[Kabar-Irian] Irian News - 12/9/05
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Embassy, December 7th, 2005
News Story
By Brian Adeba
West Papuan Receives Canadian Human Rights Award
Yan Christian Warinussy, a lawyer in West Papua, Indonesia, has endured
threats and assaults on account of his relentless work in defending human
rights.
Four years ago, an Indonesian police officer threatened Yan Christian
Warinussy with a pistol because of a letter he had written to the police
complaining of human rights abuses in West Papua, a region ruled by
Indonesia.
After that incident, he received strange phone calls at his house.
"The phone will ring but when you pick it up, no one answers," says Mr.
Warinussy, speaking through an interpreter. His house was constantly being
watched and strangers kept following his wife. He says he didn't bother to
make any complaints to the police because, nothing would be done about it.
Mr. Warinnussy is from West Papua, a region on the island of Guinea. It is
bordered by Papua New Guinea, an independent country on the eastern half
of the island. A Dutch colony since 1883, West Papua came under Indonesian
rule in May 1963. In 1969, Indonesia conducted a referendum in which a
large group of tribal leaders from West Papua voted in favour of unity.
Known as the "Act of Free Choice," the vote has been widely criticized
because before the voting, the tribal leaders were detained for one month
and threatened daily with death if the entire group refused to vote to
continue Indonesian rule.
Since then, human rights organizations have documented evidence of
widespread rights abuses against the people of the region. According to
Rights and Democracy, an estimated 100,000 West Papuans have died because
of torture, extra-judicial killings and sexual violence.
Though it has an autonomous government, all major decisions in West Papua
have to be sanctioned by Jakarta, says Mr. Warinussy. The region is rich
in natural resources. Mr. Warinussy says it ranks among the top three of
Indonesia's regions in terms of revenue making. Multinationals, backed by
the Indonesian military, have displaced thousands from their ancestral
land without proper compensation. Mr. Warinussy says despite the richness
of West Papua, it remains the poorest region in Indonesia.
"There's almost nothing compared to Java [the main island of Indonesia].
If Papua is poor, then we can understand why, but Papua is rich," he says.
For 15 years now, Mr. Warinussy has been defending the human rights of
West Papuans. A lawyer by training, he is the Executive Director of the
Institute for Research, Analyzing and Development of Legal Aid, known by
its Indonesian acronym, LP3BH.
"Most of the cases we defend are about land issues, politics and other
human rights abuses," he says.
This year Mr. Warinussy's relentless crusade against human rights abuses
in West Papua was recognized by Rights and Democracy, a non-partisan
Canadian organization created by an act of parliament in 1988 to encourage
human rights and democratic institutions around the world. Mr. Warinussy
was awarded the John Humphrey Freedom Award for 2005. John Humphrey, a
Canadian, drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Mr. Warinussy says he received news of the $25,000 award in June. "It was
a big shock," he says. "I was becoming an annoyance and suddenly someone
far away recognizes my work, I didn't expect this."
Mika Levesque, Asia Regional Officer with Rights and Democracy, says there
were 150 nominations from around the world for the award, but Mr.
Warinussy's work stood out because his organization is the only one
defending human rights in West Papua.
"He's providing services that if he is not there, no one would do," says
Ms. Levesque.
Mr. Warinussy, who has been on a speaking tour in Toronto, Victoria,
Winnipeg and Montreal, will be in Ottawa on Dec. 8. He says the purpose of
his tour is to inform Canadians about what is taking place in West Papua
and also to ask the Canadian government to facilitate a peaceful dialogue
to ease tensions. "It must be a peaceful process," he says.
To the Indonesian government, Mr. Warinussy says it is time it stopped the
intimidation and initiate real dialogue.
"If the present policies continue, West Papua will follow East Timor," he
says.
-- brian@embassymag.ca
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Toronto Star
Eloquent voice for remote people
-- Lawyer honoured for work in West Papua
Under Indonesian rule, `second-class citizens'
Dec. 9, 2005. 01:00 AM
Olivia Ward, Feature Writer
West Papua is one of the world's most obscure territories, a rain-forested
land that is little known except for its exotic beauty.
But human rights lawyer Yan Christian Warinussy says its indigenous people
mainly experience the ugliness of poverty and repression, as they struggle
for independence from the ruling Indonesian government.
