Photos from Biak Tribunal
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1) Indonesian diplomatic manoeuvre delays West Papuan independence
1) Indonesian diplomatic manoeuvre delays West Papuan independence
2) Aids awareness grows in Indonesia’s Papua region
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http://www.abc.net.au/correspondents/content/2013/s3797365.htm
1) Indonesian diplomatic manoeuvre delays West Papuan independence
Sean Dorney reported this story on Sunday, July 7, 2013 07:16:00
SIMON SANTOW: Indonesia has invited the foreign ministers of four Pacific Island countries to visit its two easternmost provinces - Papua and West Papua - to see for themselves if the people want independence.
Those two provinces are the western half of the main island of New Guinea.
This offer is something of a diplomatic manoeuvre, successfully delaying any consideration by the Melanesian Spearhead Group, the MSG, of an application for full membership by the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation.
Pacific correspondent Sean Dorney went to the two yearly meeting of the leaders of Melanesia's sub-regional organisation, held this year in New Caledonia.
SEAN DORNEY: Twenty-five years ago, the four independent countries in Melanesia - Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea - created a sub-regional organisation, the Melanesian Spearhead Group and one of its aims was to help the Melanesian people of New Caledonia, the Kanaks, get their independence from France.
That has not happened yet but France did agree to allow the Kanak independence movement, the FLNKS (Le Front de libération nationale kanak et socialiste), to take up full membership of the Melanesian Group.
Now, the Melanesian independence movement in West Papua - the Indonesian half of the main island of New Guinea - wants to join.
At the MSG's plenary session in Noumea, Dr Otto Ondawame, the vice chairman of the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation, put their case.
OTTO ONDAWAME: Our delegation come here as the lost son of Melanesia, to come here to ask for your support. We must unite and find a viable alternative to solve the longest conflict in our region.
SEAN DORNEY: Indonesia took control of what had been to then Dutch New Guinea in 1963 and six years later gathered just over 1000 tribal leaders together to vote in favour of becoming part of Indonesia.
It was called an 'Act of Free Choice' which the United Nations accepted.
Paula Makabory, from the Institute of Papuan Advocacy and Human Rights, was part of the West Papuan delegation
PAULA MAKABORY: Yeah, I think with all of this, the MSG recognise that the Act of Free Choice was a shameful choice for West Papua.
(Dancing and singing at Official Opening)
SEAN DORNEY: At the official opening of the Melanesian Spearhead Group leaders meeting, the outgoing chairman, Fiji's military commander and prime minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, spoke of unity.
FRANK BAINIMARAMA: As a result of our shared vision for closer regional integration, MSG solidarity has never been stronger.
SEAN DORNEY: But Papua New Guinea's prime minister, Peter O'Neill, visited Indonesia instead of attending the MSG meeting while his stand-in, the deputy prime minister Leo Dion made it clear to the other MSG Leaders that PNG regarded West Papua as an integral part of Indonesia.
Fiji revealed that Indonesia had offered to host a visit by Melanesian foreign ministers and so Fiji suggested the membership application by the West Papuans be put on hold.
Vanuatu's prime minister Moana Carcasses made an impassioned plea on behalf of the West Papuans, and Sir Michael Somare, invited as an elder statesman, summed up the situation well although he was not referring directly to West Papua.
SIR MICHAEL SOMARE: In Melanesia we are also very divided. We are not united. We have to unite. The only course we can take is when we are united people you can beat your enemy.
SEAN DORNEY: In the end the communiqué said the West Papuan's application would be considered after the foreign ministers of the MSG countries visited Indonesia.
However, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu insisted on the inclusion of two critical sentences. The first said that "Leaders endorsed that the MSG fully supports the inalienable rights of the people of West Papua towards self-determination…" and the second said the Leaders agreed that "the concerns of the MSG regarding the human rights violations and other forms of atrocities relating to the West Papuan people be raised with the government of Indonesia".
SEAN DORNEY: The reactions of the West Papuan delegation to the Communiqué were mixed. Dr Otto Ondawame was relieved.
OTTO ONDAWAME: We are very happy that our application has not been thrown out, but is still there on the agenda of the MSG.
SEAN DORNEY: But the secretary-general of the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation, Rex Rumakiek, doubted the value of a ministerial trip to Indonesia.
REX RUMAKIEK: They will come back empty-handed. They won't see the people they really want to see and that means it's a waste of time. Better to make a decision right now instead of going to Indonesia.
SEAN DORNEY: Melanesian foreign ministers' visit to Jakarta and the Papuan provinces should take place before the end of the year.
This has been Sean Dorney for Correspondents Report.
Those two provinces are the western half of the main island of New Guinea.
This offer is something of a diplomatic manoeuvre, successfully delaying any consideration by the Melanesian Spearhead Group, the MSG, of an application for full membership by the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation.
Pacific correspondent Sean Dorney went to the two yearly meeting of the leaders of Melanesia's sub-regional organisation, held this year in New Caledonia.
SEAN DORNEY: Twenty-five years ago, the four independent countries in Melanesia - Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea - created a sub-regional organisation, the Melanesian Spearhead Group and one of its aims was to help the Melanesian people of New Caledonia, the Kanaks, get their independence from France.
That has not happened yet but France did agree to allow the Kanak independence movement, the FLNKS (Le Front de libération nationale kanak et socialiste), to take up full membership of the Melanesian Group.
Now, the Melanesian independence movement in West Papua - the Indonesian half of the main island of New Guinea - wants to join.
At the MSG's plenary session in Noumea, Dr Otto Ondawame, the vice chairman of the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation, put their case.
OTTO ONDAWAME: Our delegation come here as the lost son of Melanesia, to come here to ask for your support. We must unite and find a viable alternative to solve the longest conflict in our region.
SEAN DORNEY: Indonesia took control of what had been to then Dutch New Guinea in 1963 and six years later gathered just over 1000 tribal leaders together to vote in favour of becoming part of Indonesia.
It was called an 'Act of Free Choice' which the United Nations accepted.
Paula Makabory, from the Institute of Papuan Advocacy and Human Rights, was part of the West Papuan delegation
PAULA MAKABORY: Yeah, I think with all of this, the MSG recognise that the Act of Free Choice was a shameful choice for West Papua.
(Dancing and singing at Official Opening)
SEAN DORNEY: At the official opening of the Melanesian Spearhead Group leaders meeting, the outgoing chairman, Fiji's military commander and prime minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, spoke of unity.
FRANK BAINIMARAMA: As a result of our shared vision for closer regional integration, MSG solidarity has never been stronger.
SEAN DORNEY: But Papua New Guinea's prime minister, Peter O'Neill, visited Indonesia instead of attending the MSG meeting while his stand-in, the deputy prime minister Leo Dion made it clear to the other MSG Leaders that PNG regarded West Papua as an integral part of Indonesia.
Fiji revealed that Indonesia had offered to host a visit by Melanesian foreign ministers and so Fiji suggested the membership application by the West Papuans be put on hold.
Vanuatu's prime minister Moana Carcasses made an impassioned plea on behalf of the West Papuans, and Sir Michael Somare, invited as an elder statesman, summed up the situation well although he was not referring directly to West Papua.
SIR MICHAEL SOMARE: In Melanesia we are also very divided. We are not united. We have to unite. The only course we can take is when we are united people you can beat your enemy.
SEAN DORNEY: In the end the communiqué said the West Papuan's application would be considered after the foreign ministers of the MSG countries visited Indonesia.
However, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu insisted on the inclusion of two critical sentences. The first said that "Leaders endorsed that the MSG fully supports the inalienable rights of the people of West Papua towards self-determination…" and the second said the Leaders agreed that "the concerns of the MSG regarding the human rights violations and other forms of atrocities relating to the West Papuan people be raised with the government of Indonesia".
SEAN DORNEY: The reactions of the West Papuan delegation to the Communiqué were mixed. Dr Otto Ondawame was relieved.
OTTO ONDAWAME: We are very happy that our application has not been thrown out, but is still there on the agenda of the MSG.
SEAN DORNEY: But the secretary-general of the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation, Rex Rumakiek, doubted the value of a ministerial trip to Indonesia.
REX RUMAKIEK: They will come back empty-handed. They won't see the people they really want to see and that means it's a waste of time. Better to make a decision right now instead of going to Indonesia.
SEAN DORNEY: Melanesian foreign ministers' visit to Jakarta and the Papuan provinces should take place before the end of the year.
This has been Sean Dorney for Correspondents Report.
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2) Aids awareness grows in Indonesia’s Papua region
A student looks to the camera at a school outside Jayapura the provincial capital of Papua, Indonesia. The prevalence rate of HIV among Papua’s youth aged between 15-24 years is about three percent.
IRIN/Jakarta
Efforts to raise awareness of HIV/Aids in the Indonesian provinces of Papua, which has among the country’s highest rates of infection, and West Papua are making steady though slow progress, say aid workers and government officials.
“People there believed that HIV/Aids was a curse from God, but that’s no longer the general perception,” said Setyo Warsono, a spokesman for the government’s National Aids Commission (KPA).
IRIN/Jakarta
Efforts to raise awareness of HIV/Aids in the Indonesian provinces of Papua, which has among the country’s highest rates of infection, and West Papua are making steady though slow progress, say aid workers and government officials.
“People there believed that HIV/Aids was a curse from God, but that’s no longer the general perception,” said Setyo Warsono, a spokesman for the government’s National Aids Commission (KPA).
Since 2005, reported HIV infections have increased in both these provinces annually, with 535 new cases reported in West Papua and 3,028 in Papua in 2012, where infection rates have outpaced the national average. In Papua new cases more than doubled from 687 in 2009 to 2,499 in 2010.
Tanah Papua (a local term that includes both Papua and West Papua provinces), 2,000km east of Jakarta, has some of the lowest levels of human development of Indonesia’s 33 provinces, according to the government.
Tanah Papua (a local term that includes both Papua and West Papua provinces), 2,000km east of Jakarta, has some of the lowest levels of human development of Indonesia’s 33 provinces, according to the government.
According to a 2012 report from the Joint UN Programme on HIV/Aids (UNAIDS), Tanah Papua was experiencing a low-level HIV epidemic, with a prevalence of 2.4% among the general population (versus a national average of 0.3%). About 30,000 people (22,210 in Papua and 7,160 in West Papua) are estimated to be living with HIV today.
HIV prevalence among people aged 15-24 in Tanah Papua is 3%.
HIV prevalence among people aged 15-24 in Tanah Papua is 3%.
In 2010 the Papua provincial government, in partnership with UN Children’s Fund (Unicef), introduced a decree to integrate HIV education in schools in Papua Province, which included curriculum development, teacher training and HIV policy support at the district level.
So far, 876 teachers in 58 secondary schools and 47 primary schools have received the training.
“From zero teachers in schools teaching HIV awareness, we’ve increased the level markedly,” said Margaret Sheehan, Unicef’s chief of office in Jayapura, the capital of Papua Province. “But there’s still a degree of reluctance from teachers to talk about how HIV can be transmitted through sex. More sensitisation work still needs to take place so teachers feel more comfortable.”
Unicef plans to incorporate HIV education into an upcoming training programme for teachers in rural areas in partnership with the Papua and West Papua governments.
But with 38% of children aged 7-15 out of school, and the highest provincial proportion of out-of-school children nationwide, aid workers are looking elsewhere to reach youths.
Unicef is offering life-skills training at youth and Protestant church clubs in a part of the country where church leaders are esteemed in the community and most youths participate in church groups.
So far, 876 teachers in 58 secondary schools and 47 primary schools have received the training.
“From zero teachers in schools teaching HIV awareness, we’ve increased the level markedly,” said Margaret Sheehan, Unicef’s chief of office in Jayapura, the capital of Papua Province. “But there’s still a degree of reluctance from teachers to talk about how HIV can be transmitted through sex. More sensitisation work still needs to take place so teachers feel more comfortable.”
Unicef plans to incorporate HIV education into an upcoming training programme for teachers in rural areas in partnership with the Papua and West Papua governments.
But with 38% of children aged 7-15 out of school, and the highest provincial proportion of out-of-school children nationwide, aid workers are looking elsewhere to reach youths.
Unicef is offering life-skills training at youth and Protestant church clubs in a part of the country where church leaders are esteemed in the community and most youths participate in church groups.
The Papua provincial KPA is using radio, TV and a well-known local football team (given young people’s love of football in the province) to disseminate HIV education.
Caritas Australia is working with a local NGO to train volunteer peer educators, as well as broadcasting HIV prevention messages through the radio and concerts in the Papuan district of Merauke.
For the NGO’s programme coordinator in Indonesia, Terry Russell, poor rural infrastructure has been one of the biggest barriers to spreading HIV education.
“Remote villages have no mobile phone contact, so pre-visits are necessary, and often roads have worsened due to weather or a bridge being down, so the process can be very time-consuming,” he said. In 2011, the government set up a unit in Papua and West Papua to accelerate infrastructure development in Papua’s remote areas, where more than onemn indigenous Papuans live, according to local media.
Caritas Australia is working with a local NGO to train volunteer peer educators, as well as broadcasting HIV prevention messages through the radio and concerts in the Papuan district of Merauke.
For the NGO’s programme coordinator in Indonesia, Terry Russell, poor rural infrastructure has been one of the biggest barriers to spreading HIV education.
“Remote villages have no mobile phone contact, so pre-visits are necessary, and often roads have worsened due to weather or a bridge being down, so the process can be very time-consuming,” he said. In 2011, the government set up a unit in Papua and West Papua to accelerate infrastructure development in Papua’s remote areas, where more than onemn indigenous Papuans live, according to local media.
Though slow, progress has been steady, say aid workers.
“In 2005, people with HIV/Aids in Merauke were shunned by their families, but now many more are accepted and many more are willing to undergo HIV/Aids testing,” said Russell. In 2008 some 5,000 people in Tanah Papua were tested for HIV; as of 31 May this year, that figure has risen to 31,443.
Unicef’s Sheehan said HIV messages on government-sponsored billboards and TV ads are now clearer. Whereas in the past there were billboards of leaders saying “We don’t want HIV”, posters now feature youths with HIV-prevention messages.
According to the KPA’s Warsono, as of 2013 the government has set up local commissions to continue raising awareness about HIV in 19 of Papua’s 29 districts, and in all of West Papua’s 13 districts.
“In 2005, people with HIV/Aids in Merauke were shunned by their families, but now many more are accepted and many more are willing to undergo HIV/Aids testing,” said Russell. In 2008 some 5,000 people in Tanah Papua were tested for HIV; as of 31 May this year, that figure has risen to 31,443.
Unicef’s Sheehan said HIV messages on government-sponsored billboards and TV ads are now clearer. Whereas in the past there were billboards of leaders saying “We don’t want HIV”, posters now feature youths with HIV-prevention messages.
According to the KPA’s Warsono, as of 2013 the government has set up local commissions to continue raising awareness about HIV in 19 of Papua’s 29 districts, and in all of West Papua’s 13 districts.
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1) Australian PM’s offer for Papua raises suspicion
1) Australian PM’s offer for
Papua raises suspicion
2) News Analysis: Australia’s
Strategy report: Solutions
without problems
--------------------------------------------------------------1) Australian PM’s offer for
Papua raises suspicion
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2) News Analysis: Australia’s
Strategy report: Solutions
without problems
Meidyatama Suryodiningrat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | News Analysis | Mon, July 08 2013, 9:18 AM
Paper Edition | Page: 2
There is no question that Australia has recovered from its denial of being part of Asia. The investment — material and otherwise — in Indonesia and the rest of Southeast Asia in recent years shows Australia’s recognition that its future lies with Asian neighbors to the north, and not romanticized historical links with its
With over US$450 million in developmental aid to Indonesia, Canberra is putting its money where its mouth is.
The launch of the Indonesia Country Strategy Report during the visit of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd here on Friday shows just how serious Canberra is in upping the quality of the relationship.
The broad-stroke document outlines where Australia wants to be with Indonesia in 2025. Indonesia was identified as one of the five – with China, India, Japan and Korea — initial priority countries for similar reports.
It is a well laid-out, readable text, just over 25 pages long: digestible in its advocacy and practical in its recommendations with regard to communities, business and government.
So accessible is the content that one would have thought it was authored by a production house, or a McKinsey-style consultant rather than bureaucrats.
The recommendations were partly taken from various consultations. Kudos to Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for the kind of public input heralded in the report. For participants of Track Two and Three dialogues, many of these recommendations will sound familiar.
Unfortunately, the report often feels like a quick list of remedies that do little to address fundamental problems that will color the relationship.
In other words even if each of the report’s recommendations are carried out, the vulnerabilities would not diminish given the corrosive elements wedged in the fundamentals of the bilateral ties.
By nature Indonesians are not suspicious of Australia the way Australians are toward Indonesia. Any reservations that presently prevail here are a recent phenomenon instigated by events in Papua and East Timor (Timor Leste).
Even a Lowy Institute poll published last year shows that Indonesians have dramatically warmed toward Australia, with 61 percent of Indonesians in favor of a company, bank or investment fund controlled by the Australian government buying a controlling stake in a major Indonesian company.
But as long as Australia retains a security posture which remains “American” in its strategic outlook there will only be amity with reservation between the two
nations.
Indonesian fears of being an arena of superpower strife are well founded. Australia’s battles will be fought on Indonesian territory.
Australia’s Defense White Paper published two months ago promotes strategic cooperation with Asian powers, but hints at the expansive archipelago as a trench line to block any threat.
“Denying an adversary our air and sea approaches in the archipelago is vitally important for deterring and defeating attacks on Australian territory,” it said.
Results of another Lowy poll which says 55 percent of Australians are comfortable with US bases in their country, does not bode well in how Indonesians think of Australia.
Canberra has been the driving force in dialogue and cooperative engagements. The Country
Strategy Report is stuffed with numerous photos and testimonies of such initiatives.
Yet these ceremonial exchanges have proved pro forma in the crunch of policy crisis.
The stationing of US troops in Darwin and suspension of live-
cattle exports are just two examples where a breakdown of communication created an unnecessary, albeit brief, impasse.
The Australian habit of hinging the relationship on one issue of the day, continues to highlight the vulnerability of the network of
relationships.
If it were not for the ingratiating statesmanship of the two leaders, the people-smuggling issue last week could have become another tripwire.
The temperature of the relationship remains susceptible to the chemistry of the leaders.
Therein lies the paradox of the report. Perhaps it is setting the bar too high, as if relations with Jakarta would one day be as cozy as Canberra’s bonds with Washington and London.
Proximity and democracy can be a glue, but they also expose the worst fears of each other as Indonesia’s own experience with Malaysia and Singapore (countries with which Indonesia has more in common than Australia) shows.
One of Australia’s preeminent strategists, Hugh White, put it best: “In almost every dimension of national life — geography, history, economics, religion, language and culture — Australia is as different from Indonesia as two countries
can be.”
Hence the two may surely become friends, but even more assured is that the two will never become
allies.
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1) Ban on Papua Magazine, Attempt to Block the Press?
1) Ban on Papua Magazine, Attempt to Block the Press?
2) Freeport Questions Contract Fate
3) Freeport Can Soon Get Back to Business
4) The case of Andinus Karoba
5) Socratez Yoman: 'Why didn't the Papuan leaders say anything?'
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http://en.tempo.co/read/news/2013/07/08/055494509/Ban-on-Papua-Magazine-Attempt-to-Block-the-Press
1) Ban on Papua Magazine, Attempt to Block the Press?TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Press Council says the ban on the first edition of Papua’s Pelita Pelita Magazine is considered as an attempt to block the press. "If the police really did come and prohibit the distribution of information, that is a form of blocking the press," Press Council member Imam Wahdyudi told Tempo on Sunday. Imam said that according to Press Law No. 40/1999, blocking the press is defined as the forceful or unlawful prohibition of publishing, distributing and/or broadcast of information. Imam also said that that freedom of the press is clearly regulated in the law and 1945 Constitution, and is a guaranteed right of the people. "Basically, if the police do not approve the contents of the publication, they can report it to the press council," he said. Imam criticized the police for immediately going to the publisher’s printing office and prohibiting the sale of the magazine. On Wednesday, July 3, after just days of the distribution of its first edition, Pelita Papua magazine encountered problems with the police last Wednesday for portraying the symbol of the Free Papua Movement on its cover. Police arrived at the printing office in Jayapura and asked the magazine to stop distributing. Officers also confiscated a few magazines and took them back to the police station to analyze. The first edition of the magazine covers the issue of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) office in England. There is also an article about the opinions of some figures regarding the movement. Fidelis Jeminta, chief editor of Pelita Papua, said this was ordinary news with no large hidden agenda behind it. He is disappointed at the police for randomly banning the distribution of his magazine. Papua Police Chief Sr. Comr. I Gede Sumerta Jaya said that published material about Papua’s freedom or anything that can incite violence is prohibited. He denied allegations that the police revoked the magazine’s license. ALI AKHMAD
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------http://en.tempo.co/read/news/2013/07/09/056494600/Freeport-Questions-Contract-Fate2) Freeport Questions Contract FateTEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Rozik Sutjipto, President Director of Freeport Indonesia, asked the government to complete the company's contract of Works (CoW) renegotiation in the next three months. "This is important to determine the fate of our contract's continuation," Rozik said at the House of Representatives building last weekend.Rozik is asking the government for a contract extension until 2041, related to the company's plan to dig underground. To date, Freeport's only covers 30 percent of its digging activity underground. In the future, all digging activities would be held underground since the company's surface mineral reserves will be depleted by 2016. The company had found new sources of ore amounting to 2.5 billion tons."Of the amount, 87 percent is located underground."With the potential, Freeport will spend US$9.8 billion worth of investment. According Rozik, the funds will be used to build a 1,000-kilometer underground tunnel which will be completed in 2020, one year before the CoW expires."We are asking for a contract extension because the underground minerals would last until 2057," he said.Coordinating Minister for the Economy Hatta Rajasa said the government is trying to finish discussing the contract with Freeport. According to him, Freeport still has the chance to extend its contract even though the company's smelter construction will not be completed in 2014--in accordance with the deadline set by the government. ANGGA SUKMA WIJAYA
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Press Council says the ban on the first edition of Papua’s Pelita Pelita Magazine is considered as an attempt to block the press.
