ID :
67588
Thu, 06/25/2009 - 09:58
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https://oananews.org//node/67588
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News Focus: CALL FOR LEGAL ACTION AGAINST TRIGGER-HAPPY SOLDIER IN PAPUA
By Eliswan Azly
Jakarta, June 24 (ANTARA) - The military ranger who reportedly shot a Papua teenager, Isak Psakor (13), near the Papua New Guinea (PNG) border causing the boy to suffer serious injury should be prosecuted legally based on existing laws in Indonesia.
The demand was voiced by a spokesman of the National Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) in Jayapura, Papua's provincial capital, on Tuesday (June 23).
"Clear legal action must be taken against violators of the law indiscriminately. As a metter of principle, if a shooting is committed by a soldier in violation of standard procedure, he cannot escape legal prosecution," Harry Maturbongs, coordinator of Kontras' Papua chapter, said.
He said Indonesia already had a law on the military which provided for legal sanctions and disciplinary measures against servicemen who had violated military standard procedures. "Hence, there is no reason for failure to take legal action against militaryman who has broken the law, " he said.
Harry also regretted the incident which had really tarnished the image of the military in general just because of a mistake committed by one of its members.
"The most effective way to settle the case is through the existing legal mechanism whereas there is a statement from the military top brass on the mistake made by his subordinate in the field and hope that such incident will not recur in the future," Harry said.
Isak Psakor, an inhabitant of Kibai, Arso Timur, Keerom District, Papua, on Monday at 2 pm local time was shot by a military ranger who was patrolling the border shared by Indonesia and PNG on Monday at about 14:00 local time.
The victim was still in critical condition and receiving intensive medical treatment at Jayapura's Dok 2 General Hospital, a doctor, who refused to be identified, said at the hospital here on Wednesday.
Isak was shot on his way from Kofiau to Arso, Keerom District, Papua Province. The shooting incident happened near the Indonesian-PNG border at Bewain Patrol Post which was manned by eight members of the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI).
The shooting started after a sniffer dog at the border patrol post barked at Isak, and later someone shot him.
Police are still investigating the incident to see whether it was on purpose or by accident.
Lt Col Susilo, a spokesman of the Cendrawasih Military District XII, said an investigation was still underway to find out about the incident's chronology.
"The victim's condition is also being checked to find out about the cause of his wound," he said.
Jack Mekawa, a prominent figure of Tibai Kampong, said the gunshot by a border post soldier was a violation of the border agreement.
According to the existing agreement, if a border post soldier sees a border crosser, he should ask for his/her identity card first, or call a kampong chief to confirm whether he or she is his people, Mekawa said.
Many people earn their living in the border area therefore many of them have to cross the border area, he said.
Meanwhile, Father John Jonga, head of the Keerom Catholic Church, apologized to the public for having earlier stated wrongly that Isak had died.
"I apologize for having given the information that Isak died from the gunshot. I got the information from Kibai kampong residents who thought the victim was dead because he did not move," Father Jonga said.
In fact, Isak was still alive but in critical condition and hospitalized in Jayapura for intensive medical treatment he said on Tuesday.
According to Anton Psakor, the victim's father, his three children, namely Isak, Wens and John Psakor, were walking from Skowt Jauh kampong to Air Asin kampong in East Arso which borders on PNG territory on Monday (June 22).
On their way, they encountered a dog who kept barking at them. Scared of the dog, they then ran and climbed into trees in the middle of a jungle at East Arso. Suddenly, there was a gunshot and then Wens and John Psakor saw their brother, Isak, fall down to the ground.
In response to a legal mechanism to be taken against the guilty, Dr Sofyan Siregar, an expert on international law at the European Islamic University in Rotterdam, in an e-mailed message said the effort to settle the incident through the existing legal mechanism was regarded as the best choice to improve the military image and consistency to improve the country's image in international eyes.
"Whoever found to have violated the military standard procedure deserved a legal sanction. The military has already had sanctions in place," he said, adding that the most important the military had to do was seriousness to take such a sanction against the soldier proven to be guilty.
Such mistakes made by militarymen are no longer a public secrecy. In fact, the American and Israeli troops were learned to have made many blatant mistakes in carrying out the military standard procedures.
"We can see how the military troops killed civilians in Gaza region and American troops in killing the civilian in Pakistan recently. They really had made blatant mistakes in implementing the military standard procedure," Sofyan said.
What happened two days ago in Keerom, Papua, was a trivial incident which could happen anywhere in many country. But an effort to minimize such similar incident was good to do, he said.
Many members and sympathizers of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) living in the Netherland were trying to blow up this kind of the shooting incident in Keerom in their activity in their mission to attract international sympathy on their struggle.
