[Kabar-Irian] Irian News - 3/28/06

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The Jakarta Post.com
National News
March 28, 2006
Result of Irian Jaya election challenged
Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura

Lawyers representing the losing candidate in West Irian Jaya's
gubernatorial election have filed suit against the provincial General
Elections Commission (KPUD) over what they allege to be voting
irregularities.

Yorrys Th. Raweyai's lawyers filed the suit at the Jayapura High Court in
Papua on Monday. West Irian Jaya does not have its own high court.

Lawyer Radja Simanjuntak said the total number of votes recorded in West
Irian Jaya's eight regencies and a city exceeded the number of official
registered voters.

He also said Yorrys had received fewer votes than he should have because
hundreds of his supporters did not receive voting cards before the March
11 election.

Over 78,000 votes were added to ensure the victory of Abraham Octovianus
Atururi and his running mate Rahimim Katjong in the election for the new
province's governor and deputy governor, Radja alleged. He also claimed
more than 26,000 votes for Yorrys were lost.

"There were many people who did not cast their votes at polling stations
or who voted before March 11," Radja said. He added that Yorrys' legal
team had prepared 17 witnesses to testify in the case.

Yorrys and his supporters hope the courts will either cancel the
inauguration of Abraham and swear in Yorrys instead, or call a new
election.

The provincial council declared Abraham and Katjong the winners of the
election during a plenary session March 23. In the official count, Abraham
received 183,279 votes and Yorrys 68,609 votes.

"KPUD has authentic and legitimate evidence to support the election
result, but if they want to go to court they can. There's a legal process,
let the court decide whether (the allegations) are right or wrong," said
West Irian Jaya KPUD chairwoman Regina Sauyai.

Meanwhile, the Papua KPUD has decided to postpone until April 3 the
official announcement of the result of Papua province's March 10 direct
gubernatorial election. The result was originally to be announced March
30.

"We have not received vote counts from all of the province's KPUDs, so we
have to wait for them," said KPUD spokesman Yohanis G. Bonay on Monday.

He said they had received the vote counts for only 13 of the province's 19
regencies and a city. "We hope to finish everything by March 29," Yohanis
said.

Provisional voting results as of Monday had Barnabas Suebu and Alexander
Hessegem in the lead with 332,979 votes, or 30.75 percent of the more than
one million votes already counted. Lukas Enembe and Arobi Aituarauw were
close behind, with 321,035 votes, or 29.7 percent.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific (via Joyo Indonesia News)
March 27, 2006
Source: Republika, Jakarta, in Indonesian 23 Mar 06

Indonesia's West Irian Jaya Province awaits special autonomy funding

Jakarta: Chairperson of the West Irian Jaya DPRD [provincial assembly]
Jimmy Demianus Idjie has welcomed reports that the Papuan Provincial
government intends to return special autonomy funds to the central
government. Jimmy hopes that if the reports are true, the funds will be
transferred to West Irian Jaya instead.

On 20 March 2006, the Deliberation Committee of the Papuan People's
Representatives Council (DPRP) decided to hand back Law No.21/2001,
granting special autonomy to Papua province, to the central government
including special autonomy funds worth 2.9 trillion rupiah. The decision
was made in reaction to gubernatorial elections that took place in West
Irian Jaya province on 11 March.

The governor of Papua Province [formerly Irian Jaya] was informed of the
committee's decision through a formal letter which was composed on 20
March 2006.

"If they want to return the funds, they have to return all of the funds.
Instead of just returning special autonomy funds from the 2006 fiscal
year, amounting to 2.6 trillion rupiah, they should also return earlier
disbursements which have amounted to four trillion rupiah," Jimmy said in
Jakarta on 22 March. He added that West Irian Jaya has not received any
funding from the central government.

Jimmy also said that he believed the Papua's intention to return the
special autonomy funding was merely an overreaction aiming to switch the
public interests away from the violent riots at Abepura.

Jimmy continued that Papua should not always blame the central government
about imperfections in the implementation of special autonomy. He said
that Papua should also need balanced in its criticisms because Papua's
elites have also benefited from special autonomy funds.

Commenting on various problems occurring in Papua, political analyst
Fachry Ali commented on the unique phenomenon taking place in Papuan
politics. Ali believed that there was disagreement of perception between
the ruling elite and the people. "This evidence can be seen in the recent
regional elections. Apparently the aspirations of the Papuan elite and the
Papuan people are different," Fachry Ali said.

The External Coordinator of the Indonesian Legal Aid Agencies Association
(PBHI) Henry Simarmata said that the newly elected Governor of Papua along
with the Papuan People's Assembly (MRP) should immediately formulate the
implementation of special autonomy in Papua. "PBHI will safeguard the
implementation of special autonomy soon after the governor elect and MRP
have made their statement regarding the matter," Henry said.

