Quantcast
Channel: AWPA Sydney
Viewing all 5294 articles
Browse latest View live

1) Freeport Employees Reject MoU

December 28, 2017, 11:40 am
$
0
0

2) A teenager in Mappi was shot dead by police officers

HTTPS://EN.TEMPO.CO/READ/NEWS/2017/12/28/056914403/FREEPORT-EMPLOYEES-REJECT-MOU
THURSDAY, 28 DECEMBER, 2017 | 11:52 WIB
------------------------------------------------------
1) Freeport Employees Reject MoU
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - At least 14 Freeport Indonesia workers went to the Manpower Ministry's office on December 27.
They submitted a letter rejecting the memorandum of understanding between the union and Freeport regarding the termination of employment.
The employees' lawyer Harris Azhar said the employees believe that Freeport was being deceitful by putting pro-company workers into unions before making the deal.
The truth is, according to Harris, Freeport's union leader position is empty because the commissioner had been fired.
Read: Papuan Enterprises to Acquire 40 Percent of Freeport Shares
 
"People who are friendly with the company were the ones who made the deal. They suddenly sat down with Freeport," he said yesterday.
In February, Freeport laid off hundreds of employees while in negotiations with the government over the miner's contract. Thousands of employees held strikes in May, resulting in them getting sacked as well. 
Freeport Indonesia spokesman Riza Pratama said the company tried to ask the protesters to go back to work, but they refused, and thus "we considered them to have voluntarily resigned," he said, referring to the contract between the miner and its workers.
Riza said Freeport will still help employees financially, based on the length of their service for the company. In addition, employees are allowed to return to work at Freeport Indonesia, provided they enter through contractors and go through selection stages.
INDRI MAULIDAR | MAYA AYU | DANANG FIRMANTO
———————————
A google translate. Be-aware google translate can be a bit erratic.
Original bahasa link at

2) A teenager in Mappi was shot dead by police officers
Kamis, 28 Desember 2017 — 19:28

Papua No. 1 News Portal | Jubi,

Merauke, Jubi - One of the teenagers in Mappi district, Nikolausi Bernolpus, 19, was shot dead by police officer Mappi Police named Bripka DE. The victim was shot using a revolver type weapon at the bottom of the back neck and died.

"Indeed, the perpetrators of Bripka DE violate the rules, because there is no command duties with other members. Moreover, carrying weapons to shoot victims, "said Police Chief Mappi, Adjunct Senior Commissioner Wartono, when contacted via mobile phone Thursday (28/12/2017).

Wartono explained that the shooting occurred on December 25, 2017 at around 04.00 WITA. Whereas before the incident members conducted night patrol using cars in Keppi City, Mappi and surrounding areas.

"When the patrol entered the Frog Road, found a group of people suspected of being drinking. Furthermore, asked to go home because each morning must go to church to celebrate the Christmas celebration, "said Wartono explained.

Unbeknownstly, at about 3:40 am one of the plainclothes police officers emerged from behind, too, rebuking the victim. But not well received, resulting in a fight.

While fighting the victim ran to his house took a sharp weapon. After going home with wood and hitting policemen to fall. Instantly, it was given a warning shot twice to take it.

"A few moments later, the victim ran away and the police officer pointed the gun at the victim's neck at the back," Wartono explained.

Currently the perpetrator has been taken to Polda Papua to undergo further examination with status as a suspect. "We've been to the family home and took care of everything including up to the funeral," he said.
-----------------------

↧
Search
↧

Amole Police Engage in Shootout with Armed in Papua

January 1, 2018, 12:25 pm
$
0
0
MONDAY, 01 JANUARY, 2018 | 16:10 WIB
Amole Police Engage in Shootout with Armed  in Papua
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Amole police engaged in a shootout with armed criminals at mile 61 in Tembagapura, Mimika District, Papua Province.
The shootout occurred at 7:50 a.m. local time, Chief of the Papua Provincial Police Inspector General Boy Rafli stated on Monday.
No casualty was reported in the shootout, as the armed criminals fled to the jungle.
Prior to the shootout, the armed criminals shot at two PT Freeport vehicles carrying officers. They hit the cars` front and right windows.
The attackers were members of the Waker group, according to Rafli.

ANTARA



↧

1) Freeport given lifeline until June 2018

January 2, 2018, 12:49 pm
$
0
0

 2) In a Papuan district, tribes push to revive a legacy of  Sustainaibility


http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2018/01/02/freeport-given-lifeline-until-june-2018.html

1) Freeport given lifeline until June 2018
  • Viriya P. Singgih
    The Jakarta Post
    Jakarta | Tue, January 2, 2018 | 10:14 
    The government has once again extended the temporary permit of miner PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) until June 30, indicating that both parties were unable to settle their dispute before the Jan. 10 deadline.
The current administration has been involved in intense negotiations with PTFI, a subsidiary of American mining giant Freeport-McMoRan, since early 2017 over the latter’s future operations in the country.
While both parties have been negotiating the detailed arrangements, the government had allowed the gold and copper miner to resume exporting copper concentrate by issuing a temporary special mining permit (IUPK) backdated to Feb. 10, 2017 and valid for eight months until Oct. 10, 2017.
As they could not reach a settlement by October last year, it was decided to extend the permit until Jan. 10, before giving the latest extension.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said on Tuesday that the new deadline would provide certainty for PTFI’s operations while talks were ongoing.
“The extension of the IUPK until June 2018 is part of our efforts to finalize four key points in our negotiations [with PTFI],” Sri Mulyani Indrawati said, referring to contract extension, divestment, smelter construction and fiscal and legal certainty for Freeport's planned long-term investment.
“[The negotiation is] still ongoing, but it is almost done,” she said, adding that the government expected to issue a permanent permit before the designated timeframe.
Without such an extension, PTFI, which has been granted an export permit effective until February, would not have been able to export after the Jan. 10 deadline. (lnd)
-------------------

 2) In a Papuan district, tribes push to revive a legacy of   Sustainability

by  on 2 January 2018 | Adapted by Basten Gokkon

  • Two tribes in the foothills of the Cyclops Mountains in eastern Indonesia have ratified a village regulation that aims to formalize their age-old traditions of sustainable forestry, farming and fishing.
  • Though practiced for generations, the traditions have increasingly been abandoned in favor of higher-yield — but destructive — practices such as indiscriminate logging and blast fishing.
  • The new regulation stipulates customary fines on top of those imposed under national legislation, which the tribes say the government must do more to enforce.
JAYAPURA, Indonesia — On a sunny afternoon in early August, two tribal chiefs in northern Papua province, at the eastern end of the Indonesian archipelago, met to formalize the system of sustainable farming, forestry and fishing that their communities had practiced for generations.
There was a sense of urgency to the meeting of the two chiefs, known locally as ondoafi, whose people have for decades depended on the natural resources from the land and sea in their homeland at the foot of the Cyclops Mountains, but whose traditions have begun to flag.
“We must establish this regulation so that no one will carelessly take something from nature, especially the Cyclops Mountains,” said Yafet Ikari, the ondoafi of Ormu Wari village.

It may have seemed a redundant point to emphasize to the people of Ormu Wari, whose environmentally sustainable way of life was hailed as far back as 1983 by the Indonesian government, which bestowed on them an award for their efforts to conserve nature. The villagers are also known to practice herbal medicine using locally sourced plants, which they incorporate into their traditional rituals and culture.
But it wasn’t until six years later, when a devastating flood hit the region, that it became clear not everyone was abiding by the age-old traditions. The flooding, Yafet said, was exacerbated by reckless clearing of land uphill by parties “who dismissed just like that the rules that had been handed down since the time of our forefathers.”
A similar disregard for convention was also blamed for the overhunting of birds-of-paradise, for which Papua is famous.
With the formalization of these ancient wisdoms in the shape of a village regulation, Yafet hopes to restore the once deeply held respect that the people had for local customs. Under the regulation, violators will be liable to pay a fine in the form of a tomako — a traditional stone axe — and up to 25 million rupiah ($1,750) in cash. This is on top of any punishment stipulated under Indonesia’s natural resources conservation law, which can impose jail sentences of up to five years and fines of up to 100 million rupiah.
The other ondoafi, Gustaf Toto from Nechiebe village, said protecting the Cyclops Mountains — which cover 314 square kilometers (121 square miles) and comprise primary and secondary dryland forests — was a cause that had been passed down through the generations. The village deems the landscape sacred as it was part of their ancestors’ lives.

“Our customs oblige us to never clear land for a plantation in such a way that it damages the forests,” Gustaf said.
The ban on destructive activities also extends to the region’s Pacific coast, which some of the Nechiebe people ply as fishermen. Here, their customary laws bar them from blast fishing or cyanide fishing, and prohibit the catching of turtles, sea cucumbers and lobsters. The villagers also observe a ritual known as sasi laut, in which fishing activities are suspended for a period to prevent overfishing.
“Nechiebe village has a lot of potential in natural resources from the land, coast and sea,” Gustaf said.
The problem, though, is the lack of support from the local government, he said. He cited an instance when the villagers caught and reported a fisherman for blast fishing, which had damaged the surrounding coral reef. The local authorities, however, took no action against the perpetrator.
“My hope is for this village regulation on the management of natural resources in the Cyclops Mountains to be implemented by all stakeholders — not only the people of this village, but also those living outside,” Gustaf said.
This story was reported by Mongabay’s Indonesia team and was first published here, here, and here on our Indonesian site on Aug. 30, Sept. 2 and Oct. 18, 2017.
Banner image: A richly forested beach in Nechiebe village in Ravenirara district, Papua province. Photo for Mongabay-Indonesia.
FEEDBACK: Use this form to send a message to the author of this post. If you want to post a public comment, you can do that at the bottom of the page.
------------


↧

1) North Sumatra police chief cancels Papua gubernatorial bid

January 3, 2018, 12:15 am
$
0
0

2) In Sorong: hope and promise
3) The National Archives releases (part 1): the Keating–Suharto security treaty
-------------------------------------------


http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2018/01/03/north-sumatra-police-chief-cancels-papua-gubernatorial-bid.html

1) North Sumatra police chief cancels Papua gubernatorial bid
Nurul Fitri Ramadhani and Apriadi Gunawan
Jakarta/Medan | Wed, January 3, 2018 | 01:23 pm

North Sumatra Police chief Insp. Gen. Paulus Waterpauw has decided to cancel his plan to run for Papua governor in the 2018 regional elections and instead serve the police force for the remainder of his term.
"I have canceled the plan, because my term will last until 2022," Paulus said recently in Medan, North Sumatra.
Paulus said that his superiors had not intervened in connection with his decision to cancel his plan, claiming that although he had already garnered some support, he had simply decided not to proceed with his gubernatorial bid.
The former Papua Police chief had registered with the Golkar Party in order to contest the election for Papua governor. While Golkar executive Yorrys Raweyai had said earlier that the party might consider endorsing him, the party was later reported to have thrown its weight behind incumbent Lukas Enembe.
The National Police confirmed that Paulus had decided not to resign from the force, spokesman Insp. Gen. Setyo Wasisto said.
Paulus further said that most of the police personnel who were planning to resign in order to run in the regional elections were more senior than he and were nearing retirement.
Other senior police officers reportedly contesting this year's simultaneous regional elections include the National Police’s Mobile Brigade commander Insp. Gen. Murad Ismail, who will contest the Maluku gubernatorial election with the formal backing of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). East Kalimantan Police chief Insp. Gen. Safaruddin is running in the province's election and the National Police's deputy chief of education and training, Insp. Gen. Anton Charliyan, is being considered by the PDI-P as its candidate for the West Java gubernatorial election.


---------------------------------------

http://news.abs-cbn.com/blogs/opinions/01/02/18/in-sorong-hope-and-promise

2) In Sorong: hope and promise
Karim Raslan — Ceritalah ASEAN
Posted at Jan 02 2018 05:11 PM
Sorong is booming. With 9.3% GDP growth in 2016 (almost double the national average) and located on the westernmost point of Papua, the 300,000-strong city is fast-becoming a regional transport and logistics hub, boosted by its proximity to the fabled Raja Ampat islands and the ever-elusive bird of paradise.
However, Sorong isn't a pretty sight. In fact, the city feels as if it's still emerging from the scrubland – its urban sprawl stretching many kilometres into the interior, far from the waterfront that's now bustling with activity.
Having spent some time in Papua recently, I was very curious how the younger generation – the city's millennials – viewed their future. 
Were they optimistic? Did they see the new airport, port and Trans Papua Highway as the harbingers of a prosperous future? How were relations between indigenous Papuans and newer communities – the Bugis, Javanese and Minahassans?
I met three 18-year-old students: Maria Hestina, Maria Korwa and Mega Imbiri. All three were studying at the city's largest tertiary institution, the Sorong Muhammadiyah University. 
Maria Hestina’s background was unusual. The daughter of transmigrants, her family was originally from Flores in East Nusa Tenggara. Her parents – now divorced – weren't well-to-do. Her father was a labourer while her mother sold petrol and fruits at the market. Maria Hestina and her sister lived with her mother while her younger brother was with her father. 
“As the eldest of three siblings, and the first to go to university, there’s a lot of hope pinned on me. My sister is 12 years old and my brother is only 7—I have to set an example for them.”
Maria Korwa’s family has been in Papua for generations. She was the product of an inter-religious marriage: her father was Muslim while her mother was Christian. In an arrangement that is common in Indonesia, her brothers were Muslim but her sisters and she were Christian. 
“My entire family is scattered across the Republic. I have 6 siblings: two are in Jakarta, two in Raja Ampat, one in Pulau Doom (“Doom Island”) and another in Manokwari. It’s reassuring to know that wherever I go, I will have someone to rely on. Someday, I too will make my own way.”
Mega Imbiri was the daughter of a fisherman and a housewife, both of whom are Papuan natives.
“My father has to go out to sea every day and sometimes comes back with very few fish. He has to brave the rain, the waves and saltwater…As a child I would hold his hands; they were always coarse.”
“I want to be an office worker. I imagine myself leaving the house at 8:00am in neatly-pressed clothes and ending work at 4:00pm to return my family. That’s the life I want.”
Papua has long been considered a restive, troubled part of Indonesia. 
However, Sorong on the very “tip” of the island has largely escaped the turmoil of the interior. 
Instead, the city has benefited enormously from the current administration's focus on strengthening transportation links with the rest of the republic – creating a boom that more than matches Timika, the central Papuan town, home to Grasberg, the world's largest gold mine and second largest copper mine run by the controversial American miner Freeport-McMoran.
The three young women present a positive “spin” to the Eastern Indonesian region. Their religious diversity is remarkable – Maria Hestina is Catholic, Maria Korwa is Pentecostal Christian and Mega Imbiri is Protestant. Maria Hestina is a first-generation transmigrant while Maria Korwa and Mega Imbiri are natives. 
The three of them, all close friends, work together at a Christmas booth in Sorong’s Ramayana Mall (named after the ancient Hindu epic), selling bags. 
They are all studying in the same class, working towards a degree in Public Administration – a diverse group brought together at a university founded by the second-largest Islamic organization in the country. 
Maria Korwa is unequivocal about the province’s problems: “There’s a lot of crime in Sorong. Every day, there are muggings, fuelled by alcoholism and drug addiction—including glue-sniffing among youths.”
Maria Hestina adds: “Around 2005-2006, the water supply was very unreliable and we often suffered from blackouts. It has improved since then, but there’s still a long way to go.”
“The price of petrol has also gone up—it’s now IDR5000 per litre. I know because my mother sells petrol; people are finding it difficult to cope.”
Mega Imbiri has her own take: “Development is difficult in Papua. The terrain is hilly and heavily forested. It will take years before projects see results. What makes me very happy is the attention Jokowi (Indonesian President Joko Widodo) has been giving Papua. He’s visited the island more times than any other president before him.”
All of them nod vigorously in approval.
The administration’s initiatives have already begun to bear fruit. Maria Hestina noted that under former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Jokowi, primary and secondary education was made free. On 20 December, the government announced plans to bring electricity to the whole of Papua and build new roads. 
“My goal is to become a civil servant. I want to play a role in developing my home,” says Maria Korwa. 
“Me too!” shouts Mega Imbiri, who later sheepishly adds, “It’s also a really decent job…”
Maria Hestina laughs.
“You can all serve the government! I will have my own business, providing goods to people at a fair price. There’s more than one way to contribute!”
The trio burst out in laughter. 
So, while the two provinces (Papua and West Papua) continue to represent a major challenge to Indonesian unity and stability – the eagle-eyed focus on economic growth has brought tangible gains to their people.
It's this transformation that may well hold the key to binding the island of Papua to Indonesia. 
Admittedly, this is a very positive take—that the current administration's focus on economic grievances is having an impact. 
But is it enough?
Disclaimer: The views in this blog are those of the blogger and do not necessarily reflect the views of ABS-CBN Corp.
—————————————————

3) The National Archives releases (part 1): the Keating–Suharto security treaty

1 Jan 2018|Graeme Dobell

In Jakarta’s presidential palace in December 1995, Australia’s Prime Minister Paul Keating stood with Indonesia’s President Suharto as their two foreign ministers signed a security treaty.

