Saturday, March 30, 2019

1) Investigation Team for Military Operations in Nduga Langgar HAM


2) Slow genocide in Papua?
3) Indonesia's catastrophe hit-area in eastern Papua province heads to recovery
4) I still have trust in TNI, Jokowi tells Prabowo
5) Indonesia: ADRA Responds to Flash Floods and Mudslides in Papua Province

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A google translate . 
Be-aware google translate can be a bit erratic.
Original bahasa link at

1) Investigation Team for Military Operations in Nduga Langgar HAM
CNN Indonesia | Jumat, 29/03/2019 21:24 WIB



Illustration. The Papuan Student Alliance, the Indonesian People's Front for West Papua rallies in the Monas area, Jakarta. (CNN Indonesia / Sapphire Makki)


Jakarta, CNN Indonesia - An independent group on behalf of the Nduga Case Investigation Team, Papua, reported that there have been allegations of human rights violations during the military operations carried out by the TNI / Police in Nduga District.

The military operation was launched after a brutal murder of workers at PT Istaka Karya who was working on the Trans Papua bridge on December 2, 2018.

The member of the Nduga Papua Case Investigation Team, Theo Hasegem stated that the military operation resulted in the loss of many lives and deep trauma to the people in Nduga District.


"An independent team who took to the field found there were allegations of human rights violations in Nduga due to the military operation," Theo said at the Amnesty International Indonesia Office, Menteng, Jakarta, Friday (29/3).

See also: Election marriages in Nduga, National Police Apply Special Safeguards


Theo explained that the results of the investigation showed a number of houses belonging to the community, including public facilities such as Puskesmas, were intentionally burned by the military when the operation took place.

"They suspect the military also dropped bombs using helicopters while carrying out air strikes in several districts," Theo said.

In addition, Theo said that many residents were forced to leave their homes to evacuate to refugee camps in several districts. He said the community was worried about being victims of the operation.

According to data from the investigation team, there were tens of thousands of Nduga residents who were displaced by the operation.

See also: Regent Nduga Wait for Jokowi's Answer about Hundreds of Refugees

He said there were 4,276 refugees in Mapenduma District, 4,369 refugees in Mugi District, 5,056 refugees in Jigi District, 5,021 refugees in Yal District, and 3,775 refugees in Mbulmu Yalma District.

Not only that, there were also 4,238 refugees in the Kagayem District, 2,982 Nirkuri Districts, 4,001 Inikgal Districts, 2,021 Mbua Districts and 1,704 Dal Districts.

He stated that the condition of refugees was very inhuman. Because, many mothers give birth in the forest because of difficulty accessing medical help.

The investigation team also saw the many conditions of children under five who could not adequately fulfill their nutrition while at the evacuation site because the food needed was not sufficiently available

"Some civilians even died while in refugee camps," he said.


The suffering of the Nduga people did not end there. Theo stated that his party also found civilians who were arbitrarily treated by the authorities to death in several villages.

He said there were two school children who were shot in the Mbua District, Nduga District, and several civilians who were shot and left to suffer until they died.

"In fact, the pastor Geyimin Nirigi was not known by the family. It was alleged that the pastor had been forcibly removed by the military in the Mapenduma District," he said.

Ask for Evaluation

Seeing the incident, Theo asked the Indonesian government to evaluate the military operation that still continues to date in Nduga. He said the operation would take a lot of casualties from the people if it continued to be tolerated.

"We urge the government and the House of Representatives to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the placement of security forces in order to find a solution," Theo said.

Theo argued that the military approach was not the final solution to solving the problem in Nduga. He was worried that the operation would be a case of human rights violations that continued to occur in Papua.

Seeing him, Theo suggested that the government prioritize the occurrence of dialogue such as the experience of dealing with the Free Aceh Movement group in 2005

"We suggest that the government and the House of Representatives be able to use important experiences in Aceh, when conducting dialogs facilitated by neutral parties," he said.

See also: Wiranto Mention the Proposal of TNI Withdrawal from Nduga Takalai


(rzr/pmg)
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2) Slow genocide in Papua?
By DUNCAN GRAHAM   

