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.
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.
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.
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.
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…
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) […]
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.
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.
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.
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. […]
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.
3/6/22 Wamena, West Papua
“Papua: freedom!”
“Referendum: yes!”
Thousands of protestors are rejecting Jakarta’s arbitrary plan to create new provinces and Special Autonomy status. They are demanding an independence referendum. pic.twitter.com/QnxBu8egHp
— Veronica Koman 許愛茜 (@VeronicaKoman) June 3, 2022
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.
[CW: blood]
This student protestor is the embodiment of West Papuan spirit. Indonesian forces beat him bloody but he will not be silenced.
— Veronica Koman 許愛茜 (@VeronicaKoman) June 3, 2022
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.
Hi Prof. Dr. MAHFUD….. where you get 82% people of West Papua supporting your government’s DOB and Otsus Jilid Il?
Even in these pictures can tell you the real fact that 99, 99% of indigenous West Papuans REJECTED your DOB and the Otonomi Jilid Il. pic.twitter.com/e9SS1QTi71
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.
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. 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.
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 … 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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
“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.
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 Heagneyis a Stuff reporter. Republished with permission.
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 Yafoiis a PNG Post-Courier reporter. Republished with permission.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 […]
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 … ““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 … “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 Heagneyis a Stuff reporter. Republished with permission.
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 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. Spokesperson Kevin McBride is standing (third from left) next to Laurens Ikinia. Image: Del Abcede/APR
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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 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.
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 inspect a broccoli on one of the non-profit business farms. Image: David Unwin/Stuff
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.
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.
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.
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.
Amnesty International Indonesia executive director Usman Hamid is asking the government to halt the planned gold mine at Wabu Block in Intan Jaya regency until there is agreement from the Papua indigenous people in the area.
“We have asked that the planned mine be halted until the state obtains agreement from the Papuan indigenous people,” said Hamid in a press release received by Suara Papua.
From the results of its research, Amnesty said that one of the largest gold reserves identified in Indonesia was located in an area considered to be a hot spot for a series of violent acts by Indonesian security forces against local civilians.
Hamid explained that Papuan indigenous people reported that violence was often committed by security forces along with restrictions on personal and public life such as restrictions of movement and even the use of electronic devices.
“Amnesty International Indonesia is quite relived by the attitude of the Papua governor who has officially asked the central government, in particular the ESDM [Energy and Mineral Resources] Ministry to temporarily hold the planned mining bearing in mind the security situation in Intan Jaya which is not favourable,” he said.
Most of the area, which is inhabited by the Moni (Migani) tribe, is still covered with forest.
According to official estimates, the Wabu Block contains 8.1 million tonnes of gold, making it the fifth largest gold reserve known to exist in Indonesia.
Relieved after meeting
Hamid also said he was relieved after meeting with Coordinating Minister for Security, Politics and Legal Affairs (Menkopolhukam) Mahfud MD in Jakarta.
“We also feel relieved after meeting with the Menkopolhukam who explained that the plan was still being discussed between ministries and would not be implemented for some time”, said Hamid.
Amnesty is concerned over the potential impact of mining in the Wabu Block on human rights, added to by the risk of conflict in the Intan Jaya regency.
“So this special concern is obstacles to holding adequate and meaningful consultation with the Papuan indigenous people who will be impacted upon in order to obtain agreement on initial basic information without coercion in relation to mining in the Wabu Block”, said Hamid.
Amnesty added, “We very much hope that the central government and the Papua provincial government will work together to ensure that the planned mine really does provide sufficient information, consultation and agreement obtained from the Papuan indigenous communities”.
Based on existing data, the Indonesian government has increased the number of security forces in Intan Jaya significantly. Currently there are around 17 security posts in Sugapa district (the Intan Jaya regional capital) when in October 2019 there were only two posts.
This increase has also been accompanied by extrajudicial killings, raids and assaults by military and police, which have created a general climate of violence, intimidation and fear.
A Papuan protest over the Wabu Block plans. Image: AI
Restrictions on lives
Based on reports received by Amnesty, said Hamid, indigenous Papuans in Intan Jaya faced restrictions on their daily activities and many had had to leave their communities in order to find safety in other cities or the forests.
Hamid hopes that the government will pay attention to reports released by human rights organisations in Papua.
“The government must pay attention to human rights reports which are conducted by human rights organisations such as ELSHAM [the Institute for Human Rights Studies and Advocacy] Papua,” he said, bearing in mind the recent situation in which there had been an escalation in conflict.
