1) U/A from the
AHRC that people can respond too
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1) U/A from the AHRC that people can respond to
1) U/A from the
AHRC that people can respond too
2)
Australia to help RI develop ranches in Papua, NTB
3) Abbott's mixed messages for Indonesia
INDONESIA: Police and military officers torture a man in Waena, Papua
October 3, 2013
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the torture of a Papuan man by police and military officers. The victim was detained for 12 hours and subjected to beatings and whippings from which he suffered various injuries on his body. It has been reported that the victim now has difficulty in walking and using his right arm as a result of the assault...............
http://www.humanrights.asia/news/urgent-appeals/AHRC-UAC-127-2013
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http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/10/03/australia-help-ri-develop-ranches-papua-ntb.html
2) Australia to help RI develop ranches in Papua, NTB
Anggi M. Lubis, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Business | Thu, October 03 2013, 11:16 AM
Agriculture Minister Suswono says that Indonesia and Australia are ready to move forward on a gigantic investment plan to develop ranches in Papua and West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), as a part of a rekindled effort to foster partnership and bolster investment in the beef and cattle trade.
Suswono said on Tuesday that the government was readying Rp 1 trillion (US$87 million) to procure cattle and enhance infrastructure for building new ranches in the two provinces to boost Indonesia’s local cattle population amid surging beef prices and shrinking cow numbers.
“This year we will disburse Rp 400 billion, which will be distributed equally to build necessary infrastructure in Papua and West Nusa Tenggara,” he said.
In addition to funding from the Indonesian government, Suswono said the program would also receive financing from the Australian government, which had committed to pour A$60 million ($56 million) into a 10-year initiative on Indonesia’s beef and cattle industry under the “Indonesia-Australia Red Meat and Cattle Forum” launched earlier this year during the tenure of former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
Newly elected Prime Minister Tony Abbott had expressed his intention to resume the initiative as part of an effort to get the neighboring countries’ oft-disrupted beef trade back on track.
“The new Australian government is determined to put past episodes behind us and to build on the joint Red Meat and Cattle Forum established in July to foster partnership between the meat industries [in Indonesia] and in Australia. Australian business has rarely been keener to explore investment opportunities and build partnerships that transfer skills and build local industries — here and at home,” Abbott said on Tuesday during a breakfast with Indonesian ministers and businesspersons, which was part of his first overseas visit after being elected two weeks ago.
To meet rising demands, Indonesia, through state-owned agribusiness company PT Rajawali Nusantara Indonesia (RNI), is planning to own a ranch in Australia to help bolster the domestic beef supply. RNI is currently assessing five Australian companies, as it looks to acquire a cattle-breeding firm that has between 50,000 and 500,000 head of cattle by allocating Rp 350 billion ($30.45 million) for the planned investment.
The Agriculture Ministry’s head of animal husbandry, Syukur Irwantoro, said that local government would operate the planned ranches in Papua and NTB, adding that the national government would also encourage state-owned enterprises to help run the ranches.
The two provinces, according to Syukur, were chosen based on availability of land and the local cow population in the area, and that the government hoped the regions could one day supply the entire nation.
Employers Association (Apindo) chairman Sofjan Wanandi said that Indonesia and Australia should maintain mutual investment projects and emphasized that the Indonesian government should create a conducive atmosphere to facilitate foreign investment.
“We want to invest in Australia, so it’s time they start investing in our country too. They have expertise in cattle, both in research, technology and breeding — these are the things they need to bring to our heavily import-reliant country,” Sofjan said.
“But now that they are interested in investing, the government has to do its homework, which is improving our infrastructure so we can free up the land for investment.”
Suswono said on Tuesday that the government was readying Rp 1 trillion (US$87 million) to procure cattle and enhance infrastructure for building new ranches in the two provinces to boost Indonesia’s local cattle population amid surging beef prices and shrinking cow numbers.
“This year we will disburse Rp 400 billion, which will be distributed equally to build necessary infrastructure in Papua and West Nusa Tenggara,” he said.
In addition to funding from the Indonesian government, Suswono said the program would also receive financing from the Australian government, which had committed to pour A$60 million ($56 million) into a 10-year initiative on Indonesia’s beef and cattle industry under the “Indonesia-Australia Red Meat and Cattle Forum” launched earlier this year during the tenure of former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
Newly elected Prime Minister Tony Abbott had expressed his intention to resume the initiative as part of an effort to get the neighboring countries’ oft-disrupted beef trade back on track.
“The new Australian government is determined to put past episodes behind us and to build on the joint Red Meat and Cattle Forum established in July to foster partnership between the meat industries [in Indonesia] and in Australia. Australian business has rarely been keener to explore investment opportunities and build partnerships that transfer skills and build local industries — here and at home,” Abbott said on Tuesday during a breakfast with Indonesian ministers and businesspersons, which was part of his first overseas visit after being elected two weeks ago.
To meet rising demands, Indonesia, through state-owned agribusiness company PT Rajawali Nusantara Indonesia (RNI), is planning to own a ranch in Australia to help bolster the domestic beef supply. RNI is currently assessing five Australian companies, as it looks to acquire a cattle-breeding firm that has between 50,000 and 500,000 head of cattle by allocating Rp 350 billion ($30.45 million) for the planned investment.
