2) PNG border security a key strategic interest for Australia
3) Time Capsule Monument in Papua embodies spirit of Avengers, Jokowi says
4) President Jokowi inspects Trans-Papua road development project
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1) Inalum raises money for Freeport divestment
Jakarta | Fri, November 16, 2018 | 06:26 pm
Stefanno Reinard Sulaiman The Jakarta Post
State mining holding company PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (Inalum) has obtained US$4 billion, part of which will be used to purchase a major stake in gold and copper miner PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI).
Inalum president director Budi Gunadi Sadikin told the press on Friday that the payment of US$3.85 billion to Freeport-McMoRan, the parent firm of PTFI, will be processed alongside the renewal of the PTFI special mining permit.
“Our task is over for now and we are waiting for Freeport and the government to settle the environmental issue. And once it is settled, we will transfer the money,” he said, adding that the target of divestment is no later than year-end.
When the deal is completed, Inalum will increase its share of ownership in PTFI from 9.36 to 51.23 percent.
The global bond, which was issued at the Singapore bourse last Thursday, canceled Inalum’s initial plan to finance the Freeport deal through syndicated bank loans.
The bank loan scheme was much more expensive than the global bond issuance because of a potential rate hike, Budi said, adding that global bond issuance would also leave out the need to pay the principal installment.
The bonds are divided into four categories: $1 billion with a 3-year tenor, 5.23 percent coupon rate; $1.25 billion with a 5-year tenor, 5.71 percent coupon rate; $1 billion with a 10-year tenor, 6.53 percent coupon rate; and $750 million with a 30-year tenor, 6.7 percent coupon rate. (bbn)
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2) PNG border security a key strategic interest for Australia
As a backgrounder to the APEC meeting in Port Moresby this week, we recently set out in The Australian some of the broad maritime and border security issues Papua New Guinea faces.
Here we’d like to focus in a little more detail on the increasing national security challenges that PNG’s borders pose for the country’s government.
Indirectly there are serious consequences for Australia if PNG’s borders aren’t secure. PNG is our nearest neighbour and it’s not too difficult to move people and goods that have illegally entered PNG on to Australia.
Providing security at PNG’s borders is difficult and requires a large commitment from the country’s scarce administrative, security and law enforcement resources.
PNG’s major border security threats are linked to a range of illicit activities such as smuggling of drugs, weapons, tobacco and people, as well as health and biosecurity risks.
Life on both sides of PNG’s borders with Indonesia, Solomon Islands and Australia is intertwined in terms of culture, family and economics. And transactions and movements at the country’s borders have been growing.
The 720-kilometre border with Indonesia is the one that most requires protection. It is mainly a land boundary, except for a small stretch where the Fly River marks the border.
Indonesia also attaches high importance to the border and in recent years has undertakenmajor infrastructure and social development projects in the area. Indonesia is now establishing bases every 10 kilometres on its side of the border. These developments have not been matched on the PNG side.
Apart from the northern border post at Wutung, the border is largely open to the uncontrolled movement of people and goods by both land and sea, which poses a high quarantine risk to PNG.
Boats make illegal crossings at night, and contraband is smuggled in along the northern and southern maritime borders. Illegal crossings also occur by canoe along the river systems around the southern part of the land border.
PNG has limited surveillance capabilities on sea, land and air along the Indonesian border.
In the south, Daru is a designated PNG port of entry and is the entrance to Western Province. But it seems the government has no real assets to monitor the area, especially boats coming along the coast from Indonesia.
PNG’s border with Australia is managed under the Torres Strait Treaty, which establishes several maritime boundaries between the two countries and addresses a range of related issues, including sovereignty over islands, fishing rights and protection of the marine environment.
The treaty is complex. It creates four different kinds of maritime boundaries and limits, including a zone for protecting the traditional way of life and the livelihoods of local inhabitants, allowing free movement and access to fishing grounds. Under the treaty, ‘traditional inhabitants’ come from 13 villages in PNG.
Day-to-day negotiations on border issues are conducted by treaty liaison officersappointed by each country.
The border is the best controlled of PNG’s borders, but some illegal movement of goods and people still occurs.
PNG has no resources to mirror the patrolling that takes place on the Australian side of the border. In the Torres Strait Treaty villages there’s no network of border liaison officers (or quarantine officers) like Australia has on its side.
Australia will need to maintain its efforts to work collaboratively with PNG on border security. The joint cross-border patrols that occur several times a year to mutually protect the shared border might, for example, be expanded to areas outside the Torres Strait protected zone.
No patrols are conducted in the ‘dog leg’ of PNG’s exclusive economic zone in the western Torres Strait, which isn’t covered by the Torres Strait Treaty. A high level of illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing is believed to occur, including by fishing vessels from Indonesia and by licensed PNG-flagged vessels. Some form of trilateral cooperation for enforcement in the area would seem appropriate.
PNG’s boundary agreement with Solomon Islands isn’t yet in force, but both countries respect the integrity of a maritime boundary that’s around 1,800 kilometres long.
The border has been problematic in the past, but since the end of hostilities on Bougainville, it’s reverted to its role as a peaceful and artificial dividing line between related communities. Movement of goods and people across the border is virtually uncontrolled on the PNG side. For example, there’s currently no border post at Kangu Beach between PNG and Solomon Islands.
In the case of the southern border with Solomon Islands, unauthorised movements of people and goods occur. There are no registration cards for border crossings. Beer is apparently a border currency: the beer is stronger and cheaper in Solomon Islands. Illegal home brew also comes in.