Earlier, the central government was urged to halt the prolonged conflict in Intan Jaya by the Intan Jaya Papua Traditional Community Rights Advocacy Team (Tivamaipa) in Jakarta.
During an audience with the House of Representatives (DPR), Tivamaipa revealed that the armed conflict in Intan Jaya over the last three years began with the deployment of TNI (Indonesian military) troops which were allegedly tasked with providing security for planned investments in the Wabu Block by Mining and Industry Indonesia (Mind Id) through the company PT Aneka Tambang (Antam).
According to Tivamaipa, on October 5, 2020 Intan Jaya traditional communities declared their opposition to planned exploration in the Wabu Block.
Four demands
In order to avoid a prolonged conflict, the Tivamaipa made four demands:
That the DPR leadership and the leaders of the DPR’s Commission I conduct an evaluation of government policies on handling conflicts in Papua and West Papua provinces involving the Coordinating Minister for Security, Politics and Legal Affairs, the Defense Minister, the Minister for Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM), the Minister for State Owned Enterprises (BUMN), the TNI commander and the Indonesian police chief.
That the Commission I leadership invite the Papua and West Papua provisional governments, the Papua Regional House of Representatives (DPRP), the Papua People’s Council (MRP), the Papua and West Papua regional police chiefs, the Cenderawasih XVII and Kasuari XVIII regional military commanders, the regional governments of Intan Jaya, the Bintang Highlands, Puncak, Nduga, Yahukimo and Maybrat along with community representatives to attend a joint meeting.
It urged the central government to withdraw all non-organic TNI and police security forces which have been sent to Intan Jaya regency.
That the central and regional government must repatriate internally displaced people from Intan Jaya and return them to their home villages and prioritise security and peace in Intan Jaya by providing social services which are properly organised and sustainable.
Guest speakers are invited to discuss topics with students about West Papua and they host language classes as well.
Ikinia is a Masters of Communication postgraduate student at the Auckland University of Technology and said that living in New Zealand had been a good experience.
“We are studying and living in a country that has a diverse community where indigenous people and non-indigenous people live together,” he said.
Across Indonesia, Pemuda (youths) with their university jackets are mourning the death of democracy. Their vigil was a colourful assembly of yellow, green, and red that on April 11th turned into a violent disharmony. Their eulogy condemned the agenda of election-delay and President Joko Widodo’s flirtation with the concept of a third term to satisfy his political impulse.
Indonesia might still have its 2024 general election on February 14, but as Lady Macbeth put it “Th’ attempt, and not the deed, confounds us.” The recurrence of nationwide demonstrations by Pemuda during Jokowi’s administration illustrates a tragedy of a Macbethian proportion:
Indonesian democracy corrupted a decent person, turning him into a despot; the Pemuda check and balance this despotic tendency, yet the people keep electing a despot to lead the nation. But who is responsible for the death of Indonesian democracy? Was this an unintended consequence of Jokowi’s ambition to better Indonesia and cement his legacy? A product of power-seeking oligarchs surrounding Jokowi that led him astray? Or a product of Indonesia’s flawed democracy that possesses conflicting aspirations for freedom and a desire to be led?
William Shakespeare’s Tragedie of Macbeth ask similar questions, interrogating the concept of individual agency. Reflecting on Macbeth allows us to unpack the dilemma of agency when evaluating the culpability of a despotic behaviour––exposing the tension between individual volition, groupthink, and systemic pressure. While Macbeth clearly put a dagger into King Duncan, Shakespeare’s whodunit play never answers who was responsible for killing Duncan: Was he coerced by Lady Macbeth and her ends-justify-the-means outlook, or was he entrapped by the three-witches’ foreshadowing of his destiny? The latter allows Macbeth to raise a defence of diminished responsibility: he was not guilty of a crime because he did not act on his own volition, manipulated by forces beyond his control.
The story of Jokowi’s ascent resembles that of Macbeth: it was a parable of a person who refused to stay in his allotted place, overturning the natural order of a system. Jokowi’s predecessors were privileged to assume their position: Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was an accomplished military general and former minister; Abdurahman Wahid was a leader of the Nahdatul Ulama, the largest Islamic organisation in the world; Megawati was a revolutionary figure who carried the Sukarno’s name; Suharto came from the Indonesian military, and Sukarno was an intellectual revolutionary. Jokowi did not possess worldly intellect nor the privileges of his predecessors; his election disrupted the usual path to power. Before him, being a successful furniture salesman and Mayor of Solo would have been insufficient to be elected as the president of the third largest democracy in the world. His exception led some to invoke the metaphor of Petruk Dadi Ratu, a Javanese lore about a king who rose from an ordinary people with no support from political elites, which raised the question of agency: was he a king or a puppet?