Apart from decentralization, the essence of the special autonomy was to
allow the people of Papua to enjoy the benefits of democracy at the local
level. [passage omitted]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Radio New Zealand International
PNG Government is called on to seek international support to resolve the
Papua issue
Posted at 7:15pm on 28 Mar 2006

The Opposition in Papua New Guinea says the Port Moresby Government has to
make a clear stand over its neighbouring Indonesia province, Papua.

Peter O'Neill says the diplomatic rift between Jakarta and Canberra after
Papuan asylum seekers were granted temporary visas into Australia,
highlights the need for action.

He says the Government can no longer turn a blind eye to events in the
province.

Mr O'Neill says they can no longer ignore human rights abuses in Papua,
where, he says, people are not allowed to freely express their views.

He says the PNG Government should put the matter before the international
community.

"And get involved with our neighbouring countries like Australia and New
Zealand and try and have the United Nations involved in the issue of
Papua. We in Papua New Guinea, as you know quite well, invited the United
Nations to be involved in Bougainville in recent times. And I believe a
similar position should be taken in the case of Papua." -- Peter O'Neill.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Antara
Mar 28 19:26
Foreign Ministry trying to obtain more info on Papuan youths in PNG

Jakarta (Antara News) - The Indonesian foreign ministry is currently
trying to gain consular access to three Papuan youths reported to have
landed at an island in neighbouring Papua New Guinea (PNG) and find out
their motivation and identities, a ministry spokesman said.

"We have assigned the interim charge d’affairs at the Indonesian embassy
in Port Moresby to seek consular access to the three Papuan youths and
establish their identities and motivation to come to PNG. So far no
information about them is available. Even the PNG foreign ministry is not
aware of it," Yuri Thamrin, the foreign ministry spokesman, said here
Tuesday.

He said the Indonesian embassy in Port Moresby and consul in Vanimo on
Monday received informaton that three youths from Jayapura, Papua’s
provincial capital, had arrived at an island in PNG’s Manus province in a
boat driven by an outboard engine.

"We still don’t know whether they are students or not," he said.

According to latest information, 47 other Papuan youths were also making
their way to PNG and still at sea somewhere in the waters of Manus
province, Yuri said.

Commenting on the assumption that the Papuan youths had fled from their
province, Yuri said the situation in Papua at present was quite conducive
and there was no reason for them to feel thretened.

"The situation in Irian (Papua’s former name) is very conducive. There is
no reason for them to be afraid because our government at all levels has
already given a safety guarantee to the people," he said.

He said the PNG government was looking at the problem as an internal
affair of Indonesia while the two countries had a track record of very
good and close relations.

Asked about the possibility that the Papuan youths would seek political
asylum in PNG, Yuri said they would have to forward strong reasons to do
so. "We don’t know what reasons they can cite," he said.

Meanwhile, in Jayapura, Papua Regional Police Chief Inspector General
Tommy Yacobus said he had no authentic information about rumours that a
number of Papuan youths had fled the province by crossing the border with
PNG.

The rumours circulated following the March 16 clash in Abepura between
police and demonstrators against PT Freeport Indonesia that left four
policemen and one air force member dead and 19 other policemen and six
civilians injured. The youths had allegedly left to avoid arrest.

The youths who had fled to PNG were said to be students who had been
staying in dormitories belonging to the regional administration, a
Cendrawasih Unversity foundations as well as with local families near
Abepura, Jayapura.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For Immediate Release 28 March 2006
Contact: Emily Goldman 202-463-7575 ext 235

Below is a letter from Todd Howland, Director of the Robert F. Kennedy
Center for Human Rights, to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice in response
to the violence in Abepura, West Papua on 16 March.

Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20520

Dear Secretary Rice:

On behalf of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights and
our West Papua Advocacy Team, I write you today to urge the Department of
State to immediately call on Indonesian security authorities to forego
acts of retribution in the wake of the violence in Abepura, West Papua on
16 March. It is imperative that the responsible authorities exercise
maximum restraint over the police as they seek to identify those
responsible. We further reiterate earlier calls for the U.S. government to
take a far more pro-active role in addressing systematic human rights
violations in West Papua and to urge the government of Indonesia to pursue
dialogue as a means to address the causes of conflict there. Indonesian
intellectuals, leading media organizations, and prominent Indonesian NGOs
have called on President Susilo Yudhoyono to resolve the conflict in Papua
through dialogue.

Despite decades of abuse by the military and police, in addition to
government policies which marginalize them, the Papuan people have largely
been faithful to calls of religious clergy and other human rights leaders
to avoid violence in pursuit of their rights. Events on 16 March were a
tragic exception to this peaceful campaign. Papuan demonstrators at
Cenderawasih University in Abepura responded to a security force attack on
their peaceful protest with a counterattack against security force
personnel. The deaths of four police officers, one air force personnel,
and at least one protester are very regrettable.

Actions by security forces, especially the mobile police brigade Brimob,
are exacerbating this tragedy. Multiple media reports, as well as
reporting by sources in Jayapura, indicate that the police have wantonly
attacked innocent Papuans allegedly in pursuit of attackers. At least one
child and three adults have been shot in this overreaction. This police
rampage of retribution must stop.

