To Our friends in UK.
Thanks for all the moral and material supports for your people in West Papua.
We from Demmak, Mulia, Puncak Jaya, would like to report that there are things that have not been taken seriously by the Provincial Government of Papua, Indonesia. Since the incident in Tingginambut on 17th August 2004 that caused the loss of many lives and people's materials until the time this report is sent, there has not been any attention from human rights groups and from the government (who should have done something).
All parties could not answer the requests for assistance because they considered that the people who escaped to the forest and who came to Mulia to ask for assistance were TPN/OPM.
This has caused the deaths of many lives in the forest. People who have been living very far from their homes are dying because of starvation and illness.
We have received the medical aid, which was sent through Demmak Mulia, and the aid has been very useful to help 4 refugees' places. However, there are still 5 refugees' places, which are located very far, and the places are not easy to reach by new comers (outside people).
Since the 10th of November, there were not any more people whom willing to help the refugees in Puncak Jaya forests.
Since the date, many of the refugees began to get sick and die. On December 5 we visited them and found out that most of the children suffered from Malaria and Diarrhea. We coud do nothing and left them.
On the 9th of February we took the aid from UK, which was taken by our son,[name removed] After receiving the aid, we then left on the 12th of February to bring the medical assistance to the refugees' locations.
On this last visit, most of children were sick and in need of help. Our medical person has been in the location and has not returned yet. So we are still waiting.
The places that have not got any assistance are Monia, Tinggin eneri, Yaniruk, Limar Jari, Nagaleme, Wendakobak. We cannot reach all these locations because the locations are very far one from another. The locations are difficult to reach. Our son, [name removed] have seen and traveled through these places.
The most difficult problem now is that all roads, which connect Mulia and the refugees' locations, have been blocked by the TNI. Besides, the worst case was that all people that come from the forest are considered TPM/OPM and therefore they are arrested. Karlos Kogoya, a civilian, was beaten with a gun. He suffered (an injury) for 5 weeks and died.
We went to Jayapura to request assistance from the government, however, all heads of government were busy with the regional elections and therefore we could not get our proposal through.
We will return to Puncak Jaya, but we're waiting for our son, [name removed] to help us with a ticket to get home. All churches in Puncak Jaya have collected some money for the refugees, however, we got prohibition (warning) from the Indonesian military. They said that there were people that would come to help so we had to be calm. However, there is no evidence until now. People are dying, their health deteriorated, and the healthy people become sick.
Some people said that Puncak is safe now, but we are worried because the TNI has dropped their personnel on the November, 2nd to Puncak Jaya in order to anticipate Goliat Tabuni's presence in Puncak Jaya.
Therefore, we inform you that the problem of Puncak Jaya is not over yet. Any time any conflict can explode because TNI is using local people to find where GT exists. This has caused insecurity among the people because everyone will certainly be asked about GT. We will return and we may bring you more complete information. At the moment we're about to flee and hide because TNI is searching for all the DeMMaK board members.
This is the end of our report. We thank you for your attention.
Note: Best regards and greetings from the Demmak Puncak Jaya Team
