1) Vanuatu’s stand on West Papuan issue at the crossroads

1) Vanuatu’s stand on West Papuan issue at the crossroads

2) Indonesia should apply international human rights standards: UN

3) RI-Australia ties — It’s more important to be nice

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http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=72218

1) Vanuatu’s stand on West Papuan issue at the crossroads

RNZI Posted at 09:12 on 14 November, 2012 UTC

Vanuatu’s long-running support for West Papuan independence is at stake as the country’s newly-elected MPs attempt to form a government.

Ahead of next week’s first sitting of the new parliament, two groups are claiming majority support - one led by the caretaker Prime Minister Sato Kilman and the other by Edward Natapei of the Vanua’aku Pati.

Johnny Blades reports that the move by the Kilman-led government to strengthen ties with Indonesia, following the Melanesian Spearhead Group’s decision to grant Indonesia observer status, has left the Papua issue at a crossroads in Vanuatu.

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The Kilman government went against popular opinion in Vanuatu by forging closer links with Jakarta.

Ongoing human rights abuses suffered by the indigenous Melanesians in Indonesia’s Papua region are a very sensitive matter for ni-Vanuatu.

Edward Natapei says that in particular the agreement signed with Indonesia, precluding Vanuatu from raising the Papua issue, has hindered Vanuatu’s work on the issue.

“That is also another stumbling block so it’s going to be difficult for us to move forward with the West Papuan issue, unless we sit down and consider this agreement that was signed recently by the current caretaker government and also re-look at their (Indonesia) observer status in the MSG.”

The former Prime Minister, and leader of the Melanesian Progressive Party, Barak Sope, is deeply concerned about the role of Indonesia’s military in ongoing violence in Papua.

Heading into Vanuatu’s recent election, he promised he would cut relations with Indonesia if he got back into power.

Mr Sope is also concerned that the Melanesian Spearhead Group, under its current chairman, Fiji’s interim leader Commodore Frank Bainimarama, granted observer status to Indonesia.

“Fiji (Fiji’s regime) does not have the mandate from the people of Fiji to take such action. It’s a military dictatorship so I’m worried that a dictator comes in and brings Indonesia into this organisation. All of us are democratic countries, we all get ourselves elected, except Bainimarama. So I will not accept that position.”

West Papuans have been lobbying the MSG for observer status over many years, gaining hope from the precedent set for New Caledonia’s indigenous Kanaks.

While such hopes have continually been dashed, a younger generation of Vanuatu leaders like the newly elected Lugainville independent MP Kalvau Moli say the fight for Papuan self-determination will not end.

“The Melanesian bloc cannot be independent until West Papua is independent. Totally politically independent, we believe in that.”

Kalvau Moli says the MSG acceptance of Indonesia is a violation of the hopes of Melanesians.

“That mess will be cleared up but we’re going to be doing that the Melanesian way. and we think that a stronger (Vanuatu) government will be in a better position to address the West Papua issue, especially because the MSG (Secretariat) is based in Vanuatu but regrettably, we’ve done very little to cater for their calls. The first priority for me would be to put Papua back on the UN Decolonisation Committee, that’s a priority. Have that placed there and if we face difficulty there, that matter will be taken to the International Court of Justice.”

Under a Natapei-led government in 2010, Vanuatu decided to request UN support for the International Court of Justice to provide an advisory opinion on the process in which the former Netherlands New Guinea was ceded to Indonesia in the 1960s.

However Edward Natapei concedes the move hasn’t advanced.

“Vanuatu alone can’t do very much in the United Nations so it’s very important that we get the support of the MSG, get the support of the Pacific Islands Forum countries and then progress that forward; perhaps get the support of other countries in the Carribean and Africa.”

Vanuatu’s bid for UN support on the Papua issue is unlikely to progress if the Kilman group emerges as the government when Vanuatu’s parliament sits next week.---------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.antaranews.com/en/news/85593/indonesia-should-apply-international-human-rights-standards-un

2) Indonesia should apply international human rights standards: UN

Wed, November 14 2012 14:33 | 51 Views

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay, said that the Indonesian government should implement international human rights standards in its legislative regulations, at the local and national levels.

"In my discussion with the government, I stressed the importance of translating Indonesia`s international human rights obligations into the domestic law," she stated in a press conference at the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC), on Tuesday.

