[Kabar-Irian] News: Nov 7-8

[Admin-Editors Kabar-Irian]

KABAR IRIAN NEWS

Nov 7-8

TOPICS

* MURDER AT MILE 63
* Security pact with Jakarta agreed
* Security pact to aid Indons with nuclear power
* Antonius Wamang gets life in prison
* Aust, Indonesia to sign new security pact
* Hope person-to-person ties will boost security
* Australia and Indonesia Will Sign Security Pact, Downer Says
* We'll help Indonesia go nuclear
* Papuan gets life for US murders
* Papuan jailed for teacher attack
* Indonesian man gets life sentence for killing U.S. citizens
* Papuan sentenced to life for murdering US teachers
* BIMP-EAGA governors to forge strategic action plan
* One of the Accused in Mile 63 shooting infected with AIDS


---

(Contributed by Eben Kirksey)

Joyo Indonesian News/Pantau Exclusive Report


Tuesday, 7 November 2006



MURDER AT MILE 63



Part One: A Trip to the Big City

By S. Eben Kirksey and Andreas Harsono



The U.S. Congress blocked moves to restore military aid to
 Indonesian following reports of its military’s involvement
in the

2002 murder of American school teachers in Timika.
The blockade was released after the indictment of Antonius
Wamang by the

Department of Justice. In May 2006 the Bush
Administration announced a new Pentagon program that will
provide up to $19

million to supplement existing programs
for building Indonesian military capacity. Questions remain
 about whether Wamang

acted alone. Where did Wamang obtain
bullets? Did Indonesian military agents have prior knowledge
 of the attack? Why did the

Indonesian military sue
reporters, doctor the crime scene, intimidate witnesses, and
conduct a sham reconstruction?

This

report—prepared for the Joyo Indonesian Newswire and
Pantau Foundation—is based on internal police documents,
court records,

eyewitness accounts, and exclusive interviews
with Wamang.

A verdict in the trial of Wamang and six
 alleged co-conspirators is expected today. The key points of
evidence presented in

the trial are equivocal. The
Indonesian government has rejected an international role in
helping bring the murderers of human

rights campaigner Munir
 Thalib to justice. But Indonesia has partnered with the Bush
Administration to prosecute some of the

alleged murderers at
Mile 63. The rigorous standards of evidence that would have
been applied in a US court room have not

been upheld.

“Murder at Mile 63” will be released as a three part series 1) A Trip to
the Big City, 2) The Ambush, and 3) The

Cover-
Up.



A TRIP TO THE BIG CITY



When Antonius Wamang boarded a Garuda jet in September 2001
 at Timika’s Moses Kilangin airport in Papua, his heart was
pounding—he was on a mission to get weapons and ammunition
in Jakarta (1).  Born in the remote highland village of
Beoga in

1972, Anton was a young boy when Indonesian
Brigadier-General Imam Munandar launched Operation Eliminate
 (Operasi Kikis) in

the highlands of Papua (2).  Anti-
personnel Daisy Cluster bombs, mortars and machine-guns were
used against Papuan villagers

who were armed with bows and
arrows (3).  Nearly 30 years later, Anton found what he
 thought was an opportunity to buy arms in

hopes of fighting
back against the Indonesian military.

Anton flew to Jakarta alone and was met at Cengkareng
airport by Agus

Anggaibak, a sandalwood (kayu gaharu) dealer
 with close ties to the Indonesian military (4).  According
 to Janes Natkime, a

Beoga native who has known Anton since
elementary school and currently heads the Warsi Foundation
 in Timika, “Agus Anggaibak

set up everything, he lobbied the
officers and arranged the money” (5).  Anggaibak, Natkime
and Anton Wamang are members of

the Amungme tribe, a
 relatively small group where almost everyone knows everyone
 else. Anggaibak had earlier visited Wamang’s

group in their
 jungle hideout, encouraging them to raise money to buy guns.
He brought a rifle with him. Anggaibak showed off

this
weapon in Wamang’s camp: “MODEL P88-9, Col 9 mmp AK, Made in
Germany” (6).

On 11 January 2006 FBI agents detained “Agus
Anggaibak”—a 15-year-old teenager whose real name is Johni
Kacamol—and handed

him over to Indonesian authorities. The
 real Agus Anggaibak remains free. In fact, after the 2002
ambush, he become a member

of the Timika district parliament
 as a representative of the Golkar party. Johni Kacamol is in
prison in Jakarta.

 Anggaibak

promised to help Anton obtain weapons like the one
he was carrying, as well as other guns, from arms dealers in
Jakarta (7).


Like all groups in West Papua’s TPN (Tentara
Pembebasan Nasional, National Liberation Army)—a group
 without a clear

hierarchical command structure founded in
1971—Anton’s group was poorly armed. Janes Natkime, Wamang’s
long-time acquaintance,

commented, “Papua also wants to be
 independent. But we have no weapons. We have no (arms)
industry. We are not skilled at

making arms. All weapons
belong to the NKRI” (8).  NKRI stands for Negara Kesatuan
Republik Indonesia or the Unitary State of

the Indonesian
 Republic.

It is a name frequently used by Indonesia’s
nationalists, including politicians and military officers,
to emphasize Indonesia’s

territorial sovereignty.

Anton’s group, according to the prosecutor’s indictment and
 several witnesses, only had three aging

weapons: an SS1, an
M16, and a bolt-action Mauser. Following several weeks of
intensive gold panning, and kayu gaharu

collecting, Anton’s
group raised money to purchase guns. Anggaibak departed for
Jakarta, with an advance payment from Anton,

where he began
working on securing a deal. Anton later flew to meet
Anggaibak. He brought sacks of kayu gaharu worth more

than
 500 million Rupiah (9).  On the international market kayu
 gaharu fetches even higher prices. This rare wood is used to
make incense and perfume.