"If the police really did come and prohibit the distribution of information, that is a form of blocking the press," Press Council member Imam Wahdyudi told Tempo on Sunday.
Imam said that according to Press Law No. 40/1999, blocking the press is defined as the forceful or unlawful prohibition of publishing, distributing and/or broadcast of information.
Imam also said that that freedom of the press is clearly regulated in the law and 1945 Constitution, and is a guaranteed right of the people.
"Basically, if the police do not approve the contents of the publication, they can report it to the press council," he said. Imam criticized the police for immediately going to the publisher’s printing office and prohibiting the sale of the magazine.
On Wednesday, July 3, after just days of the distribution of its first edition, Pelita Papua magazine encountered problems with the police last Wednesday for portraying the symbol of the Free Papua Movement on its cover. Police arrived at the printing office in Jayapura and asked the magazine to stop distributing. Officers also confiscated a few magazines and took them back to the police station to analyze.
The first edition of the magazine covers the issue of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) office in England. There is also an article about the opinions of some figures regarding the movement. Fidelis Jeminta, chief editor of Pelita Papua, said this was ordinary news with no large hidden agenda behind it. He is disappointed at the police for randomly banning the distribution of his magazine.
Papua Police Chief Sr. Comr. I Gede Sumerta Jaya said that published material about Papua’s freedom or anything that can incite violence is prohibited. He denied allegations that the police revoked the magazine’s license. ALI AKHMAD
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://en.tempo.co/read/news/2013/07/09/056494600/Freeport-Questions-Contract-Fate
2) Freeport Questions Contract Fate
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Rozik Sutjipto, President Director of Freeport Indonesia, asked the government to complete the company's contract of Works (CoW) renegotiation in the next three months. "This is important to determine the fate of our contract's continuation," Rozik said at the House of Representatives building last weekend.
Rozik is asking the government for a contract extension until 2041, related to the company's plan to dig underground. To date, Freeport's only covers 30 percent of its digging activity underground. In the future, all digging activities would be held underground since the company's surface mineral reserves will be depleted by 2016. The company had found new sources of ore amounting to 2.5 billion tons.
"Of the amount, 87 percent is located underground."
With the potential, Freeport will spend US$9.8 billion worth of investment. According Rozik, the funds will be used to build a 1,000-kilometer underground tunnel which will be completed in 2020, one year before the CoW expires.
"We are asking for a contract extension because the underground minerals would last until 2057," he said.
Coordinating Minister for the Economy Hatta Rajasa said the government is trying to finish discussing the contract with Freeport. According to him, Freeport still has the chance to extend its contract even though the company's smelter construction will not be completed in 2014--in accordance with the deadline set by the government.
ANGGA SUKMA WIJAYA
------------------------------------------------
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/freeport-can-soon-get-back-to-business/
3) Freeport Can Soon Get Back to Business
Freeport Indonesia may be able to resume its underground mining operations by the end of this week, according to a government announcement that follows an investigation that ended with a favorable result for the company.
The government had tasked a special team to look into two deadly mining accidents that took place in May at the Papua mine site of the company, a subsidiary of US-based Freeport McMoRan.
Thamrin Sihite, director general of minerals and coal at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, said the independent team behind the investigation had recommended that Freeport be allowed to return to work at its underground mine. But the ministry was still weighing certain permits issues.
“We have many considerations, not only the results of the independent evaluation team and mine inspectors,” Thamrin said last week. “Hopefully [this] week they will be allowed [to resume].”
Thamrin said there were several requirements to be met in order for Freeport to resume its operations underground, including the need for detection tools in all underground tunnels.
Separately, Siswoutomo Susilo, the deputy minister for energy and mineral resources, said the government needed assurance that Freeport was operating according to best practices, pointing to the issue of detection devices throughout the mine, including in training areas.
“This is to avoid what happened at Big Gossan,” Siswoutomo said, referring to an accident-hit site within Freeport’s Grasberg mine. “We can’t have any more collapses [like that].”
Chairman of the investigation team, Ridho Wattimena, a professor of mining engineering at the Bandung Institute of Technology, said Freeport is implementing several recommendations his team made, which include operational and managerial steps intended to guarantee the stability of the underground mine.
A major cave-in destroyed a training facility located underground at Big Gossan, in Timika, on May 14. It buried 38 employees who were attending a training lesson at the facility.
By the time evacuation work concluded on May 21, a total of 10 injured people had been rescued. However, 28 others were found dead in the rubble.
After the incident, Freeport halted both its open pit mine and underground mine operations.
Two weeks later, after the first accident, a truck driver was buried by sludge when a tunnel collapsed at Freeport’s deep ore mining zone.
According to a company statement, the stoppage has resulted in losses of 80 million pounds of copper and 80,000 ounces of gold.
It will book losses of 3 million pounds of copper and 3,000 ounces of gold a day until operations resume.
Freeport declared force majeure on shipments on June 12 to avoid third-party liability due to events beyond its control.
Activities restarted at the Grasberg Mine on June 22 and Freeport said last week that surface mining production had returned to the level of 140,000 daily tons. Freeport Indonesia normally produces 220,000 tons of ore per day.
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from tapol
4) The case of Andinus Karoba
CHRONOLOGY
Andinus Karoba was born on 18 March 1990. He is a Protestant. He has not yet completed his lower school education. He lives in North Jayapura and describes himself as a Papuan activist.
On 10 October 2012 at around 6pm, he went out for a stroll and walked past the Paulus GKI church. He was sitting near a stall and was chewing nuts when an avanza vehicle stopped beside him. A police intel officer from Polresta Jayapura got out, grabbed hold of his shirt and asked him whether his name was Andinus Karoba. He said, yes that's my name and without saying anything more the police officer forced him into a Polresta truck with his hands and legs in handcuffs..While they were driving to Polresta, Andinus was shot three times, twice in his leg, on his thigh and calf, and once in the groin.
During the two months that he was held at Polresta Jayapura, he was never able to get the medical treatment he needed and he was in constant pain. The police refused to allow his family to visit him.
He says that although his arrest was not about whether he had stolen anything or had attacked anyone's home, stealing was the excuse used by the police for his arrest. He had been a target for a long time because he said that his whole family took part in a mass evacuation from Wamena to Papua New Guinea following a series of brutal killings by the Indonesian military. Subsequently, he goes on:: 'I went back and forth from West Papua to Papua New Guinea while my parents were accused of being members of the OPM. I was also under suspicion
'At the place where I stayed on the street, near the Bahari Valley Dok V above the district of North Jayapura,, there were people who were always spying on me wherever I went. I know who it was. It was someone who had been set up by the police, but I wasn't bothered about this because I had done nothing against the security forces of any unit.
'However, on 10 October 2012, as I was sitting eating nuts, someone came and sat beside me and quietly made contact with the police. Soon afterwards, the police came and arrested me.
'They took me to Polresta Jayapura where I was interrogated not about any thefts but about the struggle of the Papuan people and all its networks. I repeatedly said that I knew nothing, that I was just a kid and didn't know anything about that struggle. The interrogator got very agitated because there was no evidence.And because I had been shot and paralysed,the police decided to make charges against me under the criminal code and for theft. There was not an iota of truth in all this. But I was unable to do anything because I did not have a lawyer. All this went on until I was found guilty and sentenced to one year and ten months.
Throughout the trial, I was held at Polresta Jayapura. After being sentenced, I was handed over to the Class IIA Prison Abepura. I am now serving the sentence.
Photos of Police Violence:
[Attached to the statement are several photographs of the wounds on his legs.]
[Translated by TAPOL]
CHRONOLOGY
Andinus Karoba was born on 18 March 1990. He is a Protestant. He has not yet completed his lower school education. He lives in North Jayapura and describes himself as a Papuan activist.
On 10 October 2012 at around 6pm, he went out for a stroll and walked past the Paulus GKI church. He was sitting near a stall and was chewing nuts when an avanza vehicle stopped beside him. A police intel officer from Polresta Jayapura got out, grabbed hold of his shirt and asked him whether his name was Andinus Karoba. He said, yes that's my name and without saying anything more the police officer forced him into a Polresta truck with his hands and legs in handcuffs..While they were driving to Polresta, Andinus was shot three times, twice in his leg, on his thigh and calf, and once in the groin.
During the two months that he was held at Polresta Jayapura, he was never able to get the medical treatment he needed and he was in constant pain. The police refused to allow his family to visit him.
He says that although his arrest was not about whether he had stolen anything or had attacked anyone's home, stealing was the excuse used by the police for his arrest. He had been a target for a long time because he said that his whole family took part in a mass evacuation from Wamena to Papua New Guinea following a series of brutal killings by the Indonesian military. Subsequently, he goes on:: 'I went back and forth from West Papua to Papua New Guinea while my parents were accused of being members of the OPM. I was also under suspicion
'At the place where I stayed on the street, near the Bahari Valley Dok V above the district of North Jayapura,, there were people who were always spying on me wherever I went. I know who it was. It was someone who had been set up by the police, but I wasn't bothered about this because I had done nothing against the security forces of any unit.
'However, on 10 October 2012, as I was sitting eating nuts, someone came and sat beside me and quietly made contact with the police. Soon afterwards, the police came and arrested me.
'They took me to Polresta Jayapura where I was interrogated not about any thefts but about the struggle of the Papuan people and all its networks. I repeatedly said that I knew nothing, that I was just a kid and didn't know anything about that struggle. The interrogator got very agitated because there was no evidence.And because I had been shot and paralysed,the police decided to make charges against me under the criminal code and for theft. There was not an iota of truth in all this. But I was unable to do anything because I did not have a lawyer. All this went on until I was found guilty and sentenced to one year and ten months.
Throughout the trial, I was held at Polresta Jayapura. After being sentenced, I was handed over to the Class IIA Prison Abepura. I am now serving the sentence.
Photos of Police Violence:
[Attached to the statement are several photographs of the wounds on his legs.]
[Translated by TAPOL]
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5) Socratez Yoman: 'Why didn't the Papuan leaders say anything?'
Bintang Papua 8 July, 2013
Socratez: Why did Papuan Leaders say nothing?
Jayapura: Socratez Yoman, the Papuan church leader from the Central Highlands who is also the chairman of the Alliance of Baptist Churches of Papua (PGBP) said, following a meeting between the Dutch Ambassador, Tjeerd De Zwaan, and community leaders, traditional leaders, religious leaders and representatives of the youth , on which occasion the Ambassador said that he was hoping to get an answer to his question about the implementation of OTSUS-Plus but no Papuan leaders at the meeting came forward to answer this query from the Ambassador.
He therefore wondered why the leaders who were present at the forum said nothing and did not answer the Ambassador .
'Is it because they don't know what is happening in Papua or is, as it seems to me, because they are too afraid to say anything?
In his opinion, the Papuans who were present at the meeting should have answered the question. They should have given an explanation about the real circumstances in Papua and should not have remained silent.
The fact that they remained silent led Socratez, who is known for being very vocal, to wonder whether the Papuan leaders have been rendered silent by the cunning tricks of the Indonesian Government? Is this a case of the lack of of freedom of expression and the death of democracy in Papua?
He said in a statement to Bintang Papua: 'This is a big problem for me with regard to the question which was posed by the Dutch Ambassador which no one answered.'
He said that in his opinion,community leaders and traditional leaders in Papua should come forward with the facts in Papua when speaking to the Dutch Ambassador or when making statements to the international community.
He went on to say that people who are regarded as being community leaders should have the moral courage to fight for the problems being confronted by the community at present and in the future. They should not keep silent because these problems are not being talked about by the authorities in this country. 'It's okay if you keep silent here on earth but in the afterlife that will not be possible because you will be held responsible until the end of time.'
[Translated by TAPOL]
Socratez: Why did Papuan Leaders say nothing?
Jayapura: Socratez Yoman, the Papuan church leader from the Central Highlands who is also the chairman of the Alliance of Baptist Churches of Papua (PGBP) said, following a meeting between the Dutch Ambassador, Tjeerd De Zwaan, and community leaders, traditional leaders, religious leaders and representatives of the youth , on which occasion the Ambassador said that he was hoping to get an answer to his question about the implementation of OTSUS-Plus but no Papuan leaders at the meeting came forward to answer this query from the Ambassador.
He therefore wondered why the leaders who were present at the forum said nothing and did not answer the Ambassador .
'Is it because they don't know what is happening in Papua or is, as it seems to me, because they are too afraid to say anything?
In his opinion, the Papuans who were present at the meeting should have answered the question. They should have given an explanation about the real circumstances in Papua and should not have remained silent.
The fact that they remained silent led Socratez, who is known for being very vocal, to wonder whether the Papuan leaders have been rendered silent by the cunning tricks of the Indonesian Government? Is this a case of the lack of of freedom of expression and the death of democracy in Papua?
He said in a statement to Bintang Papua: 'This is a big problem for me with regard to the question which was posed by the Dutch Ambassador which no one answered.'
He said that in his opinion,community leaders and traditional leaders in Papua should come forward with the facts in Papua when speaking to the Dutch Ambassador or when making statements to the international community.
He went on to say that people who are regarded as being community leaders should have the moral courage to fight for the problems being confronted by the community at present and in the future. They should not keep silent because these problems are not being talked about by the authorities in this country. 'It's okay if you keep silent here on earth but in the afterlife that will not be possible because you will be held responsible until the end of time.'
[Translated by TAPOL]
↧
1) Braving risk for her home
1) Braving risk for her home
2) Freeport to Resume Underground Mining Operations in Papua
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The Fiji Times Online
1) Braving risk for her home
Solomoni Biumaiono
Monday, July 08, 2013
OLGA Hamadi is one of the few people who work in West Papua to ensure international and local human rights laws and regulations are adhered to by the relevant authorities and members of the public.
Right up to the extent of exposing herself and her family to threats of violence from some sections of the community as her work involves standing up against alleged police brutality, and violence against women, violence in general and other forms of human rights abuses.
"In West Papua we have human rights abuse and disappearance cases also. We advocate against violence and we criticise the military and police and ask them to change their attitude and ask them to change the regulations also.
"I like it (work) because I can help people because I know the (human rights) regulations. I studied it so I can help the people. I use my role when a case happens and conduct press releases when I have data," Olga said.
The 31-year-old was born and bred in Jayapura and she studied law at Cenderawsih University in Jayapura and did her Masters Degree in law at Gadya Mada University in Yogjakarta in Java.
She works as a human rights lawyer for a West Papuan non-governmental organisation called the Commission for Disappearances and Victims of Violence or Kontras Papua.
The NGO was formed in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta in the 1990s as means to help ensure that West Papuans are treated well under international human rights conventions and under the regulations the Indonesian Government has given to West Papuan authorities.
And it is in this line of work that Olga risks her life and that of her family trying to live her childhood dream to be a lawyer. She sees this not just a job but more of a calling.
She has been pressured because the authorities paint her as a West Papuan separatist because she is a native Papuan.
West Papuan separatists are people who are leading a political and military movement against the rule of the Indonesian government in West Papua. This movement has been in existence since the 1960s. The movement largely consists of native Papuans.
When Olga represents the separatists or criticises the police and military, she is often branded as one of them but to her, she is simply standing for justice because of her passion and status as a human rights lawyer.
"No, I am not a separatist. We focus on human right issues, sometimes we focus on the military and police because we focus on victim issues and state violence. And then because I am a lawyer, I assist Papuan people, recent cases like when they conduct demonstrations, raise the Morning Star, I do my job but also I got stigmatised from the police as a separatist myself," she said.
"Because for me, I focus on human rights issues, our government talks about human rights issues, I also help government to promote human rights through their own regulations.
"I just enjoy what I do.
"First, because I wanted to become a lawyer, and in these institutions I learnt how to assist people and the police, and assist people who have problems."
She said she also helped the police who sometimes had a different perspective on the people of West Papua.
"Like when we criticise them and because they use their guns, they think we're enemies (but) we do the legal things," Olga said.
Since she graduated, she has worked for the Papua Legal Aid for four years from 2005 and is now co-ordinator of Kontras Papua. As it is, she has no career or personal plans as she would rather stay in West Papua than any other place.
"Not many people do this, maybe some NGOs, like when we talk about lawyers we have many lawyers in West Papua but only have a few who do human rights.
"Being a human rights defender, it's like we have a security (issue). It is still a problem because no work can guarantee us our safety. It's still a problem. It's not only for me but for others like activists, church leaders and journalists," Olga said.
Recently she attended the Eastern Mennonite University's Summer Peacebuilding Institute in Virginia, USA where she undertook courses that will contribute to a postgraduate certificate qualification in peacebuilding and conflict resolution.
She did this with the hope of expanding the scope of her work and to help her try different approaches she thinks are more peaceful and can help resolve issues in an amicable manner. She hopes these will also bring about a change in the perceptions of the people of West Papua.
On the other hand, the Indonesian Government maintains human rights conventions have been in existence in every Indonesian province since its Independence.
An Indonesian Embassy in Fiji official says the Indonesian Government does not condone police brutality and powers rest with its very own Human Rights Commission or fact-finding mission teams to investigate cases of alleged brutality.
The Indonesian Embassy economic affairs officer, Tito Octavianus, says lawyers have nothing to fear when working in West Papua.
Ocatavianus said: "So I do not quite agree that as a lawyer, other people will harm them. They have to think twice if they want to harm a lawyer.
"If that lawyer can conduct professionally based on the code of conduct as a lawyer, which is to defend their clients and then not make any statement on the political matters, I think that lawyer should not be afraid of being branded as a separatist."
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2) Freeport to Resume Underground Mining Operations in Papua
The Indonesian government gave US mining giant Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold the go-ahead of resume operations at its Grasberg mine on Tuesday after a deadly tunnel collapse suspended operations for nearly two months.
“From everything that has been done, that has been taken into consideration, including pressure from the community and local government, [we] have decided ok, it’s safe,” Deputy Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Susilo Siswoutomo said in a prepared statement.
The central government’s independent investigation team launched a probe into the May 14 tunnel collapse that left 28 dead. The team concluded that Freeport Indonesia’s mines were safe, but recommended the company install additional detection devices in their underground tunnels.
It will be another month before Freeport’s underground mines reach production quotas, said Freeport Indonesia President Director Rozik B. Soetjipta. The mine has a daily target of 220,000 tons of copper a day.
“We predict that our production will only be at 80 percent… or around 176,000 tons per day,” Rozik said.
Thirty percent of the mine’s copper ore is produced in underground mines. The remaining 70 percent is excavated from Grasberg’s massive open-pit mine near Puncak Jaya, Papua.
The company will not meet this year’s target projections, Rozik said.
Freeport was forced to declare force majeure on copper shipments after the accident.
This had yet to be lifted, Rozik said.
Before the accident, Freeport had expected sales of about 500,000 tons of copper from its Indonesia unit in 2013, along with 1.25 million ounces of gold.
Freeport is also in talks with the government to renegotiate a new mining contract to replace its current 30-year contract, which expires in 2021.
A member of the government team negotiating with Freeport said last week the accident should not delay those talks.
Benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange traded at $6,847 a ton on Tuesday, or $568 lower than the day before the accident.
Reuters/Investor Daily
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↧
1) Papuan rebel leader Danny Kogoya vows to keep fighting Indonesia despite amputated leg
1) Papuan rebel leader Danny Kogoya vows to keep fighting Indonesia despite amputated leg2) Fugitive rebel leader vows to continue Papua independence fight
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http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-10/wounded-papuan-rebel-commander-speaks-from-jungle-hideout/4811188
1) Papuan rebel leader Danny Kogoya vows to keep fighting Indonesia despite amputated leg
Updated
Speaking from a rebel training camp just inside the Papua New Guinean border, Danny Kogoya says he was unarmed and surrendering when police shot him below the knee last year.
