2) Indonesian human rights lawyer Koman refuses to be cowed on Papua
3) NU-Jayapura chapter declines calls for jihad in Papua
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1) Indonesia denies aid fund aimed at dampening support for Papuan independence
By Nivell Rayda
22 Oct 2019 07:13PM (Updated: 22 Oct 2019 07:21PM)
Papuan students take part in a rally in Bandung on September 2, 2019, calling for Papua's independence from Indonesia. (Photo: AFP/Timur Matahari)
JAKARTA: Indonesia has launched an international aid agency to strengthen its diplomatic relations in the region, but played down the role of Papua-related diplomacy in the fund.
The establishment of the Indonesian Agency for International Development (AID) last Friday (Oct 18) came amid international criticism towards Jakarta’s approach in the restive Papua region, which has seen widespread violence since August.
Government watchdogs have said the fund could be useful to win over countries sympathetic towards West Papuan independence.
However, Mr Cecep Herawan, the ministry's director-general for information and public diplomacy, denied that the agency was introduced to dampen international criticism against Indonesia’s rule over Papua.
The agency has nothing to do with Papua,” he said in a presser on Monday (Oct 21).
The idea to form a dedicated agency to provide aid to other countries was first conceived in 2016, Mr Herawan said, long before the widespread unrest this year sparked renewed calls for independence in Papua.
The protests were ignited by a video showing civilians and military officers taunting Papuan students with racist remarks in Java in August.
Indigenous Melanesians are the predominant inhabitants of Papua, which Indonesia officially annexed as it's easternmost province in 1969.
READ: Protests in Indonesia's Papua spotlight demand for independence referendum
Jakarta’s crackdown on the pro-independence protesters have prompted several Pacific nations to call for investigations into allegations of violence by security forces in Papua during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York last month.
On Monday, Mr Herawan confirmed that Pacific countries will be given priority over other countries in terms of distribution of AID funds, but stressed that the decision has no connection to Papua.
It is part of Indonesia’s strategy to bring countries in the Indo-Pacific region closer together, he explained.
"A PRECIOUS TOOL FOR INDONESIAN DIPLOMACY"
Speaking to reporters during Indonesian AID’s launching ceremony on Friday, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said the agency “is a very precious tool for Indonesian diplomacy (that we can use) to strengthen our presence on the international stage.”
On Monday, Mr Herawan stressed that one of the agency’s main objectives is to beef up Indonesia’s clout in the international diplomatic circle.
“With the formation of this agency, we want all of our donations and assistance to other countries to be in line with our foreign policies and politics. I’m sure it is the same case with all countries,” he said.
Indonesian ministries and agencies have been giving grants and technical assistance to their foreign counterparts independently.
Beginning next year - when the agency begins managing the 4 trillion rupiah (US$283 million) endowment fund the central government currently sets aside - all foreign aid projects, technical cooperation and disaster relief programmes will be under the control of the Foreign Ministry.
“All will be centralised. The Foreign Ministry will have a bigger role in determining where aid should be distributed to. So everything will have synergy and thus Indonesia’s diplomatic posture will be further strengthened,” Mr Herawan said.
READ: Papua unrest reflects long standing issues, locals call for equal development
Indonesia hopes to set aside 10 trillion rupiah in endowment fund for Indonesia AID to manage and distribute at least US$42 million to needy nations every year.
Mr Herawan said the formation of the agency reflects Indonesia’s projections that it could be the world’s fifth largest economy by 2030.
But Indonesia still has 9.8 per cent of its 270 million population living below the US$1.90 per day poverty line set by the World Bank.
Indonesia itself still receives hundreds of millions of dollars in development assistance from countries like Japan, China, the United States and Singapore as well as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.
MORE THAN JUST BOOSTING INDONESIA'S CLOUT: ACADEMIC
Since 2015, Indonesia has been giving aid and grants to Pacific countries when the pro-Papuan independence group, the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), applied for membership with inter-governmental organisations Melanesian Spearhead Group and the Pacific Islands Forum.
This year, Indonesia has pledged aid to seven countries, five of which were Pacific countries - Nauru, Tuvalu, Solomon Islands, Kiribati and Fiji.
Given the timing of the aid agency's formation and its focus on Pacific countries, Mr Andreas Harsono, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, said: “It is difficult to say that it was not built to win the hearts of Pacific countries, which have been critical towards the human rights violations in Papua.”
Nonetheless, Mr Harsono pointed out that three countries which have received aid from Indonesia - Solomon Islands, Nauru and Tuvalu - were among the Pacific nations speaking out against the situation in Papua at last month's UNGA.
He said people in the Pacific countries, who have started to become aware of the violence, racism and environmental destruction in Papua, were putting pressure on their respective governments to act.
“Even if Indonesia can lobby Pacific countries, these countries would also need to appease their own people,” he told CNA.
“We shall see how effective the new agency will be in advancing Indonesia’s political agenda,” he added.
READ: China signs deal to 'lease' Pacific island in Solomons
Professor Hikmahanto Juwana, an international relations expert from University of Indonesia, disagreed.
