[Kabar-Irian] News: Oct 26- Nov 8 2007
Admin-Editors Kabar-Irian
editors at kabar-irian.info
Thu Nov 8 19:01:10 MST 2007
KABAR IRIAN NEWS
Oct 26-Nov 8
TOPICS
* UN Rapporteur to observe human rights in Indonesia
* Freeport Papua operations could be reviewed under new Indonesian mining
laws
* Mining company excited by copper and gold prospects in Indonesia’s Papua
* West Papuan lawyer arrested for sending text message
* Unrest in Indonesia's Papua over tribal elder death
* Tribesmen torch homes in Indon's Papua
* Tribal unrest in Indonesia's Papua province
* Reports from Indonesia's Papua
* Papuan peace lovers want troops to leave
* Indonesian oil palm companies in line of fire
* Papua Police accept Paniai tribe demands
* Jayapura's coastal languages on the brink of extinction
* Workers in the field of languages tread new territory
* Sex Trade Rise In Papua Palm Oil Plantations, Says World Rainforest
Movement
* 1 killed as villagers torch homes in new tribal fighting in Indonesia's
Papua
* Freeport-McMoRan miners injured in landslide in eastern Indonesia
* Mimika police office attacked following death of Panaian policeman
* The West Papua Report - November 2007
* Freeport Assets Are Auctioned
* Authorities in Indonesia's Papua urged to stop tribal fighting
* Papua police chief calls for letup of tribal conflicts
* Investigation on arsons in Timika continues
* Landslide at Freeport Indonesia's mine injures 13
* Births made West Papuan call Australia home
* Freeport Wire Deal Complete
* Freeport Sells Wire and Cable Business
* Big food companies accused of risking climate catastrophe
* Hellfish off to the Bali 10's
* Tangguh gets US$884 million bank loans
* BP takes loans to finance Tangguh
* PNG warned against CBB pest
* Indonesian Terror Squad...
* Pro-Indonesian Militia violence
* Remote Papua district Jita waits for real development
* Award for Suebu new challenge for Jakarta
* BP may build third LNG plant in Indonesia
* Police need to explain arrest of Papuan human rights...
* WEST PAPUAN TORTURED TO DEATH
* Papuan man dies after assault by Indonesian soldier - report
* OTSUS and Uncen
* Papua's pain and tears
---
http://www.antara.co.id/en/arc/2007/11/8/un-rapporteur-to-observe-human-rights-in-indonesia/
National
11/08/07 17:32
UN Rapporteur to observe human rights in Indonesia
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - United Nations` rapporteur on torture and other
cruel treatment, Manfred
Nowak, will visit Indonesia from November 10 to 25, 2007 at the invitation
of the Indonesian government,
according to the UN representative office here on Thursday.
He will be visiting Indonesia to gather information on human right
violations such as torture and other
cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment that might still happen in Indonesia.
Nowak will present his report, which contained conclusion and
recommendations, to the Human Rights
Council of the United Nations upon his return.
The UN rapporteur will meet victims to get first-hand information and hold
talks with government officials,
including officials at the Ministry of Justice, National Human Rights
Commission, representatives of non
-governmental organizations and international organizations.
He will also visit penitentiaries where torture usually takes place. (*)
Copyright © 2007 ANTARA
---
http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=36295
Radio New Zealand International
The Voice of New Zealand, Broadcasting to the Pacific
Te Reo Irirangi O Aotearoa, O Te Moana-Nui-A-Kiwa
Freeport Papua operations could be reviewed under new Indonesian mining laws
Posted at 05:26 on 08 November, 2007 UTC
Indonesia’s Mining Advocacy Network says new mining legislation being
debated by parliament could
mean Freeport McMoran’s operations at the Grasberg mine in Papua are
reviewed.
Officials say the new law, debated in Indonesia’s parliament since
February 2006, is due to be passed
by the end of this year.
New mining regulations under the Act would shorten the period of mining
contracts, which has made
some overseas investors wary.
Siti Maimunah of Indonesia’s Mining Advocacy Network says the new
regulations would also provide for
reviewing of old mining contracts, something which many Papuans have been
calling for in relation to
Freeport’s operations in Timika.
“Debating in the parliament, looking at the possibility to reviewing
the old contracts or permits, they
must follow the new regulation. It will require them to have reviewing of
the contract and things like that. I
think this is the important step. But the companies don’t like this.”
Siti Maimunah
---
http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=36259
Radio New Zealand International
The Voice of New Zealand, Broadcasting to the Pacific
Te Reo Irirangi O Aotearoa, O Te Moana-Nui-A-Kiwa
Mining company excited by copper and gold prospects in Indonesia’s Papua
Posted at 23:18 on 06 November, 2007 UTC
A new British mining company says the copper and gold prospects it is
exploring in Indonesia’s Papua
could help form the foundation to the company’s development.
Williamson Minerals, which was formed last year, has a 95 percent stake in
a 72,000 hectare
concession near the giant Freeport McMoran-operated Grasberg mine.
Grasberg is the most profitable gold mine in the world
Williamson’s concession is a mineral trend running from from the Grasberg
deposit through to two main
targets, the Tsinga and Mamoa prospects.
The company’s chairman, Chris Williamson, has confirmed the area’s gold
and copper potential
appears massive.
“It’s very very exciting and it’s good, it’s a good place to
be.There’s nothing really final at the moment.
We’ve got a license but we don’t want to divulge that much of it because
there’s all kinds of people who
want to try and get it on in the area. You know, we are doing some stuff
there. We aren’t developing yet
but we hopefully... but how long it’s going to take, I don’t know.”
Chris Williamson
---
http://www.survival-international.org/news/2585
West Papuan lawyer arrested for sending text message
8 November 2007
Sabar Iwanggin has been arrested and interrogated by Indonesia’s special
anti-terrorism police force
Sabar Iwanggin, a lawyer who defended Papuan students arrested in 2006
after demonstrations against
the Indonesian regime, has been arrested and interrogated by Indonesia’s
special anti-terrorism police
force, Detachment 88. He has now been moved to police headquarters in
Jakarta.
Mr Iwanggin appears to have been charged with receiving and passing on a
text message, which police
say is insulting to Indonesia’s President.
Human rights workers are at a loss to understand why thirty anti-terrorism
police were used to arrest one
man for forwarding a text message.
Mr Iwanggin works with the respected human rights organisation, Elsham
West Papua. Elsham staff
have been repeatedly intimidated and have received death threats. Survival
remains concerned for the
safety of Sabar Iwanggin whilst in police custody, and for the safety of
others who stand up for the
rights of the tribal peoples of West Papua.
---
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSJAK115473
Unrest in Indonesia's Papua over tribal elder death
Sun Nov 4, 2007 5:39am EST
TIMIKA, Indonesia, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Tribesmen torched several houses in
Indonesia's Papua province
following the death of a respected tribal figure after a scuffle with a
police chief, witnesses and police
said on Sunday.
Yance Ikomou, died on Friday night after he collapsed following a brief
scuffle with the police chief of
Mimika Baru town, Yulius Yawan, over the arrest of his son, said Ikomou's
wife Siti.
Ikomou himself was a local policeman. The cause of his death was not clear
but members of his tribe
accused Yawan of killing him.
They attacked the police station and torched several houses belonging to
members of Yawan's tribe,
forcing police to open fire.
Witnesses said police killed two protesters.
"We are investigating the incident and action will be taken against anyone
involved," said Papua chief
police detective, Paulus Waterpauw.
The town was calm on Saturday after rival camps signed a peace deal
witnessed by the provincial
deputy police chief and the district chief.
Police also promised to release 16 tribesmen they had held.
Mimika is home to U.S. firm Freeport-McMoran's (FCX.N: Quote, Profile,
Research) gold and copper
mine.
The Freeport mine -- believed to have the world's third-largest copper
reserves and one of the biggest
gold deposits -- has been a frequent source of controversy over its
environmental impact and the share
of revenue going to Papuans.
---
http://www.theage.com.au/news/World/Tribesmen-torch-homes-in-Indons-
Papua/2007/11/04/1194117866114.html
Tribesmen torch homes in Indon's Papua
November 4, 2007 - 3:29PM
Riot police and soldiers fired warning shots on Sunday after tribesmen in
Indonesia's Papua province
set several homes on fire in unrest triggered by the death of a former
local police chief.
At least 10 homes belonging to locals in Papua's Timika district were
torched, forcing occupants aided
by security officers to carry out their possessions and flee, the
state-run Antara news agency reported.
Timika is located in Indonesia's eastern province of Papua, about 3,150km
north-east of Jakarta.
In an attempt to stop the violence, riot police and troops firing warning
shots to disperse the mob.
The combined security forces were stationed at strategic locations and
combed vital areas in order to
prevent the rioting from escalating further.
Two armoured vehicles were stationed in Timika's nearby business district,
the state-run media reported,
while dozens of residents sought refugee at local police stations.
Brigadier General Andilolo, deputy police chief in Papua, told the radio
station that peaceful means were
being attempted to defuse the tension, including negotiations with the
tribes and other community
leaders in an attempt to restore calm.
Triggered by the death of a respected elder from a local tribe, identified
as Yance Ikomou, hundreds of
angered tribesmen blocked the main road on Saturday in Timika.
Tribesmen also gathered in a field demanding an explanation of their
leader's death.
Papua Police Chief Max Donald was quoted as saying that Ikomou suddenly
collapsed and was rushed
to a nearby hospital, where he later died.
Hours earlier, anger over Ikomou's death prompted tribesmen to attack the
police station where he had
been. Police reportedly shot back, killing at least one rioting tribesman.
© 2007 AAP
---
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/s2081587.htm
Tribal unrest in Indonesia's Papua province
Last Updated 05/11/2007, 11:21:12
Tribesmen have torched several houses in Indonesia's Papua province
following the death of a
respected tribal figure, who died during a scuffle with police.
Yance Ikomou, collapsed and died on Friday night after a brief scuffle
with the police chief of Mimika
Baru town.
The dispute began after police arrested the tribal leader's son.
Witnesses say tribesmen attacked the police station and torched several
houses belonging to members
of the police chief's tribe, forcing police to open fire.
The witnesses claim police killed two protesters.
---
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/s2081156.htm
Last Updated 04/11/2007, 12:23:12
Reports from Indonesia's Papua say at least one person was killed in
unrest following the death of a
former local police chief.
The Detik.com news website says a respected elder from a local tribe, died
early Saturday although it is
not clear how.
He was arguing with a policeman at a police station after his son was
reported to have been arrested for
disturbing the peace after drinking.
The uncertainty over what caused his death angered his tribesmen and they
attacked the police station.
Witnesses said police shot back, killing two tribesman, although police
confirmed only one of the deaths.
A local rights group the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy says
the town of Timika practically
shut down after tribesmen went onto the streets in anger after the clash.
---
http://www.thejakartapost.com/yesterdaydetail.asp?fileid=20071106.F05
Papuan peace lovers want troops to leave
Opinion and Editorial - November 06, 2007
Neles Tebay, Abepura, Papua
In the wake of civil society's efforts to transform Papua into a land of
peace, the Indonesian Military
(TNI) has been growing both in strength and numbers in the province, as
reported by the International
Crisis Group in September last year.
Plagued by what the government calls a separatist movement, Papua is
expected to become home to
thousands of troops over the next few years.
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Djoko Santoso has already revealed a plan to base
the third infantry division of
the Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) and more cavalry as well
as engineering battalions
in Papua to protect the country's border and conflict-prone areas (The
Jakarta Post, Sept. 13, 2007).
Citing Papua's vulnerability to conflicts and separatism, more troops are
needed in Papua, Golkar Party
politician Yuddhy Chrisnandy said in response to the plan. He may
represent the general opinion of the
House of Representatives, which is known for it's ultra-nationalistic bias.
Indigenous Papuans have repeatedly expressed their opposition to the
deployment of thousands of
reinforcement troops to their homeland.
The latest was voiced loudly on Oct. 19, when local people in Arso (the
capital of Keerom regency, some
75 kilometers northeast of the provincial capital of Jayapura) blockaded
the road connecting Keerom
and Jayapura to vent their anger with military troops after a soldier
assaulted a district chief.
Why do Papuans reject the sending of military reinforcements to the province?
Some cases below might be helpful in understanding the reasons behind
Papuans' aversion to the
military.
On Oct. 18, the head of Arso district, Charles Tafor, was beaten by a
member of the Army's Special
Forces (Kopassus), who was on duty at the border with Papua New Guinea.
Responding to the incident,
Papuans blockaded the main road in Arso and demanded the withdrawal of all
Kopassus troops posted
in Keerom regency. The military eventually removed the soldier.
