1) Indonesian teachers warn of new coronavirus clusters as schools reopen

2) Papua police seize 1,000 liters of liquor in Nabire district  

3) Freed from Prison, Papuan Activist Vows to Keep Fighting for Independence

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https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/indonesia-teachers-warn-of-new-covid-19-clusters-schools-13018298

1) Indonesian teachers warn of new coronavirus clusters as schools reopen

13 Aug 2020 06:35PM (Updated: 13 Aug 2020 06:36PM)

Students wear protective masks at a school amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in 

Jayapura, Papua Province, Indonesia July 13, 2020. Antara Foto/Gusti Tanati via REUTERS

JAKARTA: Indonesia's move to reopen schools in some areas risks creating new clusters of coronavirus cases, with at least 180 students and teachers infected since a new academic year started in July, a teachers' federation said on Thursday (Aug 13). 

The world's fourth-most populous country has allowed schools to reopen with limited capacity in "yellow" and "green" zones, with fewer reported cases and covering 43 per cent of the student population, according to government data.

Parents can opt not to send their children to schools in these areas and extracurricular activities are not allowed.

Heru Purnomo, the secretary general of The Federation of Indonesian Teachers Associations (FSGI), said distance learning was still preferable.

"We've always sounded out our worries that schools could become new clusters," Purnomo said. "Distance learning, be it offline or online, is safer than face-to-face lessons."

Wiku Adisasmito, a spokesman at Indonesia's COVID-19 task force, told reporters on Thursday that new clusters would not break out at schools if all health protocols were adhered to.

Explaining the policy of limited reopening, education minister Nadiem Makarim told a streamed talk show on Wednesday that almost 90 per cent of children live in areas where "most of the students find it extremely difficult to do any type of technology-based distance learning".

In its situation report on Thursday, the World Health Organization in Indonesia warned a return to schools "risks worsening local transmission, putting a heavier burden on the nation's limited healthcare facilities and workers and, in the long term, slowing down the economic recovery".

Some provinces have reported a significant number of cases among the young. In Papua, nearly 300 people aged under 19 had confirmed infections as of Wednesday.

A co-founder of Lapor COVID-19, a volunteer group collating information, told Reuters it had found six clusters originating in schools that had reopened in West Kalimantan on the island of Borneo.

On Thursday, the country reported 2,098 new coronavirus infections and 65 additional deaths.

Indonesia has reported 132,816 coronavirus infections and 5,968 deaths, the highest death toll in Southeast Asia. Around 9 per cent of infections are among the 0-18 age group.

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Source: Reuters/aa

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https://en.antaranews.com/news/154178/papua-police-seize-1000-liters-of-liquor-in-nabire-district

2) Papua police seize 1,000 liters of liquor in Nabire district  

7 hours ago

Jayapura, Papua (ANTARA) - The Indonesian police have continued to crack down on liquor producers and sellers in Papua province and seized one thousand liters of alcohol of the brand ‘Bobo' during raids this week, a police spokesperson said.

The raids in Nabire district were conducted by a joint team of personnel from the local police, military, and the district's public order agency, Papua Police spokesperson, Sen.Coms. Ahmad Musthofa Kamal, said here on Thursday.

Led by Nabire Police Chief, First Inspector Agus Suprayitno, law enforcers cracked down on liquor sellers in Siriwini and Sanoba neighborhoods as part of efforts to reduce the crime rate in Nabire district, he revealed.

They confiscated 300 liters of liquor from a house in the Siriwini neighborhood, while 700 liters of liquor was seized during a raid conducted in the Sanoba neighborhood, Kamal said.

Last month, police officers in Mimika district nabbed Dani, alias DM, 37, for allegedly making and selling an alcoholic beverage called "sopi". Another suspect, identified as Y, 40, had managed to evade arrest.

"Y is still being hunted down," Mimika Police Chief, Adjunct Sen. Coms. IGG Era Adhinata, revealed.

Local policemen raided DM's house after receiving a tip-off from local residents that DM and Y were regularly producing distilled liquor. The raid operation resulted in the seizure of 15 liters of "sopi" that the suspects had stored in a 20-liter jerry can, he revealed.

The Papuan government has effectively banned the production, distribution, and sale of alcoholic beverages since 2016, in accordance with the Regional Government's Regulation Number 15 of 2013.

The regulation is aimed at protecting Papuans from the harmful effects of alcohol consumption, such as loss of consciousness and engaging in acts of domestic violence and crime.

ANTARA has reported on the likelihood of alcohol consumption among local community members playing a role in reducing the life expectancy of native Papuans.

In view of the harmful effects of liquor consumption, native Papuans have been urged to collectively support the liquor ban by supervising the sales of alcoholic beverages at mini-markets and kiosks.



