2) Indonesia creates development agency to aid neighbors
3) Papuans need Government to solve problems, not an offer in cabinet
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1) Indonesia calls for probe into Papua deaths
19 October 2019
Papuan students taking part in a rally push toward a line of police and military blocking them in front of the army's headquarters in Jakarta on 22 August, 2019. (AFP Photo)
Indonesia's human rights commission called for a probe into scores of deaths in Papua on Friday after some of the deadliest violence in years swept the restive region.
Dozens were killed when riots broke out in Wamena city last month, with some victims burned alive when buildings were set ablaze, and others stabbed in the chaos.
Since mid-August, Papua has been hit by waves of mass protests and violence fuelled by racism against indigenous Papuans by Indonesians from other parts of the archipelago, as well as calls for self-rule in the impoverished region.
On Friday, Indonesia's National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas) called for a full investigation into the wave of fatalities, saying that the death toll had hit 43 in Wamena – up from an earlier 33 dead – including some victims who had been shot.
Separately, officials from the agency also said at least a dozen people had died from gunshots or illness in another part of the region after tens of thousands of Papuans were displaced by fighting between Indonesia's military and independence-seeking rebels.
"The police must probe all these deaths," Komnas chairman Ahmad Taufan Damanik told reporters in Jakarta Friday.
"Even if some of the alleged perpetrators are from the security forces they must also be investigated," he added.
Indonesia ramped up its military operations in jungle-clad Papua – which shares New Guinea island with the independent nation of Papua
New Guinea – following a massacre of employees at a state-backed contractor in December.
New Guinea – following a massacre of employees at a state-backed contractor in December.
A humanitarian team comprised of public officials, non-governmental organisation (NGO) workers and local church leaders has said over 200 displaced people died after fleeing the fighting.
A low-level separatist insurgency has simmered for decades in the former Dutch colony after Jakarta took over in the 1960s.
A United Nations (UN)-sponsored vote to stay within the archipelago in 1969 was widely viewed as rigged, but Indonesia has long refused to consider another referendum.
Beka Ulung Hapsara, deputy chairman of the rights agency, called on Indonesia's government to solve the crisis in Papua as President Joko Widodo gets set to kick off a second term at the weekend.
"We hope that after his inauguration as President on Sunday, (Widodo) will make Papua a priority for the government," Beka added.
A Papua police spokesman did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment about the rights commission's findings.
In August, protests broke out across Papua and in other parts of the country after the arrest, racial abuse and tear-gassing of dozens of Papuan students, in the city of Surabaya. - AFP
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2) Indonesia creates development agency to aid neighbors
REUTERS OCT 19, 2019
JAKARTA – Indonesia launched an international aid agency on Friday to strengthen its regional diplomatic relations, some of which have been strained by Jakarta’s approach to the restive Papua region.
Several Pacific nations have backed calls for investigations into allegations of violence by security forces in Indonesia’s easternmost region, although only Vanuatu has openly voiced support for independence of former Dutch colony Papua.
Jakarta, which has defended the actions of security forces in Papua, said on Friday that the new agency, with an initial budget of about 3 trillion rupiah ($212 million), can provide development aid or disaster relief to smaller countries.
“The main objective is to increase our diplomacy effort to help partnership with other developing countries to tackle issues like refugees or conflicts,” Vice President Jusuf Kalla told a news conference after the launch.
Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi told a news conference that Indonesia’s new Agency for International Development (AID) was a way for the G20 economy to help other countries achieve sustainable development goals.
The government made no link to Papua-related diplomacy during the fund’s launch and a foreign ministry spokesman declined to comment on any connection.
Yose Rizal Damuri, the head of the economics department at the Jakarta-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said the fund should strengthen Indonesia’s diplomacy beyond its usual allies and expand export markets, “including on Papua. For anything related to small countries, one of the most effective instruments is to provide aid.”
A separatist movement has simmered in Papua since it was incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 in a widely criticized U.N.-backed referendum. There has been a spike in violence since August after racial slurs against students on the main island of Java, with demands for a new independence vote.
Indonesia has provided grants to seven countries this year, including five Pacific nations for tackling climate change. Other beneficiaries were Myanmar and the Philippines.
“It’s difficult not to conclude that the aid is more a political tool, to win favor from those countries,” Andreas Harsono, a senior researcher for Human Rights Watch, sai
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3) Papuans need Government to solve problems, not an offer in cabinet
Published 4 hours ago on 20 October 2019 By pr9c6tr3_juben
Jayapura, Jubi – Laurenzus Kadepa, Papua parliament member from Politics, Legal and Human Rights Division, said Papuan peoples do not need an offer in the presidential cabinet of Joko Widodo for the period of 2019-2024. What they urgently need at the moment, he further said, is the state’s attention to solve problems in Papua (Jayapura, 16/10/2019).
Moreover, he points out that although during the last few periods of the central administration, Papuans had always “allotted” the ministerial position, problems and difficulties in Papua has never resolved. He takes a series of examples of human rights violations cases that continuously occurred in Papua.
“It seems a demand of Papuan peoples for the State paying attention to many problems in Papua would divert by the granting of ministerial position to some Papuans,” said Kadepa.
According to him, in the first period of his administration, President Widodo had mentioned his intention to solve various issues in Papua, including some cases of human rights violations. But, up to now, none of these cases is settled.
“It seems there is no effort to settle these cases,” he said.
Furthermore, he highlights the statement of President Widodo, claiming his readiness to have a dialogue with a Papuan pro-independence group, but he believes it was not a thing.
“If the central government seriously pay attention to this issue, it should be done for a long time ago. But it has never been materialised. It seems the statement for dialogue (by the president) only at a certain moment. For instance, during a conflict in Papua or the political year,” he said.
Meanwhile, Weinan Watori from the Papua Customary Council said people in Papua would like to be treated fairly and equally rather than offering a position of a minister.
“If we want to build peace, peoples in Jakarta should build a peaceful mind among them first instead of asking Papuans to do that,” said Watori.
According to him, if talking about peace, the central government must consistently conduct every mandate of the Law No. 21 of 2001 about the Special Autonomy for Papua. He said people in Papua has tried to exercise this mandated law, but the central government always declared the implementation of the law is against other legislations.
“So, please stick to this law (Special Autonomy Law) first. For instance, to establish the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (KKR). We should consistently execute the law and regulation we made. It says that we are the state of law, so why don’t we execute it for that reason?” questioned him. (*)
Reporter: Arjuna Pademme
Editor: Pipit Maizier
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