[Kabar-Irian] News: Sept 27-29 2006
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Sept 27-29 2006
KABAR IRIAN NEWS
TOPICS
* Indonesia offers joint sea border patrols with PNG
* Australia urged to step in as China stokes illegal logging
* Indonesians propose joint border patrols
* Protest marks Timika trial
* Freeport gladly watches mining merger mania from the sidelines
* More Questions for the ICG on Papua Issue
* Misrule in Papua
* Reports of plan to attack Papua New Guinea office in Jakarta denied
* Papuan plot `no surprise'
---
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0609/S00548.htm
Indonesia offers joint sea border patrols with PNG
Thursday, 28 September 2006, 3:21 am
Press Release: Pacific Media Watch
Indonesia proposes joint sea border patrols with PNG
Indonesia is proposing joint sea patrols along the border with Papua New
Guinea to prevent further incidences of illegal
fishing.
42 Indonesians have reportedly been arrested for illegal fishing in the
past six months off PNG’s Sandaun and Western
provinces.
One Indonesian was shot dead by a PNG patrol in an incident now under
high-level investigation in PNG.
A spokesperson for the Indonesian Embassy in Port Moresby, Pratito
Soeharyo, says he will arrange a meeting between
Indonesian and PNG government officials to discuss the matter.
He says because it is the fishing season now, some Indonesians may have
crossed the border unintentionally while chasing
fish.
“So I propose to both governments, Indonesia and PNG, to have some kind of
co-operation in border patrol - not only in the
sea border but on the land border as well, to have a joint patrol, with
police, to avoid this kind of illegal crossing of the
border by fishermen, illegally.”
---
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20482982-30417,00.html
Australia urged to step in as China stokes illegal logging
Greg Roberts
September 27, 2006
THREE out of four logs exported from Papua New Guinea and Indonesia are
felled illegally and developed countries such as
Australia should do more to stop importing them, says a new report by the
World Bank on the forestry industry.
The report by the bank's environment and rural development departments
singles out China for encouraging illegal logging to
supply its booming industry in finished timber products.
The report says illegal logging worldwide is causing losses of assets and
revenue in excess of $US10 billion ($13 billion)
annually - more than six times the amount governments spend on forestry
management.
Governments are losing a further $6.4 billion a year in evaded taxes and
royalties through illegal logging.
"Large-scale operators continue with impunity," says the report,
Strengthening Forest Law Enforcement and Governance.
"Arguably, this is the worst form of violation of equity of justice
arising from a clear failure of governance and it needs
to be addressed."
The World Bank findings contradict a report prepared recently by
Australian consultancy ITS Global for Malaysian forestry
giant Rimbunan Hijau, the main logging operator in Papua New Guinea.
The Rimbunan Hijau report says that after "exhaustive analysis", ITS
Global consultants had concluded that claims that most
logging in PNG was illegal were baseless, and that any "irregularities" in
the industry had been corrected.
The World Bank report says an estimated 70 per cent of total logging
production in PNG is illegal, a proportion exceeded by
only four other nations including Indonesia, where between 70 and 80 per
cent of logging is illegal.
The report says consumer countries should do more to reduce the motive for
illegal logging by reforming markets.
The Australian Government is examining ways of banning imports of
illegally sourced timber from PNG and Indonesia, but
Canberra has pointed out the difficulties raised by the exporting of
illicit logs to countries such as China, from where
timber products are in turn exported.
The World Bank said the value of wood imports into China had increased
from $7.7billion in 1996 to $20.5billion in 2005 to
meet increased demand for export products such as furniture and wood-based
panelling.
The Chinese did not distinguish between legally and illegally produced
timber for imports from PNG, Indonesia and other
countries.
"It is feared that the Chinese demand is escalating the problem of illegal
logging in several producer countries that are
characterised by weak forest law enforcement and governance."
The report says legal log harvesting accounted for just 17million cubic
metres of Indonesia's annual production of 74million
cubic metres.
This was because most commercially viable timber from legal forest
concessions had been exhausted and plantations had not
been developed quickly enough to meet the shortfall.
Indonesia and Brazil had experienced repeated and costly episodes of
uncontrolled forest fire due to the "gross violation of
standards and regulations".
The report says that 350 million people were heavily dependent on forests
for their livelihoods and a further one billion
were partly dependent.
