[Kabar-Irian] News: Feb 05-08 2007
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KABAR IRIAN NEWS
Feb 5-8 2007
TOPICS
* Koteka.net update
* Churches warn Papuans on danger of AIDS/HIV
* A yellow light for Indonesia
* West Irian Jaya becomes West Papua
* The genocide in West Papua could be stopped
* West Papua name change criticised
---
Hi Elabo,
Would appreciate it if you could mention the new look www.koteka.net
website which includes on-line videos etc and send this out to your
list.
Many thanks,
James Jones - webmaster
---
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailgeneral.asp?fileid=20070205130345&irec=6
Churches warn Papuans on danger of AIDS/HIV
JAYAPURA, Papua province (Antara): The Papuan ChurchesAssociation (PGGP)
issued a circular to
warn Papuan people on the danger of HIV/AIDS as the number of the cases is
significant high in the
Indonesian eastern-most territory.
"The virus is a great treat to the lives of people in Papua land," said a
circular issued on Jan 27, and
signed by a number of church leaders in Papua province.
The Papuan HIV/AIDS Overseeing Committee recorded that there are 3,023
people infected by the
incurable virus in last December.
With 1,128 cases, Mimika regency is the worst region, followed by Merauke
regency with 883 cases and
Jayapura regency with 247 cases. (**)
---
http://www.isn.ethz.ch/news/sw/details.cfm?ID=17210
A yellow light for Indonesia
For six years the administration of George W Bush has nurtured a restored
relationship with Indonesia.
The US views Indonesia as a key partner of the United States in dealing
with the immediate concerns of
counter-terrorism. Perhaps even more important for the US will be
Indonesia's role in shaping the longer
term architecture for a stable and peaceful Southeast Asian region in
which the US will be a full
participant.
Commentary by Donald E Weatherbee (05/02/07 PacNet #4)
A critical turning point in redefining the post-East Timor, post-Clinton
Indonesia – US relationship came in
November 2005 with the waiver of all remaining legislative restrictions on
US military assistance to
Indonesia. For the US, it was time to look forward to cooperation with
democratic Indonesia rather than
placing relations in the context of the past. In 2006, both governments at
the highest levels could speak of
a strategic partnership.
The outcome of the November 2006 US congressional elections, however, puts
a yellow light on the
bilateral road ahead. A Democratic majority in both houses has brought
back to key committees chairs,
members (and staff) who may not feel the same level of comfort with
Jakarta as do President Bush and
his people. Issues of human rights, military reform, and Papua will
resurface. Even if they do not result in
action, the airings will roil the bilateral calm as President Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono gears up for his
2009 reelection campaign.
The new chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State,
Foreign Operations, and Related
Agencies is Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy. Leahy has been one of the most
persistent critics of
Indonesia's military. It was the Leahy Amendment in 1999 that put the nail
in the coffin of normal US –
Indonesia military-to-military relations. As ranking minority member of
the subcommittee in 2005, he was
outraged by the waiver lifting the restrictions, calling it an abuse of
discretion and an affront to Congress
and said that it made a mockery of the process and sent a terrible
message. His eye is also on the 2004
murder of human rights activist Munir Said Thalib. Leahy has voiced the
suspicion, shared by many, that
the Indonesian national intelligence agency was involved. He authored an
amendment to the FY 2007
foreign operations appropriation bill requiring a report on human rights
including the Munir murder. The
continuing cover-up, in Leahy's words, makes it appear that a culture of
impunity remains deeply
embedded in Indonesian society. It can be expected that when it comes to
FY 2008 appropriations, Leahy
will want to send a different message than did the Republican majority.
On the House side, the new chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on
Asia, the Pacific, and the
Global Environment is Representative Eni Faleomavaega, the representative
since 1989 from American
Samoa and the fourth most senior member of the full House Foreign Affairs
Committee. His subcommittee
has broad oversight over US foreign policy in the Asia-Pacific region.
Faleomavaega has already
indicated that he has his sights trained on Indonesia. In a statement on
23 January, he announced that he
intended to review human rights and democracy efforts in Indonesia.
Moreover, he stated that "I continue to have concerns about the situation
in West Papua and look forward
to working out reasonable solutions that bring about peace." A member of
the House Human Rights
Caucus, the congressman has a personal interest in Papua; he has relatives
who have done Christian
missionary work there. His notion of peace in Papua was made more specific
in an interview in which he
said, "If you want to talk about fairness, give the people of West Papua
the right of self-determination." He
plans public hearings on Indonesia's actions in Papua which will spotlight
the advocates of West Papua
independence.
Faleomavaega's attitude and intentions have already been noted in Jakarta
where any sign of external
questioning of Indonesia's sovereignty in its West Papuan provinces raises
a red flag. It is a very
sensitive topic for bilateral relations. The Australians found that out in
March 2006 when Indonesia
recalled its ambassador in Canberra over 42 Papuan asylum-seekers. The
issues involved were not
resolved to Indonesia's satisfaction until the Australians in the November
2006 Lombok security pact gave
a written commitment to respect Indonesia's territorial integrity. The
Bush administration has always
categorically asserted a similar position. For this now to be questioned
by a senior Democratic
congressman in a policy-influential position encourages the pro-Papuan
independence NGO networks
and alarms Jakarta, given the context of a lame duck Republican president
and the prospect in 2008 of a
Democratic president.
