1) Kontras receives int’l award on human rights
2) Police in Papua to set up team to investigate terror incidents around Freeport
3) LP3BH-Manokwari calls for dialogue between Papua and Indonesia
4) Keating urges Australia to focus on Indonesia
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http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/11/14/kontras-receives-int-l-award-human-rights.html
1) Kontras receives int’l award on human rights
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | National | Wed, November 14 2012, 8:04 PM
The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), a non-governmental organization advocating human rights issues, has received the Emilio F. Mignone International Human Rights Prize 2012 from the Argentina government.
“I want to congratulate you for the award on behalf of my embassy and government,” Argentina Ambassador Javier A. Sanz de Urquiza said on Wednesday at the Kontras office in Jakarta.
Javier said that Kontras was chosen from among 49 other NGOs around the globe for its lasting commitment to promoting human rights in Indonesia.
The NGO was founded in 1998 by activists and organizations that initially wanted to seek justice for many cases of forced disappearances in the country during the New Order era.
“We are grateful for this award. It is like a breath of fresh air for us amid the uncertain commitment of the Indonesian government to resolve cases of human rights violations,” Kontras coordinator Haris Azhar said.
The Indonesian government, according to Haris, has been less than committed to solving human rights abuse cases.
The Attorney General’s Office (AGO), for instance, recently rejected a National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) report stating that the 1965 communist purge was a gross human rights violation and declined to probe the atrocity. The AGO said that the commission needed to gather more evidence before declaring the 1965 incident a gross human rights violation.
“We hope that this award will make our government eager to resolve human rights abuse cases,” Haris said. (riz/iwa)
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2) Police in Papua to set up team to investigate terror incidents around FReeport
Bintang Papua, 9 November, 2012
Timika: The chief of police in Papua has announced that he will be setting up a special team to investigate recent acts of terror in the vicinity of the Freeport copper-and-gold mine which is located in the district of Mimika,
Inspector-General Tito Karnavian said that the special team will be charged with mapping the incidents and investigating each one so ensure that they are properly solved.
'The team will be instructed to handle each case seriously.What happens at present that when an incident occurs, everyone talks about it but then is disappears.'
The chief of police spent two days in the area with a number of officers and inspected the open pit mining (Grasberg) as well as the underground mines.
He stressed the need for the incidents to be handled seriously. There have been a number of shootings in the Freeport area since 2009, but in most cases, the perpetrators have not been found.
During the past three years, he said, there have been 'hundreds' of shooting incidents leading to the death of twenty people which has included members of the police force, members of the company's internal security force as well as local people who are involved in traditional mining.
As regards the general situation in Papua, the chief of police said that everything is quiet and under control. He went on to say that there have been a number of terror incidents in Wamena which have been solved as well as cases of the discovery of explosive material in Timika. Six people who are thought to be involved in explosive material are currently in the custody of the police and are being interrogated. He said that the cases are being handled in accordance with legal procedures. 'Anyone who is deemed to be guilty will be processed according to the law.'
[Translated by TAPOL]
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3) LP3BH-Manokwari calls for dialogue between Papua and Indonesia
COMMENT by Yan Christian Warinussy, the Executive-Director of LP3BH, Manokwari
In the concluding months of 2012, there have been many more acts of violence in Papua and West Papua which reflects very badly on the government of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) at a time when development, good governance and security are essential in the Land of Papua as an integral part of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI). This is happening as a time when many countries which are members of the UN Human Rights Council are closely watching the situation, following the Universal Periodic Review in May 2012, which made 180 recommendations, thirty of which were rejected by the Indonesian government.
One of the recommendations that was rejected was that arrests and detentions on the basis of Articles 106 and 110 for treason should stop. This means that the state will continue to take firm measures, possibly including the use of firearms, against peaceful actions by members of civil society who give expression to their opinions and political views which are opposed to the views of the government. Several activists of the National Committee of West Papua (KNPB) have been summoned and interrogated and are likely to be charged for treason. One of these activists is Alexander Nekenem, chairman of the DWP, the local parliament, who was recently summoned by the police in Manokwari.
