Sunday, January 25, 2015

1) Three accidents at Freeport, one dead

2) Freeport Wins 6-Month Export Extension
3) One Dead as Papua Residents Take On Local Gang
4) Create Destroyed Palm Oil Company Protected Forest in Nabire
5) Police Seize Puron Wenda's Men

6) US Ready to Supply Military Firearms for Indonesia
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1) Three accidents at Freeport,  one dead
Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura | Archipelago | Sun, January 25 2015, 7:20 PM 

One person was killed during a series of vehicle accidents at the site of gold miner PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) in Tembagapura, Mimika, Papua, on Saturday and Sunday, the Papua Police have reported.
Suardi Ilyas, 27, a contract worker from PT Panca Duta Karya Abadi working for PTFI, died after he was hit by a mining truck driven by another worker from the same company, on Sunday, the police said.
Suardi was reported to have suffered rib fractures and several other injuries. He was rushed to Tembagapura Hospital for treatment shortly after the incident. The mining worker was being prepared for evacuation to Jakarta for more intensive medical treatment when he suffered heart attacks and could not be flown to Jakarta. He died soon after.
“The body of the Freeport worker will be flown to his hometown at Pangkep, South Sulawesi, for burial,” Papua Police spokesperson Sr.Comr. Rudolf Patrige said in Jayapura on Sunday.
The police said two other incidents occurred at Freeport’s mining area in Tembagapura on Saturday.
Patrige said an accident occurred at Mile 55, on Saturday, in which a truck driven by an Army officer, Chief Pvt. Ferdinand from the Timika Infantry Brigade, collided with another truck, operated by Kornelis Laurenz and carrying six passengers, which was on its way to Check Point 66 in Timika.
“There were no fatalities reported in the incident,” said Patrige, adding that heavy rain and fog had affected the mining area when the accident occurred.
Also on Saturday, Patrige said an Isuzu pick-up truck rolled over after hitting a retaining wall. The driver, I Gede Christina Hadinata, suffered minor arm injuries while his passenger, Darwis A.Rahim, was unhurt.
“All drivers involved in the accidents on Saturday and Sunday underwent alcohol tests but they all tested negative,” said Patrige. (ebf)(+++)
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2) Freeport Wins 6-Month Export Extension

By Rangga Prakoso & Basten Gokkon on 10:35 pm Jan 25, 2015
Tags: Freeport
An aerial view shows the site of the Grasberg Mine, operated by US.-based Freeport-McMoRan, in Papua in this Nov. 4, 2010 file photo. (Reuters Photo/Muhammad Yamin)
Jakarta. Freeport Indonesia, the local unit of US mining giant Freeport-McMoRan, has secured an extension for its export permit, following its show of commitment to building a smelter in-country by signing a land lease in East Java last week.
While the permit extension is expected to benefit the company, analysts says Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) needs to show “true” commitment to building the smelter, having agreed to the plan when it last secured an export permit for copper concentrate in July 2014.
PTFI last week signed a memorandum of understanding with state-controlled fertilizer producer Petrokimia Gresik to lease land in Gresik, East Java, that will host the miner’s planned $2 billion smelter.
The move appeared to be sufficient to sway the government to extend the company’s export permit.
“A recommendation letter for export will be sent to the Trade Ministry,” R. Sukhyar, the director general for minerals and coal at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, said on Friday.
That means that PTFI will be free to export copper concentrate from its Grasberg mine in Papua for the next six months, as the government reviews export permits every six months in the wake of the half-hearted implementation of mineral ore export ban that came into effect in January 2014.
PTFI was on the brink of losing its export permit after Sudirman Said, the energy minister, said last Tuesday that the company lacked the intention to build a smelter; PTFI had until Sunday to get its smelter development plan 60 percent complete.
According to Sukhyar, should PTFI manage to secure the land it needed for the smelter, the development would be considered to have reached 60 percent — despite construction not having begun.
PTFI did secure the land — on lease, not purchase, as the landowner, Petrokimia Gresik, said the 80-hectare parcel sought by the miner was “not for sale.”
Sukhyar said PTFI had placed $130,000 as a deposit in a local bank, or 2 percent of the annual lease price. According to Sukhyar, Freeport will rent the land for $8 per square meter per year.
The terms of the export permit extension allow PTFI to export up to 756,300 metric tons of copper concentrate during the six-month period, with a market value of about $1.56 billion at the current prices.
It also has to pay a 7.5 percent export duty, the same as before, as part of the government’s move to discourage miners from shipping concentrate and prompt them to process mineral commodities in-country instead.
Sukhyar said the government and PTFI had also signed an MOU on the renegotiated terms of the miner’s contract. He did not elaborate on the new contract, but said a new clause was agreed for insertion: a commitment from PTFI to develop a downstream business in Papua, where it mines copper and gold.
Sukhyar said the downstream business did not have to mean a smelter, and could instead be a plant to produce copper alloy.
“Developing a smelter in Papua would take a long time, but if it’s a downstream industry for copper, that’s more promising,” he said.
But observers say the government is being short-changed despite PTFI’s show of commitment.
“The MOU signing that paves the way for export concentrates for Freeport carry risks for the government of Indonesia,” Ahmad Redi, a lecturer in environmental law at Jakarta’s Tarumanegara University, said in an op-ed in Investor Daily’s weekend edition.
“There have been several occasions when Freeport has failed to show good will to abide by Indonesian law,” he added.
Fabby Tumiwa, the executive director of energy think tank the Institute for Essential Service Reform, called on the government to be transparent in its dealings with PTFI.
“This is like we’re giving another chance for Freeport. And the context in this case is a negotiation,” he said.
“The government should be very clear here and communicate it through to the public so that there won’t be any suspicion among the public.”
He added that if PTFI failed to comply with its promise to build smelter, “then just terminate them.”
Still, Fabby conceded that PTFI’s continued presence in the country was important. The miner is the biggest single taxpayer in Indonesia. It has paid $15.2 billion in taxes, royalties, dividends and other direct payments, and $26.1 billion indirectly, from 1992 to 2013.
On Friday, Papua Governor Lukas Enembe lamented the company’s decision to set up its smelter in East Java instead of in Papua, saying that building the facility in the country’s easternmost region would help create jobs and empower the residents of Papua, the least-developed province in the archipelago.
Investor Daily, GlobeAsia

