[Kabar-Irian] News: Feb 28-march 6 2007

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KABAR IRIAN NEWS

Feb 28-march 6 2007

TOPICS

* Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc. paid the Indonesian government 1.6
billion dollars
* Credit Suisse upgrades Barrick and Freeport-McMoRan
* Papua writes autonomy ordinances
* Drug-resistant malaria now widespread
* INDONESIA: Millionaire's ad puts Canberra-Jakarta relations to the test
* Indonesia decision under fire
* Human rights group condemns renewed military ties with Indonesia
* Moderate earthquake jolts Indonesia's Papua province
* Moderate quake jolts Indonesia's Papua
* Papua, Indonesia, the TNI and the USA
* Papua told to regulate funds for villages
* Morgan Mellish passes away
* Press release

---

http://www.antara.co.id/en/seenws/?id=28030

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - US mining giant Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold
Inc. paid the Indonesian government 1.6 billion dollars last year from its
vast mining operation in Papua province, mostly in taxes, the company said
Monday.

"From January to December 2006, Freeport Indonesia paid its financial
obligations to the government of Indonesia in the sum of 1.6 billion
dollars," a statement was quoted by AFP as saying.

It said 1.29 billion dollars of the total comprised corporate, employee
income and other taxes. Dividends accounted for 159 million dollars and
royalties for 146 million dollars.

Freeport Indonesia has paid 5.1 billion dollars to the Indonesian
government since 1992, according to the statement. Taxes accounted for 4.1
billion dollars of the figure, with the remainder comprised of royalties
and dividends.

The company said Freeport Indonesia had also invested five billion dollars
to develop company infrastructure and 500 million dollars in social
facilities.

It had also generated direct employment for 9,000 people in 2006, some 27
percent of whom were indigenous Papuans, the statement said.

It added the company had provided 10,700 jobs indirectly last year, for
example for contract workers or employees at partner firms.

The statement said the firm had also purchased domestic goods and services
worth 4.3 billion dollars.

Freeport Indonesia, the local subsidiary of Freeport-McMoRan, operates a
huge and controversial gold and copper mine in Indonesia's easternmost
province of Papua.

Campaigners have accused the mine of causing environmental damage in Papua.

They say it has polluted the World Heritage-listed Lorenz National Park
and dumped copper-rich ore around the edge of its operations.

The firm has disputed the claims. (*)

---

http://www.resourceinvestor.com/pebble.asp?relid=29374

Credit Suisse upgrades Barrick and Freeport-McMoRan
By Jon Nones
27 Feb 2007 at 01:47 PM

Credit Suisse has upgraded Barrick Gold and Freeport-McMoRan Copper &
Gold, as it expects recent inventory builds to stabilize or fall and metal
prices to remain strong.

The brokerage raised its rating on Barrick Gold to "neutral" from
"underperform" and Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold to "outperform" from
"neutral."

The brokerage also raised its price target on Alcoa to $42 from $35, Alcan
to $62 from $54, Newmont Mining to $54 from $48, Barrick Gold to to $34
from $30 and Freeport-McMoRan to $70 from $50.

---

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailnational.asp?fileid=20070228.G01&irec=0

Papua writes autonomy ordinances

Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura

Papua Governor Barnabas Suebu on Tuesday ordered the establishment of a
joint team to draft local ordinances and regulations necessary for the
implementation of special autonomy in the province.

He said it has been five years since the law on special autonomy for Papua
was introduced, and numerous articles in the law could still not be
enforced because of the absence of the necessary ordinances at the
provincial, regency and mayoralty levels.

Last year, just six local ordinances out of 10 that were proposed ended up
being approved. So far this year, only one local ordinance has been
approved by the Papua Legislative Council.

The governor said the special team would have until the end of this year
to finish all the necessary ordinances for the full implementation of the
law on special autonomy.

"It is necessary to have a team really working to complete the
regulations. It's been five years since the autonomy law was being issued
but it is not backed up by local regulations. A law can only work if there
are regulations which control its implementation.

"The team is expected to work thoroughly, and is expected to finish by the
end of this year," Barnabas told reporters in Jayapura after attending a
legislative council session to discuss the province's 2007 draft budget.

Under the plan, the special autonomy team will comprise administration
officials, legislative council members, members of the Papua People's
Council and members of the team that drafted the 2001 Papua Special
Autonomy Law. He said that since the team had less than a year to complete
its work, a special time would have to be set aside to deliberate the
draft ordinances.

