[Kabar-Irian] News: Sept 15-22 2006 (additional)

[Admin-Editors Kabar-Irian]

Sept 15-22 2006
KABAR IRIAN NEWS

TOPICS

* Papuan politicians slam cannibal claims
* Australian networks clash over cannibal boy
* Robson fires back in Wawa war
* Five more Indonesian Papuans have been sentenced to jail
* RSF protests over expulsion of journalists
* West Papua exiles oppose security treaty
* Cannibals may be feeding the lies
* On a mission to sway Australia's view
* Stunning finds of fish and coral
* Treasure trove of new marine species found
* The coral paradise where sharks learned to walk
* Papuan figure: don't compare history of Papua to E. Timor
* Wah Wah attacks stressful, says Robson
* Naomi back from Wa-Wa war zone
* Wa-wa, what the hell is really going on here?
* Feeding frenzy over reports of 'cannibalism' in Papua
* Riot case Papuans 'beaten by police'
* Papua governor receives title
* Papua issue will be raised at Forum meeting, says Vanuatu PM
* Even Papuan cannibals find Naomi Robson tasteless
* Indonesia’s government to consider next steps over Papua marine area
* Time needed for marie parks to be set up off Papua
* Some tiny Pacific island fear HIV/AIDS could decimate them if left...
* Watch for walking shark on next trip to Indonesia
* Further surveys to be carried out in Indonesia’s Bird’s Head Seascape
* TNI Commander: beware of efforts to internationalize Papua problems
* Foreign NGOs accused for lobbying UN to separate Papua from Indonesia
* Indonesia plans to build national railway network
* Three Abepura defendants jailed
* Papuan defendants on hunger strike
* Abepura defendants get five years
* Foreign media ban suggests concealment of human rights abuses
* Papua takes off with first airline
* Settlers chase away Indonesian delegates
* No control on border currency exchange

KI Note: There were many articles on the topic of the Channel 7 team in
Papua and the marine discoveries. We have tried to select the more
pertinent ones.
---

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Experts-debunk-Papua-cannibal-claims/2006/09/15/1157827140770.html

Papuan politicians slam cannibal claims

September 15, 2006 - 2:44PM


Former Papuan politicians have scoffed at claims that cannibals inhabit
the Indonesian-controlled province.

Channel Seven's Today Tonight host Naomi Robson and four of her colleagues
were deported from Indonesia for entering the

province of Papua on tourist visas.

They were filming a story about a six-year-old Papuan boy supposedly
earmarked for ritual killing by a cannibal tribe.

Former Papuan politicians Clemens Runawery and Willem Zonggonau - who now
live in neighbouring Papua New Guinea - are on a

speaking tour of Australia to promote independence for the province.

Both of them ridiculed Today Tonight's claims.

Mr Zonggonau said the remote area where the tribe was said to live had
been well documented by Dutch explorers who suffered

no harm in their expeditions - including an administrator who photographed
the locals.

"Why don't they eat him? Why don't they kill him?," Mr Zonggonau told
reporters.

"Nothing."

Mr Runawery also dismissed the claims.

"It's not happening. They've been integrated into modern civilisation," he
said.

Australian Greens leader Bob Brown criticised Today Tonight's efforts as
patronising.

"I think there's been some patronising of Papua, but there's enough of
that from Jakarta - we don't need it from Australia,"

he said.

© 2006 AAP

---

http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20060915-102614-4072r

Australian networks clash over cannibal boy
Marc Lavine
AFP
September 15, 2006

SYDNEY --  Two rival Australian television channels Friday were locked in
a bitter public battle over their coverage of

attempts to save a Papuan orphan called Wa-Wa from being eaten by his
cannibal tribe.

The story became the focus of a firestorm after five journalists from
Channel Seven were Thursday ordered out of Indonesia

after entering illegally on tourist visas to make contact with the
six-year-old boy in remote Papua.

The channel lashed out at Channel Nine, accusing its archrival of
sabotaging its attempts to rescue Wa-Wa by tipping off

Indonesian authorities about the arrival of the Seven staffers, who were
scheduled to be deported Friday.

In the televised sparring match late Thursday, Channel Nine - which broke
the story of Wa-wa earlier this year - threatened

legal action over what the station said were "false and reprehensible"
allegations.

"Our crew flew into a set-up - a dangerous, tense, and extremely delicate
situation," Seven Network said on its "Today

Tonight" program.

"We can't be certain, but we do know the Nine Network somehow found out we
were going and tried to sabotage the trip,

threatening, cajoling, and intimidating," the program said.

In May, Channel Nine traveled to Papua and met Wa-Wa, whose parents had
died. Tribe members, suspicious that he was possessed

by evil spirits, said that they planned to kill and eat him sometime in
the next 10 years, the report said.

The doe-eyed Wa-Wa is from Papua's Korowai tribe, believed to be one of
the last peoples on earth to practice cannibalism.

Channel Seven's news chief Peter Meakin said that his station had spoken
with cannibalism expert Paul Raffaele in Papua about

rescuing the boy and placing him in the care of a local man known as Mr.
Cornelius.

He also warned that as the networks were battling it out, the orphan at
the center of the story appeared to have been

forgotten.

"The state and welfare of this six-year-old boy seems to be getting lost
... the fact is that without any presence in the

country it is very difficult for us to help him," he said.

The arrest of the Channel Seven crew dominated Australian news headlines
and even drew in Prime Minister John Howard, who has

asked his envoys in Indonesia to investigate the case.

"It's certainly, on the face of it, a tragic, bizarre story," the prime
minister said.

Press freedom group Reporters Without Borders slammed Indonesia for
detaining the five journalists in the Indonesian

territory, where separatists have launched sporadic attacks for more than
30 years.

"The way in which the Jakarta authorities ban the press from working
freely in Papua is utterly scandalous," RSF said in a

statement.

But even as the row surrounding Wa-Wa reached a deafening roar, a Papuan
human rights worker and academics in Australia

derided claims of Korowai cannibalism and trashed the notion that Wa-Wa
would be served up to his tribe.

"The cannibalism era has stopped since the Bible was delivered in West
Papua. That was before I was born," Papuan human

rights worker Paula Makabory told the Australian Associated Press (AAP) in
Melbourne.

"There is no people eating people any more. It was a long time ago," said
Makabory, a coordinator with the Papuan human

rights group Elsham.

Historian and author Richard Chauvel of the Victorian University in
Melbourne said that the fabled cannibalistic killings of

people accused of witchcraft by the Korowai had stopped decades ago and
that the Channel Nine television story had confused

the old stories with new ones.

"This is the excesses of tabloid journalism gone wild," Chauvel told the AAP.

---

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20420690-7582,00.html

Robson fires back in Wawa war
Nick Leys and James Madden
September 16, 2006
FREE from the cannibal-infested jungles of Papua and the Indonesian
authorities who hampered her attempt to save a small

orphaned boy named Wawa from the village stockpot, Today Tonight's Naomi
Robson must now battle to restore what credibility

she ever had.

She is, she insists, not simply an entertainer.

"I consider myself a journalist," the Seven Network star told The Weekend
Australian last night from Singapore, where she and

her crew were resting after their theatrically tabloid week.

And the state of her credibility?

"I don't know, I think other people will decide that," Robson said.

Tribal wars in the highlands of Papua are serious enough, but a tribal
media war between Seven and its arch rival the Nine

Network is something else altogether, and Robson's credibility has been a
target for Nine ever since Today Tonight overtook A

Current Affair in the ratings.

Earlier this year, Robson admitted to dating a prominent underworld
figure. And when the media descended on the Tasmanian

town of Beaconsfield where two miners were trapped underground, Robson's
precious antics made her the subject of much

derision among colleagues.

Now, a week after appearing with a lizard on her shoulder at Steve Irwin's
Australia Zoo, her clumsy bragging about the

Indonesian trip to fellow journalists and the naive manner in which host
and crew presented themselves in a politically

charged environment has embarrassed Seven.

But as for hungry cannibals circling young Wawa, Robson is sticking to her
guns about Today Tonight's intentions.

"I have to say the whole idea was to get in and find out," she said in
response to questions over whether she seriously

believed Wawa was on the verge of being eaten.

"Clearly, as a journalist, I wanted to get there, meet (the guide)
Cornelius Sempiring, then actually speak to Wawa's uncle

and family. The uncle was going to be with us at all times; he was the one
saying, 'Please help me, Wawa's life is in

danger'. They know a number of Kakua - boy witches - who have been killed."

History will show how Robson and her crew were detained by authorities
before they could get to the maneaters because they

did not have work visas. They blame a dobber at Nine - possibly reporter
Ben Fordham - for their detainment and deportation.

Seven's plan was to repatriate Wawa with Mr Sempiring for six months while
a suitable foster family could be found. Seven

would then pay his upkeep and education expenses for 10 years.

But Robson was defensive when The Weekend Australian asked why she and
Today Tonight's producers had never considered a

similar proposal closer to home.

Why go to the jungles of Papua when it has been shown that some children
in Aboriginal communities suffer horrendous sexual

abuse and might also appreciate a Seven-sponsored 10-year repatriation plan?

"Paul Raffaele (the fixer who helped both Nine and Seven with the story)
came to us and said, 'This is the situation, this

boy needs our help', and we felt we could help," she said.

Robson believes Wawa was considered a Kakua because his fellow villagers
could not explain the death of his parents last

year. Children are eaten quite commonly, she claims.

Mr Sempiring, however, said last night he didn't think the child's life
was in danger "for the moment".

