from the University of the Philippines in Diliman.

    Asia Pacific Report republishes Rappler articles with permission.

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  • RSF protests over arrest of Filipina journalist for ‘planted firearms’

    Lady Ann “Icy” Salem is seen during her arrest on 10 December 2020. Image: Altermidya/RSF

    Pacific Media Watch newsdesk

    Reporters Without Borders (RSF) demands the immediate and unconditional release of Lady Ann Salem, a Manila-based alternative journalist who was arrested on a firearms charge at the end of a raid on her home in which the police planted the evidence.

    The co-founder of the alternative media network Altermidya and editor of the Manila Today news site, Salem – also known as “Icy” Salem – is now facing up to 20 years in prison on a trumped-up charge of illegal possession of firearms and explosives, a charge that does not allow release on bail.

    When the police arrived at her home in a Manila suburb at around 9 am on December 10, they refused to let her contact her lawyer and made her turn her face to the wall while they carried out a search.

    “While I was forced to turn my back for an hour, they planted the evidence,” she managed to tell another journalist as she was being led away to a police vehicle.

    The police claim they found four .45 pistols and four grenades during the search.

    “The police clearly planted the evidence to incriminate ‘Icy’ Salem in an utterly shameless manner,” said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk.

    “In view of their shocking methods, we demand this journalist’s immediate and unconditional release. This latest attack on independent media by the Philippine authorities just discredits President Rodrigo Duterte’s government on the international stage.”

    ‘Red-tagging’
    The police used exactly the same method when they arrested Frenchie Mae Cumpio, the editor of the Eastern Vista news website in the eastern city of Tacloban on February 7. Police officers planted firearms in her home when carrying out her arrest.

    Like Manila Today, Eastern Vista is part of the Altermidya network of alternative media outlets that are committed to independent journalism and to defending the most marginalised sectors of Philippine society.

    As a result, they are routinely branded as communist by the authorities, a process known as “red-tagging.”

    A hangover from the Cold War and, before that, from when the country was a US colony, “red-tagging” is a typically Philippine practice under which dissenting individuals or groups, including journalists and media outlets, are identified to the police and paramilitaries as legitimate targets for arbitrary arrest or, worse still, summary execution.

    Relentless war
    During a parliamentary hearing on December 1, the government-run National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) formally labelled members of the Altermidya network as violent communist activists without presenting a “shred of evidence” in support of this claim.

    Altermidya is the latest victim of the Duterte administration’s relentless war against independent media. Its targets include Maria Ressa, the founder and CEO of the independent news website Rappler, who had to post bail and appear in court on December 4 as a result of a new warrant for her arrest on a charge of online criminal defamation.

    Ressa is currently the subject of at least eight different cases by various government agencies.

    Last July, the irascible and authoritarian president’s supporters in congress drove the final nails into the coffin of the country’s biggest radio and TV network, ABS-CBN, by refusing to give it a new franchise, after previously refusing to extend its 25-year franchise when it expired in May.

    The Philippines is ranked 136th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2020 World Press Freedom Index.

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    This post was originally published on Radio Free.