"We need to allocate some time when nothing else is being deliberated,
like the 2007 budget draft, to deliberate the special ordinances,"
Barnabas said. Papua Legislative Council Speaker John Ibo welcomed the
governor's plan, saying it would help speed up the drafting and
deliberation of local ordinances needed for the implementation of the
special autonomy law.

"I support the team's formation, which is a breakthrough from the
governor. The council will support the team in speeding up the issuance of
clear directions for implementing the autonomy law, in the hope that we
can reach the goals of autonomy," John said.

Similar support came from Cendrawasih University Rector Bert Kambuaya, who
said autonomy would continue to be considered a failure without the
backing of local ordinances.

"We've been waiting a long time (for guidelines to implement the special
autonomy law). These special local ordinances should be passed immediately
and I'm ready to assign members who were involved in drafting the special
autonomy law to assist the team," he said.

Five years after special autonomy came into effect in Papua, it is widely
regarded as a failure for not living up to the expectations of residents.

Many Papuans continue to live in poverty despite the autonomy funds
channeled to regional administrations, totaling between Rp 1.3 trillion
and Rp 1.5 trillion a year.

And many Papuans feel alienated because they continue to have little say
in the process of public policy-making in the province.

---

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailnational.asp?fileid=20070227.H09&irec=8


Drug-resistant malaria now widespread

Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A senior researcher at the Eijkman Institute of Molecular Biology in
Jakarta has called for the immediate development of new drugs to treat
patients with the disease, after research by the institute found that
the malaria virus was increasingly resistant to existing medicines.

"That's why a new drug or combination of drugs is needed to better
treat malaria patients," Din Syafruddin said at a symposium of global
experts organized by the institute along with the Australia-Indonesia
Medical Research Initiative and AusAID.

"We came to the conclusion after taking blood samples from patients
with malaria across Indonesia," added Din.

He said that 99 percent of malarial parasites had mutated to resist
chloroquine, the standard drug used treat malaria.

"The malarial parasite is clever. It can mutate and multiply in order
to survive," said Worachart Sirawaraporn, an expert from Thailand who
also spoke at the symposium.

According to Din's research, the areas that show increased resistance
to the drugs are Nias in North Sumatra, Purworedjo in Central Java,
Lampung, East Kalimantan, South Sulawesi, North Sulawesi and Papua.

"Malaria is endemic to all parts of Indonesia. However, the western
part of Indonesia is a bit less endemic and people there are more prone
to the disease than those of eastern Indonesia because they have fewer
antibodies for malaria when compared with their eastern Indonesia
brothers," said Din.

He said that those areas also showed resistance to an anti-malaria drug
called sulphadoxine.

A single pill containing a mixture of the drugs will have to be tested
and approved by the Health Ministry before it can be officially
released.

The Eijkman Institute is also part of a recently formed networking
body, the Indonesia Malaria Research Institute (IMRNet), which will
assist experts and researchers working on the disease.

Eijkman Institute director Sangkot Marzuki said a grassroots community
of malaria researchers had been around for some time, but there had
never been an official organization.

"We are just creating an official forum for them to work more
effectively. IMRNet will succeed because the people have been involved
before," he said.

"In the future, I hope the Indonesian government will get more serious
in its monitoring of the spread of malaria. We are yet to have a
comprehensive mapping of the prevalence of malaria (across the
country)," Sangkot added.

He said that Papua New Guinea presented a good example, as its
government was now able to take the initiative in research without
instructions from the World Health Organization.

"They have good mapping of the disease and surveillance," he said.

He added that the impact of malaria control in the country depended
human, parasitic, mosquito, medium and environmental factors.

"We should not be inert in monitoring the disease as a large outbreak
could happen in Indonesia," he said.

Malaria kills around a million people each year, mainly in sub-Saharan
Africa.

---

http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article-southeastasia.asp?parentid=64748

INDONESIA: Millionaire's ad puts Canberra-Jakarta relations to the test

Wealthy Australian promotes media and human rights watchdogs in
Indonesia's repressed West Papua

South China Morning Post
Thursday, March 1, 2007

By Fabio Scarpello

An Australian millionaire's financing of television advertisements across
Asia urging Indonesia to allow journalists and human rights monitors into
Papua may shake the fragile relations between the countries, activists
say.

