Benny Wenda Not Expelled from the UN General Assembly Room, Here Are the Facts

 Benny Wenda, pemimpin perjuangan Kemerdekaan Papua saat menghadiri Sidang Umum PBB di New York, AS, pekan lalu. TEMPO/Raimundos Oki. 

NEW YOK - A number of media in Indonesia reporting that Benny Wenda, a figure fighting for Papuan independence from Indonesia, was expelled from the UN General Assembly room last week turned out to be untrue.

A source who explained to the media that Wenda was expelled was a Papuan figure, Nick Messet. The reason for the expulsion, according to Messet, is because Wenda who joined the Vanuatu delegation was not a citizen of Vanuatu.

"It is not true that Benny Wenda joined the courtroom with the Vanuatu delegation because the UN made strict rules and only allowed state representatives to enter the courtroom in New York," Messet said, as reported by Antara on Sunday, September 29 and quoted by Liputan6.com.

"The rules applied by the United Nations are very strict. Only citizens can represent their countries and enter the delegation at the UN General Assembly," continued Messet who attended the 74th UN General Assembly.

Benny Wenda's Identity Card attends the UN General Assembly.

"The rules applied by the United Nations are very strict. Only citizens can represent their countries and enter the delegation at the UN General Assembly," continued Messet who attended the 74th UN General Assembly.

Tempo correspondent Raimundos Oki, who attended the 74th UN General Assembly on September 23-28, 2019, said he did not see and hear the UN police or United Nations Police and UN staff expel Wenda from the courtroom.

"Benny Wenda has followed delegations from Vanuatu and he has always attended Vanuatu events at various commissions at the UN, even to the point of sitting in the UN General Assembly room when Vanuatu raised the issue of Palestine, New Caledonia and West Papua," Oki explained the results of his report during attend the UN General Assembly.

In addition to interviewing Wenda, Oki also interviewed Vanuatu's Foreign Minister, Ralph John Regenvanu on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

"Vanuatu asked the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to enter West Papua to investigate the cases of violations that have occurred so far," he said.

The Vanuatu Foreign Minister later stated that it was not true that Wenda was expelled from the UN General Assembly room.

"The report that Wenda was banned from entering the UN General Assembly is untrue, he was allowed to enter because he was officially accredited as a Vanuatu delegation and in fact during a state statement by the Prime Minister of Vanuatu and other world leaders he sat in the General Assembly room," Ralph said via electronic mail to Tempo Correspondent, Raimundos Oki, 30 September 2019.

In addition, Benny Wenda and his entourage used the official UN identity card to attend the UN General Assembly. On the card, a photo and name of Wenda was written as Vanuatu's advisor.

A version of this article published in TEMPO.CO, Jakarta: 

https://dunia.tempo.co/read/1254486/benny-wenda-tidak-diusir-dari-ruang-sidang-umum-pbb-ini-faktanya/full&view=ok

Attending the UN General Assembly, Benny Wenda Urges the UN to Visit Papua

 Benny Wenda, leader of the Papuan Independence struggle while attending the UN General Assembly in New York, USA, last week. TEMPO / Raimundos Oki

Tuesday, 1 October 2019

NEW YORK - Benny Wenda, leader of the Papuan Independence struggle while attending the UN General Assembly in New York, USA, last week. TEMPO / Raimundos Oki

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Benny Wenda, a figure fighting for Papuan independence from Indonesia, urged the United Nations to visit Indonesia to witness firsthand what really happened in West Papua.

Wenda said, Indonesia as a member of the United Nations has a moral responsibility to cross-check human rights issues, especially in a demonstration at a high school that ended with 31 people killed and dozens injured.

Wenda conveyed this in a special interview with Raimundos Oki, Tempo Correspondent on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, September 27, 2019 at 7 pm local time. Benny was present as part of the Vanuatu delegation.

Benny responded to the heated situation in Papua with a number of demonstrations that killed 31 civilians, children, immigrants and damaged a number of buildings in Wamena, Jayawijaya Regency.

The main trigger for this deadly demonstration was the remark of a high school teacher in Wamena calling his students monkeys. Then the students held their own peaceful demonstrations and the Indonesian military opened fire on them.

