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