{"id":71570,"date":"2021-03-10T13:15:24","date_gmt":"2021-03-10T13:15:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/?p=55692"},"modified":"2021-03-10T13:15:24","modified_gmt":"2021-03-10T13:15:24","slug":"dear-editor-we-have-you-in-our-sights-for-reporting-the-truth-on-papua","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/03\/10\/dear-editor-we-have-you-in-our-sights-for-reporting-the-truth-on-papua\/","title":{"rendered":"Dear editor, we have you in our sights for reporting \u2018the truth\u2019 on Papua"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>EDITORIAL:<\/strong><em> By David Robie, editor of <a href=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/\">Asia Pacific Report<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Asia Pacific Report<\/em>, the Auckland-based independent news and analysis website, has been increasingly targeted by Indonesian trolls over the past three months, involving a spate of \u201cletters to the editor\u201d and social media attacks.<\/p>\n<p>One of the most frequent letter writers, an \u201cAbel Lekahena\u201d, who claims to be a \u201cstudent\u201d or \u201cwriting on behalf of the people of Papua\u201d, has accused <em>APR<\/em> of \u201conly taking the separatists\u2019 narrative as they played the victim\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes he is purportedly a student living in \u201cYogyakarta\u201d; at other times he is a migrant from East Nusa Tenggara \u201ccurrently living in Manokwari, West Papua\u201d. He has written to <em>Asia Pacific Report<\/em> 10 times in the past eight weeks \u2013 twice in one day on December 29.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/2020\/08\/18\/facebook-censorship-on-west-papua-then-deafening-silence\/\"><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> Facebook censorship on West Papua \u2013 then deafening silence<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/2019\/09\/11\/daily-post-indonesia-online-propaganda-undermining-west-papua\/\"><em>Vanuatu Daily Post:<\/em> Indonesia online propaganda undermining West Papua<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cLekahena\u201d, if that is even his real name, claims in his latest letter on Monday that since January, \u201cthe armed separatists prowled in Intan Jaya\u201d and <a href=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/2021\/01\/16\/confusion-reigns-over-real-reasons-for-burning-of-missionary-plane-in-papua\/\">burned a missionary plane<\/a> on January 6 and he has cited several clashes between pro-independence militants seeking independence for West Papua and the colonial Indonesian security forces.<\/p>\n<p>He also blames the increase of <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nduga_massacre\">internal Papuan refugees<\/a> on the rebels.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_55698\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-55698\" style=\"width: 680px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-55698 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Abel-Lekahana-Mar-4-2021-680wide.png\" alt=\"Abel Lekahana letter 040321\" width=\"680\" height=\"157\" srcset=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Abel-Lekahana-Mar-4-2021-680wide.png 680w, https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Abel-Lekahana-Mar-4-2021-680wide-300x69.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-55698\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The latest &#8220;Abel Lekahena&#8221; letter to Asia Pacific Report. Fake correspondent? Image: APR screenshot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cInstead of feeling guilty, armed separatists continue to make victims, spread propaganda, and take refuge behind refugees\u2019 issues to seek sympathy from the domestic and international public,\u201d claimed Lekahena in his letter to <em>APR\u2019s<\/em> news editor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would like to point out that <em>Asia Pacific Report<\/em> as a credible media should have also publish\/talk\/discuss [sic] regarding the endless list of the Free Papua armed separatists\u2019 crimes in January-February 2021.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lekahena follows with a long list of web links to alleged Papuan rebel \u201ccrimes\u201d while utterly ignoring the widely documented human rights violations and atrocities attributed by international watchdogs to the Indonesian security forces &#8211; both recently and over the last half century since Indonesian paratroopers invaded in 1961 and Jakarta gained control of the Papuan half of New Guinea island in a <a href=\"https:\/\/theecologist.org\/2014\/mar\/07\/west-papuas-act-free-choice-45-years\">sham \u201cAct of Free Choice\u201d in 1969<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_55700\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-55700\" style=\"width: 680px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-55700 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Abel-Lekahana-2021-680wide-copy.png\" alt=\"Abel Lekahana letters 100321\" width=\"680\" height=\"364\" srcset=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Abel-Lekahana-2021-680wide-copy.png 680w, https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Abel-Lekahana-2021-680wide-copy-300x161.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-55700\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Part of the Abel Lekahena letters file. Image: APR screenshot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>\u2018Separatist\u2019 smear label<\/strong><br \/>\nOur reply to Abel Lekahena is first that editorially we do not accept the term \u201cseparatist\u201d which is a smear label that should not be used when describing indigenous people struggling to regain their homeland. This offensive word should also be discarded by the world\u2019s media and news agencies as well.<\/p>\n<p>We are reporting the struggle of pro-independence militants and human rights activists against a grave injustice. Papuans are Melanesian, just like their brothers and sisters across the border in Papua New Guinea.<\/p>\n<p>They are Pacific Islanders.