[Kabar-Irian] News: March 31 - April 5 2007

[Admin-Editors Kabar-Irian]

KABAR IRIAN NEWS

March 31-April 5

TOPICS

* The West Papua Report - April 2007
* House members visit Papua
* Sleep In A Palace? Meet A Cannibal? Now You Can
* 5 yr collaboration between SIF and Red Cross in Solo successful
* Treaty no done deal down under
* Indonesia House of Reps team on info-gathering visit to Papua focus on
logging
* Navy nabs 17 foreign boats (JP)
* Navy nabs 17 foreign boats (ANTARA)


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From: <west_papua_report at skyhighway.com>
Sent: Monday, April 02, 2007 1:37 PM
Subject: The West Papua Report - April 2007

The West Papua Report - April 2007

This is the 35th in a series of monthly reports that focus on
developments affecting Papuans. This reporting series is produced
by the West Papua Advocacy Team (WPAT) drawing on media accounts,
other NGO assessments and analysis and reporting from sources
within West Papua. The West Papua Advocacy Team is a non-profit
organization.  Questions regarding this report can be addressed to
Edmund McWilliams at edmcw at msn.com

Special Note:  WPAT rerests server problems that resulted in
multiple sends of the March Report to addressees.  EdMcW

Summary:  Military operations and extended deployment in West
Papua's central highlands continue to disrupt civilian life with
over 3,000 internally displaced persons facing severe hardship due
inadequate food, shelter and access to medical services.  Security
force restrictions on movement in the area of operations has
impeded the flow of humanitarian relief and monitoring of the IDP's
plight.  The Papua People's Council (MRP) has given the green light
to the formation of a local Papuan party that would be able to
compete for local, provincial and national office independent of
the control of Jakarta-based national parties.  The arrangement
would be similar to that won by the people of Aceh in their 2005
internationally-brokered agreement with the Indonesian central
government.  The State Department's Annual Human Rights Report for
Indonesia fails to establish the context for human rights abuse in
West Papua, largely ignoring the human rights abuse deriving from
the four decades operation of the US-owned Freeport McMoran copper
and gold mine and the ongoing marginalizing of Papuans as a
consequence of Indonesian government spurred migration of
privileged settlers into Papua.  The report also fails to note the
continued detention of Papuan political prisoners.  Local elections
in West Papua appear to have gone awry in the Sorong area with many
polling stations closed and violence reported.

Popular sentiment against the Freeport McMoran mining operation
continued in March with Papuan demonstrations against employment
discrimination and legislature-backed calls for a re-negotiation of
Freeport's contract of work with the central government.
End Summary

*Update on Crisis in Puncak Jaya*
Reliable current information about the plight of Papuans who fled
December 2006 and January 2007 military operations in the Mulia -
Yamo area of the Punjak Jaya in West Papua indicates the following:

Several thousand IDPs from Yamo sub-district village remain in life
threatening circumstances. The IDPs have not returned to their
homes because of fears for their security posed by both security
forces and the armed opposition.

Their urgent need for food and medicine continues to be
insufficiently addressed.  The population suffers from malaria,
yellow fever and other related diseases as well as a lack of food
and adequate shelter  Malnutrition is exacerbating the spread and
severity of disease.  Health problems are extensive and deaths
among the IDPs arising from their conditions of living continue to
mount.

Local officials deny that there are outstanding unaddressed needs.

Those seeking to monitor the plight of the IDPs or
provideassistance continue to face threats and intimidation.

*Possible Break-Through For Papuan Political Rights*
For the first time Papuans may be able to field their own
candidates for local and national office without vetting them
through Jakarta-controlled national party offices.  The Cultural
Institute of the Papua People's Council (MRP) has given its support
to the formation of Papua's first local political party, the Papua
People's Awakening Party (PKRP). While there are already indigenous
Papuans in the national parliament, as well as provincial and
district legislative councils for the 2004-2009 session, their
numbers are very small.

MRP Vice Chair Hanna said that the opportunity for Papuans to
select Papuan candidates represented a major advance for Papuan
political rights.  She noted:  "So far, there are various groups or
people in legislatures who claim to represent the indigenous Papua
community but they in reality are unable to voice the aspirations
of indigenous Papuans or are just motivated by personal interests
so that indigenous Papuans' political rights remain neglected ...."