“If you look at China, they have been successful in using their international aid programmes to rally other countries to support their political agendas and foreign policy. Indonesia is a long way from reaching China’s level of success but it has to start somewhere,” he told CNA.
“Of course there will be controversies domestically if Pacific countries receive funds from Indonesia, but if Indonesia can develop programmes which would truly benefit people in that country, the controversies would die down.”
Prof Juwana said China and India were also aid donors while still receiving aid in the past.
The advantage of providing aid to foreign countries is more than boosting Indonesia’s profile and clout, he opined.
“Indonesia could also make sure that Indonesian contractors are involved in the international development programmes, or have the foreign countries use products manufactured in Indonesia, to provide Indonesian companies with a new market," he said.
2) Indonesian human rights lawyer Koman refuses to be cowed on Papua
OCTOBER 22, 2019 / 8:07 PM / UPDATED 11 HOURS AGO
During her time in Australia, Koman has met with lawmakers and the U.N. high commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, and has vowed to continue to advocate for West Papua.
“This uprising is actually not over yet,” she said. “This is something bigger than just about me or my family.”
Reporting by Byron Kaye and Agustinus Beo Da Costa in Jakarta; Writing by Tom Allard; Editing by Ed Davies and Lincoln Feast
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Veronica Koman, a human rights lawyer sought by Indonesian police over Twitter posts authorities blame for fanning unrest in the Papua region, has a tattoo on each wrist.
The first, inked when she was in her late teens and a fervent nationalist, reads simply “Indonesia” and, she says, meant that “Indonesia is running through my veins”.
The second, which she got a few years later after becoming “exposed to social justice”, has become a defiant riposte to the vitriol she has received for defending activists and advocating self-determination for Papua, Indonesia’s easternmost provinces.
The tattoo reads “DILLIGAF”, an abbreviation for a crude saying which roughly stands for “Do I look like I give a damn?”
“I’ve actually been experiencing this weird systematic attack, if you like, online since I think it was almost two years ago,” Koman said in an interview in Australia, where she is now living.
The threats can come in slickly produced video posted on YouTube or comments from anonymous social media accounts.
The abuse includes death threats, incitements to sexual assault and racist slurs, online material reviewed by Reuters showed. It also includes the publication of personal information about her and her family.
“I have never, ever published anything personal about me on social media. Not even fun photos with friends. It’s precisely because I knew that my work is very risky,” she said.
“It was information that’s only available on family (identification) cards.... I have a feeling it was state-backed, otherwise who else?”
Asked about her comments, Frans Barung Mangera, a spokesman for East Java police, which has been investigating Koman, said by telephone it was “impossible” for officers to be behind it and noted the lawyer had made many enemies.
A national police spokesman could not be reached for comment, but an official at Indonesia’s intelligence agency said it would not expose such data because it protected everyone.
Koman says the online invective has increased since she was charged in September under Indonesia’s hoax news and racial discrimination laws for comments she posted about the recent violence in Papua.
Koman, who uses her Twitter account to share videos, photographs and comment on the situation in Papua, has denied any wrongdoing and Amnesty International Indonesia has urged police to drop their charges.
Demonstrators in Papua protesting perceived racism and calling for independence have clashed with security forces for more than two months.
Dozens have died, including indigenous Papuan protesters, police and migrants from other parts of Indonesia.
Koman said she left Indonesia in December after she was harassed by nationalist groups for representing Papuan protesters arrested in the East Java city of Surabaya and was warned there were direct threats to her physical security.
Indonesia police have said they are seeking an Interpol Red Notice for Koman, which could see the lawyer extradited back to Indonesia to face court. An Indonesian police spokesman did not respond to questions about whether the notice had been issued.
The Australian Federal Police does not comment on individual cases, but is not compelled to act on Interpol Red Notices.
For any extradition to occur, Australia’s attorney general has to recommend an arrest warrant be issued and the offence must be in the criminal code in both Australia and the country seeking extradition, according to the attorney general’s website. Exemptions to extradition are provided if the offence is considered “political”.
Koman said her parents moved out of their house for a month earlier this year after they were visited by about 10 police officers looking for her. They were also spooked by the volume of vitriol directed at their daughter, she said.
“They keep begging me to stop (working on Papua) until today actually. They are really feeling intimidated.”
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3) NU-Jayapura chapter declines calls for jihad in Papua
7 hours ago
Jayapura, Papua (ANTARA) - The Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) in Jayapura, Papua’s capital city, expressed rejection to calls for jihad or fighting in the name of religion in connection with the recent Wamena rioting case that killed 33 innocent civilians.
Chairman of the NU-Jayapura Chapter KH Kahar Yelipele appealed to those intent on waging jihad in Papua to not proceed with their plan since their presence would only create new problems.
He pointed out that the district and provincial governments had been handling the Wamena case. Moreover, security personnel have also restored law and order and enforced the law against those accountable for the fatal rioting.
Hence, in his statement in Jayapura on Monday, Yelipele made an earnest request to residents in Papua and outside Indonesia's easternmost province to exercise self-restraint and allow the Indonesian law enforcement agencies to resolve the cases.