Several weeks earlier, a Catholic priest, Father John Djonga, left Waris
District (in the same regency)
following a series of intimidations and death threats allegedly from
military soldiers.
Djonga is a non-Papuan who has been defending and campaigning for the
rights of Papuan people. The
intimidation targeting him mounted after he reported to Governor Barnabas
Suebu the concerns of
Waris residents in the wake of the deployment of Kopassus troops to their
home soil.
In the latest threat, Djonga said a man climbed over the back wall of the
house where he lived. A well-
built man entered the house in Abepura, just south of Jayapura, and asked
a student, "Is Father Djonga
here?" The intruder quickly removed himself however, when he was told the
pastor of St. Mikael Church
in Waris was not there.
Amnesty International immediately expressed its fears for Djonga's safety
(AI, Sept. 24, 2007), and he
was told not to return to Waris for the time being.
Church leaders are among those on the front line in the fight against
human rights violations in Papua,
and as a result have been publicly linked to the separatist movement.
According to Djonga, Papuans in Waris district were interrogated harshly
and indiscriminately by
Kopassus troops about their knowledge of the guerrilla movement.
Facing the military, they are commonly asked several questions: What's
your name? Where are you
from? What crops do you grow? Why do you carry a traditional bow and
arrows? You are OPM, right?
Do you keep the Morning Star flag? Who is hiding guns? (Tabloid Suara
Perempuan Papua, No.02/15-
21 August 2007).
Papuans are afraid of moving around, going to their land or village
because the presence of the
Kopassus troops intimidates them. They live in fear, which goes against
the Constitution.
It seems Papuans, who are Indonesians by citizenship, are treated as
strangers in their own land by
those who are supposed to protect them.
On Aug. 30, 2007, Papuans from Waris district were able to openly share
their concerns with the local
military commander Col. Burhanuddin Siagian. They said should the
situation in Waris not improve, they
would take refuge in Papua New Guinea.
More than eight years ago, in July 1999, four Catholic bishops from Papua
highlighted, in their report to
then president Abdurrahman Wahid, the heavy presence of troops in Papua.
The religious leaders
blamed the military's arrogance as one of the causes of anxiety among the
Papuans.
The bitter experiences of the Arso district head and the parish priest
confirm the situation has not
improved.
The arrival of thousands of troops has failed to create peace or
tranquility in Papua because the
soldiers, including the Kopassus troops, serve as the central government's
way of dealing with
indigenous Papuans.
For the sake of peace, Papuans have called on the government and the TNI
commander to pull out all
Kopassus personnel from Keerom regency.
They know their request will be unheeded, as has happened since 1963, but
at least they have the
courage to speak up.
The writer is a lecturer at the Fajar Timur School of Theology and
Philosophy in Abepura, Papua.
---
http://www.thejakartapost.com/yesterdaydetail.asp?fileid=20071106.R01
Indonesian oil palm companies in line of fire
Features - November 06, 2007
Janika Gelinek, The Jakarta Post, Indragiri, Riau
At first sight it appears to be a boy's scout camp, hidden in the forests
of Sumatra. But it only takes a
50-meter stroll behind the camp to realize that the young people who have
gathered there from the
surrounding villages are not simply nature lovers enjoying their time in
the forest, because there is
nothing left of the forest.
Destroying the forest was like creating a desert.
"What we can see here right now is the last stage of the clearing, the
systematic destruction of the
forest," said Hapsoro from Greenpeace Southeast Asia two weeks ago.
"What we are hearing going on with the chainsaws is the conversion of the
forest into oil palm
plantations, which is going on right now, as we are talking."
Four hours by car from Pekanbaru to Rengat in the province of Riau, and
another three hours on the
Indragiri River, Greenpeace and local organizations Jakalahari and Oasis
have set up a camp in order
to curb the destruction of Indonesia's peatland forests and draw attention
to its impact on climate
change.
The camp is constructed entirely of hewn coconut palm wood to avoid the
use of illegally logged timber
and accomodates about 50 participants.
They monitor peatland change and watch out for hornbill birds. They have
also built a tall seat that
provides excellent visibility of forest fires and have painted banners and
hung them in the trees: "Save
the forests. Save the climate".
"Once the loggers have moved on, the burning of the peatland starts. These
fires burn the roots of the
trees. The trees fall down and what does not fall down gets cut down. In
the last part of the process,
excavators move in and clear the area for oil palms," Hapsoro said.
In fact, in a place where forest once extended for as far as the eye could
see to the north and to the
south, there are now blackened stumps, dry peatland and stagnant canals.
Among the burned stumps, fresh oil palm saplings can be spotted,
indicating what is being exchanged
for the peatland forests: oil palm plantations.
This is likely to incite more than one fervid discussion at the upcoming
climate conference in Bali in
December, where governments will gather to strengthen the international
agreement for combating
climate change: the Kyoto Protocol.
Fighting climate change in Bali while forests are burning in Sumatra,
Kalimantan and Papua is quite a
difficult undertaking. The destruction of its peatlands is one of the
reasons why Indonesia has become
the third largest emitter of carbon dioxide in the world, according to
Greenpeace.
To offset the global warming caused by Southeast Asia's peat drainage,
fires and deforestation, the
restrictions of the Kyoto Protocol would need to be multiplied. Therefore,
the aim of the conference, to
set the world on course to keep global warming below two degrees Celsius,
is closely linked to the future
of Indonesia's peatland forests.
Mursyid M. Ali, the head of Kuala Cenaku village, Riau, has seen one too
many forest fires and been
disappointed one too many times by the carelessness of the authorities.
"A big fire has been set here by the oil palm companies, which according
to their permit will open the
area as wide as 16,000 hectares. When the last big fire happened here in
July 2007, we reported the
situation, even to the State Ministry for the Environment. They even sent
some people to check. But then
nothing happened," he said.
Mursyid, as well as other community leaders, was shocked when he realized
how far the company's
permit -- which was issued by the local authorities -- in fact extended.
"We did not know the area was so big, the concession map covers
everything: the fields, the offices, all
nine villages in the area," Mursyid said.
Therefore they have begun to protest the use of the land, which they say
is their ancestral heritage.
They have complained to the authorities and tried to speak to the palm oil
company, PT Duta Palma,
which has neither made an ecological assessment of the land nor attempted
to come to an agreement
with the local communities, according to Mursyid.
"Usually people are either being put under serious pressure by the palm
companies or have cleverly
been talked into participating. But if people understand enough about the
issue, how tricky the company
can be, they will seek other ways. Like in the area close to the camp they
do not talk to people at all.
They don't ask anybody. They just burn," Hapsoro said.
He and his colleagues have invited experts from the Palangkaraya
University in Kalimantan to carry out
measurements of the peatlands.
In theory, Indonesia has a regulation prohibiting development where the
peat is deeper than three
metres, but this has proved to be a regulation that is rarely enforced.
Not even for the peatlands of Riau,
where the peat is between five and eight metres thick and, once burning,
the fire is almost impossible to
put out.
"Riau is the worst area for forest fires, every year", explains Erly
Sukrismanto from the Forestry
Ministry's fire department. "Peat soil is highly flammable. Once you put
the fire under the surface, it will
go down, maybe one or two meters. And it is very hard to fight."
And this is not the only difficulty Erly is facing. "Usually the burning
is intentional. Most of the fires are
like that. That is the big problem," he said.
He has come all the way from Jakarta in order to train local communities
in the prevention and control of
forest fires.
"So when Greenpeace came to us and said they wanted to conduct
fire-fighting training, particularly to
help local communities, we said, you are very welcome," Erly continued.
For three days, instructors from Manggala Agni worked with local people
and Oasis volunteers in the
fields close by the camp.
At night, they returned dirty, soaking wet and happy. "This is important
training," said Sita, one of the
four females among the 45 participants.
"We care very, very much about the forests here and want to help wherever
we can."
---
http://www.thejakartapost.com/yesterdaydetail.asp?fileid=20071105.G01
Papua Police accept Paniai tribe demands
- November 05, 2007
Papua police on Sunday gave in to the demands of the Paniai tribe which
started a riot on Saturday in
Timika, Mimika regency, following the death of one of its respected figures.
The tribe blamed police violence for the death of Yance Ikomouw, who was
the head of Mimika's riot
police.
"We will meet all the demands submitted by the Paniai tribe," Papua police
deputy chief, Brig. Gen. Andi
Lolo said.
The police agreed to pay for all property damage caused by the riot. They
also agreed Ikomouw should
be buried at his native village in Paniai regency, around a one-hour
flight from Timika. The Mimika
administration would finance the transportation of his remains.
The tribe also demanded the Papua police transfer the chief of Mimika
Police, Adj. Snr. Comr. Godhelp
Mansnembra, out of Mimika. Moreover, they demanded the chief of Mimika
Baru sub-precinct, Adj.
Comr. Y. Yawan, be prosecuted or discharged for his alleged role in the
death of Ikomouw.
The police, the local administration and the Paniai tribe reached an
agreement after a three-hour
meeting held at the Timika Baru soccer field, where around 1,000 Paniai
tribesmen had gathered since
Saturday night.
The meeting was attended by Papua police deputy chief Brig. Gen. Andi
Lolo, Mimika's acting regent
Anatasius Allorafra and chief of the Paniai tribe, Piter Mawipa.
The bodies of Ikomouw and David Gomay, the riot's other victim, were
covered in white sheets and
placed on an elevated stage near the soccer field.
"We urge people to return to their homes and stop damaging other people's
property and participating in
riots," Andi Lolo said.
The Paniai tribesmen left the field after the meeting and carried the
bodies of Ikomouw and Gomay to
their respective houses.
Saturday's riot was triggered by the death of Ikomouw, which occurred
after an argument with officers
from the Mimika Baru sub-precinct following the arrest of Ikomouw's son.
Andi Lolo claimed Ikomouw's death was caused by cardiac arrest.
His tribesmen, however, suspect foul play. For ten hours Saturday, the
Paniai tribe barricaded the sub-
precinct. Police officers responded by discharging several warning shots,
after which an ensuing riot
virtually shut down the city.
On Sunday morning, the riot threatened to explode into another spate of
inter-tribal violence when the
Paniai tribe attacked and burned 15 houses belonging to members of the
Biak tribe, the native tribe of
both the chief of Mimika Baru police sub-precinct and the chief of Timika
Police.
Hundreds of members of the Biak tribe had vacated downtown Timika and were
seeking protection at the
nearby Air Force base in Moses Kilangin Airport.
---
http://www.thejakartapost.com/yesterdaydetail.asp?fileid=20071105.R02
Jayapura's coastal languages on the brink of extinction
Features - November 05, 2007
Angel Flassy, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura
Herman Rumadi Hamadi, 88, could not hide his anguish when asked about the
number of people still
speaking the local language in his village.
"I'm not sure, but I guess there are only six people who can speak Tobati
fluently," said Herman, the
tribal chief of Tobati village on the northern coast of Papua.
"Once the six die, the language will disappear," said Herman, admitting
that he himself was no longer
using the language of his ancestors.
Herman has every reason to worry. The six people who still speak Tobati
are all over 60 years old, while
the young are more fluent in Bahasa Indonesia than in their mother tongue,
thanks to the widespread
use of the national language.
That situation has been exacerbated by the fact that more and more Tobati
villagers have opted to move
to the provincial capital of Jayapura where they communicate in Bahasa
Indonesia.
"All of Jayapura and Abepura used to be our communal land, but now our
sago plantations have been
urbanized and we live alongside newcomers," said the ondoafi (tribal
chief) who lives in Entrop,
Jayapura.
The Kayu Pulau tribe in Jayapura and the Nafri community in Abepura, too,
are being culturally
overwhelmed by the pace of development, forcing them to increasingly
abandon their regional language.
According to Herman, Tobati people have been in contact with the outside
world since the 1600s and by
the end of the 1800s, the Dutch government had made this village an
administrative center, triggering
rapid economic growth.
It is no surprise, therefore, that Herman himself has been speaking Malay
since he was a child.
Intermarriages with newcomers have only hastened the desertion of the
language.
"Our grandchildren speak Bahasa Indonesia fluently. They seem to have no
roots because even though
they are Tobati people they don't speak the language. How can we perform
our customs, dances and
other ceremonies in the Tobati language?" asked the father of 10, who
claimed to be very tough in
teaching Tobati language to his children.
Herman said traditional songs, poems and dances were no longer performed
and Tobati songs, poems
and dances showcased in various arts festivals in Jayapura or other parts
of the country hailed not from
Tobati village but from Papua New Guinea or were contemporary creations of
Tobati artists.
