Quantcast
Channel: AWPA Sydney
Viewing all 5273 articles
Browse latest View live

1) PNG clarifies position on West Papua

0
0
2) Report from Indonesian Papua provinces finds 'we are killing ourselves'
3) Two Minister Visit Papua to Support Smelter Development


4) Palm Victim Care Coalition Urges Nabire Regent to Revoke Permit of PT. Nabire Baru

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

http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/pacific/265638/png-clarifies-position-on-west-papua



1) PNG clarifies position on West Papua

Updated 12 minutes ago


Papua New Guinea's Foreign Minister Rimbink Pato has reaffirmed his government's support for Indonesian territorial sovereignty in West Papua and Papua provinces.
This comes after the PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill made his strongest statement yet about human rights abuses in Indonesia's eastern region.
Mr O'Neill said the time has come to speak out about oppression of West Papuans.
Though Mr Pato suggests parts of the statement have been misconstrued by some local media commentators who have ignored the context of PNG's relationship with Indonesia.
He says he has since been in touch with his Indonesian counterpart...
"Whom I had the opportunity to speak to on the phone yesterday in Jakarta on some of these issues over the Prime Minister's statement. So we've moving ahead and putting all those things, particularly the interpretations of that statement, behind us."
Meanwhile, Rimbink Pato says the new West Papuan bid for membership in the Melanesian Spearhead Group must be made in consultation with Indonesia's government.
This follows the submission last week of a membership application to the MSG by the United Liberation Movement for West Papua.
However, a spokesman for the ULM says it hasn't consulted Jakarta on the submission, and that MSG leaders do not need Indonesian endorsement to reach a decision on the application.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
2) Report from Indonesian Papua provinces finds 'we are killing ourselves'
Updated 9 February 2015, 18:08 AEDT
Over this past weekend, Fairfax newspapers in Australia ran an in-depth story looking at some of the troubles facing the Melanesian peoples of Indonesia's provinces of Papua and West Papua.






Its writer, Michael Bachelard, took a look at how the Melanesian people themselves are often responsible for the failings of the system.
Michael has just wound-up his Indonesian posting for Fairfax, and discusses this reporting assignment in this largely unreported region.
Presenter: Bruce Hill
Speaker: Michael Bachelard, Fairfax Media's former Indonesia correspondent

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

3) Two Minister Visit Papua to Support Smelter Development

Jayapura, Jubi/Antara – Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Minister Sudirman Said has stated that he and Public Works Minister Basuki Hadimoeljono will soon visit Timika to observe the readiness of the region to develop smelters.
The minister made the remarks in a meeting with Papua Governor Lukas Enembe. During the meeting which was also attended by Minister Basuki Hadimoeljono, Minister Sudirman Said remarked that he would directly observe the readiness of the region to build smelters.
According to the chairman of the Papua Regional Legislative Assembly (DPRD) Yunus Wonda, if the smelters are built they should have other supporting facilities.
“Electricity must have been ready and other factories should have already been there such as cement and fertilizer factories,” he said adding that the factories could use the wastes of smelters.
He said that if smelters are built in Papua, there will also be cement and fertilizer factories so that in the future the cement price in the region could be reduced from the current expensive level of Rp1.5 million per sack.
Now is the time for Papua to have smelters because copper which is processed in Gresik, East Java, came from Papua, said Wonda adding that the results of the two ministers’ working visit will be discussed later to know whether Papua is already ready to have smelters.
In the meantime, the plan to build a copper concentrate smelter in Papua will need US$1.5 billion, the provincial mining and energy office said. The cost will include land clearing, head of the regional mining and energy office Bangun Manurung said.
At a meeting on Dec 23, 2014, the government asked PT.Freeport Indonesia, the copper mining company in Papua, to build the smelter in Timika, Papua.
“PT Freeport has been ordered to build the smelter in Papua,” Bangun said, adding, the smelter is expected to be operational in 2020.
The fact that supporting facilities like fertilizer and cement factories are not available in Papua is no reason for not building the smelter “as facilities would also be built,” he said.
He said Papua Governor Lukas Enembe is set to make Timika an industrial district that fertilizer and cement factories would be built there.
“There is no reason for PT Freeport not to build the smelter in Timika, to process its own copper,” he added.
The US company has pledged to build the smelter as a condition for to be allowed to export copper concentrate.
The government has issued a law banning exports of mineral ore necessitating construction of smelter to process ores before being exported. In July 2014, the government licensed Freeport to export 756,300 tons of copper concentrate until January this year on condition it is to build a new smelter in Gresik, East Java.
The smelter in Gresik is to be operational in 2017 and is to be followed with one in Papua scheduled for operation in 2020. The license would be cancelled on Jan. 25 if Freeport failed to show that it has taken a concrete steps toward realization of the plan, according to memorandum of understanding signed earlier between the company and the government.
Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said expressed disappointment at Freeport failing to build the copper smelter. The company has not even decided where the smelter is to be built, the minister said.
He said he believed the company, which is the largest copper and gold producer in the country, is financially capable of building the smelter. (*)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

4) Palm Victim Care Coalition Urges Nabire Regent to Revoke Permit of PT. Nabire Baru

Timika, Jubi – A coalition of tribal leaders and environmental groups in Nabire urged Papua Governor Lukas Enembe to protect the rights of indigenous people from environmental destruction.
The coalition, consisting of the Meepago Tribal Council, Environmental Council of Indigenous Papuans, Pusaka, and Greenpeace  said on Monday (02/02/2015) Enembe should abide by  Law No. 21 of 2001 on the recognition and protection of indigenous peoples’ rights and Law No. 39 of 1999 on Human Rights,
“We the Governor of Papua to revoke Plantation Business permit of PT. Nabire Baru in Nabire, andthen invite both PT. Nabire Baru and Yerisiam Tribal Peoples to sit together. If the company did not want to meet the demands, its permit will be revoked,” the group said.
The coalition also urged, PT. Nabire Baru and PT. Sariwana Unggul Mandiri to open negotiations with the owners of customary rights, Yerisiam and Mee tribes to discuss the MoU with Indigenous Peoples and timber compensation.
They also demanded that the sale of land transaction by Yunus Monei to Imam Basrowi on October 15, 2008 be declared invalid because it violated the rights of indigenous people and because a person is not allowed to have customary land covering thousands of acres. (Eveerth Joumilena/Tina)
---------------------------------------------------------------------

PNG govt signals backtrack on West Papua call

0
0

http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/programmes/datelinepacific/audio/20166510/png-govt-signals-backtrack-on-west-papua-call


PNG govt signals backtrack on West Papua call

Originally aired on Dateline Pacific, Monday 9 February 2015

There are signs that Papua New Guinea's government may be backtracking from comments made by the prime minister last week that it is time to speak out about West Papua. This comes as a fresh bid has been lodged for West Papuan membership at the Melanesian Spearhead Group. [topic] Pacific

Tags:   PNG Peter O'Neill

TRANSCRIPT

There are signs that Papua New Guinea's government may be backtracking from comments made by the prime minister last week about the sensitive issue of West Papua.
In his strongest statement yet about human rights abuses by security forces in Indonesia's eastern region, Peter O'Neill said the time has come to speak out about oppression of West Papuans.
The statement comes as a fresh bid has been lodged for West Papuan membership at the Melanesian Spearhead Group.
Johnny Blades reports:
The statement came at a PNG leaders summit in Port Moresby where Peter O'Neill laid out core government policies for 2015. He made a clear departure from the previous stance of successive PNG governments, that West Papua issues were a domestic matter for Indonesia.
PETER O'NEILL: Sometimes we forget our own families, our own brothers, especially those in West Papua. I think as a country, the time has come for us to speak about the oppression of our people there.
Peter O'Neill said PNG must take the lead in mature discussions at the regional level about West Papua.
PETER O'NEILL: Pictures of brutality of our people appear daily on the social media, and yet we take no notice. We have the moral obligation to speak for those who are not allowed to talk. We must be the eyes for those who are blindfolded.
The statement went viral on the internet, and has met with widespread praise among advocates for West Papuan self-determination rights. The deputy opposition leader Sam Basil says the Prime Minister has recognised the growing importance of social media in PNG's public discourse.
SAM BASIL: The Prime Minister's call was being forced upon by many Papua New Guineans taking up the issue on social media and even on the media. And I give a word of thanks to the Prime Minister for taking the issue on but it's a little bit late. But it's good that now the Papua New Guinean government has a position on the issue of West Papuan atrocities and the issue of independence in West Papua.
However Sam Basil is wary that the West Papua issue is being used as a domestic political football. He urges the PNG government to deal with the situation in West Papua as an international issue.
Last week a fresh application for membership in the Melanesian Spearhead Group was submitted by the United Liberation Movement for West Papua. As PNG looks to engage more with Jakarta over West Papua, MSG membership is sure to figure.
Following Peter O'Neill's statement, PNG's Foreign Minister Rimbink Pato has been in touch with his Indonesian counterpart to clear up what he calls media misconstructions about his Prime Minister's statement.
RIMBINK PATO: Papua New Guinea's policy is and has always been that Papua and West Papua provinces are an integral part of the republic of Indonesia. Any efforts towards membership of MSG are a matter which can be acquired in consultation or with the support of the government of the republic of Indonesia.

A spokesman for the United Liberation Movement  says it hasn't consulted Jakarta on the MSG submission, and that Melanesian leaders do not need Indonesian endorsement to reach a decision on the application. As ever, PNG's stand will be the pivotal factor on whether West Papua joins the MSG.

1) Energy Minister Tells Freeport to 'Change Their View' About Papua

0
0
2) PNG Prime Minister speaks up on West Papua
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TUESDAY, 10 FEBRUARY, 2015 | 02:20 WIB
1) Energy Minister Tells Freeport to 'Change Their View' About Papua  

TEMPO.COJakarta - Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Sudirman Said has asked mining giant PT Freeport Indonesia to remember two things in running their business in Papua.
First, the Minister asked Freeport to change their view about Indonesia and Papua.
According to Sudirman, there is a change in the society, which certainly should make the company has different approaches today than it did when it was established in Indonesia back in 1967.
"Both at the national and regional level, there have already been changes,” said Sudirman.
Sudirman also said that PT Freeport is now dealing with literate, knowledgeable and skilled people and the situation was completely different from the situation 40 years ago.
Second, the minister asked PT. Freeport to choose the management team more effectively as it would facilitate dialogs about development plans and future development. He also hoped that the team in Indonesia would have full authority to make decision so it does not have to wait for long for the negotiation with the central government.
PT Freeport Indonesia is planning to build a smelter in Gresik, instead of in Papua, considering that Gresik has more adequate infrastructures.
However, the idea was met with criticism from by Energy Commission of the House of Representatives who wanted the smelter to be built in Papua in order to move the economy in the island.
Papua Governor also hoped that the construction is done in two places at the same time.
 
URSULA FLORENE SONIA
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister Peter O'Neill did something remarkable last Thursday. In a wide-ranging policy speech at a leadership summit in Port Moresby, he acknowledged the oppression of the people of West Papua. It was the first time an incumbent prime minister of Papua New Guinea has spoken directly about the rights of West Papuans in a public forum:
Papua New Guinea today is a respected regional leader. After 40 years of undisturbed democracy, we are in a unique position to lead mature discussions on issues affecting our people in the region.
Our leading role in encouraging Fiji to return to a democratically elected government and voicing our concerns about the plight of our people in New Caledonia are examples of our growing influence. We have also participated in the restoration of democracy and law and order in countries like Vanuatu and Solomon Islands.
But sometimes we forgot our family, our brothers and sisters, especially those in West Papua.
I think as a country the time has come for us to speak about oppression our people. Pictures of brutality of our people appear daily on social media and yet we take no notice. We have the moral obligation to speak for those who are not allowed to talk. We must be the eyes for those who are blindfolded. Again, Papua New Guinea, as a regional leader, we must lead these discussions with our friends in a mature and engaging manner.
O'Neill was careful not to refer to independence or greater autonomy for West Papua. He also made no reference to the latest attempt by West Papuan independence groups to seek membership of the Melanesian Spearhead Group. But significantly, he referred to West Papuans as 'family', 'brothers and sisters' and 'our people.' This is not quite the same as questioning the sovereignty of Indonesia over West Papua but is a radical departure from previous language. It is notable that in the year that Papua New Guinea celebrates 40 years of independence from colonial rule, the Prime Minister of the most populous Melanesian state has sought to identify with Melanesian populations which are not yet independent – in New Caledonia and in West Papua.
Interestingly, O'Neill indicated he was concerned about the pictures of brutality appearing on social media. If his decision to speak out now was even in part inspired by the images of human rights abuses posted by supporters of West Papua on Facebook and Twitter, this is a breakthrough moment for the influence of activists who use social media for political advocacy in Papua New Guinea. Indeed, those who post pictures on social media of brutality that women experience in Papua New Guinea will hope the Prime Minister may be paying attention to them too.
O'Neill's remarks will be a blow to Jakarta (see here for comments from Indonesia's Human Rights Commissioner). Indonesia has been working hard to court Melanesian states and hasattended Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) meetings as an observer as part of efforts to dissuade the MSG from admitting the West Papuan independence movement as a member. The then Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was the guest of honour at Fiji's Pacific Islands Development Forum meeting in Fiji last year, demonstrating the importance Indonesia attaches to influencing Melanesian countries.
Although the PNG Government has long carefully managed its relationship with Indonesia and avoided public statements on West Papua, there is much support in the PNG community and among a number of MPs for the West Papuan independence movement. Papua New Guinea's capacity to drive international action on a human rights issues is unproven, but O'Neill will now come under domestic pressure to follow through on his statement. The decision by Indonesia's Foreign Ministry to establish a special working group to 'handle developments and issues relating to Papua' might offer a window for closer engagement with Papua New Guinea on human rights issues.
O'Neill's remarks will have surprised others in the region. O'Neill has been at odds with with Fiji's Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama over a range of issues, including Fiji's desire to reform regional diplomatic architecture. O'Neill's statement on West Papuan human rights may now leave Fiji as an outlier within the Melanesia Spearhead Group; Vanuatu and Solomon Islands are supporters of West Papuan independence but Bainimarama has been reluctant to endorse West Papuan demands. At a time when Fiji's government is seeking to reclaim regional leadership at the expense of Papua New Guinea's ambitions, this will unnerve Fiji.
The move also wrong-foots Canberra. It would be naïve to imagine Canberra can comfortably stay neutral on this issue. Australia wants a stable relationship between its two nearest neighbours and therefore has an interest in averting tensions over West Papua. The Australian Government's position in relation to West Papuan lobbying efforts has always been that it supports the sovereignty of Indonesia over the provinces of Papua and West Papua, a position shared by the Papua New Guinea Government.
Australia has also been supportive of Papua New Guinea assuming a more significant regional leadership role, consistent with the size of its population, its economy and its potential for growth. Papua New Guinea is a country of some 7 million people and its economy, the largest of the Pacific Island countries, is forecast to grow by 15% in 2015, more than any other country in the world. Canberra can hardly complain if Peter O'Neill has determined that PNG will stand a better chance of recognition as a regional leader if he stands up for the rights of West Papuans. But in so doing, he has changed regional dynamics in the Pacific, probably made them even more difficult for Australia to attempt to manage and may even add to pressure on Australia to act.
Papua New Guinea will host the Pacific Islands Forum leaders' summit this year. The Forum has avoided recognition of West Papua issues in its official pronouncements but discussion this year could be quite different if PNG, this year's chair, campaigns for it.
--------------------------------------------------------

1) KNPB: Military, Police Behind Attacks in Papua

0
0
2) Local Government Gain Public Support for Program to Empower Native Papuans
3) Three Alleged Bullet Buyers Named Suspects

4) On the beach in Jayapura


5) Thousands of Papuans oppose  Labora’s sentence

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


1) KNPB: Military, Police Behind Attacks in Papua


KNPB Spokesperson Bazoka Logo – Jubi

Jayapura, Jubi – The West Papua National Committee (KNPB) said members of the military and police were responsible some of recent shooting incidents in Papua.
“We have seen that for a long time the agitators in Papua are actually the Military and the Police. That is true that those who did the shooting was a guerrilla group in the forest using seized guns,” KNPB Spokesperson Bazoka Logo said on Sunday (8/2/2015).
He said people should not only blame the persons who did the shooting, but also members of security forces who supplied the bullets.
“Is there a bullet or gun manufactured in Papua?“ he said. “Shooting incidents happened in Papua were related to the Military and the Police. They sell the bullets. Therefore KNPB states the military apparatus in Papua is the Criminal Armed Group (KKB),” he said.
He further said the guerilla group might not possible to continuously open their fire every time while they had no bullets. If they had, it’s only filled in the seized guns. So, logically they can’t do it without the bullets stock.
“So do not accuse the guerilla Papuans who are currently in the forest as the criminal armed group, civilian armed group, unknown group or so on. Those terminology are actually fitted with the military or police apparatus who involved in the bullet trading,” Logo told Jubi.
He also said if the government’s plan on new military command at West Papua Province was realized, it’s not possible the similar groups might be raised in that province.
“Yes, it’s their field of business. So those terminologies would be created following the launching of new Regional Military Command by the government. It was happening in regards to their welfare. For instance, they earned 10 million per month, but by selling the bullets they could earn 15 to 20 million per transaction. So who could reject this?” he said.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of Religious Community Forum, the Rev. Lipiyus Biniluk said he supports the action to crack down the military/police culprits who sell the weapons and bullets to the armed group in Papua. “I support the affirmative action to crack down the officers who involved in bullet trading. I have said it before. They must be destroyed,” he said. (Arnold Belau/rom)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

http://tabloidjubi.com/en/?p=3666

2) Local Government Gain Public Support for Program to Empower Native Papuans

Wamena, Jubi – The Jayawijaya reegency government’s Plan to move Papuan street traders to the traditional market ‘Potikelek’ has gained support fromstudents and local residents.
The Central Papua Highland and Jayawijaya Community Forum (FMJ-PTP) said it supports the government’s program for native women traders of Wamena City.
“We appreciate the local government for their attention to the native people,” FMJ-PTP General Coordinator Soleman Itlay said during their visit to the traditional market at Potikelek on Saturday (7/2/2015).
The forum urged the local government to immediately launch the Potikelek Traditional Market and to bring the indigenous women traders who were previously outside the market into the market.
“We also hope the government of Jayawijaya Regency can separate the trading commodities for Papuans and non-Papuans. The betel nuts, firewood, farming products are for Papuans. It is to avoid a monopoly in trading just like now,” Itlay said.
On the other hand, the Rev. Theo Kossay said he totally support the government’s regulation to prohibit the economic activities in the market and shops in Wamena City. “We also urged the local government to control the price of nine basic commodities that are still expensive. Generally, there is no price adjustment in the kiosks, shops or supermarkets in Wamena,” Kossay said.
He added the local government’s partisanship to improve the public infrastructures and facilities was decent and appreciated. By providing the traditional market means the Local Government of Jayawijaya Regency has provide decent place for the Papuan women traders as well as the native Papuan traders to conduct their activity.
Besides the traditional market, they hoped the Jayawijaya Government to also pay attention to other areas such as education and health services, road and other infrastructure constructions. (Islami/rom)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

3) Three Alleged Bullet Buyers Named Suspects

Jayapura, Jubi – The Papua Police have named three alleged bullet buyers from soldiers as suspects following their arrest at Entrop last month.
Papua Police Spokesperson Senior Commissioner Patrige Renwarin said the three persons, identified as FK, YW, and AJ, were named suspects  because they bought bullets from soldiers and gave them to an armed group in Lanny Jaya Regency.
“They made the confession during the questioning. They confessed that they were ordered by Puron Wenda, the leader of rebel group in Lanny Jaya who often attacked the military and police officers as well as civilians. But the investigator is still questioning them intensively,” Renwarin said on Saturday (7/2/2015).
According to him, the suspects were ordered to buy and search the bullets in the area of Jayapura City. He said their network is around of the capital of Papua Province. The Police has questioned three witnesses in this case, but they are planning to further question three other witnesses to complete the file of suspects.
“They are the undercover networks. The Crime investigator of Papua Police has submitted the Acknowledgement Letter of Investigation to the Papua State Prosecutor Office,” he said.
Earlier, the Papua Police Chief, the Inspector General Yotje Mende said the three suspects were sued in accordance of Emergency Law No.12 Article 1/1951 about the ownership of illegal firearms and bullets. They would be sentenced for life imprisonment at maximum. (Arjuna Pademme/rom)


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

4) On the beach in Jayapura



Jayapura, a city of just over 270,000, is one of the nation’s most eastern cities — and home to a beautiful beach.
Base G Beach, located 10 kilometers from the city’s center, is passable by motorcycles and private cars through a road that winds its way along Jl. Angkasa to the west.