Keating was ebullient. Here was Australia as a regional insider, able to strike a unique bilateral deal with the delphic Javanese leader at the centre of Southeast Asia.

The Agreement on Maintaining Security secretly negotiated with Suharto was a singular achievement that became a failed leap of faith. The mix of bravado and aspiration in the treaty’s creation made it a deal between two extraordinarily different people—Suharto and Keating—more than an agreement between two extraordinarily different peoples.

The announcement of the treaty a few days before the signing ceremony shocked the rest of Southeast Asia as much as it surprised Canberra—and it blindsided the military elite around Suharto.

At the signing ceremony in Jakarta, Australia’s deputy prime minister, Kim Beazley, went up to a group of Indonesian generals he’d come to know when serving as Australia’s defence minister (1984–90) and cheerfully greeted them: ‘Hello, allies!’

The treaty was an uncharacteristic moment for proudly non-aligned Indonesia, marking a moment of sublime acceptance for Keating. And three months later, when Labor was swept from power by Australia’s voters, it became his final grand international gesture. Keating left politics expressing confidence that the security agreement would endure as a monument to Australia’s rightful place in Asia.

On the flight back to Canberra after the signing, Keating confided to Beazley his fear that the treaty would be his last ‘big picture’ moment as prime minister. As Beazley recalls that conversation with Keating: ‘He said to me, “You know, Kim, I think we are going to lose [the federal election].” Which was not good news to a deputy about to fight an election two or three months after that.’

The Liberals had been in opposition for a dozen years, and Keating told Beazley: ‘I think they can do some very silly things. I want to put in place as much ballast that they can live on while they bring themselves up to speed.’

Just as Keating had built his personal relationship with Suharto to achieve the APEC summits, so the treaty was the ultimate expression of friendship between two leaders whose closeness emphasised all their contrasts. As Gough Whitlam jested about Keating’s commitment to Suharto: ‘Paul always preferred older men.’

Beazley reflects that Keating had ‘enormous admiration for the old man’. Indeed, says Beazley, Keating ‘loved Suharto, and Suharto loved him. Suharto regarded him as a son and was enormously protective of him’.

Beazley was speaking ahead of the release by the National Archives of the 1994 and 1995 cabinet records of the Keating Labor government.

The submission Keating put to his cabinet for approval of the deal (with the draft press release to go out immediately after cabinet agreed) is a classic bit of prime ministerial fait accompli. And it’s classic Keating on Indonesia:

There is no country more important to Australia than Indonesia. Australian territory can in effect be directly threatened with military force only from or through Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Bilaterally, this agreement will:

• provide reassurance that Australia and Indonesia recognise that each has a fundamental interest in the security of the other;
• commit each to cooperating with the other in ensuring their own security and that of the region;
• demonstrate that each has confidence in the intentions of each towards the other; and
• complement the progress that has been made in other areas of the relationship.

It will have, therefore, an important and positive effect on the attitudes of the public in each country towards the other. Through the agreement Indonesia is making a clear statement that it is not a threat to Australia and is committing itself to cooperating with us.

Standing in the presidential palace reporting the signing ceremony, I spent most of my time on the then common ASEAN obsession: staring at Suharto to check his movements and speech and health. The age-old problem of one-man rule is old age. Australia shared the region’s obsession with what would come after the strongman lost his strength. The issue of Suharto’s eventual departure was the justification for the agreement Keating never used in public. But his cabinet submission was explicit:

Whether or not the succession to President Suharto goes smoothly and what direction Indonesia’s policies will take are difficult to predict. While this agreement will not in itself obviate problems for us, it could well help us deal with that period. This agreement is an important long-term structure which will consolidate Australia’s place in the region, reinforce the stability of our region, and help reduce the uncertainties in our future.

Suharto fell in 1998, after 31 years in power, consumed by Asia’s financial crisis. By September 1999 the treaty was gone, abrogated by Indonesia’s military as Australian soldiers entered East Timor at the head of a multinational force to stop the slaughter that followed Timor’s vote for independence.

Ultimately, the logic of the security deal reasserted itself. In November 2006, Australia and Indonesia signed the Lombok treaty—an Agreement on the Framework for Security Cooperation—a broader and more detailed version of what Suharto and Keating attempted. It was among the last big foreign policy wins of John Howard’s government—a rare bit of Howard–Keating symmetry.

But there’s one crucial difference: the Lombok treaty is an agreement between two democracies, not just between two leaders.

AUTHOR

Graeme Dobell is the ASPI journalism fellow. Image courtesy of the Indonesia Australia Report.

 --------------------------

↧

1) Filep Karma Questioned then released

January 3, 2018, 12:44 pm
$
0
0

2) In early push into Papua, palm oil firms set stage for massive forest plunder
3) Gov’t Targets Completing Trans Papua Toll Road Network in 2019
4) PDI-P, Gerindra must partner to hinder nomination of Papua governor: Expert

--------------------------------------------------------------
1) Filep Karma  Questioned then released


A google translate. Original bahasa link at

Papuan legislators call the infiltration of Filep Karma at Soekarno-Hatta airport excessively
Rabu, 03 Januari 2018 — 17:42

Papua No. 1 News Portal | Jubi
                                   Tokoh Papua Merdeka, Filep Karma - Jubi/Arjuna


Jayapura, Jubi - Legislator of Papua, Decky Nawipa, said the attitude of the police at Soekarno-Hatta Airport, Jakarta, which secured Papuan Freedom leader Filep Karma on Tuesday (2/1) night, seemed excessive.

He said that if the reason the former Papuan political prisoner was using the pin of the Morning Star was ridiculous, since it was not the first time Filep Karma used the star of the sphere which the Indonesian government considered a symbol of an independent Papua.

"It's not a new thing he (Filep Karma) uses the star pin in his shirt, and the ever-used pinnacle of the star is already his identity," Decky said by phone to Jubi on Wednesday (3/1/2018).

He said, why this is the first pin star kejora always stuck in Filep Karma shirt questioned. While all this time, wherever Filep travel, including to Jakarta and other areas outside Papua, he always uses pin kejora star.

"Why is it that people are now only questioned? People wearing storms are not directly categorized as independent Papuans," he said.

According to him, limiting and prohibiting the attributes of the star of the kejora will still exist, because this is not new for indigenous Papuans.

"It has been around since the Netherlands still occupy West Papua, until West Papua submitted to Indonesia," he said.

Quoted from CNN, Papuan independence leader, Filep Karma secured by Soekarno-Hatta airport police, Jakarta on Tuesday (2/1) at around 21.00 WIB, after getting off the plane.

He was taken to the Soekarno Hatta Airport Police HQ, however, was finally released.

Civil Liberty Defender activist Uchok Sigit Prayogi, who accompanied Filep Karma at the Airport Police Headquarters, said the information obtained from Filep, at that time, he departed from Yogyakarta to Soekarno Hatta airport.

"When Pak Filep arrived at the airport at approximately 9 pm, some TNI members were dressed in civilian clothes and official clothes, then took Filep's pack to the arrival room," Uchok told CNNIndonesia.com on Wednesday (3/1).

According to him, Filep admitted that since the flight from Yogyakarta to Jakarta, he was suspected by one TNI member who happened to be a plane with him. Members of the TNI had reprimanded Filep because of the attributes Filep charged.

Arriving in the waiting room, a number of security forces had questioned the pin of the Morning Star attached to the Filep outfit, as it was the flag of one civil society movement in self-determination.

"In the interrogation process Filep was bombarded, even to the point of breaking the table.Only more until 23:00 pm Then, the police came and took Filep pack to the Airport Police Headquarters for questioning.After arguing, at 01.00 pm, Filep was invited back home," he said. . (*)

---------------------------------------

https://news.mongabay.com/2018/01/in-early-push-into-papua-palm-oil-firms-set-stage-for-massive-forest-plunder/

2) In early push into Papua, palm oil firms set stage for massive forest plunder

by  on 3 January 2018
  • Large-scale deforestation and a high number of hotspots indicate that the arrival of the oil palm industry in Indonesia’s Papua region is wreaking the same kind of destruction wrought on forests in Sumatra and Kalimantan.
  • A new report calls the scale of the problem alarming, with the potential for even greater losses as only a small fraction of the forests issued for oil palm plantations has been cleared.
  • The palm oil industry’s push into the region, after nearly depleting forests in Sumatra and Kalimantan, has been helped by government programs to boost investment in Papua.
JAKARTA – The clearing of Indonesia’s last untouched swath of pristine forest has begun in earnest, with an area the size of Washington, D.C., razed for just a single oil palm plantation in Papua province, new data show.
Nearly 200 square kilometers (77 square miles) of forest have been cleared in Merauke district since 2014 for the plantation, according to the Washington-based World Resources Institute (WRI), with 10 square kilometers (3.9 square miles) being opened up just since October.
Arief Wijaya, senior manager for climate and forests at the Jakarta office of the WRI, said the scope of the deforestation was alarming. Cutting down that many trees for a single plantation area, he said, “emits 11 million tons of CO2, equivalent to the emission of 2.1 million cars in a year.”
In neighboring Boven Digoel district, at least 37 square kilometers (14 square miles) of primary forest has been cleared for another plantation. This represents less than a tenth of the total concession awarded to plantation firm PT Megakarya Jaya Raya in 2012, pointing to deforestation on an even greater scale to come.
“Although the loss is considered ‘planned’ deforestation and legal, clearing such a large expanse of natural forest can permanently damage the ecosystem and ultimately reduce its economic productivity,” the WRI said.


New frontier
The extent of this early round of deforestation spells trouble for Papua and West Papua provinces, which together make up the Indonesian half of the island of New Guinea and account for 35 percent of the country’s remaining rainforest, spanning 294,000 square kilometers (113,500 square miles).
The government and businesses have in recent years eyed the country’s easternmost provinces as a new frontier ripe for plantations, primarily oil palm, which have already nearly depleted the forests of Sumatra and Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo.
There were 59,000 square kilometers (22,780 square miles) of oil palm plantations in Sumatra in 2015, and 50,000 square kilometers (19,300 square miles) in Kalimantan, according to a recent study by Duke University and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis. Together, they account for 96 percent of oil palm plantations in the country. The Papua region had just 2,000 square kilometers (113,500 square miles), or 2 percent.
The remoteness of the region, lack of infrastructure and a low-level armed insurgency kept many businesses out of Papua and West Papua for decades. But in recent years the government has sought to prioritize the economic development of the region, including by handing out concessions for plantations in the country’s last remaining stretches of virgin forest.
In 2012, companies submitted investment applications for a combined 15,000 square kilometers (5,800 square miles) of plantations there, and preliminary proposals for another 20,000 square kilometers (7,720 square miles).
The amount of deforestation driven by oil palm expansion in the region has increased fivefold to 710 square kilometers (274 square miles) in the 2010-2015 period from the 1995-2000 period, according to the Duke University study.
“The proportion of new plantations replacing forests is also substantially larger than in Sumatra and Kalimantan, and increased over the study period, reaching a high of 66 percent from 2010 to 2015,” the study found.

Starting fires
In Boven Digoel district alone, about 200 square kilometers is earmarked for five palm oil companies.
But that pales in comparison to Merauke, where 12,000 square kilometers (4,630 square miles), a quarter of the district’s total area, has been allotted for the government’s Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate (MIFEE) program. Already the program has drawn criticism, with activists blaming it for more than 11,000 hotspots detected there as a result of fires set deliberately to clear vegetation — a common practice in the palm oil industry in Sumatra and Kalimantan.
Only two of the 10 proposed blocks in the MIFEE are supposed to include palm oil, but Greenpeace has noted that “significantly” more oil palm concessions are to be included.
Among the companies with concessions in Merauke is Korindo, a South Korean-Indonesian joint venture that is also the largest palm oil company in Papua. A 2016 report by the environmental group Mighty and its partners blames it for 300 square kilometers (116 square miles) of deforestation and nearly 900 fire hotspots since 2013.

Rezoning the forest
All of this has been allowed to happen with the blessing of the government, which is already resented by much of the Papuan population following decades of exploitation of the region’s riches with little of that wealth being invested back into the community. Papua and West Papua today have the highest levels of poverty in Indonesia and score lowest on human development parameters such as education, literacy, and maternal and infant mortality.
In 2015, the West Papua government revised the provincial zoning map to designate 20,000 square kilometers of protected area as agricultural zones. The previous map apportioned the majority, 53.9 percent, of the province’s 98,000 square kilometers (37,840 square miles) of forest as protected area and the rest for agriculture. Following the change, the protected portion of forest falls to just 33,000 square kilometers (12,740 square miles), while the agricultural zone is nearly double that.
Critics have questioned how potentially deforesting an additional swath of land roughly the size of the state of New Jersey will serve the interests of the local people, many of them from indigenous rural communities who are dependent on the forestsfor their livelihoods.
West Papua Deputy Governor Mohamad Lakatoni previously said the administration would work closely with indigenous groups to “prevent poaching and environmental degradation on rivers and lands,” but made no mention of how existing concessions and the zoning revision would cut into the very communities’ forests.
For Nikolaus Djemris Imunuplatia, an environmental activist from West Papua, the government’s development paradigm is a paradox. “This is against the government’s commitment to improving the welfare of Papua,” he said.
 