Before the horrifying March 15 mosque massacres in Christchurch, New Zealand was best recognized for its knockout landscapes and relaxed lifestyle.
The South Pacific islands have a population smaller than Surabaya. On Transparency International’s annual Corruption Perception Index, New Zealand usually features as the least corrupt. On the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Register it’s also number one.
There’s another fact that’s little known – except among supporters of human rights: New Zealand hosts movements backing separatists 7,700 kilometers distant.  
About 15 percent of the 4.7 million people in Aotearoa (the land of the long white cloud) are Maori and a further seven per cent Pacific Islanders. Both groups tend to champion independence for the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua.
So does retired social worker Maire Leadbeater, whose seventh and latest book “See No Evil”blames New Zealand for “betraying” the Melanesians who last century were colonized by the Dutch. However, following a UN supervised referendum in 1969 the western side of the island of New Guinea has been part of Indonesia.
Leadbeater sees this as the root of today’s turmoil because only just over a thousand Papuans, handpicked by the military, were allowed to vote. 
It was called the Act of Free Choice, but the author labels it “neither free, nor a choice” – something young Papuans are starting to discuss as they discover histories at odds with the Jakarta version.
Leadbeater, 73, who comes from a well-known family of robust political activists, is no casual placard-waver. She was involved in the successful quest to keep New Zealand nuclear-free, which led to a ban on visits by US warships.  
As a prominent barracker for East Timor’s independence she was awarded the Order of Timor Leste.
Now she’s spokesperson for Auckland’s West Papua Action Group and clearly taken seriously by the Indonesian government. Two years ago it appointed Tantowi Yahya as ambassador.
Yahya was one of the best-known faces on Indonesian TV as host of the top-rating quiz show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?Now he has the tough task of persuading Kiwis that allegations of human rights abuses in Papua are hoaxes, and that separatism is only backed by a tiny minority manipulated by outsiders.
Leadbeater won’t buy it, and in “See No Evil”sets out the troubled history of the two provinces which are controlled from Jakarta, 3,670 kilometers west, although they’ve recently gained some degree of autonomy.
The book, published by the University of Otago Press, was released just ahead of two major developments: first was a shocking incident in late December when a road gang pushing a highway through the interior was ambushed.
At least 19 men were shot (reports are confusing); the army is currently hunting the killers. 
Then, in January, a petition allegedly signed by 1.8 million Papuans seeking an internationally supervised referendum on independence was handed to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Leadbeater quotes academics claiming there’s been “soft” or “slow genocide” over the decades with estimates of 500,000 dying of fighting, malnutrition and disease. The HIV rate is 15 times greater than in the rest of Indonesia.
About one million mainly Muslim farmers from overcrowded Java have migrated to Papua, which is predominantly Christian. President Joko Widodo has regularly insisted that road building is a high priority.
Highways will benefit new settlers but the indigenous owners see development speeding the destruction of their culture.
It seems the Melanesians are doomed, like the Aborigines in Australia and Maori in NZ, to become a minority in their own land. Entrepreneurs are moving in to fell the forests, plough plantations and plunder the minerals.
Leadbeater’s book is no inflammatory tract but a scholarly account of the region’s history and present plight.  Papua’s blessing – and curse – is to be resource-rich.
Prime is Grasberg, the world’s largest gold and second largest copper mine on the Puncak Jaya mountain. Reserves are worth an estimated US$100 billion.
This is Indonesia’s largest taxpayer, so even if the government was prepared to stare down the nationalists and give in to the separatists – which is highly unlikely – it couldn’t cope with the financial losses.
Until recently the mine was majority-owned by the US company Freeport McMoRan, but the Indonesian government took control last year in a US $3.8 billion deal. The torrent of money flowing to Jakarta should now increase along with the development of downstream industries.  
It’s here that Leadbeater is in a bind. She knows the economic reality, but acceptance would undermine her argument for change. For her a particular concern is the Indonesian government’s fondness for using military might to solve social issues. 
The policy didn’t work in Aceh where a long-running civil rebellion only ended this century with negotiations in another country.
The author lists the many alleged abuses of human rights, corruption – including the payment of US$20 million by the company to generals – destruction of the environment and maltreatment of the population; these are all serious issues that only seem to be addressed piecemeal. 
Nationalism is growing fast in Indonesia where the nation is defined as Merdeka dari Sabang sampai Merauke– free from Sabang at the top of Sumatra, to Merauke on the border with Papua New Guinea.
Any hint that Papua might secede like East Timor would cause an uprising of anger that could trigger violence. This would most likely be directed at Australasia that conspirators believe is plotting to fracture the republic. Whatever the NGOs say and do, Australia and New Zealand governments officially recognize the Papuan provinces as part of Indonesia.
For Leadbeater there’s another alternative to maintaining the distrust, pain and volatility. She wants her country to repeat its successful brokerage of the Bougainville conflict in the late 1990s by organizing a meeting of rival factions at a neutral venue.
(A civil war on the Papua New Guinea island ended when Bougainville became an autonomous province. A referendum on independence will be held later this year.)
She concludes: “Papuan leaders and Pacific peoples are waiting for NZ to put its efforts into helping to bring peace and justice to the people of West Papua.” It could be a long wait.
Duncan Graham
 "Duncan Graham is an Australian journalist based in Malang, East Java Province, who has been writing about Indonesia for the past 22 years. "


