2) The People of West Papua give thanks to the Vanuatu Government and The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
3) Re: No ‘Manipulative Steps’
4) Papua Bangkit Stadium will ready in March 2019
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1) ‘Ill-advised’ Papua highway imperils indigenous rights, rainforests
04 FEB 2019 / 19:12 H.
BANGKOK: A highway under construction in Indonesia’s Papua province is hurting the environment and stoking conflict by threatening indigenous land rights, analysts and activists said.
The Trans Papua highway is part of Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s plan to develop the impoverished eastern province, and open up access to its abundant natural resources.
But the 4,000-km of highway that will link hubs of agriculture, mining, and oil and gas, will encroach indigenous land and destroy tropical rainforests including Lorentz National Park, a World Heritage site, activists said.
“The highway passes through many customary lands, and much of this land is not titled,“ said Kartini Samon, a campaigner with advocacy group GRAIN.
“It raises concerns about indigenous peoples whose livelihoods depend on the land and the forests which are being cleared,“ she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation on Monday.
Across developing nations, analysts say large road projects are destroying forests and hurting local communities who are often not consulted or compensated for their loss.
Papua has suffered a simmering separatist conflict since it was incorporated into Indonesia after a widely criticised UN-backed referendum in 1969.
Since coming to power in 2014, Widodo has tried to ease tensions by addressing some rights concerns, while also stepping up investment with projects such as the Trans Papua highway.
But concerns persist. Security forces in Papua have unlawfully killed at least 95 people in the eight years to 2018 with almost no accountability, rights group Amnesty International said in a report last year.
A long-standing grievance is the settlement of land claims.
Widodo has vowed to return 12.7 million hectares (ha) of land to indigenous and rural communities nationwide, following a 2013 ruling that removed such land from state control and formalised local peoples’ rights over them.
But of the millions of hectares of customary claims under review, “virtually none” are in Papua, said William Laurance, a professor at James Cook University in Australia, and a Papua expert.
“It’s hardly surprising some indigenous groups are up in arms,“ he said.
“This road network limits the potential to resolve competing claims, locking in grievances and unrest. It is like pouring gasoline on a campfire,“ he said.
In December, a separatist group was accused of killing at least 19 workers building a bridge to connect the Trans Papua road, in one of the worst outbreaks of violence.
As work was suspended, Widodo said construction of the road “will never be stopped”.
Last week, government officials said the Indonesian military will take over construction of the road, with hundreds of extra security personnel to be deployed in the area.
But with the project far from complete, the rebels have vowed more attacks.
The best approach for the government would be to “greatly condense” the road network, and focus on existing roads, said Laurance.
“Socially, environmentally and even economically, it’s one of the most ill-advised road-building schemes I’ve ever seen.” — Reuters
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2) The People of West Papua give thanks to the Vanuatu Government and The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Timika-West Papua, February 3, 2019
The ULMWP Action Committee of the Timika region with the people of Papua give their gratitude and appreciation for the surrender of 1.8 million souls petition to the United Nations Human Rights Council.
The ULMWP Action Committee together with the people of Papua, God of the nation of Papua, the ancestors of the nation of Papua, the bones of the West Papua Warriors in the region of custom Bomberay, as well as all the community of living beings over the land of Papua especially in the region of Timika give thanks to The Government of Vanuatu, and to the High Commissioner of the UN Human Rights Council.
Here’s a statement of our political attitude:
1. Our entire people of the West Papua region of Timika said thank you to the country and to the Vanuatu government with the ULMWP for carrying the petition of 1,8 million souls to the UN Human Rights council in Geneva-Switzerland.
2. Our entire people of West Papua are saying thank you to the high commissioner of the UN human rights council who received the petition of 1,8 million souls of the nation of West Papua.
3. Committee of the region Timika, the ULMWP action committee together with with the people of West Papua people ask the messenger of the UN human rights council to come directly to West Papua, and not through Jakarta.
“Action committee of the ULMWP region bomberay” with the entire people of West Papua area of Timika.
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3) Re: No ‘Manipulative Steps’
Dear Editor,
Indonesia is again acting-out as it did in 2005 when the US Congress introduced a Section 1115 “Developments in and policy toward Indonesia” to their Foreign Relations Authorization Act for 2006/2007 which included a request for the US Secretary of State to provide a report about West Papua and about the validity of the 1969 ‘Act of Free Choice’ which Indonesia claims has international authority and claims has been endorsed by the United Nations.
Although a nation should have every right to investigate alleged international and United Nations documents that Indonesia claims the nations are subject to, Indonesia’s President denounced the American request to examine the situation that Indonesia alleges about West Papua and world affairs; not only did Indonesia criticize the US, it was interfering in US Senate process of reviewing their Congress’ section 1115.
And as can be expected if Indonesia covertly flexes economic influence with Senators or MPs, the entire section was removed.
As Vanuatu is well aware, the US is not the only country where Indonesia has been exerting covert influence.
AJ
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4) Papua Bangkit Stadium will ready in March 2019
Published 5 days ago on 31 January 2019
By pr9c6tr3_juben
Jayapura, Jubi – Sports Department of Papua Province is targeting the construction of Papua Bangkit Stadium which meets the FIFA standard located in Kampung Harapan, Jayapura Regency will finish in March 2019
Meanwhile, the Department Head of infrastructure management of Sports and Youth Provincial Office Bernard Sitorus claimed the construction has 97 per cent finished. It only needs small finishing works.
“We continue to push our works, so it would be ready when President Widodo come for its launching,” Sitorus told reporters in Jayapura on Thursday (24/1/2019).
This 45,000-capacity stadium that spent approximately IDR 1.3 trillion of Papua Provincial Budget would be one of the biggest stadiums built in the eastern Indonesia region.
Separately, Dolly Abu Zain, the Site Engineering Manager of PT PP Tbk, added to accelerate the construction, approximately 900 workers were involved in this project, and some facilities including LED and electronic scoreboard have already been installed.
Meanwhile, the instalment of paving blocks for road access to the stadium has 100 per cent completed, as well as the roof installation. Now the homework left is to finish the instalment of the synthetic track.
“Meanwhile, it only needs small finishing works for the inside of the stadium. All chairs (for the audience) already installed,” said Dolly. (*)
Reporter: Alexander Loen
Editor: Pipit Maizer
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