1) Criminal gang behind Papua police attacks
2) HIV/AIDS victims feared to continue to increase in Mimika
3) Keating’s Timor and Carr’s Papua
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1) Criminal gang behind Papua police attacks
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http://www.antaranews.com/en/news/85893/hivaids-victims-feared-to-continue-to-increase-in-mimika
2) HIV/AIDS victims feared to continue to increase in Mimika
Fri, November 30 2012 11:13 | 87 Views
Timika, Papua (ANTARA News) - The number of HIV/AIDS victims in Mimika, Papua is feared to continue to increase in the coming years, the Yayasan Peduli AIDS Timika (YPAT) said.
Father Bert Hagendoorn OFM, the director of the foundation, which helps treat HIV/AIDS victims in the area, said the number of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus infection) /AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) cases in Mimika has increased at a high rate .
The number of victims is expected to increase with the high mobility of people in Mimika and growing number of new residents in Timika, Father Hagendoorn said .
"The number of visitors to Timika and or new residents in the city grew fast and they are not aware of the existence of the disease in Timika," he told ANTARA news agency here on Friday.
According to data from the AIDS Control Commission (KPA) of Mimika, in 2012 alone there were 367 new HIV/AIDS cases in the regency of Mimika.
The number of HIV/AIDS cases since the first time the disease was found in the regency in 1996, has continued to increase reaching 3,190 kasus by September this year.
In the April-September period in 2012 , there were an additional cases of 239 or an average of 39 cases per month.
Sexual intercourse accounted for 236 of the new case in Mimika.
Father Hagendoorn called for more intensive campaigns to stop the spread of the disease.
He said there are already many organizations and agencies involved in the battle against HIV/AIDS in Mimika, but most of the organizations and agencies fail to support each other.
He said since the first time the disease was found in Mimika a number of organization active in battling HIV/AIDS were eager to establish a KPA to serve as a coordinating body for the organizations.
Later, however, the Mimika KPA has become more interested in projects rather than in coordinating efforts to eradicate the disease and save the people , he said.
"We are very disappointed with the fact," he said.
Father Hagendoorn also criticized attempt to politicize HIV/AIDS issue in Mimika and to take business advantage of the condition such as by organizing football matches to raise fund supposedly for HIV/AIDS control.
He said YPAT has organized Youth Event Against AIDS Dance for Life held last week to commemorate the World`s AIDS Day on Dec. 1 involving youths including school students in Timika. (*)
Father Bert Hagendoorn OFM, the director of the foundation, which helps treat HIV/AIDS victims in the area, said the number of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus infection) /AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) cases in Mimika has increased at a high rate .
The number of victims is expected to increase with the high mobility of people in Mimika and growing number of new residents in Timika, Father Hagendoorn said .
"The number of visitors to Timika and or new residents in the city grew fast and they are not aware of the existence of the disease in Timika," he told ANTARA news agency here on Friday.
According to data from the AIDS Control Commission (KPA) of Mimika, in 2012 alone there were 367 new HIV/AIDS cases in the regency of Mimika.
The number of HIV/AIDS cases since the first time the disease was found in the regency in 1996, has continued to increase reaching 3,190 kasus by September this year.
In the April-September period in 2012 , there were an additional cases of 239 or an average of 39 cases per month.
Sexual intercourse accounted for 236 of the new case in Mimika.
Father Hagendoorn called for more intensive campaigns to stop the spread of the disease.
He said there are already many organizations and agencies involved in the battle against HIV/AIDS in Mimika, but most of the organizations and agencies fail to support each other.
He said since the first time the disease was found in Mimika a number of organization active in battling HIV/AIDS were eager to establish a KPA to serve as a coordinating body for the organizations.
Later, however, the Mimika KPA has become more interested in projects rather than in coordinating efforts to eradicate the disease and save the people , he said.
"We are very disappointed with the fact," he said.
Father Hagendoorn also criticized attempt to politicize HIV/AIDS issue in Mimika and to take business advantage of the condition such as by organizing football matches to raise fund supposedly for HIV/AIDS control.
He said YPAT has organized Youth Event Against AIDS Dance for Life held last week to commemorate the World`s AIDS Day on Dec. 1 involving youths including school students in Timika. (*)
Editor: Heru
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3) Keating’s Timor and Carr’s Papua
NOVEMBER 29, 2012
On Sunday, I was travelling through the idyllic rural north of Bali, listening on my iPod to Paul Keating's riveting 2012 Murdoch Lecture in which he spoke about the 'enormous time and attention' he gave as Prime Minister between 1991 and 1996 to the development of a bilateral relationship with Indonesia.
