[Kabar-Irian] Irian News - 1/30/06 (Part 2 of 2)
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- Arrests in Papua ambush boon to US ties
- End military ties with Indonesia
- Re: resumption of ties with the Indonesian military.
- Patsy Spier: 'This case could be the catalyst for reform'
- A Widow Who Won't Let Indonesia Forget
- Papua election remains up in air
- Gubernatorial polls postponed to March in Papua
- Man held over consulate attack
- Maximizing benefit from Freeport for Papua
- New York Urges U.S. Inquiry in Mining Company's Indonesia Payment
*****************************
Asia Times Online
Arrests in Papua ambush boon to US ties
January 14, 2006
By Bill Guerin
Jakarta - An event in the remote Indonesian province of Papua, thousands
of kilometers from Washington, seems certain to result in a much stronger
position for Jakarta within the already fast-improving relationship
between the two countries.
Twelve men, including a local rebel operational commander wanted by the
United States for the murder of two American teachers in a 2002 ambush
near the giant US-operated Freeport Grasberg copper and gold mine, have
been detained. Americans Edwin Burgon and Ricky Lynn Spier were killed in
the attack.
The province is home to a group of poorly armed independence fighters
known as the Free Papua Organization (OPM), which seeks an independent
state.
Media reports claim that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation had lured
the rebels to a hotel in Timika, near the mine, on the promise that they
would be taken to the US to tell their side of the story. National Police
deputy spokesman Anton Bahrul Alam confirmed that the FBI had assisted
with the arrests.
Suspicions were one thing, but local and FBI investigations found no
evidence that Indonesian troops were implicated in the 2002 crime. The
result of a protracted joint Indonesia-FBI investigation was a US grand
jury’s indictment in June 2004 of Antonius Wamang on two counts of murder,
eight counts of attempted murder and other related offenses in connection
with the killings.
Wamang is one of those detained. Though the 12 have yet to be formally
charged over the killings, Alam said a fingerprint taken from the scene of
the murders matched Wamang’s. During police interrogation, Wamang is
reported to have "confessed to firing the automatic weapon" used in the
killings.
Ties between Washington and Jakarta quickly became strained after the
killings. But a statement at the time from then-US attorney general John
Ashcroft also cleared the Indonesian military (TNI) of any role in the
attack.
His announcement came just one day after a US congressional subcommittee
renewed a ban on the provision of funds for the Defense Department’s
International Military Education and Training (IMET) program for
Indonesia, prompting claims that Washington was sacrificing justice for
the victims for the sake of resuming bilateral military ties.
The TNI had blamed the OPM for the attack, although Wamang in an interview
with the Australian Broadcasting Corp last year claimed that Indonesian
troops had provided ammunition for the shootings.
Ashcroft and FBI director Robert Mueller blamed the Papua separatists for
the Freeport attack and claimed Wamang’s indictment illustrated "the
importance of international cooperation to combat terrorism".
This cut little ice with local and international rights groups who cast
doubt on Wamang’s involvement in the ambush, with some saying he worked as
a military informer. They suggested the attack was an effort by TNI to
discredit the separatist movement or extort money from Freeport.
TNI gets only 30% of its funding from the central government and makes up
the shortfall by its widespread involvement in businesses, both legal and
illegal. Payments for security services received from multinationals, such
as those from Freeport and from ExxonMobil’s natural-gas facilities in
Aceh, at the other end of the archipelago, have provided TNI with a
significant source of income.
Freeport abruptly stopped these payments shortly before the ambush. To
appease investor anger and disgust after the meltdown of Enron and
WorldCom, the administration of US President George W Bush had pushed a
bill through Congress that demanded greater corporate accountability. The
Corporate Fraud Act, implemented on July 26, 2002, required the disclosure
of such payments, which accounts for Freeport’s recent admission that it
paid out nearly US$20 million to military and police officials in Papua
between 1998 and 2004.
Indonesian Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh has promised to "look into"
Freeport’s allegations before deciding whether to launch a graft probe.
The company has denied breaking any laws but the government has said such
payments are illegal. If individual soldiers of whatever rank kept any of
the money themselves, it would be a criminal offense.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a retired four-star general who last
month ordered the military to play a greater role in the "war against
terrorism", is today expected to announce his choice for the next TNI
commander-in-chief, a key job in the anti-terror campaign. Kusnanto
Anggoro, a military analyst with the Center for Strategic and
International Studies in Jakarta, tips air force chief Air Marshal Djoko
Suyanto to replace General Endriartono Sutarto, who tendered his
resignation to former president Megawati Sukarnoputri in September 2004
but is still serving as TNI commander.
Megawati stirred up controversy when, although only a caretaker leader
after losing the presidential election, she approved Sutarto’s resignation
and recommended hardliner General Ryamizard as his successor. Yudhoyono
annulled Megawati’s decision when he took over in October 2004, a move
that angered many lawmakers.
Why now ? One clue to the answer to the most obvious question - why did
police act now, so long after the incident ? - may lie in statements from
both governments.
"Seeking justice for this crime remains a priority for the United States,
and we are pleased that the Indonesian government also recognizes the
importance of this case," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
"We will continue to follow this case closely."