When you are in Jayapura, you must not miss a visit to Base G Beach, where one can find white sands, rows of huts, lodgings, palm trees and simple seasonal kiosks.

In addition, Base G Beach is famous for its clear blue waters, unblemished by rubbish. One can look down into the sea and spot fish and coral. The sky also looks clean and friendly. The beach is ideal for those who love to swim or bask in the sun.

Pricey: The beach remains popular, although residents complain of multiple admission and parking fees.


No one knows exactly what the “G” stands for. Some think it was a code name given by Allied officers during the Second World War. Relics of the Allied forces, such as tanks and cannon, can be found on the border between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

“It takes around 30 minutes to the south to reach the border of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, where one can see relics. You must report to the [Indonesian Navy sailors] who guard the border,” said Wellem Mabirsa, 42, a sailor who owns a location for visitors to shelter.

During the day, visitors can enjoy white sands, blue seas, waves and coral that make people linger while chatting with their family and friends. From a distance, one can look at the curve of the mountains in Papua New Guinea.

Children and adults can be seen swimming as far as 200 meters from the edge of the beach. Some dive for shells and to look at corals. Others walk along the sand.

“On Sundays, quite a few visitors are thronging to this beach after they have attended services at church. At least a thousand visitors spend time gathering with their family and friends,” added Wellem.

Another resident was less than enthused.

“I seldom come here. The reason is that the entrance fee has doubled,” said Tri Yulianto, who has lived in Jayapura since 1987. “You can imagine that after we have paid to enter, then the owner of the huts still charge a fee for parking — again. In fact, we have already paid. Once we park a vehicle inside the location that we have rented, we must pay it again — Rp 200,000. Illegal parking has burdened visitors.”


Getaway: The beach lies only 10 kilometers or so from downtown Jayapura.

Bilha Poei, a vendor, said that the huts could be rented from Rp 200,000 to 300,000 a day. The huts, often with a honai-style roofs and measuring 10 meters square, can accommodate up to 20 people.

“At least we can obtain a net profit for rentals that’s around Rp 5 million a month. As you know, the owners of the huts do not stay at Base G. They have their own houses in Jayapura city. This is our side job,” said Vincent Kossay, who works for the city secretariat.

When night falls, one can still enjoy the beauty of Jayapura. Houses stand amid hills and valleys with roads winding up and down.

Evert, who runs the local Culture and Tourism Agency, said that the city offered a blend of historical and natural attractions. He said that the provincial government was focused on developing the tourism sector.

Evert said that most tourists in Jayapura were businesspeople. However, on certain days, especially when there are festivals, the city can attract more visitors.

“Net profits from Base G beach can reach at least Rp 600 million [US$5,128] a month. These profits are used to maintain the entrance gate, pay G beach officers and other necessities,” Evert said.

Evert said that Jayapura was built by the Netherlands and the US, meaning that many traces of the Second World War could be found here.

“There are many antiques — relics of World War II. Japanese tourists often come here and Americans as well. They want to see the relics, including the ones at the border of Base G and Papua New Guinea,” said Evert.

He said that there are 50 hotels from the most basic to the five-star level that could meet the needs of tourists coming to Jayapura.


La dolce vita: Visitors enjoy the laidback scene at Base G beach.

5) Thousands of Papuans oppose  Labora’s sentence
Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Sorong | Archipelago | Mon, February 09 2015, 5:39 PM - 
Around 1,500 people congregated on Monday on the streets of Rufei district, Sorong, West Papua, demanding that the state prosecutor’s office abandon its efforts to send former police officer Labora Sitorus to prison and calling for the establishment of an independent team to carry out a thorough investigation into the case.

The Supreme Court recently increased Labora’s sentence to 15 years in prison and a Rp 5 billion fine, far heavier than the two years and Rp 500 million fine initially handed down by the Sorong District Court, when Labora was found guilty of money laundering, illegal logging and fuel hoarding.
“The Labora case is full of engineering and he has been never questioned by the police. He should not be jailed because has been a victim of a political engineering,” demonstration coordinator Freddy Fakdawer said in Jakarta on Monday.
Demonstrators, comprising employees of Sitorus’ plywood company PT Rotua and local residents who had frequently received financial assistance from Labora, called on the Sorong legislative council to play the role of mediator in the case by bringing the matter to the President so that an independent team could be set up to investigate the case.
Labora has been included on a list of the most-wanted fugitives in West Papua since he was found not to be in the Sorong Prison when the Sorong state prosecutor wanted to execute the Supreme Court’s sentence.
He has also repeatedly denied escaping and said he was principally ready to be put behind bars but he did not believe he was guilty and wanted his case to be investigated again because he had been victimized.
Labora was allowed to leave prison for medical treatment in March, 2014 and the Supreme Court made its decision on the case on Sept. 17, 2014.
Sorong chief prosecutor Damrah Muin said that his side had several times given a clear explanation to Labora and he himself declined to accept the court verdict because he did not believe he was guilty.
Damrah said he would deploy a persuasive approach to ensure the convict served his jail sentence.
Witness and Victim Protection Agency head Abdul Haris Semendawai said in Jakarta on Monday that his agency would provide protection to Labora, provided the latter named all those involved in his case.
“Labora should be cooperative in revealing his case and complying with the law if he wants to be protected in revealing all those involved in the money laundering, fuel hoarding and illegal logging,” he said, adding that Labora had the right to ask the Supreme Court to reopen his case if he had new evidence. (novum)(rms)(++++)

1) Campaigning for a Free West Papua: Perspectives From an Exiled Activist

0
0
2) Mappi Resident Allegedly Shot By Marine
3) Development Concept in Papua Unique and Different

4) Intan Jaya Government Neglects Students Outside Papua

5) West Papua Police sink  Vietnamese vessel

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

1) Campaigning for a Free West Papua: Perspectives From an Exiled Activist
 
Despite Indonesia's claims that it has implemented reforms in annexed West Papua and that abuses against Papuans are a thing of the past, there is little evidence of substantial improvement in the situation.
West Papua is a province of Indonesia, but there is a movement that seeks to make it an independent state. Indonesia is accused of occupying the territory since the 1960s. Activists have also decried the repressive rule of Indonesia in West Papua, including its brutal suppression of the independence campaign.
As reported by East Timor and Indonesia Action Network last December, there has been an increase of Indonesian armed personnel in West Papua, which is already the most militarized region in Indonesia.
Violent clashes between some Indonesian armed forces in West Papua and the local population have intensified in recent years. Last December, the police was accused of killing young protesters.
Paul Inggamer, 43, an activist and a consular assistant of the Vanuatu Consulate in Hague, shares with Global Voices his thoughts about the situation in West Papua and his hopes for his ancestral land.
Global Voices (GV): How did you become involved in the independence struggle of West Papua?
Inggamer: It was after my first visit to my homeland in 1998 that things started to get clear for me. Seeing, experiencing the real life in West Papua. After going to West Papua in 1998, something broke inside. That trip changed my whole perspective. Seeing is believing. I saw my family, I saw my people, their struggle, their life.
GV: How long did you stay in West Papua?
Inggamer: I lived in West Papua from April 2004 till July 2008. I was deported (by the Indonesian authorities) and declared persona non grata. Indonesian intelligence observed me at various political gatherings, one of which was at the Kongres National in 2006. By that time I worked as a media consultant for Metro Papua TV.
GV: What challenges did you face when you were living in West Papua?
Inggamer: People saw me as a bule (“foreigner” in Bahasa Indonesia). Saya orang Papua asli. (I am an indigenous Papuan). Not a foreigner. I own a stretch of land on Auki island (Padaido Islands) near Biak. I am a customary land owner, but to Indonesians I am a bule.
GV: Is it true that there are now more Indonesians coming to West Papua. And that Papuans are becoming a minority. What are your thoughts on this?
Inggamer: Yes. That is true. Every week there are PELNI ships arriving in Sorong, Manokwari, Nabire, Biak and Jayapura with thousands of migrants from Java.
GV: From what I read on social media and the news, West Papuans are disappointed with past presidents. What do you think of the new head of state, President Joko Widodo? Do you expect the see the protection of human rights and promotion of justice under the new government?
Inggamer: Joko is Suhartoism without Suharto. [Suharto was Indonesia's leader and dictator who ruled for three decades until he was ousted from power in 1998]. Joko is a puppet. The military still and will always dictate.
GV: What is the next action of the West Papua independence campaign?
Inggamer: The United Liberation Movement West Papua will submit an application for FULL membership in the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG). Indonesia is just an observer in this body. If West Papua gets full membership like FLNKS (Kanak Independence Movement, New Caledonia) then the whole situation, the whole spectrum changes.
The next step after the MSG will be the United Nations.
GV: Do you receive support from other countries or governments in the region?
Inggamer: Regional support is important. Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Fiji are on the side of Indonesia but things are changing in PNG. The people of PNG are more aware about the threat that is Indonesia.
Vanuatu has been the only country in the world which gives West Papua a political platform and support. The Vanuatu Support is a bill that was unanimously adopted by Vanuatu parliament in 2010. It was derived from a peoples petition tabled in parliament. Its purpose was to express Vanuatu's recognition of West Papua's independence from Indonesia. And to commit Vanuatu to actively seek full membership for West Papua in the Melanesian Spearhead Group and the Pacific Island Forum. The bill was supported by the then Prime Minister Edward Natapei and opposition leader Korman.
Inggamer (L) with West Papuan independence leader Benny Wenda – image by Inggamer
GV: What is the prospect of the campaign?
Inggammer: I believe in the power of unity. I know how divided Papuans were but now we are united and we fully use of Vanuatu as a platform for our struggle. Momentum is building. Step by step we will get what is needed. First the MSG. Next the UN. Freedom is at the end of the tunnel. Indonesia has tunnel vision. With Papuans being united there is light at the end of the tunnel.
GV: What about international pressure on Indonesia?
Inggamer: International reaction on West Papua has always been like this: Don't talk about massacres, human rights abuses, simply don't mention anything about West Papua to Jakarta. The world still supports Indonesia's annexation of West Papua. The question is how long. Wait what happens when we as united Papuans submit our application to the MSG. We believe in unity. Unity brings the people of Melanesia together. Together we are strong. Together as one for West Papua.


2) Mappi Resident Allegedly Shot By Marine

Merauke, Jubi – Talema Waitipo, a 19-year old resident of Maam area of Bade Sub-district, Mappi Regency was still being treated at Merauke Navy Hospital after being shot allegedly by a marine guarding PT. Dongeng Prabawa. The bullet hit him on the left right and right chest, while another victim, Yance Doga, was allegedly slashed in his hand by a bayonet.
A relative of the victim , Bernadus Wuka, told Jubi at the Navy Hospital on Monday (9/2) that some local residents witnessed both victims were apparently wounded by a marine who guarded around the area of PT. Dongeng Prabawa.
He explained the attack occurred on 8 February 2015 at around 03:00 AM. Both victims were previously taken to PT. Dongeng Prabawa’s clinic at Bade Sub-district but due to a lack of medical equipment, they were referred to Navy Hospital at Merauke.
“Currently they has gradually recovered, but they will still need further treatment for next several days, in particular Talema who got a gunshot. He still cannot speak well due to his injuries,” Wuka said.
Jubi was informed that a day before the incident, a resident celebrated a birthday party on 7 February 2015 with dancing and drinking until dawn. Affected by alcohol, some people started making noise and disputing against each other. Then some marines came to the scene to intervene them by shot a fire for warning but it didn’t work. They kept attacking instead.
Several hours later, the informer said the local residents came to the scene and find two injured residents. They were immediately taken to the clinic for help. But their families were angry and harmed the clinic facilities.
Separately, the Merauke XI Navy Commander Brigadier General Buyung Lalana told reporters in the press conference the incident was triggered by liquor during a party held in Maam area. Since this party was reportedly interrupting the local residents, the security force of military and police conducted a patrol, but people assumed their presence to disturb and invent the party.
“That’s right some people who already drunk started a riot. It enforced our member to open fire to the air. Initially it was them who started it,” he said.
He further admitted about the injured residents who were taken to the clinic.
“I has received the report that the victim wasn’t injured by the bullet,” he firmly said.
However, he promised to continue the further investigation. If the marines were arrogant, they would be punished accordingly. On the other hand, if the residents were arrogant and disturbed other people’s comfort, they obviously could not be tolerated. (Frans L Kobun/rom)


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

3) Development Concept in Papua Unique and Different

Jayapura, Jubi – The development concept in Papua is different from those of other provinces in Indonesia and its development must be done based on each region due to unique geographical condition, the head of Regional Development Planning Agency of Papua Province, Muh Musa’ad sa
“The regional development programs of Papua, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Java etc, have been described in the third book of National Medium Term Development Plan (RPJMN), ” Musa’ad said in Jayapura on Sunday (8/2/15). While the second book was mostly about sectoral programs.”
He  said major issues of governance now are more about food security, maritime affairs, energy and tourism.
Earlier, head of National Development Planning Agency ( Bappenas) Andrinof A. Chaniago also said in the 2015-20189 RPJMN Public Consultation Forum on the plans for Sea Toll in Moliccas and Papua which will be integrated with the path connectivity of west and east.
In addition, according to the 2014 Marine Regional Development Plan Meeting, Moluccas and Papua would be the pivot of national development. (Alexander Loen/ Tina)

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

4) Intan Jaya Government Neglects Students Outside Papua

Jayapura, Jubi – The education department of Intan Jaya has neglected students who have studied  outside Papua since 2013, a senior high school student said.
“There was no communication since we attended the school. The local government has not come to see us for about three semesters.” the student who refused to be named told Jubi from Bali, where he is studying.
When asked about students’ living allowances, the student replied that they got from the central government only. ” Yes, we received living allowance money but it is not enough to meet our monthly needs,” he said
Separately, the secretary of the education department of Intan Jaya regency, Dominic Ulukyanan, confirmed to Jubi via cellphone on Sunday (02/08/2015), that there was no fund for the year of 2013 and 2014.
“As it was not allocated it so it is difficult for us. Actually, the budget has been proposed yet it was not realized, ” Ulukyanan explained.
Last time we planned each student would receive one million per month but it was canceled because in the 2014 Autonomy funds was already used up.
“There is a education budget allocated for 2015 from regent that would be realized by education department through regent’s recommendation, “he said. He hoped that, by 2015 it can help them. (Arnold Belau/ Tina)


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5) West Papua Police sink  Vietnamese vessel
Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Raja Ampat | Archipelago | Tue, February 10 2015, 6:42 PM -
The West Papua Police blew up Vietnamese vessel KM Thanh Cong, seized by the police’s water police unit (Polair) for alleged illegal fishing on Jan. 19, in the waters near Saonek Monde Island in Raja Ampat regency, West Papua, on 11:15 a.m. local time on Tuesday.
Eight personnel of the Mobile Brigade’s (Brimob) Detachment C based in Sorong, Papua, blew up the vessel using explosives in a procession led by West Papua Police chief Brig. Gen. Paulus Waterpauw. The team exploded the bombs with a remote control from a location at a distance of 200 meters from the blasting site.
Raja Ampat regent Marcus Wanma witnessed the blasting procession from the deck of machine vessel KM Bahari Express, which dropped anchor around 500 meters from the Vietnamese vessel. Hundreds of Raja Ampat residents also witnessed the first ever explosion of foreign-flagged vessels in the regency from small boats parked not far from the blasting site.
Two thundering blasts followed by flames were heard before the Vietnamese fishing vessel weighing 55 gross tons sank to the bottom of the waters in only 10 minutes.
The destruction of the foreign vessel that committed illegal fishing in Raja Ampat was the first for the provinces of Papua and West Papua or the second in eastern Indonesia after the Indonesia Navy exploded two Papua New Guinean vessels seized for alleged illegal fishing in Ambon, Maluku, on Dec. 24, 2014.
“The destroying of the vessel is proof that we, who are on guard in northern areas of the eastern most Indonesian province, remain consistent in carrying out a synergistic effort to handle law violations in our waters and coastal areas,” said Waterpauw.
“This will hopefully bring a deterrent effect for anyone who intends to illegally fish in this area,” he said. (ebf)(+++)

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

1) West Papuans lobby Fiji support for MSG bid

0
0

2) Fiji Backs West Papua To Join Melanesian Spearhead Group

3) Vanuatu buoyed by PNG's West Papua call

4) Statement by the Executive-Director of LP3BH on 6th February 2015


5) Premium costs Rp 200.000  per liter in remote West  Papua 

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

http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/265891/west-papuans-lobby-fiji-support-for-msg-bid


1) West Papuans lobby Fiji support for MSG bid

Updated at 9:15 pm on 11 February 2015

The secretary-general of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua has been in Fiji meeting government and parliament figures as well as church leaders.
Octo Mote is seeking Fiji's support for the Movement's bid to join the Melanesian Spearhead Group.
The ULM last week submitted its membership application to the MSG Secretariat in Port Vila where the Vanuatu government has been assisting the West Papuan representative group in its submission.
Mr Mote has signalled that support for their application has been forthcoming from Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and New Caledonia's FLNKS movement.
But support for West Papuan membership is not guaranteed from the other MSG members, Papua New Guinea and Fiji, and the ULM is keenly lobbying both governments on its submission.
Mr Mote says the West Papuans respect the diplomatic relations between Fiji and Indonesia, and believes Fijian support for their cause will not jeopardise these relations.
He reassured Fiji that supporting West Papua's entry to the MSG does not mean West Papua will be independent, and is not a threat to the Indonesian Government.
Mr Mote's meetings in Fiji were arranged with assistance from the Pacific Conference of Churches Secretariat, and involved dialogue with the Methodist Church, who the secretary-general says have offered to write to the MSG secretariat in support of the bid.
He also met with Foreign Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola and Opposition Leader Ro Teimumu Kepa.
Mr Mote says both showed willingness to support West Papua's bid and that he looks forward to further talks with Fiji's leadership in March.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Published On:February 11, 2015
Posted by Niugini Nius

2) Fiji Backs West Papua To Join Melanesian Spearhead Group

FIJI'S Government and Opposition have indicated their commitment to help West Papua join the Melanesian Spearhead Group.




In meetings with activist Octavianus Mote yesterday, Foreign Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola and Opposition Leader Ro Teimumu Kepa showed willingness to support West Papua's bid.

"I am very pleased with the reception to the visit and look forward to further talks with our Fijian friends in March," Mote said.

"The CSO community and the Methodist Church in Fiji have been very gracious in offering to write to the MSG Secretariat in support of our request for membership."

The MSG will meet in March to discuss an application from the new joint West Papua Liberation movement formed in December 2014.

Mote's meetings with stakeholders in Fiji were facilitated by the Pacific Conference of Churches Secretariat.

Mote indicated that support for the application was clear from Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands.

"We are quite certain that PNG will support us as they were behind the move for the West Papua opposition parties to unify before applying for MSG membership," Mote said.

"And Fiji in 2013 had told us that we should apply for full membership of the MSG so we hope they will support our application."

Mote returned to the United States today.

The former journalist fled Indonesia in 1999 and lives in exile in the US.


Posted by Niugini Nius on Wednesday, February 11, 2015. Filed under  . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Feel free to leave a response



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

http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/265910/vanuatu-buoyed-by-png's-west-papua-call

3) Vanuatu buoyed by PNG's West Papua call

Updated 25 minutes ago


Vanuatu's government has welcomed a call by the Papua New Guinea prime minister that the time has come to speak out against human rights abuses in West papua.
In his strongest statement yet about West Papua, Peter O'Neill said PNG had a moral obligation to no longer ignore the indigenous people of its neighbouring territory.
The Public Relations officer for Vanuatu's Prime Minister Kiery Manassah says for many years PNG found it difficult to speak out about West Papua.
"Even though in terms of the level of support (for West Papuan rights) at the grassroots level is quite big, but at the top level it's unheard of for Papua New Guinea to speak out. So for them to come out through Prime Minister Peter O'Neill to condemn the abuses is a welcome stance, and we just hope that they will continue to push that forward."
Kiery Manassah says PNG's support is crucial if the West Papua bid for membership at the Melanesian Spearhead Group is to be successful.
---------------------------------------------------------------
4) Statement by the Executive-Director of LP3BH on 6th February 2015

  The decision by the Papuan people through the intermediary of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua to apply for membership of
the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) should win the broad support  of all those who are campaigning to support the political rights of the Papuan people.

