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who defected in March 1983 and led OPM troops for approximately five years. Around 1985–86, several
villages in Pantai Timur Sub-district were burned by soldiers from Jayapura Infantry Battalion 751 and the
Pattimura, Ambon battalion. This measure, known as the “Awom incident”, was intended as a warning to
get Awom and his followers to surrender. The Documentation Team met a victim who testified about the
tense situation. Before the burning, villagers had been warned by OPM to flee into the forest. After about a
week in the woods, villagers began to go home, but the fear still had not disappeared.
When going to the field or anywhere, the army always went along to monitor the movements of the population. If the
army did not follow, we were given a ticket stating we “checked out” at 08.00 and that we had to be back home on
time. If we arrived later than the time specified, we would be punished. The penalty for a man was to be dunked in
the sea or a river, while women were yelled at and hit or slapped. If you wanted to go out at night, you had to carry a
fire torch . . . If the road was not lit the army would yell at you and accuse you of being OPM. 32
There was also a woman who was a victim of rape over a long period of time. The rapes began in 1986
when the victim was ten years old.
Every night if I wanted to sleep, a member [soldier] would come to my house to “take action” . . . If I did not want
to have sex, [I] might be kicked, or have a gun held on me. [He] would also come to the house and threaten my
father and mother. This continued for one year. The perpetrator usually gave rice, sardines, and onions. I became
pregnant from the relationship with this TNI member and had a daughter, but she died when she was two years old.
Now I am married and have a family. My husband does not pry into my past. 33
Another woman in the same village had a similar experience. The victim recounted that in 1998, postal
officials from the Army Strategic Reserve Command (Kostrad) post and Jayapura Infantry Battalion 751
forced relations with a girl in the village. Because the girl’s parents were afraid of being beaten, they handed
over their daughter to the soldiers who served in the village. At that time, their daughter was 20 years old.
From these relationships the victim became pregnant and gave birth to a daughter. 34
Military involvement in the settlement of daily conflicts among residents was often accompanied by an
abuse of power in the form of sexual torture. Around October to November of 1989, in one village (in
Jayapura District) there were clashes among people who were attending a dance held by the military. A
trivial problem had actually been resolved, but soldiers summoned those considered responsible, including a
woman and a man, then punished them.
Soldiers took my sister-in-law and ordered her to eat a battery until she gagged. The army forbid us to take her to the
hospital . . . The next day, I and [a youth who was involved in the quarrel] went to the post . . . They
removed our clothes, then ordered us to go soak in the water . . . and ordered the two of us to lie on the beach for
about an hour. We were not given any food, so we were very hungry. Then they forced [the youth] to rape me . . .
After that, we . . . walked naked to the post, then, at the post, we were photographed. Once photographed, we were
ordered to walk . . . [me with a banana leaf, the youth naked] . . . All the people saw the two of us, some
could not stand it and did not want to look . . . After that incident, I really couldn’t walk, during my pregnancy . . .
my body ached all over, especially my spine. 35
Several other selected testimonies from other victims of violence in the city of Jayapura during the 1980s
are summarized in the following table.
32 SAR10 narrative.
33 SAR07 narrative.
34 Field notes on SAR01 case.
35 SAR03 narrative.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! 22