2) Electricity privatization regulation introduced to boost rural access
3) Self Determination is a Baasic Human Right
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1) Tackling Inequality, Starting with Fuel Price in Papua
Posted On 16 Jan 2017By : Santi Berlinawati0 CommentsTag: Equality, fuel, Gasoline, Jokowi, news, Papua, Price
Economic challenges faced by residents in remote areas are not unheard by the State Palace.
An airfield in a remote region, Papua. (Photo source: Kabupaten Pengunungan Bintang provincial government’s website)
Jakarta, GIVnews.com – One of President Joko Widodo’s new year resolution for 2017 is to tackle the problem of inequality.
“Some points that I want to convey are related to our focus on equality. Although we know that our Gini ratio has slightly improved, nonetheless if we see the number is at a high level,” the President was quoted as saying by the Office of the Presidential Staff’s website.
The president who is familiarly called Jokowi has proposed several steps to reduce economic disparities, including by setting up policy on asset distribution and land legalization so all citizens get easier access to own a piece of land. This is in addition to easing the citizens’ access to capitals to increase competitiveness, and skills improvement through vocational education and training.
Economic inequality is reflected by huge price difference of essential items across different regions in the archipelago. For instance, a portion of standard rice that usually costs Rp 15-20 thousands in Jakarta was priced Rp 70-75 thousands in Papua back in December 2015, as reported by Tempo.
On this, Theo Hasegem, a member of the Human Rights Care Team for Pegunungan Tengah in Papua, said that expensive prices were caused by fuel scarcity.
Even if fuel is available, the price is usually very expensive, due to the cost of transporting them to the region. Essential items, including gasoline, are usually transported by aeroplanes, thereby increasing its price at the consumers end.
Furthermore, the unavailability of gas station operated by state oil company Pertamina, would also push up gasoline prices further. By the time gasoline is sold to the people through the local merchants, its price had gone up much higher. Locals have had to frequently wait days till fuel supply arrived.
Such challenges faced by residents in remote areas are not unheard by the State Palace.
President Jokowi, aiming to tackle such price disparity, initiated the ‘one-price’ fuel program in Papua in November 2016. With such program, it is expected that gasoline price in Papua will match that in Java.
Several districts in Papua that have ‘tasted’ the cheaper fuel price following the program implementation include Puncak, Puncak Jaya, Yalimo, Mamberamo Raya, Mamberamo Tengah, and Intan Jaya, as reported by Media Indonesia.
According to Taufik Nurrahman, Pertamina’s spokesman for Papua-Maluku region, fuel price in these regions are now set at the same level to that of the standard national price.
The program implementation is also being monitored by the local police. Papua Police Chief Inspectorate General Paulus Waterpauw Price shared that although price variation still exists, such disparity did not cause an overly expensive fuel price.
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2) Electricity privatization regulation introduced to boost rural access
Fedina S. Sundaryani The Jakarta Post
Jakarta | Mon, January 16, 2017 | 10:55 am
The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry has officially launched a ministerial decree, which allows private companies to develop their own electricity grids that are separate from state-owned electricity firm PLN.
On Monday, Energy and Mineral Resources Deputy Minister Arcandra Tahar introduced Ministerial Decree No. 38/2016 that was aimed to help expedite electricity development in 2,500 remote villages across the nation.
"This is an innovation from the government to provide a legal basis that will allow for fairer energy procurement and to increase the ratio of villages with electricity in Indonesia, which has only reached 96.95 percent out of a total 83,190 villages," he said at the ministry’s Electricity Directorate General headquarters in Jakarta.
According to data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), there are still 2,519 villages that had no electricity in 2014. Furthermore, PLN's plans until 2019 only covers 504 villages to be lit up through village electricity procurement projects.
The latest ministerial decree will allow private companies, provincial administration-owned companies and cooperatives to set up off-grid power plant projects in remote villages, 2,376 of which are located in Papua and West Papua.