 The application was registered with the Secretariat of the MSG on 5 February this year and is due to be discussed  in July this year. With
strong support, this could help secure success for this move which has been under way for a long time. The struggle for the basic political rights of the Papuan people
which is based on their experiences in the Land of Cenderawasih, has been going on for more than fifty years during which time they have
been subjected to numerous destructive measures taken by the Republic of Indonesia. These measures were perpetrated by the security forces
and the government against the civilian population in a many forms, physical as well as psychological.

  Those measures are totally against basic human rights, against the Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia as well as against Law
39/1999 on Human Rights Courts, the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and various international covenants on economic,social and
cultural rights. The application to join the MSG is in accord with a number of international covenants and is also in line with a statement made
several years ago by Ban Ki-Moon, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, when he said that this problem should be discussed by the  UN
Decolonisation Commission which is based in New York. This also means that the application that was recently made by the
Papuan people through the United Movement for the Liberation of Papua is closely associated with the objectives of DAP - the Council of
Indigenous People - as well as other Papuan organisations which have reached agreement on this matter. It is also supported by the
Indigenous People's Council of Vanuatu.

  In my opinion, the application  should be reinforced by Papuan people everywhere and their leaders, by every means possible. DAP should do everything possible to stand firmly against all kinds of intervention from anywhere around the world. DAP would be the very
first institution that takes action in accordance with its legal position as the protector of the basic rights of the Indigenous Papuan
people.  If DAP takes a firm stand on this matter, it will win respect from the central government and from people throughout Indonesia as the
institution that works with determination to protect the rights of the indigenous people.

Yan Christian Warinussy, Executive-Director of LP3BH - Manokwari.

[Translated by Carmel Budiardjo]
---------------------------------------------------------------
5) Premium costs Rp 200.000  per liter in remote West  Papua 
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Archipelago | Wed, February 11 2015, 10:45 AM - 
Due to expensive transportation costs, the Premium fuel price set by Pertamina of Rp 6.600 (50 US cents) per liter is selling for Rp 200.000 per liter in East Moskona, an isolated district in Teluk Bintuni regency, West Papua.
East Moskona district head Jendri Salakory said in Manokwari, West Papua, on Wednesday that Premium began selling for Rp 250.000 per liter after the government raised the fuel price to Rp 8.500 from Rp 6.500 per liter.
“The skyrocketing price of Premium [gasoline] in East Moskona has a lot to do with costly transportation [getting to] the district,” he said as quoted by Antara news agency, adding that East Moskona could only reached by air.
“A charter small plane is paid Rp 85 million for one flight while a charter chopper costs Rp 146 million,” he said.
He called on the government to begin developing land transportation that would stimulate the local economy and allow local residents to "enter modernity".
He added that East Moskona was just one of many isolated districts in the resource-rich province. (rms)

1) Vanuatu open to West Papua talks

0
0
2) Papua Governor Says Freeport Royalties Unfairly Distributed
3) 16 Regencies in Papua Prone to Disasters

4) Investigation into Bullet Trade Case Ammunition Open to Public


5) West Papua waters prone  to smuggling of liquor  and drugs 

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

1) Vanuatu open to West Papua talks


The Vanuatu government says it is open to dialogue with Indonesia over the West Papua bid to join the Melanesian Spearhead Group.
The United Liberation Movement for West Papua last week submitted its membership application to the MSG Secretariat in Port Vila.
The Public Relations officer for Vanuatu's prime minister says the government will support the application when a decision is expected at the MSG leaders summit in Honiara mid-year.
Kiery Manassah says Vanuatu respects its diplomatic position with Indonesia, but will never accept rights abuse against fellow Melanesians.
"If there is a need for dialogue with Indonesia, of course we believe that now the Indonesians are part of the MSG, they could play a role in there we believe that as long as the rights of the indigenous West Papuans continues to be infringed, we will continue to support them in relation to their fight to attain self-determination."
The Public Relations officer for Vanuatu's prime minister, Kiery Manassah.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2) Papua Governor Says Freeport Royalties Unfairly Distributed

Jakarta, Jubi / Merdeka.com – Papua Governor Lukas Enembe and four regents visited the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM), Sudirman Said in his office on Friday (02/06/2015) to discus the future of PT Freeport Indonesia and its smelter development plan.
During the meeting, Enembe commented about the low royalties received by Papuans from Freeport Indonesia. A total of 80 percent of Freeport royalties are paid to the local government and 20 percent go to the central government.
The royalty for Papua is then divided into several regencies and Mimika regency gets only 32 percent.
He admitted, the distribution of royalties to several regencies in Papua seems uneven and the people who live around the mine or Mimika are treated unfairly because their portion is equal to those in other areas.
Mimika regent, Eltinus Omaleng reported the royalties received by Mimika regency is only Rp 200 billion per year and this number is too small. (*/Tina)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2) 16 Regencies in Papua Prone to Disasters

Jayapura, Jubi – As many as 16 of 29 regencies and cities in the province of Papua are vulnerable to floods, landslides, hurricanes and tsunamis.
The acting head of the Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), Didi Agus Prihatno, said the complexity of climates  could such natural disasters.
“Eleven types of potential disasters are all in Papua. So far, the disasters can be handled by the local government as it is not big enough” he told Jubi in his office on Monday afternoon (09/02/2015). There were no major disasters in 2004.
The deputy chairman of the Regional Representative Council (DPD), Mohammed Farouk, urged each local government to anticipate and maximize the preparedness for natural disasters such as floods and landslides.
“The data we got was many provinces in Indonesia are prone of flooding and landslides. Therefore, local governments and communities are encouraged to be alert,” Farouk was quoted as saying by atjehpost.co.
DPD in cooperation with the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), is currently working on a concept and conducting disaster that occurred in several areas in order to issue disaster policy and its implementation. (Sindung Sukoco/ Tina)
-----------------------------------------------------------

4) Investigation into Bullet Trade Case Ammunition Open to Public

Jayapura, Jubi – The Regional Military Command XVII of Cenderawasih said it will update the public on the investigation into five soldiers suspected of having sold bullets to armed groups.
The military command’s chief of staff , Brigadier General Tatang Sulaiman, said it will publish any outcome of the investigation for the public to know.
“Let’s see later. It is open to the public. The suspects are now investigated by POM,” Tatang said on Monday (09/02/2015).
He said if there is enough evidence, the soldiers will face a military tribunal, because they are members of the military.
“The trial is open to the public. The penalties will be hefty as it is a critical violation that can not be tolerated,” he said.
Previously, a member of Papua Legislative Council, Deerd Tabuni asked the military command to open every inquiry and investigation results to the public.
“It should be clear, so that people will know the progress. So the people would not question it,” Deerd Tabuni said. (Arjuna Pademme/ Tina)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5) West Papua waters prone  to smuggling of liquor  and drugs 
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Archipelago | Thu, February 12 2015, 1:20 PM 
West Papua is vulnerable to the smuggling of bootleg liquor, says West Papua Police chief Brig. Gen. Paulus Waterpauw.
"Not only liquor, but [West Papua] the waters have also been prone to the smuggling of hashish and drugs from neighboring countries," Paulus said as quoted by Antara news agency.
He said it was the duty of the police to bolster surveillance to prevent the illegal activity.
"The West Papua waters are strategically located on the domestic and international trade lanes, such that oversight has to be improved there," he said.
In 2014 the Manokwari Police foiled an attempt to smuggle hundreds of bottles of bootleg liquor by boat. Paulus said the police had also managed to foil a number of drug-smuggling attempts. (hhr)(++++)
-----------------------------------------------

1) Police Officers Allegedly Back Up the Palm Oil Company and Intimidate Local Residents

0
0
2) Officials Exacerbate Rogue Papua Cop Arrest Farce

3) PT Dwikarya’s Employees Allegedly Involved in Illegal Liquor Supplies

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


http://tabloidjubi.com/en/?p=3705

1) Police Officers Allegedly Back Up the Palm Oil Company and Intimidate Local Residents

Jayapura, Jubi – Yerisiam Tribal Chief Simon Petrus Hanebora said he was expecting the attention from Papuan NGOs for investigating and doing advocacy on the palm oil plantation issue at Sima and Wami villages of Yaur Sub-district in Nabire Regency, Papua.
“We have tried to terminate the activity of PT. Nabire Baru through an official letter, but the company is still conducting its operation and get support from the Police Mobile Guard officers,” Hanebora said through email to Jubi on Wednesday (11/2/2015).
He further said on behalf of Yerisiam Tribe, he has sent letter to the Nabire Legislative Council and local government asking them to follow up their aspiration to shut down the company. However, both parliament and local government have not given their answer until now.
“Why do government and law enforcement keep silence about Yerisiam’s trouble? Though an intimidation, human rights violation and genocide towards Yerisiam tribe are on going. If we fought them back, they would accuse us as separatist, rebel and so on. What is truly happening?” said Hanebora.
For that reason, he expected both environmental and humanitarian NGOs could take part in the palm oil plantation issue in Nabire, in particular to conduct investigation and advocacy.
Meanwhile, as published in surapapua.com, as land tenure right owners whose land used palm oil plantation by PT. Nabire Baru, some Yerisiam tribal residents always been terrorized and threatened by police officers by accusing them involving with the Papua Free Movement (OPM) although it never existed.
“So we can make conclusion that those officers only made an argument to justify their acts to arrest and intimidate to customary landowners,” a coalition member of Nabire palm oil company’s victims, Charles Tawaru told suarapapua.com on Tuesday afternoon (3/2/2015).
“People protested the company for not being concerned towards their rights, including hire the police officers to intimidate and arrest them. There’s really no OPM headquarter here,” Tawaru said. (Arnold Belau/rom)

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

http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/officials-exacerbate-rogue-papua-cop-arrest-farce/

2) Officials Exacerbate Rogue Papua Cop Arrest Farce

Police have refused to arrest Labora Sitorus, a money-laundering convict holed up at his home

Labora Sitorus, here seen in court, was sentenced to 15 years in jail. (Antara Photo/Chanry Andrew)

Jakarta. It was supposed to be a simple matter: The court sends a convicted criminal to jail, and there he stays, until his sentence ends. But for Labora Sitorus, a police officer in West Papua sentenced to 15 years in 2014 for money laundering, there seem to be many ways to avoid imprisonment, all the while flaunting his freedom in the faces of law enforcement agencies.
Labora, a low-ranking officer in a police station in the remote Raja Ampat islands of West Papua, grabbed national media headlines in 2013 after he was found to have laundered Rp 1.5 trillion ($118 million) through his personal bank accounts, apparently from his illegal logging and fuel hoarding businesses.
West Papua’s Sorong District Court sentenced him to two years in prison and fined him Rp 50 million in that same year, before the Papua High Court extended the sentence to eight years upon appeal. A further appeal, to the Supreme Court in September last year, saw the sentence stretched even further, to 15 years, with a Rp 5 billion fine.
However, in October, when a team of prosecutors came to pick him up from his temporary detention, they found that Labora had not been there for some time. In fact, since getting approval for a request to seek treatment by the penitentiary’s chief warden in March, Labora had never returned to jail.
This situation could be understood if Labora had been able to flout imprisonment by fleeing abroad, as is often the case with many Indonesian graft fugitives. But what is mind-boggling is that Labora has, in fact, never left Sorong. He has been ensconced in his home in the coastal city located near Raja Ampat, on the beak of the Bird’s Head peninsula of West Papua province, the whole time.

‘Public lies’
When several reporters interviewed him last week, Labora was in his house, located within a residential complex owned by his timber company, Rotua, which was at the center of the illegal logging case. Dozens of his employees-turned-guards stood around the complex, making sure that no one could come in.
This marked the first time Labora had been willing to speak to the press after the whole debacle had made media headlines.
Labora, 53, said he was aware he had been put in prosecutors’ list of fugitives, but added he was confused as to why they had done that. In the mean time, the National Police, the Attorney General’s Office and Justice Ministry’s Directorate General of Corrections have been passing around the blame for the fiasco.
“Let me stress that the three institutions — the police, the prosecutors and prison department — have made public lies,” Labora said, according to Kompas daily. “I’ve been at home all this time. I’m confused to as to why the prosecutors put me on their list of fugitives, when senior officials from those three institutions have been visiting me at home for silaturahmi [friendly relations].”
Labora maintained that his release was lawful due to a letter from the Sorong penitentiary authorizing it, and dismissed Justice Minister Yasonna Laoly’s statement that the letter was invalid.
“Prosecutors are yet to send me a letter that extends my imprisonment. [The penitentiary] officials themselves delivered their letter [that authorized the release] to my house. If anything is wrong with the letter, they’re the ones who should be charged for forging a document,” he said.
Labora further argued his release was lawful because the Supreme Court’s verdict was flawed. He said he was just a “pawn” in a game involving senior officials with the Papua Police and the National Police headquarters in Jakarta, although he stopped short of naming anyone.
“If I’m guilty, why do the police and prosecutors stick to persuasive means [to make me return to prison]? Logically, a fugitive must be immediately arrested or shot [if he resists arrest],” Labora said.

Still on police payroll
Adding to the strangeness of the whole issue, Labora added the police had rejected his resignation and continued to send him his monthly pay.
“I will reveal all the games behind this case,” he said, but added a condition: “I’m asking for help from the Witness and Victim Protection Agency [LPSK] and the National Commission on Human Rights [Komnas HAM] — please come here.”
Labora denied hiring his employees and local residents to shield him from the authorities, claiming he had never resisted any arrest because there had never been any attempt to do take him into custody.
Roughly 1,000 people claim to be his supporters, including Rotua employees and hundreds of local residents who on Monday staged a rally in front of the Sorong Prosecutors Office and the City Council, demanding President Joko Widodo form an independent fact-finding team to investigate allegations of  the conspiracy.
In Jakarta, Attorney General H.M. Prasetyo said prosecutors would keep trying to persuade Labora to surrender.
“We still hope that [he will surrender] peacefully. If he has no good intention… then we will go with Plan B, which is asking for the police to help,” Prasetyo said. He added there was no deadline for the “persuasive approach,” although he raised allegations that Labora had “protectors.”
“At least he must be hiding behind people around him, reportedly his employees. Labora has a lot of money… he is employing people to defend him,” Prasetyo told news portal Tribunnews.com.
An official with the Sorong Prosecutors Office, Danang, similarly said there was no deadline for the “persuasive approach,” arguing that if a deadline was set, Labora would attempt to flee.
Danang said local prosecutors had actually handed over the matter to police.
“We wish we could just use repressive means, because this has been going on for too long already. But we’ve handed over the matter to police and we will see the outcome of their persuasive approach,” Danang said. “The public may think this should have been easy. But it really is difficult; the situation in the field is not like you imagine.”

Wait and see
An official with the West Papua Police indicated police would only use force to arrest Labora if requested by prosecutors, and that has not been done, he said.
The official, who asked not to be named, spoke after a closed-door meeting in Sorong on Wednesday where the issue was discussed, with West Papua Police Chief Brig. Gen. Paulus Waterpauw, Papua chief prosecutor Herman Dasilva and the Justice Ministry’s provincial representative, Agus Soekono, all in attendance.
“The meeting discussed how to put L.S. in jail,” the official told Liputan6.com. “Our office [West Papua Police] is ready, but we’re not the executors. Only if there’s an order from prosecutors can we make an arrest.”
National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Ronny F. Sompie last week announced that police, prosecutors and the corrections department were forming a joint coordination team to deal with the matter. “Currently we’re still trying to arrest Labora,” Ronny said.
Paulus, meanwhile, said he had assigned several police officers in Sorong to “communicate” with Labora, stopping short of mentioning the outcome from their efforts so far.
He denied accusations that police were purposefully stalling on arresting Labora.
“Let’s just wait and see. There are steps to take. We hope there will good developments and that Labora will surrender himself peacefully,” Paulus said.
He noted, “We could hasten the process, but victims may fall. So let’s just follow procedure.”
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3) PT Dwikarya’s Employees Allegedly Involved in Illegal Liquor Supplies

Merauke, Jubi – Merauke Regent Romanus Mbaraka suspected PT. Dwikarya’s employees might be involved in illegal overseas-branded liquor sales in Merauke because there’s a possibility to build a connection with the ship crews to transfer those liquors to the ground.
“The company might not run the illegal liquor business, but its employees might certainly be involve in this business. Because there’s a possibility to get connection with the ship crews to pass the liquors and sell it on the ground,” the regent told reporters at his office on Tuesday (10/2/2015).
Related to the result of prompt inspection to Wanam and Wogikel villages by the Regional Leaders Forum (Muspida) which found no illegal liquors were circulated, he assumed those people have already got information about the inspection, so they have cleaned those things out before the team was coming. However, he had some efforts and committed to do the massive restriction.
“I have said to the Wanam villagers about giving them time for a month. Concretely I will carry my own way later,” he said.
Besides restricting the circulation of overseas illegal liquors and foods, he will also control the leisure places and prostitution in both villages to protect their youths.
“Yes, we will do further checks on the owners of leisure places including illegal prostitution. We would find out who’s behind them in detail. They will process in accordance to the law once they were founded,” he firmly said.
Merauke Legislative Council Chairman Kanizia Mekiuw asked PT. Dwikarya to concern on fish purchasing with the local community and not to get involved with illegal overseas liquor supplies. (Frans L Kobun/rom)

1) 5 soldiers suspected of selling bullets to Papua separatist group to face tribunal

0
0
1) 5 soldiers suspected of  selling bullets to Papua  separatist group to face  tribunal 

2) Labora works and waits,  defiant in his fortress

3) To sing a song of Papua

 

4) RH Petrogas gets green light for West Papua field development in Indonesia
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------



1) 5 soldiers suspected of  selling bullets to Papua  separatist group to face  tribunal 
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Archipelago | Fri, February 13 2015, 11:50 AM - 

The Cenderawasih Military Command overseeing Papua and West Papua will charge five Army soldiers for selling ammunition to a separatist group in Papua.
The military command’s chief, Maj. Gen. Fransen G. Siahaan, said in Jayapura on Thursday that based upon preliminary evidence, the ammunition sales were financially motivated.
“The five suspects have been already in hands of the military police and will be brought to the military tribunal. I have asked the military tribunal to impose the harshest sanction, or a life sentence, on the suspects,” he said as quoted by kompas.com.
He added he was establishing an ethics council from the Wamena military district to dismiss the suspects, along with three others, from military service.
“I do not want to see any traitors in the military command. The suspects have sold ammunition to shoot me, to shoot security personnel, to shoot us [...] They must be dismissed and punished with the harshest sentence,” he said.
The five suspects, identified as S, MM, RA, S and NHS, were arrested while in the process of selling 500 5.56 millimeter bullets to three rebels on Jan. 28, 2015. (rms)
-

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2) Labora works and waits,  defiant in his fortress
Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Sorong, West Papua | Headlines | Fri, February 13 2015, 7:41 AM -
Across the archipelago, Labora Sitorus is known as a low-ranking police officer with a Rp 1.5 trillion bank account who has been convicted of a crime, yet manages to defy the law and walk free.

To law enforcement officers, he is a money launderer, fuel stockpiler and illegal logger who has used his network to evade a Supreme Court sentence of 15 years in prison and a fine of Rp 5 billion.

The Papua Prosecutor’s Office has requested help from the military and police to prevent “unwanted occurrences” when, or if, the arrest of Labora occurs.

In the meantime, the man remains on a wanted list and has been issued with a travel ban by the Attorney General’s Office.

After walking out of Sorong Penitentiary in March last year, Labora returned home to his wife and children at the PT Rotua housing complex in Tampa Garam village, Rufei Coast, Sorong, West Papua.