---

http://www.antara.co.id/en/seenws/?id=20086

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Five more Indonesian Papuans have been
sentenced to jail over deadly protests against a US-run mine in March this
year, a lawyer for the men said Friday.

The men are the latest in a group of 23, mostly students, to be sentenced
over clashes between security forces and hundreds of protesters
demonstrating in the Papuan capital Jayapura against the mine

run by Freeport-McMoran.

Six people were left dead, including five security officers.

The five received sentences of four to five years from the Jayapura
district court on Thursday and Friday, lawyer Ecoline Situmorang said,
while the final two are expected to hear their

verdicts next week.

The latest group were all found guilty on charges of "disobeying orders
and causing injury or death to security officers",

Situmorang told AFP.

Sixteen other Papuans have already been sentenced from five to 15 years
each for their roles in the bloodshed.

At the time, the violence fanned fears of further unrest in isolated
Papua, where Indonesia has grappled with a sporadic,

low-level separatist conflict for decades.

Critics accuse Freeport-McMoran of not giving enough to the people of
Papua in return for the mine. They allege the mine

causes pollution and that the military's protection of the site has led to
human-rights abuses. (*)

Copyright © 2006 ANTARA

September 15, 2006

---

http://www.pmw.c2o.org/2006/papua5013.html

Pacific Media Watch
		PAPUA:
RSF protests over expulsion of journalists

Title -- 5013 PAPUA: RSF protests over expulsion of journalists
Date -- 15 September 2006
Byline -- None
Origin -- Pacific Media Watch
Source -- Reporters Sans Frontières 14/9/6
Copyright - RSF
Status -- Unabridged

Post a comment on PMW's Right of Reply: www.voy.com/166636/

Papua:
FIVE AUSTRALIAN JOURNALISTS EXPELLED
www.rsf.org

PARIS (RSF/Pacific Media Watch): Reporters Without Borders voiced concern
at the Indonesian authorities' [expulsion] of five

Australian journalists, including Channel Seven presenter Naomi Robson,
who were arrested, questioned and expelled for

travelling to Papua, which is closed to the press.

"The way in which the Jakarta authorities ban the press from working
freely in Papua is utterly scandalous," the press

freedom organisation said.

"Every state has the right to protect its sovereignty but to close
territory in this way is contrary to Indonesia's

international commitments and to the country's Constitution, which
guarantees freedom of the press and movement," it said,

adding, "we call for restrictions on journalists' access to Papua to be
lifted."

Police on 13 September 2006 picked up five members of a Channel Seven
reporting team - Naomi Robson, Rohan Travis, Peter

Andrew, Paul Richard and David John - and then put them under surveillance
in Jayapura, after they had entered the province

on a tourist visa. The Jakarta government also threatened them with a fine
and a ban on visiting Indonesia.

The presenter of the programme Today Tonight, Naomi Robson, and her team
had apparently asked for a visa to prepare a report

on the last cannibalistic tribes in Papua.

Immigration officials forced the journalists onto a flight to Jakarta on
14 September, after which they were due to be

expelled from the country.

Papua police chief Major-General Tommy Jacobus, told AP: "They admitted
being journalists trying to report on the situation

here. It is best that we deport them."

The foreign press has been banned from Papua since 2003.

"We believe that Indonesian unity and cohesion would be threatened by an
intrusion and a foreign interest," Indonesian

Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono said in February 2006.

The western part of the island of New Guinea, which Indonesia annexed in
1969, is regularly troubled by [pro-independence]

demonstrations.

* For further information, contact Vincent Brossel at RSF, 5, rue Geoffroy
Marie, Paris 75009, France, tel: +33 1 44 83 84

70, fax: +33 1 45 23 11 51, e-mail: asie at rsf.org, Internet:
http://www.rsf.org
		+++niuswire

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other media workers, dedicated to examining issues of ethics,
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Sunday, 17 September 2006

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---

http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2006/684/684p4i.htm

West Papua exiles oppose security treaty

CANBERRA — A new campaign urging the Howard government not to proceed with
its proposed security treaty with Indonesia was

launched on September 15 by former West Papuan politicians Willem
Zonggonau and Clemens Runawery, and Greens Senator Bob

Brown. Zonggonau and Runawery, who now live in PNG, are on a speaking tour
to promote independence for West Papua.

“While the Indonesian military continues its oppression in West Papua, any
new security pact with Indonesia is a mistake ...

increasing the likelihood of further human rights abuses”, Zonggonau told
a September 15 media conference. “The Australian

government should as a minimum insist that foreign journalists and UN
observers be given full access to West Papua as a pre-

condition of the new security treaty”, Runawery said. “The Australian
government should not repeat the mistake of the 1969

John Gorton Liberal government when it was complicit in the sham
referendum in West Papua.”

Chris Capitol

>From Green Left Weekly, September 20, 2006.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.

---

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/cannibals-may-be-feeding-the-lies/2006/09/17/1158431585605.html

Cannibals may be feeding the lies


John Garnaut
September 18, 2006
Naomi Robson 
 facing flak.

PAUL RAFFAELE led Channel Seven's Naomi Robson, Nine's Ben Fordham and
more than 2 million 60 Minutes viewers into

Indonesia's Papua province to find a six-year old boy named Wa-Wa.

The May 60 Minutes program, which was the most-watched episode of the year
and was repeated last night, depicted Wa-Wa as a

future victim of his Korowai's tribe's taste for human flesh.

On Friday night the Sydney adventure writer told the Herald he had spent
enough time among Wa-Wa's Korowai people to hear "at

least 20 first-hand accounts of cannibalism - people who have killed
people and eaten them".

Robson, implying Nine was callous enough to leave him to such a dastardly
fate, was relying on Raffaele's testimony to brave

the jungles and save Wa-Wa.

"It was just a matter of time," she told the Herald. "They were just
waiting for the opportunity to kill him and eat him."

Yesterday Raffaele conceded he did not speak Indonesian or any Papuan
language and had spent less than six weeks of his life

in the restive province.

Two of those weeks were with Fordham. Another was last week with Robson,
stranded in the Papuan capital of Jayapura without a

valid visa.

And Wa-Wa is apparently not Korowai after all. Raffaele now says he is
from the "very similar" Kombai tribe.

Members of Nine's original expedition say it was unlikely Wa-Wa's uncle
"begged" them to remove Wa-Wa to safety, as has been

reported.

"We tried to engage with Wa-Wa's uncle but he would not talk to us," the
Nine source said.

Raffaele's account of the Korowai in his book The Last Tribes of the Earth
rests extensively on the PhD thesis of an

anthropologist, Rupert Stasch, of the University of Chicago.

Stasch writes that the Korowai did previously practise ritual killings of
suspected cannibal witches, which sometimes

involved eating flesh from those witches, but that they have "given up"
the practice.

Chris Ballard, an anthropologist from the Australian National University,
explained how Raffaele, two television networks and

millions of viewers were probably misled.

The Korowai depend on the tourism trade and have learnt to say what rich
foreigners want to hear. "Most of these groups have

10 years' experience in feeding this [cannibal] stuff to tourists," Dr
Ballard said.

But Raffaele is sticking to his claims, including that Nine had offered
"beyond $100,000" to abandon Robson on the eve of her

Papua trip and go with Nine instead.

"A car will pick you up from home at 9am tomorrow and drive you to Channel
Nine," an email from Fordham on September 7 said.

Nine sources say they were merely hoping to "call his bluff" and confirm
he was about to take Robson to Papua.

Robson and her crew left Papua on Friday.

---

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/on-a-mission-to-sway-australias-view/2006/09/17/1158431586246.html

On a mission to sway Australia's view

Andra Jackson
September 18, 2006
Papuan politicians Clemens Runawery (left) and Wim Zonggonau are on the
campaign trail again.

THIRTY-SEVEN years ago former Papuan politicians Clemens Runawery and Wim
Zonggonau boarded a plane on an urgent mission that

might have changed the political fate of their now Indonesian-ruled province.

But they were pulled off the flight as part of Australia's not widely
known behind-the-scenes role in thwarting Papuan

independence aspirations.

The pair, who have spent the last 39 years in exile in Papua New Guinea
working as educationalists, are now on another

mission — this time to Australia.

They are appealing, with the backing of the Australian Greens senator Bob
Brown, for Australia not to sign a security treaty

with Indonesia that they say would again "betray" Papuan rights.

A proposed Australia pledge not to support the continuing Papuan push for
independence would be tantamount, Mr Zonggonau

said, "to saying to Koppasus (Indonesia's special forces) do what you like
in West Papua".

With estimates putting the numbers of Papuans killed or missing under
Indonesia's miliary presence since 1969 at 100,000,

Australia should be insisting that the United Nations be allowed in to
investigate, as had happened in East Timor, he said.

Mr Zonggonau was a member of the Provincial Assembly of Irian Jaya and of
Indonesia's upper house and Mr Runawery, a member

of Papua's Provincial Assembly when they fled to the then
Australian-controlled Papua New Guinea in July 1969.

They carried a petition signed by 54 Papuan leaders asking the United
Nations to declare a sham its so-called Act of Free

Choice, which had been restricted to 1200 Indonesian appointees.

Speaking in Melbourne yesterday they recounted how after Australian
officials took them off the plane in 1969, they were

detained for eight months.

"The untold story" is that the Dutch and Australian governments met in
1957 and "an understanding was reached 
 that the two

sides of Dutch New Guinea would be 
 two separate entities", Mr Runawery
said.

