Activists have condemned alleged terror and intimidation against Papuan human rights activists and called the police to thoroughly investigate an alleged arson attack at Papua Legal Aid Institute (LBH Papua) on Monday.

The Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI) and Papua Humanitarian Coalition, condemned the alleged attack of burning a motorcycle in the garage of the LBH Papua office on Monday morning in Abepura district, Jayapura, Papua.

The Papua Humanitarian Coalition, which comprises a number of human rights organisations and activists, including Amnesty International Indonesia, Kontras and Public Virtue Research Institute, called on the police to thoroughly investigate the incidents and prevent similar attacks from recurring, reports The Jakarta Post.

• READ MORE: Other Papuan human rights reports

“The Humanitarian Coalition for Papua is urging the Indonesian police to immediately and fully investigate the alleged attack on the LBH Papua office”, said the coalition in a statement.

The coalition is also urging the police to quickly arrest and bring the alleged perpetrators to court to be tried in a fair and open manner.

It is also asking the government to take firm measures to prevent similar attacks against human rights defenders, reports CNN Indonesia.

Early on Monday, a motorbike parked in the garage of the LBH Papua office in Jayapura was set ablaze. LBH Papua staff found a fuse smelling of kerosene and a plastic bottle containing left over petrol.

Not the first attack
The coalition said this was not the first incident of its kind to occur against human rights defenders, both in Papua and other parts of Indonesia.

Looking at the pattern of these incidents, it was reasonable to suspect that the attack was related to LBH Papua’s work handling cases of human rights violations and assisting victims of these violations, the statement said.

The victims include students, workers, traditional communities and activists.

In November 2021, the Jakarta home belonging to the parents of exiled human rights lawyer Veronica Koman, who has been actively speaking out about human rights violations in Papua, was attacked by two unidentified individuals who threw a packet containing explosive materials into their garage.

In September the same year, the LBH office in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta was attacked by a Molotov cocktail bomb.

“To this day, no one has been declared [a suspect] in these two cases”, said the coalition.

“Attacks against Papuan human rights defenders also represent an attack on democracy. So the government cannot be allowed to view this problem lightly, especially since the government has repeatedly pledged to immediately resolve the Papua problem, including the problem of human rights”, the coalition said.

Translated by James Balowski for Indoleft News. The original title of the article was Polisi Didesak Usut Kasus Dugaan Penyerangan Kantor LBH Papua.

Fretilin (Frente Revolucionaria do Timor-Leste Independente) has denounced acts of “intimidation and terror” carried out by some people in political parties against the members and sympathisers of the main independence political group in the sub-district of Laga, Baucau, on the eve of the elections being held today.

According to the information received by Fretilin, in the last few days some members of the new Popular Liberation Party (PLP) have been intimidating the communities in the villages of Atelari, Sagadate, Samalari, Nunira and Saelari.

Voters had been told that if they did not vote for certain political parties in today’s election, their houses would be ransacked and those who voted against PLP would be killed, Fretilin said in a statement.

“Fretilin calls on the authorities responsible for security; the PNTL and F-FDTL and request that they pay attention and provide security to the communities in these areas to allow the community exercising their democratic rights freely” said party deputy secretary-general José Reis in the statement before the election.

“Fretilin also calls on the electoral observers, national and international, to take notice of this situation.

‘Posing threats’
“Fretilin calls on the people of Laga and all over the country not to be intimidated for the state security authorities are prepared to deal with any attempts to destabilise and pose threats to peace in Timor-Leste,” Reis said.

The party encouraged community members to immediately relay any acts of intimidation and threat to the security forces.

Fretilin complained to the National Electoral Commission (CNE) about the issue.

Twenty-one parties are contesting 65 parliamentary seats in today’s election.

“In a population with a median age of just under 19 years and a voting age of 17, a fifth of Timor-Leste’s 750,000 registered voters will be participating for the first time,” writes analyst Professor Michael Leach.

• Dr Michael Leach’s Timor-Leste election preview – more power-sharing likely