Sunday, January 31, 2016

1) The Pacific’s state of independence

2) A Peaceful Decade but Pacific Islanders Warn Against Complacency
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http://www.policyforum.net/the-pacifics-state-of-independence/
 1) The Pacific’s state of independence
Melanesia is becoming a region of many partners, expanding diplomatic options and a new sense of independence -
Stewart Firth 1 February 2016
Australian policymakers have to adapt to a new reality of national independence among key Pacific island nations, writes Stewart Firth.
The Papua New Guinea government recently removed fifteen Australian advisers from its public service, as promised in mid-2015. The Australians were working in the departments of finance, transport, treasury and justice, key parts of the country’s administrative structure. The PNG government left eighteen others where they were and the advisers’ departure is not likely to disturb good relations between PNG and Australia.
Yet the event symbolises a new sense of national independence in PNG, one shared with two of the other three independent Melanesian countries; Solomon Islands and Fiji. The three Melanesian states are expressing a new willingness to go their own way whatever Australia might think. Vanuatu, the fourth, has an independent foreign policy but is too small (population 258,000) to exercise much influence internationally.
PNG seeks regional leadership in the Pacific, and has become an aid donor to neighbouring Pacific Island countries, offering Solomon Islands almost AUD$40m for a five year development program and giving assistance to Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu and Palau. The PNG of 2016 is emboldened by its resources boom, which is experiencing a temporary dip but is likely to surge again by the early 2020s. In an unprecedented initiative for a Melanesian country, PNG will host the APEC leaders’ meeting in Port Moresby in 2018 (with a great deal of security assistance from Australia, New Zealand, the USA and Israel).
Even Solomon Islands, the beneficiary of a decade’s presence of the Regional Assistance Mission led by Australia, is diversifying its international links, establishing new diplomatic missions in Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta and Havana in 2013; and Wellington in 2014.
Nowhere is the new Melanesian independence clearer than in Fiji. The 2006 military coup delivered power into the hands of a military commander – Frank Bainimarama – who later abrogated the constitution and ruled for years by decree before finally bowing to international opinion and holding an election in 2014. Australia and New Zealand imposed extensive travel bans, ensured Fiji was suspended from the Pacific Islands Forum (the key regional organisation) and isolated Fiji diplomatically.
Bainimarama mounted a counter-response, one that has become a permanent feature of Fiji’s international stance. Fiji joined the Non-Aligned Movement and extended its diplomatic reach, setting up new embassies in South Africa, Brazil, South Korea, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates. At the UN, Fiji made the Pacific Small Islands Developing States group (eleven Pacific countries) an effective grouping, and in 2013 was chair of the G77, the UN grouping of 134 developing countries. Fiji grew notably closer to China, sending military officers to Beijing for training, accepting a significant amount of Chinese aid and welcoming investment in Fiji mining by Chinese companies. Fiji rolled out the red carpet for Xi Jinping when he visited Fiji in 2014, and Fiji soldiers participated in China’s V-Day parade in 2015.
As elsewhere, China in the South Pacific is a strict observer of the sovereignty of independent countries and saw no problem in maintaining good relations with a military regime. Bainimarama regularly thanks the Chinese government for standing by his government during the post-coup years when it was being isolated by Australia and New Zealand.
Regionally, Bainimarama has competed with Australia and New Zealand. Suspended from the Pacific Islands Forum [PIF], he formed one of his own, and it excludes the Australians and New Zealanders. This is the Pacific Islands Development Forum [PIDF], whose annual meetings are timed to create maximum embarrassment by taking place a week before the Forum meeting itself, an approach that allows Fiji to pose as a regional leader of small island states with their interests at heart, in contrast (intentionally) to Australia and New Zealand. The PIDF produced a strong declaration on climate change last September, for example, a few days before Australian and New Zealand diplomats struggled to make the PIF’s own declaration sound stronger than it actually was.
Another regional organisation – one that has never enjoyed support from Australia – is also growing in influence. The Melanesian Spearhead Group [MSG] is the organisation of independent Melanesian countries (Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu) plus one political party, the pro-independence Front de Libération Nationale Kanak et Socialiste (FLNKS) from the French territory of New Caledonia.