While the MRP support for the new party was key it is still
necessary that the provincial administration issue a special
regulation on the political rights of indigenous Papuans so that
the PKRP and possibly other local political parties would have a
clear, detailed legal standing.

 *State Department Human Rights Report Inadeqautely Reflects
Context of Human Rights Abuse In West Papua*
The State Department's annual report on human rights observance in
Indonesia offered relatively comprehensive coverage of the human
rights environment in
Indonesia but, relative to its report in 2006, was less candid in
its summary descriptions of specific abuses, and unaccountability,
particularly with regard to the performance of the Indonesian
military (TNI) and police.

The report acknowledged that the military and police remain largely
unaccountable for their human rights abuse and other crimes,
although the wording appeared intended to suggest impunity was more
an historical than a current concern.  The report contended: "the
government, in the past, rarely investigated such killings and
largely failed to hold  soldiers and police accountable for
killings and other serious human rights abuses that occurred in
past years."

The report itemizes most of the specific instances of human rights
abuses in 2006 but fails to address the context in which these
abuses occur.  Specifically, there is no acknowledgment that
President Yudhoyono has failed to follow-through on his National
Day (August 2006) pledge to give full attention to the problems in
West Papua. As in the past, there is no mention of the impact on
Papuan human rights, health and the Papuan environment of the
massive U.S.-owned Freeport McMoran copper-and gold mine in West
Papua.  The mine's damage to the welfare of Papuans prompted major
demonstrations in March 2006 which led to violent student-security
force confrontations.  The issues prompting the demonstrations are
not acknowledged or described in the State Department Report.

The State Department Report also fails to note fully the
consequences of the Indonesian Governments failure to implement the
2001 "Law on Special Autonomy
for Papua."  That law not only has not been implemented, worse
still, specific provisions of the law governing the formation of
separate province in West Papua have been violated. Mandatory
consultations with Papuan institutions pursuant to the carving up
of West Papua to form new provinces never took place.

The Report also ignores the ongoing military buildup in West Papua
which runs counter to a broad Papuan campaign to demilitarize West
Papua and which also proceeds independent of any security
justification.

The Report similarly gives inadequate attention to a fundamental
Papuan complaint that previous Government engineered ethnic
engineering entailing government sponsored "transmigration" has
left Papuans severely marginalized in the land they have occupied
for thousands of years.  The Report fails to note that the
Government has yet to provide compensation for Papuans who were
forced off their land to make way for the new settlers.  The Report
also fails to acknowledge that while the Indonesian government
claims that the movement of non-Papuans into West Papua is no
longer government-sponsored, in fact, government assistance to
newly arriving "migrants" continues to disadvantage Papuans.  The
rare outsiders able to visit West Papua invariably encounter
migrants operating Government-built market stalls while Papuans are
left to sell their wares on blankets spread near the margins of
these central markets.  Government services are provided largely in
urban areas where migrants tend to settle, but are scant or
entirely absent in more rural areas where Papuans predominate.

The Report fails to address the continued detention of 18 Papuans
whom Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have identified
as "political prisoners."  That detention, which HRW in a February
21, 2007 alert http://www.hrw.org/reports/2007/papua0207/ observed
violated international law, documented how the Indonesian
Government continues to employ criminal law to punish peaceful
protest and non-violent activity such as the raising of the morning
star flag which is specifically provided for in the 2001 law on
Special Autonomy.  The HRW report also contended that in
prosecuting cases of lawful protest the Indonesian Government was
using the courts "as a tool of political repression.

 *Unexplained "Security Problems" and Confusion Impede District
Voting in West Papua*
The Jakarta Post, March 23, reported that Regency elections in
Punjak Jaya's Fawi District in West Papua March 22 were marred by
unexplained "security
problems" that prevented 27 of 181 polling places from opening.
There was also violence among voters reported.  Parts of Puncak
Jaya have been in chaos
following military sweep operations in December 2006 and January
2007 that forced thousands of civilians from their homes.  March
reports available to the West Papua Advocacy Team indicate the
military buildup in the region continues and civilians forced from
their villages are in increasingly dire straits due to inadequate
food provision and medical care (see lead article above).

In Sorong Regency some voters protested after discovering they were
not registered to vote.