"This is really worrisome. If the Tobati language disappears, our culture
will also vanish and we will
become strangers in our own land.
"The fact is many elements of our culture are no longer practiced. Our
grandchildren can no longer sing
and dance the Serme dance, which was usually performed to greet people
coming home from fishing or
the Yawo dance and song, which was performed when people brought new boats
from the forest to the
sea because such traditions are no longer practiced," Herman said.
He said young people in the village preferred to become civil servants or
work in the private sector than
to become fisherman.
"The forests where local people used to make boats have turned into
towns," he said.
Articles and dances containing magic vanished with the arrival of
Christianity in Papua. "Traditions,
magic and belief in the spirits of our ancestors have been replaced with
Malay hymns, thus there is a
gradual shift away from the use of regional languages," Herman said.
Herman urges the government to help preserve the language, which is only
spoken by six elderly people.
"If the government could provide compensation for travel expenses and set
up training centers, we would
be very eager to teach this language to the younger generation," said
Herman, adding that with the
Tobati people living in different parts of Jayapura, meeting places were
needed for the language
courses.
Aksamina Awinero, 41, ondoafi Obed Awinero's child in Nafri village,
shares the same feeling. "We used
to speak Nafri to our children, but when they went to school they spoke
Bahasa Indonesia more than
Nafri and now they speak very little Nafri," said the mother of seven.
Data issued by the education and culture office in Jayapura revealed that
in 1991 only 800 people in
Tobati and Injros villages were still using the Tobati language, while
other regional languages, Nafri and
Kayu Pulau, were spoken by 1,630 and 573 people respectively.
It also showed there were 249 regional languages in the province, meaning
about the same number of
tribes. According to Summer International Linguistics (SIL) in 2004, Papua
has 264 languages, with
Malay, later known as Bahasa Indonesia, serving as a bridge through which
the hundreds of Papuan
languages meet. Bahasa Indonesia also allows Papuans to communicate,
interact and enter inter-tribe
marriages.
The widespread use of Bahasa Indonesia has not only sped up development in
the province, but also
killed off local languages.
"This is a welcome development for Bahasa Indonesia, but not for local
languages. Bahasa Indonesia
has threatened the existence of local languages, especially in urban areas
where interactions with
outsiders (non-Papuans) are very intensive," said Supriyanto Widodo, the
head of Jayapura's
Language Center.
The center's 2005 and 2006 research findings gave reason for concern over
the serious condition of the
three languages in Tobati-Injros, Kayu Pulau-Kayu Batu and Nafri.
"We predict that after three generations these three regional languages
will disappear unless local
communities themselves and the government undertake efforts to preserve
them," he said.
It also found out that people who still speak local languages are above 40
years old, with younger
generations having only a passive comprehension of their languages.
Assuming that a generation spans about 20 years, within 60 years those
regional languages will
disappear, owing to local people's limited appreciation of their own
languages.
"Nafri has the lowest number of mothers using the language and this is
alarming because mothers
spearhead the use and teaching of regional languages, hence the term
mother tongue," Widodo said.
Widodo also said the perception that the use of regional languages
hampered interactions with
"outsiders" had prompted people to abandon their mother tongue.
"People think using their mother tongue curtails their access to
scientific, social and economic
domains," continued Widodo.
The Language Center has documented 180 local languages all over Papua and
West Papua since its
establishment in 2002.
"We prioritized the vocabulary of 200 universally used words and over
1,000 cultural words, making the
total entries about 1,600 per village," Widodo said, adding that they
excluded standard grammatical
rules.
He also said some regency administrations had documented local languages.
Biak regency, for
instance, has produced a dictionary and grammar books. It also obliges
local schools to teach Biak in
schools. Fak-fak regency has funded the publication of Iha dictionary
publication.
With its limited resources, the Jayapura Language Center has composed the
dictionaries of
Maybrat/South Sorong, Sentani and Jayapura languages.
"Our target is to combine these works and publish an Indonesian regional
language map in 2008,"
Widodo said.
---
http://www.thejakartapost.com/yesterdaydetail.asp?fileid=20071105.R01
Workers in the field of languages tread new territory
Features - November 05, 2007
Janika Gelinek, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Once upon a time, Ungan and Aw‚ decided not to go home after working in
the fields. Instead, they
stayed by a river and goofed around with a dog.
They were sending the dog to and fro over the water when suddenly stone
rain came down, turning them
into stones. And their crime? They did not come home and make fun of a dog.
The story could have been lost had Italian linguist Antonia Soriente from
the Max Planck Institute of
Evolutionary Anthropology in Jakarta not gone and documented Oma Longh and
Lebu' Kulit languages
in Malinau and Bulungan regency in Eastern Kalimantan.
Oma Longh and Lebu' Kulit, in which the story above was narrated, are just
two of the endangered
languages in Indonesia, spoken only by a few thousand people in Malinau
and Bulungan.
"When you look at what is happening around you, you see languages dying on
a large scale, especially
in the eastern part of Indonesia such as Papua and the Maluku islands,"
said Uri Tadmor of the Jakarta
Field Station.
Established in 1999 by Uri Tadmor and David Gil, the Jakarta Field Station
started off by collecting data
on child language. In collaboration with the Jakarta Atma Jaya Catholic
University, it is currently hosting
about 25 researchers from Indonesia and abroad who are studying Indonesian
languages from the
islands of West Sumatra all the way to Papua.
Indonesia has around 700 languages, but the widespread use of Bahasa
Indonesia has pushed many of
those languages to the brink of extinction, placing the national language
on a par with English, Spanish
and French as "killer" languages.
According to Tadmor, there are many reasons why languages in the country
are facing extinction,
including people's low level of respect for indigenous languages.the
speakers themselves don't attach
much importance to their own languages," said Tadmor, adding that the
children of inter-race couples
tended to speak only Bahasa Indonesia.
"Indigenous languages are also not used in the education system, and thus
their survival is neither
financially nor politically supported," Tadmor said.
In theory, any indigenous language can be taught in a state elementary
school. But in reality, schools
usually offer only Javanese, Sundanese and Balinese, and rarely would
these be the primary language
of instruction.
"It is totally meaningless to the kids and the kids hate it," Tadmor said.
According to Tadmor, there is not much hope the situation will be reversed
as these languages are
generally considered not worth keeping.
"It's a vicious circle. People who speak a small indigenous language come
to look down on their
language, because there is no official recognition of it," said Tadmor,
adding that only non-nationals had
come here to work with indigenous communities.
The researchers at the field station are studying how languages cross,
enrich and endanger each other,
with many of them focusing on endangered languages.
"Languages reflect a view of the world. They are an essential component of
the living heritage of
humanity, therefore they belong to the intangible cultural heritage that
needs to be safeguarded," Italian
linguist Antonia Soriente said.
"Languages are vehicles of value systems and of cultural expressions and
they constitute a determining
factor in the identity of groups and individuals. They transmit knowledge,
values and collective memory
and play an essential role in cultural vitality."
A book Soriente carefully edited - Mencaleny & Usung Bayung Marang - a
collection of Kenyah stories
in Oma Longh and Lebu' Kulit languagesis a first in more than one sense.
Not only have these stories
never been translated into Indonesian or English, they have not even been
written down.
In order to give access to the Kenyah stories of Ungan and Aw‚ or the
clever Mp‚ and her stupid
husband Buzu, Soriente had to develop a new orthographic system for the
entirely oral languages.
"Linguists are not really social workers. We are not activists who try to
go to the field and say, hey, you
need to speak your language. But we want to raise awareness of linguistic
diversity and give something
back to the community and some tools with which, if they want to, they can
help their language to
survive", says Soriente.
When the book was published last year it was first sent to the communities
that had been involved in the
project.
"They were quite startled to see that something had emerged, that their
language had been written down
and that it was written next to Bahasa Indonesia and English. They said,
`Oh, now we can study English
through our language!'"
During Soriente's visit, the Malinau regent made for the very first time a
speech entirely in the local
language of Lebu' Kulit and people also started using the new orthographic
system to send text
messages.
"Suddenly they realized there is no law that says you have to use only
Bahasa Indonesian", Soriente
said.
Her colleague Betty Litamahuputty has had similar experiences.
Litamahuputty participates in a team
that has intensively studied the highly endangered languages of the Maluku
islands, among them Kouro,
spoken only in five villages on the island of Seram. Together with
linguists from Australia's Monash
University and the local communities, Litamahuputty developed storybooks
in Kouro. Teams were formed
among the villagers and sent out to literally document their language.
"We gave them some cameras and they had to figure out what kind of event
they wanted to document. It
was the clove-harvest season. They were taking pictures of what they
thought was important about the
harvest. And then they had to ask the village people or somebody who knew
the language how to say
this or that in Kouro. And then they tried to write it down. In this way
they were able to make their own
storybooks bilingual, in Malay and the local language. And that was to
show that by very simple means
they could make their own storybook, which they could use in school for
instance. Just with a notebook,
a camera and a pen you can make a book about whatever you want," said
Litamahuputty.
Furthermore a story in Malay has been developed by project leader Margaret
Florey about a family
going in the woods and working there in a garden, the "garden story". This
story has been "fed" with
significant linguistic structures to find out how speakers from different
local communities on Seram
island would translate the same story in their language.
Additionally the linguists made vitality tests in order to see whether the
inhabitants could still
communicate in their language or only knew a few words. As expected it
turned out that in many cases
elderly people still had some knowledge of the language, but only a few
people were actually able to have
a conversation in it.
Surprisingly the patterns were the same in Christian and Muslim villages,
such as in Allang and Ruta.
"People always thought indigenous languages were more likely to be
preserved in Muslim villages, but
instead they had the same curve as the Christian villages, where we
already know that the language has
died out," said Litamahuputty.
A workbook used in workshops with local communities will be published next
year to demonstrate not
only how to learn a language, but also how to gather information from
local speakers - how to make
sentences, how to figure out their structure and what the grammar might be
like.
"Thus, local communities might take the survival of their language into
their own hands," Litamahuputty
said.
---
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7009001766
Sex Trade Rise In Papua Palm Oil Plantations, Says World Rainforest Movement
October 30, 2007 11:15 p.m. EST
Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea (AHN) - A scheme to include more women into
palm oil harvesting
has turned into a sex trade, according to the World Rainforest Movement
(WRM).
The "mama card" and the "mama lus frut" scheme has been hailed as an
outstanding success for
increasing loose fruit collection, bringing women into oil palm production
and increasing their income.
Until the introduction of the mama lus frut scheme, payment for oil palm
harvest often ended up with the
men even though women and children were all involved. Under the scheme,
women exclusively collect
the loose fruits and have their own payment card called the "mama card."
Then some women desperate for cash decided to provide sex to men in
exchange for more loose fruit to
be left by the men for them to collect, said the Uruguay-based group.
Field trips in Oro and West New Britain Province between 2003 and 2007
showed there are now more
women working in the oil palm groves "offering an opportunity for a sex
trade to take place," it said.
"This situation has dissuaded genuine women pickers, who fear being
tarnished with the same brush,
from taking part in the scheme," the WRM said. "Some village women
interviewed said they would not
pick fruit unless they had a male escort.
Papua now has five major plantations. A land-intensive industry, any
expansion means Papuan forests
are cleared, says the Australian Conservation Foundation. The habitat for
plants and animals also
shrinks.
---
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/04/asia/AS-GEN-Indonesia-Tribal-Violence.php
1 killed as villagers torch homes in new tribal fighting in Indonesia's Papua
The Associated Press
Published: November 4, 2007
JAKARTA, Indonesia: One person was killed in Indonesia's restive Papua
province in tribal fighting as
villagers burned houses and attacked a police station close to a
U.S.-owned gold mine, a police officer
said Sunday.
The violence was sparked when local tribesman sought revenge after the
death of an elder following a
fight with police early Saturday, Papua deputy police chief Brig. Gen.
Andilolo told el-Shinta radio
station.
Andilolo said relatives of the dead tribal elder were demanding that a
police officer — who is from a rival
tribe — be brought to a field and executed.
He gave no details on the fight that led to the elder's death, but media
reports said he died on the way to
a hospital after collapsing. "It is an eye for an eye thing," Andilolo said.
Rioting broke out in Timika, the closest town to a giant gold and copper
mine operated by Freeport-
McMoran Copper and Gold Mine Inc. A company spokesman said production was
unaffected.
On Sunday, at least 10 houses were burnt down in Timika in clashes related
to the incident, he said.
There were no reports of casualties on Sunday.
On Saturday, tribesmen stormed a police station in an attack that left one
person dead, Andilolo said.
The tribes in the area — 3,200 kilometers (2,000 miles) northeast of
Jakarta — have a history of bad
relations. Feuds can last for several weeks and normally only end when the
number of victims from
either side is equal.
