# Filep Karma > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Filep_Karma > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Filep_Karma.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filep_Karma > Source revision: 1343069426 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|West Papuan independence activist (1959–2022)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}} {{Infobox person |name = Filep Karma |image = Filep Karma.jpeg |caption = Filep Karma wearing his East Timorese hat and West Papuan flag as his clothing pin. |birth_name = Filep Jacob Semuel Karma |birth_date = 14 August 1959 |birth_place = [Jayapura](/source/Jayapura),{{cite book|last1=Karma|first1=F.|last2=Soenmi|first2=L.|title=Seakan kitorang setengah binatang: rasialisme Indonesia di tanah Papua |publisher=Penerbit Deiyai|year=2014|isbn=978-602-17071-4-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FR9frgEACAAJ|language=id|access-date=1 November 2022|page=2}} [Dutch New Guinea](/source/Dutch_New_Guinea){{cite book|last1=Karma|first1=F.|last2=Soenmi|first2=L.|title=Seakan kitorang setengah binatang: rasialisme Indonesia di tanah Papua|publisher=Penerbit Deiyai|year=2014|isbn=978-602-17071-4-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FR9frgEACAAJ|language=id|page=110}} |death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2022|11|1|1959|8|15}} |death_place = Jayapura, [Papua](/source/Papua_(province)), Indonesia |known_for = 2004 arrest }} '''Filep Jacob Semuel Karma''' (14 August 1959 – 1 November 2022){{cite web|title=Aktivis Filep Karma Ditemukan Meninggal di Pantai Jayapura|website=detiknews|date=1 November 2022|url=https://news.detik.com/berita/d-6380690/aktivis-filep-karma-ditemukan-meninggal-di-pantai-jayapura|language=id|access-date=1 November 2022}} was a [West Papua independence](/source/Free_Papua_Movement) activist. On 1 December 2004, he helped raise the [Morning Star flag](/source/Morning_Star_flag) at a ceremony in [Jayapura](/source/Jayapura), for which he was charged with treason and given a fifteen-year prison sentence. [Amnesty International](/source/Amnesty_International) and [Human Rights Watch](/source/Human_Rights_Watch) protested on his behalf, the former designating him a [prisoner of conscience](/source/prisoner_of_conscience).{{cite web|url=http://www.amnestyusa.org/individuals-at-risk/priority-cases/indonesia-filep-karma/page.do?id=1101238|title=Filep Karma, Jailed for Raising a Flag|year=2011|publisher=[Amnesty International](/source/Amnesty_International)|accessdate=18 April 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429082334/http://www.amnestyusa.org/individuals-at-risk/priority-cases/indonesia-filep-karma/page.do?id=1101238|archive-date=29 April 2011|url-status=dead}} He was released on 19 November 2015.{{cite news|title=Indonesia releases prominent Papuan pro-independence leader from jail|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-19/indonesia-releases-prominent-papuan-independence-leader/6956604|newspaper=[ABC News](/source/ABC_News_(Australia))|date=19 November 2015|location=Australia|accessdate=19 November 2015}} ==Background== thumb|Andreas Karma Born in 1959 in [Jayapura](/source/Jayapura), [Dutch New Guinea](/source/Dutch_New_Guinea), Karma was raised in an upper-class family active in local politics. His father, Andreas Karma, was a civil servant educated by the Dutch who had continued to work in the Indonesian government after [independence](/source/Indonesian_National_Revolution), serving as a regent of [Wamena](/source/Wamena) and [Serui](/source/Yapen_Islands_Regency), and [Constant Karma](/source/Constant_Karma), one of Filep Karma's cousins, served as deputy governor of [Papua](/source/Papua_(province)).{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/en/node/90960/section/5|title=Prosecuting Political Aspiration|publisher=[Human Rights Watch](/source/Human_Rights_Watch)|date=22 June 2010|accessdate=18 April 2011}} Filep Karma was influenced as a child by a midnight raid on his home by Indonesian soldiers who broke the family's furniture. The raid resulted from a false tipoff mistaking two visiting relatives from Biak for his uncles, Sam Karma and Jan Pieter Karma, colonels for the [OPM](/source/Free_Papua_Movement).{{cite book|last1=Karma|first1=F.