In a manner reminiscent of the current violence, security forces attacked
over 100 innocent students and others in reprisal for a violent incident
in 2000. Three persons died following beating and torture in police
detention. Known as the Abepura Case, it was the subject of Indonesia's
first Human Rights Court to try crimes against humanity and other
egregious crimes. The case resulted in no convictions whatsoever and no
compensation to any of the many victims of the violence.

We urge you to use all diplomatic means to press the Indonesian government
to pursue a sincere dialogue with Papuan leaders to resolve the causes of
conflict.

Thank you for your consideration of this urgent matter.

Sincerely,

Todd Howland
Director, Center for Human Rights
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tempo (via Tapol)
March 20, 2006
Brutality Under the Bridge
-- A protest demanding the closure of Freeport ended in tragedy. Three
police officers and a soldier were killed; two children were shot and
wounded.

Tensions reached a peak when the two opposing masses faced off at a bridge
under the hot sun. Brown-uniformed riot police carried rattan canes and
shields. They hemmed in the crowd that had inflamed the situation by
blocking off the road, and whose number were ten times greater.

That afternoon, on Thursday, March 16, under the bridge which connects the
east and west sides of the Cenderawasih University campus in Abepura, they
attempted to negotiate. The police asked the crowd, calling itself the
Freeport Closure Action Front, to remove their blockade of the
Abepura-Sentani highway. The blockade, which was set up early in the day,
had cut off the flow of traffic from Jayapura towards Sentani Airport,
located in Jayapura Regency.

They failed to reach an agreement. Meanwhile, the crowd persisted with
their three demands. "Shut down Freeport, withdraw the TNI (Indonesian
Military) and police forces from the Tembagapura region, and release the
seven men being held for the clash in Timika," said Henny Lani, who
represented the crowd during the negotiations. The police responded by
threatening to forcibly dismantle the blockade.

The clash was unavoidable. Rows of riot police moved in unison to form a
pincer movement from the north and south. Tear gas was thrown at the
crowd, causing the protesters to flee towards the campus area. From behind
the fence of the campus, the mob hurled large rocks at the police. This
scattered the police formation, and the mob advanced. The movement of the
officers was obstructed by tree trunks which blocked the road.

Under the bridge, Private First Class Daud Soleman, a member of the Crowd
Control Unit, Brigadier Syamsudin (Mobile Brigade), and First Brigadier
Arisona Horota (Mobile Brigade) slipped and fell. That was when the mob
attacked them. Their bodies became the target of kicks, cleaver slashes,
and stones thrown from close range. Daud and Syamsudin died instantly.
Arisona was taken to the Abepura Regional Hospital, where he died of a
puncture wound in the waist and multiple injuries caused by beatings with
a sharp object.

Police were enraged when they found out that some of their fellow officers
had been killed. They took up the hunt in a wild frenzy while firing
shots. The fleeing crowd was still furious. Air Force intelligence member
Sergeant Second Class Agus Supriyadi, who was in the campus complex,
became a target of their rage and died in the attack. Agus's corpse was
found sprawled in front of a house next to the Cenderawasih University
Medical Education Program building.

During the chaos, a number of reporters covering the event also became
targets, among them was Tempo reporter Cunding Levi. They were beaten up
by both the protesters and the police. The rioting also injured 24 police
officers and more than 10 civilians. They were taken to four hospitals.
Among the civilians taken to a hospital for treatment was Glen Mahulete, a
5-year-old boy.

Tensions continued to run high in Abepura that night. Residents stayed
inside their homes. Stores were closed. The authorities combed through
several student dormitories, most of which had been deserted.

That night the police went on full alert. From the air, a helicopter
surveyed every corner of the town. Gunfire was occasionally heard.
According to a report by Papua Police, 67 people were questioned, 10 of
them held as suspects. They included, among others, head of United
Struggle Front of the People of West Papua, Selfius Bobii, the
Cenderawasih University School of Social and Political Science's Student
Senate head Yan Mandenas, and head of the "Street Parliament" group,
Cosmol Yual.

It was still dawn at Abepura the following day, when the Coordinating
Minister for Political, Legal & Security Affairs, the National Police
Chief, the TNI Commander in Chief, and the head of the State Intelligence
Agency landed at Sentani Airport. They immediately paid their respects to
the three slain police officers and the TNI soldier. Later, they held a
meeting with the Jayapura Police and the TNI Trikora 17th Regional Command
in Jayapura.

The arrival of the high-ranking officials from Jakarta did not ease the
residual tension. On the streets, members of the Papua Police Mobile
Brigade stopped passersby and checked their ID cards. Some of the
officers, unable to control their rage, went on a sweeping operation of
the streets, occasionally firing their guns. As an unfortunate
consequence, four civilians were shot and wounded. One of them was
10-year-old Ketrin Ohee, who was taken to Abepura General Hospital.