Yesterday, Warinussy accepted one of Canada's highest honours for human
rights advocates, the John Humphrey Freedom Award, from Rights & Democracy
(International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development), based
in Montreal.
In Toronto last week, the diminutive, soft-spoken Warinussy called on
Canadians to oppose human rights abuses that he said have been "carried
out with total impunity by members of Indonesia's armed forces" during
Jakarta's 42-year rule in which thousands of native people reportedly have
been killed by government forces.
He said the abuses include "torture, rape, summary executions, arbitrary
arrests, disappearances, the killing of indigenous leaders and civilians
alike, the displacement of indigenous populations and confiscation of
their lands."
Since 1998, when Suharto's 32-year dictatorship ended, Indonesia has won
plaudits for its efforts to democratize and its co-operation in the "war
against terrorism."
But it has been plagued by corruption, massive unemployment and
catastrophic terrorist attacks, as well as the dire effects of the Asian
tsunami.
Indonesia claims that West Papua voted to join it in a 1969 referendum,
and that the territory has been granted more rights under a "special
autonomy" law. The fairness of the referendum has been disputed, and
indigenous people insist they have reaped no rewards from their new
status.
Bitterness has overflowed into violence with the rise of guerrilla groups,
who are responsible for a number of attacks in West Papua. But human
rights groups, including Amnesty International, point the finger at
Indonesia for its repressive measures against indigenous people who are
seeking their rights, or are victims of military purges.
"Nothing has changed for the better for the indigenous people," said
Warinussy. "They are still very poor and unable to earn a living. Their
land has been confiscated without compensation, and the industrialization
of West Papua has not improved their lives. Those who ask for their rights
are treated as militant separatists."
West Papua, a territory rich in oil, mineral and timber, occupies one of
the largest land masses in the Indonesian archipelago.
For University of Toronto Professor Janice Stein, the political scientist
who is chair of Rights & Democracy's board of directors, "the tragedy
unfolding in West Papua is one that has gone unnoticed for too long."
Since it took over West Papua, the Indonesian government has settled the
territory with Indonesians who were provided with jobs, housing and roads,
raising tensions among the indigenous people, who feel increasingly
disenfranchised. Indonesians now account for at least 40 per cent of West
Papua's 2.3 million population.
"Indigenous people are second-class citizens in their own land," said
Warinussy.
The 41-year-old lawyer began his campaign to defend indigenous rights
while in university. The son of a civil servant in the former Dutch
government, he grew up at the time of transition to Indonesian rule.
"I have received many threats and I accept that," he said. "I have been
jailed for three months because the government didn't like my criticism."
In jail in 1998, he said, "they were very careful to treat the inmates
humanely because they knew I was watching. But I learned how prisoners are
really treated. It's not surprising that the police have little respect."
Warinussy said he was punched in the face during his detention and later
denied family visits.
On another occasion, a police officer called him to a compound where six
of his clients were being detained for raising the West Papuan flag.
An officer demanded to know why he had written a letter alleging police
violence against some of his clients, and asked the jailed men to declare
if any of them had been beaten. When one came forward, the officer drew
his gun and said: "If you make false reports, I will shoot you and your
lawyer."
Some of Warinussy's clients fared worse. Daniel Yairus Ramar, 51, a
teacher and tribal leader, was arrested on suspicion of murdering
employees of a logging company working near his village. When two weeks
later his battered body turned up in a local morgue, the police insisted
he had died of natural causes, even though medical reports raised
allegations of torture.
Warinussy said attacks on indigenous people who campaign for their rights
continue, but he has no plans to abandon his struggle.
"If I had chosen to be a doctor and cured 100 people, I'd be sure to make
100 friends," he said with a smile. "As a human rights lawyer, if I help
100 people I also make 100 enemies. I'll continue as long as what I'm
doing benefits the community."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Jakarta Post.com
National News
December 07, 2005
Candidates ready for Papua election
Jayapura, Papua: After a racial dispute delayed the process, the Papua
General Election Commission (KPUD) officially named on Tuesday five
candidates for Papua Governor.
The five candidates are incumbent Jaap Salossa nominated by the Golkar
Party, Constant Karma (current deputy governor), Lucas Enembe, Barnabas
Suebu, as well as Dick Henk Wabiser.
