2) Military court praised for convictions in Papua murder case
3) Eight foreign journalists visit Bank Papua
4) Setya Confesses to Meeting Freeport Execs, Denies Share Shakedown
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http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/289977/effort-to-dispel-hiv-aids-stigma-in-papua
1) Effort to dispel HIV/AIDS stigma in Papua
HIV/AIDS sufferers in Indonesia's Papua region continue to battle stigma and discrimination and a documentary-maker is trying to dispel the myths.
Indonesia-based photographer Andri Tambunan has been researching and filming in the region since 2009 and has produced films telling the stories of several people living with the disease.
Mr Tambunan has set up a website and is distributing information to NGOs to help educate people in Papua which suffers a rate twenty times higher than the national average.
He says it is still very risky for people there to reveal they have HIV/AIDS.
"I met a young man who, when he opened his status, he was kicked out of his family, he was attacked by some people in the community. I talked to another woman who people were just trying to kick her out from her house with an axe and machetes. I have people who were afraid to be burned alive."
Mr Tambunan says the Papua region's inequality, remoteness and lack of information have led to the high rate.
Mr Tambunan has been researching and documenting HIV/AIDS in Papua since 2009.
Indonesia-based photographer Andri Tambunan has been researching and filming in the region since 2009 and has produced films telling the stories of several people living with the disease.
Mr Tambunan has set up a website and is distributing information to NGOs to help educate people in Papua which suffers a rate twenty times higher than the national average.
He says it is still very risky for people there to reveal they have HIV/AIDS.
"I met a young man who, when he opened his status, he was kicked out of his family, he was attacked by some people in the community. I talked to another woman who people were just trying to kick her out from her house with an axe and machetes. I have people who were afraid to be burned alive."
Mr Tambunan says the Papua region's inequality, remoteness and lack of information have led to the high rate.
Mr Tambunan has been researching and documenting HIV/AIDS in Papua since 2009.
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2) Military court praised for convictions in Papua murder case
- See more at: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/17/military-court-praised-convictions-papua-murder-case.html#sthash.9DT4W0N6.dpuf
The New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has praised the decision by a military court in Papua last week to convict two soldiers for their role in the deaths of two civilians on Aug. 28.
It said the court’s ruling was the start of the end of Indonesian military injustice in Papua.
“The case is notable because the perpetrators are being punished,” HRW deputy Asia director Phelim Kine said on Tuesday.
In the trial last week, the court sentenced First Pvt. Makher Rehatta and Chief Pvt. Gregorius R. Geta to 12 years and three years in prison, respectively.
The cases of two other soldiers are still before the court.
On Aug. 28, all four soldiers allegedly got drunk and, with their assault rifles, opened fire on a group of Papuans that were holding a Thanksgiving ceremony in front of a church in Mimika regency.
Kine said an environment of impunity for military abuses in Papua remained, partly due to decades of restricted access for foreign media, diplomats and non-governmental groups wanting to enter the province.
Abuses have often gone unpunished due to technical reasons, the activist continued, such as the 1997 law on military tribunals that allows abuses by members of the military to be investigated without transparency or impartiality.
Indonesia, Kine said, had also long failed to properly investigate allegations of serious human rights abuse by members of its military, let alone prosecute anyone, and in rare cases where soldiers had been convicted by a military court, sentences had been extremely lenient.
“So last week’s convictions are good news, but at best, just the start,” Kine said. He made the statement ahead of the one-year anniversary of the killing of five protesters in Papua’s remote town of Enarotali on Dec. 8.
HRW says that witnesses have told them that security forces in Enarotali fatally shot five people during a peaceful protest. The protest was against the actions of several soldiers who had beaten several local children the previous evening.
It is unfortunate that one year later, those who killed those protesters still walk free despite three separate official investigations into the shootings, conducted by the police, the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) and through an informal military-and-police effort.
Kine said the military had not cooperated with the Komnas HAM inquiry and the 1997 law had blocked the civilian investigators from accessing military personnel at crime scenes. None of the investigations had made their findings public, he added.
“That’s not good enough,” said Kine. “Indonesian President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo told Papuans three weeks after the killings that he wanted them ‘solved immediately so it [wouldn’t] ever happen again in the future’, and also that he wanted the root of the problem found.”
“Until Jokowi releases the results of those three probes and ensures all those responsible are prosecuted, military injustice in Papua will remain alive and well." (ebf)(+)
- See more at: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/17/military-court-praised-convictions-papua-murder-case.html#sthash.U4LLkJfc.dpuf
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3) Eight foreign journalists visit Bank Papua
Selasa, 17 November 2015 19:28 WIB | 509 Views
Jayapura (ANTARA News) - Eight journalists from African and Pacific countries visited Bank Papua on Tuesday to learn about economic developments in the region.
"This is a visiting program for journalists developed by the foreign ministry. We brought our foreign journalist friends here to see the technical cooperation we have initiated. Yesterday, we visited Sukabumi (West Java) to see fish breeding and discuss its application in Africa," Titania Arimbi, head of foreign media accreditation of the ministry of foreign affairs, said.
She noted that it was hoped the program could help spread information about development, from tourism to investment sectors, throughout the regions of Indonesia and to other countries.
"Our target is that they would report current development in Indonesia in their media to attract foreign tourists to come to Indonesia and to open opportunities for businesses to come here," she said.