Matthew Jamieson, from the Australia-based Institute for Papuan Advocacy
and Human Rights, said Australians sympathised with the Papuans and were
not happy with Canberra's dealings with the Indonesian military.

"The TV advertisement will again put West Papua on the agenda in Australia
and will increase tension from Jakarta to Australia," he said.

"The bloody, past history of the [Indonesian forces] in East Timor and
elsewhere is well understood among the Australian public."

The advertisements were launched in Australia last month and were expected
to be aired overaseas on ABC Asia-Pacific soon.

The intention of the sponsor, Perth-based businessman Ian Melrose, is to
force Canberra and Jakarta to amend the Australia-Indonesia security
treaty signed in November.

"My hope is that, as a result of this, both governments decide to put
human rights monitoring into the treaty. That would be a good outcome both
for the West Papuans and Indonesia," Mr Melrose told ABC radio.

The treaty, which is yet to be endorsed by the Australian Parliament's
treaties committee, was drafted to soothe a crisis started when Canberra
granted 43 Papuans political asylum early last year.

It calls for a strengthening of military co-operation and for the two
countries to respect each other's territorial sovereignty.

Australia hosts several pro-Papua organisations. Some elements of the
Indonesian military do not trust Canberra and fear Australia is supporting
independence for Papua, as it did for East Timor.

"Australia's relationship with Indonesia will always be difficult because
of West Papua, and the military is an occupation force in West Papua," Mr
Jamieson said.

Situated in the eastern corner of the Indonesian archipelago, 250km north
of Australia, Papua - previously also knows as West Papua, a name
preferred by Australian organisations -- is involved in a low-level
pro-independence war.

Papua was invaded by Indonesia in 1962 and officially annexed with a
flawed UN-sponsored referendum seven years later.

According to several reports, more than 100,000 people have been killed by
the Indonesian military.

The province remains off limits to foreign journalists and international
organisations.

Date Posted: 3/1/2007

---

http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/newsdetail1.asp?storyID=113400

Indonesia decision under fire

4/03/2007 12:00:04

New Zealand's decision to resume defence co-operation with Indonesia is
under fire.

Defence ties have been severed since September 1999 after violence
engulfed East Timor.

The Auckland-based Indonesia Human Rights Committee believes the proposed
decision should have been open to public consultation.

Spokeswoman Maire Leadbeater says there are two good reasons why the ties
should not be resumed.

She says the deaths of three New Zealanders along with 200, 000 East
Timorese people should be enough to make them think twice.

Maire Leadbeater says only one person has been held to account for the
1999 violence and that is just not good enough.

---

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/asiapacific/news/article_1272413.php/Human_rights_group_condemns_renewed_military_ties_with_Indonesia

Asia-Pacific News
Human rights group condemns renewed military ties with Indonesia

Mar 4, 2007, 7:59 GMT

Wellington - New Zealand campaigners for human rights in Indonesia on
Sunday condemned the government's reported decision to end a ban on
military cooperation with the Asian country.

Maire Leadbeater, of the Indonesia Human Rights Committee, said the
government had invited an Indonesian officer to attend the New Zealand
Defence Force Command and Staff College course this year, the first time
since military ties were suspended in September 1999 after violence broke
out in East Timor.

'We are appalled that this significant policy shift was not subject to any
debate with either the New Zealand public or parliament,' Leadbeater said.

'Why is the New Zealand government overlooking the Indonesian military's
ongoing responsibility for human rights violations, especially in conflict
areas such as West Papua and Poso?' she asked.

'In West Papua a programme of military expansion is underway, and military
intimidation has displaced thousands of people in the Puncak Jaya region.'

Leadbeater said there had been no accounting for a '24-year brutal
occupation' of East Timor and only one person, the East Timorese militia
leader Eurico Guterres, had been held to account for the 1999 violence.

She blamed the Indonesian military for the deaths of three New Zealanders
and said no commander had been held responsible for 'military abuses and
massacres that have been documented when Aceh was under military rule, and
numerous military killings of pro-democracy activists remain unaccounted
for.'

Leadbeater said East Timor's Commission for Reception, Truth and
Reconciliation recommended that no state should resume military
cooperation with Indonesia until there had been genuine progress towards
full democratization, the subordination of the military to the rule of law
and civilian government and strict adherence with international human
rights, including respect for the right of self-determination.

