The Indonesian Military (TNI) formally handed over the responsibility of securing giant mines operated by PT Freeport Indonesia to the National Police in the Papuan regency of Mimika on Monday. The handover was signed and endorsed by Trikora Military Commander Maj. Gen. George Toisutta, Papuan Police chief Insp. Gen. Tommy Jacobus, Frank D Reuneker, executive vice president of security at PT Freeport Indonesia and Rear Adm. Djoko Sumaryono, an assistant to the coordinating minister of political, legal and security affairs, in Timika, the capital of Mimika. The handover was carried out in line with Presidential Instruction No. 63/04 on maintaining security at vital national objects. PT Freeport is included in the classification through a 2004 decree issued by the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry on vital objects. Up to 350 personnel from the Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad), who have been stationed there over the last 11 months, were replaced by 600 Mobile Brigade police officers from Kalapa Dua in Jakarta, who had just arrived in Timika on Sunday. Despite the withdrawal of the TNI soldiers, up to 350 others will still assist the police. "Even though formally the responsibility has been entrusted to the police, it doesn't mean there will not be TNI involvement. The duty and challenges faced there would still necessitate assistance from the TNI, hence 350 soldiers will be assigned," Djoko said. PT Freeport, Djoko said, will have to improve its own capacity in safeguarding its own properties. Reuneker of PT Freeport said that his company actually had 628 security officers, but they were not capable of handling various problems that have arisen so that the presence of the police and TNI members was still needed. "Like a baby, PT Freeport has to thank the government for the security assistance it provides," he said. As a company, which is 9.34 percent owned by the government and employs over 19,000 workers, the capital intensive investment company, which contributes greatly to the gross domestic regional product in Mimika regency, constitutes a vital object which should be protected by all concerned parties, he said. When asked about the funds earmarked by PT Freeport for security purposes, Reuneker declined to give details, explaining that he had just assumed his post two months ago. Meanwhile, chairman of the Mimika chapter of the Human Rights and Antiviolence Foundation, Yosepha Alomang, said he hoped the police officers to be stationed at PT Freeport would be able to understand the local customs so as to help empower the local people. "Possibly both the local people and security officers are wrong...but let's forgive each other to help achieve a better future," Yosepha said. Out of the 27 national vital objects, PT Freeport is the last to hand over security protection to the police from the TNI due to the difficult terrain and the complexity of specific challenges necessitated adjustments in stages.
Djoko denied accusations that the delay in the handover was caused by a bloody shooting incident in August 2003, in which two American citizens and an Indonesian were killed. A member of the Papuan Legislative Council, Albert Yogi, said that the handover of the security management constituted the government's response to the people's aspirations. He urged the Papuan legislature to invite the Papuan Police chief to make a kind of presentation on security management at PT Freeport's mines, including the number of personnel, weapons and ammunition used.
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Tuesday, July 11, 2006 Page: 9 The Jakarta Post
Seven suspects charged over the 2002 killings of two U.S. nationals in Papua province will go on trial in Jakarta this week, court officials said as the ir lawyer called for the case to be heard in Papua. The shooting spree near a gold and copper mine operated by US-owned Freeport McMoRan in the remote province in August 2002 killed two American teachers and an Indonesian colleague.
The seven suspects include Anthonius Wamang, who was indicted by a U.S. grand jury in 2004 for the attack and was allegedly a commander of the separatist Free Papua Movement (OPM) at the time. A court official, Tutti, said the case would open Tuesday morning at the Central Jakarta District Court. The suspects' lawyer said his seven clients were demanding the case be heard in Timika, Papua, where the fatal attack took place. "They object to having the trial in the central Jakarta court and ask according to their rights under the law that their case is heard in Timika", Johnson Panjaitan said. Johnson said he would not attend Tuesday's hearing at the request of his clients. The seven suspects, who are being held at police headquarters in Jakarta, would probably be forced to attend, he said.
Wamang and the six others face a possible death sentence for premeditated murder and weapons possessions, their lawyer said. Police have said the other six suspects were also OPM members, but Panjaitan said they were "just ordinary people". Aloy Renwarin, another lawyer for Wamang, claimed earlier this year that Wamang admitted he had fired 30 shots during the attack on the vehicles carrying the American teachers. But Wamang had also implicated the military in the attack, he said.
The seven suspects were arrested in January in an operation involving the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Papua-based rights groups have alleged that the military ordered the attack to ensure that Freeport would continue making large cash payments for security in and around the mine. OPM rebels have been fighting a sporadic and low-level guerilla war since 1963 when Indonesia took over the huge mountainous and developed territory from Dutch colonizers.