The region is also home a small separatist army that is seeking
independence for the region, which is
ethnically and religiously distinct from the rest of Indonesia.
---
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailgeneral.asp?fileid=20071103115134&irec=6
Freeport-McMoRan miners injured in landslide in eastern Indonesia
JAKARTA (AP): A landslide at a giant U.S.-owned goldand copper mine
injured several workers in
eastern Indonesia on Saturday, a company spokesman said.
None of the Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold Mine Inc.'s workers were
seriously hurt in the
landslide in remote Papua province, said spokesman Mindo
Pangaribuan. Production was unaffected, he added.
Pangaribuan said the exact number of people hurt wasn't immediately clear.
The mine, said to be the world's largest, has earned the company billions
of dollars (euros) since it
began production in the early 1970s after it signed a deal with
U.S.-backed dictator Suharto.
Last year, a landslide smashed into a cafeteria for workers at
Freeport-McMoRan's Grasberg mine,
killing two Indonesian workers and injuring several others.
Freeport-McMoRan is based in Phoenix, Arizona. (**)
---
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailgeneral.asp?fileid=20071103194151&irec=0
Mimika police office attacked following death of Panaian policeman
JAYAPURA (Antara): The Mimika Baru Police sub precinct office was attacked
by a Paniai ethnic group
early Saturday, following an incident that claimed the life a Paniaian
policeman.
The policeman, identified as Adj. Comr. Yance, had allegedly gone to the
Mimika Baru Police office to
protest the arrest of his son, who had been detained for alleged
misbehavior and being under the
influence of alcohol.
The policeman later died at Mitra Masyarakat Hospital, in Mimika. A source
told ^YAntara^Y the cause of
the officer's death was unknown.
Deputy Head of Papua Police, Brig. Gen. Andi Lolo, confirmed the attack
but refused to offer further
details about the incident. (*
---
From: ETAN
Sent: Friday, November 02, 2007 10:37 AM
Subject: [wp] The West Papua Report - November 2007
The West Papua Report - November 2007
This is the 42nd in a series of monthly reports that focus on
developments affecting Papuans. This series is produced by the
non-profit West Papua Advocacy Team (WPAT) drawing on media
accounts, other NGO assessments and analysis and reporting from
sources within West Papua. This report is co-published by the East
Timor and Indonesian Action Network (ETAN). Back issues are posted
online at http://etan.org/issues/wpapua/default.htm Questions
regarding this report can be addressed to Edmund McWilliams at
edmcw at msn.com.
Summary:
*A UN official has publicly reprimanded Indonesia for its refusal to
allow him into Indonesia to investigate charges that Indonesian
security forces have committed extrajudicial killings. While most
of those killings transpired in the Suharto era, impunity associated
with those crimes, many committed in West Papua, continues.
* Human Rights NGOs continue to report tension in West Papua over
unexplained kidnappings, assaults, poisoning and killings. Human
rights advocates appear to be a particular target of these and other
forms of intimidation.
*The West Papua Advocacy Team and the East Timor and Indonesia
Action Network have written to Secretary Rice about the detention of
a human rights lawyer, reportedly under a Suharto-era law that was
ten months ago declared unconstitutional. The two organizations
also express concern about the unit that carried out the detention,
a US-funded element repeatedly accused of human rights abuse. The
US-based NGOs also call attention to continuing pressure on other
Papuan human rights defenders.
*A Papuan religious leader explains in compelling terms the basis of
Papuans' deeply rooted objection to the destruction of their forests
for profit.
*Papuan Governor Barnebus Suebu has been honored by Time magazine as
an environmental "hero" for his opposition to the Indonesian
Government's efforts to destroy Papuan forests in the name of
development.
*Pacific regional NGO's attending the 17-nation "Pacific Forum" have
called on participating governments to take action in defense of
Papuans including pressing for a review of the "Act of Free Choice,"
the UN monitored non-plebiscite widely acknowledged to have been a
fraudulent act of self determination through which the Indonesian
Government justified its coercive annexation of West Papua. Many
Papuans oppose plan by the central government and Russia to place a
spaceport on Biak island. End Summary.
UN Official Raps Indonesia For Blocking Access to Investigate
Extrajudicial Killings
UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings Philip Alston has
expressed frustration over the lack of response from Indonesia among
other countries who have refused to answer questions about charges
of extrajudicial killings. Indonesia has refused his repeated
requests for access in order to explore the charges. Alston noted
to international media on October 28 that Indonesia and several
other states "are failing the basic test of accountability." He
added that, "if a country has problems of extrajudicial executions
and doesn't let (me) in, that should be of concern to the General
Assembly and Human Rights Council..." Indonesia is a member of the
Human Rights Council and of the Security Council and in November
will assume the presidency of the latter body. Alston noted that
Indonesia's failure to cooperate with his office in this regard was
"especially serious for (a) Human Rights Council member ... because
the council members are supposed to have said, 'We promise to
cooperate fully with the council' as part of being elected."
Indonesian and international human rights organizations have accused
Indonesia of extrajudicial killings in recent decades. While most
of the killings transpired during the Suharto dictatorship, the
accused perpetrators, usually Indonesian security and intelligence
personnel, continued to enjoy impunity from prosecution under
"democratic" regimes, including that of current President Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono.
Many of these extrajudicial killings, as acknowledged by the US
State Department's annual human rights reporting have been committed
in West Papua.
West Papuan Human Rights Organizations Uniformly Note Growing
Pressure
Kontras Papua (The Commission for Disappearances and Victims of
Violence) and the Catholic Church's Office for Justice and Peace,
among others have noted to counterparts an increased atmosphere of
fear and suspicion, notably in the Jayapura and Timika areas.
Tensions are also high in Wamena. Much of this relates to
unconfirmed reports of killings , kidnappings and poisoning. Human
rights defenders have also been the target of threatening and
provocative anonymous text messages. The head of the Papuan branch
of the National Human Rights Commission has been the victim of such
threats for several months and has also faced physical intimidation.
This October updating reflects a continuous and some claim growing
atmosphere of intimidation focused on human rights advocates. The
latest surge in intimidation appears to have begun immediately
following the visit of the UN Secretary General's Special
Representative Hina Jilani who met with many of those now facing the
most serious pressure.
WPAT and ETAN Urge US Government Action In Papuan Detention Case and
Curbing of US-Funded Purported Anti--Terror Unit
WPAT and the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network have jointly
urged US action to prevent further injustice targeting, among
others, Papuan Human Rights Lawyer Iwanggin Sabar Olif. Olif
lkwas detained on October 18, reportedly on charges of "insulting
the President," a law that was ruled unconstitutional by Indonesian
courts in December 2006. The letter notes that this detention
transpired in the context of a broader campaign of intimidation
against human rights activists and religious leaders in West Papua.
The two NGO's also reiterated concern about "Team 88" a US-funded
special police unit widely accused of abusive techniques, including
kidnapping and torture that was involved in this particular
detention.
Papuan Defense of Their Forests Reflects Their Fundamental
Importance in Papuan Life
The Jakarta Post, October 26, 2007 published an article entitled
"Native Papuans fight against deforestation." The author, Catholic
Priest Neles Tebay, describes why Papuans have so strongly resisted
the destruction of their forests by timber firms and those seeking
to develop oil palm plantations. Without referencing the often
illegal nature of these operations, Father Tebay explains Papuans
more basic objections to this destructive exploitation. Excerpts
follow:
Why do indigenous Papuans courageously reject deforestation? Is the
rejection a reflection of what the central government calls "Papuan
separatism"? Is it a manifestation of being anti-government or
anti-development, the accusations made by the central government in
Jakarta for more than four decades? Is it sign of not wanting to
better their future?
The reasons behind the rejection are related to their culture. Their
rejection is rooted in and guided by the life-giving values of local
culture. Papuans never see their virgin forests simply as a sea of
trees that can be cut down in order to make millions of dollars.
The forest, for indigenous Papuans from all tribes, has
multi-dimensional meanings. Indeed, Papuans never consider the
forest as an enemy that has to be eradicated from the surface of the
earth. Rather, it is first and foremost a member of the community.
Papuan community is composed not only of living people, but also the
dead, the spirits and nature. That's why each community, both as a
tribe and a community within a tribe, always has its own forest
within a clearly defined territory. So, culturally speaking, a
Papuan can never be separated from the forest.
It would also be a mistake if Papuan forest was seen as a isolated
thing from the Papuans themselves, because the forest and the people
form one community. For Papuans, a forest can mean a living pharmacy
that provides all the necessary natural medicines. In times of need,
Papuans go to the forest to collect natural medicine. The forest is
also considered a food store or a living supermarket, for it
provides vegetables, fruits, fish and animals. People used to get
the necessary materials for houses, traditional boats, firewood and
fences in their own forest.
It is a Papuan's belief that their ancestors and deceased members of
the community reside in the forest. They are the guardians of the
forest, including plants and animals, owned by the community. The
forest, for Papuans, is a living temple, chapel or mosque, where
people come and pray. It is the place where all rituals are
conducted by a community or individually. Papuans go into their
ancestral forest if they want to communicate with the ancestors or
the dead.
The deeper sense of forest is expressed in the Papuan saying "Hutan
adalah mama" (the forest is our mother). The forest is respected as
a mother who tirelessly cares for, protects and sustains all of the
members of the community, including the animals. Papuans cannot
imagine life without the forest. Emphasizing the deeper meaning of
forest, they say "Hutan kita, hidup kita" (our forest, our lives).
It is for the sake of life that every Papuan is educated from
childhood the importance of maintaining a correct relationship with
the forest. We can now understand that deforestation, for Papuans,
means destroying a living pharmacy, damaging the living supermarket,
destroying the place of worship, expelling the ancestors and the
dead and committing adultery against the mother forest.
The central government should respect Papuan culture, including the
cultural understanding of forest, and utilize it to protect the
Papua's forests. By doing so, the government and Papuans could
jointly prevent Papua's forests from being lost to deforestation.
Otherwise there will be war between Papuans preserving Papua's
forests and the central government proposing deforestation.
Papuan Governor Receives International Recognition for His Efforts
to Protect Papuan Forests
Time Magazine, in its October 29 edition, has named Papuan Governor
Barnebus Suebu a "hero" of the environment. Suebu joins the ranks
of such international leaders as Nobel laureate Al Gore and Prince
Charles who have also been so honored. The award recognizes Suebu's
efforts to stop the Indonesian central government from destructive
"development" of Papuan forests through devastating logging
operations and development of oil palm plantations which entails the
elimination of vast stretches of forest.
Notwithstanding Suebu's efforts, Indonesian agencies, notably
security agencies, continue to operate or protect illegal logging
and other destructive exploitation of Papuan resources.
Concern over West Papua Voiced at Pacific Forum
At a meeting of 17 Pacific Nations at the "Pacific Forum" in Tonga
October 12-15, representatives of civil society organizations
(CSO's), invited to the Forum by Pacific nation governments issued a
communiqué addressed to Pacific nation leaders. The Appeal
commended Forum Leaders for their "continuous support ... to the
issue of political self-determination in the Pacific region and in
other parts of the world." The CSO's, referring to the "Pacific
Plan" under discussion at the Forum, noted, however, that the "Plan"
needed to focus more directly on a number of issues, not the least
of which was West Papua. The CSO's urged Pacific leaders to:
* Request the review of the 1969 UN Act of Free Choice for West
Papua and the re-listing of West Papua (and French Polynesia) on the
agenda of the UN Decolonization Committee;
* Maintain support to West Papua by granting it observer status in
the Forum and encourage continuing dialogue between the Indonesian
government and West Papuan leaders on the issue of self-rule;
* Commission a fact-finding mission to assess the human rights
violations in West Papua;
* Promote cultural exchanges between West Papua and the rest of the
Pacific region, including its inclusion in the Pacific Arts Festival
and the South Pacific Games.
Plans For Russian Spaceport in West Papua Ignores Local Protest
Indonesian and Russian officials have reached agreement to construct
a spaceport on Biak Island in West Papua. The project, scheduled
for completion in 2010 when a Russian satellite is to be launched
from the site, has drawn protests from ordinary Papuans and from the
Biak Customary Council (Dewan Adat Biak).
The project to be developed at Frans Kaisepo Airport will entail
significant expansion and technical development at that location.
Such construction will likely lead to additional migration into the
area, a prospect worrying to Papuans who face increasing
marginalization as a consequence of migration to West Papua from
other parts of Indonesia by people with greater skills and higher
education.
