Tuesday, October 9, 2018

1) West Papua Liberation Army leader at large in Highlands


2) Sago Festival, an effort to revitalize local Papuan food
3) Indonesia To Assist Fiji With Broadband Connectivity
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1) West Papua Liberation Army leader at large in Highlands
5:13 pm today 


The commander of the West Papua Liberation Army remains at large in the mountains of Puncak Jaya and is reportedly being pursued by Indonesia's military.




Indonesian security forces have been searching villages in Puncak Jaya for members of the West Papua Liberation Army. Photo: Supplied

Human rights advocates in Papua province said seven people were killed last week by Indonesian security forces hunting down the commander, Goliat Tabuni, and his men.
Such operations have intensified this year after the Liberation Army declared war on the Indonesian state in January.
An Australia-based spokesman for the Liberation Army-associated Free West Papua Movement, Akouboo Amatus Douw, said after last week's surprise attack at Tabuni's stronghold in Tingginambut, Commander Tabuni fled into the bush.
"At the moment he is still in the bush, and also about thousands civillians also fled to the bush. So we don't know how many people been killed by Indonesian military forces, because it's very far and very remote area," he said.
The latest reports indicated that Indonesian forces were still in the Tinginambut area, attacking suspected Liberation Army members, which Mr Douwsaid was causing more displacement of villagers not linked to the conflict.

"We believe that because of the civilians, with mum and babies and kids also together with the group, it means it's a real emergency situation in terms of how they can get food or water.
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2) Sago Festival, an effort to revitalize local Papuan food
Published 3 days ago on 6 October 2018
The imported and convenient food has considered ‘colonizing’ the local food in Papua gradually due to some reasons including transportation and migration.
Easy access of transportation and migration has accelerated the disappearance of the local food such as papeda (Papuan traditional food made from sago), sweet potatoes, taro, red fruit (pandanus) and so on.
Papua Jungle Chef Coordinator Charles Toto told reporters in Jayapura, Tuesday, October 2, 2018, that in the Oceania Parliament session, he proposed a forum to restore the glory of local Papuan food.
“We consider throwing back the local food through the traditional food festival such as ‘eating papeda served in ‘sempe’ as well as other local food festivals,” said Toto.
Furthermore, he said there is a significant change in the local food consumption among the indigenous Papuans. Therefore, the government must take serious attention to this situation.
For example, record some traditional recipes from the elderly. In that way, their grandchildren can learn, know and practice it in their daily lives. Also, the raw ingredients in nature must not remove.
“We explore the traditional recipes that currently become extinct from our parents and try to preserve it,” he said. Moreover, he said,” It is to show the richness of local Papuan food to the international community.”
Toto, who had just attended the Slow Food Festival in Milan, Italy, continued that people abroad were surprised and admired the recipes for the local Papuan food. However, ironically, he said, whether, in Papua or Indonesia, it becomes less popular.
“Papua jungle chef presents our recipes in that event, and also show the identity of Papuan indigenous people,” he said.
“We showed them that we maintain this traditional food, we fight for it and live with it. We want to show to the world that the indigenous Papuans is capable for doing this,” added Toto.
Meanwhile, the Sago Activist Community of Papua is also actively conducting sago festivals in many villages involving the local community.  Sago festival consider valuable as an effort to save the sago forests and local spices.
A few days ago a sago festival conducted in Kampung Abar, Ebungfauw sub-district, Jayapura District. The festival will regularly hold every 30 September since 2017. In this festival, sago serves in ‘sempe’, a local name for special pottery for serving ‘papeda’.  If in the previous year, it only served 50 sempe, but this time it had at least 150 sempe.
“We are very committed because most sago areas in Indonesia are in Jayapura, Papua, as well as its varieties. Also, Papuans have religious and cultural relations with sago,” said Marshall Suebu, the Coordinator of Sago Activist Community of Papua.
According to Suebu, sago is essential in the culture of the indigenous Papuans, especially those who live in the coastal areas. These local communities have even known this plant and processed it for their daily food many years ago.
Thus, the community that is led by Suebu hopes that Papua Provincial Government will support their activities. He already met some ondoafi (local name for a tribal chief) in Jayapura District to discuss sago and its future conservation.
“(Ondoafi) they welcome us very well,” Suebu said. Moreover, he said they support the proposal by providing lands for sago cultivation.
“In Toware village, they provide 15 hectares for us, while in Evale village, there are 25 hectares. Meanwhile, Abar village has already provided 20 hectares of sago land,” said Suebu.
Currently, Papua Provincial Government has attempted to cultivate sago through the ‘sago movement’ in which every woman has been encouraged to plant at least ten sago trees. Sago is also regarded as a potential commodity and an alternative food for rice. (*)
Reporter: Hengky Yeimo
Editor: Pipit Maizier
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3) Indonesia To Assist Fiji With Broadband Connectivity
by Karalaini Tavi in Jakarta
October 09 10:00 2018 
Like Indonesia, Fiji is one country that faces the challenge of high costs associated with connecting islands together through broadband network.
In regards to this, the Indonesia Government is willing to share their knowledge on their high speed connectivity with countries like Fiji.
Speaking to 11 South Pacific journalists on Monday, Minster of Communication and Information Rudiantara said similarly to Indonesia, private sectors in Fiji might also have challenges due to high cost of connecting islands with broadband network.
“The challenge to build infrastructure in Indonesia is much bigger as compared to countries like Malaysia,” Mr Rudiantara told journalists at the Borobudur Hotel in Jarkata.
“Indonesia will be very happy to share our “know-how” with other countries, including Fiji.
“We believe that size does matter but practicing the right tuned polices and strategies are more powerful.”
Under the Palapa Ring Project in Papua which began this year, the Indonesian government Affirmative Policy will help accelerate the growth and enhance our economy, education, health and social activities by building broadband (high speed) internet backbone network to our rural areas.
The project is built by Public Private Partnership (PPP) scheme is divided into three parts: West, Central, and East.
Eleven journalists from Fiji, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu, Samoa, Nauru, Kiribati and Tonga were part of the South Pacific Journalist Visit programme organised by Indonesia’s Directorate Information and Communication for Political, Law and Security Affairs.
The programme aimed at connecting the Indonesian people with other countries through exchange of information.
During the eight-day programme which began on October 1, the journalists visited different cities in Indonesia, including Jakarta, Bali and Yogyakarta.
On the first day, the group visited the Net TV, one of 17 TV stations in Indonesia.
Established in 2013 by one of Indonesia’s greatest visionaries Wishnutama, the TV station was said to bring about a “media revolution” as a dedication for a better future.
The journalists were able to get a glimpse of how the young company was rated as one of the top ten TV stations in Indonesia.
The day ended with a visit to a unicorn company called Go-Jek.
Established in 2010, Go-Jek an application for online transportation, food delivery, logistics, payment, and daily services.
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