He said, 'I think I grasped, perhaps more than any of my predecessors, the singular importance to Australia and to its security, of the vast archipelago to our immediate north. I understood that the advent of General Soeharto's New Order government had brought peace and stability to our region.'
I warmed to Keating's self adulation until he went on to describe 'the preoccupation of the Australian media with the events in Balibotwo decades earlier' and how he was 'determined to establish a new and durable basis for our relationship with Indonesia other than the one we had which saw everything through the prism of East Timor'. This seemed to me far too simplistic.
Our elected leaders in the 1970s and '80s when visiting Jakarta were right to raise human rights concerns about East Timor. They, like our Indonesian counterparts, were quite capable of walking and chewing gum at the same time. It was not as if it was a choice between human rights concerns and the building of a bilateral relationship.
A bilateral relationship posited on a self-imposed ban on human rights discussion would be a very perverted relationship for a robust democracy like Australia boasting adherence to the rule of law and best international practice in human rights protection.
The Keating over-simplification could be relegated to academic history but for its resurgence in recent remarks by Foreign Minister Bob Carr who earlier this month told the ABC: 'There are Australians ... who take an interest in the notion for more autonomy for Papua but I remind them that you'd be doing a disservice to the Indonesian population of those two provinces if you held out any hope that Australia could influence the cause of events.'
I beg to differ. We could be doing a great service to our Indonesian neighbours if we took seriously our capacity for respectful dialogue about the need for greater autonomy in the provinces of Papua.
Think back to the 1991 Santa Cruz Massacre in Dili. While Keating was commencing his strategy of downplaying human rights violations in East Timor, journalist Max Stahl was able to smuggle out film of the massacre which shocked the world. Many Australians for the first time asked how this could be happening on our doorstep, and how we could permit it to go unchecked.
Joel Hodge in Resisting Violence and Victimisation: Christian Faith and Solidarity in East Timor identifies this as 'a major turning point for the international community ... Showing the innocence of the victims at the hands of the violent Indonesian state was central in the appeal of the East Timorese to the conscience of the international community — an appeal which eventually overcame 'the logic of force'.'
I first visited East Timor a year after the Dili massacre at the invitation of Bishop Carlos Belo. At that time it was almost impossible for foreigners to gain access. At the end of my visit, Bishop Belo invited me to a party with significant Timorese leaders. He and ex-governor Mario Carrascalao cornered me and asked what I would say about the situation in East Timor upon my return to Australia.
They said I must speak, but under no circumstances should I speak about the possibility of independence. They thought independence very unlikely, and were concerned that talk of independence would only exacerbate the discontent of young Timorese who then risked further adverse attention by the Indonesian military.
They told me I should speak about the need for three things: a decreased military presence, greater cultural autonomy, and enhanced protection of human rights.
On my return to Australia I stuck to this script. Some Australians, especially church people supportive of the Timorese cause, were critical. They pointed out that I had the opportunity to see first-hand the situation in East Timor and that I needed to acknowledge the moral case of the Timorese for independence.
My response was that if the cause for independence was frustrated, it was not my blood nor any other Australian blood that would be spilt, but rather that of the Timorese. I saw myself as having no option but to follow the wise counsel of respected Timorese leaders.
I remain of the view that East Timor would not have become independent but for the Indonesian financial crisis, the enigma of President Habibie and the Indonesian misinterpretation of John Howard's referendum suggestion. There is no failsafe prediction of the political future. Prudent advocacy demands that we be attentive to the voice of those whose future it is, those who will suffer the consequences.
It'd be churlish to question Keating's reflections unless there was risk of the mistake being repeated. I do think more autonomy, reduced military presence and greater human rights protections are achievable for Papuans; and that, despite Carr's comments, principles can be espoused respectfully in any healthy bilateral relationship.
Dismissing suggestions that Australia might play a role in urging greater autonomy for the Papuans, Carr said: 'Indonesians have been very sensitive to human rights implications of law and order activity in the Papua provinces. I ask those idealistic Australians who might entertain some other arrangement, what would be the cost in terms of our friendship with Indonesia and of our budget of a different arrangement. It's inconceivable.'
While I do think Papuan independence is inconceivable, greater autonomy is not, and it ought not be. President Yudhoyono said early this year that he was willing to have dialogue with Papuans to solve the longest unresolved conflict in our region. Australia should put its weight behind any dialogue initiative. Now is the time for such a stand because Yudhoyono will leave office in two years. His successor might not be open to the same path.
Fr Frank Brennan SJ is professor of law, director of strategic research projects (social justice and ethics), Australian Catholic University, adjunct professor at the College of Law and the National Centre for Indigenous Studies, Australian National University. This article is taken from Fr Brennan's speech last night at the launch of Joel Hodge's Resisting Violence and Victimisation.
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