Initially Anggaibak and Anton stayed in Mess Perwira Polri—a
police guest house in Jakarta. A kayu

gaharu middleman from
 Makassar named Mochtar introduced Anggaibak and Anton to
some Indonesian army and police officers.

Well aware of how
 to exploit internal conflicts within the Indonesian security
 forces—-conflicts that had resulted in a April

1996 shooting
 match between different branches of the military in the
 Timika airport (10)-—Wamang hoped to secure weapons

from one
faction in hopes of attacking another faction.

Sergeant Puji, a police officer, befriended Anton while he
 was

staying at the guest house. Sergeant Puji took Anton and
 Anggaibak on trips around Jakarta. They toured around while
 Puji

asked them about the activities of Papuan guerillas in
the Timika area. Puji said that he wanted to help the
movement: he

presented Anton with a gift of six magazines of
bullets (a total of 180 bullets) that could be used in
Anton’s M16 or SS1

rifles.

Sergeant Puji also gave Anton
bullets for his Mauser (11).  One night in the Mess Perwira
 Polri, Sergeant Puji showed Anton

fifteen M-16 rifles. Anton
says he paid 250 million Rupiah for these guns and Sergeant
Puji held on to them for safe keeping

(12).
Later Anton moved to Hotel Djody at Jalan Jaksa 35, a
backpacker hostel in downtown Jakarta (13).  He probably
 checked

in using a false name. “Mochtar was a regular guest
here. Maybe, yes, Wamang also stayed here but he used
 another name,” said

Herry Blaponte, the hotel’s front office
staff.

Blaponte said Mochtar had regularly made sandalwood
 business deals with his Papuan guests. Hotel staff remember
Mochtar as

having a stocky build and being a “dandy”—their
memories of him are not fond, however, since he left without
paying his bill.

Blaponte and hotel security staff Mahmud
Trikasno told Indonesian chief detective Dzainal Syarief
 that they did not remember

Anton’s stay at their hotel. “I
don’t remember his face,” said Trikasno. Four cleaning
 service staff also did not recognize

Anton’s picture (14).

 One afternoon at Hotel Djody, according to Wamang, a
stranger approached him and Anggaibak. “I hear you

are
looking to buy guns”, Wamang quoted the stranger as saying.


Eventually Anggaibak admitted that they were. The
stranger—Captain Hardi Heidi—said that he was an Indonesian
 soldier from

Surabaya, Indonesia’s second largest city in
eastern Java. Eventually Anton paid for four additional guns
from Hardi Heidi:

two AKs and two M-16s. As with Sergeant
Puji, Anton arranged for Hardi Heidi to keep the weapons for
safe keeping until he

was ready to depart for Timika (15).



Hardi Heidi introduced Anggaibak and Anton to Sugiono, an
active duty Kopassus officer who pledged to help transport
the

weapons to Timika (16).  They all traveled to different
 cities in Java together—to Bandung, Yogyakarta, and Surabaya
(17).

Sugiono and Hardi Heidi had interests similar to
Sergeant Puji’s—they wanted to hear about TPN activities
 around Timika.

On

September 21, Anton visited 40 Amungme and Kamoro tribal
leaders, who had just returned from negotiations with
Freeport

McMoran at its New Orleans head office. They were
 making a stop in Jakarta and stayed at Hotel Mega Matra.
Excited to see

many fellow Amungme, Anton visited the hotel
a number of times.

The leaders were negotiating a profit
 sharing deal with Freeport’s management. “We left America
one day before 9/11. We heard

about 9/11 when we were
 checking in into our Hong Kong transit hotel,” said delegate
Eltinus Omaleng (18).

Anton asked many of

the delegates for money. He bragged
 about how he had secured weapons that were ready to be
shipped to Papua. Janes Natkime

gave Anton 1.5 million
Rupiah, “Five days later he came back to the hotel, saying
that the ship had been rerouted to Aceh”

(19).



Anton said that he had paid Sugiono nearly 50 million Rupiah
 to ship the guns to Timika. After a chartered boat was
loaded

with the weapons, Anton claims that Sugiono and Hardi
Heidi gave him the slip. The ship motored away with Anton
 standing

alone on the dock (20). Just prior to the boat’s
departure, Anton says that he overheard a conversation
between Hardi Heidi

and his wife. Anton quotes the wife as
saying: “We should sell these in Aceh” (21).

After calling associates back in Timika

for more money,
Anton traveled alone back to Timika on the Kelimutu
 passenger ship (22).  Anton arrived in Timika with only

the
 bullets that Sergeant Puji had given him (23). His extensive
 contacts with Sergeant Puji, with Sugiono, with Hardi Heidi,
and with Mochtar had given him moments of hope. But
ultimately his mission to obtain guns had failed. Instead,
Anton gave

agents of the Indonesian security forces almost
12 months advance notice that a TPN attack was being planned
 in Timika.

The

Washington Post reported that senior Indonesian military
 officers, including then commander-in-chief Endriartono
 Sutarto,
“discussed an operation against Freeport before an
ambush near its mine in Papua” (24).  Did Indonesian
military agents use

their advanced knowledge of Anton
Wamang’s plans to guide his attack? Citing a United States
 government official, and other

sources who had knowledge of
U.S. intelligence reports, the The Washington Post reported
 that the Indonesian military may

have staged the attack with
the aim of “discrediting a Papuan separatist group” (25).