|last2=Soenmi|first2=L.|title=Seakan kitorang setengah binatang: rasialisme Indonesia di tanah Papua|publisher=Penerbit Deiyai|year=2014|isbn=978-602-17071-4-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FR9frgEACAAJ|language=id|page=5}} He suspected the informant was his relative, Fritz Karma, as he was member of the [Polri](/source/Indonesian_National_Police) and informant for the [TNI](/source/Indonesian_National_Armed_Forces), who visited in the afternoon before the raid. He later studied at [Sebelas Maret University](/source/Sebelas_Maret_University) for a time in [Solo, Java](/source/Solo%2C_Java) for which he earned an undergraduate degree and became a civil servant like his father. In 1997, he traveled to [Manila](/source/Manila) to study for a year at the [Asian Institute of Management](/source/Asian_Institute_of_Management). He was unable to finish his studies. Karma had two children from his [Malay](/source/Malays_(ethnic_group))-[Javanese](/source/Javanese_people) wife, Ratu Karel Lina, named Audryne and Andrefina.{{cite web|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1A1-e7907fe4300045a7a9b939cc8e87a83c.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924043715/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1A1-e7907fe4300045a7a9b939cc8e87a83c.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=24 September 2015|title=Despite political reform, Indonesia abuses persist|author=Holtz, Michael|date=16 November 2011|agency=[Associated Press](/source/Associated_Press)|publisher=|via=[HighBeam Research](/source/HighBeam_Research)|accessdate=24 April 2013}}{{cite book|last1=Karma|first1=F.|last2=Soenmi|first2=L.|title=Seakan kitorang setengah binatang: rasialisme Indonesia di tanah Papua|publisher=Penerbit Deiyai|year=2014|isbn=978-602-17071-4-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FR9frgEACAAJ|language=id|pages=47–49}} ==Flag-raisings and prison terms== [[File:Morning Star flag.svg|thumb|The [Morning Star flag](/source/Morning_Star_flag), used by supporters of Papuan independence]] When Karma returned from Manila, he found [Java](/source/Java) engulfed in protests against [President Suharto](/source/President_Suharto). He became involved in the movement and began advocating the secession of [Papua](/source/Papua_(province)) from Indonesia. On 2 July 1998, he led a ceremony to raise the [West Papuan flag](/source/Morning_Star_flag) in Biak, following which activists clashed with police, resulting in injuries to a dozen officers. The Indonesian military occupied Biak Island four days later and fired on the activists; Karma alleged that more than 100 protesters were killed and buried on nearby islands, though a precise death toll is unknown. [Human Rights Watch](/source/Human_Rights_Watch) protested the Indonesian government's actions, noting that in the months that followed, the regime "continuously failed to carry out a serious investigation of these incidents, or hold accountable the perpetrators of abuses against the people in Biak". Karma himself was wounded in both legs by rubber bullets. He was then arrested, tried, and sentenced to six-and-a-half years' imprisonment for treason; the sentence was overturned on appeal after Karma had been in prison for ten months.{{cite web|url=http://inside.org.au/filep-karma-and-the-fight-for-papuas-future/|title=Filep Karma and the fight for Papua's future|author=Chauvel, Richard|date=6 April 2011|work=inside.org.au|accessdate=18 April 2011}} On 1 December 2004, he participated in a second flag-raising ceremony, marking the anniversary of Papuan independence. Indonesian security forces were again alleged to have fired into the crowd, killing pro-independence activists, and Karma was again arrested on charges of treason against the Indonesian state, this time along with fellow activist [Yusak Pakage](/source/Yusak_Pakage). At Karma's trial, Judge A. Lakoni Hernie said, "Don't bring your [God's Name](/source/Jesus) here (in this trial), He was already dead,"{{cite book|last1=Karma|first1=F.|last2=Soenmi|first2=L.