2) Wenda NZ visit exposes sensitivity over Papua
3) Govt: Freeport Must Restore Environmental Damage if Proven Guilty
4) LP3BH: Indonesia continues to lie about human rights violations in Papua
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1) INDONESIA DEPORTS JAPANESE TV CREW FOR ALLEGED IMMIGRATION VIOLATIONS
KYODO
JAKARTA – A six-member television crew from Japan was deported from the easternmost Indonesian province of Papua on Thursday for immigration violations, a local immigration official said.
Yopie Watimena, chief of the immigration office in the provincial capital of Jayapura, said that one of the six Japanese nationals entered Indonesia via Jakarta’s Sukarno-Hatta international airport on May 1, while the rest entered the country on May 2.
According to Watimena, the six came to Papua to make a documentary film on the life of native tribes in the province, but failed to obtain proper documents, including journalist visas.
“They had already made footage of the Mamuna and Korowai tribes in a remote area in the southeastern part of Papua and were on the way to the town of Wamena (in the mountainous regency of Jayawijaya) when we arrested them,” the official said, adding that two Papuan tourist guides who accompanied them were also detained before finally being released.
Watimena said that based on the information gained by the Papua Strategic Intelligence Agency, the six Japanese nationals work for the Nagano Production House in Japan.
“They were deported to Japan today (Thursday) after having been interrogated since Wednesday,” he said.
There were no further details about the six Japanese citizens.
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2) Wenda NZ visit exposes sensitivity over Papua
3:34 pm today
This week's visit to New Zealand by a West Papuan independence leader has thrown the polarisation around his cause into stark relief.
Benny Wenda visited New Zealand to meet MPs, Foreign Affairs officials, trade unionists and the general public to raise awareness about his homeland.
The international spokesman for the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, Benny Wenda fled the Indonesian-administered region of Papua, or West Papua, in 2003.
In recent years he's travelled widely from his British base to lobby international support for legitimate self-determination for West Papuans.
Questions around the legitimacy of the UN-sanctioned process by which the former Dutch New Guinea was incorporated into Indonesia in the 1960s have never really abated.
The problem of human rights abuses by security forces in Papua, recognised in part by Indonesia's government under President Joko Widodo, has informed a growing international solidarity movement.
However, Jakarta says Indonesian sovereignty over Papua is final, and has rejected the legitimacy of the Liberation Movement.
NZ parliamentarians on board
But this week, after hearing from Mr Wenda, eleven MPs from four New Zealand political parties signed a declaration by the International Parliamentarians for West Papua.
This international organisation of MPs, which includes Britain's Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, is calling for an internationally supervised self-determination vote in Papua.
Mr Wenda said the cross-party New Zealand support was a sign of growing global solidarity.
"It's not one particular party but Labour, Greens, National (and Maori Party), they're all signing the declaration. So this is, they show that around the world this fight is about a humanitarian issue. People believe in justice and freedom."
New Zealand MPs pose with the West Papua Freedom Movement's Benny Wenda after signing the International Parliamentarians for West Papua Declaration. Photo: RNZI/Koroi Hawkins
Tellingly, while he was in Wellington, Mr Wenda was not required to provide background for a parliamentary select committee considering a petitioncalling for action by New Zealand's government on rights abuses in Papua.
Instead, he had a brief meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where officials politely heard his pleas for more action on Papua, then saw him on his way.
The government has appeared reluctant to push Jakarta too hard on Papua, even though it did mention concern at Indonesia's UN periodic human rights review this month.
Kelburn fracas
The sensitivity around West Papua was evident during Mr Wenda's time in Wellington.
He participated in a protest march to the Indonesian embassy in Kelburn where demonstrators gathered in the rain to call loudly for West Papuan freedom.
Proceedings became tense after the embassy front door opened and an Indonesian official stepped out to meet the protest.
Firdauzie Dwiandika, a Minister Counsellor for Political Affairs, stood near where Mr Wenda and the New Zealand Green Party MP Catherine Delahunty addressed the crowd.
Indonesian official Firdauzie Dwiandika (hand on chin, wearing cap) listens to a protest the Indonesian Embassy in Wellington before having verbal altercations with protestors about West Papua. May 2017 Photo: RNZI/ Koroi Hawkins
After listening for a while to the two, Mr Dwiandika told them they were wrong about human rights in Papua, and that people in Papua knew the truth.
"You can no longer hope that we will buy the story," Ms Delahunty retorted. "You have tried to marginalise these indigenous people, you have tried to lock them inside their border, you have starved their children, you have ignored their health crisis, you have taken their resources!"