Banner image: The stocky, flightless northern cassowary (Casuarius unappendiculatus) is one of the birds-of-paradise for which Papua is famous. Photo by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay
Article published by g
----------------------------------
http://www.en.netralnews.com/news/business/read/17035/gov...t.targets.completing.trans.papua.toll.road.network.in.2019
3) Gov’t Targets Completing Trans Papua Toll Road Network in 2019
Thursday, 04 January 2018 | 01:56 WIB
JAKARTA, NNC - Basuki Hadimuljono, Minister of Public Works and People's Housing, targets the construction of Trans Papua to be completed in 2019. This is in line with President Joko Widodo's program by building infrastructure in the border areas and eastern Indonesia.
"We expect Trans Papua to connect all areas in Papua by 2019,” he said in Jakarta on Wednesday (3/1/2017).
Currently, the development of road connecting Sorong to Merauke has been built along 3,900 kilometers of the total target of 4,330 kilometers.
"Trans Papua is 4,300 kilometers, in 2017 already 3,900 kilometers. We still need to build 400 kilometers by 2019,” he said.
In addition, the Trans Papua toll road network will also be connected to the border road of Indonesia with Papua New Guinea. The Papua border road stretches from north to south connecting Jayapura City to Merauke City along 1,098.2 km.
The border road that has been successfully opened along 892.3 kilometers.
——————————————————
https://en.tempo.co
4) PDI-P, Gerindra must partner to hinder nomination of Papua governor: Expert
Nethy Dharma Somba
Jayapura, Papua | Wed, January 3, 2018 | 05:26 pm

The two parties with the highest number of seats in the Papua Legislative Council (DPRD) -- namely the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the Gerindra Party -- must form a coalition if they want to hinder the nomination of Papua incumbents Lukas Enembe and Klemen Tinal in the 2018 gubernatorial election.
Currently, the Lukas-Klemen ticket is supported by 10 parties, which control 43 out of 56 seats in the DPRD Papua. The PDI-P has seven seats and Gerindra six.
“I’m sure these two parties will form a coalition for the Papua gubernatorial election because they are fully aware that the upcoming regional election in the province is not only an event to elect a governor and deputy governor, but also a battle to maintain Papua as part of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia [NKRI],” said Marinus Yaung, a political expert from the University of Cenderawasih, on Wednesday.
He said the PDI-P and Gerindra doubted the commitment of the current Papuan leaders to maintain Papua as part of the NKRI. That was why the two parties are striving to nominate a candidate with a strong commitment to maintain the solidity of the NKRI, Marinus added.
“It is even possible that several parties, which have previously backed the incumbent pair, will withdraw their support.”
Earlier, Ones Pahabol, the former Yahukimo regent, declared his nomination for the 2018 election with Yoram Mambay as his running mate. He has not yet revealed the parties supporting his candidacy. (ebf)
——————————————————

↧
↧

1) This young man died after being persecuted by members of the TNI

January 3, 2018, 4:10 pm
$
0
0



2) Military violence against civilians, Kapendam XVII: Victims want to attack the TNI

Google translates of articles in Jubi. Be-aware google translate can be a bit erratic.
Original bahasa links  above articles
------------------------------------


http://tabloidjubi.com/artikel-12714-pemuda-ini-tewas-setelah-dianiaya-anggota-tni-.html
1) This young man died after being persecuted by members of the TNI




ilustrasi kekerasan, Jubi/dok



Papua No. 1 News Portal | Jubi,
Rabu, 03 Januari 2018 — 19:30 

Jayapura, Jubi - Human Rights Activist in Nduga District, Wene Talenggen, accused the TNI Pos Maleo member who served in Nduga persecuting a young man named Anekanus Kemaringi to death. The body of the 22-year-old victim was hidden in a guard post, even rejected when the family asked for bodies of victims.

"Members are going to shoot, start firing but the post commanders say they beat them until they got battered," Wene told Jubi on Tuesday (2/1/2018)

When the incident, the victim tried to save himself by running five meters from the post, but the commander of the post allegedly named Lettu Infantry, Didik Supriyadi with one member who served when it pulled back to the post.

"The victim was helpless in front of the post, when 6 members of TNI from Nduga Koramil came to torture the victim to death," Wene added.

Ananus's lifeless body was hidden. TNI did not want to hand over when the families of the victims came to ask for the body. The process of taking the body was through the negotiation process and it was only handed over at 5 pm and immediately buried according to custom.

Note Wene, the victim was tortured and killed on January 1 at 15 pm and has been interred on January 2, 2018.

Kapendam Kodam XVII Cendrawasih, Kol Inf Muhammad Aidi said the civilian's persecution began with an attack on the TNI post. "Four citizens attacked members of the post using sharp weapons," Aidi said.

One of the attackers tried to seize the weapon from the members. At that time, there was a duel of TNI members and victims. "Members of the TNI fired shots to paralyze one of the attackers," Aidi said, explaining.

He mentioned the victim named Apenangge Kogoya came to the post in order to open house TNI post. But after the victim's event attacked members of the post that led to violence. (*)
———————————
http://tabloidjubi.com/artikel-12721--kekerasan-tni-terhadap-sipil-kapendam--xvii---korban-ingin-menyerang-tni--.html

2) Military violence against civilians, Kapendam XVII: Victims want to attack the TNI
Rabu, 03 Januari 2018 — 18:52

Papua No. 1 News Portal | Jubi,

Jayapura, Jubi - The head of the XVII Cendrawasih military envoy, Colonel Muhammad Aidi, said that the incident of TNI Pos Maleo violence in Nduga stemmed from the post-TNI post attack by civilians with sharp weapons.

"Four citizens attacked the members of the post using sharp weapons," said Muhammad Aidi, when questioned by Jubi, (3/1/2017)

According to Kapendam one of the attackers tried to seize the weapons from the members. "At that time, there was a duel of TNI members and victims,"​​said Muhammad Aidi, adding.

He explained that TNI members had issued a crippling shot of one of the attackers he named Apenangge Kogoya. At that time the victim of persecution of TNI apparatus came to the post that was running the open house.

Kapendam's comment is different from the statement of Nduga District Human Rights Activist, Wene Talenggen, who said the victim of Maleo Male Army violence named Anekanus Kemaringi, aged 22 years.

Wene recounts the victim along with his two colleagues initially received the postal commander and one member. "The post commanders had told stories of victims and colleagues in the lobby," Wene said.

The victim whom he called Anekanus Kemaringi had previously sat watching television. Anekanus then held a machete and was asked by the commandant heading out of the room. "At that moment there was a fighting and slaing thrust. When fallen, the machete was hit by a slashed and bloody commander, "Wena added.

He claimed there were TNI members issuing warning shots and began to persecute the victims. While the two friends of the victims who sat in the lobby post run left the post. They ran away because the fellow victim who tried to run was caught with warning shots.

"While Anekanus, withdrawn to the front of the post by 6 TNI members from the Koramil came increasingly tortured the victim to death," he said.

Anekanus breathed less than 15 o'clock. The families of the victims who discovered Anekanus were killed the next day, exactly on January 2, the families of the victims made efforts to get the bodies but did not succeed until the afternoon.

Catataan mention the body of Anekanus still detained in TNI post, from 1 to 2 noon. some figures and intellectuals, coordinating with the TNI so that corpses could be issued at 5 pm on 2 January 2018. (*)
--------------------------------------






↧

1) Papuan activist Filep Karma held by airport police, interrogated and called a ‘monkey'

January 3, 2018, 11:40 pm
$
0
0


2) Indonesia beefs up anti-terror police unit to combat ‘extremist’ challenge
-----------------------------------------------

1) Papuan activist Filep Karma held by airport police, interrogated and called a 'monkey'

KBR - January 3, 2018

Jakarta -- Former political prisoner and Papuan pro-independent activist Filep Karma was intercepted by five Air Force officers upon arriving at the Soekarno-Hatta airport in Cengkarang.

The incident occurred at around 9pm on Tuesday January 3 after he had picked up his baggage. Karma had just arrived from the Central Java city of Yogyakarta by Lion Air and was about to exit through Arrival Gate A.

After being intercepted, the Air Force officers took Karma to a room where one of the Air Force officers pointed to a small pin that Karma was wearing on his chest with a picture of the Morning Star independence flag.

"I was asked all kinds of things. 'This is the OPM [Free Papua Movement] flag isn't it?, he asked. I answered, 'No. It's just a symbol. Based on the 1945 Constitution a flag is made from cloth measuring 1x2 metres. It's not a flag'", Karma told KBR by phone on Wednesday January 3.

Feeling that he had done nothing wrong, he then tried to explain himself saying that he was a former political prisoner who had been incarcerated in jail for 12 years.

Karma also quoted the words of former Coordinating Minister for Politics, Security and Legal Affairs, Luhut Panjaitan, who gave him a guarantee when he was released from jail in November 2015.

Karma told them, "I got a guarantee from Luhut Panjaitan, if Filep Karma wants to shout about things he's free to do so. He struggles peacefully, he doesn't carry bombs. But they didn't believe me".

Annoyed because Karma continued to protest and reject the accusations thrown at him, the Air Force officers became angry. One of the officers snapped at Karma hitting the table and abusing him.

"I was called a 'monkey'. Okay I said, 'Thank you Sir for the insult that was just made'", related Karma.

Karma said that he was interrogated by the Air Force officers for almost two hours. After the interrogation, he was taken by police to the Soekarno-Hatta airport police station in Tangerang to fill out a police investigation report (BAP).

In the middle of making out the BAP, an activist from Civil Liberty Defender, Uchok Sigit Prayogi, arrived to assist Karma. Prayogi questioned police about the grounds for making the BAP and in the end the police stopped the process.

"The detective unit chief wasn't able to answer Uchok's questions because he only received the request from the AURI [Air Force]. Eventually I was released and went home", explained Karma, who was released at 12.30am.

[Translated by James Balowski for the Indoleft News Service. The original title of the article was "Dicegat TNI di Bandara Soekarno-Hatta, Filep Karma Diinterogasi dan Dipanggil 'Monyet'".]

Source: http://kbr.id/berita/nasional/01-2018/dicegat_tni_di_bandara_soekarno_hatta__filep_karma_diinterogasi_dan_dipanggil__monyet_/94285.html

-----

INDOLEFT News service


---------------------------------------

https://asiapacificreport.nz/2018/01/02/indonesia-beefs-up-anti-terror-police-unit-to-combat-extremist-challenge/

2) Indonesia beefs up anti-terror police unit to combat ‘extremist’ challenge

By  - 
  

Indonesia is beefing up its elite Detachment 88 (Densus 88) unit in light of increased threats from local and international terror networks, says National Police Chief General Tito Karnavian.
There will be additional 600 policemen assigned to the squad, bringing the total headcount to 1300, reports The Straits Times.
“We now have Isis, not only Al-Qaeda elements. We are also seeing those who, through the internet, got self-radicalised, learnt how to make bombs and made attack plans,” said General Tito at a media briefing in Jakarta.
“Therefore, the Detatchment 88 must be beefed up.”
General Tito, who was involved in various high-profile terrorist raids when he was a field officer with Detachment 88, said silent operations must be stepped up, meaning more preemptive strikes were needed.
This in turn required higher detection capability, he added.
Tasks within Detatchment 88 are divided into various operations: arrests and raids; investigation and cross examination; interrogation; wiretapping; and evidence handling.
Won praise, condemnation
The unit has won praise for the many raids it has made on militant networks in Indonesia, foiling attacks and arresting terrorist suspects.
However, it has also been heavily criticised for a repressive role in West Papua against indigenous self-determination and civil society groups.
In 2017, Detatchment 88 arrested 154 and killed 16 terrorists during raids, with 14 officers injured and four killed during the raids operations.
The unit made more than 150 arrests in 2016, disrupting terror plots, including the planned launch of rocket attacks on Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands from Batam island.
General Tito also unveiled plans to send more police officers for overseas studies, saying he was inspired by the late Singapore prime minister Lee Kuan Yew in his bold move in preventing corruption.
The police force has, for the first time, received an allocation of 120 scholarship positions from the Finance Ministry to send its personnel abroad. This would mean a record number of officers studying overseas in coming years.
Waves of new faces
“We want to have big waves of new faces and a less corrupt culture,” said General Tito.
“When they return to Indonesia, they will have their own community who think the same way and who will be the agents of change. We want to replicate the Singapore concept. This is what Singapore did.”
He noted that when young policemen were sent to the United States, Britain and other countries with a less corrupt culture, they would be shaped accordingly.
The plan is to send 100 of the 300 fresh graduates from the police academy overseas as well as scores of other early-career policemen, he added.
↧

1) Kontras demands solution on perceived persecution of civilians

January 4, 2018, 11:37 am
$
0
0

2) Morning Star badge embroils West Papuan activist
3) The Free West Papua Campaign in 2017.
------------------------------------------------------

1) Kontras demands solution on perceived persecution of civilians
Jakarta | Thu, January 4, 2018 | 07:28 pm
The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) has called on the government to speed up the legal process of two persecution cases allegedly committed by military and police officers against civilians in Maluku and Papua.
On Thursday, Kontras said it had assisted in the legal process of the cases involving La Gode in Taliabu, South Maluku, and Isak in Kimaam, Merauke in Papua. Both were reportedly tortured to death by security officers.
“In La Gode’s case, the police have named 10 people as suspects but they have not yet revealed who they are, whether they have been detained and which law they have been charged with,” said the commission’s coordinator, Yati Andriyani.
The activist further added that three members of the Yalet 755 Infantry Battalion had allegedly tortured Isak to death in November 2017 in Merauke, Papua. Kontras’ investigation revealed that the military had not taken immediate action to tackle the problem or named a suspect in the case.
“Instead, the military gave the victim’s family ‘condolence money’ to hold a funeral procession,” Yati said.
She added that the police, as a law enforcement institution, had also abandoned the case.
Yati raised concerns that the military and police officers in remote areas often failed to do their job of providing security and safety to people. She was disappointed that the personnel chose to hand out an amount of money to the victim’s family instead of taking full responsibility. (vla/ebf)


-----------------------------------------------------------

2) Morning Star badge embroils West Papuan activist
31 minutes ago

A former West Papuan political prisoner has been interrogated by Indonesian security forces for wearing the Papua Morning Star symbol.


Filep Karma (centre with trolley) was taken in for questioning by police at Jakarta’s Sukarno Hatta airport. Photo: Ruth Ogetay

Filep Karma, the most prominent pro-independence Papuan to have been incarcerated in Indonesia, was held up for questioning by military and police officers at Jakarta's main airport.
It's two years since Filep Karma was released from prison after serving 11 years for treason for raising the banned Papuan nationalist flag, the Morning Star.
Flying in to Sukarno Hatta airport from Yogyakarta, Mr Karma caught the attention of a military, or TNI, officer due to the customary Morning Star badge he wears on his shirt.
He was taken in for questioning by the airport police squad, and interrogated about his activities.
While the national constitution allows citizens to express cultural identity, Indonesian authorities take a dim view of Papuans expressing aspirations for independence.

