How US Sees Indonesia Troops' Involvement in Papua Torture Video

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Indonesia admitted Friday that its soldiers had tortured Papuan detainees who were seen in an online video being beaten and humiliated, and promised a thorough investigation. The footage showed the soldiers applying a burning stick to the genitals of one of the unarmed men and threatening another with a knife as they interrogated them over the location of a weapons cache.

“Based on our preliminary report, we found that soldiers on the ground overreacted in handling those people who had been arrested,” Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto told reporters.

“What they did was unprofessional.” The graphic video drew international media attention to allegations of widespread torture and abuse of activists and civilians in restive Indonesian regions such as Papua and the Maluku islands.

Rights groups including Amnesty International have demanded Indonesia investigate and punish the unidentified soldiers in the video, citing an entrenched culture of impunity in the country’s security forces. But the US government said Friday that the incident would not affect a resumption of military ties, praising Indonesia as upfront in its investigation of the video and saying it would continue to train an elite military unit.

Suyanto said the troops involved in the incident, which reportedly occurred in May in the Punjak Jaya region of eastern Papua province, would be dealt with “according to military regulations”. “It has attracted public and world attention. We’ll settle it properly,” he said.

Amnesty called for the government to appoint a national human rights commission to lead the investigation and publish the findings while ensuring the safety of investigators, victims, witnesses and their families.

“The authorities must send a clear public message to all members of the security forces in Indonesia, especially in Papua, that torture and other ill-treatment is strictly prohibited at all times and, if it occurs, full criminal investigations will begin,” its deputy director Donna Guest said.

The human rights group said it also had another video showing a Papuan political activist, reportedly arrested by police in August 2009, with severe abdominal injuries receiving no assistance just before his death. Amnesty said it wrote to police in December last year asking for details about police abuse in the Nabire district of Papua but has not received a response and is unaware of any “independent and impartial” investigation.

From December 2008 to April 2009, police had used “unnecessary and excessive force” against demonstrators, injuring at least 21 people and “repeatedly beat and otherwise ill-treated” at least 17 during and after arrests, it said.

The group also criticised Indonesia for persecuting political activists including those who display separatist symbols in restive areas such as Maluku. They called for the release of at least 22 activists charged with “rebellion” for planning a peaceful rally and possessing the outlawed South Maluku Republic (RMS) flag and membership cards.

They face a maximum penalty of life in prison under Indonesia’s harsh laws against sedition. Activists had criticised the US’ decision this year to restart military training to the elite military unit Kopassus, citing alleged human rights violations by Indonesian security forces.

But State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said Indonesia had promised a “full and independent investigation” of the video. “They have undertaken, under democratic law, specific reforms and we will continue to work with them,” he said.

“What they announced today is consistent with the terms under which we resumed limited security cooperation with Kopassus.