PAPUA -- INVESTIGATION INTO SHOOTING CONTINUES

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 001562

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, EAP/ANP, DRL, DRL/AWH
NSC FOR E.PHU

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/15/2018
TAGS: PGOV PINS PHUM ID
SUBJECT: PAPUA -- INVESTIGATION INTO SHOOTING CONTINUES

REF: JAKARTA 1522

JAKARTA 00001562 001.2 OF 002


Classified By: Pol/C Joseph L. Novak, reasons 1.4(b+d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: Indonesian authorities continue to
investigate the August 9 shooting that left one Papuan dead
following a controversial incident involving the waving of a
banned separatist-linked flag. The investigation has focused
on five police officers and the fatal bullet has been sent
for forensic testing. Some eyewitness accounts have emerged
although they are incomplete and contradictory. A key human
rights group is also looking into the incident. Tensions in
the area where the incident occurred have receded. END
SUMMARY.

INVESTIGATION CONTINUES


2. (C) An investigation into a police shooting in Wamena,
Papua, in eastern Indonesia is continuing. Police officials
are investigating the circumstances of the shooting that left
one Papuan dead following the raising of the controversial
"Morning Star" flag at a rally to mark U.N. Indigenous
Peoples' Day. (Note: The Indonesian government regards the
Morning Star flag as a separatist symbol and has banned its
use. Many Papuans regard the flag as a symbol of cultural
identity rather than political independence. The illegal
separatist group the Free Papua Movement, OPM, has also used
the flag as its symbol.)


3. (C) The investigation is focused on five police officers.
Authorities conducted an autopsy on the victim Opinus Tabuni
on August 13. Medical examiners determined that he was
killed by a single bullet that lodged in his heart, according
to Theo Hesegem, a human rights activist who witnessed the
autopsy. Officials have sent the bullet for forensic testing.


4. (C) Papua's top police official, General (police) F. X.
Bagus Ekodanto has pledged that the police will conduct a
thorough investigation of the incident. He also met leaders
of the Dewan Adat Papua (DAP)--the group of traditional
leaders that organized the rally. They have insisted that
the flag raising was not part of the planned program for the
rally.


5. (C) Some controversy emerged, however, when police
officials asked DAP leaders to sign an official record of
their meeting with Ekodanto. They objected because they
believed that the meeting was an informal consultation not a
formal interview. Nor were the DAP officials accompanied by
their lawyer. Police agreed to interview them formally with
legal counsel present.

EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS


6. (C) Details of the events leading to the shooting are
beginning to emerge. Peace Brigades International (PBI),an
NGO with staff in Wamena, has interviewed a number of
eyewitnesses and shared information from their investigation
with poloff. Several witnesses reported that people in the
crowd--which may have numbered as high as 10,000--threw rocks
at police officers when they attempted to take down the
banned flag. The situation quickly became chaotic.
Witnesses also confirmed that many in the crowd carried
spears, bows and arrows, and other traditional weapons. None
of our contacts have spoken to anyone who witnessed the
actual shooting.

KEY GROUP LOOKS INTO CASE


7. (C) Indonesia's independent official human rights
organization is looking into the shooting. Ifdhal Kasim,
chair of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM),
has called the shooting a human rights violation because it
occurred during a peaceful rally. He also claimed that the

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victim was shot in an area away from where the majority of
the crowd had gathered. (Note: We have seen conflicting
reports--all unconfirmed--about this last point.)

SITUATION RETURNING TO NORMAL


8. (C) Wamena is returning to normal, although contacts say
the town remains a bit tense. Immediately after the
shooting, there were widespread rumors--spread by SMS--that
ethnic Papuans would mount revenge attacks on non-indigenous
people. Many non-indigeneous residents of Wamena took
shelter in police and military facilities for several nights
after the shooting. Several thousand Papuans traveled to
Wamena from neighboring villages--and as far away as the
provincial capital Jayapura--for the August 9 rally. They
remained in town for several days after the shooting.

STILL A MURKY PICTURE


9. (C) Although it is almost a week after the incident, key
details remain unclear. GOI officials have said that the
police may have fired in self defense and point to the fact
that the crowd was both very large and armed with
traditional, but still potentially deadly weapons. Some
human rights groups have already concluded that a human
rights violation occurred. The official investigation is
ongoing and will take some time to complete. It is positive
that the situation on the ground seems to have calmed down.
That said, Papua remains restive in general.

HUME