*Unrest in Freeport Mine Area Over Employment Discrimination*
A Jakarta Post Report, March 21, noted that hundreds Papuans from
the Amungme and Kamoro tribes, which are the largest in the Timika
area, staged a March 21 rally in front of the Memangkawai Mining
Institute office in Timika, the Mimika regency capital, demanding
that they be given priority for employment in local projects.  At
least 400 Aumngme and Kamoro job-seekers traveled for the protest
from the Mimika capital of Timika to the job-training institutes's
office, which acts as a recruitment agency for US cooper-gold
mining company Freeport-McMoran.  The demonstrators cited West
Papua's 2001 special autonomy law which requires that indigenous
people be given priority for recruitment.

Leaders of the demonstration said that Freeport-McMoran had never
paid attention to indigenous people, thereby contributing to
unemployment in the region. Another leader of the demonstrator's
solidarity group questioned the achievements of the Mimika Manpower
and Resettlement Office, which he said had disregarded the needs of
the Papuan indigenous people.  He added, "we want to be involved in
development in Mimika regency rather than simply being made
development objects."

Nothwithstanding pledges to hire locals, Freeport-McMoran for
decades has enouraged the in-migration of non-Papuans to its mine
operation leading to the growth of a very large population of
non-Papuan, single males in the Timika area.  Indonesian security
forces have overseen development of a lucrative, illegal
prostitution industry in the Timika area to cater to these
"geographic bachelors."  That industry in turn has become a
principal vector for HIV-AIDS which has seen explosive spread in
West Papua in recent years.

*Papuan Government Representatives Demand Revisions in Freeport
Contract*
The Papuan daily, the Cendrawasiih Post, on March 28 reports that
the Papuan Legislative Assembly (DPRP) has joined the Papuan
People's Council (MRP) in calling for revision of the contract of
work between the Indonesian Government and the US-owned Freeport
McMoran cooper and gold mine with a view toward making its terms
more beneficial to the Papuan people.  They also underscored that
given the internationally recognized human rights concerns posed by
Freeport operations, and the damage done to the environment by
those operations, the Freeport matter transcends national concerns
and rightfully warrants international concern.

The Cendrawasih Post article reported that at a meeting between
Pansus Freeport DPRP (Special Committee on Freeport of the DPRP)
with experts last December it was agreed that the Provincial
Government should establish a Team  composed of people from the
provincial government, the DPRP and the MRP.  Pansus Freeport
member Waynang Watori, who described this agreement, elaborated
that by setting up a Joint Team, it would help to mobilise forces
to press the central government to pursue revision of the Contract
of Work.

Watori added in April the DPRP Freeport Pansus team contacted US
lawyers seeking advice on how to proceed towards a revision of the
Contract of Work.

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http://www.thejakartapost.com/yesterdaydetail.asp?fileid=20070403.G11

House members visit Papua

National News - April 03, 2007

JAYAPURA, Papua: Member of the House of Representatives have been on a
five-day working visit in Papua to get information on various issues,
including forestry, agriculture, marine and fisheries.

The 12 House members, who were led by Mindo Sianipar, met with Papuan
deputy governor Alex Hessegem and provincial secretary Andi Baso Basaleng.
"The House members want to get input on actual issues, especially illegal
logging activities in Papua," Mindo said.

Hessegem said that forestry development in Papua would be reorganized,
especially with regards to operation licenses for forest concessions in
the province. "The licenses for forest concessions without any activities,
for example, will be revoked," he said.

Others will be revaluated, with any active concession holders being
required to build wood processing plants to enable Papua to export
processed wood products, such as furnitures and temporary houses, instead
of only logs and semi-processed wood.

The House members later visited a fish auction center in Hamadi, Jayapura,
followed by meetings with businessmen on plantations and fisheries. -- JP

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http://www.courant.com/travel/hc-traveltrend.artapr01,0,7759889.story?coll=hc-headlines-travel

Sleep In A Palace? Meet A Cannibal? Now You Can
April 1, 2007
By BEVERLY BEYETTE, Los Angeles Times

So you've skied in St. Moritz, danced until daybreak at carnival in Rio
and shopped till you dropped in Tokyo's Ginza. Now you seek a real
adventure.

Bespoke travel may be in your future.

SPONSORED LINKS
Bespoke - a fancy way of saying custom or tailor-made or independent - is
one of the fastest-growing segments of the travel industry, fueled by
affluent, been-there-done-that travelers who wouldn't be caught dead on
one of those board-the-buses tours.