---
http://www.thenational.com.pg/092706/nation2.htm
Indonesians propose joint border patrols
By AGNES PETER
THERE were indications yesterday for joint PNG and Indonesian military sea
patrols along the border to prevent further
illegal fishing.
Indonesian authorities have also been urged to warn their citizens not to
enter PNG waters when out fishing.
Minister counsellor for the Indonesian Embassy in Port Moresby Pratito
Soeharyo said yesterday he will arrange for talks
between Indonesian and PNG government officials for a joint sea patrol to
deter illegal fishing in the region, especially
along the border.
Mr Soeharyo told The National yesterday that he had contacted the
authorities in Jakarta about the latest arrest of 19
illegal fishermen.
“We regret that this had happened, and will do our best to avoid this
problem in future.”
But, he pointed out that this was more of a personal or private issue with
the local fishermen concerned and the PNG laws
than a government/diplomatic issue,” he said.
He said the fishermen were ordinary people who were looking for money, but
have done it in a wrong way.
He said the Indonesians were caught in PNG waters because it is the fish
season now, and they may have crossed over
unintentionally while chasing after the fish.
He added that many Indonesian fishermen have also been caught in
Australian waters during such seasons.
“We cannot stop this problem completely because we share common
territorial borders with PNG and Australia, which many simple
village fishermen might not know where the Indonesian territory ends.
“These fishermen may have crossed into PNG as a result of this,” he said.
He said another way of solving this problem was for the National
Agriculture Quarantine Authorities to relax its regulations
to attract Indonesian fishing industries to have joint ventures with PNG
businesses.
He said it was not cheap to operate a business in PNG, so tax holidays
should be given to attract more foreign businesses
into the country to avoid anything illegal from taking place.
When asked about the compensation claim by the family of the Indonesian
fisherman that was shot in Vanimo in August, he said
he did not agree with that.
He said the matter was being investigated and he trusted the PNG
Governemnt to find the best outcome.
Meanwhile, the 12 fishermen who were fined K3,500 each are still at the
Daru police station cells.
South Fly provincial police commander Insp John Kerry said he was told by
the Indonesian Embassy that the owner of the
fishing vessel, on which the fishermen were arrested, will travel to PNG
sometime this week and arrange bail for the
fishermen.
Meanwhile, the seven Indonesians arrested recently appeared in court
yesterday.
---
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailnational.asp?fileid=20060928.G10&irec=9
Protest marks Timika trial
TIMIKA, Papua: Hundreds of people pelted stones at a defendant as he
arrived at the Timika District Court in Papua to face
trial for murder. Most of the stones missed the defendant who was
surrounded by security officers, but hit the car instead.
The protesters claimed they were displeased with the prosecution who did
not inform them in writing about the trial of AR,
who was accused of killing Marthen Hukubun at a hotel in June this year.
Dozens of security officers tried to calm the protesters but one of police
officers, Second Brig. Gozali, was hit in the head
by a stone.
"We've coordinated with Timika District Court and the prosecutor's office
to secure the upcoming trial because currently,
most Mimika Police officers are still securing Kwamki Lama district," said
chief of Mimika Police operational division, Comr.
Alfred T., referring to the district where there has been an ongoing
tribal war.
The trial continued Tuesday but was adjourned until next Tuesday.
A protester, Valen Ulahayanan, said they were upset since the prosecutor's
office was not transparent and demanded that it
take the case seriously and present eye witnesses. "We want the prosecutor
to investigate the case thoroughly so there's
legal certainty for our brother," he said. -- JP
---
http://www.mineweb.net/int_beat/220260.htm
International Beat
Freeport gladly watches mining merger mania from the sidelines
By: Dorothy Kosich
Posted: '28-SEP-06 08:00' GMT © Mineweb 1997-2006
DENVER (Mineweb.com) --In today’s frenzied world of mining M&A’s and
activist hedge funds, Freeport-McMoran is very content
to be sitting on the sidelines, watching all the action.
When a company owns a mining complex containing the largest copper and
gold reserves in the world, it doesn’t have to make
acquistions, and doesn’t worry about maintaining a hefty cash balance,
according to President and CEO Richard Adkerson.
