2) Growing HIV/AIDS awareness in Indonesia’s Papua region
3) RI, PNG agree to ‘soft’ border approach
4) Indonesia, Papua New
Guinea Cooperate in Defense Industry
5) Garuda
Indonesia to serve new route to Port Moresby
6) Carr calls solidarity with West Papua 'cruel', backs Indonesian
violence
7) In Dogiay Also, Thousands of People Support Request a Demo MSG
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http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=76880
Posted at 19:39 on 18 June, 2013 UTC
The Secretary General of the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation Rex Rumakiek has expressed disappointment at signs the Melanesian Spearhead Group will defer a decision on the West Papuan application for membership in the group.
A decision on the formal application by the Coalition was expected at the 19th MSG Leaders Summit, which gets underway in New Caledonia today.
The summit has been preceded by a meeting of MSG Foreign Ministers who say the political sensitivity of the West Papuan self-determination issue is such the MSG needs more time to consider the membership bid.
Papua is part of Indonesia, which is an MSG Observer.
While the MSG leaders have the ultimate say on the matter, Mr Rumakiek says the suffering of West Papuans must be considered.
“We as an organisation representing a people who have been suffering for fifty years, we do respect the decision of whatever they come up with but we do hope that the leaders will not accept the position, the officials’ decision on this because we’ve suffered for fifty years and we don’t want to suffer for another fifty years.”
Rex Rumakiek
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http://www.irinnews.org/report/98245/growing-hiv-aids-awareness-in-indonesia-s-papua-region
2) Growing HIV/AIDS awareness in Indonesia’s Papua region
JAKARTA, 18 June 2013 (IRIN) - Efforts to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS in the Indonesian provinces of Papua, which has among the country’s highest rates of infection, and West Papua are making steady though slow progress, say aid workers and government officials.
“People there believed that HIV/AIDS was a curse from God, but that’s no longer the general perception,” Setyo Warsono, a spokesman for the government’s National AIDS Commission (KPA), told IRIN.
Since 2005, reported HIV infections have increased in both these provinces annually, with 535 new cases reported in West Papua and 3,028 in Papua in 2012, where infection rates have outpaced the national average. In Papua new cases more than doubled from 687 in 2009 to 2,499 in 2010.
Tanah Papua (a local term that includes both Papua and West Papua provinces), 2,000km east of Jakarta, has some of the lowest levels of human development of Indonesia’s 33 provinces, according to the government.
According to a 2012 report from the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), Tanah Papua was experiencing a low-level HIV epidemic, with a prevalence of 2.4 percent among the general population (versus a national average of 0.3 percent). About 30,000 people (22,210 in Papua and 7,160 in West Papua) are estimated to be living with HIV today.
Reaching them early
HIV prevalence among people aged 15-24 in Tanah Papua is 3 percent.
In 2010 the Papua provincial government, in partnership with UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), introduced a decree to integrate HIV education in schools in Papua Province, which included curriculum development, teacher training and HIV policy support at the district level.
So far, 876 teachers in 58 secondary schools and 47 primary schools have received the training.
“From zero teachers in schools teaching HIV awareness, we’ve increased the level markedly,” said Margaret Sheehan, UNICEF’s chief of office in Jayapura, the capital of Papua Province. “But there’s still a degree of reluctance from teachers to talk about how HIV can be transmitted through sex. More sensitization work still needs to take place so teachers feel more comfortable.”
UNICEF plans to incorporate HIV education into an upcoming training programme for teachers in rural areas in partnership with the Papua and West Papua governments.
But with 38 percent of children aged 7-15 out of school, and the highest provincial proportion of out-of-school children nationwide, aid workers are looking elsewhere to reach youths.
UNICEF is offering life-skills training at youth and Protestant church clubs in a part of the country where church leaders are esteemed in the community and most youths participate in church groups.
The Papua provincial KPA is using radio, TV and a well-known local football team (given young people’s love of football in the province) to disseminate HIV education.