Indonesian police say he was resisting arrest.
Now at his PNG hideout, known as Camp Victoria, Mr Kogoya's fellow rebels are holding a small show of arms.
Displaying homemade rifles, bows and arrows and with some wearing ceremonial headdresses and shell necklaces, they rally around the Morning Star flag - the symbol of West Papuan independence that is banned in Indonesia.
They have no bullets but they say they want to fight the Indonesians.
For almost 50 years the Free Papua Movement (OPM) has fought against Indonesia's control of Papua and West Papua province.
Mr Kogoya is a commander for the OPM's militant wing. He says his leg was amputated without his permission while he was jailed on manslaughter charges last year.
"This leg was amputated for the Free Papua Movement. I am asking for independence... I am asking for West Papua to exit the Republic of Indonesia," he said.
After his release from prison, Mr Kogoya says police threatened to re-arrest him, so he fled across the border to Papua New Guinea.
Now, he says he will get the remaining shotgun pellets removed from the stump of his leg, find a prosthetic limb and return to the bush to keep fighting.
Allegations of atrocities hard to verify
Since the 1960s, the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement has conducted a low-level insurgency within Indonesia.
Allegations of atrocities committed by Indonesian forces within Papua and West Papua province are difficult to check because the international media is kept out.
It is also hard to get a real sense of the strength of the West Papuan militants.
Mr Kogoya says he commands a standby army of 7,000 men, with around 200 active fighters, but those figures cannot be verified.
Camp Victoria has played an important role in the history of the West Papuan independence movement.
It has been a training camp, a gateway from Indonesia to Papua New Guinea and a place where rival factions have split and reunited. But what role it will play in the future of the West Papuan struggle is unclear.
PNG signs extradition deal with Indonesia
Last month Papua New Guinea and Indonesia signed an extradition treaty, which PNG's opposition says could be used to target West Papuan activists.
"I think that is the cooperation between the Papua New Guinean and the Indonesian government. That's their issue. Not West Papua. We will keep on fighting until we are independent," he said.
PNG prime minister Peter O'Neill says the extradition treaty will be used for criminals and not political activists, but for those who could be considered both it is yet to be tested.
"We have had a policy that the issue of West Papua is an integral part of Indonesia. We have consistently maintained that," he said.
"But we are encouraged by the invitation by the Indonesian government through the president for the first time in its history to help in managing some of the issues on the ground in West Papua."
Mr Kogoya, meanwhile, is calling for all West Papuan activists living abroad to return to Camp Victoria and continue their struggle.
"I want Jacob Prai in Sweden, John Ondawame in Australia, all those leaders abroad to come back to this camp, Camp Victoria, to continue the struggle for independence," he said.
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2) Fugitive rebel leader vows to continue Papua independence fight
Updated 10 July 2013, 16:38 AEST
Danny Kogoya says he was unarmed and surrendering when police shot him below the knee last year, but Indonesian police say he was resisting arrest.
He is currently hiding in Papua New Guinea but is not worried about a recent extradition treaty between PNG and Indonesia.
Presenter: Liam Cochrane, PNG correspondent
Speaker: Danny Kogoya, leader of the Free Papua Organisation (OPM); Peter O'Neill, Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea
COCHRANE: Just inside the PNG border, supporters of the West Papuan independence movement hold a small military parade.
The six rifles on show are homemade and there are no bullets, but a crowd of about 100 people wearing ceremonial headdresses, face paint and shell necklaces rally around the Morning Star flag - the symbol of West Papuan independence that's banned in Indonesia.
For almost 50 years the Free Papua Movement - known as the OPM - has fought against Indonesia's control of Papua and West Papua provinces.
Danny Kogoya is a commander for the militant wing of the OPM.
He makes his way awkwardly across the bush-clearing on crutches, his right leg amputated below the knee.
Danny Kogoya, OPM Commander, Jayapura
KOGOYA: [TRANSLATION] "This leg was amputated for the Free Papua Movement. I am asking for independence… I am asking for West Papua to exit the Republic of Indonesia.
COCHRANE: Mr Kogoya says he was jailed on manslaughter charges last year.
While in custody, his badly damaged leg was amputated, he says without his permission.
Months later, he was released, but then police threatened to re-arrest him so he fled across the border to PNG.
In June, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia signed an extradition treaty, which PNG's opposition says could be used to target West Papuan activists like Danny Kogoya.
The details of the Extradition Treaty have not yet emerged but Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister Peter O'Neill says he raised allegations of human rights abuses within the West Papua region when he met Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhuyono last month.
O'NEILL: We have had a policy that the issue of West Papua is an integral part of Indonesia. We have consistently maintained that. But we are encouraged by are encouraged by the invitation by the Indonesian Government through the President - for the first time in its history to asking Papua New Guinea to help in managing some of the issues on the ground in West Papua.
COCHRANE: Allegations of atrocities committed by Indonesian forces within Papua and West Papua provinces are difficult to check because the international media is kept out.
It's also hard to get a real sense of the strength of the West Papuan militants.
Danny Kogoya says he commands a standby army of 7,000 men, with around 200 active fighters. But the figures can't be verified.
KOGOYA [TRANSLATION] I want Jacob Prai in Sweden, John Ondawame in Australia, all those leaders abroad to come back to this camp, Camp Victoria, to continue the struggle for independence.
COCHRANE: Meanwhile, Danny Kogoya says he will get the remaining shotgun pellets removed from the stump of his leg, find a prosthetic limb and return to the bush to keep fighting.
↧
1) Komnas HAM decries RI’s efforts to resolve past abuses
1) Komnas HAM decries RI’s
efforts to resolve past
abuses
2) New administrationin will not improve the human rights sitation in Papus
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) Komnas HAM decries RI’s
efforts to resolve past
abuses
Yohanna Ririhena, The Jakarta Post, GENEVA | World | Wed, July 10 2013, 10:21 AM
Paper Edition | Page: 12
The United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) launched a formal session with the NGOs to receive more input on the implementation of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in Indonesia.
Before the committee, Komnas HAM questioned the government’s seriousness in proceeding with the investigation on cases that could be categorized as gross human rights violations.
“Despite preliminary findings from Komnas HAM, the Attorney General’s Office [AGO] has refused to further investigate the cases,” said Komnas HAM commissioner Roichatul Aswidah before members of the UNHRC on Monday.
In response to the critics, the government stated that a special team from the AGO was established in 2006 to follow up on the findings, which were deemed insufficient.
The team has requested Komnas HAM submit additional evidence in accordance with Indonesia’s Criminal Code (KUHP) for further prosecution.
However, Roichatul claimed the issue was not the standard of evidence, but more the willingness to follow up the recommendations issued by Komnas HAM and legislators.
Roichatul said there was already a precedent in using the Komnas HAM standard of evidence, which had been thoroughly followed up by the AGO in cases relating to alleged human rights violations in East Timor, the Tanjung Priok incident in North Jakarta, and the Abepura torture case in Papua.
“Why couldn’t the same standard of evidence be used for other cases, including the enforced disappearances during the reform movement [in 1997 and 1998]?” she said.
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) in its alternative report to the UNHRC also questioned the lengthy process taken to establish an ad-hoc human rights court to prosecute cases of enforced disappearances.
The ICJ, comprised of 60 eminent judges and lawyers across the globe, hinted that the delay was related to the existence of prominent figures on the political stage.
“The ICJ believes the delay in the establishment of an ad hoc court is due to the fact that further investigations into alleged enforced disappearances from 1997 to 1998 may involve allegations concerning several prominent members of the Indonesian government who continue to be influential in the country to this day, including Prabowo Subianto and former General Wiranto,” the ICJ said.
Prabowo, commander of the Army’s Special Forces (Kopassus) at the time, is currently the chief patron of the Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party, while Gen. (ret.) Wiranto, then chief of the Indonesian Military (TNI), is now the chair of the People’s Conscience Party (Hanura).
Both are presidential candidates who will likely contest the 2014 election.
National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan) spokesperson Andy Yentriyani underlined the need for effective remedies in responding to the past violations of human rights, particularly concerning women.
The May riot in 1998 saw hundreds of Chinese women brutally harassed, with many traumatized.
The hearings at the UNHRC on Indonesia’s progress in upholding human rights will last until Thursday.
List of rights violations that have not been solved:
1. Trisakti 1998, Semanggi I 1998 and Semanggi II 1999;
2. May Riot 1998
3. The Wasior incident in 2001-2002 and Wamena incident in 2003
4. Enforced disappearance 1997-1998
5. Talangsari 1989
6. Summary execution-style killings (mysterious shooting) 1982-1985
7. The tragedy of 1965-1966
Source: Komnas HAM
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2) New administrationin will not improve the human rights sitation in Papus
According to several NGOs which are involved in the promotion of human rights in Papua, there has been no change in the human rights situation in Papua in the first one hundred days of administration of Lukas Enambe and Klemen Tinal (Lukmen). They also said that the new administration has done nothing at all with regard to human rights violations which have occurred in the past; they have said nothing at all in public about this.
Nehemia Yarinap from the organisation BUK - United for Truth - said in a statement to the Antara News Agency that he does not expect anything to happen with regard to human rights in the coming five years. He said that the recent statement made by the Governor of Papua focused on the question of welfare and said nothing about human rights.' This clearly shows that nothing will be done about human rights,' he said.
Paul Mambrasar who represents Els-Ham was also pessimistic about any changes in the human rights situation in the coming five years. 'The Lukmen administration is under the control of the political parties which are in power at present .
The Lukmen administration came to power on 11 April 2013. The pair won the election, beating five other candidate pairs. In the statement about their first one hundred days, the Lukmen pair said that they intend to enter into communication with forces which are responsible for the security situation in Papua, in order to try an present further acts of violence.
[Translated by TAPOL]
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1) Police name Nabire boxing committee chairman suspect
1) Police name Nabire boxing committee chairman suspect
2) Yan Christian Warinussy on the need for dialogue e in West Papua
3) OPM office to be set up in The Netherlands in August
4) Lambert: There OPM Person Who Sell For Money
5) Indonesia: Amend Law on Mass Organizations
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http://www.antaranews.com/en/news/89918/police-name-nabire-boxing-committee-chairman-suspect
1) Police name Nabire boxing committee chairman suspect
Thu, July 18 2013 14:38 | 107 Views
Jayapura, Papua (ANTARA News) - Police have named NY, the chairman of the committee of a boxing championship in Nabire, Papua, suspect in connection with a stampede that killed 17 people during the event recently.
The Papua Regional Police Command spokesman, Senior Commissioner Gede Sumerta said to ANTARA here on Thursday based on the results of investigation NY had allegedly violated several articles in the law on national sports system and could face a sentence of five years in jail.
Gede Sumerta said NY was named suspect after 17 witnesses were questioned.
Asked if the suspect was held at the Nabire police resort he said he has not been held until now.
The incident happened after supporters of the losing boxer protested judges` decision and clashed with their rival supporters causing up to 1,500 spectators to scramble for exits that led to a stampede.
Only two exits were operational when the incident happened while the number of spectators was above the building`s capacity which was only for 500 people.(*)
Editor: Heru
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2) Yan Christian Warinussy on the need for dialogue e in West Papua
Statement by Yan Christian Warinussy, the Executive-Director of the LP3BP, received on 15 July 2013
Following the Summit Meeting of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) in June this year, it is extremely important for the Indonesian Government under President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to take part in a Papua-Indonesia dialogue.
According to Warinussy, the Indonesian government should acknowledge that the question of the Land of Papua is becoming increasingly internationalised because of the growing occurrence of serious violations of basic human rights which have been occurring in West Papua for the past ten years.
The many human rights violations occurring in West Papua are raising great concerns round the world, because none of these violations are being dealt with as they should be according to the laws which are in force in this country. The Indonesian Government has failed to do anything to resolve this problem following the period of 'reformasi'. [This followed the downfall of Suharto in 1998.]
Indonesia has several laws dealing with human rights violations. In 1999, a law was enacted regarding combatting human rights violations, Law 39/1999 on Human Rights and Law 26/2000 on Human Rights Courts.
Implementation of these laws has proven to be very difficult because of the lack of political will on the part of the Indonesian Government, while at the same time there is a culture of impunity for those who are responsible for violating human rights.. This applies in particular to the security forces, that is to say, to the Indonesian Army and the Indonesian Police.
In view of all this, it is in my opinion necessary to push for implementation accordance with Articles 44, 45 and 46 of Law 21/2001 on Special Autonomy for West Papua.
A Papua-Indonesia dialogue should be started immediately and what should be done now is to formulate the indicators of urgent and crucial matters to be dealt with such as acts of genocide in the Land of Papua in accordance with the stipulations of the Human Rights Law and the law on Special Autonomy for Papua.
[Translated by TAPOL]
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3) OPM office to be set up in The Netherlands in August
Jayapura: Following the establishment of an OPM office in Oxford, the UK earlier this year, there are now plans to set up an OPM office in The Netherlands on 15 August. Spokesman for the National Committee of West Papua (KNPB) Wim Rocky said that diplomats and politicians in The Netherlands and several other countries round the world which colonised Indonesia had supported the idea of setting up OPM offices abroad.
Wim Rocky said that the activities of the new office will follow the practices of the office in London: 'We will urge our people to organise peaceful demonstrations.'
It so happens that the date of the opening is just two days before 17 August which is the day of the proclamation of the Indonesian state. When asked whether this was their intention, Wim Rocky said: 'The date of the opening is the one that was suggested by Dutch diplomats. 'It has nothing to do with what happened on 17 August more than fifty years ago.'
Rovky also said that the KNPB will not do anything to disturb activities being planned by the Indonesian Government on 17 August, but will focus on what will be happening in The Netherlands this year.
He also said that in the coming months, other countries will be asked about having an OPM office in their country, following the opening of OPM office in Oxford and The Netherlands.
Furthermore, the KNPB intends to approach the Indonesian Government about the possibility of setting up an OPM office in Jakarta.
Asked about the visit to Papua by the Dutch ambassador earlier this year when he said that his government supports the idea that Papua should remain a part of Indonesia, Rocky said this was just a 'political trick' which is also played by other governments. He warned Indonesia not to be taken in by such statements. 'Is it not a fact that even though the British government has close relations with Indonesia, the establishment of the OPM office there has gone ahead.
Rocky then said: 'Indonesia needs to be 'open-hearted' and should acknowledge the fact that it has suffered a diplomatic defeat.'
[Translated by TAPOL]
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A google translate of article in Bintang papua. Be-aware google translate can be a bit erratic.
Original bahasa at
Thursday, July 18, 2013 09:50
4) Lambert: There OPM Person Who Sell For Money
Jayapura - Struggle and effort endlessly by the Free Papua fighters through the National Liberation Army (TPN) - Free Papua Movement (OPM), allegedly being exploited by certain elements, and more unfortunately, it is done by money.
"We can report that there are unscrupulous people in Keerom District that provides images and data Papuan independence fighters to the Indonesian authorities, and which is more painful, it was done only because of money. It is very regrettable because our struggle for the people of Papua apparently utilized by other Papuan people for money, "Lambert Pekikir when contacted beber Bintang Papua, on Wednesday (17/7) yesterday.
For Lambert, what these elements are part of a crime, the Headquarters of TPN-OPM condemns such actions, "It's part of the crimes against humanity, body and soul dedicated to the independence of Papua, but there are people who are willing to pledge to the officers, is beyond my expectations, it turns out there are 'selling Papua Papua', "he explained.
On top of the sadness he felt, Lambert hoped that these elements immediately realized the mistake they had done, because it includes betrayal of the struggle, "They can be the enemy of the Papuans who continue to struggle for independence and sovereignty over its own land, I ask them to immediately stop the misleading practices, as Ancestors Land and we will cry with what you're doing, "said Lambert.
Lambert hopes that those who do not participate directly struggling to provide support to those who are struggling, do not be a traitor to the nation of Papua. "We Let go and live our lives to fight, appreciate it, if you do not fight, better sit down and not say anything, but if I can help indirectly would be much better, I reiterate to immediately stop such behavior," said Lambert. (Bom/Don/l03)
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New Law Restricts Rights to Association, Expression, and Religion
5) Indonesia: Amend Law on Mass Organizations
New Law Restricts Rights to Association, Expression, and Religion
(New York, July 18, 2013) – A new law in Indonesia places unnecessary and onerous restrictions on the activities of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), Human Rights Watch said today. Indonesia’s donors should press the Indonesian government to amend the law to ensure basic freedoms and a vibrant civil society.
On July 2, 2013, Indonesia’s parliament enacted the Law on Mass Organizations (“NGO law”) in the face of outspoken opposition from religious groups, labor unions, human rights organizations, and environmental groups.
Provisions of the NGO law infringe upon the rights to freedom of association, expression, and religion, and provide the government wide latitude to obstruct NGO work, Human Rights Watch said. The law imposes a variety of vague obligations and prohibitions on NGO activities, and severe limitations on the creation of foreign-funded organizations.
“The NGO law is a throwback to the repressive Suharto era by subjecting the activities of civil society groups to excessive and unpredictable government control,” said Phelim Kine, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Indonesia’s NGOs play a vital role in the country’s development and should be nurtured, not stifled, by government regulation.”
After more than three decades of authoritarian rule ending with the fall of Suharto in 1998, Indonesia now has a vibrant civil society with thousands of NGOs working in fields from development to human rights. The new law contains numerous restrictions embodied in a 1985 law, the Law on Social Organizations, passed during the Suharto dictatorship, but which have largely not been enforced since then.
The new law requires all NGOs to apply through the Home Affairs Ministry for official approval to operate. The law does not provide any details about the official approval application process, timelines for official approval, or penalties for noncompliance.
The NGO law empowers the government to decide on whether an organization has violated the law, but requires the government to “consult” a court prior to suspension of an NGO’s operations. The law does not provide any details about this consultation process. The government can unilaterally impose a six-month suspension on an NGO’s operations if the court does not respond within two weeks of consultation. The law allows NGOs to appeal a suspension to the Supreme Court, but does not elaborate on the details of that process.
The NGO law obliges organizations to adhere to respect for monotheism, regardless of their religious or secular orientation, Human Rights Watch said. The new law, like the 1985 statute, requires that NGOs adhere to the “breath, soul, and spirit” of the concept of Pancasila, or “five principles,” an official state philosophy that dictates “Belief in the one and only God.” The law forbids NGOs from espousing “anti-Pancasila” creeds including atheism, communism, and Marxist-Leninism. The NGO law specifically states that NGOs must “maintain the value of religion and belief in Almighty God,” regardless of their religious or secular orientation. In February, the United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Heiner Bielefeldt, warned that these provisions in a draft version of the law could violate freedom of religion or belief particularly for individuals with “non-theistic and theistic convictions.”
“The NGO law is being used as a vehicle for Orwellian thought police,” Kine said. “The state has no business telling NGOs or anyone else what they can and can’t believe.”
The new law, as with the 1985 statute, places a variety of vague requirements on NGOs that leave them exposed to improper government interference in their work, Human Rights Watch said. These include obligatory support for the “national unity and integrity of the Unitary Republic of Indonesia” as well as “the value of religious, cultural… ethical and moral norms.” The new law specifically prohibits “blasphemous activities” by NGOs against any of the six religions officially recognized under Indonesia’s 1965 blasphemy law. No definitions are provided for these activities, which places NGOs at risk of arbitrary or unfair interpretations of the law by hostile government officials. In February, the UN special rapporteur on the rights of peaceful assembly and association, Maina Kiai, stated that such prohibitions in a draft version of the law were “illegitimate and should be amended accordingly.”
|The NGO law subjects foreign NGOs in Indonesia to all new bureaucratic controls. The law bans foreign NGOs from activities that may “disrupt the stability and integrity” of Indonesia or “engage in activities that disrupt diplomatic relations.” Foreign nationals who want to start an NGO in Indonesia must have at least five consecutive years of legal residency in Indonesia, and must deposit the sum of IDR10 billion (US$1 million) of their personal wealth in the organization. The UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Margaret Sekaggya, expressed concern in February that such provisions would hamper the human rights work of civil society in the country, “in particular of foreign societal organizations.”
“The new NGO law ominously suggests a less tolerant official approach to civil society in Indonesia,” Kine said. “The Indonesian government needs to recognize NGOs – both domestic and foreign – as assets to a democratic society, not as threats. Indonesia’s donors and friends should push for removal of provisions in this new law that are hostile to basic freedoms and the operational independence of NGOs.”