More generally, the major project has been cited by Papuans as one
more example of the central governments failure to adequately
consult with local officials and civil society leaders regarding
matters of fundamental importance to Papuans.
etanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetan
ETAN welcomes your financial support. For more info:
http://etan.org/etan/donate.htm
John M. Miller Internet: fbp at igc.org
National Coordinator
East Timor & Indonesia Action Network (ETAN)
PO Box 21873, Brooklyn, NY 11202-1873 USA
Phone: (718)596-7668 Fax: (718)222-4097
Mobile phone: (917)690-4391 Skype: john.m.miller
Web site: http://www.etan.org
---
BISNIS PAPUA
Local Papua Newspaper
Published daily in Indonesian
Circulation: Readership:
2,000 copies
Jayapura and Papua businesses
Thursday, November 01, 2007
This Morning, Freeport Assets Are Auctioned
JAYAPURA - The Industrial Relations Court attached to the Class 1A
District Court in Jayapura, by way of the State Claims and Auction
Services Office, today holds the first stage of an auction sale of 27
vehicles owned by PT Freeport Indonesia. This was disclosed by Jayapura
District Court Impounding Officer Dominggus Patiradjawane when he was
contacted by cellular telephone yesterday.
According to Dominggus, the auction sale will be held in two stages. The
first stage will be held today and the second stage on November 9, for
45 houses that are the property of PT Freeport, located in Timika lndah
II Housing Estate. Dominggus said the auction process and proceeds would
be handled by the court and the state claims and auction services
office, to be subsequently used to meet the demand of the plaintiff in
this case, former PT Freeport employee Timotius Kambu.
Earlier, several assets worth billions of rupiahs belonging to PT
Freeport Indonesia (PTFI), which mines gold, silver, copper and other
materials in Tembagapura, Mimika Regency, Papua, were impounded by the
Industrial Relations Court at Jayapura District Court, to be placed for
auction in the event the company fails to meet its obligation. This was
disclosed by the head of Jayapura Class 1A District Court Lodewyk Tiweri
by way of Jayapura District Court Chief Clerk Bendictus Sukidjo, in
reply to a query from ANTARA News in Jayapura. According to Sukidjo,
under Jayapura District Court's Industrial Relations Court Ruling Number
01/P .EKS/2007/PN-JPR dated 10 July 2007, in the case of the PTFI
employment termination of its employee named Timotius Kambu the company
was yet to carry out the decision handed down by the Indonesian Supreme
Court, Number 03/PK/PHI/2006, dated 28 December 2006.
To uphold the law, Sukijdo and Dominggus Patirajawane on 23 August 2007
executed seizure of PTFI movable and fixed property. Movable property
comprised 27 four-wheeled vehicles and 27 fixed property took the form
of 45 houses located in the Timika Indah II area in Koperapoka
Subdistrict, Mimika Regency. "The PTFI property was valued at Rp
6,175,645,169," said Sukidjo. He affirmed that if in the period of one
month the company did not meet its obligation to recompense its former
employee Timotius Kambu to the amount determined by the Industrial
Relations Court of Jayapura District Court, the assets in question would
be sold in public auction. "It is now contingent on the good will of the
company's management to meet its obligation under the Indonesian Supreme
Court ruling for execution by the Industrial Relations Court of Jayapura
District Court, but if it fails to do so, the Jayapura District Court
will sell its impounded assets in auction," he said.
He added, the company's impounded assets have been handed over to the
care of Mimika National Land Agency (BPN) in Timika, the Koperapoka
Subdistrict Chief in Timika and the Timika Samsat (One Stop
Administrative System) Office. In 2001, Timotius Kambu was dismissed
from employment by PTFI management for unclear reasons, upon which the
victim subsequently brought the case to Jayapura P4D (Industrial
Relations Dispute Settlements Committee) and P4P (Central Industrial
Relations Dispute Settlements Committee) in Jakarta, up to review by the
Indonesian Supreme Court from the Industrial relations Court of the
Jayapura District Court. All four agencies ruled in favor of the
plaintiff, and therefore PTFI is obliged to recompense a sum exceeding
Rp.6.175 billion to the plaintiff. **
---
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/s2074103.htm
Authorities in Indonesia's Papua urged to stop tribal fighting
Last Updated 29/10/2007, 22:58:59
Scores of protesters have attended a rally in Indonesia's Papua Province
demanding authorities halt
tribal fighting that has claimed seven lives.
The fighting was triggered two weeks ago by the death of a man trying to
flee police pursuing men from
four different tribes.
The victim's tribe blamed the three others for his death and have sought
to avenge it.
A local rights group, the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy says
the protest at the district
council demanded the authorities move quickly to halt the warfare and
prevent the fall of more victims.
The protesters included activists as well as members of two local tribal
councils.
The clashes have been in Mimika district, near the site of a giant copper
and gold mine run by US
mining giant Freeport.
---
http://www.antara.co.id/en/arc/2007/11/6/papua-police-chief-calls-for-letup-of-tribal-conflicts/
National
11/06/07 12:53
Papua police chief calls for letup of tribal conflicts
Timika, Papua (ANTARA News) - Chief of Papua provincial police Insp.Gen.
Max Donald Aer called on
people in Kimberly hamlet, Tembagapura, Mimika district, Papua, to stop
their conflicts with people from
neighboring Banti hamlet.
"I ask the Kimberly people to stop attacking the Banti people," the police
chief said when meeting with
the Kimberly people here on Monday night.
He said if peace was materialized soon, daily activities in the district
would resume.
The police chief also made the same call when he met with the people in
Banti hamlet.
Head of the Amungme tribe in Banti, Piet Nakitme, said he had been tired
of fighting and wished to
return to normal daily activities like gardening and hunting among other
things.
"We want the Papua governor, deputy governor and local officials to come
here to solve the problem as
we do not want the problem to continue," said Piet Nakitme who also
demanded that Banti hamlet be
abandoned.
Due to tribal wars, the local people stopped their activities to meet
daily needs and they even ran out of
foods as they could not go anywhere especially for gardening activities
and buying food stuffs in
Tembagapura.
Kimberly hamlet is located between Tembagapura and Banti hamlet. Due to
the communal conflicts
since last October, eight people died and hundreds of others were injured.
(*)
Copyright © 2007 ANTARA
---
http://www.antara.co.id/en/arc/2007/11/6/investigation-on-arsons-in-timika-continues/
National
11/06/07 11:55
Investigation on arsons in Timika continues
Timika, Papua (ANTARA News) - The police would not stop the investigation
on the November-3 arsons
and lootings following the death of Adjunct Commissioner Yance Ikomouw in
Timika, capital of Mimika
district, Papua province, the local police chief has said.
"We will continue the investigation as it is a criminal case," Papua
provincial police chief Inspector
General Max Donald Aert told newsmen here Monday.
Yance died after fighting with chief of Mimika Baru subdistrict police
Adjunct Commissioner Julius
Yawan on Saturday at about 4 a.m. local time. But it was believed that
Yance died of heart attack not
due to gunshot wounds or blows during the fight.
He said the case would not be closed although the suspects were released
on Sunday (Nov. 4) after
Deputy Chief of the provincial police Brig Gen Andi Lolo retook SS1 arms
grabbed by certain persons
during the recent riots in Timika.
Not all the suspects in the case were detained and thus although the 16
suspects were released, they
would be processed again if the investigation found them involved in the
incident.
The local police chief said as the security situation in Timika has been
conducive, military personnel
engaged in the integrated security force to handle the situation would be
returned to their respective
units gradually.
Max Donald said he would conduct a joint patrol to convince the people
that the situation in Timika and
surrounding areas have been safe.
On the loss of an SS1 magazine belonging to the Papua police`s mobile
brigade and a FNTT pistol
belonging to the local military command, the police chief expressed hope
that those holding the fire arms
would return them to the owners.
He pointed out that the SS1 arms and two magazines belonging to the police
got lost on November 3 but
only one magazine was returned. (*)
Copyright © 2007 ANTARA
---
http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-30308020071103
Landslide at Freeport Indonesia's mine injures 13
Sat Nov 3, 2007 12:52pm IST
JAKARTA (Reuters) - A landslide injured 13 workers at U.S. firm Freeport's
gold and copper mine in
Indonesia's Papua province on Saturday, the company said.
The landslide outside the Grasberg mine did not affect company operations,
Mindo Pangaribuan, a
Freeport Indonesia spokesman, said.
"It's a natural incident. The victims sustained light injuries," he said,
adding that the injured, all
Indonesian workers of the mine, had been taken to the company-run hospital.
The mine -- believed to have the world's third-largest copper reserves and
one of the biggest gold
deposits -- has been a frequent source of controversy over its
environmental impact and the share of
revenue going to Papuans.
---
http://camden.yourguide.com.au/news/local/general/births-made-west-papuan-call-australia-
home/1078414.html
31 October 2007 - 11:24AM
Births made West Papuan call Australia home
By Elise Kinsella
`I am Australian': Bobowabo Sawali was happy and proud to become an
Australian citizen last night.
Picture: Eliott Housego
BECOMING a grandmother changed Kirkham resident Bobowabo Sawali's views on
nationality.
For the first time in the 28 years she had lived in Australia, Ms Sawali
starting thinking about taking out
Australian citizenship.
"When my daughters started having children here, I started thinking this
looks like home for good,
because home is where your children and family are," Ms Sawali said.
That's why Ms Sawali finally decided to take the plunge and to join 45
others at a citizenship ceremony
in Camden last night.
Since moving to Australia from her native West Papua with her husband and
twin daughters, Ms Sawali
has lived in Darwin and Dubbo.
Since 2001 she has lived in Kirkham.
She has added a third daughter to her family too.
Ms Sawali said she enjoyed the freedom of living in Australia, where she's
free to do what she wants.
"I also have lots of friends here and my family as well," she said.
Ms Sawali has been back to West Papua three times since her first move but
said she found it harder
and harder to go back each time.
"It has changed so much, people look at me as though I don't belong
there," she said. "Only my family
seem recognise me now when I go back."
---
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/11/01/ap4289931.html?partner=alerts
Associated Press
Freeport Wire Deal Complete
Associated Press 11.01.07, 1:31 PM ET
PHOENIX -
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. said it has sold its international
wire and cable business to
General Cable Corporation for $735 million.
Phoenix-based Freeport-McMoRan, one of the world's largest copper miners,
said Wednesday it will use
net proceeds of about $620 million to help pay off debt following its
acquisition of Phelps Dodge.
The wire and cable business, known as Phelps Dodge International
Corporation, operates factories and
distribution centers in 19 countries throughout Latin America, Asia and
Africa.
Freeport-McMoRan said it expects to record charges of about $20 million,
including $12 million to net
income, for transaction and related costs.
The deal had been announced Sept. 12.
Copyright 2007 Associated Press.
---
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/11/01/ap4289989.html?partner=alerts
Associated Press
Freeport Sells Wire and Cable Business
Associated Press 11.01.07, 1:40 PM ET
PHOENIX -
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. said it has sold its international
wire and cable business to
General Cable Corporation for $735 million.
Phoenix-based Freeport-McMoRan, one of the world's largest copper miners,
said Wednesday it will use
net proceeds of about $620 million to help pay off debt following its
acquisition of Phelps Dodge.
The wire and cable business, known as Phelps Dodge International
Corporation, operates factories and
distribution centers in 19 countries throughout Latin America, Asia and
Africa.
Freeport-McMoRan said it expects to record charges of about $20 million,
including $12 million to net
income, for transaction and related costs.
Shares for Freeport were down $3.35, or 3 percent, to $114.33 in midday
trading on Wednesday.
General Cable shares were down $7.95, or 11 percent, to $64.04 in midday
trading.
Copyright 2007 Associated Press.
---
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/nov/08/climatechange.biofuels
Big food companies accused of risking climate catastrophe
The rush to palm oil and biofuels threatens to release 14 billion tonnes
of carbon from Indonesia's
peatlands
* John Vidal
*
o John Vidal, environment editor
o The Guardian
o Thursday November 8 2007
A hut in Riau, Indonesia, where palm oil plantations are a major cause of
deforestation.
A hut in Riau, Indonesia, where palm oil plantations are a major cause of
deforestation. Photograph:
Ahmad Zamroni/Getty Images
Many of the largest food and fuel companies risk climate change disaster
by driving the demand for
palm oil and biofuels grown on the world's greatest peat deposits, a
report will say today.
Unilever, Cargill, Nestlé, Kraft, Procter & Gamble, as well as all leading
UK supermarkets, are large
users of Indonesian palm oil, much of which comes from the province of
Riau in Sumatra, where an
estimated 14.6bn tonnes of carbon - equivalent to nearly one year's entire
global carbon emissions - is
locked up in the world's deepest peat beds.
