[Kabar-Irian] Irian News - 3/23/06 (Part 1 of 3)
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Pacific Magazine
PNG: Bird Flu Identified In Papua
Thursday: March 23, 2006
Bird flu has been identified in the Indonesian province of Papua, which
shares the same landmass with Papua New Guinea, Post-Courier reports.
National Agriculture Quarantine Inspection Authority (NAQIA) officer in
Kiunga Kaiki Namalu said the disease has been positively identified at
Timika, the town which services the controversial Freeport Copper mine.
Mr Namalu said NAQIA has placed a ban on the movement of birds and poultry
to and from the West Sepik and Western provinces.
He said many people living in Kiunga and Tabubil liked to take cassowary
chicks and guria pigeons from the two towns back to their home provinces
when they go on holiday breaks.
But he cautioned people should not panic, despite the coverage that the
disease had been receiving in the international media.
Instead, Mr Namalu said all people in the two border provinces had to be
extra vigilant, and if they see birds they suspect of having the disease,
they should report to the nearest Department of Primary Industry (DPI) or
NAQIA office.
He also said healthy live chickens could still bought from the markets and
there was nothing wrong with frozen chickens purchased from stores and
supermarkets.
Mr Namalu said the symptoms in birds were the same as in humans — infected
birds will be seen sneezing, the comb on the head of male chickens
drooping and not erect as on healthy roosters.
The infected birds will also look drowsy and lack energy. Overseas, a
large number of wild and domesticated birds have died from the disease,
with the illness having been passed on a smaller scale to humans who have
also died.
-- Source: The Post-Courier/PacNewsService
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The National (PNG)
Friday March 24, 2006
Migratory birds, ducks pose bird flu threat
By Bonney Bonsella
The National Agriculture Quarantine and Inspection Authority said
yesterday migratory water birds and nomadic ducks pose the biggest threat
to the entry of bird flu into PNG.
NAQIA managing director Andrew Yamanea said the migratory birds could
spread the disease across the PNG/Indonesian borders, especially along the
Tonda wetlands of Morehead district of the Western province.
]
Mr Yamanea said the area was a well known stopover between the months of
August and October for migratory and nomadic ducks from Russia, China and
even Indonesia.
Wetland areas in Manus and Sepik were also considered high risk
surveillance areas.
Mr Yamanea revealed this while clarifying media reports about the outbreak
of the bird flu in Timika across the border in the West Papua province.
“NAQIA wishes to officially inform the public that there is no such
outbreak or confirmation of it and West Papua province remains free of
bird flu,” said Mr Yamanea.
He said the closest affected place is South Sulawesi, which is quite far
from Papua New Guinea.
He said NAQIA was only aware of Classical swine fever (hog cholera) cases
in Timika which could have been mistaken for bird flu.
It is a predominantly pig disease that spreads rapidly in pig population
and pose no harm to humans which NAQIA has already issued alert notices to
officers on the ground.
Mr Yamanea said NAQIA had taken preventive measures against the bird flu
and other plants and animal diseases across the border and has instructed
communities and public servants to immediately report any suspected cases
of plants or animals dying, including poultry and water birds to the
nearest NAQIA or other authorities for further investigations.
Mr Yamanea said NAQIA would be conducting a joint public awareness with
the Health Department and the Ok Tedi Mining Ltd and the communities in
the Fly River next week.
Similar campaigns have been done in West Sepik province while other high
risk areas will be targeted when funding is available.
Minister responsible for Disaster and Emergency Services and
Inter-Government Relations Minister Sir Peter Barter is taking no chances,
and has directed his office and the director-general of National Disaster
Centre to liaise with NAQIA and Health Department to seek donor assistance
to ensure stock of anti-viral for bird flu is available to treat any
detection.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ABC/Radio Australia
Call for sanctions after Papua visas granted
Last Update: Thursday, March 23, 2006. 8:34pm (AEDT)
By foreign affairs editor Peter Cave
A leading member of the Indonesian Parliament's foreign relations
committee, Dr Djoko Susilo, is calling for retaliation against Australia
for its decision to grant temporary protection visas to 42 Papuans.
