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  • Civil group appeals to Jokowi to cancel Papuan expansion plan to ‘halt conflict’

    Tabloid Jubi

    The Civil Organisations Solidarity for Papua Land has condemned Indonesia’s Papua expansion plan of forming three new provinces risks causing new social conflicts.

    And the group has urged President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to cancel the plan, according to a statement reports Jubi.

    The group — comprising the Papua Legal Aid Institute (LBH Papua), JERAT Papua, KPKC GKI in Papua Land, YALI Papua, PAHAM Papua, Cenderawasih University’s Human Rights and Environment Democracy Student Unit, and AMAN Sorong — said the steps taken by the House of Representatives of making three draft bills to establish three New Autonomous Regions (DOB) in Papua had created division between the Papuan people.

    As well as the existing two provinces (DOB), Papua and West Papua, the region would be carved up to create the three additional provinces of Central Papua, South Papua, and Central Highlands Papua.

    The solidarity group noted that various movements with different opinions have expressed their respective aspirations through demonstrations, political lobbying, and even submitting a request for a review of Law No. 2/2021 on the Second Amendment to Law No. 21/2001 on Papua Special Autonomy (Otsus).

    These seven civil organisations also noted that the controversy over Papua expansion had led to a number of human rights violations, including the breaking up of protests, as well as police brutality against protesters.

    However, the central government continued to push for the Papua expansion, and the House had proposed three bills for the expansion.

    Wave of demonstrations
    The Civil Organisations Solidarity for Papua Land said it was worried the expansion plan would raise social conflicts between parties with different opinions.

    They said such potential for social conflict had been seen through a wave of demonstrations that continue to be carried out by the Papuan people — both those who rejected and supported new autonomous regions.

    The potential for conflict could also be seen from the polemic on which area would be the new capital province.

    In addition, rumours about the potential for clashes between groups had also been widely circulated on various messaging services and social media.

    “All the facts present have only shown that the establishment of new provinces in Papua has triggered the potential for social conflicts,” the solidarity group said.

    “This seems to have been noticed by the Papua police as well, as they have urged their personnel to increase vigilance ahead of the House’s plenary session to issue the new Papua provinces laws,” said the group.

    The group reminded the government that the New Papua Special Autonomy Law, which is used as the legal basis for the House to propose three Papua expansion bills, was still being reviewed in the Constitutional Court.

    Public opinion ignored
    Furthermore, the House’s proposal of the bills did not take into account public opinion as mandated by Government Regulation No. 78/2007 on Procedures for the Establishment, Abolition, and Merger of Regions.

    “It is the most reasonable path if the Central Government [would] stop the deliberation of the Papua Expansion plan, which has become the source of disagreement among Papuan people.

    “We urged the Indonesian President to immediately cancel the controversial plan to avoid escalation of social conflict,” said the Civil Organisations Solidarity for Papua Land.

    The solidarity group urged the House’s Speaker to nullify the Special Committee for Formulation of Papua New Autonomous Region Policy, as well as the National Police Chief and the Papuan Governor to immediately take the necessary steps to prevent social conflict in Papua, by implementing Law No. 7/2012 on Handling Social Conflicts.

    The seven civil organisations also urged all Papuan leaders not to engage in activities that could trigger conflict between opposing groups over the Papua expansion.

    “Papuan community leaders are prohibited from being actively involved in fuelling the polarisation of this issue,” the group said.

    Republished with permission.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • We need to talk! Art, offence and politics in Documenta 15

    An Indonesian translation of this article will be published in coming days.

    Conflict, disappointment and fear have followed the opening of the major quinquennial art exhibition Documenta 15 in Kassel, Germany on 18 June, as accusations of anti-Semitism were levelled at participating artists’ collective Taring Padi and, not for the first time, at artistic directors, Indonesian collective ruangrupa. Both groups reject the accusations of anti-Semitism and have apologised for failing to recognise the offensive nature of the image/s within the enormous and densely populated banner The People’s Justice. After initially being shrouded in black cloth, it has now been dismantled.

    The fallout has been severe and the reactions strident and emotive, both in Germany and in Israel. On Twitter the Israeli embassy derided the artwork as “old-style Goebbels-like propaganda” while German Minister for Culture stated that she had been “betrayed” by Documenta’s management and the curators, who had undertaken to ensure anti-Semitism had no place in the exhibition. In Indonesia and elsewhere the incident, and more particularly the response from authorities, has reignited paranoia about Zionist conspiracies and fuelled a growing sense that organisers are beholden to conservative xenophobic forces that are disinterested in, and actively repressive of, constructive dialogue.

    When their selection as artistic directors of Documenta 15 was announced in 2019, ruangrupa called attention to the festival’s origins: “If documenta was launched in 1955 to heal war wounds, why shouldn’t we focus documenta 15 on today’s injuries, especially ones rooted in colonialism, capitalism, or patriarchal structures, and contrast them with partnership-based models that enable people to have a different view of the world.” Including collectives from around the world, and especially those societies impacted by colonialism, ruangrupa proposed a curatorial framework they called “lumbung,” a term borrowed from the Indonesian word for a communal grain store.

    Their approach aimed to be horizontal, cooperative, community-oriented, inclusive and experimental. But from early 2022, the inclusion of Palestinian artists’ collective “The Question of Funding” and the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center attracted the attention of a blog accusing the artistic directors of anti-Semitism, based on the inclusion of “anti-Israeli activists”. These accusations were discredited but were nonetheless repeated in mainstream media. Ruangrupa rejected what they described as “racist defamations” and affirmed a commitment to “the principles of freedom of expression but also a resolute rejection of antisemitism, racism, extremism, Islamophobia, and any form of violent fundamentalism are the underpinnings of our work.”

    “Give love to all” from the Humanity poster series by Taring Padi, woodblock print on paper, 40cm x 53cm each, 1999. With permission of the artists.

    There is no doubt that parts of The People’s Justice draw on anti-Semitic imagery. In amongst the images of skeletons, weaponry, soldiers and spies from the Cold War’s major geopolitical players and their victims—intended to critique the globalised military machine that did indeed conspiratorially support the massacre of hundreds of thousands of Indonesians in the “anti-communist” purges of 1965—is a suited figure with sidelocks and a hat typical of orthodox Jews—alongside these stereotypical attributes the figure also sports red eyes and pointy teeth and worse (and perhaps tellingly anachronistically), the SS insignia on his hat.

    Lumbung as curatorial practice

    “As a concrete practice,” write ruangrupa on the Documenta 15 website, “lumbung is the starting point of documenta fifteen: principles of collectivity, resource building and equitable distribution are pivotal to the curatorial work and impact the entire process — the structure, self-image and appearance of documenta fifteen.”

    Artists were grouped into collaborative “mini-majelis” (councils) of half a dozen or so artists and collectives, who met regularly (virtually) in the months before the exhibition proper to discuss their respective work and how to distribute the funding “pot” allocated to them. Larger “majelis akbar” or plenary meetings were held every few months and acted as a forum to which each mini-majelis reported back. According to Christina Schott, within the mini-majelis that Taring Padi belonged to, artists were challenged by the sudden expectation to make decisions about matters with which they have no experience. Schott quotes Setu Legi from Taring Padi as saying: “… the needs are very different. But what I like about the system is that no one is left behind, while others become the highlight, simply because they have the better resources.”

    “United in diversity” from the Humanity poster series by Taring Padi, woodblock print on paper, 40cm x 53cm each, 1999. With permission of the artists.

    This communitarian approach is typical of agrarian and indeed urban communities in Indonesia, where the collective is a common form of social organisation and often, social surveillance. It forms a protective bubble which at times can lead to insular perspectives and      naivete of the broader context—whether that be the experiences of those outside the bubble, or the social milieu in which it is situated. In our conversation with Taring Padi a few days after their banner was removed, they had no recollection of discussions on the sensitivities of the politics of representation in Germany or the specific historical context that led to it, either in their mini-majelis or the larger meetings. This seems discordant with the artistic directors’ earlier commitments to ensuring no such sentiments would emerge; basic intercultural sensitivities should have been a point of discussion, especially considering the visceral threats of racist violence that were evident when The Question of Funding’s space was vandalised in May.

    The experimental lumbung framework promulgates admirably horizontal egalitarian values and breaks down the institutional hierarchies that have allowed art events around the globe to be hijacked by banality, elite vested interests and empty spectacle. It allows artists to connect their work more directly to audiences and to connect to each other. Artwork is no longer filtered through the lens of curatorial thematics and silos of selectivity, and relational forms are not dictated by public program professionals.

    But these great rewards come with great risk. Cultural institutions are notoriously risk-averse, with the primary motivation being to avoid reputational damage. A side-effect of this reputational risk aversion is that contextual and cultural sensitivities are usually managed, and creating a safe environment for audiences, artists and artworks is prioritised. All of this is achieved through a hierarchy of responsibility which ultimately means the institution has a duty of care to all its stakeholders. Artists, at the bottom of the institutional hierarchy but simultaneously the most visible part of it, are somewhat off the hook. It’s a paradox that also deserves scrutiny, and experimental methods like lumbung take this on.

    Although it is not an unusual approach to creative and curatorial practice in Indonesia, the lumbung framework does not appear to have found an adequate mechanism to distribute risk and responsibility within the heightened tensions of Germany’s own struggles with present day Islamophobia, and the historical burdens of the Holocaust. While this context produces a particular sensitivity, any context unfamiliar to artists and curators will do the same; the politics of representation and its attendant taboos exist everywhere in different forms. Whose responsibility is it to ensure these are understood and incorporated into alternative models of knowledge-sharing when they are imported into a new context?

    There are also important questions to be asked about how the visual is accounted for in this framework. While the focus on process, concept and dialogue is paramount to opening art events up to more diverse and pluralistic voices and revealing the experiences of those not accounted for in hegemonic social discourse, it is nonetheless true that the vast majority of visual art involves representation and sensate experiences that viewers will receive subjectively. Critical discussions of image, representation and power should always be a part of preparations to exhibit, both to manage risk and to ensure the works are tested against a variety of potential interpretations. Artists deserve no less than the opportunity to ensure their artwork does not unintentionally misrepresent their position.

    Taring Padi: collective practice and its socio-political context

    In our interview with Taring Padi, they were at pains to stress that they did not hold ruangrupa or the lumbung framework responsible for the chain of events that allowed the banner to be displayed despite its triggering imagery. They remain apologetic for the offense caused but insistent that it was unintended, both in the original rendering of the image for the also-controversial 2002 Adelaide Art Festival and in the failure to identify its potentially inflammatory reception in Germany 20 years later.

    Whatever the weaknesses of the lumbung approach, its open platform has allowed Taring Padi to receive a groundswell of support from visitors to Documenta 15 and residents of Kassel, who have brought gifts, food, love and solidarity. Members of the group told us that one visitor undertook to go through many of the works on display with them, looking for other images that might cause offence and openly listening to their explanations whenever a query was raised. In this way, lumbung may also allow dialogue to continue outside the institutional and media frameworks that seem intent on stifling a nuanced discussion of what has taken place. This conviviality, at least, is familiar territory for Taring Padi, whether in Germany, Indonesia or elsewhere.

    Taring Padi’s own convivial, collective approach to art is crucial to understanding why there are no simple answers to the question of how the offending image appeared in the banner in the first place.  Not only does Taring Padi have many members who are involved in the creative process, but they also often invite non-members such as workshop participants to contribute to works in progress. While large-scale works are planned through discussion, notes and sketches and the division of labour is coordinated (though not strictly enforced). It is a process that deliberately eschews authorship—works are not signed by individuals but instead stamped with the collective’s distinctive logo. As Bambang Agung wrote in Taring Padi: Seni Membongkar Tirani (Art Dismantles Tyranny), “Collective artworks, in other words, are a critique of the reification of art and the commodification of its artists.”

    “Peace between the faithful” from the Humanity poster series by Taring Padi, woodblock print on paper, 40cm x 53cm each, 1999. With permission of the artists.

    The imagery delivered through this process is inevitably derived from a diverse range of sources and linked to the leftist ideologies embraced by the collective, which is by nature amorphous. They deploy caricature and humour and shared this visual strategy with many Indonesian artists, including Apotik Komik, Heri Dono and Eddie Hara. Their overall approach is direct and focused on delivering a political message. Their woodblock prints, made on cheap brown paper and often pasted up on walls or distributed through social networks, often feature imagery that echoes the social realism of Kathe Kollwitz. Their murals share the compositional strategies of Mexican Muralists like Diego Riviera; in short, their visual influences are also political. The collective also deploys a reductive strategy in which figures are represented as (stereo) “types” (farmer, woman, politician, preacher).  Meanwhile, the anthropomorphising of pigs and dogs into figures of derision echoes cultural and linguistic attitudes to these animals in Java and in global parlance (capitalist pigs, watchdogs etc.). It is in this social context that the depiction of Jewish figures with fang-like teeth and blood-red eyes is likely to have originated. In Muslim-majority Indonesia, where pro-Palestine attitudes are normative, such imagery would barely raise an eyebrow. But as Documenta 15 demonstrated, it is a different story when the work is displayed in the country responsible for the Holocaust.

    Nevertheless, the question of social context is vexed. Of the dismantled work, Taring Padi says: “’People’s Justice’ was painted almost twenty years ago now, and expresses our disappointment, frustration and anger as politicised art students who had also lost many of our friends in the street fighting of the 1998 popular uprising that finally led to the disposal of the dictator.” Moreover, the content of the work drew on then-emerging scholarship that revealed the complicity of Western democracies in the systematic exacerbation of political and social instability in Indonesia in the 1960s–designed to bring down the Indonesian Communist party and the incumbent president who sympathised with their agenda. These tensions, of course, led to the 1965-66 massacre of at least half a million citizens, the detention of many more without trial, and the installation of the authoritarian New Order military regime. Taring Padi’s controversial banner explicitly implicates Mossad as a supporter of the New Order, a fact confirmed by Israeli Foreign Affairs documents unsealed in the state archives.

    Yet, while a reference to modern Israel’s intelligence agency may be seen as legitimate criticism of Israel’s role in Cold War politics, the other image that has drawn the ire of German and Israeli commentators is more slippery. The depiction of a side-locked, suited figure clearly draws on the kind of anti-Semitic propaganda that has long circulated widely in Europe. For those whose education and social context have taught them to critically evaluate such imagery for this specific expression of hate, the reference is explicit and obvious. For artists embedded in a different social context, it may be less obvious. Given that Taring Padi has long been known to espouse values of religious tolerance and humanity, however, it is important to ask how such an image could appear in their work?

    Related

    Religious minorities in Indonesia face discriminiation

    “Spineless politicians, feckless government bureaucrats, and narrow-minded ulama officials” stand in the way of religious freedom in Indonesia.

    Andreas Harsono 24 December, 2020

    Anti-Semitism in Indonesia

    As one of the largest Muslim populations in the world, Indonesia does not have diplomatic relations with Israel. Anti-Semitic sentiment can be traced back to colonial officials and European travellers in the 19th century who systematically applied European stereotypes of Jews to local Chinese populations across Southeast Asia. Compounded by such legacies of colonial rule that deny many Indonesians education in critical thinking, unfortunately, anti-Semitic sentiments are quite widespread. In 2002, when the world was awash with post- 9/11 Islamophobia, the response in Indonesia to the events in the US was different. Compassion for victims soon gave way to anger and fear that Islam as a whole had been made a scapegoat. It was a turning point that emboldened already active terrorist groups and inspired the Bali bombing in October 2002.

    A frightening dichotomy between Western imperialists and the rest of the world gained traction, and stereotypical images of capitalists, imperialists, and Zionists were–and continue to be–disseminated uncritically through certain circles. It is not beyond comprehension that in this environment a poorly understood–or indeed completely unrecognised–image of a nefarious man in a suit seemed an appropriate image to represent the state of Israel, alongside a giant pig wearing an Uncle Sam hat, and another pig wearing a peci (also known as a songkok or kopiah). The jarring and confusing application of the S.S runes deepens the image’s shock value but also begs more questions: what is the intention of the image and how informed was its author? Was there any real comprehension of the symbology or was it uncritically borrowed from the mass of imagery circulating in a public discourse that conflated anti-Semitism with anti-imperialism and anti-capitalism?

    There’s a lot to unpack there and it’s a wonder that imagery in this work hasn’t triggered negative reactions from other audience segments in the past. Taring Padi acknowledges that their approach may have been “sloppy and careless”. This experience, they told us, will lead to a more careful approach to the impact of images. Unfortunately though, Documenta15 is now unlikely to provide a platform for the artists to explain what such a more careful approach may look like. Hyperbolic accusations that the artwork reflects Goebbels-style Nazi sentiment have fuelled extremist, reactionary responses and created a dangerous atmosphere in which artists’ safety is threatened. Institutional and governmental reactions have prevented constructive discussions that contextualise the politics of representation from diverse perspectives.  

    It’s important to acknowledge that vast systems of knowledge and praxis have been violently oppressed and distorted by colonialism, and the work to repair that damage has barely begun. Documenta 15, with its horizontal strategies and open platforms, however perilous they may be, offers us the opportunity to be involved in real conversations about our received wisdoms, our cognitive biases, our vested interests and our positions of privilege. Those conversations will at times be uncomfortable, hurtful, and offensive. That is what deliberative democracy requires of us: an inevitably flawed struggle for an elusive, even impossible, consensus. Experimenting with the role of art within that struggle and the distribution of power within the art world is an admirable and aspirational experiment that is being executed now, imperfectly, around the world. Documenta 15 brings some of those experiments to its audiences. It is an opportunity for dialogue about some of our time’s most important social, political and human rights challenges.