In effect, PNG’s southern border is self-regulating, and night-time crossings from Solomon Islands are common. In the event of a security, humanitarian or heath crisis in Bougainville, many PNG citizens would seek refuge across the border, as occurred during the armed conflict in Bougainville in the 1990s.
Uncontrolled border movements, particularly across the borders with Indonesia and Solomon Islands, mean that PNG is both missing out on possible customs revenue and being exposed to illegal imports such as drugs and arms, as well as the unrecorded entry of people.
PNG agencies working on the borders are severely starved of equipment and funding. One positive development here is the report that Australia will commit hundreds of millions of dollars towards a new multi-nation investment to deliver power and communications infrastructure to PNG. This is a step in the right direction as it will facilitate communications between border posts as well as links with Port Moresby.
Secure borders are also a gateway for greater wealth for PNG through trade and commerce. PNG’s border security strategies will need to facilitate the legitimate movement of people and goods while keeping the borders secure from illicit contraband and irregular people movements.
Last year PNG appointed its first immigration and border security minister, a long overdue move which should help achieve a more focused approach to border protection.
Australia will need to maintain its efforts to work collaboratively with PNG on border security. PNG is a key strategic interest for Australia that has been underappreciated since its independence. While we have paid attention to our own border security with PNG in the Torres Strait, we should also provide greater support for PNG in maintaining its borders with Indonesia and Solomon Islands.
Anthony Bergin is a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute and the Australian National University’s National Security College.
Sam Bateman is a professorial research fellow, Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security, University of Wollongong. Image courtesy of the Department of Defence.
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3) Time Capsule Monument in Papua embodies spirit of Avengers, Jokowi says
News Desk The Jakarta Post
Jakarta | Fri, November 16, 2018 | 06:10 pm
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has once again thrown out a blockbuster reference, this time while inaugurating the Time Capsule Monument, which represents Indonesia’s seven dreams, in Merauke, in the far east of Papua, during a work visit on Friday.
In his speech, Jokowi noted that social media users had praised the Time Capsule Monument’s futuristic design, comparing it to the headquarters of Marvel’s superheroes the Avengers.
The President said that the monument embodied the spirit of the Avengers, who not only dreamed of great visions, but also fought to protect people, especially the weak.
“Through this monument, we not only express our dreams of becoming a great nation, we will show we can work hard together to realize our great visions,” Jokowi said on Friday.
The time capsule, which contains expressions of the nation’s hopes and dreams for the next 70 years, was transported across 187 cities and 34 provinces before being buried by Jokowi in 2015. The capsule will be opened in 2085.
The nation’s seven dreams for 2015 to 2085 include for Indonesia to become free of corruption, for Indonesia to be the most influential country in the Asia Pacific region and to be the world’s center of education, technology and civilization.
These hopes and dreams could be achieved by 2085 if all elements of the nation were willing to participate in efforts toward development, Jokowi said.
“If we want to unite with optimism and determination, we will become a great country, a superpower, a country with dignity respected by other countries in the world,” he said. (afr/swd)
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https://en.antaranews.com/news/120571/president-jokowi-inspects-trans-papua-road-development-project
4) President Jokowi inspects Trans-Papua road development project
Reporter: ANTARA 2 hours ago
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) took the opportunity to check the Trans-Papua road development project during his visit to the eastern region on Friday.
The deputy for protocol, press and media of the Presidential Secretariat, Bey Machmudin, said in a release that the section he checked was on Kilometer 23 between Merauke and Sota in the district of Merauke.
"I want to personally check the situation in the field, as according to reports I received, much of the section from Merauke to Boven Digoel is muddy," he said.
The Merauke-Boven Digoel section stretches 422 kilometers long, while the Merauke-Sota section is 78 kilometers long and only three kilometers of it is yet to be completed.
"This part is indeed special and needs special treatment. We hope by the end of the month it will be completed," he said.
On the other hand, the 21-km Sota-Boven Digoel section is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
The 422-km Merauke-Boven Digoel can now be covered in eight hours, as against weeks before the development.
The Trans-Papua is expected to be able to cut time in the distribution of goods, logistics and the people`s movement.
"We hope the completion of the Trans-Papua would speed up the mobility of goods and people, as well as the distribution of logistics, and in turn, reduce the logistics and transportation cost. That is my idea," President Jokowi said.
President Jokowi was accompanied by public works minister Basuki Hadimuljono during the visit.
Reporting by Agus Salim
Editing by Yoseph Hariyadi
The deputy for protocol, press and media of the Presidential Secretariat, Bey Machmudin, said in a release that the section he checked was on Kilometer 23 between Merauke and Sota in the district of Merauke.
"I want to personally check the situation in the field, as according to reports I received, much of the section from Merauke to Boven Digoel is muddy," he said.
The Merauke-Boven Digoel section stretches 422 kilometers long, while the Merauke-Sota section is 78 kilometers long and only three kilometers of it is yet to be completed.
"This part is indeed special and needs special treatment. We hope by the end of the month it will be completed," he said.
On the other hand, the 21-km Sota-Boven Digoel section is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
The 422-km Merauke-Boven Digoel can now be covered in eight hours, as against weeks before the development.
The Trans-Papua is expected to be able to cut time in the distribution of goods, logistics and the people`s movement.
"We hope the completion of the Trans-Papua would speed up the mobility of goods and people, as well as the distribution of logistics, and in turn, reduce the logistics and transportation cost. That is my idea," President Jokowi said.
President Jokowi was accompanied by public works minister Basuki Hadimuljono during the visit.
Reporting by Agus Salim
Editing by Yoseph Hariyadi
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