She said the New Zealand Government should heed that recommendation
'instead of restoring defence ties to a military force emboldened by
decades of impunity.'
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

---

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/asiapacific/news/article_1272140.php/Moderate_earthquake_jolts_Indonesias_Papua_province

Asia-Pacific News
Moderate earthquake jolts Indonesia's Papua province

Mar 3, 2007, 10:07 GMT

Jakarta(dpa) - A moderate earthquake jolted Indonesia's easternmost
province of Papua on Saturday, causing damage to houses and a TV tower, an
official report said.

The quake, measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale, occurred at around 01:04
p.m. local time (0404 GMT), according to a report from Indonesia's
national Meteorology and Geophysics Agency.

The tremblor's epicentre was on land, 67 kilometres south-east of
Manokwari regency and about 33 kilometres underground. The Papua province
lies about 3,090 kilometres east of Indonesia's capital Jakarta.

In December 2004, a massive 9.0-magnitude earthquake triggered a tsunami
that struck nine Asian and African countries, killing around 177,000
people in Indonesia's Aceh province alone.

In July 2006, another quake-triggered tsunami killed more than 600 people
along the southern coast of Java.

Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago nation, is prone to earthquakes
because of its location on an arc of volcanoes and oceanic trenches
encircling the Pacific Basin.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

---
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/JAK197890.htm


Moderate quake jolts Indonesia's Papua
03 Mar 2007 07:59:03 GMT
Source: Reuters

JAKARTA, March 3 (Reuters) - A moderate 5.3-magnitude earthquake struck
Indonesia's Papua island on Saturday, damaging some houses and a TV tower
but caused no serious damage or deaths, a meteorological official said.

The quake struck 67 km (42 miles) southeast of Manokwari, the capital of
West Irian Jaya province, at a depth of 33 km, Setiyono, an analyst at the
meteorology and geophysics agency, said.

Indonesia lies in the so called "Pacific Ring of Fire" where seismic
activity is frequent because of the shifting of tectonic plates.

AlertNet news is provided by

---

http://www.spcm.org/Journal/spip.php?article7011

Papua, Indonesia, the TNI and the USA
By Elizabeth Kendal



AUSTRALIA — The Indonesian military (TNI) has once again unleashed terror
in the highlands of Papua. Thousands of indigenous, predominantly
Christian Papuans have been ethnically cleansed from their villages and
driven into the inhospitable jungle where many will die. During the 20th
Century, the Papuans turned from the occult, headhunting, cannibalism, and
internecine tribal war to Christ. They were evangelised predominantly by
Australian and American pioneer missionaries courtesy Mission Aviation
Fellowship (MAF) USA. The missionary story was popularised by missionary
author Don Richardson, whose best-selling book "Peace Child" (now a
feature film) tells how the Sawi tribal practice of making peace with an
enemy through the gift of a child opened the door for even the most
violent Sawi warriors to embrace the gospel.

Today the enemy of the Papuans is not their pagan tribal culture. Today
nothing the Papuans do will bring peace. The TNI know they can kill
Papuans with impunity. And what’s more, the Papuans know it too. The
contemporary still-unfolding story of Papua is a story of the genocide of
a Christian people through betrayal and abandonment, aggression,
complicity and impunity.

--------------------------------------------------------- SINS OF
COMMISSION AND COMPLICITY

Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc. first explored Dutch New Guinea
(Irian Jaya, Papua), then a Dutch colony, in 1960. In 1961 Indonesia, the
world’s most populous Muslim nation, invaded the sparsely populated,
resource-rich province and occupied it. In 1962 the US brokered a deal
with the Dutch. Known as the New York Agreement it handed sovereignty of
Papua to the UN until a referendum could be held on the status of the
province. In 1967, regardless that the UN was supposed to be in control,
Indonesia gave Freeport "’free rein’ to take West Papuan land from the
people, to resettle villagers and compensate them only for the buildings
on the land". (Link 1)

In 1969 the UN, the US and other Western states with political and
economic agendas facilitated Papua’s annexation to Indonesia. Mining
commenced in 1973, so did the protests, and so did the military reprisals.

The present day situation in Papua is complex and multilayered. It
involves Indonesian and Islamic imperialism, racial and religious hatred,
political expediency and complicity, greed, corruption and cover-up.

