[Kabar-Irian] News: April 29-May 01
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May 1 2006
KABAR IRIAN NEWS
TOPICS
* Let's Not Support Separatism
* West Papua's Long Search for Identity
* Party-goers brawl at Freeport mine in Indonesia
* Mine hits deep seam of Papua unrest
* Call for UN to assist West Papua
* Papuan's asylum claim delayed
* Papua clash no impact on Grasberg
* 'Secret' talks strengthen borders
* Flag-raising Papuans urge us to wake up
* Papuan activists raise flag
* SEVEN INJURED IN PAPUA FREEPORT MINE VIOLENCE
* Looking ahead on Papua
* Cholera death toll in Papua nears 200
* Indonesia cholera outbreak leaves 141 dead
--
The Australian
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Feature
Let's Not Support Separatism
Amanda Vanstone argues ethnic rights in Indonesia's
Papua provinces are not properly understood in Australia
THE controversy surrounding the Papuan asylum-seeker issue shows yet again
how a flurry of ill-informed and irresponsible commentary can obscure
important
issues. It seems inflammatory and aggressive commentary will always push
cautious, reasoned and balanced argument out of the public space. The verbal
sabre-rattling should be left to undergraduates and commentators who skim
the issue
du jour.
This is an issue of vital importance to Australia and our nearest neighbour,
Indonesia. What is needed is increased understanding, not increased
confusion.
There needs to be increased understanding of our protection visa obligations
and of the complex nature of the modern Indonesian state. As a famous
statesman once said, "to jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war".
[The Australian immigration department has granted visas to 42 of 43 Papuans
who arrived in Australia by boat earlier this year, claiming to be refugees.
Indonesia recalled its ambassador from Canberra in apparent protest and has
warned Australians against involvement in what it regards as internal
politics.]
Some commentators have asserted that the boat, which arrived with a banner
making genocide claims, was just a stunt aimed at publicising the separatist
cause, as if the false and extravagant claim of genocide invalidates a
claim to
protection. Other commentators have jumped to the conclusion that the
granting
of a protection visa means the genocide claim is accepted. Neither point of
view understands the way protection claims are handled.
All an applicant for protection needs to do is demonstrate "a well-founded
fear of persecution". Australian courts have ruled that this means only that
there has to be "more than a remote chance of experiencing persecution".
This is
not a high bar to get over. It is not uncommon for applicants for protection
visas to embellish claims. The embellishment is disregarded but that does not
demolish any real claim to protection simply because there has been some
embellishment.
It is also important to recognise that the granting of protection is not
necessarily a reflection on the state, the government or the region.
Australia has
granted protection visas to people from a number of western European
countries that may surprise some critics of Australia's protection
processes. The fact
is that the grounds for granting protection are not necessarily hard to
establish.
Advocates for asylum-seekers in Australia continually peddle the myth that
the Australian Government has taken a hard line in granting protection
under the
refugee convention. Australia's hard line has been against the irregular
movement of people, not the processing of asylum claims. Advocates have
successfully convinced many Australians and the international community
that the
Australian Government rarely grants protection claims. However, the facts
speak for
themselves. Australian and Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
officers processing claims in Nauru have had similar rates for accepting
claims.
It is also worth noting that the success rates for asylum claims processed in
Australia or Nauru are noticeably higher than the success rates of claims in
many European countries.
However, given the propaganda of advocates that Australia hardly ever grants
protection, it is no wonder that the Indonesian Government is left feeling
that the Papuan cases were handled differently; that they were given special,
favourable treatment. But it is not true.
In the case of the 42 visas granted, each was awarded on the individual
merits of the case. None should be read as indicating that the Government
lends the
slightest credibility to the claims of genocide emblazoned on their boat.
These are specifically rejected by the Australian Government, as they are
by any
responsible objective observer.
It is disappointing that there has not been more media coverage in Australia
of the steps being taken by the Indonesian Government to improve the
protection of human rights in Indonesia. Indonesia's National Commission
on Human
Rights recognises the problems they face and does not ignore them.
The decision by the Government to process offshore any claims for protection
by people arriving unlawfully by boat in Australia will not change the way in
which claims are assessed. The same refugees convention criteria will be
applied. What it will change is the place in which the assessments are
made and
where the protection may be offered. It is the Government's strong preference
that protection is not offered in Australia to Papuan separatists.
There are very good grounds for not wanting to establish in Australia a base
for Papuan separatists.
This is not just a question of good relations with Indonesia. It involves
serious questions of Australia's national interests.
