http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,4991238%255E27... Jakarta to outlaw Papuan activists By Don Greenlees, Jakarta correspondent August 29, 2002 INDONESIAN police have drawn up plans to outlaw the main Papuan independence organisation in a crackdown on separatism aimed at preventing Papua from becoming a "second East Timor". Minutes of internal police meetings and documents obtained by The Australian, reveal a strategy to put the Papuan Presidium, the leading civilian proponent of an independent Papua, out of business, possibly by arresting and prosecuting its leaders. The 60-day operation, known as Adil Matoa, began this month with the aim of identifying separatists or separatist organisations, arresting and prosecuting individuals "committing treason or attacks against the state" and shutting down organisations conducting separatist activities. According to the minutes of a three-hour meeting on July 5, attended by 16 high-ranking officers of the Papua provincial police, the operation would seek to prosecute Presidium members "according to the law (by obtaining) clear evidence that their activities are towards the illegal separation of Papua from Indonesia". It warns that police need to take action to stop Papua becoming another East Timor. The moves to set up surveillance against Papuan political activists and pave the way for prosecutions come amid heightened determination in Jakarta to prevent separatist movements around the country building momentum for their causes. Analysis by the armed forces intelligence agency has played down the risks posed by the ill-equipped, poorly co-ordinated and relatively inactive armed wing of the Papuan resistance. But according to sources, armed forces intelligence is concerned about the potential for the political wing to build support, particularly overseas. There are fears that foreign lobbying activities could help change sentiment in countries such as the US and Australia, where governments support continued Indonesian rule based on Jakarta offering local autonomous rule. Exerting pressure on the civilian political movement is seen as the most effective way of containing the growth of pro-independence activity. An order signed by the Papuan police chief, Made Pastika, on July 17, initiating the operation, states that activities to combat Papuan separatists are to be carried out within the province, elsewhere in Indonesia and abroad. In this document, targets of the operation are cited as "suspected civilians and community organisations that have a vision and mission oriented towards the separation of Papua from the Indonesian republic and endangering the unity of the nation by violating national law". It also cites civilians and community organisations that "object to government policy using the cover of violation of human rights (and) violation of indigenous rights" and conduct activities that can "undermine the dignity of the government and state". Fearing the operation will trigger a round-up of civilian political and human rights activists, a national human rights group wrote to the police chief accusing the police of trying to turn legitimate human rights work into "a cheap issue to clamp down on innocent people". The letter by the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) warns the operation will only lead to a repeat of the "crimes against humanity committed in the past, for which the state was never held accountable". A written reply from police headquarters in Jakarta maintains there is a "strong reason" to run operation Adil Matoa because there is evidence "suspected individuals and community organisations have a mission (and) tried to build public opinion domestically and abroad to unify their vision for an independent Papua". "We hope that those illegal organisations will disband out of their own conscience," the letter states, in what activists regard as a reference to the Papuan Presidium.