"Yet Australia stood behind Indonesia. It was a betrayal."

---

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5350666.stm


Stunning finds of fish and coral
By Richard Black
Environment correspondent, BBC News website


The "walking" shark

Enlarge Image
Discoveries of hugely diverse fish and coral species in the Indonesian
archipelago have amazed researchers.

The Bird's Head region in Papua may be the most biologically diverse in
all the oceans, say scientists from Conservation

International (CI).

Among 50 species believed to be new are bottom-dwelling "walking" sharks
and "flasher" wrasse, which feature colourful male

courting displays.

CI is working with the Indonesian government to protect the ecosystem.

"Five years ago we ran our first expedition to Raja Ampat [islands off the
Bird's Head], and this revealed what we felt to be

the epicentre of marine biodiversity on the planet," said Mark Erdmann, a
CI scientist on the project.

Location of Bird's Head peninsula
Researchers have just returned for a more detailed survey, which revealed
20 corals, 24 fish and eight mantis shrimp believed

to be new to science.

Highlights included two apparently new species of epaulette sharks, which
spend most of their time walking across the sea

floor, swimming away when danger looms.

Unspectacular, dull brown male wrasse transform into a spectacular blaze
of yellow, blue and purple to impress females in

their harem and persuade them to mate.

"We were simply blown away by what we found," Dr Erdmann told the BBC News
website.

Turbulent history

Reefs in the "coral triangle" - an area rather un-triangular in shape
which includes tracts of water off the coasts of

Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon
Islands and East Timor - are home to about 600 species of

reef-building coral.


Life on the reef

Enlarge Image
That is more than exist along Australia's Great Barrier Reef which covers
an area 10 times larger.

What makes the region special, it seems, is a combination of its
topography and its history.

It contains a mixture of deep basins and shallower waters. As global sea
levels have risen and fallen over the millennia, the

basins would have become isolated, allowing species to evolve differently
in each, before being returned to the open sea when

waters rose.

This pattern has very likely been amplified by the region's active
tectonics, creating regular earthquakes and other

upheavals.

Another contributing factor could be the region's isolation from large
centres of human population, making it easier for

unique species and ecosystems to survive.


Scientists find "lost world" in Indonesian jungle

In pictures
That has certainly helped in the preservation of land animals in the
region, which has seen several finds of new forest

species in recent years.

CI believes that without protection, the unique marine creatures of the
Bird's Head area will not survive intact; human

activities, in particular fishing using explosives and cyanide, will have
their inevitable impact.

"The other thing we are afraid of is economic development plans for Papua,
which involve increased fisheries exploitation,"

said Dr Erdmann.

"There are relatively few people living there, but they are dependent on
their coastline; and we think development plans need

to be revisited."

CI and its conservation partners are now working with the Indonesian
government to protect the special areas of the Bird's

Head peninsula and Raja Ampat islands, and to manage development in a
sustainable way.

Richard.Black-INTERNET at bbc.co.uk

---

http://www.smh.com.au/news/science/found-shark-that-walks-on-its-fins/2006/09/18/1158431636848.html

Found: shark that walks on its fins

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September 18, 2006 - 5:46PM
AdvertisementAdvertisement

Scientists combing through undersea wonders off Indonesia's Papua province
said today they had discovered dozens of new

species, including a shark that walks on its fins and a shrimp that looks
like a praying mantis.

The team from Conservation International also warned that the area - known
as Bird's Head Seascape - is under danger from

fishermen who use dynamite and cyanide to net their catches and called on
Indonesia's government to do more to protect it.

"It's one of the most stunningly beautiful landscapes and seascapes on the
planet," said Mark Erdmann, a senior adviser of

Conservation International who led two surveys to the area earlier this year.

"Above and below water, it's simply mind blowing," he said.

Erdmann, an American, and his team claim to have discovered 52 new
species, including 24 new types of fish, 20 new kinds of

coral and eight new species of shrimp.

Among the highlights were an epaulette shark that walks on its fins, a
praying mantis-like shrimp and scores of reef-building

corals, he said.

Conservation International said papers on two of the new fish species,
called flasher wrasse because of the bright colours

the male exhibits during mating, have been accepted for publication to the
Aqua, Journal of Ichthyology and Aquatic Biology.

The group is in the process of writing papers on the other species, it said.

Carden Wallace, a coral expert and principal scientist at the Museum of
Tropical Queensland in Townsville, Australia, said

she was not surprised by the finding "mostly because it is a remote
location and hasn't been visited by scientists very

much."

Wallace said the finds should give scientists crucial data.

"This will give us a better understanding of where all this diversity
originates from and how vulnerable it may be," Wallace

said.

Erdmann said the discoveries add to an already legendary reputation for
the area, which stretches for 180,000 square

kilometres on the northwestern end of Indonesia's Papua province.

Dubbed Asia's "Coral Triangle," it is home to more than 1,200 species of
fish and almost 600 species of reef-building coral,

or 75 per cent of the world's known total.

But the region's biodiversity faces threats from subsistence fishermen who
use dynamite and cyanide, as well as a government

plan to introduce commercial fishing along the coast.

That has prompted Conservation International to call for the government to
set up a series of marine parks around Bird's Head

Seascape.

"These Papuan reefs are literally species factories that require special
attention to protect them from unsustainable

fisheries and other threats so they can continue to benefit their local
owners and the global community," Erdmann said.

Erdmann said only 11 per cent of the area currently was protected, most of
it in the Teluk Cendarawasih National Park.

He said the government was studying the idea of creating additional marine
parks.

AP

---

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14834763/

Treasure trove of new marine species found
Variety of 'walking' shark among them; discoverers warn of threats

MSNBC
Updated: 9:34 a.m. ET Sept. 18, 2006

Dozens of fish, shrimp and coral species, including two new types of a
shark that walks on its fins, have been discovered in

waters off New Guinea in the South Pacific, conservationists announced
Monday.

The researchers described the area as “Earth's richest seascape” and “the
most biodiverse marine area on the planet.” But

they also warned that it faces threats such as fishing with dynamite and
cyanide, commercial fishing and degraded water

quality from mining and logging in Papua province, a section of New Guinea
governed by Indonesia.

“These Papuan reefs are literally ‘species factories’ that require special
attention to protect them from unsustainable

fisheries and other threats so they can continue to benefit their local
owners and the global community,” expedition leader

Mark Erdmann, a researcher with Conservation International, said in a
statement.
Story continues below ? advertisement

“Six of our survey sites, which are areas the size of two football fields,
had over 250 species of reef-building coral each —

that’s more than four times the number of coral species of the entire
Caribbean Sea,” he added.

The entire area covers 45 million acres off a peninsula in northwest New
Guinea. Researchers have counted 1,200 species of

fish there and 600 species of reef-building coral — the latter equal to 75
percent of the world’s known total.

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, covering an area 10 times bigger, has more
types of fish — 1,464 species — but just 405

species of coral. And the bigger Caribbean Sea has fewer than 1,000
species of fish and just 58 types of coral.

During two surveys earlier this year, Conservation International and
Indonesian experts found at least 36 new species of

fish, coral and mantis shrimp in the waters, which are peppered with 2,500
islands and submerged reefs. The area also

includes the largest Pacific leatherback turtle nesting area in the world,
and is visited by whales, orcas and several

dolphin species.

Two of the new species are members of the epaulette shark family, which
distinguishes itself by sometimes using its fins to

scamper away. Their name comes from the fact that they have two large
round spots near their heads that look like epaulettes,

the shoulder ornaments on military uniforms.

Dynamite, cyanide threats
The researchers, who plan additional surveys next year, said it's already
clear that Indonesia should extend protections

around the region, only one-tenth of which now has national park status.


Sept. 17: View unnarrated footage of a newly discovered species of shark
that comes from a genus known for walking along the

ocean floor by using its fins.

MSNBC
Erdmann told MSNBC.com that as resource-rich as the region is, it faces
immediate threats such as the use of dynamite and

cyanide by locals to stun and then capture live fish for export.

"At two sites we heard ear-shattering fish bombing blasts in the near
vicinity," he said, "and our socio-economic team from

the State University of Papua documented a number of villages where
cyanide fishers were actively targeting grouper for

capture with cyanide before exporting to China live.

"We also saw past evidence of illegal logging, though I'm happy to say
that the Indonesian government's crackdown on illegal

logging over the past five years seems to have greatly reduced this
activity in Papua and we did not see any active logging.

We are, of course, concerned about stated plans for both mining and
logging in steep coastal areas that would be done

legally.”

Commercial fishing in area
Erdmann said a potentially greater problem could be the introduction of
commercial fishing in the area as Indonesia transfers

fishing pressure from its overfished western seas eastwards towards Papua.

"During our survey our socio-economic team did interview one Chinese-owned
fish processing plant that is set up in the

southeast of the Kaimana coastline," he said. "They are currently fishing
just offshore for shrimp using trawls, but confided

they had plans to bring approximately 100 additional vessels on line over
the next two years targeting fish stocks just

offshore. Needless to say, this is only one company, and this level of
investment would clearly be unsustainable and likely

collapse the fishery within three to five years at most."

Conservation International — which has been working with Indonesia as well
as The Nature Conservancy and the World Wildlife

Fund — said it was optimistic that Indonesia would see the value of
protecting the region.

"We've been very pleased with the positive response of the Indonesian
government to our survey results, and with indications

... of their interest in expanding a network of marine protected areas to
both protect the unparalleled marine biodiversity

and also ensure sustainable management of fisheries in order that local
communities maintain their food security."