For more Human Rights Watch reporting on Indonesia, please visit:http://www.hrw.org/asia/indonesia
To view the 2013 Human Rights Watch report “In Religion’s Name: Abuses against Religious Minorities in Indonesia,” please visit:http://www.hrw.org/reports/2013/02/28/religion-s-name
To view a 2013 video on violence against religious minorities in Indonesia, please visit:http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BJbnT9H3D_U
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1) Papua Has Most Child Laborers in Indonesia
1) Papua Has Most Child Laborers in Indonesia |
2) The Challenge of the MSG Delegation Visit to Jakarta & Papua |
3) ‘The Black Islands’ from Bohane’s lens
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Children of Asmat Village, East Mimika Dostrict, Papua. ANTARA/Fanny Octavianus TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The National Commission for Child Protection has released a data concerning children for the first semester of 2013. The commission secretary general Samsul Ridwan said the number of child laborer has reached 4.7 million children. "Mostly in Papua. Child laborers covered 34.7 percent of the total laborers (there)," said Samsul on yesterday, July 18. The second position was taken by North Sulawesi with 20.46 percent of child laborers, and followed by West Sulawesi at 19.82 percent of child laborers. Based on location and the total number, about 1.1 million children work in the city area while the remaining 2.3 million work in villages. For comparison, the data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) recorded 1.7 million child laborers consisting of 674,000 children are aged below 13. As many as 321,000 aged between 13 and 14, and 760,000 aged between 15 and 17. Indonesia has set a target to be free of child laborers by 2020. TIKA PRIMANDARI ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1307/S00129/the-challenge-of-the-msg-delegation-visit-to-jakarta-papua.htm2) The Challenge of the MSG Delegation Visit to Jakarta & Papua |
The Challenge of the MSG Delegation Visit to Jakarta and Papua
By Selpius Bobii | Abepura Prison
15 July 2013
The planned visit by a delegation of member Foreign Ministers of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) to Jakarta and West Papua arose as a decision of the MSG Forum held on 16 June 2013 in Noumea. The Foreign Ministers of Fiji, PNG, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, the Kanak and FLNKS are to visit Jakarta and West Papua within the coming six months, with the delegation to be led by the Fijian Foreign Minister Ratu Inoke Kabuabola.
The decision was also in response to an earlier invitation from the Indonesian Government made directly by the Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Legal, Political and Security Affairs (POLKAM) Djoko Suyanto on 3 June 2013 at the moment he met with the Fijian Prime Minister Bainimarama (who at that time the Chairperson of the MSG). The question begs why did Indonesia invite members of the MSG to Jakarta and Papua before the MSG Forum was even under way in June? Without a doubt in making that invitation the Republic of Indonesia (RI) had a particular motive (or motives) that undoubtedly was aimed at achieving the State’s own interests. But what exactly was the true motive behind that invitation?
Indeed Indonesia wanted to obstruct the process of the application for MSG membership by West Papua. In early 2013 the West Papuan National Coalition for Liberation (WPNCL) had submitted an application for full MSG membership for Papua however at the 19th MSG Summit the leaders supported a recommendation of Foreign Ministers to delay any final discussion and decision on the matter until a delegation of the MSG member Foreign Ministers visited Jakarta and Papua. If Indonesia’s primary motive in making that invitation before the Summit was to obstruct the processing of the application, then they succeeded in doing so.
The second possible motive behind the invitation is that there is potentially much to be gained by having the MSG Foreign Ministers come into Indonesia’s own domain. In particular during that visit RI will be working to develop a working partnership with the MSG on the issue of West Papua but no doubt they’ll be making much effort to build partnerships around a range of matters. The second step following the delay of the MSG’s decision is to deceive the MSG Delegation as to the truth of what’s going on inside Papua. They’ll be looking to do this in a number of ways including unilateral political rhetoric and the engineering of data regarding the situation inside West Papua.
Indonesia and its allies during these next months are going to be making significant ‘efforts’ to prevent West Papua being accepted as a member of the MSG. If the MSG Delegation becomes convinced through these ‘efforts’, that indigenous Papuans’ welfare will be better served by Papua remaining a part of the Republic of Indonesia then that will indeed be a fatal blow for Papua’s application. Clearly RI is going to be putting forward as evidence of their efforts, its packages of ‘Special Autonomy’ and more recently the new version ‘Special Autonomy Plus’. However the fact is that throughout the 12 years to date with Special Autonomy in place that indigenous Papuans have suffered from in fact a continued increase in the frequency of human rights violations as well as from discrimination, marginalization, injustice and being made a minority in their ancestors land. All of which are now leading towards a slowly moving genocide against the ethnic West Papuan race. Papuans have no illusions that there’ll be any positive difference under the new Special Autonomy Plus regulations as the characteristics of the Republic of Indonesia (RI) are not about to change and neither is Indonesia’s attitude towards Papua of taking over and plundering the natural resources whilst ‘eradicating’ the land of its indigenous inhabitants. The reality is that Indonesia is a colonizer and as long as Papua remains part of Indonesia the people of Papua will never experience physical and spiritual peace and prosperity.
It’s going to be absolutely critical that the MSG Foreign Ministers Delegation in their visit to Jakarta and Papua, show extreme caution and a highly selective process in their acceptance of data and information given by the Indonesian Government and those groups that are pro-Indonesian. As that data and information will of course become the basis for determining whether West Papua’s application for MSG membership will be accepted or not. If it eventuates that Papua’s application is rejected by the MSG then there may be more bad news to come as it’s likely that in that case RI will be given permanent observer status at the MSG. It’s quite likely that RI was aiming to create a situation where they could control what data was provided to the MSG regarding Papua when they invited the MSG to visit.
. If we look very carefully and at depth at the situation, one can see that there is a major scenario being created by RI at present to break-down the strength of the democracy (both legally and politically based) that arose as a result of the Papuan National Congress III (the Congress) on 19 October 2011 in Abepura when the forum declared the return of the sovereign independence of the nation of Papua in the State of West Papua and as a legal basis of the highest form created the state of the Federal Republic of West Papua. The Indonesian Government has been most concerned since that time to ensure that the declaration of the restoration of the sovereign independence of the nation of Papua is not acknowledged by other nations of the world or by the MSG Forum. A situation which could ultimately lead to recognition of the same by the United Nations (UN). In anticipation of that possibility the State of Indonesia has undertaken whatever means possible since the Congress to break-down the Papuan community’s democratic, political and legal strength that resulted from the Congress and RI’s allies have been supported those efforts.
The recent announced delays in the MSG decision regarding Papuans membership application caused some blaming within Papuan activist circles. If RI and its allies succeed in preventing the nation of Papua becoming an official member of the MSG then this finger-pointing will no doubt become more serious and this will undoubtedly have destructive consequences for the Papuan Struggle. Whether indigenous Papuans are aware of it or not, we are now entering this major scenario created by RI and its allies intended to paralyze and incapacitate the political and legal strength of the Papuan democracy.
Some of the more common political maneuvers of RI that have been used by the State until this time against the people of Papua need to be stated in black and white, as its highly probably they’ll be used in some form or another during the upcoming visit of the MSG Delegation to Jakarta and West Papua. RI is highly skilled in engineering situations and whenever there are intended visits by human rights related groups or official foreign representatives to Papua, all hands and feet of the Indonesian State work together to create anarchy in the land of Papua. So that RI can allege that Papua is unsafe for foreign visitors and the world doesn’t question that. This tactic was seen recently with the planned visit by the UN Human Rights special Observer Hina Jilani. It’s so important for Papuans to be able to welcome in a customary way official foreign visitors and human rights of UN delegations; however Indonesia’s armed forces have never to date allowed that to occur. Rather Indonesia’s hands and feet on the ground in Papua create a range of incidents to prevent those visits going ahead. If as the time draws near for the MSG Delegation to visit Papua, RI yet again creates a situation stating they can’t allow the visit to go ahead due to security risks in Papua, then the MSG Delegation will be forced to use other means to meet with and receive official reports from the representatives of the different components of the nation of West Papua.
RI is also an expert at applying tactics so as to ensure there is absolutely no opportunity for a delegation of foreigners visiting Papua to meet with the different components of the community that struggle for liberation of Papua from the colonial domination of RI. A recent example of this was seen with the intended visit of the American Congressman Eni Faleomavaega to Biak and Manokwari in November 2007.
Having become accustomed to these common practices of RI, the Papuan community is most concerned what similar occurrence is likely to be seen at the time of the visit by the MSG Foreign Ministers Delegation to West Papua. It’s highly likely that the Indonesian armed forces will act to prevent the Delegation being able to access the different components of the nation of Papua who until now have struggled for the independence of West Papua. It is probable that RI will once again create a scenario at that time to ensure that the MSG Delegation only meets with the Governor and Indonesian appointed provincial government level assemblies - Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Papua(DPRP) and Majelis Rakyat Papua(MRP) - those groups and organizations that are pro- Indonesian and certain pro-Indonesian churches.
Obviously if the MSG Delegation only meets with those who are pro-Indonesian then of course they will accordingly only receive data and information that will suggest that all is just fine in Papua; pro-Indonesian voices will convey that any problems in Papua have already been overcome and that RI is now focusing on the next step of welfare development in the region. This was precisely what occurred when the Netherlands Ambassador for Indonesia visited on 3 July 2013. So in order to obtain balanced and accurate information regardless of what the situation is like, we dearly hope that the members of the MSG Delegation will make every effort possible to meet with the different components of the Papuan community that are pro-Papuan Independence and also to meet with Papuan Freedom Political Detainees who are incarcerated in the Indonesian Colonial Prison.
The other ‘special skill’ of RI in manipulating and engineering situations is that they are absolute masters at political rhetoric and seducing and persuading. Whether with financial offers , offers of expensive objects or sexual favors. Of course Papua’s most bitter memory of these tactics was in 1969 when RI took the chosen 1026 Papuans who would vote to determine the fate of Papua (in representation for more than 800,000 Papuans)were taken to Java where they stayed in luxury hotels and were provided with sexual services then later given handsome sums of money and objects. These well known practices of RI are to mention of course just a few that the nation of Papua and even foreigners who visit Papua have seen on endless occasions.
Indeed the MSG Delegation is going to face a really onerous challenge when it visits Jakarta and Papua in the very near future to get a first-hand idea of the situation in Papua. The points provided above are intended as a pre-warning of what is likely to occur during that visit and it’s hoped will assist the MSG Delegation in comprehending the real meaning of the Indonesian armed forces at that time. It is also hoped that these points might also benefit visitors of other nations or UN delegations who may visit West Papua into the future.
For the attention of all components of the nation of Papua wherever you may be, please let this be an early warning for us all so that we don’t become complacent with that which was achieved at the 19th Summit of the MSG in Noumea. As the matter of the membership of West Papua in the MSG is still undecided and will not be decided until after the MSG Delegation visits Jakarta and Papua sometime within this coming 6 months. Let us consolidate and unite and start at this very time to take real steps to bring about Internal Political Consensus for the nation of West Papua, so that we’re able to establish our membership at MSG and in doing so stand on solid ground. So that the world hears us as one voice, with one goal being the liberation of West Papua.
To the international community in solidarity with Papua throughout the world, please we ask you to remember your critical role at this time and our need for your help in supporting and strengthening the members and forum of the MSG. So that they individually and together are able to maintain their commitment in urging for the process of self-determination for the nation of Papua.
ENDS
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3) ‘The Black Islands’ from Bohane’s lens
Bohane: ‘The Black Islands’ is born.
Almost two decades of photo journalism capturing thousands of pictures in hot spots and wars in Melanesia and Asia by well-respected Australian photo journalist, Ben Bohane, has culminated in the first glossy-page book of its kind for the Region, ‘The Black Islands’.
Now on sale at Fair Trades Store next to Top Shots and The Pandanus Shop next to ANZ Bank for Vt9, 000 per book, the publication is going to make a place of its own on the shelves of both private as well as public libraries as the brilliant as well as haunting pictures tell their own stories to persuade the viewer to turn the next page.
Bohane, 43, started out as a photo journalist in Australia. His first foreign assignment was five years in Asia; learning the craft by covering the war in Burma, Cambodia and Afghanistan.
“That was my university if you like, learning on the job in pretty tough places,” he said.
“That was why on my first assignment in the Pacific, I was running the naval blockade coming through from the back door (from the Solomons) to Bougainville on a speed boat in the middle of the night, landing on an occupied beach with gun shots going off and that was my welcome to the Pacific,” he remembered with a smile.
How did he negotiate his way through the blockade? Bohane made contact with the BRA representative in Australia and after some meetings and coded messages to let the BRA know that he was going through, followed by interesting meetings at night in the Western Solomon Islands with various contacts to help arrange the trip for him to run the blockade, he recalled, “I thought it was important that here was a conflict going on at Australia’s doorstep that nobody was really covering”.
Asked how he was able to convince the rebels to help him when there was a feeling that Australia was in a way funding the war against the BRA, he said, “Look I was completely dependent on them for my security and everything. All I could say was that my job as a photo journalist was to come and document the situation and show a Bouganvillean perspective to this crisis because up until that point most of the coverage of the problem was from the PNG side.
“Nobody was really getting the Bouganivillean perspective. So sure, I was a little nervous especially after I had a hot landing in Bougainville. We had the PNG Defence Force there shooting at us so I realised that sure this is serious. I spent a month with the BRA and got through to meet Francis Ona.”
One of the reasons he stayed in the Region was to see the extent of that struggle with people using custom with a real desire for self-determination.
“Their level of self-sufficiency really impressed me. The BRA, despite the blockade of the island, made themselves really self-sufficient planting their own food, using bush medicine and going back to custom and running their generators on pure coconut oil. It was in 1994 and the first time I saw that, I realised that war creates the mother of necessity,” he said.
Quizzed to dig deep to explain the motive for his book, he replied, “Part of my motivation was that ever since I was young, I was always interested in issues of social justice and I think to become a photo journalist to spend your life by documenting conflict, by documenting suffering wherever it exists is not an easy thing to do. But if you stand for justice and if you think it is important that a wider community understands the sufferings going on of other people when there is not much media coverage, then I felt a responsibility to cover those conflicts, to be there to be witness so that one day it appears in the newspapers and can influence policy makers.
“Governments can say this didn’t happen and I can say this is the proof. This was a massacre, these people are suffering and here is the evidence especially in places like East Timor and I was there in the first month of the liberation of East Timor and it was horrific, there were bodies everywhere, decapitated, the whole province was on fire. Everything was destroyed. You know the UN and the Indonesians were trying to play it down by saying maybe a couple of people have been killed in the post ballot period.
“In fact there were thousands of people who were killed by pro-Jakarta militias. So for those of us who were there during the first week, we went out and documented the massacres and the destructions that happened. I was working for Asia Week Magazine and others at the time but many of our photos wound up with the UN Serious Crimes Unit as evidence of what has happened.”
Until now Bohane has always seen his role as being there to be witness to the great issues confronting us in this Region and the great struggle moments and to cover the conflict and suffering going on when most people don’t want to acknowledge it or pretend it is not happening.
But Bohane was not thinking about a book or an exhibition while covering those hot spots. As a photo journalist at the time, his motivation was to get the stories into the media and main stream media hoping that it would influence people’s perceptions and policy makers so that they could understand the reality of what was going on in a conflict like Bougainville or currently in West Papua which does not get much media coverage.
Before doing the book he had to ask himself if he had something to offer the wider public and if he had enough material to give to the public because a book lasts forever.
“The question came to me three or four years ago when I had my first big photographic retrospective at the Australian Centre of Photography in Sydney.
“The question came to me three or four years ago when I had my first big photographic retrospective at the Australian Centre of Photography in Sydney.
“At that time, I really had to start thinking about editing fifteen years of work involving thousands and thousands of pictures into a small number of 100 to 120 photos. So after the exhibition, so many people said, ‘Where’s the book?’ you know. I replied that I have not thought about it but now that I have done this edit and photo exhibition, I am going to work towards putting that edit together into a book,” he said.
But all along he said he was always interested in the Pacific as an Australian photo journalist and he could not understand why he should be covering the Middle East and all those far away hot spots which were already well covered when no one was covering the Pacific Islands on Australia’s own door step.
After five years in Asia he returned to Australia and heard about Bougainville. Bohane said at the time people were saying, “This is Australia’s secret war”. Even though Australia was neutral, it was helping Papua New Guinea on one level.
But no one had documented the BRA’s side of the conflict.
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1) Australia Donates Military Planes
1) Australia Donates Military Planes
2) Two Killed in an attack in Mulia, Puncak Jaya Regency.
3) Numbers don't lie: PNG solution flawed
4) Freeport Indonesia Union Eyes Pay Deal by End of July
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1) Australia Donates Military Planes
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro and Australian Ambassador Greg Moriarty signed a deal on military planes donation as Australia plans to send four Hercules C-130 to Indonesia.
"A plane is already set to be sent," said Purnomo. As for the remaining three, the Australian government will have them repaired before having it sent to Indonesia. "The planes will be sent between October 2013 and December 2014," the Minister stated.
The plane's repairs and delivery costs AUS$ 63 million, an agreed amount of deal set between the Indonesia Defense Ministry and Australian defense contractor, Qantas Defence Services (QDS).
Further cooperation will discuss the negotiation over purchasing five Hercules C-138 planes. Minister Purnomo also added that Indonesia plans to send some pilots for training in Australia.
FAIZ NASHRILLAH
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2) Two Killed in an attack in Mulia, Puncak Jaya Regency.
Two armed groups entered Mulia and attacked the TNI post on Friday afternoon 19 July.
Some weapons were taken before they attackers fled into the bush.
First reports indicate two of the attackers were killed.
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By the numbers, shifting the asylum seeker problem to Papua New Guinea simply fails to add up.
The nation already has a substantial headache with refugees – about 9000 people have fled across the border from Indonesian West Papua and remain, in the cold parlance of the United Nations, ''in need of durable solutions''.
By agreeing to shoulder more of the burden of Australia's asylum arrivals, PNG has multiplied a series of sharp domestic challenges.
Australia has also traded places as the dependent country in the relationship, relying on Port Morseby's good will and lessening Canberra's sway when offering advice.
Law and order is clearly one of the most pressing demands confronting the nation of 7 million, a point Prime Minister Kevin Rudd acknowledged before his flying visit earlier in the week that set in train this latest announcement.
A woman was stripped, tortured, doused in petrol and burnt to death in February after villagers in the highlands branded her a witch.
The murder rate in PNG is 13-times that in Australia – and closer to strife-torn Sierra Leone, according to most recent World Health Organisation figures – and the government's response has been retrograde threats to impose the death penalty.
Corruption is also rife. The respected monitoring group Transparency International ranking PNG a lowly 150 out of 176 countries surveyed.
Cash is flooding the economy, with a resources boom in natural gas expected to leap by a massive 25 per cent in 2015, but with it the very real risk this one-time opportunity will be squandered.
Politically, PNG has stumbled and long-term investment is often secondary to short-term gain.
In what amounted to a parliamentary coup in December 2011, Peter O'Neill defied a high court ruling he had acted improperly by removing the former prime minister Sir Michael Somare while the latter was suffering a life-threatening illness.
A dangerous stand-off resulted where for a short time PNG had two prime ministers, two governors-general and two police chiefs.
An election last year cemented O'Neill in office, but he was spared any rebuke for his role in the nation's instability after the prime minister Julia Gillard decided to again embrace the ''Pacific solution''.
The expansion of asylum seeker processing in the country comes despite the significant caveats PNG has put on the refugees convention, but now insists these will not apply to people sent from Christmas Island.
Even so these reservations have drawn UN criticism, along with a section of the PNG migration act that allows the Foreign Minister "to determine a non-citizen to be a refugee" without any details on how such determination is made.
The UN concluded in its most recent periodic review, ''Currently, national legislation does not provide an adequate framework to deal with asylum-seekers and refugees in PNG.''
Kevin Rudd has decided otherwise.
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4) Freeport Indonesia Union Eyes Pay Deal by End of July
July 19, 2013
Reuters
photo: m.rtilive.pk
Workers at the Indonesian unit of Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc expect to reach an agreement over pay in less than two weeks, a union official said on Friday, cutting the risk of further disruption at the world's second-biggest copper mine after a deadly accident two months ago.
Freeport halted operations at the copper and gold mine in remote West Papua on May 15, a day after a training area in a tunnel caved in, killing 28 people.
Although the mine has since resumed operations, planned pay talks that began on May 13 were suspended on May 16, before being resumed in late June.
"We expect there will be a pay agreement between the union and Freeport Indonesia management before August so that the Muslim workers will have certainty for their pay before Eid al- Fitr," Papua-based union official Virgo Solossa told Reuters by telephone.
Freeport Indonesia could not be reached for immediate comment.
Relations between Freeport and the union have been strained in recent years following a three-month strike in late 2011 as well as a series of minor spats.
In June, trade union workers called off a planned strike after last-minute talks brokered a deal when they sent a letter to the Freeport management demanding five senior Indonesian employees be suspended after May's accident.
Freeport employs about 24,000 workers, of which three-quarters belong to the union.
The 2011 pay deal is due to end on Sept. 30, and talks had been expected to last up to 60 days.
"We hope that the pay talks can be wrapped up as soon as possible and within the first 30 days period and we don't need to prolong it to another 30 days," Solossa added.