He lives with dozens of his employees in a workers’ dorm at the 7-hectare complex.

Hendrik Wambraku, a local resident who works for Labora, regards his boss as a savior.

“When someone is facing economic hardship, they run to Pak Labora,” said Hendrik, adding that the police officer had helped many people with funds for education, health and food.

His complex can only be accessed via an entrance protected around the clock by private security guards.

Labora’s house is located around 300 meters from the entrance, next to the timber-processing factory.

On Wednesday afternoon, several dogs were seen roaming around the house compound and another five dogs were kept in a cage in front of the house.

Labora’s office is located on the second floor, where he greets his guests, as well as using it as living quarters. The company provides daily afternoon and evening meals for its 500 workers. Labora and his family eat the same food as his employees, who earn salaries above the monthly West Papua minimum wage of Rp 2 million (about US$160).

New workers and trainees earn Rp 3 million, while permanent workers earn between Rp 6 million and Rp 25 million monthly.

Migrants who move their families to Papua live in the dorm and each is provided with a motorcycle.

Labora, who is married to Sandrintje Panahue, has five children. Four of them attended university — three of them at medical school, while the youngest is still in senior high school.

“The children are not disturbed by the case facing their father, because all of them know who their father really is,” said Sandrintje.

An hour later, Labora appeared. “I’ve just been overseeing my workers,” he said casually.

Labora buys local timber from residents at between Rp 4 million and Rp 6 million per cubic meter and buys up to 60 m3 of timber daily.

“When I’m fit, I help my workers in the factory. I carried out my activities until I was placed on the wanted list by the prosecutors,” he said.

Despite being wanted by the authorities, Labora still believes he is innocent.

“I buy timber from residents in processed form, not whole logs. My company is a secondary industry. You can see for yourself whether there are logs here,” he said.

According to Labora, his case has been completely engineered, from his dossier to the charges levelled against him.

“I have strong evidence [in my favor], but the legal institutions in the country uphold this legal engineering. Who can I turn to? I don’t know what will happen next. I’m really confused,” he said.

Labora was convicted by the Sorong District Court and sentenced to two years imprisonment and a fine of Rp 500 million. He filed multiple appeals, but all were rejected, resulting in him receiving a heavier sentence.

He left Sorong Penitentiary in March last year seeking medical treatment, but never returned.

While requesting help from other law enforcers to act against Labora, Sorong prosecutors have yet to make a move to re-arrest the convict for fear of their safety.
-----------------------------------------------------------

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/02/13/to-sing-a-song-papua.html
3) To sing a song of Papua
Markus Mardius, Contributor, Timika, Papua | Feature | Fri, February 13 2015, 8:00 AM - 
The Iyakoko Patea (IP) choir from Timika, located in the nation’s easternmost province, has been performing Papuan folk songs to acclaim both in Indonesia and abroad.
The choir, which takes its name from the Amungme-Kamoro language, was established in 2006 with 50 members, most of whom had no voice training and could not read music.

“Mostly, they are working as employees with a keenness to hone and channel their new hobby as singers,” said conductor and co-founders Maradong Simanjuntak after a recent performance.

Simanjuntak described the choir’s creation as difficult. “It was a long process and took patience to hone and formulate their singing abilities. As a first step, they were just introduced to a series of sounds, tones, harmonies and dynamics.”

The hard work has paid off, he adds.

“A lot of people are attracted to join the Iyakoko Patea Choir because they have watched firsthand while watching performances in various events,” Simanjuntak says. “They watched how the Iyakoko Patea presented 20 typical folk songs of Papua with alluring professional rhythm accompanied by dynamic movements in accordance with the distinctive culture of Papua.”

Simanjuntak, who studied under Katamsi Aning, Ronal Pohan, Aida Swenson Simanjuntak and Catherine Leimena, said that the songs were typically accompanied by dances inspired by the animals of the province.

The songs touch traditional topics. The Amungme folk song “Amungme Ih”, for instance, is a plea to God and people for peace and harmony, while the choir also performs the Kamoro folk song “Nuru ai pa ni”, a song of desperately longing for home and family.

The movements and dances sometimes imitate or evoke the flapping wings of a bird of paradise, the spearing of fish, the cutting of trees, or the rowing of boats.

Sometimes, the choir imitates the movements of the rocking hips of a cassowary; other times they present the tup ritual of the Amungme people of Timika, running while dancing and circling, accompanied by shouts to symbolize a call to come together and give encouragement.

Ferdinand Deda, from Sentani, Papua, is one of the choir’s coordinators as well as a co-founder.

He said that the men’s and women’s clothing differed, while headdresses reflected the peoples of the coast and the mountains.

Adorning headdresses with feathers from birds of paradise was typical of the coastal areas, while those of mountainous regions chose cassowary bird feathers.

“In addition, the neck and chest ornaments are also different. Neck and chest ornaments are made of large and small shells, and there are also parts of birds such as feathers, nails and beaks, and colorful beads,” said Ferdinand.

The choir also practiced different body painting rituals.

For songs of the Kamoro, who come from coastal areas, fish and marine motif are used; while Biak songs need white, red and black motifs and Amungme songs call for earth tones.

When singing and dancing they also always wear waist ornaments, with some of the women donning tassel skirts made of dry grass or dry bark, while the men would wear koteka penis sheaths while singing the folk song of the Amungme.

While singing, they dance holding spears and shields that are carved from wood.

Simanjuntak said that audiences were responsive. “It’s like [finding] a new food that is tasty or seeing exciting new fashions. Of course, people are very fascinated and amazed. This truly happened when we performed in Jakarta, Singapore, and even Latvia.”

While the choir performed at the APEC Women’s Summit in Bali in 2013, Simanjuntak says the most unforgettable experience was when the group was invited to the World Choir Games in Riga, Latvia.

“We obtained the gold medal in the category of folk songs,” he said. “At the same time, we also gained a silver medal for mixed chamber choir. At least 25,000 spectators watched IP’s performance, and even it was broadcast live TV.”
Photos courtesy of Iyakoko Patea
---------------------------------------------------------------------

4) RH Petrogas gets green light for West Papua field development in Indonesia


RH Petrogas has announced that the Plan of Development (POD) for the North Klalin gas and condensate field in the Kepala Burung PSC, West Papua, Indonesia, has been approved by SKK Migas (Satuan Kerja Khusus Minyak dan Gas)

The additional gas production from the North Klalin field will be used to supplement internal fuel requirement for operation as well as to meet additional demand for gas in the local markets and to support the economic development around the Sorong area in West Papua
The POD was submitted following the discovery made by the North Klalin- 1 well in 2011 and the successful appraisal by the North Klalin- 2 and 3 wells in subsequent years.
North Klalin-1, 2 and 3 wells have since been put on production.
The POD programme involves the drilling of four new development wells and the construction of flowlines tying back to existing production facilities within the basin block.
The additional gas production from the North Klalin field will be used to supplement internal fuel requirement for operation as well as to meet additional demand for gas in the local markets and to support the economic development around the Sorong area in West Papua.
“With the POD approval, the North Klalin field can now move into full field development,” said Francis Chang, RH Petrogas chief executive officer. “In view of the steep drop in oil prices which hit the oil and gas industry in recent months, we are currently discussing with our partners on the best strategy to implement the POD. We believe that given the current environment where many E&P companies are expected to cut back or defer on their capital expenditures, there may be opportunities for us to lower the cost of development for North Klalin should there be an easing of demand for drilling and other contracting services in the region.”
The company, through its subsidiaries Petrogas (Basin) Limited and RHP Salawati Basin B.V., has an aggregate 60 per cent working interest in the PSC. The other partners are PetroChina International (Bermuda) Ltd. (30 per cent) and PT Pertamina Hulu Energi (10 per cent).
The consortium, as contractor of Indonesian government operating under the supervision of SKK Migas, has actively explored and produced oil and gas in the working area.

1) Papuans urged to be prioritized as policemen

0
0
2) Papua Police Reenact Shootings of Two Officers
3) Papua Legislative Council Invites Military, Police Chiefs to Discuss Paniai Case

4) Merauke Air Force Commander Promises to Investigate Alleged Involvement of Military Officers in Arowana Smuggling

5) Energy Ministry to Inspect Smelter Site in Papua

6) DPRP Agriculture Commission Urges Government to Build Flour of Sweet Potato Factory

7) Papuans Should Rise to the Occasion, Merauke Regent Says

8) Nearly 600 Elementary School Teachers Needed in Jayapura Regency

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

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/02/14/papuans-urged-be-prioritized-policemen.html

1) Papuans urged to be prioritized  as policemen
The Jakarta Post, Manokwari | Archipelago | Sat, February 14 2015, 8:15 AM -

The newly formed West Papua Police are expected to recruit more Papuans as policemen, as part of empowerment program for Papuans.
“We appreciate the establishment of the West Papua Police, as required by the provincial administration and local residents for the sake of law enforcement in West Papua. We hope the West Papua Police will recruit locals as police,” said West Papuan People’s Assembly (MRP) deputy head Anike Sabami in Manokwari on Friday.
The establishment of the West Papua Police was based on an Empowerment and State Apparatus ministerial decree dated Aug. 27, 2014, later followed up with the appointment of the first West Papua Police chief Brig. Gen. Paulus Waterpauw, who was born in Fakfak, West Papua.
The West Papua Police, with headquarters in the Manokwari gubernatorial office building in Manokwari, West Papua, oversee nine regency police forces. 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://tabloidjubi.com/en/?p=3712

2) Papua Police Reenact Shootings of Two Officers

Jayapura, Jubi – Papua police and suspects reenacted the shootings that killed two members of the Lanny Jaya police by unknown gunmen last year.
The reenactment was conducted in in Buton village, Jayapura city on Tuesday afternoon (10/02/2015), led by the deputy director of criminal investigations, Nur Habri.
There were 10 scenes performed by two suspects, Wuyungga Tabuni, and Nesmin Wonda. And it was known that the night before the attack, they held a meeting at Enden Wanimbo’s home. The meeting was attended by Enden Wanimbo, Oni Wonda aka Oniara, Tier Wonda, Imu Wonda, Yam Two Tabuni, Kuloi Wonda, Nasimin Wonda, Ingge Wonda, Bagaya and Wuyungga Tabuni.
The next day, they stopped eight Lanny Jaya police who were patrolling by a Strada car to Indawa district area. As a result, Brigadier Zulqlifli and Brigadier Yoga were killed on the spot. After the attack, one of the attackers took four guns and some ammunition then ran into the woods.
After reconstruction, the Papua Police spokesman, Commissioner Patrige Renwarin said, the reconstruction was done based on the examination of the two suspects who were arrested some time ago.
“This was done based on the testimony of two suspects and to complete the data before handing to the  prosecutor. Both suspects are main actors who took four guns from the members,” he added.
Meanwhile, Nur Habri said, there are 12 perpetrators and two of them got arrested. Now police are still pursuing the rest of them. (Arjuna Pademme/Tina)
---------------------------------------------------------------
http://tabloidjubi.com/en/?p=3710

3) Papua Legislative Council Invites Military, Police Chiefs to Discuss Paniai Case

Jayapura, Jubi – The Papua Legislative Council (DPRP) has sent an invitation to the chief of Cenderawasih XVII Military Command XVII, Major General Fransen Siahaan and Papua police Inspector General Yotje Mende to discuss progress in the investigation into shootings that killed four high school students on December.
DPRP speaker Yunus Wonda said the meeting will be held at DPRP office on Wednesday (11/02/2015).
“We’ve invited the Police chief and commander in order to hear the update results of the investigation that they have done,” Wonda said on Tuesday (10/02/2015).
He said it is one of the steps taken by DPRP to uncover who is behind the bloody incident. He said there are now several investigative team down to the Paniai.
“We are still awaiting the results from the investigative team down there including Military and Police Commission of Human Right teams. Presently, the people need clarity who actually responsible for the shooting, “he said.
He said, people want transparency, so that they do not wonder. (Arjuna Pademme/ Tina)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
http://tabloidjubi.com/en/?p=3719

4) Merauke Air Force Commander Promises to Investigate Alleged Involvement of Military Officers in Arowana Smuggling

Merauke, Jubi – Merauke Air Force Commander Lieutenant Colonel Muhamad Arwani promised to investigate allegations that Air Force members were involved in the smuggling of 1,000 arowanas through Mopah Airport.
“I just arrived from Jakarta and has not received a detail report about the involvement of Air Force officer who caught through CCTV at Mopah Airport when tried to pass the arowanas to the flight,” the Commander Arwani said to reporters at Raya Mandala Square on Wednesday (11/2/2015).
The Merauke Air Force will coordinate and work together with some related stakeholders such as Mopah Airport Management, Natural Resource Conservation Body (KSDA) and the local police for further investigation. “So, temporary I could not say much about this case because I just got back from Jakarta,” he said.
However, he promised to process the involved culprit in accordance with the military procedure. “Yes, I will invite the journalists to make further confirmation after meeting with several institutions,” he said.
Earlier, the Merauke Mopah Aiport Chief, Rajoki Aritonang said his office will conduct a thorough investigation on the alleged arowana smuggling case through the airport. “We immediately established an investigation team to follow up the case,” he said.
Further, Aritonang said arowana is protected species and strict by law to pass by from Merauke Regency. ‘I will be more strict in guard system at Mopah Airport,” he said. (Frans L Kobun/rom)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
http://tabloidjubi.com/en/?p=3722

5) Energy Ministry to Inspect Smelter Site in Papua

Biak, Jubi/Antara – The officials from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources and other related ministries will survey the location for the construction of a smelter in Papua on Friday, according to Governor Lukas Enembe.
“A team of officials from the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry will conduct a field survey for the construction of PT Freeport Indonesia’s copper concentrate smelter. Obviously, the smelter must be built in Papua,” the governor stated here on Thursday (12/2/2015).
He noted that PT Freeport has been ordered to build the smelter in Papua, and if it is realized, it will offer economic and social benefits to the local community.
Lukas remarked that the Papua provincial government and local community eagerly await the construction of a smelter, which will help to produce Papua’s mineral resources such as silver, iron, copper, and other base metals from their ores. Citing Law No.4 of 2009, Governor Lukas Enembe noted that mining companies need to downstream production and are required to build their own smelters to refine and process the minerals prior to export.
Therefore, the governor emphasized that all mining companies operating in Papua must comply with the law to establish their smelters on the land of Papua.
“The people of Papua have abundant natural and mineral resources, and therefore, the mining companies should build their own smelters, so that the local community can also enjoy their positive impact on the economy,” the governor affirmed. (*)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://tabloidjubi.com/en/?p=3724

6) DPRP Agriculture Commission Urges Government to Build Flour of Sweet Potato Factory

Jayapura, Jubi – The Commission II of Papua Legislative Council (DPRP) on Agriculture and Economics urged the government of Papua to immediately build a plant to make flour from sweet potatoes  this year.
Commission chairman Deerd Tabuni said, the land in Skanto district, Keerom to build a factory has been available since 2009. Processing machines were also delivered by the central government the same year. But the plant has not operated and has been used as a warehouse of Papua province in North Jayapura district, Jayapura city.
“DPRP and Keerom regency have discussed how the factory can be built in the future. Raw materials are already available and Keerom regency itself approved it. So we want the machine functioned again as it can be a local budget revenue, “Deerd Tabuni said after he and Commission II of DPRP looked a processing machine of sweet potato flour directly on Wednesday (11/02/2015).
He further said, the local economy should be a priority for development. If it grows well, parents can support a family and their children education. He hoped Papua governor would prioritize it in his program.
“We will urge the government so that the factory could be built or it can be handed over to the private sector if the government can not manage, “he said.
While the Secretary of Industry Department of Papua province, Else Pekade said, the machine is not operated because there is no building. It has proposed a development fund, but has not been realized.
“We’ve done our duties by providing a machine that can produce eight tons of flour every day. We hope that the building budget will be realized. Moreover, the center has correspondence to us, if the machine is not used will be withdrawn and given to other provinces, “Pekade said. (Arjuna Pademme/ Tina)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://tabloidjubi.com/en/?p=3726

7) Papuans Should Rise to the Occasion, Merauke Regent Says

Merauke, Jubi – Merauke Regent Romanus Mbaraka said Papuans should be empowered, and not rely on handouts.
Papuans should be judged for their ability and not hide behind affirmative action, Mbaraka said.
“I warn you to not shout me that you are Papuan in order to be pitied. Is it only a person who have curly hair and black skin identified as Papuans? In America there are black people too. However, they have extraordinary abilities,” he said  to reporters on Wednesday (11/02/2015).
During the four years leading Merauke, he admitted there were some Marind children asked for position but unable to present the programs. “That’s because of lack of capabilities,” he said.
However, it continues to provide encouragement or motivation to indigenous Papuan children so they are able to get an education to the level of higher education for a job and family life changing.
“I came from low class background. My father was a crocodile hunter who took its leather at a sale and he was able to send me to Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB),” he said.
Nowadays parental dependence on the government is very high. When their children will continue studies, they would seek government assistance. It is different to other regions where the parents pay their children’ education until finished.
Separately, chairman of Merauke Legislative Council, Kanizia Mekiuw admitted if the attention of the government to encourage indigenous Papuans is very high. “We can see that every year, there must be a study funds aid given by government to Papuans,” he said. (Frans L Kobun/ Tina)
------------------------------------------------------------------
http://tabloidjubi.com/en/?p=3728

8) Nearly 600 Elementary School Teachers Needed in Jayapura Regency


Sentani, Jubi / Antara – Jayapura regency needs  at least 574 teachers  for elementary schools , the head of the education department Alpius Toam said.
“Vocational school requires a lot of teachers because it has many subjects, but most noticeably lacking is at the level that must be prioritized,” he said in Sentani on Wednesday (11/02/2015).
According to him, the first step undertaken is to collect the recent number of schools and teachers.
“After the placement of K2, then we will appoint the contract teachers to meet school needs. Only we still coordinate with the local government,” he said again.
He explained the recruitment process would be more selective, with a bachelor degree a minimum requirement.
“Even though this requirement can not be met for remote areas , but still will be pursued the best for the education of children,” he said.
He added that this preparation will be discussed further, particularly in the provision of salaries. (*)
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Human Rights Watchdog Deploys to Interview Paniai Massacre Survivors

0
0

http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/human-rights-watchdog-deploys-interview-paniai-massacre-survivors/

Human Rights Watchdog Deploys to Interview Paniai Massacre Survivors

By Kennial Caroline Laia on 09:49 pm Feb 13, 2015
Students and people of Papua rally in front of Monument liberation in West Irian, Makassar, South Sulawesi, on Feb. 4, 2015. (Antara Photo/Dewi Fajrian)

Jakarta. The National Commission on Human Rights, or Komnas HAM, is intensifying its investigation of alleged human rights violations in security forces’ deadly shooting of unarmed residents, including women and children, in Paniai, Papua.
“We are going to interview locals, victims, Papuan public figures and security officers from February 18 to 20,” Maneger Nasution, who is leading the human rights watchdog’s investigative team for the Paniai incident, said on Friday.
“Our focus is on the witnesses and victims. In addition, there will be also be an event re-enactment to clarify the information we gathered earlier regarding the shooting,” Maneger said.

Commissioner Natalius Pigai said the team would also attempt to collect additional evidence of alleged human rights violations in Papua. The team will leave for Papua on Monday.
“For now, we have indications of four human rights being violated in Paniai: the right to life, children’s rights, women’s rights and the right not to be tortured,” he said. “But we’re not going to stop there. We’re also going to collect evidence of whether there were more severe human rights violations. Should there be any indications of such, the possibility of forming an ad hoc team is there.”

The team plans to probe for evidence that the shooting was premeditated.
On Dec. 8, security forces opened fire on 800 reportedly non-violent protestors demonstrating against alleged abuse by authorities in an altercation between police officers and local teenagers the previous day.
Five protesters were killed and at least 17, including elementary school students, were injured, according to a report by Human Rights Watch.
“The Papua inquiry has been stymied because civilian investigators can’t interview the soldiers who were at the scene,” Phelim Kine, deputy Asia director at the organization, said last December.
“A joint probe with police, military, and human rights investigators is crucial to ensure that all information is collected and that the findings will be taken seriously.”