Filep Karma in 2015 Photo: Eben Kirksey
Mr Karma denied he was breaking the law by wearing a small symbol on his shirt.
He said the security officers tried to link him to armed elements of the Free West Papua movement, or OPM, but his credentials as a peaceful advocate for independence are well established.
At the time of Mr Karma's release from Papua's Abepura prison Indonesia's Political, Law and Security Minister, Luhut Pandjaitan, said the Papuan had been wrongly convicted of treason, or makar, which implies inciting armed revolt.
He had served 11 years of the 15-year sentence.
This week, security forces took Mr Karma in again briefly.
Released after almost three hours of questioning, Mr Karma revealed that officers had become aggressive to him, calling him a monkey.
————————————————————
3) The Free West Papua Campaign in 2017.
JANUARY 4, 2018
As we say goodbye to a busy 2017 we would like to thank you all for your incredible support, and update you on the great progress you have helped us  achieve.
Firstly, a huge congratulations to Benny Wenda, newly elected Chair of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP). Elections took place on December 1st in Vanuatu at the ULMWP’s first major summit since forming three years ago. We would like to take this opportunity to offer our best wishes to Benny and the West Papuan leaders to continue to lead the West Papuan people to freedom…………………
↧
Search

1) DANIL HATIL, THREE FORGOTTEN PEOPLE IN THE STORY OF PUTI HATIL AND KOROWAI (PART 1)

January 5, 2018, 12:27 pm
$
0
0

2) West Papua: Civilians Injured by Indonesian Security Forces
3) Failing our forests: in two years we’ve lost enough trees to cover Spain
4) The case of Nduga is considered to be a Papuan stain early in the year
5) POLICE OFFICER SHOT DEAD A TEENAGER IN MAPPI
6) PAPUA LEGISLATOR: FILEP KARMA DETENTION AT SOETTA AIRPORT WAS ‘TOO MUCH’
-----------------------------------------------------------

1) DANIL HATIL, THREE FORGOTTEN PEOPLE IN THE STORY OF PUTI HATIL AND KOROWAI (PART 1)
Jan 05, 2018



Danil Hatil, carrying his three years old son, Puti Hatil before they went to get treatment at Dian Harapan Hospital Jayapura – supplied/Rev Trevor Christian J

Nabire, 5/1 (Jubi) – The night I met Puti Hatil I wept three times. I wept for Puti and the general bad state of health throughout Korowai region. And I wept thinking about Daniel Hatil, a father who carried his child in his arms for 10 hours walk through the jungle and had been witnessing the sufferings of his child grow worse day by day.
One of the teachers in Danowage wept when Puti was carried up onto my front porch and he saw Puti Hatil’s hole in his cheek. This teacher cried out, “My God, why would God allow this, why God?”
I wept over and over then thinking, “This is 2017 and there are still so many places in the world where small children such as this suffer terribly with no medical help and must be carried 10 hours to the nearest help. And that help is not even a hospital but a simple missionary clinic as ours is.”
Public attention 
During the month of October a medical case from the Korowai area went viral throughout Papua. This was the case of the sick Korowai child, Puti Hatil. Facebook and What’s App groups circulated prayer requests and photographs and in just a short time over a dozen regional newspaper articles were printed about this sick child.
Puti Hatil is a 3 years old who suffered for a month in the remote village of Afimabul in the Korowai region.  A wound in his cheek grew worse and worse until it ate through his cheek until there was a widening hole there. There are no roads, no stores, no electricity, and no government presence in almost the entire region where Puti lives.
In desperation, therefore, and aided by the Evangelist Dakinus Wanimbo, Puti’s father carried Puti to Danowage where I live in order to get help.
They started walking at 7am and did not reach Danowage until 5pm, struggling through thick jungle and swamp and crossing small rivers. There in Danowage our missionary medical clinic helped clean the wound and then arrange to get them to Dian Harapan hospital where they could receive more thorough care.
Little Puti has received much media attention these past two months. But in this three part articles, I would like to highlight 3 other forgotten people from the case of Puti Hatil who also deserve attention.
The forgotten Danil Hatil
I admit that Daniel Hatil was not exactly forgotten by the media. But media did not catch the most important thing about Puti’s father.
I was reading a newspaper article about Daniel Hatil entitled, “Daniel Hatil, Pria Korowai Ini Pertama Kali Makan Nasi (Daniel Hatil, this is the First Time this Korowai Man has Eaten Rice). It is a fine article and I am glad it was published, but it misses the main point.
The MOST important aspect of this story was not that an interior man from the jungle ate rice for the very first time, or saw automobiles for the very first time. This only serves to sensationalize the primitive or write about him because of his unfortunate trait of not being very knowledgeable about the world. The reader might be motivated to pity Daniel, but that is not ideal.
Pity is not the right motivation. We should not pity Daniel Hatil; we should revere him. The MAIN focus of any article mentioning Puti’s father Daniel Hatil should be this:  what a devoted father he is.  What an outstanding example of love he has shown to his son.
We should not feel superior to him because we are from the city or are more highly educated. Rather, Daniel is a good example to us all for us to learn from.
In Papua the family is disintegrating. Many fathers in the city beat their children or go and get drunk and speak roughly to their family members. But here in the middle of the jungle we witness this example of a kind father Daniel who sacrificed his own time and strength and comfort for his son Puti.
It is what is inside the heart of man that is the most important.
The name of the disease that Puti suffers from is called Noma, or Cancrum Oris, and you can find horrifying pictures of noma on the internet.
This disease only occurs in conditions of extreme malnutrition, and it slowly eats away all the flesh on the face. Only the very poorest and malnourished parts of the world experience this illness.
Yet in this year, 2017, Papua is still such a place. So much OTSUS money is pouring into Papua, yet this area is still very, very poor.
Where is it all going? (to be continued)
 
Editor: Zely Ariane


——————————————

2) West Papua: Civilians Injured by Indonesian Security Forces
Jan 05, 2018

In the course of the Indonesian military’s «sweeping operations» in West Papua, five West Papuans were hit by gunfire and further four were tortured on 20 December 2017. The victims included three children that were injured when the Indonesian army fired arms at the airport as well as civilian houses nearby. In addition to the armed attack, the military has, together with the police, closed off the Nduga region of West Papua and travelling out of and into the region now requires as special passport which, amongst others, restricts the access of journalists and humanitarian agencies to the region.
 
The article below was published by Free West Papua:
On 21st December, we received reports from a grouping of Indonesian and West Papuan human rights groups on the shooting and torture of West Papuan civilians, including children, amid Indonesian military and police “sweeping operations” in the Nduga region, West Papua.
According to a press release by the Coalition for Justice, Law and Human Rights of the Central Highlands of Papua, Civil Liberty Defenders and the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence, the Indonesian military undertook a “sweeping operation” at Daragma airport in Mugi District of the Nduga region on 20th December.
The Indonesian military and police “fired randomly at people coming to the airport as well as toward people’s houses and other buildings around Daragma Airport“. The human rights groups also describe how they received information from Mugi that “two houses were burned by the security apparatus and other homes in the vicinity were riddled with bullet holes because of being shot by the combined Indonesian security forces.” They described that three underage children were shot while at home.
After the Indonesian military and police conducted this operation, they blocked access to the Nduga region and anyone travelling to the area must first apply for a special travel pass which must be obtained through 5 Indonesian military/police guard posts at 5 points.
The human rights groups are requesting that the Indonesian military and police “stop attacks and disproportionate, sporadic actions against civilians” and are calling upon them to allow journalist, humanitarian and other access to the region. They are also calling for the Indonesian military and police to be withdrawn from the Nduga region to allow for a peaceful Christmas.
We fully condemn this latest brutal attack on West Papuan people, including children, by the Indonesian military and police. We join the human rights groups in calling for justice and for the Indonesian military and police to immediately stop such attacks and to completely withdraw. Indonesian President Jokowi is currently visiting West Papua and is being accompanied by over 2,500 Indonesian military personnel.
Jokowi is trying to promote his image in an attempt to draw attention away from the ongoing genocide and human rights atrocities in occupied West Papua while being accompanied by thousands of Indonesian soldiers. The killing of West Papuan people around Christmas time when the president has visited West Papua in the past is nothing new and has become what West Papuans call the worst sort of “Christmas presents” they could imagine.
It is time for the Indonesian military and police to withdraw from West Papua and allow the people their fundamental right to self-determination with they have been illegitimately denied for so long. The only solution for peaceful conflict resolution in West Papua is through a genuine act of self-determination in an internationally supervised vote.



————————

 
http://gulfnews.com/news/americas/usa/failing-our-forests-in-two-years-we-ve-lost-enough-trees-to-cover-spain-1.2152302

3) Failing our forests: in two years we’ve lost enough trees to cover Spain

Fire. Oil palm. Cattle. Soy. Rubber. Wood. New data from Global Forest Watch shows that forest destruction is on the rise globally, in spite of a slate of pledges 

Published: 21:16 January 5, 2018 


By Jeremy Hance, Guardian News & Media Ltd

Washington: Two years ago the world signed the Paris Agreement to combat climate change. It included specific pledges to “conserve and enhance” the world’s forests in order to combat rising temperatures. But in the last two years - 2015 and 2016 - we’ve lost enough trees to cover 493,716 square kilometres, according to satellite data recently released by Global Forest Watch (GFW) . This is nearly equal to the entirety of Spain - or about four Englands.

Currently, deforestation accounts for around 10-15 per cent of annual global carbon emissions. Even as combating deforestation has long been seen as one of the cheapest ways to tackle global warming, GFW’s data shows just how far we have to go.

 

“Forests are fundamentally hard to protect - they are in remote frontiers or in countries with weak governance,” said Liz Goldman, a Research Associate at GFW.

But she added that the rising forest loss “doesn’t mean deforestation pledges are not having an impact - many of these agreements are still at an early stage. Important.”

2015 - The assault on New Guinea

 
In 2015, the world lost enough trees to blanket 198,295 square kilometres, an area around the size of Uganda. On the plus side, this was a slight dip from the year before. But it still represented a worldwide trend of rising deforestation since GFW started tracking tree loss in 2001 — even as governments and corporations (increasingly and repeatedly) pledged to do something about it.

Arguably, the most shocking data in 2015 came from the island of New Guinea, which is considered the third largest block of intact rainforest on the planet, after the increasingly fractured Amazon and the Congo. Deforestation on the island jumped an astounding 70per cent in 2015, threatening the island’s thousands of species found no-where else - think birds of paradise and tree kangaroos - and its local people who have lived closely tied to the forests around them for millennia.

The island of New Guinea is split into two distinct political entities. The western half is a remote — but large and rich in natural resources - region of Indonesia, governed by faraway Jakarta. The eastern half of the island is its own country, Papua New Guinea. Both areas, however, saw significant jumps in forest loss beginning in 2015.

“Visual inspection of the data shows that industrial agriculture and logging are the major players in Papua,” Mikaela Weisse, a Research Analyst with GFW, said. “Data from Greenpeace Indonesia shows that 48 palm oil companies have permits in Indonesian Papua, some as large as 45,000 hectares.”

The satellite imagery shows what many have long warned: that the island of New Guinea has become the newest frontier for forest destruction. Logging and palm oil companies, among others, are infiltrating the island, viewing it as a lucrative place to expand operations in an increasingly resource-scarce planet.

The numbers in 2016 were hardly any better for New Guinea. Tree loss dipped slightly in Papua New Guinea but rose in Indonesian Papua - potentially pointing to a new trend of high deforestation across one of the most intact tropical forests we have left.

2016 - World aflame

As bad as 2015 was for the world’s forests, last year was far, far worse. In 2016, tree loss jumped 51 per cent globally from the year before taking out a total of 297,000 square kilometres.

“Clearly this is a sign that we need to do more,” said Goldman.

Experts at GFW say the jump in 2016 was driven largely by one thing: fire. In temperate forests, fire is often a natural part of the ecosystem’s life cycle and can even bring about renewal to forests. But fire has no place in tropical forests where it is nearly always caused by humans trying to clear land for planting.

“These large-scale fires [in the tropics]...damage the forests’ natural structure, affect the habitats of plant and wildlife, and release large amounts of carbon dioxide into the air,” said Goldman.

Such fires can even lead to international crises. In 2015, blazes across Indonesia resulted in a toxic haze that at times covered several Southeast Asian neighbours, cost up to $35 billion and, according to one analysis, likely lead to the premature deaths of 100,000 people due to respiratory issues.

Indonesia- which has taken the unenviable spot of the world’s largest forest destroyer from Brazil -has tried for years to combat such fires. In 2011 Indonesia installed a moratorium on new logging or plantation concessions on primary forest and peatlands. But it’s not proven as successful as hoped, according to many experts.

“Our data show that the moratorium has not had much of an impact on forest protection,” said Weisse. “Forest loss within moratorium areas has continued to increase in 2015 in all areas except Sumatra, which [has] little primary forest left.”

She added the moratorium may be ineffectual because it’s essentially toothless. Companies defying the moratorium don’t face “legal consequences,” according to Weisse. Already, some are warning that Indonesia won’t be able to meet its climate pledges which hinge largely on reducing deforestation.

Today, even fires in temperate areas - see California’s epic conflagrations this year - appear to be exacerbated by rising temperatures worldwide.

“There is mounting scientific evidence that climate change is heating up our forests,” Goldman said.

Hotter, drier forests are more prone to fire and harder to put out. It was no coincidence that 2016 was not only a major fire year, but also the warmest year on record. Moreover, the constant cuts we are making into intact forests are leaving them more vulnerable. Decades of research shows that forest fragments are hotter, drier and more prone to fire than intact forests.

“There is increasing evidence that climate change, coupled with land use change and fire could lead to forest dieback in places like the Amazon,” said Goldman.

Already, we have lost around one third of the Amazon Rainforest to deforesters like the cattle and soy industries. Experts increasingly believe that regional rainfall in Brazil is being negatively impacted by carving away at the world’s greatest tropical forest.

After peaking in 2004, deforestation slowed in Brazil. Indeed, Brazil’s successful efforts in stemming deforestation have long been pointed to as one of the major wins in combating climate change and protecting forests. 2016 changed that. A new government in Brazil views the Amazon not as a region worth protecting, but largely as a resource to exploit. Last year saw forest destruction rise in Brazil to the highest level yet measured by GFW, easily eclipsing 2004. Whether this is a one-off incident or a new trend remains to be seen.

Together Brazil and Indonesia accounted for nearly a quarter of all forest loss last year.

Prioritising forests

GFW - which is run by a partnership of University of Maryland, Google and the World Resources Institute - analyses satellite data to track tree loss worldwide at a scale of 30x30 metres. They state that they do not measure true deforestation - the loss of forest to human activities - but tree loss.

“We refer to the data on GFW as tree cover loss because it can’t distinguish plantations from natural forest, or human-caused forest loss from natural loss,” said Weisse.

Related: Could we set aside half the Earth for nature?

In other words, to a satellite natural forests and plantations look the same. So, when a plantation is cleared, GFW measures that as tree loss, even though it will shortly be replanted.

However, GFW is working on changing how to tracks tree loss. The group has developed a map of primary forests versus plantations for Indonesia in order to come up with more accurate numbers of forest destruction in the country.

Despite current limitations, the GFW has become instrumental in measuring our impact on the world’s forests, even in near real-time in some places.

The Food and Agriculture Organization also tracks deforestation, claiming in 2015 that deforestation had slowed worldwide. However the FAO, a UN agency, depends on self-reporting from each country, leading to different measurements in different places and a dependence on self-reporting. The FAO also counts monoculture plantations - such as pulp and paper and rubber (though not oil palm) - as forest, despite the fact that ecologists have been arguing for years that monoculture plantations are in no-way true forests.

“They’re about as biologically similar to native forests as my front lawn,” William Laurence, a forest ecologist at James Cook University, said last year in Ensia .