Commenting on a proposed visit to Jakarta by US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice, Foreign Affairs Minister Hassan Wirayuda noted a
"growing and accepted view in the US to see Indonesia in a much broader
context rather than in snapshots of events like human-rights violations
... and military reform".
Rice had reinstated full IMET eligibility for Indonesia, and Wirayuda
described her planned visit as one that would "underline the importance of
the relationship between Indonesia and the US, and the growing
appreciation of Indonesia by the US".
The United States has shown a long-term commitment to post-tsunami
reconstruction in Aceh, support for Indonesia’s reform agenda and for the
country’s efforts to reform its justice system and military.
The arrests may well lead to Jakarta’s closest ever relationship with
Washington as partisan differences in both governments gradually dissolve.
Aloysius Renwarin, a lawyer representing the 12, said, "They are being
sacrificed for the relationship between the US and Indonesia." Yet the
arrests alone will not be enough to shore up US support for even deeper
ties with the military.
Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy, the most vocal opponent of US funding of
IMET for Indonesia in Congress, is reported to have called the arrests "a
step in the right direction" though noting that "there are so many
unanswered questions in this case, including who these people are and what
role they may have had in these crimes."
Washington will press for its pound of flesh by demanding that Wamang, at
least, be tried by a US court. If convicted he could face the death
penalty. Although Indonesia has no extradition treaty with the US it has
been the scene of at least one infamous Central Intelligence Agency
"rendering", when alleged al-Qaeda operative Omar al Faruq was spirited
away to a secret location.
A politically stable and US-friendly Indonesia would help US strategic and
economic interests in the region, although the relationship is certain to
remain a very different kettle of fish to the two other notable regional
relationships the United States has, with its "sheriffs" in Singapore and
Sydney.
-- Bill Guerin, a Jakarta correspondent for Asia Times Online since 2000,
has worked in Indonesia for 20 years as a journalist. He has been
published by the BBC on East Timor and specializes in business/economic
and political analysis in Indonesia.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Green Left Weekly
February 1, 2006.
End military ties with Indonesia
Jon Lamb
The recent arrival of West Papuan asylum seekers in northern Australia and
the restricted release of the United Nations-commissioned report from the
Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation on human rights abuses
in East Timor have sparked renewed calls for an end to military ties with
Indonesia. The Indonesian military (TNI) is also reported to be building
up its troops in West Papua and carrying out actions to intimidate and
attempt to crush the independence movement.
In 1999, the TNI-backed destruction of East Timor by pro-Jakarta militia
resulted in a massive international backlash and protest movement, forcing
Indonesia’s closest allies — the US, Australia and Britain — to suspend
their supply of military training and equipment to the TNI.
These three nations have provided most of the training and resources the
TNI needed to occupy East Timor for 24 years. Without their direct
military assistance, especially the supply of state of the art weaponry,
the subjugation of the East Timorese people could not have lasted as long
as it did.
The protest and solidarity actions in 1999 in support of the East Timorese
people’s right to self-determination broke the decades-long “special
relationship” between Western powers and the TNI.
Resuming military ties between these governments and the TNI was made
contingent on achieving justice, bringing to account the numerous leading
TNI officers and militia leaders responsible for gross human rights abuses
and war crimes in East Timor. But since 1999, not a single leading TNI
figure involved in implementing Indonesia’s ”scorched earth” policy in
East Timor has been convicted and punished. On the contrary, many have
been promoted within the TNI and/or pursued successful careers and
business interests outside of the military.
General Adam Damiri, for example, who played a key role in orchestrating
the terror campaign in East Timor, was promoted in December 1999 to
operational assistant to the armed forces chief of staff in Jakarta,
heading up operations within Aceh. Likewise, Colonel Timbul Silaen, head
of the police in East Timor in 1999 (and in charge of security before the
August 30 independence referendum) was promoted to brigadier general and
head of the newly created police “anti-corruption” force. In late 2003, he
was appointed as chief of police in West Papua, around the same time that
East Timorese militia leader and indicted war criminal Eurico Guterres
announced he was establishing anti-independence militias there.
A sham
The UN has consistently backed away from creating an international war
crimes tribunal, despite recommendations for such a tribunal from its own
International Commission of Inquiry, released in early 2000.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan has capitulated to concerted pressure from
the US and its allies, declaring that the Indonesian government should be
given the opportunity to establish its own inquiry and judicial process.
What has transpired has been a total sham. The ad hoc Human Rights Court,
which from its inception in 2001 has been resolutely condemned by
Indonesian human rights activists, including the government’s own human
rights body KPP-HAM, has been unable to implement any punitive action
against those indicted and convicted for human rights abuses in East
Timor. Silaen, for example, was acquitted, and Damiri had the charges
against him overturned on appeal.
While there remains public concern within the US, Britain and Australia
about resuming ties with the TNI, this concern has lessened following the
2001 terrorist attack in New York, and the bombings in Jakarta and Bali
and more recently London. Both the George Bush and John Howard governments
have justified the need to re-engage with the Indonesian military on the
basis of the need to fight terrorism and the organisations in South-East
Asia that are alleged to have links with groups like al Qaeda.