    The authors would like to thank Taring Padi for agreeing to be interviewed for this article and Dirk Tomsa for his comments on an earlier draft.

    The post We need to talk! Art, offence and politics in Documenta 15 appeared first on New Mandala.

    This post was originally published on New Mandala.

  • Asia Pacific UAV Compendium 2022

    The value of unmanned aerial vehicles continues to grow in importance, with indigenous development increasing in all categories. Regional military forces are accelerating their acquisition and development of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as part of ongoing modernisation efforts amid an increasingly uncertain geopolitical situation. In most of these cases, applications such as border/maritime patrol and […]

    The post Asia Pacific UAV Compendium 2022 appeared first on Asian Military Review.

    This post was originally published on Asian Military Review.

  • RISE 2: Considerations of saltwater, fish, mangroves & people, oil & plastic

    11 June to 16 July 202,

    The Cross Art Projects

    8 Llankelly Place,
    Kings Cross 2011

    RISE 2 adopts the format of a long essay to frame artists’ stories about rising sea levels and the raw kinetic power of water: ferocious, beautiful, hell-bent. The colour ‘blue’ in all its hues is emblematic of water. Blue as pigment emerged through the colonial impulse to extract resources such as alluring lapis lazuli and blue-green turquoise. In European art history, the cost of blue pigment conferred the colour the status of sublime highlight or vast horizon line.

    Today’s seas are dark as rising water converges with global frames of ecocide, genocide, land rights, corruption and fossil-fuel mining: the oppressive outcomes of colonialism including present-day corporate colonialism. The artists are old-hands at depicting our unstable geopolitical region as their works eddy from art as awareness-raising poetics to tongue-in-cheek diplomacy to forensic analysis.

    The waters of northern Australia, the Indonesian archipelago (Nusantara) and Torres Strait, are connected by powerful monsoonal currents and seasonal monsoons that join the busiest maritime waters in Asia. On a long-time scale, Papua was joined to Australia and the Gulf of Carpentaria was a freshwater lake. The big swamps and plains of Kakadu World Heritage Area and the plains around Jakarta were mangrove forests. Kakadu today is a rich fresh-water wetland, home to magpie geese surrounded by magnificent rock art galleries.

    But the protective and stabilising coastal barrier of mangrove forests on the Northern Territory coastline, where half of Australia’s total mangrove area occurs, is failing. Jakarta is the fastest-sinking city on the planet, creating ever more vulnerable climate refugees. In the Top End, oil and gas extraction is known by the euphemism ‘Develop the North’. Australia is the third-largest fossil fuel exporter in the world behind Saudi Arabia and Russia and is belligerently expanding production. Indonesia is not far behind. Both countries offer fossil-fuel subsidies and/or tax exemption.

    The shifting abstraction of Narelle Jubelin’s petit-point map of ‘Oil and Gas Fields Near Timor-Leste’ (2014) and Ucup’s densely inscribed woodblock banner, ‘Sri against the giant’ (2020), show the strangle-hold operation of arrogant power. The artists point the finger at corporate Australia and Indonesia (and their various foreign partners in crime) as reckless destabilising agents.2 Ucup says about ‘Sri against the giant’: ‘This artwork is dedicated to the people, specially women, where they still resist to government policy, asking for justice. They never stop and never give up against injustice’.

    Just as astonishing are Fitri DK’s woodblock prints that target the horrors of West Papua (Papua Barat). She shows the Grasberg gold and copper mine (run by US mining-giant Freeport McMoRan), the mine’s destruction of a mountain sacred to the Amungme and Komoro people and toxic tailings flowing to the sea as a river of deathly-grey sludge.

    Jubelin, Fitri D.K and Ucup use obsolete media and the language of the powerless and displaced underclass (petit-point and woodblock printing), to disarmingly engage with the dark politics of fossil-fuel extraction. Australia’s response to genocide in West Papua, is cynical: ‘Hear no evil, see no evil’, just as it was silent in 1975 on General Suharto’s invasion of Timor-Leste and the murder of Australian journalists.

    Fitri DK, Derita Sudah Naik Seleher / Up to our necks with suffering, 2018. Woodcut print on paper, 80 x 60 cm, edition of 10.

    In contrast, an artist-led campaign Papuan Lives Matter began as a hashtag on social media, spreading across the sprawling archipelago of 270 million people. Indonesians shared links to webinars and websites with information about human rights issues in West Papua. An Instagram post saying “We cannot talk about #Black Lives Matter without talking about West Papua” received more than 10,000 likes.

    In Pennyrose Wiggins’s painting ‘Gasland’ (2020), on a discarded ‘Stop’ sign ant-like gas-miners work under a dark foreboding cloud as they drill into the Beetaloo Basin. ‘Gasland’ cites a documentary on the US fracking industry and its environmental anarchy and water contamination (2010 by Josh Fox). The corporate frenzy is global. Wiggins’s miners drill into the Tindall limestone aquifer which provides fresh water supply to nearby communities, agriculture and the cattle industry. Australia’s fresh-water aquifers are very limited and already heavily impacted by climate change.

    Contemporary exhibition-making is rightfully dominated by artists’ observations, thinking and activism, aiming to highlight the cumulative impacts of continuing (and increasing) resource extraction. In grand surveys such as Rivus, 23rd Sydney Biennale (2022, curator José Roca), viewers made a venue-to-venue pilgrimage around tableaus of fragile local initiatives and undertakings.

    Related

    Beyond borders at APT 10 Part 2: Textures & translations in SEA abstraction

    Drawn from local contexts, these abstractions also transcend borders.

    Caitlin Hughes 15 April, 2022

    Entering Rivus at Pier 2/3, suspended over the waters of Sydney’s harbour, we were greeted by the Torres Strait 8—traditional owners of Bolgnu and Saibai islands who are following Eddie Mabo’s historic High Court Native Title victory for the islands of Miriam Mer: Mabo v. Queensland 1992. The Torres Strait 8 have initiated legal action and will take Australia’s failure to reduce its carbon emissions to the United Nations Human Rights Commission.

    Fiona Elisala-Mosby comes from Dauan (between Bolgnu and Saibai), at the top of the Torres Strait Islands, almost touching PNG. Her installation of unique pochoir (stencil) prints, titled ‘Woer Waiz (Water Rising Wall)’ (2020), show the orientalist view of happy feet dipping into blue water. Elisala-Mosby’s sea wall is subtly inlaid with Mineral patterns (classic Melanesian designs). Sea walls will not stop ever-rising water. In 2021, Tuvalu’s Foreign Minister Simon Kofe, memorably made this point when he addressed COP26 in Glasgow standing knee-deep in sea water.

    Left: Aliansyah Caniage & Kamila Raisa, Composing Archipelagos Edition, Cards Against History, 2021. Set of 120 playing cards in teak box with metal fittings, off-set printing on velcro-backed cardboard with gold embossing, edition of five, Cards each 21 x 15 cm. Box 34 x 35.5 x 28 cm. Installation dimensions variable. Right: Aliansyah Caniago, Cabinet of Common Beings, 2021. Acrylic, ink and oil pastel on canvas. 600 x 150 cm. Tree branches each 10 x 260 x 10 cm. photo Rémi Chauvin Courtesy the artists and Contemporary Art Tasmania

    Writing for her equally ambitious exhibition, Composing Archipelagos (Contemporary Art Tasmania, Hobart, 2021) curator Jasmin Stephens notes that, ‘The archipelago with its unifying but elastic quality asserts the ocean as a connecting rather than a dividing force.’ Aliansayah Caniago’s startingly blue painting ‘Cabinet of Common Beings’ (2021), drawn from Composing Archipelagos, re-connects endangered species and script from pre-colonial trade languages such as Jawi (Arabic/Malay). In contrast, museum cabinets often house de-contextualised wonders as if tossed onshore by legitimate events, not plunder. Museum exhibitions are shifting from complicity to using public spaces as problem-solving agents.

    For many years, Sarah Pirrie has walked along Darwin’s inter-tidal zone and transformed her observations into lyrical artworks. Her luminous work titled RISE is an imaginary horizon line inhabited by a cast of characters drawn from mangrove wrack and diffracted by means of a Riso printer. Pirrie shows the contextual relationships of mangroves as salt and fresh waters move through their filtering roots, pulsing and flowing. What is real, what is natural? The artist says, ‘The wrack line of a local beach in Darwin, on Larrakia Country, is a fitting visionary subject of spatial and temporal rising sea levels.’

    The most recent of the Reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2022) highlights the ‘compounding’ impacts of climate change, and how impacts in one sector can ‘cascade’ into other sectors. Compounding impacts are when multiple events amplify the effects of the other, such as, the combination of more intense cyclones and sea level rise. Many recent exhibitions expand on these themes, from Big Weather at National Gallery of Victoria, which offers a First Peoples view on climate change, to Court for Intergenerational Climate Crimes, 2021, and activist archive at Framer Famed, Amsterdam.

    The scientists’ reports viscerally chronicle the collective failure to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius (preferably 1.5 compared to pre-industrial levels). Most ecosystems are in a perilous position. Over 90 per cent of coral reefs and their ecosystems are collapsing; none is dying more photogenically than the Great Barrier Reef. Other less picturesque dying ecosystems include alpine ash forests, mangroves and marine kelp forests. All have an extremely high carbon storage capacity which grants them high economic importance comparable to rain-forests.

    Tita Salina and Irwan Ahmett, BATAM (Bila Anda Tiba Anda Menyesal / When You Arrive You’ll Regret), film, viewing room (centre). Installation view, The Cross Art Projects.

    In RISE 2, is the elegant film essay by Tita Salina and Irwan Ahmett, ironically titled ‘BATAM (Bila Anda Tiba Anda Menyesal / When You Arrive You’ll Regret)’ or, simply, ‘Regret’. In this darkly witty artwork, Irwan enacts a Pyrrhic border crossing to ‘escape’ from Batam Island in Riau Archipelago to the glittering future of Singapore. The emissions targets for 2030 set in the Paris Agreement are just eight years away. From remote Torres Strait to mega-cities like Jakarta, enforced climate refugee status continues to increase.

    RISE 1 presented a wall graphic written by Sienna Stubbs for the exhibition Big Weather (National Gallery of Victoria, 2020). An excerpt reads: ‘For 60,000 years, we as Yolngu have lived in harmony with the land through our system of gurruṯu, the system that relates everything in the world to each other. Through gurruṯu, everything is connected….’  RISE 2 follows RISE 1, and both are visualised as interconnected exhibitions. In RISE 1 three generations of Yolngu artists illuminated the concept of saltwater estates, using the example of the estate of Rulyapa—part of the ocean between Yirrkala and Dhambaliya (Bremer Island), in North-East Arnhem Land. The artists are fighting to regain Aboriginal custodianship. Siena Stubbs’ essay for Big Weather, ‘The past is in the present is in the future’. Download as pdf

    Artists Biographies

    Aliansyah Caniago (b. 1987) lives and works in Bandung, Indonesia. He studied Painting at the Bandung Institute of Technology Faculty Art and Design. Aliansyah contributes to regional and international exhibitions and workshops, often with partner Raisa Kamila, to engage with communities and their environmental concerns. Recent exhibitions include: Composing Archipelagos, Contemporary Art Tasmania, 2021. Morning in Gyeongju, Gyeongju Arts Centre, Gyeongju, South Korea (2019); The Tree Without Roots, Taipei Botanical Garden, Taipei, Taiwan (2018). See: https://indoartnow.com/artists/aliansyah

    Fitri DK (Fitriani Dwi Kurniasih)

    Fitri is a visual artist and writer from Yogyakarta who uses graphic art techniques to encourage dialogue on environmental and social issues, particularly women’s rights. Fitri is a member of SURVIVE! Garage community, Taring Padi art collective, the all-women artist group Bunga-Bunga Besi, and a vocalist in Dendang Kampungan. Taring Padi are major contributors to Lumbung, documenta 15, Kassel, Germany, 2022.

    Fiona Elisala-Mosby

    Fiona is from Dauan Island in the northern islands of Zenadh Kes (the Torres Strait) and lives and works on Moa Island where she is is Studio Co-ordinator at Moa Arts. Fiona graduated from Queensland College of Art with a Bachelor of Visual Art in Contemporary Australian Indigenous Art and has been exhibiting at art fairs and in galleries since 2015. Her weaving is represented in Long water: fibre stories, a touring exhibition by the Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane. See: https://moaart.com.au/

    Narelle Jubelin

    Narelle Jubelin’s research-based practice incorporates inter-relations in the histories of imperialism and modernism. Her use of the miniature relates to feminist art and marginalisation, for example the role of women weavers in Timor-Leste’s independence struggle, Elastic / Borracha / Elástico: Dili / Darwin / Sydney (2014). In her installations her artworks are frequently exhibited alongside historically embedded ones. She lives in Madrid with architect Marcos Corrales Lantero, often a collaborator in her exhibitions. See: https://thecommercialgallery.com/artist/narelle-jubelin/biography

    Sarah Pirrie

    Sarah Pirrie’s work has referenced a range of social and environmental issues and is often shaped by local activity and phenomena in and around Darwin. Her art practice is conceptual, site-responsive and often collaborative. She works as an artist, educator, curator and writer and has exhibited extensively in solo and group gallery exhibitions in Australia since 1995. See: https://sarahpirrie.com/

    Tita Salina and Irwan Ahmett

    Film work by Ahmett and Salina (as AhmettSalina Studio) is suffused with a self-organised spirit in part owing to the city of Jakarta, a megacity of 15 million people. Their tactical, interventionist work brings into play sharp social commentaries on urgent issues concerning urban development, ecological catastrophes, political repression, colonial legacies, and the exploitation of human and ecological resources. Ahmett and Salina have recently exhibited their works in 10th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’ (APT10), Brisbane (2021-22), and Contemporary Worlds: Indonesia, National Gallery of Australia (2019), Bangkok Art Biennale, (2020)

    Pennyrose Wiggins

    Pennyrose Wiggins is an artist, sculptor, designer and New Zealander, now based in Darwin Wiggins traverses the Top End landscape and the symbols unwittingly embedded in road signs. She uses brushwork and detail to create a new meaning. She exhibits with Outstation Gallery, Darwin. See: https://pennyrosewiggins.nz/

    Muhammad ‘Ucup’ Yusuf

    Ucup’s reduction woodblock prints feature impossibly dense scenes containing pop and traditional cultural references surrounding a central idea. His artistic practice is committed to exposing difficult realities that exist in Indonesian society including corruption, environmental degradation and the continued deprivation of the underclass. Yusuf is a member of the Indonesian arts and culture organisation Taring Padi and is a founder and co-director of the artist project space SURVIVE! Garage community. See: https://survivegarage.wordpress.com/

    The post RISE 2: Considerations of saltwater, fish, mangroves & people, oil & plastic appeared first on New Mandala.

    This post was originally published on New Mandala.

  • Indonesia’s new plans for Papua can’t hide its decades of failures

    ANALYSIS: By Aprila Wayar and Johnny Blades for The Diplomat

    A plan to create three new provinces in the Papua region highlights how Jakarta’s development approach has failed to resolve a long-running conflict.

    In April of this year, Indonesia’s Parliament approved a plan to create three new provinces in Papua, the easternmost region of the archipelago.

    Government officials have described the creation of the new administrative units as an effort to accelerate the development of the outlying region, which has long lagged behind the other more densely populated islands.

    But Papua’s problem isn’t a lack of development — it’s a lack of justice for West Papuans.

    In the plan to subdivide Indonesia’s two most sparsely populated provinces — Papua and West Papua — many people sense a kind of “end game” strategy by Indonesia’s government that is expected to worsen the long-running conflict in Papua, something countries in the region can ill afford to ignore.

    The province plan comes in the twilight of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s second and final term in office, a term marked by an escalation of violence between fighters of the pro-independence West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) and the Indonesian security forces.

    Jokowi has ordered huge military operations in the central regencies of Nduga, Puncak Jaya, Intan Jaya, Maybrat and regions near the border with Papua New Guinea (PNG).

    1960s armed wing
    The TPNPB is the armed wing of the Organisasi Papua Merdeka (OPM), or Free Papua Movement, which was created in the 1960s by so-called West Papuan freedom fighters.

    They opposed the Indonesian Army, which had begun occupying parts of West Papua after the Dutch withdrew in 1962, even before the United Nations Temporary Executive Authority had completed its period of mandated administration in 1963.

    After Papua officially joined Indonesia in a 1969 UN referendum that many Papuans view as flawed, the OPM grew rapidly in the late 1970s, with fighters joining its ranks across West Papua. Their operations mainly consisted of attacking Indonesian patrols.

    In 1984, when a West Papuan insurgent attack sparked large Indonesian military deployments in and around the capital Jayapura, the subsequent brutal sweep operations triggered a mass exodus of around 10,000 Papuan refugees to PNG.

    At the time, when questioned in Jakarta about the impacts of military operations in Papua, a leading Indonesian Foreign Ministry official shrugged it off and stated that the government was introducing colour television in Papua and was doing its best to accelerate development there.

    Nearly 40 years later, with the Papuan conflict reaching a new pitch of tension, the government’s narrative has barely changed.

    Conflict continues at the cost of mass displacement in Papua’s highlands. Human rights bodies have stated that intensified bursts of fighting between TPNPB guerrillas and the Indonesian army since late 2018 have displaced at least 60,000 Papuans.

    Figures hard to verify
    Exact figures remain difficult to verify because Jakarta still obstructs access to the region for foreign media and human rights workers. Since the Indonesian takeover of Papua in the 1960s, West Papua’s history has been marked by persistent human rights abuses.