Papua's amazing biodiversity was brought to the public's attention last
February, when Conservation International reported

that an expedition to the Foja Mountains, some 200 miles inland, had
revealed a "lost world" of wildlife.
© 2006 MSNBC Interactive

---

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/09/18/wreef18.xml



The coral paradise where sharks learned to walk
By Charles Clover, Environment Editor
(Filed: 18/09/2006)

Video: just when you thought it was safe to take a stroll

Dozens of new species, including nocturnal sharks that "walk" on their
fins, "flasher" wrasse and many previously unknown

forms of reef-building coral, have been discovered off the Indonesian
province of Papua.

Scientists say the discovery confirms the reefs off the Bird's Head
peninsula as the "bullseye" within Asia's species-rich

Coral Triangle and the place with the most diverse marine life on Earth.

reef-building coral Astreopora
20 new coral species have been discovered in Papua

The area, which is currently sparsely populated, faces an immediate threat
from the planned expansion of commercial fishing,

which scientists say could wipe out its riches within five years.

Scientists from Conservation International, an American conservation body,
found more than 52 new species, including fish,

coral and mantis shrimp in the submerged reefs around the Bird's Head
peninsula, in an area of 38,000 sq kms (14,671 sq

miles) that includes 2,500 islands.

The area, which scientists say is "stunningly beautiful" above and below
water, also boasts the largest Pacific leatherback

turtle nesting area in the world and migratory populations of sperm,
Bryde's and killer whales and several dolphin species.

Last year, another team of scientists led by Conservation International
and the Indonesian Institute of Science, found a

"lost world" of birds, butterflies, frogs and other wildlife in the remote
Foja mountains a few hundred miles inland.

The four fish species scientists have now discovered include "epaulette"
sharks that "walk" across the reefs at night on

their pectoral fins and "flasher" wrasse, which rise up and down in the
water column changing colour into brilliant yellows

and pinks as part of their mating display. These bring the number of fish
species in the area to 1,200.

The 20 new species of reef-building coral bring the number of corals found
in what scientists are now calling the Bird's Head

Seascape to nearly 600, or 75 per cent of the world's total. The Great
Barrier Reef, off eastern Australia, has 405.

Six of the survey sites – areas the size of two football fields – had more
than 250 species of reef-building coral each. That

is four times the number in the Caribbean.

They also found eight new species of mantis shrimp.

Scientists say the coral colonies were the largest they had seen and were
500 to 600 years old. They had been little affected

by the bleaching caused by rising sea temperatures.

Mark Erdmann, a senior adviser to Conservation International's marine
programme, said: "We expected high biodiversity. We in

no way expected 52 new species." He hopes that the discoveries will
persuade the Indonesian government to think again about

plans to focus commercial fishing away from over-fished areas, such as
Java and Sumatra, and eastwards towards Papua.

At present the area is sparsely populated and supports villages of
Melanesian people living by subsistence fishing and

farming. The planned expansion of commercial fisheries would mean the
arrival of Korean and Chinese fishing vessels as well

as Indonesian fishermen of different racial origin. Elsewhere reefs have
had their fish and corals wiped out by fishermen

using dynamite and cyanide.

Mr Erdmann added: "This area isn't going to stand up to that kind of
fishing pressure for more than five years. Reef fish

respond more slowly to fishing than other fish. There have been studies
that have showed that they don't stand up to

commercial fishing."

In Papuan culture, Mr Erdmann explained, villages own their reefs and the
sea is not regarded as a common, so any expansion

of commercial fishing would inflame tensions with the locals, who are
heavily dependent on the sea.

Since the province gained a degree of autonomy from Indonesia four years
ago, it has renamed itself Papua. It was formerly

known as Irian Jaya, which in Indonesian means "Glorious Freedom" –
something Indonesian rule rarely meant to its Melanesian

inhabitants.

Scientists have been encouraged by the Indonesian government's reaction to
their discoveries. It has declared its intention

of setting up a network of marine reserves.

---

http://www.antara.co.id/en/seenws/?id=20156

Papuan figure: don't compare history of Papua to E. Timor

Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea (ANTARA News) - All the national components
and the international community should not compare

the history of Indonesia`s Papua and Irian Jaya Barat provinces to that of
East Timor, a Papuan leading figure has said.

A Papuan figure who lives in Papua New Guinea, Frans Albert Yoku, made the
remark here Sunday as many people still consider

that the history of Papua which belongs to the Unitary State of Indonesia
is the same to that of East Timor which integrated

into Indonesia in 1976 and became independent in 1999.

"Comparing the history of Papua to that of East Timor is a century
setback. Papua is Papua and East Timor is East Timor," he

added.

He admitted that many Papuans had fought for independence but the demand
for independence has been met corretly by the

Indonesian government by producing Law No.21/2001 on special autonomy for
Papua, and Papuans who live abroad have understood

it.

The important thing now is the implementation of the law to convince the
people that the central government sincerely gave

the special autonomy to Papua for the good and welfare of its population,
he said.

Frans said the law on special autonomy was expected to make Papuans still
living abroad to think of their future by visiting

Papua province and Irian Jaya Barat province and then building their
homeland.

"Thus, we humbly call on our brothers and sisters who are still living in
the jungles of Papua and those in the PNG as well

as in the Netherlands, to corretly understand the political process in
Papua," he said.

According to him, the special autonomy is actually the people`s
independence to manage their economy and develop their socio

-cultural life in the framework of the Unitary State of Indonesia.

What the central government wants is to prevent the Papuan people and land
from seceding from the Unitary State of Indonesia.

(*)

Copyright © 2006 ANTARA

September 17, 2006

---

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20435194-29277,00.html

Wah Wah attacks stressful, says Robson
September 18, 2006
TODAY Tonight host Naomi Robson says she has been subjected to "hurtful
and stressful" attacks over her attempt to rescue a

six-year-old Papuan boy from being ritually eaten by a tribe of cannibals.

Channel 7 says it has evidence that Channel 9 set out to sabotage its
Today Tonight story on the plight of the boy, named Wah

Wah, which ended when Ms Robson and her four colleagues were deported from
Indonesia last week.

Nine has threatened legal action over the sabotage claims, which Nine news
chief Garry Linnell has described as "scurrilous".

Robson and her crew were kicked out for entering the province of Papua on
tourist visas instead of getting special permits,

and flew home to Australia at the weekend.

Appearing on Today Tonight for the first time since her return, Ms Robson
tonight did not directly accuse Nine of attempting

to intervene in Seven's story.

But she said when the crew arrived in West Papua, they had applied for
"the very passports" a Nine 60 Minutes crew had used

to fly from Jayapura to reach Wah Wah in his village near the Papua New
Guinea border.

She said after the news finally came through that the permits had been
declined, the crew found out from police they had been

under surveillance from the moment they arrived.

"Even more concerning were the Associated Press reports that we'd been
arrested when clearly we hadn't," Ms Robson said.

"The next day police helped us book flights to leave the country but the
saddest part of all was being forced to leave Wah

Wah behind."

Ms Robson said she had been "pilloried and endured considerable personal
attacks over this story".

"I'm not going to deny it's been hurtful and stressful," she told her TV
audience.

"But please let's not lose sight of the real story here."

---

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/naomi-back-from-wawa-war-zone/2006/09/16/1158334735091.html

Naomi back from Wa-Wa war zone

Mission unaccomplished: Naomi Robson arrives back at Melbourne Airport.
Photo: Ken Irwin
September 17, 2006

TELEVISION presenter Naomi Robson arrived home yesterday after her failed
mission to the wilds of West Papua to "save" an

orphaned child from "cannibals".

Having taken half an hour to perfect her hair and make-up, the Today
Tonight anchor emerged from customs refusing to be drawn

into what has been dubbed the "Wa-Wa war".

Robson and four colleagues were trying to enter the Indonesian province to
"save" a six-year-old boy named Wa-Wa from a

neighbouring tribe who had reportedly earmarked him for ritual killing,
believing him to be a sorcerer responsible for his

parents' deaths.

But the real tribal battle erupted between the Seven and Nine networks in
one of the most absurd media melodramas in years.

Both networks have attacked each other.

"I don't blame anybody," Robson said and reiterated her grave concern for
the boy she never met "because he is inside the

jungle".

The story was broken by Nine's 60 Minutes in May and Today Tonight was
planning a follow-up based on its plan to rescue Wa-

Wa. Robson said Seven had simply been following the precedent set by the
Nine team, which had entered West Papua as tourists.

"We did exactly what they did," she said. "We thought it would probably
get the same result and, of course, it didn't."

But Robson seemed a little confused about the whole affair when asked
exactly what her crew planned to do for Wa-Wa.

When asked if the team had arranged the passport and visa required to get
Wa-Wa safely out of Indonesia, Robson replied:

"Yes, we had." But when corrected by producer Rohan Wenn who explained
there was no intention of taking Wa-Wa out of the

country, Robson quickly added that the plan had been to move the child to
"an area where he would be safe and repatriated by

people who had worked with children in the past".

When asked if she would try again to get access to the remote Papuan
jungles, Robson replied: "We'll see."

---

http://www.theage.com.au/news/in-depth/tv-eats-itself/2006/09/16/1158334734448.html

Wa-wa, what the hell is really going on here?

Naomi Robson faces the media at Melbourne Airport.
Photo: Ken Irwin
Carmel Egan
September 17, 2006

Not for the first time, taking pot shots at Today Tonight host Naomi
Robson has become the sport of the week after her foray

into the jungles of Papua to rescue a young boy named Wa-Wa.