She also said that the international human rights standards have been applied in several countries. Therefore, she urged the government to do the same.

"This process has started in many areas. Hence, I encourage Indonesia to continue with this and resist any backsliding in legislative standards at the local and national levels," she expressed.

During her visit to Indonesia, she met several Indonesian ministers and officials, as well as representatives from disadvantaged and excluded communities. 

"Indonesia has given me the impression of a country of great diversity, which has been through major transformations in a very short period of time," Pillay said.

However, she added that the country has yet to strengthen accountability mechanisms, aimed at identifying responsibilities for past and present human rights violations. 

The UN High Commissioner also had the opportunity to meet the representatives from the Ahmaddiya, Christian, Shia and traditional belief communities.

She expressed concern over human rights violations against minorities in Indonesia.

"I was distressed to hear accounts of violent attacks, forced displacement, denial of identification cards and other forms of discrimination and harassment against them," Pillay stated.

"I was also concerned that the police had failed to provide adequate protection in these cases," she added.

Therefore, she recommended the government to amend or repeal the 1965 Blasphemy Law, the 1969 and 2006 ministerial decrees on building houses of worship and religious harmony, and the 2008 Joint Ministerial Decree on Ahmadiyya. 

"Of course, issues of community violence are complex and cannot be solved easily. However, I was particularly concerned about the statements made by officials, who are promoting religious discrimination," she said.

Pillay also urged the government to resolve the human rights violations that have occurred in the past, including murders of several students in the late 1990s and the crimes in Aceh and East Timor (what is now Timor Leste). 

However, she expressed regret at the way the past human rights cases were handled. She believes that there have not been credible prosecutions of perpetrators.

"There is a need to strengthen the political will to address serious human rights violations that took place in the past," she said. 

Pillay added that the world is waiting for justice on the murder of the human rights defender, Munir Said Thalib, which took place in 2004.

"I have requested a new investigation for this case, in order to establish clear responsibilities of the murder," she expressed.

Furthermore, she said that the UN agency for human rights has offered to help the government to promote human rights and best practices. 

"We will be glad to help in every possible way to improve the human rights conditions in Indonesia," she stated.

Navi Pillay arrived in Bali on November 7 to attend the fifth Bali Democracy Forum. She then visited Jakarta after getting an invitation from the government.

During her visit to Jakarta, Pillay met key personnel from the government, UN organisations and the diplomatic community, and national human rights institutions.(*)

Editor: Heru

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http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/11/14/ri-australia-ties-it-s-more-important-be-nice.html

3) RI-Australia ties — It’s more important to be nice

Sabam Siagian and Endy Bayuni, Jakarta | Opinion | Wed, November 14 2012, 9:58 AM

Australia has long been consistent in making the relationship with Indonesia one of the most important in its foreign policy. This was reaffirmed in Canberra’s latest white paper about Australia’s place in this Asian Century, where Indonesia is put along with China and India among Asian countries that Australia should be engaging with more, politically, economically and culturally.

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Australia’s relations with Indonesia, in terms of its stated foreign policy objectives, have never matched those stated in 1994 by then prime minister Paul Keating: “No country is more important to Australia than Indonesia.”

Subsequent leaders, from John Howard to Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard have made a point, again in terms of their policy objectives, of ranking Indonesia high on their list of priorities as reflected by the frequency of their visits, or by making Indonesia their first foreign stop upon taking office.

Tony Abbot, the leader of the opposition, in a recent speech in Washington DC said he would also make Indonesia his first visit if and when he became a prime minister.

Given the slim margin that Gillard has in parliament, the affable Abbot may well have seen himself as the prime minister-in-waiting when he visited Jakarta in October, accompanied by the shadow foreign minister Julie Bishop.

We have no reason to question Australia’s sincerity in making Indonesia an important partner, back in Keating’s days or now, as it prepares to integrate more with Asia. The changing of the guard in Canberra however may raise questions about whether Abbot, if elected, would embrace the policy recommendations in the white paper.

If history is any indication, Howard in 1996 overturned Keating’s pro-Jakarta policy, although he later personally tried to rebuild the bridges he had burned.

But of greater concern to us is that statements from Canberra playing up the importance of Indonesia often go to the heads of our officials leading Jakarta to take Australia for granted.

