AWPA Newsletter
No. 88 February 2008
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Australia West Papua Association (Sydney)
PO Box 28, Spit Junction, NSW 2088
AWPA welcomes articles for the newsletter on any issue in relation to West Papua. The reports in the newsletter are from the various email conferences on West Papua. AWPA appreciates any donations of support to help in its campaign work. Past newsletters can be found at www.zulenet.com/awpa/
Contents
1) Papua People’s Assembly opposes plans for new province in its region
2) Congressmen write to UN Secretary General calling for action on Papua
3) Papuans 'Fed Up' with Special Autonomy
4) New Zealand to help train Papua community police
5) Indonesian military arrest two soldiers following fatal shooting in Papua
6) Students stage rallies across Papua in call for referendum on self determination
7) Detained Papuan students set free
8) Australian academic says there’s a major shift in Indonesia’s Papua
9) Papua separatist speaks out against BP project
10) Australia ready to invest US$4 billion in Indonesia's mining industry
11) Government to make legal umbrella for West Papua, Yudhoyono says
12) Govt urged to beef up Indon border
13) Press releases
14) New report
1) Papua People’s Assembly opposes plans for new province in its region
RNZI 2/3/08
The Papua People’s Assembly, the MRP, says it’s pursuing dialogue with Jakarta in an effort to stop the proposed formation of a new province in its region. Residents of Papua’s Pegunungan Bintang regency have been voicing their opposition to the proposal which is being driven by five local regents. Five regents formed a mediating team who have met both the Papua legislative Council and the MRP over the idea. But the MRP chairman Agus Alua Alue says Papuans believe there is no benefit to the idea of further splitting their region. He says that’s why the MRP is fighting the regents’ bid to separate. “Because if we don’t do this, then that province will be outside Special Autonomy, just a general province like all the other provinces in Indonesia and (there’ll be) no special concern, no special attention, no special programme for the indigenous people there, the Papuan people there. Therefore we took the initiative because there are no laws to set up this new province.”
2) Congressmen write to UN Secretary General calling for action on Papua
RNZI 18 February, 2008
American Samoa’s member of the US Congress, Faleomavaega Eni Hunkin, has written to the United Nations Secretary-General expressing growing concern over Indonesia’s Papua region. In a joint letter to Ban Ki-Moon, Faleomavaega and fellow member of the US congress Donald Payne say it’s critical that the UN Security Council address security concerns posed by human rights abuse in Papua.
The congressmen say the human rights situation in Papua is deteriorating against a backdrop of decades of abuse by Indonesian security forces targetting Papuan people.
They are also concerned about the restrictions placed on journalists, human rights activists and diplomats trying to get access to Papua. The congressmen have urged the Security Council to appoint a senior official to create senior level dialogue between Indonesia’s central government and the Papuan government as well as civil society leaders. They say the key issues for dialogue to address are the demilitarisation of Papua, Papuan self-determination and transmigration of Javanese into Papua.
3) Papuans 'Fed Up' with Special Autonomy
The Jakarta Post March 8, 2008. Nethy Dharma Somba,
Growing demands for a self-determination referendum show the Papuan people are fed up with corruption caused by the province's "special autonomy" status, an academic and informal leader said. Muhammad Musa'ad, a legal expert from Cenderawasih University, said most Papuan people believed special autonomy had not addressed fundamental problems in the province. "Seven years after special autonomy, no significant changes have been made and even worse, the living standards of Papuan people have fallen to the lowest level, with most being denied access to health, education and employment," he told The Jakarta Post here on Thursday. Musa'ad, who is a member of the assistance team for special autonomy, said Papuans had been supportive of the law when it was launched in 2001. "But, seven years into its implementation, their hope of affordable houses, free schooling and healthcare with more hospitals has not been made a reality," Musa'ad said.