Separatism is a toxic cause that could, if encouraged, result in chaos, death
and suffering on our doorstep.
Such a human disaster would mean a flood of normal citizens fleeing homes
they would otherwise have no desire to leave.
Australia has rejected similar movements in Papua New Guinea. For example,
when political leaders in the former Australian Territory of Papua wanted to
break away from the UN Trust Territory of New Guinea in the newly independent
PNG, the Australian government rejected the separatist claims. Equally, it
rejected separatist claims in Bougainville. All of these movements should
be seen
for what they are: attempts to inflame ethnic and religious feeling by
political
leaders seeking political power.
So-called Papuan nationalism in Indonesia is based on nothing more than
hostility to people from other parts of Indonesia. Such racist sentiment
should be
condemned, not encouraged. It is surprising that some of the groups in
Australia that lend support to Papuan separatism are groups that are
otherwise quick
to condemn racism.
The use of the words Papua or Papuan as if they referred to an identifiable
ethnic group or language is incorrect. The fact is that there are many ethnic
groups and languages indigenous to the Indonesian province of Papua, just as
there are in the provinces adjacent to Papua, where people could equally be
described by the broad term Melanesian. Separatists in the former Australian
Territory of Papua who tried to secede had no real basis for claiming
separateness
as Papuans, and neither do those in Indonesia.
Australians need to understand the unique nature of the Indonesian state,
which is based on respect for ethnic differences and religious tolerance.
This is
a principle of fundamental importance not only to the province of Papua (and,
for that matter, to Aceh) but to all Indonesians. Indonesia is the state with
the largest Muslim population in the world, but it is also a state that
recognises Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism, for instance through the
observance
of public holidays.
To imagine that there is a single identifiable group of people in Papua
different from another homogenous group called Indonesians is an error
that can
have dire consequences. The province of Papua, like the rest of Indonesia, is
multi-ethnic, multilingual and multi-religious. Australians need to share
with
all 240 million people in the archipelagic nation of Indonesia an interest in
maintaining ethnic and religious harmony in that country. Just as we do in
Australia.
Amanda Vanstone is the federal Minister for Immigration and Multicultural
Affairs.
--
Australian Financial Review
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Perspective
West Papua's Long Search for Identity
By Brian Toohey
Australian troops during World War II were not the only outsiders to notice
that
many Papuan people have "fuzzy wuzzy" hair. After landing in 1526, the
Portuguese sailor Jorge deMenezes spent a few months on the north-west
coast of New
Guinea, which he later named Ilhas dos Papuas - the islands of the
frizzy-haired people.
DeMenezes derived the name from the Malay word for frizzy hair - papuwah. Not
that the local people at the time called themselves Papuans, or inhabitants
of New Guinea. The latter name was given to the island in 1545 by a visiting
Spanish sailor, Ortiz Retes, after it reminded him of Spain's African
territory
of Guinea.
Other Portuguese, Spanish and English sailors visited parts of New Guinea
during the 16thcentury - but none claimed sovereignty, let alone tried to
govern
the place. Nor, apparently, did any of the Indian, Arab, Chinese or other
traders who may have ventured along the coast while seeking to do business
further
west in the Moluccas islands.
Even the Dutch were slow off the mark. Willem Janzoon sailed along New
Guinea's south coast before landing in the Gulf of Carpentaria in 1606. Isaac
LeMaire explored part of the north coast in 1616, followed by Abel Tasman
in 1643,
without any Dutch attempts at colonisation.
Instead, the Dutch were busy dominating the spice trade in the Moluccas. From
the late 1590s, they devoted much effort to wresting control of the Moluccas
from the Portuguese, and went on to establish a colonial empire, often
brutally ruled from Batavia (now Jakarta) and spanning almost 350years.
They did not claim south-west New Guinea until 1828, and the north west until
1848. Although a British naval officer made a brief attempt at colonisation
in 1793, the Dutch waited until 1828 before building Fort Du Bus on the
southern shores to help protect shipping. They abandoned the fort in 1836
and did not
establish administrative posts until 1898. Even then, the Dutch took little
interest the territory.
By the time the Japanese invaded in 1942, the colony supported fewer than 400
farms run by Dutch immigrants (mainly from Java). Fortunately for allied
troops, the Papuans were more enthusiastic farmers. After the allies
counter-attacked, General Douglas Macarthur established a major
headquarter at the capital
of Hollania (now Jayapura) and 20bases. The local "fuzzy wuzzies" won
widespread praise for their assistance, including the supply of large
quantities of
food.