The Indonesian military subsequently sued The Washington
Post for libel. Jakarta newspapers reporting on Indonesian
 military

involvement in the attack were also sued: Koran
 Tempo and Suara Karya (26).  The Washington Post settled out
of court in

February 2003 (27).  Leaked reports on the FBI
investigation’s findings later confirmed intelligence
 reports. “It’s no longer

a question of who did it,” a senior
 U.S. official familiar with the investigation, told AP in
March 2004. “It’s only a

question of how high up this went
within the chain of command,” said the official (28).

The
U.S. Embassy later issued a formal denial that the FBI found
evidence of Indonesian military involvement.

In the time

leading up to the ambush in August 2002, there
were regular contacts between Wamang’s group and local
Indonesian military

agents. Are all the weapons used in the
attack accounted for? Were there other shooters at the scene
 of the crime? Part Two of

“Murder at Mile 63: The Ambush”
will address these questions.



* * *

S. Eben Kirksey (ebenkirksey at cruzio.com) has conducted over
17 months of anthropological research in Papua during six
separate trips (1998-2005). He earned a M.Phil. from the
 University of Oxford and is completing his Ph.D. at UC Santa
 Cruz.

Currently he is a Visiting Professor at Deep Springs
College, California.



Andreas Harsono (aharsono at cbn.net.id) is a journalist
 working for the Pantau Foundation in Jakarta. He currently
 writes a

political travelogue, “From Sabang to Merauke:
Debunking the Myth of Indonesian Nationalism.” He received
 the Nieman

Fellowship on Journalism from Harvard University
in 1999.



FOOTNOTES


1) Antonius Wamang, tape-recorded interview with SEK on 25
March 2005 in Kwamki Lama, Timika; interview with AH on 8-9
October

2006 in Jakarta.


2) S. Sularto, 'Mereka yang Terpaksa Mengungsi', Kompas
(Jakarta), 28 November 1977, pp. 7-8; Carmel Budiardjo and
Liem Sioe

Liong, West Papua, pp. 119-20; Robin Osborne,
Indonesia's Secret War, p. 145.


3) Budiardjo and Liem, West Papua, pp. 119-24.

4) Wamang, 25 March 2005; John Rumbiak, SEK interview, 24
February 2005, Washington DC.


5) Janes Natkime, AH interview 6 November 2006. Original
quote: “Agus Anggaibak yang atur, lobby tentara, Agus yang
setel

semua, atur uang.”


6) An activist at the camp copied the specifications of the
 gun down in his notebook. SEK saw this notebook, 24 March
2005 in

Timika.


7) Wamang, 25 March 2005; John Rumbiak, 24 February 2005.


8) Janes Natkime, 6 November 2006. Original quote: “Papua
j uga mau merdeka. Tapi tidak punya senjata. Tidak punya
 pabrik.

Kitorang tidak punya skill bikin senjata. Semua
senjata punya NKRI.”


9) Wamang, 25 March 2005, Timika; Deminikus Bebari interview
with AH 13 October 2006 in Jakarta.


10) R. Lowry, The Armed Forces of Indonesia (St. Leonards,
N.S.W., 1997), Ch. 5

11) Wamang, 25 March 2005, Timika.


12) Wamang, 25 March 2005, Timika.


13) Wamang, 25 March 2005, Timika.


14) Herry Blaponte and Mahmud Trikasno, AH interview, 6
November 2006. Police chief commissioner Dzainal Syarief,
who headed

the Indonesian police investigation on the Mile
63 case, declined to comment for this story. AH showed
Wamang’s photo to five

other hotel employees. None
 remembered his face. They said they have many guests. The
guest book does not show either

Wamang’s name nor his alias
 P. Amug.


15) Wamang, 25 March 2005, Timika


16) John Rumbiak, SEK interview, 24 February 2005. Wamang,
25 March 2005.


17) Wamang, 25 March 2005; John Rumbiak, 24 February 2005.


18) Eltinus Omaleng, AH interview in Jakarta, 6 November
2006.


19) Like Papua, Aceh is an Indonesian province seeking
independence from Indonesia. It declared independence in
 December

1976. Aceh guerilla fighters regularly attacked
 Indonesian military positions. In 2001, some of the worst
attacks happened in

Aceh. Arms circulated easily in Aceh.
Only in August 2005, the Free Acheh guerillas agreed to sign
 a peace agreement with

Jakarta.


20) Wamang, 25 March 2005; 8-9 October 2006.


21) Wamang, 25 March 2005; 8-9 October 2006. Indonesian
original: “Harus kami jual ke Aceh.”
22) Wamang, 25 March 2005, Timika.


23) Wamang, 25 March 2005, Timika.

24) Ellen Nakashima and Alan Sipres, “Indonesia Military
Allegedly Talked of Targetting Mine”, The Washington Post, 2
November 2002.


25) Ellen Nakashima and Alan Sipres, “Indonesia Military
 Allegedly Talked of Targetting Mine”, The Washington Post, 2


November 2002.


26) “Pangdam Ajukan Gugatan Baru”, Harian Cenderawasih Pos,
17 Juni 2003.


27) Klarifikasi The Washington Post,
http://www.tni.mil.id/news.php?q=dtl&id=344 25 February
2003.


28) Slobodan Lekic, “Indonesian Army Ordered Deadly Ambush”,
Associated Press, 3 March 2004.

------------------------------------------
Joyo Indonesia News Service
------------------------------------------

-- 

S. Eben Kirksey
Visiting Professor (Sept. - Dec. 06)
Deep Springs College
 HC 72 Box 45001
Deep Springs, CA
via Dyer, NV

89010-9803

Tel: (760) 872-2000 x 32


Long term:
S. Eben Kirksey
Ph.D. Candidate
HISTCON
University of California
1156 High Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95065

Tel/fax: (831) 429-8276
http://people.ucsc.edu/~skirksey/


---

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/printpage/0,5942,20720324,00.html


Security pact with Jakarta agreed
Patrick Walters, National security editor
08nov06

AUSTRALIA and Indonesia have agreed to a new broad-ranging security
treaty, seven years after Jakarta tore up a previous

agreement secretly negotiated by president Suharto and Paul Keating.