"In reality, Papua is in a paradoxical situation. The province has a huge sum of special autonomy funds but most people are getting poorer. Most can no longer afford education and health service and medicine," he said. His comments echo those of
Governor Bas Suebu, who addressed local officials during a recent work meeting attended by Vice President Jusuf Kalla. Calling for local wisdom rather than Jakarta's policy, Kalla asked local governments to spend the province's surplus of Rp 21
trillion (US$2 billion) to finance development programs. The resource-rich province has brought in Rp 21 trillion for Papua and Rp 8 trillion for West Papua this fiscal year, a significant increase from past years, Rp 3.6 trillion in 2006, Rp 2.7 trillion in 2005, Rp 2.45 trillion in 2004, Rp 2.43 trillion in 2003, Rp 2.04 trillion in 2002 and Rp 590 billion in 2001. Jayapura has been shaken recently by waves of student
demonstrations demanding the province abandon special autonomy, dissolve the Papuan People's Assembly (MRP) and hold a referendum to determine the province's future.
Deputy chairman of the Papuan Tribal Council (DAP) Fadal Alhamid accused the government of viewing special autonomy as a money-making exercise. The funds allocated after the 2001 special autonomy law was introduced has mostly gone into local officials' pockets and the bureaucracy, with only a small portion being used to build infrastructure, Fadal said. "This has been demonstrated by officials who frequently go out of the province and have luxury houses and cars," he said.
Fadal said the dispute over the formation of West Papua province remained a conflict between the two provincial governments in Papua and had nothing to do with the people. "The formation of many more provinces in Papua will not create
change unless elite locals work harder and the development program is oriented to the poor, the sick and the uneducated," he said. Musa'ad and Alhamid agreed both Jakarta and the local government should reconcile with the Papuan people to gain their
confidence, and suspend the planned formation of four new provinces.Both called for a revision of the current policy while respecting the rights of the Papuan people.
4) New Zealand to help train Papua community police
ANTARA News 02/20/08
Jayapura (ANTARA News) - The New Zealand Police are considering the possibility of cooperating with the Papua police in carrying out a program to train community police for Indonesia`s most-eastern province, a Papua police spokesman said. To study the possibilty, the New Zealand Police`s manager for international strategy and policy, Jaquelyn Goodwin, was visiting police stations in Papua to collect inputs, head of the Papua Police`s public relations unit Sr Com Agus Riyanto said here Wednesday. Goodwin, accompanied by an Indonesian police team, had already visited police offices in Manokwari, and was scheduled to come to police offices in Jayapura on Thursday (Feb 21), Riyanto said. At a meeting with Papua Police Chief Insp Gen Max D Aer, Goodwin promised she would return to Papua in the near future with a concrete comunity police training program that can be implemented in Papua, he said. (*)
5) Indonesian military arrest two soldiers following fatal shooting in Papua
RNZI 21 February, 2008
Indonesian military authorities have arrested two soldiers following the fatal shooting of a man in January in Papua. Soldiers have long been accused of a range of human rights violations in Papua but detentions of military personnel are rare.
The man was shot after a patrol, searching for an armed group, raided a house in Papua’s Tingginambut district. The military claimed that warning shots were fired, although witnesses denied this, and several activist groups have since demanded an independent probe into the incident. The head of the military command overseeing security in Papua, Major General Haryadi Soetanto, says an investigation was carried out following the incident. He says two soldiers were declared as suspects and will be processed according to the prevailing laws. He says the pair have been detained
6) Students stage rallies across Papua in call for referendum on self determination
RNZI 03 March, 2008 UTC
A series of demonstrations calling for a referendum on Papuan self-determination have been taking place today in several main towns of Indonesia’s Papua region.
However at least two of the rallies in Jayapura, Manokwari, Serui and Sarong, have reportedly been restricted by police who have deemed any demonstrations without a permit illegal. The West Papua National Authority, which represents Papua’s influential student movement, has organised these rallies and says they have been peaceful events. A spokesman for the Authority, Jack Wainggai, says the rallies are voicing Papuans’ desire for a peaceful solution to the violence and poverty they live with. He says they are they are protesting against Special Autonomy law because it has has failed to bring any improvement to Papuans’ lives since implementation in 2001.“We want to say to the international public, national public and local public that West Papua needs a referendum, not Special Autonomy. The best solution is a referendum for West Papua abecause Special Autonomy is not good for us.”