The Dutch resumed control at the end of the war in 1945 with much greater
ease than occurred in Java and other parts of their East Indies empire. In
1949,
they ceded control of their former empire to the new nation of Indonesia, led
by president Soekarno. But the Papuan territory was not included. The Dutch
argued it was a separate entity in terms of geography, ethnicity and colonial
history. In the Dutch view, the locals had the right to self-determination
under
the United Nations charter. The Indonesians argued the Papuan region was
really part of the Dutch East Indies empire.
Soeharto also argued that the territory was once part of the Javanese-based
Majapahit Hindu kingdom, stretching from Madagascar to an island chain off
the
coast of Chile. There appears to be almost no support for such an extensive
claim. But there is widespread agreement that the trading kingdom, which
existed
from the late 13thcentury until the early 16thcentury, encompassed much of
Java and nearby islands. Some accounts have the kingdom reaching into
parts of
the Malay peninsula and the southern Philippines.
Soekarno also claimed that the north-west Papuan coast had been under the
control of the sultan of the tiny island of Tidore in the northern Moluccas.
Tidore and the nearby island of Ternate were rivals in the spice trade.
Neither
seemed to have enough personnel - or motivation - to exercise ongoing control
over the Papuans, who had no spices to offer.
Nevertheless, when the great English naturalist Alfred Wallace visited
Ternate and Tidore in 1858, he noted they still managed to extract a
tribute of bird
of paradise feathers from the island of Waigeo off the north-west coast of
New Guinea. Moreover, in 1714 the Dutch East India Company (VOC, in Dutch)
entered into an agreement in which the sultan of Tidore granted it trading
rights
in the western part of New Guinea. Not that VOC exercised these rights, as it
was far more interested in reducing the sultan to a bystander in the spice
trade.
The sultan's claims are disputed by Jacob Rumbiak, a leading member of the
independence movement in West Papua, as many of the indigenous population
call
the territory the Indonesians have successively named Irian Barat, Irian
Jaya,
West Papua and now Papua. Rumbiak draws on statements from the Dutch
governors
of other spice-growing islands who dismissed Tidore's territorial claim. He
also cites anthropologists who say West Papuan warriors conducted successful
raids on Tidore.
Even if there were a basis for Tidore's claim to exercise a form of
suzerainty over parts of Papua in 1714, the sultan did not regard his own
island as
part of Indonesia - an entity which did not exist at that stage. Until the
Dutch
established administrative posts in 1898, the most likely answer to the
question of who exercised prior sovereignty over its Papuan territory is
that no one
did. Instead, control was divided between an estimated 350tribes and over
250language groups in terrain that ranged from steaming hot coastal plains to
glacial mountains.
A Dutch-Indonesian conference in 1950 made no headway on sovereignty, and the
impasse remained throughout the decade. During this period, the Dutch
undertook an intensive training effort, putting the Papuans in the west in
a much
better position to become self-governing than those in the
Australian-controlled
Papua New Guinea in the eastern half of the island. Apart from a brief
exception, the Dutch position on sovereignty was strongly backed by the
Menzies
government in the 1950s. In 1957, the two governments drew up a declaration
supporting the "inalienable rights" of the local inhabitants under the UN
charter.
In May 1961, the Dutch gave the first Papuan elected parliament
responsibility to work towards independence by 1971. The Dutch recognised
a new anthem, a
new flag (the Morning Star) and a new name - West Papua. The flag was
raised on
December1, 1961.
Soekarno responded with an invasion on December18, 1961. The Papuans easily
rounded up the invading paratroops. Although a larger Indonesian invasion
would
have faced severe difficulties in overcoming military opposition from the
Dutch and Australia, much larger forces were at play.
The Menzies cabinet was caught off-guard when the newly elected Kennedy
administration would not back Australian and Dutch opposition to the
territory
being ceded to the Indonesians. Fearing that Indonesia might slide into
the grip
of local communists if Soekarno was rebuffed, the US successfully
pressured the
Australians and the Dutch to agree in 1962 to handing West Papua over to the
Indonesians. The agreement was ratified by the UN in September 1962 with the
support of the non-aligned nations and the communist block. The agreement
allowed for an interim transfer of authority to the UN until May 1963, when
Indonesia became the new colonial power. An "act of free choice" about
independence
was supposed to follow under UN supervision.
Partly encouraged by the ease with which he acquired West Papua, Soekarno
began a campaign of military incursions to "confront" Malaysia. This time,
Australia took a much firmer stand, despite US wishes not to be involved.