The last four candidates were nominated by coalitions of several political
parties. The five will compete in gubernatorial elections next year and
the winner will serve a term until 2010.
The run-up to the appointments of the candidates was marred by a
registration dispute in which two of the candidates' running mates were
barred from contesting the election because they are not native Papuans.
The supporters of the two candidates took to the streets to protest the
KPUD decision, but the issue has fizzled out.
-- JP
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Antara
Dec 09 21:05
Govt Sending Food to Famine-Stricken Yakuhimo District in Papua
Jakarta (Antara News)- The government on Friday evening sent food supplies
to the famine-stricken district of Yakuhimo in Papua where about 55
residents had reportedly starved to death.
"We are sending food to help the famine victims. The Coordinating Minister
for People’s Welfare will also leave for Papua (at 21 p.m)," the
minister’s spokesman, Rizal Malarangeng, said here Friday evening.
The relief assistance would be flown by a Hercules airplane from Halim
Perdanakusuma airport. It consists of 5,000 packs of instant noodles,
2,000 cans of tinned sardines, 2,000 bottles of soy sauce, 2,000 bottles
of chili sauce, 250 bottles of cooking oil, 5,000 sheets of blankets and
2.5 tons of baby food.
Malarangeng also said four medical workers would be sent from Merauke, one
ton of rice from Asmat district, eight tons of rice from Papua, and three
tons of cassava would also be sent to the famine affected district of
Yakuhimo.
It was reported that 55 residents in the district had starved to death due
shortage of food and 112 others were in critical condition by starvation.
"This is according to reports from missionaries. We have to check these
reeports again. But we will face difficult geographic conditions to reach
the district," he said.
Yakuhimo, which consists of three sub-districts and 90 rural villages, has
a population of 142,000.
About 50,000 residents now staying in 17 locations are near starvation due
to drought that caused them to delay their crop harvests.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)
09 Dec 2005
Indonesia rushes food supplies to Papua province
Emergency food and medical supplies are being rushed to the Indonesian
province of Papua after revelations that at least 55 people there have
starved to death.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is demanding answers on how the tragedy
could have happened.
Our correspondent in Jakarta, Peter Cave, says the deaths occurred in
Yahukimo, which lies in the centre of Papua, formerly know as Irian Jaya.
Social Welfare Minister Bakrie has been despatched to oversee the
provision of emergency food and medical aid, being ferried into the remote
region by helicopter from Jayapura.
A spokesman for the World Food Program in Jakarta says it stands ready to
assist if requested to do so.
President Yudhoyono has ordered his internal affairs minister to
investigate how the deaths were allowed to happen and to ensure that other
regions of Papua are not at risk.
He says if the deaths have been caused by officials neglecting their duty
then that is unforgivable.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
People’s Daily (China)
Updated: 17:48, December 09, 2005
At least 55 die of hunger in Papua, Indonesia
At least 55 people have died and over 100 others are now in critical
condition due to a shortage of food in Papua province of Indonesia since
last month, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said here
Friday.
The lack of food was caused by failure of harvest in their cultivated land
and they have no stock of food, according to the president.
"A number of our brothers have died in Yohokimo regency in the province,
some 3,510 km east of Jakarta, because of hunger," the president said at
the State Palace.
"I am sad on what is happening, because the food shortage still occurs,
and is followed by starvation," he said.
He has asked authorities to take immediate action to stop the hunger by
providing food and medicine to the regent.
The regent is located in a remote area which has poor communication system
and is difficult to reach by land transport.
"We will mobilize all our capabilities, Hercules or helicopter, to save
our brothers," he said.
Separately, Agricultural Minister Anton Apriantono told Xinhua that his
ministry would immediately go to the regent to make a quick solution to
the problem.
"Tomorrow, we will go to the area, bringing food and medicine," he said.
To prevent the accident from reoccur in the future, the minister said that
the government would ask all 100 areas across the country that are
vulnerable to food shortage to have their own food stock.
"Yahokimo is one of the area that need to have food stock," he said.
The minister deplored the slow of implementation of efforts to anticipate
such problem by the local administrators.
The Indonesian government has determined to import rice to fill the
national food stock to anticipate the food shortage.
-- Source: Xinhua
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Radio New Zealand International
Indonesia set to deliver food aid to Papua after 55 die of hunger - report
Posted at 8:21am on 10 Dec 2005
Indonesia is set to deliver food aid to a Highlands area in the province
of Papua after reports 55 people have died from hunger there in the last
two months.