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3) One Dead as Papua Residents Take On Local Gang

By Jakarta Globe on 02:52 pm Jan 25, 2015
Category CrimeFront PageNews
Jakarta. Police have arrested one person and are on the hunt for another 19 following a vigilante attack in Papua on Friday that left a suspected extortionist dead.
The attack occurred late on Saturday night on Jalan Hasanudin in Timika, the capital of Mimika district, provincial police spokesman Sr. Comr. Patrige Renwarin said on Sunday as quoted by Antara.
He said the incident appeared to have been triggered by a clash a week earlier between residents and a group of suspected protection racketeers on Jalan Sam Ratulangi, in which several residents were injured.
On Saturday, in an apparent act of retaliation, a group of some 20 residents armed with bladed weapons, including arrows, marched on a known hangout of a local gang notorious for demanding protection money from local businesses and residents.
One of the suspected gang members tried to flee from the mob but was chased down and severely beaten, Patrige said.
“The victim died as a result of the assault,” he added, identifying the dead man as Korinus Karet, 42.
Police have arrested one member of the mob and are searching for the others, Patrige said.
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A google translate of article in suarapapua.comBe-aware google translate can be a bit erratic.
Original bahasa link at

4) Create Destroyed Palm Oil Company Protected Forest in Nabire
By: Editorial | Sunday, January 25th, 2015 - 3:37 pm | Viewed: 202 times

Create Destroyed Palm Oil Company Protected Forest in Nabire
Expanse of protected forests belong to ethnic group Yerisiam being destroyed oil palm plantation company (Photo: Ist)
NABIRE, SUARAPAPUA.com --- Activity logging in the district of Nabire, Papua, increasing in recent years. Worse, a number of forest areas damaged by the clear-felled lindungpun companies and security officers.

Wami area and Sima, Yaur District, western part of Nabire, for example, tens of hectares of forest currently damaged due to illegal logging.
 
Data from Nabire Regional Papuan Customary Council, logging increased during the years 2013 to 2014. There is no company, in addition to certain elements, ceaselessly perform logging mercilessly. The results obtained logs then dropped out of the area.
 
In fact, Sima and Wami by the Forest Service Nabire recorded as protected areas. In addition, five other protected forest areas are being encroached upon, the protected forest Marera, Orododo, Kali Oro, Bamboo Kali and Kali Wadiyo upstream region.
 