Foreign
minister Garfield Barwick bluntly told the Indonesians that Australia would
defend Malaysia. A Foreign Affairs departmental document at the time says the
Australian government decided "it would be dangerous and self-defeating to
appease
Indonesia by the surrender of principles in the pursuit of a temporarily
quiet life".
Although Australian forces clashed with Indonesian troops in Borneo, skilled
diplomacy allowed a working relationship to be maintained with Jakarta during
confrontation. Relations became much warmer, however, after president
Soeharto
took power in 1966. In particular, there was scant official Australian
criticism of how Indonesia fulfilled its obligations in West Papua. When
the act of
"free choice" was finally held in 1969, it was widely described as a sham
after it was strictly supervised by the Indonesian military which appointed
1025Papuans to represent a population of more than 800,000.
Australian support for incorporation into Indonesia even involved an early
version of the present day "Pacific solution" for refugees. After Indonesian
tanks fired into a crowd before the act of free choice, two West Papuan
polities,
Clemens Runaweri and Wim Zonggonau, were warned they had become targets and
fled to PNG. As they were about to board a plane in Port Moresby to fly to
New
York to put their concerns about the ballot to the UN, they were arrested by
Australian police and interned on Manus Island.
Well-documented instances of Indonesian military involvement in murdering,
torturing and raping Papuans have continued to produce a flow of refugees
into
PNG and, less often, Australia. In January, 43Papuans fled by canoe to Cape
York. While denying that any abuses were authorised, the Indonesian Defence
Minister, Juwono Sudarsono, conceded in February: "There's been incidences
of some
brutality, torture and rape involving some of our troops."
However, when the Australian authorities granted protection visas to 42 of
the asylum seekers, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said this contradicted
Australia's recognition of his country's sovereignty and wanted them sent
back.
The Australian government made a number of concessions and stressed it fully
accepts Indonesian sovereignty. But it is still trying to explain that
sovereignty does not confer a right to mistreat people so brutally that
they qualify
for protection visas under Australian and international law.
--
Party-goers brawl at Freeport mine in Indonesia
JAKARTA, April 30 (Reuters) - A brawl broke out at a party at the huge
Grasberg mine in eastern Indonesia owned by U.S.-based Freeport-McMoRan
Copper &
Gold Inc., with nine people injured, police said on Sunday.
Mine production was not affected, police spokesman Kartono Wangsadisastra
said by phone from Papua province's capital, Jayapura.
The Grasberg mine, believed to hold the world's third-largest copper reserves
and one of the biggest gold deposits, has been at the centre of protests over
accusations of environmental damage and local claims for a bigger share of
mine income.
But police said the trouble on Saturday stemmed from a party attended by
about 1,000 mine staff and guests.
When police tried to remove some drunken party-goers who had begun fighting,
some threw stones and, as the violence spread, police fired rubber bullets to
break up the fighting, Wangsadisastra said.
Nine people, including one policeman, were hurt by rubber bullets, rocks or
broken glass, he said.
Four cars were burned and some buildings damaged in the fighting, which took
place some distance from mining operations.
Freeport spokesman Sidharta Moersid confirmed there had been an incident and
that it had not affected mining.
--
BBC, April 23, 2006
Mine hits deep seam of Papua unrest
By Tim Johnston
BBC News, Jakarta
When protesters killed five members of the Indonesian security forces in the
remote and restive province of Papua last week, it focused international
attention on a region with long-standing grievances.
Analysts are warning that the Indonesian government has a limited window of
opportunity to do something about the unrest.
Although the demonstrations were nominally spurred by objections to the
world's largest copper and gold mine, operated by the US-based Freeport
McMoRan,
the roots of Papuan discontent are deeper and more intractable.
Papua has a distinct identity and political history. Dutch colonial forces
granted Papua self-rule in 1961, but after the Dutch pulled out a year later,
Jakarta annexed the province without honouring the agreement.
In 2001, the government recognised this by granting the province increased
autonomy, but it has had little tangible benefit on the ground.
Losing faith in the political process, many activists believe direct action
is the only way to bring their concerns to the attention of Jakarta.
"Many of the demonstrations had long been planned by student groups linked to
the independence movement, but the Freeport protests also reflected broader
frustration and anger over the role of the military in Papua, lack of justice
for past abuses and the failure of special autonomy to improve the welfare of
the people," the Brussels-based International Crisis Group said in a report
released this week.
Tired of waiting
The list of Papuan complaints has been growing steadily over the years.