But at the hospital entrance, police blocked reporters from talking to
victims of the police sweep. A few television newsmen were harassed and
physically attacked by the police.

Brigadier-General Anton Bachrul Alam, spokesman for National Police
Headquarters, admitted that there was one case of a stray bullet fired by
the Mobile Brigade in front of the headquarters of the Military Area
Command in Jayapura. "A citizen was shot by a stray bullet which
ricocheted," he said. The local police chief had ordered all members of
the Mobile Brigade to return to headquarters. However, until Friday
afternoon, some were still unaccounted for. "They are still being sought,"
said Anton in Jakarta.

Calls to close PT Freeport Indonesia, which triggered the riot, had been
escalating in the past few weeks. The demands followed the forcible
expulsion of illegal miners from the Freeport mining area of Tembagapura,
late last month. This eviction led to clashes between the illegal miners
and the police, blocking the road from Timika to Tembagapura. The protests
continued in other areas, like Jakarta and Makassar.

During the negotiations between Freeport and the tribal communities last
week, some damage was done to the Sheraton Hotel in Timika. Police
arrested seven people allegedly responsible for the damage, while two
police officers were shot with arrows. This incident led university
students to protest at the Cenderawasih University campus. This is the
first time that university students in Papua have banded together to
demand the closure of Freeport.

Berth Kambuaya, the Dean of Cenderawasih University in Jayapura, said that
the protest was not provoked by students from their university. Even
though the protest took place in front of their school, most of the
protesters came from educational institutions located around the campus
and from the local population.

Berth is sure of this fact because faculty leaders had been asked to check
on the involvement of their students. They found that only a few of them
were directly involved in the protests. "Even if some were spotted at the
location, they were just observers," said Berth. This explains why the
university administrators had difficulty dispersing the protesters in
front of their campus.

The Cenderawasih University campus is surrounded by hills, which made it
possible for unidentified protestors to enter from the back of the campus.
During the first day of the protests, there were only about 150 people in
the crowd. However, the next day, when the violence began, their numbers
increased almost five times. Small groups of people were seen coming down
from the hills and entering the campus area.

According to a Tempo source, the protests may have been provoked by
students from the highlands around the mining area. They could be members
of the Amungme, Kamoro, Nduga, Damal, Dani, Moni, and Ekari tribes.

When Freeport began operating 40 years ago, these people were driven out
of their ancestral lands. Those who lived in the highlands and whose
livelihood depended on hunting and gathering were relocated to Timika,
located on the coastal plain. The people had to adjust to the lower
altitude and hotter climate in order to survive. They had to abandon their
hunting and gathering ways, to take care of fields and settle down.

For the duration of Freeport's operation, these tribal people have seen
the gap between themselves and the more prosperous Freeport employees
become ever wider. The highlanders, in particular, have been trying to
sabotage Freeport operations for the past 10 years since Freeport began
earning its phenomenal revenue.

Some of them now try to make a living prospecting for gold in the tailings
which Freeport dumps into the river. However, the authorities have banned
prospecting in the area around Freeport. Usually, such operations take
place without incident. "For some reason last February they fought back,"
said a high-ranking Freeport official, who asked to remain anonymous.

The protests, which initially only involved those living near the mine,
have now been taken over by university students. A Tempo source suspects
that the university students who protested are children or relatives of
illegal prospectors from the highlands.

Insp. Gen. Tommy Jacobos, Chief of the Papua Police has promised that he
will continue to search for the masterminds of the rioting. During the
sweeping, his men found some sharp implements and Molotov cocktails inside
the Cenderawasih University campus. The authorities also confiscated tens
of student identity cards, three wallets, and a red cloth banner with the
words "United Struggle Front of West Papua."

Tommy Jacobos said that he tried to avoid a clash when he dispersed the
crowd in front of the university campus. He also ordered his men to avoid
causing any casualties. "If the police wanted to use excessive force, it
would have been easy for them. But I am proud that my men restrained
themselves," he said.

But the discipline came with a price. Three of his policemen were victims
of the violence they had tried to control.
-- Agung Rulianto, Lita Oetomo, and Cunding Levi (Abepura)
~*~*~*~*~

Abepura's Bloody Thursday
The incident began with protests on Wednesday, March 15. A group of
university students calling itself the Freeport Closure Action Front
blocked off the Abepura-Sentani highway, which passes through the campus
of Cenderawasih University. The protests continued the following day.

March 16, 2006
6am (Eastern Indonesia Time)
1. University students block two highways, closing the road which connects
the city of Jayapura to Sentani Airport.

8am (Eastern Indonesia Time)
2. Police surround the protesters from both the direction of Sentani and
Jayapura. Negotiations begin between police and protesters. A wave of
people-most likely not university students-continues to pour in from the
hills behind the Cenderawasih University campus. They join the protesters.