Dr Susilo says if Australia wants good relations with Indonesia, the
Government must realise that its decision has hurt the Indonesian people
by recognising the claims made against Indonesia by the asylum seekers.
He says it is doublespeak to say that Australia respects Indonesia's
territorial sovereignty and then to grant a temporary protection visa and
he has called on President Bambang Yudhoyono to apply sanctions against
Australia.
"We have to postpone the plan of joint exercise, joint military
cooperations in this area," he said.
The Indonesian Government is still considering its response to the
Australian decision.
All but one of the 43 Papuans who arrived in Australia's north in January
on an outrigger canoe will be allowed to stay in the country on temporary
protection visas.
The group's leader had claimed they would be killed if forced to return
home - a claim dismissed by the Indonesian Government.
Ten of the refugees are currently in Perth, where several of them are
receiving medical treatment and one of them is in hospital.
Jacob Rumbiak from the West Papuan Association says they are relieved to
have escaped from the turmoil of their homeland.
"In Australia, no military or police come and beat people in their home or
something like that when they compare with in Papua," he said.
Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone says the prospect of harming
relations with Indonesia was not a factor taken into account when deciding
to grant the visas.
"Each claim has to be considered on its merits," Senator Vanstone said.
A spokesman for the Foreign Affairs Minister says Alexander Downer spoke
to his Indonesian counterpart to advise him of the decision, while
Indonesia's ambassador to Australia has met with the head of Foreign
Affairs.
Indonesia's Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda has called a meeting with
departmental officials to discuss the implications of Australia's granting
of the temporary protection visas.
The issue of Papua's separatist movement is an extremely sensitive one
with for the Indonesian Government.
That concern was evident earlier this year when President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono phoned Prime Minister John Howard asking that the asylum seekers
not be granted asylum and that they be returned to Indonesia.
The issue was at the top of the agenda when Australia's Foreign Minister
met with his Indonesian counterpart in Jakarta last month.
Mr Downer asked for understanding of Australia's obligations under UN
Refugee Conventions.
"We certainly don't support the secession of Papua from the Republic of
Indonesia," he said.
-- additional reporting by ABC staff
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Australia defies Indonesia on visas
March 24, 2006 12:20 AM
Sydney (Reuters)
Australia has granted temporary protection visas to 42 asylum seekers from
Indonesia's troubled Papua province despite Indonesian President Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono urging the Australians to send them back.
The asylum seekers were found in late January on Cape York, Australia's
northernmost point, after sailing for five days in a traditional outrigger
with a banner accusing the Indonesian military of conducting genocide in
their homeland.
Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone said the 42 Papuan asylum seekers,
who have been held on remote Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean while
their claims were processed, would be moved to Melbourne within days.
A visa decision was yet to be made on a 43rd person.
Vanstone said she believed Australia's strong relations with Indonesia
would survive the decision to grant temporary protection visas to the
Papuans.
"This is not a country-to-country decision, it is individual decisions
based on evidence put forward by individuals themselves and third party
reports," Vanstone said at a news conference.
The Indonesian Foreign Ministry expressed its disappointment at the
Australian decision, saying it went against the spirit of bilateral
cooperation.
"The government of Indonesia is surprised, disappointed and deeply
deploring the decision by Australia's Department of Immigration and
Multicultural Affairs which ... granted temporary visas to 42 out of 43
Indonesian asylum seekers from Papua province," the ministry said in a
statement.
It said the asylum seekers were "economic migrants" seeking a better life
and they had not been subjected to any persecution in Indonesia. Jakarta
guaranteed their safety if they returned.
"The decision justifies speculations that there are elements in Australia
that support the separatist movement in Papua, and in this regard the
government of Australia has not done anything to them," it added.
Papuan Campaign
Yudhoyono had earlier phoned Australian Prime Minister John Howard and
said the group should not be given political asylum and should be returned
to Indonesia. He had given an assurance they would not be prosecuted.