7) Detained Papuan students set free
Jakarta Post.com| Wed, 03/05/2008
JAYAPURA: Two Papuan students detained after a pro-Papuan independence
demonstration were released after paying bail to the local police. Zakaria Horota, chairman of the National Front of Papuan Students (FNMPP), said here Tuesday that Marthen Manggaprow and Frangky Inekep were released with a letter of summons.
Marthen and Frangky were arrested during a student demonstration the police
said was illegal because it had no permission from local security authorities.
The students were demanding a referendum to decide the province's future. Zakaria said the FNMPP accepted the letter and that seven executive board members would come to answer police questions on the demonstration. He said the student organization informed the police before the demonstration was held and the students did not conduct a long march. He called on the Uninted Nations to include the so-called West Papua issue on its agenda for deliberation. --JP
8) Australian academic says there’s a major shift in Indonesia’s Papua
RNZI 03 March, 2008
An Australian academic says the call by the Papua People’s Assembly, or MRP,
for Jakarta to hold a referendum on Special Autonomy is a major shift in momentum on the Papua issue. The MRP’s chairman is Agus Alua, is currently in Jakarta to call on Indonesia’s President to open up dialogue on Papua. The visit co-incides with a series of demonstrations yesterday in at least 7 main towns of Papua province calling for the referendum on Special Autonomy. The School of International and Political Studies at Deakin University, says Damien Kingsbury, the involvement of the MRP is substantial. “For the MRP now to become involved in this either means that they’re
recognising that they’re losing the political initiative and that they’re having to make up for lost ground because they can see the direction that events are going in, or they genuinely believe that this is a necessary step and I think there’s an element of both in this. In that respect there is now, I think, an even greater unanimity on the need for the relationship between West Papua and Jakarta to be reconsidered .”
Damien Kingsbury.
9) Papua separatist speaks out against BP project
RNZI 26 February, 2008
A separatist leader from the Indonesian province of Papua says the British
energy giant, BP, should not open a gas plant in the region this year. The London-based Kotega Tribal Chairman, Benny Wenda, says he doesn’t recognise BP’s deal with the Indonesian government. Hundreds of homes in the Bintumi Bay area have been relocated for the Tangguh project and specially trained local police are set to patrol the site. But Mr Wenda says the development will not be sustainable.
“West Papua is the earth and forest, and sea, and this is all, you know, what we call our supermarket and our mother. So now BP will operate in West Papua, this is another genocide toward earth and animal, wildlife and all the species. This is not Indonesia’s land. This is land of West Papuan people; they have to deal with West Papuans.” Benny Wenda. BP hopes to pump the first liquified natural gas from Tangguh in October.
10) Australia ready to invest US$4 billion in Indonesia's mining industry
Jakarta Post.com 2/18/2008
JAKARTA (JP): Australia's Senior Trade Commissioner Rod Morehouse said Monday that Australian firms were prepared to invest more than US$4 billion
in Indonesia's mining industry. "Australia has more than US$4 billion waiting to be invested," Morehouse told a press conference on the first day of the Ozmine exhibition and conference in Jakarta. Craig Senger, first secretary to the trade commissioner, said the investment would come from both "existing players" here and also from new ones. He refused to give more details. Earlier last year, Australia-based Rio Tinto Group expressed interest in investing $US2 billion in a nickel mining project in Sulawesi, expected to create 5,000 jobs as well as to build a nickel smelter capable of producing 46,000 tons of nickel metal per year. The project was delayed due to ongoing negotiations between the government and the mining giant, which preferres a "nailed down" tax scheme rather than the progressive tax scheme proposed by the government. Senger said prior to making new investments, Australian mining companies were waiting for clarity on Indonesia's mining industry's ongoing regulatory reforms, particularly those addressing a lack of coordination between the
central and local governments, as well as the revision to the existing mining law.