People in the province feel that at best they are neglected, and at worst
they have
been ruthlessly exploited by successive Jakarta governments only interested
in taking their gold, their copper, their timber and their land and giving
nothing in return.
The brutal and heavy handed tactics of the Indonesian security forces and the
lack of any reliable system of redress have also provided a constant source
of aggravation, and a constant source of recruits to the ranks of the rebels.
The authorities are aware of the problem and have taken some steps: after the
recent police deaths, they took away the guns of 40 members of the
paramilitary
mobile police brigade to prevent retribution.
Papuans also feel let down by the government of President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono. In his election campaign in 2004, Mr Yudhoyono promised to tackle
long-standing Papuan concerns, a promise that won him an overwhelming
share of the
vote in the province.
But Papuans say he has not delivered.
They say his administration has ignored the Papuan People's Council, which
was set up late last year as an interlocutor to ease tensions between Papuans
and the central government. They say that they are tired of waiting for
change
that never comes and that now is the time to for them to push it onto the
agenda, both within Indonesia and internationally.
Asylum embarrassment
Papuan nationalists are becoming much more adept at attracting international
attention to their concerns. They know that the topic of gold mining, with
its
visceral if frequently mistaken associations with rapacious greed, has a
broad and incendiary appeal in the liberal West. By coupling their economic
grievances with Freeport with accusations of environmental damage, the
appeal has
been given extra impetus.
A prominent Papuan nationalist, Edison Waromi, says that the recent arrival
of 43 Papuan asylum seekers in Australia was designed to bring attention
to the
problems in the province. The boat they arrived on carried a banner saying in
English: "Save West Papua people souls from genocide, intimidation and
terrorist from military government of Indonesia."
On Thursday, the Australian government granted all but one of the group
temporary protection visas, an indication that their fears of the Indonesian
authorities may have foundation. It is a clear embarrassment for South
East Asia's
largest democracy and a country that is trying to re-establish its
humanitarian
credentials after years of repression.
Beneath Indonesia's newly restored democracy runs a powerful vein of
nationalism. What the nationalists fear is that Papua will become another
East Timor.
After almost a quarter of a century of Indonesian rule, international
pressure forced Jakarta to hold a referendum on Timorese independence, and
in 1999
the land that Indonesians once called their 27th province voted to break
away,
leaving a deep wound that for many has never healed.
Nationalists accuse the West of orchestrating the plan to "steal" East Timor,
starting with a mass campaign by human rights activists and ending with the
UN-organised referendum on independence.
The subject is still so raw that almost all visiting dignitaries, from US
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice earlier this month to UK Prime
Minister Tony
Blair next week, are required to make a statement that they are committed to
"the unitary state of Indonesia" - shorthand for a declaration that they
don't
support independence for Papua or any other part of the country.
The Indonesian government has to perform a difficult balancing act in many
dimensions.
It needs to move towards addressing Papuan concerns while trying to keep
inflamed Indonesian nationalist sentiments in check; and it needs to be
seen to be
taking concerns over Freeport into account while avoiding being seen
unilaterally to renegotiate the company's licence, and thus alienating
vital foreign
investment in the country.
Although the government has been tinkering with solutions to specific
Freeport-based issues, it has done little to address the underlying
sources of
discontent in Papua. The International Crisis Group says that the most
important
element of any solution would be constructive dialogue with a representative
Papuan body.
It says that although it would currently be possible to revive the Papuan
People's Council as a dialogue partner, people are running out of
patience, and
that will not hold true indefinitely.
--
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2006/666/666p14c.htm
Call for UN to assist West Papua
Pip Hinman
An Australian coalition of West Papua support groups has asked the UN to
list West Papua as
a non-governing territory requiring a self-determination plebiscite.
Joe Collins from the Australia-West Papua Association in Sydney said, “It
is internationally
accepted that the 1969 ‘Act of Free Choice’ was flawed, and not a true act of
self-determination. A Dutch government commissioned report by Pieter
Drooglever concluded,
as have others, that the ‘Act of Free Choice’ was a sham. It’s time that
the UN accepted
responsibility and looked at its handling of the act of free choice but
also at the New York
agreement which transferred the administration of West Papua to Indonesia
without the West
Papuan people’s consent.”
A number of public figures have joined the Australian initiative to
petition the UN Special
Committee on Decolonisation to get the International Court of Justice’s
opinion on
irregularities in the administration and annexation of West Papua.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu
has added his support to this effort, which has already been endorsed by
Pieter Drooglever,
Noam Chomsky and Bishop Hilton Deakin among others.