The MSG now includes Indonesia as an associate member, added in 2015 when Indonesia became aware that the Melanesian countries wanted to offer some kind of membership to the United Liberation Movement for West Papua. On her visit to Melanesia in 2015, the Indonesian foreign minister Retno Marsudi declared that “Indonesia is home to more than 11 million Melanesians. So Indonesia is Melanesia and Melanesia is Indonesia. We share a common land border and culture with our next biggest Melanesian country, PNG.” Jakarta was soon writing handsome cheques for Melanesian governments.
The Pacific Islands have been largely spared from the savage aid cuts made by Australia’s former Tony Abbott-led government, and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has been adept at diplomacy in the islands, but Australian foreign policy-makers need to adapt to the new reality of our nearest neighbours. Melanesia is becoming a region of many partners, expanding diplomatic options and a new sense of independence from Australia. The wider context of the new Melanesian assertiveness is one in which China is a rising power and Indonesia is forging closer links with the western Pacific.
This article is based on George Carer and the author’s paper in Asia & the Pacific Policy StudiesThe mood in Melanesia after the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands.
This article is published in collaboration with the Devpolicy Blog, a platform for the best in aid and development analysis, research and policy comment, with a focus on Australia, Papua New Guinea and the Pacific.
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http://www.ipsnews.net/2016/01/a-peaceful-decade-but-pacific-islanders-warn-against-complacency/
2) A Peaceful Decade but Pacific Islanders Warn Against Complacency
CANBERRA, Australia, Jan 29 2016 (IPS) - The Pacific Islands conjures pictures of swaying palm trees and unspoiled beaches. But, after civil wars and unrest since the 1980’s, experts in the region are clear that Pacific Islanders cannot afford to be complacent about the future, even after almost a decade of relative peace and stability. And preventing conflict goes beyond ensuring law and order.
“Future stability is far from assured in the Pacific, or indeed any region of the world,” Dame Meg Taylor, Secretary-General of the Fiji-based Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS), supported by conflict prevention adviser, Tim Bryar, told IPS.
“Research shows that the greatest predictor of future conflict is past conflict. Therefore, places such as Bougainville and New Caledonia which not only have a history of civil war, but also the presence of unaddressed potential root causes of conflict, such as extractive activities and inter-ethnic tensions…would suggest that we need to be vigilant,” she continued.
Frida Bani-Sam of the Pacific Institute of Public Policy in Vanuatu said that with rising socioeconomic inequalities being a major conflict risk, “the onus is on good leadership at the helm, leadership that can ensure economic and social stability, now and into the future.”
The most serious post-Second World War fray in the region was the decade long Bougainville civil war (1989-98) in Papua New Guinea, triggered by local grievances about inequitable benefit sharing from the foreign-owned Panguna copper mine and environmental devastation. An estimated 15,000-20,000 people or 10 per cent of the population lost their lives and infrastructure and the economy were decimated.
In the French overseas territory of New Caledonia, located southwest of Fiji, inequality and loss of land fuelled pro-independence resistance and unrest in the mid-1980s. Local expectations will intensify with referendums on independence due to be held in New Caledonia in 2018 and Bougainville by 2020.
The Solomon Islands, which neighbours Bougainville, also experienced a five-year conflict, known as the ‘Tensions’ (1998-2003), ending with a regional peacekeeping intervention. Hostilities escalated over land dispossession to internal migrants and foreign investors on Guadalcanal Island, exacerbated by lack of economic opportunities and failure of governance to address the rising violence. An estimated 50,000 people were displaced, thousands experienced human rights abuses and development plummeted.
Root causes, such as inequality, land disputes, fragile governance and youth unemployment, remain sources of tensions in the region today, according to the PIFS.
A broad section of the region’s population is affected by unemployment, but youth, who account for about 54 per cent, are particularly vulnerable. Population growth rates in small Pacific Island states far exceed their capacity to generate jobs, even for those with education, and youth unemployment ranges from 16 per cent in Samoa to 46 per cent in the Solomon Islands.
In north Bougainville, Dorcas Gano, President of the Hako Women’s Collective told IPS that “our small towns and struggling economy cannot cater to white collar employment for more than a very few.”