More than 1.4m hectares of virgin forest in Riau has already been
converted to plantations to provide
cooking oil, but a further 3m hectares is planned to be turned to
biofuels, says the Greenpeace report
Carbon is released when virgin forests are felled and the swampy peatlands
are drained to provide
plantation land. The peat decomposes and is broken down by bacteria and
the land becomes vulnerable
to fires which often smoulder and release greenhouse gases for decades.
If the peatlands continue to be destroyed to make way for palm oil
plantations, this will significantly add
to global climate change emissions, the report says. Nearly half of
Indonesia's 22m hectares of peatland
has already been cleared and drained, resulting in it having the
third-highest man-made carbon
emissions, after the US and China. Destruction of its peatlands already
accounts for nearly 4% of all
global greenhouse gas emissions.
The peat soils of Riau, which are eight metres deep in areas, have the
highest concentration of carbon
stored per hectare anywhere in the world. "This huge store is at risk from
drainage, clearance and fire,"
the report says. "The area of peatland is relatively small, but destroying
it would be the equivalent of
releasing five years' emissions from all the world's coal and gas power
stations."
Riau's plantations already provide 40% of all Indonesia's palm oil, and
half the province is expected to be
covered in plantations within a few years.
The Indonesian plantations, which Greenpeace says provide oil used in
global brands like Flora
margarine, Pringles, KitKat, Cadbury's Flake and Philadelphia cream
cheese, feed a rising global
demand for cheap vegetable oil used in producing food, cosmetics and,
increasingly, vehicle fuel.
"Demand [for palm oil as a cooking oil] is predicted to double within 25
years and triple by 2050. Further
expansion in Indonesia is expected to be on the wet peatlands, because
most of the dry forests have
already been converted", the report says.
The report accepts that retail companies and food manufacturers have
virtually no way of tracing where
the palm oil they use comes from. Oils from different regions, and even
countries, are blended, stored
and shipped in shared vessels. "Due to the logistics of this commodity
market, real traceability is simply
not possible at this time," a major food retailer, who asked not to be
named, told Greenpeace.
But the environment group said yesterday that the companies could not be
exonerated from blame.
"Faced with impending climate catastrophe, the palm oil industry is
grabbing available cheap land like
Indonesia's carbon-rich peatlands. The big food giants are supporting the
rapid growth of CO2
emissions that may render halting dangerous climate change impractical, if
not impossible," said John
Sauven, director of Greenpeace UK.
Meeting European demand for palm oil alone would require nearly 60,000
square miles of plantations,
says the report. Europe expects biofuels to make up 10% of all its
transport fuel by 2010, China 20% by
2012, India 20% by 2012, and the US 10% by 2020.
"Substituting even 10% of the world demand for diesel fuel for road
transport would require more than
75% of the world's total current demand for soya, palm oil and rapeseed
oil," said Greenpeace.
As well as Indonesian provinces such as Riau, Asian entrepreneurs are
already looking to Papua on the
Indonesian island of New Guinea, one of the last great expanses of
rainforest in south-east Asia. "There
is already evidence of large scale land grabbing in the name of biofuel,
with one company alone laying
claim to nearly 3m hectares of forest," the Greenpeace report says.
"Feeding the growing demand is
likely to take place through expanding palm oil productions in Indonesia.
It will feed off forest destruction
and fuel not only cars, but climate change."
The food companies deny direct involvement in the creation of palm
plantations, but accept that there is
a problem sourcing sustainable oil. In a letter to Greenpeace, Nestlé,
which uses 170,000 tonnes of palm
oil from Malaysia and Indonesia, said it sourced its supplies from
"responsible" suppliers. "At present
there is no palm oil that is certified as sustainable. As soon as the
principles are adopted, Nestlé will do
its part in promoting their adoption."
Unilever, which uses 1.2 m tonnes of palm oil a year, said it had invested
a lot of time and money in
ensuring that its palm oil supplies were grown in an environmentally
responsible way: "Our work ... has
recently been made harder by the rush into biofuels. We have lobbied hard
with governments to alert
them to the unintended consequences of this policy on global food supply
and deforestation."
Cargill, which imports 535,000 tonnes of palm oil a year to Britain, said:
"We already make impact
assessments for new developments and do not develop in areas of high
conservation value."
Indonesia will next month host the UN climate change conference in Bali,
where countries will begin to
negotiate a worldwide deal to combat global warming. At the moment,
developing countries such as
China and Indonesia are not required to limit emissions.
In numbers
11m The number of hectares of Indonesian peatlands already cleared and
drained
4% Current share of global greenhouse gas emissions from peatland destruction
25 Years from now the demand for palm oil for cooking will be double
today's rate
---
http://www.mosmandaily.com.au/article/2007/10/31/1425_sports.html
Sport
Rugby union
Hellfish off to the Bali 10's
JANE IGOE
31Oct07
MEMBERS of Balmoral Hellfish Rugby Club will leave for Bali this week to
take part in the Bali 10's
championship.
The Bali 10's is the biggest event on the Indonesian Rugby calendar.
The trip follows other local players visiting the island in 2005 and 2006.
Organiser Mick O'Sullivan said the team would be supplying jerseys to
another club in West Papua
called the Kotekas.
``Being from a very poor area of Indonesia, these guys have little in the
way of equipment - but to see
their love of the game you would not know,'' Mr O'Sullivan said.
He said the local players were only new to the game and could improve by
playing more experienced
teams.
He said the Balmoral Hellfish Club was formed to give its players the
opportunity to play rugby, travel the
world as well as experience different cultures.
It would also give something back to the game of rugby and help out these
emerging and fledgling rugby
nations.
The jerseys and trip were being supported by The Hotel Mosman and Sullivan
Real Estate.
---
http://www.energycurrent.com/index.php?id=4&storyid=6434
Tangguh gets US$884 million bank loans
Filed from Singapore 10/31/2007 1:57:27 PM GMT
Indonesia
INDONESIA: BP secured US$884 million in loans from a group of
international banks including Bank of
China and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, as part of loans totaling US$3.5
billion required for the US$5 billion
Tangguh liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Papua, Indonesia. In
August 2006, BP secured US$2.6
billion of loans from international banks during the first stage of
financing for the project.
BP first began construction in March 2005 of the two trains capable of
producing a combined 7.6 million
tonnes (8.3 million tons) of LNG. Media reports said the two trains are
likely to come on stream in late-
2008 to mid-2009.
BP is mulling over the construction of eight more production trains on a
single site. The international
supermajor is expected to reach a decision on the additional production
facilities after completing the
drilling of 15 development wells. ENSCO International's jackup ENSCO 108
is now working in the field
and will be joined by a second jackup, ENSCO 104, in early 2008.
Tangguh is underpinned by three gas supply contracts. The project will
supply 2.6 million tonnes (2.9
million tons) of LNG per year to China, 3.7 million tonnes (4 million
tons) to the United States via Mexico
and 1.1 million tonnes (1.21 million tons) per year to South Korea.
BP operates the project with a 37.16 per cent stake. Partners are CNOOC
with 16.9 per cent, MI Berau
with 16.3 per cent, Nippon Oil with 12.23 per cent, KG Berau with 10 per
cent and LNG Japan Corp.
with 7.35 per cent.
---
http://www.upi.com/International_Security/Energy/Briefing/2007/10/31/bp_takes_loans_to_finance_tang
guh/8981/
BP takes loans to finance Tangguh
Published: Oct. 31, 2007 at 3:43 PM
JAYAPURA, Indonesia, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- BP is taking out loans to finance
its Tangguh project in Papua,
Indonesia.
The oil and gas company reportedly signed loan agreements totaling $884
million to help finance the
Tangguh liquefied natural gas project in Papua.
The project is expected to become operational in late 2008. BP had
previously signed agreements with
several international banks in August 2006 for $2.6 billon in loans. The
whole project is worth about $5
billion.
Tangguh is expected to produce an estimated 7.6 million tons of liquid
natural gas per year, and BP has
supply contracts with China, the Western United States and South Korea.
BP has recently been on a downslide, losing revenue in the last quarter,
facing Clean Water Act
violations in Alaska and facing more than $1 billion in fines for safety
violations following deadly
explosions at one of its Texas refineries.
© 2007 United Press International. All Rights Reserved.
---
http://www.thenational.com.pg/103107/Nation%2014.htm
PNG warned against CBB pest
By SENT TIMBI
AN estimated 2.5 million Papua New Guineans who depend solely on coffee to
sustain their livelihood
would be affected if they fail to take appropriate prevention actions
against a deadly coffee virus to
prevent their coffee.
The coffee pest known as Coffee Berry Borer (CBB) had already affected
some major coffee producing
countries like Indonesia, Timor Leste, New Caledonia, Africa, South
America, Central America and
South East Asia.
The virus had already affected their production rate, coffee authorities
revealed this in Mt Hagen last
Monday.
General manager of PNG Coffee Industry Cooperation (CIC) research and
growers services division
Potaisa Hombunaka and CIC’s senior entomologist (coffee scientist) Nelson
Simbiken revealed this at
the first ever public disease awareness campaign held at the Mt Hagen
Council Chamber.
They told Western Highlands coffee farmers who were attending the meeting
that the virus had recently
been detected by coffee scientists in Wamena district of the neighbouring
Irian Jaya and had the
potential to cross into our country.
The two officers told farmers that Papua New Guinea coffee would be
affected by the virus if the farmers
do not clean and look after their coffee gardens.
They warned that coffee productions in the country would drop drastically
and the country economy
severely affected if the CBB pest infected coffee.
“The coffee seedlings imported from other countries needed to be monitored
closely,” they said.
---
From: Richard Samuelson <samoxen at dsl.pipex.com>
Indonesian Terror Squad
attacks West Papuan Church worker
Indonesian Special Forces [KOPASSUS] & State Intelligence Agency [BIN] in
TERROR & INTIMIDATION ATTACK against West Papuan Baptist Church worker,
Imanuel Murip.
URGENT REPORT from Revd Socratez Sofyan Yoman,
President of the Baptist Church of West Papua
Jayapura, West Papua.
29th October 2007
LAST FRIDAY NIGHT, 26th October 2007, between 7.00 - 9.00pm, in Vuria
Kotaraja Road [Jayapura, West Papua], two Papuan men trained by KOPASSUS
[Indonesian Special Forces] & BIN [State Intelligence Agency] came near to
Imanuel Murip [West Papuan Baptist Church worker] and asked him :
"Do you have a connection with Revd Socratez Sofyan Yoman? [President of
the Baptist Church of West Papua]"
Then they snatched his mobile phone from his hand and smashed it down on to
the main road. This is part of the way Indonesia is trying to terrorise us
Papuans.
AT 11.00pm THAT SAME NIGHT, this terror squad came again by car looking for
Imanuel Murip's house in Padang Bulan. An Indonesian [Javanese migrant] man
got out of the car, leaving the rest of the squad in the car. He knocked on
the door of Imanuel's house. When Imanuel opened the door, the Indonesian
intelligence agent asked Imanuel:
"Is your name Imanuel Murip?"
Imanuel replied "Yes".
The Indonesian intelligence agent then threatened Imanuel with these words:
"You're in big trouble..and soon you'll know how much trouble you're in".
AT 2.30 IN THE MORNING of Saturday 27th October 2007 [that same night], the
terror squad again knocked on the door of Imanuel's house.
AT 7.30 AM Imanuel received an SMS message saying :
"You are already in our hands!"
THAT SAME DAY AT 12.30 [on Saturday 27th October], the same people tried to
kill Imanuel by crashing into him with their car as he was riding his motor
bike at a place called Entrop [the same place as where Theys Eluay was
murdered]. But Imanuel was thrown onto the pavement and saved his life by
jumping away from the crash.
AT 4.00 PM IN THE AFTERNOON, Imanuel received a telephone call, with this
terror message:
"Today you must get ready your own coffin!"
FINALLY, AT 8.00 PM THAT EVENING, Imanuel found a message pinned onto the
door of his house reading:
"You don't have the power to stop us! You have a big problem! You are in our
hands!"
Report by Revd Socratez Sofyan Yoman,
President of the Baptist Church of West Papua
Jayapura, 29th October 2007
---
From: Richard Samuelson <samoxen at dsl.pipex.com>
Pro-Indonesian Militia violence
in West Papua's Central Highlands
Indonesian Military and Police and pro-Indonesia
"Red & White Defenders" Militia Group
kill West Papuan independence campaigner
& attack Moragame/Pyramid village with guns
Report by BENNY WENDA
Chairman of DeMMaK (the Koteka Tribal Assembly)
& Leader of the West Papuan Independence Movement-UK www.freewestpapua.org
30th October 2007
Until a few days ago, WILLEM WANDIK was a brave campaigner for Independence
for West Papua. Now Willem is dead. He was murdered last Thursday night
(25th October 2007) by a pro-Indonesia "Red & White Defenders" Militia
Group, with the direct backing of the Indonesian Military (TNI) and Police.