Plantations contain fewer species, retain significantly less carbon, and often result in soil erosion and water pollution from inputs of herbicides and pesticides.

“The truth is that neither GFW nor FAO is perfect or complete, and each has their strengths and shortcomings,” said Weisse. “Rather than see the two systems as contradictory, we believe that we need to rely on both sources to have a complete understanding of the world’s forests.”

The ongoing scale of forest loss means that far more action is required, according to Goldman and Weisse. They say that nations and corporations need to speed up the process of decoupling deforestation from commodity supply chains like beef, palm oil, rubber and wood. At the same time, governments must increase enforcement efforts on-the-ground and make sure companies that defy laws and regulations are adequately punished. Finally, local and indigenous communities need to be given rights to their traditional land. Research has shown that the best forest protectors are indigenous groups - so long as they have secure rights to the forests they depend on.

But first the world really has to make forests a priority, and not just another issue drowned in meetings, proposals and pledges. Governments have to stop paying lip service while turning a blind eye and more forest funding is needed from wealthy nations.

“We want to do more than watch [forests] disappear,” said Weisse. “Our hope is that governments, companies, and civil society organisations can use the information we provide on when and where forests are changing to make better decisions.”

--------------------------------------------

A google translate. Original bahasa link at

http://tabloidjubi.com/artikel-12747-kasus-nduga-dinilai-jadi-noda-papua-di-awal-tahun.html

4) The case of Nduga is considered to be a Papuan stain early in the year

Jumat, 05 Januari 2018 — 19:31

 
Papua No. 1 News Portal | Jubi

 
Jayapura, Jubi - Member of the House of Representatives Commission I of Papua in charge of law and human rights, Laurenzus Kadepa said, the case of the death of a young man in Nduga District, Papua, Anekanus Kemaringi for allegedly persecuted unscrupulous TNI, Papua stain early this year.

 
He is worried that the Nduga case will be a dark start in Papua this year. Not likely, in the future will be a lot of blood Papua civil society that spilled.

 
"I am afraid that this year will be a lot of incidents, especially since it's a political year, the beginning of this year, I ask the Papuans to be alert, to all state institutions, to be in control."

 
According to him, just like other events in Papua, in the case of Nduga there is also a chronological difference between the Kodam party and the community. Kodam stated because of the attack, while the community said otherwise.

 
"I am also condolence to the victims, the chronological difference between Kodam and the community, it has happened frequently, not new," he said.

 
He said that since all the cases involving elements of TNI-Polri, the chronology is always different. Chronological versions of the police and TNI, in contrast to community reports or witnesses.

 
"I think, in the future whatever is done, people will not believe it anymore.This is a matter of trust," he said.

 
He is also pessimistic, the case can be resolved, even though the related parties, including the Papuan parliament down the field.

 
"It will be like many other cases, there is no certainty of settlement, I would like, by the institution of DPR Papua invite Kodam XVII / Cenderawasih, to discuss this matter," he said.

 
Human rights activist in Nduga, Wene Talenggen said the TNI Pos Maleo member who served in the area tortured Anekanus Kemaringi to death.

 
The body of the 22-year-old victim was hidden in a guard post, even rejected when the family asked for bodies of victims.

 
"Members are going to shoot, start firing but the post commanders say they beat them until they got battered," Wene told Jubi on Tuesday (2/1/2018)

 
According to him, during the incident, the victim tried to save himself by running as far as five meters from the post, but the commander of the post and a member on duty, withdraw the victim to the post.

 
"The victim was helpless in front of the post, when six TNI soldiers from the Koramil Nduga came to torture the victim to death," he said.

 
Kapendam Kodam XVII / Cendrawasih, Col Inf Muhammad Aidi said that the incident started from the attack on the TNI post.

 
"Four citizens attacked members of the post using sharp weapons," Aidi said.

 
One of the attackers continued him, trying to seize the member's weapons. At that time, there was a duel of TNI members and victims.

 
"Members of the TNI issued a crippling shot of one of the attackers," he said.

 
He said the victim came to the post in order to open house TNI post. But after the event, the victims attacked members of the post that led to violence. (*)




-----------------------------------------------------

http://tabloidjubi.com/eng/police-officer-shot-dead-teenager-mappi/

5) POLICE OFFICER SHOT DEAD A TEENAGER IN MAPPI

Admin

Jan 05, 2018

Merauke, 4/1 (Jubi) – One teenager in Mappi Regency, Nikolausi Bernolpus, 19, was shot dead by police officer in Mappi. The police, Bripka DE, shot the victim using a revolver type weapon at the bottom of his back neck. He died on the spot.

“It is true; the perpetrator was Bripka DE. He has violated rules, since there was no duties command. Moreover, he was also carrying weapon to shoot victims,” said Mappi Chief Police, Adjunct Senior Commissioner Wartono, on December 28.

Wartono explained that the shooting occurred on December 25, 2017 at about 04.00 WITA.

Before the incident, Bripka DE conducted night patrol using cars in Keppi City, Mappi and neighborhood areas.

“When the patrol entered the Frog Road, it found a group of people suspected of being drinking. Furthermore, the group was being  asked to go home for tomorrow morning they might go to church to celebrate Christmas,” Wartono explained.

But at about 3:40 am, one of the plainclothes police officer suddenly appears from behind, and he was too rebuking the victim. But the suspected group, including the victim, refuses to accept it which resulting in a fight.

While fighting the victim then ran into his house then took a sharp weapon. He then hit the policeman to fall with wood. It was then the warning shot was fired twice.

“A few moments later, the victim ran away and the police officer pointed the gun at the victim’s back neck,” Wartono explained.

Currently the perpetrator has been taken to Polda Papua to undergo further investigation as a suspect. “We’ve been visiting the family and his home and took care of everything including up to the funeral,” he said.(tabloidjubi.com/Zely)

———————————————————

 
http://tabloidjubi.com/eng/papua-legislator-filep-karma-detention-soetta-airport-much/

6) PAPUA LEGISLATOR: FILEP KARMA DETENTION AT SOETTA AIRPORT WAS ‘TOO MUCH’

Admin

Jan 05, 2018

Jayapura, 5/1 (Jubi) – Papua Legislator, Decky Nawipa considered the attitude of Soekarno-Hatta Airport Jakarta’s police toward  Papuan Freedom leader Filep Karma on Tuesday (January 2) was too much and unnecessary.

Filep Karma, a former and well known Papuan political prisoner, was briefly detained at the airport for wearing a Morning Star badge on his ‘daily civil servant uniform’. Filep Karma is always wearing civil servant uniform with morning star badge in public everywhere.

That is why Decky Nawipa said it was ridiculous to detain Karma based on his wearing of the symbol.

 
“It’s not a new thing he (Filep Karma) ear the morning star badge on his shirt, and the ever-used pinnacle of a star, has become his identity,” Decky said to Jubi on January 3.

Nawipa said it is odd that Soetta Airport decides to detain and questioning Karma since the badge always stuck on Karma shirt. Wherever he has to travel, domestic or international, he always wears it.

“Why is it now being questioned? People wearing such badge are not automatically categorized as independent Papuans,” he said.

According to him, limiting and prohibiting the attributes of the morning star is not new for indigenous Papuans.

“It has been around since the Netherlands still occupied West Papua, until West Papua was submitted to Indonesia,” he said.

Quoted from CNN, Papuan independence leader, Filep Karma was briefly detained at Soekarno-Hatta airport police, Jakarta Tuesday (January 1) approximately at 21:00 pm, after getting off the plane.

He was taken to the Soekarno Hatta Airport Police HQ. But he was finally released by human right advocate of Civil Liberty Defender (CLD).

CLD’s activist, Uchok Sigit Prayogi, who accompanied Filep Karma at the Airport Police Headquarters, said based on the information obtained from Filep, at that time; he departed from Yogyakarta to Soekarno Hatta airport.

“When Filep arrived at the airport at about 9 PM, some TNI members were some dressed in civilian clothes, and then took Filep’s lodge to the arrival room,” Uchok told CNNIndonesia.com on Wednesday (January 3).

According to him, Karma said that since the flight from Yogyakarta to Jakarta, he was suspected by one TNI member who happened to be in the plane with him. Members of the TNI had reprimanded Karma because of the attributes Filep charged.

Arriving in the waiting room, a number of security forces then questioning Karma for the Morning Star badge on his outfit.

“In the interrogation process Karma was bombarded with question like investigation, even to the point of threat by breaking the table. It happens until 23:00 PM. Then, the police came and took Karma lodge to the Airport Police Headquarters for questioning. After debating, at 01.00 PM, Karma was finally able to go home,” he said. (tabloidjubi.com/Zely)

--------------------- 
↧
↧

1) Shooting incident in Papua province

January 5, 2018, 11:27 pm
$
0
0

2) Where Is West Papua’s Struggle for Independence From Indonesia Headed? 

3) Sentani Residents Plant Fir Trees on Teletubbies Hills
---------------------------------------------



1) Shooting incident in Papua province

Since the latter part of 2017, fighters with the West Papuan Liberation Army, or TPN, have intensified hostilities with Indonesia's military and police in Tembagapura and its surrounding region in Papua's Highlands. Photo: RNZ / Suara Wiyaima

There's been another shooting incident on the road to the Freeport mine in remote Tembagapura region of Indonesia's Papua province.
This comes as a stand-off between West Papuan liberation fighters and Indonesian military forces continued into the new year in Tembagapura.
Reports from Papua indicate the shooting on Monday was directed at a convoy of vehicles linked to the lucrative mine at Grasberg, operated by US-based company Freeport.
The Papua Police Chief Inspector General Boy Rafli Amar told Indonesian media there were no casualties in the gunfire and that the shooters immediately fled to the surrounding bush after the incident.
Sporadic shootings at Freeport vehicles or security forces along the 125-kilometre road to the mine in the past fifteen years have left dozens of people killed and hundreds injured.
However there's been a surge in shootings in the past three months.
There has also been an intensifying of the type of hostilities between Indonesian security forces and Papuan independence fighters that has simmered since the incorporation of the former Dutch New Guinea into Indonesia in the 1960s.
Since the second half of last year, fighters with the West Papuan Liberation Army, or TPN, have been in a rolling combat with Indonesia's military, the TNI, and police in Tembagapura and surrounding region.
In recent days, reports from Papua indicate the fighting has spread to Nduga regency where two TNI personnel were killed last month, prompting reprisal attacks which left two civilians dead and a church burnt.
The TPN said that as well as independence, its goal was to close the Freeport mine, which is one of the largest sources of revenue for the Indonesian state.
Last year, police claimed the TPN was targetting civilians in its military campaign.
However, the TPN has denied this. According to sources linked to the TPN, it has recently proposed establishing demarcated areas for fighting in order to protect civilians.
————————————————

2) Where Is West Papua’s Struggle for Independence From Indonesia Headed? 

Simon Philpott  Thursday, Jan. 4, 2018
John Ondawame greatly admired the independence struggle in East Timor, especially its ability to win active support from people in Europe, the United States and Australia. But the exiled former fighter, activist and spokesman for West Papuans also longed for the world to take notice of the plight of his people and to see the shared contours of the two conflicts—two ethnically distinct regions of Indonesia longing to break free. Ondawame did not live to see his dream of West Papua’s independence fulfilled; he died in 2014. But it is more difficult than ever for the Indonesian government to keep the problems of its most restive province out of sight. 

Long mismanaged by successive administrations in Jakarta, West Papua is pushing harder to have its case for independence heard. Now possibly a minority in the province after decades of inward migration from other parts of Indonesia, ethnic Papuans increasingly worry that even a plebiscite, if secured, may not result in a decision in favor of independence. Further delays on a vote only add to their worries. For its part, the Indonesian government is unlikely to ever agree to independence for the resource-rich province, which along with Papua forms the western half of the island of New Guinea in eastern Indonesia. 

The immense Grasberg mine in the central Papuan highlands is the main reason why. It is estimated to hold the world’s largest supply of gold and its third-largest supply of copper. Freeport-McMoRan, the American mining company that owns and operates the mine, has long been Indonesia’s single largest taxpayer. A deal transferring majority ownership of the Grasberg mine to the state-owned PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium is nearing conclusion. The agreement will extend Freeport-McMoRan’s rights to mine at the site until 2041 and see new phases of underground mining, as Grasberg’s massive open pit is nearly exhausted. 

While militarily insignificant, armed pro-Papuan independence guerrillas have responded to the Grasberg deal by stepping up their campaigns in communities around the mine, declaring themselves at war with all the key actors involved with the mine and its protection: the police, military and Freeport. The mine has become a flashpoint against foreign exploitation of West Papuan resources and the Indonesian state’s complicity. For the security forces that have long acted with impunity in West Papua, adding layers of grievance to Papuan discontent, increased violence is more an irritant than a serious threat to Indonesia’s hold over West Papua. And yet, if unrest leads to a security crackdown and the emergence of documented, visual proof of Indonesian state violence against guerrillas or civilians, it could quickly change the dynamic in West Papua. 

Consider what happened in East Timor. In 1991, some 250 East Timorese demonstrators were killed by Indonesian troops in what became known as the Santa Cruz massacre. While it was but one of many instances of state violence in East Timor, it was caught on camera by Western journalists. The filming of the Santa Cruz massacre put the Indonesian government under international pressure from which it never fully recovered. It took the fall of Suharto and the capriciousness of his successor for an independence referendum to take place, but Santa Cruz was proof enough to the world at large that Indonesia’s rule in East Timor was toxic and violent. While it is extraordinarily difficult for journalists to gain access to and move freely around West Papua, the tensions around the Grasberg mine have nevertheless made international headlines and could attract more attention. 

The dynamics in West Papua suggest something has to give, or there could be an unexpected spark that ignites a process of change.

Of greater concern to the Indonesian government is the increasing effectiveness of the political opposition to Indonesia’s continuing presence in West Papua. The United Liberation Movement for West Papua, or ULMWP, has had some success in welding together the notoriously divided and fractious elements of the independence movement, notably through its attempt to secure membership in the Melanesian Spearhead Group, a body composed of the states of Fiji, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. Its membership bid failed in part because it was undercut by the Indonesian government’s own unsuccessful membership application, which explicitly aimed to block West Papua. In a determined attempt to demolish the ULMWP’s pro-independence argument that West Papua is ethnically distinctive from the rest of Indonesia, the Indonesian government insisted that there are other substantial Melanesian populations in five of its provinces and that they are suitably incorporated into the nation-state. 

Internationalizing the campaign has also delivered some minor successes to West Papuan activists. In September, seven Pacific Island governments addressed the U.N. General Assembly to express their concerns about the Indonesian government’s policy in West Papua. Although the U.N.’s decolonization committee then rejected a petition allegedly signed by 1.8 million Papuans asking for West Papua’s case to be put back on the committee’s agenda, the petition alone attracted media interest. While there has been no significant breakthrough since then, the ability of West Papuan activists to make use of international networks and raise media awareness may be a sign of growing sophistication in their campaign. West Papuans have more prominent backers in the likes of Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the British Labour Party and a possible future prime minister, who is a founding member of the International Parliamentarians for West Papua. The group, which includes lawmakers from more than a dozen countries, is committed to “West Papua’s inalienable right to self-determination.” 

