2) Indonesia, PNG foreign ministers to discuss border issues
3) Answers by Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister Stef Blok to questions on the Amnesty International article
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1) Tommy Soeharto Listed for the Papua Legislative Candidacy
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Berkarya Party Chairman and late-Soeharto’s youngest son, Hutomo Mandala Putra or Tommy Soeharto declared that he has listed himself as a Papua legislative candidate (caleg) for the 2019 general elections.
Tommy’s name was registered to the General Elections Commission (KPU) together with Berkarya Party’s 575 soon-to-be legislative candidates on Tuesday night.
The party’s secretary general Priyo Budi Santoso revealed the reason behind Tommy Soeharto’s candidacy in Papua. He claims that the people of Papua has a sense of enthusiasm and nostalgic towards Soeharto’s past administration under the country’s New Order.
“The enthusiasm of people in rural areas were outstanding, they welcomed (Tommy) with the spirit and memories of President Soeharto’s administration,” Priyo claimed.
Other than Tommy Soeharto, legislative candidates that Berkarya Party enlisted are actors Andi Arsyil and senior actress Paramitha Rusady.
Priyo said that there are many former Golkar Party members that chose to jump ship and join Berkarya Party for the 2019 legislative elections. “From the 575 names that we registered, 30 percent of them are former members of other political parties,” said the Berkarya Party secretary general.
DEWI NURITA
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2) Indonesia, PNG foreign ministers to discuss border issues
Reporter: Yashinta Difa Pramudyani 11 hours ago
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi will have a bilateral meeting with her Papua New Guinea (PNG) counterpart Rimbink Pato on Thursday (July 19) afternoon to discuss several border issues.
"PNG is one of Indonesia`s close neighbors; it is natural that both countries have a high intensity of relationships. PNG is not only a big country in terms of size but also in terms of economy," Foreign Ministry`s spokesperson Arrmanatha Nasir told journalists during a press briefing in Jakarta on Wednesday.
The management of Indonesia-PNG border regions is among topics that will be discussed between the two ministers, in addition to the establishment of Indonesia-PNG joint border committee.
"We have a fairly long border area with PNG, and we are aware of the economic potential that can be developed for the welfare of people living in the border area," Nasir added.
In addition to discussing border issues, Marsudi and Pato will also talk about bilateral economic cooperation, especially efforts to improve trade and investment.
The value of RI-PNG bilateral trade in 2017 reached US$208.89 million, increasing from $179.2 million in 2016.
"The two foreign ministers expressed concerns for (strengthening) trade cooperation, including efforts to improve the interaction between businessmen of both countries," Nasir concluded.
"PNG is one of Indonesia`s close neighbors; it is natural that both countries have a high intensity of relationships. PNG is not only a big country in terms of size but also in terms of economy," Foreign Ministry`s spokesperson Arrmanatha Nasir told journalists during a press briefing in Jakarta on Wednesday.
The management of Indonesia-PNG border regions is among topics that will be discussed between the two ministers, in addition to the establishment of Indonesia-PNG joint border committee.
"We have a fairly long border area with PNG, and we are aware of the economic potential that can be developed for the welfare of people living in the border area," Nasir added.
In addition to discussing border issues, Marsudi and Pato will also talk about bilateral economic cooperation, especially efforts to improve trade and investment.
The value of RI-PNG bilateral trade in 2017 reached US$208.89 million, increasing from $179.2 million in 2016.
"The two foreign ministers expressed concerns for (strengthening) trade cooperation, including efforts to improve the interaction between businessmen of both countries," Nasir concluded.
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via regwestpapua list
3) Answers by Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister Stef Blok to questions on the Amnesty International article ‘Indonesia : security forces have killed 100 peoples in Papoea’ by member of the house Lilianne Ploumen (labour party). 17 July 2018.
Q1
Did you take notice of the Amnesty International article ‘Indonesia : security forces have killed 100 peoples in Papoea’ and the report ‘Don’t bother, just let them die: killing with impunity in Papua’ that was published on 2 July 2018?