Illegal logging in protected forest areas accused six due to weak oversight of local government. Relevant agency has not explicitly carry out tasks in the field.
 
Not only to individuals and companies, police officers and soldiers suspected of Kuta are "playing" in the lumber business in Nabire, should be reinforced, if necessary prohibited.
 
Nabire Regional Indigenous Council in 2014 recorded in addition to logging companies and investors palm, field data showed soldiers and police officers involved in the lumber business dalalam this area. Their involvement even reach 64%.
 
The presence of PT Nabire New, PT. Sariwana Adi Perkasa, PT Sariwana Superior Self, and many concessionaires, since the last few years doing timber harvesting in the district of Nabire, allegedly is in the protected forest destroyer group and sacred areas belonging to indigenous tribes.
 
Since five years ago, PT Nabire New entry in the Sima and Wami. The company is engaged in oil palm plantations.
 
"Palm oil business only a mere guise, because so far they actually cut and take out the logs," said Chief of the Yerisiam, Pdt. Simon Peter Hanebora.
 
The company business license, claimed unofficial. Since the beginning of the customary landowner community already rejected, but the activity continues to put Brimob in oil palm plantations.
 
The existence of palm oil companies in the village Sima and Wami, is expected to accelerate the process of destruction of forests and ecosystems. Moreover, PT Nabire New currently controls 32,000 acres of forest land in Kampung Wami, and PT. SAP with an area of about 19,000 hectares.
 
MARY
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A google translate of article in bintangpapua.com.   Be-aware google translate can be a bit erratic.
Original bahasa link at
Monday, January 26, 2015 00:45

5) Police Seize Puron Wenda's Men
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Head of Public Relations Papua Police Commissioner Pol Patrige RenwarinJayapura - Papua police special team, capture Wuyunga members of armed criminal groups (BCC) are also men Puron Wenda, in Sinakma, Wamena, Jayawijaya District, Saturday (24/1).
Head of Public Relations Papua Police Commissioner Pol Patrige warin, confirmed it when it was confirmed on Sunday.
"True there are arrests, concerned (Wuyunga) on Sunday afternoon was in Papua in Jayapura Police Headquarters for further review," said Patrige.
Information collected between, members of KSB was arrested along with two colleagues while around Sinakma market.
Wenda Puron men were arrested for allegedly involved in a number of shootings against security forces.

There were three incidents in the mountains of Papua, which involve Wuyunga among other shootings in Indawa, Lanny Jaya Regency, July 18, 2014 that killed two policemen. (ant / don / l03)
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SATURDAY, 24 JANUARY, 2015 | 15:54 WIB
6) US Ready to Supply Military Firearms for Indonesia
TEMPO.COJakarta - The United States has expressed willingness to fulfill Indonesia's military equipment needs following the latter's plan to replace its old F-5 Tiger jet fighters.
"I am not familiar with the details of the F-5 replacement plan, but we are always ready and eager to discuss our future opportunity with our Indonesian counterparts," US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs David B. Shear said on Friday as quoted by Antara News.
According to Shear, Indonesia and the US share comprehensive defense cooperation, including military exercises, sales, trade, and high-level defense meetings.
The developing military relationship between Indonesia and the US has been based on the common values and interests of both countries, which were established long time ago, Shear added.
According to Shear, the US has no plans to impose an embargo on spare parts to the Indonesian Military.
"It's hard for me to imagine the US placing such an embargo that will affect Indonesia, which is a strong partner," the Assistant Secretary remarked.
He noted the US government will do everything to ensure reliable support, commitment, and parts of military equipment for Indonesia.
"We have important agreements on F-16 jet fighters and Apache helicopters," Shear added.
The Indonesian government has been planning to replace its old F-5E Tiger jet fighters with other options such as Sukhoi Su-35, Saab 39 Gripen, Eurofighter Typhoon, and F-16 Fighting Falcon Block 60.
Meanwhile, Indonesia has received 5 of the 24 F-16 Fighting Falcons granted by the US in 2014.
The Indonesian Military has also decided to buy Apache combat helicopters from the US.
Eight Apache helicopters are expected to gradually enhance the Indonesian defense from 2018 to 2021.
 
ANTARA NEWS | INE

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