They want to float down the Ganges during a tribute to an Indian river
goddess, take an early-morning alms walk with Laotian monks or come face
to face with cannibals on the island of New Guinea.

For a price - as little as $300 per person per day (excluding airfare, but
some of these travelers have private jets) or as much as $300,000 for a
two-week dream journey for a family - anything is possible.

"This has been an incredible growth area," says John Clifford, president
of International Travel Management in San Diego
(www.internationaltravelmanagement.com). "It's probably 95 percent of my
business. These are mature, well-traveled clients who've done London,
Paris, Tokyo, Sydney. There's this craving for something that is not as
sterilized. They want to connect with people and culture and cuisine."

His typical clients include "affluent couples in the baby boomer
generation, Gen X singles, affluent gay clients."

Typically, bespoke travel begins with extensive interviews to determine
clients' interests and such details as whether they're early or late
risers.

Catherine Heald, who lived seven years in Hong Kong, is chairman and chief
executive of Remote Lands travel in Manhattan (www.remotelands.com),
specializing in bespoke travel to Asia - journeys that are "completely
tailor-made and very high-end. You're not just lumped in with a bunch of
people who just get shoved onto buses and herded around," she said. "Our
clients have done Europe to death. They've done South America and now they
want to get more exotic. They want the next frontier, which is Asia. Or
they've been to Asia and done the basic places and now want the deeper
experience" perhaps being guests at a wedding or spending time in locals'
homes.

One client will be staying in a maharajah's palace in Darjeeling, India.
Another hopes to go to Indonesia's Irian Jaya to meet the last known
cannibals. "You have to trek for four days through deep, thick jungle to
get to them," Heald says. "It's not like they're on e-mail. Our contacts
in Indonesia are searching for them."

Clifford's clients seek intimate boutique hotels and "something new that a
travel magazine hasn't written about. The `Survivor' show has led people
to become interested in faraway places like Truk (or) Palau." Another
destination of interest is Upper Mongolia.

Custom journeys are "growing so fast I can't hire enough staff," says
Katherine Graves, director of inside sales and guest relations for
international tour operator Travcoa (www.travcoa.com). "People are looking
for the new type of travel, which is the experience. Anyone can go sit on
a beach in Hawaii," but custom clients want to "meet the local people,
have the local food."

Popular destinations? "It's the world," she says. "Some people have a life
list that they're checking off."

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http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/268082/1/.html



5 yr collaboration between SIF and Red Cross in Solo successful
By Hoe Yeen Nie, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 02 April 2007 2359 hrs

A doctor holds blood samples



It has been 5 years since the Singapore International Foundation (SIF)
started collaborating with Red Cross Indonesia, in Solo.

Under the programme, medical specialists from Singapore have been training
their counterparts at the blood transfusion centre in the Central Java
city.

The centre in Solo has been the venue where Singapore doctors work with
their Indonesian counterparts to raise the quality of blood collection and
transfusion procedures.

Red Cross officials say the centre has managed to meet requirements set by
the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Also, improvements at the centre have raised its profile among donors as
well as other Red Cross chapters in Central Java.

The centre says it now serves more than 60 per cent of the population
living in the South Central Java and the western part of East Java.

---

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20070404.E03&irec=2

Treaty no done deal down under

Duncan Graham, Surabaya

Last November the Foreign Ministers of Indonesia and Australia signed a
"Framework for Security Cooperation Agreement" in Mataram. Inevitably this
mouthful was chewed down to the "Lombok Treaty".

At the time it got fairly benign media coverage with comments focusing on
counter-terrorism cooperation. An exception was Professor Hugh White of
the Australian National University. He said it would "raise unrealistic
expectations which will lead to bitter disappointments, making the
relationship more, not less, vulnerable to shocks and crises."

Others saw it as a positive development between two prickly neighbors, a
document that might help prune problems before they tangle relationships.

But the agreement cannot become a treaty until it's ratified by the
parliaments in both countries.

Prior to this process, the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties (JSCT) in
Australia is now scrutinizing the agreement. The committee is made up of
16 politicians representing all major parties and both houses of
parliament.

The committee has called for submissions and so far has received 52. It's
due to report to the parliament in mid-June.

On the surface the agreement looks tame enough. Although it took two years
of negotiations between ministers and bureaucrats it's an elastic document
full of warm-fuzzies, like "mutual respect" and "closest professional
cooperation".