Accessing remote areas
Caritas Australia is working with a local NGO to train volunteer peer educators, as well as broadcasting HIV prevention messages through the radio and concerts in the Papuan district of Merauke.
For the NGO’s programme coordinator in Indonesia, Terry Russell, poor rural infrastructure has been one of the biggest barriers to spreading HIV education.
“Remote villages have no mobile phone contact, so pre-visits are necessary, and often roads have worsened due to weather or a bridge being down, so the process can be very time-consuming,” he said.
In 2011, the government set up a unit in Papua and West Papua to accelerate infrastructure development in Papua’s remote areas, where more than one million indigenous Papuans live, according to local media.
Progress
Though slow, progress has been steady, say aid workers.
“In 2005, people with HIV/AIDS in Merauke were shunned by their families, but now many more are accepted and many more are willing to undergo HIV/AIDS testing,” said Russell. In 2008 some 5,000 people in Tanah Papua were tested for HIV; as of 31 May this year, that figure has risen to 31,443.
UNICEF’s Sheehan said HIV messages on government-sponsored billboards and TV ads are now clearer. Whereas in the past there were billboards of leaders saying “We don’t want HIV”, posters now feature youths with HIV-prevention messages.
According to the KPA’s Warsono, as of 2013 the government has set up local commissions to continue raising awareness about HIV in 19 of Papua’s 29 districts, and in all of West Papua’s 13 districts.
mw/pt/cb
“People there believed that HIV/AIDS was a curse from God, but that’s no longer the general perception,” Setyo Warsono, a spokesman for the government’s National AIDS Commission (KPA), told IRIN.
Since 2005, reported HIV infections have increased in both these provinces annually, with 535 new cases reported in West Papua and 3,028 in Papua in 2012, where infection rates have outpaced the national average. In Papua new cases more than doubled from 687 in 2009 to 2,499 in 2010.
Tanah Papua (a local term that includes both Papua and West Papua provinces), 2,000km east of Jakarta, has some of the lowest levels of human development of Indonesia’s 33 provinces, according to the government.
According to a 2012 report from the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), Tanah Papua was experiencing a low-level HIV epidemic, with a prevalence of 2.4 percent among the general population (versus a national average of 0.3 percent). About 30,000 people (22,210 in Papua and 7,160 in West Papua) are estimated to be living with HIV today.
Reaching them early
HIV prevalence among people aged 15-24 in Tanah Papua is 3 percent.
In 2010 the Papua provincial government, in partnership with UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), introduced a decree to integrate HIV education in schools in Papua Province, which included curriculum development, teacher training and HIV policy support at the district level.
So far, 876 teachers in 58 secondary schools and 47 primary schools have received the training.
“From zero teachers in schools teaching HIV awareness, we’ve increased the level markedly,” said Margaret Sheehan, UNICEF’s chief of office in Jayapura, the capital of Papua Province. “But there’s still a degree of reluctance from teachers to talk about how HIV can be transmitted through sex. More sensitization work still needs to take place so teachers feel more comfortable.”
UNICEF plans to incorporate HIV education into an upcoming training programme for teachers in rural areas in partnership with the Papua and West Papua governments.
But with 38 percent of children aged 7-15 out of school, and the highest provincial proportion of out-of-school children nationwide, aid workers are looking elsewhere to reach youths.
UNICEF is offering life-skills training at youth and Protestant church clubs in a part of the country where church leaders are esteemed in the community and most youths participate in church groups.
The Papua provincial KPA is using radio, TV and a well-known local football team (given young people’s love of football in the province) to disseminate HIV education.
Accessing remote areas
Caritas Australia is working with a local NGO to train volunteer peer educators, as well as broadcasting HIV prevention messages through the radio and concerts in the Papuan district of Merauke.
For the NGO’s programme coordinator in Indonesia, Terry Russell, poor rural infrastructure has been one of the biggest barriers to spreading HIV education.