Pemuda protesting the agenda for a delayed election in West Sumatra on April 11, 2022. (Image by Rhmtdns on Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)
Thirty years of Suharto (1968–98) habituated thinking of a leader like a king, which instilled the notion of control as understood by the Javanese conception of kingship: A king is a candle within which the divine lights radiate and must be obeyed. Under a similar logic, establishing control became Jokowi’s preoccupation between 2014 and 2017. To consolidate power, he made a deal with established forces––the Indonesian military and other elites. By 2017, Jokowi demonstrated that he could preserve a significant degree of agency by giving concessions to elites, humiliating his dissenters via reshuffling cabinets, and balancing Megawati, the leader of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), in a limited way.
We could be upset with him, but the Indonesian political system makes a fully accountable figure an impossibility. Jokowi’s down-to-earth and social media savvy profile was insufficient for him to lead. The system prohibited him from campaigning as an independent, requiring him to be nominated by a political party, leading him to form an alliance with the PDI-P. PDI-P then worked to restrain his manoeuvre: he was required to cater to the interests of political patrons, which led to the polarisation of loyalty of his elites. The Indonesian democracy forced Jokowi to make a Faustian bargain.
But to argue that Indonesia’s democracy was faulty by design obscures the complicity and culpability of the oligarchic forces and Jokowi in killing the democracy.
Realising that challenging the oligarchic forces was futile, he instead harnessed them. A figure closely resembling Lady Macbeth is probably Megawati who, despite her emergence out of revolutionary events in 1998, geared PDI-P to propose laws that took power from the people: the abolishment of direct election and a defamation law for criticising the president. The three witches––nationalism (represented by the military elites), Islamism (represented by the savvy political ulama), and clientelism (represented by rent-seeking business oligarchs)–––also tempted Jokowi to tolerate undemocratic acts as a means to secure power. Throughout his presidency, he performed acts of loyalty to these forces. He put on a military uniform and vowed not to apologise to the victims of military abuse during the period of pro-nationalist, anti-communist pogrom to demonstrate his nationalism. He put on his cap and embraced the Islamists to win an election. He engrossed himself with Lady Macbeth and the three witches, which made him not just complicit but culpable.
Jokowi is no puppet, but as a king does he possess agency?
Joko Widodo was given a green turban by K.H. Maimun Zubair before attending the “Rapat Umum Rakyat” at Gelora Bung Karno, Jakarta. (Public domain. Government of RI on Wikimedia Commons)
Between 2017 and 2019, Jokowi’s preoccupation shifted from consolidation to anointment as a performance of political power. This was not just performative, it was an assertion of kingship. One of the most interesting cases was the replacement of Gatot Nurmantyo, then Chief of TNI (Panglima). Like Banquo in Macbeth, Gatot was Jokowi’s first ally who helped consolidate his power but soon deserted him by showing ambition to contest him in the 2019 general election. Jokowi hastened his replacement, and anointed Hadi Tjahjanto, as Panglima. By rights, no one would have predicted Hadi would get the spot. What Hadi lacks in experience he made up in loyalty, which was seen within TNI as a flagrant case of civilian interference into military politics. This sent a clear message: anointing was a kingly move.
The melancholy of the Suharto’s authoritarian era soon took over. In his second term, he purged critics and worked to eliminate balancing forces altogether by bringing Prabowo into his administration. Getting closer to the ideal of achieving harmonious political order as understood by the Javanese, in the process he put a dagger into a sickly Indonesian democracy.
Although his goal for development was well-meaning, the means was not. Jokowi is an ambitious president, reminiscent of Sukarno’s worldly goals but with Suharto’s restrained rhetoric. Jokowi has embarked on concretising many ambitious infrastructure projects, far beyond the complacent Yudhoyono. Yudhoyono chose to be a sitting duck. After much cajoling, he allowed reform-minded ministers such as Chatib Basri and Sri Mulyani to embark on various economic projects that got Indonesia out of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, but as soon as Indonesia’s economy stabilised he put a stop to the reform process. Jokowi is the opposite of Yudhoyono. He was ambitious in his first term, and got even more ambitious in his second. He is now moving the capital, an act that not even Suharto could realise. To fulfil his many ambitions of equal development, he justifies the means.
But was he entirely to blame?
