Friday, April 4, 2025

1) Benar News. A letter from the editors


2) Free meals program running in eight districts of Highland Papua: Govt  

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1)  Benar News. A letter from the editors 

As BenarNews pauses its operations, we want to thank our audience for your loyalty and trust in us. 
2025.04.02

After 10 years of reporting from across the Asia-Pacific, BenarNews is pausing operations due to matters beyond its control.

The U.S. administration has withheld the funding that we rely on to bring our readers and viewers the news from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh, the Philippines and island-states and territories in the Pacific.

We have always strived to offer clear and accurate news on security, politics and human rights, to shed light on news that others neglect or suppress, and to cover issues that will shape the future of Asia and the Pacific.

Only last month, we marked our 10th anniversary with a video showcasing some of the tremendous but risky work done by our journalists.

Amid uncertainty about the future, we’d like to take this opportunity to thank our readers and viewers for their loyalty and trust in BenarNews.

And to Benar journalists, cartoonists and commentary writers in Washington, Asia, Australia and the Pacific, thank you for your hard work and passion in serving the public and helping make a difference. 

We hope that our funding is restored and that we will be back online soon. 

Kate Beddall 
Managing Editor


Imran Vittachi
Deputy Managing Editor


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2) Free meals program running in eight districts of Highland Papua: Govt  
April 4, 2025 19:08 GMT+700

Jayawijaya, Highland Papua (ANTARA) - The Education and Culture Office of Highland Papua ensured that the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) program is operational across eight districts in the province.

The districts benefiting from this initiative include Jayawijaya, Lanny Jaya, Tolikara, Nduga, Central Mamberamo, Pegunungan Bintang, Yahukimo, and Yalimo.

Head of the Education and Culture Office of Highland Papua Aron Wanimbo stated when contacted here on Friday that the free meals program represents a significant move by the central government to nurture Indonesia's golden generation.

"This is a really good program. The central government has prepared breakthroughs in preparing a golden generation for Indonesia in 2045, one of which is starting by providing nutritious meals to students in Indonesia," he elaborated.

According to the office head, this program is highly feasible to be implemented in all educational institutions across eight districts in Highland Papua.

Wanimbo explained that Acting Governor of Highland Papua Velix V Wanggai had directed that the MBG program be adapted to the unique circumstances of Highland Papua.

"It must be contextual, for instance, the cooking process must involve women in the church, youth, and PKK (Family Empowerment and Welfare teams)," he remarked.

Wanimbo further noted that his office fully supports the free meals program and continues to coordinate with the education offices in the eight districts.

The Indonesian government officially launched the free nutritious meals program on January 6, 2025, as one of the main programs of President Prabowo Subianto and Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka for their 2024–2029 term.

Through the program, the government aims to improve the nutritional intake for children under five, pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and schoolchildren up to high school level. 

Related news: Govt mulls using e-motorbike taxis for free meals delivery

Related news: Free meal program five times weekly in Highland Papua

Related news: Papua vulnerable communities prioritized for free meals: BGN

Translator: Yudhi Efendi, Raka Adji
Editor: Azis Kurmala

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Thursday, April 3, 2025

Urbanisation and deforestation threaten indigenous noken weaving


Photos in article

Te Ao Māori News

Urbanisation and deforestation threaten indigenous noken weaving



                                                The string is also woven into traditional clothing. Photo: Supplied.

Urbanisation and environmental destruction threaten the Indigenous noken-weaving practices in South Papua Province, Indonesia, home to what’s been called the world’s largest deforestation project.
Noken/Men: Bags of the Muyu Tribe of South West Papua exhibition at the University of Auckland is part of Veronika Kanem’s PhD submission.
The research focuses on her father’s tribe, the Muyu people and their string bags. She analyses the mobility of the people, their gift-giving story and the environmental destruction that is happening in her homeland.