A2
Yes
Q2
What is your reaction to the report?
A2
The Amnesty report refers to the situation in the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua. With that, the report specifically focusses on the violence committed there by security-forces (police and military staff) and the lack of independent and criminal investigation to these incidents.
The findings in the report are perilous. Amnesty reports 95 casualties in the period between January 2010 and February 2018 by such violence. The pith of the matter seems to be between 2012 and 2015. In this period over 10 fatalities per year were identified. The past recent years the number of fatal incidents seems to decline.
In general the cabinet states it is important for government security staff to execute their violence-mandate within the boundaries of proportionality and that there is a possibility for thorough and independent investigation.
Q3 (combined with 6&7)
Did you have contact with the Indonesian government regarding the violation of the right to demonstrate and other human rights violations when police and military are deployed against peaceful protesters?
Q6
Are you prepared to mention this report, and the necessity for an independent inquiry to the Indonesian government during your upcoming visit? If not, why not?
Q7
During you upcoming visit, will you urge the authorities to undertake initiatives to stop the killing in Papua, amongst others by readjusting the violence-instructions of the police and military so they are in line with human rights? If not, why not?
A3,6,7
The human rights situation in the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua knows several areas of concern, amongst others incidents of violence against civilians, but also the freedom of speech and the position of human rights defenders and (local) journalists. The human rights situations in Papua are frequently discussed in diplomatic communications with Indonesia, as well as during political consultations between the Netherlands and Indonesia in November 2017 and during the European Union-Indonesia human rights dialogue in February 2018.
During my visit to Indonesia on 3 and 4 July, I spoke with civil society organizations amongst them Amnesty International and the Indonesian minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi regarding the human rights situation in Papua and the content of the Amnesty International report. In the conversation with my Indonesian counterpart Marsudi I mentioned the importance of transparent investigation on the proportionality of (police) violence. Minister Marsudi indicated being familiar with the content of the report and reaffirmed that the development of Papua is a priority to the Indonesian government. To ad to that, the Indonesian government is also in contact with NGO’s , amongst them Amnesty International. The embassy of The Netherlands in Jakarta remains to follow the developments in Papua closely.
Q4
Do you share the findings of Amnesty International that the ongoing police violence and impunity are undoing the effects of the community policing program, supported by the Netherlands? If not, why not? If so, do you support the call from Amnesty for an independent investigation into all murders committed by security forces?
A4
The Netherlands is supporting the community policing programme of the International Organisation of Migration (IOM) on Papua and the Mollucas. This programme has set as a goal to improve the relations between police and the local population on Papua and the Mollucas. The programme focusses exclusively on unarmed neighbourhood police officers, who live in the local community and are active to serve the civilians. The target group of the programme therefore are not the armed police officers, who according to the Amnesty report, are involved in the alleged extra judicial executions.
The Dutch lower house was informed by letter on the progress and results of the community policing programme on 18 June 2018. In this letter it was reported that the programme achieved several positive results. The programme resulted in a specially designed human rights module which has been added to the curriculum for community policing officers throughout Indonesia. Such results remain, with the findings of Amnesty International in mind, as relevant as ever.
Q5
Is this report reason for you to increase the effectiveness of the Dutch financed community policing programme? If so, what steps will you undertake?
A5
As stated in my answer to the house on march 16 2018, the current Dutch contribution to the community policing programme lasts until June 2019. To strengthen the effects of the programme, the programme was extended in 2017 with an emphasis on decreasing external funding and increasing undertaking of activities by the communities and the police themselves.
The phasing out results are positive thus far. From august 2017 until April 2018 32,4% of the funding was raised by local sources. The goal is to eventually phase out completely and letting community policing programmes run itself independently. I see no reason at this point of phasing out to take further steps to improve the effectiveness of the programme.
Please read or download the official press release here (Dutch):
Translation Pro Papua
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