10am
3. Komarudin Watubun, Deputy Speaker of the Papua Regional House of
Representatives, arrives and offers several options for the crowd to end
its protest. They refuse the offer, demanding confirmation of Freeport's
closure, the withdrawal of TNI and police forces from the location of the
Freeport mine and the release of seven people being held by the Mimika
Police Department.

12pm
4. Police arrest Selfius Bobii, coordinator of the protest, and take him
to the Jayapura Police Station. The situation heats up. Police prepare to
forcibly remove the road blockade.

12:30pm
5. Riot police advance with rattan clubs, shields, and tear gas. The crowd
attacks the police with stones and bottles. The authorities are
overwhelmed, and make a scattered retreat. Private First Class Daud
Soleman, Brigadier Syamsudin, and First Brigadier Arisona Horota fall,
become targets of mob attack and die.

1pm
6. The fleeing crowd spots Air Force intelligence officer Sergeant Second
Class Agus Supriyadi. Agus is mobbed and killed.

3pm
7. The police bring the situation under control. Two companies of TNI
reinforcements arrive and sweep through the campus.

5:15pm
8. The body of Sergeant Second Class Agus Supriyadi is found. Tens of
wounded police officers receive first aid.

Unending Protests
Since they obtained their first contract of work in 1967, PT Freeport
Indonesia has been beset by unending protests. The giant American gold and
copper mining company's operations are seen to have damaged the local
environment. They have also been reported to treat the Papuans unfairly.
The following is a string of protests against the mining company.

April 1967
PT Freeport signs a contract of work with the Government of Indonesia to
mine the area of Ertsberg, West Papua, covering 10 sq km. The contract is
for 30 years, starting in December 1967.

July 1977
A Freeport pipeline is severed by residents living near the mines.
Authorities respond by firing shots which result in the deaths of tens of
residents.

1978
Protests of residents grow increasingly strong and widespread. The
government forms the Papua Military Operation Area.

December 1991
The contract of work with Freeport is extended for 30 years, extendable
two more times, each for an additional 10 years.

March 1996
Residents near Timika attack Freeport after hearing that a resident was
hit by one of the company's vehicles.

December 1996
Freeport decides to contribute 1 percent of the company's gross income to
the local populace.

1997
Cases of murder, rape and missing persons taking place around the Freeport
area are exposed.

October 5, 1998
The government abolishes the Military Operation Area in Papua.

August 31, 2002
Unidentified assailants fire on a vehicle carrying Freeport workers and
teachers of a Timika international school. Three are killed, two of them
US citizens, more than 10 people are wounded. Police arrest Antonius
Wamang and 12 of his followers, suspected of being the perpetrators of the
shooting; last year.

October 28, 2003
Thousands of Papua youths from the University Students Alliance of West
Papua stage protests in front of the Freeport office in Jakarta. They
demand the company form an independent body to investigate all activities
carried out by Freeport. The protestors also demand the immediate
withdrawal of military forces from the mine area, and that Freeport stop
contributing to the military.

February 21, 2006
Hundreds of traditional/illegal miners in Tembagapura clash with the
authorities who are trying to curb their activities. A crowd blocks the
road which leads from Timika to Tembagapura. Freeport freezes its
operations for a few days.

March 7, 2006
A protest takes place at Mile 28, Timika, near Moses Kilangin Airport,
which lasts over a week. As a result, flight schedules are disrupted.

March 15, 2006
Police disperse the crowd at Mile 28 and arrest eight people for damaging
the Sheraton Hotel in Timika. Two police are shot with arrows.

March 16, 2006
Three police are killed in a clash with protestors demanding the closure
of Freeport in front of the Cenderawasih University campus in Abepura.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Radio Netherlands
Indonesia and Australia clash over refugees
by Claire Cavanagh
28-03-2006

Australia's been trying to smooth over a row with Indonesia about the
granting of temporary visas to a group of Papuan asylum seekers. Jakarta
believes the move is proof of Australia's support for Papuan independence
from Indonesia, though Canberra denies this.

The asylum seekers arrived on the northern coast of Australia in January
and since then all but one of the 43 have been granted a temporary stay.
Some of the refugees have been identified as pro-independence activists,
including the well-known campaigner Herman Wainggai. He's twice been
imprisoned in the past four years for pro-independence activities
including raising the Papuan flag in Jayapura.

Persecution
The group were granted asylum, albeit on a temporary basis, after claiming
persecution and genocide had been committed in Papua (formerly Irian Jaya)
by Indonesian military forces.

Regional analyst Richard Chauvel says the matter is a very testy one for
both sides:

"Papua is probably number one on Jakarta's issues of sensitivity [
] We're
all aware that post-separation of East Timor in 1999, Jakarta has been
particularly sensitive about the prospects of any further territorial
disintegration. Last year they negotiated an agreement with respect to
Aceh and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has made a number of public
statements that he now wants to endeavour to resolve the issue of Papua,
but has made very little progress."