But when blood pressures are rising on both sides of the Arafura Sea over
some real or imagined insult, then definitions are critical, and seemingly
innocent words get close scrutiny.

That's what the International Commission of Jurists has been doing in
Australia, concluding that the terminology is "appallingly vague". Unless
the wording is changed, it says, "the freedom of Australia's right to
speak out on matters of international concern will be severely curtailed."

The Australian Council for International Development -- a consortium of 72
non-profit agencies with 36 active in Indonesia -- also fears
restrictions, including on the activities of aid organizations.

Other submissions note that in the wordy seven-page agreement the term
"human rights" never appears.

Nor does the word "Papua", yet it's the alleged human rights abuses
committed by the Indonesian military in the province (known in Australia
as West Papua) that are at the heart of the treaty.

In January 2006 a boat carrying 43 Papuans sailed unnoticed through
Australia's northern surveillance system and landed in Queensland.

The men and women claimed asylum, alleging they'd been persecuted in their
homeland and feared retribution if returned. Foreign journalists are
generally not allowed into Papua, so factual information about events is
sparse and often biased.

Most Indonesians saw Australia's acceptance of the Papuans' claims as a
threat to the Republic's integrity, part of a plot to aid separatists and
split the Unitary State.

Few Australians understand how critical this issue is in the hearts of
Indonesians and how disintegration of the Republic is feared and must be
opposed.

The jurists do. They've told the JSCT: "It is absurd to suggest that we
should arm and train Indonesian armed forces which are largely going to be
used internally and not for matters of defense and abandon and indeed
preclude proper comment as to any abuses."

Many Indonesians still believe the independence referendum that saw East
Timor (now Timor Leste) break away from the Republic in 1999 was a plot
engineered in Canberra.

Likewise few Indonesians appreciate that in a mature democracy a
government can give genuine assurances that it will keep its official nose
out of its neighbor's affairs -- but it can't censor the words or curb the
agitations of non-government organizations that might urge freedom for
Papua as they did for East Timor.

Eventually the Papuan refugee issue cooled down, and the determination to
get something onto paper was revived to avoid tensions re-igniting.

The critical clause in the agreement commits both sides to avoid doing
anything that "constitutes a threat to the stability, sovereignty or
territorial integrity of the other party".

In its submission the jurists claim this could mean the Australian
government couldn't criticize any cross-border incursions by Indonesian
troops into Papua New Guinea or Timor Leste.

Malcolm Cook of the Lowy Institute for International Policy has told the
JSCT that the agreement "will do little to address (the) deep-seated
bilateral problem that undermines the national interest of both
countries."

He defines this as the lack of knowledge, understanding and a general
wariness on both sides. He highlighted ignorance among Australians of the
way democracy has advanced in Indonesia.

Last year the Institute published results of a poll that showed most
Australians feel uncomfortable about their heavily populated neighbor,
seeing it as a military state and source of Islamic terrorism. For every
Australian there are 12 Indonesians -- and ten are Muslims.

Many submissions focus on these mistrusts. Like Professor White they argue
that much more work needs to be done at the grassroots to improve public
perceptions before a treaty can get widespread acceptance.

A positive side revealed in the Lowy poll is that a majority on both sides
reckons there should be closer relationships.

This is an election year in Australia, and foreign affairs will feature in
the scramble for votes. Although policies of the present Liberal-Coalition
government on Indonesia differ little from those of the opposition Labor
Party, neither side will be willing to aggravate voters by promoting an
unpopular treaty.

The writer is an East Java-based journalist.

It has also managed to collect 60,000 packets of blood per year - three
times more than the 20,000 units collected in a year, five years ago.

The teams from Singapore have been training specialist staff here on how
to collect, analyse and store blood.

Two medical staff from this centre were also sent on six-week attachments
to Singapore.

The Singapore teams also made annual visits to assess the impact of the
training programme.

SIF hopes that key staff members who receive training will then pass on
their knowledge to other colleagues.

SIF's programme also extends outside of the centre,

Its seminars on best practices of blood transfusion have attracted medical
personnel from other hospitals, some from as far as Irian Jaya.

The project is now in its final phase and officially concludes on 3 April.