To ’Javanise’ and Islamise Papua, Jakarta facilitates the mass migration
of Javanese Muslims into Papua. It also strategically divided Papua into
three provinces so that today Javanese Muslims are the majority in the
majority of provinces.

There is little doubt that most Javanese Muslim immigrants view the
indigenous Melanesian mostly Christian Papuans with contempt. Yet while
the ethnic and religious hatred aspects intensify the hostility, they are
not the root of the current crisis. The root of the current crisis is
multi-layered :

• The Indonesian military (TNI), which has an appalling record when it
comes to corruption and human rights abuses, is determined to stay engaged
in domestic security so it can operate and be close to its various
business interests. (The Indonesian military raises most of its costs from
its business interests, not the federal budget. The TNI’s business
interests range from legitimate investments and companies, to illegal
logging, prostitution, drugs and extortion.) Accordingly the TNI needs
conflict - it needs a real and present "separatist" and "terrorist"
threat. Indonesia keeps an enormous military force deployed in Papua on
account of this "separatist and terrorist threat".

• An American mining company is mining in Papua, which is a conflict zone.
The insecurity caused by the protests of displaced, disgruntled locals, or
by conflict between the TNI and the OPM (the primitive, not particularly
threatening Papuan independence movement) means the mine requires
protection. Those who work in protection (the TNI) therefore benefit from
insecurity.

• The American government’s relationship with Indonesia is valuable and
strategic both in terms of economics and geo-politics. The US is
Indonesia’s primary weapons supplier. Furthermore, Indonesia is an ally in
the War against Terror. Hence this is a relationship that both Indonesia
and the US are keen to protect.

Together these factors create an environment where the TNI, which secures
its interests through conflict, knows it can persecute and kill Papuans
with impunity, because the Indonesian and US governments and the directors
at Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc. have political and economic
reasons always to make sure the TNI’s human rights abuses will be
whitewashed.

------------------------------------- PAYING FOR PROTECTION

A detailed report entitled "Paying for Protection. The Freeport mine and
the Indonesian security forces" was published by Global Witness in July
2005. It is essential reading for anyone seeking to fully understand what
is happening in Papua, and what is the relationship between the American
Freeport mine, the TNI, and the gross human rights abuses perpetrated
against the indigenous, mostly Christian Papuans.

Paying for Protection Report - 25/07/2005 Global Witness
http://www.globalwitness.org/media_library_detail.php/139/en/paying_for_protection

-------------------------------------- FAKE OPM

For many years now it has been known that TNI soldiers manipulate often
illiterate, uneducated Papuan village men to be proud ’OPM’ warriors !
They arm these fake OPM and send them off to commit crimes and
provocations that give the military grounds for retaliation against
"separatist and terrorist" forces.

There are several differences however between real and fake OPM. Real OPM
are few in number, isolated in the jungle, primitive and armed primarily
with spears and bows and arrows. Fake OPM are armed with M16s and supplied
with Indonesian beer and whiskey. (Link 2).

TNI soldiers use these fake OMP for operations where they want deniability
or for when they want to trigger a military crackdown.

----------------------------------- PUNCAK JAYA, DEC 2006-2007

On 8 December 2006 two Indonesian soldiers were killed after a banned
Papuan Morning Star flag was raised on Kumipaga Hill in Puncak Jaya. It is
not clear exactly what transpired, but there are several signs to point to
manipulation and the use of fake OPM to trigger an incident.

First, the flag raised on Kumipaga Hill was not a little hand-made flag
but most unusually was a full-sized flag. Secondly, the soldiers who
interrupted the event were not speared but shot with a TNI-issue M16
semi-automatic rifle (made in USA). On 24 December 2006, TNI, Brimbob
(mobile brigade police), and intelligence agents were deployed to Pancuk
Jaya for a military reprisal. The region is sealed off, closed to the
outside world.

Since the military offensive commenced an estimated 5,000 Papuan villagers
have been forced to flee their homes, gardens and livestock. It is the wet
season and the displaced, terrorised Papuan families are walking north and
east over mountainous terrain, through thick jungle, without food, shelter
or medical care. There is great concern that another TNI-engineered
humanitarian crisis is unfolding.

TNI, Brimbob, and intelligence agents have since occupied some twenty
vacated villages.

The TNI have been implementing the above pattern for years.