And, last Friday (26th October 2007) my people in the village of Moragame
(also called Pyramid) have been attacked with guns by the Indonesian
Military. At this moment they are living in desperate terror and fear of
another TNI attack.
Willem Wandik recently travelled secretly across the border into PNG to meet
with Papuan elders and other refugees working for Merdeka [Freedom for West
Papua]. Willem's wife stayed back in his home village called Kimbim (in the
Central Highlands, near Wamena).
The main Indonesian military post in that area is in Kimbim. The military
has given money and training to some Papuans in the village to form a
pro-Indonesian Militia Group called "Pro-Merah Putih Pendukun" (Red & White
Defenders - the colours of the Indonesian flag). The leader of this group in
Kimbim is called Naligi Gurisi. This is the same type of militia group as
Indonesia formed before in East Timor.
While Willem Wandik was away on the other side of the border, one of the
pro-Indonesia militia group members, Agalau Garusi, took Willem's wife. When
Willem came back to the village he couldn't find his wife. When he found out
that Agalau Garusi had taken his wife, Willem was very angry. But Agalau
Garusi just mocked Willem by saying;
"You are a separatist! Why should I give you your wife back?"
Willem demanded that Agalau Garusi return his wife or else follow our Papaun
tradition by returning the dowry to his wife's family. But Agalau Garusi
blackmailed Willem. He threatened he would report Willem to the Indonesian
military as a supporter of Merdeka (Freedom). Agalau Garusi knew he had the
protection of the Indonesain military. He just thought he didn't need to
worry whatever Willem wanted.
Willem was very upset and angry with Agalau Garusi for taking his wife. He
again went to Agalau Garusi to ask again, but again he refused. Now Willem
was so upset he didn't care if he lived or died. Willem then killed Agalau
Garusi and fled to the village of Moragame to hide.
That night (Thursday 25th October 2007) at 3.00 in the morning, a car driven
by an Indonesian soldier from Kosrad Battalion 756 from Kimbim military post
took 3 members of the Red & White Defenders militia group, Anton Garusi,
Aloba Tabuni & Lawingga, to the village of Moragame.
The 3 militia men dragged a sleeping Elder called Elias and some children
out of one of the round houses. Then Anton Garusi killed Willem with a
knife.
After this the Indonesian military car drove the 3 militia members to Wamena
and reported proudly they had just killed the Head of the OPM (Organasasi
Papua Merdeka / Free Papua Movement) in that area. The Police did not arrest
the 3 militia men for murdering Willem. The Police protected the killers
because they are supporters of Indonesia's occupation of our Land.
On the next day, the Indonesian Military and Police came to the village of
Moragame because the pro-Indonesian militia told them it was a "separatist
village". The TNI attacked the village with guns. My people came out of
their houses. They were very angry. They defended themselves with bows and
arrows against the guns of the Indonesians.
Their arrows wounded one Indonesian policeman (he has been taken to hospital
in Jayapura). 2 of the militia members, Aloba Tabuni & Lawingga were also
wounded.
Now the situation in Moragame and across the Central Highlands is very
tense. My people in the village are waiting in terror. They don't know if
the TNI will attack their village again with guns. They don't want to be
attacked again so they have offered to pay Agalau Gurisi's family some pigs
because he was killed by Willem Wandik.
Now I have heard that the Indonesian Police have arrested a man called
Matius Kosay and accused him of killing Willem. But everyone knows the
murderer is Anton Gurisi. Matius Kosay has a mental illness. He doesn't
understand what is happening to him. Anton Gurusi is still free. The
Indonesians are protecting him because he is a member of their Red & White
Defenders militia group.
Now Willem Wandik is dead. Agalau Gurisi is dead. Willem's wife is still in
the hands of the militia group. The ordinary people of Moragame village have
been attacked by the Indonesian military with their guns. Now they are
waiting in terror. They don't know if they will be attacked again.
We just want Indonesia and its military and police and their Red & White
Defenders militia group to get out of our Country. Why can't they just leave
us to garden and hunt and live our Papuan way of life in peace and freedom?
BENNY WENDA
---
The Jakarta Post
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Remote Papua district Jita waits for real development
Markus Makur, The Jakarta Post, Timika
In the past five years, residents in remote Jita district,
Mimika regency in Papua have lived largely without basic public
services.
Its jungle location has meant the district receives little
attention from the outside, even being excluded from the
itineraries of visiting state officials.
Accessible only by plane or 24-hour boat trip, Jita district
comprises five villages: Wapu, Noema, Wenin, Pece and Sumapro.
Many of its 1,546 people have migrated to urban areas, such as
Timika city, while others remain to eke out their living from
the forests.
Only recently, after repeated demands from Jita residents, has
the Mimika administration opened its eyes to the area's
development.
Residents recently welcomed a visit by acting Mimika regent Allo
Rafra, Mimika legislative speaker Yosep Yopi Kilangin and Mimika
military commander Lt. Col. Trie Soeseno.
Rafra was moved after seeing firsthand the poor condition of
people in Jita, acknowledging his office has only focused
development programs in Timika city and has failed to do so in
rural districts.
"I feel very sad after seeing the condition of people in the
villages of Mimika regency. I will visit other villages to
inspect public services provided to people," he said.
Indonesian Military (TNI) Headquarters will spearhead
development programs in the area by implementing social service
programs focused in Jita.
The Army, alongside the Air Force and Navy, will immediately set
up clean water facilities to alleviate diarrhea infections due
to unclean drinking water.
TNI will also build permanent homes and restore damaged houses
where the residents live in poor housing.
Sorong military commander Col. Suyatno, Trikora Military Command
territorial assistant Col. Triono Sujatmadi, Mimika military
commander Lt. Col. Trie Soesoeno and Mimika air base commander
Lt. Col. Bambang Triono recently led a survey to build a new
clean water facility.
Suyatno said TNI would build clean water facilities and carry
out development programs in Jita, and that it has thus far been
consistently assisting the Mimika regency administration in
developing rural and disadvantaged areas.
"I visited Jita to see the condition of the people firsthand. It
was worse than we had expected. TNI must foster friendship with
the people in Jita so they can accept our presence," Suyatno
said.
He added that Jita has never been touched by educational
development, and that schools have never carried out any formal
education activities.
Two elementary school students, Melianus Wandikbo and Kesilinus
Limong, told The Jakarta Post that students from the Jita state
elementary school had never received lessons because the
teachers assigned there had long since gone to teach in Timika.
"Teachers move to Timika all the time. They're only present
during final and national examinations," the students said.
"Most of the students pass the exams and go on to the next class
anyway, because teachers come here and fill in the answers
themselves."
Village children have turned the school into a place to play,
where chairs, desks and schooling facilities have gone missing.
Jita district chief Armin Waker verified the students' report,
saying he had filed multiple reports with the head of the Mimika
Education Office and the Mimika regent, but had never received a
serious response.
He also raised the question of missing funds from the special
autonomy, state and provincial allocation fund for school
operational costs.
"Mimika's education funds amounted to billions of rupiah, but
where did it go?" he asked.
"I'm very sad and concerned about our children's future. Most of
the parents in Jita are illiterate. They don't pay much
attention to their children's schooling, but instead ask their
children to find sago and catch crabs to sell them to middlemen
from Timika."
---
The Jakarta Post
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Op-Ed
Award for Suebu new challenge for Jakarta
Neles Tebay, Abepura, Papua
Along with former U.S. vice president Al Gore, German Chancellor
Angela Merkel, Prince Charles and other top environmental
leaders, Papua Governor Barnabas Suebu was named a Hero of the
Environment by TIME magazine. It was announced in its Oct. 29
edition.
The governor of Indonesia's easternmost province received the
prestigious award on Oct. 25, 2007, in the Royal Court of
Justice, London, for his commitment to protect Papua's
rainforest.
Suebu's nomination highlights three challenges in particular for
the central government in Jakarta.
First, Suebu's nomination by the U.S.-based weekly shows that
the central government's policy of restricting foreign
journalists has failed to keep Papua province out of the
international media's spotlight.
The government has officially erected a "fence" around Papua to
isolate it from the rest of the world by preventing foreign
journalists from visiting the western half of the Island of New
Guinea.
The purpose of the restriction is to block the flow of
information about and from Papua for international media
coverage so the "Papua case" can be prevented from getting
international media attention. However, by picking Suebu as a
hero of the environment, Papua has already been lifted up to the
international level.
It is not an exaggeration to say that TIME magazine has
demolished the government-erected fence surrounding Papua and
successfully introduced the province and its present governor to
the international community.
As a result, more people now know where Papua is located on the
map, and the significance of Papua's forest for the health of
the planet.
Will Papua and its problems, especially the environmental issue,
draw more international attention and publicity in the days to
come?
Indigenous Papuans, for their part, are now convinced they are
not forgotten by the international media, even without the
presence of foreign journalists in Papua.
Second, it is clear also that TIME magazine and Governor Suebu
share the same commitment concerning environmental issues. Both
parties realize the importance of protecting Papua's forests in
order to save the planet.
They know also the severe consequences of deforestation on
environmental balance, the security of humankind, and the other
threats posed by global warming.
Governor Suebu has been given international recognition and
support for his commitment and efforts to protect Papua's virgin
rainforest from deforestation efforts launched by
government-authorized timber and palm oil plantation companies,
and illegal loggers.
The central government is expected to encourage and support
Governor Suebu in standing up against all deforestation efforts
in Papua province.
Third, through the naming of Suebu as a hero of the environment,
TIME magazine also uncovered some fundamental problems in Papua
province.
As reported, TIME (Oct. 29, 2007, page 50) recognizes that Papua
has a history of separatist activity. This public recognition
should be understood as an invitation for all related parties,
especially the central government and Papuans, to settle Papua's
separatism and its root causes.
The government, then, should be encouraged to engage in a
genuine dialogue with Papuans, with the help of a neutral party
as facilitator.
The magazine also revealed that Papua has an extensive poverty.
Despite its wealth of natural resources being exploited by
multinational and domestic companies, some 80 percent of
indigenous Papuans still live in absolute poverty. Papua also
has the country's highest HIV rate.
The magazine also disclosed the deeply entrenched business and
military interests that have richly profited from Papuan timber.
These two elements are obstacles that should be removed by the
central government, in collaboration with Papua's governor, in
order to protect the Papua's rainforest.
It is the hope of all Papuans that the central government and
the governor of Papua, with the support of the international
community, will collaborate to preserve Papua's forests for the
sake of our planet, and to overcome all the above mentioned
problems.
The writer is a lecturer at the Fajar Timur School of Philosophy
and Theology in Abepura, Papua. He can be reached at
nelestebay at hotmail.com.
---
BP may build third LNG plant in Indonesia
JAKARTA, Nov 1 (Reuters) - BP Plc is considering building a
third liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Indonesia after
finishing work on two plants, a company official said on
Thursday.
BP is constructing two plants at the multi-billion dollar Tanguh
LNG project in Papua, which will produce 7.6 million tonnes of
gas a year.
The project is expected to begin operations in the fourth
quarter of 2008 and the first shipment will be sent early in
2009.
"Our first priority is to finish train 1 and train 2. And that
is what we are focused on. I fully anticipate there will be an
expansion," John Minge, the president of BP Indonesia, told
reporters when asked about the possibility of setting up a third
plant.
"There are three big things. One is, how much gas do we have,
you don't want to build a train unless you know you have the
gas. Number two is how much is it going to cost you to expand
... the last is the market prices."
Tangguh will take gas from the Wiriagar, Muturi and Berau
blocks, which together have combined reserves of 14.4 trillion
cubic feet (tcf). BP is the operator of the three blocks.
Budiman Parhusip, a senior BP Indonesia official, said on
Thursday proven plus probable and possible reserves in Tangguh
were estimated at around 23.3 trillion cubic feet.
BP signed an $884-million loan agreement this week with banks
including Bank of China and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi to finance
the Tangguh project.
In August 2006, BP signed deals with international banks for
$2.6 billon in loans, part of a total of $3.5 billion in loans
it needs for the $5 billion project.
BP holds a 37.16 percent stake in Tangguh. The other partners
include China's CNOOC , which has 16.96 percent, and several
Japanese firms, including Mitsubishi Corp. , INPEX , Sumitomo
Corp. and Kanematsu Corp. .