In a presentation to the Denver Gold Forum Wednesday, Adkerson noted that
the company’s massive, mega-world-class Grasberg
Mine in Indonesia has reserves that will last until the end of the mine’s
Contract of Work (COW ) in 2041. Currently,
Grasberg’s reserves include 57 billion pounds of copper and 58 million
ounces of gold.
Freeport has forecast sales of 1.2 billion pounds of copper and 1.7
million ounces of gold this year.
While Freeport has attracted investment from a number of the world’s hedge
funds, such as the crumbling Amaranth and activist
Atticus Capital, Adkerson explained that “some of our best investors over
time have been hedge funds.” He praised the funds
for “taking the time to understand our business,” and also learning to
understand the political and social issues involving
in mining in Indonesia.
Adkerson said the funds who have invested in FCX have not raised activist
concerns, nor demanded seats on the board of
directors.
Nevertheless, life for Freeport isn’t totally without problems. Currently,
the company is working with the Indonesian
Government to come up with positive solutions to counteract the troubles
generated by illegal mining.
Adkerson--who this week accompanied a delegation of Indonesian officials
on a trade mission to Washington, D.C.--noted that
Indonesia has successfully made the transition from colony to dictatorship
to one of the world’s largest democracies. A newly
elected Parliament has just convened.
The Papua Province, where Grasberg is located, is home to 2.5 million
residents. It also contains the fastest-growing city in
Indonesia, which has generated both political and social change, according
to Adkerson.
Meanwhile, Freeport is Indonesia’s largest corporate taxpayer in a
province that would like to be independent, or at the very
least autonomous. West Papuans have long insisted that the U.S. trapped
the province into becoming part of Indonesia so the
Indonesian Government could reap the benefits of Grasberg.
The recent decision to establish the Province of West Irian Jaya is viewed
as a deliberate attempt by the Indonesian
Government to divide Papua.
---
The Jakarta Post
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Op-Ed
More Questions for the ICG on Papua Issue
Neles Tebay, Rome
The International Crisis Group (ICG) published early this month its report on
Papua titled Papua: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions.
The Brussels-based institute examines several topics, such as: Who governs
Papua? What substance is there to the claim of historical injustice? How
strong
is the independence movement? What about the allegation of genocide? Are
there Muslim militias in Papua? Is Papua closed, and if so, why?
The report, however, raises some disturbing questions.
First, the ICG denies Papua is a place of persecution and oppression. It says
"implicit in the image of Papua as a place of persecution and oppression is
the idea that non-Papuan Indonesians are in control. This is simply not
true."
For Papua is governed by Papuans. The governors and the heads of all 29
districts are Papuans.
The question is, since when have indigenous Papuans assumed the executive
posts in regional and provincial administrations? Since Indonesia took
over the
territory on 1 May, 1963, since the enactment of Law no 21/2001 on special
autonomy for Papua, or since Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was elected President?
Due to its denial, the ICG needs to prove that Papuans have never been
persecuted by the state apparatus.
The ICG denies Papua is a place of oppression, but it provides no proof that
the government has never oppressed the Papuans through the denial of their
rights to participation, of freedom of expression and of assembly, and of
cultural identity and expression.
The ICG needs to demonstrate that the Papuans have never been victimized by
oppression committed by non-Papuans through psychological repression, social
domination, unfair exploitation of natural resources, stigmatization, the
imposition of government policy, military operations, extrajudicial killings,
torture, arbitrary detention and sexual harassment.
So, some more facts are needed to show that the Papuans have never suffered
from persecution and oppression under Indonesian rule.
Second, Papua is not governed by the Indonesian Military (TNI).
Indeed, as reported by the ICG, the TNI still exercises its power to exploit
economic resources. The TNI has a primary responsibility to conduct
counterinsurgency actions against a small armed rebel group known as the
Free Papua
Movement (OPM).
Yet, the TNI officers "do not govern Papua." They do not determine local
policies. Most local security problems are left to the police, not the
military.
The next question, then, is since when has the TNI given up its power to
determine policies on and in Papua? Is it since May 1, 1963, since the
special
autonomy for Papua took effect in 2001 or since the first democratic
presidential
election took place in 2004?
Third, the ICG has no evidence to dismiss allegations that troops pulled out
of Aceh are being systematically redeployed in Papua.
Yet, the ICG recognizes that the number of troops has increased in Papua.
The TNI has over 12,000 troops in Papua, in addition to between 2,000 and
2,500 police.
