Max Lane — On April 5, the Papuan People’s Assembly
(MRP) issued a resolution calling for the closure of
the huge Freeport mine, a demand that had been raised
by student protesters at a March 15-16 demonstration
and at protests earlier in the year in both Papua and
other parts of Indonesia.

It is student activists and community groups that
have been spearheading the deepening political
struggle in Papua. They accuse Freeport of damaging
the environment, being involved in human rights
abuses, collaborating with an abusive military and of
not channelling any of the wealth generated by the
mine to people in Papua.

The MRP was formed under a 2001 Autonomy Law and is
representative of the broad Papuan bureaucratic,
business and social elite that developed during the
Suharto years.

The April 5 MRP memorandum was framed in moderate
terms, calling on the Indonesian government to begin
negotiations with the US government and Freeport over
the mine’s closure. It called for negotiations with
the traditional owners of the area if closure could
not be achieved, and for the withdrawal of Indonesian
security forces from around Freeport and the
institution of a community-based security system.

According to the Papuan National Student Front
(FMNP), at least 24 students were injured during a
March 15-16 anti-Freeport demonstration at the
University of Cendrawasih. Five suffered gunshot
wounds. Five Indonesian security officers were killed
at the protest.

The demonstration was initiated by the Parliament of
the Streets of West Papua (Parjal) and leaders of the
United West Papua Popular Struggle Front (PEPERA),
which is probably the broadest activist coalition in
Jayapura.

The protest began on March 15 when about 300 students
gathered outside the University of Cendrawasih in the
town of Abepura, near Jayapura. According to an FMNP
report, the elite mobile brigade police were on hand
but no clashes took place.

The next day students began preparing to blockade the
two-lane road in front of the university using tyres
and tree branches. At 9am, the police arrived again.
Around noon, after negotiations with student leaders,
additional security forces arrived.

There were no incidents until 1pm, when the police
began tearing down the street barricades, firing tear
gas to clear away the students. Students retreated
while throwing stones back at the police. When the
police started detaining some student leaders,
protesters went on the offensive, using bottles,
rocks and sticks.

The police responded by throwing rocks back at
students and firing. At around 3pm, police entered
the university compound and charged at the students.
It was during this clash that the security officers
were killed and scores of others, both police and
students, were injured. At 4pm, army units arrived
and managed to force the students to retreat, some
fleeing into the mountains behind the university.

During the evening, police units roamed the streets
beating up young people they suspected of being
students. By the following day the streets had calmed
down, however there are still reports of police and
army units hunting for students they believed were
involved in the protests, and protesters were still
in hiding. According to a statement by the Papuan
Students Alliance (AMP), those detained include
Selfius Bobi, PEPERA secretary-general.

The University of Cendrawasih demonstration followed
other anti-Freeport protests in Timika (a town near
Freeport) and at the mine itself. For a few days in
February, the mine closed due to a protest blockade
and solidarity demonstrations were held in several
Indonesian cities.

On March 16, the People’s Democratic Party (PRD)
issued a statement supporting the Papua protests. The
statement supported the "Papuan people’s demand for
the closure of Freeport" and said that the mine
should not be re-opened without permission from the
Papuan people. It also called for full transparency
in all legal procedures after the demonstration and
laid full blame for the incident on the police for
violently dispersing the student demonstration. The
Indonesian environmental organisation, WALHI, an
affiliate of Friends of the Earth International, has
also supported PEPERA.

In a statement issued on March 17, the AMP issued
three demands: the closure of Freeport and a full
audit of its record in the realms of democratic
rights, environment and human rights; a full
investigation of those responsible for the attacks on
the student protesters; and a national and
international dialogue to "resolve the Papuan and
Freeport problems". PEPERA, together with Parjal,
issued a similar statement and also called for the
withdrawal of all Indonesian army soldiers from the
area around Freeport.

There are now many activist groups in Papua
struggling around a range of issues, most under the
slogan of Papua Merdeka (Free Papua). PEPERA has
emerged as one of the most militant groupings.
Student groups such as FMNP and AMP are part of
PEPERA, as are other activist organisations.

The group was formed on September 30. It was the
product of a process that began in October 2004, when
students mobilised against a military operation in
the mountains trying to capture a Free Papua Movement
(OPM) guerrilla commander.

The militarisation of the province was accompanied by
wide-ranging human rights violations against the
civilian population in the Puncak Jaya area. Students
radicalised through a series of street protests and
formed Parjal.

Later, other organisations developed, including the
Papuan Students Association, the Papuan Students
Committee and the Coalition for the Struggle of the
Fundamental Rights of the Papuan Civilian People
(KPHARSP).

These organisations continued protesting, especially
against the Autonomy Law passed in 2001, throughout
2005. As the protests drew in more people, the idea
of a coalition gathering all of these forces together
was discussed and a conference was held in September
at which PEPERA was formed. Later, however, some of
these organisations, including Parjal, left the
front.

Elite opinion in Papua is channelled through the
Papuan Presidium Council (DPD), established by the
2001 Papuan People’s Congress, the Papuan Customary
Law Council (DAP), also established by the People’s
Congress, and through mainstream parties and
community groups elected or appointed to the
provincial parliament or the MRP.

On August 12, the DAP called a demonstration that
symbolically handed back the Autonomy Law and the MRP
to Jakarta. Called with the authority of traditional
leaders, it attracted tens of thousands of people.
All of the organisations that later formed PEPERA
participated. However, while it rejected the Autonomy
Law, the DAP was criticised by the students for
proposing no next steps for the movement.

After PEPERA formed, it issued a statement with its
own demands that summed up the views of the militant
wing of the movement:

– The holding of a broad, democratic and open
“national dialogue” to be prepared by the Indonesian
president and ministers for the purpose of resolving
the Papuan political issue.

– The formation of a special commission on Papua by
the Indonesian House of Representatives.

– The repeal by the House of Representatives of the
Autonomy Law and the regulations regarding the
formation of the MRP.

– The disbanding of the Papua House of
Representatives parliamentary committees on the
Autonomy Law and on the MRP. - The statement declared
that the Autonomous Government of Papua was no longer
valid, as the Papuan people handed back autonomy at
the August 12 protest.

PEPERA argued that the Autonomy law had been a
failure, pointing to the continuing miserable
economic condition of the Papuan people, 90% of whom
are categorised as poor, and continuing military
repression. At that time PEPERA threatened to call
for a general strike and occupation of government
offices as part of a preparation for a campaign to
demand a referendum if these demands were not met.

If repression and refusal to negotiate on the demands
raised by PEPERA, including the demand for a closure
of Freeport, and by demands from the more moderate
elite for a renegotiation of the region’s status
continue to be rejected, the current struggle may
escalate to a campaign for a referendum on the
region’s future. Even the moderate MRP raised the
possibility of moving in that direction, if only in
passing, in a memorandum it sent to Jakarta at the
beginning of this year.

At the moment, both moderate and radical wings of the
movement are supporting the call for an open dialogue
on the future of Papua, the withdrawal of the TNI
(the Indonesian army) either from Papua altogether,
as with PEPERA, or from around Freeport and the
closure of the Freeport mine. These are also demands
being supported by most of the radical democratic
forces in Indonesia.