Private investors must focus on procuring electricity through a hybrid-power system, supported by both renewable energy sources and conventional fossil fuels.
A hybrid-power system combines two or more modes of electricity production, usually involving at least one renewable energy source to ensure the villages can maintain power 24 hours a day. (bbn)
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Note. Follow up posting from Carmel to original posting below.
To readers of these lists, I apologise for repeating the first two paragraphs of my translation of Yan Christian Warinussy’s excellent
article about the right to self-determination. Let's hope that President Joko Wodido will respond to his call for a
peaceful dialogue.
Carmel Budiardjo
article about the right to self-determination. Let's hope that President Joko Wodido will respond to his call for a
peaceful dialogue.
Carmel Budiardjo
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3) Self Determination is a Baasic Human Right
via regwestpapualist
5th January 2017The first paragraph of the 1945 Constitution of Indonesia
stipulates that ‘freedom is the right of alll nations, meaning that colonisation in every part of the world must be ended'.
That sentence means that all nations everywhere in the world that are living under the control mus be giving the opportunity to have the
right to self-determination.
The first sentence of the 1945 Constitution of Indonesia states
that ‘the right to independence is the basic right of all nations which means that colonialism should be abolished throughout the
world’. That sentence means that all those people who are still being held under the control of any government should be granted the right
to self-determination.
It should therefore be understood by the Government of Indonesia at the centre and down to the regions , including the Land of Papua,
that this right this is one of the most basic rights that it guaranteed under international law, as is clear in the Universal
Declaration om Basic Human Rights and the UN Declaration of the Rights of Traditional Peoples that was adopted in 2007.
More specifically, Article 3 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of the Traditional Communities states that: ‘Traditional Communities,
states that: ‘Traditional Communities have the right to self-determination, the right to autonomy or to self-government with
regard to affairs within their area which also includes finding the means to finance their own autonomy.
All these rights were further reinforced by a UN resolution on The Right to Self Determination, in accordance with an initiative by the
Pakistani ambassador to the UN, Maleeha Modi at the end of the year 2016. Speaking as a lawyer and Defender of Human Rights in the Land of
Papua, I regard the birth of a UN Law on the Right to Self-Determination as a great victory within the context of democracy
and peace for the protection of the human rights of all peoples in the twenty-first century.
The UN Resolution regarding the Right to Self-Determination was certainly planned [unfortunately the last line at the bottom of the
document is unreadable] .... but it also provides the legal basis for the protection of
other nations throughout the world which have not yet had the opportunity to determine there own future such as the Palestinian
people,, the Kannaky, Colony of France New Caledonia as well as the\ Papuan people who for the past fifty years have been peacefully
struggling for their right to self determination. In connection with all this, I called upon the Government of
Indonesia under President Joko Widodo to adopt a more lenient approach
towards the Papuan people who are peacefully struggling for their right to self determination, and not to use the security approach
towards the Papuan people when the security forces resort to physical violence armed with weapons all of which has the potential to
systematically violate their basic human rights.
A peaceful approach by means of dialogue between the Government of Indonesia and the Papuan people including various organisations and
groups such as the ULMWP, KNPB, the OPM,the Papuan Presidium Council, the WPNA, the WPNCL and the Papuan Women’s Solidarity is essential for
the government under President Joko Widodo.
And finally,the Indonesian Government should de-militarise the whole of the territory of the Land of Papua by withdrawing all the
personnel and units of the military commands, both organic and non-organic
It is my opinion, as the recipient of the John Huimphrey Award/Canada in 2005 taking the approach of dialogue is very
pressing as the correct way forward at this time, because such elements are irrelevant to creating a peaceful and conducive situation
for holding a peaceful dialogue.
Peace.
Yan Christian Waarinussy, Executive-Director of the LP3BH-Manokwari.
Translated by Carmel Budiardjo, recipient of the Right Livelihood Award, 1995.
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