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3) Indonesia's catastrophe hit-area in eastern Papua province heads to recovery
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-30 21:45:37|Editor: xuxin
JAKARTA, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Jayapura district of Indonesia's eastern Papua province has entered a three-month transitional emergency period for recovery on Saturday after flash floods and landslides damaged 2,287 houses, the country's disaster agency official said here.
The new status heading to recovery aims to pave access to financing and logistics, moving personnel, use of equipment and others during the emergency relief work, said spokesman of national disaster management agency Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.
"A coordinating meeting has decided to end emergency status and shift it to a transitional emergency status toward recovery for three months of period," he told Xinhua in a text message.
The new status will end on June 27 and during the period, all the activities in the emergency status will continue except search for the missing people, said Sutopo.
A 14-day emergency status was put in place after the disaster struck the district on March 16, according to the agency.
The catastrophe left 112 people dead and 961 others injured with 153 having serious wounds, said Sutopo.
The number of damaged houses climbed significantly from the agency's report on March 23 of 253 units.
Still, the number of evacuees ratcheted down significantly to 4,763 from a peak of 11,556 on March 23.
The disaster also damaged 59 school buildings, five bridges, two churches, three office buildings, one market and one health clinic, he said.
Flash floods often hit the remote Papua province, but those on March 16 was among the worst. Deforestation at the upstream area of a river was blamed as one of the triggers of the catastrophe, according to the agency.
Indonesian environment ministry plans to conduct reclamation and reforestation at the areas to prevent such disasters from happening again in the future.
Indonesia is often hit by flash floods, floods and landslides during heavy rains.
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4) I still have trust in TNI, Jokowi tells Prabowo
News Desk The Jakarta Post Jakarta   /   Sat, March 30, 2019   /   10:37 pm
Presidential candidate Joko “Jokowi” Widodo shrugged off a concern expressed by challenger Prabowo Subianto, who questioned the capability of the Indonesian Military (TNI) to protect the country. 
The retired army general said “Indonesia’s defense is too weak” because the budget allocated for defense was too small, claiming that “all of our money is flowing overseas.”
“I think Pak Prabowo does not have faith in our military. As a civilian, I have great faith in our military,” Jokowi said.
Jokowi went on to mention that command centers in Natuna regency, in Riau Islands as well as in Sorong, West Papua, showed how Indonesia was ready to anticipate a foreign threat. 
Instead, the former businessman said Indonesia should be concerned about possible internal conflict. 
“According to information from defense strategists, there is no threat of foreign invasion in the next 20 years. What is more important is domestic conflict, which will be amplified by technology,” Jokowi said.
“Our defense budget is Rp 107 trillion, the second-biggest after the Public Works and Housing Ministry. This is not a joke, even though some improvement is needed.” he added.
Prabowo was quick to question the claim, saying that the budget allocated for the military was no more than 1.5 percent of the state budget.  (fac)
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5) Indonesia: ADRA Responds to Flash Floods and Mudslides in Papua Province
Mar 22, 2019Silver Spring, Maryland, United StatesKimi-Roux James, ADRA International
On March 16, flash floods and mudslides hit the eastern Indonesian province of Papua near the subdistrict of Jayapura. Reports are the flood waters left at least 104 dead, 60 missing, 74 injured and displaced more than 4,000 people. Over 350 houses and two main bridges are also reportedly damaged. Additionally, more than 11,700 households in total are affected.  With roadways underwater, getting to communities affected has delayed ADRA aid workers. Currently, ADRA staff and volunteers in local areas have been mobilized to conduct a market survey of available goods and prices. “The flash floods occurred at night when most of the residents were asleep,” says Ralfie Maringka, emergency response coordinator for the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) in Indonesia, a local resident in the country who was deployed on March 17 to help coordinate efforts. “As of now, we are assessing what people’s needs are in the hardest hit areas of Sentani, Japapura, the capital city of Papua Province.” Access to clean water and sanitation, shelter and food are likely to be the most dire needs across the country. The wide-spread flooding may also lead to food shortages in the coming months. It remains unclear how much damage may have been sustained.  "Listening to the people’s needs instead of our own judgment is our priority to helping those greatly affected in this crisis," Maringka said.  More information will be available as it is provided. 
ABOUT ADRA The Adventist Development and Relief Agency is the humanitarian arm of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Its work empowers communities and changes lives around the globe by providing sustainable community development and disaster relief. For more information, visit ADRA.org.
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