SIF will then evaluate the effectiveness of this programme early next
year. - CNA/yy

---

http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=31285


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 House of Reps team on info-gathering visit to Papua focus on
logging

Posted at 07:18 on 04 April, 2007 UTC

Member of Indonesia’s House of Representatives have been on a five-day
visit to Papua province to gather information on various issues, including
forestry, agriculture, marine and fisheries.

The Jakarta Post reports that the team of 12 House members led by Mindo
Sianipar met with Papua’s deputy governor Alex Hessegem and provincial
secretary Andi Baso Basaleng.

Mr Mindon says the House members want to hear input on key issues,
especially illegal logging activities in Papua province.

Mr Hessegem says that forestry development in Papua is to be reorganised,
especially with regards to operation licenses for forest concessions in
the province.

He says that for example the licenses for forest concessions without any
activities will be revoked.

Others will be reevaluated, with any active concession holders being
required to build wood processing plants.

This would enable Papua to export processed wood products, such as
furniture and temporary houses, instead of only logs and semi-processed
wood.

---

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailnational.asp?fileid=20070405.G04&irec=3

Plan to hold back Papua gold panning violence

Markus Makur, The Jakarta Post, Timika

The Mimika regency administration in Papua will work with the police to
curb violence among traditional gold prospectors in Banti village,
Tembagapura and around the Aijkwa river flow areas, an official said.

As well as putting a stop to conflict between prospectors already in the
area, authorities are aiming to reduce the number of people flowing in to
pan for gold in the tailing catchment downstream from PT Freeport
Indonesia's massive gold and copper mine.

Mimika Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. G. Cornelius Mansembra said traditional
gold prospectors in the tailing flow area would be educated on gold
panning safety and security.

Mansembra said conflict and growth in the number of traditional gold
prospectors in the area, which stretches from Tembagapura to Mile 38, had
interrupted Freeport's mining operations.

"Papua Police Chief Insp. Gen. Tommy Jacobus has instructed me, as the new
Mimika Police chief, to be reasonable when carrying out this action," he
said.

Mansembra said police would work with residents to deal with the issue.

He said he would minimize the possibility of clashes among tribal
communities in Mimika and maintain security in the area.

"I will perform the orders of my superiors (to deal with) the issue of
gold prospecting in the tailing area," he said.

The police chief said he would take stern action against any police in his
force found to have taken part in any violence.

Mansembra, who is of Papuan ancestry, said he would tidy up his force at
every level of command so police could work effectively as protectors and
guardians of the local community.

He said he would prevent traditional gold miners from fighting amongst
each other while maintaining their safety and security as they made their
livelihood in the tailing area.

"I will use a culturally-sensitive approach with them because the culture
in Papua is very unique and approaches are needed that are appropriate to
the cultural differences in each area," he explained.

---

http://www.antara.co.id/en/arc/2007/4/2/indonesian-navy-nabs-17-foreign-boats/

Indonesian navy nabs 17 foreign boats

Surabaya, East Java (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian Navy has nabbed 17
foreign fishing boats for poaching in Indonesian waters.

"Many of the fishing boats were from Taiwan and there were also few from
China. Currently, the boats are being investigated by the Indonesian
Navy," Rear Admiral Moekhlas Sidik, Commander of the Indonesian Navy`s
Eastern Fleet, said here on Monday.

He said that most of the foreign boats were nabbed while poaching in
Arafura Sea, Papua, eastern most Indonesia.

Recently, Indonesia`s Karel Satsuitubun warship nabbed two
Philippines-flagged fishing boats for poaching in Ambalat Block water,
Sulawesi.

The two Filipino boats were respectively FB. Lorna-6 and FB. Mark Anthony-01.

---

http://www.thejakartapost.com/yesterdaydetail.asp?fileid=20070403.H14


Navy nabs 17 foreign boats

National News - April 03, 2007

SURABAYA: The Indonesian Navy has nabbed 17 foreign fishing boats for
allegedly poaching in Indonesian waters.

"Most of the fishing boats were from Taiwan while some were from China.
The crews are currently being investigated by the Indonesian Navy," Rear
Admiral Moekhlas Sidik, commander of the Eastern Fleet, told Antara news
agency Monday.

He said that most of the foreign boats were boarded while poaching in the
Arafura Sea off Papua, Indonesia's easternmost province.

Recently, the warship KRI Karel Satsuit Tubun stopped two Filipino fishing
vessels in Ambalat Block, off East Kalimantan. -- JP