Robson and four colleagues were trying to enter the Indonesian province to
"save" the six-year-old from a neighbouring tribe

who had reportedly earmarked him for ritual killing, believing him to be a
sorcerer responsible for his parents' deaths.

It is moments like these that make it easy for Robson's critics to scoff
at her insistence she is a journalist, not an

entertainer.

And while she is busy broadcasting stories, Robson is also, of late,
regularly starring in them. There was the lizard on the

shoulder and the khaki outfit at Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo, the
underworld boyfriend, prima donna behaviour during

Tasmania's Beaconsfield mine rescue and her enduring inability to master
the wise post-story "hmm".

Yet that gamin frame surely cradles the heart of a Rottweiler. How else
could she have held down one of the toughest jobs on

Australian television night after night, year after year?

Hosting Seven's Today Tonight is a job few would have had the talent to
grasp or the endurance to hold.

And Robson is winning. Today Tonight held on to its slim lead over Nine's
A Current Affair with her report on the Wa-Wa

escapade on Thursday and will look to capitalise on the controversy with a
full report tomorrow night.

Nine is rattled. Its flagship A Current Affair has lost its way (and hosts
have come and gone) and Robson has played a lead

role in its demise. Nine is hoping that Robson's Papuan fiasco and
expulsion from Indonesia will be her undoing.

Tribal wars in Papuan jungles have nothing on television networks locked
in a ratings battle, and the Wa-Wa War has been

bloodier than most.

But the TT crew were detained by customs officials because they were
travelling on tourist visas rather than the work visas

required by journalists, which are difficult to obtain.

Seven's director of news and current affairs, Peter Meakin, subsequently
accused Nine of sabotaging the story by alerting

Indonesian authorities to the TT crew's intentions in Papua and trying to
pay an academic and guide to refuse to help the

Seven crew.

He has accused 60 Minutes reporter Ben Fordham, who filed the original
story on Wa-Wa, of dobbing to the Indonesians.

Fordham filed his story with the help of academic Paul Raffaele, who
claimed that cannibalism and ritual killings continue in

the highlands, and Wa-Wa was at risk (an assertion disputed by other
academics).

Raffaele then agreed to help Seven follow up the story and spirit the
child away from his remote village to safety.

Fordham denies he alerted the Indonesians, but Seven insists "somebody in
Australia" is responsible.

Both networks have denied the other's claims and both say they are
consulting their lawyers.

And in the middle of it all is Robson.

Maybe she was having a moment like Mike Moore — host of the satirical
Frontline show — or perhaps it was jetlag that Robson

was suffering when she returned to Melbourne's mean streets yesterday.

When asked if she thought the Wa-Wa saga had damaged her credibility,
Robson replied without irony: "I don't think about

that."

Asked what was the worst thing to come out of the sorry saga, she did not
nominate the fate of little Wa-Wa, or the behaviour

of the television executives, or the moment when she was accosted by
Indonesian customs officials.

Instead, Robson said: "Hmm, I don't know."

She was rescued by producer Rohan Wenn, who hurriedly suggested that not
being able to save Wa-Wa was clearly the worst

outcome imaginable.

Of course.

"I think it is very disappointing," Robson added.

---

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10401798

Feeding frenzy over reports of 'cannibalism' in Papua

1.00pm Monday September 18, 2006
By Kathy Marks

Deep within the jungle of Indonesia's Papua province live the Korowai
people, one of the last tribes on earth to practise

cannibalism.

And the person destined to be killed and eaten next is Wa-Wa, a
six-year-old boy believed to be possessed by evil spirits

blamed for the sudden death of his parents.

That, at least, was the tale broadcast by Australia's Channel 9 network in
May, reaping an audience of two million for its

tabloid current affairs show 60 Minutes.

It was the highest-rated episode this year, and 9's bitter rival, Channel
7, which runs a similar programme, Today Tonight,

was green with envy.

This week a Channel 7 crew, led by Today Tonight's glamorous host, Naomi
Robson, was detained by immigration authorities in

Jayapura, the Papuan capital.

Indonesian officials said the Australians had flown to the province on
tourist visas instead of applying for a special permit

required to work there as journalists.

It was assumed by some they had gone there to film a story about the
activists waging a decades-long fight for independence

from Indonesia.

But it soon transpired that Robson and her four-man team were planning to
rescue Wa-Wa from the jaws of death - and give

Today Tonight a much-needed boost.

Instead, they found themselves front-page news in Australia, as they were
deported in a humiliating blaze of publicity.

But, as they flew back to Sydney via Bali yesterday, the battle between
the two commercial networks, which are engaged in a

cut-throat ratings war, was just beginning.

It was not mere bad luck that the crew were picked up as soon as they
arrived in Papua, Channel 7 claimed.

Channel 7's director of news and current affairs, Peter Meakin, said
someone at Channel 9 had tipped off authorities.

And that someone, it was hinted, was Ben Fordham, who made the original
programme.

According to 7, the Indonesians were told that Robson's team were members
of the pro-independence Free Papua Movement, and

were planning to kidnap children.

That was not all.

Fordham allegedly offered Aus$100,000 ($113,000) to a local "fixer", Paul
Raffaele, and a guide, Cornelius, to dissuade them

from assisting Channel 7.

Meakin said: "I think the phrase was 'name your own price'." Channel 9 was
consulting its lawyers after the allegations were

broadcast on Today Tonight.

Meanwhile, Papuan specialists in Indonesia and Australia said that the
Korowai have not practised cannibalism for many

decades.

Pula Makabory, a Papuan rights worker, said: "The cannibalism era has
stopped since the Bible was delivered in West Papua.

That was before I was born. There are no people eating people anymore."

Chris Ballard, an anthropologist at the Australian National University,
agreed.

He called the Channel 7 mission farcical, "akin to wandering about Baghdad
asking about Paris Hilton".

Dr Ballard told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC): "To have
these clowns wandering around the landscape on so-

called missions of mercy is a tragedy. It's laughable. The real cannibals
in this are the commercial networks, who are trying

to consume each other's audiences and each other's market share."

It was the latest controversy to dog Robson.

Earlier this year she was forced to deny claims that she had a Winnebago
camper van parked outside the Tasmanian mine where

two men were trapped underground, so she could fix her hair and make-up.

Last week, Channel 7 viewers complained about her coverage of the death of
Steve Irwin, the television naturalist.

Robson was filmed outside Irwin's Australia Zoo, in Queensland, wearing a
khaki outfit of the type that was his trademark,

and with a live dragon lizard perched on one shoulder.

Her image has also been dented by leaked tapes of her in the Today Tonight
studio where she is heard swearing nine times in

15 seconds and poking fun at fat people while doing her make-up.

In Papua, the plan was to rescue Wa-Wa from his village and take him to
foster parents in Jayapura, while filming every step

of the operation.

The crew reportedly spent an anxious night in a luxury hotel after being
detained.

A picture of Robson in a local restaurant, heavily made-up, appeared on
the front pages of Australian newspapers yesterday.

Meakin stood by his claim that Channel 9 sabotaged the mission, saying he
had "substantive evidence", including notes of

conversations between Mr Raffaele and the network.

---

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20448918-2703,00.html

Riot case Papuans 'beaten by police'
Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jayapura, Papua
September 21, 2006
INDONESIAN police have been driven by revenge and their own personal
interests in a series of show trials over the deaths of

four police and an air force sergeant in May riots, a new report claims.

The investigation, soon to be made public after months of documentation by
a coalition of Papuan and national church and

human rights groups, will allege that none of 23 men accused over the
killings was directly involved in the deaths.

All but two of the accused have been sentenced to up to 15 years' jail,
with the final pair of men appearing yesterday in

Abepura District Court, near the Papuan capital, Jayapura.

The killings, at the peak of two days of demonstrations at Cendrawasih
University over the giant Freeport McMoRan gold and

copper mine in Timika, shocked Indonesians for their brutality.

The police victims were beaten with rocks and sticks after a crowd of
students and other still-unidentified groups broke

through a police line on March16. Forensic investigations found that the
air force sergeant, who was not in uniform, was

killed in a separate knife attack on the university campus, Papua's largest.

However, as the final two of the 23 accused appeared yesterday in court,
lawyers, church groups and supporters - as well as

the men themselves - insisted their confessions were forced after beatings
with rifle butts, pistols and fists, as well as

electric shocks.

Mechanic Steven Wandik, accused of murdering air force sergeant Agung
Prihadi Wijaya by smashing in his head with a large

stone, said he was repeatedly beaten by police over a period of weeks
before he offered a false confession to thecrime.

He said he was taken from his home without warning in the middle of the
night on May 12 - almost two months after the riots -

and forced into a police vehicle after being hit in the head with a rifle
butt.

He said he was too frightened to offer resistance, and that for several
weeks police offered no explanation for his arrest.

Wandik says his name was given to police by a cousin, Sam Wandik - the
other man on trial in Abepura District Court

yesterday.

Sam Wandik told the court he provided his cousin's name as someone
involved in the killings only after repeated beatings and

electric shocks.

Asked after his appearance yesterday why he was now recanting on his
allegation, Sam Wandik said: "Because I'm being held in

the jail now, not in the police cells, and the police can't hurt me there."

Aloy Renuarin, the Papua head of Indonesian human rights group ELSHAM,
later described the 23 men as "victims of police

revenge" and said the convictions had so far been based on "incredibly
weak evidence". "This is a matter of politics, of a

legal mafia and of the courts and government discriminating against
Papuans," Mr Renuarin said.

