Friday, June 15, 2018

1) Benny Wenda offers heartfelt thanks for ‘West Papua Desk’ opening

1) Benny Wenda offers heartfelt thanks for ‘West Papua Desk’ opening
2) Indonesia Must Diversify Its Staple Food to Ensure Food Security for All: UN
3) Indonesia set to provide electricity to PNG border
4) Detection An Issue At Border 

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1) Benny Wenda offers heartfelt thanks for ‘West Papua Desk’ opening
JUNE 14, 2018
Publishing a statement on his website today, ULMWP Chairperson Benny Wenda thanked the organisers and people of Aotearoa New Zealand for their hard work in launching the West Papua Desk. The new project is hosted by the national trade organization FIRST Union, with oversight of the program provided by West Papua Action Auckland. The “desk” is intended to be a hub for organizing events, and to provide a public community space for raising awareness about the independence aspirations and human rights violations in West Papua.
Moved by the generosity of the support from West Papua’s Pacific neighbors.  Wenda  said “This historical and kind gesture is an empowering gift from the people of Aotearoa to West Papua. We accept your offering with deep gratitude, and give our everlasting friendship in return. We thank you for seeing West Papua’s battle for freedom and extending a hand to us during our time of need. The journey is sometimes dark and weary, but a ray of hope from our Pacific family can light the way on this long road. June 11th 2018 is now a great day to remember on this path to freedom. We will write it down in history as a day of friendship between neighbours.” Click here to read Wenda’s full statement
Photo information; Mana leader Hone Harwara, Labour MP Maryan Street join Benny Wenda, Jennifer Robinson, and Catherine Delahunty on parliaments steps during Wenda’s first visit to New Zealand last year.


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2) Indonesia Must Diversify Its Staple Food to Ensure Food Security for All: UN
By : Adinda Normala | on 2:21 PM June 15, 2018

Jakarta. Indonesia must implement policies aimed at diversifying its staple foods and increasing fruit and vegetable consumption to ensure the right to food for all, a United Nations representative said.
Data compiled by the Ministry of Agriculture shows that Indonesia will consume an estimated 33.8 million metric tons of rice this year, compared with 30.65 million tons in 2017. Average rice consumption amounted to almost 150 kilograms per person last year, which is higher than in other major rice producing countries, such as China and India.
Former Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan previously voiced concern over Indonesian rice consumption and suggested that people eat less of the cereal grain.

"If we can reduce rice consumption to only 100 kilograms per person per year, we can save 10 million tons of rice, which will result in a rice surplus of 10 million tons by 2014," Gita said during the Jakarta Food Security Summit in 2012.
While Indonesia has been trying to become rice self-sufficient through technological innovations and improved irrigation methods, the country still has to import approximately 3 million tons rice per annum from neighboring countries such as Thailand and Vietnam to satisfy domestic demand.
According to Hilal Elver, UN special rapporteur on the right to food, the government did not consider regional cultural differences when it decided to make rice the staple food across the archipelago.
"There is a need to diversify policies to limit the focus on rice… Polices developed to reduce food insecurity appear to be overly focused on rice, such as at the Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate," Elver told a press conference in April.
The MIFEE project, launched on 2.5 million hectares of converted land in Merauke district in Papua Province in 2011, is aimed at increasing national self-sufficiency in food crops such as rice, corn and sugar in order to reduce import dependency.

"Considering that not all people in the country want to make rice their main staple, the government's policy in the production of staples should be more mindful of the diverse needs and preferences of communities with a variety of food traditions," Elver said.
She cited as an example rice and instant noodles distributed in communities in the eastern part of the country, where people traditionally eat sago as a staple food.
Elver was sent on a mission to engage in dialogue with food-sector stakeholders in Jakarta and other parts of the country. Her observations and recommendations will be included in a UN Human Rights Council report due in March next year.
"What strikes me the most is the irony that in a leading food-producing country, 30 percent of children have stunted growth and over 92 percent of the population eats considerably less fruit and vegetables than World Health Organization recommended levels," Elver said.
She highlighted a case in Asmat district, Papua, where 72 children died of measles and malnutrition in January, which she said "was preventable but allowed to happen."
According to the WHO, adults must consume at least 400 grams of fruits and vegetables per day to maintain optimal health.
"This is telling: Food is not only about quantity, but also about quality, accessibility and affordability. People living in remote areas have limited access to healthy food, and poor people in cities are unable to afford fruits and vegetables, which are very expensive," Elver said.