Asylum seekers who enter Australia in an unauthorised way but who are
found to be owed protection under the UN Refugees Convention are granted a
three-year temporary protection visa, the Immigration Department said on
its website www.dimia.gov.au.
If found to still require protection after 30-months on a temporary
protection visa, the asylum seekers may then be granted a permanent
protection visa, the department said.
Papuan independence activists have campaigned for more than 30 years to
break away from Indonesia while a low-level armed rebellion has also
simmered. Human rights groups accuse the Indonesian military of widespread
abuses there.
Indonesian authorities deny that, and recent regional elections in Papua
and companion province West Irian Jaya, which shares Indonesia's part of
the island of New Guinea, went relatively smoothly and peacefully.
But four policemen and one soldier were killed last Thursday in the Papua
capital of Jayapura in clashes with protesters demanding the closure of a
massive U.S. mining operation in the province.
Jakarta took over what are now Papua and West Irian Jaya provinces from
Dutch colonial rule in 1963. In 1969, its rule was formalised in a
U.N.-backed vote by community leaders which was widely criticised as a
sham.
-- (Additional reporting by Telly Nathalia in JAKARTA)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ABC/Radio Australia
Indonesian MPs criticise Papua visa decision
Friday, March 24, 2006. 9:29am (AEDT)
An Australian decision to issue temporary protection visas to 42 people
from the Indonesian province of Papua has attracted a storm of criticism
from nationalist MPs in the Indonesian Parliament.
An official reaction from the Indonesian Government is expected to emerge
later today at the Foreign Ministry's weekly news conference.
MP Effendy Simbolon said the move was not the work of a friendly
neighbour, and fellow MP Yudy Christnandy urged the Government to formally
protest.
Dr Djoko Susilo, who sits on the Parliament's Foreign Relations Committee
went further.
"I would like to see them, to retaliate against the John Howard Government
... we have to postpone joint exercise or joint military co-operation in
this area," he said.
The asylum seekers are pro independence activists and their families who
braved five days at sea in a dugout canoe to reach Australia saying they
had been tortured and feared for their lives if they were sent back home.
Indonesia is extremely sensitive about the former West Irian and its
indigenous separatists since it became an Indonesian province, with the
blessings of the UN after an unconvincing referendum in 1969 that
consisted of a show of hands by a few hundred hand-picked tribal leaders.
Some indication of that sensitivity was evident when Indonesia's President
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono personally called Prime Minister John Howard to
ask that the Papuans be sent back home.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, who yesterday briefed his Indonesian
counterpart Hassan Wirayuda by phone before the public announcement,
travelled to Jakarta last month, in part, to explain Australia's position.
He said then that Australia had obligations to the asylum seekers under UN
refugee conventions.
Local and foreign rights groups have accused the Indonesian military and
the paramilitary Mobile Police Brigade (BRIMOB) of human rights abuses and
extrajudicial executions in Papua.
Those killings have been linked to what is said to be the world's largest
gold and copper mine operated by the American company Freeport McMoRan,
which has been accused of bribing senior Indonesian police and military
officers to quell indigenous opposition.
Last week those tensions flared into bloodshed which saw five Indonesian
members of the security forces bludgeoned to death in a clash with
hundreds of students, most of whom are now hiding in the jungles in fear
of their lives.
The Papuan Provincial Parliament yesterday postponed a special session,
which was to address the increasingly violent opposition to the mine,
saying the worsening security situation made the collection of information
difficult for lawmakers.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sydney Morning Herald
Downer hopes to avoid Papua visas row
March 24, 2006 - 9:39AM
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says he hopes there will be no
diplomatic backlash from Indonesia over Australia's decision to grant
temporary visas to a group of asylum seekers from Papua.
Indonesia is angry at Australia's decision, calling it unfriendly and
threatening a diplomatic protest.
Jakarta had earlier appealed to Australia to send the 43 asylum seekers
back to the province, warning that to do otherwise could affect the
relationship between the two countries.