“Remote villages have no mobile phone contact, so pre-visits are necessary, and often roads have worsened due to weather or a bridge being down, so the process can be very time-consuming,” he said.
In 2011, the government set up a unit in Papua and West Papua to accelerate infrastructure development in Papua’s remote areas, where more than one million indigenous Papuans live, according to local media.
Progress
Though slow, progress has been steady, say aid workers.
“In 2005, people with HIV/AIDS in Merauke were shunned by their families, but now many more are accepted and many more are willing to undergo HIV/AIDS testing,” said Russell. In 2008 some 5,000 people in Tanah Papua were tested for HIV; as of 31 May this year, that figure has risen to 31,443.
UNICEF’s Sheehan said HIV messages on government-sponsored billboards and TV ads are now clearer. Whereas in the past there were billboards of leaders saying “We don’t want HIV”, posters now feature youths with HIV-prevention messages.
According to the KPA’s Warsono, as of 2013 the government has set up local commissions to continue raising awareness about HIV in 19 of Papua’s 29 districts, and in all of West Papua’s 13 districts.
mw/pt/cb
Theme (s): Children, HIV/AIDS (PlusNews),
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
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3) RI, PNG agree to ‘soft’ border approach
Indonesia and its neighbor Papua New Guinea (PNG) agreed to use a “soft” approach in the border areas between the two nations often used by separatists to evade Indonesian security forces, leaders of the two countries stated on Monday.PNG Prime Minister Peter O’Neill led a delegation of government officials and business leaders on a three-day visit to Jakarta on Monday, aimed at strengthening bilateral ties between the two neighboring countries.
“Soft border management will mean citizens of both countries will interact better economically and socially,” President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said during a joint press conference after the meeting. “We agreed to renew the border arrangement.”
Yudhoyono also thanked PNG for its consistency in supporting Indonesia’s sovereignty while O’Neill said both countries “continue to respect each other’s sovereignty”.
It was the second meeting between Yudhoyono and O’Neill after a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Bali Democracy Forum last year.
The two leaders signed 11 deals, including the agreement on border arrangements, as well as an extradition treaty and agreements on trade and education cooperation, at a bilateral meeting at the State Palace on Monday.
The approximately 760-kilometer land border between PNG and Indonesia’s Papua province is also host to many other issues, including poverty and illegal crossing by various tribes and people from Papua.
Critics have said poverty in border areas is a result of the implementation of a security approach during Indonesia’s New Order regime.
Yudhoyono, however, would not say whether or not the currently out-of-date Indonesia-PNG border crossing cards were also discussed in the meeting.
The Indonesia-Papua New Guinea border in Skouw-Wutung, just outside Jayapura, Papua, was reopened to border crossers on May 20 after being closed for around three weeks.
PNG had banned Indonesians from entering PNG on the grounds that their border crossing cards had expired on March 18.
The cards were valid from March 18, 2003, based on an agreement between both governments on border arrangements signed on March 18, 2003.
Yudhoyono went on to say the extradition treaty was also important for Indonesia.
His statement comes in the wake of the case of Indonesian corruption fugitive Joko Tjandra, who
fled to PNG where he was granted citizenship.
Attorney General Basrief Arief said on the sidelines of the event that the process of extradition would now be easier, including that for Joko. However, he did not disclose when Indonesia would ask PNG to repatriate Joko.
PNG and Indonesia signed a treaty of mutual respect, cooperation and friendship on Oct. 27 1986 to regulate relations and define rights and obligations in border areas. In the ensuing years, the countries have held regular meetings to discuss bilateral issues.
O’Neill told the press conference on Monday that the meeting had set a foundation for better cooperation between the two countries, particularly on border management and extradition.
He welcomed the decision to implement softer border management so that the people of PNG could engage better with Indonesians, saying that PNG “is ready to assist Indonesia in addressing the many challenges in those areas”.
Trade was also on the agenda of O’Neill’s trip to Indonesia as the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding on petroleum and resource management.