Shortly after the first bombing in Bali on October 12, 2002, Australia’s
then defence minister Robert Hill announced in parliament: “We are aware
of the role that Kopassus has in relation to counter-terrorism
responsibilities in Indonesia, and therefore it might well be in
Australian interests to redevelop the relationship”. The elite Kopassus
regiment has been implicated in gross human rights abuses in Aceh, West
Papua and East Timor.
In December 2005, Hill reiterated the importance of renewing links with
Kopassus, under the guise of count-terrorism operations, stating: “There
will be occasions when the best response available is through Kopassus and
we would like to see Kopassus trained to be as capable as possible.”
Within the framework of the “war on terror”, the US and Australian
governments have driven the process to normalise relations with the TNI.
Over the last few years this has ranged from low-level officer training
through to multilateral exercises, like last year’s Exercise Kakadu, in
which Indonesian naval vessels participated. Hill described Kakadu as a
“major exercise in terms of regional engagement”.
Last November the US State Department declared that it was overriding
restrictions imposed by Congress on US military ties with Indonesia, on
the basis of US national security. The Brtish-based Indonesian human
rights campaign Tapol described the decision as one that “will encourage
the practice and expectation of military impunity, which remains a major
obstacle to genuine democracy in Indonesia”.
While the cease-fire and negotiations in Aceh are holding for the moment,
the present situation in West Papua highlights the fundamentally
repressive role of the TNI, and is yet another example of why military
ties with the TNI must be ended.
The number of Indonesian troops in West Papua is expected to double in the
next five years, including detachments from the elite Kostrad forces. This
will surely result in an increase in human rights abuses and repression
across West Papua.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Australia West Papua Association (Sydney)
Press release 29 Jan 2006
Re: resumption of ties with the Indonesian military.
The Australia West Papua Association calls on the new Defence Minister,
Brendan Nelson, to re-think the plan to renew ties or train with the
Indonesian military and in particular the Indonesia special forces
Kopassus. Without going into any great detail of its past history,
Kopassus has been notorious for its role in human rights abuses in East
Timor and West Papua.
In light of the recently released UN report about the activities of the
Indonesian military in East Timor, where the TNI used napalm and chemical
weapons against the East Timorese people, AWPA believes that it is
untimely for our military to recommence co operation with the Indonesian
military.
Another recent report on West Papua titled “Genocide in West Papua?” from
the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Sydney, also
documents the military’s involvement in illegal activities including
illegal logging, rigged construction projects and theft of aid.
Joe Collins of AWPA said that “ while such entrenched practices continue,
it is highly unlikely that the professionalism of the Australian military
will have any influence on the TNI”, and also “as the Indonesian military
receive only 30% of their budget from the government and must raise the
other 70% themselves, it should be realised that such an institution is
open to corruption”.
We understand that the Australian government encourages the Indonesian
Government, and the Indonesian military, to enhance its human rights
awareness and accountability programs, but this human rights component of
training on the Indonesian military had no effect on its behaviour in East
Timor and will not in West Papua.
Joe Collins said “that by their very nature, Special Forces troops such as
Kopassus will always be used in conflict areas such as West Papua”.
Dr. John Ondawame of the West Papuan Peoples Representative Office in
Vanuatu said “that he believes that if the Australian military decide to
train the Indonesian Kopassus troops, it will only increase the danger to
the West Papuan People”.
AWPA also notes that Australia and Indonesia are signing a new defence
treaty and urges that the 43 West Papuan asylum seekers who fled to
Australia be assessed solely on their claims to be genuine asylum seekers
and not on any foreign policy decisions to do with the new treaty with
Indonesia.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Jakarta Post.com
Features
January 28, 2006
Patsy Spier: 'This case could be the catalyst for reform'
-- As American widow Patsy Spier prepared to leave Indonesia, she talked
with The Jakarta Post contributor Duncan Wilson about her struggle to
bring her husband's killers to justice, and the diplomatic friction it is
causing in U.S. and Indonesian corridors of power.
Patsy Spier has the friendly and open air of an elementary school teacher,
but her face wears stern creases of concern, and there is a haunted,
hollow look beneath her warm blue eyes.
Spier, 48, is returning to Littletown, Colorado, her hometown in the U.S.,
following the arrest of eight men for the murder of her schoolteacher
husband and two other colleagues in 2002.
The suspects were netted in a joint operation between the FBI and the
Indonesian police, but there is no doubt that Spier's passionate lobbying
prompted this high-level cooperation.
"It's a remarkable achievement that we've got this far," Spier says.
"At the beginning I was only concerned with the murder of my husband and
our friends. But there is a bigger picture here, of U.S.-Indonesian
bilateral relations."
That 'horrible' day of the murder
Although Spier and her husband Ricky did not have children of their own,
they traveled the world teaching those of American expatriates. They had
worked in Peru, Sudan and Asia, exploring other cultures and seeking new
experiences.
On Aug. 31, 2002, the Spiers and 10 others were returning from a picnic in
an orchid field near Timika, West Papua.
Ricky drove his company-owned Toyota Land Cruiser on the uneven dirt road
of the Freeport mine terrain, and Patsy followed behind in another SUV.
Suddenly, there was the squeal and crunch of rubber tires sliding on the
road, and armed men in a pickup truck pulled up beside them.