The Indonesian government finds itself with difficult decisions to make about its handling of an increasingly able political opposition and a population more worried than ever about its very survival as a distinctive ethnic group. The long history of human rights abuses meted out by Indonesian security forces may have destroyed any prospect of restoring trust in the state among Papuans. How to manage a restive population that opposes clearly articulated plans for the extension of divisive mining operations is the kind of question that the Indonesian government has tended to answer in a heavy-handed and unimaginative way. 

Despite efforts by President Joko Widodo, known as Jokowi, to improve the situation in West Papua, problems there are deeply entrenched. Political life has been poisoned by decades of abuses and local corruption. Policies of economic development have not, by and large, benefited the ethnic Papuan population, either. And the political opposition to Indonesian rule, for all its recent attention, is still too factionalized. 

But the dynamics in West Papua suggest something has to give, or there could be an unexpected spark that ignites a process of change. Does Indonesia really want to go into its second half century of control of West Papua so burdened by its past activities and policies that a crisis there becomes inevitable? 

Simon Philpott is a senior lecturer in international politics at Newcastle University.

---------------------------

FRIDAY, 05 JANUARY, 2018 | 19:36 WIB
3) Sentani Residents Plant Fir Trees on Teletubbies Hills

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Sentani residents at Doyo Lama Village in West Sentani, Papua, collectively planted numerous fir trees locally known as ‘Cemara Kipas’ on the Doyo Lama Teletubbies Hills tourist area. 
“We planted 50 fir trees this afternoon,” said Riki Pangkatana, one of the residents who led the campaign on Thursday, January 4.
The trees were purchased using funds collected from Doyo Lama Village. Riki revealed that local residents are also planning to plant other types of trees in the area. 
“It wasn’t just us who planted them, there was also the Nusantara youth group who planted several trees around the Teletubbies Hills area,” he said.
The Teletubbies Hills are located about 25 kilometers from the Jayapura Regency and 40 kilometers from Jayapura City. Residents of Doyo Lama decided to plant the trees after they concluded that the location looked too barren for the tourist attraction. 
The name Teletubbies Hills was given by tourists who visited the location. Local people then decided to adopt the name for the location in the vicinity of Lake Sentani. 
ANTARA
-----------------------
↧

Call to action #FreeYanto

January 6, 2018, 12:26 am
$
0
0

Call to action #FreeYanto

The Free West Papua campaign are running an action  to raise some attention on Yanto Awerkion, 27, who was arrested 8 months ago

The campaign is suggesting that people help by calling the local authorities in Timika (on Monday the 8th jan) and request Yanto Awerkon is unconditionally released from custody as soon as possible.



Details and link to campaign webpage below


Call to action #FreeYanto

JANUARY 4, 2018
As you may have seen, we have been running a campaign to raise some attention on Yanto Awerkion, 27, who was arrested 8 months ago for just supporting a petition asking the United Nations to urgently help West Papua.
Yanto remains behind bars awaiting his trial on the 9th January, in Timika Court where he is facing charges of “Makar” or Treason, and 15 years in prison.
For months, his health seriously deteriorated and he has reported headaches, fevers and respiratory disorders. He has been given only 2 meals per day with little light, and unable to see his young family.We are calling on activists around the world help us #FreeYanto



Action:

Please help by calling the local authorities in Timika and request Yanto Awerkon is unconditionally released from custody as soon as possible.
If you cannot speak Indonesian we suggest stating your name; location; organisation; and state you are calling for Yanto Awerkion, & to protect his human rights. Thank you.
  • Victor Dean Mackbon, Head of police in Timika +62081217705813
  • Birawa Jaksa Prosecutor, +62 085234348458
  • Timika Prison officer Adam LP +62 08124049900
Please make these calls on Friday 5th and/or Monday 8th. (*Indonesia is 9 hours ahead of UK, therefore midnight the night before is best).
 
These phone calls are a simple way of directly helping political prisoners in West Papua.
Prisoners have reported that due to phone calls being made they have been untied, and have been given light and clean toilets- prisoners have reported that having international people caring about them have not only made the conditions better, but have made them feel strong.
A campaign last year saw one prisoner be released after 8 months, after he also received threats of 15 years in prison.
We know these phone calls work, so let’s do it for Yanto.
 


Other ways you can help

You can also help by publishing the story on your sites, or by re-tweeting from the Free West Papua Campaign Twitter and Facebook.
You can also help by donating to FWPC. We we currently raising funds to get Yanto extra legal help. To make a donation, please follow the link here.

The more Indonesia know the world is watching, the more likely Yanto will be treated fairly, be given a fair trial, and will have a good chance of being freed in 2018.

As you know, Indonesia enforce a strict media blackout, so news on human rights abuses rarely make it to the international media.

Please keep watching West Papua in 2018

Thank you.
-------------------------------

↧

1) Indonesian activists, church attack palm plantation bill

January 8, 2018, 12:41 pm
$
0
0


2) Jailed West Papuan gets trial date after 6 months in prison
--------------------




1) Indonesian activists, church attack palm plantation bill

Proposed law panders too much to big firms, leaves people and environment vulnerable, they say 


Indonesian activists and church people have reacted angrily to a draft bill set to go before legislators aimed at regulating the palm oil industry, saying it panders to large scale palm companies and fails to protect people’s rights and the environment.
The bill is scheduled to be discussed in the Indonesian parliament and likely be passed into law later this year.
The legislation has been drawn up to regulate the industry, especially large firms, which have come in for some heavy criticism from rights and environmental groups, as well as the Catholic Church over alleged environmental destruction and the marginalization of poor and indigenous people.
Palm oil plantations in Indonesia cover more than 12 million hectares, of which 7 million are company owned, and the rest by the government and small farmers.
Critics of the industry say the proposed law is seriously flawed and will fail to give the protections it is supposed to provide.
Inda Fatinaware, executive director of environmental group, Sawit Watch, said many articles in the draft overlap and will give more room for companies to violate other laws including deforestation.
“It does not care about the welfare of farmers and workers, and has the potential to exacerbate social conflict,” she told ucanews.com on Jan.4.
“It also does not aim to overcome land conflicts, which often occur between indigenous people and companies,” she said.
Mansuetus Darto, director of the Palm Oil Farmers Union, said small farmers object to the draft, as it mitigates sanctions on corporations that violate laws.
According to existing Indonesian criminal law, environmental destruction and neglecting the rights of employees carries a five-year prison term and a fine of US$380,000.
But the draft allows a sentence of 16 months in prison and an $11,000 fine.
“We fear the proposed law will be abused by big companies to establish palm oil plantation in peatlands,” he said.
“It [the draft bill] should be rejected because it does not help small farmers,” he added.
Sacred Heart Father Anselmus Amo, who heads Merauke Archdiocese's Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Commission said Indonesia does not need special law for the palm oil industry because it already has a plantation law.
Father Amo, who campaigns for Papuan farmers effected by big business, also said the proposed law will only benefit large scale investors, not local people.
“I’m afraid it will provide more opportunities for large scale plantations in Papua,” he said.
Antonius Sido, 46, a farmer in North Kalimantan province, said if the draft is passed, more small farmers would fall victim to land annexation.
“I disagree with the draft because we will lose our land and be more exposed to flooding because of deforestation,” he told ucanews.com.      
Some legislators, however, are trying to allay concerns.
Hamdhani, who sits on a parliamentary committee overseeing agriculture, told reporters recently the rights of both farmers and palm oil companies would be taken into consideration during the bill’s reading and article could be amended, without providing further details.
He said palm oil is a big industry and about 30 million people work in the sector. In 2016, it contributed about US$20 billion to the national Gross Domestic Product.
The new law, he said, would help the government in regulating an industry that contributes greatly to the national economy.

--------------
2) Jailed West Papuan gets trial date after 6 months in prison
3:51 pm on 8 January 2018
Yanto Awerkion was arrested on 23 June last year because of his involvement with a petition calling for independence from Indonesia.
He is due to face charges of treason, and if convicted could be sentenced up to 15 years in prison.
The exiled West Papuan independence leader Benny Wenda is calling for Mr Awerkion's "unconditional and immediate release" and for better scrutiny from the international community.
The former New Zealand Green Party MP Catherine Delahunty said supporting a petition to talk about a referendum for West Papuans was not treasonous.
"This young man is a symbol of the abuse of power and the state sanctioned colonisation and most people don't even know about it and don't know where it is."
Yanto Awerkion's trial is due to take place in Timika, in Indonesia's Papua Province.

---------
↧

1) West Papuan activist on trial for treason over independence petition

January 8, 2018, 11:24 pm
$
0
0

2) A Former Political Prisoner’s Fragile Freedom in Indonesia
----------------------




1) West Papuan activist on trial for treason over independence petition
Campaigners have called for the release of Yanto Awerkion, 27, who faces six years to life in jail if found guilty in Indonesian court
Helen Davidson Tue 9 Jan ‘18 17.14 AEDT


West Papuan independence campaigners have called for the release of an activist who has been put on trial for treason after he helped gather signatures for a petition.
The petition, calling for a free vote on independence, had been outlawed by Indonesian authorities but was smuggled out of the region and delivered to the United Nations in September.
The 27-year-old man is deputy chair of the Timika branch of the pro-independence West Papua National Committee (KNPB). According to his supporters he was arrested after getting on stage to speak about the petition at an event in May.

West Papuan independence campaigners have called for the release of an activist who has been put on trial for treason after he helped gather signatures for a petition.
The petition, calling for a free vote on independence, had been outlawed by Indonesian authorities but was smuggled out of the region and delivered to the United Nations in September.
The 27-year-old man is deputy chair of the Timika branch of the pro-independence West Papua National Committee (KNPB). According to his supporters he was arrested after getting on stage to speak about the petition at an event in May.

Bimantara did not detail Awerkion’s alleged actions, but said “separatist groups in Papua and West Papua have been found to commit a number of offences”, and noted the death of a policeman last year. 
Awerkion is not believed to be facing charges involving violence. Bimantara said that was a matter for the prosecutor.
The petition asked the UN to “put West Papua back on the decolonisation committee agenda and ensure their right to self‐determination … is respected by holding an internationally supervised vote”.
Advertisement
West Papua was annexed by Indonesia in 1963, an act formalised six years later with a widely discredited UN-supervised vote known as the Act of Free Choice. The only voters were 1,063 people selected by the military and compelled to vote in favour of Indonesian annexation.
“In the West Papuan people’s petition we hand over the bones of the people of West Papua to the United Nations and the world,” exiled independence leader Benny Wenda told the UN when the petition was handed over. 
“After decades of suffering, decades of genocide, decades of occupation, we open up the voice of the West Papuan people which lives inside this petition. My people want to be free.”
Indonesian foreign ministry spokesperson Arrmanatha Nasir said at the time the petition was “purely a publicity stunt with no credibility”.
The petition also called for the appointment of a special representative to investigate human rights abuses but was ultimately rebuffed by the UN’s decolonisation committee because West Papua was outside its mandate.
There are frequent reports of mass arrests and violence by Indonesian police and military forces against separatists and their supporters, but information is difficult to verify because of restrictions on foreign media entering the territory.
The leader of the Greens, Richard Di Natale, called for the Australian government to make entreaties on behalf of Awerkion and other prisoners, and to support West Papua’s calls for a UN-backed referendum.
—————————————————
https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/01/08/former-political-prisoners-fragile-freedom-indonesia

 
2) A Former Political Prisoner’s Fragile Freedom in Indonesia

Filep Karma Arbitrarily Detained at Jakarta Airport

Andreas Harsono 

Indonesia Researcher

 
 Last week an activist famous in Indonesia for peacefully advocating for the independence of the country’s Papua and West Papua provinces, Filep Karma, briefly became a political prisoner. Again.
This time around, Karma, who always wears the Morning Star symbol of West Papua independence on his shirt, was detained by a uniformed Indonesian Armed Forces officer after disembarking at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

What ensued was a 90-minute arbitrary detention in which seven Air Force officers, including one bearing a semi-automatic rifle, interrogated Karma about the symbol on his shirt. The officers insisted Karma remove that symbol from his clothing and asked if he was a member of the armed separatist Free Papua Movement (Organisasi Papua Merdeka or OPM). According to Karma, throughout the interrogation, the officers verbally abused him, calling him “scoundrel,” “monkey,” and “moron.” They subsequently transferred Karma to the custody of airport police who released him without charge.

Karma, who spent 11 years behind bars after being convicted in 2005 of makar – rebellion or treason – for publicly raising the Morning Star flag, is no stranger to abuse at the hands of Indonesian authorities. In November 2011, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention declared him a political prisoner and demanded that the Indonesian government release him, “immediately and unconditionally.” The authorities only released him in November 2015.

Karma is just one of many Indonesians targeted under articles 106 and 110 of the Indonesian Criminal Code, which imposes multi-decade prison terms on peaceful protesters advocating independence or other peaceful political change. Many such arrests and prosecutions are of activists who raise banned symbols, such as the Papuan Morning Star or the South Moluccan RMS flags. (Human Rights Watch takes no position on whether Papua should be independent, but we oppose the imprisonment of people who peacefully express support for self-determination.)

Karma’s experience last week was an unwelcome reminder that his freedom remains at risk so long as rights-violating laws are on the books, and that there are Indonesian officials who would rather call him a “monkey” than respect his right to free expression.

---------------------------
↧
↧

Photos-West Papuan flag flying at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy

January 8, 2018, 11:51 pm
$
0
0

It was great to see the West Papuan flag flying at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy. With all the difficulties the  Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples have they still find time to support West Papua.

Great Indigenous exhibition in Canberra. "Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters" at the National Museum of Australia.












↧

1) Indonesia must receive 51 percent share in Freeport: President

January 9, 2018, 11:36 am
$
0
0

2) Indonesia's 2018 Foreign Policy to Focus on Asean and Indo-Pacific Region
-------------------------------------



https://en.antaranews.com/news/114185/indonesia-must-receive-51-percent-share-in-freeport-president
1) Indonesia must receive 51 percent share in Freeport: President
Reporter:   8 hours ago


Illustration. PT Freeport Indonesia in Tembagapura, Timika, Papua. (ANTARA PHOTO /Stringer/Spedy Paereng) ()


Rote, E Nusa Tenggara (ANTARA News) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) affirmed that Indonesia should get a minimum share of 51 percent from PT. Freeport Indonesia that managed the mine in Papua.

"For the last 10 years, we only got a 9.3 percent share from the corporation. At the moment, I have ordered for Indonesia to get a 51 percent share," the president noted during a visit to Rote, the country`s southernmost island, on Tuesday.

Jokowi is on a visit to the island of Rote since Monday to open and attend a national coordination meeting of the Bara JP volunteers.

After an overnight stay at the island, the president and First Lady conducted several activities, including distributing land certificates and Indonesian Smart Cards, as well as reviewing the retention basin on the island.

Furthermore, the former governor of Jakarta stated that intense negotiations and discussions on the 51 percent share were held.

"The discussions have been very tough, but the important thing is to not let go," he added.

In August last year, he remarked that Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Ignatius Johan and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani along with CEO of Freeport McMoran Richard Adkerson had agreed to divest 51 percent of the shares for national ownership.

"However, details for that 51 percent share are still being discussed between the government and Freeport," he revealed.

He also touched on the Mahakam block in East Kalimantan that has been managed by foreign company PT. Total E & P Indonesie and Inpex Corporation for the last five decades.

"As of January 1, 100 percent of the Makaham Block is under our possession after decades of it being listed as a foreign property," he pointed out.