“It is important for us to do business with Indonesian business people,” O’Neill said.
On May 21, Indonesia agreed to team up with Papua New Guinea to explore potential oil and gas reserves in border areas as the former shifts its oil and gas exploration focus to the eastern part of the archipelago.
Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Jero Wacik said after a meeting with PNG Public Enterprises and State Investment Minister Ben Micah that “the border possesses a huge amount of unexplored oil and gas reserves, according to data obtained by our team”.
Micah said his country also hoped its national petroleum companies would form a joint venture with oil and gas firm PT Pertamina to jointly develop hydrocarbon reserves in the areas.
Yudhoyono also thanked PNG for its consistency in supporting Indonesia’s sovereignty while O’Neill said both countries “continue to respect each other’s sovereignty”.
It was the second meeting between Yudhoyono and O’Neill after a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Bali Democracy Forum last year.
The two leaders signed 11 deals, including the agreement on border arrangements, as well as an extradition treaty and agreements on trade and education cooperation, at a bilateral meeting at the State Palace on Monday.
The approximately 760-kilometer land border between PNG and Indonesia’s Papua province is also host to many other issues, including poverty and illegal crossing by various tribes and people from Papua.
Critics have said poverty in border areas is a result of the implementation of a security approach during Indonesia’s New Order regime.
Yudhoyono, however, would not say whether or not the currently out-of-date Indonesia-PNG border crossing cards were also discussed in the meeting.
The Indonesia-Papua New Guinea border in Skouw-Wutung, just outside Jayapura, Papua, was reopened to border crossers on May 20 after being closed for around three weeks.
PNG had banned Indonesians from entering PNG on the grounds that their border crossing cards had expired on March 18.
The cards were valid from March 18, 2003, based on an agreement between both governments on border arrangements signed on March 18, 2003.
Yudhoyono went on to say the extradition treaty was also important for Indonesia.
His statement comes in the wake of the case of Indonesian corruption fugitive Joko Tjandra, who
fled to PNG where he was granted citizenship.
Attorney General Basrief Arief said on the sidelines of the event that the process of extradition would now be easier, including that for Joko. However, he did not disclose when Indonesia would ask PNG to repatriate Joko.
PNG and Indonesia signed a treaty of mutual respect, cooperation and friendship on Oct. 27 1986 to regulate relations and define rights and obligations in border areas. In the ensuing years, the countries have held regular meetings to discuss bilateral issues.
O’Neill told the press conference on Monday that the meeting had set a foundation for better cooperation between the two countries, particularly on border management and extradition.
He welcomed the decision to implement softer border management so that the people of PNG could engage better with Indonesians, saying that PNG “is ready to assist Indonesia in addressing the many challenges in those areas”.
Trade was also on the agenda of O’Neill’s trip to Indonesia as the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding on petroleum and resource management.
“It is important for us to do business with Indonesian business people,” O’Neill said.
On May 21, Indonesia agreed to team up with Papua New Guinea to explore potential oil and gas reserves in border areas as the former shifts its oil and gas exploration focus to the eastern part of the archipelago.
Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Jero Wacik said after a meeting with PNG Public Enterprises and State Investment Minister Ben Micah that “the border possesses a huge amount of unexplored oil and gas reserves, according to data obtained by our team”.
Micah said his country also hoped its national petroleum companies would form a joint venture with oil and gas firm PT Pertamina to jointly develop hydrocarbon reserves in the areas.
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4) Indonesia, Papua New Guinea Cooperate in Defense Industry
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro greeted Papua New Guinea Defense Minister Fabian Pok in the Ministry's Office in Central Jakarta on Tuesday, June 18, 2013.
In a press conference, Purnomo said that the visit was a follow up to Papua New Guinea's President Peter Charles O'Neill visit to the Presidential Palace yesterday. "We want a stronger cooperation between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea," Purnomo said.