Appeals were lodged yesterday in five of the cases.

Evidence given in Steven Wandik's prosecution has included photographs of
the accused participating in a police

reconstruction of the crime.

---

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailnational.asp?fileid=20060921.G10&irec=9

Papua governor receives title

JAYAPURA, Papua: The Papua New Guinean government conferred on Papua
Governor Barnabas Suebu the title of the Companion of

the Order of the Star of Melanesia (CSM) in Port Moresby on Monday.

The ceremony was conducted by Papua New Guinea Governor General Sir
Paulias Matane during Suebu's visit to Port Moresby to

attend the country's independence anniversary on Sept. 16.

A Papua community leader in Papua New Guinea, Franzalbert Yoku, said
Wednesday the title was presented by the people and the

government of the Papua New Guinea to those they consider have dedicated
their lives to humanity.

"This is what Pak Bas had done in his hometown Ifale in Papua, and through
his role when he was chairman of the Papua Chamber

of Commerce, Papua legislative speaker, president Habibie's advisor and
ambassador," Yoku said in Jayapura.

The title, the third highest after the Cross of Valor and Grand Companion
of Logohu, is awarded by the Papua New Guinea

government for those who have made a significant contribution to humanity
and in all aspects of the country's life. -- JP

---

http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=26953


Papua issue will be raised at Forum meeting, says Vanuatu PM

Posted at 07:07 on 21 September, 2006 UTC

Vanuatu’s prime minister has confirmed his country will raise the issue of
Papua at next month’s Pacific Islands Forum

leaders meeting in Fiji.

Ham Lini says Vanuatu intends to continue its long tradition of supporting
Papua’s push for self-determination.

Mr Lini said a suggestion from earlier in the year that Forum leaders or
foreign ministers form a delegation to travel to

Indonesia for talks with Jakarta has so far come to nothing.

But he says Vanuatu now enjoys increased contact with Indonesia and the
time is right for more international discussion on

Papua.

    “I strongly believe that it should be on the agenda. The Vanuatu
delegation will raise it somehow. Whether it is on the

agenda or not, it will be raised in question time or oral discussion time.
Whatever countries don’t support it, that’s their

stand but Vanuatu thinks it’s time to push this forward and I strongly
believe it will be appearing on the agenda.”

Vanuatu’s prime minister, Ham Lini.

---

http://www.chaser.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3265&Itemid=26


Even Papuan cannibals find Naomi Robson tasteless

Friday, 22 September 2006
The West Papuan tribe at the centre of the Naomi Robson controversy has
clarified that even though Naomi Robson was clearly

possessed by malign spirits, they were not be willing to eat her. "Even if
we did still eat humans, we don't like the taste

of bile," an elder said.

060922robson250Robson has defended herself from the allegations, saying
that she had not been planning to save the child Wa-

Wa from a potential ritualistic killing. "My make-up trucks would never
make it into such a remote area," she said.

Despite being deported, the experience had some positive aspects for the
Today Tonight crew, who were flattered to be told by

the Indonesian government that they needed journalist visas.

"Apparently they were worried we might portray the Indonesian army as an
oppressive force in West Papua," said one Today

Tonight reporter. "But we explained that as long as they didn't move to
Australia and open a dirty restaurant, they'd have

nothing to worry about."

Nine's 60 Minutes program has already rejected the story, but they say
this was only because it was prohibitively expensive,

and had not previously been covered by the BBC's Panorama program. "It was
very expensive for just one boy threatened by

cannibals," said a Nine spokesman. "If he was threatened by cannibals and
also trapped down a mine, we might have considered

it."

Robson and all the other Australian journalists have now returned home, to
the great relief of Wa-Wa's tribe. "Frankly,

between being victimised by tabloid journalists and cannibals, I'd take
the cannibals," one elder said.

---

http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=26914


Radio New Zealand International

The Voice of New Zealand, Broadcasting to the Pacific

Te Reo Irirangi O Aotearoa, O Te Moana-Nui-A-Kiwa

Indonesia’s government to consider next steps over Papua marine area

Posted at 04:23 on 20 September, 2006 UTC

The Indonesian government is considering what steps to take following
calls to protect a marine area off Papua province which

scientists describe as unbelievably rich in marine bio-diversity.

A director at the department of Marine Affairs, Yaya Mulyana, says the
information about the Bird’s Head Seascape in Papua is

significant.

He says the first step is to inform local communities and talk to the
local government about what type of protected areas

there should be.

Mr Mulyana says he was presented with the studies by Conservation
International and will take note of what they’ve said.

    “They recommend at least establish the protected areas, according to
six categories. There would be sustainable

fisheries, also possible for recreation, so multiple use.”

Yaya Mulyana, a director at Indonesia’s Marine Affairs department in Djakarta

---

http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=26927


Radio New Zealand International

The Voice of New Zealand, Broadcasting to the Pacific

Te Reo Irirangi O Aotearoa, O Te Moana-Nui-A-Kiwa

Time needed for marie parks to be set up off Papua

Posted at 07:46 on 20 September, 2006 UTC

The local director of Conservation International in the Indonesian
province of Papua says it could take some time to

establish protected marine areas for the Bird’s Head Seascape.

Pak Ketut Putra says he has presented the findings of several surveys to
the national Marine Affairs department which shows

the area is highly significant and needs protection.

It has been described as the centre of marine bio-diversity of the planet
with many new species being discovered, and even

richer in life than the Great Barrier Reef.

Mr Putra says at the moment, there is no management of most of the
seascape, apart from a small section which is included in

a national park.

He says he is concerned because pressure will come from commercial fishing
fleets which could take away resources from local

communities if the area is not protected.

    “Our focus actually - to have the local government and local community
to design a good marine protected areas in order

to conserve and manage the good marine reserve.”

Mr Putra says there has been a positive response both locally and
nationally to the proposals to protect the area.

---

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/09/21/asia/AS_MED_Asia_WHO_HIV-AIDS.php

 Some tiny Pacific island fear HIV/AIDS could decimate them if left unchecked
The Associated Press

Published: September 21, 2006
AUCKLAND, New Zealand Large countries like China often receive much
attention and support in the fight against HIV/AIDS, but

tiny Pacific islands said Thursday they must not be forgotten because even
a small epidemic could decimate their populations.

About 600 new cases of HIV and 200 deaths occur daily in the World Health
Organization's vast Western Pacific region, Richard

Nesbit, the organization's acting regional director said at a weeklong
annual meeting in Auckland, New Zealand.

The premier and health minister of the tiny Pacific island of Niue said
the government there now requires HIV testing for all

visitors staying longer than two months.

"It's only a matter of time before Niue gets its first case — we're only
less than 2,000 people," he said. "If we are

eradicated from this world, wiped off the map, I'm sure that you will miss
us. It's absolutely scary as a leader of a small

island country."

Papua New Guinea is already facing a generalized epidemic, and its health
minister said earlier in the week that isolated

pockets within the country could have HIV rates as high as 30 percent.

The country, which shares an island north of Australia with Indonesia's
easternmost Papua province, is the hardest-hit in the

Asia-Pacific with an adult per capita infection rate of 1.8 percent,
according to UNAIDS figures.

Secretary of Health Nicholas Mann said rich countries need to pay more
attention to his poor island nation of 5.7 million

people. He said the United States, for example, has not offered his
country any funding to help fight the virus.

He said any assistance that does arrive must be directed properly in order
to make a difference in a diverse country where

hundreds of languages are spoken.

"Eighty-seven percent (of the population) is rural based. That means there
is no television, they don't read and there's no

newspaper," Mann said, adding the government has beefed up domestic
HIV/AIDS funding. "What messages we need to get out,

cannot be done through a television campaign program. A lot of common
sense thinking needs to go into it."

Stigma and discrimination also continue to plague people living with
HIV/AIDS in the region, and more research needs to be

conducted to determine how big the problem is among men who have sex with
men, said Bernard Fabre-Teste, WHO's regional

adviser for HIV/AIDS.

"That is something very difficult to fight," he said of stigma and
discrimination. "It's really difficult to manage this kind

of thing. We need political commitment, social commitment. We need some
good laws, but a lot of things are not easy to do."

Senior health officials across the region on Thursday called for universal
access to HIV/AIDS treatment and care by 2010.

Thailand and Cambodia, in contrast, have been hailed as two bright spots
in Asia. Both still have adult per capita infection

rates over 1.4 percent, but the governments have largely reversed
once-devastating epidemics by promoting 100 percent condom

use among prostitutes working in brothels.

UNAIDS estimated 8.3 million people were living with HIV, the virus that
causes AIDS, last year in the entire Asia-Pacific

region, including South Asia. Nearly 85 percent of those infected had no
access to antiretroviral drug treatment.

South Asia and a few Southeast Asia countries, including Indonesia and
Thailand, are not part of the WHO's Western Pacific

region.

About 40 million people are infected with HIV/AIDS worldwide.


AUCKLAND, New Zealand Large countries like China often receive much
attention and support in the fight against HIV/AIDS, but

tiny Pacific islands said Thursday they must not be forgotten because even
a small epidemic could decimate their populations.

About 600 new cases of HIV and 200 deaths occur daily in the World Health
Organization's vast Western Pacific region, Richard

Nesbit, the organization's acting regional director said at a weeklong
annual meeting in Auckland, New Zealand.