Yelipele expressed his deepest condolences to individuals and families suffering deeply from the deadly riot that broke out in the highland city of Wamena, the capital city of Jayawijaya District, Papua Province, on Sept 23, 2019.
The call for jihadists to go for war in Papua was recently echoed by the Islamic Jihad Front (FJI). To this end, this organization opened registration for Indonesian Muslims keen to go for jihad there.
KH Kahar Yelipele straightforwardly refused this call for jihad in Papua, emphasizing that Indonesia is a great nation, with people belonging to diverse ethnicities, who stand united under the state ideology of Pancasila. All elements of the Indonesian society should preserve and continue to echo the spirit of unity in diversity, he explained.
"Let us all echo and spread the spirit of peace by not creating and proliferating hoaxes. Let us continue to uphold our tolerance and brotherhood in the land of Papuans," Kahar Yelipele, also a member of the Jayapura Religious Harmony Forum (FKUB), stated.
Yelipele urged Papuan students in Java and other islands who had returned home before finishing their studies to go back to the universities for the sake of their own future and the nation's future.
The Wamena rioting has caused misery to numerous Indonesians since not only 33 innocent civilians were killed but several thousand survivors were also compelled to seek refuge by abandoning their burned and destroyed properties.
Several survivors, originally from provinces, including West Sumatra, South Sulawesi, East Java, and Banten, have also returned to their hometowns.
The rioting was spurred by the proliferation of hoaxes through social media platforms that triggered fury among its residents, according to Papua Police Chief Inspector General Rudolf A. Rodja.
Several local media reports confirmed Rodja's claim that the riot was spurred by hoaxes centering on a teacher's racist slur against native Papuan students.
Taking into account the casualty count, the Wamena riot has become the deadliest of the string of violence that broke out in several parts of Papua and West Papua over the past two months following the Surabaya incident on Aug 16 that had triggered resentment and fury among native Papuans.
The Indonesian police have held Benny Wenda, a campaigner of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) leading a good life in the United Kingdom, accountable for the spate of violence that erupted in these two Indonesian provinces, including the rioting in Wamena.
Related news: Ministry, military join hands to rebuild Wamena's damaged facilities Related news: TNI AU Hercules plane transports 88 refugees back to Wamena
EDITED BY INE
Chairman of the NU-Jayapura Chapter KH Kahar Yelipele appealed to those intent on waging jihad in Papua to not proceed with their plan since their presence would only create new problems.
He pointed out that the district and provincial governments had been handling the Wamena case. Moreover, security personnel have also restored law and order and enforced the law against those accountable for the fatal rioting.
Hence, in his statement in Jayapura on Monday, Yelipele made an earnest request to residents in Papua and outside Indonesia's easternmost province to exercise self-restraint and allow the Indonesian law enforcement agencies to resolve the cases.
Yelipele expressed his deepest condolences to individuals and families suffering deeply from the deadly riot that broke out in the highland city of Wamena, the capital city of Jayawijaya District, Papua Province, on Sept 23, 2019.
The call for jihadists to go for war in Papua was recently echoed by the Islamic Jihad Front (FJI). To this end, this organization opened registration for Indonesian Muslims keen to go for jihad there.
KH Kahar Yelipele straightforwardly refused this call for jihad in Papua, emphasizing that Indonesia is a great nation, with people belonging to diverse ethnicities, who stand united under the state ideology of Pancasila. All elements of the Indonesian society should preserve and continue to echo the spirit of unity in diversity, he explained.
"Let us all echo and spread the spirit of peace by not creating and proliferating hoaxes. Let us continue to uphold our tolerance and brotherhood in the land of Papuans," Kahar Yelipele, also a member of the Jayapura Religious Harmony Forum (FKUB), stated.
Yelipele urged Papuan students in Java and other islands who had returned home before finishing their studies to go back to the universities for the sake of their own future and the nation's future.
The Wamena rioting has caused misery to numerous Indonesians since not only 33 innocent civilians were killed but several thousand survivors were also compelled to seek refuge by abandoning their burned and destroyed properties.
Several survivors, originally from provinces, including West Sumatra, South Sulawesi, East Java, and Banten, have also returned to their hometowns.
The rioting was spurred by the proliferation of hoaxes through social media platforms that triggered fury among its residents, according to Papua Police Chief Inspector General Rudolf A. Rodja.
Several local media reports confirmed Rodja's claim that the riot was spurred by hoaxes centering on a teacher's racist slur against native Papuan students.
Taking into account the casualty count, the Wamena riot has become the deadliest of the string of violence that broke out in several parts of Papua and West Papua over the past two months following the Surabaya incident on Aug 16 that had triggered resentment and fury among native Papuans.
The Indonesian police have held Benny Wenda, a campaigner of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) leading a good life in the United Kingdom, accountable for the spate of violence that erupted in these two Indonesian provinces, including the rioting in Wamena.
Related news: Ministry, military join hands to rebuild Wamena's damaged facilities Related news: TNI AU Hercules plane transports 88 refugees back to Wamena
EDITED BY INE
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