He further added that the issue of border security was included in the discussion, where both parties believe that the cooperation has to go beyond military cooperation, and that both countries want to involve in social issues as well. For instance, the National Military (TNI) members who are responsible for border security will go to remote areas in Papua New Guinea and perform social works or give training to local people.
"Mr. Secretary General of the Defense Ministry (Lieutenant General Budiman) once went to Papua New Guinea and gave training," Purnomo continued.
Minister Fabian also stated his interest in strengthening cooperation with Indonesia. "We are interested in the growing Indonesian defense industry," he said in the press conference. Before this, Fabian said, Papua New Guinea had cooperated with several Indonesian defense industries, such as in the production of individual armory with Pindad, and the production of uniform with Sritex.
INDRA WIJAYA
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http://www.islandsbusiness.com/news/indonesia/1546/garuda-indonesia-to-serve-new-route-to-port-moresb/Garuda Indonesia to serve new route to Port Moresby
5) Garuda Indonesia to serve new route to Port Moresby
JAKARTA, Indonesia ---National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia will start serving the Jakarta-Port Moresby route in August, as it seeks to fly to untapped new markets in the Oceania region.
Papua New Guinea’s national airline, Air Niugini, is also set to serve the same route connecting Soekarno-Hatta International Airport to Port Moresby International Airport.
It was not immediately clear, however, when Air Niugini would initiate the new route, Indonesian Transportation Minister E. E. Mangindaan said.
He said a related agreement was made during a bilateral meeting between Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and visiting Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill on Monday.
“[Garuda] will serve two flights per week, via Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali. Both Garuda and Air Niugini are ready for this,” Mangindaan said after the meeting at the presidential palace in Jakarta.
He said that there have never been direct flights offered from Jakarta to the Pacific region, adding that travelers had to first stop in Australia before continuing their journey.
“Pacific nations such as Fiji have been hoping for a flight serving the region. There has been no direct air connectivity [from Jakarta to Pacific nations], so the flight to Port Moresby will serve as a bridge to the Pacific islands,” Mangindaan said.
Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Mari Elka Pangestu added that Indonesia and Papua New Guinea also inked on Monday a new partnership to develop the two countries’ tourism.
“There’s also a plan to expand the coverage of Sail Raja Ampat 2014 to Papua New Guinea,” Mari said, referring to Indonesia’s annual yacht rally event that will be based in Raja Ampat, Papua, next year.
“We hope [PNG] will facilitate some security and trans-border issues [related to the event],” Mari said.
Indonesia and PNG have been stepping up economic, trade and investment cooperation since Yudhoyono visited the country earlier this year.
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6) Carr calls solidarity with West Papua 'cruel', backs Indonesian violence
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Free West Papua solidarity action in Melbourne, August 2012.
Greens Senator Richard Di Natale questioned foreign minister Bob Carr on June 5 during a senate hearing on human rights abuses in West Papua.
Carr’s response was to deride the international solidarity movement for West Papua. This movement, Carr claimed, “are planting in the minds of people who actually live in the place the notion that this campaign has some kind of international resonance and that is a cruel deceit by self-indulgent people safe in their own beds, safe in a democracy”.
“It is a cruel deceit about the potential of a demand for secessionism.”
Di Natale replied that it is “incredibly patronising and incredibly arrogant that you would suggest that a movement within a nation of people who are able to make decisions for themselves are somehow being controlled by people externally.”
He said: “I personally have never stood up for independence for the West Papuan people. I have stood up for the right of the West Papuan people to make decisions for themselves.”
Melbourne-based West Papuan activist Ronny Kareni told ABC radio on June 11 that his people’s demand is for independence. “The cycle has been driven and initiated by the Papuans themselves, and it has been 50 years that we've been calling for recognition ...
“We're trying to build solidarity, to raise the international awareness of what has been happening in West Papua. And the issue is not a domestic issue in Indonesia, it is an international issue that in the '60s, the Australian government and also with the US pretty much masterminded and engineered West Papua to be handed over to Indonesia in '69, which was officially recognised in that sham referendum.”