The premier and health minister of the tiny Pacific island of Niue said
the government there now requires HIV testing for all

visitors staying longer than two months.

"It's only a matter of time before Niue gets its first case — we're only
less than 2,000 people," he said. "If we are

eradicated from this world, wiped off the map, I'm sure that you will miss
us. It's absolutely scary as a leader of a small

island country."

Papua New Guinea is already facing a generalized epidemic, and its health
minister said earlier in the week that isolated

pockets within the country could have HIV rates as high as 30 percent.

The country, which shares an island north of Australia with Indonesia's
easternmost Papua province, is the hardest-hit in the

Asia-Pacific with an adult per capita infection rate of 1.8 percent,
according to UNAIDS figures.

Secretary of Health Nicholas Mann said rich countries need to pay more
attention to his poor island nation of 5.7 million

people. He said the United States, for example, has not offered his
country any funding to help fight the virus.

He said any assistance that does arrive must be directed properly in order
to make a difference in a diverse country where

hundreds of languages are spoken.

"Eighty-seven percent (of the population) is rural based. That means there
is no television, they don't read and there's no

newspaper," Mann said, adding the government has beefed up domestic
HIV/AIDS funding. "What messages we need to get out,

cannot be done through a television campaign program. A lot of common
sense thinking needs to go into it."

Stigma and discrimination also continue to plague people living with
HIV/AIDS in the region, and more research needs to be

conducted to determine how big the problem is among men who have sex with
men, said Bernard Fabre-Teste, WHO's regional

adviser for HIV/AIDS.

"That is something very difficult to fight," he said of stigma and
discrimination. "It's really difficult to manage this kind

of thing. We need political commitment, social commitment. We need some
good laws, but a lot of things are not easy to do."

Senior health officials across the region on Thursday called for universal
access to HIV/AIDS treatment and care by 2010.

Thailand and Cambodia, in contrast, have been hailed as two bright spots
in Asia. Both still have adult per capita infection

rates over 1.4 percent, but the governments have largely reversed
once-devastating epidemics by promoting 100 percent condom

use among prostitutes working in brothels.

UNAIDS estimated 8.3 million people were living with HIV, the virus that
causes AIDS, last year in the entire Asia-Pacific

region, including South Asia. Nearly 85 percent of those infected had no
access to antiretroviral drug treatment.

South Asia and a few Southeast Asia countries, including Indonesia and
Thailand, are not part of the WHO's Western Pacific

region.

About 40 million people are infected with HIV/AIDS worldwide.

---

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/4199737.html

Watch for walking shark on next trip to Indonesia
Scientists say they've discovered a wealth of new undersea species

By MICHAEL CASEY
Associated Press

BANGKOK, THAILAND - Scientists combing through undersea fauna off
Indonesia's Papua province say they have discovered dozens

of new species, including a shark that walks on its fins and a shrimp that
looks like a praying mantis.

The team from U.S.-based Conservation International also warned that the
area — known as Bird's Head Seascape — is under

danger from fishermen who use dynamite and cyanide to net their catches
and called on Indonesia's government to do more to

protect it.

"Above and below water, it's simply mind-blowing," said Mark Erdmann, a
senior adviser of Conservation International who led

two surveys to the area earlier this year.

Erdmann and his team claim to have discovered 52 new species, including 24
of fish, 20 of coral and eight of shrimp.

Conservation International said papers on two of the new fish species,
called flasher wrasse because of the colors the male

exhibits during mating, have been accepted for publication to the Aqua,
Journal of Ichthyology and Aquatic Biology.

Erdmann said the discoveries add to the reputation of the area, which
stretches for 70,000 square miles on the northwestern

end of Indonesia's Papua province. Dubbed Asia's "Coral Triangle," it is
home to more than 1,200 species of fish and almost

600 species of reef-building coral.

The surveys took place in waters surrounding Papua from Teluk Cenderawasih
in the north to Raja Ampat archipelago off the

western coast and southeast to the FakFak-Kaimana coastline.


---

http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=26930


Radio New Zealand International

The Voice of New Zealand, Broadcasting to the Pacific

Te Reo Irirangi O Aotearoa, O Te Moana-Nui-A-Kiwa
Further surveys to be carried out in Indonesia’s Bird’s Head Seascape

Posted at 07:46 on 20 September, 2006 UTC

There are to be further expeditions and surveys in a coastal area off
Indonesia’s Papua province described as richer in

marine life than the Great Barrier Reef.

The director of Regional Marine Strategies at Conservation International,
Dr Sebastian Troeng, says surveys already conducted

in the Bird’s Head Seascape have uncovered previously unknown species and
great marine bio-diversity.

He says a small percentage of the area is protected because it’s part of a
national park but they are hoping the Indonesian

government will look at creating further marine reserves.

Dr Troeng says Conservation International is aware that the livelihoods of
coastal communities must be also preserved so

different types of areas could be established.

He says there is a need to act because of the threats facing the seascape.

    “If we look at the threats to marine bio-diversity, particularly in
Papua, but also in much of the Coral Triangle, we

find things like destructive fishing methods, dynamite fishing, cyanide
fishing, in some cases overfishing represents a

threat. There’s also threats from sedimentation resulting from logging or
mining operations.”

Dr Troeng says the local and national governments have been positive in
their response to the proposals.


---

http://www.antara.co.id/en/seenws/?id=20361

TNI Commander: beware of efforts to internationalize Papua problems

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesian Defense Forces` Commander Marshal Djoko
Suyanto said here on Wednesday Indonesia must

watch out for efforts of foreign non-governmental organizations to raise
the Papua issue at international forums.

"In the latest development some foreign NGOs have been trying to use
popular figures such as Bishop Desmond Tutu to lobby the

UN to raise the Papua issue at an international forum," he said in a
military leadership meeting at the TNI headquarters here

attended by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

He said that in terms of security the Papua problem was not remarkable but
it had often been politicized by foreign NGOs at

international forums.

"This is indeed not under our authority, but attempts of foreign NGOs to
internationalize the problem through top figures

need to be watched," he said.

Djoko said the TNI should not be afraid of efforts to link Papua problems
to human rights violations so long as it always

carried out its duties according to rules.

During the meeting the TNI commander also touched on security development
in Poso and Aceh.

He said cases of sectarian conflict in Poso and Aceh had declined in the
past two years.

"Small incidents still taking place in Aceh were mere part of the process
towards lasting peace that we have agreed to make.

The conflicts may be categorized as mere crimes that have to be settled by
the law enforcement authorities there," he said.

Although there were still incidents, in general the situation in Poso had
much improved compared to several years ago.

President Yudhoyono as well as Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono were
scheduled to give directives at the meeting which would

conclude on Thursday.(*)

Copyright © 2006 ANTARA

September 20, 2006

---

http://english.people.com.cn/200609/20/eng20060920_304642.html

Foreign NGOs accused for lobbying UN to separate Papua from Indonesia


Indonesian military sees a number of foreign non-government organizations
have actively lobbied the United Nations in an

effort to get support for breaking away Papua province from Indonesia,
military Commander Air Marshal Joko Suyanto said here

Wednesday.

The commander said that the NGOs had asked bishop Desmon Tutu from Africa
to jointly seek support from the international

body.

"I get information from our representative in the UN that some NGOs have
begun persuading bishop Desmon Tutu to help them

lobbying Papua case in the UN," he said.

The commander cited that the bishop was a very famous and influential
leader in the United Nations.

"We must be alert on the move of the NGO's that use famous people for
their goal of breaking Papua from Indonesia," he said.

Indonesia excluded three Australian television crews last week due to
enter the easternmost province of Indonesia illegally.

The vast province of Papua was incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 under a
UN-backed vote by community leaders after Jakarta

took over the province from Dutch colonial rule in 1963.

But, the international rights group have criticized the UN vote process as
unfair.

Papuan rebels have campaigned for more than 30 years to break away from
Indonesia.

Source: Xinhua

---

http://english.people.com.cn/200609/20/eng20060920_304578.html

Indonesia plans to build national railway network


The Indonesian government plans to build a railway network on the
country's major islands to help speed economic development,

a newspaper reported Wednesday.

The railway projects would include the expansion of existing networks in
Java and Sumatra and the construction of new ones in

Kalimantan , Sulawesi and parts of Papua.

The cost of improving the country's railway network would be as high as
11.6 trillion rupiah (1.2 billion U.S. dollars), far

beyond the government's ability to pay, reported The Jakarta Post, quoting
a senior official.

Transportation Minister Hatta Rajasa said some of the projects were
already underway in Java and Sumatra .

"In Sumatra , our projects will focus on the improvement of railway
networks to support the transportation of coal and other

export commodities," Hatta said during a hearing with legislators Tuesday.

He added that in Java the project included the expansion of railway
networks in greater Jakarta .

Next would be the construction of a 500-kilometer railway network to link
major cities in Kalimantan .

Hatta said that for the project in Kalimantan and the eastern parts of the
country, the government would award contracts to

private companies.

"According to our estimates, every kilometer of the network will cost 14
billion rupiah (1.5 billion dollars) to build, and

there is no way the state budget will be able to cover it," Hatta said.

He said he believed the tender for the projects could be held soon after
the amendment of the law on railways.

The amendment of the 1992 Railway Law is expected to open the door to
privatization of the nation's railway service, which

has long been highly regulated.

The law stipulates that the government is obligated to provide railway
infrastructure, including tracks, stations and

signaling, as well as operate the entire system. It effectively grants
state railway company PT KAI monopoly status.