The letter asks the International Court of Justice if it agrees that:
Indonesia is required
to continue its obligations under United Nations charter Article 73 as an
administrating
power; the New York Agreement violates international law and the United
Nations Charter; the
agreement violated UN Resolution 1514 by delaying transfer of
administration in accordance
with the people’s will; the Act of Free Choice was invalid in light of
multiple violations
of the terms of the New York Agreement, the United Nations Charter and UN
General Assembly
Resolution 1541; and that apart from historical issues, West Papua now
qualifies as a
non-governing territory as defined by UN General Assembly Resolution 1541.
For the full text of letter go to:
<http://www.unpo.org/news_detail.php?arg=56&par=4283>.
>From Green Left Weekly, May 3, 2006.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.
--
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200605/s1627801.htm
Papuan's asylum claim delayed
The Immigration Department may know within a week, whether a 29-year-old
man from the
Indonesian province of Papua is likely to be granted asylum.
The man is the only Papuan to remain in immigration detention, since 42
others arrived on
Australian shores by boat in January.
He is being kept on Christmas Island.
The Federal Magistrates Court in Melbourne has heard the man's application
has been delayed
because he has a Japanese visa.
Immigration lawyers say they will have information from Japanese
authorities within a week
that will help determine the man's case.
--
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/BUSINESS/05/01/freeport.reut/
Papua clash no impact on Grasberg
Monday, May 1, 2006 Posted: 0500 GMT (1300 HKT)
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JAKARTA, Indonesia (Reuters) -- Mining operations were running normally on
Monday at
Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc's giant Grasberg mine in Indonesia
after a weekend clash
at a party near the mine.
Nine people were hurt in violence between police and party-goers at a
function attended by
about 1,000 mine staff and guests in Tembagapura town in the remote Papua
province on
Saturday.
Tembagapura lies about 10 km (6 miles) from the mine site's milling complex.
"The situation has calmed down since Saturday night. The brawl didn't
affect operations.
Mining activity is running normally," Freeport's spokesman Siddharta
Moersjid said.
The Grasberg mine, believed to hold the world's third-largest copper
reserves and one of the
biggest gold deposits, has been at the center of protests over accusations
of environmental
damage and local demands for a bigger share of mine income.
Miners have been racing to churn out minerals at a record pace to cash in
on fast-rising
commodity prices.
World copper prices have leapt 130 percent to record levels above $7,300 a
tonne on the
London Metal Exchange, while gold, at $655 an ounce is at its highest
level in a quarter
century.
Grasberg churned out 793,000 tonnes of copper last year -- up from 515,400
in 2004. Gold
production rose to 3.55 million ounces from 1.58 million in the previous
year.
In February, operations at the Grasberg mine came to a halt for four days
when protesters,
mostly illegal miners, blocked the road leading to the mine after they
clashed with security
officers.
--
http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,18971110%255E421,00.html
THE NATION
This story is from our news.com.au network Source: Sunday Herald Sun
back PRINT-FRIENDLY VERSION EMAIL THIS STORY
'Secret' talks strengthen borders
30apr06
AUSTRALIA is holding secret talks with Indonesia to co-ordinate naval and
air patrols
against illegal fishing and West Papuan asylum seekers.
And the Howard Government is prepared to spend as much as $200 million in
next month's
federal Budget to toughen Australia's border security.
Indonesia is also set to build a new naval base at the West Papuan coastal
town of Merauke,
across the Torres Strait and near the border between the Indonesian
province of West Papua
and Papua New Guinea.
Relations between Australia and Indonesia were at their worst in years
last month when the
Department of Immigration approved 42 protection visas for West Papuans
who had sought
asylum here.
Indonesia regarded the move as provocative because it might have
encouraged West Papuan
separatists seeking independence from Jakarta.
The Budget money will be spent on more ships, planes and military personnel.
The additional resources will be used to crack down on thousands of
illegal vessels that
enter Australia's territorial waters every year.
The joint military plan being worked out would see Australian and
Indonesian navies dividing
areas to patrol in territorial and non-territorial waters.
The idea is not to have joint patrols, involving both countries working
together, but rather
"co-ordinated" patrols.
The Merauke naval base will serve as the staging point for the Indonesian
navy to send its
ships to intercept illegal fishing boats and possibly turn back West
Papuan asylum seekers.
Last year there were more than 13,000 sightings of illegal vessels in
Australian waters.