    In recent years, the UN Human Rights Commissioner has repeatedly pressed for access to the region, without success.

    In April, Jokowi’s cabinet, including Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian, a former police chief, and fellow hardliner Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto, introduced a draft for a long-anticipated creation of three new provinces — Central Papua, South Papua, and Central Highlands Papua –– in addition to the two existing provinces of Papua and West Papua.

    This initiative has met with strong opposition from indigenous Papuans. Well before the recent cabinet decision, Papua’s provincial Governor Lukas Enembe warned against it, fearing new provinces could pave the way for more transmigrants and more problems for Papuans, although in recent days he has reportedly offered qualified support for dividing Papua based on customary territories.

    He was not alone in speaking up. On May 10, thousands of Papuans from the Papuan provinces and in major cities in other parts of Indonesia took to the streets to protest Jakarta’s creation of extra provinces.

    Protests were met head on by heavy security forces responses including the use of water cannons and detention. Papuans were frustrated because their views had not been incorporated in Jakarta’s decision making.

    As Emanuel Gobay, director of the Papua Legal Aid Institute, told The Diplomat, the region’s Special Autonomy Law, passed in 2001, requires the central government to conduct a public survey starting from the village level to the head of districts where the expansion will be carried out.

    “The central government has introduced the planned expansion policy on its own initiative, without any aspirations from the grassroots communities,” Gobay explained.

    Delineated history
    For years, the Indonesian government has characterised West Papua as being backward in terms of social and human development, claiming that it needs Indonesian help to advance.

    Certainly, poverty has been a problem in Papua, but that’s not unique across the republic. Yet, for decades Papua was effectively isolated by central government, often leaving the public in the dark about what has been going on there.

    The social media age has lifted the lid on Papua a little, stirring international attention intermittently. As part of Jakarta’s response, social media bots have been deployed across the internet, spreading state propaganda and targeting human rights workers, journalists, or anyone drawing attention to Papua.

    The bots say everything is good in Papua, look at all the development happening, 3G internet, roads. In a sense, it’s true that infrastructure development has increased in recent years.

    Compared to neighbouring PNG, Papua and West Papua provinces are well developed in terms of basic services and roads. But it’s not necessarily the sort of development that Papuans themselves want or need.

    The lack of a genuine self-determination process in the 1960s remains a core injustice that holds Papua back. Since then, thousands of indigenous Papuans have lost their lives in what is considered one of the most militarised zones in the wider region. Some research puts the death toll as high as 500,000.

    One of them was Theys Eluays, a tribal chief who became a figurehead for Papuan independence aspirations and a strong critic of the first plan to divide Papua into two provinces, until he was assassinated by members of the Kopassus special forces unit in 2001.

    Military elite have major interests
    Indonesia’s political elite and military establishment have extensive interests in Papua’s abundant natural resource wealth. The new provincial divisions would enable more opportunities for the exploitation of these resources, largely for the benefit of people other than Papuans themselves.

    The new provinces would be merely the latest in a series of delineations imposed on Papua by others, a process that runs from the marking of the western half of New Guinea as a Dutch colony in the 1880s, to the contentious transferal of control of the territory to Indonesia in the 1960s, to Jakarta’s subsequent reconfigurations of the province, especially after the enactment of the Special Autonomy Law in response to Papuan demands for independence.

    The plan for further subdivisions did not emerge overnight. It has been mooted for decades by Indonesia’s powerful Golkar party as a way to cement sovereign control of the restive eastern region. In the 1980s, proposals for dividing Irian Jaya, as it was then known, into as many as six provinces were fleshed out at national seminars on regional development and gained interest from elites in Jakarta.

    Even in these early seminar discussions, Papuan representatives warned that provincial splits could have a negative impact on local indigenous communities, whose interests were clearly not represented in provincial subdivision plans.

    Although the idea of provincial expansion in Irian Jaya ended up on President Suharto’s desk, it hadn’t got off the ground by the time he stepped down in 1998.

    During the subsequent tenure of President B.J. Habibie, Papuan tribal and civil community leaders were among the “Team of 100″ Papuans invited to the presidential palace for a dialogue, during which they asked for independence. Habibie told the Team to go home and rethink its request.

    During the term of President Abdurrahman Wahid, the spiritual leader of Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia’s largest Islamic organisation, West Papuans were granted the concession of being able to raise the banned Papuan nationalist Morning Star flag, on the condition that it be hoisted two inches beneath the flag of the Indonesian republic.

    The administration of the next president, Megawati Sukarnoputri, initiated a law that granted Papua Special Autonomy status and created a second province, West Papua (Papua Barat) — the first splitting of provinces.

    Local resentment
    Since Papua became a part of the Republic of Indonesia, Jakarta has introduced various laws aimed ostensibly at improving the welfare of indigenous Papuans. These have overwhelmingly been met with suspicion and skepticism by the Papuans.

    Special Autonomy is widely regarded by Papuans to have failed on the promise to empower them in their own homeland, where they instead continue to be victims of racism and human rights violations, and their indigenous culture is increasingly threatened.

    Due to large scale exploitation of Papua’s natural wealth, Papuans have been losing access to the forests, mountains, and rivers which were essential to their people’s way of life for centuries.

    International companies such as Freeport McMoRan, Rio Tinto, BP, Shell, and multinational oil palm players operate here in commercialising Papua’s mineral, gas, forestry and other resources. There is little consideration about the sustainability of indigenous customs, which has only added to the long list of Papuan grievances.

    Now that Jakarta is drawing more administrative lines through this cradle of native rainforest and immense biodiversity, Gobay expects new provinces to have three major impacts.

    “First, it will create an environment for more land grabbing. Either through the granting of mining permits to foreign exploration companies or through the construction of other additional government enterprises on customary land,” he said.

    “Secondly, marginalisation of Papuans on their own land would only increase,” he added.

    Thirdly, he expected a rise in human rights violations.

    The Papuan People’s Assembly (MRP), a cultural protection body born from the Special Autonomy Law, has filed for a judicial review of the provincial subdivision plan with Indonesia’s Constitutional Court, and asked the House of Representatives in Jakarta to postpone the New Autonomous Region Bill for Central Papua, South Papua, and Central Highlands Papua.

    The court is expected to hold a hearing in the next month.

    Minorities in their own land
    The provincial split is bound to accelerate the steady reconfiguration of Papua’s demographics.

    “If we make a rough estimate, almost 50 percent of the population of West Papua is not indigenous anymore,” said Cahyo Pamungkas of the Jakarta-based National Research and Innovation Agency.

    He noted that transmigrants from other parts of Indonesia not only dominated Papua’s local economy but also its regional politics. For instance, there remain only three native Papuan representatives out of 21 legislative members in Merauke district, where some 70 percent of the population are non-Papuans.

    Pamungkas also disputed the recent claims of Indonesia’s coordinating minister for legal, political and security affairs, Mahfud MD, that 82 percent of Papuans supported the proposed province splits.

    “The survey should have been opened to the public. Who were interviewed and how many respondents participated? What was the survey method?” he asked, adding that such misleading statements are likely to foster additional distrust in the government.

    So too can repeated arrests of young Papuans for exercising their democratic voice. Esther Haluk, a democratic rights activist from Papua, was arrested by security forces during the May 10 protests.

    “New provinces will pave the way for more new military bases, new facilities for security apparatus. More military, more opposition, more human rights violations. This is like reinstating the Suharto era all over again in Papua,” she said.

    Sectarian tensions
    Sectarian tensions between indigenous Papuans and Indonesian settlers remain a tinderbox, particularly since major anti-racism protests in 2019. A disturbing factor in the deadly unrest around those protests was the role of pro-Indonesian militias, recalling the violence-soaked last days of Timor-Leste prior to its independence in 2002.

    More transmigrants could pave way for more conflict in Papua, and more conflict could potentially justify more military deployment, which adds to the climate of persistent human rights abuses against Papuans.

    Haluk said newly arrived migrants are often favored by officials in being able to take up local privileges such as jobs within the public service and government, especially if they have relatives already in Papua. Many have also been able to buy land.

    “This is a real form of settler colonialism, a form of colonization that aims to replace the indigenous people of the colonised area with settlers from colonial society,” she said. “In this type of colonialism, indigenous people are not only threatened with losing their territory, but also their way of life and identity that’s been passed down to them from generation to generation.”

    Regional implications
    By exacerbating conflict in West Papua, the provinces plan could also prove problematic for neighbouring countries, none more so than PNG. Through no fault of its own, PNG has long been lumped with spillover problems from the conflict in West Papua, including the movement of arms and military actors across the two regions’ porous 750km border, refugees fleeing from Indonesian authorities, and the displacement of village communities in the border area.

    The covid-19 pandemic also showed that when things get bad on the western side of the border, the problem spreads to PNG, beyond the control of either government.

    PNG leaders have cordial exchanges with Indonesian counterparts but the Melanesian government is all too aware of the power imbalance when it comes to the elephant in the room, West Papua.

    PNG’s Petroleum Minister Kerenga Kua, who has previously travelled to Jakarta as a member of high-level government delegations, attested to the limited options available to PNG for addressing the West Papua crisis.

    “PNG has no capacity to raise the issue,” Kua said. “We can express our concern and our grief and disappointment over the manner in which the Indonesian government is administering its responsibilities over the people of West Papua.

    “However there’s nothing much else we can do, especially when larger powers in our region like Australia remain tight-lipped over the issue. Of what constructive value would it be for PNG to venture into that landscape without proper support?”

    He added: “So we are very guarded about what we say, because there’s no doubt about the concern that we have in this country.”

    Refugees there to stay
    Kua says many West Papuans who came across the border as refugees are there to stay: “We don’t complain about that. We just feel that this part of the country is theirs as much as the other side of the island is theirs.”

    PNG’s policy on West Papua, where it rarely exercises a voice, has left it looking weak on the issue. The most vocal of the leading political players in PNG, the governor of the National Capital District, Powes Parkop, says that for too long, PNG government policy on West Papua has been dictated by fear of Indonesia and assumptions that make it convenient for leaders to not do anything about it.

    While PNG hopes the West Papua problem will go away, Indonesia’s government is also burying its head in the sand by portraying West Papua’s problems as a development issue.

    “It’s a human rights issue and we should solve it at that level. It’s about the right to self-determination,” Parkop said.

    “PNG holds the key to the future peaceful resolution of Papua. If we rise above our fear and be bold and brave by having an open dialogue with the Indonesian government, I’m sure we’ll make progress.”

    Following upcoming elections in PNG, a new government will take power in early August. It’s unwise to bet on the result, but former Prime Minister Peter O’Neill is one of the contenders to take office, and he, more than incumbent James Marape, has been able to project PNG’s role as a regional leader among the Pacific Islands.

    He is also one of the few to have expressed strong concern about human rights abuses and violence against West Papuans.

    ‘Hope government will be brave’
    “I hope the new government will be brave enough and have a constructive dialogue with Indonesia’s government so we can find a long-lasting solution,” Parkop said.

    “As long as Indonesia and PNG continue to pretend it won’t go away, it will only get worse, and it is getting worse.”

    Parkop added that because of the huge economic potential of New Guinea, “the future can be brighter for both sides if the problem is confronted with honesty”.

    According to Kua, Indonesia’s government made a commitment to empowering Papuans to run their own territory within the structure of the Republic, a pledge which should be honored. Regional support would help encourage Indonesia in this direction.

    “Australia, New Zealand, PNG, those of us from the Pacific all have to stand united until some other wholesale answers are found to the plight of the people of West Papua,” he said. “The interim relief is to continue to press for increased delegated powers to (Papua). So they have more and more say about their own destiny.”

    The Papuan independence movement has managed to gain a foothold in the regional architecture, most notably with the admission of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) to the Melanesian Spearhead Group regional bloc, whose founding aim is the decolonisation of all Melanesian peoples. But Indonesia’s successful diplomatic efforts in the region have provided a counterweight to regional calls for Papuan independence.

    However, 2019 saw a rare moment of regional unity when the Pacific Islands Forum, which is made up of 18 member countries, including French territories New Caledonia and French Polynesia, resolved to push Indonesia to allow the UN Human Rights Commissioner access to Papua to produce an independent report on the situation.

    Human rights unity stalled
    Then the pandemic came along and the matter stalled.

    “Following that, the Pacific Island states who are members of the ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific bloc) supported the same resolution at (its) General Assembly in Kenya,” said Vanuatu’s opposition leader Ralph Regenvanu, who was foreign minister at the time of the Forum resolution. Since then, he said, there had been “nothing explicit.”

    Papua remains of great concern to Pacific Islanders, Regenvanu explained, noting that Indonesia’s plan for new provinces was set to cause “accelerated destruction of the natural environment and the social fabric, more dissipation of the political will.”

    The Papua conflict has fallen largely on deaf ears in both Canberra and Wellington, each of which is hesitant to jeopardise its relations with Indonesia. Australia’s new Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited Jakarta soon after coming to power last month, showing that the country’s relationship with Indonesia is a priority.

    But as the conflict worsens in neighboring West Papua, Australia’s involvement in training and funding of Indonesian military and police forces who are accused of human rights violations in Papua grows ever more problematic.

    Under Albanese, Canberra is unlikely to spring any surprises on Jakarta regarding West Papua, but neither can it ignore the momentum for decolonisation in the Pacific without adding to the sense of betrayal Pacific Island countries feel towards Canberra over the question of climate change.

    Major self-determination questions are pressing on its doorstep, both in New Caledonia, where the messy culmination of the Noumea Accord means the territory’s future status is uncertain, and in Bougainville where 98 percent of people voted for independence from PNG in a non-binding referendum in 2019.

    Ratifying the referendum
    PNG’s next Parliament is due to decide whether to ratify the referendum result, and while political leaders don’t wish to trigger the break-up of PNG, they know that failure to respond to such an emphatic call by Bougainvilleans would spell trouble.

    While in Parkop’s view Bougainville and West Papua are not the same, there are lessons to be drawn from the two cases.

    “In the past PNG has been looking at (Bougainville) from the development perspective, and we have tried so many things: changed the constitution, gave them autonomy, gave them more money, and so on.

    “It did not solve the problem,” he said. “And now in PNG, it’s a reckoning time.”

    He added: “So the Indonesians have to come to terms with this. Otherwise if they only see this as a development issue, they will miss the entire story, and it can only get worse, whatever they do.”

    Much is riding on the Bougainville and New Caledonia questions, and fears that China could step in to back a new independent nation are part of the reason why Australia would prefer the status quo to remain in place, and probably the same for West Papua and Indonesia.

    The 2006 Lombok Treaty between Indonesia and Australia, which prohibits any interference in each nation’s sovereignty, makes it hard for Canberra to speak out. But it could also play into China’s hands if Australia and New Zealand keep ignoring the requests of Pacific Island nations about West Papua.

    Opportunities for resolution
    Means of resolving the Papua conflict exist, but they aren’t development or military-based approaches. And as far as Jakarta is concerned, independence is out of the question.

    Professor Bilveer Singh, an international relations specialist from the National Singapore University, told The Diplomat in 2019 that West Papuan independence was a pipe dream. Internal divisions among the Papuan independence movement are identified as a barrier.

    The head of the ULMWP, Benny Wenda, sought to address this with decisive leadership by declaring an interim government of West Papua last year, but the move was criticised by some key players in the movement.

    While Papua is unlikely to be another Timor-Leste, Singh wrote, an Aceh or Mindanao model with greater autonomy would be more achievable. Furthermore, Jakarta could allow Papuans to hoist their own colors under Indonesian sovereignty.

    Declaring tribal areas as conservation regions is an option, too. More significantly, Papua could also become a self-governing state in free association with Indonesia, like the Cook Islands and Niue are with New Zealand, or even follow the model of Chechnya in Russia.

    To be able to manage their own security and governance, and allow their culture to thrive, would answer a lot of Papuans’ grievances. A non-binding independence referendum, as PNG has allowed for Bougainville, would be a good starting point.

    If Papuans are as content with Indonesian rule as Jakarta claims, a referendum would be instructive.

    Meaningful dialogue necessary
    At the very least, in a bid to stop the conflict, meaningful dialogue is necessary. Jokowi has reportedly given approval for Indonesia’s national human rights body to host a dialogue with pro-independence factions, including those residing abroad.

    Leaders of the TPNPB and ULMWP have indicated they are interested in a dialogue only on condition that it is brokered by a foreign, neutral third party mandated by the UN.

    The Papuans aren’t in a position to dictate such terms, unless international pressure weighs into the equation. They are however also highly unlikely to stop resisting Indonesian rule while their sense of injustice remains.

    “The Papuan conflict is not about colour television or 3G internet, it’s about indigenous dignity and a stand against militarism,” Haluk said.

    As well as drawing new lines on the map, the plan for more provinces in Papua draws a new line in the sand, beyond which the conflict in Indonesia’s easternmost region will become much more intractable.

    No amount of development will stop this until Jakarta shifts its thinking on how to address the region’s core problem. The opposite of poverty isn’t wealth, it’s justice.

    Co-authors and journalists Aprila Wayar (West Papua) and Johnny Blades (Aotearoa New Zealand) are contributors to The Diplomat. Republished with permission by the authors.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Simultaneous street art campaign for cage-free farms in 7 major Indonesian cities

    In February this year, murals appeared across Indonesia depicting the appalling living conditions of layer hens in battery cages. The message was strengthened by a concurrent action in which educational posters were pasted up in public spaces across the cities.