The size of the three infantry battalions permanently stationed in Papua has
risen from 650 to 1,050 soldiers each.
Here, the ICG needs to prove that the reinforcement troops sent to Papua do
not belong to battalions pulled out of Aceh. The ICG has also to explain
where
the troops withdrawn from Aceh are being redeployed, or where the troops
deployed in Papua come from.
Fourth, the ICG denies genocide in Papua without verification.
The denial of genocide is made in response to two reports titled Indonesian
Human Rights Abuses in West Papua: Application of the Law of Genocide to the
History of Indonesian Control issued by a group of students at Yale Law
School
in New Haven, and Genocide in West Papua? The role of the Indonesian State
apparatus and a current needs assessment of the Papuan people written by
John Wing
and Peter King of Sydney University, Australia.
Genocide is defined in the 1948 International Convention as a pattern of acts
"committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical,
racial, or religious group as such".
The two reports in the eyes of the ICG do not "provide evidence of intent on
the part of the Indonesian government or military to destroy the ethnic
Papuan
populations as such in whole or in part."
Military operations in the 1970s that left thousands of Papuans dead, for
example, "could conceivably fit the definition of a war crime or crime
against
humanity, but not genocide."
However, the ICG provides no evidence to explain that the military operations
were conducted without an intent to destroy the indigenous Papuans as such in
whole or in part.
What was or were the true intent(s) of the military operations conducted
against the Papuans then, if not to wipe out the people as such in whole
or in
part?
Fifth, the ICG finds little evidence of the hard-line Muslim militias working
with the Army in Papua.
The militia group Laskar Jihad had a few hundred men in Sorong in 2001. But
the organization was dissolved in October 2002. So "there is a little
reason to
believe it survived in Papua when it collapsed everywhere else".
The ICG forgets that Laskar Jihad, according to its leader, was established
also in Manokwari, Fakfak, Nabire, Jayapura, and Timika to assist the Army in
fighting Papuan separatists.
Did all members of the group leave Papua after their organization was
dissolved? If yes, then, where do they live now?
The answers to the above questions would be helpful in addressing the
distorted reporting on Papua.
The writer is a Catholic priest who has recently finished his doctoral degree
at the Pontifical University of Urbaniana in Rome. He can be reached at
nelestebay@hotmail.com.
---
The Australian
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Editorial
Misrule in Papua
Our reporter unveils the plot behind an asylum claim
EIGHT years after the fall of the dictator Suharto, the repressive tactics of
his Indonesian police state are thriving in the easternmost corner of the
archipelago. The picture our correspondent Stephen Fitzpatrick paints in his
reports from the Papuan capital, Jayapura, published in The Australian
yesterday,
supports our view that many indigenous Papuans have genuine grievances.
Police
surveillance, arrests and media suppression are the currency of Jakarta's
rule. Fitzpatrick found the province in the grip of a policy of "divide and
rule", in which power and poverty remain divided along ethnic lines. The
backbone
of this policy is Jakarta's transmigration program, which until 2000 had
massive numbers of Muslims from Java settle in a predominantly Melanesian,
Christian
and tribal region. The newcomers dominate the province's political elite and
most of its commerce. The Australian believes the problems in Papua are a
mess
of Jakarta's making and will only be solved by a properly implemented
autonomy plan.
During his assignment in Papua, Fitzpatrick was followed by secret police and
hauled into Jayapura's police intelligence headquarters for questioning. Far
more brutal treatment is meted out to indigenous Papuans suspected of
association with the local independence movement. Herman Wanggai's uncle,
who declared
Papua independent in 1988, died in a Jakarta prison. Like his relative, Mr
Wanggai, now living in Melbourne under a temporary protection visa, spent
years
in and out of filthy Indonesian jail cells for opposing Jakarta's rule. He is
one of 43 Papuan asylum-seekers who landed on Cape York earlier this year. A
senior Immigration Department official's decision in March to grant temporary
asylum to 42 of the Papuans triggered a diplomatic crisis with Jakarta and a
political one in Canberra, with a backbench revolt leading to John Howard
dumping plans to toughen Australia's border protection at Indonesia's
behest. The
Australian opposed any capitulation to Jakarta on the issue, and stands by
that
view.
