ETAN Statement on 2014 Indonesian Election

ETAN recently issued a statement on the apparent election of Joko "Jokowi" Widodo as President of Indonesia.

The statement begins:

"The Indonesian people have voted. Although the results will not be finalized for several weeks, most "quick count" exit polls show that Jakarta Governor Joko (Jokowi) Widodo is the apparent winner of Indonesia's third popular election for President. Although his opponent former special forces commander Prabowo Subianto has yet to concede, barring fraud during the counting or coup, Jokowi will take the oath of office in October.

"Jokowi campaigned as a reformer, and most voters were not swayed by a massive smear campaign by supporters of his opponent or Prabowo’s nostalgic appeal to Indonesia’s authoritarian past. Many voted for Jokowi expecting a sharp break with that past. Whether their hopes are met will depend on consistent pressure from those who want positive change. The forces of the status quo - from oligarchs to the military - will certainly be urging him to maintain and expand their prerogatives. The fact that Prabowo came so close to winning despite his horrendous human rights record shows how entrenched this status quo remains more than 15 years after the end of Suharto’s dictatorship."

Read the rest here: http://etan.org/news/2014/07etan_on_election.htm .

Also see 

• ETAN, et al.: Groups Urge Any New Government of Indonesia to Pursue Justice and Respect Rights (June 30, 2014)

Yogyakarta voter. Photo by Angie Bexley/New Mandala

July 2014 West Papua Report

Read the full issue here

CONTENTS

This edition's PERSPECTIVE by David Webster that explores the role of US business in the Kennedy administration's decision to block Papuan self-determination and facilitate Indonesian annexation of West Papua.

UPDATE announces that the West Papua Advocacy Team (WPAT) is awarding dual recipients for its annual "John Rumbiak Human Rights Defender Award." For 2014, WPAT honors New Zealand activist Maire Leadbetter and Catherine Delahunty and the Green Party of New Zealand. Also, the Melanesian Spearhead Group has shelved a Papuan application for membership, pending since 2013. West Papuans are calling for a boycott of the July 9 Indonesian Presidential election. Papuan human rights activists expressed concerns about a Prabowo victory. 

Indonesia said it cancelled a New Zealand police training program because of "hidden motives." There have been renewed calls for UN monitors to go to West Papua to verify charges of human rights violations, and Papuans spoke out about the denial of their rights at a church-sponsored gathering at the margins of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

CHRONICLE notes a statement by 32 international organizations for the next Indonesian administration to address long-standing security force impunity for human rights crimes; to make reparations to those who have suffered abuses at the hands of security forces; and to establish civilian control of the military. A panel discusses Papuan rights in Geneva. A new video highlights human rights violations in West Papua. Human rights advocate Yan Christian Warinussy urges President Yudhoyono to release West Papuan political prisoners and open the territory before he leaves office, and a commentary by prominent Papuan academic Budi Hernawan on the "choices" confronting Papuans in the Indonesian presidential election. A three-part series on links the spread of AIDS/HIV in West Papua to the Freeport mining complex.