1) Braving risk for her home
2) Freeport to Resume Underground Mining Operations in Papua
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The Fiji Times Online
1) Braving risk for her home
Solomoni Biumaiono
Monday, July 08, 2013
OLGA Hamadi is one of the few people who work in West Papua to ensure international and local human rights laws and regulations are adhered to by the relevant authorities and members of the public.
Right up to the extent of exposing herself and her family to threats of violence from some sections of the community as her work involves standing up against alleged police brutality, and violence against women, violence in general and other forms of human rights abuses.
"In West Papua we have human rights abuse and disappearance cases also. We advocate against violence and we criticise the military and police and ask them to change their attitude and ask them to change the regulations also.
"I like it (work) because I can help people because I know the (human rights) regulations. I studied it so I can help the people. I use my role when a case happens and conduct press releases when I have data," Olga said.
The 31-year-old was born and bred in Jayapura and she studied law at Cenderawsih University in Jayapura and did her Masters Degree in law at Gadya Mada University in Yogjakarta in Java.
She works as a human rights lawyer for a West Papuan non-governmental organisation called the Commission for Disappearances and Victims of Violence or Kontras Papua.
The NGO was formed in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta in the 1990s as means to help ensure that West Papuans are treated well under international human rights conventions and under the regulations the Indonesian Government has given to West Papuan authorities.
And it is in this line of work that Olga risks her life and that of her family trying to live her childhood dream to be a lawyer. She sees this not just a job but more of a calling.
She has been pressured because the authorities paint her as a West Papuan separatist because she is a native Papuan.
West Papuan separatists are people who are leading a political and military movement against the rule of the Indonesian government in West Papua. This movement has been in existence since the 1960s. The movement largely consists of native Papuans.
When Olga represents the separatists or criticises the police and military, she is often branded as one of them but to her, she is simply standing for justice because of her passion and status as a human rights lawyer.
"No, I am not a separatist. We focus on human right issues, sometimes we focus on the military and police because we focus on victim issues and state violence. And then because I am a lawyer, I assist Papuan people, recent cases like when they conduct demonstrations, raise the Morning Star, I do my job but also I got stigmatised from the police as a separatist myself," she said.
"Because for me, I focus on human rights issues, our government talks about human rights issues, I also help government to promote human rights through their own regulations.
"I just enjoy what I do.
"First, because I wanted to become a lawyer, and in these institutions I learnt how to assist people and the police, and assist people who have problems."
She said she also helped the police who sometimes had a different perspective on the people of West Papua.
"Like when we criticise them and because they use their guns, they think we're enemies (but) we do the legal things," Olga said.
Since she graduated, she has worked for the Papua Legal Aid for four years from 2005 and is now co-ordinator of Kontras Papua. As it is, she has no career or personal plans as she would rather stay in West Papua than any other place.
"Not many people do this, maybe some NGOs, like when we talk about lawyers we have many lawyers in West Papua but only have a few who do human rights.
"Being a human rights defender, it's like we have a security (issue). It is still a problem because no work can guarantee us our safety. It's still a problem. It's not only for me but for others like activists, church leaders and journalists," Olga said.
Recently she attended the Eastern Mennonite University's Summer Peacebuilding Institute in Virginia, USA where she undertook courses that will contribute to a postgraduate certificate qualification in peacebuilding and conflict resolution.
She did this with the hope of expanding the scope of her work and to help her try different approaches she thinks are more peaceful and can help resolve issues in an amicable manner. She hopes these will also bring about a change in the perceptions of the people of West Papua.
On the other hand, the Indonesian Government maintains human rights conventions have been in existence in every Indonesian province since its Independence.
An Indonesian Embassy in Fiji official says the Indonesian Government does not condone police brutality and powers rest with its very own Human Rights Commission or fact-finding mission teams to investigate cases of alleged brutality.
The Indonesian Embassy economic affairs officer, Tito Octavianus, says lawyers have nothing to fear when working in West Papua.
Ocatavianus said: "So I do not quite agree that as a lawyer, other people will harm them. They have to think twice if they want to harm a lawyer.
"If that lawyer can conduct professionally based on the code of conduct as a lawyer, which is to defend their clients and then not make any statement on the political matters, I think that lawyer should not be afraid of being branded as a separatist."
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2) Freeport to Resume Underground Mining Operations in Papua
The Indonesian government gave US mining giant Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold the go-ahead of resume operations at its Grasberg mine on Tuesday after a deadly tunnel collapse suspended operations for nearly two months.
“From everything that has been done, that has been taken into consideration, including pressure from the community and local government, [we] have decided ok, it’s safe,” Deputy Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Susilo Siswoutomo said in a prepared statement.
The central government’s independent investigation team launched a probe into the May 14 tunnel collapse that left 28 dead. The team concluded that Freeport Indonesia’s mines were safe, but recommended the company install additional detection devices in their underground tunnels.
It will be another month before Freeport’s underground mines reach production quotas, said Freeport Indonesia President Director Rozik B. Soetjipta. The mine has a daily target of 220,000 tons of copper a day.
“We predict that our production will only be at 80 percent… or around 176,000 tons per day,” Rozik said.
Thirty percent of the mine’s copper ore is produced in underground mines. The remaining 70 percent is excavated from Grasberg’s massive open-pit mine near Puncak Jaya, Papua.
The company will not meet this year’s target projections, Rozik said.
Freeport was forced to declare force majeure on copper shipments after the accident.
This had yet to be lifted, Rozik said.
Before the accident, Freeport had expected sales of about 500,000 tons of copper from its Indonesia unit in 2013, along with 1.25 million ounces of gold.
Freeport is also in talks with the government to renegotiate a new mining contract to replace its current 30-year contract, which expires in 2021.
A member of the government team negotiating with Freeport said last week the accident should not delay those talks.
Benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange traded at $6,847 a ton on Tuesday, or $568 lower than the day before the accident.
Reuters/Investor Daily
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