1) Indonesia's Papua Issue in Focus with High-Level Court Review
2) Eco-bricks, a solution to reduce plastic waste
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The Diplomat
1) Indonesia's Papua Issue in Focus with High-Level Court Review
Lawyers are challenging Indonesia’s incorporation of the region into its territory a half-century ago.
By Associated Press April 27, 2019
Lawyers are challenging Indonesia’s incorporation of the volatile Papua region into its territory in 1969 with a judicial review at the country’s highest court.
A spokesman for a group of 15 Papuan lawyers, Agus Sumule, said Thursday the “Act of Free Choice” referendum violated Indonesia’s Constitution because it was conducted in a way that grossly violated the human rights of Papuans.
The 1969 referendum, supervised by the United Nations, was carried out in an atmosphere of heavy intimidation and only 1,026 hand-picked Papuans were allowed to vote on whether their region should be part of Indonesia. The vote was unanimous in favor.
The referendum was also backed by the United States, which in the Cold War era was eager to maintain warmer ties with Indonesia following massacres of communists and leftists in 1965 that shifted the country into the Western-allied fold.
Sumule said the process of developing the judicial review was started two years ago but was only submitted to the Constitutional Court on April 12 due to financial reasons such as the expense of traveling from the remote region to Jakarta.
“We talked to various circles of Papuan society before the lawsuit was submitted. They all supported this legal step,” Sumule said.
But the Constitutional Court case has revealed fault lines in the Papuan independence movement. The West Papua National Committee, which advocates independence from Indonesia, said in a statement that only a second referendum of indigenous Papuans held under genuine international oversight can decide whether they become a nation.
“The legal and political status of West Papua must be resolved through a peaceful, democratic and final referendum under international supervision,” said Victor Yeimo, a leading member of the group.
Indonesia restricts foreign media from reporting in its two easternmost provinces, West Papua and Papua, where an insurgency has simmered since Indonesia occupied the former Dutch colony in the early 1960s.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said the Papua issue is “finished.”
“For us, Papua cannot be discussed anymore. Papua has been recognized internationally with the U.N.’s decision as part of Indonesia’s territory,” he said.
Reported by the Associated Press.
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2) Eco-bricks, a solution to reduce plastic waste
Published 2 hours ago on 27 April 2019 By pr9c6tr3_jube
Nabire, Jubi – It was a lovely Monday noon (April 14th, 2019) when a group of the youth was gathering in the front yard of Bentot Yatipai’s house. Chatting and laughing, these young people, who are members of Amoye Youth Community, were busy cleaning and cutting papers and plastic waste, then putting it into plastic bottles. They were making ‘eco-bricks’.
Amoye Youth Community was established in 2006 to support young people who are passionate about motorbike at that time. As time goes by, the group started to think about their contribution to their environment. So they began to go around cleaning and collecting plastic waste from some particular locations in town, encouraged local people to donate their plastic waste and initiate a recycling program.
This group’s initiative, said Amoye youth community leader Bentot Yatipai, is a response towards insufficient waste management by the local government. “We conduct social activities, environmental awareness and educational campaign. Waste management is our top priority. Total our members now are 200 coming from several motorcycle clubs,” he said.
According to Yatipai, despite the lack of waste management by the local government, people are also so aware of their surroundings. “Our neighbourhood is still messy. People still not aware about hygiene, healthy environment and its prevention. This is why we initiated the recycling program,” said Yatipai.
However, his group does not set a particular schedule of making eco-bricks due to their other activities. The community members could gather at any time, particularly on weekend or holiday.
“Almost every Sunday they come for gathering. They understood their task and already knew what to do. Collecting waste, wash it, cut it and put the cutting plastics into bottles,” he said.
In addition to being environmentally friendly, eco-bricks also have economic value, to produce chairs, tables or photo booths, for example. “We want to start this program by inviting residents to donate plastic waste and separate their garbage,” he said.
“We don’t know the exact number of plastic waste we received, but it is quite a lot, as many people in Nabire collect waste from other residents from other regencies,” he said.
Meanwhile, Lukas Mote said he is interested in joining the Amoye Community because he thinks it has a useful contribution to the environment, health and education. “I am interested in joining because it offers many programs and accommodates members for sharing,” said Mote.
As a capital town of Nabire Regency, Nabire is geographically strategic as it becomes an entrance of the central highland area which consisting of many regencies. However, the demographic explosion has led this regency to a problem of waste disposal management.
From 2016 to 2018, it predicted that the town produced 350-400 m3 of waste per day and this number estimated continuously increases. Some locations such as Pasar Karang, Kalibobo and Terminal Oyehe are full of waste and dirty because it uses as the temporary waste terminal (TPS). Furthermore, people do not separate garbage and plastic waste.
A resident Handayani tells she often throws her domestic waste in a temporary disposal site located in the traditional market at night. According to her, Nabire is still dirty. Therefore, she asks the local government of Nabire to stipulate the regional regulation to regulate sanitation.
“If there are regulation and fine, Nabire must be clean and comfortable,” she said.
Meanwhile, Nabire Environment Office does not have a database about daily waste produced. Officers only pick up the garbage from the temporary disposal waste to the waste terminal (TPA)
In regards to this, the secretary of Nabire Environment Office Yohanis Ramandai said the office does not have a tool to estimate how much garbage produced per day. His office is only responsible for managing the garbage, including collecting, transporting and disposing of at the waste terminal.
In 2018, around IDR 100 million has been budgeted for waste management, including the cost for fuel, vehicle maintenance and meals for cleaning service officers. “Meanwhile, for 2019, IDR 1 billion budget has been submitted to regional working plan but not been approved yet,” said Ramandey.
In regards to Amoye Youth Community, Ramadey appreciates their action in reducing plastic waste. “I truly appreciate them. We might invite them to collaborate in reducing waste,” he said. (*)
Reporter: Titus Ruban
Editor: Pipit Maizier
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