1) view point : Labora standoff makes mockery of our law enforcement

0
0
2) Young Footballers from Papua Promoted to Europe
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) view point : Labora standoff  makes mockery of our law  enforcement 
Pandaya, Jakarta | Opinion | Sun, February 15 2015, 8:23 AM -

His case may have been eclipsed by the embarrassing conflict pitting the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) against the National Police over graft charges leveled against one of its suspiciously rich generals, Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan.

But the legal scandal over the release and the failure to reincarcerate Labora Sitorus, a police chief brigadier convicted of laundering Rp 1.5 trillion in West Papua, is just too enormous to be covered up. 

 Labora, 54, now lives as a free man at his mansion in Sorong — almost a year after wardens allowed him to leave the prison for medical treatment and six months after his name was put on the list of most-wanted fugitives.

The whole episode of his fooling the long arm of the law is a perfect comedy about how Indonesian law enforcers do their job in a country long sneered at as a “corruption haven”. 

In early 2013, the Sorong District Court sentenced Labora to two years in prison and fined him Rp 50 million for illegal logging and hoarding fuel. The local High Court rejected his appeal and added a further six years to his term. In September last year, the Supreme Court in Jakarta also found him guilty of money laundering, lengthened his term to 15 years and inflated his fine to Rp 5 billion. 

Yet since the verdict, Labora has served barely any time at all, the prison chief warden permitting him to undergo medical treatment at the Navy Hospital in Sorong in March 2014. 

Prosecutors were shocked, or pretended to be shocked, to be told that Labora was no longer in prison: Sorong chief warden Maliki Hasan released Labora because the convict’s detention period had expired on Oct. 24 with the Supreme Court yet to announce its verdict.

Then Labora was declared a fugitive. The subsequent surprise came when it turned out that Labora had not gone anywhere. In fact he remained at his 40-hectare home that also houses a timber-processing plant run by umbrella firm PT Rotua, which employs hundreds of people.

His generosity has earned him comparisons to Robin Hood. On Monday, an estimated 1,000 employees and local residents rallied at the Sorong Legislative Council in his defense, demanding that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo form a team to investigate the “conspiracy” behind Labora’s case. 

He is interestingly frank about his case. He gives interviews to all media, to make public his claim that he shared his financial fortunes with his backers, including senior police officers in Papua and Jakarta.

Last week, he accused the police, the prosecutor’s office and the correctional institution of “public deception” by declaring him a fugitive while the fact was that they knew he had not gone anywhere. 

He insisted that he had done nothing wrong and refused to go back to jail. He said he had been “victimized” by senior police officers in Sorong and Jakarta. 

“The Indonesian government uses the law of the jungle,” he complained.

As for the letter of clearance, he maintained it was delivered to his home by prison officials and that if it was unlawful, it was the chief warden who ought to be punished. He promised to spill the beans to the court, provided that he was covered by the Witness and Victim Protection Agency.

When Labora’s whereabouts became known and the public asked why he was not promptly arrested as a fugitive, police and prosecutors simply passed the buck between themselves. 

 West Papua Police chief Brig. Gen. Paulus Waterpauw and Attorney General M. Prasetyo in Jakarta have repeatedly called on Labora to voluntarily surrender because the legal process over his case had been completed. Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna H. Laoly, meanwhile, sensed something fishy about the Sorong chief warden’s clearance for Labora and has promised an investigation.

Waterpauw, who pledged 630 officers to recapture Labora six months ago, has repeatedly said that the police were refraining from using force because Labora was fiercely defended by hundreds of his workers willing to sacrifice their lives for their boss.

“If you were in my shoes, would you risk bloodshed?” he asked. 

Labora has revealed that his superiors often treated him like an ATM. From one of his accounts, he claimed that he once gave Raja Ampat police precinct chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Taufik Irfan Rp 600 million in cash to be transferred to Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Tito Karnavian. Tito has denied the accusation.

In one media interview, he accused police officers of seizing his timber and auctioning it for Rp 24.7 billion, leaving him only Rp 6.5 billion. 

 Labora openly challenges state authority. It is a shame that the government is unable to quickly and transparently settle the issue. Besides sending Labora back to prison, the authorities should also investigate senior officers and other bureaucrats who may have collaborated with him. 

Waterpauw’s and other officials’ concerns about bloodshed laughable. Where are all the crowd-control skills and equipment bought with taxpayers’ money? 

The government’s soft stand on Labora is but one of the growing signs of the Jokowi regime’s weak commitment to stopping the rot. 


The author is a staff writerat The Jakarta Post. 

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

2) Young Footballers from Papua Promoted to Europe
TEMPO.COJakarta - The Association of Former Persipura Player (AMPP) is collaborating with Reliv Christa FC Holandia Indonesia to select 30 young football players to be promoted for professional football players in Europe. AMPP have started the selection of 17 to 19-year-old players on Monday, January 9.
According to AMPP Deputy Chairman Nico Dimo, there were 500 young players participated in the selection and 165 of them have passed.
Next week will be the final phase of the selection to choose 30 players to be sent to the Netherlands,” Nico said as quoted by Antara on Saturday, February 14.
Nico said that AMPP aims to promote development of football in Papua through the collaboration with AFA Sport Management Netherland.
“AFA Sport Management is one of football organizations recognized by KNVB (Netherlands’ Football Federation) and FIFA,” Nico added.
Still according to Nico, the selected players will be involved in a 6-month intensive training at the base of Ajax Amsterdam. There is a chance for the player to be signed in one-year contract by one of European clubs if they are able to attract the clubs.
“Everyday, young players of Papua will be training. On Fridays and Saturdays, there will be trial matches against European elite clubs such as Ajax, PSV Eindhoven, Real Madrid, and Barcelona.”
 
ANTARA | GABRIEL WAHYU TITIYOGA

1) 14 Caught Rasia KNPB activists in Port Nabire

0
0
2) Govt, Freeport agree to  build smelter in Papua
3) Mimika Prepares 2,000 Hectares of Land for Freeport Smelters

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
A google translate of article in bintangpapua.com. Be-aware google translate can be a bit erratic.
Original bahasa link at

Monday, February 16th, 2015 00:52
1) 14 Caught Rasia KNPB activists in Port Nabire
writing large font size Decrease size larger font size Print Email Be the first!
Estimate items ini1 2 3 4 5 (0 votes)
Some Evidence Participate Seized

Police Commissioner PatrigeJAYAPURA - A total of 14 activists from the region KNPB Sorong Regency Fak-Fak and successfully secured the apparatus Rasia joint military / police in Port Samabusa, Nabire, on Sunday (15/2) morning around 06.00 CET.
Head of Public Relations (Head of Public Relations) Papua Police, Police Commissioner Patrige when confirmed Bintang Papua, said the 14 activists who had secured it such, KH, YK, YW, JM, WM, WK, YES, OM, CJ, NK, MA , MH, Chairman KNPB Sorong, and Chairman of the District Fak-Fak KNPB.
"Rasia joint military and police forces have led directly Ops Nabire Police deployed 50 personnel to perform when KM Dorolonda Rasia rely on the Port Samabusa Kimi bay, Nabire," he said.
In addition to securing 14 of the KNPB activists, said Patrige, the combined forces military / police also seized a number of items of evidence in the form, in the form of a sheet of paper containing the struggle Papua international diplomacy and national.
"A joint team still identify passengers who were still in port suspected KNPB activists. Rasia ended two hours later, at around 08.30 CET, "he said.

While further Patrige, one spokesperson KNPB Sorong area berininsial YK (24), is still being interrogated by the Criminal Investigators. "The question was examined to determine their journey," he said. (loy / don / l03)


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

2) Govt, Freeport agree to  build smelter in Papua
Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura | Business | Sun, February 15 2015, 9:09 PM -

The government and gold and copper miner PT Freeport Indonesia (PT FI) have apparently agreed to build a smelter in Papua, ending uncertainty surrounding the mining giant.
The agreement was struck during a visit to Papua by Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said, who was accompanied by Public Works and Public Housing Minister Basuki Hadi Muljono and lawmakers Tony Wardoyo and Wellem Wandik of the House of Representatives Commission VII.
The officials held a meeting with Papua Governor Lukas Enembe, Mimika Regent Eltinus Omaleng and PT FI president director Maroef Sjamsjoeddin at the Rimba Papua Hotel in Timika on Sunday.
Enembe said each party would take an active role in realizing the construction of a smelter in Papua.
The Papua provincial administration and related ministries will draft a national program to support the smelter construction, according to a release.
Other than preparing land for the smelter, the provincial administration and Mimika regency administration will also build an industrial zone, which will be part of the smelter construction, the release added.
“We have prepared the land and I have gathered a number of regents in Papua’s central mountain range and have agreed to help with the financing and will invest,” Enembe said.
As a follow up to the agreement, Enembe said, the energy minister would create a team to study the national capacity for managing the smelter, which would map how to continue smelter development in the future.
There has been no detailed information on the cost or time frame for the smelter or the land needed for its construction.
PT FI, a subsidiary of US copper and gold mining company Freeport-McMoRan, has been operating a mine in Papua for decades and has previously refused to build a smelter in the province, saying it would use a smelter in Gresik, East Java, in which it has a 25-percent stake.
“The agreement [to develop] a smelter in Papua is an inseparable part of national smelter development,” Sudirman told reporters in Timika as reported by Antara news agency.
“We are building national capacity and will soon establish a national study team,” he said when reading the agreement.
Sudirman added that the smelter was part of an industrial zone which was being prepared by the Papua and Mimika administrations. He added that the industrial zone would not only include the smelter but also downstream and other supporting industries.
Sudirman and Basuki surveyed the smelter’s planned location on an island off Mimika’s Poumako Port.
Basuki, according to Enembe, promised to push for an industrial zone.
“We and PT Freeport can certainly develop [an] industrial zone including the use of tailing to develop industrial-zone infrastructure,” Basuki said in the release.
Meanwhile, Maroef revealed that the decision to build a smelter in Papua was in line with national policy and was a positive step in which the issue had been politicized. He added it was part of economic discourse to push for development that is beneficial for Papua.
“For PT Freeport Indonesia, the decision to build a smelter in Papua is [part of] a series of pushes to solve the problem,” Maroef said in the release.
“We welcome the Papua provincial administration’s effort which, with the existing resources, has considered the upstream and downstream mining industries in Papua.” (nvn) (++++)
--------------------------------------------------------

MONDAY, 16 FEBRUARY, 2015 | 02:14 WIB
3) Mimika Prepares 2,000 Hectares of Land for Freeport Smelters
TEMPO.COJakarta - Following Papua provincial government’s wish build smelters of mining giant PT Freeport Indonesia in Papua, Mimika Regent Eltius Omaleng said that the local government had prepared land for the location of the smelters in the region.
"For the locations of smelters, it is located near Amamapere seaport,” Eltius said to the delegation of the Energy and Mineral Resources Minister in Mimika.
In addition, Eltius said the local government has also prepared 5 hectare of land in Pomako for cement packing plant to support the smelters.
In the meantime, Energy Minister Sudirman Said sad the plant would later function to pack the cement and distribute cement to meet demands from the residents and local industries.
For the record, the location of the factory is near the seaport and has direct access to the residential areas.
"So it’s part of the effort to develop infrastructures,” the Minister said.
 
ALI HIDAYAT
 

1) Indonesian Police Will Continue to Build Mobile Brigade’s Headquarters in Wamena

0
0
2) Pacific churches press Jokowi over Papua
3) Regional Councils in Papua’s Eight Regencies Have Not Be Launched


4) Five Soldiers Involved in Bullets Trading Will Be Discharge

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

1) Indonesian Police Will Continue to Build Mobile Brigade’s Headquarters in Wamena

Jayapura, Jubi/Antara – Papua Police Chief Inspector General Yotje Mende confirmed the Indonesian Police will continue to build the Mobile Brigade’s Headquarters in Wamena following the shootings by some armed groups.
“Many considerations were taken before deciding to build it at Wamena,” the Chief confirmed during the meeting with some community and religious leaders in Jayapura on Thursday (12/2/2015). He said the armed groups are currently becoming a threat that potentially growing into a serious danger for the future if it was tolerated. Moreover, these groups were often shooting against the security force as well as civilians around this region, such as the groups led by Enden Wanimbo and Puron Wenda.
“The headquarters will help the mobile brigade officers to overcome these troubles,” Chief Mende said. He further revealed currently the operational cost covered by State is very high, especially when it should send a troop. But, if there is a headquarters in Wamena it will help accommodating the troop’s delivery as well as reducing the operation cost,” the Chief said as he promised to keep eye on the plan.
Further he admitted during their acts, the armed groups were recorded conducting seventy-three shootings that have killed nine police officers, four soldiers and seven civilians. “I ask for your support to avoid any casualties in the future,” said the chief. He promised ensuring his officers to act properly in carrying their duty as law enforcement: they will not only strict but also be humanist. (*/rom)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2) Pacific churches press Jokowi over Papua

Updated at 10:54 am today

The moderator of the Pacific Conference of Churches, Reverend Dr Tevita Havea, says despite Mr Widodo's assurances last year, security forces have continued to torture and kill West Papuans.
The Reverend Havea says there is no place in the Pacific for wanton violence and the region's leaders must act decisively to stop police and military officers from taking power into their own hands.
He also called for the lifting of a ban on foreign journalists from entering West Papua.



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


3) Regional Councils in Papua’s Eight Regencies Have Not Be Launched


Jayapura, Jubi/Antara – The Regional Legislative Council in eight regencies in Papua have not been launched yet as the members have not inaugurated yet.
The Papua Police Chief Inspector Yotje Mende in the meeting with the religious and community leaders in Jayapura on Thursday (12/2/2012) admitted it.  The regencies are including Supiori, Mamberamo Raya, Mimika, Intan Jaya, Yahukimo and Nduga. However, four of regencies have received the governor’s approval, that is Supiori, Mamberamo Raya, Paniai and Tolikara.
But especially for Tolikara Legislative Council, the Police asked the Papua Governor to postpone the council’s inauguration for security reason. He said the police’s recommendation to postpone the inauguration after police’s investigation on the blockage of Wamena-Tolikara-Mulia highway several times ago.  It is found the incident was connected with the inauguration plan of Tolikara’s councilors.
“People were upset because their candidates who previously been voted but not in the list of councilors. “Because they had strong evidences, this case was taken to the court. So hopely the inauguration would be temporarily suspended,” the Police Chief said.
According to him, the Tolikara Police Chief has succeeded to overcome the blockage after he promised to make a thorough investigation on this case. Therefore, in order to avoid the huge impact, the Police asked the Papua Governor to temporarily suspend the inauguration of Tolikara councilors and wait for legal aspect. ‘If the council would be still launched; the councilors should delay their sworn until there’s a legal aspect,” the Police Chief Mende said. (*/rom)
-------------------------------------------------------------------

4) Five Soldiers Involved in Bullets Trading Will Be Discharge

Jayapura, Jubi/Antara – Cenderawasih XII Regional Military Commander Major General Fransen G Siagian said five soldiers would face a dismissal after being convicted of selling bullets to the Armed Civilian Group.
“I still continue the investigation, but I have been confirmed they are found guilty and currently under the Military Police’s custody and will take to the Military Court,” he said after the meeting with the Regional Leaders Forum, religious leaders and Papuan intellectuals at Papua Police Headquarters, Jayapura on Thursday (12/2/2015).
“I will also take the administrative procedure that is to enforce the dishonor discharge. However, their legal process will keep going, and I suggest them to have the most severe punishment or at least to get a life sentence in consideration to their wives and children, but they will surely be fired,” he said.
He further said the five soldiers acted like thorn in the Military’s body, so they must account it. “I don’t want my soldiers acting like a thorn in our body (Military),” he said. When asked about the involvement of senior officers, he said it’s still under investigation.
“I am currently discovering all. So there is no tolerance. I will strike those who did it, because somehow it means they tell someone else to put a trigger on me, to shot all of us,” he said.
“Just imagine. My soldiers sold the bullets to shot their commander. That’s amazing. It means they are becoming my enemy, so I have to strike them,” he added.
The Commander admitted he wouldn’t hesitate to crack down his sub-coordinates if they were proven against the law, moreover selling the bullets.
“I will destroy them. I am happy this case was revealed. I am not ashamed. I’ve already said that,” he said.  About the motive behind the case, he said they did it for business. “It’s purely for business, financial factor,” he said.
When asked whether the military salary were not sufficient, he answered,” It’s actually fair. But why did it happen? They did it for life style. Their wives are living in Java Island. It means they have to pay extra. The living cost in Papua is expensive but they send their children to the school in Java along with their wives,” he said.
He said the process Dishonor Discharge is on going, including for three soldiers who involved in bullet trading in Wamena, Jayawijaya Regency.
Earlier, in the end of January 2015, Military/Police Joint Forces arrested five soldiers who served in Cenderawasih XVII Regional Military for selling bullets to rebel group led by Puren Wenda. They are identified as First Sergeant MM (46 years old), First Sergeant NHS (24 years old), First Cadet S (27 years old, First Cadet RA (29 years old) and Sergeant Major S (39 years old).  (*/rom)

1) Smelter for Papua, but Not Freeport Indonesia’s

0
0
2) Micah: O’Neill serious on Papua
3) Boxes with 40 Bullets Found in Merauke

4) Perhutani Postpones Canal Construction in South Sorong

5) Govt Lifts Demand on Freeport to Build Papua Smelter: Report


6) Govt, Freeport Agree to Build Smelter

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

http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/business/smelter-papua-freeport-indonesias/

1) Smelter for Papua, but Not Freeport Indonesia’s

And the Electricity? The government says foreign investors, but not Freeport, will fund the project
Jakarta. The Indonesian government’s plans to compel miner Freeport Indonesia to build a smelter in the country continue to get bogged down in uncertainty, the latest twist being that the company will supply ore to a planned smelter in Papua, the province in which it operates.
R. Sukhyar, the director general of mineral and coal at the Energy and Mineral Resources Minister, made the announcement in Jakarta on Monday, following a visit to Papua over the weekend by the minister, Sudirman Said, where he met Papua Governor Lukas Enembe and Freeport Indonesia president director Maroef Sjamsuddin.
“There are investors from China or the US who are interested to build” the new smelter, Sukhyar said.
“Freeport will only supply concentrate as raw material for the smelter.”
The surprise announcement of the new smelter comes just weeks after the copper and gold miner secured a six-month extension to export concentrate, on the back of securing a lease for land in Gresik, East Java, to build a smelter.
The choice of Gresik, where Freeport Indonesia and another copper miner, Newmont Nusa Tenggara, currently send much of their concentrate for processing at a smelter run by the Indonesian company Smelting, did not sit well with officials in Papua, including Governor Lukas, who demanded that Freeport Indonesia set up a smelter there to create jobs in the region in which it operates.
With the planned new smelter, the energy ministry will revise the permitted capacity of Freeport Indonesia’s Gresik smelter.
“Because there will be a smelter in Papua, the consequence is that the capacity at the Gresik facility will no longer be two million tons of concentrates,” Sukhyar said.
Freeport Indonesia initially planned to produce up to 500,000 tons of copper cathode annually at the Gresik facility, which would require two million tons of concentrate. The company has invested $2 billion for the smelter.
Sukhyar did not elaborate on the capacity or investment of the new smelter in Papua.
He also did not explain where the electricity to power the smelter would come from, given the critical dearth of electricity generation and power infrastructure in Papua.
A spokeswoman for Freeport Indonesia did not respond to a request for comment from GlobeAsia.
Officials at the weekend meeting in Papua agreed that the provincial administration and the government of Mimika district, with help of foreign investors, would build the smelter in Amamapare, a port town in Papua from where Freeport Indonesia currently ships out its concentrate.
Another possible location is Paumako, about 30 kilometers inland from Amamapare, which the local government has designated as an industrial zone, Sukhyar said.
Freeport Indonesia is a unit of US mining giant Freeport McMoRan, and operates Grasberg, one of the biggest copper and gold mines in the world.
GlobeAsia



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

http://www.islandsbusiness.com/news/papua-new-guinea/6565/micah-oneill-serious-on-papua/