The Agriculture Ministry’s head of animal husbandry, Syukur Irwantoro, said that local government would operate the planned ranches in Papua and NTB, adding that the national government would also encourage state-owned enterprises to help run the ranches.
The two provinces, according to Syukur, were chosen based on availability of land and the local cow population in the area, and that the government hoped the regions could one day supply the entire nation.
Employers Association (Apindo) chairman Sofjan Wanandi said that Indonesia and Australia should maintain mutual investment projects and emphasized that the Indonesian government should create a conducive atmosphere to facilitate foreign investment.
“We want to invest in Australia, so it’s time they start investing in our country too. They have expertise in cattle, both in research, technology and breeding — these are the things they need to bring to our heavily import-reliant country,” Sofjan said.
“But now that they are interested in investing, the government has to do its homework, which is improving our infrastructure so we can free up the land for investment.”
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http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=38290#.Uk0h1hbGHHg
3) Abbott's mixed messages for Indonesia
Pat Walsh | 02 October 2013
President SBY, now in his ninth year as the democratically elected president of the Indonesian republic, must have had a quiet smile to himself on Monday when he met with Tony Abbott, Australia's latest prime minister, the fifth since he took office. The scene had a touch about it of the Queen in Helen Mirren's movie of that name telling the young Tony Blair 'you are my tenth prime minister'.
Though Abbott wants us to think he is pioneering something novel, the visit also had a touch about it of the ingratiating Soeharto days when Paul Keating made Jakarta his first overseas port of call.
The President, who has gone out of his way to befriend Australia and has no intention of spoiling that legacy in his last year in office, accommodated Abbott. He did not repeat his Foreign Minister's rejection of Abbott's tow back the boats policy. And the two leaders agreed that the trafficking of asylum seekers by boat to Australia was a problem for both Australia and Indonesia and that beating the practice will require more work both bilaterally and through the multi-lateral Bali process.
Abbott, for his part, reaffirmed Canberra's 'total respect for Indonesia's sovereignty and territorial integrity'. This is code for saying that Australia rejects any talk of secession in West Papua, an issue that was also discussed. The pledge also implies that Australia will not unilaterally tow boats back to Indonesia without Indonesia's cooperation. But judging by the hostile reception the idea has so far received from Indonesian MPs and others, that cooperation is not likely.
Observing the Indonesian coverage of the visit, I was bothered by three things.
First, thanks to the way the issue has been presented by Australia, Indonesian public reaction has been defensive. Indonesians feel that Australia is blaming them for the flow of boats. They feel that proposals to pay for intelligence, to buy boats so they cannot be used by people smugglers and so on are 'unilateral' (i.e. pushy) and pongah (conceited) and suggest that Australia has to step in because Indonesia is not doing its job. They also think it's unfair for affluent Australia to force boat people back to Indonesia which already has plenty of problems. One letter writer even suggested Indonesia will have to set an island aside to accommodate the influx of returnees.
The issue is not high on Indonesia's agenda and a good outcome of the Abbott visit has been to highlight the matter more sharply here. It's also true that Indonesia could do much more. Its successful containment of terrorism, done in concert with Australia, shows that it could break up the organised crime rings that profit from the people smuggling trade. Perceptions of being dictated to, however, will only generate push back when consultation and collaboration are needed. Canberra could learn from Australia's enviable record of partnering Indonesia constructively in community development.
Second, the issue is being misrepresented in Indonesia. Reporting on the Abbott visit, the Indonesian media have repeatedly described asylum seekers as illegal immigrants using the Indonesian term imigran gelap. Gelap means dark and suggests activity that is shadowy and suspicious. The Abbott Government uses similar language and is happy to see the issue defined this way. It allows a humanitarian and human rights issue to be reduced to one of criminality, justifies tough action and absolves one of a duty of care for those legitimately seeking sanctuary.
Indonesia is not a signatory to the UN refugee convention. Refugees in Indonesia cannot legally work, move around freely or educate their children. A report on the issue by Human Rights Watch in June this year was entitled 'Barely Surviving'. It details detention, poor treatment, abuse and exploitation of refugees in Indonesia.
Lastly, I suspect that the Prime Minister's visit has left Indonesians with a poor impression of Australia. Dewi Fortuna Anwar, political adviser to Indonesia's Vice President Boediono, described the Abbott policy as 'callous' and asked where was the humanitarian dimension in all this. Educated in Australia like Boediono, she expects better. Abbott's heavy handedness also contrasts sharply with the sensitive way Jakarta's popular governor, Jokowi, is managing complex change, for which Indonesians feel genuine enthusiasm.
The business and boats orientation of the visit has left the impression that an Abbott led Australia sees the national interest principally in narrow, if not selfish, economic terms. It would have helped if, in addition to the boat issue, Australia's relatively generous formal immigration and refugee intake policy had also been highlighted during the PM's visit. Maybe next time Abbott might include not just business leaders in his delegation but some of Australia's respected migrant and humanitarian leaders who can explain to Indonesians that there is more to Australia than they saw this time.
In the meantime, Indonesians will be clear about two things: that Australia is open for business, as Abbott declared on election night, but closed tight to desperate boat people fleeing war and persecution.
Pat Walsh is currently visiting Indonesia. Inside Indonesia magazine, which he co-founded in 1983, will celebrate its 30th anniversary this November.
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