REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Indonesian government is questioning Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr's response over the inquiry into the killing of Papuan independence leader, Mako Tabuni. In an interview with ABC, Carr said that the inquiry would be in the interest of Indonesia in particular and in the interest of their human rights record in the Papuan provinces.
Mako Tabuni was killed on June by Indonesia's anti-extremist movement. Tabuni's supporters claimed to Australian media he was shot by plain-clothes officers from Detachment 88, a counter-terrorism squad formed after the 2002 Bali bombings and partly trained and resourced by Australia.
The spokesperson of Australian Embassy to Indonesia Ray Marcelo said to Republika that the conflict and violence in Papua was a real concern. He said that the best way to ensure a safe and prosperous future for Papuans was through improved development and governance within the Indonesian state.
"The Australian Government is committed to Indonesia's territorial integrity; this is a bipartisan position set out in the Lombok Treaty," Marcelo said on his email Thursday.
A defense analyst Fahmi Alfansi Pane sees Carr's statement as a stain to Lombok Treaty, mainly on Article 2 on Mutual respect and support for the sovereignty, territorial integrity, national unity and political independence of each other, and also non-interference in the internal affairs of one another.
"We regret the way they delivered it through megaphone diplomacy. Should they are unsatisfied, they can deliver it through hotline to Indonesian Government or Indonesian Embassy to Australia," he said.
While Coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), Haris Azhar, said Australian government was not in the right position to argue on human rights to Indonesia while the country still had similar problem on Aborigine. Many Australians press its government over the welfare of Aborigine. Even the former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologized to Aborigine over the discrimination of human rights.
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