    Animal Friends Jogja (AFJ) along with Act For Farmed Animals (AFFA) collaborated with mural artists and Barisan Muda-Mudi Xayang Xatwa (BMXX) and AFJ volunteers for the Farmed Animal Campaign in seven major Indonesian cities, including Medan and Palembang on Sumatra, Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta, and Surabaya on Java Island and Denpasar on  Bali.

    A #gocagefree campaign mural in Surabaya. Image supplied.

    The murals and posters include QR codes asking the public to sign petitions asking for two global food companies, McDonald’s and A&W, to make commitments to source only cage-free egg products in their supply chains. The campaign is aimed at gaining public awareness on the cruelty of the battery cage system for layer hens and encouraging corporate commitment to do cage-free farming.

    “In Indonesia, many forms of street art (murals, posters, wheat pasting, stenciling, graffiti, etc.) are bringing political, social, and humanitarian issues to light. Still, for some reason, few of them give voice to the injustice faced by animals, including animals exploited in the farming industry,” explained Xgo, from Serikat Mural Surabaya.

    Related

    The true story of cruelty to animals in Indonesia

    The ABC should establish a new relationship with an Indonesian partner, enabling Australians to learn that this humane cause is shared by our close neighbours.

    Julian Millie 15 December, 2020

    Elly Mangunsong, the AFJ Corporate Outreach Coordinator, said, “We are glad to have the involvement and support of the artists for our campaign to end the battery cage systems in this country. We hope this creative street art campaign can attract public support to urge food companies to make a commitment and switch to using eggs supplied by cage-free farms that apply high standards of animal welfare throughout their animal-related practices.”

    The use of battery cages itself has been prohibited in several countries and regions, including Switzerland, the European Union, Bhutan, and many regions of the Americas. However, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), this cruel system still dominates the animal farming sector in Indonesia, with more than 260 million layer hens suffering in narrow battery cages, living for years in a space less than the size of a piece of A4 paper. This system doesn’t allow the hens access to most of the natural behaviors that are essential for their welfare, such as perching, nesting to lay eggs, dust bathing, not to mention scavenging in soil, and exploring.

    “The idea that battery cages are cruel is still a very new concept for many people here, and to see chickens caged inside small cages is considered normal. AFJ’s campaign has opened our eyes to their suffering,” explained Ruru, the artist who coordinated the mural in Palembang. “Through the mural that we made, we hope that people can be educated about what they consume and that they will be more concerned about animal welfare,” Ruru continued.

    A #gocagefree campaign mural in Medan. Image supplied.

    Two large multinational companies that have committed to a cage-free policy are Yum! Brands and Focus Brands. These corporate giants are parent companies for various famous fast-food company brands. At the end of 2021, they globally committed to end the use of hen eggs sourced from battery cage farms across their global supply chain. The commitment was made after a campaign was launched against them by Open Wing Alliance, a coalition of animal protection organizations from around the world, including AFJ. This success is also closely linked to the public support of consumers who care about animal welfare and demand better standards.

    This significant success—changing the policies of big food companies to no longer accept eggs from hens in battery cage systems—is expected to open the gate for global change.  In Indonesia, the change is already happening with several local and national food sector businesses based in Yogyakarta, which have also committed to a cage-free policy in their supply chain after discussions with AFJ. These include Chocolate Monggo, Mediterranea Restaurant, Kebun Roti Artisan Bakery, ViaVia Artisan Bakery, Yabbiekayu Restaurant and Eco Villas, Bumi Langit Restaurant, and Blue Steps Villa & Resto, with interest in joining the campaign from other businesses building daily.

    A #gocagefree campaign mural in Palembang. Image supplied.

    The urgency to stop the use of battery cages is also linked to human health issues. A comprehensive study concerning food safety by European Food Safety Authority/EFSA) about the comparison of salmonella contamination in the battery cage vs. cage-free systems concluded that the salmonella contamination in the battery cage system is higher than the free-cage system.

    “Aside from ignoring animal welfare principles, the intensive farming system for this type of egg production also risks our health. It’s time for us to accept the facts and try to apply a cage-free policy that will protect both the animals from extreme cruelty and people’s health,” Elly concluded.

    Act for Farmed Animals (AFFA) is a joint campaign run by Animal Friends Jogja and Sinergia Animal to increase animal welfare in Indonesia.

    The post Simultaneous street art campaign for cage-free farms in 7 major Indonesian cities appeared first on New Mandala.

    This post was originally published on New Mandala.

  • Rights commission discusses Papua peace talks with UN human rights commissioner

    Asia Pacific Report newsdesk

    Indonesia’s National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) has discussed the plan to hold a peaceful dialogue to resolve the problems in Papua during its visit to the United Nations headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

    During the meeting, the Komnas HAM was represented by commission chairperson Taufan Damanik and two commissioners, Beka Ulung Hapsara and Mochamad Choirul Anam. They met with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet.

    “Komnas HAM conveyed the initiative for a peaceful dialogue on Papua,” said Damanik in a media statement, reports CNN Indonesia.

    Damanik said that the peaceful dialogue was initiated by Komnas HAM as an approach to resolve the various human rights problems in Papua. He claimed that the UN has welcomed the plan.

    “Michelle Bachelet conveyed her appreciation for the move by Komnas HAM,” he said.

    The commission is confident that a peaceful dialogue on Papua can be realised and Damanik hopes that all parties will support the effort.

    “[We] hope that more and more parties will lend their support to the initiative that exists so that a Papua which is just, peaceful and prosperous can be quickly achieved,” he said.

    Rights violations of concern
    Damanik said that they also took the opportunity to explain to the UN about various human rights developments and challenges in Indonesia, including resolving cases of rights violations which are of concern to the public.

    “Including within this were changes related to progress in human rights policies and the obstacles which still exist,” he said.

    Komnas HAM has visited Papua on several occasions to discuss the planned peace dialogue.

    It claims that many different parties have welcomed the peaceful dialogue it has initiated.

    The West Papua National Liberation Army-Free Papua Organisation (TPNPB-OPM) however has rejected peace talks with the government if it is only mediated by Komnas HAM.

    They have also called on President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to be prepared to sit down together with them at the negotiating table.

    Earlier this year TPNPB-OPM spokesperson Sebby Sambom said that they wanted any peace dialogue or negotiations to be mediated by the UN because the armed conflict in Papua was already on an international scale.

    “In principle we will agree if the negotiations are in accordance UN mechanisms, but we are not interested in Indonesia’s methods,” said Sambom in a press release on Friday February 23.

    Translated by James Balowski of IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was Komnas HAM Bahas Dialog Damai Papua dengan Komisioner Tinggi HAM PBB.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Husic focuses on Indonesia in industry diplomacy reset

    Australia’s Chief Scientist Cathy Foley will be asked to join a science and research delegation to Indonesia as part of new Industry and Science minister Ed Husic’s plan to forge stronger ties with the regional neighbour. Mr Husic on Friday flagged the trip and an invitation for his Indonesian counterpart to visit Australia, a week…

    The post Husic focuses on Indonesia in industry diplomacy reset appeared first on InnovationAus.com.

    This post was originally published on InnovationAus.com.

  • KF-21 Boramae progresses on ground testing in anticipation of first flight

    South Korea’s indigenous next-generation combat aircraft development, the KF-21 Boramae, has made good progress during its ground testing phase and has achieved around 50 percent completion of the overall test programme and approximately 95 percent of ground testing requirements necessary to perform its maiden flight, the official newspaper of the Ministry of National Defense (MND) […]

    The post KF-21 Boramae progresses on ground testing in anticipation of first flight appeared first on Asian Military Review.

    This post was originally published on Asian Military Review.

  • Thugs attack student rally in Makassar against Papuan ‘carve up’

    Asia Pacific Report newsdesk

    A protest action by Papuan students which took place in the South Sulawesi provincial capital of Makassar, which was opposing the creation of new autonomous regions in Papua, ended in a clash with a social movement.

    Several people were injured and rushed to the nearest hospital.

    Action coordinator Boci explained that the incident began with the protesters planning to hold a rally in front of the Mandala Monument. When they began marching towards the rally point, they were blocked by the Ormas (the Indonesian Muslim Brigade).

    “Since early morning there were plain clothed police with the ormas. Then when we moved off to the rally site we were blocked by the Ormas BMI, then we were assaulted, pelted with stones, beaten with pieces of wood, kicked, until three people were bleeding and I was hit and my fingers injured”, said Boci in a statement to CNN Indonesia.

    The protesters then stood their ground in front of the Papuan student dormitory, said Boci, after which the police conducted negotiations and the BMI members retreated and moved away from the dormitory.

    “Although we were provoked our action still continued. After that the police arrived but we continued to hold our ground in front of the dormitory and read out our action demands near the dormitory,” he explained.

    As a result of the attack by the BMI, Boci said that five students suffered injuries and were bleeding.

    Five students injured
    “Yes, five students suffered injuries and are currently still receiving medical treatment”, he said.

    Earlier, an Ormas in Makassar was involved in a class with several Papuan students in front of the Papuan student dormitory on Jalan Lanto Daeng Pasewang.

    The clash occurred when the Papuan students were protesting against the creation of new autonomous regions (DOB) in Papua in front of the dormitory.

    The Ormas then tried to break up the student protest. The Papuan students refused to accept this and pelted several of the Ormas members with stones.

    Makassar metropolitan district police operational division head Assistant Superintendent Darminto said that those who had been injured were receiving medical treatment at the Labuang Baji Hospital.

    Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was Kronologi Aksi Mahasiswa Tolak DOB Papua Berujung Bentrok di Makassar.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • SDGs in North Sumatra: climate action, peace, justice, and institutions

    The North Sumatran government’s poor performance in implementing the UN SDGs, particularly on climate action (goal 13) and peace, justice, and strong institutions (goal 16), has confused the direction of the 2030 SDGs, which, according to Indonesia’s national implementation road map,  should be driven by local governments. An absence of participatory processes and transparency in the local government’s planning, implementation, and evaluation of the SDGs exemplifies this issue; moreover, they make limited contributions to mainstreaming discourse on these goals.

    This picture emerges from the data gathered through in-depth interviews, in June 2021, with informants who are actively involved in churches and church-affiliated institutions in North Sumatra. This provided a different picture than the Indonesian government’s Voluntary National Review (VNR). Our data collection on goal 13 focused on climate action, natural disasters, and developing an environment-friendly economy. For goal 16, we focused on violence, religious freedom, basic rights for women, children, and religious minorities, transparency in local governance, inclusive and participatory decision-making.

    Based on churches’ experiences, the local government appears to be taking no clear steps toward mitigating natural disasters and climate change, nor in developing a civil society network for mitigation. Simultaneously, the North Sumatra region has experienced floods and landslides as a result of deforestation and extreme weather.

    The local government’s performance appears to involve ad hoc participation in public seminars on disaster management or by providing plant seeds to churches and affiliates. There has been no strategic collaboration with churches toward disaster risk reduction. In Simalungun Regency, the church’s diaconia department received no response from the local government to requests for disaster response and infrastructure repair. The local government limited its role to ad hoc events such as the distribution of basic food aid during the COVID-19 pandemic, the provision of agricultural equipment, and collaboration on religious celebrations such as Christmas and Easter.

    A slightly different picture is found in a Christian-based university located at Simalungun Regency, where collaboration with local government takes the form of tree planting activities in several locations, improving climate change-related knowledge among university students, and starting organic fertilizers development on the campus area.

    Goal 16 intersects with churches’ annual work plans, particularly concerning an increase in violence against vulnerable people, particularly women and children as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic’s social and economic impact. The situation is complicated further by a strongly patriarchal culture in a society where violence against women is usually resolved through family mechanisms or internal institutional policies (such as in schools and religion-related institutions) so that it does not become a public issue which complicates matters even further, and finally, the victim does not have access to justice. Other issues are also on the rise, such as the use of dangerous drugs, and violence against children in shelters or in the informal sector in which they are employed.

    In terms of violence, the local government has been seen by some activists of the church-related institutions as failing to take proactive steps to investigate and assist victims, especially women and children, in obtaining justice. This stems from a lack of gender awareness among the government and law enforcement officers. As a result, legal assistance for victims is frequently carried out by non-governmental institutions, even though they have limited resources.

    Furthermore, some of the church institution-based activists I spoke to believe the local government has failed to take proactive steps the local government performs poorly in combating youth’s illegal use of dangerous drugs (such as morphine, heroin, and other comparable drugs). As a result, based on the observation of some church-related institution activists, the use of these types of drugs continues to spread among young people. Non-governmental institutions, particularly churches and their affiliated institutions, actually play the role to respond to this challenge through their annual interfaith and educational activities.

    According to the monitoring report of the 2020 Corruption Case Enforcement Performance by Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), there is a downward trend in combating corruption from 2015 to 2020. This downward trend is consistent with the data gathered in North Sumatra that reveals poor local government’s role in engaging civil society in monitoring government budget management and poor performance in mainstreaming anti-corruption issues.

    Furthermore, weak civil society participation has led to poor implementation of a bottom-up approach to annual deliberation forums designed to accommodate local aspirations in the annual development plan. These forums are seen solely as a means for local government to gain legitimacy, rather than inclusive decision-making.

    The role of the local government is more positive in the area of health and education services, but some challenges must be addressed, such as health and education access for the poor, children with disabilities, and those living with HIV/AIDS. There is an absence of strategic effort in this regard. The distribution of basic aid for people in need was not well managed during the COVID-19 pandemic, with more aid reaching those who have connections with government officials.

    On the other side, the data reveals the role of churches and related institutions in initiating responses that fill the gaps left by the lack of strategic local government initiatives. Churches and their affiliated institutions have been active in developing an environment-friendly economy, and developing disaster response units or programs at the church’s department and congregational levels. However, some obstacles have hindered these efforts, such as a mindset that still views natural disasters as merely natural occurrences which complicate the formation of disaster response units, as well as the ecumenical network’s poor performance in facilitating disaster response units and SDG-related programs at the local level. [related_article]

    Successful actions by churches have included tree planting and distribution through ecclesiastical events such as weddings, baptisms, and catechisms, which also contribute to raising awareness of environmental conservation.

    Several churches in North Sumatra have gone even further, recycling waste and combining climate mitigation with economic development by developing organic fertilizers and pesticides to support organic agriculture, making natural clothing dyes, strengthening farmers to develop food security during the pandemic, and utilizing used materials to make cloth products that are supported by the product marketing system.

    Moreover, churches use education to raise awareness among members of the congregations and institutions about natural disaster mitigation, adaptation, and climate change. This effort is taken by some churches through a process of education in Sunday schools, catechisms, and sermons. Some churches facilitate campaigns and seminars on environmental issues, as well as campaigning against the use of pesticides in agriculture.

    On peace, justice, and strong institutions, churches and their affiliated institutions have been involved in providing counseling and legal aid to victims of violence. Some churches combine this assistance with economic empowerment for women, by providing training programs to develop skills in textile production, such as the production of natural clothing dyes.

    Activities have also been carried out to build awareness about the protection of women and children, such as seminars and the publication and distribution of materials such as the Code of Conduct on Anti-violence Against Women and Children, the Gender Justice Policy, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), as well as Paralegal training. However, issues with financial support, weak ecumenical network support at the local level, and socio-cultural barriers make it difficult to give effective counseling and legal assistance. Furthermore, cultural barriers frequently obstruct victim assistance, resulting in the victim‘s inability to receive justice.

    Some recommendations should be considered at this point, firstly, the need for proactive steps taken by the government, at the national level and local levels, to build strategic partnerships with FBOs, such as churches and various church-related institutions, to support the acceleration of the 2030 SDGs implementation, as well as increasing gender awareness among government officials and religious institutions. This effort will strengthen the inclusive and participatory nature of the 2030 SDGs, and keep the spirit of “no one left behind” alive. Secondly, The government also has to take a proactive role in implementing farming technology that could provide food for many people by using more efficient land dan reducing land exploitation. Thirdly, the poor ecumenical structure at the local level must be addressed to support SDG-related initiatives at the local level. According to the data, many SDG-related local initiatives are carried out by churches and their related institutions without connection and assistance from the ecumenical structure at the local level.

    The post SDGs in North Sumatra: climate action, peace, justice, and institutions appeared first on New Mandala.

    This post was originally published on New Mandala.

  • Submarine Status

    Operating submarines can enhance the reputation of the naval force employing them, but they should be properly funded and not just for show. Conventional submarines (SSKs) in the Indo-Pacific region are getting larger and more sophisticated as naval forces attempt to introduce a new submarine capability to their fleet or expand on an existing one. […]

    The post Submarine Status appeared first on Asian Military Review.

    This post was originally published on Asian Military Review.

  • Yamin Kogoya: Fatal disconnect between Jakarta and West Papua worsens settler-colonial occupation

    COMMENTARY: By Yamin Kogoya

    A flurry of peaceful rallies and protests erupted in West Papua and Indonesia on Friday, June 3.

    Papuan People’s Petition (PRP), the National Committee for West Papua (Komite Nasional Papua Barat-KNPB) and civil society groups and youth from West Papua marched in protest of Jakarta’s plan to create more provinces.

    Thousands of protesters marched through the major cities and towns in each of West Papua’s seven regions, including Jayapura, Wamena, Paniai, Sorong, Timika/Mimika, Yahukimo, Lanny Jaya, Nabire, and Merauke.

    As part of the massive demonstration, protests were organised in Indonesia’s major cities of West Java, Central Jakarta, Jogjakarta, Bandung, Semarang, Surabaya, and Bali.

    Demonstrators said Papuans wanted an independence referendum, not new provinces or special autonomy.