Under the terms of the new pact, Jakarta and Canberra have pledged not to
support separatist causes in each other's country.
This was a key demand made by Jakarta in the wake of the crisis generated
by the granting of temporary protection visas to 43

Papuan asylum-seekers earlier this year after they landed on Cape York.

The two countries have also agreed to "do everything possible,
individually and jointly, to eradicate international terrorism

and extremism", including rapid, practical and effective responses to
terrorist attacks.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and his Indonesian counterpart, Hassan
Wirajuda, will sign the new pact on the Indonesian

island of Lombok on Monday after nearly two years of discussions and
negotiations.

"It's a very significant step forward in the bilateral relationship," Mr
Downer told The Australian last night.

"It is a sensible agreement, a realistic agreement and it is a sustainable
agreement. The Australian public think it is

important we have a good relationship with Indonesia and we should look
for ways of strengthening that."

Mr Downer said the 1995 Suharto-Keating agreement had not been subject to
any public debate and had not proved to be a

sustainable document.

"We do not need to have a security agreement with Indonesia so both of us
will fight off the Ruritanians. That's not what the

relationship is about," he said. "It is all about working together on the
threats that we have to deal with, which are

different types of threats.

"We don't think the Chinese honestly are going to launch an attack on us."

The Framework for Security Co-operation is a far more detailed document
than the four-clause agreement signed in 1995.

Article 2 of the document commits the signatories to "not in any manner
support or participate in activities by any person or

entity which constitutes a threat to the stability, sovereignty, or
territorial integrity of the other party", consistent

with their respective domestic laws and international obligations.

This includes those who use the countries' territory for "encouraging or
committing such activities, including separatism, in

the territory of the other party". The effect of Article 2 will be
unambiguously to rule out support by a future Australian

government for groups such as the Free Papua Movement seeking independence
from Indonesia.

The treaty has a sharp focus on counter-terrorism and trans-national
crime, with both countries pledging to work together to

"respond to these new challenges and threats".

The seven-page agreement contains 10 formal articles spelling out the
forms of co-operation between two "democratic, dynamic

and outward-looking members of the region and the international community".

It covers bilateral co-operation in 10 key areas, including defence, law
enforcement, counter-terrorism, intelligence

sharing, maritime and aviation security, weapons of mass destruction
proliferation, emergency relief and people-to-people

links.

Indonesian and Australian officials negotiated several drafts of the
treaty, with the two governments agreeing on a final

text last month.

The two countries will consult on defence and security issues of common
concern and on their respective defence policies,

recognising the mutual benefit of the "closest possible professional
co-operation between their defence forces".

The treaty says the parties shall refrain from the "threat or use of force
against the territorial integrity or political

independence of the other, in accordance with the UN Charter." The
document covers both traditional security co-operation as

well as steps to combat trans-national crime issues including
people-smuggling, corruption, illegal fishing, drug trafficking

and money laundering.

Indonesia's leadership was scrambling yesterday to prepare for Mr Downer's
visit, which appeared to have taken the Foreign

Ministry and even the President by surprise.

Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda paid an urgent, unscheduled visit to the
presidential palace late in the afternoon to

confirm details of the visit with Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. His visit
followed meetings of senior foreign ministry staffers,

several of whom later confirmed the security agreement signing was the
object of Mr Downer's visit.

In a separate development, 35 Vietnamese boatpeople have been found in the
Indonesian portion of Borneo, saying they were on

their way to Australia. They were found stranded in the Ketapang Regency
in West Kalimantan Province on October 30 after

drifting for a month when their engine failed.

Mr Downer first broached the idea of a new security agreement in late 2004
and won the support of new Indonesian leader

DrYudhoyono.

The 1995 treaty, never accepted by Indonesia's political elite, dissolved
in mutual acrimony in 1999 in the wake of the

Australian-led Interfet military intervention to the then Indonesian
province of East Timor.

The Indonesian military has been opposed to any revitalisation of the
spirit of the 1995 agreement, with some senior officers

still bitter about Australia's role in securing the independence of East
Timor.

Article 2 of the 1995 agreement bound both countries to consult each other
in the case of adverse challenges to either party

or to their common security interests.

Indonesia, a leader of the Non-aligned Movement, has traditionally avoided
bilateral security treaties - a sensitivity that

the"framework agreement" attempts to address.

The treaty will require the ratification of the Indonesian and Australian
parliaments.

Additional reporting: Stephen Fitzpatrick

---

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/australia-indonesia-in-key-pact/2006/11/07/1162661685127.html


Security pact to aid Indons with nuclear power
Mark Forbes, Jakarta
November 8, 2006


AUSTRALIA will help Indonesia to develop a nuclear program, conduct joint
border-protection patrols, expand military and

intelligence ties and agree to suppress Papuan independence supporters
under a historic security treaty to be signed on

Monday.

The treaty will be the most comprehensive signed between the nations, but
will not include a formal military alliance,

sources close to the negotiations said.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer will fly to Indonesia to sign the treaty
with his counterpart, Hassan Wirayuda.

Its details were finalised when they met in New York last month.

Sources said the treaty marked a "new era" in the relationship, putting to
rest the diplomatic rift caused when Australia

granted 43 Papuans asylum this year.

Both countries will agree to respect each other's territorial integrity.
The treaty will recognise Indonesian sovereignty

over Papua and state that neither country would allow itself to become a
"staging post" for separatist activities, a clause

clearly aimed at an Australian crackdown down on anti-Indonesian activists.