A military cargo plane is scheduled to bring supplies to the remote
district of Yahokimo, which is 200 kilometres from the provincial capital
Jayapura.
The district chief One Pahebol has told the newspaper Kompas that some
55,000 people are facing a shortage of their staple food yams.
Yahokimo is part of the Jayawijaya Regency of the Papua Highlands, where
the main town is Wamena, which is only accessible by plane from an airport
nearby.
The Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is said to have ordered
the former finance minister and now welfare secretary, Aburizal Bakrie to
travel to Papua.
A presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangeng said Mr Yudhoyono has asked for
an explanation from the home affairs minister about the reported deaths.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Antara
Dec 09 17:31
House Speaker Blames Death of Famine Victims on Their Leaders
Jakarta (Antara News)- House Speaker Agung Laksono has said that the death
of about 50 famine victims in Yahokimo, Papua province, is caused by
negligence of their leaders.
"In my capacity as House speaker, I here with express my disappointment
over the death of over 50 famine victims because of negligence of their
leaders," Agung Laksono told reporters at the Parliamentary building here
on Friday.
The House Speaker said that the Ministry of Social Affairs must take
immediate actions under the coordination of the Coordinating Minister for
People’s Welfare to help overcome the famine problem in the Papua
province.
He said that if natural disasters such as floods affected the people, it
would be understandable. But if what happened was famine, then it
indicated that there were mistakes in the government’s infrastructures so
that the incident was taking place undetected.
Agung suggested that the government should improve the existing
infrastructural facilities to open isolations of villagers in remote areas
so that they would no longer experience protracted shortage of food.
A total of 58 people starved to death in Yahokimo district which has a
population of 55,000 because of shortage of tuber stock as a result of
delays in the planting of the crops.
These villages are only accessible so far by airplanes.
In the meantime, Social Affairs Minister Bachtiar Chamsah said five tons
of rice had been sent to Yahokimo to help famine victims.
"Eight more tons of rice will be despatched soon," the minister said.
The Social Affairs Ministry was also planning to send instant noodles and
sweet potatoes to Timika, a transit area before the food is distributed to
Yahokimo, he said.
Chamsah said his ministry had a stock of 50 tons of rice in every province
in the country to help victims of disasters such as famine. He expressed
surprise that the local government had been too slow to help the victims
of the food shortage.
He said the Papua food shortage was not due to drought but to too much
rain which had caused sweet potatoes, the main staple food of the Papua
people, to rot in the ground.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Antara
Dec 09 16:09
President to Punish Officials Responsible for Food Shortage in Papua
Jakarta (Antara News) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said he would
punish government officials who had failed to prevent 55 people in Papua
from dying and 112 others from falling seriously ill by food scarcity.
"I ask that this problem be overcome. We must save our brothers (in
Papua)," the head of state told participants of a regular course of the
National Resilience Institute’s 38rd generation at the State Palace here
Friday.
The President made the statement following news reports that 7 out of 14
subdistricts in Yahukimo district at the center of Jayawijaya mountain
were suffering from a food shortage which had already killed 55 people and
make more than 100 others sick.
The food scarcity is threatening the lives of some 15,000 to 200,000
Yahukimo residents.
The President said after the local people had been saved he would hold the
concerned officials responsible for the Yahukimo people’s suffering.
"We will punish them if they prove to have neglected their people," he said.
Yudhoyono said he had summoned Coordinating Minister for People s Affairs
Aburizal Bakrie at 11.30 p.m. on Thursday after receiving the information
on the Yahukimo people’s plight.
"I have ordered the coordinating minister for people’s welfare to go to
Papua immediately, he said.
The food shortage in Yahukimo should be overcome right away through
concrete actions, he said adding that the concerned officials would be
asked to clarify why the food scarcity occurred.
The President also said he had asked Aburizal to take care of the people
suffering from malnutrition and look into the cause of the food scarcity.
The President expressed concern about the famine, noting that no single
part of Indonesia’s territory was ungoverned by any official. "There are
village, subdictrict and, district chiefs and provincial provinces but
where were they when something bad happened?, Yudhoyono said.
He said officials should obtain first hand information on and monitor
developments in their own areas continually.