Australia has decided to grant temporary protection visas (TPV) to 42 of
the 43 Papuans who landed at Cape York in January.
Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone has rejected claims that granting the
visas endorsed the group's claims of widespread human rights abuses by
Indonesia.
She said the granting of the visas was a departmental decision, made after
considering each person's individual circumstances.
Senator Vanstone denied Australia had effectively accepted the claims of
the asylum seekers that they would be killed if they returned to West
Papua.
"No it doesn't mean that at all," she told ABC radio.
Senator Vanstone said one of the asylum seekers may have described police
beatings and persecution and claimed he would be killed if he was sent
home.
"One of them may have said something like that. It doesn't mean either
that that statement in itself is true, or in particular the point I am
making that it is true for all of them," she said.
The 36 adults and seven children have accused the Indonesian military of
conducting genocide in their homeland, a former Dutch colony taken over by
Indonesia in the 1960s following an independence referendum widely
dismissed as rigged.
Mr Downer, who called his Indonesian counterpart Hassan Wirajuda on
Thursday to inform him of the decision, said he hoped Indonesia would not
retaliate.
"I hope not because bilateral cooperation is in our mutual interest, it's
in Indonesia's interest as much as it's in Australia's interest," he told
ABC radio.
But whatever the reaction, he said Australia's position would not change.
"There's simply nothing we can do about it. We're just constrained by the
laws of our land," Mr Downer said.
In January, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono made a direct
request to Prime Minister John Howard for the group to be returned to
Papua.
He gave an assurance they would not be prosecuted.
Mr Downer said Australia's decision did not alter its position that Papua
should remain part of Indonesia.
"I hope they understand where we're coming from. We're certainly not in
any way changing our position on the recognition of West Papua as part of
the Republic of Indonesia," he said.
"We retain that view very strongly that West Papua must remain as part of
Indonesia.
"But these people have come here, they've made claims ... and immigration
officials, consistent with our law, have assessed those claims and they
bear decisions."
Mr Downer said there had been human rights abuses in Papua but they were
being addressed by the Indonesian government.
"Certainly, historically, there have been and they're very well aware of
that.
"President Yudhoyono, he is making a very substantial effort to try to
ensure that not only human rights norms are upheld in West Papua but that
there can be an appropriate political settlement there consistent with the
sort of settlement that he's been able to negotiate in Aceh."
Pro-independence insurgents have stepped up their campaign for
independence over recent years, leading to escalating violence in Papua.
Some observers claim the situation in Papua has degenerated into another
East Timor, which finally won independence from Indonesia after a bloody
struggle.
-- © 2006 AAP
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Age (Melbourne)
Jakarta slams govt over asylum seekers
March 23, 2006 - 2:54PM
Indonesia has reacted angrily to Australia's decision to grant temporary
visas to a group of asylum seekers from the Indonesian province of Papua,
with the threat of a diplomatic protest.
Jakarta had earlier appealed to Australia to send the 43 asylum seekers
back, warning that to do otherwise could affect the relationship between
the two countries.
Australia decided to grant temporary protection visas (TPV) to 42 of the
43 Papuans who landed at Cape York in January.
The 36 adults and seven children have accused the Indonesian military of
conducting genocide in their homeland, a former Dutch colony taken over by
Indonesia in the 1960s following an independence referendum widely
dismissed as rigged.
While Indonesian leaders are yet to formally respond to Australia's move,
one MP labelled the decision as unfriendly.
Djoko Susilo, a member of Indonesia's powerful foreign affairs commission
in the parliament, said it meant the government accepted the claims made
by the Papuans.
"This is an unfriendly gesture by the Australian government," he said.
The nationalist MP said the group should not be given asylum under any
circumstances.
"The Indonesian government must mount a diplomatic protest," he said.
The federal government was acutely aware the matter would create tensions.
Last month, Indonesia's new ambassador in Canberra, Hamzah Thayeb, warned
that Australia's relationship with Indonesia would be affected if the
Papuans were granted asylum.