    According to Markus Haluk, one of the key coordinators of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), almost all Papuans took to the streets to show Jakarta and those who want to wipe out the Papuan people that they do not need special autonomy or new provinces.

    Above is a text image that captures the spirit of the demonstrators. A young man is shown being beaten on the head and blood running down his face during a demonstration in Jayapura city of Papua on Friday.

    The text urges Indonesia’s president Jokowi to be tagged on social media networks and calls for solidarity action.

    Numerous protesters were arrested and beaten by Indonesian police during the demonstration.

    Security forces brutalised demonstrators in the cities of Sorong, Jayapura, Yahukimo, Merauke, and elsewhere where demonstrations were held.

    An elderly mother is seen been beaten on the head during the demonstration in Sorong. Tweet: West Papua Sun

    People who are beaten and arrested are treated inhumanely and are not followed up with proper care, nor justice, in one of Asia-Pacific’s most heavily militarised areas.

    Among those injured in Sorong, these people have been named Aves Susim (25), Sriyani Wanene (30), Mama Rita Tenau (50), Betty Kosamah (22), Agus Edoway (25), Kamat (27), Subi Taplo (23), Amanda Yumte (23), Jack Asmuru (20), and Sonya Korain (22).

    Root of the protests in the 1960s
    The protests and rallies are not merely random riots, or protests against government corruption or even pay raises. The campaign is part of decades-old protests that have been carried out against what the Papuans consider to be an Indonesian invasion since the 1960s.

    The Indonesian government claims West Papua’s fate was sealed with Indonesia after a United Nations-organised 1969 referendum, known as the Pepera or Act of Free Choice, something Papuans consider a sham and an Act of No Choice.

    In spite of Indonesia’s claim, the Indonesian invasion of West Papua began in 1963, long before the so-called Act of Free Choice in 1969.

    It was well documented that the 1025 Papuan elders who voted for Indonesian occupancy in 1969 were handpicked at gunpoint.

    In the six years between 1963 and 1969, Indonesian security forces tortured and beat these elders into submission before the vote in 1969 began.

    Friday’s protesters were not merely protesting against Jakarta’s draconian policy of drawing yet another arbitrary line through Papuan ancestral territory, but also against Indonesia’s illegal occupation.

    The Papuans accuse Jakarta of imposing laws, policies, and programmes that affect Papuans living in West Papua, while it is illegally occupying the territory.

    Papuans will protest indefinitely until the root cause is addressed. On the other hand, the Indonesian government seems to care little about what the Papuans actually want or think.

    Markus Haluk said Indonesia did not view Papuans as human beings equal to that of Indonesians, and this mades them believe that what Papuans want and think, or how Jakarta’s policy may affect Papuans, had no value.

    Jakarta, he continued, will do whatever it wants, however, it wishes, and whenever it wishes in regard to West Papua.
    In light of this sharp perceptual contrast, the relationship between Papuans and the Indonesian government has almost reached a dead end.

    Fatal disconnect
    The Lowy Institute, Australia’s leading think-tank, published an article entitled What is at stake with new provinces in West Papua? on 28 April 2022 that identifies some of the most critical terminology regarding this dead-end protracted conflict — one of which is “fatal disconnect”.

    The conclusion of the article stated, “On a general level, this means that there is a fatal disconnect between how the Indonesian government view their treatment of the region, and how the people actually affected by such treatment see the arrangement.”

    It is this fatal disconnect that has brought these two states — Papua and Indonesia — to a point of no return. Two states are engaged in a relationship that has been disconnected since the very beginning, which has led to so many fatalities.

    The author of the article, Eduard Lazarus, a Jakarta-based journalist and editor covering media and social movements, wrote:

    That so many indigenous West Papuans expressed their disdain against renewing the Special Autonomy status … is a sign that something has gone horribly wrong.

    The tragedy of this irreconcilable relationship is that Jakarta does not reflect on its actions and is willfully ignorant of how its rhetoric and behaviour in dealing with West Papua has caused such human tragedy and devastation spanning generations.

    The way that Jakarta’s leaders talk about their “rescue” plans for West Papua displays this fatal disconnect.

    Indonesian Vice-President’s plans for West Papua

    Indonesia’s Vice-President Ma’ruf Amin
    Indonesia’s Vice-President Ma’ruf Amin. Image: File

    KOMPAS.com reported on June 2 that Vice-President Ma’ruf Amin had asked Indonesian security forces to use a “humanist approach” in Papua rather than violence.

    Ma’ruf expressed this view also in a virtual speech made at the Declaration of Papua Peace event organised by the Papuan Indigenous Peoples Institute on June 6.

    In a press release, Ma’ruf said he had instructed the combined military and police officials to use a humanist approach, prioritise dialogical efforts, and refrain from violence.

    Ma’ruf believes that conducive security conditions are essential to Papua’s development, and that the government aims to promote peace and unity in Papua through various policies and regulations.

    The Papua Special Autonomy Law, he continued, regulates the transfer of power from provinces to regencies and cities, as well as increasing the percentage of Papua Special Autonomy Funds transferred to 2.25 percent of the National General Allocation Fund.

    Additionally, according to the Vice-President, the government is drafting a presidential regulation regarding a Papuan Development Acceleration Master Plan (RIPPP) and establishing the Papuan Special Autonomy Development Acceleration Steering Agency (BP3OKP) directly headed by Ma’ruf himself.

    He also underscored the importance of a collaboration between all parties, including indigenous Papuans. Ma’ruf believes that Papua’s development will speed up soon since the traditional leaders and all members of the Indigenous Papuan Council are willing to work together and actively participate in building the Land of Papua.

    Indonesia’s new military commander

    General Andika Perkasa
    General Andika Perkasa. Image: File

    Recently, Indonesia’s newly appointed Commander of Armed Forces, General Andika Perkasa, proposed a novel, humanistic approach to handling political conflict in West Papua.

    Instead of removing armed combatants with gunfire, he has vowed to use “territorial development operations” to resolve the conflict. In these operations, personnel will conduct medical, educational, and infrastructure-building missions to establish a rapport with Papuan communities in an effort to steer them away from the independence movement.

    In order to accomplish Perkasa’s plans, the military will have to station a large number of troops in West Papua in addition to the troops currently present.

    When listening to these two countries’ top leaders, they appear full of optimism in the words and new plans they describe.

    But the reality behind these words is something else entirely. There is, as concluded by Eduard Lazarus, a fatal disconnect between West Papuan and Jakarta’s policymakers, but Jakarta is unable to recognise it.

    Jakarta seems to suffer from cognitive dissonance or cognitive disconnect when dealing with West Papua — a lack of harmony between its heart, words, and actions.

    Cognitive dissonance is, by definition, a behavioural dysfunction with inconsistency in which the personal beliefs held, what has been said, and what has been done contradict each other.

    Yunus Wonda
    Vice-chair of Papuan People’s Representative Council Yunus Wonda. Image: File

    This contradiction, according to Yunus Wonda, deputy chair of the Papuan People’s Representative Council, occurs when the government changes the law and modifies and amends it as they see fit.

    What is written, what is practised, and what is in the heart do not match. Papuans suffer greatly because of this, according to Yunus Wonda.

    Mismanagement of a fatalistic nature
    Jakarta continues to mismanage West Papua with fatalistic inconsistent policies, which, according to the article, “might already have soured” to an irreparable degree.

    The humanist approach now appears to be another code in Indonesia’s gift package, delivered to the Papuans as a Trojan horse.

    The words of Indonesia’s Vice-President and the head of its Armed Forces are like a band aid with a different colour trying to cover an old wound that has barely healed.

    According to Wonda, the creation of new provinces is like trying to put the smoke out while the fire is still burning.

    Jakarta had already tried to bandage those old wounds with the so-called “Special Autonomy” 20 years ago. The Autonomy gift was granted not out of goodwill, but out of fear of Papuan demands for independence.

    However, Jakarta ended up making a big mess of it.

    The same rhetoric is also seen here in the statement of the Vice-President. Even though the semantic choices and construction themselves seem so appealing, this language does not translate into reality in the field.

    This is the problem — something has gone very wrong, and Jakarta isn’t willing to find out what it is. Instead, it keeps imposing its will on West Papua.

    Jakarta keeps preaching the gospel of development, prosperity, peace, and security but does not ask what Papuans want.

    The 2001 Special Autonomy Law was supposed to allow Papuans to have greater power over their fate, which included 79 articles designed to protect their land and culture.

    Furthermore, under this law, one important institution, the Papuan People’s Assembly (Majelis Rakyat Papua-MRP), together with provincial governments and the Papuan People’s Representative Council (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Papua-DPRP), was given the authority to deal with matters that are most important to them, such as land, population control, cultural identity, and symbols.

    Section B of the introduction part of the Special Autonomy law contains the following significant provisions:

    That the Papua community is God’s creation and is a part of a civilised people, who hold high human rights, religious values, democracy, law and cultural values in the adat (customary) law community and who have the right to fairly enjoy the results of development.

    Three weeks after these words were written into law, popular independence leader Theys H. Eluay was killed by Indonesian special forces (Kopassus). Ryamizard Ryacudu, then-army chief-of-staff, who in 2014 became Jokowi’s first Defence Minister, later called the killers “heroes” (Tempo.co, August 19, 2003).

    In 2003, the Megawati Soekarnoputri government divided the province into two, violating a provision of the Special Autonomy Law, which was based on the idea that Papua remains a single territory. As prescribed by law, any division would need to be approved by the Papuan provincial legislature and MRP.

    Over the 20 years since the Autonomy gift was granted, Jakarta has violated and undermined any legal and political framework it agreed to or established to engage with Papuans.

    Governor Lukas Enembe
    Governor Lukas Enembe … not enough resources to run the five new provinces being created in West Papua. Image: West Papua Today

    Papuan Indigenous leaders reject Jakarta’s band aid
    On May 27, Governor Lukas Enembe of the settler province of Papua, told Reuters there were not enough resources to run new provinces and that Papuans were not properly consulted.

    As the governor, direct representative of the central government, Enembe was not even consulted about the creation of new provinces.

    Yunus Wonda and Timotius Murid, two Indigenous Papuan leaders entrusted to safeguard the Papuan people and their culture and customary land under two important institutions — the Papuan People’s Assembly (Majelis Rakyat Papua-MRP) and People’s Representative Council (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Papua-DPRP) — were not consulted about the plans.

    Making matters worse, Jakarta stripped them of any powers they had under the previous autonomous status, which set the precedent for Jakarta to amend the previous autonomous status law in 2021.

    This amendment enables Jakarta to create new provinces.

    The aspirations and wishes of the Papuan people were supposed to be channelled through these two institutions and the provincial government, but Jakarta promptly shut down all avenues that would enable Papuans to have their voices heard.

    Governor Enembe faces constant threats, terrorism
    Governor Enembe has also been terrorised and intimidated by unknown parties over the past couple of years. He said, “I am an elected governor of Indonesia, but I am facing these constant threats and terror. What about my people? They are not safe.”

    This is an existential war between the state of Papua and the state of Indonesia. We need to ask not only what is at stake with the new provinces in West Papua, but also, what is at stake in West Papua under Indonesia’s settler-colonial rule?

    Four critical existential issues facing West Papua
    There are four main components of Papuan culture at stake in West Papua under Indonesia’s settler-colonial rule:

    1. Papuan humans
    2. Papuan languages
    3. Papuan oral cultural knowledge system
    4. Papuan ancestral land and ecology

    Papua’s identity was supposed to be protected by the Special Autonomy Law 2001.

    However, Jakarta has shown no interest or intention in protecting these four existential components. Indonesia continues to amend, create, and pass laws to create more settler-colonial provincial spaces that threaten Papuans.

    The end goal isn’t to provide welfare to Papuans or protect them, but to create settlers’ colonial areas so that new settlers — whether it be soldiers, criminal thugs, opportunists, poor improvised Indonesian immigrants, or colonial administrators — can fill those new spaces.

    Jakarta is, unfortunately, turning these newly created spaces into new battlegrounds between clans, tribes, highlanders, coastal people, Papua province, West Papua province, families, and friends, as well as between Papuans and immigrants.

    Media outlets in Indonesia are manipulating public opinion by portraying one leader as a proponent of Jakarta’s plan and the other as its opponent, further fuelling tension between leaders in Papua.

    Yamin Kogoya is a West Papuan academic who has a Master of Applied Anthropology and Participatory Development from the Australian National University and who contributes to Asia Pacific Report. From the Lani tribe in the Papuan Highlands, he is currently living in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Police beat Papuan protesters with rattan sticks – 20 injured, flag seized

    Asia Pacific Report newsdesk

    Indonesian police have been accused of beating two Papuan students with rattan sticks – severely injuring them — while 20 other students have been injured and the Morning Star flag seized in a crackdown on separate protests yesterday across the two Melanesian provinces of Papua and West Papua.

    The protesters were blocked by police during a long march in the provincial capital of Jayapura opposing planned new autonomous regions in Papua.

    The police have denied the rattan beating claims.

    Papuan human rights activist Younes Douw said almost 3000 students and indigenous Papuans (OAP) took to the streets for the action.

    “Around 650 students took to the streets today. Added to by the Papuan community of around 2000 people,” Douw told CNN Indonesia.

    Douw said that the actions yesterday were held at several different points in Jayapura such as Yahukimo, Waena and Abepura.

    Almost every single gathering point, however, was blockaded by police.

    Police blockade
    “Like this morning there was a police blockade from Waena on the way to Abepura,” he said.

    Douw said that two students were injured because of the repressive actions by police.

    The two were named as Jayapura Science and Technology University (USTJ) student David Goo and Cendrawasih University (Unas) student Yebet Tegei.

    Both suffered serious head injuries.

    “They were beaten using rattan sticks,” Douw said.

    Jayapura district police chief Assistant Superintendent Victor Mackbon denied the reports from the students.

    “It’s a hoax. So please, if indeed they exist, they [should] report it. But if they don’t exist, that means it’s not true,” Mackbon told CNN Indonesia.

    Demonstration banned
    The police had earlier banned the demonstration against new autonomous regions being organised by the Papua People’s Petition (PRP).

    The Papua Legal Aid Foundation (LBH) said that by last night at least 20 people had been injured as a result of police violence in in breaking up the protests.

    “In Sorong, 10 people were injured. In Jayapura, 10 were also injured,” LBH Papua chair Emanuel Gobay told Kompas.com.

    “The injuries were a consequence of the repressive approach by police against demonstrators when they broke up the rallies,” he said.

    Police also arrested several people during the protests.

    “In Nabire, 23 people were arrested then released later in the afternoon.

    “Two people were also arrested in Jayapura and released later,” Gobay said.

    When this article was published, however, local police were still denying that any protesters had been injured.

    Tear gas fired at Papuan protesters by Indonesian police
    Tear gas fired at protesters as police break up a demonstration in Sorong, West Papua. Image: ILN/Kompas

    Fires, flag seized in Sorong
    In Sorong, police broke up a demonstration against the autonomous regions at the Sorong city Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) office, reports Kompas.com.

    Earlier, the demonstrators had asked DPRD Speaker Petronela Kambuaya to meet with them but there was no response.

    The demonstrators then became angry and set fire to tyres on the DPRD grounds and police fired teargas into the rally.

    Sorong district police operations division head Police Commander Moch Nur Makmur said that the action taken was following procedure.

    “We had already appealed to the korlap [protest field coordinator], saying that if there were fires we would break up [the rally], but they (the protesters) started it all so we took firm action and broke it up,” said commander Makmur.

    Police also seized a Morning Star independence flag during the protest. The flag was grabbed when the demonstrators were holding a long march from the Remu traffic lights to the Sorong DPRD.

    Makmur said that when police saw somebody carrying the Morning Star flag, they seized it.

    “The flag was removed immediately, officers were quick to seize the flag,” he said.

    Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was Demo Tolak DOB Diadang Aparat di Papua, Mahasiswa Luka Dipukul Rotan.

  • Kontras criticises military officers being made regional heads as ‘return to New Order’

    By Gita Irawan in Jakarta

    Indonesia’s Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) has criticised the appointment of Central Sulawesi State Intelligence Agency (BIN) regional chief (Kabinda) Brigadier-General Andi Chandra As’aduddin as the acting (Pj) regent of Seram Bagian Barat in Maluku province.

    The appointment of As’aduddin was based on Home Affairs Ministry Decree Number 113.81-1164, 2022 on the Appointment of an Acting Seram Bagian Barat Regent in Maluku.

    Kontras coordinator Fatia Maulidiyanti said that placing TNI (Indonesian military) or Polri (Indonesian police) officers in civilian positions indicates that the state has no interest in the mandate of reformasi — the political reform process that began in 1998.

    One of these was abolishing the dual socio-political function of the armed forces (then called ABRI) and upholding civilian supremacy over the military.

    Yet, according to Maulidiyanti, empty regional leadership posts can be filled by state civil servants with experience in administrative management.

    She also questioned why the position had to be filled by a TNI officer.

    “This is a betrayal of the mandate of reformasi and democratic values,” Maulidiyanti told Tribune News.

    She said that what was frightening was the potential abuse of power.

    This, she said, was because TNI officers had their own powers which were then augmented by the civilian position they occupied.

    “Instead of promoting democracy, it is instead a return back to the New Order [the ousted regime of former president Suharto],” said Maulidiyanti.

    Note:
    The next regional elections will not take place until November 27, 2024. Regional heads who end their terms in office before this will be replaced by acting regional heads appointed directly by President Widodo in the case of governors and the Home Affairs Ministry in the case of regents and mayors. In total, there will be 271 regions led by acting regional heads, including 27 governors.

    Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was Kontras Kritik Keras Penunjukan Perwira TNI Aktif Jadi Pj Bupati Seram Barat.

  • I Quit Waste: Inequity, Injustice & Broken Systems -Why We Need To Reclaim Our Food Autonomy

    I Quit Waste: Inequity, Injustice & Broken Systems -Why We Need To Reclaim Our Food Autonomy - by Smita J
    4 Mins Read

    Smita J asks some tough questions.

    The activist questions our global food systems and their reliance on Big Food’s over-processed, industrially farmed commodities, shares her learnings from a visit to a sustainable farming community in Indonesia and insists we can do better and create equitable, nourishing, useful food systems in our own urban communities.

    The Domination of Processed Foods

    I really want to know: where do people think their food comes from? As in, what is the source of the food we eat? We have such a massive disconnect with our global food system.

    Do we ever question why the “fresh” produce & meat sections take up on average 20% (or less if you are in a food desert) of supermarket shelves, while the rest is all packaged & processed food? Rows and rows of chemical experiments of vast commodity monocultures like sugar, wheat, rice, soy, palm oil, corn & all their industrially-derived ingredients. Biscuits, instant cake mixes, frozen meals, processed fruit juices & flavoured dairy, candy, potato chips, corn snacks, bottled sauces…and on and on.

    Processed foods that are manufactured & controlled by a handful of food conglomerates who are only keen on profits, even though they profess that their rallying cry is “we feed the world.” Foods made from commoditised green desert farms of monocultures: with inputs of forced labour, intensive pesticide & fertiliser use; causing ecological dead zones from toxic agricultural runoff to poisoning groundwater systems (Google ‘dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico’) to massive biodiversity loss through land clearing (hello Amazon). This goes for mass fruit & vegetable plantations as well as factory-farmed meat too- especially when those are made into further derivatives. The question remains: why is there so much processed food?! And in such large-scale quantities?

    Photo by Tim Mossholder at Pexels.

    The reality is that we can’t expect solutions from the same companies for whom this is business as usual and who propagated these systems in the first place. We are asking companies to do better when really we should be asking them to close shop & we take back our food autonomy. Because as long as profit margins are the main drivers, sustainability in our food systems & food justice will remain a fantasy.

    Status Quo: Overproduction & Excessive Waste

    We must start massively cutting down on consuming processed & packaged food, and we must boycott unsustainable junk/fast food. How do we encourage this within our immediate circle of influence? These systems are already disproportionately overproducing and worse, all the unsustainably grown foods are then wasted to shocking degrees…Just look up any dumpster diving food waste social media account and get ready to be shocked by the sheer volume of wasted food, including packaged! Let’s try to step out of the food monopoly complex controlled by a few big profit-driven companies and take back our food autonomy.

    What Does Sustainable Agriculture Actually Look Like?

    I just spent a week travelling through Flores, an island in Indonesia’s Nusa Tenggara regency with a high concentration of active volcanoes that gives its land super fertile soil. We drove by several areas of farming villages with mixed & integrated cropping: rice, coffee, cacao for larger regional markets and vegetables for local populations. Also prevalent are ruminants livestock of cows & goats, who feed on the grasses & shrubs in between crops, trees & forested areas. Livestock is part of the local diet too- not consumed everyday, but at small levels when the livestock population grows.

    Pairwise crops. Photo by Pairwise.

    The village of Moni is like a textbook example of sustainable farming. The farmlands and waterways are so clean, the rivers are healthy and there is a even a hot spring pool in the middle of the farmland you can dive into.

    Food Justice Utopia

    Here’s what I observed about Moni’s agricultural system:

    • Rich volcanic soil
    • Conjoined small farming plots, each managed by one household
    • Mixed cropping of rice fields, vegetables, bananas to ensure biological pest control & nutrients to soil
    • Field irrigation through natural waterways
    • Livestock of cows and goats feeding off uncultivated natural areas & in between planted areas to stimulate grass growth for below ground carbon sequestration, fertilised with their manure
    • Women smallholders tending to the fields.
    • Community helping each other out with labour and food stock
    • Cooperatives that set uniform prices to sell commodities – we saw this in the town of Bajawa & its surrounding, where farmers cultivate cacao & coffee, as well as vegetables for local markets.

    Reclaiming Our Food Autonomy

    This is the model of sustainable local eating, equity & equality we should aim for. So how do we do this? How can we bring such a system and adapt it to our respective (more urban) communities? It IS possible.

    Community gardens, fruit trees in our neighbourhoods, urban rearing with small livestock like chickens (great biological pest control for cabbage moth larvae!), sharing & caring with our neighbours and extending our harvests to those less fortunate than us, enabling inclusion in our community.

    Can we create a village community system within our living communities. Can we liberate ourselves from the existing status quo? Can we put an end to the destructive industrialised food system that control us? I say YES. Food justice FTW.

    Lead image courtesy of Smita J photos of Moni village on Flores island, Indonesia, design by Green Queen.

    The post I Quit Waste: Inequity, Injustice & Broken Systems -Why We Need To Reclaim Our Food Autonomy appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Amnesty says police forced Papuans to cut hair and beards in Intan Jaya

    Asia Pacific Report newsdesk

    Amnesty International Indonesia has revealed that police officers forced a number of residents of Intan Jaya regency in Papua to cut their hair and beards because they were seen as the characteristics of armed group members, reports CNN Indonesia.

    Amnesty researcher Ari Pramuditya said this was discovered based on interviews with Intan Jaya residents while conducting research on the situation at the planned Wabu Block gold mine.

    Pramuditya said he conveyed these findings directly to Papua Governor Lukas Enembe at the Papua Provincial Government Liaison Office in South Jakarta.

    “In the case of several of these people they were even forced to take on a certain appearance, they were forced to cut their hair, cut their beards, because according to police these are characteristics of certain armed criminal groups,” Pramuditya told a media conference last Friday.

    In addition to this, Amnesty’s findings also showed that the daily lives and activities of Intan Jaya communities such as shopping, gardening and visiting other villages was being restricted by police.

    “[Because] they are suspected of being members of armed groups,” said Pramuditya.

    Pramuditya also reported that there was an internal refugee crisis in Intan Jaya as a result of the escalation in armed conflicts involving the Indonesian military.

    Seeking shelter in forests
    Intan Jaya indigenous people have been seeking shelter in the forests and other nearby areas such as Nabire and Mimika. Local people have even been building temporary homes in the forests which they use as shelter when armed conflicts escalate.

    “They are afraid to return to their areas, to their homes, because they will be suspected of being members of certain armed criminal groups,” said Pramuditya.

    Based on the findings of human rights violations in Intan Jaya, Amnesty is recommending that the government stop the licensing process for mining in the Wabu Block until the situation returns to normal.

    “One of the recommendations we are strongly emphasising is to postpone issuing [mining] licences in Wabu Block at least until the security situation returns to normal,” said Pramuditya.

    CNN Indonesia has tried to contact TNI Information Centre Director (Kapuspen) Major General Prantara Santosa to confirm the report but has yet to receive a response.

    The planned mining project in the Wabu Block become the focus of public attention after it was criticised by environmental and traditional community activists.

    The company PT Freeport handed over the Wabu Block to the regional government in 2015. According to the latest data, the Wabu Block is estimated to hold 4.3 million ounces of gold with a value of US$14 billion.

    Amnesty International Indonesia executive director Usman Hamid has been urging the government to halt the planned mining project at Wabu Block until there is consultation and agreement with all the traditional communities in Intan Jaya.

    “In order to ensure the plan is halted until there is consultation and agreement from all the traditional communities in Intan Jaya,” Hamid said during a press conference last month.

    Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was Temuan Amnesty: Aparat Paksa Warga Papua Potong Rambut dan Jenggot.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • West Papuan students fight on for rights to education in Aotearoa

    By George Heagney of Stuff in Palmerston North

    Students from West Papua desperate to stay in New Zealand after having their scholarships cut are pinning their hopes on finding an employer to sponsor new working visas.

    About 40 students from the Indonesian province of Papua have been studying at different tertiary institutions in New Zealand.

    In December they received a letter from the provincial government of Papua saying their living allowances, travel and study fees were stopping and they had to return home because their studies had not met expectations.

    About 12 have returned home, but the rest fear for their future.

    The Papuan provincial government has not responded to requests for comment.

    Laurens Ikinia, an Auckland-based West Papua student, is advocating for the group.

    He said eight of the students had finished their carpentry course at Palmerston North polytech UCOL last week.

    Hopeful for work
    Those students were hopeful of securing work for a company that would sponsor them to get work visas and provide them with jobs.

    Ikinia said there were more job opportunities in New Zealand.

    “Every one of us, we have that dream and we came here, apart from studying, hoping to get two or three years’ experience,” he said.

    Ikinia said the mental wellbeing of the students who had lost their scholarships was a concern, and they were fighting for their rights in education.

    “The students are unstable. After having met students and hearing from them, they are really concerned about visas and living expenses because it really stresses them.”

    Some tertiary institutions have been supporting the affected students, including UCOL, which has been assisting 15 students with living costs.

    Humanitarian aid requested
    Ikinia has asked the New Zealand government for humanitarian support.

    “If we get experience we can go back home, we contribute to our families and communities.”

    One of the students, Roy Towolom, has been in New Zealand since 2016, having attended high school and has now completed his carpentry course at UCOL.

    He said it was not an option to go home and wanted to stay in New Zealand.

    Immigration New Zealand’s general manager of border and visa operations Nicola Hogg said officials from the Indonesian Embassy in Wellington had met with the students and provided care packages.

    An immigration options sheet has been distributed to the affected students.

    “There is nothing preventing the students from applying for a new visa if they are lawfully in New Zealand,” she said.

    ‘No restriction in instructions’
    “There is no restriction in immigration instructions requiring foreign government-sponsored students to return home if their scholarship ceases, or if they have completed their scholarship.”

    Some of the students have applied for subsequent visas, including work visas, which would be assessed according to the immigration policy instructions.

    Hogg said the students would need to meet the requirements of the new visa they applied for, including financial, health and character.

    If their visa was declined because they did not meet the instructions, they should leave New Zealand voluntarily. The provincial government of Papua would cover repatriation costs.

    Immigration is working with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade on the issue and both agencies have met with the Indonesian ambassador.

    A spokesperson for the Indonesian Embassy told Stuff earlier in May the decision to repatriate some Papuan students overseas was based on academic performance and the time of their scholarships.

    Only those who had exceeded the allocated time for the scholarship and those who could not meet the academic requirements were being recalled, they said.

    George Heagney is a Stuff reporter. Republished with permission.

  • PNG faces K105m Indonesian penalty for illegal black oil shipments

    By Melisha Yafoi in Port Moresby

    The Papua New Guinean government can expect to be fined a hefty US$5 million (K17.6 million) each for six illegal shipments (K105 million total) of waste oil being transported to Singapore through Indonesian waters.

    A formal notice was issued by Indonesia’s Ministry of Environment and Forestry last Friday to PNG’s Conservation and Environment Protection Authority.

    This is after six shipments of waste oil from two large gold mines and a state utility company in PNG were seized in Singapore and Indonesia.

    These shipments were fuel oil delivered as vessel slops, refined oil and fuel oil claimed to be illegally shipped and labelled as fuel oil or refined oil to avoid the costly permit process.

    The issue is that these materials require different clean-ups in the event of a spill and could potentially cause significant delays in cleaning up.

    A letter from Indonesia’s chief compliance officer Basel Protocol Department Siti Muhammad, the Basel Protocol Department of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (Indonesia) to CEPA, obtained by this newspaper, read that Indonesia was “highly disturbed” that this practice was continuing with no hindrance from the relevant authority (CEPA) in PNG.

    Muhammad said that next week their consular-general would deliver initial paperwork for the penalty of US$5 million per shipment to Prime Minister James Marape’s office for payment as they had been tolerant long enough.

    No document flow
    She claimed several of the shipments were sent with a clearance from CEPA, yet with no document flow as required under the Basel Convention.

    “This is highly irresponsible as not even basic analysis samples were provided,” she said.

    “Given that we have been absorbing the illegal materials from Papua New Guinea while this process was followed, we are no longer able to do so seeing as there is no actual program in place from PNG to manage their own hazardous materials.”

    PNG, as a signatory to the Basel/Waigani Conventions (international agreements) that outline conduct requirements for waste management, should be held liable or comply with strict guidelines regarding the trans-boundary shipments of waste oils in place.

    A Hachiko Efficiency Services spokesperson confirmed with the PNG Post-Courier that there were regular shipments of waste oil from PNG being transported to Indonesia and Singapore, and other international destinations.

    The spokesperson claimed that while they had been given the export permit by CEPA in 2019, they had not exported since, as their programme was put on hold pending approval from the PNG government.

    The Singapore-based company, Hachiko, has been working closely with the Singapore National Environmental Agency (NEA) and the Indonesian Department of Environment and Forestry under a blanket agreement that the refineries in Singapore can take in waste oil from PNG to be recycled using its export permit.

    Risk of illegal shipment oil spills
    “Until PNG has a formal waste oil management programme in place, it holds the risk of any illegal shipments causing spills and will be liable for any demurrage and cleanup costs (in the case of Singapore this would be US$40 million a day or K140 million),” the spokesperson said.

    “This is similar to the Simberi oil spill in Honiara a few years ago.”

    Last year, a shipment allegedly carrying Ok Tedi fuel oil shipped from Tabubil to a contractor in November and then left PNG for Malaysia in December.

    The containers were trans-shipped through Singapore and were inspected by the NEA as one of them was leaking.

    The Post-Courier was informed that the NEA conducted an investigation as the product was shipped in flex bags, which is illegal for fuel oil.

    The containers upon testing were found to contain contaminated waste oil (contaminated with glycol, cyanide, water and metal content) and were seized by the Pollution Control Department (PCD) in Singapore.

    CEPA acting managing director Gunther Joku said his office had not been informed of this issue and had not signed on any shipments as per the Basel Convention or given export permit to anyone.

    Commercial not regulatory issue
    He said this was a commercial and not a regulatory issue as the only company CEPA was aware of was Total Waste Management.

    Ok Tedi Mining Limited (OTML) in response to these reports said it did not export waste oil directly outside of PNG, maintaining the process was satisfactorily completed from its end before the waste oil was disposed.

    “OTML does not export waste oil directly from PNG,” the company said.

    “We have a certified contractor that provides this service for us, just as it does for other clients in PNG, which are then all combined and shipped to India, and not Indonesia and Singapore as claimed.

    “We have a robust industrial waste management system managed by a dedicated waste management team that ensures any industrial waste material is managed onsite following stringent environmental and health management guidelines before they are disposed.”

    According to industry sources, any given year around 15 million litres of waste oil is produced in Papua New Guinea from various industries using high volumes.

    Melisha Yafoi is a PNG Post-Courier reporter. Republished with permission.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • “Building Back Better” than what? Lessons in Indonesia after volcanic eruptions

    More than 70% of the population in Indonesia live within 100km of one or more of the country’s 130 active volcanoes—that’s a staggering 175 million people. 8.6 million Indonesians live within 10km of an active volcano—well within the range of deadly pyroclastic flows.

    After volcanic eruptions, communities are often encouraged to “build back better”. But is it possible to build back safer, and if so, how? What steps can be taken post-disaster to develop resilience against future hazards? The concepts of “safer” and “better” are context specific and difficult to quantify in post-disaster reconstruction. These are important questions, but my research indicates there are no simple answers.

    The recent eruption of Mount Semeru in December 2021 on the Indonesian island of Java bears striking similarities to the 2010 Mount Merapi eruption. As Indonesia’s most active volcano, Merapi has exhibited more than 70 eruptions since 1548. It is located in one of the most densely populated parts of Java, with over 11,000 people living on the mountain’s slopes. The 2010 eruption displaced 350,000 people, caused 353 deaths and injured 577 people. Almost 4,000 homes were damaged by volcanic material flows. As with Semeru, heavy rain pre- and post-eruption caused lahars that washed ash and rock down into towns and destroyed critical infrastructure.

    Image 1: Aerial monitoring of the location affected by the hot clouds of avalanches (APG) of Mount Semeru. (Data Management and Information Systems, BNPB Pusdatinkom). Image courtesy the author.

    Image 1: Aerial monitoring of the location affected by the hot clouds of avalanches (APG) of Mount Semeru. (Data Management and Information Systems, BNPB Pusdatinkom)

    Alarmingly, the gap between global aid availability and demand is increasing, with a projected US$15 billion shortfall in funds required to meet global humanitarian needs. A Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters study found that more than 116 million homes globally were damaged or destroyed by disasters between 1994 and 2013. Over the following 20 years from 2000 to 2019, global economic losses almost doubled, valued at approximately US$2.97 trillion compared to US$1.63 trillion.  On average, people who reside in low-income countries (as compared to high-income countries) are six times more likely to be injured, lose their homes, be displaced, or require emergency assistance after a disaster.

    Related

    Happy-washing: how a ‘happiness campaign’ hurts disaster survivors

    Tacloban’s new tourism campaign is a coverup of five years of post-Yolanda devastation.

    Yvonne Su, Ladylyn Mangada & Jessa Turalba 27 April, 2018

    A key component of mitigating these impacts is an investment in safer and more resilient housing—both before and after disasters.

    In 2015, the international community adopted the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction in an effort to prevent new, and reduce existing, disaster risk. It lays out clear actions for Member States to protect investments in human development from disasters. But how effective is it?