The Opposition has been calling for a coastguard to patrol Australia's
coastline.
--
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,18983220-2702,00.html
Flag-raising Papuans urge us to wake up
May 01, 2006
AUSTRALIA should do much more to help the people of Papua, according to
activists who
yesterday stepped up their independence campaign for the troubled
Indonesian province.
Demonstrators raised the West Papua Morning Star flag outside the
Indonesian consulate in
Sydney's beachside suburb of Maroubra yesterday in protest against alleged
human rights
abuses in the province.
Papuan David Haluk, who has been living in Australia for the past seven
years, attended the
flag-raising ceremony and said he would not be able to perform such a
simple protest in his
homeland.
He said Papuans were not free to express their views and faced jail for
challenging
Indonesian rule, including by raising the Morning Star flag.
"We thank the Australian Government (for accepting 42 asylum-seekers),
because now the world
knows that there's something going," Mr Haluk said. "But we want the
Australian Government
to wake up more and remember the West Papuan struggle."
The granting of visas last month to the 42 Papuans ignited Indonesian
anger, amid
accusations Australia was supporting Papuan independence activists.
Jakarta said the move
was "deplorable".
In a bid to heal the diplomatic rift that led to Jakarta recalling its
ambassador, Australia
agreed to review its immigration procedures to ensure all future boat
arrivals would be
processed offshore.
But the move failed to appease Jakarta, with President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono warning
Australia: "Don't insult us, don't toy with us and don't deny us justice."
Yesterday's protest came after controversial comments by Immigration
Minister Amanda
Vanstone that Papuan nationalism in Indonesia was a "racist sentiment"
based on hostility to
people from other parts of Indonesia. "Separatism is a toxic cause that
could, if
encouraged, result in chaos, death and suffering on our doorstop," Senator
Vanstone wrote in
The Weekend Australian.
Greens leader Bob Brown described Senator Vanstone's comments as
"despicable".
"She is calling the cry for freedom toxic," Senator Brown said. "She is
calling the call for
separation, that is independence, racist."
Mr Haluk called for international action to bring about independence.
"What we need now is international action in West Papua," Mr Haluk said.
"We want a United
Nations peacekeeping force in West Papua."
AAP
--
http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story/0,20281,18978829-5001028,00.html
Papuan activists raise flag
April 30, 2006
AUSTRALIA needs to do more to help Papua attain independence, but the
decision to grant
bridging visas to 42 asylum seekers has put the province's struggle back
on the world
agenda, a Papuan activist says.
About 25 Papuan supporters gathered outside the Indonesian Consulate in
Sydney today to
raise the West Papuan Morning Star flag and call for the province's
independence from
Indonesia.
The activists claim the province is wracked by violence and human rights
abuses.
But they praised Australia for granting protection visas to 42 Papuan
asylum seekers.
The move ignited Indonesian anger, amid accusations Australia was
supporting Papuan
independence activists. In a bid to heal the diplomatic rift, Australia
agreed to review its
immigration procedures to ensure all future boat arrivals would be
processed offshore.
Papuan David Haluk, who has been living in Australia for the past seven
years, attended
today's flag-raising ceremony and praised Australia's acceptance of the 42
asylum seekers.
"We thank the Australian government, because now the world knows that
there's something
going on in West Papua," Mr Haluk said.
"But we want the Australian government to wake up more and remember the
West Papuan
struggle."
He said Papuan people were not free to express themselves and faced jail
for challenging
Indonesian rule, including by raising the Morning Star flag.
He called for international action to bring about independence.
"What we need now is international action in West Papua.
"We want a United Nations peacekeeping force in West Papua."
--
http://www.antara.co.id/en/seenws/?id=11949
Apr 30 13:49 SEVEN INJURED IN PAPUA FREEPORT MINE VIOLENCE
*Jakarta (ANTARA News)* - Seven people were injured and buildings and cars
were vandalized
as police and mine workers clashed near the giant Freeport
MacMoRan-operated gold and copper
mine in Indonesia's Papua province, a company spokesman said Sunday. The
violence occured as
hundreds of native mine workers and residents were leaving a company event
in Mimika
district late Saturday afternoon,
Freeport spokesman Sidarta Moersyid said. "The cause of the violence
remains unclear and it
is still being investigated by the police, but seven people were injured
according to the
latest report I have received," Moersyid told AFP. He said at least two
company buildings
were among several vandalized and a number of cars linked to the mine were
torched. "But the
situation is now under control," he said, adding that mining operations
were not affected.