She added that this is an annual program, under which representatives from media in certain regions are invited so that information about Indonesia will spread across the world.
"We invite journalists by region. After Europe, we invited Africa and Pacific, and later Asia. They come in turn every year," he said.
Bank Papua president director Johan Kafiar praised the visit, saying, "I am glad to have foreign journalists coming to Papua and we hope they could later report that Papua is continuing its progress, in terms of the economy and others."
He said the journalists asked about this strategy to improve the nations economy.
The eight journalists that came to Papua are Timoci Tavaiviti Vula from Fiji Times (Fiji), Rasoamaromaka Rejo Mparany Hasin-Tsifa from Radio National Madagascar (Mdagascar), Royson Willie from Vanuatu Daily Post (Vanuatu), Anthony Mochama Ontita from The Standart (Kenya), Mashaka Bonifas Mgeta from The Guardian Tanzania (Tanzania), Alfred Solomon Sasoko and Loji Mathias Alva from Islands Sun Newspaper (Solomon Islands) and Elias Aweke Tedesse from Focus Magazine (Ethiopia).
(Reporting by Dhias Suwandi/Uu.INE/KR-BSR/F001)
"This is a visiting program for journalists developed by the foreign ministry. We brought our foreign journalist friends here to see the technical cooperation we have initiated. Yesterday, we visited Sukabumi (West Java) to see fish breeding and discuss its application in Africa," Titania Arimbi, head of foreign media accreditation of the ministry of foreign affairs, said.
She noted that it was hoped the program could help spread information about development, from tourism to investment sectors, throughout the regions of Indonesia and to other countries.
"Our target is that they would report current development in Indonesia in their media to attract foreign tourists to come to Indonesia and to open opportunities for businesses to come here," she said.
She added that this is an annual program, under which representatives from media in certain regions are invited so that information about Indonesia will spread across the world.
"We invite journalists by region. After Europe, we invited Africa and Pacific, and later Asia. They come in turn every year," he said.
Bank Papua president director Johan Kafiar praised the visit, saying, "I am glad to have foreign journalists coming to Papua and we hope they could later report that Papua is continuing its progress, in terms of the economy and others."
He said the journalists asked about this strategy to improve the nations economy.
The eight journalists that came to Papua are Timoci Tavaiviti Vula from Fiji Times (Fiji), Rasoamaromaka Rejo Mparany Hasin-Tsifa from Radio National Madagascar (Mdagascar), Royson Willie from Vanuatu Daily Post (Vanuatu), Anthony Mochama Ontita from The Standart (Kenya), Mashaka Bonifas Mgeta from The Guardian Tanzania (Tanzania), Alfred Solomon Sasoko and Loji Mathias Alva from Islands Sun Newspaper (Solomon Islands) and Elias Aweke Tedesse from Focus Magazine (Ethiopia).
(Reporting by Dhias Suwandi/Uu.INE/KR-BSR/F001)
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4) Setya Confesses to Meeting Freeport Execs, Denies Share Shakedown
By : Jakarta Globe | on 5:59 PM November 17, 2015
Jakarta. House of Representatives Speaker Setya Novanto has admitted he met with executives from miner Freeport Indonesia, but denied soliciting a 20 percent stake in the company in exchange for parliamentary support for the firm's contract extension with the Indonesian government.
Setya told reporters on Tuesday that the meeting was held to forward “what the president [Joko Widodo] has said to me.” He did not reveal where the meeting was held or when, nor identified which executives he met.
The speaker refused to divulge the subject of discussion during the meeting, saying only that it was "for the good of the people."
Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said on Monday lodged a complaint with the House Ethics Council against an unnamed legislator, including submitting wiretapped phone conversations is believed to show the legislator demanding a 20 percent stake in Freeport Indonesia, the country’s single-biggest taxpayer.
Sudirman, in his complaint, alleges that the legislator approached officials from Freeport Indonesia on the pretext of representing President Joko Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla.
The miner’s parent company, Arizona-based Freeport-McMoRan, is required to divest its current 90.64 percent holding in Freeport Indonesia to 70 percent. Sudirman alleges that the legislator demanded the shares be divested through him.
A document circulating online purportedly showing the contents of Sudirman's complaint lists Setya as the legislator in question. The same document also suggests that Setya was accompanied by businessman Muhammad Riza Chalid — one of Indonesia's richest men.
The House Ethics Council has refused to confirm the authenticity of the document, but is considering reporting the possible leak of a classified document to the police.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla has also hinted that Setya was the legislator in Sudirman's complaint, saying that he had reprimanded the speaker during a private meeting at Kalla's office on Monday.
Sudirman, in his complaint, alleges that the legislator approached officials from Freeport Indonesia on the pretext of representing President Joko Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla.
The miner’s parent company, Arizona-based Freeport-McMoRan, is required to divest its current 90.64 percent holding in Freeport Indonesia to 70 percent. Sudirman alleges that the legislator demanded the shares be divested through him.
A document circulating online purportedly showing the contents of Sudirman's complaint lists Setya as the legislator in question. The same document also suggests that Setya was accompanied by businessman Muhammad Riza Chalid — one of Indonesia's richest men.
The House Ethics Council has refused to confirm the authenticity of the document, but is considering reporting the possible leak of a classified document to the police.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla has also hinted that Setya was the legislator in Sudirman's complaint, saying that he had reprimanded the speaker during a private meeting at Kalla's office on Monday.
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