    Build Back Better (BBB) is a mantra central to the Sendai Framework’s post-disaster recovery vision to reduce vulnerability to future disasters and support community resilience to address physical, social, environmental, and economic shocks. Within the context of the damage caused by volcanic eruptions in Indonesia, BBB provides the opportunity to rebuild infrastructure and systems that are stronger, safer, and more disaster resilient. This might include introducing building codes and regulations, establishing and implementing land-use planning laws that limit reconstruction in high-risk locations, or replacing damaged assets with context-sensitive, technologically updated replacements. Recovery, therefore, serves as an opportunity to right-size infrastructure to better fulfil community needs.

    Building back better from Merapi

    My research considered if, and how, impacted communities have managed to build back better from the 2010 Merapi eruption, with implications for other volcanic eruptions such as Semeru. I focused on Jogoyudan, which is located in Yogyakarta. I evaluated the effectiveness of housing assistance through a household survey to understand housing quality a decade post-eruption. Housing quality was captured through eight dimensions that included access to water supply, sanitation, crowdedness, electricity, structural system roof structure, roof cover and flooring. These factors were selected based on an extensive literature review and merged to create a housing quality score. This score was based on the summation of presence or lack of housing quality dimensions.

    Image 2: Housing expansions that were added in the decade since the 2010 Merapi disaster. (Project team, 2021). Image courtesy the author.

    Amongst households impacted by the disaster, assistance was correlated with higher housing quality. I found that 48% of households who received housing assistance reported an increase in quality-of-life post-disaster, with another 31% maintaining their pre-disaster state. When compared to households who did not receive assistance, only 13% reported an increase in quality-of-life, with the majority (72%) reporting no change. When considering that long-term improvements to household living standards should be the underlying priority of any assistance program, this offers a positive outlook of the impact of housing assistance.

    Housing assistance was also provided to some lower-income households whose homes were not damaged by lahar flows. The housing quality score of assisted and undamaged households was also higher than the mean score of households whose homes were damaged. This is to say that households who were not impacted by the disaster but received assistance saw improvement in housing quality and sat above the overall community mean. Furthermore, unassisted households who were not impacted by the disaster had the lowest mean housing quality of any group studied. This shows how post-disaster assistance can be a leverage point to address pre-disaster inequalities, suggesting that assistance can equalise pre-existing housing inequalities.

    My research revealed that although assistance does result in higher quality, there are more layers to post-disaster recovery. We also observed that some households who self-recovered were able to obtain the same level of housing quality. For example, the presence of construction skills may have offset the absence of assistance.

    These results challenge how BBB works in practice. Is the lack of variance in housing quality scores within the surveyed community a sign that damaged homes have been successfully rebuilt to the standard of the rest of the community? Or were lower socio-economic households more damaged by the disaster – thus assistance brought them up to the community standard? If so, achieving housing quality equivalent with the rest of the community may indicate an effective instance of BBB. The lack of a singular methodology to disaster recovery suggests that much more work needs to be done to measure outcomes and understand what “better” outcomes actually look like.

    As the gap between aid requirements and availability widens, and as climate change continues to exacerbate the already deleterious effects of disaster among affected communities, it is more important than ever that we understand how to streamline, and make best use of, the BBB process.

    This article was made possible through the generous support of the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre through its Residency scheme. The research discussed in this article was funded by Habitat for Humanity International. Special thanks to Jim Kendall, Andreas Hapsoro, and Gregg McDonald. I would like to extend my thanks to my supervisor Dr Aaron Opdyke, for his continued support throughout my research. Further thanks are extended to collaborators including Dr Tantri Handayani from Universitas Gadjah Mada, Dr Yunita Idris from Universitas Syiah Kuala, as well as Habitat for Humanity Indonesia. The views and opinions expressed are those of the author do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of funding agencies.

    The post “Building Back Better” than what? Lessons in Indonesia after volcanic eruptions appeared first on New Mandala.

    This post was originally published on New Mandala.

  • The 7 Best Places for Vegan Food In Bali

    5 Mins Read

    Indonesia is incredibly vegan and vegetarian-friendly, but it’s Bali that really stands out as the ultimate plant-based heaven in the country. The island is now well-known for its abundant plant-based food scene, with vegan options available at almost every corner store and restaurant. While you’ll certainly need no help searching for vegan and vegetarian eats (it’s hard NOT to find a herbivore-friendly spot), we thought it’d be useful to shortlist some of the best bites Bali has to offer. Below, the Green Queen roundup of the best vegan and vegetarian restaurants to visit in Bali. 

    Source: Falafel Temple

    1. Falafel Temple

    Who doesn’t love falafel? This Middle Eastern-inspired spot is a godsend for those obsessed with falafel and pita, and is completely plant-based. Made from fresh local ingredients and traditional spices, they serve up loaded mezze plates filled with peppers, hummus, falafel, warm pita, olives and more. Falafel Temple is great for large groups and will keep everyone oh-so-satisfied. 

    Address: Falafel Temple, 35 Jl Pantai Berawa, Canggu, Bali. Open daily: 10.00am – 10.00pm. 

    Source: I Am Vegan Babe

    2. I Am Vegan Babe

    I Am Vegan Babe is a western food café in Canggu that is 100% vegan and delicious. Their menu offerings include vegan fried eggs, plant-based mayo, stacked pancakes with maple syrup, burgers and “BLT” sandwich melts – they simply have something for everyone. The café serves healthy options too, such as smoothie bowls, veggie-filled wraps and salads, as well as freshly pressed juices. 

    Address: I Am Vegan Babe, 49, Jl Tanah Barak, Canggu, Bali. Open daily: 7.00am – 5.00pm. 

    Source: Sayuri Healing Food

    3. Sayuri Healing Food 

    For raw vegan folks, Sayuri Healing Food is the perfect place to go. It has plenty of healthy, gluten-free, dairy-free and soy-free options, so everyone is catered for here. In addition to serving what many call the best raw plant-based dishes and desserts in town, Sayuri Healing Food also hosts cooking classes that make for a great activity during your Bali travels.

    Address: Sayuri Healing Food, 2 Jl Sukma, Ubud, Bali. Open daily: 7.00am – 10.00pm. 

    Source: The Shady Shack

    4. The Shady Shack

    The Shady Shack is a 100% vegetarian restaurant with plenty of vegan-friendly options, and is one of the most popular plant-based healthy eateries in Canggu. Among their many famous dishes include a Japanese-inspired Nori Bowl, which packs a punch of umami flavours, and a sweet potato gnocchi dish that is topped with almond-based feta. They also serve lots of raw vegan desserts and latte blends that are perfect for an afternoon snack.

    Address: The Shady Shack, 57 Jl Tanah Barak, Canggu, Bali. Open daily: 7.30am – 10.00pm.

    Source: Swasti Beloved Café

    5. Swasti Beloved Café

    While this is technically an omni restaurant, Swasti Beloved Café at Swasti Eco Cottages deserves a shoutout for its commitment to farm-to-table dining. They use fresh whole food ingredients sourced from their own garden, and all their dishes are minimally processed to ensure the least nutrient loss. Some dishes on their vegetarian menu (which is very vegan-friendly) include jackfruit “pulled pork” tacos, healthy smoothie bowls and vegan pizzas. What’s not to love?

    Address: Swasti Beloved Café, Jl Raya Nyuh Bojog, Br Nyuh Kuning, Ubud, Bali. Open daily: 7.00am – 10.00pm. 

    Source: Tanaman

    6. Tanaman

    Looking for the perfect dinner location? Head over to the Potato Head Beach Club, where you’ll find Tanaman, a new eatery serving up traditional Indonesian dishes with a creative twist all powered by plants. From fried mushroom dumplings to fresh Balinese salad and mouthwatering Rendang Nangka made using young jackfruit, there is no shortage of vegan and vegetarian options here.

    Address: Tanaman Potato Head, 51B, Jalan Petitenget, Kuta Utara, Kabupaten Badung, Bali. Open daily: 6.00pm – 12.00am.

    Source: Living Food Lab

    7. Living Food Lab

    Living Food Lab is a two-story café full of raw vegan goodness. It features 4 food stations in total – breakfast, juice, coffee and salad bar – so there is no shortage of raw vegan food to satisfy any herbivore. Expect loads of healthy, colorful, and nutritious dishes available, such as the Spicy Mexican Stacks made from a medley of fresh veggies, a homemade vegan pate, and in-house corn chip crackers, basil vegan parmesan cheese and a spicy tahini dressing for a kick.

    Address: Living Food Lab, 8 Jalan Pantai Berawa, Units 12 – 13, Tibubeneng, Kuta Utara, Badung, Bali. Open Monday – Friday: 7.00am – 9.00pm.

    Lead image courtesy of The Shady Shack.

    The post The 7 Best Places for Vegan Food In Bali appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Multi-Role Ready

    Multi-role combat vehicles (MRCVs) give a good range of options (and savings) over fleets of role specific combat vehicles. The main battle tank, infantry fighting vehicle, and self-propelled howitzer are commonly looked upon as defining an army’s combat capabilities. These are, however, highly mission role specific systems which also carry a considerable support burden. Their […]

    The post Multi-Role Ready appeared first on Asian Military Review.

    This post was originally published on Asian Military Review.

  • West Papuan students face ‘hardship and stress’ over scholarship loss

    By George Heagney of Stuff

    A group of students from West Papua, the Melanesian Pacific region in Indonesia, are fearful about their futures in New Zealand after their scholarships were cut off.

    A group of about 40 students have been studying at different tertiary institutions in New Zealand, but in December received a letter from the provincial government of Papua saying their living allowances, travel and study fees were stopping and they had to return home because their studies had not met expectations.

    Auckland-based West Papua student Laurens Ikinia is part of a group advocating for the students. He said some students had gone home, but about 25 remained at Auckland, Waikato and Canterbury universities, as well as Palmerston North polytech UCOL and the tertiary institution IPU New Zealand.

    “The reason the government used was because we were not making any progress on our studies. We have actually requested from the provincial government about how did they come up with that?

    “All the students on the list are halfway through completing their studies. All the information they put in is completely wrong.”

    Ikinia said the letter had been a shock and many of the students were uncertain about whether they could stay in New Zealand.

    Many were struggling without the scholarship, unable to focus on their studies and “mentally and emotionally unstable”.

    Plea for help
    The group had asked Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi and the Green Party for help.

    Roy Towolom, 21, came to New Zealand in 2016 from Tolikara and attended Awatapu College in Palmerston North.

    He is one of 11 Papuan students in his carpentry course at UCOL and he has about a week left before he completes his studies. UCOL and his church have been supporting him since his living allowance stopped.

    Towolom said the affected students were confused about being asked to leave and the government letter did not make sense and was out of date.

    “It was pretty shocking. There was no specific reason why the funds were cut. We didn’t know what the reason was.”

    His student visa expires next month, but he wants to stay in New Zealand and is thinking about becoming a builder. He hopes to get a work visa.

    Papuan student advocate Laurens Ikinia
    Papuan student advocate Laurens Ikinia … ““All the students on the list are halfway through completing their studies.” Image: Del Abcede/Asia Pacific Report

    Run by provincial government
    A spokesperson for the Indonesian Embassy said the scholarship programme in New Zealand was run by the provincial government of Papua and 593 students were receiving the scholarship.

    The decision to repatriate some Papuan students overseas was “based on evaluation regarding academic performance, the time allocation of the relevant scholarships”.

    “It is also important to highlight that only those who have exceeded the allocated time of the scholarship and those who cannot meet the academic requirements are being recalled.”

    The spokesperson said most scholarship recipients had been studying in New Zealand since 2015 and were yet to finish their tertiary education as planned.

    “The decision to repatriate certain students does not impact on those students who remain on track with regards to their studies abroad.

    “The assessment is also conducted to ensure that other eligible students from Papua province also obtain the same opportunity in pursuing their studies.”

    The embassy had been in contact with the affected students.

    Encouraged to leave ‘voluntarily’
    A spokesperson for Immigration Minister Faafoi said students who did not meet requirements to stay in New Zealand would be encouraged to leave voluntarily.

    None of the students were at risk of being deported and Immigration New Zealand had discussed the situation with them.

    “Students who do not meet requirements to stay in New Zealand will be encouraged to depart voluntarily.”

    Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi
    Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi … “Students who do not meet requirements to stay in New Zealand will be encouraged to depart voluntarily,” says spokesperson. Image: Robert Kitchin/Stuff

    The Papuan provincial government would cover their repatriation costs, the spokesperson said.

    A UCOL spokesperson said the institution was supporting the 15 students at UCOL with living costs.

    The University of Canterbury’s international partnership and support manager Monique van Veen said the university’s student care team was working with the affected students.

    “It has definitely created hardship and stress for these scholars. We have been in touch with Education New Zealand to let them know what’s going on.”

    A spokesperson for the University of Waikato said they were unable to comment due to privacy reasons.

    IPU and the University of Auckland did not respond to a request for comment.

    The Papuan provincial government has been contacted for comment.

    George Heagney is a Stuff reporter. Republished with permission.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Pax Christi helps Papuan students stranded in NZ with $1000 grant in study plea

    Asia Pacfic Report newsdesk

    A movement dedicated to peaceful self-determination among indigenous groups in the Pacific is the latest group in Aotearoa to add support for struggling Papuan students caught in Aotearoa New Zealand after an abrupt cancellation of their scholarships.

    About 70 Papuan students are currently in New Zealand but more than half have been negatively impacted on by the sudden removal of their Indonesian government scholarships earlier this year.

    Pax Christi Aotearoa New Zealand has added its voice to media academics, church groups, community groups such as the Whānau Hub, and Green and Labour MPs in appealing for special case visas to be granted for the almost 40 students still stuck in the country trying to complete their qualifications.

    It has also donated $1000 to the students fundraising campaign to assist with their living and accommodation costs while appeals have been made to some educational institutions to waive tuition fees.

    A Pax Christi group met with a delegation of the Papuan students at the Friends’ House in Auckland last week.

    “The 40 or so students across several institutions who are the object of our concern have been suddenly faced with the cancellation of their scholarships awarded by the Indonesian government,” said Pax Christi spokesperson Kevin McBride in an appeal to Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi this month.

    He said efforts by the International Alliance of Papuan Student Associations Overseas (IAPSAO) and other relevant bodies to address their plight had been unsuccessful.

    ‘Perilous situations’
    This had left many of them in “perilous situations” over the status of their visas and their ability to complete their qualifications.

    Professor David Robie, editor of Asia Pacific Report and a specialist Pacific journalism educator for the past 30 years, is also one of the people who have appealed for special case visas for the students.

    In a letter late last month to the minister, he said the students had been “unfairly treated” by the abrupt cancellation of their Indonesian scholarships.

    He described it as an “unprecedented action” and that they were Melanesian students and ought to be “considered as Pacific Islanders” for completing their studies in New Zealand.

    In an earlier open letter to the minister, Dr Robie said Papuan students studying in Australia and New Zealand faced “tough and stressful challenges apart from the language barrier”.

    McBride said that in this Asia-Pacific region of the world, a predominant basis for division was colonisation and the effects of colonisation.

    “Over many years, members of our Pax Christi section have been able to visit West Papua and to work with the mainly church-based groups there intent in improving the capacity of their people to play a significant role in the development of their nation,” he said.

    Pax Christi hands over its documents of the social justice movement's assistance to Papuan students
    Pax Christ’s Del Abcede hands over the documents of the social justice movement’s assistance to Papuan student spokesperson Laurens Ikinia. Image: Pax Christi

    Assistance with education
    “Often this involves assisting them to gain educational qualifications in overseas countries and helping them cope with problems associated with that process.”

    Pax Christi had been able to strengthen relationships and understanding.

    “We have been hosting seminars and dialogue with sympathetic groups here in Aotearoa and across the international Pax Christi movement, which includes an Indonesian section,” McBride said.

    Laurens Ikinia, a 26-year-old Papuan postgraduate communications student and the media spokesperson of IAPSAO, welcomed the assistance from Pax Christi and other groups and thanked New Zealand for its generosity.

    “We are determined to finish our studies if we can,” he said.

    Papuan students meet Pax Christi members at the Friends' House in Mt Eden, Auckland.
    Papuan students meet Pax Christi members at the Friends’ House in Mt Eden, Auckland. Spokesperson Kevin McBride is standing (third from left) next to Laurens Ikinia. Image: Del Abcede/APR

  • Republic of Korea Selects Bell 505 as Its New Military Helicopter Trainer

    Bell Textron Inc., a Textron Inc. company, announced the selection of the Bell 505 as the new Republic of Korea military helicopter trainer. The new Bell 505 helicopters will be used by both the Republic of Korea Army (ROKA) and Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN) to train their next generation of helicopter pilots. The contract, […]

    The post Republic of Korea Selects Bell 505 as Its New Military Helicopter Trainer appeared first on Asian Military Review.

    This post was originally published on Asian Military Review.

  • No protection, more repression: freedom of expression in Southeast Asia

    Years since the killing of prominent human rights defenders and political commentators; the judiciaries of Indonesia, Cambodia, and the Philippines still have failed to take any concrete actions to deliver justice to the case that is acceptable to the public. These prominent individuals put their lives on the line for social justice, yet no justice has been found for their expression.

    On 7 September 2004, Munir Said Thalib, a well-known human rights activist, was poisoned with arsenic and found dead on a flight from Jakarta to Amsterdam operated by state-owned airline Garuda Indonesia. Kem Ley, one of Cambodia’s best-known political commentators, was drinking his morning coffee at a petrol station café in Phnom Penh when a man walked in and opened fire, killing him instantly in July 2016. Zara Alvarez, former education director of the human rights alliance Karapatan, died on the spot after being shot six times on Monday evening, August 17 of 2020, as she was heading home after buying food for dinner.