He also revealed that after fully becoming the property of Indonesia, management of the Mahakam Block has been directly handed over to Pertamina Hulu Mahakam, a subsidiary company of PT Pertamina. 

Reported by Kornelis Kaha
(UU.KR-ARC/INE)
EDITED BY INE/a014 
Editor: Heru Purwanto
————————————————————
2) Indonesia's 2018 Foreign Policy to Focus on Asean and Indo-Pacific Region
By : Sheany | on 10:02 PM January 09, 2018

Jakarta. Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi on Tuesday (09/01) outlined Indonesia's 2018 foreign policy priorities, which include strengthening the unity of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and promoting peace, stability and prosperity of its member states and the Indo-Pacific region.
Indonesia will also try to win a seat at the United Nations Security Council and will conclude ongoing negotiations on economic cooperation.
Speaking at an annual press event in Central Jakarta, Retno said Indonesia will pursue a "practical and effective" code of conduct in the South China Sea. It will also seek a plan of action to implement the Asean Consensus on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers, which was reached in November, during the association's summit in Manila, after 10 years of negotiations.
In August, foreign ministers representing Southeast Asia and China adopted a framework for the code of conduct in the South China Sea, laying a foundation to begin official talks on the disputed strategic waters.
During her speech, Retno said Indonesia will work to tackle transnational crime, including human trafficking, terrorism and illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. She touched on the importance of legal cooperation among Asean member countries and said that Indonesia will initiate negotiations over an Asean extradition treaty.
Indonesia will also seek a stronger Asean presence in the Indo-Pacific region.
The world's fourth most populous country plans to conclude ongoing negotiations on various trade and economy cooperation, including the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), and its comprehensive economic partnership agreements (CEPA) with the European Union, Turkey and Australia.
"Negotiations on a new generation of bilateral investment agreements will also be intensified with [our] partner countries such as Switzerland and Singapore," Retno added.
In 2018, Indonesia will host a number of high-profile international events, including the inaugural World Conference on Creative Economy in May, the Asian Games in August, and the International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meeting in October.
More intense negotiations over international borders are also in the 2018 pipeline.
In 2017, border demarcation deals were negotiated 35 times, and the 2013 agreement on the Indonesian-Papua New Guinea border was finally ratified.
Indonesia also ratified the exclusive economic zone boundary with the Philippines.
According to Retno, Indonesia's peacebuilding diplomacy will be reinforced by partnerships with like-minded countries and through the establishment of Indonesian Aid — a single agency responsible for delivering Indonesia's international assistance.
"The delivery of Indonesian aid will be carried out through one channel, with an initial budget of Rp 1 trillion [$ 74.4 million]," Retno said.
Throughout 2017, Indonesia was campaigning internationally to be selected as a non-permanent member of the Security Council. Elections for the 2019-20 term will be held in June.
The last time Indonesia occupied the seat was in 2007-08.
------------------
↧
Search

1) RAMANDEY: INTERNATIONAL MECHANISMS CAN HELP TO SETTLE PAPUAN PAST HUMAN VIOLATIONS

January 10, 2018, 12:40 pm
$
0
0
2) BABY KANA, THREE FORGOTTEN PEOPLE IN THE STORY OF PUTI HATIL AND KOROWAI (PART 3) 

3) Trial further delayed for West Papuan campaigner

--------------------------------------------------
1) RAMANDEY: INTERNATIONAL MECHANISMS CAN HELP TO SETTLE PAPUAN PAST HUMAN VIOLATIONS
Jan 10, 2018



                     Illustration of demonstration to demand the sttlements of Human Rights violation  in Papua – Jubi. Doc



Jayapura, Jubi – Head of Papua Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) representative office, Frits Ramandey said that it is possible for human rights issues in Papua to be solved based on international mechanisms.
However, he said, as long as national mechanism is working, international mechanisms must respect and should not interven the process.
“But the intervention is very likely to happen in various international forums, for example some countries give their view of human rights issues in Indonesia, especially Papua in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) forum,” Frits told Jubi on Monday (December 8).
According to him, that was an example of international mechanism, and possible political intervention in such forum is unavoidable. Besides, both victims and other parties need the support of international mechanisms.
“For example, in 2017 some people referred to Papua journalists report in the media, for example, Jubi was a reference for various countries, especially embassies, such as Franciscan report, which provide basis for intervention, (in this way) the international mechanism is very possible.”
Furthermore, Frits said that periodical report from National Human Rights Commission (KOMNAS HAM) on human rights development and enforcement in Indonesia can be a fresh reminder for Indonesia has ratified several international instruments.
Related to the Paniai case, he hopes that the newly appointed TNI Commander will give TNI members a chance to be questioned.
“KOMNAS HAM Adhoc team needs to ask for information related to TNI involvement (in the case). If they fail to cooperate with Komnas HAM official letters such as the police, the credibility of TNI institutions will be ruin, as Indonesia is included in international human rights mechanism,” he said.
Previously Papuan legislator John NR Gobai said he supports international mechanism used for Papua human rights settlement. According to him, so far the central government has been acting indifferent.
“But the question is whether Indonesia government would gives permission or is willing, because international mechanism need government need support to be implemented,” said Gobai.
He said, it is possible to solve the problem of Papuan human rights with international mechanism but it is still rely on Indonesian government cooperation.
Governor regulation on Papua human rights
Related to the provincial mechanisms to settle past human rights cases, Frits Ramandey said that Papua’s governor regulation regarding human rights has not been realized. It is still stumbles in Legal Bureau of Papua Province.
Papuan governor, Lukas Enembe, according to Frits is committed to the regulation. He even had assigned Assistant I, Doren Wakerkwa (to be incharge) and Doren had given the governor guidance to the Legal Bureau of Papua Province Regional Secretariat.
“Komnas HAM has institutionalized the draft of its gubernatorial regulation,” said Frits to Jubi, Monday (December 8).
He questions the reason behind Legal Bureau lack of responses, while governor has ordered it. If there are any records related to the draft, it should be conveyed to Komnas HAM for correction.
“The Legal Bureau in some forums with the Minister of Political, Legal and Human Rights, expressed their commitment to resolve the human rights cases, but unfortunately the Bureau of Law is still lack of cooperatiion,” he said.
He said that Komnas HAM had coordinated with Head of Legal Bureau several times, but gets no respond. Frits note that it is important to remembe Act No. 21 of 2001 on Special Autonomy of Papua that was born because there were demands for solving human rights problems. (*)
 
Editor: Zely Ariane
——————————————————————



2) BABY KANA, THREE FORGOTTEN PEOPLE IN THE STORY OF PUTI HATIL AND KOROWAI (PART 3) 
Jan 10, 2018
Written by Rev. Trevor Christian Johnson
Illustration of health crisis of Korowai people where an evangelist Jimmy Weyato is preparing a coffin – Jubi/Agus Pabika
Jakarta, Jubi – The 3rd and final forgotten person I want to write about during the drama of Puti Hatil’s sickness and healing is Baby Kana, also from Afimabul.
The day that Dakinus led Daniel and his baby son to Danowage, Baby Kana was also carried with them in their group.  She was also brought to Danowage along with Puti Hatil. But she did not heal.
Last week (end of December) Puti was flown back to his village by helicopter, his cheek sewn closed and the wound clean and dry and healthy. He was returned to the Korowai region because he was healed and was sick no more.
He is a success story.
But Baby Kana also suffers no more. She also no longer has any illness. Instead of being flown back to her village by helicopter, however, she was returned to the dust of the earth.
She has now been dead for over 6 weeks.
Most people do not know that this other small child was also brought to Danowage from Afimabul during the same trip along with Puti Hatil. They were both carried to Danowage together.
While Puti was being cared for in the VIP Room at Dian Harapan Hospital with many visitors and enjoying much media attention and money was being gathered on his behalf, the baby Kana lay rotting in the ground, buried in a very simple wooden coffin made from rough boards.
She was yet another statistic demonstrating the poor condition of healthcare in this region.
We wanted to help her so bad. We did our best. But she died during the night. When we received her in Danowage she had already been sick for a whole month, and she was just too sick and weak to recover when she arrived.
Maybe the journey was too much for her. We did not have a chance to really treat her or an opportunity to fly her out to the hospital like Puti.
But Baby Kana is just as much a part of this story as Puti. The child Puti Hatil was saved. Baby Kana was not.
But help came because of Puti.
God is using the case of Puti to bless the entire Korowai region. And through Puti’s sufferings, the whole Korowai region seems to be experiencing a blessing of health care.
He became a symbol to rally around and to gather help and support. Because of Puti’s pain, many Korowai children will not need to experience illness or death.
After many long years of waiting for help, we are now being flooded. I can only praise the churches and students and the government officials who are very quick to help.
Upon hearing of the health crisis in the Korowai region, the Governor of Papua Lukas Enembe quickly responded and visited Danowage and promised more help and embraced many of the local people, showing his heart for the interior peoples of Papua.
Many good people are now involved and working together from both church and government to help the Korowai.
But sometimes I fear. Sometimes I fear that it will not be the case of Puti Hatil that is representative of the help that is coming to the Korowai region (a very sick baby who was helped and healed and returned successfully to the city).
Sometimes I am afraid that people will soon forget the trials of the Korowai. Instead of Puti Hatil being a symbol of hope, I am afraid that the case of Baby Kana will become a more fitting symbol – a child who died without help and will be forgotten unless I can keep her memory alive through written articles such as this.
We have two future options for the Korowai. Who will better represent the fate of the Korowai, Puti Hatil and his rescue? Or Baby Kana and her death?
This is the real tragedy of Papua; while 90% of the media is focused on politics in the cities, the interior peoples of Papua go to bed hungry and many die due to neglect.  There are MANY Puti Hatils in my region. Even more sadly, there are many MORE Baby Kanas.
Between the years 2009 and 2015, shootings within the Freeport Mine project area killed 20 people and injured 59. In that same period of time illness and disease has killed much more in just this Korowai region of Papua where I serve.
I pray and plead that this is the last year that their cries will go unheard. (End)
 
Editor: Zely Ariane

---------------------------------------------------------




10 Jan 2018

3) Trial further delayed for West Papuan campaigner

9:01 pm on 10 January 2018 

The trial of a West Papuan independence campaigner, jailed for over six months without charges, has been delayed due to the judge not appearing for court.

Yanto Awerkion was scheduled to appear on Tueday but for a fourth time the session was cancelled.
The pro-independence KNPB movement said the previous three cancellations were due to a lack of witnesses.
Mr Awerkion was arrested on June 23 last year because of his involvement with a petition calling for independence from Indonesia.
He is said to be facing charges of treason which, if convicted, could lead to a sentence of up to 15 years in prison.
Mr Awerkion's trial has been re-scheduled to take place on Thursday in Timika in Indonesia's Papua Province.
----------------------
↧

Indonesia hopes to finalize Freeport contract talks by June

January 11, 2018, 12:10 pm
$
0
0
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-indonesia-freeport-talks/indonesia-hopes-to-finalize-freeport-contract-talks-by-june-idUSKBN1F016M


Indonesia hopes to finalize Freeport contract talks by June

 Reuters

Wilda Asmarini 


JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia hopes to finalize contract talks with Freeport McMoRan Inc over the Grasberg copper mine by June, although divestment issues are still unresolved, a mining ministry official said on Thursday.


Indonesia and Freeport formed a framework agreement in August to transfer the company’s rights to Grasberg to a new mine license system from an existing contract of work. Under the change, Freeport promised to divest 51 percent of its Indonesian unit to the government. 

However, details of the divestment still need to be ironed out by Freeport, the State Owned Enterprises Ministry and the Finance Ministry, Bambang Gatot, the Coal and Minerals Director General at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, told reporters at a briefing. 

“The main issue that hasn’t been resolved yet is divestment,” Gatot said.


 
An official at the finance ministry declined to comment. 

Other issues under consideration include the development of another domestic copper smelter, an investment stability agreement and the extension of Freeport’s operations up to 2041, he said. 

State-owned mining holding company PT Inalum has been appointed by the government to acquire the Freeport stake. 

Grasberg is the world’s second-biggest copper mine and is located in the eastern Indonesian province of Papua. 

The divestment may involve liquidation of a joint venture that Freeport Indonesia (PT-FI), operator of Grasberg, formed with Rio Tinto in 1996. 

Under that venture, Rio has a 40 percent interest in PT-FI’s Grasberg contract, which entitles them to a 40 percent share of all production after 2022. Rio has held talks with Indonesia about a possible exit to the venture. 

Gatot also mentioned that Freeport exported 921,000 tonnes of copper concentrate in 2017, and has a quota to ship up to 1.1 million tonnes through to Feb. 16, noting that the company has not applied for any new quota yet. 

“They haven’t applied for a recommendation (for an extension of exports) yet,” Gatot said, referring to Freeport and fellow copper miner Amman Mineral Nusa Tenggara, a unit of Medco Energi Internasional. 

A Jakarta-based spokesman for Freeport said the company was preparing to apply for a new export recommendation soon, but declined to comment on the contract talks. 

Amman shipped 560,000 tonnes of copper concentrate in 2017, Gatot said. 

Reporting by Wilda Asmarini; Writing by Fergus Jensen; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and David Evans

↧
↧

1) Indonesia to Finish Negotiations With Freeport by June

January 11, 2018, 10:26 pm
$
0
0

2) Papuan religious leaders hold interfaith prayer for peaceful elections
-------------------------------
1) Indonesia to Finish Negotiations With Freeport by June
By : Adinda Putri | on 9:22 AM January 12, 2018

2017-04-07T103806Z_1733751485_RC18F9CE5AC0_RTRMADP_3_INDONESIA-FREEPORT-PAPUA-1024x732.jpeg
The government will finalize its negotiations with the local unit of US-based Freeport-McMoRan in Indonesia over the massive Grasberg copper and gold mine in Papua by June, an official at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources said on Thursday (11/01). (Reuters Photo/Beawiharta)



Jakarta. The government will finalize its negotiations with the local unit of US-based Freeport-McMoRan in Indonesia over the massive Grasberg copper and gold mine in Papua by June, an official at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources said on Thursday (11/01).
Under a framework agreement announced in August last year, Arizona-based Freeport said it would divest 51 percent of Freeport Indonesia to the Indonesian government.
Freeport previously applied for a business license extension under a Special Mining Permit (IUPK), which will be valid until June 30. The government granted the permit to continue the contract talks.
"What has not been solved [in the negotiation] is the divestment, which is being led by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises. We’re still waiting for the outcome," Bambang Gatot Ariyono, director general of minerals and coal at the ministry, told reporters at a press conference.
Indonesia plans to acquire Rio Tinto's 40 percent participating interest in Freeport's Grasberg contract, which entitles the country to 40 percent of production above specific levels until 2021 and 40 percent of all production after 2022.
Bambang said the government and Freeport also discussed development of another copper smelter and the extension of the company's operations in the world’s second biggest copper mine until 2041.
Since 2014, Freeport has been building a smelter worth $2.1 billion located in Gresik, East Java, with a capacity of 2 million wet metric tons of copper concentrate. However, the construction has progressed slowly as the company has demanded certainty of its legal status after its Contract of Work expires in 2021.
The ongoing negotiations also require both sides to resolve the issue of a concentrate export permit, in which Freeport has not submitted an extension while its permit will expire on Feb. 16.
"We have not received a request [of concentrate export permit extension] yet," Bambang said.
According to Bambang, the company has exported 921,000 wet metric tons of copper concentrate out of its total quota of 1.1 million tons as of December.
Indonesia and Freeport have been in tough negotiations since last year after the government issued a new policy that requires miners to divest a 51 percent stake, relinquish arbitration rights and pay new taxes and royalties.