On Thursday, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer took the unusual step of
personally informing his Indonesian counterpart Hassan Wirajuda of the
decision, while Michael L'Estrange, secretary of the Department of Foreign
Affairs and Trade, met Mr Thayeb to advise him of Australia's decision.
Mr Downer called Dr Wirajuda before the decision was made public in what
his spokesman said was the "neighbourly" thing to do.
"Mr Downer did take the step of advising Dr Wirajuda of this decision," Mr
Downer's spokesman added.
"It's a matter of some significance between our two countries.
"It was only neighbourly to inform our neighbours of this decision."
While aware of Indonesia's views, the government says it was not factored
into its decision-making process.
"Each claim has to be considered on its merits and each claim is an
individual claim. It's not a claim about a particular country,"
Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone said.
In January, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono made a direct
request to Prime Minister John Howard for the group to be returned to
Papua.
He gave an assurance they would not be prosecuted.
Pro-independence insurgents have stepped up their campaign for
independence over recent years leading to escalating violence in Papua.
During a clash in Papua's provincial capital Jayapura last week, police
arrested 14 people and questioned more than 70 students on charges ranging
from destruction of property to assault and murder.
Some observers claim the situation in Papua has degenerated into another
East Timor, which finally won independence from Indonesia after a bloody
struggle.
Peter King, from Sydney University's Centre for Peace and Conflict
Studies, said the government had been forced to take the asylum claims
seriously because of the weight of public opinion.
"They couldn't prevaricate on this," he said.
"(Papua) is another Timor.
"Unless the Indonesians respond to that, they must realise they're not
only going to have problems with Australian civil society but the
government as well."
Australian Greens senator Kerry Nettle praised the government for ignoring
the appeals from Jakarta.
James Cocking, from the Australia West Papua Association, said he was
happy the government recognised the asylum seekers' claims were genuine.
-- © 2006 AAP
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
International Crisis Group
Papua: The Dangers of Shutting Down Dialogue
Jakarta/Brussels, 23 March 2006
The key institution charged with easing tensions between Papuans and
Indonesia’s central government may be about to collapse, with grave
consequences given the region’s current volatility.
Papua: The Dangers of Shutting Down Dialogue,* the latest briefing from
the International Crisis Group, examines the Papuan People’s Council
(Majelis Rakyat Papua, MRP). Although it has faced huge challenges, the
MRP is the most representative body to emerge so far and has the support
of key Papuan institutions. Failure to bolster it could deal a fatal blow
to the autonomy package granted to the restive province in 2001, in which
many Papuans are already losing faith.
Created in late October 2005 as the centrepiece of the autonomy deal, the
MRP was almost immediately confronted with two major crises: stalled talks
over the legal status of West Irian Jaya, the province carved out of Papua
in 2003, and riots over the giant Freeport gold and copper mine this
month.
“The anti-Freeport violence was a way of venting frustration over
long-running grievances ranging from a lack of justice for past abuses to
poverty and corruption to the role of the military in the province”, says
Crisis Group Analyst Francesca Lawe-Davies. “But the very institution that
should have a key role in managing these tensions, the Papuan People’s
Council, is currently paralysed – partly by government mishandling but
also by its own ineptitude”.
Despite initial hard-line rhetoric, the MRP had begun to show signs of
willingness to compromise, but rather than reciprocate, the central
government sidelined it. To revive genuine dialogue and salvage the
institution before autonomy is further damaged, Indonesian President
Yudhoyono should meet the MRP in Papua, thus acknowledging its importance,
and the MRP for its part should move beyond non-negotiable demands and
offer realistic policy options to make autonomy work.
If the MRP can manoeuvre its way through the two crises, it may yet be
able to take on other outstanding grievances and become what Papua has
always lacked, a genuinely representative dialogue partner with Jakarta.
If it fails, not only will its own legitimacy be diminished, but local
resentment against the central government will almost certainly increase.