The gunmen pummeled round-after-round of bullets into both cars, for more
than thirty minutes, while Patsy cowered inside.
"They just didn't stop shooting. It was horrible," she says.
Rick and the school principal were shot in the head, killed instantly,
while another colleague's stiff and bloody body toppled against Patsy in
the back seat. Eight other colleagues were wounded. Patsy survived, but
her back was peppered with more than 70 pieces of shrapnel, and a bullet
was buried in her foot.
The survivors were evacuated to Australia for a month of medical care.
Even now, they still bear painful wounds and psychological scars.
But just three days after Patsy was discharged from hospital to her
Littletown home, she began stalking Washington's corridors of power,
pressing Congressional officers to pursue justice.
>From survivor to fighter
Spier says that her full-time lobbying is "about holding people
accountable for a heinous crime, and in doing so stopping it from
happening again. It's about maintaining the integrity of the case, and the
integrity of U.S.-Indonesian relations."
During her trip in mid-January to Jakarta, Spier met with President Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono and National Police chief Gen. Sutanto, along with other
American and Indonesian officials.
She says that when she returns to the U.S. she will visit, "all the
Congressional Offices: National Security, State and Defense Department,
and Senators. I'm not done yet; I'm not going to stop."
But it took a while for Spier to win the ears of politicians and
officials, and the investigation into the killings initially seemed
confused and awkward.
The Army immediately blamed the Free Papua Movement for the shootings. The
police quickly accused the military. The FBI and CIA reportedly complained
that Indonesian authorities were stonewalling and restricting the American
probe.
When a September 2002 Indonesian police report focused suspicion on the
military, Spier lobbied U.S. lawmakers to withhold $US400,000 from the
International Military and Training program (IMET) until they properly
cooperated with American authorities. Although military aid was slowly
being reintroduced after its elimination in 1991, Spier says that
withholding the IMET fund was "a powerfully symbolic measure."
"The IMET fund wasn't necessary for the war on terror. The issue simply
was: `Why would my country give money to the military accused in that
first police report of killing my husband, a U.S. citizen?'" she says.
When the investigation was handed to the military, which a few months
later found "no evidence of military involvement," Spier lobbied Senators
to withhold IMET funding until the State Department determined that
Indonesia was fully cooperating with the FBI.
Spier also secured private meetings and pledges with FBI director Robert
Mueller, and the American deputy secretaries of state and defense. She
also met Susilo and Sutanto, and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice
was to discuss the issue in her scheduled visit.
Indeed, Spier's case became so prolific that when President Bush told an
Indonesian reporter in 2003 that bilateral military relations would be
"going forward," Spier hit the phones, outraged. Six days later, the White
House rescinded Bush's statement.
Speir's campaign had become one of the few impediments to full restoration
of Indonesian and U.S. military ties.
But her work on the case brought both countries' investigative agencies
together, with progress for both the murder investigation and Indonesian
and American bilateral relations.
In June 2004, a federal grand jury indicted Anthonius Wamang, 32, for
murder and attempted murder. He was identified as the operational
commander of the National Freedom Force, the Free Papua Movement's
military branch.
Washington resumed a training programme for TNI in February last year,
citing such progress. In November, Condoleeza Rice waived the outstanding
restrictions, allowing the U.S. to supply lethal weaponry to the TNI.
Spier, for her part, does not entertain any theories on who was behind the
killings:
"I have not accused any group of carrying out the ambush because I never
saw anything. I was shot in the back. If any campaigners have evidence
that questions the guilt or role of any of the parties, then give it to
the investigators so they can take it to trial."
Trust and the trial Patsy's growing relationship with powerful American
figures, and their new appreciation for their Indonesian counterparts, has
led her to trust the judicial process.
Spier spoke to her brother by phone a few days ago, and tears streamed
down her face as she spoke of their progress: "It was the first time I've
cried. Nobody thought we would get this far; people said that the
investigation and judicial system wouldn't be fair, that it was too
complicated. But I was just determined."
Though Spier says that as a U.S. citizen she would prefer the trial to be
held in America, she is also confident that Susilo's watchful eye will
ensure a fair trial.
"This trial heralds a new era of cooperation for both nations, and I
attribute this to President Susilo. He is working for people to reform the
corrupt and weak judicial system, and also assured me that this
cooperation would continue; that they'd follow the trail of ammunition and
guilt to the very last man."
The police are now looking for another four men and their leader, Free
Papua Movement fugitive Kelly Kwalik. Spier says Susilo has assured her
that the FBI will continue to be involved -Ä though its exact role seems
unclear.
Spier has now returned to her Littletown home, where she lives with her
brother and his wife. But she says she will be back when the trial begins,
and, if required, is prepared to be a witness.
"This case is a catalyst for reform: a chance for justice for the murder
of my husband and our two friends, and also a chance for the establishment
of positive relations with American and Indonesia, and my friends in both
countries."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New York Times
A Widow Who Won't Let Indonesia Forget
By Jane Perlez and Raymond Bonner
Published: January 27, 2006
Jakarta, Indonesia, Jan. 26 — In a conference room of the national police
headquarters here, Patsy Spier last week once again relived the attack
that robbed her of her husband on a Saturday afternoon in 2002 in remote
Papua Province.