Government Efforts
Agung Hendriadi, the head of Indonesia's Food Security Agency (BKP), said social inequalities and poverty cause food insecurity in the country and that his agency has prepared several programs to address the problem in remote villages that are difficult to reach.
"These programs will teach community members to produce healthy ingredients for their households independently," Agung said.
The BKP, in cooperation with the North Sulawesi provincial government, also introduced the Eating Without Rice Movement (Gentanasi) in September last year aimed at replacing rice and flour with local foods as sources of carbohydrates.
"Efforts to reduce the consumption of rice and wheat should be followed by the provision of carbohydrates from local foods, such as sago, cassava, sweet potato, breadfruit and bananas," Agung said, as reported by state-run news agency Antara.
The Ministry of Agriculture also established a program called Poverty Eradication Through Agriculture, which aims to develop horticultural products, especially domestic fruits, in 1,000 villages in 100 districts on Java Island and in the provinces of South Sulawesi, West Nusa Tenggara, South Kalimantan and Lampung.
The program, launched at the end of April, involves the distribution of free seeds worth Rp 5.5 trillion ($395 million) through regional governments.
According to Agriculture Minister Andi Amran, the program aims to make domestic fruit production more competitive, while improving the welfare of local fruit farmers.

Rising Protein Consumption
Kundhavi Kadiresan, representative of the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) in Asia and the Pacific, said protein consumption in Indonesia is expected to increase faster than that of carbohydrates between 2020 and 2045.
He said consumption of vegetables and poultry is expected to increase by more than 45 percent, followed by beef at 40 percent, fruits (35 percent), eggs (25 percent) and fish (20 percent). Rice consumption is projected to increase at less than 10 percent.
Kadiresan attributes rising protein consumption to the country's growing middle class, with more people paying attention to a healthy lifestyle.
"The demand is for fruit and vegetables. Farmers should be able to read these changes if they want to enjoy more profits… More private investment through public-private partnerships in this sector will also advance the people's economy," Kadiresan said.
FAO data shows the total area under fruit and vegetable production in Indonesia only increased 30 percent between 1990 and 2014, compared with 180 percent in China, 140 percent in Vietnam, 135 percent in Bangladesh, 105 percent in India and 95 percent in Myanmar and Nepal, respectively.


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3) Indonesia set to provide electricity to PNG border
By CLIFFORD FAIPARIKELECTRICITY supply from Indonesia is now available at the PNG-Indonesian border for Papua New Guineans to have access to, according to the Inter Government Relations Minister Kevin Isifu.
“We are now looking forward to PNG Power Limited putting up power poles from Vanimo to the border so that the power supply from Indonesian to Vanimo can be connected,” he said.
“The power poles, cables and other electrical materials are already on the ground in Vanimo.
“PNG Power will now have to proceed with the 42km power line from Vanimo to Wutung to light up the border post.”
Isifu said the 2megawatt power supply generated from diesel power plant in Waena and Yarmokh in the Papua Province of Indonesia is near the border.
“Also Water PNG will set up the water supply from Vanimo to Wutung so that the Wutung border office can be opened for business before the end of the year.”
He said a joint technical team from PNG Power and Water PNG officials would go to Vanimo to do a detailed scoping project for the Border Administration Complex.
“Funding is available. We only need the scope work to determine the costing in order to release the funds”.



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4) Detection An Issue At Border 
SMUGGLING Still Takes Place With Or Without Notice, According To PNG Customs Senior Manager John Kiu, At The Wutung Border Crossing Between PNG And Indonesia’s West Papua Province. 

SMUGGLING still takes place with or without notice, according to PNG Customs senior manager John Kiu, at the Wutung Border crossing between PNG and Indonesia’s West Papua Province.
“Of course things do slip through considering the difficulties we face. Our level of detection is average because of our manpower, tools and equipment. We normally have in bigger ports of entry like Jacksons airport, a lot of smuggling that pass through with our notice and without our notice as well.
“Through the seas as well because we are close by on the maritime borders, a lot of things are happening.
“We are limited with resources, but we hope in the long run attention can be brought back to us the border officers so we can at least do things in a standard manner. But the fact that we are mandated to work here, we just to do our job to the best we can,” Mr Kiu said.
Current manpower of frontline border agencies sits at 11 officers, apart from the military, to control the movement of more than 1000 shoppers and visitors into the border station at Wutung, West Sepik Province.
“I have four officers here and you just look at the number of people travelling here, and that is just for customs alone. For immigration we have two officers and quarantine, maybe another five officers so in total for the frontline officers, CIQ as we call them, it is about 11 officers.
“We need more than 11 officers as in the near future we expect to increase the base of each agency requirements,” Mr Kiu said.
“Interagency cooperation is something that will help us manage our border efficiently and effectively. “We are doing our best at the moment.”
He said at the moment the Wutung makeshift border post does not have anything apart from the equipment lying idle from the K90 million pilot border trade and investment development project completed in 2014 consisting of institutional houses and border station facilities, water, and power supply.
“We don’t have anything in place here because the conditions are not conducive for us to be able to connect as much as we can.
“We are doing things on an adhoc basis. Yeah they (the station equipment) are here, but the thing is we need to have power and water to put into these places to allow us to move in.
“Although we have a nice state of the art building in terms of power and water, nothing has happened as yet,” he said.
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