The collective is looking for ways to address “the need for rural employment skills or qualified training for the vast majority of youth who miss out on progressing past Grades 8 and 10. If these needs are not urgently addressed then ‘rascal-ism’ will rise and could lead to future unrest.”
Disenfranchised youth were drawn to the ‘Tensions,’ riots in the Solomon Islands capital, Honiara, in 2006 and civil unrest the same year in the Tongan capital, Nuku’alofa, when hundreds expressed anger at stalled government progress toward democracy.
But Bani-Sam emphasised that young people must be part of the solution, declaring that “youth, being the next generation of leaders, need to be empowered so they can participate meaningfully in the development conversation.”
For the vast majority of Pacific Islanders without formal employment, access to customary land is crucial for shelter, social security and subsistence and market food production. But influences such as the global cash-based economy and corruption, particularly when access to natural resources is involved, have aggravated land disputes.
“If we accept the existing [development] model which supports private property ownership and strongly links economic development to commodity extraction, then I think corruption is, of course, a problem because the money made from economic activities on land tends to not reach the customary custodians of the land, let alone the general population,” Dame Meg Taylor remarked.
Preventative approaches must include full implementation of free, informed and prior consent by traditional landowners “and by ‘full implementation’, I mean that governments must be willing to accept that some landowners may not want to consent to handing over their land,” she added.
Tackling the causes of land-related violence is a priority. The approach of the PIFS is to bridge traditional and western land management practices by, for instance, clarifying customary landowner rights and responsibilities of both governments and landowners in land dealings.
But there is also wider corruption involving politicians, public officials and organised criminals, named as a threat to development and stability during a regional security meeting in 2013.
State capture is acknowledged to have contributed to the ‘Tensions.’ A background paper commissioned by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) reports that “national politicians were noticeably in the pocket of various Asian logging companies seeking and gaining ready access to the Solomon Islands’ forests for logging rights in return for bribes and sweeteners” and “a range of actors, including ex-militants, politicians and businessmen, benefitted financially from the violence and disorder,” which ensued.
Bani-Sam points out that climate induced migration, together with rapid population growth, could also increase pressures on land and resources and “the risk of conflict cannot be ignored.” But the risk diminishes if the resettlement of communities and relationships with host landowners are well managed, experts say.
Preventing future conflict is a priority at the regional level. The PIFS aims to improve access to justice for marginalised groups, include women in peace and security decision-making and strengthen weapons control and traditional conflict resolution processes.
The Biketawa Declaration is a declaration agreed to by all the leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum constituting a framework for coordinating response to regional crises. The declaration was agreed to at the 31st Summit of Pacific Islands Forum Leaders, held at Kiribati in October 2000 after the 2000 Fijian coup d’état and ethnic tensions in the Solomon Islands.
This declaration also provides for rapid regional responses to crises in island states. The Biketawa Declaration has led to military and police forces as well as civilian personnel of Forum states, chiefly Australia and New Zealand, participating in regional peacekeeping and stabilization operations in Solomon Islands (2003-), Nauru (2004-2009) and Tonga (2006.)
People are taking action at the local level, too. In Bougainville, the Hako Women’s Collective works on meaningful reconciliation which is vital to rebuilding trust and conflict resilience in communities.
“We live in a very tolerant and peaceful community where everyone has chosen to live above the situation, but underneath the surface there is frozen trauma….Relatives don’t mention the mass graves in town covered by new infrastructure or the beatings and near deaths during interrogations. We are working quietly alongside other leaders to negotiate reconciliation in these matters,” Gano explained.
But going to the heart of the problem, Dame Meg Taylor believes that ensuring sustainable peace and development also depends on “a structural shift in the development paradigm.” That is, rethinking the extractive economic focus, which has failed to alleviate hardship and inequality, and seeking one that will build fair and prosperous Pacific Island societies, the best insurance against future conflict.
(End)
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Okto POGAU, ORIGIN INTAN JAYA JOURNALIST DIES

