1) Papuan People’s Assembly explains its 2022 priority program

2) Papuan students abroad on the verge of dropping out of schools due to new Otsus regulation

3) Papua Peace Network calls on Jakarta to end armed conflict, hold dialogue

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https://en.jubi.co.id/papuan-peoples-assembly-explains-its-2022-priority-program/

1) Papuan People’s Assembly explains its 2022 priority program

 News Desk February 3, 2022

Jayapura, Jubi – The judicial review upon Law No. 2/2021 on the Second Amendment to the Papua Special Autonomy (Otsus) Law at the Constitutional Court is still a top priority program for the Papuan People’s Assembly (MRP) in 2022. The MRP proposed the judicial review as the new Otsus Law was considered reducing the authority of the Papuan People’s Assembly.

“The Papuan People’s Assembly is focused on judicial review of Law No. 2/2021 at the Constitutional Court,” said MRP chairman Timotius Murib to Jubi on Tuesday, February 1, 2022.

According to Murib, the MRP has also determined 15 other priority programs that will be carried out by the assembly this year. The entire agenda has been determined and ratified in the plenary meeting last Wednesday, January 26, 2022.

The request for a judicial review was submitted by Timotious Murib as MRP chair, deputy chair of the MRP Yoel Luiz Start, and Debora Mote. The plaintiff said the recent Otsus Law had violated their constitutional rights as Indigenous Papuans.

One of the changes in the Law No. 2/2021 is the removal of Article 68 paragraph (1) and paragraph (2) concerning the formation of local political parties in Papua.

“This change is clearly against the 1945 Constitution,” said Murib.

Murib went on to explain the priority programs by three working groups in the MRP, “In the Religious Working Group, there are seven programs. The Women’s Working Group has four programs, and the Customary Working Group has four programs. We will also follow-up some of the unfinished programs from last year”.

According to him, all of the priority agendas carry the theme of protecting Papua’s forests and Indigenous People. The Religious Working Group, for example, has programs to ban alcoholic beverages production and distribution, encourage local governments to provide rehabilitation facilities for drug victims, and improve communication and coordination in eradicating the selling of alcoholic beverages.

The Customary Working Group has programs to urge the government and related parties such as companies to settle payments or compensation for land belonging to Indigenous Peoples. “We will continue to monitor public complaints about their lands that have been taken by the government and companies but have not been paid,” said Murib.

The Customary Working Group will also disseminate the MRP’s decision about customary land. In addition, they will report the achievements that the MRP has worked on over the past five years.

Meanwhile, the priority agenda of the Women’s Working Group this year concerns the poor protection for women and children in the middle of armed conflicts that occur in various regions of Papua. The Women’s Working Group wants to work with the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) to seek protection for women and children in conflict areas.

“The important thing to do this year is to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Komnas Perempuan in order to protect mothers and children, especially in conflict areas. In Jokowi’s era, the level of suffering for mothers and children in conflict areas is extraordinary due to the ongoing violence between the Indonesian Military (TNI) and police and armed groups,” said Murib. (*)

Reporter: Yuliana Lantipo
Editor: Aryo Wisanggeni G

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https://en.jubi.co.id/papuan-students-abroad-on-the-verge-of-dropping-out-of-schools-due-to-new-otsus-regulation/

2) Papuan students abroad on the verge of dropping out of schools due to new Otsus regulation

 News Desk February 3, 2022 9:30 am

Jayapura, Jubi – Papuan students abroad have expressed their concerns regarding the fate of their education following the issuance of Law No. 21/2021 about the second amendment to Papua’s Special Autonomy (Otsus) Law.

As a result of the amendment, several priority programs of the Papuan Provincial Government were terminated, including programs in the field of education, economic empowerment, and health. In education, for example, there is a transfer of ten percent of education funds managed by the Papua Provincial Government to regency and city administrations in Papua.

According to the students, the transfer of funds did not take into account the ongoing scholarship program for Papuan students abroad.

For this reason, students belong to the Papuan Student Association in Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, Japan, Russia, and Germany demand the central government to consider giving back ten percent of the education allocation to the Papua Provincial Government for the sake of the scholarship program continuation.

They said the central government must be responsible as it had created a policy that has impacted Papua’s Provincial Budget 2022 budget, including tuition fees and living costs for scholarship recipients. They said the central government must guarantee the continuation of the scholarship program.

“The central government should stop ‘killing’ Papuan human resources through inconsiderate policies,” said head of the Papuan Student Association in Russia Dessy F. Itaar on Thursday, January 27, 2022.

According to head of the Papua Students Association of Oceania (Australia and New Zealand) Yan Piterson Wenda, currently, there were at least 400 Papuan students receiving scholarships abroad, comprising 25 students in Australia, 77 in New Zealand, five in Japan, 250 in the US and Canada, 38 in Russia, and five in Germany. Of this figure, Wenda said, there were 84 students in the US and 41 in New Zealand who had received an email from the Papua Provincial Government that they would soon be repatriated to Papua.