“The central government needs to realise that it is in its own interest to
help the Papuan People’s Council succeed”, says Sidney Jones, Crisis
Group’s South East Asia Director. “If it fails, Special Autonomy – the
best hope for Papua-Jakarta relations – will be badly, if not irreparably
damaged”.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Papua: The Dangers of Shutting Down Dialogue
Jakarta/Brussels, 23 March 2006
Asia Briefing N°47
23 March 2006
Overview
There is serious risk the long-awaited Papuan People's Council (Majelis
Rakyat Papua, MRP) is about to collapse, only five months after it was
established, ending hopes that it could ease tensions between Papuans and
the central government. The MRP was designed as the centrepiece of the
autonomy package granted the country’s easternmost province in 2001.
Almost as soon as it came into being, however, it was faced with two major
crises – stalled talks over the legal status of West Irian Jaya, the
province carved out of Papua in 2003, and violence sparked by protests
over the giant Freeport mine – while Jakarta marginalised its mediation
attempts. To revive genuine dialogue and salvage the institution before
autonomy is perhaps fatally damaged, President Yudhoyono should meet the
MRP in Papua, thus acknowledging its importance, while the MRP should move
beyond non-negotiable demands and offer realistic policy options to make
autonomy work.
Papuan leaders had envisaged the MRP as a representative body of
indigenous leaders that would protect Papuan culture and values in the
face of large-scale migration from elsewhere in Indonesia and exploitation
of Papua’s natural resources. Jakarta-based politicians saw it as a
vehicle for Papuan nationalism and deliberately diluted its powers, then
delayed its birth. By the time it emerged, the province had been divided
into two, many Papuans were disillusioned with autonomy and some were
already questioning how the MRP could function under such circumstances.
The MRP’s authority remains uncertain. If it can manoeuvre its way through
these two crises, it may yet be able to take on other outstanding
grievances and become what Papua has always lacked, a genuinely
representative dialogue partner with Jakarta. If it fails, not only will
its own legitimacy be diminished, but local resentment against the central
government will almost certainly increase.
The signs are not good. As negotiations between the MRP and the central
government were underway to resolve the disputed legal status of West
Irian Jaya (Irian Jaya Barat, IJB), Jakarta suddenly authorised
gubernatorial elections there, cementing its status as a separate province
outside autonomy. The MRP, despite its hard-line rhetoric, had begun to
show signs of willingness to compromise, but rather than reciprocate, the
central government sidelined it. The MRP is now grappling with whether
continued negotiations are possible, and if not, whether it should
disband. But with large local turnout in the West Irian Jaya elections,
and the local support that implies for the province, the bigger question
is whether the MRP is still a relevant actor.
Meanwhile, student-led demonstrations in Papua and by Papuan students in
Java and Sulawesi demanding closure of the Freeport mine in Timika and the
withdrawal of military forces there, which had been escalating since late
February, culminated in a violent clash in Abepura on 16 March, in which
four police and an air force officer were killed and several civilians
seriously injured. The subsequent police sweeps have been heavy handed,
and the atmosphere remains tense. The MRP's attempts to engage the central
government on this issue were quickly brushed aside.
Successful MRP mediation of these tensions is becoming more crucial as the
chances of it happening become more remote. The MRP has not made its own
case any easier but it is now up to the central government to bring it
back on board. If sufficient trust can be reestablished to resume
dialogue, a compromise on West Irian Jaya is still possible, building on
the baseline consensus reached by the central government and top Papuan
provincial leaders in late November 2005. The essence of that agreement
was that Papua would remain a single economic, social, and cultural
entity, regardless of the administrative division. That is, there would be
a single MRP, and the autonomy funds from the central government and
revenues raised in each province from resource exploitation – from the
gold and copper of the Freeport mine in Papua and from the BP natural gas
project in West Irian Jaya – would be shared by both.
Since the elections, the MRP’s bargaining position has been further
weakened, but it is critically important now to reach a compromise on the
issue – not just in the interests of resolving two crises, but to make the
MRP a functioning institution. Failure to bolster the MRP would almost
certainly deal a fatal blow to an autonomy package in which many Papuans
are already losing faith. Given the current volatility in Papua, it is in
everyone’s interests to make sure this does not happen.