"The companies are observing how well things are doing in this transition
period," he added. Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro is expected to deliver a speech focusing on the key issues in the mining bill, on Tuesday
at the Ozmine exhibition. This year's exhibition features twice the number of companies exhibiting last year and is sponsored by Rio Tinto, PT Leighton Contractors, the Indonesian unit of Leighton International Limited, BPH Billiton, Thiess Contractors Indonesia and Orica Mining Services.(lva/**)
11) Government to make legal umbrella for West Papua, Yudhoyono says
ANTARA News 03/05/08 09:50
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The government is expected to issue a government regulation in lieu of law as a legal umbrella for West Papua in the framework of special autonomy as stipulated in Law No.21/2001, President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono said. "In a meeting, I and leading figures from Papua and West Papua provinces agreed to make a government regulation in lieu of law on the existence of West Papua to make all become clear," the president said after receiving leading figures from Papua and West Papua here Tuesday. The head of state also agreed to form a coordination agency which would deal with special autonomy funds allocated for Papua and West Papua provinces. "There are a lot of funds for special autonomy programs and thus a coordination agency is needed to manage them (the funds)," the president said. The structure of the agency would be made in line with the needs of government institutions in Papua and West Papua, and if it was considered proportional and efficient the president would approve it, he said. He also called on relevant parties to be prudent in their programs to split certain areas in Indonesia under good plans. "I received insights from leading figures from Papua and West Papua that they (the provinces) should follow other provinces in Indonesia which have exercised moratorium on the process to split their regions," he said.
The president agreed that the splitting of regions should give advantages to all people, not only to a number of persons. On the Presidential Instruction No. 5/2007 on the development acceleration especially in food resilience in Papua, the president saw there were several things which should be harmonized so as to make the instruction implemented well. Yudhoyono also asked the Papuan leading figures attending the meeting to heed crimes on forest concession and illegal logging as forests must give maximum benefits to the people. "In the meeting, I also underscored the importance of infrastructure development particularly in the transportation sector in an effort to boost economic growth in Papua and West Papua," he said. (*)
12) Govt urged to beef up Indon border
National; PNG By GABRIEL FITO
A senior District Court magistrate has called on the Government to beef up surveillance along the PNG -Indonesian border if they are serious about addressing the escalating cases of border crossers. Sandaun senior provincial magistrate Thomas Morabang said cases of illegal entry into the country through the PNG-Indonesian border were increasing and something must be done immediately to stop people from other countries migrating to PNG. Mr Morabang said people were just sneaking into the country and responsible Government agencies were not doing anything to monitor their movements except for a few cases where police have uncovered. He said most of these illegal border crossers had come through the border post at Wutung unnoticed.
Mr Morabang hinted that such incidents could only mean that Customs and Immigration officers were not doing their job. He said it was about time officers start performing in order to control an influx of unauthorised persons entering our soil.
The magistrate made the call following three cases of illegal entry that went before the Vanimo District Court last month. In the first case, two men from Paniai Tigi, West Papua were convicted and fined K1,000 each in default two months in prison last Jan 4 . Another two men from Ambai village, West Papua who came in on a boat that anchored at the Vanimo wharf were ordered by the court to pay K1,500 in default six months in prison. Morabang said the two men had paid their fines and had been sent back home on their boat last Jan 16. In the recent incident, a taxi driver from Jayapura was apprehended by provincial police commander Sakawar Kasieng near a logging camp at Wutung village in Vanimo. The court found that he had no valid visa to be in Papua New Guinea and ordered him to pay K1,000 in default two months in prison. The man had paid his fine last week and was farewelled home by the Indonesian consulate at Batas.
Press Release 5 March
West Papuan Leaders Released From Prison After International Pressure; Vow Demonstrations Until Indonesia Listens To West Papuans http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0803/S00076.htm