Though clearly upset at Carr’s comments, Kareni also recognised that “at the end of the day we know the standing position of the current government”.
Carr told the hearings that the Australian embassy in Indonesia does routinely “express Australian concerns about the behaviour of security forces, including police, in West Papua”. However, he said: “We do it in the context of accepting Indonesian sovereignty over the territories as a matter of international law.”
Indeed, the Australian government is careful to repeat its position on independence whenever the West Papua issue is brought up. Indonesia complained to Australia in May after Benny Wenda, founder of the Free West Papua campaign, gave a speech at a non-profit TED conference in Sydney calling for independence.
The British government also goes out of its way to keep good relations with Indonesia. After Wenda opened a Free West Papua office in Oxford, the Telegraph said that leading candidates in Indonesia's presidential election next year called for a review of British investments in the country, including BP’s 7.5 billion pound natural gas deal in the waters off Papua.
“It is vital that we do not allow the West Papua issue to damage our work with Indonesia,” a British government spokesperson said in response.
A spokesperson from the Indonesian embassy in London said: “We want to make sure that the British government is more wary of the separatists who are willing to twist the position of officials to make it appear that their cause is gaining support.”
Australia has similar concerns. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade says Australia and Indonesia shared a two-way trade worth $14.9 billion in 2011-12, and two-way investment worth about $5.9 billion in 2011. Indonesia is Australia’s fourth-largest trading partner in ASEAN and Australia’s 12th-largest trading partner overall.
Carr and the Indonesian government are keen to downplay the international campaign in support of West Papua, but the movement is steadily growing. One big breakthrough could be the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) meeting starting June 19.
The West Papua National Coalition for Liberation (WPNCL) has been officially invited to attend the conference for the first time. Controversially, Indonesia already has observer status. The WPNCL is seeking the same or, ideally, full membership.
Such a move would aid their strategy of building international support. Andy Ayamiseba, a spokesperson for WPNCL, told Radio New Zealand: “It definitely will elevate the status of the struggle and by having support from our immediate region we could go international because the international community will see that yes it is true the immediate region where West Papua is, has given their support.”
Victor Yeimo, chairperson of the West Papua National Commitee (KNPB), has been imprisoned since May 13 after leading a rally supporting West Papuan self determination. His organisation clearly doesn’t deride international support.
He wrote ">"a letter to the MSG asking for West Papua’s membership, adding: “Melanesian Leaders, this is opportunity for you to take action in MSG. We have to defend and protect our land and the people strongly, more than economic and political benefit of colonial and capitalist.”
From GLW issue 969
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A google translate of posting on KNPB webpage. Be-aware google translate can be a bit erratic.
Original bahasa at
7) In Dogiay Also, Thousands of People Support Request a Demo MSG
June 18, 2013 By: admin Category: Regional KNPB
Atmosphere mass rally action
Dogiay, KNPBnews - As with other areas in the whole country outside Papua and Papua, today (18/6) thousands of West Papuans in the area Dogiay MSG also requested support for Papuan independence struggle. Conducted brought the action command Dogiay KNPB is done right in Moanemani Market.
Mass action initially gathered at three points in Odedimi, South Kamuu and Sepan Dogiay Parliament office. Mass moving at 09.00 and headed to the terminal Moanemani tertip with typical song culture Waita. In the terminal, chairman KNPB Dogiay region, David Pigai together with members of the Regional People's Parliament Angora convey political stance.
"We support the MSG in Kanaky, we hope West Papua Melanesia listed into the family, and help us to be independent from the Indonesian occupiers", said David Pigai. Political speeches alternately performed, and the Speaker of Parliament also attended Meepago, Abel Nawipa and PRD members Nabire and Paniai.
Mass action ends at 3:00 pm. According to media reporter's observation, action peaceful struggle in this area was first performed, because this area has long been in the area of military operations.
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