The Kompas daily quoted Papua Police Chief Inspector General Tommy Jacobus
as saying the
crowd mistook an attempt by policemen to halt a fight between a couple of
drunken locals as
an attack on them.
He said two residents were hospitalised after being injured by rubber
bullets, but were not
in critical condition. Papua police could not be immediately reached for
comment. Tension
still runs high in the area following a five-day blockade by alleged
illegal miners barred
by the company from prospecting for gold in the mine's tailing last month.
A violent mass
protest in the Papuan capital Jayapura demanding closure of the mine left
six people dead
last month. Critics accuse Freeport-McMoRan of not giving enough to the
people of Papua in
return for the mine, which critics say causes pollution and is responsible
for human rights
abuses because of the military's protection of the site.
--
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20060501.F03&irec=4
Looking ahead on Papua
In a conversation with a Papuan gentleman who is collecting data for his
doctoral degree on
regional autonomy issues, it was said that the recent uproar triggered by
the granting of
temporary protection visas to 42 Papuans by the Australian government is
no more than an
effort by some irresponsible parties to disrupt Indonesia's national
stability and
development.
Domestically, having learnt from past experiences, the government of the
Republic of
Indonesia has allocated a large amount of money for the Papuan province,
in particular for
the education sector. This means that more Papuans are now encouraged to
seek knowledge for
the progress of their province. Also under this regional autonomy scheme,
through
coordination with the Central government, the Papua province's regional
administration
allocates money to fully support their putra daerah (the indigenous
people, from any walks
of life) who are considered promising, so that they may contribute to
their home province.
Learning from what has happened with East Timor, it is worth pondering
that Papuans are an
integral part of Indonesia. In this case, we, most effectively the Papuans
themselves, have
to show the world that Papuans are still firmly united with Indonesia.
Furthermore,
witnessing the disintegration in some parts of the world, we should see
that the national
unity of Indonesia is more important than anything.
There are always, as residues of the past, those who are narrow-mindedly
"disappointed"
because of the so-called unfair sharing of the cake of the province's
riches. They are the
most vulnerable to unseen provocation, domestically or abroad. But being
optimistic, this
does not mean that the situation cannot be resolved, no matter how long it
might take. This
might also serve as a lesson and reflection for all of us to look ahead,
move ahead, and let
bygones be bygones.
PRIADJI SOELAIMAN
Hamburg, Germany
--
Radio New Zealand International
The Voice of New Zealand, Broadcasting to the Pacific
Te Reo Irirangi O Aotearoa, O Te Moana-Nui-A-Kiwa
Cholera death toll in Papua nears 200
Posted at 04:13 on 01 May, 2006 UTC
The number of deaths from a cholera outbreak in the Jayawijaya regency of
Indonesia’s Papua
province is approaching 200.
An Indonesian Health Ministry spokesman said the death toll had reached
151 and at least
3,200 people have been affected by the cholera since March.
But on the same day, health workers put the number of deaths at around 180.
They say they have been overwhelmed by the outbreak, after treating at
least 1200 people
this week.
Those affected contracted the deadly bacteria after contact with hundreds
of pigs who died
in an outbreak last month.
The Papua Health office has urged people to stop slaughtering animals at
ceremonies to
prevent further spread of bacteria.
They say the death toll could be as high as 200 across two affected
districts where twenty
health posts have been established.
Contaminated drinking water and lack of awareness for the spread of the
disease have also
been blamed for the outbreak.
--
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060428/indonesia_cholera_060428/200604
28?hub=Health
Indonesia cholera outbreak leaves 141 dead
Updated Fri. Apr. 28 2006 9:23 AM ET
Associated Press
WAMENA, Indonesia -- A cholera outbreak in Indonesia's easternmost
province of Papua has
killed 141 people in the last month and sickened another 2,500, a local
health official said
Friday.
Berry Wopari blamed contaminated drinking water and lack of awareness for
the spread of the
disease in the mountainous region of Jayawijaya. "We've set up more than a
dozen health
centres," he said, adding that it "looks like things are now under control."
Papua, one of Indonesia's most remote regions geographically and
politically, is the scene
of a decades-long separatist rebellion during which an estimated 100,000
have died - many
through starvation or disease.
Access to foreigners is restricted and it was not immediately possible to
verify Wopari's
claims.
Cholera is transmitted through contaminated water and is linked to poor
hygiene,
overcrowding and bad sanitation. Symptoms include diarrhea and vomiting,
which can kill
unless treated quickly.
--------------------
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