"I am very worried about seeing West Papua, that's why I urged the United Nations to visit Papua to witness what really happened in West Papua," Benny said.

Benny accused the Indonesian military of killing dozens of civilians in West Papua.

The Coordinating Minister for Politics, Law and Human Rights or Menkopolhukam, Wiranto has deployed around 16 thousand additional troops to West Papua as a Papuan guard guard. But in reality, these additional troops triggered an escalation.

"So this is the responsibility of the Indonesian government," said Benny.

The National Commission on Human Rights revealed its findings related to the riots in Wamena, Papua. According to the National Human Rights Commission a demonstration that led to riots caused by miscommunication in PGRI high school.

"The chronology of the investigation conducted by representatives of the National Commission on Human Rights shows there is miscommunication," said Chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights, Ahmad Fauzan Damanik, in a press conference at his office, Jakarta, Monday 30 September 2019.

The Komnas HAM representative team began the investigation by interviewing high school teachers and students at PGRI. The story begins on Tuesday, September 17, 2019, when the Riris Panggabean teacher became a substitute.

Riris, said Damanik, admitted that he had a quarrel with one of the students. The reason was, the student thought Riris mentioned the word "Monkey".

"Actually, according to this mother's version she doesn't say monkey but is loud," said Damanik. But the problem was claimed to have been completed.

Only on Saturday, September 21 did some students return to the issue. But the commotion that day was claimed to be resolved by mediation by other teachers at the school.

When the mediation process was finished, Riris and the students mentioned forgiving each other, even singing together to celebrate one of the students' birthdays. "Alright, there's nothing," he said.

Later, said Damanik. On Sunday morning, suddenly there was an attack on PGRI High School. On Monday, teachers discovered that many facilities had been damaged by the attack.

Komnas HAM noted that 31 people died and 43 injured were recorded as patients at Wamena Hospital, Papua. As many as 43 victims were seriously injured.

A version of this article published in TEMPO.CO, Jakarta.  

https://dunia.tempo.co/read/1254455/hadiri-sidang-umum-pbb-benny-wenda-desak-pbb-berkunjung-ke-papua

Sriwijaya Air's plane was almost hit by a motorcyclist in Dili

Presidente Nicolau Lobato Airport officials and police arrested a man who allegedly tried to crash into a Sriwijaya Air plane in Dili, East Timor. TEMPO/ Raimundos Oki

Dili - An aircraft belonging to the Sriwijaya Air airline with the route Denpasar - Dili, East Timor, was almost hit by a local resident, who was driving a black Honda Revo moped.

This happened when the plane was landing at Presidente Nicolau Lobato International Airport, Comoro, Dili, on Monday, October 14, 2019.

A staff security guard on duty at the airport gate said he did not see when the perpetrators entered the runway area. "The perpetrators were seen when they were in the middle of the runway," the officer told Tempo on Monday, October 14, 2019.

The perpetrator whose initials CdJ was driving a speeding motorbike and dealing with Sriwijaya Air aircraft. There were about a hundred passengers on board, including two diplomats.

The two diplomats came from the Hellenic Republic, Costantina Coliau, and from Bosnia Herzegovina, Asmira Merdanovic Halilovic.

The perpetrator allegedly attempted to crash into an airplane with a motorbike being driven even though it was unsuccessful because it was first prevented by airport officials. This incident occurred at around half past two in the afternoon Timor Leste time.

The CdJ initials from Railako District, Munisipio Ermera. The motorbike driven by the perpetrator does not have a license plate.

The perpetrators entered the airport arena via post one, which was actually guarded by officers, and headed east. At that time, Sriwijaya's plane had landed in the west area and would spin to the east area.

The perpetrators rode their motorcycles so fast that they were confronted by Sriwijaya aircraft.

But this attempt failed because the security officers chased the perpetrators and kicked down the motorcycle he was riding. At that moment, the pilot immediately stopped in the middle of the runway.

According to information, this Sriwijaya Air plane was carrying 6 flight attendants and around one hundred passengers. The perpetrators are now in the Dili police detention cell to undergo the interrogation process.

A version of this article was published in TEMPO.CO, Jakarta.
https://dunia.tempo.co/read/1259686/pesawat-sriwijaya-air-nyaris-tertabrak-pengendara-motor-di-dili