2) Micah: O’Neill serious on Papua  

From POST COURIER  News Mon 16 Feb 2015
PORT MORESBY, PNG --- Papua New Guinea Enterprises and State Investment Minister Ben Micah has rejected suggestions that the Prime Minister’s announcement of a policy shift on West Papua was a knee-jerk announcement.
Prime Minister Peter O’Neill announced on 05 February, at a Leadership Summit, that it was time for Papua New Guinea to speak out on the oppression of “our brothers and sisters” in West Papua.
Since this announcement, the mainstream and social media had been awash with support for this major shift in attitude to Melanesians living under Indonesian rule.
There had however been certain critics who say this announcement was not well thought out and lacked a definite policy platform.
Micah is a long time avid supporter of a greater Melanesia, and the cause of the West Papua people.
During Grievance Debate in Parliament on Friday, he seized the opportunity to hammer the critics.
“The Prime Minister did not speak about West Papua just to colour his speech. This is an issue he feels strongly about,” Micah said.
He said the Prime Minister in fact discussed this issue when he met president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono during an official visit to Indonesia in 2013.
“I was with the Prime Minister when he raised the issue with President Susilo. In that meeting we agreed that there would be no peace or harmony if the West Papua issue was not given the attention it deserved.
“We will engage with the Indonesian Government to pursue this,” he said.
Leaders who have been vocal about the plight of the West Papuan people included NCD Governor Powes Parkop, and Northern (Oro) Governor Gary Juffa.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
3) Boxes with 40 Bullets Found in Merauke
Merauke, Jubi – A resident found two cardboard boxes filled with 40 bullets in front of elementary school SD Budi Mulia in Merauke district, the military said.
The chief of Military Command 1707 in Merauke, Lt. Col. I Made Alit Yuda told reporters Thursday (12/02/2015) that Rangga, 16, found the boxes on January 8 and immediately brought them to the military.
Initially he thought there were phones in the boxes, so took and then opened them.
“Our personnel have received and secured the bullets. Yes, he was questioned and then immediately let go as he did not know where the bullets were from,” he said.
“I don’t know the size of the bullet, but we’re looking for more information,” he said.
Separately, the chief of Merauke police criminal investigation  Adjunct Commissioner Chanda said he was not aware of the finding. (Frans L Kobun/ Tina)
------------------------------------------------------------

http://tabloidjubi.com/en/?p=3746

4) Perhutani Postpones Canal Construction in South Sorong

Sorong, Jubi – PT. Perum Perhutani has postponed building a canal because of a dispute with the local community over land rights.
The canal, once built, is expected to facilitate distribution of sago palm stems from the forest to the mill.
“The canal could not be built because  the canal can damage the public perception of sago forest,” head of branch of Perum Perhutani in South Sorong, Ronald Suitelah said at the office in Teminabuan on Wednesday (11/02/2015).
The company will focus on educating the community about the importance of a canal that will not damage the sago forest, and benefit residents and  animals that live in the sago forest.
While tribal leader of Imeko and other five regions including Kais distrct, Dominggus Aifufu stated he would conduct negotiations, so that they would understand and know the intention of the company to build the canal. (Nees Makuba/ Tina)


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

http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/business/govt-lifts-demand-freeport-build-papua-smelter-report/

5) Govt Lifts Demand on Freeport to Build Papua Smelter: Report

By Reuters on 03:40 pm Feb 16, 2015

An aerial view shows the site of the Grasberg Mine, operated by US-based Freeport-McMoran, in Papua. (Reuters Photo/Muhammad Yamin)
Jakarta. The government has dropped its demand that Freeport-McMoran Inc build a $1.5 billion copper smelter in Papua province, saying a regionally owned enterprise would take on the project instead, news website Detik.com reported, quoting the mining minister.
The ministry in December said Arizona-based Freeport, which runs the world’s fifth-largest copper mine in Indonesia, should agree to build the Papua smelter in five years if it wanted a mining contract extension beyond 2021.
The latest decision could ease pressure on Freeport, which has already agreed to a $2.3-billion expansion by 2017 of its copper smelting facility in East Java, currently the only one in the country.
The government has been pushing the company to comply with rules that force miners to process and refine minerals domestically.
“If Freeport is burdened in two locations it would be uneconomical,” Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said said on Sunday, according to the Detik report.
A regionally owned enterprise would build the Papua smelter and could team up with other investors on the project, the ministry said in a document obtained by Reuters.
An investor from China has already approached the Papua administration, Detik’s report cited Sudirman as saying, without providing details.
“A smelter on its own is not economical so we are building an [industrial] zone to make it more attractive,” the minister said.
A ministry spokesman was not immediately available to confirm the comments.
The 650-hectare industrial zone in Papua’s Mimika area is not far from Freeport’s concentrate pipeline and already has a port and electrical infrastructure, according to the document.
The zone will also include a cement packaging plant, a liquefied petroleum gas filling plant, a fertilizer plant and a petrochemicals plant.
“This is a win-win solution,” Sudirman said, adding that Freeport would be contractually required to supply copper concentrate to the Papua smelter.
“Whoever is tasked to build the smelter in Papua, Freeport Indonesia will form a business-to-business contract with them to supply concentrate,” Freeport Indonesia CEO Maroef Sjamsuddin said in the document.
Freeport is expected to produce 2 million tonnes of copper concentrate from its Indonesian operations in 2015, up from 1.4 million tonnes in 2014.
Indonesia aims to develop 4.5 million tonnes of copper concentrate processing capacity nationally, Said said, up from 1.2 million tonnes at present.
Reuters
----------------------------------------------------------

6) Govt, Freeport Agree to Build Smelter


Timika, Jubi/Antara – The Indonesian government and copper and gold miner PT Freeport Indonesia have agreed to build a smelter in Timika industrial estate, Papua province.
The agreement was reached after Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said, Public Works and Housing Minister Hadi Muljono and entourage paid a two-day visit in the easternmost Indonesian province on Saturday and Sunday (February 14 to 15).
During the visit, Sudirman Said held talks with a number of stakeholders, including Papua Governor Lukas Enembe, members of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI), members of the Papuan People’s Assembly (MRP), members of the Papua Legislative Council (DPR), Mimiki District Head Eltinus Omaleng and PT Freeport Indonesia President Director Maroef Sjamsuddin.
The minister told reporters at Rimba Papua Hotel in Timika on Sunday that the construction of the smelter in Papua was an integral part of national smelter development program.
“What we are going to build is national capacity and therefore, a national study team will soon be set up,” he said.
The construction of the smelter in Papua was part of the development of an industrial estate that the Papua provincial government and the Mimika district government were preparing, he said.
Not only the smelter but also upstream industries and other supporting industries would be built in the industrial estate, he said.
Sudirman further said the Papua provincial government was gearing up for the construction of a cement packing plant near Paumako port in Timika.
In the future, the cement packing plant would be developed into a cement factory to meet rising demand in Papua, he said.
Freeport Indonesia, a subsidiary of US-based Freeport-McMoRan Inc., has been operating the Grasberg mine in Papua since the 1970s.
The company sells most of the copper concentrate produced from its Grasberg operation overseas and only sends roughly 40 percent of its production to PT Smelting Gresik, which operates the only copper smelter in the country. Freeport Indonesia has a 25-percent stake in Smelting Gresik.
Following the implementation of the 2009 Mining Law, the government started on Jan. 12 last year to ban the export of mineral ore. Consequently, Freeport Indonesia has to process all of its semi-finished copper concentrate into the end product, copper cathode, in domestic smelters.
To develop the smelter and industrial estate, the Public Works and Housing Ministry had expressed full support to match its programs with the national spatial planning.
PT Freeport said it will support the Public Works and Housing Ministry’s plan to break the isolation of several areas by developing roads to Ilaga, Puncak district and Supaga Intan Jaya. (*)
------------------------------------------------------------------

1) Malnourished Children are Around Us

0
0

2) Papua To Plant 1,000 Hectares of Sweet Potato in 2015
3) KNPB Sorong Raya Strongly Reject Dialogue with Jakarta


4) Papua Governor: Why Should Aceh Be Given Special Treatment

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

http://tabloidjubi.com/en/?p=3758


1) Malnourished Children are Around Us


Jayapura, Jubi  – Since malnutrition is never considered a disease, malnourished children have received less attention from the public, a journalist said.
“I witnessed it around my neighborhood and Toware, Waibu Sub-district. Then it encouraged me to write about this issue, to get people’s attention and open their mind,” Inez Seria Marweri, a civil journalist from Sentani told Jubi on Friday during the break of Workshop Meeting of News Editors and Papua Civil Journalists for Health Public Service Improvement in Jayapura City.
She said seriously affects children’s growth whether they live in the villages or urban areas. “Because most parents do not really care about it though it exists around us,” she said.
Even they often say it is not a disease and do nothing.
“Malnutrition will reduce the immune system, making sufferers vulnerable to diseases,” she said. She added no wonder the village chiefs always blamed the women for not taking care of health service as well as the family education programs at villages.
Meanwhile, malnutrition wasn’t the only case of Keerom Regency, it also happened at Merauke Regency. The Head of Merauke Health Office, dr. Stefanus Osok said malnutrition case in every regions including Merauke Regency couldn’t be intervened by government since it was directly related to the community welfare.
As long as the improvement of their economic status was stagnant, the malnutrition case would be automatically in line with their economic status. A data from Merauke Health Office showed the percentage of malnutrition and worse malnutrition in Merauke reaches twenty percent of the current number of toddlers. So, according to Osok, the number of malnutrition is around seven percent while the rest is worse malnutrition.
The MDGs set up a target for malnutrition figures should not be more than fifteen percent while worse malnutrition figures should not be more than five percent. “But why did we still find some malnourished toddlers? Because they consumed less nutritious intake as suggested. For example, a nutritious meal must consist of carbohydrate, protein, fat and fruits as well as vegetables. These ingredients should be consisted in a dish to be consumed, then coupled with a glass of milk. Therefore, once we had a tagline ‘Empat Sehat Lima Sempurna (Four for Health and Five for Perfection’, “ said Osok. (Dominggus Mampioper/rom)
----------------------------------------------------------------

2) Papua To Plant 1,000 Hectares of Sweet Potato in 2015

Jayapura, Jubi – The Department of Food Crops and Horticulture in Papua will plant  1,000 hectares of sweet potato in Merauke this year, an official said.
“We are thinking local food must be preserved and promoted. We have to think a moment, if there is no supply of food from outside, Papua can live with local commodities, ” head of Food Crops and Horticulture Papua, Samuel Siriwa told reporters in Jayapura, Papua on Sunday (15/02/2015).
He said  currently Papua is self-sufficient in sweet potato.
“We should encourage local food because in rural areas, the rice program will be stopped. Now officials prefer to eat local meals and avoid eating rice at parties,” he added.
Earlier, head of Food Security of Papua Province, Altical Patulak, urged people not to rely on rice.
The provincial government plans to draft legislation to promote and preserve local food.
“We have proposed  a weekly ‘no rice day’,” Patulak stated. Continued, currently the Papuan people have started to get used to consume food from outside, such as rice. This causes local food started slowly forgotten.
“Now we begin to stimulate local food cultivation, such as tubers because we do not want people to depend on food from outside, “he said. (Alexander Loen/ Tina)
---------------------------------------------------------

3) KNPB Sorong Raya Strongly Reject Dialogue with Jakarta

Sorong, Jubi – The deputy chairmand the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) in Sorong Raya region, Kamtius Heselo, said the organization rejected dialogue between Jakarta and Papua.
He said  dialogue is a political game of a few people who want to retain their positions and is not a solution.
Kamtius said Papua is not a question of daily survival. Even though it has an element of  welfare, the issue is more about political rights as emphasized in Vanuatu that Papuans wants referendum.
“We know the Jakarta-Papua dialogue is the interests of a few people who is seeking positions, including the development and special autonomy, but now we’ve officially part of Melanesian Spreadheads Group (MSG),” Kamtius said.
He further said KNPB demanded an Act of Free Choice (Pepera) be held again because the vote conducted in 1969 was invalid and it was known that Papuans had no free choice at that time  as they lived in pressure .
One of KNPB members also echoed it. It rejected the whole program planned by the President to Papua,including the implementation of special autonomy, development programs and other things for Papua. He said the only one he just wanted is a referendum. (Nees Makuba/ Tina)
-----------------------------------------------------------

4) Papua Governor: Why Should Aceh Be Given Special Treatment


Jayapura, Jubi – Papua Governor Lukas Enembe said Aceh does not deserve its status as a special province.
“What do they have? It is not fair. We’ll keep our existing Special Regional Regulation,” Enembe told reporters in Jayapura on Sunday (15/2/2015).
He believed  Papua has done its best  to push for Special Autonomy Law .
“Last year we have done the first phase, now our proposed New Special Autonomy Law (Otsus Plus) should have been registered in the National Legislative Program (Prolegnas) of 2015, but it wasn’t in reality,” he said.
According to him, before the determination of Prolegnas 2015, all fractions at Indonesian Parliament have agreed except a fraction from PDIP that represent the government.
“According to us, the Otsus Plus is the answer of Papua’s issues in line with the Indonesian ideology,” he said. On the other hand, he additionally said, the Central Government want to resolve it through a dialogue.
“I don’t know the concept of the dialogue yet. But I think the Otsus Plus is appropriate for the provincial government while Papuans could interpret it differently. Do not try talking about a dialogue to Papuans because they will have their own interpretations,” said Enembe. (Alexander Loen/rom)

1) Papuan smelter costs $1b, ready by 2020

0
0
2) Papuans behind bars January 2015: Heavy security presence destabilises indigenous Papuan communities
3) Indonesia: Restoring eye-sight in Papua
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) Papuan smelter costs $1b,  ready by 2020
Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura | Business | Tue, February 17 2015, 9:08 PM - 
A smelter planned for Papua is estimated to cost US$1 billion, will have a capacity of 900,000 tons per year, needs 54 months for construction and is to be operational by late 2020 at the latest.
"The energy and mineral resources minister's visit resulted in an agreement to build a smelter in Papua. The construction will use foreign funds while PT Freeport will supply the concentrates to be processed in the smelter," Papua Governor Lukas Enembe said on Tuesday in Jayapura.
The smelter will be built in the Poumako area in Timika, Mimika regency, in a 650-hectare plot of land. In addition to a smelter, the area will also be built into an industrial zone.
Meanwhile, Papua Mining Agency head Bangun Manurung said the project would need 50 megawatts (MW) of electricity: the smelter needs 10 MW while the refinery and utilities each need 20 MW.
"The smelter will not use electricity from the planned Urumka hydropower plant, which is still in the planning stage," said Bangun, who is also head of the smelter development team.
"We will use other technology for the smelter, which will use a continuous process so that the resulting heat can be used to generate electricity."
Bangun said the smelter would have a gas-fired power plant using GE technology while the smelter itself will use a technology developed by China ENFI Engineering CO. Ltd., a subsidiary of the Chinese nonferrous metal industry's Foreign Engineering and Construction Co. Ltd. The project will be financed by the Bank of China.
In addition to a gas-fired power plant, other facilities will include a copper smelter, a copper refinery, a gold and silver refinery, a sulfuric acid factory and an oxygen factory. (nvn)(+++)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

2) Papuans behind bars January 2015: Heavy security presence destabilises indigenous Papuan communities
In brief
At the end of January 2015, there were at least 38 political prisoners in Papuan jails.
The notable apparent decrease in the number of political prisoners is due to updated information on cases where news is often inaccessible or hard to come by. As timely information is often difficult to obtain, it is at times challenging to confirm if a political prisoner has been released. Additionally, news was also received this month of the release of six political prisoners in the Aimas 1 May case last November, following the end of their 1.5 year prison sentences. While the number of political prisoners recorded this month is comparably lower than those recorded in previous months, reports of mass arrests, ill-treatment and torture continue.
In January, at least 78 people were arrested in Utikini village and detained at Mimika Regional police office following the shooting of two Mobile Brigade (Brigade Mobil, Brimob) officers and one Freeport security officer. During the large-scale raid in Timika, at least 116 people were rounded up, including 48 women and three children. At least four people were reported to have suffered serious injuries from torture and ill-treatment, 439 homes were reportedly burned down and five people, including a baby, are believed to have died due to a lack of food and medicine after fleeing the violence.
The terrorising of whole communities in retaliation for armed activity demonstrates a common form of collective punishment used by security forces against indigenous Papuans. Similar reprisal attacks were also seen in Pirime district, Lanny Jaya in July 2014 and Puncak Illaga district, Timika in December 2014. Local communities in conflict areas are often targeted for arbitrary arrest and suffer torture, ill-treatment and internal displacement. While it is hard to ascertain the exact number of people living in such areas who are at risk of serious human rights violations, reports received from Papuan human rights sources indicate that the figure is in the thousands. The raid on Utikini village in Timika this month alone has reportedly resulted in around 5,000 internally displaced people. It is difficult to obtain accurate and timely information on the situation in these areas as they are often remote and heavily controlled by security forces. Instead of ensuring the protection of basic rights for local communities, the presence of security forces seem to be deeply destabilising.
Also in Timika this month, a student was heavily beaten by Brimob officers because he could not afford to pay for a meal at a street stall. He was shot when he attempted to retaliate by fighting back and throwing stones. The tendency for security forces to resort to the use of firearms to respond to the slightest provocation or in some instances, as the first measure used on arrest or detention of unarmed individuals, is an ongoing serious concern regarding policing methods. Such trigger-happy responses were seen in the ‘Bloody Paniai’ incident and in demonstrations in Dogiyai last month, as well as events in Yotefa market in July and August 2014. It is important to highlight that in almost all recorded cases, the perpetrators continue to enjoy total impunity.
Newly received information regarding the Bloody Paniai case has revealed that on 8 December 2014, four Papuans were fatally shot, and not the previously reported number of six. While the National Human Rights Commission of Indonesia (Komisi Nasional Hak Asasi Manusia, Komnas HAM) has formed a Fact Finding Team (Tim Penyelidikan Fakta, TPF), such a mechanism is only able to submit recommendations to the Indonesian government. Human rights groups are pushing for Komnas HAM to establish an Investigative Commission into Human Rights Violations (Komisi Penyelidikan Pelanggaran HAM, KPP HAM) in order to be able to bring the case to trial.
full report 

---------------------------------------------------------https://www.icrc.org/en/document/indonesia-restoring-eye-sight-papua#.VOOdRUvZFZh
3) Indonesia: Restoring eye-sight in Papua
A patient smiles during his eye examination. Once a year, the ICRC collaborates with the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) and Dian Harapan Hospital in Jayapura, Papua, to provide this much-needed health service. photo gallery 
Cataracts are a major cause of blindness in Indonesia. In the remote province of Papua, bordering Papua New Guinea, a medical team at Dian Harapan Hospital in Jayapura partner each year with the ICRC and the Indonesian Red Cross to bring hope to those suffering from debilitating eye conditions. In 2014, the operation was organized in Tolikara district 2 hours flight from Jayapura.
Since 2006, Dian Harapan Hospital – with financial support from the ICRC and logistical support from Palang Merah Indonesia (PMI, the Indonesian Red Cross) – have assisted people from this remote region where access to health care is limited. Of 354 people who had their eyes examined in December 2014, 170 received corrective glasses, while 54 residents of Tolikara underwent surgery to remove cataracts.