Full report may be read at:
http://www.crisisgroup.org/library/documents/asia/south_east_asia/b47_papua__the_dangers_of_shutting_down_dialogue.pdf
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Detik.com
March 22, 2006
BIN accused of trying to discredit NGOs in West Papua
Iqbal Fadil, Jakarta -- The accusations by Syamsir Siregar, the head of
the National Intelligence Agency (BIN), that local West Papuan
non-government organisations (NGOs) in Papua sponsored the Abepura
incident are intended to discredit NGOs in Papua as a whole. The
accusations must be clarified immediately in order that it not be seen as
slander and in itself provoke the impression that the situation in Papua
is unsafe.
“There is a certain political intent behind the accusations. This kind of
mind set is a method from the past that is still used for certain goals
that endanger peace in Papua”, said the executive director of the
Institute for the Strengthening of Papuan Civil Society (LPMSP), Budi
Setyanto, in a press release received by Detik.com on Wednesday March 22.
If BIN has concrete and valid data it must be immediately handed over to
the national police to be followed up though the legal mechanisms that are
in force. BIN doesn’t need to issue statements that are unclear and have a
strong tendency to upset the public, in particular NGO activists.
“It must be understood that there are quite a lot of NGO in Papua. Not all
NGOs have a clear vision and mission. Many parties call themselves NGOs
for the interests of [certain] individuals and groups”, explained
Setyanto.
In principle the LPMSP does not agree with expressing aspirations though
means of violence or by disruption the public interest because this
conflicts with democracy.
LPMSP is therefore calling on Siregar to immediately clarify his statement
and if he has accurate data to immediately report it so that the legal
steps can be taken against the perpetrators of the riot. (bal)
-- [Translated by James Balowski.]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
Seven journalists assaulted by police and students in Papua
Country/Topic: Indonesia
Date: 23 March 2006
Person(s): Mahendra Dewanata, Cunding Levi, Aryo, Robert Vanwi Subiat
Target(s): journalist(s), media worker(s)
Type(s) of violation(s): assaulted , attacked
Urgency: Flash
(SEAPA/IFEX) - Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has called
for a meeting of police officials in Papua province following an assault
by policemen and students on seven journalists on 16 March 2006.
On that day, the journalists - in three separate groups - were trying to
cover student protests in Cendrawasih University in Jayapura, Papua
province. For some reason, however, the skirmishes between the police and
students were on separate incidents directed at the journalists
themselves.
The national daily, "Kompas", said three television reporters from
stations RCTI and TV7 were simply standing in front of a police office
following one such skirmish when a group of policemen assaulted them.
According to the report, police kicked and beat up on the reporters, who
sustained injuries on their mouths, eyes and arms as a result of the
attack. Their cameras were also damaged.
"Kompas" said a few policemen and some town residents finally intervened
and put a stop to the beating.
Meanwhile, ANTV cameraman Mahendra Dewanata was also reported to have been
beaten up by another group of policemen. He too had his video camera
broken.
Finally, three newspaper journalists from "Tempo", "Kompas", and "Suara
Pembaruan" were also attacked by students while covering their
demonstration on Raya Sentani-Abepura Street, according to the Institute
for the Studies on Free Flow of Information (ISAI).
The three journalists were identified as Cunding Levi from "Tempo", Aryo
from "Kompas", and Robert Vanwi Subiat from "Suara Pembaruan", ISAI said.
ISAI quoted Cunding Levi as saying he avoided a road block by passing
through a campus building when he came across a group of protesting
students. Although he held up his press card, Levi said the students
kicked and hit him until he fainted.
The incidents have been roundly condemned by journalist groups in
Indonesia. The Provincial Police Chief has publicly apologized and even
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has called for a meeting of
police officials to ensure that such incidents do not happen again.
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KABAR IRIAN ("Irian News") www.kabar-irian.com
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