Up for discussion are workers' wages, benefits, rights, obligations and pensions, although the exact pay demand is unknown.
July 19, 2013
Reuters
photo: m.rtilive.pk
Workers at the Indonesian unit of Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc expect to reach an agreement over pay in less than two weeks, a union official said on Friday, cutting the risk of further disruption at the world's second-biggest copper mine after a deadly accident two months ago.
Freeport halted operations at the copper and gold mine in remote West Papua on May 15, a day after a training area in a tunnel caved in, killing 28 people.
Although the mine has since resumed operations, planned pay talks that began on May 13 were suspended on May 16, before being resumed in late June.
"We expect there will be a pay agreement between the union and Freeport Indonesia management before August so that the Muslim workers will have certainty for their pay before Eid al- Fitr," Papua-based union official Virgo Solossa told Reuters by telephone.
Freeport Indonesia could not be reached for immediate comment.
Relations between Freeport and the union have been strained in recent years following a three-month strike in late 2011 as well as a series of minor spats.
In June, trade union workers called off a planned strike after last-minute talks brokered a deal when they sent a letter to the Freeport management demanding five senior Indonesian employees be suspended after May's accident.
Freeport employs about 24,000 workers, of which three-quarters belong to the union.
The 2011 pay deal is due to end on Sept. 30, and talks had been expected to last up to 60 days.
"We hope that the pay talks can be wrapped up as soon as possible and within the first 30 days period and we don't need to prolong it to another 30 days," Solossa added.
Up for discussion are workers' wages, benefits, rights, obligations and pensions, although the exact pay demand is unknown.
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1) Shanty camp fears influx
1) Shanty camp fears influx
2) New Indonesian law expected to hit NGOs strongly in West Papua
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Life of poverty and uncertainty: A kitchen at Camp Rainbow, on Port Moresby's outskirts. Photo: Rory Callinan
The toilet is a stinking open pit haunted by malaria mosquitoes. The showers are a couple of old curtains strung up on a wooden platform with a bucket. The kitchen's a kerosene drum cut in half while the view is of a stagnant open drain that threatens to wash away the ramshackle tin and tarpaulin shanties teetering on its banks.
Welcome to Camp Rainbow, Papua New Guinea's response to its own refugee problem.
About 180 people, many of whom fled Indonesian rule in West Papua, call the tiny camp on a disused government block on the outskirts of Port Moresby home.
On Sunday, they expressed concern about the news their adopted country was to house possibly hundreds of asylum seekers from the Middle East and speculated about how much help Papua New Guinea's government would really provide.
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They are angry that the Papua New Guinean government adopted the 1951 United Nations convention on refugees but did not adhere to key articles they say relate to the help their community needs.
''I just think the PNG government is only interested in getting financial aid from Australia and the other political and economic advantages,'' said Freddy Waromi, a representative of the group.
The former freedom fighter says he and his group of refugees have been fighting for decades to receive proper care from the government but without success.
''They don't provide land or housing or employment or proper education and proper healthcare,'' he said.
As he walked around the squalid camp and his tiny, one-room, rickety shack, Mr Waromi told how he and his people had been uprooted on numerous occasions over the past eight years. He said that in 2006, after they were evicted from one settlement, the group camped in front of a UN building in Port Moresby. They were moved the following year to a local police station and then to a park and, finally, in 2010, the government told them to settle at their current location.
He said Australian politicians who visited the camp in 2010 were shocked. ''One said 'you shouldn't live like this'.''
Many residents in the shanties have sympathy for asylum seekers trying to get to Australia but believe they should be helped first.
Phillip Maiyeh, who is married to a West Papuan and lives in the settlement, said: ''Why bring in new refugees when we have Melanesian refugees here who need the help?''
Nauru rioters charged over ruins
Dozens have been charged after rioting asylum seekers left the Nauru immigration detention centre in ruins.
An Immigration Department spokeswoman said only the kitchen and recreation facility were still standing after accommodation blocks and other buildings were burnt to the ground.
The blocks, which can house up to 616 people, offices, the central dining room and health centre were all destroyed when peaceful protests turned violent on Friday.
The spokeswoman said 125 of those allegedly involved were in jail and about 58 had been charged by Nauru police. Tents would be erected on the site planned for a new detention centre, she said.
Immigration Minister Tony Burke said on Sunday he was waiting for reports on the damage.
AAP
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2) New Indonesian law expected to hit NGOs strongly in West Papua
Posted at 17:22 on 21 July, 2013 UTC
Human Rights Watch has voiced alarm at a new law in Indonesia that gives the government wide powers to shut down NGOs in West Papua.
The Law on Mass Organisations imposes a broad range of obligations and prohibitions on NGO activities, and severe limitations on freedom of expression and association.
In West Papua, tight restrictions are already maintained on civil society as well as freedom of expression and association.
The deputy director of the Asia division of HRW, Phil Robertson, says the new law requires all NGOs to apply through the Home Affairs Ministry for permission to operate, making it easier to prevent NGOs working in the region.
“The way that these regulations have been brought out through this law. They are so broad and so big that the government of Indonesia can essentially go after anyone they want and make up the reason afterwards. It’s a very dangerous law. It’s one that isn’t neccessary and frankly it’s one that harks back to a past era of restrictions under former President Suharto.”
Phil Robertson.
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1) Recalibrating Jakarta’s Papua diplomacy
1) Recalibrating Jakarta’s Papua diplomacy
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http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/07/22/recalibrating-jakarta-s-papua-diplomacy.html
1) Recalibrating Jakarta’s Papua diplomacy
Pierre Marthinus, Jakarta | Opinion | Mon, July 22 2013, 10:54 AMAlthough Papua accounts for 22 percent of Indonesia’s land mass, the amount of diplomatic efforts, resources and expertise allocated to the region hardly reflects its massive size.
Focusing on Jakarta’s previous lack of sustained attention and haphazard manner in handling the Papua issue on the international stage, one might be tempted to conclude that Papua is the size of Bekasi.
However, Jakarta’s latest dealing with the ongoing application of West Papua National Coalition for Liberation (WPNCL) for membership in the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) suggests that our diplomatic reflexes might be improving. An Indonesian high-level delegation, consisting of prominent Papuan public figures, was sent to the 19th MSG Leaders’ Summit in Noumea, New Caledonia, to block the WPNCL
application for membership.
In the end, the regional grouping had decided to defer the membership application for a six months period in which a ministerial visit will be conducted to fulfill Jakarta’s invitation.
Two core counter-arguments had been leveled against the WPNCL membership application. First, the organization is seen as lacking in legitimacy and therefore unable to represent the “whole” of Papua. Unfortunately, 75 letters of support carries little weight in an increasingly fragmented independence movement with dwindling support from the non-indigenous population of Papua.
Second, the organization’s claims of conditions in Papua are seen as overly exaggerated — hence Jakarta’s invitation for the group’s foreign ministers to look into the situation themselves. The pro-independence movement, however, accuse Jakarta’s invitation as a typical “red carpet theatrical” doctored to downplay and conceal the extent of abuses towards and poverty among the indigenous population of its Papuan provinces.
Although an Australian media broadcast that the membership application “is still alive”, it is perhaps more accurate to say that it is now dangling on life-support for the next six months. The pro-independence movement continues to disseminate information that their application was “accepted” or “received” by the MSG — often failing to mention that it has not yet been approved of.
Some important general points should be noted ahead of the MSG ministerial visit to Jakarta and Papua.
First, Jakarta should not repeat its poor handling of the Oxford debacle. The previous diplomatic bashing of the UK ambassador was an obvious overkill and a face saving effort at best. Understandably, it was much more convenient than admitting a foreign ministry, fully supported by state budget with staff numbering in the thousands, had been outmaneuvered by one person with an internet connection, relying on donations and volunteer work, operating from a 3 by 3 meter attic office in a shabbier part of Oxford (The Telegraph, June 12, 2013).
Unlike the UK, some countries within the MSG, their parliaments, public figures and national leaders actually supports Papuan “self-determination” — in all sense of the word — and had long been the home base for pro-independence Papuan activists.
Second, diplomatic efforts on Papua and its prioritization should be more sustainable — and institutionalized if possible — instead of being conducted in a somewhat ad-hoc “fire brigade” approach.
Despite their stellar performance, the Indonesian delegation sent to the MSG summit are not professional diplomats themselves and all of them have daily tasks at hand ranging from running state ministries to managing their respective provinces.
Members of the delegation are obviously individuals who unconditionally hold Papua close to their hearts and would never reject whenever asked to bridge differences between Jakarta and the multitude of dissenting voices.
However, it is much better to trim our diplomatic lawns regularly than to continually use these individuals as human shields every time a crisis develops itself. Furthermore, taking into consideration the upcoming 2014 elections, it is in Jakarta’s best interest to ensure that its diplomatic approach on Papua maintains consistency instead of being dictated by the mood swings of its political elites.
Third, it is important for the foreign ministry not only to have a specialized section on the issue but also to allocate sufficient resource and expertise to it. Currently, different Papua “desks” scattered throughout many state institutions contribute little constructive insights and often inject their biases as well as nationalist overtones into much of the information that passes through them. Stories of Free Papua Movement (OPM) inhumane treatment of kidnapping victims and unarmed migrants are all too common.
Similarly, pro-independence activists continue to excessively use the most graphical depictions of their slain comrades in any and all available opportunities. Although I agree that “no one should censor themselves to entertain ignorance”, both sides should refrain from
dehumanizing and criminalizing each other while romanticizing their own cause.
Unfortunately, their audiences are often left terrified if not induced with second-hand trauma. These counterproductive practices need to stop and the foreign ministry is
the best institution to spearhead the effort.
Lastly, Jakarta should recalibrate its engagement with the South Pacific outside of Australia, a region that has long been the backwater of Indonesia’s diplomacy. This does not mean that ASEAN is any less important. It simply means that diplomatic ventures are a lot like investments — it is always better to have a well-diversified portfolio._____________________Different Papua “desks” scattered throughout many state institutions contribute little constructive insights and often inject their biases__________________________
The writer is executive director of the Marthinus Academy, program director of the Papua Center at the University of Indonesia, and author of Solving Papuan Grievances (University of Indonesia Press, 2012).
Focusing on Jakarta’s previous lack of sustained attention and haphazard manner in handling the Papua issue on the international stage, one might be tempted to conclude that Papua is the size of Bekasi.
However, Jakarta’s latest dealing with the ongoing application of West Papua National Coalition for Liberation (WPNCL) for membership in the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) suggests that our diplomatic reflexes might be improving. An Indonesian high-level delegation, consisting of prominent Papuan public figures, was sent to the 19th MSG Leaders’ Summit in Noumea, New Caledonia, to block the WPNCL
application for membership.
In the end, the regional grouping had decided to defer the membership application for a six months period in which a ministerial visit will be conducted to fulfill Jakarta’s invitation.
Two core counter-arguments had been leveled against the WPNCL membership application. First, the organization is seen as lacking in legitimacy and therefore unable to represent the “whole” of Papua. Unfortunately, 75 letters of support carries little weight in an increasingly fragmented independence movement with dwindling support from the non-indigenous population of Papua.
Second, the organization’s claims of conditions in Papua are seen as overly exaggerated — hence Jakarta’s invitation for the group’s foreign ministers to look into the situation themselves. The pro-independence movement, however, accuse Jakarta’s invitation as a typical “red carpet theatrical” doctored to downplay and conceal the extent of abuses towards and poverty among the indigenous population of its Papuan provinces.
Although an Australian media broadcast that the membership application “is still alive”, it is perhaps more accurate to say that it is now dangling on life-support for the next six months. The pro-independence movement continues to disseminate information that their application was “accepted” or “received” by the MSG — often failing to mention that it has not yet been approved of.
Some important general points should be noted ahead of the MSG ministerial visit to Jakarta and Papua.
First, Jakarta should not repeat its poor handling of the Oxford debacle. The previous diplomatic bashing of the UK ambassador was an obvious overkill and a face saving effort at best. Understandably, it was much more convenient than admitting a foreign ministry, fully supported by state budget with staff numbering in the thousands, had been outmaneuvered by one person with an internet connection, relying on donations and volunteer work, operating from a 3 by 3 meter attic office in a shabbier part of Oxford (The Telegraph, June 12, 2013).
Unlike the UK, some countries within the MSG, their parliaments, public figures and national leaders actually supports Papuan “self-determination” — in all sense of the word — and had long been the home base for pro-independence Papuan activists.
Second, diplomatic efforts on Papua and its prioritization should be more sustainable — and institutionalized if possible — instead of being conducted in a somewhat ad-hoc “fire brigade” approach.
Despite their stellar performance, the Indonesian delegation sent to the MSG summit are not professional diplomats themselves and all of them have daily tasks at hand ranging from running state ministries to managing their respective provinces.
Members of the delegation are obviously individuals who unconditionally hold Papua close to their hearts and would never reject whenever asked to bridge differences between Jakarta and the multitude of dissenting voices.
However, it is much better to trim our diplomatic lawns regularly than to continually use these individuals as human shields every time a crisis develops itself. Furthermore, taking into consideration the upcoming 2014 elections, it is in Jakarta’s best interest to ensure that its diplomatic approach on Papua maintains consistency instead of being dictated by the mood swings of its political elites.
Third, it is important for the foreign ministry not only to have a specialized section on the issue but also to allocate sufficient resource and expertise to it. Currently, different Papua “desks” scattered throughout many state institutions contribute little constructive insights and often inject their biases as well as nationalist overtones into much of the information that passes through them. Stories of Free Papua Movement (OPM) inhumane treatment of kidnapping victims and unarmed migrants are all too common.
Similarly, pro-independence activists continue to excessively use the most graphical depictions of their slain comrades in any and all available opportunities. Although I agree that “no one should censor themselves to entertain ignorance”, both sides should refrain from
dehumanizing and criminalizing each other while romanticizing their own cause.
Unfortunately, their audiences are often left terrified if not induced with second-hand trauma. These counterproductive practices need to stop and the foreign ministry is
the best institution to spearhead the effort.
Lastly, Jakarta should recalibrate its engagement with the South Pacific outside of Australia, a region that has long been the backwater of Indonesia’s diplomacy. This does not mean that ASEAN is any less important. It simply means that diplomatic ventures are a lot like investments — it is always better to have a well-diversified portfolio.
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http://www.insideindonesia.org/weekly-articles/no-take-zones
2) No-take zones
In West Papua province’s Raja Ampat islands, a local fisheries conservation initiative is setting a global standard
Bobby Anderson
Freeing shovelnosed ray Andy Miners
Local adat (traditional law) chiefs recall a time when the sea around Batbitim Island in southeastern Raja Ampat was once an Eden, before boats from outside began to strip the stocks bare. Raja Ampat hosts more varieties of hard and soft coral than any other area on earth. The colours of the reefs resemble old corner shops selling confectioners penny candy of every colour and gloss. The diversity of reef and pelagic fishes on these reefs is unrivalled: shoals and schools intermingle and occasionally explode in panic at the arrival of a pack of hunting devil rays or a grey reef shark.
Even through the 1980s and 1990s, sharks were common in the waters of southeast Misool: local fishers had no use for them, preferring more marketable catches. But by the mid-2000s, that had changed. Rising incomes in China had led to dramatic increases in the demand for shark fin, which—although absent of taste and nutritional value—are a status symbol at the banquets of the nouveau riche. Soon longliners from across the archipelago, as well as from China and Taiwan, descended upon Raja Ampat, trailing to 2000 hooks per line.
The onslaught also involved locals. The northern beach of Raja Ampat’s Batbitim Island became host to a seasonal shark-finning camp, leaving the sand scattered with desiccated cartilage from the sharks and rays caught to feed a voracious worldwide market in fins. The bodies, which have little commercial value, were left on beaches or sunk in the open water, often when the sharks were still alive.
The devastation that this demand has wreaked across Raja Ampat cannot be estimated, as no baseline data exists. But one thing is certain: where they had once been abundant, there were no more sharks. Only a few years later, however, the sharks have returned. A remarkable collaboration between the local community and a committed group of foreign divers has established a no-take zone to recover what had been lost.
Pushing for change
The no-take zone was the brainchild of Andy Miners, a dive guide from Cornwall, committed conservationist and amateur marine biologist. Having been confronted by the carnage on Batbitim Island’s north beach, Miners went on a mission to establish a resort and dive centre to support a no-take zone that would allow for the re-stocking of depleted fish populations in southern Raja Ampat. Having convinced Marit Maritson, Thorben Nieman and Mark Pearce of his idea, the four raised capital from friends in the wider diving community.
The centre’s approach to sustainability relates to human resources, the institutionalisation of conservation practices and finances. Misool Eco Resort earns income from divers and its foundation, Baseftin, and manages conservation activities in the no-take zone and the ranger patrols protect it. All are about 70 per cent locally staffed. In the time between identifying young trainees and turning them into experienced dive guides, the operation is filling the gap with experienced guides from Manado.
The institutionalisation of conservation practice is a more complicated issue. Across Indonesia, conservation is something others profit from. Exploitation of resources pays a pittance, but conservation hardly pays at all, with much of the profits from conservation concentrated in the hands of local tour operators. In Misool, the centre’s human resources provides locals with a stake in maintaining these activities and the increased catch on the fringes of the zone has amply demonstrated a tangible value for others in the community.
Local buy-in was vital to make the concept work. Miners negotiated with southeastern Misool’s adat leaders for months before the no-take zone was finally agreed upon. The leaders were keenly interested in the idea. They were not profiting from the trade in sharks: they were intimidated by the longliners but felt powerless to stop them. They, in turn, convinced their communities of the benefits of the plan.
Buy-in from locals was vital for the success of the no-take zone for cultural reasons, but also to meet legal requirements. Indonesian law recognises the exclusive ownership of marine zones by traditional ‘owners’: in this case, the local villages. Agreement by the adat leadership of the nearest inhabited islands and their constituencies was thus key to the establishment of the no-take zone and its boundaries. Once adat leaders and their communities aligned, the district and provincial fisheries departments approved the agreement.
Patrolling the zone
The establishment of the no-take zone led to the expulsion of shark-finning camps and the regulation of boats in the area: boats were allowed to transit the no-take zone, but under no circumstances could they fish there. Local rangers patrol in donated boats with the blessing of the local security actors, who often actively assist them. When fishing boats are seized, they are impounded and the catches are jettisoned into the water. The boats are held until a fine is paid.
The patrol have chased off numerous large long liners; the most dramatic capture so far has been two fishing boats from Sulawesi, their roofs covered with drying fins. The boats were caught just after the nets were submerged, and when the patrol boarded the boats and dragged the nets from the water, entangled sharks were cut free and saved. More common are the seizures of local boats from Sorong: dozens a month have been driven off, and as word of the vigilance of the patrols spread, the number of seizures has declined to an average of two per month.
The most difficult seizures are the boats from villages that traditionally fished the zone before the adat leaders decided otherwise. Such challenges to adat authority from impetuous young men seeking to establish their own power are common. But the law is applied to all. In the beginning, the patrols took a ‘soft’ approach to local infringements. Warnings were accompanied by constant socialisation of the reasons behind the no-take zone – food security for future generations. Fines were not imposed, but catches were confiscated. Meetings were then held in the offenders’ villages, when the elders would discuss the positive impact of the zone. In the last five years, violations have fallen by 90 per cent.
The patrols are now paid by the profits from the resort and from donations: three dedicated boats and a team of local rangers, most of them ex-shark fishermen, operate from three ranger bases. They coordinate patrols with the resort and with local villages that report boats in the area. In 2010 the zone was expanded eastward to include Daram Island, doubling the size of the zone, and it is now larger than the land and sea area of Singapore.
Rejuvenation
Just as the impact of longlining in Raja Ampat cannot be quantified, neither can the impact of the no-take zone. But it is clear to all. Simply diving the house reef off the Misool pier reveals every common reef species: snappers, a school of juvenile jacks, giant Malabar groupers, napoleon wrasses, bumphead parrotfish and the occasional great barracuda. Every dive site reveals these, as well as grey reef, whitetip, blacktip and wobbegong sharks, schools of barracudas and all manner of pelagics. Rare nocturnal epaulette sharks are no longer rare here. The channel that separates Batbitim from a neighbouring island was once renowned by locals for shovel-nosed rays, but they were systematically netted and finned. However, the population is growing. There are other rarities: blotched fantail rays, Sargassum frogfish, hammerhead, silvertip, and whale sharks.
Missool eco-resort Bobby Anderson
The protected cove on the north beach now hosts juvenile blacktip sharks learning to hunt, the cove is now a parturition area where mothers give birth. The northwest corner of the cove hosts a colony of mandarinfish, as well as endemic species such as flasher wrasse and a species of pygmy seahorse found nowhere else on earth. The famed marine zoologist Dr Gerald Allen has discovered numerous new species in the area, including a new stingray with a four-metre disk width. Until recently, only reef mantas were known to exist. However, in the last four years, scientists have determined that two species exist: Reef (alfredi) and Oceanic (birostris). A third species has possibly been identified. Reef mantas with wingspans up to five meters are found throughout Misool, but the real stars are the oceanic mantas, with wingspans up to nine metres.
