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She will be greatly missed by all of us in TAPOL and in the wider TAPOL family, the extensive network of people whose lives were touched - and sometimes transformed - by her passionate and determined campaigning for human rights, justice and democracy in Indonesia, East Timor, Aceh and West Papua. For many of us she was a great mentor as well as a beloved friend.
We, the undersigned, urge you to repeal Ministerial Regulation 5/2020 (MR5) that is deeply problematic, granting government authorities overly broad powers to regulate online content, access user data, and penalize companies that fail to comply.
MR5 governs all private “electronic systems operators” that are accessible in Indonesia, broadly defined to include social media and other content-sharing platforms, digital marketplaces, search engines, financial services, data processing services, and communications services providing messaging, video calls, or games. This new regulation will affect national and regional digital services and platforms, as well as multinational companies like Google, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok.
In this briefing we describe how the law has failed to achieve its objectives in two ways. First, despite promising to ‘protect’ West Papuan culture, and to economically empower indigenous West Papuans, many important aspects of the law have been only partly implemented or ignored altogether. Second, instead of implementing the law, the authorities have resorted to governing through a programme of development projects from abundant funds. While some see existing efforts as having failed because they are not based on principles of ‘inclusive’ development, alternatives of creating new provinces and districts, supposedly to ensure equitable participation, have often led to the enrichment and empowerment of the security forces in remote areas, leading to further conflict.
TAPOL has today launched a briefing aimed at informing the international community about why West Papuan people are rejecting the extension and revision of the special autonomy law. In support of a call by West Papuan grassroots organisations, we have become part of the movement of civil society organisations associated with the Papuan People’s Petition (Petisi Rakyat Papua, PRP) as its 111th member.
An urgent appeal on behalf of West Papuan pro-independence leader Victor Yeimo has been submitted by human rights organization TAPOL and lawyer Veronica Koman to the United Nations Special Procedures mechanisms of the Human Rights Council.
Victor Yeimo (37) was arrested on 9 May 2021 in Jayapura. He faces eleven charges including treason over his peaceful role in the 2019 West Papua Uprising. He had been living in exile in PNG since the crackdown against the Uprising and recently returned to his homeland.
London, 7 May 2021
Yesterday we lost a dear colleague in Berlin, Alex Flor, the co-founder of Watch Indonesia! and its leader until 2019, after a short but serious illness.