————————————

2) Papuan religious leaders hold interfaith prayer for peaceful elections
Nethy Dharma Somba The Jakarta Post
Jayapura, Papua | Thu, January 11, 2018 | 09:59 pm


Eighty-seven religious clerics from all over Papua held on Thursday a joint prayer, after which they began a 30-hour fast in order to ensure a peaceful atmosphere in the province for the upcoming regional elections.
The religious leaders gathered at Sahid Hotel to pray and begin to fast, starting from noon on Thursday until 6 p.m. local time the next day, when they will break fast together.
“Muslim, Christian, Catholic, Hindu and Buddhist clerics will pray and fast for 30 hours,” said Papua Interfaith Communication Forum (FKUB) chairman and Catholic priest Lipiyus Biniluk.
He said this event was the first one to be held in Papua that was aimed at ensuring peace during the upcoming regional elections. Papuan residents are also encouraged to perform their prayers, he added.
“We, religious clerics, have spared time and energy to ask for God’s intervention to ensure a peaceful Papua election,”Lipiyus said.
Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar, who attended the opening of the interfaith prayer session said that clerics played an important role in creating a safe and comfortable atmosphere prior to and during the election period.
“We need to make an effort to create the peaceful atmosphere we desire. We cannot let ourselves be distracted by temporary political interests,” he said.
Aside from the Papua gubernatorial election, seven regencies will hold elections to appoint regional heads. They include Biak, Mimika and Jayawijaya. (nmn/ebf)
↧

14 West Papuan activists arrested for flying a flag

January 11, 2018, 11:33 pm
$
0
0

https://www.freewestpapua.org/2018/01/10/14-west-papuan-activists-arrested-for-flying-a-flag/

14 West Papuan activists arrested for flying a flag

JANUARY 10, 2018
We have received urgent reports from the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) that on 7th January at 09:13 (West Papua time), the Indonesian police came to their Maybrat regional office and demanded to know why it was raising the KNPB flag (which depicts half of the West Papuan flag).

Then at 15:00, 14 KNPB activists were arrested by the Indonesian military and police in Kisor and were taken to the Indonesian police station in Aifat. They were returned at 22:00 in the night.
The names of those who were arrested are:
1. Abel Assem
2. Adam Sori3. Martinus Mate
4. Agus Kawen
5. Silas Sowe
6. Oktovianus Ky
7. Titus Waymbewer
8. Silas Ky
9. Melkias Same
10. Izak Sori
11. Yohanis Ky
12. Selita Ky
13. Sekeius Sowe
14. Yulius Yam
Once again the arrest of peaceful activists by the Indonesian military and police illustrates the institutional disregard for freedom of expression in West Papua by the Indonesian Security Forces. The Indonesian authorities are only too willing to deny and suppress the rights of people just for flying a flag, in an attempt to intimidate them from campaigning for freedom.
-------------------
↧

1) Indonesia sets framework for Freeport to yield control of Grasberg mine

January 12, 2018, 12:25 pm
$
0
0

2) Papua to get Freeport’s shares
3) Indonesia lays groundwork for transfer of Grasberg mine to local control
4) Freeport’s exports fall short of quota
5) PT Freeport`s 51% divestment not negotiable: Indonesian minister
6) Batik Air to launch Surabaya-West Papua route on Jan. 19
-----------------------------------




1) Indonesia sets framework for Freeport to yield control of Grasberg mine
 |  



Freeport is divesting a 51% stake in Grasberg to local interests in return for full operational control until 2041 plus fiscal and legal guarantees. (Image: Google Earth.)


Indonesian authorities inked Friday a deal with state-owned holding Asahan Aluminum, or Inalum, which sets a framework for Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) to transfer control of its massive Grasberg copper and gold mine as agreed last year.
The country and the Phoenix, Arizona-based miner had arranged in principle in August that up to a 51% stake in Freeport’s local unit, PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI), would be given to “Indonesia interests,” based on a new mine licence replacing existing contracts.
Inalum said Friday it was grabbing a 41.64% stake in the local unit of Freeport, which increases its current ownership in it to 51%. In return, the US miner will be allowed to keep the mine open until 2041.
It also means that Papua provincial government and Mimika regency will jointly own rights to a 10% of PTFI after the divestment is completed, according to AntaraNews.com.
The price of the transaction has yet to be agreed upon, Dow Jones Newswires reports.
The deal is considered a victory for President Joko Widodo, who faces re-election in 2019 and who has insisted that mining companies must divest majority stakes in order to continue operating in the country.
Grasberg is the world’s second-biggest copper mine and is located in the eastern Indonesian province of Papua.



--------------------------



2) Papua to get Freeport’s shares
Marchio Irfan Gorbiano The Jakarta Post
Jakarta | Fri, January 12, 2018 | 07:38 pm


The central government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Papua provincial administration and the Mimika regency administration on Friday, granting the local government a 10 percent stake in the coming divestment of gold and copper miner PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI).
The government was represented by the Finance Ministry, the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry and state-owned aluminum firm PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (Inalum).
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said that under the MoU, both the Papua administration and Mimika regency would jointly own a 10 percent stake out of the 51 percent of divested PTFI shares. Negotiations between the government and PTFI are still taking place.
“The portion of the stake was to accommodate the rights of the indigenous people, which are affected by PTFI’s [operation],” she told reporters on Friday.
Discussions over the transaction mechanism between Inalum and the local administrations were underway, she said, adding that the transactions would use neither state budget nor regional budget funds.
Inalum president director Budi Gunadi Sadikin said the signing of the MoU had settled the issue of the allotment of shares among central and local governments in the coming divestment of PTFI, a local subsidiary of United States-based mining giant PT Freeport-McMoRan.
The government previously extended the temporary permit of PTFI to June 30, allowing the latter to resume its operation while negotiations take place. (bbn)
————————————————————


3) Indonesia lays groundwork for transfer of Grasberg mine to local control

JANUARY 12, 2018 / 6:16 PM / UPDATED 13 HOURS AGO

Reuters Staff

4 MIN READ 
JAKARTA, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Indonesian regional and central government officials on Friday signed an agreement with state holding company PT Inalum that lays the foundation for the transfer of Freeport-McMoRan Inc’s giant Grasberg copper mine to local control. 

Indonesia and Papua have long pushed for greater control over Grasberg and the new ownership structure may ease tensions over spoils from the world’s second-biggest copper mine, which has been a focal point for local separatists. 

Indonesia and Freeport agreed in principle in August to set up the U.S. company’s rights to Grasberg under a new mine license system from an existing contract of work, and the American miner said it would divest up to 51 percent of its local unit to “Indonesia interests”. 

Under the agreement signed on Friday, Papua Provincial Government and the Mimika Regency will jointly own rights to a 10 percent share in PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) once they have been divested, the Finance Ministry said in a statement. 

“This portion of share ownership rights is for the interests for the indigenous land owners and members of the community facing permanent impacts,” the statement said. 

“The agreement signed today is a strategic step forward in efforts to acquire shares divested by PTFI,” it said. 

A Jakarta-based spokesman for Freeport Indonesia declined to comment on the matter. 


Inalum, which holds ownership of all state-owned mining companies, has been nominated to acquire an additional 41.64 percent in Freeport Indonesia, which would take Indonesia’s share of PTFI to 51 percent, up from 9.36 percent now. 

The 10 percent to be held by Papua and Mimika would be part of this Inalum holding, government officials have said previously. 

A government source with knowledge of the matter said the memorandum of understanding signed on Friday was an initial step in the acquisition process and would allow the transaction involving the Indonesian parties to be carried out through a “single window”. 

“The next step that still needs to be worked on is the completion of rights and obligations between shareholders and Freeport, as well as the valuation,” the source said. 

Coal and Minerals Director General Bambang Gatot said on Thursday the government is targeting to complete contract discussions with Freeport by June, noting that divestment issues had not been resolved yet. 

Freeport’s divestment may involve liquidation of a joint venture that Freeport Indonesia, operator of Grasberg, formed with Rio Tinto in 1996. 

Under that venture, Rio has a 40 percent interest in PTFI’s Grasberg contract, which entitles them to a 40 percent share of all production after 2022. Rio has held talks with Indonesia about a possible exit to the venture. 

Indonesia’s proposal could see Rio’s interest in Grasberg output being converted to shares in PTFI to make up the lion’s portion of the government purchase, provided all parties can agree to the structure and price of the deal, Mining Minister Ignasius Jonan said in December. 

A Melbourne-based spokesman for Rio declined to comment. 


Reporting by Cindy Silviana and Wilda Asmarini in JAKARTA; Additional reporting by Jim Regan in SYDNEY; Writing by Fergus Jensen; Editing by Tom Hogue

---------------------------------------


4) Freeport’s exports fall short of quota
Viriya P. Singgih, The Jakarta Post
Jakarta | Fri, January 12, 2018 | 04:31 pm
Gold and copper miner PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) exported a total of 921,137 tons of copper concentrates in the period from February to December 2017, or 82.7 percent of the yearly quota set by the government.
The government granted PTFI, a subsidiary of American mining giant Freeport-McMoRan, a one-year permit in February 2017 to export 1.11 million tons of copper concentrates.
“As of December 2017, PTFI’s realized exports stood at only 921,137 tons,” the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry's mineral and coal director general Bambang Gatot Ariyono said on Thursday.
The export quota was given in return for PTFI’s commitment to build a new copper smelter in Gresik, East Java, by 2022. The government will monitor the facility’s development progress at least once every six months before giving another export permit for the company.
PTFI has previously calculated that it will need around US$2.2 billion for the new smelter. The facility will have an annual input capacity of 2 million tons of copper concentrate and output capacity of 460,000 tons of copper cathode and 5,800 tons of anode slime, among other products.
“PTFI has yet to submit a proposal to us to get a recommendation for another export permit. But, of course, we will have to evaluate the development progress of company’s new smelter first,” Bambang said.
Meanwhile, another gold and copper miner, PT Amman Mineral Nusa Tenggara, exported around 560,000 tons of copper concentrates in the February-December period last year, or 82.9 percent of its yearly quota of 675,000 tons (bbn)
——————————————

5) PT Freeport`s 51% divestment not negotiable: Indonesian minister
Reporter: antara  5 hours ago

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia`s finance minister Sri Mulyani stated here on Friday that the divestment of PT Freeport Indonesia shares up to 51 percent is mandatory and not negotiable.

"We can assure a commitment of up to 51 percent shares divestment, which is in line with the instruction of the President and is non-negotiable," she asserted at the signing of an agreement for the distribution of part of the shares to be divested to the regional government of Papua.

Mulyani noted that negotiations on more detailed items with PT Freeport are still underway.

She stressed she could not reveal more on the negotiations as the government was committed to completing the whole process before releasing any information to the public.

"So, it does not mean we are not transparent, but we honor corporate management," she clarified.

Mulyani reiterated that the 51 percent divestment would be a priority of the Indonesian government.

"We are moving in the right direction and will make it public as soon as it is completed," she added.

The central government and the administrations of Papua Province and Mimika District, as well as PT Inalum, have signed an agreement for the distribution of the divested shares of the copper and gold mining company PT Freeport Indonesia to these regions.

Based on the agreement, Papua and Mimika together will have rights over 10 percent of the shares of PT Freeport Indonesia after the divestment.

The agreement is one of the strategic and advanced steps related to the divestment after the principal agreements were struck between the Indonesian government and PT Freeport Indonesia on August 27, 2017. 

Reported by Satyagraha
(H-YH/INE)
EDITED BY INE/B003 
Editor: Heru Purwanto



--------------------------

6) Batik Air to launch Surabaya-West Papua route on Jan. 19
Jakarta | Fri, January 12, 2018 | 05:49 pm

Batik Air is set to open a new route for flights between Surabaya and West Papua on Jan. 19.
Flights heading toward West Papua will depart from Juanda International Airport and land at Domine Eduard Osok Airport in Sorong, where a separate flight heads to Rendani Airport in Manokwari as part of the new route, as reported by Kompas Travel.
“With this new flight route, we hope to respond to our loyal Batik Air passengers and serve them for holidays [and] business or family visits with a premium class flight that offers more comfort,” said Ramaditya Handoko of Lion Air Group's corporate communications division in a press release.
The Batik Air flight from Surabaya to West Papua will fly once a day, departing from Surabaya at 5:00 a.m. WIB and arriving in Sorong at 11:00 a.m. WIT. The flight from Sorong to Manokwari takes off at 11:00 a.m. and arrives at 11:55 a.m. WIT.
The flight to Surabaya takes off from Manokwari at 12:40 p.m. and lands in Sorong at 01:35 p.m. In Sorong, the flight takes off at 2:15 p.m. WIT and arrives in Surabaya at 03:30 p.m. WIB.
For the route, Batik Air will operate an Airbus A320-200 CEO with 12 business class seats and 144 economy class seats, in addition to its Boeing 737-800 and Boeing 737-900 airplanes.
In 2018, the airline aims to add eight more Airbus A320-200 CEO for its domestic and international routes. (asw)
--------------
↧
Viewing all 5294 articles
Browse latest View live
More Pages to Explore .....
Search

Latest Images

New $4.5 million East Bay trail path will connect bicyclists, pedestrians to...

New $4.5 million East Bay trail path will connect bicyclists, pedestrians to...

April 18, 2024, 11:05 am
Photographer Gifts for Clients / Print Packaging / 4x6 Photo Box by...

Photographer Gifts for Clients / Print Packaging / 4x6 Photo Box by...

April 17, 2024, 6:48 pm
Deepfake Video of Aamir Khan circulates Online

Deepfake Video of Aamir Khan circulates Online

April 17, 2024, 3:07 am
Very Hungry Caterpillar™ Shirt: World of Eric Carle™+ Little Goodall by...

Very Hungry Caterpillar™ Shirt: World of Eric Carle™+ Little Goodall by...

April 14, 2024, 8:14 am
Have you seen Michael Wines? Burien man has been missing since Saturday,...

Have you seen Michael Wines? Burien man has been missing since Saturday,...

April 12, 2024, 3:59 pm
Stay Salty POTS Awareness Stretchy Stacking Bracelets | Set of Three|...

Stay Salty POTS Awareness Stretchy Stacking Bracelets | Set of Three|...

April 11, 2024, 5:27 pm
19 Reader-Favourite March Purchases — From Steals To Splurges

19 Reader-Favourite March Purchases — From Steals To Splurges

April 11, 2024, 5:07 am
Fake lip ring, silver lip ring, simple lip ring, unisex lip ring by AIRlab

Fake lip ring, silver lip ring, simple lip ring, unisex lip ring by AIRlab

April 9, 2024, 4:00 pm
People's Blog • First Pictures of the Eclipse ! ! !

People's Blog • First Pictures of the Eclipse ! ! !

April 8, 2024, 1:08 pm
First Pictures of the Eclipse ! ! !

First Pictures of the Eclipse ! ! !

April 8, 2024, 1:08 pm