One of Misool Baseftin’s conservation programs, the Misool Manta Project, studies the endemic and transitory ray populations of southern Raja Ampat, taking DNA samples, tagging mantas with radio tracking devices and photographing them. Radio receivers are moored at depths of 40 to 50 metres at strategic points inside and outside of the zone and are regularly collected, stripped of data, and re-anchored. This provides a fascinating map of these creatures as they move from station to station. So rich are the nutrients in the water that these receivers are completely encrusted by sponges, molluscs, tunicates, and marine algae within a few months. Only 30 per cent of the individual mantas have been seen more than once, and the resighting rate of the larger oceanics is just six per cent.
Infractions in the zone
The most effectively patrolled areas of the no-take zone are those that benefit from line-of-sight radio communication between the ranger stations and the ranger patrol boats. Locals constantly report suspect vessels and assist the patrols to protect their assets. The local fishermen benefit from the zone by fishing just beyond its borders, reaping the benefit from the expanded stocks that spill over into the surrounding fishing grounds. However, the fringes of the zone are still preyed upon. In Daram, on the far west of the islands, there is evidence of dynamite fishing. Devastated sections of hard coral on top of seamounts and blown out from walls to scatter on the sea floors below: gorgonian fans and soft corals ripped loose to drift along as they slowly die; an emperor angelfish with its eyes blown loose: wounded red snappers finning ineffectively in the shadows until the barracuda find and disassemble them.
This practice is still found across the archipelago. One boat from Daram threatened an unarmed Misool patrol boat with a bomb. That ship escaped. These villagers also prey on turtles. On Daram’s beaches we saw the drag marks of green turtles on sand as they climbed toward the tree-line to lay and bury their eggs, followed by the footprints of the men who followed those same trails and dug them up. Green, Hawksbill, and Leatherback turtles are all endangered, the Leatherbacks critically. When locals catch them, they are killed and eaten. North and south of the zone,only juvenile hammerheads are found, though fewer as the years go by.
This mass killing continues elsewhere: North Sulawesi’s Lembeh strait was once known for sharks and rays, but they were wiped out by a few longliners who stripped the strait of megafauna over a six-month period in the 1990s. It is now only known for small creatures on the black sand. A few years ago north of the Wakatobi Islands in Southeast Sulawesi, a hammerhead parturition site was found and annihilated in months. And in Bali’s Nusa Penida, pregnant threshers are being exterminated in a parturition area near Sampalan Beach. The pups, which have no commercial value, are left on the beaches to be eaten by stray dogs. In Ende, in Flores, slaughtering rays is the only growth industry. The Misool no-take zone is all the more incredible; that clichéd Eden that the adat chiefs remembered is returning.
Bobby Anderson (rubashov@yahoo.com) works on health, education and governance projects in Eastern Indonesia, and he travels frequently in the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua.
Inside Indonesia 112: Apr-Jun 2013
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1) Australia at risk of becoming an island as Pacific prospers
1) Australia at risk of becoming an island as Pacific prospers
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1) Australia at risk of becoming an island as Pacific prospers
- The Australian
- July 05, 2013
A great sweep of ocean from India to the eastern shores of California is the strategic big picture, we are told.
But while Australian policymakers debate every chess move by China, India and the US a more urgent Indo-Pacific shift, this time Indonesia versus the Pacific, is happening in two areas not even named in the Australian defence white paper 2013: West Papua and Melanesia.
This is because West Papua remains the territory that dare not speak its name in Australian policy circles. By all means talk about democracy and human rights in faraway places like Syria and Burma, where Australia has little or no influence, or closer to home, hammering Fiji with an unproductive policy.
But it appears Australians can say nothing about atrocities happening on Australia's doorstep when Indonesia is involved. There is no way of putting this lightly: Australia continues to support Indonesian repression even as a growing body of international legal opinion labels Indonesian policy in West Papua a "slow moving genocide". This is not trivial.
Melanesia - the region encompassing Australia's nearest neighbours (Timor Leste, West Papua, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji and New Caledonia) - likewise is not even referenced by name in the defence white paper.
This is a telling omission, as it reflects Australian policy to deal with these countries bilaterally while not understanding the growing dynamic of sub-regionalism and the importance of the Melanesian Spearhead Group that holds these nations and peoples together and is increasingly setting common policy for them.
Two weeks ago in Noumea, the leaders of Melanesia gathered for the 25th anniversary celebrations of the establishment of the MSG. Australia, close neighbour and supposed regional power, was not represented at this important gathering.
The summit also marked the transition of chairmanship from Fiji's Frank Bainimarama to Victor Tutugoro, representing the Kanaky people of New Caledonia on behalf of the pro-independence FLNKS, the Kanak Socialist Front for National Liberation.
The MSG summit not only appointed a new chairman, but for the first time invited West Papuan delegates, who have applied for membership, as "special guests". Although the decision on membership for West Papua was deferred for six months pending a planned visit to the territory by a MSG special delegation, there is now strong momentum towards membership.
This year's official communique states that leaders "endorsed that the MSG fully supports the inalienable rights of the people of West Papua towards self-determination as provided for under the preamble of the MSG constitution" as well as "endorsed that the concerns of the MSG regarding the human rights violations and other forms of atrocities relating to the West Papuan people be raised with the government of Indonesia bilaterally and as a group". This could prompt a crisis of sorts in Australia's immediate region. Melanesian nations are moving away from both Australia and Indonesia, which prefer to keep the tragedy of West Papua under wraps.
Since the MSG's establishment in 1988, Canberra has not bothered to even apply for observer status, even as countries like China, Indonesia and Luxembourg are at the table.
Perhaps it wanted to wait until Bainimarama had left the stage as MSG chair, but the MSG summit further demonstrates how Australia has become strategically adrift from its own neighbours.
It continues to view the Pacific islands as small island states in need of aid and good governance, when it is more useful to view them now as large ocean states being courted by global powers, and comprising a significant bloc of UN votes.
Island nations want their culture appreciated, their sovereignty respected, more balanced trade and for their people not to have to jump through hoops of fire to get an Australian visa.
In West Papua, the fact that Indonesia has closed off this entire territory to all foreign media and NGOs including the Red Cross shows the extent to which Indonesia wishes to hide what it is doing there. It is a clumsy gesture, symbolic of another age.
Jakarta appears not to appreciate that successive Australian governments have never supported the West Papuans and lost much political capital in the Pacific in doing so. But Indonesia must realise this position is becoming increasingly untenable as the body count piles up and Indonesia shows no sign of ever implementing meaningful autonomy or reining in its military or the jihadis there.
As a result, Indonesia's hold over West Papua has lost its legitimacy as far as many Pacific island nations are concerned.
It is true that Indonesia has come a long way towards democracy and a free press since the fall of Suharto, but none of these progressive elements exist in West Papua, where even President SBY has no real influence over the military.
Yet the window for Indonesia to maintain control of the issue is fast closing. This is heading for the UN General Assembly, just as France is now faced with its Pacific territories like Tahiti being re-inscribed on the UN decolonisation list.
Modern multicultural Australia has forgotten the historic importance of the Pacific islands to Australia and needs its leaders to remind a new generation.
Barack Obama can declare himself a Pacific president, yet no Australian leader wants to claim our place in the region: former prime minister Julia Gillard was all about "the Asian Century", throwing away cheaply the opportunity to be a middle-power Pacific nation in the Pacific Century.
Step back from the US-China thing for now, that will play out over decades. More pressing is that Australia needs to better balance relations with Indonesia and Melanesia.
Australia's imperative is to embrace the Melanesian nations not as aid recipients and neighbours, but ultimately as family. It requires rhetoric, rolling out the red carpet and a new emphasis on soft-power diplomacy.
Australia will never be secure in Asia until it is secure and integrated with the island nations of the Pacific. It is time for Australian leaders to speak with vision and claim Australia's Pacific destiny. Applying to join the MSG would be a start.
Ben Bohane is communications director for the Pacific Institute of Public Policy in Port Vila, Vanuatu.
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Posted at 02:01 on 05 July, 2013 UTC
This weekend marks the 15th anniversary of the Biak massacre in West Papua, when scores of West Papuans were wounded, arrested or killed while calling for independence from Indonesia.
On July 6, 1998, in Biak Island’s main town, Indonesian military units launched a dawn attack on Papuans who had staged a peaceful demonstration over several days.
Some were shot on the spot while many others were taken onto Indonesian naval boats and thrown into the ocean before their mutilated bodies washed up on Biak’s shores over following days.
A political counsellor at the US Embassy in Jakarta at the time, Ed McWilliams, visited Biak a few days later and found an entire town traumatised.
“And we don’t know the number of people (who died) but we estimate certainly in the hundreds. The effort was made to try to try to simply determine how many were killed by counting the bodies that were floating up from having been thrown into the sea, but the Indonesian military authorities would not allow the people to collect the bodies as they came in on the shore.”
Ed McWilliams
To mark the anniversary, survivors and a team of international jurists are holding a citizens’ tribunal at the University of Sydney tomorrow.
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1) Rudd Reiterates Recognition of Indonesia’s Sovereignty Over Papua
1) Rudd Reiterates Recognition of Indonesia’s Sovereignty Over Papua
2) Australian PM: Indonesia is Important for Us
3) Stop Being Afraid of Dialogue between Indonesia and Papua
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http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/rudd-reiterates-recognition-of-indonesias-sovereignty-over-papua/
1) Rudd Reiterates Recognition of Indonesia’s Sovereignty Over Papua
Bogor, West Java. Visiting Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd reiterated his government’s recognition of Indonesia’s sovereignty over Papua on Friday.
“I would like to publicly reaffirm here, what successive Australian prime ministers have said in the past, that Australia recognizes, recognized in the past and will recognize in the future, the territorial integrity of the Republic of Indonesia that includes Papua,” Rudd said.
Speaking at a joint press conference at the Bogor Palace, Rudd also praised President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s “strong leadership” and the special autonomy package accorded for Papua’s development.
“I encourage him in this direction. I am sure, as Australian Prime Minister, I will do everything I can in supporting him in this important direction as well,” he said.
Rudd, who was on visit for the third annual Indonesia-Australia Leaders’ Meeting, said that Yudhoyono’s government had already achieved success in Aceh, where the government also granted an autonomy package after it agreed with separatists rebels there to end decades of conflict in August 2005.
He said that Australia wanted to work with the government here in a way that could be helpful “in making sure that we bring about a long-term, stable, prosperous and secure Papua that is part of the Republic of Indonesia.”
A joint communique issued after the meeting of the two leaders, said that they “reaffirmed the two countries’ continued adherence to the principles of respecting each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity as mandated in the Lombok Treaty.”
“I am certain that under the leadership of Prime Minister Rudd, the cooperation, partnership and friendship between the Republic of Indonesia and Australia can continue to be stepped up,” Yudhoyono said on the same occasion.
Yudhoyono said that he and Rudd shared the same commitment in seeking new opportunities to boost cooperation.The leaders, it said, were encouraged by the many “positive developments” in their bilateral relationship since the previous meeting in Darwin last year.
In the joint communique Yudhoyono and Rudd also encouraged the further promotion of bilateral trade and investment cooperation between Indonesia and Australia.
“Noting that the two countries have shared interest in the area of food security, both leaders agreed to further explore trade and investment cooperation in the agriculture sector, including in the beef and cattle industry,” it said.
Tensions had risen several times between Indonesia and Australia over the alleged maltreatment of cows here, leading to a cut in beef imports from Australia.
The Leaders also recognised the importance of the two countries’ wide-ranging cooperation in tackling regional and global challenges, particularly transnational crimes such as terrorism, cyber-crime, drugs, corruption and money-laundering.
On the issue of human trafficking and people smuggling, the two countries agreed to continue to develop a regional solution.
The regional solution, the communique said, should involve countries of origin, transit and destination and cover elements of prevention, early detection and protection.
The regional solution, the communique said, should involve countries of origin, transit and destination and cover elements of prevention, early detection and protection.
“They stressed the importance of avoiding unilateral actions which might jeopardize such a comprehensive regional approach and that may cause operational or other difficulties to any party,” the statement said.
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2) Australian PM: Indonesia is Important for Us
TEMPO.CO, Bogor – Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said that Indonesia plays an important role for Australia's interest. The two countries have agreed to establish a more intensive cooperation, particularly in economic sector.
"We have to cooperate more in economic sector," Rudd said after meeting President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in the Bogor Presidential Palace , West Java, Friday, July 5.
Rudd emphasized that Both Australia and Indonesia will gain benefit from beef trading. "It's good for Australian beef industry, it's good for Indonesian investors and good also for Indonesian consumers," he said.
He also addressed his concern on human smuggling to Australia. "This problem of people smuggling is a problem for our entire region, therefore the President's initiative is for all of us to work together, and I salute you Mr president, on your bold move," the Prime Minister stated.
In the meeting, Kevin Rudd also said that the Australian government fully recognize Indonesian's authority over Papua. "Australia wants to work with the government here in a way that could be helpful in making sure that we bring about a long-term, stable, prosperous and secure Papua that is a part of the Republic of Indonesia."
PRIHANDOKO
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From Tapol
3) Stop Being Afraid of Dialogue between Indonesia and Papua
Bintang Papua, 4 July 2013
Jayapura: The Dutch Government has been urged to support the idea of
dialogue between Jakarta and Papua to resolve the problem of Papua, as
has been suggested by the Papuan Peace Network.
'We call on the Indonesian Government and the Papuan people not to be
afraid of sitting down together and thinking about what needs to be
done to resolve the Papuan problem by means of dialogue between Jakarta
and Papua,' said Yan Douw, a Catholic Monk during a meeting with the
Dutch ambassador, Tjeer de Zwaan. He also had meetings with the chief of
police, community leaders, religious leaders and youth leaders in Jayapura.
He therefore called on the Netherlands, the United States and the United
Nations together with Indonesia to come together to discuss the Papuan
situation. 'If they fail to do so, they will share responsibility for
any Papuan blood that may be shed,' he said.
The representative of the Catholic Diocese said he cannot understand why
it was possible to resolve the conflict with Aceh by means of dialogue
but Indonesia has found it extremely difficult to respond to calls for a
dialogue between Jakarta and Papua.
The Chairman the Alliance of Traditional People, Lenis Kogoya said that
information being disseminated abroad about the question of Papua does
not reflect the reality in the Land of Papua. and he urged the Dutch
Government to make sure that it receives information from a variety of
sources.
The chairman of the Jayapura branch of the GKI (Gereja Christian
Indonesia) in Papua, Willem Itaar pointed out that the GKI was one of
the churches from the Netherlands and from Germany that brought the
Bible to the people of Papua which happened on 5 February 1855. One
hundred years later, in 1956, the GKI was established in Papua.
Willem Itaar said that the GKI was one of the churches that played a
part in placing Papua within the territory of the Republic of Indonesia.
But subsequently the churches faced a dilemma because they must share
responsibility for the security situation in the Land of Papua, bearing
in mind the fact that the churches are present in all parts of the
territory, right down to the smallest village.
'When anyone talks about Papua, one is talking also about the
Netherlands because the Netherlands played a role in setting up the
sovereign state of Indonesia, whereas it was in 1963 that Papua became
integrated as part of the Republic of Indonesia, which it continues to
be to this day, said Willlem Itaar.
Translated by TAPOL
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Photos from Biak Tribunal
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1) Indonesian diplomatic manoeuvre delays West Papuan independence
1) Indonesian diplomatic manoeuvre delays West Papuan independence
2) Aids awareness grows in Indonesia’s Papua region
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http://www.abc.net.au/correspondents/content/2013/s3797365.htm
1) Indonesian diplomatic manoeuvre delays West Papuan independence
Sean Dorney reported this story on Sunday, July 7, 2013 07:16:00
SIMON SANTOW: Indonesia has invited the foreign ministers of four Pacific Island countries to visit its two easternmost provinces - Papua and West Papua - to see for themselves if the people want independence.
Those two provinces are the western half of the main island of New Guinea.
This offer is something of a diplomatic manoeuvre, successfully delaying any consideration by the Melanesian Spearhead Group, the MSG, of an application for full membership by the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation.
Pacific correspondent Sean Dorney went to the two yearly meeting of the leaders of Melanesia's sub-regional organisation, held this year in New Caledonia.
SEAN DORNEY: Twenty-five years ago, the four independent countries in Melanesia - Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea - created a sub-regional organisation, the Melanesian Spearhead Group and one of its aims was to help the Melanesian people of New Caledonia, the Kanaks, get their independence from France.
That has not happened yet but France did agree to allow the Kanak independence movement, the FLNKS (Le Front de libération nationale kanak et socialiste), to take up full membership of the Melanesian Group.
Now, the Melanesian independence movement in West Papua - the Indonesian half of the main island of New Guinea - wants to join.
At the MSG's plenary session in Noumea, Dr Otto Ondawame, the vice chairman of the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation, put their case.
OTTO ONDAWAME: Our delegation come here as the lost son of Melanesia, to come here to ask for your support. We must unite and find a viable alternative to solve the longest conflict in our region.
SEAN DORNEY: Indonesia took control of what had been to then Dutch New Guinea in 1963 and six years later gathered just over 1000 tribal leaders together to vote in favour of becoming part of Indonesia.
It was called an 'Act of Free Choice' which the United Nations accepted.
Paula Makabory, from the Institute of Papuan Advocacy and Human Rights, was part of the West Papuan delegation
PAULA MAKABORY: Yeah, I think with all of this, the MSG recognise that the Act of Free Choice was a shameful choice for West Papua.
(Dancing and singing at Official Opening)
SEAN DORNEY: At the official opening of the Melanesian Spearhead Group leaders meeting, the outgoing chairman, Fiji's military commander and prime minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, spoke of unity.
FRANK BAINIMARAMA: As a result of our shared vision for closer regional integration, MSG solidarity has never been stronger.
SEAN DORNEY: But Papua New Guinea's prime minister, Peter O'Neill, visited Indonesia instead of attending the MSG meeting while his stand-in, the deputy prime minister Leo Dion made it clear to the other MSG Leaders that PNG regarded West Papua as an integral part of Indonesia.
Fiji revealed that Indonesia had offered to host a visit by Melanesian foreign ministers and so Fiji suggested the membership application by the West Papuans be put on hold.
Vanuatu's prime minister Moana Carcasses made an impassioned plea on behalf of the West Papuans, and Sir Michael Somare, invited as an elder statesman, summed up the situation well although he was not referring directly to West Papua.
SIR MICHAEL SOMARE: In Melanesia we are also very divided. We are not united. We have to unite. The only course we can take is when we are united people you can beat your enemy.
SEAN DORNEY: In the end the communiqué said the West Papuan's application would be considered after the foreign ministers of the MSG countries visited Indonesia.
However, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu insisted on the inclusion of two critical sentences. The first said that "Leaders endorsed that the MSG fully supports the inalienable rights of the people of West Papua towards self-determination…" and the second said the Leaders agreed that "the concerns of the MSG regarding the human rights violations and other forms of atrocities relating to the West Papuan people be raised with the government of Indonesia".
SEAN DORNEY: The reactions of the West Papuan delegation to the Communiqué were mixed. Dr Otto Ondawame was relieved.
OTTO ONDAWAME: We are very happy that our application has not been thrown out, but is still there on the agenda of the MSG.
SEAN DORNEY: But the secretary-general of the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation, Rex Rumakiek, doubted the value of a ministerial trip to Indonesia.
REX RUMAKIEK: They will come back empty-handed. They won't see the people they really want to see and that means it's a waste of time. Better to make a decision right now instead of going to Indonesia.
SEAN DORNEY: Melanesian foreign ministers' visit to Jakarta and the Papuan provinces should take place before the end of the year.
This has been Sean Dorney for Correspondents Report.
Those two provinces are the western half of the main island of New Guinea.
This offer is something of a diplomatic manoeuvre, successfully delaying any consideration by the Melanesian Spearhead Group, the MSG, of an application for full membership by the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation.
Pacific correspondent Sean Dorney went to the two yearly meeting of the leaders of Melanesia's sub-regional organisation, held this year in New Caledonia.
SEAN DORNEY: Twenty-five years ago, the four independent countries in Melanesia - Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea - created a sub-regional organisation, the Melanesian Spearhead Group and one of its aims was to help the Melanesian people of New Caledonia, the Kanaks, get their independence from France.
That has not happened yet but France did agree to allow the Kanak independence movement, the FLNKS (Le Front de libération nationale kanak et socialiste), to take up full membership of the Melanesian Group.
Now, the Melanesian independence movement in West Papua - the Indonesian half of the main island of New Guinea - wants to join.
At the MSG's plenary session in Noumea, Dr Otto Ondawame, the vice chairman of the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation, put their case.