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

1) Jokowi’s Papuan Promises Ring Hollow to Those on the Ground

0
0
2) Papua smelting plan causes  fear of copper supply shortage 
3) Papua Police Report False, KNPB Says

4) Papua Police Slow to Uncover Paniai Prepetrators

5) Merauke Traders Disappointed as Dialogue Postponed

‪6) Moni Tribal Chief Rejects Private Companies in His Area


7) Councillor Warns Mimika Government against Issuing New Mining Regulation


------------------------------------------------------------
1) Jokowi’s Papuan Promises Ring Hollow to Those on the Ground
Self-Determination: Independence movement advocates are divided over how best to focus energies, with some seeing incremental change as preferential and others demanding an immediate independence referendum
By Eva Corlett on 11:00 pm Feb 17, 2015

This handout photo taken on Dec. 27, 2014 and released by the Presidential Palace on Dec. 28 shows President Joko Widodo, center, and First Lady Iriana, center second from right, arriving in Jayapura, Papua, as they are welcomed by Papuan Governor Lukas Enembe. left, and his wife Yewuce, right. (AFP Photo/Rusman/Presidential Palace)

Jakarta. Papuans and human rights advocates are concerned that President Joko Widodo’s visits and campaign promises to the province are merely ceremonial rather than indicative of real change for Papua.
Joko’s inaction so far toward fulfilling his campaign promises to Papua has raised doubts among Papuans and activists over whether Papuan issues will be addressed or redressed at all under his leadership.
His populist ideals were originally heralded as a new hope for Papuans, who for nearly 50 years have lived under Indonesian governance and are often exposed to arbitrarily administered rule of law by armed forces and government officials.
The government frequently arrests and jails Papuan protesters for peacefully advocating independence or other political change, with currently more than 60 Papuan activists in prison on charges of “treason,” says Human Rights Watch.
Benny Wenda, the exiled leader of the United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP), told the Jakarta Globe that West Papuans “do not trust Jokowi, nor his false promises.”
“We have seen many presidents come and go, all promising much for our people but only delivering more killings, oppression and Indonesian migrants. Under Jokowi, we have seen the massacre of West Papuan children and further burning of villages,” Benny said, referring to the president by his nickname.
Joko’s lack of movement signals an administration that is continuing the legacy of former governments, following in their failure to address Papua’s multitude of grievances including brutality and impunity of the armed forces, freedom of expression restrictions, and the diminishing of land, civil and human rights.
Numerous promises were made to the Papuans during the lead-up to, and immediately after, Joko’s inauguration.
Some of his pre-election proposals included opening the province to foreign media and providing health care and education funding cards to residents to address lagging development.
The latter has been implemented but there is little evidence to suggest policy measures or directives are being implemented to fulfill media access and transparency, said Andreas Harsono, HRW’s Indonesia researcher.
Joko needs to end the isolation through releasing the stranglehold on foreign media access to Papua, he added.
It is difficult to see how the government could be monitored in Papua without transparency, openness to foreign media and the formation of a safe working environment for local journalists, Andreas said.
He added that the government should immediately release Papuans such as Areki Wanimbo, who is currently in custody for assisting two French foreign journalists at his home.
Two French journalists, Valentine Bourrat and Thomas Dandois, were sentenced to two-and-a-half months’ imprisonment for using a tourist visa rather than a journalist visa to go to Papua.
Wanimbo, alongside two local journalists, was initially charged with attempting to procure ammunition from the journalists. However, the police found no evidence, Andreas said.
He added: “Wanimbo is now facing trial for treason in Wamena with the only evidence being a letter that Wanimbo co-signed, asking for donations to help Papuan delegates to attend a conference in Vanuatu.”
Latifah Anum Siregar, Wanimbo’s lawyer and the head of the Alliance for Democracy in Papua, cited the Paniai shooting, in which security forces shot dead five unarmed protesters and injured 17, including school-aged children, as another example of Joko’s inaction.
“During Christmas celebrations in Jayapura [on Dec. 27], Joko said the Paniai shootings should be immediately solved, but to date there has [been] no further investigation into the case … as if the case has disappeared,” she said.
Latifah questioned what the outcome would be for previous cases of injustice, when current cases were responded to in this manner.
“Especially knowing that Jokowi is supported by military leaders such as [Defense Minister] Ryamizard Ryacudu or [former intelligence chief] Hendropriyono, who were involved in wrongdoings in Papua in the past,” she said.
Ryamizard has also been linked to past human rights abuses in East Timor.

Some students from Papua in Bandung demonstrate against the shooting in Papua, on Dec. 10, 2014. (Antara Photo/Agus Bebeng)

The people of Papua are counting on Joko to do the right thing, Latifah said.
“After winning the presidential election, Joko has been visited by and visited the representatives of Papuan communities,” she said.
“At the beginning of his rule, there was an idea of transmigration, of forming a new regional military command, of constructing a headquarters for the police’s Mobile Brigade in Papua, and of starting dialogues with Free Papua Organization [OPM] leaders.”
But the military policy was slammed by Papua, with the seemingly Java-centric proposals surrounding transmigration and subdivision of the provinces also met with alarm.
Transmigration is not new to Papua. Indonesian migrants are shuffled from heavily populated islands such as Java and Sumatra into Papua to fill primarily trade-related roles.
But it has proved economically, culturally and politically destabilizing for indigenous Papuan people.
Latifah has raised concern about the motives of Joko’s administration over his campaign comments that he only wanted to show support for Papuans.
“What is the most interesting thing in Papua for the government? It’s Papua’s natural resources, its marine biodiversity, its abundance of wood-producing trees, its mines, Freeport,” she said.
But Latifah added that Joko had stated in past campaign speeches that problems in Papua were not restricted to education, health, economy and infrastructure, but that the government never truly listened to the people of Papua.
“Developing Papua should start with changing the government’s point of view,” she said.
But while some are keen to see change elicited incrementally into Papua, Benny and many pro-independence advocates will not be satisfied until full independence is achieved.
“The reason that we West Papuans are still suffering now is because our country was illegally taken by Indonesia in 1969 without the agreement of the West Papuan people,” Benny said.
“We are still demanding our UN-guaranteed referendum on independence for all Papuans, to fulfill our self-determination.
“Therefore, the only way Jokowi can actually help West Papuans is by giving us this referendum and in doing so, help to fulfill our right to self-determination.
“West Papua cannot be free within Indonesia.”


-------------------------------------------------------------------
2) Papua smelting plan causes  fear of copper supply shortage 
Raras Cahyafitri and Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Jayapura | Business | Wed, February 18 2015, 7:25 AM -
Following the government’s decision to support the development of a copper smelter in Papua, concerns are rising over the total availability of copper concentrate.

The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry’s director general for mineral and coal, R. Sukhyar, said the construction of the Papua smelter might cause a supply problem for other smelters to be built in the country.

He said that Freeport Indonesia, as the main copper producer, would have to provide a supply for both the Papua plant and for its own in Gresik, East Java. As a consequence, with the current production levels the country’s other smelters would suffer from a shortage.

 “We will need to see the current total production and the future planned production. What’s clear is that a supply for the Papua smelter of 900,000 tons is a must while other possible smelter developments will have to be adjusted,” Sukhyar said Monday evening.

He said that his office would arrange a meeting with Freeport Indonesia, PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara and PT Gorontalo Minerals and several other companies that have previously expressed plans to build smelters.

The meeting, according to Sukhyar, will discuss the balance of concentrate supply and the planned smelter developments.

Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said stated Tuesday that the government would support cooperation between the local administration and a Chinese investor to develop a copper smelter in the resource rich province.

Under the new plan, the copper smelter will process and refine copper concentrate produced by Freeport Indonesia, a subsidiary of US-based Freeport-McMoRan Inc.

The Papua governor initially expected that the planned smelter would be developed by Freeport Indonesia, which is also operating the Grasberg mining site located in the province. However, Freeport Indonesia said that it has opted to develop a new smelter in Gresik, East Java, as part of its commitment to comply with the 2009 Mining Law requiring mining firms to process and refine minerals in domestic smelters.

Papua Governor Lukas Enembe said the planned smelter would have the capacity to process 900,000 tons of copper concentrate. He added that the local administration would team up with the China Nonferrous Metals Co. to build the smelter.

He said the smelter development itself will need around US$1 billion in investments.

Freeport currently produces up to 2 million tons of copper concentrate per year. Following a planned full implementation of a ban on mineral ore exports, the government is only allowing copper concentrate to be sent overseas until 2017. Therefore, a new facility must be built to process the concentrate.

After a prolonged negotiation, Freeport agreed to build a new smelter in Gresik, near the location of an existing smelter operated by Smelting Gresik.

The new Gresik smelter, whose development is estimated to cost around $2.3 billion, is designed to have a total capacity for processing 2 million tons of copper concentrate per year. The smelter will be the second smelter in Gresik processing Freeport’s copper concentrate .

The existing smelter, PT Smelting, is jointly owned by Freeport and several other companies.
----------------------------------------------------------

3) Papua Police Report False, KNPB Says


Jayapura, Jubi – The West Papua National Committee (KNPB) denied reports that 14 of its members have been detained by police in the port of Nabire, Papua.
“The information is not true. The truth is just one of our members was arrested for carrying materials for political education on national and international developments, ” Bazooka Logo, KNPB spokesperson, said in Waena on Monday (16/02/2015).
He said the news that cited the Papua police was aimed to deceive the public.
“Police said fourteen people were arrested is false. Actually they are now at the secretariat of KNPB, Nabire. And today KNPB Nabire is mediating fourteen people to face the police station to ask their members freed, ” logo .
Furthermore he said, the news published in one local newspaper which was confirmed by the Papua regional police spokeswoman was also not true.
“ This arrest was unreasonable. If KPNB do the anarchists, police can arrest. If Indonesia arrests us because we speak Papua independence, it means this country bans our right to speak. Remember, it has been guaranteed by the constitution in this country, “he explained.“Kami
Ones Suhuniap, when contacted by Jubi via cell phone from Nabire confirmed that one person was detained at the police station of Nabire. And on this day, Monday (02/16/2015) KNPB Nabire region went to the police station and ask to be released.
Meanwhile, on Sunday (15/02/2015) Police Commissioner Patriage Renwarin to reporters in Jayapura, said police in Nabire have secured fourteen members of KNPB from Sorong and Fakkfak region. (Arnold Belau/Tina)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4) Papua Police Slow to Uncover Paniai Prepetrators

Jayapura, Jubi – A student group said the Papua Police have been slow in  finding the perpetrators of the shootings in Paniai which four students were killed on December 8, 2014.
Several church organizations, National Human Rights Commission of Indonesia and Papua Police have conducted an investigation and Papua Police have promised to reveal the perpetrators only until now it has not been revealed, said Dani Yogi from the Independent Student Forum (FIM).
“We asked the police to immediately uncover the perpetrators. Police, in its statement said that it will reveal the culprit if the fourth buried body was dug up. Police, please do not shift the issue and have to show your professionalism,” Dani told reporters in Abepura.
“It is the job of the police to find the perpetrators, but why does the police chief want to bargain with civil society,” chairman of the FIM, Meleanus Duwitau added.
Therefore, Independent Student Forum demanded the investigation team to conduct the process of in-depth investigation in Paniai. Then, military/police should be more welcoming to the investigation team to conduct the investigation.
Meanwhile, members of Investigation Team, Laurenzus Kadepa said Papua Police’s statement on exhumations of the fourth body for an autopsy to ascertain the type of ammunition was not the solution.
“Digging back the bodies of the victims were not the solution. It will only worsen the situation. We appreciate the efforts of police and army reveal the case, but the victim’s family sincerely hope the perpetrator soon revealed,” Laurenzus Kadepa said to Jubi on Friday (02/13/2015). (Arnold Belau/Tina)
---------------------------------------------------------

5) Merauke Traders Disappointed as Dialogue Postponed

Merauke, Jubi – Hundreds of Papuan women traders at Wamanggu and Mapah markets were disappointed as they failed to meet members of the Merauke Legislative Council (DPRD) and the government.
 
The women traders gathered in front of DPRP’s office for promised dialogue on Monday (16/02/2015), but some delegates went ahead with the meeting led by chairman of Merauke DPRD, Kanizia Mekiuw and arguments ensued between the councillors.
The chairman of Commission B, Francis Firifefa, requested that the meeting to be postponed until the related agency attended.
“I think we have to delay until tomorrow because the local government needs to be part of the meeting,” he said.
Another legislative member, Moses Kaibu actually requested that the meeting be continued, because there would be various agendas that must be executed tomorrow.
 
“We as representatives of the people, want to hear and know what the problem is happening as it is part of our responsibility,” he added.
 
Separately, chairman of the Advocacy Institute for Women in Merauke, Beatrix Gebze, on behalf of Papuan women traders expressed their disappointment by the absence of government. In fact, the letter has been sent to the legislative a while ago.
 
She explained that it has provided guidance for the traders since the last two years and found a lot of problems such as about the sales and prices between Papuans and non -Papuans. Other problem is the difficulty of transportation as a result they cannot come early to the market. When arriving on the market, there are many traders who have been in the location.
“This is just one or two issues that we lay out. There are still many things to be discussed and need to find the solution,” she said. (Frans L Kobun/Tina)
 -------------------------------------------------------------------

6) Moni Tribal Chief Rejects Private Companies in His Area

Jayapura, Jubi – Intan Jaya Moni Tribal Chief Agustinus Somau said he was will not allow any private company to operate in his customary area if there is no agreement with the community.
He said he had received information that a company is planning to operate Intan Jaya to manage the Cartenz tourism.
“Freeport’s underground mining has crossed the Intan Jaya’s territorial. People refused to accept this because there is no agreement between us until now,” Agustinus Somau said in Jayapura on Monday (16/2/2015).
He further said any private companies should talk and make agreement with the local community before starting their operations within his customary area.
“Moni tribe has never conducted the customary conference. The governor, minister, regent and parliament shouldn’t take their own policy. The customary community has their own organization. Until now the Moni tribe has not received any compensation from Freeport. So, please don’t bring a new company to our customary land,” he said.
He also said the customary community has been fooled all the time. Until now the indigenous people are still living in poverty and marginalized although the allocation of natural resources sharing is set by Law.
“Please solve the tenure right problem with the customary community at first. Even the Local Government of Intan Jaya has never sit together with the customary community,” he said.
Meanwhile, Intan Jaya native Yafet M similarly said do not provoke people with things that possibly disturbed the tranquility of Intan Jaya residents. (Arjuna Pademme/rom)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

7) Councillor Warns Mimika Government against Issuing New Mining Regulation

Jayapura, Jubi – The Papua Legislative Council’s Commission I member, Mathea Mamoyau urged the Mimika government to avoid a new polemic by issuing a new regulation on public mining.
“Do not solve the conflict by making a new one. It will raise another problem,” Mamoyau said on Monday (16/2/2015).
“The local government shouldn’t talk nonsense about the regulation. They should understand who’s actually behind it. Do not talk about regulation while the local parliament has not yet inaugurated,” she said.
She said he ad asked the regent and local Police Chief as well as the local Military Commander to review this course because he worried it would raise a conflict among the people. As Mimika native, he said he knew exactly about the condition in the area.
“Many tribes involved in mining activity out there. They are not only living at Timika City, but also at the mining location. It looks unimportant, but it should be considered seriously. It needs a lot of times and efforts. I take this as a failure plan to be,” she said.
Earlier, the Mimika Regional Secretary Wilhelmus Haurissa said the determination of mining location should be regulated in the Regional Regulation and it was the Local Parliament’s authority.
“But although the legislature election has been done since 13 March last year, the Mimika Legislative Council was still in dispute. There are community groups who still refuse the election result,” Haurissa said at that moment. (Arjuna Pademme/rom)
---------------------------------------

1) Protection for Lawyers and Human Right Defenders Sought in Papua

0
0

2) Local Food Production in Papua Only Accounts for 52 Percent
3) Papua Governor, Parliament and People’s Assembly Only Bluffing, Group Says

4) Local People demonstrate at PT ANJ Agri’s offices.

5) A Yapen Residents Killed Shot


6) Police shoot two more civilians in Kontiunai, Yapen, killing one

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



http://tabloidjubi.com/en/?p=3804

1) Protection for Lawyers and Human Right Defenders Sought in Papua

Sorong, Jubi – Lawyers and human right defenders are particularly exposed to intimidation and physical threats due to their rights advocacy, a legal aid activist said.
“Lawyer and Human Right Defender thought it’s very important and critical to immediately establish a network to protect their life and work in the entire Papua regions,” the Executive Director of Research, Assessment and Legal Assistance Development Office (LP3BH), Yan Christian Warinussy on Tuesday (17/2/2015) in Sorong.
He was speaking during a focus group discussion on the efforts to develop a protection system for lawyers and human right defenders in Papua in Sorong from 16 to 17 February 2015.
The partnership network for Lawyer and Human Right Defender Protection in Papua is located in LP3BH Manokwari Office with four contact persons base in Manokwari, Fakfak, Sorong and Jayapura.
“The contact persons are responsible to follow up action plans and strategic plans of the network,” he said.
Some lawyers who recently involved in the human rights violation cases and human right defenders from Fakfak, Sorong, Jayapura and Manokwari participated in the FGD. Lawyers and human right defenders in Papua realized the level of threat to their life, their clients and families and as well as their works are consistently increased.
Some lawyers in Papua have experienced many physical threats. Lawyer Helene Olga Hamadi has been terrorized by a group of people when she defended her client in the case against the Jayawijaya Police Chief at Wamena District Court in 2013.  Meanwhile Lawyer Eliezer Murafer often got the physical pressure and threat while working on the subversion case in Timika and Serui in 2013 to 2014.  And the Director of Democratic Alliance for Papua, Lawyer Anum Siregar was attacked by unknown person who also robbed her bag and stabbed her left hand, which cause her to must taking two times of neurosurgery and bone surgery. Meanwhile Lawyer Damus Usmany in Sorong has also got physical assault by a group of unknown people. He also experienced to be excluded in the legal practice by some lawyers who involved in collusion with other law enforcement from the local police, prosecutors and district court.
The case to criminalize against the lawyers and their works were often occurred when they were dealing with the cases related to human right violations such as Lawyer Gustav Kawer who took the court experienced in Jayapura in 2014 and Simon Bunudi in Manokwari who got the similar experience in Manokawari in 2010. (Nees Makuba/Rom)


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


http://tabloidjubi.com/en/?p=3806


2) Local Food Production in Papua Only Accounts for 52 Percent


Jayapura, Jubi/Antara – Local products including rice and other food commodities could only meet 52 percent of food needs in Papua, the Head of the Papua Plantation and Agriculture Office, Semuel Siriwa said in Jayapura City on Tuesday (17/2/2015).
He said the cheap rice (raskin) program that has been introduced in recent years greatly affected rice production in several areas such as Jayawijaya Regency.
“When the cheap rice program started in Papua, it affected the people’s habit. They are no longer interested in farming and now tens of thousands of hectares of rice field are no longer planted in Jayawijaya,” he said.
However, he further said the Plantation and Agriculture Office would keep their efforts to encourage the local farmers to return to their farms, especially the paddy farmers.
“We keep doing some efforts, including to motivate the local farmers to work on their farms,” he said without elaborating the efforts they have made.
Meanwhile, in achieving a target of rice barn in Papua, Siriwa said Papua is still far reaching the target of food self-sufficiency in 2018 as declared in Merauke Regency.
“Merauke has been able to meet its food needs, but there is complain about the lack of labors to work in the rice field,” he said.
‘So, in the national scale, Papua is very less contributed because until now we only can fulfill 52 percent of food self-sufficiency,” he said.
Based on the strategic plan of Plantation and Agriculture Office, Papua could only produce 60 percent of rice from 400 hectares every year.
“We are planning to prepare 2,000 hectares in 2015 and 4,000 hectares more in 2016. The requirement of rice field in Papua is about 16,000 hectares but I don’t know if we could achieve it if we just depend on the Merauke farmers,” he said.
He added his office would also build the rice fields in Mappi, Boven Digoel, Nabire, Jayapura and Jayawijaya regencies to achieve food self-sufficiency in Papua.(*/Rom)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

3) Papua Governor, Parliament and People’s Assembly Only Bluffing, Group Says

Jayapura, Jubi – The Student, Youth and People Movement (Gempar) of Papua accused the provincial government and the legislative body after they failed to have Otsus Plus (Special Autonomy Plus Law) included in the National Legislative Program 2015.
Gempar Secretary General Samuel Womsiwor said Gempar who consistently rejected the idea of Otsus Plus was pleased to find out the bill wasn’t included in the Prolegnas 2015 because it still needs some revisions.
“We are very grateful to hear that news. We hope it would never accepted and applied in Papua because eleven recommendation of the Papua’s People Assembly in the conference and evaluation on Special Autonomy Law at Sahid Jayapura Hotel in 2014 concluded the Special Autonomy Law is failed. Therefore instead of enforcing the certain ambitions, the Papua Provincial Government should better improving itself,” he told Jubi in Waena on Tuesday (17/2/2015).
Meanwhile, Gempar member Alfa Rohorohmana firmly said Governor Lukas Enembe, DPRP Chairman Yunus Wonda and Papua’s People Assembly Chairman Matius Murid should stop bluffing the central government.
“The governor said he had no idea where to put his nationalism if the Otsus was failed. Then, yesterday he apologized to the people of Papua because the Otsus Plus was failed in the Prolegnas. Did Papuans ask for it?” Rohrohmana said.
Due to this failure, the Papua Legislative Council Chairman Yunus Wonda further said the people of Papuans want a supreme dialogue with the Central Government. What is it? The parliament should respect a dialogue initiative that encouraged for years by Papua Peace Network,” he said.
Meanwhile, another member Ismail said the Papua People’s Assembly Chairman Matius Murib called to stop the administration in Papua following this failure. But the fact is the administration is still running.
“Where is the evidence? Don’t just bluff to the Central Government. Prove it. Don’t just talk nonsense. The Papua People’s Assembly is still running. No strike. Mr. Murib must prove it starting with the People’s Assembly,” he said.
Earlier, after the failure of Otsus Plus obtaining recognition in Proglenas 2015, the Papua Governor apologized to the people. He declared not going to Jakarta although he got the president’s call. Meanwhile the Papua Legislative Council Chairman Yunus Wonda said Papuans want a supreme dialogue and Matius Murib bluff due to this failure the administration in Papua Province must stop running. But the fact is the administration is still running. (Arnold Belau/Rom)
---------------------------------------------------------------

https://awasmifee.potager.org/?p=1148

4) Local People demonstrate at PT ANJ Agri’s offices.