|title=Seakan kitorang setengah binatang: rasialisme Indonesia di tanah Papua|publisher=Penerbit Deiyai|year=2014|isbn=978-602-17071-4-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FR9frgEACAAJ|language=id|page=112}} and gave him triple the sentence that the prosecution had requested. Karma served this fifteen-year sentence in Abepura Prison in [Jayapura](/source/Jayapura). Pakage was imprisoned on a ten-year sentence, which he served until early release in 2010.{{cite news|url=http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/07/08/indonesia-releases-2-papuan-political-prisoners.html|title=Indonesia releases 2 Papuan political prisoners|date=8 July 2010|agency=Associated Press|work=[The Jakarta Post](/source/The_Jakarta_Post)|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131003040930/http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/07/08/indonesia-releases-2-papuan-political-prisoners.html|archivedate=3 October 2013|accessdate=2 September 2012|url-status=dead}} After the trial, Karma's lawyers reportedly found a dog's severed head on their doorstep accompanied by a note reading "Kill Karma". ==Reports of abuse and international attention== In August 2008, 40 members of the [U.S. Congress](/source/United_States_Congress) sent a letter to Indonesia calling for Pakage's and Karma's release, in response to which a 100-person rally protested in front of the [U.S. Embassy in Jakarta](/source/Embassy_of_the_United_States%2C_Jakarta).{{cite web|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1A1-D92EPKF00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924041456/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1A1-D92EPKF00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=24 September 2015|title=Protester killed at independence rally in Papua|date=9 August 2008|agency=Associated Press|accessdate=2 September 2012}} In 2009, the [Asian Human Rights Commission](/source/Asian_Human_Rights_Commission) stated that guards had beaten Karma for returning late from a prison leave on 1 February, breaking his glasses and tearing one of his eyelids.{{cite web|url=http://www.protectionline.org/Filep-Karma-and-Yusak-Pakage.html|title=Filep Karma and Yusak Pakage: imprisoned and beaten|date=20 July 2009|publisher=[Asian Human Rights Commission](/source/Asian_Human_Rights_Commission)|accessdate=18 April 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722065852/http://www.protectionline.org/Filep-Karma-and-Yusak-Pakage.html|archive-date=22 July 2011|url-status=dead}} In 2010, Karma was allowed to give an interview to a local radio station, in which he stated that he had been regularly abused by prison authorities: "I have been punched, kicked, pulled. But what hurts more is the mental torture we are subjected to."{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-10854985|title=Papua activist Filep Karma 'abused in prison'|author=Henschke, Rebecca|date=3 August 2010|publisher=[BBC News](/source/BBC_News)|accessdate=18 April 2011}} A spokesman for Indonesia's [Foreign Ministry](/source/Ministry_of_Foreign_Affairs_(Indonesia)) responded to the [BBC News](/source/BBC_News) that "allegations of prisoner abuse were always investigated and dealt with properly."{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-10852793|title=Indonesia 'must address Papua discontent'|date=3 August 2010|publisher=[BBC News](/source/BBC_News)|access-date=18 April 2011}} In May 2010, prison officials denied the request of Karma's doctors to take him to Jakarta for proper medical treatment, and Amnesty International again issued an alert for his safety.{{cite web|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA21/005/2010/en|title=INDONESIA: DENIAL OF MEDICAL CARE FOR FILEP KARMA: HEALTH PROFESSIONAL ACTION|date=5 May 2010|publisher=[Amnesty International](/source/Amnesty_International) |accessdate=18 April 2011}} In December 2010, Karma was transferred to a Jayapura police station following a riot at the prison, causing Human Rights Watch to reiterate its call for him and his fellow political prisoners to be freed, and to protest his lack of access to legal counsel.{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/12/10/indonesia-explain-transfer-imprisoned-activists|title=Indonesia: Explain Transfer of Imprisoned Activists|date=10 December 2010|publisher=[Human Rights Watch](/source/Human_Rights_Watch)|accessdate=18 April 2011}} He was soon transferred back to Abepura Prison. Amnesty International issued another alert on Karma's behalf in April 2012, when the organization alleged that prison officials were refusing to provide him medical treatment for a possible tumor.