The Indonesian government has also rejected the recommendation regarding freedom of expression for persons who have been detained merely for taking peaceful actions, a recommendation that was made by the USA and Canada. What this means is that Filep Kara, Forkorus Yaboisembut, Edison Waromi, Selpius Bobii, Sananay Karma and Dominikus Sorabut will continue to be deprived of their lawful right to freedom of expression.
Another very bad thing for the Papuan people is that the Indonesian government has rejected the recommendation by the Japanese government which called on Indonesia to end all violation of human rights by the security forces (TNI and Polri, the army and the police), because the Indonesian government claims that this is not relevant for Papua because it is not in accord with the facts, whatever they mean by the facts. In my opinion, the Indonesian government's rejection of this means that there will continue to be an intensification of violence and hence systematic abuses of basic human rights which will continue to occur into the future in the Land of Papua.
In view of all this, as Executive Director of the LP3BH and a defender of human rights in the Land of Papua, I urge the SBY government to open up space for dialogue between Papua and Indonesia before the end of 2012. The SBY government should appoint a team of people to meet Father Dr. Neles Tebay, co-ordinator of the Papuan Peace Network, in order to discuss the format of this dialogue. This would mean that by early 2013, preparations could be started for a dialogue between the Indonesian government and the Papuan people.
In my opinion, dialogue is the best path to take, in the interests of justice, peace and dignity on both sides, as the way, according to universal standards, to resolve the conflicting political views which have existed for such a long time, causing the deep frustration that has borne down both on the Papuan people and the Indonesian government to this very day.
In this way, the Indonesian government would win the respect of the international community for having accepted that the political conflict that has lasted for such a long time should be resolved b means of dialogue.
[Translated by TAPOL]
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http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-11-15/keating-urges-australia-to-focus-on-indonesia/4372574
4) Keating urges Australia to focus on Indonesia
Former prime minister Paul Keating says Australia needs to dramatically improve its relationship with Indonesia and stop being subservient to the United States.
Mr Keating delivered the Keith Murdoch Oration in Melbourne last night, with a speech titled "Asia in the new order: Australia's diminishing sphere of influence".
Before making the speech, he spoke to Lateline, and said Indonesia should become Australia's most important strategic relationship.
He said the current relationship had no structure or coherence and was full of transactional issues like live cattle exports and refugee management.
"Our natural stamping ground is South-East Asia," he told Lateline.
"The effort we should be making is with the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN). In fact, I'm suggesting in the speech we should be a member of ASEAN.
"We should be redoubling our efforts on the bilateral relationship with Indonesia. Where Indonesia goes strategically, so go we, in which case the rise of that great state is centrally important. Our strategic bread is entirely buttered in the Indonesian archipelago.
"This is at our neighbourhood, this is at our doorstep - rather than simply trying to second guess the Americans and the Chinese about the South China Sea or North Asia."
Mr Keating says Australia will always be friends with the United States, but the strategic power of the west is diminishing.
He argues that Australian acquiescence to US foreign policy demands during the governments of former prime ministers John Howard, Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard has damaged Australian independence and hurt relations with Asia.
"I think that we are far too deferential to what we see as the proclivities of US foreign policy vis-a-vis our own," he said.
"Not knowing when to strike out on your own, not knowing when to map out your prerogatives and where the lines are all blurred with their own. Howard described himself as a deputy sheriff, remember this, in Asia.
"In the WikiLeaks cables, the Chinese discovered that Kevin Rudd was urging the Americans to keep the military option open against them. This is hardly a friendly gesture.
"And of course we had President Obama make an aggressive anti-Chinese speech fundamentally in our parliamentary chamber, the so-called pivot speech.
"We're in the lee of the great whoosh of American policy making for good or for bad - we have been. Now, we're entitled to pick the eyes out of it. but we should not expect to be taken for bunnies."
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