The Indonesia and Australia Framework for Security Co-operation includes a
commitment for both to help each other in

developing nuclear power for peaceful uses.

It opens the way for Australia to sell uranium to Indonesia, which is a
signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,

and is planning to begin building its first nuclear power plant in 2010.
Both nations will also commit to acting to prevent

the spread of weapons of mass destruction to other nations in the region.

Intelligence sharing would be boosted, along with joint counter-terrorism
and border protection operations involving naval

and surveillance patrols.

Military exercises and joint training, including with Indonesia's feared
Kopassus unit, will increase.

Co-operation in law enforcement will also be increased, with Australia
providing resources to Indonesian police, prosecutors

and immigration and customs officials. Both militaries will be instructed
to draw up programs for greater co-operation.

Under six broad principles, the treaty states both nations should be
treated as equals, respect the other's values and not

interfere in each other's internal affairs.

The treaty commits both countries to increasing understanding of one
another, with education and advertising campaigns to

reduce public mistrust.

Announcing the negotiations for a treaty earlier this year, Mr Downer
promised that the process would be transparent.

"People will be able to make public submissions long before this treaty is
formally ratified," he said.

But diplomatic sources confirmed that the treaty's details were privately
finalised last month, and final approval from the

Indonesian cabinet was simply a formality. Arrangements for the foreign
ministers to meet on the island of Lombok have

already been made.

Australia, under former prime minister Paul Keating, signed a security
treaty with Indonesia in 1995 but it was torn up by

Jakarta in 1999 amid tensions over Australia's involvement in East Timor's
independence.

The treaty marks a dramatic turnaround after months of diplomatic turmoil
fuelled by Australia's granting asylum to 43 Papuan

independence supporters. In response, Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono froze relations with Australia for three

months.

---

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillgen.asp?fileid=20061107165129&irec=0


Antonius Wamang gets life in prison


JAKARTA (Agencies): Antonius Wamang, the man who orchestrated the killings
of two American teachers at a U.S.-owned gold mine

in Papua province was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday, momentsafter he
and the other defendants walked out of the

courtroom alleging their trial was a sham.

Judge Andriani Nurdin in Central Jakarta District Court said the
ringleader - Antonius Wamang - deserved life behind bars

instead of the 20 years demanded by prosecutors because he planned the
ambush.

"This was premeditated murder," she said, describing his actions as a
"gross violation of human rights."

Meanwhile, Antara news agency reported that defendants were absence when
the sentence was read. They preferred to return to

their cells when they were called to attend the hearing.

They said they would only attended the hearing when Hardi Sugumol, another
defendant, who is being treated in Kramat Jati

Police Hospital, recovers from his tuberculosis.

Prosecutors claim the seven men - all indigenous Papuans - were members of
a small rebel army fighting for a separate state

in the resource-rich province.

They are accused of shooting Rickey Lynn Spier, 44, of Littleton,
Colorado, and Leon Edwin Burgon, 71, of Sun River, Oregon,

in 2002 as their car headed down a road toward the mine owned by
Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold Mine Inc.

The defendants have remained silent throughout the course of their
five-month trial and regularly walked out in protest. They

did so again on Tuesday, escorted in handcuffs to the Central Jakarta
District Court's detainment room ahead of the ruling.

"We haven't been able to meet with our clients in jail for the last
month," said Johnson Panjaitan, one of their lawyers.

"Can you imagine that a client cannot communicate with his lawyer?" he was
quoted by AP as saying.

Court officials did not immediately respond to theallegations. The attack
originally complicated ties between Washington and

Jakarta amid suspicions that Indonesian security forces guarding the mine
were involved. But an FBI investigation found no

evidence linking soldiers or police to the killings.

Wamang - indicted by a U.S. grand jury in 2004 for the murders - has
acknowledged being a Papuan separatist and said he shot

at the convoy because he thought it was carrying soldiers, Johnson said.

---

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200611/s1783397.htm

Aust, Indonesia to sign new security pact

The office of Indonesia's Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda has confirmed
he expects to sign a new security pact with his

Australian counterpart Alexander Downer next week.

The new Indonesia and Australia Framework Agreement for Security
Cooperation will express mutual respect for each nation's

sovereignty and territorial integrity, including Indonesia's sovereignty
over Papua.

The new security treaty will reaffirm earlier commitments Australia has
made to strengthen cooperation with Indonesia in the

areas of law enforcement and counter-terrorism

But the agreement stops short of being a formal military alliance.

The two nations pledge to not support separatist causes within each
other's borders.

It will apply to maritime security, fisheries, smuggling and trafficking
and the development of nuclear technology for

peaceful purposes.

Indonesia has previously stated it hopes to build its first nuclear power
plant by 2010.

Mr Downer and his Indonesian counterpart will meet on the Indonesian
island of Lombok on Monday.

Mr Downer says the new security pact with Indonesia is not about
establishing a nuclear power program in that country.

Mr Downer says Australia does not have the technology to set up a nuclear
program in Indonesia and any sale of uranium would

be subject to safeguards.

"If we were to sell uranium to Indonesia we would negotiate a nuclear
safeguards agreement," he said.

"I mean there would be no derogation from the existing policy that we have."

---

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20720226-601,00.html

Hope person-to-person ties will boost security

Patrick Walters
November 08, 2006
THE new security treaty with Jakarta is a big win for Alexander Downer,
who first raised the proposal with Indonesian

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono two years ago.

This is a very different document from the treaty secretly negotiated by
former president Suharto and then prime minister

Paul Keating in the mid-1990s.

The framework for security co-operation has been a transparent diplomatic
negotiation between two democratic nations, but the

pact would not have happened without the explicit support of Dr Yudhoyono.