{{cite web|url=http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=67649|title=Amnesty urges Indonesia to give medical treatment to prisoner of conscience|date=20 April 2012|publisher=Radio New Zealand|accessdate=21 April 2012}} He received treatment in September of that year.{{cite web|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa21/040/2012/en/|title=Prisoner of Conscience Receives treatment|date=1 October 2012|publisher=Amnesty International|accessdate=7 October 2012}} ==Release and death== Karma was granted early release, after serving 11 years of his 15-year sentence, on 19 November 2015. This was as part of President [Joko Widodo](/source/Joko_Widodo)'s policy of clemency toward Papuan political prisoners. Karma had been offered release earlier in 2015 but had refused to sign the pardon paperwork out of principle.{{cite news|title=Filep Karma, aktivis kemerdekaan Papua, meninggal dunia karena 'tenggelam saat menyelam', kata keluarga|url=https://www.bbc.com/indonesia/indonesia-63445600|access-date=1 November 2022|agency=BBC News Indonesia|date=1 November 2022|language=id}} On 12 December 2021, Karma, who had a hobby of diving (''molo''), was declared missing after diving near Tirta Mandala Hotel, Dok V, Jayapura. He was found alive the next day, stranded on Skouw Yambe beach.{{cite web|title=Yopie Filep Karma Ditemukan Terdampar di Pantai Skouw|website=New Guinea Kurir|date=13 December 2021|url=https://www.newguineakurir.com/2021/12/13/yopie-filep-karma-ditemukan-terdampar-di-pantai-skouw/|language=id|access-date=1 November 2022}} On 1 November 2022, Karma was found dead in a diving suit on the Base-G beach, Jayapura. According to Frits Ramandey of [Komnas HAM](/source/National_Commission_on_Human_Rights) Papua, there are no initial indications of foul play and that he likely [drowned while diving](/source/drowned_while_diving).{{cite news|title=Tokoh Papua Filep Karma Ditemukan Meninggal di Pantai Jayapura|publisher=CNN Indonesia|date=1 November 2022|url=https://www.cnnindonesia.com/nasional/20221101072544-12-867825/tokoh-papua-filep-karma-ditemukan-meninggal-di-pantai-jayapura|language=id|access-date=1 November 2022}} According to Andrefina Karma who took part in the examination, her father drowned because of strong waves. On 30 October, he was seen swimming with family members, but decided to not go home with them as he wanted to dive that morning but because of high tides decided to wait it out and visited other relatives living in Deplat, Jayapura in the afternoon. She was later informed on the morning of 1 November that her father was found dead on the Base G beach. She wished for the best for her father and hoped there would be no rumours or hoax as his death was purely an accident.{{cite news | title=Kronologi Filep Karma Meninggal karena Tenggelam Versi Anak | work=CNN Indonesia| date=2022-11-01 | url=https://www.cnnindonesia.com/nasional/20221101172325-20-868165/kronologi-filep-karma-meninggal-karena-tenggelam-versi-anak | language=id | access-date=2022-11-11}}{{cite web |last1=Belau |first1=Arnold |title=Putri Kedua Filep Karma Beberkan Penyebab Kematian Ayahnya|url=https://youtube.com/watch?v=HfecYiXBzu8& |website=youtube.com |publisher=Suarapapua|language=id |format=video |date=2022-11-01}} ==References== {{Reflist}} ==External links== * {{YouTube|ul-wT09p9Bc|Video of Karma's flag-raising speech and arrest}} {{in lang|id}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Karma, Filep}} Category:1959 births Category:2022 deaths Category:Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by Indonesia Category:Indonesian activists Category:Indonesian prisoners and detainees Category:Underwater diving deaths Category:People from Biak Category:People from Wamena Category:West Papuan independence activists Category:People convicted of treason against Indonesia Category:People from Dutch New Guinea --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Filep Karma](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filep_Karma) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filep_Karma?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.