But "Papua has changed," said Mr Dwiandika, ascending back up the steps to the embassy door.
It's rare to have an Indonesian official fronting at such protests, which themselves have become fairly frequent.
Yet it's common for Indonesians to attend West Papua solidarity events, as was the case last night when Mr Wenda addressed a public meeting at Wellington's Victoria University.
One of the Indonesians in the crowd who repeatedly challenged Mr Wenda's take on the Papua situation felt compelled to leave as local students launched into a passionate haka.
The somewhat heated exchange demonstrated how deeply Māori and Pasifika students in particular have taken on the Papuan cause.
Indonesian president Joko Widodo in West Papua, May 2017, inspecting work on the new Trans-Papua Highway, one of a series of infrastructure projects his government is building in the region. Photo: Theopilus Obed Lay
Trust issue
"There is zero trust between Jakarta and Papuans," Mr Wenda explained.
Yet he admitted that Jokowi, as Indonesia's President is known, had spent far more time in Papua than previous Indonesian leaders.
Jokowi, who was in Papua this week inspecting new infrastructure projects, has shown commitment to his 2014 election promise to improve living conditions for Papuans.
"But the reality is, the governments are controlled by military," said Mr Wenda, "so the current president does not have power to change the situation in West Papua."
With the divisiveness of the Papua issue exposed, Mr Wenda flew out of New Zealand and on to the next stop on his seemingly never-ending global lobbying tour.
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3) Govt: Freeport Must Restore Environmental Damage if Proven Guilty
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) stated that Freeport Indonesia has caused environmental damages by dumping their mining wastes to the surrounding forest, river, outfalls, and sea. The damage is said to be worth Rp185 trillion.
Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said that Freeport must restore the environmental damages if they are proven guilty. He explained that there are no special treatments between Freeport and other companies.
Luhut promised that he would personally pursue the U.S.-based mining company if the allegations are proven to be true.
BPK recorded five Freeport's violations throughout the 2013-2015 contract of work (CoW).
The company is allegedly operated their activities in 4,535.93 hectares of national reserve without the proper permit throughout 2008-2015. This mining activity has violated Law No. 41/1999 and Law No. 19/2004 that regulate forestry.
According to BPK, the state is facing a Rp270 billion potential loss from unpaid taxes for utilizing a forest area.
Other violations include Freeport’s underground mines that operate without environmental permits. BPK argued that Freeport’s environmental impact analysis, valid since 1997, did not include the underground mines.
Freeport also failed to pay their post-mining liabilities last year which is worth US$22.29 million of state loss.
VINDRY FLORENTIN | PUTRI ADITYOWATI
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A google translate. Be-aware google translate can be a bit erratic.
original bahasa link at
4) LP3BH: Indonesia continues to lie about human rights violations in Papua
Jubi | News Portal Tanah Papua No. 1
Jumat, 12 Mei 2017 — 10:47
Jayapura, Jubi - The Legal Aid Institute for Research, Assessment and Development of Legal Aid (LP3BH) Manokwari, West Papua warmly welcomes the steps of seven major countries from continental Europe and America highlighting the Government of the Republic of Indonesia's steps towards law enforcement and human rights protection in Papua (West Papua) at the 27th session of Universal Periodic Review (UPR) 2017, in Geneva, Switzerland, on Wednesday (3/5/2017).
LP3BH Manokwari Executive Director Yan Christian Warinussy said Indonesia has never honestly acknowledged human rights violations on Papuans over the past 10 years
"Even the Indonesian government has never had the political will to ensure that all perpetrators of human rights abuses in Papua can be processed impartially," Warinussy said in a release received by Jubi on Thursday (5/11/2017).
From the perspective of international human rights law and principles, LP3BH considers the issue of settling human rights violations in the Land of Papua will always get the international spotlight after UPR 2017.
"As long as the Government of Indonesia continues to be passive and tend to always 'lie'. The bargaining power of the issue of human rights violations in Papua will continue to rise and be grounded in the world, "he said.
LP3BH Manokwari as one of the civil society organizations that focuses on law enforcement and human rights protection in Papua urges President Jokowi and his staff to be honest in implementing constitutional and legal policies in the settlement of human rights violations in Papua.
Separately, the Papuan peace movement figure Filep Karma who attended the UPR monitor in Geneva revealed an interesting metaphor related to the development of the Jakarta version.
"The people of Papua actually want to drink coffee. But Indonesia implements indigenous Papuans to drink coca-cola, arguing that in coca-cola is contained coffee, "Karma said quoted indoprogress.com. (*)
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