Its careful, modest bureaucratic language reflects the caution and
optimism on both sides about the state of the bilateral

relationship.

It is not a mutual defence pact obliging the parties to come to the aid of
each other in the event of external aggression. As

Downer told The Australian: "We don't think the Chinese honestly are going
to attack us."

On the one hand, the pact recognises the significant bilateral
co-operation achieved in the field of counter-terrorism in

recent years.

On the other, it reflects the deeply felt suspicions among Jakarta's
political and military elite about Australia's bona

fides in the wake of the East Timor crisis and in the face of new
secessionist pressures in Papua.

The document spells out Indonesia's concerns about Papua, pledging both
nations not to support any "person or entity" that

constitutes a threat to the stability, sovereignty or territorial
integrity of the other.

This should allay some of Jakarta's concerns about how future Australian
governments might handle the problem of separatism

in Papua.

Recent opinion polls show Australians and Indonesians want to forge closer
ties and better mutual understanding.

The new treaty commits both countries to improve people-to-people ties - a
goal that will be essential to tackling the wide

range of security threats cited in the treaty.

---

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=aRpZJf0ADKwM&refer=australia

Australia and Indonesia Will Sign Security Pact, Downer Says

By Gemma Daley

Nov. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Australia and Indonesia will sign a new security
treaty next week, seven years after Indonesia ended

their previous pact, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said.

Downer and his Indonesian counterpart Hassan Wirajuda will sign the pact
in Lombok on Nov. 13. The nations will agree to

eradicate international terrorism and extremism, as well as pledge to
support separatist causes in each other's country.

``It will reinforce co-operation on counter terrorism and maritime
security in our two countries,'' Downer told Australian

Broadcasting Corp. radio.

Australia and Indonesia, which has the world's largest Muslim population,
have worked together on investigations into

terrorist attacks on Indonesian territory that have killed more than 240
people since 2002. About 202 people, including 88

Australians, were killed in Bali in 2002.

Relations soured in March when Australia granted temporary protection
visas to 43 Papuan asylum-seekers, a move that saw

Indonesia withdraw its Australian envoy and delay signing an aid agreement.

Indonesia has increased its vigilance against terrorists after its police
in November killed Malaysian Azahari Husin, alleged

to be the organizer of the 2002 Bali bombings.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gemma Daley in Canberra at
gdaley at bloomberg.net
Last Updated: November 7, 2006 16:47 EST

---

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/well-help-indonesia-go-nuclear/2006/11/07/1162661684698.html

We'll help Indonesia go nuclear

Mark Forbes, Herald Correspondent in Jakarta
November 8, 2006


AUSTRALIA will help Indonesia develop a nuclear program, conduct joint
border protection patrols, expand military and

intelligence ties and agree to suppress Papuan independence supporters
under a historic security treaty to be signed on

Monday.

The groundbreaking security treaty would be comprehensive but would not
include a formal military alliance, sources close to

the negotiations said.

The Foreign Affairs Minister, Alexander Downer, will fly to Indonesia to
sign the treaty with his counterpart, Hassan

Wirayuda, on Monday. Its details were finalised when the pair met in New
York last month.

The treaty will provide a framework for stronger ties and expanded
co-operation with Indonesia across a wide range of areas.

Sources said it marked a new era in the relationship, putting an end to
the diplomatic rift caused when Australia granted 43

Papuans asylum earlier this year.

Both nations will agree to respect each other's territorial integrity. The
treaty will recognise Indonesian sovereignty over

Papua and commit both countries to suppressing independence activists.

The Indonesia and Australia Framework for Security Co-operation includes a
commitment for both nations to help each other in

developing nuclear power for peaceful purposes. It opens the way for
Australia to sell uranium to Indonesia, which is

planning to begin construction of its first nuclear power plant in 2010.

Both nations will also commit to acting to prevent the spread of weapons
of mass destruction to other countries in the

region.

Intelligence sharing will be boosted, along with joint counter-terrorism
operations, sources confirmed. Australia would

enhance its and Indonesia's border protection with joint naval and
surveillance patrols.

Co-operation will be increased in all areas of law enforcement, with
Australia providing resources to Indonesian police,

prosecutors and immigration and customs officials.

Military exercises and joint training, including with Indonesia's Kopassus
unit, will also increase. Both militaries will be

told to draw up specific programs for greater co-operation.

Under six broad principles, the treaty states both nations should be
treated as equals, respect the other's values and not

interfere in internal affairs.

They also state neither country would allow itself to become a "staging
post" for separatist activities - a clause clearly

aimed at an Australian crackdown on anti-Indonesian activists.

The treaty goes further than a traditional military treaty, placing more
emphasis on broader security issues. It commits both

nations to increasing public understanding about the other. Education and
advertising campaigns are envisaged to reduce

public mistrust, which has shown up in recent polling.

Announcing the negotiations for a treaty earlier this year, Mr Downer
promised the process would be transparent. "People will

be able to make public submissions long before this treaty is formally
ratified," he said.

However, diplomatic sources confirmed the treaty's details had been
privately finalised last month, and final approval from

the Indonesian cabinet was simply a formality.

Arrangements for the foreign ministers to meet on the island of Lombok on
Monday have already been made.

Under Paul Keating, Australia signed a security treaty with Indonesia in
1995, but it was torn up by Jakarta in 1999 amid the

tensions surrounding Australia's involvement in East Timor's independence.

The treaty marks a dramatic turnaround after months of diplomatic turmoil
fuelled by Australia's decision to grant asylum to

43 Papuan independence supporters.

In response, the Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, froze
relations with Australia for three months.

---

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20720241-2703,00.html

Papuan gets life for US murders
Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta correspondent
November 08, 2006
A PAPUAN man has been sentenced to life in prison for the murders of two
American schoolteachers and their Indonesian

assistant four years ago, in a judgment viewed by many as politically
motivated.