OTTO ONDAWAME: Our delegation come here as the lost son of Melanesia, to come here to ask for your support. We must unite and find a viable alternative to solve the longest conflict in our region.
SEAN DORNEY: Indonesia took control of what had been to then Dutch New Guinea in 1963 and six years later gathered just over 1000 tribal leaders together to vote in favour of becoming part of Indonesia.
It was called an 'Act of Free Choice' which the United Nations accepted.
Paula Makabory, from the Institute of Papuan Advocacy and Human Rights, was part of the West Papuan delegation
PAULA MAKABORY: Yeah, I think with all of this, the MSG recognise that the Act of Free Choice was a shameful choice for West Papua.
(Dancing and singing at Official Opening)
SEAN DORNEY: At the official opening of the Melanesian Spearhead Group leaders meeting, the outgoing chairman, Fiji's military commander and prime minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, spoke of unity.
FRANK BAINIMARAMA: As a result of our shared vision for closer regional integration, MSG solidarity has never been stronger.
SEAN DORNEY: But Papua New Guinea's prime minister, Peter O'Neill, visited Indonesia instead of attending the MSG meeting while his stand-in, the deputy prime minister Leo Dion made it clear to the other MSG Leaders that PNG regarded West Papua as an integral part of Indonesia.
Fiji revealed that Indonesia had offered to host a visit by Melanesian foreign ministers and so Fiji suggested the membership application by the West Papuans be put on hold.
Vanuatu's prime minister Moana Carcasses made an impassioned plea on behalf of the West Papuans, and Sir Michael Somare, invited as an elder statesman, summed up the situation well although he was not referring directly to West Papua.
SIR MICHAEL SOMARE: In Melanesia we are also very divided. We are not united. We have to unite. The only course we can take is when we are united people you can beat your enemy.
SEAN DORNEY: In the end the communiqué said the West Papuan's application would be considered after the foreign ministers of the MSG countries visited Indonesia.
However, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu insisted on the inclusion of two critical sentences. The first said that "Leaders endorsed that the MSG fully supports the inalienable rights of the people of West Papua towards self-determination…" and the second said the Leaders agreed that "the concerns of the MSG regarding the human rights violations and other forms of atrocities relating to the West Papuan people be raised with the government of Indonesia".
SEAN DORNEY: The reactions of the West Papuan delegation to the Communiqué were mixed. Dr Otto Ondawame was relieved.
OTTO ONDAWAME: We are very happy that our application has not been thrown out, but is still there on the agenda of the MSG.
SEAN DORNEY: But the secretary-general of the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation, Rex Rumakiek, doubted the value of a ministerial trip to Indonesia.
REX RUMAKIEK: They will come back empty-handed. They won't see the people they really want to see and that means it's a waste of time. Better to make a decision right now instead of going to Indonesia.
SEAN DORNEY: Melanesian foreign ministers' visit to Jakarta and the Papuan provinces should take place before the end of the year.
This has been Sean Dorney for Correspondents Report.
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2) Aids awareness grows in Indonesia’s Papua region
A student looks to the camera at a school outside Jayapura the provincial capital of Papua, Indonesia. The prevalence rate of HIV among Papua’s youth aged between 15-24 years is about three percent.
IRIN/Jakarta
Efforts to raise awareness of HIV/Aids in the Indonesian provinces of Papua, which has among the country’s highest rates of infection, and West Papua are making steady though slow progress, say aid workers and government officials.
“People there believed that HIV/Aids was a curse from God, but that’s no longer the general perception,” said Setyo Warsono, a spokesman for the government’s National Aids Commission (KPA).
IRIN/Jakarta
Efforts to raise awareness of HIV/Aids in the Indonesian provinces of Papua, which has among the country’s highest rates of infection, and West Papua are making steady though slow progress, say aid workers and government officials.
“People there believed that HIV/Aids was a curse from God, but that’s no longer the general perception,” said Setyo Warsono, a spokesman for the government’s National Aids Commission (KPA).
Since 2005, reported HIV infections have increased in both these provinces annually, with 535 new cases reported in West Papua and 3,028 in Papua in 2012, where infection rates have outpaced the national average. In Papua new cases more than doubled from 687 in 2009 to 2,499 in 2010.
Tanah Papua (a local term that includes both Papua and West Papua provinces), 2,000km east of Jakarta, has some of the lowest levels of human development of Indonesia’s 33 provinces, according to the government.
Tanah Papua (a local term that includes both Papua and West Papua provinces), 2,000km east of Jakarta, has some of the lowest levels of human development of Indonesia’s 33 provinces, according to the government.
According to a 2012 report from the Joint UN Programme on HIV/Aids (UNAIDS), Tanah Papua was experiencing a low-level HIV epidemic, with a prevalence of 2.4% among the general population (versus a national average of 0.3%). About 30,000 people (22,210 in Papua and 7,160 in West Papua) are estimated to be living with HIV today.
HIV prevalence among people aged 15-24 in Tanah Papua is 3%.
HIV prevalence among people aged 15-24 in Tanah Papua is 3%.
In 2010 the Papua provincial government, in partnership with UN Children’s Fund (Unicef), introduced a decree to integrate HIV education in schools in Papua Province, which included curriculum development, teacher training and HIV policy support at the district level.
So far, 876 teachers in 58 secondary schools and 47 primary schools have received the training.
“From zero teachers in schools teaching HIV awareness, we’ve increased the level markedly,” said Margaret Sheehan, Unicef’s chief of office in Jayapura, the capital of Papua Province. “But there’s still a degree of reluctance from teachers to talk about how HIV can be transmitted through sex. More sensitisation work still needs to take place so teachers feel more comfortable.”
Unicef plans to incorporate HIV education into an upcoming training programme for teachers in rural areas in partnership with the Papua and West Papua governments.
But with 38% of children aged 7-15 out of school, and the highest provincial proportion of out-of-school children nationwide, aid workers are looking elsewhere to reach youths.
Unicef is offering life-skills training at youth and Protestant church clubs in a part of the country where church leaders are esteemed in the community and most youths participate in church groups.
So far, 876 teachers in 58 secondary schools and 47 primary schools have received the training.
“From zero teachers in schools teaching HIV awareness, we’ve increased the level markedly,” said Margaret Sheehan, Unicef’s chief of office in Jayapura, the capital of Papua Province. “But there’s still a degree of reluctance from teachers to talk about how HIV can be transmitted through sex. More sensitisation work still needs to take place so teachers feel more comfortable.”
Unicef plans to incorporate HIV education into an upcoming training programme for teachers in rural areas in partnership with the Papua and West Papua governments.
But with 38% of children aged 7-15 out of school, and the highest provincial proportion of out-of-school children nationwide, aid workers are looking elsewhere to reach youths.
Unicef is offering life-skills training at youth and Protestant church clubs in a part of the country where church leaders are esteemed in the community and most youths participate in church groups.
The Papua provincial KPA is using radio, TV and a well-known local football team (given young people’s love of football in the province) to disseminate HIV education.
Caritas Australia is working with a local NGO to train volunteer peer educators, as well as broadcasting HIV prevention messages through the radio and concerts in the Papuan district of Merauke.
For the NGO’s programme coordinator in Indonesia, Terry Russell, poor rural infrastructure has been one of the biggest barriers to spreading HIV education.
“Remote villages have no mobile phone contact, so pre-visits are necessary, and often roads have worsened due to weather or a bridge being down, so the process can be very time-consuming,” he said. In 2011, the government set up a unit in Papua and West Papua to accelerate infrastructure development in Papua’s remote areas, where more than onemn indigenous Papuans live, according to local media.
Caritas Australia is working with a local NGO to train volunteer peer educators, as well as broadcasting HIV prevention messages through the radio and concerts in the Papuan district of Merauke.
For the NGO’s programme coordinator in Indonesia, Terry Russell, poor rural infrastructure has been one of the biggest barriers to spreading HIV education.
“Remote villages have no mobile phone contact, so pre-visits are necessary, and often roads have worsened due to weather or a bridge being down, so the process can be very time-consuming,” he said. In 2011, the government set up a unit in Papua and West Papua to accelerate infrastructure development in Papua’s remote areas, where more than onemn indigenous Papuans live, according to local media.
Though slow, progress has been steady, say aid workers.
“In 2005, people with HIV/Aids in Merauke were shunned by their families, but now many more are accepted and many more are willing to undergo HIV/Aids testing,” said Russell. In 2008 some 5,000 people in Tanah Papua were tested for HIV; as of 31 May this year, that figure has risen to 31,443.
Unicef’s Sheehan said HIV messages on government-sponsored billboards and TV ads are now clearer. Whereas in the past there were billboards of leaders saying “We don’t want HIV”, posters now feature youths with HIV-prevention messages.
According to the KPA’s Warsono, as of 2013 the government has set up local commissions to continue raising awareness about HIV in 19 of Papua’s 29 districts, and in all of West Papua’s 13 districts.
“In 2005, people with HIV/Aids in Merauke were shunned by their families, but now many more are accepted and many more are willing to undergo HIV/Aids testing,” said Russell. In 2008 some 5,000 people in Tanah Papua were tested for HIV; as of 31 May this year, that figure has risen to 31,443.
Unicef’s Sheehan said HIV messages on government-sponsored billboards and TV ads are now clearer. Whereas in the past there were billboards of leaders saying “We don’t want HIV”, posters now feature youths with HIV-prevention messages.
According to the KPA’s Warsono, as of 2013 the government has set up local commissions to continue raising awareness about HIV in 19 of Papua’s 29 districts, and in all of West Papua’s 13 districts.
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1) Australian PM’s offer for Papua raises suspicion
1) Australian PM’s offer for
Papua raises suspicion
2) News Analysis: Australia’s
Strategy report: Solutions
without problems
--------------------------------------------------------------1) Australian PM’s offer for
Papua raises suspicion
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2) News Analysis: Australia’s
Strategy report: Solutions
without problems
Meidyatama Suryodiningrat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | News Analysis | Mon, July 08 2013, 9:18 AM
Paper Edition | Page: 2
There is no question that Australia has recovered from its denial of being part of Asia. The investment — material and otherwise — in Indonesia and the rest of Southeast Asia in recent years shows Australia’s recognition that its future lies with Asian neighbors to the north, and not romanticized historical links with its
With over US$450 million in developmental aid to Indonesia, Canberra is putting its money where its mouth is.
The launch of the Indonesia Country Strategy Report during the visit of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd here on Friday shows just how serious Canberra is in upping the quality of the relationship.
The broad-stroke document outlines where Australia wants to be with Indonesia in 2025. Indonesia was identified as one of the five – with China, India, Japan and Korea — initial priority countries for similar reports.
It is a well laid-out, readable text, just over 25 pages long: digestible in its advocacy and practical in its recommendations with regard to communities, business and government.
So accessible is the content that one would have thought it was authored by a production house, or a McKinsey-style consultant rather than bureaucrats.
The recommendations were partly taken from various consultations. Kudos to Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for the kind of public input heralded in the report. For participants of Track Two and Three dialogues, many of these recommendations will sound familiar.
Unfortunately, the report often feels like a quick list of remedies that do little to address fundamental problems that will color the relationship.
In other words even if each of the report’s recommendations are carried out, the vulnerabilities would not diminish given the corrosive elements wedged in the fundamentals of the bilateral ties.
By nature Indonesians are not suspicious of Australia the way Australians are toward Indonesia. Any reservations that presently prevail here are a recent phenomenon instigated by events in Papua and East Timor (Timor Leste).
Even a Lowy Institute poll published last year shows that Indonesians have dramatically warmed toward Australia, with 61 percent of Indonesians in favor of a company, bank or investment fund controlled by the Australian government buying a controlling stake in a major Indonesian company.
But as long as Australia retains a security posture which remains “American” in its strategic outlook there will only be amity with reservation between the two
nations.
Indonesian fears of being an arena of superpower strife are well founded. Australia’s battles will be fought on Indonesian territory.
Australia’s Defense White Paper published two months ago promotes strategic cooperation with Asian powers, but hints at the expansive archipelago as a trench line to block any threat.
“Denying an adversary our air and sea approaches in the archipelago is vitally important for deterring and defeating attacks on Australian territory,” it said.
Results of another Lowy poll which says 55 percent of Australians are comfortable with US bases in their country, does not bode well in how Indonesians think of Australia.
Canberra has been the driving force in dialogue and cooperative engagements. The Country
Strategy Report is stuffed with numerous photos and testimonies of such initiatives.
Yet these ceremonial exchanges have proved pro forma in the crunch of policy crisis.
The stationing of US troops in Darwin and suspension of live-
cattle exports are just two examples where a breakdown of communication created an unnecessary, albeit brief, impasse.
The Australian habit of hinging the relationship on one issue of the day, continues to highlight the vulnerability of the network of
relationships.
If it were not for the ingratiating statesmanship of the two leaders, the people-smuggling issue last week could have become another tripwire.
The temperature of the relationship remains susceptible to the chemistry of the leaders.
Therein lies the paradox of the report. Perhaps it is setting the bar too high, as if relations with Jakarta would one day be as cozy as Canberra’s bonds with Washington and London.
Proximity and democracy can be a glue, but they also expose the worst fears of each other as Indonesia’s own experience with Malaysia and Singapore (countries with which Indonesia has more in common than Australia) shows.
One of Australia’s preeminent strategists, Hugh White, put it best: “In almost every dimension of national life — geography, history, economics, religion, language and culture — Australia is as different from Indonesia as two countries
can be.”
Hence the two may surely become friends, but even more assured is that the two will never become
allies.
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↧
1) Ban on Papua Magazine, Attempt to Block the Press?
1) Ban on Papua Magazine, Attempt to Block the Press?
2) Freeport Questions Contract Fate
3) Freeport Can Soon Get Back to Business
4) The case of Andinus Karoba
5) Socratez Yoman: 'Why didn't the Papuan leaders say anything?'
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http://en.tempo.co/read/news/2013/07/08/055494509/Ban-on-Papua-Magazine-Attempt-to-Block-the-Press
1) Ban on Papua Magazine, Attempt to Block the Press?TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Press Council says the ban on the first edition of Papua’s Pelita Pelita Magazine is considered as an attempt to block the press. "If the police really did come and prohibit the distribution of information, that is a form of blocking the press," Press Council member Imam Wahdyudi told Tempo on Sunday. Imam said that according to Press Law No. 40/1999, blocking the press is defined as the forceful or unlawful prohibition of publishing, distributing and/or broadcast of information. Imam also said that that freedom of the press is clearly regulated in the law and 1945 Constitution, and is a guaranteed right of the people. "Basically, if the police do not approve the contents of the publication, they can report it to the press council," he said. Imam criticized the police for immediately going to the publisher’s printing office and prohibiting the sale of the magazine. On Wednesday, July 3, after just days of the distribution of its first edition, Pelita Papua magazine encountered problems with the police last Wednesday for portraying the symbol of the Free Papua Movement on its cover. Police arrived at the printing office in Jayapura and asked the magazine to stop distributing. Officers also confiscated a few magazines and took them back to the police station to analyze. The first edition of the magazine covers the issue of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) office in England. There is also an article about the opinions of some figures regarding the movement. Fidelis Jeminta, chief editor of Pelita Papua, said this was ordinary news with no large hidden agenda behind it. He is disappointed at the police for randomly banning the distribution of his magazine. Papua Police Chief Sr. Comr. I Gede Sumerta Jaya said that published material about Papua’s freedom or anything that can incite violence is prohibited. He denied allegations that the police revoked the magazine’s license. ALI AKHMAD
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------http://en.tempo.co/read/news/2013/07/09/056494600/Freeport-Questions-Contract-Fate2) Freeport Questions Contract FateTEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Rozik Sutjipto, President Director of Freeport Indonesia, asked the government to complete the company's contract of Works (CoW) renegotiation in the next three months. "This is important to determine the fate of our contract's continuation," Rozik said at the House of Representatives building last weekend.Rozik is asking the government for a contract extension until 2041, related to the company's plan to dig underground. To date, Freeport's only covers 30 percent of its digging activity underground. In the future, all digging activities would be held underground since the company's surface mineral reserves will be depleted by 2016. The company had found new sources of ore amounting to 2.5 billion tons."Of the amount, 87 percent is located underground."With the potential, Freeport will spend US$9.8 billion worth of investment. According Rozik, the funds will be used to build a 1,000-kilometer underground tunnel which will be completed in 2020, one year before the CoW expires."We are asking for a contract extension because the underground minerals would last until 2057," he said.Coordinating Minister for the Economy Hatta Rajasa said the government is trying to finish discussing the contract with Freeport. According to him, Freeport still has the chance to extend its contract even though the company's smelter construction will not be completed in 2014--in accordance with the deadline set by the government. ANGGA SUKMA WIJAYA
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Press Council says the ban on the first edition of Papua’s Pelita Pelita Magazine is considered as an attempt to block the press.
"If the police really did come and prohibit the distribution of information, that is a form of blocking the press," Press Council member Imam Wahdyudi told Tempo on Sunday.
Imam said that according to Press Law No. 40/1999, blocking the press is defined as the forceful or unlawful prohibition of publishing, distributing and/or broadcast of information.
Imam also said that that freedom of the press is clearly regulated in the law and 1945 Constitution, and is a guaranteed right of the people.
"Basically, if the police do not approve the contents of the publication, they can report it to the press council," he said. Imam criticized the police for immediately going to the publisher’s printing office and prohibiting the sale of the magazine.
On Wednesday, July 3, after just days of the distribution of its first edition, Pelita Papua magazine encountered problems with the police last Wednesday for portraying the symbol of the Free Papua Movement on its cover. Police arrived at the printing office in Jayapura and asked the magazine to stop distributing. Officers also confiscated a few magazines and took them back to the police station to analyze.
The first edition of the magazine covers the issue of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) office in England. There is also an article about the opinions of some figures regarding the movement. Fidelis Jeminta, chief editor of Pelita Papua, said this was ordinary news with no large hidden agenda behind it. He is disappointed at the police for randomly banning the distribution of his magazine.
Papua Police Chief Sr. Comr. I Gede Sumerta Jaya said that published material about Papua’s freedom or anything that can incite violence is prohibited. He denied allegations that the police revoked the magazine’s license. ALI AKHMAD
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http://en.tempo.co/read/news/2013/07/09/056494600/Freeport-Questions-Contract-Fate
2) Freeport Questions Contract Fate
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Rozik Sutjipto, President Director of Freeport Indonesia, asked the government to complete the company's contract of Works (CoW) renegotiation in the next three months. "This is important to determine the fate of our contract's continuation," Rozik said at the House of Representatives building last weekend.
Rozik is asking the government for a contract extension until 2041, related to the company's plan to dig underground. To date, Freeport's only covers 30 percent of its digging activity underground. In the future, all digging activities would be held underground since the company's surface mineral reserves will be depleted by 2016. The company had found new sources of ore amounting to 2.5 billion tons.
"Of the amount, 87 percent is located underground."
With the potential, Freeport will spend US$9.8 billion worth of investment. According Rozik, the funds will be used to build a 1,000-kilometer underground tunnel which will be completed in 2020, one year before the CoW expires.
"We are asking for a contract extension because the underground minerals would last until 2057," he said.
Coordinating Minister for the Economy Hatta Rajasa said the government is trying to finish discussing the contract with Freeport. According to him, Freeport still has the chance to extend its contract even though the company's smelter construction will not be completed in 2014--in accordance with the deadline set by the government.
ANGGA SUKMA WIJAYA
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http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/freeport-can-soon-get-back-to-business/
3) Freeport Can Soon Get Back to Business
Freeport Indonesia may be able to resume its underground mining operations by the end of this week, according to a government announcement that follows an investigation that ended with a favorable result for the company.
The government had tasked a special team to look into two deadly mining accidents that took place in May at the Papua mine site of the company, a subsidiary of US-based Freeport McMoRan.
Thamrin Sihite, director general of minerals and coal at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, said the independent team behind the investigation had recommended that Freeport be allowed to return to work at its underground mine. But the ministry was still weighing certain permits issues.
“We have many considerations, not only the results of the independent evaluation team and mine inspectors,” Thamrin said last week. “Hopefully [this] week they will be allowed [to resume].”
Thamrin said there were several requirements to be met in order for Freeport to resume its operations underground, including the need for detection tools in all underground tunnels.
Separately, Siswoutomo Susilo, the deputy minister for energy and mineral resources, said the government needed assurance that Freeport was operating according to best practices, pointing to the issue of detection devices throughout the mine, including in training areas.
“This is to avoid what happened at Big Gossan,” Siswoutomo said, referring to an accident-hit site within Freeport’s Grasberg mine. “We can’t have any more collapses [like that].”
Chairman of the investigation team, Ridho Wattimena, a professor of mining engineering at the Bandung Institute of Technology, said Freeport is implementing several recommendations his team made, which include operational and managerial steps intended to guarantee the stability of the underground mine.
A major cave-in destroyed a training facility located underground at Big Gossan, in Timika, on May 14. It buried 38 employees who were attending a training lesson at the facility.