Noken is a traditional string bag made of various natural fibres of trees and plants, and the Muyu people they call it men and they are made from the genemo tree (Gnetum gnemon).
“Noken is a very embedded in our life as part of our identity because we wear noken from the birth to the death,” Kanem said. 
“The exhibition is also a way to give something back to my community.”

Kanem said these bags contain the social and cultural values of the Muyu people.
Men hold machetes and axes for gardening, are given as gifts, used in cultural ceremonies, bridewealth payment and child initiation into adulthood. 
They are also woven as gifts to give their husbands to show love and affection. Or gifted to strengthen relationships with extended family. Decorated men are given to significant guests (religious or government leaders) to show respect.

Noken symbolise a woman’s womb or a source of life as it is used to carry babies, piglets,and and garden harvests. 
Women weave the bags in between their domestic tasks of cleaning, gardening, and pig farming. Some weave while taking care of the children and while selling their garden produce at the market. 
“My message is for the Noken women in West Papua,” she said, “I want them to keep weaving their Nokens, keep weaving their knowledge because by doing the weaving we’re also defending our land, our forests.”



Massive deforestation project threatens the indigenous weaving practice

Last year Te Ao Māori News spoke to Rosa Moiwend of the Marind-Anim tribe in Merauke whose land is being targeted with 1.6 million hectares of indigenous forests to be destroyed and replaced with rice fields and sugar cane plantations. 
This is part of Indonesia’s National Strategic Project to help Indonesian self-sufficiency in food and energy. The project is managed by the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Agriculture. 
“The Marind tribe are in great danger because of this,” Kanem said.
“If you destroy the forests, you destroy our identity.”

The movement from villages to cities risks loss of tradition across generations

The mobility of the Muyu people from rural villages to urban Merauke threatens the continuation of their traditional men’s weaving practices.
According to Kanem, urbanization is driven by the search for educational and employment opportunities. However, The distance between Maropko and Merauke is 524 km, which takes about 13 hours by car, and even longer during the rainy season.

Once they’ve moved, Muyu women can struggle to access genemo fibres needed to make men’s woven garments. They often have to wait for people to travel the long distance from the villages to sell the fibres at the market. 
To sustain the cultural practice of men’s weaving, urban women must spend significant amounts of money to purchase the inner fibres. While many urban women no longer practice the art form, those who can are encouraged to teach and pass on the knowledge to younger generations to ensure the skills are not lost.
Māori may resonate with the impacts of urbanisation in loss of cultural practices and disconnection from land - in the 20th century within 50 years they went from 83% rural to 83% urban.

Noken recognised as UNESCO heritage, still at risk of being lost

On December 4th, 2012, in Paris, the Noken was recognized as an Intangible Cultural Heritage by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). 
UNESCO, established in 1945, adopted the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2003.
The aim of the text was to preserve cultural diversity and protect and promote elements essential to the cultural identity of communities.
Intangible cultural heritage includes not only monuments and collections of objects, but also the knowledge and skills required to produce traditional crafts, such as the Noken. 

It also encompasses performing arts, festivals, social practices, rituals, and knowledge related to nature and the universe.
Despite this the Papuan Noken is still a threatened cultural practice due to massive deforestation happening in West Papua.

The exhibition is running until July 3 at the University of Auckland’s General Library.


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Wednesday, April 2, 2025

1) Traditional West Papua craft on display in Auckland



2) Police Clearance Required for Foreign Journalists, YLBHI Cites Press Law Violation  
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1) Traditional West Papua craft on display in Auckland 
18 minutes ago  
Susana Suisuiki, Pacific Waves Presenter/Producer
@SanaSuisuikiRNZ susana.suisuiki@rnz.co.nz 
Christina Persico, RNZ Pacific Bulletin Editor 

Veronika Kanem, far right, with her West Papua students from Palmerston North. Photo: Lagi Maama Academy & Consultancy
A PhD candidate from West Papua has launched an exhibition at the University of Auckland based on her research into 'noken', or finely woven string bags.
Veronika Kanem has spent the past four years researching the traditional craft, particularly within the Muyu Tribe of Southern West Papua.
The noken bag is often used in cultural ceremonies, bridewealth payment, or a child's initiation into adulthood.
The bags are painstakingly created from various natural fibres of plants and tree bark.
Kanem told Pacific Waves people should not view it as a knick-knack as it represents identity and carries cultural significance for the people of West Papua.