May he RIP. Condolences to his family and friends.
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A google translate. Be-aware google translate can be a bit erratic.
Original bahasa link at

http://tabloidjubi.com/2016/01/31/okto-pogau-jurnalis-asal-intan-jaya-meninggal/

Okto POGAU, ORIGIN INTAN JAYA JOURNALIST DIES

Jayapura, Jubi - Journalist and Editor in Chief Suarapapua.com, Oktovianus Pogau reportedly died at the Dian Harapan Hospital (RSDH), Waena, on Sunday, January 31, 2016, at around 09 pm local time.

From the information gathered in the room corpse RSDH Jubi, Sunday night, Okto died of lung disease. Mbamogo best sons origin, Intan Jaya district, died after being treated at RSDH. Though the young journalist had just returned from America in a youth exchange program.

Grief was enveloped family and relatives and journalists are known to be critical and intelligent.
"MEPA has not been long lineup is topsy turvy. Aga too quickly went MEPA Oktovianus Pogau, "said a journalist friends, Heng Yeimo.

"Goodbye friends, relatives, MEPA Oktovianus Pogau. Many stories, joys and sorrows that friends say and we've been through ... hopefully perjuanganmu inspire other fellow journalists first anak2 Mee Pago, "said journalist friend, Alfie.

Okto known to be critical to voice the pain of indigenous Papuans. Anxiety and the voice of his conscience, mostly written in the pages www.suarapapua.com and http://pogauokto.blogspot.co.id/.

He also persistent struggle, nurturing and supple. He almost never tired and very religious during his lifetime.

"Weighing any tet of life, do not forget the Lord who has chosen, rearing, and bless you. IA will continue to be responsible for your life. IA always be beside you. He will recover soon and your inner soul, "he wrote in a Facebook page with Pogau Oktovianus account posted on January 23 at 6:34 CDT.


Okto's body was interred in a student dormitory Intan Jaya, Buper Waena and will be dispatched to Intan Jaya, Monday, February 1, 2016. Farewell my friend, RIP. (Timo Marten)

1) Indonesia spying on West Papua supporters overseas: activists


2) Reject PT. New Nabire, Governor Must Accept Responsibility
3) Coalition Urges Care for Victims of Oil Nabire PT. Nabire Soon 'Out'!

4) Three fishermen from Jayapura held in PNG

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1) Indonesia spying on West Papua supporters overseas: activists

Updated Fri at 9:55am
West Papuan independence activists say Indonesia's state intelligence agency is spying on them in other countries, including Australia.
ABC TV's 7.30 program has uncovered evidence of Indonesia actively monitoring West Papuan activists, including students and church leaders.
Eric Tlozek reports.

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A google translate of article in suarapapua.com/. Be-aware google translate can be a bit erratic.
Original bahasa link at



2) Reject PT. New Nabire, Governor Must Accept Responsibility

Oleh : Redaksi | Kamis, 28 Januari 2016 - 15.31 WIB



Oil palm plantations PT. New Nabire (Foto: Ist).



JAYAPURA, SUARAPAPUA.com --- Assertion Tribal Big Yerisiam Caves refused the operation of PT. New Nabire, continued by convening several times demonstrations in the yard of the State Administrative Court (Administrative Court) Jayapura.
The same action was again held Victim Care Coalition of Palm Nabire on page PTUN Jayapura, Waena, Wednesday (27/01/2016), during a hearing with the agenda the examination of witnesses.

At the hearing yesterday, the Governor of Papua Province as a defendant is not present.

It is regrettable the applicant, as disclosed Gunawan Inggeruhi.

"We regret very much to the governor as a defendant one that is not present in the court today," he said when interviewed after the suarapapua.com support for action in the Administrative Court Waena page.

"During the hearing they do not attend, even though they're the original source of the problem by betraying our traditional lands to the PT. New Nabire, "said Inggeruhi.

Meanwhile, PT Nabire Just as the two defendants were present in court yesterday. While providing their witness of the indigenous peoples.

"But we were very disappointed with the actions of PT. New Nabire which makes communities as mere objects, "he said.

In addition, during two hearings in the Administrative Court, dated January 18, 2016 and January 27, 2016, the defendant two did not submit evidence.

"It's that hinder the trial process," said Inggeruhi.

Gunawan Inggeruhi also expect support from all parties in the lawsuit process.

"We look forward to all parties in order to support our tribal communities Yerisiam cave," he said.

After the hearing yesterday, the next on the agenda next week hearing witnesses examination of the applicant.

"Our society has been set up witness Yerisiam Caves indigenous and expert witnesses at a hearing next week. Session on Tuesday, February 2, 2016, "said Gunawan Inggeruhi.

He emphasized that the process aimed at the Administrative Court suing Papua Governor Decree No. 142 of 2008 on Issuance of Plantation Business Permit To PT. New Nabire.