Worsening crisis
This diplomatic row is the worst crisis between Australia and Indonesia
since the election of Mr Yudhoyono in 2004. Relations had been improving
because of close cooperation over the regional fight against terrorism and
Australia's swift effort to aid the victims of the Tsunami in Aceh.

On Monday, Australia's envoy tried to limit the damage, insisting his
country wanted Papua to remain part of Indonesia. However, the damage may
have already been done: Jakarta has recalled its ambassador to Australia,
there's been big demonstrations in the Indonesian capital and the signing
of an agreement with Canberra to assist in the fight against bird flu with
ten million dollars of funding has been delayed.

Security forces
The activities of the Indonesian security forces in Papua have been a
cause for concern for international human rights groups and the United
States. In Washington there's a bill before the Senate which is highly
critical of Indonesia's conduct in the province. The one-time growing
voices of independence have largely silenced in recent years due to
arrests and assassinations, including the leader of the independence
movement Theys Eluay in 2001.

Richard Chauvel says times have changed for Papuans who've been calling
for a breakaway from Indonesia:

"If we look back over the post-Suharto period, there was undoubtedly a
time in Papua when there was relative freedom for expression of opinion
and organisation, that period probably came to an end at the end of 2000.
[
] Since that period, Indonesian controls over the political activity and
the expression of pro-independence opinions in Papua have been severely
restricted."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Libcom.org
Precious metals - struggle and repression in Papua
Tuesday, March 28 2006 @ 10:00 AM GMT-1
-- The battle over Papua’s copper and gold deposits is heating up as
locals fight back against their exploiters, reports Rob Ray

Mining giant Freeport-McMoran have violently cleared roadblocks thrown up
by locals in protest at the company’s exploitation of Papua’s vast mineral
resources and treatment of the indigenous population.

The Freeport mine in West Papua had been closed down on 22nd February by a
crowd of over 400, but was reopened the next Saturday after discussions,
according to the company. Locals manned roadblocks demanding the ending of
the Indonesian occupation and the expulsion of Freeport-McMoran, after
police shot a local dead for trespassing on company land.

Papuans working inside the mine have also allegedly carried out acts of
sabotage against the mine’s pipeline system, which according to one
correspondent, saw the river run clean for the first time in 30 years.
Locals in villages near to the Freeport mine had been combing the company
waste tips for decades to relieve some of the grinding poverty in the
community.

A decision was taken to clear the area, police were sent to the site, and
found a large number of prospectors. President and CEO of Freeport McMoRan
Richard Ackerson said: “The area they were doing this in is very
dangerous; there have been mud slides and water events where people have
drowned.” During the ‘health and safety’ based clearance, rubber bullets
were fired, and tear gas used to disperse people, leaving five injured and
one dead, according to local sources. Further reports from inside the
country have said that up to 500 heavily armed police then attempted to
break up the resulting popular road blocks using live rounds.

Adkerson, in a speech designed to reassure investors, said: “This is just
part of the scenery of being in the mining industry today.” Benny Wenda, a
Papuan campaigning for Indonesian withdrawal from the island, said: “This
was a spontaneous demonstration, fired by the frustration and anger of
ordinary people denied even the opportunity to pick over the rubbish left
behind after the illegal exploitation of their homeland.”

Freeport-McMoran have been repeatedly criticised on their work in West
Papua by environmentalists, civil rights groups and international NGOs,
and have for several decades been engaged in a major conflict with
indigenous Papuans fighting to remove the company. Freeport are alleged to
have paid around $20m to Indonesian military officers between 1988 and
2004 for their continued protection of the mining complex. Environmental
group Global Witness have further claimed that one general was paid
$250,000 directly to protect the mine. Adkerson has admitted the payments,
and responded by saying that any payments were entirely within the law and
pitched the figure for protection at closer to $100m over the same period.
Lawyers in America are investigating whether the payments may have broken
international anti-corruption laws. Even the Indonesian government have
begun deliberations on whether to prosecute the company, this time for
allegedly causing an environmental disaster through dumping into the
Papuan river system.

Indonesia have nevertheless been accused of collusion with the Freeport
mine in the course of its own crackdown in the country, which has seen
hundreds of violations of international human rights law, according to
campaigners. West Papua is currently under military rule after Indonesia
invaded in ***. The International Federation of Journalists renewed their
campaign to force the government to allow foreign media into the area
after a blanket ban was imposed by the Indonesian government 18 months
ago. The Indonesion Minister of Defence, Juwono Sudarsono, claimed at the
time that the ban was required because an international presence might
"encourage Papuans to campaign on issues of human rights".

The Freeport mines, on the Grasberg mountain in Papua, are thought to sit
on the largest gold deposit and third largest copper deposit anywhere in
the world.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bloomberg.com
Indonesia Delays Australian Bird Flu Aid Over Papua Refugees
Last Updated: March 28, 2006 03:19 EST

March 28 (Bloomberg) -- Indonesia has held up A$10 million ($7 million) of
aid it was to get from Australia for stemming the spread of bird flu after
Australia granted temporary visas to asylum seekers from Papua province.