Related news: Indonesian police continue to clamp down on Papua's liquor producers

Related news: Five armed Papuan rebels surrender, swear allegiance to Indonesia


Related news: A tale of Indonesian soldiers' care for boosting Papuans' literacy

Reporter: Alfian R, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Gusti Nur Cahya Aryani

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https://www.benarnews.org/english/news/indonesian/activist-freed-08122020172450.html?fbclid=IwAR11dUDZM0quz3hCff3fqwNSO6IKO4ROdL20urepfLe4KsgWIXpVrTsDP_Y

3) Freed from Prison, Papuan Activist Vows to Keep Fighting for Independence

Gunawan and Ronna Nirmala 

 Balikpapan, Indonesia, and Jakarta

 2020-08-12

The last of seven Papuan activists was released from a detention center in Indonesian Borneo on Wednesday after serving a sentence on charges of treason for taking part in anti-Jakarta protests last year.

Agus Kossay said jail was like “a free hotel” that would not discourage him from carrying on with the separatist campaign for the Papua region.

“I will continue to fight for the freedom of all Papuan people,” Agus told BenarNews in front of the Balikpapan Detention Center in East Kalimantan after being released on Wednesday.

In June, the Balikpapan District Court sentenced Agus and six other pro-independence activists and students to 10 to 11 months in prison for treason linked to organizing and taking part in anti-Jakarta protests in Papua last year. All seven were credited for the nine months they had already spent behind bars.

The defendants were “proven to have committed treason with others,” the judges ruled in their verdicts.

The four students – Ferry Kombo, Hengki Hilapok, Irwanus Uropmabin and Alexander Gobai – were sentenced to 10 months and released in early July.

Co-defendants Stevanus Itlay and Buchtar Tabuni, who also were sentenced to 11 months, were released last week.

Agus said he and other activists were willing to risk imprisonment in their efforts for Papuan independence.

“For me, prison is like a free hotel. It will not discourage our fight,” said Agus, the chairman of the pro-independence West Papua National Committee (KNPB).

He said the Papua region, located at the far eastern end of the Indonesian archipelago, had abundant wealth in natural resources to allow people to determine their own future.

“We have gold, forests, others. We will able to stand alone,” he said.

2019 protests

More than 40 people were killed in August and September 2019 after anti-government protests turned violent in Papua and West Papua provinces, which make up the Indonesian half of New Guinea Island.

The unrest was sparked by perceived heavy-handed and racist treatment of Papuan students by security personnel on Java Island. It prompted the government to send as many as 3,000 police and military troops to the Papua region, according to rights activists, and to block the internet for three weeks.

Officials said at the time that the blackout was intended to curb the spread of misinformation after protesters torched government buildings during the anti-government demonstrations.

The central government in Jakarta blamed the separatist United Liberation Movement of West Papua and the West Papua National Committee – Agus’s group – for the uprising, during which thousands of people joined protests calling for a vote on self-determination for the mainly Melanesian Papuan region.

On Wednesday, Agus urged the government to withdraw those additional officers sent to the region last year, saying there could be violence if they did not leave.

“We are not against the Indonesian government, only against the system that curbs Papuan freedom,” he said.

The activist admitted that his efforts were not universally backed in Papua.

“There are people in Papua who are not supportive, but it is our duty to make them understand,” he said.

The seven are not the only Papua activists to serve time behind bars.

In April, Jakarta District Court sentenced six others to prison after finding them guilty of treason for demanding a Papua referendum and waving separatist Morning Star flags in front of the presidential palace in Jakarta. The six, who had been in custody since August 2019, were freed a month later.

The Papua region was incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 after a United Nations-administered ballot known as the Act of Free Choice. Many Papuans and rights groups said the vote was a sham because it involved only about 1,000 people.

Scholarship issue

Meanwhile, Veronica Koman, a human rights lawyer focusing on alleged abuses in Papua, asked Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati to be impartial in handling her case in which, Koman alleged, she was being forced to return hundreds of millions of rupiah of government-sponsored scholarships.

Koman said she had been ordered to return money granted by the Endowment Fund for Education (LPDP), a scholarship program managed by the Finance Ministry, totaling 773.8 million Rupiah (U.S $52,400), for failing to return to Indonesia after studying abroad.

“However I did return to Indonesia in September 2018 after completing a master’s of law program at the Australian National University,” said Koman, who lives in Australia.

In a statement to the media, she said that a month after returned to Indonesia, she joined the Jayapura-based Human Rights Lawyers Association for Papua.

In March 2019, she went to Switzerland to attend a U.N. event before returning to Indonesia.

“I provided pro-bono legal representation in court for West Papuan activists in three separate court proceedings in Timika, West Papua from April to May 2019. I then visited Australia on a three-month visa for a graduation ceremony held in July 2019,” she said.

While there, Koman said she was alerted that she had been summoned by the National Police for alleged incitement of violence over releasing information about unrest in Papua.

“I hereby call on the Indonesian Ministry of Finance led by world-renowned Sri Mulyani to not join a list of government institutions that persecute human rights defenders and to acknowledge my post-study return to Indonesia,” she said.

LPDP Director Rionald Silaban confirmed the order to return the funding, but declined to say if it was related to Koman’s activities related to Papua.

“Veronica is one of four scholarship recipients whom we asked for a refund,” Rionald told Tirto.id, an Indonesian news website. 

He said Koman should have stayed and worked in Indonesia for a minimum of five years after completing her scholarship.

“It is in the contract. All the overseas scholarship recipients must return and serve in Indonesia,” he said. “Our policy is that you go home to help Indonesia, that’s the purpose.”

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