Source: Xinhua

---

http://www.thejakartapost.com/yesterdaydetail.asp?fileid=20060916.G09


Three Abepura defendants jailed

National News - September 16, 2006

JAYAPURA, Papua: The Jayapura District Court sentenced Friday three of the
last seven defendants on trial for their

involvement in the deadly Abepura clash to four and five years in prison.

The Friday session, presided over by Judge Moris Ginting, found the first
defendant Yesaya Eko Merano Berotabui guilty of

violating Article 214 of the Criminal Code for disobeying police orders.
The sentence was a year less than that recommended

by the prosecution.

The judges handed down a more lenient sentence because they found the
defendant honest and straightforward during the

proceedings.

However, Eko did not accept the court ruling and immediately filed an appeal.

Outside the court, Eko, who was accompanied by his father, C. Berotabui,
chief of the Papua Protestant Church Am synod,

yelled in protest. "Although I'm convicted, it doesn't weaken the
students' struggle to demand PT Freeport's closure," he

said, referring to the mining company in the province.

The two other defendants, Aris Mandowen and Phiter Stevanus Bonay, were
each sentenced to five years imprisonment for the

same crime.

Their attorney, David Victor Sitorus, expressed disappointment with the
court ruling which he deemed unfair. "It's

inconceivable that just by hurling rocks at an officer they were sentenced
to five years in prison, especially when their

actions did not cause the death of the officer," he said.

Two more defendants are awaiting their verdicts. -- JP

---

The Jakarta Post
Friday, September 15, 2006

Papuan defendants on hunger strike

JAKARTA: Six of the seven Papuans detained for allegedly killing two U.S.
nationals and an Indonesian near the PT Freeport gold mine in Timika, Papua,
have gone on a hunger strike to protest their trial.

"The hunger strike will continue until justice is served," the six Papuans
said in a statement Wednesday. The defendants, including alleged ringleader
Anthonius Wamang, are detained at National Police Headquarters.

They objected to the court's decision to let U.S. Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) agents who had helped arrest them testify against
them. "The FBI
agents tricked us," they said.

The Papuans' lawyer, Johnson Panjaitan, said the trial of his clients was
biased and unfair. -- JP

---

The Jakarta Post
Friday, September 15, 2006

Abepura defendants get five years

JAYAPURA, Papua: The Jayapura District Court on Thursday sentenced two of
seven remaining defendants to five years in prison for their part in a fatal
clash with police on March 16 in Abepura.

The clash took place during a protest against mining giant PT Freeport
Indonesia. Four police officers and a member of the Air Force died in the
violence.

In its verdict, the panel of judges hearing the case, presided over by Moris
Ginting, said Muhammad Khaitan and Sedrik Jitmau were guilty of violating
Article 214, Paragraph 1, of the Criminal Code on disobeying orders from
security
officers.

The five-year sentences given the pair matched the recommendation by
prosecutors.

Sedrik, who is in his third year at Filadelpia High School in Sentani, wore
his gray-and-white school uniform in court.

David Viktor Sitorus, one of the defendants' lawyers, said they would appeal
the sentences. He said the judges disregarded much of the evidence presented
by the defense.

He pointed out that not a single witness saw Sedrik hurl stones at the
officers.

Five more defendants in the case are still being tried. Verdicts for three of
the defendants are expected this Friday. Sixteen other defendants in the case
were earlier sentenced to between five and 15 years in prison. -- JP

---

Islands Business/Pacnews
15 Sept., 2006

(Via Joyo news)

Foreign media ban suggests concealment of human rights abuses



According to local news reports, the Today Tonight Television team had
originally attempted to get permission to cover a

story in West Papua but had been
denied.



JAYAPURA, INDONESIA -- The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has
again voiced concern at the continued ban on

foreign media in West Papua,
after
an Australian television crew was deported from the region for using tourist
visas.

“While

the IFJ realises it is important for journalists to acquire the
appropriate documentation to enter a country, the Indonesian

Government has made
reporting in West Papua virtually impossibly by refusing visas for
journalists,”
IFJ President

Christopher Warren said.



“This continued ban on foreign media in the region raises serious concerns of
a concealment of human rights abuses,” he said.


According to local news reports, the Today Tonight Television team had
originally attempted to get permission to cover a

story in West Papua but had been
denied.

The IFJ, the global organisation representing more than 500,000 journalists
in over

115 countries, has been campaigning for the Indonesian government to
open up West Papua to foreign journalists.



“While foreign journalists are unable to get official access to the region,
the media's ability to tell the West Papua story

is severely impeded, and human
rights abuses can occur unchecked and without scrutiny,” the IFJ President
said.



According to data released by IFJ affiliate, the Aliansi Jurnalis Independen
(AJI) this was not the only area that the

Indonesian government needs to work
on when it comes to press freedom.

Coinciding with its 12th anniversary of defending

journalist's rights and
press freedom, AJI released its data citing 64 cases of attacks against
journalists in the country in

the last year, including one murder, one abduction, one
journalist was imprisoned and 34 assaulted, with government officials
responsible for 14 acts of violence and police for eight.



The IFJ has reiterated  its calls for the Indonesian Government to respect
the rights of a free and independent media by

opening West Papua up to the
international press, by ensuring journalists safety is protected and by
removing
defamation once

and for all from the criminal code.

---

The Courier-Mail
Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Papua takes off with first airline

Greg Poulgrain

THE Indonesian province of Papua
has its first international airline.

Efata Papua Airlines conducted its inaugural flight last
week from Jakarta to Jayapura and will have services
from Papua to Port Moresby, Vanuatu and Fiji.

There are also plans for flights to New Zealand and
Darwin.

The airline was launched in Port Moresby yesterday
by Papuan Governor Bas Suebu.

He led a delegation of 123 business and cultural figures
to the PNG capital for Independence Day celebrations.

PNG Prime Minister Michael Somare presented a special
award to Mr Suebu for promoting trade and cultural exchange
between the neighbours.

---

http://www.thenational.com.pg/092006/nation2.htm

The National 20/9/06
Settlers chase away Indonesian delegates
By ISAAC NICHOLAS

THE media delegation accompanying Barnabus Suebu, the Governor of Papua
province in Indonesia, was chased away in a confrontation with the West
Papua community at their 8 Mile settlement on Monday. The media delegation
went into the settlement unannounced and took pictures of the houses and
other infrastructure there, angering the community. The settlers, mostly
women, hurled objects at the cars transporting the media delegation. Two
cars were believed damaged during the confrontation. Reports reaching The
National suggested governor Suebu was among those attacked, but an
Indonesian Embassy spokesman last night denied that the governor was at
the settlement. The embassy spokesman claimed that of the 300 settlers, 75
of them came to the embassy to welcome and meet Sueba. "There is nothing,
and nothing happened that was extra-ordinary," the spokesman said. A
tinted vehicle that drove into the settlement was also chased away as its
occupants were taking pictures, which raised suspicion among the
community. The National visited the settlement yesterday afternoon and,
thinking it was ferrying Indonesian officials, was stopped at a roadblock.
After identifying the reporters in the mini bus, it was allowed through.

Spokesman Freddy Warome said the community was not aware of the visit by
the Papua governor. "They came with suspicion; they did not notify us.
This land was given to us by the Papua New Guinea Government, not
Indonesia," Mr Warome said. "We, West Papuans, want 100% independence, not
greater autonomy. They are not welcome here," he said. Mr Warome also
claimed that certain West Papuans, who were on the Indonesian government
payroll, were pushing them to accept the greater autonomy proposal. "These
people are eating from two plates. They should be ashamed of themselves.
One is working high up in government," he said.

Two persons who live at the settlement, but who were seen as allegedly
collaborating with the Indonesian Embassy, were bashed up, and warned they
would be expelled from 8 Mile settlement. He said Sueba was a native
Papuan who was working for the Indonesian agenda of greater autonomy,
which the West Papuans reject outright.

They also warned the Independent Group Supporting Special Autonomous
Region of Papua (IGsSARPRI) that "they are not welcome here". The
IGsSARPRI is a group of West Papuans supporting greater autonomy for the
Papuan province of Indonesia.

---

http://www.thenational.com.pg/092106/nation6.htm

National 21/9/06

No control on border currency exchange
By PETER KORUGL

PAPUA New Guinea has no control over the currency exchange at its border
with Indonesia, resulting in more kina moving to the other side, a Sandaun
provincial government official revealed yesterday.

PNG is losing millions of kina each year because of these unregulated
exchanges at the border at Wutung, Sandaun province. The Central Bank must
step in and set up a control mechanism to monitor these currency exchanges
in order to benefit PNG, executive officer to the Momase Governors council
Andrew Ada said.  "Because items on the Indonesian side are a lot cheaper
most Papua New Guineans go there to shop, thus, resulting in a one-sided
venture as no rupiah is coming in exchange of the kina going out," he
said. Mr Ada said despite having raised the matter with the Momase
Governors and submissions made to the National Government, nothing has
been done.  He said the subject was one of several agendas the Sandaun
provincial government would be presenting at the Momase Governors
conference next week in Finschhafen.

Another agenda includes the push to get endorsement to get the Government
to review laws to stop Indonesian fishermen from fishing illegally in PNG
waters.
Other agendas include the decentralisation of more powers to maritime
provinces to share benefits from fishing operations and to control their
energy needs, particularly electricity. The provincial government will
also push for more capacity building for district and local level
government service centres, Mr Ada said.

The Momase Governors conference will start next Tuesday and end on Friday.