The decree was given to PT. New Nabire without going through the correct process. "We see this decree is ambiguous because of the procedural and legal order, was wrong."

"Moreover, SK come out ahead of the EIA document. When it should berututan, no EIA had only then can IUP. But this is the opposite. IUP new EIA given out in 2013, this means about the spatial and environmental analysis does not exist, "he said.

In that case, expressly Inggeruhi, there are a handful of party games to the exclusion of the rule of law in the country of Indonesia.

The following issues, the people themselves know that the company went to timber extraction activities. But over time, it is converted into oil palm plantations.

"The release of indigenous lands is also not according to customary rules, because the company only met a few families only. And they do it secretly, "said Inggeruhi.

Editor: Mary

Harun Rumbarar





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A google translate of article in suarapapua.com/. Be-aware google translate can be a bit erratic.
Original bahasa link at



3) Coalition Urges Care for Victims of Oil Nabire PT. Nabire Soon 'Out'!


By: Editor | Friday, January 29, 2016 - 20:05 pm
JAYAPURA, SUARAPAPUA.com --- Oil Palm PT. New Nabire urged immediate 'out' of customary land Yerisiam ethnic group in Kampung Gua Sima, District Yaur, Nabire, Papua.

"There is no reason, there is no legal basis for PT Nabire Baru. The company had to leave from customary land Yerisiam, right now, "said Melianus Duwitau, Victim Care Coalition members Sawit Nabire (KPKSN), Friday (01/29/2016).

Independent Student Activists Forum (FIM) is also incorporated in this KPKSN states, legal facts prove, PT. New Nabire operates without a legal basis. (Read: Reject PT. Nabire New Governor Must Accept Responsibility).

Issuance of Papua's Governor Decree No. 142 of 2008 on the Granting of Plantation Business Permit To PT. New Nabire allegedly conspiratorial few groups by ignoring the rules of procedure applicable law in Indonesia.

Allegedly, the investors obtained permits on "merit" some government officials and staff of the local government and the provincial government of Papua Nabire.

Conspiracy intended, SK IUP was issued without Amdal documents from investors. This procedural error rated bumping rule that normally SK IUP will be given after the study of the environmental impact assessment of all activities of the company.

"However Papua Governor Decree No. 142 of 2008 shall be revoked. Administrative Court in its decision shall be canceled because it was against the rules, "he said.

Decree dated December 30, 2008 was published in the era of Barnabas Suebu.

KPKSN Coordinator, John NR Gobai asserted legal force to the PT. New Nabire very weak. The legal basis of the company held is not strong. SK IUP issued without the procedure, also violates the administrative authority.

Therefore, the company is considered illegal, although this is backed up during the security forces "fee". (Read: This demands Victim Care Coalition of Palm Nabire).

There is no other purpose of the lawsuit filed to the administrative court of Jayapura, in addition to the final conclusion is unplug SK IUP.

"In the trial we already submit a number of documents as evidence strengthens the lawsuit to revoke SK IUP for PT. New Nabire. We also lay out the facts on the ground, "said Eliezer Murafer, the plaintiff's attorney.

Youth leaders of Tribal Big Yerisiam Caves, Gunawan Inggeruhi also matching that the decree should be revoked.

With the revocation of SK IUP through administrative court ruling Jayapura, the company is obliged to leave the location of oil palm plantations which for eight years has been destroyed overlay indigenous forests, gardens and ecosystems even run over by a succession sacred area.

Gunawan confirmed, it sued SK Papua Governor Number 142 Year 2008 was for allegedly without following the correct procedure. According to him, the decree is ambiguous because there is a conflict of procedural and process aspects of the legal system in this country.

In addition to violating procedures, SK published without Amdal document. "How could the government would assess feasible and whether or not permission is granted to a company, if the EIA course not. This is very strange, "he questioned.

It is known, there is a new EIA documents in 2013, while the Government of Papua Province SK IUP first published it in 2008. Nor has Hak Guna Usaha (HGU) from the competent authority.

MARY



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4) Three fishermen from Jayapura held in PNG
Minggu, 31 Januari 2016 20:52 WIB | 457 Views

Jayapura (ANTARA News) - Three fishermen from Jayapura, Papua, are held in Papua New Guinea (PNG) for allegedly poaching fish, according to head of foreign and border affairs of Papua provincial administration, Suzanna Wanggai.