They should know the problems that occur in their respective areas and
forge ties with their people, he said.
The head of state had not only instructed Aburizal but also Home Affairs
Minister Muhammad Ma ruf to take immediate measures to overcome the
situation in Yahukimo.
Presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangeng said in a statement made
available to ANTARA here Friday that the president contacted Aburizal and
Ma ruf soon after he read a private television station’s running text on
the food scarcity.
Mallarangeng was quoted as saying that Yudhoyono had instructed the two
ministers to find out the causes of the food shortage and what measures
should be taken to prevent a bigger tragedy.
The President also instructed the heads of other cities, districts and
provinces to prevent their areas from experiencing the same fate as
Yahukimo.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ABC/Radio Australia
Indonesian troops told to stay clear of Papua sex workers
Last Updated 07/12/2005, 05:01:58
Indonesia's military has ordered its soldiers in the easternmost province
of Papua to exercise sexual abstinence because of the health dangers of
visiting local prostitutes.
Three out of every 10 Indonesians who are infected with HIV/AIDS are
believed to live in the province.
A provincial military spokesman says at least 48 soldiers have been
infected with the virus...and a quarter of them have died in Papua.
Last week, the head of the United Nations AIDS agency, Peter Piot, singled
out Papua as a "very high risk environment" while warning Indonesia that
it was on the brink of a national AIDS epidemic.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Jakarta Post.com
National News
December 07, 2005
12 soldiers in Papua die of AIDS, says military
Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura
Breaking a long-held tradition of secrecy, the Indonesian Military
disclosed on Tuesday that 48 of its soldiers in Papua had contracted
HIV/AIDS since 2000, with 12 of them having died so far.
Besides the 12 soldiers, the deadly virus has also taken the lives of two
soldiers' children and a civilian working with the Trikora Military
Command, which is responsible for military affairs in Papua, a military
spokesman admitted on Tuesday.
"The soldiers should not be having sex with prostitutes. This tragedy
should serve as a wakeup call to commanders," said the spokesman, Maj.
G.T. Situmorang, in a rare interview on a sensitive TNI internal issue.
Some of the soldiers were married while others were still bachelors, said
Situmorang.
The remaining 33 soldiers with HIV/AIDS are still in the service and are
being provided with antiretroviral drugs to improve their immunity and
keep them alive.
In order to prevent the further spread of the lethal virus among soldiers,
the military high command has ordered task force commanders to keep their
men away from prostitutes, who are at high risk of being infected with
HIV.
The Trikora Military Command currently has some 10,000 soldiers, excluding
troops from other regions deployed in the resource rich province where a
low level insurgency has been taking place since Papua was incorporated
into Indonesia in the 1960s.
Located in the eastern part of Indonesia, Papua has a high level of
HIV/AIDS infection -- some 19 times higher than the national rate. Experts
say the high rate of infection stems from a lack of education and a local
culture that permits multiple sexual partners.
Officially, a total of 2,134 people, including the soldiers, had
contracted HIV/AIDS in Papua as of September this year, but it is believed
that the real figure could be very much higher. Of the 2,134 people who
have been infected, 932 have developed AIDS. The majority of HIV/AIDS
cases have been found in Merauke, where a total of 769 people have been
affected.
The report on soldiers dying of AIDS came only a week after World AIDS Day
was marked by a visit from UN AIDS supremo Peter Piot, who warned that
Indonesia was on the brink of an AIDS epidemic. The nation had to act
quickly to fight the lethal virus, Piot said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Jakarta Post.com
National News
December 08, 2005
Soldiers in dark about HIV/AIDS, activist says
Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura
Soldiers are vulnerable to contracting HIV/AIDS due to their lack of
awareness about the issue, a Papuan AIDS activist said on Wednesday.
On top of that, soldiers are very mobile as they are constantly assigned
from city to remote areas and vice versa, a situation that is likely to
encourage multiple sex partners, said AIDS activist, Robert Sihombing.
"A large number of soldiers are also said to be providing protection for
the sex trade, thus placing them in a high-risk environment for the spread
of the virus," said the activist, who helped treat six TNI soldiers
infected with HIV/AIDS for between four and six months each until their
deaths between 2002 and early 2004.
Robert described the soldiers as being young, between 24 and 28, and
unmarried.