Antonius Wamang was found guilty yesterday of the premeditated murder of
the three employees of US mining giant Freeport at

its Grasberg gold and copper mine in Papua.

Six of Wamang's companions were charged with involvement in the ambush, on
August 31, 2002, as the party returned to the

mine's residential quarters, near the town of Timika, after a weekend outing.

Two of the six were sentenced to seven years' jail and the other four,
including a Protestant minister, were sentenced to 18

months' jail for being accomplices in the attack, in which school
principal Edwin Leon Burgen, 71, teacher Ricky Lyn Spier,

44, and Indonesian translator Francis Xavier Bambang Riwanto were killed.

Prosecutors claimed Wamang assembled the gang to sabotage the privately
owned road, a plan whose real aim was murder.

Freeport's operation is protected by the military under a system of
lucrative security payments; critics claim this system,

not Wamang's alleged independence aspirations, were the reason for the
attack and that the military was responsible.

The men appeared in Jakarta Central Court briefly for the verdicts to be
read but staged a walkout, claiming the judiciary

was biased against them.

"This court is a joke," Wamang shouted in his native Papuan language
before storming out. The defence team boycotted the

sentencing.

The group had refused to give pleas in the case, and their appearances
have been accompanied by dozens of supporters after

the case was transferred from Papua on security grounds.

The courtroom was filled yesterday with the shouts of Papuan separatists
and the singing of patriotic hymns.

Although prosecutors had requested 20 years' jail for Wamang, the
three-person judiciary found the heavier sentence was

justified, as the crime was a breach of human rights and he had showed no
remorse.

Critics claim the trial has been a smokescreen designed to conceal
military involvement in the murders. Early investigations

found evidence suggesting the attacks were carried out at least in part by
members of Kopassus, or special forces, pushing

for continued protection payments from mine management.

However, in an FBI-assisted swoop, Wamang and his co-defendants were
produced as suspects and charged with being members of

the separatist movement OPM - charges they have repeatedly denied.

Grasberg is Indonesia's biggest taxpayer, and was among the first pillars
of former president Suharto's corrupt 32-year

regime.

Papuans accuse Jakarta of extracting the province's vast wealth for its
own benefit, returning little to its largely

impoverished population.

The suggestion of Kopassus involvement in the murders was enough to prompt
the US Congress to cut military ties with

Indonesia. This was reversed only this year with the promise of greater
co-operation from Jakarta in the war on terror and a

visit by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. President George W. Bush
is due in Jakarta this month, giving yesterday's

verdict an added symbolic significance.

---

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6124866.stm


Papuan jailed for teacher attack
Antonius Wamang on 7 November 2006
Antonius Wamang refused to be in court for the verdict
An alleged Papuan separatist has been jailed for life for planning an
attack in the Indonesian province that killed three

teachers, two of them Americans.

Antonius Wamang was found guilty of pre-meditated murder over the deaths
of the three who were shot on their way to work at a

gold and copper mine in 2002.

Six other defendants were jailed for between 18 months and seven years.

Indonesian and US relations were strained by initial claims of Indonesian
security forces involvement.

A lengthy FBI investigation found no evidence to support those claims.

Wamang, who was indicted by a US grand jury in 2004 for the murders, and
his co-defendants refused to be in court for the

verdicts. They have continually protested at the legitimacy of the trial.

The US teachers, Rickey Lynn Spier and Leon Edwin Burgon and their
Indonesian colleague Bambang Riwanto were shot as they

drove to work at the giant US-owned Freeport gold and copper mine in Papua.

---

http://english.people.com.cn/200611/07/eng20061107_319245.html

Indonesian man gets life sentence for killing U.S. citizens

An Indonesian court Tuesday sentenced Antonius Wamang from Papua province
to life in prison for orchestrating an armed ambush

that killed two U.S. citizens and an Indonesian near a gold mine of a U.S.
firm in Papua.

The presiding judge at the Central Jakarta District Court, Andriani
Nurdin, said Wamang was guilty of premeditated murder and

handed a life sentence instead of 20 years as demanded by prosecutors.

The judge panel said the crime is also a gross violation of human rights.

The defendant showed no remorse during his trials and has committed to the
"obstruction of justice" by always refusing to

attend the hearings, the panel said.

Prosecutors also have recommended jail terms ranging from eight years to
15 for six other defendants for the similar case.

The ambush took place in August 2002 near the mine of U.S. firm Freeport
in Timika district.

The attacks also injured eight U.S. citizens and three Indonesians, all
worked for the mining firm.

Prosecutors' indictment said the assailant group received order from Kelly
Kwalik, leader of the Free Papua Movement.

Wamang has also been indicted by the U.S. jury in June 2004 on two counts
of murder and eight counts of other related

offenses and attempted murder.

Source: Xinhua

---

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/papuan-sentenced-to-life-for-murdering-us-teachers/2006/11/07/1162661687798.html

Papuan sentenced to life for murdering US teachers

November 8, 2006


JAKARTA: A Papuan separatist received a life sentence yesterday for
murdering two Americans and an Indonesian four years ago

near the US-operated Freeport gold and copper mine in the Indonesian
province.

Antonius Wamang, the alleged ringleader of a small indigenous rebel army,
and six other defendants had been on trial since

July over charges that carried a maximum penalty of death.

The defendants, who consistently protested against the legitimacy of the
trial, had walked out of the courtroom and returned

to their holding cells before Andriani Nurdin, head of a three-judge
panel, read the verdict on Wamang.

"The panel [declares Wamang] guilty of carrying out premeditated murder
and heavy battery," Mr Nurdin said, announcing the

first finding in the case.