Rather than relying on weblogs, Fitzpatrick used ground-level reporting to
uncover the political strategy behind Mr Wanggai's bid for resettlement. It
appears that, together with Jayapura lawyer Edison Waromi and his own
parents, Mr
Wanggai plotted to manipulate Australia's refugee laws to make a loud
political statement, win publicity for his independence cause and increase
tensions
between Jakarta and Canberra. To hand-pick the "right" members of his
asylum-seeking team, Mr Wanggai and his father sailed a small skiff along
the Papuan
coast.
Successful "applicants" paid $700 and at minimum had to have parents involved
in the original independence struggle. The Wanggai case brings to mind The
Australian's 2002 revelation that asylum-seeker Ali Bakhtiyari and his family
were unknown in the Afghanistan village they claimed to have fled. In
contrast
to this newspaper's reliance on first-hand reporting, in deciding the
Papuans'
fate Immigration relied partly on a US State Department report that cited
torture, killings and other human rights abuses in Papua. The ease with
which they
secured asylum suggests Australia's method for processing those claiming
refugee status may be in need of review.
---
BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific (Via Joyo News)
September 25, 20906
Source: Papua New Guinea Post-Courier website,
Port Moresby, in English 25 Sep 06
Reports of plan to attack Papua New Guinea office in Jakarta denied
The Sandaun [West Sepik] provincial government and the Indonesian
embassy in Port Moresby have brushed aside reports Indonesians
planned to attack a PNG office in Jakarta. The report on Friday
[22 September] stated Indonesian army elements were reportedly
behind a plan to attack the office and also made threats.
Head of the mission Pratito Suharyo alleged the report was instigated
by people who wanted to destroy the relationship Indonesia had with
PNG.
"I hope it (the denial) will end the report, because it is
misleading," he said. He said the embassy would not be asking for
compensation from PNG as the fishermen [fired on in a recent incident]
themselves were illegally in PNG, but if there was anything to be
considered it would be the courtesy of the PNG government.
Concerns were raised regarding PNG's 15-metre lighthouse at the
border. Some Indonesians in Jayapura told journalists recently that
the lighthouse needed to be raised to about 40 metres, same with that
of Indonesian to guide fishermen to stay within their boundaries.
Sandaun Governor Carlos Yuni, who is pushing for increased investment,
would not allow for such threats to be carried out. He said the
reported plot was "not true".
---
The Australian
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Papuan plot `no surprise'
By Natalie O'Brien
INDONESIA is not surprised at revelations the 43 Papuan refugees who
caused a diplomatic incident when they arrived in Australia by boat in
January had been hand-picked in a well-orchestrated plot to cause a
rift between the two countries.
Dino Patti Djalal, the spokesman for Indonesian President Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono, said yesterday it was "how these things are
done".
"It has always been our suspicion that these were economic migrants,
that they had designed firstly to embarrass Indonesia and secondly to
take advantage of opportunities in Australia," said Dr Djalal, who is
on an official visit to Canberra.
It was revealed in The Australian this week that the 43 Papuans were
recruited for the trip on the grounds that they were the most likely
to be successful in gaining refugee visas because of their long family
association with the province's independence movement and persecution
by the Indonesian authorities.
The disclosure prompted Liberal backbenchers to demand the
reinstatement of John Howard's tough asylum legislation requiring all
visa applications by boatpeople to be processed offshore. The
legislation, which critics claim was introduced to appease Indonesian
anger over the granting of visas to the Papuans, was withdrawn last
month after it became clear it would not pass the Senate.
Dr Djalal said Indonesia was "monitoring" the legislation.
"We know that is your internal affairs and how you do your laws is
your business," he said. "But, of course, this is something that has
bearing on us. Obviously we are still worried about more people
braving the seas between Indonesia and Australia and we need to send a
clear signal in turn for them that this is not to be done, it is not
advisable."
After speaking at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute conference
in Canberra, Dr Djalal said the federal Government knew about
Indonesian sensitivity on the issue.
"We have conveyed our point that none of these Indonesians are being
sought by our authority and that they didn't have any reason to leave
in that fashion and if they want to return they can return at any
time," he said.
But he declined to say whether it would be on the agenda for talks
with Australian government officials during his visit.
Dr Djalal told the conference Jakarta and Canberra were building a
stronger relationship on their ability to manage difficult issues,
such as the Papuans and the Bali Nine traffickers.
============================================================================
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