In more than six hours of questioning by Indonesian police investigators,
she described how attackers fired into the convoy carrying her, her
husband and eight other Americans up a mountain road inside the concession
of Freeport-McMoRan, an American mining company. Then she repeated her
pitch for justice.
"I emphasized that whoever carried this out knew what they were doing,"
Mrs. Spier said in an interview last week, when she returned to Jakarta at
the time of a breakthrough in the case with the detention of eight
suspects. "It wasn't just a few minutes, it wasn't just a gun getting
away, it was repeated shots. They were going to kill someone that day."
The ambush killed her husband, Rickey Lynn Spier, another American
teacher, Edwin Burgon, and an Indonesian teacher, Bambang Riwanto, and
snarled efforts by the Bush administration to strengthen military
relations with Indonesia. It also raised questions about payments by
Freeport, based in New Orleans, to the Indonesian Army, which patrolled
the road, and whose soldiers are suspected of involvement. Not least, the
case placed Mrs. Spier, who will turn 48 Monday, at the center of strained
United States relations with Indonesia over the incident, making her an
accidental ambassador for justice on a nearly four-year quest to untangle
who was behind the killings.
In Washington, Mrs. Spier's mettle — she has made 17 trips from her home
in Colorado — won her access to high officials, including John D.
Ashcroft, during his tenure as attorney general. In Jakarta last week,
Mrs. Spier, a former Peace Corps volunteer in Sierra Leone who later
traveled the world teaching with her husband, met with the Indonesian
president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, their second encounter.
Widows with horrific stories of violence abroad are not unusual in
Washington. But Mrs. Spier has struck a chord. She said she tracked down
every lead to seek a full investigation of the case, which at times seemed
at risk of dying, amid resistance by the Indonesian government to the
F.B.I.
Even today, the pursuit of the connections the case might have with
Indonesia's military is likely to clash with the warming of military ties
between the Bush administration and Indonesia in the last 18 months.
"If Patsy hadn't stuck with it, I'm not at all sure we'd be where we are
today," Matthew P. Daley, a former deputy assistant secretary of state and
one of the first people she called on, said last week.
This month, the F.B.I. arranged for the surrender in Papua of 12 men in
the killings, including Anthonius Wamang, a member of a Papuan separatist
group, who was indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington in June
2004.
Four of the men were freed, and the others are in custody in Jakarta.
Those in custody are expected to be charged, lawyers in the case said. One
of the suspects is 14, another 15, a list provided by a Papuan human
rights group says. All are supporters of the Papuan separatist movement, a
police investigator said.
The arrests and the promise by the Indonesians of a fair trial still leave
unanswered who planned the attacks, what the motives were and whether
Indonesian soldiers were involved, Mrs. Spier said. To get those answers,
she said she had asked President Yudhoyono to allow the F.B.I. to continue
in the case and to question the suspects to ensure "a credible
investigation." The president "gave his commitment," she said, although
the national police chief, Gen. Sutanto, said last week that the F.B.I.'s
role was over.
"The police involved in the investigation still believe the military was
involved," said an Indonesian investigator who gave The New York Times
official transcripts of witness interviews. "But this involves relations
between two countries. It will be difficult for the police to dare to say
the military was involved."
The evidence of military involvement is largely circumstantial. Mr. Wamang
was close to Indonesian military units in Papua, and was paid by the
military for trips to Jakarta, the police investigator said.
After his capture, Mr. Wamang told the police he got the bullets from a
senior Indonesian soldier, his lawyer, Albert Rumbekwan, said. The F.B.I.
said in a report to a Congressional panel that the assailants had used the
same type of automatic rifles used by Indonesia's military.
The ambush occurred between military checkpoints that are only five miles
apart. The road falls away at almost an 80-degree angle into a mountainous
valley, making it almost impossible for the attackers to have gotten into
position without the acquiescence of soldiers on the road, the Indonesian
police investigator said, a conclusion shared by Mrs. Spier and American
investigators.
The soldiers on the road did not respond to the attack for more than 30
minutes, according to Mrs. Spier and the F.B.I. investigation. Soldiers
came to the rescue after a Freeport executive, Andrew J. Neale, stumbled
across the shooting as he was driving down the road and went to the
military post for help. He said he had heard "continuous shooting," an
official transcript of his questioning by Indonesian police says.
The ambush angered Congress and delayed the renewal of American money for
military training for Indonesia for more than two years.
But over the objections of some members of Congress, the Bush
administration resumed the training in February 2005 after the indictment
of Mr. Wamang. The training had been suspended in 1992 after Indonesian
security forces massacred civilians in East Timor in 1991.
In November, the administration waived curbs on lethal arms sales, saying
that Indonesia was "a voice of moderation in the Islamic world" and that
the F.B.I. had received renewed cooperation in the case.
The preliminary Indonesian police report suggested that a motivation for
the attack was a threat by Freeport, which runs the world's largest gold
mine in Papua, to cut its payments to Indonesian soldiers. Freeport was
giving Indonesian military officers such benefits as nights at the
Sheraton hotel, airline tickets and cash, company documents provided to
The New York Times show.