Earlier, scores of supporters in the packed courtroom sang Papuan songs
and shouted slogans against the Indonesian

Government. Among other chants, they yelled "SBY, puppet of America" -
referring to the Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang

Yudhoyono - and "free the seven Papuans".

Teachers from an international school for children of mine staff were
among the victims in the attack, which sparked

suspicions among some in the US of involvement by the Indonesian military.

Earlier this year Wamang alleged that he had also seen three men in
Indonesian military uniform firing at the teachers'

convoy.

The New York Times reported in January that Wamang, who was indicted in
Washington over the killings and was lured to his

arrest by FBI agents, also told the police that he had been given his
bullets by a senior Indonesian soldier.

The shootings, on a road owned by the US company, have for years been a
stumbling block to the Bush Administration's efforts

to improve relations with Indonesia. But tension cooled after Indonesia
allowed US investigators into Papua and suspects were

arrested and charged.

Reuters

---

http://biz.balita.ph/html/article.php/20061107143739085


Miyerkoles, Nobyembre 08, 2006 7:44:31 AM

07 - BIMP-EAGA governors to forge strategic action plan

Tuesday, November 07 2006 @ 02:37 PM GMT

Business

Provincial governors within the Brunei
Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asean Growth Area
(BIMP-EAGA) will

converge for the first time this week in Malaysia for a one-day forum
aimed to maximize the strategic role of the local

governments in sustaining the sub-regional initiatives and to forge
strategic collaborations.

Slated to be held on Thursday, the first BIMP-EAGA Local Government Forum
will be convened in Kota Kinabalu coinciding with

the three-day BIMP-EAGA 14th Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) and 11th
Ministerial Meeting (MM) scheduled on Wednesday up to

Friday.

The Mindanao Economic and Development Council (MEDCo) announced on Tuesday
that expected to be discussed during the SOM and

MM are updates on various BIMP-EAGA initiatives, ahead of the third EAGA
Leaders Summit in Cebu scheduled to be held next

month.

MEDCo said the forum aims to engage provincial and state level officials
across the sub-region with discussions on increasing

local government participation in EAGA activities by adopting a common
strategic action plan at the provincial, state and

EAGA levels to strengthen cooperation in the growth area.

It is also aimed to formalize sub-regional cooperation measures, programs
and projects that have been initiated either on a

bilateral or multi-lateral basis at the local levels, according to MEDCo.

Highlights of the forum include a presentation on the status of BIMP-EAGA
development programs and projects, as well as the

BIMP-EAGA Business Council's (BEBC) presentation of initiatives that
focuses on its role in advancing public-private sector

partnerships in the BIMP-EAGA.

Saranggani Governor Miguel Dominguez of the Philippine-EAGA delegation
will also present experiences and lessons learned in

the implementation of projects through different modalities of
public-private partnership.

The BIMP-EAGA LGU Forum will also include bilateral meetings among
governors and heads of local governments, including the

Sabah chief minister aside from discussions on developing strategies for
optimizing the role of local governments and their

private partners.

In convening the various local leaders of the EAGA, the LGU projects
itself as the voice of the BIMP-EAGA, aims to develop

and pursue common policy support and interventions for the sub-region from
their respective national governments.

"The initiative to conduct this first-ever forum among heads of local
governments in the EAGA is certainly a welcome strategy

in ensuring the sustainability of various programs and projects in the
EAGA," noted Philippine signing minister for BIMP-EAGA

Jesus Dureza.

"To sustain programs and projects, the participation of the people is very
important. The involvement of local leaders, as

well as their private sector counterparts, would definitely have a
strategic hand in ensuring such participation," Dureza

added.

A side event to the forum is a BIMP-EAGA Exhibit, which will showcase and
exhibit trade, tourism and investment highlights of

the different EAGA provinces.

Dubbed as "Experience BIMP-EAGA 2006," the exhibit will be on display from
November 9 to 12 at Centerpoint Mall in Kota

Kinabalu.

The exhibit is slated to enable the four member-countries promote the
potentials of the growth area and showcase the sub-

region's products and services, including trade and investment opportunities.

It was organized by the BEBC and with support from (German Technical
Cooperation) GTZ.

The BIMP-EAGA was formed in March 1994 as Asean sub-regional economic
growth aimed to increase trade, investment and tourism.

It comprises the entire sultanate of Brunei Darussalam; 10 provinces in
the Indonesian islands of Kalimantan, Sulawesi,

Maluku, and Irian Jaya; Sabah, Sarawak, and Labuan in Malaysia; and
Mindanao and Palawan in the Philippines with a land area

of 1.54 million square kilometers. (PNA)

---

http://www.suarapembaruan.com/News/2006/11/07/Nasional/nas12.htm

One of the Accused in Mile 63 shooting infected with AIDS (translated and
abridged by KI)

The State Court (Central jakarta) has requested that Hardi Tsugumol,
currently being treated at the Police Hospital jakarta,

receive medical care for AIDS and hepatitis. Hardi is one of the 7
indicted in the August 31 2002 shootings in Timika/Mile63.

The Police Hospital is not a hospital that can treat AIDS. Therefore we
request the presiding judges to authorize his

treatement at a hospital capable of treating an AIDS patient." stated
Ecoline Situmorang SH.

As of saturday his condition was critical. Because of that he was treated
in the ICU. He has since been moved back to the

Police Hospital holding area.  ""His condition is critical but they do not
have him in a care unit but in a cell!

The Prosecution does not want to take action to assist Hardi and has
simply thrown the responsibilty to the State Court.

It is as if the courts and the lawyers do not care about the accused. "Is
it true then that the law and the courts are really

blind and do not pay attention to the rights of the accused?"