FREEPORT AUGUST 2002

On 31 August 2002 a group of unidentified gunmen ambushed a convoy of cars
travelling between the Papuan regional centre of Timika and Tembagapura,
near the Freeport copper and gold mine. Two Americans and an Indonesian
were killed while nine foreign nationals, seven of them Americans, and
three Indonesians, all teachers at the Tembaga Pura International School,
were injured.

The attack took place close to a military checkpoint. The TNI, who were
quickly on the scene claimed to have shot dead a Papuan OPM insurgent.
After pointing out his body to the police, the TNI launched a military
crackdown. However, evidence being gathered by Indonesian police indicated
that the TNI was itself complicit in the attack. The evidence included the
discovery that the Papuan body had actually been dead several days and
planted at the scene. The Global Witness report gives an excellent
description of what happened in the weeks around and subsequent to 31
August 2002. This includes the fact that the police chief leading the
investigation, I. Made Pastika, and his deputy who publicly accused the
TNI were subsequently transferred out of Papua.

It is doubtless not a coincidence that the attack occurred as Freeport was
considering cutting its payments to the TNI on the grounds that investors
were concerned that the payments, if deemed extortion, would be in
violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

AMBUSH, WAMANG AND "TERRORISM" - a local pastor included with the
"terrorists".

On 16 June 2004 a federal grand jury in Washington DC indicted a Papuan
named Anthonius Wamang for the August 2002 murder of the two Americans
killed in the August 2002 Freeport ambush and the attempted murders of
another eight.

The US Department of Justice subsequently issued an exuberant press
release : "’The U.S. government is committed to tracking down and
prosecuting terrorists who prey on innocent Americans in Indonesia and
around the world,’ said Attorney General Ashcroft. ’Terrorists will find
that they cannot hide from U.S. justice - whether in the world’s largest
cities or in the most remote jungles of Asia.’

"’The brutal terrorist attack charged in this indictment was an unprovoked
ambush of an innocent group of Americans who were in Indonesia to teach
school,’ said Assistant Attorney General Wray. ’The Department of Justice
will work tirelessly to see that those responsible for such terrorist acts
are brought to justice.’

"’This case is an example of outstanding investigative work and the dogged
determination of FBI Agents and prosecutors to ensure that those who
attack Americans abroad are brought to justice. I look forward to working
cooperatively with the authorities in Indonesia as we pursue our mutual
interest in prosecuting this defendant,’ said U.S. Attorney Wainstein.

"’This investigative effort illustrates the importance of international
cooperation to combat terrorism and what can be accomplished when
countries partner in this effort,’ said FBI Director Mueller. ’The
cooperation extended by the Indonesian government enabled the FBI to work
in the remotest areas of Indonesia and identify the party responsible for
this terrible crime.’"

The US Department of Justice concluded its press release with the reminder
: "An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant violated a
criminal law. All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven
guilty." (Link 3)

Attorney Wainstein’s assurance that Indonesia and America would pursue not
justice but their "mutual interest" was probably what drove Wamang to flee
immediately into hiding in fear of his life.

Wamang subsequently communicated to a journalist that he and fourteen
others had been doing business with the TNI. He told reporters that they
had been given ammunition and told that soldiers would be coming along the
road. Wamang said he opened fire on the convoy believing that the vehicles
contained Indonesian soldiers. (Link 4)

Wamang and eleven other Papuan "terrorists" were arrested in January 2006.
They had handed themselves in to the FBI at the Timika hotel after being
promised that they would receive a fair trial in the USA. Instead they
were handed to Indonesian authorities.

Amongst those detained was the Reverend Isak Ondawame, a well-known local
pastor and human rights advocate who had helped arrange the meeting at the
Timika hotel. Ondawame, who has been critical of Jakarta’s policies in
Papua, had not previously been identified as a suspect in the teachers’
murders. (Link 5)

In November 2006, the Central Jakarta District Court, sentenced Wamang
(32) to life imprisonment. His "accomplices" received up to seven years
each.

The trial was a sham, but it did enable US military aid to Indonesia to be
restored.

While Wamang admits to shooting at the convoy, the other men profess to be
innocent. While waiting to hear the verdict Reverend Isak Onawame (54)
said : "We had nothing to do with these shootings. Our trial has been
manipulated for the interests of two countries, Indonesia and the United
States." (Link 6)

--------------------------------------------------------------- FOREIGN
RELATIONS AUTHORISATION ACT

America’s Foreign Relations Authorisation Act for the fiscal year
2006-2007 as passed by the US House of Representatives in July 2005
contained a detailed section on Papua (section 1115). The Bill required
that further reporting be undertaken regarding the implementation of
Papua’s Special Autonomy Law ; human rights, openness and liberties in
Papua ; and the 1969 Act of Free Choice.