In 1998 through 2004, the company gave individual officers and units more
than $20 million in cash and benefits, the documents show.
Mr. Spier, the two other teachers who were killed and Mrs. Spier, who was
shot in the rib and suffered shrapnel wounds to her back and a kidney,
worked at the school run by Freeport for the children of its employees. If
the shootings were motivated by the soldiers' wanting more money from
Freeport, Mrs. Spier said, she would seek to change laws on corporate
behavior abroad.
"If the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act needs to be changed, I want to
change it," she said.
She said she expected to attend the trial in Jakarta, though a date is
uncertain. If convicted, the suspects could face the death penalty.
"There's a death penalty here," she said. "They knew what they were doing.
They chose to kill. The consequences are there."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Jakarta Post.com
National News
January 27, 2006
Papua election remains up in air
Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura
Four of the five candidates set to contest Papua's gubernatorial election
on Feb. 16 want to see the polls go ahead as scheduled, dismissing
arguments for a delay.
The head of Dick Hen Wabiser's campaign team, Weynand Watori, said claims
that 11 regencies would be unable to hold the vote on Feb. 16 because of
problems surrounding the distribution of election materials were specious.
"It does not make sense to blame the weather for slowing the distribution
of the materials. The weather in Papua has been like this for ages, so
Papuans can deal with it," Weynand said.
The candidates Barnabas Suebu, Lukas Enembe, Constant Karma and Dick Hen
Wabiser urged the polls be held as scheduled during a meeting on Thursday
with the Papua General Elections Commission (KPUD), which is organizing
the election. The fifth gubernatorial candidate, John Ibo, was not present
at the meeting.
Weynand said any delay in the vote would slow progress in the province.
"We're tired. The election has been delayed twice. Should it be delayed
again? We have to make a decision and take responsibility for the risks,"
he said.
The possibility of delaying the election was raised by the regencies
themselves, which hope to see the vote pushed back to early March to
complete the distribution of voting materials.
"If the election is postponed (again), can we be sure there will be no
further delays? Will the KPUD ensure the weather is good during the
delay?" asked a deputy governor candidate, Donatus Mote.
A member of Barnabas Suebu's campaign team, Ronald Tapilatu, said while
there was a valid reason for the earlier delays -- the province was
waiting for the formation of the Papuan People's Assembly, which was sworn
in last October -- there were no excuses for pushing back the vote again.
"Please, don't lie to the people. Don't blame nature if you are just
looking after a certain's candidate's interest," he said, without giving
the name of the candidate he was accusing the elections commission of
favoring.
The head of the KPUD, Ferry Kareth, said several regencies called for the
postponement on their own accord, with no intervention or interference by
the commission.
The commission earlier said a decision on whether to delay the vote would
be made during a plenary session on Thursday, but the session did not take
place.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Jakarta Post.com
Headline News
January 28, 2006
Gubernatorial polls postponed to March in Papua
Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura
The Papua General Elections Commission (KPUD) has postponed the direct
gubernatorial election in the province until March 10 after 11 regencies
were unprepared to hold the ballot on Feb. 16.
"The election will be rescheduled by three weeks to March 10. The KPUD
will be responsible regardless of the risks," Papua KPUD chairman Marthen
Ferry Kareth said Friday in Jayapura after a plenary meeting.
Head of the commission's campaign division Yohanis G. Bonay stressed the
new poll date -- following the second postponement of the polls -- was
fixed for the country's easternmost province.
"We will face whatever risks there are. However, if there are matters
beyond our capability, follow-on elections would be held should the
regencies fail to hold the election on March 10," he asserted.
"We have sent official letters informing of the postponement to the
gubernatorial candidates, political parties, campaign teams and every one
involved," said Kareth.
He said the postponement was due entirely to the technical problem.
The regencies said they would be unable to hold the election because
polling materials would take at least 26 days to reach them due to bad
weather in several areas of Papua.
Councils in the 11 regencies will be able to discuss obtaining an
additional election budget within that period, because operational
expenses of poll workers would increase due to the delay.
The gubernatorial election should have been held on Oct. 10 last year,
following the end of the Papua governor's 2000-2005 tenure on Sept. 23,
2005. But since the Papua People's Assembly (MRP) had yet to be
established, an agreement was reached to postpone the election until the
MRP was formed. Home Affairs Minister M. Ma'ruf appointed MRP members on
Oct. 30, 2005.
The MRP is a customary institution that determines whether the governor
and his deputy are natives of Papuan, as stipulated in Law No. 21/2001 on
special autonomy for the province.
The Papua KPUD proposed an additional budget of Rp 16 billion (US$1.6
million) to the provincial administration to pay poll workers and for
extra transportation funds as a result of the increase in fuel prices.
The KPUD has also proposed to the administration to provide extra funds to
political parties with candidates in the polls.
"Since the election has been postponed, expenses will automatically
increase, so we are proposing additional funds for parties, but not the
candidates," said Kareth.
The KPUD has also given more time for campaigning because of the
postponement.
The Papua direct gubernatorial election on March 10 will involve 1,429,649
voters in 4,066 polling stations in the province's 20 mayoralties and
regencies.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The National (PNG)
Man held over consulate attack
Friday January 27, 2006
By Winis Map
Vanimo police yesterday arrested and charged a man in relation to the
attack on the Indonesian Consulate in Vanimo on Tuesday.