By the time evacuation work concluded on May 21, a total of 10 injured people had been rescued. However, 28 others were found dead in the rubble.
After the incident, Freeport halted both its open pit mine and underground mine operations.
Two weeks later, after the first accident, a truck driver was buried by sludge when a tunnel collapsed at Freeport’s deep ore mining zone.
According to a company statement, the stoppage has resulted in losses of 80 million pounds of copper and 80,000 ounces of gold.
It will book losses of 3 million pounds of copper and 3,000 ounces of gold a day until operations resume.
Freeport declared force majeure on shipments on June 12 to avoid third-party liability due to events beyond its control.
Activities restarted at the Grasberg Mine on June 22 and Freeport said last week that surface mining production had returned to the level of 140,000 daily tons. Freeport Indonesia normally produces 220,000 tons of ore per day.
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from tapol
4) The case of Andinus Karoba
CHRONOLOGY
Andinus Karoba was born on 18 March 1990. He is a Protestant. He has not yet completed his lower school education. He lives in North Jayapura and describes himself as a Papuan activist.
On 10 October 2012 at around 6pm, he went out for a stroll and walked past the Paulus GKI church. He was sitting near a stall and was chewing nuts when an avanza vehicle stopped beside him. A police intel officer from Polresta Jayapura got out, grabbed hold of his shirt and asked him whether his name was Andinus Karoba. He said, yes that's my name and without saying anything more the police officer forced him into a Polresta truck with his hands and legs in handcuffs..While they were driving to Polresta, Andinus was shot three times, twice in his leg, on his thigh and calf, and once in the groin.
During the two months that he was held at Polresta Jayapura, he was never able to get the medical treatment he needed and he was in constant pain. The police refused to allow his family to visit him.
He says that although his arrest was not about whether he had stolen anything or had attacked anyone's home, stealing was the excuse used by the police for his arrest. He had been a target for a long time because he said that his whole family took part in a mass evacuation from Wamena to Papua New Guinea following a series of brutal killings by the Indonesian military. Subsequently, he goes on:: 'I went back and forth from West Papua to Papua New Guinea while my parents were accused of being members of the OPM. I was also under suspicion
'At the place where I stayed on the street, near the Bahari Valley Dok V above the district of North Jayapura,, there were people who were always spying on me wherever I went. I know who it was. It was someone who had been set up by the police, but I wasn't bothered about this because I had done nothing against the security forces of any unit.
'However, on 10 October 2012, as I was sitting eating nuts, someone came and sat beside me and quietly made contact with the police. Soon afterwards, the police came and arrested me.
'They took me to Polresta Jayapura where I was interrogated not about any thefts but about the struggle of the Papuan people and all its networks. I repeatedly said that I knew nothing, that I was just a kid and didn't know anything about that struggle. The interrogator got very agitated because there was no evidence.And because I had been shot and paralysed,the police decided to make charges against me under the criminal code and for theft. There was not an iota of truth in all this. But I was unable to do anything because I did not have a lawyer. All this went on until I was found guilty and sentenced to one year and ten months.
Throughout the trial, I was held at Polresta Jayapura. After being sentenced, I was handed over to the Class IIA Prison Abepura. I am now serving the sentence.
Photos of Police Violence:
[Attached to the statement are several photographs of the wounds on his legs.]
[Translated by TAPOL]
CHRONOLOGY
Andinus Karoba was born on 18 March 1990. He is a Protestant. He has not yet completed his lower school education. He lives in North Jayapura and describes himself as a Papuan activist.
On 10 October 2012 at around 6pm, he went out for a stroll and walked past the Paulus GKI church. He was sitting near a stall and was chewing nuts when an avanza vehicle stopped beside him. A police intel officer from Polresta Jayapura got out, grabbed hold of his shirt and asked him whether his name was Andinus Karoba. He said, yes that's my name and without saying anything more the police officer forced him into a Polresta truck with his hands and legs in handcuffs..While they were driving to Polresta, Andinus was shot three times, twice in his leg, on his thigh and calf, and once in the groin.
During the two months that he was held at Polresta Jayapura, he was never able to get the medical treatment he needed and he was in constant pain. The police refused to allow his family to visit him.
He says that although his arrest was not about whether he had stolen anything or had attacked anyone's home, stealing was the excuse used by the police for his arrest. He had been a target for a long time because he said that his whole family took part in a mass evacuation from Wamena to Papua New Guinea following a series of brutal killings by the Indonesian military. Subsequently, he goes on:: 'I went back and forth from West Papua to Papua New Guinea while my parents were accused of being members of the OPM. I was also under suspicion
'At the place where I stayed on the street, near the Bahari Valley Dok V above the district of North Jayapura,, there were people who were always spying on me wherever I went. I know who it was. It was someone who had been set up by the police, but I wasn't bothered about this because I had done nothing against the security forces of any unit.
'However, on 10 October 2012, as I was sitting eating nuts, someone came and sat beside me and quietly made contact with the police. Soon afterwards, the police came and arrested me.
'They took me to Polresta Jayapura where I was interrogated not about any thefts but about the struggle of the Papuan people and all its networks. I repeatedly said that I knew nothing, that I was just a kid and didn't know anything about that struggle. The interrogator got very agitated because there was no evidence.And because I had been shot and paralysed,the police decided to make charges against me under the criminal code and for theft. There was not an iota of truth in all this. But I was unable to do anything because I did not have a lawyer. All this went on until I was found guilty and sentenced to one year and ten months.
Throughout the trial, I was held at Polresta Jayapura. After being sentenced, I was handed over to the Class IIA Prison Abepura. I am now serving the sentence.
Photos of Police Violence:
[Attached to the statement are several photographs of the wounds on his legs.]
[Translated by TAPOL]
-------------------------------------------------------
5) Socratez Yoman: 'Why didn't the Papuan leaders say anything?'
Bintang Papua 8 July, 2013
Socratez: Why did Papuan Leaders say nothing?
Jayapura: Socratez Yoman, the Papuan church leader from the Central Highlands who is also the chairman of the Alliance of Baptist Churches of Papua (PGBP) said, following a meeting between the Dutch Ambassador, Tjeerd De Zwaan, and community leaders, traditional leaders, religious leaders and representatives of the youth , on which occasion the Ambassador said that he was hoping to get an answer to his question about the implementation of OTSUS-Plus but no Papuan leaders at the meeting came forward to answer this query from the Ambassador.
He therefore wondered why the leaders who were present at the forum said nothing and did not answer the Ambassador .
'Is it because they don't know what is happening in Papua or is, as it seems to me, because they are too afraid to say anything?
In his opinion, the Papuans who were present at the meeting should have answered the question. They should have given an explanation about the real circumstances in Papua and should not have remained silent.
The fact that they remained silent led Socratez, who is known for being very vocal, to wonder whether the Papuan leaders have been rendered silent by the cunning tricks of the Indonesian Government? Is this a case of the lack of of freedom of expression and the death of democracy in Papua?
He said in a statement to Bintang Papua: 'This is a big problem for me with regard to the question which was posed by the Dutch Ambassador which no one answered.'
He said that in his opinion,community leaders and traditional leaders in Papua should come forward with the facts in Papua when speaking to the Dutch Ambassador or when making statements to the international community.
He went on to say that people who are regarded as being community leaders should have the moral courage to fight for the problems being confronted by the community at present and in the future. They should not keep silent because these problems are not being talked about by the authorities in this country. 'It's okay if you keep silent here on earth but in the afterlife that will not be possible because you will be held responsible until the end of time.'
[Translated by TAPOL]
Socratez: Why did Papuan Leaders say nothing?
Jayapura: Socratez Yoman, the Papuan church leader from the Central Highlands who is also the chairman of the Alliance of Baptist Churches of Papua (PGBP) said, following a meeting between the Dutch Ambassador, Tjeerd De Zwaan, and community leaders, traditional leaders, religious leaders and representatives of the youth , on which occasion the Ambassador said that he was hoping to get an answer to his question about the implementation of OTSUS-Plus but no Papuan leaders at the meeting came forward to answer this query from the Ambassador.
He therefore wondered why the leaders who were present at the forum said nothing and did not answer the Ambassador .
'Is it because they don't know what is happening in Papua or is, as it seems to me, because they are too afraid to say anything?
In his opinion, the Papuans who were present at the meeting should have answered the question. They should have given an explanation about the real circumstances in Papua and should not have remained silent.
The fact that they remained silent led Socratez, who is known for being very vocal, to wonder whether the Papuan leaders have been rendered silent by the cunning tricks of the Indonesian Government? Is this a case of the lack of of freedom of expression and the death of democracy in Papua?
He said in a statement to Bintang Papua: 'This is a big problem for me with regard to the question which was posed by the Dutch Ambassador which no one answered.'
He said that in his opinion,community leaders and traditional leaders in Papua should come forward with the facts in Papua when speaking to the Dutch Ambassador or when making statements to the international community.
He went on to say that people who are regarded as being community leaders should have the moral courage to fight for the problems being confronted by the community at present and in the future. They should not keep silent because these problems are not being talked about by the authorities in this country. 'It's okay if you keep silent here on earth but in the afterlife that will not be possible because you will be held responsible until the end of time.'
[Translated by TAPOL]
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1) Braving risk for her home
1) Braving risk for her home
2) Freeport to Resume Underground Mining Operations in Papua
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The Fiji Times Online
1) Braving risk for her home
Solomoni Biumaiono
Monday, July 08, 2013
OLGA Hamadi is one of the few people who work in West Papua to ensure international and local human rights laws and regulations are adhered to by the relevant authorities and members of the public.
Right up to the extent of exposing herself and her family to threats of violence from some sections of the community as her work involves standing up against alleged police brutality, and violence against women, violence in general and other forms of human rights abuses.
"In West Papua we have human rights abuse and disappearance cases also. We advocate against violence and we criticise the military and police and ask them to change their attitude and ask them to change the regulations also.
"I like it (work) because I can help people because I know the (human rights) regulations. I studied it so I can help the people. I use my role when a case happens and conduct press releases when I have data," Olga said.
The 31-year-old was born and bred in Jayapura and she studied law at Cenderawsih University in Jayapura and did her Masters Degree in law at Gadya Mada University in Yogjakarta in Java.
She works as a human rights lawyer for a West Papuan non-governmental organisation called the Commission for Disappearances and Victims of Violence or Kontras Papua.
The NGO was formed in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta in the 1990s as means to help ensure that West Papuans are treated well under international human rights conventions and under the regulations the Indonesian Government has given to West Papuan authorities.
And it is in this line of work that Olga risks her life and that of her family trying to live her childhood dream to be a lawyer. She sees this not just a job but more of a calling.
She has been pressured because the authorities paint her as a West Papuan separatist because she is a native Papuan.
West Papuan separatists are people who are leading a political and military movement against the rule of the Indonesian government in West Papua. This movement has been in existence since the 1960s. The movement largely consists of native Papuans.
When Olga represents the separatists or criticises the police and military, she is often branded as one of them but to her, she is simply standing for justice because of her passion and status as a human rights lawyer.
"No, I am not a separatist. We focus on human right issues, sometimes we focus on the military and police because we focus on victim issues and state violence. And then because I am a lawyer, I assist Papuan people, recent cases like when they conduct demonstrations, raise the Morning Star, I do my job but also I got stigmatised from the police as a separatist myself," she said.
"Because for me, I focus on human rights issues, our government talks about human rights issues, I also help government to promote human rights through their own regulations.
"I just enjoy what I do.
"First, because I wanted to become a lawyer, and in these institutions I learnt how to assist people and the police, and assist people who have problems."
She said she also helped the police who sometimes had a different perspective on the people of West Papua.
"Like when we criticise them and because they use their guns, they think we're enemies (but) we do the legal things," Olga said.
Since she graduated, she has worked for the Papua Legal Aid for four years from 2005 and is now co-ordinator of Kontras Papua. As it is, she has no career or personal plans as she would rather stay in West Papua than any other place.
"Not many people do this, maybe some NGOs, like when we talk about lawyers we have many lawyers in West Papua but only have a few who do human rights.
"Being a human rights defender, it's like we have a security (issue). It is still a problem because no work can guarantee us our safety. It's still a problem. It's not only for me but for others like activists, church leaders and journalists," Olga said.
Recently she attended the Eastern Mennonite University's Summer Peacebuilding Institute in Virginia, USA where she undertook courses that will contribute to a postgraduate certificate qualification in peacebuilding and conflict resolution.
She did this with the hope of expanding the scope of her work and to help her try different approaches she thinks are more peaceful and can help resolve issues in an amicable manner. She hopes these will also bring about a change in the perceptions of the people of West Papua.
On the other hand, the Indonesian Government maintains human rights conventions have been in existence in every Indonesian province since its Independence.
An Indonesian Embassy in Fiji official says the Indonesian Government does not condone police brutality and powers rest with its very own Human Rights Commission or fact-finding mission teams to investigate cases of alleged brutality.
The Indonesian Embassy economic affairs officer, Tito Octavianus, says lawyers have nothing to fear when working in West Papua.
Ocatavianus said: "So I do not quite agree that as a lawyer, other people will harm them. They have to think twice if they want to harm a lawyer.
"If that lawyer can conduct professionally based on the code of conduct as a lawyer, which is to defend their clients and then not make any statement on the political matters, I think that lawyer should not be afraid of being branded as a separatist."
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2) Freeport to Resume Underground Mining Operations in Papua
The Indonesian government gave US mining giant Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold the go-ahead of resume operations at its Grasberg mine on Tuesday after a deadly tunnel collapse suspended operations for nearly two months.
“From everything that has been done, that has been taken into consideration, including pressure from the community and local government, [we] have decided ok, it’s safe,” Deputy Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Susilo Siswoutomo said in a prepared statement.
The central government’s independent investigation team launched a probe into the May 14 tunnel collapse that left 28 dead. The team concluded that Freeport Indonesia’s mines were safe, but recommended the company install additional detection devices in their underground tunnels.
It will be another month before Freeport’s underground mines reach production quotas, said Freeport Indonesia President Director Rozik B. Soetjipta. The mine has a daily target of 220,000 tons of copper a day.
“We predict that our production will only be at 80 percent… or around 176,000 tons per day,” Rozik said.
Thirty percent of the mine’s copper ore is produced in underground mines. The remaining 70 percent is excavated from Grasberg’s massive open-pit mine near Puncak Jaya, Papua.
The company will not meet this year’s target projections, Rozik said.
Freeport was forced to declare force majeure on copper shipments after the accident.
This had yet to be lifted, Rozik said.
Before the accident, Freeport had expected sales of about 500,000 tons of copper from its Indonesia unit in 2013, along with 1.25 million ounces of gold.
Freeport is also in talks with the government to renegotiate a new mining contract to replace its current 30-year contract, which expires in 2021.
A member of the government team negotiating with Freeport said last week the accident should not delay those talks.
Benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange traded at $6,847 a ton on Tuesday, or $568 lower than the day before the accident.
Reuters/Investor Daily
↧
1) Papuan rebel leader Danny Kogoya vows to keep fighting Indonesia despite amputated leg
1) Papuan rebel leader Danny Kogoya vows to keep fighting Indonesia despite amputated leg2) Fugitive rebel leader vows to continue Papua independence fight
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http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-10/wounded-papuan-rebel-commander-speaks-from-jungle-hideout/4811188
1) Papuan rebel leader Danny Kogoya vows to keep fighting Indonesia despite amputated leg
Updated
Speaking from a rebel training camp just inside the Papua New Guinean border, Danny Kogoya says he was unarmed and surrendering when police shot him below the knee last year.
Indonesian police say he was resisting arrest.
Now at his PNG hideout, known as Camp Victoria, Mr Kogoya's fellow rebels are holding a small show of arms.
Displaying homemade rifles, bows and arrows and with some wearing ceremonial headdresses and shell necklaces, they rally around the Morning Star flag - the symbol of West Papuan independence that is banned in Indonesia.
They have no bullets but they say they want to fight the Indonesians.
For almost 50 years the Free Papua Movement (OPM) has fought against Indonesia's control of Papua and West Papua province.
Mr Kogoya is a commander for the OPM's militant wing. He says his leg was amputated without his permission while he was jailed on manslaughter charges last year.
"This leg was amputated for the Free Papua Movement. I am asking for independence... I am asking for West Papua to exit the Republic of Indonesia," he said.
After his release from prison, Mr Kogoya says police threatened to re-arrest him, so he fled across the border to Papua New Guinea.
Now, he says he will get the remaining shotgun pellets removed from the stump of his leg, find a prosthetic limb and return to the bush to keep fighting.
Allegations of atrocities hard to verify
Since the 1960s, the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement has conducted a low-level insurgency within Indonesia.
Allegations of atrocities committed by Indonesian forces within Papua and West Papua province are difficult to check because the international media is kept out.
It is also hard to get a real sense of the strength of the West Papuan militants.
Mr Kogoya says he commands a standby army of 7,000 men, with around 200 active fighters, but those figures cannot be verified.
Camp Victoria has played an important role in the history of the West Papuan independence movement.
It has been a training camp, a gateway from Indonesia to Papua New Guinea and a place where rival factions have split and reunited. But what role it will play in the future of the West Papuan struggle is unclear.
PNG signs extradition deal with Indonesia
Last month Papua New Guinea and Indonesia signed an extradition treaty, which PNG's opposition says could be used to target West Papuan activists.
"I think that is the cooperation between the Papua New Guinean and the Indonesian government. That's their issue. Not West Papua. We will keep on fighting until we are independent," he said.
PNG prime minister Peter O'Neill says the extradition treaty will be used for criminals and not political activists, but for those who could be considered both it is yet to be tested.
"We have had a policy that the issue of West Papua is an integral part of Indonesia. We have consistently maintained that," he said.
"But we are encouraged by the invitation by the Indonesian government through the president for the first time in its history to help in managing some of the issues on the ground in West Papua."
Mr Kogoya, meanwhile, is calling for all West Papuan activists living abroad to return to Camp Victoria and continue their struggle.
"I want Jacob Prai in Sweden, John Ondawame in Australia, all those leaders abroad to come back to this camp, Camp Victoria, to continue the struggle for independence," he said.
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2) Fugitive rebel leader vows to continue Papua independence fight
Updated 10 July 2013, 16:38 AEST
Danny Kogoya says he was unarmed and surrendering when police shot him below the knee last year, but Indonesian police say he was resisting arrest.
He is currently hiding in Papua New Guinea but is not worried about a recent extradition treaty between PNG and Indonesia.
Presenter: Liam Cochrane, PNG correspondent
Speaker: Danny Kogoya, leader of the Free Papua Organisation (OPM); Peter O'Neill, Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea
COCHRANE: Just inside the PNG border, supporters of the West Papuan independence movement hold a small military parade.
The six rifles on show are homemade and there are no bullets, but a crowd of about 100 people wearing ceremonial headdresses, face paint and shell necklaces rally around the Morning Star flag - the symbol of West Papuan independence that's banned in Indonesia.
For almost 50 years the Free Papua Movement - known as the OPM - has fought against Indonesia's control of Papua and West Papua provinces.
Danny Kogoya is a commander for the militant wing of the OPM.
He makes his way awkwardly across the bush-clearing on crutches, his right leg amputated below the knee.
Danny Kogoya, OPM Commander, Jayapura
KOGOYA: [TRANSLATION] "This leg was amputated for the Free Papua Movement. I am asking for independence… I am asking for West Papua to exit the Republic of Indonesia.
COCHRANE: Mr Kogoya says he was jailed on manslaughter charges last year.
While in custody, his badly damaged leg was amputated, he says without his permission.
Months later, he was released, but then police threatened to re-arrest him so he fled across the border to PNG.
In June, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia signed an extradition treaty, which PNG's opposition says could be used to target West Papuan activists like Danny Kogoya.
The details of the Extradition Treaty have not yet emerged but Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister Peter O'Neill says he raised allegations of human rights abuses within the West Papua region when he met Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhuyono last month.
O'NEILL: We have had a policy that the issue of West Papua is an integral part of Indonesia. We have consistently maintained that. But we are encouraged by are encouraged by the invitation by the Indonesian Government through the President - for the first time in its history to asking Papua New Guinea to help in managing some of the issues on the ground in West Papua.
COCHRANE: Allegations of atrocities committed by Indonesian forces within Papua and West Papua provinces are difficult to check because the international media is kept out.
It's also hard to get a real sense of the strength of the West Papuan militants.
Danny Kogoya says he commands a standby army of 7,000 men, with around 200 active fighters. But the figures can't be verified.
KOGOYA [TRANSLATION] I want Jacob Prai in Sweden, John Ondawame in Australia, all those leaders abroad to come back to this camp, Camp Victoria, to continue the struggle for independence.
COCHRANE: Meanwhile, Danny Kogoya says he will get the remaining shotgun pellets removed from the stump of his leg, find a prosthetic limb and return to the bush to keep fighting.
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