Local people from Metamani and IPPMI (Imora Youth and Student Union) held a demonstration at the offices of PT ANJ Agri Papua in Sorong on Thursday 12/2/2015. Adam Rariaro, a community member from Saga Village, Metamani, South Sorong who was involved in the action, said that “people are demonstrating because PT ANJ’s operations have ignored the community’s rights, the company does not care about our demands for compensation when they use our land and sago forests, and livelihoods have been lost as the company takes over sago production and clears land for oil palm plantations.
PT ANJ Agri Papua is a subsidiary company of the Austindo Group owned by a well-known Indonesian billionaire named George Tahija. In the Land of Papua, Austindo Group owns four companies which operate in the natural resources and energy sectors, as follows1: PT ANJ Agri Papua which which manages the sago industry in a concession of 40,000 hectares located in District Metamani, South Sorong, PT Permata Putera Mandiri and PT Putera Manunggal Perkasa, two oil palm palntation companies which have started operating in Aifat, Metamani, Kais and Kokoda districts of South Sorong, with concessions covering over 57000 hectares, and PT Puncak Jaya Power, a private electricity generator which manages a 100MW power station to supply PT Freeport Indonesia’s mine and factory in Timika, Papua.
The company uses state security forces as part of its operations, which act as a shield to protect the company’s interests and instil fear in the population. Simon Soren Kodei, West Papua Student President, who took part in the demonstration, demanded that the government and company withdraw security forces from the site. “We are asking the company to withdraw the organic troops from the area. “We are asking the company to withdraw the organic troops (military and police) that have been guarding its operations”, Simon affirmed.
The demonstrators were demanding that the company should settle matters of compensation and other demands for development help for communities that had lost out as a result of its operations. They threatened that they would blockade the company’s work until they got an answer to their demands.
At present (18/2/2015), community leaders from Metamani are trying to meet with the Bupati of South Sorong in Teminabuan to follow up on the action and meet the community’s demands. Adam Ramiaro said, “We are asking the Bupati to fulfil his promise to resolve the problems the community has with the company”.

  1. awasMIFEE note: actually five companies now, after the recent takeover of another oil palm company PT Pusaka Agro Makmur in Maybrat Regency, West Papua Province 
This entry was posted in Around West Papua and tagged ,. Bookmark the permalink. Comments are closed, but you can leave a trackback: Trackback URL.
--------------------------------------------------------------
A google translate of article in Jubi. Be-aware google translate can be a bit erratic.
Original bahasa link at
5) A Yapen Residents Killed Shot

Posted by: Admin Jubi on February 12, 2015 at 20:29:57 WP [Editor: Victor Mambor]
Source: Antara

Jayapura, Jubi / Reuters - Sony Fairumba (33), a resident of Kampung Kontinai, Angkaisera District, Yapen Islands Regency, Papua Province, were shot dead by unidentified men while colleagues looking Kusu tree (also called tree kangaroos) at 21:00 CEST.

"The shooting occurred around 9 pm," said Aaron Merani a resident of Kampung Kontinai when contacted from Jayapura on Thursday (02/12/2015).

According to Aaron, Sony hit in the right foot just below the knee that resulted in the victim fell and died.
"The victim was still in place Genesis Case (TKP), people do not dare to carry out the victims of the forest to the village," he said.

Aaron explained, last night around 21:00 CEST victim and law into the forest around the village to hunt Kusu Kontinai tree. Suddenly, he said, the sound of a shot towards them and on foot Sony.
"Because the law see Sony've shot so he attempted to flee back to his homeland and informing the public about the village," he said.

The victim was shot around the Trans Konti - Saubeba exactly at mile five. When the public was informed, he said, they were afraid to go into the woods to look for victims.
"New Morning society into the woods and look for victims and has been found but have not dared to be brought to the village," he said.

According to him, the current head of the local village community together found the victim at the scene, they found 13 bullets left in the side of the victim's body.
"Now the head of the village already hold 13 bullets that were left around the victim," he said.

He said that, until now people have not dared to take the victim to the village and are still waiting aprat local police to bring the victim out of the forest to the village.
"People ask the police who carry out and do an autopsy in order to know why the dead and people are still waiting for the police," he said.

He added that the incident makes people around Kampung Kontinai afraid to go into the woods for gardening and hunting. (*)


About Admin Jubi
Jubi admin has written 897 posts for tabloidjubi.com.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1) West Papuan Solidarity Movement - Fiji

0
0
3) Demiliterization is the essential condition for dialogue in Papua

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) West Papuan Solidarity Movement - Fiji

Produced by Alisia Evans,


The Free West Papua Movement has gained momentum in the Pacific - as well as internationally in recent months. Fiji's role as the hub of the Pacific region makes it a key player in the country's struggle for self-determination.

I'm joined by Sirino Rakabi, Reverend James Bhagwan and Lice Cokanasiga to discuss West Papua and Fiji's role in supporting their admission into the MSG.


--------------------------------------------------------------------
By Hilda Wayne


In a village in West Papua, a young Benny Wenda watched as Indonesian military forced his Melanesian aunties to wash themselves by the river ‘ to clean themselves up’ before they were raped. One of Benny’s aunts had her baby ripped from her arms and thrown to the ground before she, the mother, was also raped. Both baby and mother sustained fatal injuries. They died.

Severe internal injuries were what eventually killed the West Papuan father of Wiwince Pigome, sustained many years before at the hands of the Indonesian military.

Wiwince’s family were from Wamena and her father, a school headmaster, had become a statistic of the documented violence against West Papuans in the aftermath of a general election.  The year was 1977.

When he died, Wiwince’s was just 11 years old.

Stories of how women’s breasts were cut off from their chests leaving them to bleed to death, or of West Papuans being forced to have sex with their husbands in public or raped by the Indonesian military while their husbands were forced to watch, were told, in hushed tones in the Pigome home. These, Wiwince said, were ‘just stories’ that were not permitted to be mentioned in public on threat of severe repercussions by the Indonesian authorities.

And the violence continues –  so far, close to half a million people of West Papua have died at the hands of Indonesia’s repressive regime.


This is why, living in Perth Australia since 2003, (and becoming an Australia citizen this year), Wiwince says her people’s fight for freedom is far from over.  From the security that Australia provides she is able to speak up without fear of intimidation – and this she intends to do.

Petite and frail-looking, nevertheless Wiwince’s fierce determination is evident having been shaped by her unimaginable experiences growing up as a West Papuan woman.

Every West Papuan has a story they will tell of the suffering we have gone through because we are not allowed our freedom to be independent,

Wiwince says.

As for Benny Wenda, a 2013 Nobel Peace prize nominee: he lives in exile in the United Kingdom, and travels the world with one strong message of hope shared by many West Papuans:

 

Free West Papua.
Papua New Guinea solidarity

When Papua New Guinea Prime Minister, Peter O’Neill, declared recently that the genocide in West Papua should stop, it drew jubilation among West Papuan freedom fighters, not least of all Wiwince.


I cannot recall any other PNG Prime Minister who actually stood up and defended the West Papuan people but this (O’Neill’s stance) is showing us West Papuans that our Melanesian leaders are taking notice and saying enough is enough,

she said.

That Prime Minister O’Neill chose to use the Australian press for his announcement Wiwince feels to be a huge step towards hope for a free West Papua.

Gary Juffa, Governor of Oro Province is a strong supporter


Wiwince is quick to recognise other PNGeans such as Oro Governor, Gary Juffa who continue to champion the cause for West Papuan people.  It gives her hope for the future. She said:

Melanesian men are not cowards. It’s like what our forefathers do. When they go out hunting, they must come back with something from the forest or sea. They don’t let their family down with their actions and their words. Peter O’Neil has spoken and stood up for us. Just like what leaders like Gary Juffa are doing, it is a sign that our Melanesian brothers and sisters suffer with us and we are not alone


The Act of ‘No’ Choice – a historical perspective

In October 1961, during the First Papuan People’s Congress, it was declared that the Papuan people wanted total independence from Indonesia. Under the Dutch administration the Papuan Morning Star flag was raised on 1 December 1961. It was not recognised by Indonesia and political resistance by the people of West Papua was to follow.

As a counter measure to the resistance, in 1969 the Government of Indonesia selected 1,026 Papuan representatives who, through intimidation and threats, voted on behalf of the West Papuan people to remain part of Indonesia.

In a UN report it is stated that:

The limitatons imposed by the geographical characteristics of the territory and the general political situation in the area, an act of free choice has taken place in West Irian in accordance with Indonesian practice, in which the representatives of the population have expressed their wish to remain with Indonesia.

Instead of conducting a referendum, the Indonesian authorities harangued, bribed and threatened the representatives into voting for integration with Indonesia.

West Papua would, from then on, be subject to a power with which they had never identified nor entered into and would suffer a fate they would certainly never have chosen.

Political resistance persisted and in 1977 a general election was held in the highlands of Papua. It was during this period that the Indonesian government carried out an operation which resulted in mass killings and violence against the West Papuan people – according to documented history.

The Asian Human Rights Commission, in a report released last year, confirms mass killings and torture at Wamena in 1977-1978. (From where Wiwince’s family hailed)

The report stated:

Responding to the uprisings which surrounded the 1977 general elections in Papua, several military operations were launched in the Papuan highlands around Wamena.

The response caused a further breakdown in the Papuan–Indonesian relations which had fallen apart at that time.

The operations resulted in mass killings of, as well as violence against civilians. Stories of survivors recall unspeakable atrocities including rape, torture and mass executions. Estimations of the number of persons killed range from 5,000 up to tens of thousands.

The research done for this report is consistent with these numbers, although restricted access to the area and ongoing intimidation of witnesses makes it difficult to confirm an upper limit of the number of victims.

Indonesian soldiers round up West Papuan captives.

Amnesty International also reported of atrocities where people were being buried alive or put in bags and thrown overboard at sea.  It told of babies decapitated and a young girl shot dead instantly as she begged for her life to be spared.

In March 2013, Amnesty International reported 17 West Papuans were arrested by Indonesian police, stripped, handcuffed and beaten in detention for 12 days where they suffered stab wounds and broken bones.

“Some were reportedly forced by police to drink their own urine. They were released without charge at the end of June due to lack of evidence,

said the report.

Reports place the total deaths since the uprising in 1977 at up to half a million.

America’s quest for West Papua’s riches

Well before West Papuans began the process of self-determination they had no knowledge of the huge wealth in natural resources on the land. In 1962, American geologists confirmed mineral deposits in West Papua after initial findings by a Dutch geologist in the 1930s.

The Indonesian government and a ‘premier’ US-based natural resource company Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold knew what was at stake and in 1967 signed mining deals in earnest that would see the start of an onslaught of not only the West Papuan people’s natural resources but their lives as well.

While the people of West Papua who had little or no education longed for only their chance to become a free independent people, America’s premier natural resources mining giant Freeport- McMoRan and the Indonesian government had entered into a partnership over the West Papuan people’s land.

A ‘jewel in the crown’ of Freeport-McMoRan and Indonesia’s greatest asset or ‘economic beachhead’ was found in the Western Highlands of West Papua: the Mt Ertsberg Mine. This is the second largest copper mine in the world and contains the largest proven gold deposit in existence valued in excess of $US40 billion.

Through its mining operations in West Papua, Freeport Indonesia continues to be Indonesia’s largest taxpayer and had former Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger on its board of directors in its parent company Freeport-McMoRan based in New Orleans.

After mining operations commenced at Mt Ertsberg Mine, another discovery was made in 1988 at Mt Grasberg, just three kilometres away. That would become Freeport’s largest gold mine and the most profitable copper mine in the world.

The latest estimate for the Mt Grasberg lode is one billion tonnes of ore and it is expected to have a thirty year life. The region around the mine is closed off to outsiders, as well as to the traditional land owners who have been dispossessed.

In 1995, Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto also secured deals to enter into mining activities with Freeport in Mt Grasberg.

While their land continues to be taken from them, for seemingly insurmountable capitalist interests benefiting multinational companies, the traditional landowners are being displaced through land-grabbing for the purposes of milking its resources. The West Papuan people’s fight for freedom has spanned almost five decades with tremendous loss of lives and long lasting damage to livelihood and environment.

In 2005, an investigative report by New York Times of the mine found the mining activity carried out by Freeport McMoRan in West Papua produced almost a billion tonnes of waste that the company had dumped into the river.

Written accounts suggest Freeport and the Australian government , through the supply of military equipment, have been complicit in the atrocities that some human rights organisations have labelled ‘slow-motion genocide’, ‘censored genocide’, and ‘neglected genocide’.

Time to pay attention

In September 2008, the Norwegian government fund severed business ties with Rio Tinto pulling shares totalling $1 billion citing ‘severe environmental damage’ as being unethical to the fund’s principles.

The Council’s assessments deal with issues under the Ethical Guidelines which have not been dealt with by previous recommendations, such as violations of human rights, labour rights and complicity in serious damage to the environment. The exclusions reflect our refusal to contribute to serious, systematic or gross violations of ethical norms in these areas through our investments in the Government Pension Fund – Global,

wrote then Norwegian Minister of Finance Kristin Halvorsen.

In June 2012, the New Zealand Superannuation Fund followed Norway’s lead and announced that it had excluded four companies from its $NZ 19 billion investment portfolio, following a review of engagement priorities. One of these companies was Freeport-McMoRan.

According to the company website:

Freeport-McMoRan has been excluded based on breaches of human rights standards by security forces around the Grasberg mine, and concerns over requirements for direct payments to government security forces by the company in at least two countries in which it operates.

Despite improvements in Freeport McMoRan’s own human rights policies, breaches of standards by government security forces are beyond the company’s control. This limits the effectiveness of further engagement with the company.

In April 2013, British Member of Parliament Andrew Smith officially opened a West Papua Campaign office in his constituency of Oxford.

In an interview with this writer, Mr Smith said West Papuan refugees live in his constituency and East Oxford had been the location of the Free West Papua campaign for a number of years. It was these constituents, he stated, that got him involved in the struggle.

…once you know the history of this (West Papua), and how the West Papuan people were denied self-determination, and learn more about what is going on in West Papua, you understand how it is an issue which, in all justice, must be pressed.

He went on further to explain:

It is not for me to decide the future status of West Papua – I believe it should be decided democratically by the people themselves.

Mr Smith’s stated belief is that the more people, representatives and governments start to pay attention to the plight of the West Papuan people the better it will be for them.

The West Papuan people continue to hold the UN responsible for not helping them gain their freedom in 1969 and Mr Smith feels the process towards independence for West Papua was a flawed decolonisation process which he says “… is a stain on the history of the United Nations.”


Australia continues to be voiceless for West Papua

West Papuan activist, Benny Wenda on the campaign trail in Australia


In a recent interview in Perth, Western Australia, Benny Wenda questioned why, when West Papua, was in Australia’s ‘backyard’, had the Australian government failed in its international humanitarian duties to speak up and act to put a stop to atrocities and the attempted genocide of West Papuan people?

The people of West Papua are still crying out for help but Australia is not listening. It is their time now to talk about the people who are suffering from torture and persecution closer to home than worry about boat people and far away refugees.

In 2013, Labor and Coalition senators voted down a Senate condolence motion to acknowledge the death of West Papuan activist and Australian Vikky Riley only because the words West Papua were in that motion.

Labor Senator Trish Crossin said: “

The government will not be supporting this motion because of her involvement with West Papua, in that it is in conflict with our foreign policy.

Greens Senator Richard Di Natale, in response, expressed his incredulity – calling the withdrawal of the motion “appalling.” He asked:

On the basis of her advocacy for the people of West Papua, who are currently being slaughtered, the Senate is going to vote down a condolence motion. Where is the courage to stand up and say: ‘Well done. You deserve our respect’?

Fight for Freedom will go on

On 20 August 2013, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Australia to the United Nations, His Excellency Gary Quinlan, addressed the UN Security Council president Maria Perceval and council members on protection of civilians in armed conflicts.

In his concluding remarks he stated:

“Protecting civilians is primarily a national responsibility. But where national authorities fail and mass atrocity crimes occur, the international community – including this Council – must be prepared to act to meet our responsibility to protect.

Australia will continue to be a voice for the Council action in such circumstances. This is the legitimate expectation of those many millions of civilians who desperately need protection. And it is a defining benchmark which the United Nations itself should and will be judged.

Ironically, the West Papuan people who have suffered from all the forms of atrocity of which His Excellency Quinlan speaks, are only 45 minutes flight off Australia’s Northern Territory yet close to half a million of them have died as a result.

In spite of the close proximity, US and Australian forces in Darwin have stubbornly refused to recognise the plight or to intervene on behalf of the West Papuan people.


Abbott, unmoved


The ‘voice’ demonstrated thus far by Australian leaders has been generally hostile. Former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr unleashed an angry attack against West Papua freedom campaigners. Current Prime Minister Tony Abbott stated that West Papuans are better off with Indonesia.

It is easy for Tony Abbott to just say that West Papuan people are better off.  He should put away his expensive suits and neck tie and go into West Papua and see for himself before people like him and Bob Carr can talk about West Papua.

said West Papuan, Wiwince, who begs to differ.

The United Nations, America and Australia have the blood of half a million people on their hands. If their leaders do not want to stand up for the West Papuan people, the West Papuan people will not stop. The only thing that will stop me is when I get a bullet through my head, until then, I will continue to fight for my people’s freedom,”



----------------------------------------------------
3) Demiliterization is the essential condition for dialogue in Papua
Statement by the Executive Director of LP3BH
19 February 2015

   If President Joko Widodo wishes to enter into dialogue with all components of the people of the Land of Papua, as he has indicated,
there must first be a reduction in the number of military personnel in the region.

   As a lawyer  and defender of human rights in the Land of Papua, I think that this is an essential condition for dialogue to take place.
And the place to start this would be in those regions where conflict is still widespread in the Central Highlands and along the border
between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea  as well as in the regions surrounding the massive Freeport mine in Tembagapura and Timika.

   This would help to create a peaceful atmosphere and lessen the feelings of terror and anxiety among the Papuan people, so that
dialogue could take place in an atmosphere of peace.  As the Executive-Director of the Institute of Research,
Investigation and  Development of Human Rights - LP3BH - and recipient of the John Humphrey Freedom  Award in 2006, I urge President Joko
Widodo as Supreme Commander of the Indonesian Armed Forces to cancel his  decision to create more territorial regions [KODAM] in the Land
of Papua. All groups of the community in the Land of Papua, including the religious organisations, should press for this.

  There is no reason for any increase in the number of Kodams which would simply reinforce the impression that the security approach is
still the government's priority in the Land of Papua.  I firmly believe that this positive move by President Widodo to
enter into dialogue with the Papuan people should be welcomed by all the stake holders, including the TNI [Indonesian Army]

Peace.

Yan Christian Warinussy, Executive-Director of the LP3BH -Manokwari

Translated by Carmel Budiardjo
-------------------------
Viewing all 5273 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images