Andrew Nere, 28, of Sentani village, Jayapura, Papua province, Indonesia
will today appear before the Vanimo District Court for mention.
Mr Nere is the son of the businessman Constant Nere, who went missing on
December last year on the Indonesian side of the PNG/Indonesian border
when he went to visit a hot spring with four villagers from Mushu.
Vanimo District Court clerk yesterday afternoon confirmed that police had
submitted Mr Nere’s file and they had registered the court file and had
listed his case for mention this morning.
According to police sources, Mr Nere was charged under Section 444,
Subsection 1 of the Criminal Code for causing willful damage to
properties.
The sources said Mr Nere had told police that he had committed the offence
because he was frustrated over the failure by the Indonesia Consulate to
assist in the search of his father Mr Nere over the past six weeks.
Mr Nere disappeared on December last year on the Indonesia side of the
PNG/Indonesian border.
Police say Andrew Nere had rammed the two gates of the consulate and
caused damage to a boat using a vehicle.
The source said Mr Nere had told police that the damage caused was
unintentional and he only acted out of frustration.
Meanwhile, police and PNG Defence Force soldiers are still guarding the
consulate.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Jakarta Post.com
Opinion
January 27, 2006
Maximizing benefit from Freeport for Papua
Aziz, Munich, Germany
The government has an obligation to respect the COW (contract of work,
namely the second COW signed in 1991) with the U.S. mining company
Freeport Indonesia. The political and economic consequences of dishonoring
such an agreement will only have an adverse effect on Indonesia --
probably a devastating one.
A demand by a senior politician to review the contract or even to
terminate the contract on suspicions of corruption may have a sincere
motivation although some may also say he is seeking political popularity.
Media reports about the giant gold mining company have also attracted
public attention.
In principle, the nation has the right to know the ultimate objective of
awarding the contract of work and what to do when it is approaching its
end in the next 20 years or 30 years. At present the best option for now
is to maximize the benefit of the presence of the company for all the
people in Papua in particular and Indonesia in general. To meet this
objective we must understand the nature of the mining operation, how it
operates and what problems as well as opportunities it holds.
To this end, we must always keep in mind that although constitutionally
any natural resource belongs to the state to be used for the greater
interests of the whole nation, the priority shall be given to the Papuans.
Differences in qualifications is the primary source of inequity in income
and standard of living -- and that will easily lead to social envy and
resentment. Such a cold truth applies not only in Papua but in any corner
of the world. The challenge that needs to be addressed to maximize the
benefit from Freeport Indonesia is to produce a high-quality Papuan
workforce.
Whether we like it or not, the best bet for the Papuan economy is in the
extraction of natural resources -- and the presence of multinational
companies provides a great opportunity for education, apprenticeship and
training. A steep increase in the employment of Papuans at Freeport
Indonesia (from 600 in 1996 to 2,400 in less than 10 years) is a good sign
for a start. It is important to keep in mind, though, that the race for
quantity must be balanced by quality. Papuan people must seize the
opportunity to compete fairly with others by possessing the highest
professionalism possible.
Local development also means holding the local government accountable in
the building of the Papuan workforce. A study by the World Bank strongly
recommends that the Papuan government wisely spends the fiscal resources
that have dramatically increased with the special autonomy status (Fengler
et al, The Jakarta Post, Nov. 16, 2005). A two-fold program must take top
priority: developing skilled and professional workers in private and
public institutions and at the same time ensuring all children have access
to basic education.
Finally, empowering women's role in education and employment needs special
emphasis. Why? Because when it comes to participative decision making, the
voices of decent members of the community who work hard to earn a living
are frequently ignored. Conversely, those who waste the money are usually
quick to articulate their interests, albeit through protests or threats,
hence having a bigger chance of being heard. The sad thing is that many of
those decent people are women.
In conclusion, maximizing the benefit from Freeport Indonesia essentially
means building a skilled and educated Papuan workforce, developing the
local economy and empowering women. It will be a long, less traveled road
that might be politically unattractive. It is going to be very difficult
because it also means nurturing a new culture and a change in mind-set --
instead of simply changing the contract of work. The natural resources are
there, the money is there, and more importantly the opportunity is there.
-- The writer worked for Freeport Indonesia from 1997 to 2004. He can be
reached at aziz9672@yahoo.com. The views expressed by the writer in this
article are strictly a personal opinion.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New York Times
New York Urges U.S. Inquiry in Mining Company's Indonesia Payment
By Raymond Bonner and Jane Perlez
Published: January 28, 2006
Jakarta, Indonesia, Jan. 27 — The New York City comptroller has charged
that the American mining company Freeport-McMoRan knowingly made "false or
misleading" statements about payments to the Indonesian military, and has
asked the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department to
investigate.
In separate letters to each agency, the comptroller, William C. Thompson
Jr., who is the investment adviser to the city's five pension funds, said
that he believed the company might have violated the Foreign Corrupt
Practices Act, which forbids American companies to bribe foreign
officials.
He also told the securities commission that Freeport-McMoRan Copper and
Gold, which is based in New Orleans, might have filed false proxy
statements in violation of the Securities Exchange Act.