"Because of their high mobility between city and remote areas, they might
have contracted the virus in the remote areas as they were still young and
sexually active, and did not know the risks of being infected by HIV,"
Robert said.
He said that antiretroviral (ARV) drugs were not available at that time.
They were only given medicines to cure AIDS-related illnesses.
"The six soldiers suffered severe depression because they were ostracized
by their units. No one visited them, and if anyone came, it would only be
a representative from their respective units to extend their sick leave,"
he said.
Robert said the soldiers knew little about HIV/AIDS, and had not thought
about the dangers when engaging in sex.
He said that everybody was vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, be they soldiers or
members of the public at large, if they had engaged in high-risk activity,
such as frequently changing partners and not using condoms.
Robert said that the TNI was working together with non-governmental
organizations only at the counseling level thus far, and was doing nothing
to treat the victims.
The six soldiers were only found to have HIV/AIDS based on the results of
blood tests taken after they fell sick. One of them died at the Dok II
municipal hospital in Jayapura, while the other five died at home.
Robert suggested that soldiers be taught about HIV/AIDS before being
posted to Papua to prevent them from becoming infected. "They should be
provided with condoms, not to encourage them to engage in sex, but just to
be on the safe side," he said.
The commander of the Jayapura Military Command, Lt. Col. Viktor Tobing,
denied that TNI soldiers in Papua were ill-informed about HIV/AIDS. "The
soldiers and their families have always been taught about HIV/AIDS through
counseling and training," he said.
According to Viktor, the attitude to HIV/AIDS depended on each individual.
"Even if they are already fully informed about it but can't restrain
themselves from sex, they will still be infected. All this depends on the
person," he said.
Both Robert and Victor were commenting on a TNI statement that 48 soldiers
from the Papua military command have contracted HIV/AIDS since 2000, 12 of
whom have died.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Jakarta Post.com
Features
December 09, 2005
Due to retire, with heart still in RI
M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
During a 10-year stint in Indonesia, United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) director for Asia-Pacific
Stephen Hill has traveled to the country's most exotic corners and
accumulated enough experience to make even Robinson Crusoe green with
envy.
In that time, Hill got involved in some of the most breathtaking moments
in his life, from negotiating with Free Papua Movement (OPM) rebels who
held UNESCO staff hostage to seeing Komodo dragons in their natural
habitat.
In 1996, barely a year after he assumed his new post in Jakarta, Hill was
faced with a hostage crisis that took place in Mapenduma, Jayawijaya
regency, Papua.
Two of his staff, who were taking part in the Lorentz (scientific)
Expedition, were held captive by the OPM in Mapenduma village before being
taken to virgin forest in Papua.
One of them, Martha Klein of the Netherlands, was pregnant at the time.
After lengthy negotiations that involved the International Committee of
the Red Cross, the United Nations Security Council and the Indonesian
Army's elite Special Forces Command, all the hostages were released. Two
Indonesian hostages, however, perished in the incident.
The episode, however, foretold of good things to come.
Following the violent hostage-taking incident, Hill learned that most
native peoples of Mapenduma village, who were from the Dani tribe, had
lost their most precious property -- their pigs.
To replace the lost pigs, Hill assembled a team to purchase pigs from
villages around Mependuma and flew them on a helicopter to the waiting
villagers.
Recalling the famous Operation Dumbo Drop, a military operation to airlift
an elephant and return it to its sacred location (which took place during
the Vietnam War in 1968) Hill called it the Flying Pig Operation.
The Dani people were so grateful that they honored him in a tribal
ceremony at which they gave him many presents -- traditional war
paraphernalia, from spears and daggers to arrows.
The Dani were not the only group with whom Hill has built a good rapport.
He became close to the Batak people of North Sumatra -- via a project
organized by UNESCO -- enough to earn him a Batak family name.
"My Batak name is Purba and that of my wife Damanik," Hill told The
Jakarta Post during an interview at his spacious office in the leafy
district of Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta.
Hill is due to retire this week and will soon leave for his home country,
Australia.
Such experiences will be firmly registered in Hill's personal
recollections, together with a variety of projects that UNESCO has
implemented under his leadership.
Another string to his bow
Staying true to its name, UNESCO has carried out numerous projects that
cover science, culture, education and communications, from preserving the
country's cultural heritage, mobilizing resources for basic education and
empowering street children to defending press freedom and the free flow of
information.