Needless to say, the Indonesian government was displeased. So to make the
Indonesians happy, the American government agreed to remove the references
to Papua.

On 9 November 2005, the Jakarta Post reported : "Indonesia has greeted
with a sigh of relief a decision by the United States Congress to omit
references to Papua from the State Department Authorization Bill."
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono reiterated that Papua was "Indonesia’s
domestic affair", while international affairs expert Dewi Fortuna Anwar
said the removal of the references to Papua was "a friendly gesture by the
United States in respecting the integrity of Indonesia. We should welcome
the efforts by all sides in favor of Indonesia both inside and outside
Congress to scrap the references to Papua in the bill." (Link 7)

Copies of the Bill can be found at :

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi
?dbname=109_cong_bills&docid=f :h2601eh.txt.pdf Section 1115, on Papua can
be found on pages 326-332. ALTERNATIVELY
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd ?bill=h109-2601 (section 1115)

----------------------------- PAPUAN GENOCIDE

Indonesia is important both economically and geo-politically. But policies
being enacted by the Indonesian government and the TNI are effecting the
genocide of the indigenous Papuans.

There will always be in every country government officials and CEOs who
are prepared to put political and economic interests ahead of human life.
Because of this it is left to those voters and investors who are not
prepared to be complicit in human rights abuses and genocide to exert
their power to force change. The impunity must end somewhere.

Freeport should be made to cease operations in Papua and the US government
should be made to cease military aid to Indonesia until the human rights
situation in Papua is corrected and Papua’s Special Autonomy Law is fully
implemented to the indigenous Papuans’ satisfaction.

Elizabeth Kendal rl-research at crossnet.org.au

Links

1) Freeport Mine ’Terrible’ Sight From Space Auckland University of
Technology (AUT) August 2006, Article by Te Waha Nui
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/print.html ?path=HL0608/S00235.htm

2) Breaking Free From Betrayal New Internationalist. issue 318 - November
1999 http://www.newint.org/issue318/free.htm

3) US Department of Justice. 24 June 2004
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2004/June/04_crm_439.htm

4) West Papua - Ambushed Broadcast : 01 Sept 2004. Reporter : Antony
Balmain http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/content/2004/s1189656.htm

5) Arrest of Indonesian Over Killings Could Boost Relations With U.S. By
Raphael Pura and Murray Hiebert, 12 January 2006 http://people.ucsc.edu/
skirksey/writing/WSJ.htm See also :
http://www.etan.org/et2006/january/06/14fbi.htm for articles from
Washington Post and Financial Times.

6) Indonesian who planned killings of 2 American teachers gets life in
prison The Associated Press, 6 November 2006
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/11/07/asia/AS_GEN_Indonesia_US_Teacher_Slayings.php

7) "Papua’s removal from U.S. bill ’welcome’" Jakarta Post. 9 November
2005
http://asia-pacific-action.org/southeastasia/indonesia/netnews/2005/ind_43v9.htm


Copyright © ASSIST News Service, used with permission

---

http://www.thejakartapost.com/yesterday.asp?edition=20070306

Papua told to regulate funds for villages

National News - March 06, 2007

Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura

A grant set to be directly distributed to villages in Papua may cause
conflict if not properly managed, observers warned Monday.

However, if effectively managed, the Rp 100 million (approximately
US$10,900) grant for each village will be beneficial for development
purposes.

"There needs to be clear guidelines in place before villages receive the
money. And villages need to be taught how to properly use the funds so
that the money can benefit all residents," the secretary of the Papuan
People's Council, Fadal Alhamid, told The Jakarta Post in Jayapura.

"Distributing the grants without clear guidelines for their use and
effective monitoring mechanisms will potentially create conflict because
everyone will want a share of the Rp 100 million."

"We don't want the distribution of this money to create a situation which
could negatively impact on the goal of improving people's welfare," Fadal
said.

He suggested that the provincial administration recruit qualified village
secretaries to oversee the use of this money. These secretaries should be
university graduates, he said.

"There are many unemployed university graduates in the cities. They could
be sent to villages to work as secretaries," he said.