An Indonesian nationalist backlash to a renewed Congressional assault on
Indonesia will force President
Yudhoyono into a defensive posture vis-a-vis the US He is already on guard
against economic
nationalists, as demonstrated by the termination of the Consultative Group
on Indonesia. He also has to
ward off the radical Islamists who accuse him of abetting what they charge
is an American war on
Muslims. His public posture toward the US at least will have to reflect
the Indonesian domestic political
environment, which will be altered as his political opponents seize on the
American connection. One can
only hope that the light doesn't turn red, interrupting the bilateral
cooperative and productive political,
security, and economic links forged so far during Yudhoyono's presidency.
----
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailgeneral.asp?fileid=20070206183107&irec=4
West Irian Jaya becomes West Papua
JAYAPURA (Antara): West Irian Jaya has changed its name to West Papua as
announced by the
Provincial Legislative Council Speaker Jimianus Ijie in Manokwari.
"The new name, West Papua is used starting from Feb. 7, 2007," he was
quoted by Antara as saying.
He said the new provincial name was based on the aspiration from West
Papuan people.
Furthermore, he said, his council would hold a plenary session to legalize
the new provincial name and
send the result to the President, who will issue a government
regulation.(***)
---
http://uscpublicdiplomacy.com/index.php/newsroom/pdblog_detail/070203_genocide_in_darfur_can_be_st
opped/
Andrew Johnson on February 5, 2007 @ 3:55 pm:
The genocide in West Papua could be stopped if;
George Bush STOP funding the Indonesian military which employs and trains
Laskar Jihad and other
Islamic terrorist militia conducting the racial cleansing of Papaun
populations ;
if Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. would stop paying over $5m per year
to the local TNI
commander to repress the Papuan landowners of that area;
if Bechtel Inc. and Freeport McMoRan and Exxon would STOP petitioning the
US Senate to remove US
Congress questions such as Section 1115 from last year’s Foreign Relations
Authorization bill HR2601.;
and ANY member of the United Nations could end the COLONIAL mining and
genocide of West Papua by
presenting this letter to the UN General Assembly:
To the United Nations General Assembly,
We call for the United Nations to now resume its decolonization obligation
in relation to West New Guinea
by facilitating an act of self determination in compliance with UN GA
Resolutions 1514 and 1541, and the
“New York Agreement” of August 1962 as noted in UN GA Resolution 1752.
We understand that the Republic of Indonesia being a member of the United
Nations did support UN GA
Resolutions 1514 and 1541 in December 1960; but in August 1962 signed the
“New York Agreement”
agreement which both acknowledged West New Guinea’s status as a colony and
provided for a seven
year delay of self-determination.
As colonial control was transfered to Indonesia from the Kingdom of the
Netherlands without consent of
the people of West New Guinea, the colony’s name should have remained on
the UN list of Non Self-
Governing territories, and Indonesia requested to continue supply of
information under Article 73e of the
United Nations Charter as the Netherlands had been doing since the 1950s.
It is with great regret that
reading UN Resolution 2504 of November 1969 we observe no act of
self-determination has yet taken
place, and that the IMF and World Bank funded transmigration program
moving almost a million foreign
nationals from Asia to this Pacific island nation now makes Term 18 of the
New York Agreement essential
to any fair act of self-determination. Specifically “eligibility of all
adults, male and female, not foreign
nationals to participate in the act of self-determination to be carried
out in accordance with international
practice” must be assured.
We again ask for the United Nations to end its forty four year moratorium
on the decolonization of West
New Guinea.
---
http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=29975
Radio New Zealand International
The Voice of New Zealand, Broadcasting to the Pacific
Te Reo Irirangi O Aotearoa, O Te Moana-Nui-A-Kiwa
West Papua name change criticised
Posted at 20:05 on 07 February, 2007 UTC
The Papua Presidium Council says the name change of the Indonesian
province of West Irian Jaya to
West Papua is part of Jakarta’s divide-and-rule approach to Papua.
West Irian Jaya was created in 2003 as the first of several proposed new
provinces out of Papua
province.
Its name change has been approved by the provincial legislative council.
But the Presidium, which was established to negotiate an end to
Indonesia’s 1969 annexation of Papua,
says the name change is only a political label and that the legal status
of the new province remains
unclear.
The Presidium’s Jayapura secretary, Willy Mandowen, says the false
division of Papua into several
provinces is a violation of Special Autonomy Law which the presidium has
rejected.
“It’s only a matter of divide and rule because they dare not to
implement what they implemented on the
people, which is the Special Autonomy Law. They continue to divide the
people with the purpose of ruling
them. These are very divisive policies.”
Willy Mandowen
News Content © Radio New Zealand International
PO Box 123, Wellington, New Zealand
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