The UN agency has helped the government to manage conservation regions in
Lorentz National Park, Papua; Leuser National Park, Nanggroe Aceh
Darussalam; and a biosphere reserve in Siberut Island, West Sumatra.
In recent years, UNESCO has built an initiative with the United Nations
Children's Emergency Fund (Unicef) and the Ministry of Education on the
setting up of community-based education.
Currently, UNESCO is working on a project in Aceh focusing on the role of
the traditional arts in helping children cope with post-tsunami
conditions.
This is not the first time UNESCO has made use of the arts as a powerful
vehicle to empower people.
In Jakarta, for instance, UNESCO has used visual arts to build
reconciliation between conflicting street gangs.
Hill seems well aware of the immense power of the arts, given that he was
a professional musician in the early 1980s.
Playing music from a genre he deemed a cross between rock, blues, punk and
country, Hill was in a band until he called it quits in 1981, realizing
that it would not hit the big time.
"My night job was as a musician and my day job a university professor,"
said Hill, an avowed fan of Joe Cocker, the British blues singer.
As if being a sociology professor and playing music were not enough, Hill
was also an industrial chemist who holds a PhD in business administration.
He has written 16 books and 380 scientific articles across 12 disciplines.
Some of his works have been translated into nine languages, including
Uzbek.
A key policy adviser to the Australian government, Hill is the foundation
director of the Center for Research Policy at the University of
Wollongong.
He once worked for Unilever and as a consultant to UNESCO and other
international agencies in many Asian countries before he assumed
leadership of the UNESCO office for Asia and the Pacific.
"It was a suitable background for work at UNESCO because, basically, we
confront issues that concern people and their knowledge," he said.
Now that retirement beckons, Hill would likely have more time for two
activities that have long been overdue.
"I shall write books and compose new music. Several tunes are already in
my head," he said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AFX News Limited
BP Indonesia confident of securing 3.5 bln usd loans for Tangguh
12.09.2005, 02:43 AM
Jakarta (AFX) - BP Indonesia is confident it will close by next year loan
agreements worth a total of 3.5 bln usd for the Tangguh liquefied natural
gas (LNG) project in Papua, a company official said.
'We are very confident that we will close this (loan) in 2006,' BP
Indonesia's executive vice president for Tangguh development Budiman
Parhusip told reporters.
He said BP is negotiating with a consortium of Chinese banks, the Japan
Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), the Asian Development Bank
(ADB) and a number of international banks to raise 3.5 bln usd in loans.
'Our expectation is that this (loan package) will be closed one by one
throughout 2006,' he said.
BP expects the Tangguh project to start operating by late 2008 with an
annual capacity of 7.6 mln tons. Tangguh draws its natural gas supply from
six gas fields with proven reserves of 14.4 trln cubic feet in the Bintuni
area of Papua.
Parhusip said construction at Tangguh has begun in March this year with
funding from its contractors.
Should the loans be delayed, 'contractors will ensure interim funding, so
that the project will progress as planned,' he said.
Tangguh has secured contracts for LNG shipments of 2.6 mln tons a year to
Fujian, China, and up to 550,000 and 600,000 tons to South Korea's steel
company POSCO and K-Power respectively. In October 2004 Tangguh closed a
deal to ship 3.7 mln tons of LNG per year to Sempra Energy LNG Corp in the
US.
BP holds a 37.16 pct stake in the Tangguh project. The other shareholders
are China's CNOOC Ltd with 16.96 pct stake, MI Berua B.V. with 16.30 pct,
Nippon Oil Exploration (Berau) Ltd with 12.23 pct, KG Berau/KG Wirigiar
with 10.00 pct, and LNG Japan Corp with 7.35 pct.
BP Indonesia executive vice president Nico Kanter said talks are going on
regarding the Fujian LNG contract, which was signed in 2002.
The talks concern conditions that could affect the 'value of the
contract', he said. But he rejected the notion that the LNG price is being
renegotiated.
The talks come against the backdrop of higher oil prices and subsequently
higher prices of LNG compared to when the Fujian contract was initially
signed.
The Fujian contract is worth 8.5 bln usd and is valid for 25 years.
-- berni.km@xfn.com
KABAR IRIAN ("Irian News") www.kabar-irian.com
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