"This is how I just try to spread awareness and also let people know that noken is not just a souvenir," she said.
"It connects us to our land, to our forest, where the materials are gathered from our forest.
"The noken [are] usually [used] as a gift to strengthen and maintain our relationship with our family, with friends, with trading partners, or also establish a new connection to new people or visitors.”
West Papua students from Palmerston North. Photo: Lagi Maama Academy & Consultancy
Kanem said the feedback on her exhibition has been really positive.
"People are so excited and so impressed with the work.
"It is not me, but this is my community, the Muyu tribe, from my father's side. I'm so proud to introduce this work.
"It is not only my PhD thesis, actually, but this is my people's works, especially the women, and this is also part of like - I reciprocate what they have given to me, their knowledge, their time. So this is actually for my community."
Kanem is concerned at the Indonesian government's proposed deforestation project, saying it is a "threat" to her community.
Last year the Indonesian government proposed its plan to establish 2 millon hectares of sugarcane plantations in the Merauke district in the southern area of Papua.
She said if the deforestation project goes ahead, her people's traditions will cease to exist.
"There are a lot of government projects and emissiaries that want to take over our land and our forest, which will threaten our noken weaving, because the material for making these bags, it is from the forest.”

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2) Police Clearance Required for Foreign Journalists, YLBHI Cites Press Law Violation  
Reporter Eka Yudha Saputra April 2, 2025 | 05:15 pm

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Chairperson of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), Muhammad Isnur, has criticized a new Indonesian Police Regulation that mandates oversight of foreign journalists and researchers covering events within the country.

The regulation, National Police Regulation No. 3 of 2025 concerning Functional Supervision of the Police towards Foreigners, was issued by the Chief of the Indonesian Police, Listyo Sigit Prabowo, and signed on March 10, 2025.


Article 5, paragraph (1), point b of the regulation stipulates that the police will conduct administrative supervision by issuing a police clearance to foreign nationals engaged in journalistic activities and research in designated locations. “This goes against several existing laws, such as the Press Law and the Immigration Law,” Isnur told Tempo on Wednesday, April 2, 2025.

Isnur argued that the regulation creates an overlap with the authority of the Ministry of Immigration and Civil Registration. He explained that since the supervision of foreign citizens typically falls under immigration jurisdiction, this new regulation will generate administrative complications.

Furthermore, Isnur asserted that the regulation contradicts existing legal frameworks and has the potential to lead to violations. He also warned that it could trigger international backlash concerning human rights. He emphasized that the regulation risks limiting access to information for the international community and treating foreign journalists as potential threats.

“I think this will place Indonesia in a worse light in the eyes of the democracy,” Isnur stated.

Tempo has attempted to obtain confirmation from the Head of the Public Relations Division of the Indonesian National Police, Inspector General Sandi Nugroho, and Minister of Law Supratman Andi Agtas via WhatsApp. However, as of the time of this report, neither has responded to these inquiries.

The regulation was enacted in Jakarta on the same date by the Director General of Legislation of the Ministry of Law.

The controversial articles include Articles 4 and 5. Article 4 outlines the functional supervision of the police towards foreigners, encompassing both administrative and operational supervision. Article 5, paragraph (1), specifies that the administrative supervision includes requesting information from those providing accommodation to foreigners regarding the foreigners' data. 

Additionally, it authorizes the police to issue police clearances to foreign nationals conducting journalistic activities and research in specific locations. These specific locations, as mentioned in paragraph (1), are to be determined in accordance with the provisions of existing legislation. 

Editor's Choice: YLBHI: TNI Law Brings 'A Darker Indonesia' Closer


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