But their struggle to get international support could be aborted, if the military took a military sanction or whatever legal mechanism against the violator, Sofyan said.
***4***
Jakarta, June 24 (ANTARA) - The military ranger who reportedly shot a Papua teenager, Isak Psakor (13), near the Papua New Guinea (PNG) border causing the boy to suffer serious injury should be prosecuted legally based on existing laws in Indonesia.
The demand was voiced by a spokesman of the National Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) in Jayapura, Papua's provincial capital, on Tuesday (June 23).
"Clear legal action must be taken against violators of the law indiscriminately. As a metter of principle, if a shooting is committed by a soldier in violation of standard procedure, he cannot escape legal prosecution," Harry Maturbongs, coordinator of Kontras' Papua chapter, said.
He said Indonesia already had a law on the military which provided for legal sanctions and disciplinary measures against servicemen who had violated military standard procedures. "Hence, there is no reason for failure to take legal action against militaryman who has broken the law, " he said.
Harry also regretted the incident which had really tarnished the image of the military in general just because of a mistake committed by one of its members.
"The most effective way to settle the case is through the existing legal mechanism whereas there is a statement from the military top brass on the mistake made by his subordinate in the field and hope that such incident will not recur in the future," Harry said.
Isak Psakor, an inhabitant of Kibai, Arso Timur, Keerom District, Papua, on Monday at 2 pm local time was shot by a military ranger who was patrolling the border shared by Indonesia and PNG on Monday at about 14:00 local time.
The victim was still in critical condition and receiving intensive medical treatment at Jayapura's Dok 2 General Hospital, a doctor, who refused to be identified, said at the hospital here on Wednesday.
Isak was shot on his way from Kofiau to Arso, Keerom District, Papua Province. The shooting incident happened near the Indonesian-PNG border at Bewain Patrol Post which was manned by eight members of the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI).
The shooting started after a sniffer dog at the border patrol post barked at Isak, and later someone shot him.
Police are still investigating the incident to see whether it was on purpose or by accident.
Lt Col Susilo, a spokesman of the Cendrawasih Military District XII, said an investigation was still underway to find out about the incident's chronology.
"The victim's condition is also being checked to find out about the cause of his wound," he said.
Jack Mekawa, a prominent figure of Tibai Kampong, said the gunshot by a border post soldier was a violation of the border agreement.
According to the existing agreement, if a border post soldier sees a border crosser, he should ask for his/her identity card first, or call a kampong chief to confirm whether he or she is his people, Mekawa said.
Many people earn their living in the border area therefore many of them have to cross the border area, he said.
Meanwhile, Father John Jonga, head of the Keerom Catholic Church, apologized to the public for having earlier stated wrongly that Isak had died.
"I apologize for having given the information that Isak died from the gunshot. I got the information from Kibai kampong residents who thought the victim was dead because he did not move," Father Jonga said.
In fact, Isak was still alive but in critical condition and hospitalized in Jayapura for intensive medical treatment he said on Tuesday.
According to Anton Psakor, the victim's father, his three children, namely Isak, Wens and John Psakor, were walking from Skowt Jauh kampong to Air Asin kampong in East Arso which borders on PNG territory on Monday (June 22).
On their way, they encountered a dog who kept barking at them. Scared of the dog, they then ran and climbed into trees in the middle of a jungle at East Arso. Suddenly, there was a gunshot and then Wens and John Psakor saw their brother, Isak, fall down to the ground.
In response to a legal mechanism to be taken against the guilty, Dr Sofyan Siregar, an expert on international law at the European Islamic University in Rotterdam, in an e-mailed message said the effort to settle the incident through the existing legal mechanism was regarded as the best choice to improve the military image and consistency to improve the country's image in international eyes.
"Whoever found to have violated the military standard procedure deserved a legal sanction. The military has already had sanctions in place," he said, adding that the most important the military had to do was seriousness to take such a sanction against the soldier proven to be guilty.
Such mistakes made by militarymen are no longer a public secrecy. In fact, the American and Israeli troops were learned to have made many blatant mistakes in carrying out the military standard procedures.
"We can see how the military troops killed civilians in Gaza region and American troops in killing the civilian in Pakistan recently. They really had made blatant mistakes in implementing the military standard procedure," Sofyan said.
What happened two days ago in Keerom, Papua, was a trivial incident which could happen anywhere in many country. But an effort to minimize such similar incident was good to do, he said.
Many members and sympathizers of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) living in the Netherland were trying to blow up this kind of the shooting incident in Keerom in their activity in their mission to attract international sympathy on their struggle.
But their struggle to get international support could be aborted, if the military took a military sanction or whatever legal mechanism against the violator, Sofyan said.
***4***