‘‘We decided to postpone it until the situation improves,'' Indonesia's
Vice President Jusuf Kalla told reporters without elaborating today.

Australia granted three-year temporary visas to 42 asylum seekers from
Indonesia's easternmost province of Papua who said the Indonesian
government is committing genocide there. The Indonesian government denies
the claim and described them as economic migrants.

‘‘The delay is linked to temporary visas given by Australia,'' said Lalu
Mara Satriawangsa, spokesman at Indonesia's welfare ministry. ‘‘The
government has one voice regarding the matter.''

Indonesia, the world's fourth-most-populous nation, has reported an
average of one new human bird flu case a week since September,
highlighting the country's struggle to arrest the disease. The H5N1 virus
has killed at least 22 people of 29 confirmed cases in Indonesia.

Indonesia withdrew its ambassador to Canberra on Friday because of the
decision. It described Australia's decision as disappointing and unhelpful
to the country's efforts to find a solution to the crisis in Papua. Papua,
formerly Irian Jaya, has been fighting for a separate state after the
former Dutch colonial power ceded control to Indonesia in 1963.

Papua's name was changed under a regional autonomy law that gave more
powers to provinces. Papua is on the western half of New Guinea island,
which it shares with Papua New Guinea.
To contact the reporters on this story: Karima Anjani in Jakarta 
kanjani at bloomberg.net
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Australian News Network
Jakarta snubs Australian dead
By Rob Taylor and Nick Butterly
March 29, 2006

As anger mounts over Canberra's granting of visas to West Papuan
separatists, a senior Indonesian military spokesman said plans for
Sunday's anniversary ceremony had not been approved and it might not take
place.

Officials in Jakarta have also delayed signing a $10 million agreement on
Australian assistance to fight bird flu and banned Australian Greens
senator Kerry Nettle from travelling to West Papua.

Separately, demonstrators have daubed obscenities on the walls of the
Australian embassy in Jakarta in protest, as local police stood by in
silence.

Indonesia recalled its ambassador to Australia last Friday in protest at
Australia's granting of temporary visas to 43 Papuans who fled in a boat
to Cape York in January seeking asylum.

Nationalist Indonesian MPs have since called for diplomatic ties with
Australia to be cut, and for their Government to turn a blind eye to
illegal immigrants who use Indonesia as a staging point to get to
Australia.

The escalating tensions between the two nations come 12 months after the
relationship was heralded as reaching new heights in the wake of
Australia's aid effort after the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami and an earthquake
last March.
But yesterday, as family members of the Australians killed in the Nias
Island helicopter crash prepared to travel to the site for a memorial
service, it became clear how far the relationship had deteriorated.

Military and government officials in Jakarta seemed, at best, uninterested
in Sunday's service in Tuindrao village, near the west coast of Nias. It
was the Australian Defence Force's worst defence loss of life on foreign
soil since Vietnam.

And despite the tragedy having last year brought the two countries and
their governments close together in grief, Indonesian defence department's
chief of international relations Colonel Wahyu Suhendar said last night:
"We don't know if we are sending anyone yet."

A spokesman for Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said last night the
Australian Government had no indication from Indonesia about there being a
problem with the ceremony.

But in Jakarta, the deputy spokesman for the military, Colonel Ahmad Yani
Basuki, added that the whole event was still under a cloud.

"At the moment the event has not been cleared," he said. "There is no
certainty on whether it's going to be held or not, and that's all I'll
say."

Following a massive earthquake on the island on March 28 last year, the
ageing navy Sea King helicopter, codenamed Shark 02, was flying a rescue
mission with 11 medical personnel and air crew from HMAS Kanimbla when it
cartwheeled into the ground and burst into flames.

A crash inquiry has heard a bolt fell out of the helicopter's flight
control system. Only two passengers survived, communications specialist
Shane Warburton and paramedic Scott Nicholls, who were dragged from the
wreckage by villagers.

Still-grieving family members of the victims will travel to the dusty
football field where the crash occurred on board an air force C-130
Hercules and HMAS Tobruk, before joining local Indonesian officials in
Tuindrao to dedicate a memorial.

Letters requesting senior Indonesian brass to attend were sent several
months ago by the Australian Embassy in Jakarta to the chiefs of the navy,
air force and army, as well as the foreign ministry.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Jakarta Post.com
National News
March 28, 2006
Govt rebuked for not suing Freeport
Tb. Arie Rukmantara, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Legal experts have slammed the government for not taking legal action
against PT Freeport Indonesia over its alleged violations of the country's
environmental laws.

The environmental law experts said there was no reason for a delay in
legal action, which was mandated in the government's working contract with
the U.S.-owned copper and gold mining firm.

State Minister for the Environment Rachmat Witoelar last week said
Freeport's Grasberg mine in Papua had violated environmental standards on
acid drainage and tailings disposal.