“This is the impact that we Papuan students abroad feel. It is likely that there will be more names who will be repatriated as well,” said Wenda.

Kerry, one of the Papuan students in New Zealand, said the impact of the new policy regarding education funds in the Otsus Law had been felt by Papuan students in New Zealand, including delays in allowance and no update about the tuition payment.

“We need money to eat. We have a monthly allowance that should have been disbursed in the second week of January 2022, but it hasn’t been disbursed yet. We also haven’t heard about the tuition payment process,” said the student at the Waikato University, New Zealand.

Kerry said the central government’s decision had made the Papuan children studying abroad victims. Therefore, he demanded the central government be responsible. “Because what we are talking about is not just for today, but for the future of all Papuan children who will study abroad,” said Kerry.

Meanwhile, head of the Papuan Student Association in Japan Melani S. Ramandey hoped to be facilitated to have a dialogue with President Joko Widodo or related ministers to convey their aspirations. “We need a dialogue with President Jokowi. Believe me, we cannot possibly take steps that are detrimental to our future,” she said.

Furthermore, the students also mentioned their concerns about the district and city administrations managing their education funds, because, from past experience, even the student management in the provincial government itself had not performed well.

Currently, of the total Rp 5.5 trillion (US$ 385 million) Papua Special Autonomy Fund disbursed by the central government for Papua Province, only Rp1.3 trillion is managed by the provincial government. The remaining Rp 4.4 trillion will be transferred directly to 29 regencies and cities in Papua.

“We don’t know whether the regency and city administrations are able to manage our situation in the future,” said Ramandey. (*)

Reporter: Theo Kelen
Editor: Syofiardi

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3) Papua Peace Network calls on Jakarta to end armed conflict, hold dialogue

Suara Papua - January 31, 2022

Yance Agapa, Nabire -- The Papua Peace Network (JDP) is asking the Indonesian government to end the armed conflict by pursuing a path of dialogue.

"I'm absolutely sure that dialogue could be a 'golden bridge' towards resolving the social and political conflict which has been going on for more than 50 years in the land of Papua and has depleted the state's energy and budget which were initially allocated to the development of the people's welfare in the land of Papua", said JDP spokesperson Yan Christian Warinussy on Monday January 31.

The former coordinator of the JDP, the late Dr. Muridan S. Widjoyo, once said that dialogue will not kill anyone.

So, said Warinussy, "I think that Muridan's statement is appropriate to open talks with the Indonesian government under the leadership of President Joko Widodo to immediately end the conflict and violence in the land of Papua by starting a peaceful dialogue between all elements or groups involved for the sake of mutually agreeing on a way to end the armed violence and to begin taking steps to implement this for Papua".

"Dialogue is very relevant, important and urgent at the moment", he said.

According to Warinussy, conflict and violence in Papua has given rise to many victims among the ordinary Papuan people which are rarely resolved legally, so that it always leaves behind the problem state impunity among elements of TNI (Indonesian military) and Polri (Indonesian police) forces.

On the other hand, the death of several TNI and Polri personnel in many cases has become a means to justify conducting military security operations, which in turn give rise to civilian victims among the ordinary people.

"The tragic death of Reverend Yeremias Zanambani [in 2020] was an example of a case related to security or military operations which always result in civilians, the ordinary people becoming victims", he said.

The JDP is also appealing to the TNI, Polri and the West Papuan National Liberation Army (TPNPB) -- or what is referred to as armed criminal groups (KKB) by the government -- to stop the use of arms and end the violence as well as start a peaceful dialogue with the government and the ordinary people in Papua.

"We (the JDP) are also pushing President Joko Widodo to restart moves to pursue dialoged by appointing a special envoy to begin holding informal dialogue with all important parties for the sake of starting moves to prepare for a Papua-Jakarta dialogue", he said in conclusion.

Speaking separately, West Papua National Committee (KNPB) Chairperson Warpo Sampari Wetipo said that Jakarta cannot stop the conflict and violence in Papua just by offering to create new autonomous regions (DOB), Special Autonomy Chapter II and infrastructure development, but must use a persuasive approach instead.

"[Through the] solution of peaceful dialogue we can take the road of peace. The dialogue which the KNPB means is not just Jakarta-Papua dialogue but international dialogue which is facilitated by a neutral party", said Wetipo.

According to Wetipo, the Papuan people are the political subject so there must be representation in any peace dialogue.

"So they [Jakarta] must sit together with a forum of the ordinary people so that within that forum the people's agenda is discussed which is facilitated by a neutral party", he asserted.

[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "JDP Minta Negara Akhiri Konflik di Papua Gunakan Dialog".]

Source: https://suarapapua.com/2022/01/31/jdp-minta-negara-akhiri-konflik-di-papua-gunakan-dialog/


INDOLEFT News service

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