She told Antara on Sunday the three fishermen known as Umar, Sandi and Bakri were reported to have been held since December 10, 2015.

The Indonesian embassy in Papua New Guinea is still striving to reduce their punishment, she said.

She said she did not know how much was the punishment as she had not yet received a full report about the case.

She said based on reports so far the three fishermen actually did not conduct illegal fishing but they had stranded to Wewak waters in Papua New Guinea after they had trouble in the engine of their motor boat.

"I hope the punishment for the three will be reduced and they will immediately be allowed to return home," she said.

(Reporting by Evarukdijati/Uu.H-YH/A014)
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Saturday, January 30, 2016

1) Jakarta- PAPUA DIALOGUE IS A DIGNIFIED WAY TO SOLVE CONFLICT IN PAPUA

2) GOLD MINERS CREATES CONFLICT IN DEGEUWO
3) JAYAPURA STUDENTS PROVIDED LEGAL KNOWLEDGE TO FACE AEC
4) JIMMY IJIE URGES GOVERNMENT TO NATIONALISE ASSETS OF PT FREEPORT
5) PAPUA PROBLEM CAN’T BE SOLVED WITHOUT STAKEHOLDERS’ SUPPORT
6) 600 STREET CHILDREN REGISTERED IN JAYAWIJAYA SOCIAL OFFICE
7) Final Investigation into Dec 1 Wanampompi Yapen flag raising payback shootings
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1) Jakarta- PAPUA DIALOGUE IS A DIGNIFIED WAY TO SOLVE CONFLICT IN PAPUA
The Executive Secretary of the People’s Network , Septer Manufandu, head of representative office Komnas HAM Papua, Frits Remanded, coordinator of the Papua Peace Network (JDP)
 Seles Tebay and Coordinator of the Secretariat of Justice Peace and Integrity of Creation (SKPKC) Papua Yuliana Languwuyo also discussed the issue during a meeting
 with the ambassador of the United States to Indonesia, Robert Blake.

“He (US ambassador) also mentioned dialogue, and then we said that dialogue is a dignified way to negotiate the problems in Papua,” Manufandu said.
“Everything must be placed in a dignified manner to look for a solution together and make a political commitment to live together in the future, ” he
told reporters on last week.
Then US ambassador responded that dialogue is a good way, but there must be equation perception or view of the concept of dialogue both from government and public.
Earlier, coordinator of the Papua Peace Network (JDP) Neles Tebay said, there should be an internal dialogue in Papua first before dialogue between Jakarta and Papua is held.
According to him, internal dialogue is important for it is such a need, a longing for Papuans.
He also found that among the Papuans themselves, there is no common understanding of the Jakarta-Papua dialogue especially about the purpose and agenda.
There is a party that thinks that the Jakarta-Papua dialogue will be endangering the territorial integrity of Indonesia. There is also a view that the Jakarta-Papua dialogue is dangerous
 because it can destroy the ideology of Papuan independence.
While some people understand that the Jakarta-Papua dialogue is a solution to the conflict in Papua. Jakarta-Papua dialogue is not the goal but it is a means to identify problems and 
look for the best solution by involving all parties.
“Internal dialogue will be attended by all Papuans to discuss the concept and goal of Papua – Jakarta dialogue,” Neles Tebay said. (Roy Ratumakin/Tina)
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2) GOLD MINERS CREATES CONFLICT IN DEGEUWO
Jayapura, Jubi – Chairman of the Customary Council of Wolani, Mee and Moni tribes (LMA SWAMEMO) has accused gold miners of stealing Degeuowo gold and creating conflicts at the site.
“The illegal businessmen are creating a conflict to achieve their goals there,” said Bagubau to Jubi in Sentani, Papua on last week.
He said conflicts are created through entertainment facilities such as karaoke, bar and sexual business. Communities are then to compete using existing entertainment facilities.
“Order a women means one package with liquor. This can cause people to fight till they die,” he pointed out the murder of a mobile brigade conducted by a miner in the Blue Baya location at the end of December 2015.
He said, the stabbing occurred when the two men competed for a commercial worker at that location and when they were arguing the police came.
“The perpetrator took his machete out and stabbed the chest of victim. After that he fled into the woods. I got this report from Yohanes Kobepa, my secretary, ” he said.
He continued, at the same time, there was combustion event of heavy equipment owned by the company, PT. Quarta Air at 81 site.
He said the burning was very detrimental to the company but also the local community, including the institution he leads. We never teach communities to resolve the existing problems in the region by force despite the company harm indigenous peoples.
“If you are furious, let’s take it into the court. We, as the institution are working to find out why it was happened. I think the company and people who live in the surrounding areas do not want the customary council institution to control Degeuowo area, “he added.
Yohanes Kobepa confirmed it and said that this conflict was full interests motives that want to dominate Degeuwo area.
“The area is a region full of gold. People want to get rid of the control of indigenous peoples in the name of security management. That’s all they want by sacrificing others, “he said through a short message. (Mawel Benny/Tina)