The company had also not secured a permit to dump its tailings into local
rivers, Rachmat said.

The government has said it would give the company time to comply with the
regulations and has threatened to sue if Freeport failed to improve its
waste disposal standards by the end of the year.

"The findings of the government's environmental audit clearly show that
Freeport has violated our environmental laws. It has also violated the
working contract," said Andri Akbar, a senior legal advisor to
non-governmental organization GreenLaw.

Activists speculated the government was worried a legal dispute with the
firm would stop work at the mine, depriving the state of revenue, and
might only be settled through international arbitration.

The government and Freeport first signed a working contract in 1967 and
extended it in 1991, allowing the company to extract minerals in the
province until 2021.

Andri said all working contracts signed by the government and foreign
mining companies, including Freeport, contained articles on environmental
standards, which firms must abide by.

"Should a company violate the country's environmental law, then it has
violated its contract," he said.

Article 16 and 26 of the 1991 working contract, a copy of which was
obtained by The Jakarta Post, stipulate that Freeport must comply with by
the country's environmental regulations and say the government has the
right to halt the company's operations if they are found to have harmed
the environment.

Andri said under the 1997 Environment Law, the government could slap
administrative sanctions on Freeport, revoke its license to operate or
file civil or criminal lawsuits against it.

"The government can even take Freeport to international arbitration for
violating the (working contract) agreement," he said.

If managers of the mine are found criminally liable for environmental
misconduct, they could face 15 years' jail and a Rp 750 million (about
US$82,000) fine.

An environmental law lecturer at East Java's Airlangga University, Suparto
Wijoyo, said the 1997 law required the government to prosecute all
violators.

Indro Sugiantoro of the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law said the
government's hesitance to sue Freeport proved it had no intention of
upholding the law.

"Any act to avoid enforcing the law is a crime in itself," he said.

Freeport executives could not be reached for comment. However, in a
statement sent to The Jakarta Post last week, the company reiterated it
had complied with Indonesian laws and pledged to cooperate with the
government to improve the environmental management of the mine.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tempo Magazine (via Joyo Indonesia News)
No. 30/VI
March 28 - April 03, 2006
Sanctioning Freeport
-- Freeport has been proven to have polluted the environment. Thefindings 
will be stated in the Freeport work contract evaluation

Grasberg does not offer warmth. Even in the daytime, the thermometer
remains at 10 degrees Celsius. Twenty-four members of the Environment
Department Team for Evaluation of Company Performance, had to button up
their jackets.

Standing at 4,000 meters above sea level, with less oxygen, all the team
members continued the struggle to collect data on the stability of slopes
of the Grasberg gold mine belonging to PT Freeport Indonesia in Papua
province. They are the "environment police" tasked to examine whether or
not there is environmental contamination at Freeport. After two weeks of
hard work in the field, on February 24 the team brought waste samples to
Jakarta.

The result? The mining company which has been operating since 1972, has
been proven to have contaminated the environment. There is a series of bad
reports made by the Team regarding the mine. First, the management of the
mine's acid from the west side of Grasberg does not meet the standard
requirements for waste water quality applied to a gold and copper mining
site. The company that has 86.2 million ounces in gold reserves-reportedly
the largest deposits in the world-does not have a permit for disposing
liquid waste along Grasberg's west side.

The second violation is that the tailings coming out of the mine into the
Ajkwa River through the Panda Lima and Kelapa Lima points to the estuary,
do not meet the quality standards with regards to the amount of solid
particles dissolved in water.

>From Kelapa Lima 1,253 milligrams of suspended solids per liter of water
were discovered. From Pandan Lima they found 812 milligrams of suspended
solids per liter of water. The government has determined that the quality
standard for suspended solids must amount to only 200 milligrams per liter
of water. In addition, there is no permit for tailings disposal at the two
spots either. So far, Freeport has been disposing its tailings into the
rivers, so that it would flow to the lower areas.

In light of the findings, Environment Minister Rahmat Witoelar says he
will not apply sanctions against the king of gold and copper in Papua.
Reason: the survey conducted is just an initial intensive evaluation in
the Freeport areas. "We allow a deadline for improvement. If [Freeport]
continues to break [the rules], the government will bring Freeport to
court," he says. He promises to submit the results of the environment
audit when evaluation of the Freeport work contract is discussed at a
cabinet meeting.

Freeport, through its spokesman Siddharta Moersjid, says it is willing to
comply with all the recommendations of the Environment Department. He also
pledges that the company is prepared to cooperate with the central and
local governments in order to improve its environmental impact
performance.

The soft stance by the government has been strongly criticized by the
Mining Advocacy Network and the Indonesian Forum for the Environment
(Walhi). Walhi activist Torry Kuswardono urges the government to
discontinue Freeport's operations in order to avert greater destruction
and disaster. "The government must bring Freeport to court," he said.
-- Efri Ritonga and Nieke Indrietta