We have never heard any official publicly stating that the relationship with Australia is one of the most important for Indonesia. Admittedly there are other countries far more important than Australia, such as our ASEAN neighbors, China and Japan and India, but we should at the very least reciprocate the gesture of our giant southern neighbor now that we have seen the latest blueprint of Australia’s foreign policy objectives in this Asian Century.

As the famous, if somewhat clichéd, saying goes “it is nice to be important, but it is more important to be nice”, we should respond positively to Australia’s intentions to engage more with us. Indonesia should be nice to Australia, not for the sake of being nice, but for the sake of our national interests.

In spite or because of our vast differences, collaboration between Indonesia and Australia would be fruitful and certainly beneficial to both sides. We are two countries that could not be more different in terms of our geography, demographic makeup, history, traditions and culture, and the level of economic development and mastery of science and technology.

Using the development parlance of the 1970s that divided the world between the industrialized North and developing South, Australia is an anomaly geographically by being a Northern country located south of the equator, and Indonesia is a Southern country located north of Australia. Our contrasting differences give us symmetrical geopolitical interests.

The white paper in essence stated that since Australia’s fate and fortunes are tied to Asia and less to its traditional ties with the West (Europe and the US), the nation should seek to integrate closer with Asia by increasing its engagements with the region, in particular with emerging regional powers like China, India and Indonesia, along with Japan and South Korea.

The policy recommendations include the revival of Asian studies at Australian universities and the mandatory teaching of Asian languages (including Indonesian) in schools in order for Australians to better understand their Asian neighbors.

Besides calling for more trade and investment with the region, the paper gives a list of areas where Australia can contribute in the rise of Asia, such as its international-standard education and research facilities, including in the information and communications technology, its technology in food production and in mining, and in financial services.

Indonesia is already cooperating well with Australia in many areas such as the East Asia Summit (it was on Indonesia’s insistence, among others, that the summit be expanded beyond its strictly East Asian geographic locale), the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, the ASEAN processes and on issues such as people smuggling, communicable diseases and counter-terrorism.

Given their checkered past, relations between Indonesia and Australia today are at their historic best. They are deeper and broader. Gone are the days when one overriding issue drove the relations. The pebble in the shoe has been removed from the equation after Indonesia recognized the independent state of Timor Leste in 1999. There is ample room for improvement, nevertheless, and Indonesia and Australia should explore the opportunities so that both profit from their ties.

The white paper calls on the Australian community in Indonesia to help promote greater engagement between the two countries. Indonesia has a large and growing diaspora in Australia, and now that it has become an official policy to recognize the value of diasporas, the government should make full use of them. Indonesia also has yet to tap into the large number of its citizens who have studied at and graduated from Australian universities.

In economics, the two countries are busy working on a comprehensive partnership agreement that will remove many non-tariff barriers to trade. Once put in place, there is no reason why we cannot trade more with each other. In spite of our geographical proximity, Indonesia does not count among the major trading partners of Australia, and vice versa.

In foreign policy, Indonesia and Australia, along with India should look into the possibility of fostering cooperation among the littoral states along the Indian Ocean. We have seen how such a forum grew and developed among countries bordering the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Given the economic rise of the major countries on this side of the ocean, the time is ripe to expand the Indian Ocean forum.

Indonesia can also assist Australia in overcoming its foreign policy ambivalence as it changes from being part of the Western world (culturally and economically) to becoming a full member of the Asian club.

The way it stands at the moment, Australia treats China as its ATM and the US as its security guards. This is an anomaly that can be resolved if Australia embraces Indonesia’s principle of an active and independent foreign policy that has survived the test of time. We are not suggesting that Australia sever its traditional security ties with the US, but it would do well for itself and the region if it showed itself to be more independent (and flexible) in approaching its geopolitical and security interests.

Culturally, Australia is also becoming more multicultural through immigration, with a growing component of mostly enterprising Asians. Like it or not, the “Asianization” of Australia is taking place within its society and this only complements the policy of integrating with Asia. Very soon, Australia will look more and more like Asia, of course with its own distinct history, tradition and cultures.

We look forward to our closer engagement with the new Australia. There is no reason why Indonesia and Australia cannot grow and prosper together in this Asian Century.

The writers are senior editors of The Jakarta Post and former editors-in-chief of the newspaper. They are Class 1979 and Class 2004 of the Nieman Fellowship program for journalists at Harvard University. Siagian was formerly Indonesia’s ambassador to Australia.