<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, <em>Asia Pacific Report<\/em> seeks to independently report Papuan development, education, health, human rights, social justice and many other issues with courage, balance, fairness and vigour.<\/p>\n<p>Second, a random look at newspaper headlines in Papua today \u2013 such as the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.jubi.co.id\/\"><em>West Papua Daily<\/em><\/a> English language edition of <a href=\"https:\/\/jubi.co.id\/\"><em>Tabloid Jubi<\/em><\/a> &#8211; reveals the plight of many Papuans and it is time Western countries, especially Australia and New Zealand, woke up to the reality and really put pressure on Jakarta to urgently allow a fact-finding team with the UN Rapporteurs on Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples to visit Papua:<\/p>\n<p><strong>March 10:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/en.jubi.co.id\/nduga-and-intan-jaya-displaced-people-west-papua\/\">Indonesia \u2018must take responsibility\u2019 for Nduga and Intan Jaya displaced people<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>March 10:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/en.jubi.co.id\/mimika-stray-bullet-bewarmbo\/\">Indonesian police, military investigate \u2018stray bullet\u2019 case that injures a youth in Mimik<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>March 8:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/en.jubi.co.id\/police-disperse-international-womens-day-in-west-papua\/\">Police arrest nine, disperse International Women\u2019s Day rallies in West Papua<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>March 8:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/en.jubi.co.id\/indonesia-has-gone-too-far-a-disabled-man-and-a-teenager-in-west-papuas-intan-jaya-shot-dead\/\">\u2018Indonesia has gone too far\u2019: A disabled man and a teenager in West Papua\u2019s Intan Jaya shot dead<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>March 4:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/en.jubi.co.id\/two-papuan-students-detained-in-jakarta-police\/\">\u2018The case is manipulated\u2019: Two Papuan students detained by Jakarta police<\/a><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_55701\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-55701\" style=\"width: 680px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-55701 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/West-Papua-Daily-100321.png\" alt=\"West Papua Daily 100321\" width=\"680\" height=\"606\" srcset=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/West-Papua-Daily-100321.png 680w, https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/West-Papua-Daily-100321-300x267.png 300w, https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/West-Papua-Daily-100321-471x420.png 471w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-55701\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">West Papua Daily headlines on 10 March 2021. Image: APR screenshot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Reveal yourself<\/strong><br \/>\nFinally, Abel Lekahena, we invite you reveal who you are really are, and stop wasting our time with pointless propaganda for the Indonesian security forces. Many reports have surfaced about the <a href=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/2019\/09\/11\/daily-post-indonesia-online-propaganda-undermining-west-papua\/\">trolling of media in Pacific countries<\/a> perceived to be sympathetic voices to West Papuan self-determination.<\/p>\n<p>Facebook and other social media have scrapped or suspended many <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-facebook-twitter-papua-idUSKBN20S0TA\">fake web pages<\/a> created by the Indonesian military and other authorities.<\/p>\n<p>Let us get on with our job of informing our readers with the facts, stripped of the TNI (Indonesian security forces) fake news and spin or repression, and continue our commitment to speaking truth to power.<\/p>\n<p><em>Dr David Robie is the retired director of the Pacific Media Centre.<\/em><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_55702\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-55702\" style=\"width: 680px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-55702 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Disabled-man-teen-shot-Jubi-080321.png\" alt=\"West Papua Daily headline 080321\" width=\"680\" height=\"547\" srcset=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Disabled-man-teen-shot-Jubi-080321.png 680w, https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Disabled-man-teen-shot-Jubi-080321-300x241.png 300w, https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Disabled-man-teen-shot-Jubi-080321-522x420.png 522w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-55702\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A report of a disabled Papuan man and a teenager being shot by Indonesian security forces in the West Papua Daily on March 8. Image: APR screenshot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<style>.pf-button.pf-button-excerpt { display: none; }<\/style>\n<p class=\"syndicated-attribution\">This post was originally published on <a href=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/2021\/03\/11\/dear-editor-we-have-you-in-our-sights-for-reporting-the-truth-on-papua\/\">Asia Pacific Report<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>EDITORIAL: By David Robie, editor of Asia Pacific Report Asia Pacific Report, the Auckland-based independent news and analysis website, has been increasingly targeted by Indonesian trolls over the past three months, involving a spate of \u201cletters to the editor\u201d and social media attacks. One of the most frequent letter writers, an \u201cAbel Lekahena\u201d, who claims<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3009,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6454,251,3660,5,1229,1252,6,7,207,7225,94,652,33,358,12,431,13,14,583,238,1743,19,209,20],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71570"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3009"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71570"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74580,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71570\/revisions\/74580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}