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3) JAYAPURA STUDENTS PROVIDED LEGAL KNOWLEDGE TO FACE AEC
Jayapura, Jubi – A total of 400 high school and vocational school students participated in legal education training to preparate for the ASEAN Economic Community.
“Why should they learn? Because they would directly experience the influence of the ASEAN Economic Community, so we did it to educate and improve their legal knowledge,” John Charles Sinambela, the Counseling and Legal Aid staff of Papua Justice Department told Jubi on Thursday (29/1/2016).
Having knowledge on legal issue, said Sinambela, will protect the students from misleading behavior. Without realizing it, most of them have broken the law, therefore it should be prevented by providing the understanding about the law itself.
“This is the government’s program and the counseling is not providing only for the young generation, but also for many components of society in Papua. There are 23 counseling locations in Jayapura Municipality, meanwhile the Counseling and Legal Aid Unit of Justice Department in the entire Papua regions also do the same,” he said.
Jayapura Mayor Benhur Tommy Mano asked the students to also have knowledge about the role and function of the law. Meanwhile the Ministry of Law and Human Rights Papua Office Chief Abner Banosro in the speech of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights said the Law should be notice as the superior.
“By understanding the practice of the State of Law, it should be the main principal in solving the problem, instead of referring to political or other interests,” he said. (Sindung Sukoco/rom)
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4) JIMMY IJIE URGES GOVERNMENT TO NATIONALISE ASSETS OF PT FREEPORT
Jayapura, Jubi – PT Freeport Indonesia wants its work contract with the Indonesian government extended from 2021 to 2041, but a local politician suggested that Jakarta nationalize the company.
Freeport has said it planned an investment of 16.9 billion US dollars for the continuation of the company’s operations until later in 2041. The details, as many as 9.8 billion US dollars of investment in the period 2012 to 2021 and as much as 7.1 billion US dollars in investment from 2021 to 2041.
It said that the investment is to set up underground mining activities which have been started since 2008. He admits the future of Freeport Indonesia is indeed rely on underground mining.
In response, the PDI-P politician, Jimmy Deminaus Ijie to Jubi, last week in Jayapura stated that PT Freeport Indonesia does not provide a significant impact for Indonesia especially Papuan people as the owners of natural resources.
Moreover, there is the idea of ​​nationalizing the assets of PT Freeport by the Indonesian government. According to him, the Indonesian nation is greater than Venezuela or countries in Latin America that were able to nationalize the assets and questioned why Indonesia cannot do the same thing.
He stated Freeport actually could contribute to Papua special autonomy in order to fund other sectors.(Roy Ratumakin/Tina)
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5) PAPUA PROBLEM CAN’T BE SOLVED WITHOUT STAKEHOLDERS’ SUPPORT

Jayapura, Jubi – Indonesian legislator Tantowi Yahya said the Papua conflict must be solved without creating new problems.
However, he said he believed there are differences of views between the parliament and the government on the issue of Papua. The parliament considered it a long-term important issue, that must be a priority to be solved together.
“But it is impossible to resolve the Papua problem comprehensively and dignifiedly if all stakeholders do not support each other, do not have similar way of think,” said Tantowi Yahya in Jakarta on Wednesday (27/1/2016).