    Before his assassination, Munir had been repeatedly targeted because of his courageous criticisms of human rights abuses and exposure of corruption. One day before he was killed, Kem Ley had spoken publicly about the NGO Global Witness report, Hostile Takeover, which exposed the close ties between Cambodian’s ruling family and private sector. Zara Alvarez was the 13th member of her organisation—working on human rights protection—killed since mid-2016 when Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte came to power.

    While these countries have a number of regulations that protect freedom of expression, they also have in recent years approved many legislations that act as double-edged swords enabling broad interpretations and may be applied to further constrict offline and online civic space and exacerbate restrictions on freedom of expression in these countries.

    Since 2020, Indonesia has passed a new Criminal Code with various provisions potentially used to violate free speech. For example, Article 219 criminalises insults to the president and vice president. In addition to the existing Information and Electronic Transactions (ITE) Law, the State Flag and Symbol Law, and Pornography Law that could be used to prosecute individuals attempting to voice dissent, criticise or merely state an observation. The country also issued Ministerial Regulation 5, known as MR5, compels digital service providers to register with the government, or face being blocked and fined. According to the law, digital services and platforms must also provide the government access to their systems and remove content within 24 hours of being notified by the government. Due to its broad scope, the law is highly likely to imperil freedom of expression if used excessively.

    Similarly, in 2018, the one-party state government of Cambodia passed amendments to five articles of the Cambodian constitution, one of which required Cambodian citizens to defend the motherland. The revision of the Penal Code, which includes a lese majeste provision, means that politically-motivated prosecutions at the expense of free speech in Cambodia are now both lawful and constitutional. In the digital space, in the same year, Cambodia issued Proclamation No. 170 on publication controls of website and social media processing via internet in the Kingdom of Cambodia. According to Clause 2, “the Prakas (Proclamation) aims at obstructing and preventing all public and news content sharing or written messages, audios, photos, videos, and/or other means intended to create turmoil leading to undermine national defence, national security, relation with other countries, national economy, public order, discrimination, and national culture and tradition.”

    In addition to the proclamation, in February 2021, Cambodia unveiled Sub-Decree No. 23 on the Establishment of National Internet Gateway (NIG), a bill to establish a national internet gateway that can control online communications, similar to the Great Firewall of China. When fully implemented, it will enable coordinated government surveillance

    In the Philippines, the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 was enacted in July, a bill that allows for warrantless arrests and longer detentions without charge and could be directed at anyone criticising the president or the government. Together with the government’s long-running counter-insurgency program and its widespread use by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELAC), it legalises red-tagging campaigns conducted by the government.

    Charles J. Dunlap Jr.’s concept of lawfare explains how authoritarian governments and allied parties weaponise the law and legal institutions to weaken or eliminate any resistance from opposition parties and other nonstate entities. The inability of the court system to guarantee that legislation does not unduly infringe on fundamental freedoms, as well as the lack of legal rationale, leaves Southeast Asian governments plenty of opportunities to legalise repression.

    While the right to freedom of expression is not absolute, and international human rights law—such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights or ICCPR—allows certain permissible limitations, many states enacted and adopted laws to prima facie fulfill the “provided by law” requirement, although these are fundamentally contrary to the principles of international human rights law and fail to meet the principle of “legal certainty” of international law.

    The Johannesburg Principles on National Security, Freedom of Expression, and Access to Information provide legal principles and conditions for any limitation proscribed by law, and demand laws be accessible, unambiguous, drawn narrowly and with precision to enable individuals to foresee whether a particular action is unlawful. However, repressive legislation in Indonesia, Cambodia, and the Philippines employ broad terms that grant authorities significant discretion to restrict expression and provide limited guidance.

    In a similar vein, the Siracusa Principles on the Limitation and Derogation Provisions in the ICCPR provide interpretive principles relating public order and national security—the most popular so-called “legitimate aims” used to restrict free speech in Southeast Asia. According to the principles, public order is defined as the sum of rule which ensures the peaceful and effective functioning of society, whereas national security is only an acceptable justification for limiting rights when the political or territorial integrity of the nation is threatened. While public order must be limited to specific situations where restrictions to rights would be demonstrably warranted, national security applies only to the interest of the whole nation, excluding restrictions in the sole interest of a government, regime, or power.

    In 2011, the UN Human Rights Committee stated that using such laws to suppress or withhold information of legitimate public interest that does not jeopardise national security is incompatible with the permissible limitation. To prosecute journalists, researchers, environmental activists, human rights defenders, or others for disseminating such information will never be compatible with the permissible limitation. Moreover, all public figures, including those exercising the highest political authority such as heads of state and government, are legitimately subject to criticism and political opposition. Criticism of institutions, such as the army or the administration, should not be prohibited; further, the UN Human Rights Council (2016) reaffirmed that political or government interest is not synonymous with national security or public order.

    Indonesia, Cambodia and the Philippines have not provided justice to victims of extrajudicial killings who were exercising their right to freedom of expression. Worse, they have enacted and implemented vague laws that could be used to prosecute individuals who are attempting to voice dissent, criticise or merely state an observation. These new forms of legalising repression, clearly diverge from international human rights standards and international laws.

    The post No protection, more repression: freedom of expression in Southeast Asia appeared first on New Mandala.

    This post was originally published on New Mandala.

  • West Papuan student discovers new passion and career path in Manawatū

    Stuff

    A West Papuan international student in Aotearoa New Zealand has devoted hundreds of hours to a non-profit organisation and opened a door to a new career.

    Arnold Yoman, 19, came to New Zealand in 2019 from the Papuan provincial capital Jayapura on an Indonesian government scholarship and has been studying at Awatapu College in Palmerston North.

    The school’s international department had a programme in Manawatū to get students involved in business during their first summer separated from overseas friends and family.

    Yoman — a younger son of Reverend Socratez Yoman, president of the Fellowship of Baptist Churches in West Papua, who visited New Zealand in 2016 — started volunteering at Wholegrain Organics when he could not go home because of covid-19 border closures.

    “I was welcomed to volunteer by the Wholegrain Organics farm and cafe and liked it so much that I asked to stay on after the holidays were over,” he said.

    He volunteered at Wholegrain Organics’ farm during the school holidays and once it became obvious he had a passion and a knack for horticulture, the school started working with Wholegrain Organics so he could continue his work and get National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) credits.

    Yoman’s work is through Wholegrain Organics’ hands-on food programme, where he plants, maintains and harvests organic produce for the community.

    500 hours by the end
    He will have completed more than 500 hours by the end of his voluntary work.

    He is in his final year of school and wants to stay in New Zealand to study horticulture at Lincoln University in Canterbury next year.

    Wholegrain Organics’ hands-on food programme has been running since 2015, a non-profit scheme working with young people in community programmes like a regenerative vegetable farm and a training kitchen and deli.

    The programme’s food technology, nutrition and horticulture educator Gosia Wiatr said they loved having young people involved because it gave them access to quality and inclusive learning opportunities.

    “Arnold’s work ethic has been an encouragement for other young people in the programme.

    “International students have always been a great part of our programme, so we wanted to support the students who were separated from their families over the holidays.

    “We’ve been happy about their success stories, with students finding new career paths, improving their English and enriching their time in New Zealand as a result.”

    Republished with permission from Stuff.

    Awatapu College student Arnold Yoman (left) and Wholegrain Organics’ Fred Kretschmer
    Awatapu College student Arnold Yoman (left) and Wholegrain Organics’ Fred Kretschmer inspect a broccoli on one of the non-profit business farms. Image: David Unwin/Stuff

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Rethinking self-censorship in Southeast Asia’s media landscape

    *This article is based on a section in Rethinking Media Freedom and Independence: Narratives from Southeast Asia, a research report authored by Fadhilah Primandari, Samira Hassan and Sahnaz Melasandy at New Naratif.

    In Southeast Asia, media freedom is deteriorating. From Singapore to Cambodia to Myanmar to Vietnam, governments are taking further measures to limit journalists’ and media outlets’ ability to publish critical and unfavourable reportage. With the exception of Timor-Leste, all Southeast Asian countries are ranked below 100 in Reporters sans frontières’s (RSF) 2021 World Press Freedom Index. Six out of eleven country leaders in the region are listed as predators of the media. Critics have argued that restrictions and attacks against the media create a chilling effect that push journalists to self-censor or limit what they can write and convey to the public. Compared to formal censorship and overt attacks against the media, self-censorship is much more difficult to detect.

    Our research team at New Naratif bore these concerns in mind in the first iteration of our Media Freedom in Southeast Asia Research Project, which explores the challenges of working in the region’s media landscape. In our interviews and focus group discussions with 44 independent journalists, illustrators and media activists from or in eight Southeast Asian countries in 2021, we asked research participants whether they have refrained from touching on or discussing any particular topic in their media work. We learned that self-censorship has multiple layers and shades, and the act of censoring oneself does not always indicate weakness or lack of agency.

    First, reasons to self-censor vary, from fear of reprisals from the government to cultural taboos and social sanctions. A Singaporean participant told us that her experience in having name places on the Singaporean government’s “grey list” has discouraged her from writing publicly. A Malaysian illustrator, who identified himself as queer and creates queer-themed illustrations, had refrained from exploring cultural and religious elements through his artworks due to the fear of being labelled as blasphemous. In Indonesia, discussing communism and the 1965 mass killings can amount to government and societal accusations of supporting and spreading communism, which is illegal.

    Second, the act of refraining from reporting certain events does not only occur at the individual level; newsrooms can also play part in limiting what a journalist can write and publish. For example, Indonesian newsrooms led by older editors are often reluctant to publish investigative stories exposing corruption and abuses of power by high-ranking political figures. In Indonesia, where the media market is oligopolistic and many outlets are funded by oligarchs, economic ties between outlets and their funders can limit what a newsroom can report on.

    Third, self-censorship can occur in various ways and to various degrees. While avoiding a certain topic altogether is a straight-forward form of self-censorship, some of our participants have other ways to avoid repercussion such as by cutting certain parts of interviews that could incriminate them or using conservative headlines to prevent too much scrutiny on the sensitive issues that are discussed in the body of the articles.

    Related

    A censored thesis then a defamation lawsuit: academic freedom in Thailand

    Dr Nattapoll’s case is part of a broader pattern of SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) cases.

    Thongchai Winichakul ธงชัย วินิจจะกูล and Tyrell Haberkorn 19 March, 2021

    Fourth, decisions to self-censor may vary depending on the publication language used. Some of our participants are tactical in using different languages for their publications. Writing in English can provide a stronger sense of safety due governments’ tendency to pay less attention to English publications. For example, a reporter for Prachatai English said,

    “We tend to think that we can write more directly in English because we believe that English publications are not watched as much as Thai language publications.”

    A Vietnamese freelance journalist told us,

    “. . . the news censors don’t monitor English language publications as much as they do for Vietnamese; unless it’s like a really big story by a very big outlet that caused a lot of fuss, they don’t really pay attention so it gives me more freedom to write politically.”

    Publishing in national languages may be riskier for media workers who touch on sensitive topics in their countries. Tabloid Jubi, a news outlet based in Papua which publishes in both Indonesian and English, told us that their Indonesian articles circulate faster on social media platforms which results in more reactionary responses compared to their English publications.

    While these findings conform to the major literature on self-censorship that centres around the limitations on expressing critical views in the face of oppression, our conversations with illustrator participants also revealed another side to the act of self-censorship. Some said that that they need to be creative and intentional with what they draw in order to avoid reprisals which, in a context where artworks such as illustrations, paintings and comics can play a strong part in communicating information and criticism, can be directed to media workers other than journalists.

    There is an art in the framing of messages through illustrations and comics. A Thai illustrator said that when he wishes to depict the monarchy or government in his art, he uses characters or symbols to represent them instead of drawing specific individuals. An Indonesian comic artist had sometimes left the “meaning-making” to his readers:

    “. . . you have to work with semantics and take symbols and also ask your followers to think, to interpret what you want to deliver.”

    These accounts show that there is more to self-censorship than not being able to speak up due to the fear of reprisals. While the act of not explicitly reporting certain facts may be quickly judged as self-censorship and as a sign that authoritarian policies have worked to dissuade critics, it may actually be a media worker’s strategy to resist the hostile climate that limits media freedom. In a media landscape where critical coverage and perspectives are discouraged by government authorities, efforts to publish such information are already a fight against hostile governments’ or political groups’ attempts to dominate public discourse. By intentionally devising concealment strategies that maintain the core messages that they wish to convey, some of our research participants demonstrate their commitment to continue producing critical information while avoiding punishment. By deciding on the framing and the inclusion of symbols in their artworks, our artist participants assert their agency to express criticism while at the same time “protecting” themselves and the future of their work. Against the backdrop of deteriorating media freedom, the very existence of media workers who strive for their independence and the various strategies that they do to survive are significant and should be acknowledged.

    The post Rethinking self-censorship in Southeast Asia’s media landscape appeared first on New Mandala.

    This post was originally published on New Mandala.

  • Activists demand full probe into terror attack on Papuan legal aid office

    Asia Pacific Report newsdesk

    Activists have condemned alleged terror and intimidation against Papuan human rights activists and called the police to thoroughly investigate an alleged arson attack at Papua Legal Aid Institute (LBH Papua) on Monday.

    The Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI) and Papua Humanitarian Coalition, condemned the alleged attack of burning a motorcycle in the garage of the LBH Papua office on Monday morning in Abepura district, Jayapura, Papua.

    The Papua Humanitarian Coalition, which comprises a number of human rights organisations and activists, including Amnesty International Indonesia, Kontras and Public Virtue Research Institute, called on the police to thoroughly investigate the incidents and prevent similar attacks from recurring, reports The Jakarta Post.

    “The Humanitarian Coalition for Papua is urging the Indonesian police to immediately and fully investigate the alleged attack on the LBH Papua office”, said the coalition in a statement.

    The coalition is also urging the police to quickly arrest and bring the alleged perpetrators to court to be tried in a fair and open manner.

    It is also asking the government to take firm measures to prevent similar attacks against human rights defenders, reports CNN Indonesia.

    Early on Monday, a motorbike parked in the garage of the LBH Papua office in Jayapura was set ablaze. LBH Papua staff found a fuse smelling of kerosene and a plastic bottle containing left over petrol.

    Not the first attack
    The coalition said this was not the first incident of its kind to occur against human rights defenders, both in Papua and other parts of Indonesia.

    Looking at the pattern of these incidents, it was reasonable to suspect that the attack was related to LBH Papua’s work handling cases of human rights violations and assisting victims of these violations, the statement said.

    The victims include students, workers, traditional communities and activists.

    In November 2021, the Jakarta home belonging to the parents of exiled human rights lawyer Veronica Koman, who has been actively speaking out about human rights violations in Papua, was attacked by two unidentified individuals who threw a packet containing explosive materials into their garage.

    In September the same year, the LBH office in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta was attacked by a Molotov cocktail bomb.

    “To this day, no one has been declared [a suspect] in these two cases”, said the coalition.

    “Attacks against Papuan human rights defenders also represent an attack on democracy. So the government cannot be allowed to view this problem lightly, especially since the government has repeatedly pledged to immediately resolve the Papua problem, including the problem of human rights”, the coalition said.

    Translated by James Balowski for Indoleft News. The original title of the article was Polisi Didesak Usut Kasus Dugaan Penyerangan Kantor LBH Papua.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Protester critically injured by rubber bullet, 7 arrested in protest over West Papua carve up

    Asia Pacific Report newsdesk

    Papua Legal Aid Foundation (LBH) director Emanuel Gobay says a participant of a demonstration in Jayapura opposing the creation of new autonomous regions (DOB) in Papua is in a critical condition after being shot by a rubber bullet allegedly fired by a police officer.

    Earlier, police forcibly broke up a demonstration opposing new autonomous regions in Papua.

    “Yes [the critical injury] was at an action in Waena,” said Gobay when contacted by CNN Indonesia.

    Although Gobay said he did not know the exact chronology of events leading up to the shooting, he confirmed that the victim was taking part in an action in front of Mega Waena department store in Jayapura.

    “So right when they arrived in front of Mega Waena [the protest] was forcibly broken up, it was at this time that police used rubber bullets and the like. When a rubber bullet was fired it hit one of the protesters,” he said.

    According to Gobay, the victim was immediately taken to a Mimika boarding house for treatment by students. He did not have any further information on the victim’s condition.

    Gobay added that aside from the person shot by a rubber bullet, another participant suffered injuries after being assaulted by police.

    Kicked in the chest
    He said the victim was kicked in the chest by a police officer.

    “This person ended up unconscious, then they were picked up and taken to the boarding house. Earlier I managed to meet with them, they complained that their chest still hurt because of being kicked. There were several others who were injured,” said Gobay.

    Demonstrations against the creation of new autonomous regions and Special Autonomy (Otsus) in several parts of Jayapura were forcibly broken up by police on Tuesday.

    One incident, in which police forcibly broke up a peaceful action using a water cannon, was recorded on video and shared on Twitter by Papuan People’s Petition (PRP) spokesperson Jeffry Wenda.

    At least seven people were arrested by police during the action, including Wenda, West Papua National Committee (KNPB) spokesperson Ones Suhuniap and Omizon Balingga.

    Police have yet to provide detailed information on the person shot by the rubber bullet.

    So far they have only announced that they sized a number of pieces of evidence in the form of sharp weapons and materials with the banned Morning Star independence flag motif on them, which were confiscated during a sweep of demonstrators in the Sentani area of Jayapura regency.

    Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was Satu Peserta Demo Tolak DOB Papua Tertembak Peluru Karet.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.