Activist Shopia Maipauw of the Association for Women's Policy Awareness
hoped that women's needs would be met.

"The percentage of this grant dedicated to women's issues should be made
clear. If it isn't, women will continue to be marginalized," she said.

She said it was concerning that women's issues were being ignored in a
similar village-based development program that has been in operation in
Jayapura for five years.

"The money is being controlled by men, so women are not receiving a share
to finance their activities," she said.

She agreed that if the distribution of funds does not adhere to clear
guidelines, it has the potential to trigger a conflict.

Papua Governor Barnabas Suebu said Saturday that nearly half of Papua's
provincial budget this year will be used to speed up development in
thousands of villages to help the region achieve special autonomy goals.

He said that out of the province's Rp 5.3 trillion budget this year, 45
percent, or around Rp 2 trillion, will be used for development purposes in
3,642 villages.

The budget will also take into account the basic needs of residents,
including food, health, education, housing, fresh water and
infrastructure.

"In total, the funds to be distributed in Papua will reach more than Rp 2
trillion," he told journalists in Jayapura.

He said the notion of village-based development is in accordance with the
spirit of the 2001 law on special autonomy in Papua to improve the welfare
of Papuans.

"We should take into account that the special autonomy fund is for the
people so it is natural if the biggest share is for development as most
Papuans live in villages," Barnabas said.

Out of Papua's Rp 5.3 trillion budget this year, Rp 3.2 trillion came from
special autonomy funds.

---

From: Nick Chesterfield <manukoreri at riseup.net>


 Hi Folks,
if you haven't already heard, a great friend of West Papua and justice
in Indonesia, Morgan Mellish,a journo at the Australian Financial
Review, is missing presumed dead on the Garuda crash in Jogjakarta.  I
had the pleasure of working with Morgan as a fixer for his West Papua
visits to Freeport, where he managed to do some very provocative pieces
on the abuses that Freeport Mcmoran are conducting, and the money paid
for the military.  He won the Walkley Award for Business Journalism for
his investigations into Freeport.

http://magazine.walkleys.com/content/view/65/61/

Sad news - late tonight it has been confirmed that Morgan has been
killed - his ID was recovered off his body by Mark Forbes, from
Fairfax.  A great truth seeker, sadly missed.Morgan will always be
valued as a young man of high integrity an commitment to telling the
truth, and we thank him especially for the role he has played in
exposing the financial side of the human rights abuses across Indonesia
and West Papua. He brought things a few steps closer by putting himself
on the line, as he has done again today.  So say a prayer for him

Nick

---

From: Anne Noonan and Joe Collins <bunyip at bigpond.net.au>
To: media <bunyip at bigpond.net.au>

Subject: West Papua - press release  from  Herman Wainggai

Date: Wed, 07 Mar 2007 18:46:41 +1100

User-Agent: Microsoft-Entourage/10.0.0.1309


Forwarding on press release  from  Herman Wainggai



----------------------------------------------

PRESS RELEASE



On behalf of the people of West Papua, I would like to thank Australia¹s
politicians, academics, Australia West Papua Associations around Australia,
NGO¹s and others who have written submissions to the government of Australia
advising them not to sign the agreement with the Indonesian government.



Since the two foreign ministers, the Hons. Hasan Wirayudha and Alexander
Downer signed the agreement in Lombok (Indonesia) in November 2006, more
than thirty thousand Indonesian military have been sent to West Papua to
continue the terrorism, intimidation, rape, torture, kidnapping and killing
of the indigenous people.



The agreement is not useful for Australians, Indonesians and West Papuans.
It only serves the Indonesian government policy of continuing their crimes
against West Papuans, Indonesian civilians and foreigners.



Signing the agreement is encouraging the infiltration of the internal
affairs of Australia by Indonesian intelligence agents. For example, there
are Indonesian spies in Australia posing as students in education
institutions.



The Indonesia and Australian governments should be protecting human rights,
encouraging the development and implementation of democratic principles, and
upholding the supremacy of law for the people of Indonesia, the Indigenous
people of West Papua, Australian citizens, and the peoples of the Pacific
island nations.



We will never, never, never, give up.

God Bless Australia

Canberra, Australia, Monday 26 February 2007

Herman Wainggai

Spokesperson for the 43 Papuan asylum seekers

Phone  : +61 9510 2193

Mobile : +61 0407 422 413