According Yahya who’s politician of Golkar, the similar thought and opinion are very important to do together. In the parliament’s view, the government has not embraced all parties yet.
“While in the context of problem resolution, Papua problem is not able to be solved only by the government and parliament. It should involve another parties. I agree if the problem solving in Papua and Papua Barat provinces, the government has not embraced all parties,” he said.
Additionally, he added, the coordination between ministries is also not well implemented. He could feel it when Jokowi granted exemption towards five Papua political prisoners in last May and opened access towards foreign journalist.
“It becomes a critical discussion in the Commission I that has not fully support this because we are not in the same opinion with the government about it. About the release, even those who are in the government have different opinions. Some said they were political prisoners, but some said they were just criminals,” he said.
In the same place, the Expert on Ideology and Political Affairs of State Intelligent Agency, Major General Kaharuddin Wahab said talking about Papua problem must refer to the fact. It cannot do by self-assuming or get tendency.
“In particular to those who live outside of Papua. Let’s give factual information to not increase another bottomless issue. Do not generate things happened in Papua. The most important is the President Jokowi and his officials to be more serious in paying attention to Papua,” said Kaharuddin Wahab.
Meanwhile the Minister Deputy for Domestic Political Affairs of the Ministry of Political, Legal and Security Affairs, Yoedhi Swastono said in general, the point is the indigenous Papuans have no trust to Jakarta. “And vice versa. Jakarta does not know how to build a grand design of Papua problem. It is said the key is having a dialogue. I agree with it,” added Yoedhi. (Arjuna Pademme/rom)
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6) 600 STREET CHILDREN REGISTERED IN JAYAWIJAYA SOCIAL OFFICE

Wamena, Jubi – The Jayawijaya Regional Social Office has listed as many as 600 street children who are working on the street every day in Wamena City and its surrounding areas.
Office chief Marthen Yogobi told reporters on Wednesday (27/1/2016) at Jayawijaya Legislative Council Office that the government should pay attention to the street children because most of them are not from Jayawijaya.
“Based on our record, their number is more than 600 people whose parents are mostly in some other regencies. Therefore, in the future we will try to make coordination with the specific local regencies where the children origin from and try to communicate with social office of extension regencies to handle this case,” he said.


Related to the Street Children Community (kanjal) existed in Jayawijaya, he revealed the social office has not measured some actions to provide assistant or empower them because they have a community group.
Referring to regulation issued by social ministry, the street children are those who stay on the street for 1×24 hours and are not in a group community. Those children are subjected to get assistance from social office.
But if they have a group community, therefore the social office only need to coordinate with the group for further assistance. “We have not yet made coordination with Street Children Community or kanjal, though we have their records. In the future, it would depend on the regional budget, if it allocated budget for street children community, we would execute the program,” he firmly said.
“There’s a budget but it was mostly allocated for our economic empowerment or poor community program. We are just having the capacity building program for street children this year and it would be on trial. Because about two years ago, the Social Office conducted survey on street children at Pasar Misi, Pasar Sinakma, Potikelek, Jalan Irian and Pasar Jibama and recorded their numbers are more than 600 people. And most of their parents are live in the extension regencies,” he added.
The Commission C Chairman of Jayawijaya Legislative Council for education, health and community welfare, Welmina Logo explained the existence of street children in Wamena City and surrounding area is also becoming a concern of parliament’s members.
According to Logo, the Social Office should build an orphanage to accommodate the children who currently live on the street. “Because when they were asked about where is their parents, they might answer their parents live here and they used to get money easily and being ignorance to the school,” she said.
Related to orphanage, Jayawijaya Legislative Council is ready to support this. “We will continue to enforce this to reduce the number of children living on the street that they are actually not the street children because they have parents at home,” she said. (Islami/rom)
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7) Final Investigation into Dec 1 Wanampompi Yapen flag raising payback shootings, beatings and torture incidents (Warning: graphic images)

Investigation Report
by JPIC* Nabire, with additional reporting from West Papua Media
January 21, 2016
Apologies for the delay in publication due to translation and verification requirements
This report contains graphic images of human rights abuses in context and with actionable data
This report is part of the investigations carried out by the “Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Desk” of the Evangelical Christian Church in Papua (Gereja Kristen Injili di Tanah Papua (GKI), into the shootings in the Yapen Island village of Wanampompi on December 1, 2015, and also sever beatings on indigenous Papuan people of the Oyehe tribe near Nabire.  The Nabire report will be published shortly…………………..  http://westpapuamedia.info