Mr. Thompson said in the letters, dated Thursday, that he was asking for
the investigations based on a report by The New York Times in December,
which he said showed that Freeport had paid "large sums of money directly
into the personal bank accounts of a number of individual Indonesian Army
officers."
Global Witness, a nonprofit human rights organization, had made similar
allegations, Mr. Thompson wrote.
Mr. Thompson's request came amid several other calls for investigations
into Freeport's payments, including from Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., the
ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, who has long been
concerned with corruption in the Indonesian military and its poor human
rights record.
Freeport documents obtained by The Times show that from 1998 through 2004
Freeport paid nearly $20 million to individual military and police
officers and units in remote Papua Province, where Freeport runs the
world's largest gold mine.
More than two dozen commanders, most of them from the army and the police,
but also from the navy and the air force, received payments, according to
the documents. Some officers were given monthly payments. Some amounted to
over $100,000 in a year in a country where a general's annual salary is
less than $10,000.
Freeport says the payments were "ordinary business activities" and were
within American and Indonesian laws. "The support and assistance for the
military and police in Papua includes mitigating living costs and hardship
elements of posting in Papua, better ensuring that legitimate security
needs are provided to the company," it said in a written response to
questions from The Times in December.
The New York City pension funds have in the past challenged Freeport's
payments. Mr. Thompson wrote that after the funds filed shareholder
resolutions in 2004 and 2005 calling for the company to cease the
payments, Freeport told the S.E.C. that the payments were made to the
Indonesian government as reimbursement for security services.
In contending the money went to the government and not to individual
officers, "the statements amount to a knowingly misleading representation
by Freeport," the comptroller said.
In a telephone interview from New York on Friday, Mr. Thompson said, "We
had filed shareholder resolutions over the last three years, trying to get
the company to account for their actions in payments to the military." In
response, he said, the company "tried to prevent us from moving forward
with our resolutions."
In his letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Mr. Thompson said the
funds were asking the department "to undertake a formal review to
determine if" Freeport had violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
The funds, one of the largest public pension systems in the United States,
own 590,350 shares of Freeport stock — currently worth $37 million — and
the funds were concerned that "possible illegal actions by company
officials could have a negative impact on shareholder value," Mr. Thompson
wrote.
Asked about the comptroller's letters, Stanley S. Arkin, a lawyer for
Freeport, said that the company had nothing to add to what it had already
said in its public disclosures. "Our public findings are what our public
findings are," he said. "We do not comment on such things."
After the December article, the company posted a letter on its Web site
saying the article and a subsequent editorial contained "disturbing and
provocative misstatements" about its operations and that the article had
"ignored the practicalities of conducting business in a remote area."
The company acknowledged in a conference call with investors two weeks ago
that it was under federal scrutiny regarding payments to the military.
Executives said they were "fully cooperating" with "informal inquiries
from government agencies."
In a statement Friday in Washington, Senator Biden said investigations of
the company were needed. "Large payments by Freeport officials directly to
individual Indonesian Army officers are highly irregular," Mr. Biden said.
"It is time for the Justice Department and the Congress thoroughly to
investigate Freeport's business practices in Indonesia."
Mr. Biden said Freeport's conduct threatened to undermine the efforts of
the Indonesian president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is considered a
reformer, to clean up the army.
In Indonesia, Juwono Sudarsono, the civilian defense minister, told the
Dow Jones news service that he had asked the inspector general of the
defense forces to look into the payments. It was illegal, he said, under
Indonesian law for foreign companies to pay soldiers.
A leading Indonesian politician and former presidential candidate, Amien
Rais, in speeches and interviews with reporters, has called for Parliament
to change Freeport's contract so that the Indonesian government receives
what he called a more equal share of the mine's profits.
With gold prices recently surging to a 25-year high of more than $550 an
ounce, Freeport said that its profits had more than doubled last quarter
and that it would pay the Indonesian government some $1 billion in taxes
for 2005.
At the same time, by Freeport's own estimates, its mining operations will
generate some six billion tons of waste in Papua before they are through,
much of it dumped directly into what was once a pristine river system. Its
waste disposal method, the company says, has been approved by provincial
authorities.
"I saw where they had demolished a mountain forever, and instead left an
ugly lake," Mr. Rais said in an interview of a visit he made to the mine.
"I felt humiliated as a son of Indonesia."
In Parliament, members of two separate committees said they would ask
Freeport executives to answer questions about the company's payments to
the military, its tax payments and the environmental damage around the
mine site.
A member of the environment committee, Alvin Lie, said his panel would
hold hearings in February to look at the environmental consequences of the
gold mine on one of the world's most diverse ecosystems.
A member of the finance committee, Drajad Wibowo, who holds a Ph.D. in
economics from an Australian university and was instrumental in uncovering
a major Indonesian banking scandal, said he would ask the Ministry of
Finance to explain to the panel Freeport's tax and royalty payments.
He suspected, he said, that Freeport was not paying enough taxes. "When a
mining company works in its own country it works under very transparent
rules," Mr. Drajad said. "Here it is in secret."
KABAR IRIAN ("Irian News") www.kabar-irian.com
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