For Indonesia, the world's second-biggest supplier of the
super-cooled gas, the Tangguh project will help offset declining
output from other LNG facilities and provide much-needed revenue.
The Tangguh project is about 3,000 km (1,880 miles) east of
Jakarta.
Indonesia, Asia Pacific's only OPEC member, is far richer in gas
than in oil.
---
=================^==================================
I N D O L E F T - News service > >
=================^==================================
Police need to explain arrest of Papuan human rights
lawyer - Komnas HAM
Kompas - November 1, 2007
Jakarta -- The National Human Rights Commission
(Komnas HAM) hopes that the police will soon provide
an explanation for the arrest of an activist from
the Foundation for Legal Education and Democracy
(LPHD), Iwangin Sabar Olif. A clarification is
necessary in order that the Papuan public --
particularly activists -- are not anxious because in
the arrest involved members of the Detachment 88
Anti-Terror Unit.
This was conveyed by Komnas HAM commissioner Ridha
Saleh on Wednesday October 31 after earlier
receiving a group of human rights activists
submitting a complaint about Olif's arrest. Olif,
who was arrested on October 18, is currently being
detained at the national police headquarters on
Jakarta.
Gunawan, one of the activists submitting the
complaint with Komnas HAM, said that Olif was
arrested on suspicion of incitement and insulting
the head of state. The alleged incitement is related
to the dissemination of an SMS that among other
things contained allegations of genocide against the
Papuan people carried out through poisoned food.
The activists believe that the arrest was improper
because police did not arrest the person that sent
the SMS to Olif or the original writer of the
message. In addition to this, after being arrested
in Papua, Olif was taken to Jakarta and detained at
the national police headquarters.
Contacted separately, the head of the Papua regional
police public relations department, Senior
Commissioner Agus Rianto said that Olif's transfer
to Jakarta was only done in order to accelerate the
investigation process.
"We have limited facilities to establish the truth
of the suspects statements. So far we have not yet
received the results of the examination and
investigation into other suspects in Jakarta. In
Papua, the police are conducting the investigation
based on information from the suspect. It may well
be that if we find other suspects, Iwangin will no
longer be a suspect", said Rianto. (JOS)
[Translated by James Balowski.]
****************************************************
The INDOLEFT news service is produced by the
Institute of Liberation, Media and Social Studies
(LPMIS) and Action in Solidarity with Asia and the
Pacific.
To subscribe free to Indoleft send a blank message
to <subscribe-indoleft at yahoogroups.com>. To view
the archive of Indoleft posting since 2003 visit
<www.asia-pacific-action.org>.
INDOLEFT News Service
Jl. Tebet Timur Dalam VIII No. 6A
Jakarta Selatan 12820
Indonesia
E-mail: jamesbalowski at yahoo.com
****************************************************
---
WEST PAPUAN TORTURED TO DEATH
BY INDONESIAN SOLDIER
IN LEREH (JAYAPURA-WEST PAPUA)
Translation from Cenderawasih Pos Newspaper (2/11/2007)
<http://www.cenderawasihpos.com/utm.php>
http://www.cenderawasihpos.com/utm.php
Picture: Rudi Pagawak's body at the Papua Provincial hospital morgue in Dok
II Jayapura, he is the victim who was tortured to death by Indonesian
soldier in Lereh district
Last night family members of Rudi Pagawak (23 years old) were at the
Indonesian regional military headquarters. They were there to question the
death of Rudi. Rudi who worked for PT Sinar Mas Plantation company, was
tortured to death by an Indonesian soldier named sergeant SK from the
Indonesian regional headquarters 172/PWY (Jayapura).
The torture took place in front of the Indonesian military post in Lereh,
Jayapura regency on Thursday, 1/11/2007 at around 18.00. Rudi died 3 hours
after getting medical treatment at Sinar Mas health clinic. According to eye
witness, Beni Kenila, the incident happened when Rudi Pagawak (victim) and
his friend, Jepo (both of them are staff or PT Sinar Mas Plantation company)
wanted to make phone call to their families from Wartel Koperasi Sinar Mas
(a telecommunication service point) at Eko 6 location.
However, Rudi could not make any phone calls because there weren't any phone
pulse credits available at the telecommunication service point. Finally,
Rudi and his friend looked for another telecommunication service point,
Wartel Ridom which was also located within the plantation company area.
"When Rudi walked passed the military post, he didn't ask permission to the
military post commander. Also when he walked passed the military post, he
turned twice to look at the military post commander. Because of suspicion,
the military post commander called him", said Beni to Cenderawasih Post at
the Indonesian regional headquarter last night.
Beni, who works as security guard for Sinar Mas Plantation company, said
that when Rudi came, the Indonesian soldier slapped his face. Rudi could not
accept this action so he opposed that. Then, the Indonesian soldier took
Rudi to a water tank beside the military post and dunked him inside the
water tank.
According to Beni, Rudi has lost conciosness after being dunked inside the
water tank. Then, Rudi (the victim) was taken to Sinar Mas health clinic.
However, at the time Rudi was unconscious. After a few medical checks by the
clinic nurse, Rudi passed away at 22.00.
Yuri Weya, a security guard for Sinar Mas Plantation company, was also an
eyewitness. He is also a relative of Rudi Pagawak. Yuri said that the
incident began at 5pm on Thursday, 1/11/2007 when Rudi and one his friends
were on their way to make phone calls at the telecommunication service
point. "The telecommunication service point is near the military post", he
said. When they walked past the military post, Rudi and his friend didn't
greet the military pos commander. "Perhaps, the military commander was
offended so he called them. When Rudi and his friend arrived at the post,
the military commander immediately tortured them without questioning or
saying anything to them", said Yuri.
Rudi was slapped 3 times on his right ear. Afterwards they were tortured.
Rudi and his friend were dunked for 15 minutes inside a pond which is
located beside the military post. At that time, Rudi was in pain and told
the soldier (who dunked them) that he couldn't bear anymore.
"The information that I was able to get from Rudi was that he was tortured
by the military post commander named sergeant SK, and he was dunked inside
the pond that cause him pain." "Then, he was taken to the health clinic",
said Yuri at Papua provincial hospital morgue in Dok II Jayapura.
The families and relatives of Rudi Pagawak could not accept his death so
yesterday (Friday, 2/11/) they took Rudi Pagawak's body to the Indonesian
regional military headquarter 172/PWY in Padang Bulan Abepura to demand the
responsibility of the person who caused his death. Later, they took Rudi's
body to the provincial hospital in Dok II Jayapura for an autopsy. Until
last night many of Rudi's families, relatives and friends were still at the
military headquarter.
"We as heads of Dani tribe in Lereh, demand that the person who has killed
one of our people must be brought to court. We demand that he should lose
his position as a military soldier. This wasn't he first time he committed
violence to people, he did it very often. One of the family members said
"During his appointment at Lereh, he had many similar cases". Using the
opportunity at the regional military headquarters, he demanded that not only
the person who killed Rudi's should be fired but also he demanded that the
regional military commander withdrew all the military personnel who are
stationed in Lereh. "The presence of military in that location has made life
very difficult for the local people", he said.
Colonel Kav Burhanuddin Siagian *, regional commander of 172/PWY when
questioned on the incident admitted the incident. To follow up the case,
the soldier has been arrested and is being held at the military police post
POMDAM XVII/Trikora waiting for legal process. The regional commander said,
"Clearly we will not cover or protect any members that commit
crime/falsehood. Certainly, the soldier has been arrested and has been sent
to the military police for further legal process". The commander further
added that in relation to this incident his organisation is still in the
process of gathering and collecting information including information from
the soldier. In his answer, the soldier had admitted the crime. However,
whatever he [the soldier] has said, he is wrong so he will get punished.
According to the military commander, what was committed by the soldier was
already over acting and was over the limit. His organisation never taught
any soldier to act like that. In fact, TNI members should obey 8 TNI
obligations when they interact with the people.
When questioned about the demands of the people who came to the regional
headquarters, the commander said that he respected their aspiration because
they were polite, well organised, gentle and were very kind. However, after
giving explanation to them, they could understand very well and knew what
problems they were facing. (cak/mud). Izak/mnur/Cenderawasih Pos.
* FREE WEST PAPUA CAMPAIGN (UK) Note:
Col. Burhanuddin Siagian, who commands the TNI's 172 Military District based
in Jayapura, has been indicted for Crimes Against Humanity in East Timor.
So far he has never faced prosecution.
---
joe collins <seosamh20 at hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 06 Nov 2007 03:40:32 +0900
Papuan man dies after assault by Indonesian soldier - report
RNZI Posted at 02:16 on 05 November, 2007 UTC
A 23-year old Papuan man has died after reportedly being assaulted by an
Indonesian soldier in the provincial capital Jayapura.
The Cenderawasih Post newspaper reports that the assault of Rudi Pagawak
came after he failed to acknowledge a military commander when walking by a
TNI post.
This prompted an unnamed soldier to strike the Papuan who fought back before
being submerged by the soldier in a nearby water tank where he lost
consciousness.
He was taken to a clinic where he later died.
The commander of the soldier�s unit, Burhanuddin Siagian, said that
the
soldier responsible was in custody and if found guilty he would be punished.
He said that the soldier in question had clearly acted in excess.
Commander Siagian also commended the local people for dealing with the
incident in a calm and responsible manner.
---
Cenderawasih Pos, 2 November 2007
Abridged
A meeting at the governor's office attended by district heads which was
held on the fifth anniversary of the introduction of the Special Autonomy
Law (OTSUS) was presented with an evaluation by Cenderawasih University
(Uncen). The general conclusion was that implementation was far from
satisfactory.
There was inconsistency between the policies pursued by the provincial
administration and those at the district (kabupaten) level. The chair of
the Uncen evaluation team Drs Agustinus Fatem said that the provincial
authorities had failed to issue the necessary district and local
regulations (Perdasus and Perdasi). As a result, provincial and local
interpretations of what should be done were contradictory. Both levels of
administration were carrying out projects at the kampung level at odds with
each other
Many people were not well-informed about Otsus because the law had not been
well publicised. Drs Fatem said that many people in the kampungs knew
nothing at all about Otsus. It was frequently the case that Otsus
programmes were being financed by money from other sources as there was no
clear distinction between which projects were Otsus and which were not.
Drs Fatem said that although many problems had emerged, it was too soon to
conclude that Otsus has failed. He stressed that the philosophy behind
Otsus means siding with the Papuan people and protecting their interests,
down to the kampung level. What was needed now was to correct the errors
and draft the various regulations.
Deputy governor Alex Hesegem drew attention to the policy of the Dewan Adat
and its decision to 'return Otsus' to the government in August 2005, having
come to the conclusion that Otsus had failed. because it had not improved
the lot of the Papuan people, it had not resolved human rights problems and
had not facilitated Papuan participation in drawing up policies.
He also said that the lack of capacity on the part of the provincial
administration and of the DPRP and the MRP had resulted in failure to
implement the provisions of Otsus.The administration was also lacking in
its provision of allocations for development projects. The many
inconsistencies in implementation and the poor state of the infrastructure
had been the chief obstacles to successful development in the districts. It
was high time that the district and local regulations were drawn up, as
they were an integral part of the framework of Otsus.
He hoped that current investigations into these matters would result in
ensuring that Otsus would conform with its stated mission.
TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign
111 Northwood Road, Thornton Heath, Croydon CR7 8HW, UK.
tel +44 (0)20 8771 2904 fax +44 (0)20 8653 0322
tapol at gn.apc.org http://tapol.gn.apc.org
---
From: Richard Samuelson <samoxen at dsl.pipex.com>
Monday, 5 November 2007
West
<http://words-in-sand.blogspot.com/2007/11/west-papuas-pain-and-tears.html>
Papua's pain and tears
http://words-in-sand.blogspot.com/2007/11/west-papuas-pain-and-tears.html
Among our church members are two families from West Papua. Their hearts are
very much back home because the people of West Papua are illegally occupied
by Indonesia and are being systematically brutalised. It's not something we
hear much about in Britain.
Yesterday Benny told me that one of his people back home had been tortured
and killed on Thursday night.
I found this picture on a West Papuan news site which brings it home.
<http://bp2.blogger.com/_MXgcUH_K6LQ/Ry7cz373igI/AAAAAAAAAIg/3GYkPWisF8c/s16
00-h/UTM1.jpg> Rudi Pagawak's body at the Papua Provincial hospital morgue
in Dok II Jayapura.
He is the victim who was tortured to death by an Indonesian soldier in Lereh
district last Thursday evening.
Seems he was knocked around the head by the irritable soldier and then
'dunked under water' in a pond for 15 minutes.
---
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