While observers might be surprised that he harboured despotic tendencies, never had he hid his stripes. This was what made me voted for him in 2014. In his short tenure as a governor of Jakarta (2012–14), he was famous for admonishing sluggish bureaucrats. As a president, Jokowi also has been transparent with his tolerance of undemocratic means to protect democracy, such as disbanding the Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia in 2017 to protect Indonesia from radical Islam. As he was re-elected in spite of his transparency, his undemocratic tactics were validated: he has a democratic mandate to achieve his goals via undemocratic means. This does not acquit him, but it does point to the flaw in the Indonesian society that desires decentralisation but continues to reward a popular leader who centralises. Perhaps this also indicates the weakness of the very concept of democracy, which is unable to prevent the repetition of history, a relapse of the majority to continuously put a despot in office.
Are Indonesians to blame?
Putting the burden on the people assumes that they have choices, and they deliberately choose badly. But the choices are an illusion: they are being asked to choose between people cut from the same cloth: Jokowi or Prabowo, both Islamists, both Nationalist, and both would have had to embrace the system that is flawed.
The interrogation of agency in Indonesia’s politics demonstrates that answering who killed Indonesian democracy is less important than understanding the tragedy itself. This tragedy involves a deterministic trap created by a system that is inherently hostile to accountability; what makes it even sadder is that the elite and the people perpetuate that hostility by their own free will. The essence of the tragedy is thus the circularity of a flawed system and bad actors. The system fosters the worst in people, but everyone’s choice remains: they could plant seeds for reform; instead, they continue to choose expediency at the expense of democracy.
Like McDuff, who eventually kills Macbeth in the final act, if Jokowi chooses not to step down, he will face stern resistance from the Pemuda. But escaping the trap is not a simple matter of balancing or overthrowing a despot. The harder task is to unlearn the mentality of the masses that have been desensitised to the employment of undemocratic means, making them susceptible to electing another despot. This, in the long run, undermines Indonesia’s democracy.
Indonesia’s Labour Party has demanded that the 2024 elections be held on schedule and that they be transparent and fair during a May Day action in front of the General Elections Commission (KPU) building in Central Jakarta yesterday.
The protesters also rejected increases in the price of basic necessities such as cooking oil, 3 kilogram LPG gas canisters and subsidised Pertalite petrol — mostly used by the working class — in the traditional May Day rally, reports CNN Indonesia.
Labour Party president Said Iqbal said that they wanted to ensure that the candidates elected during the 2024 legislative and presidential elections were people who sided with workers.
“An election which is fraudulent and unfair will result in DPR [House of Representatives] and DPRD [Regional House of Representative] legislative members who do not side with marginalised groups or workers, and because of this an honest and fair election is needed,” Iqbal told journalists.
Other demands made by the protesters included rejecting money politics.
The Labour Party and trade union bodies, said Iqbal, did not agree with the slogan “take the money, but don’t vote for the person” because it created a corrupting attitude.
“The Labour Party, along with trade union bodies, will be campaigning against money politics. The key lies with the KPU. The KPU must have the courage to disqualify [candidates] if money politics is found during the elections,” said Iqbal.
Iqbal conceded however that during yesterday’s action they had no plan to meet with KPU representatives. They wanted to convey their moral support for transparent elections.
He then highlighted the Omnibus Law, referring to it as the product of elections which used money politics.
“The Omnibus Law on Job Creation is a product which we think is a product which is full of corruptive [politics],” said Iqbal.
In addition to the Labour Party, a number of other organisations commemorated May Day today by holding actions at the KPU and the nearby Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta.
Around 60 different trade unions are estimated to have taken part in the action at the KPU in which they demanded that the elections be held as planned on February 14, 2024.
Plans to establish “food estates” were announced by the Indonesian government at the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic because, it said, it wanted to ensure Indonesia’s food security.
But as AwasMIFEE! and TAPOL show in their new report released today, Pandemic Power Grabs: Who benefits from Food Estates in West Papua?, these plans would seem to benefit agro-industrial conglomerates and oligarchs with close connections to figures in the government.
Based on previous and current plans, food estates could lead to ecological ruin and further sideline the indigenous population in West Papua, says the report.
The report details planned food estates and the involvement of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry.
A second linked report will examine in more detail the involvement of the Ministry of Defence and the military in food estates.
Pandemic Power Grabs argues that the strong support for corporate plantation agriculture by the government in southern Papua and in other areas of Indonesia has the potential to increase corruption.
The Minister of Environment and Forestry has also seemingly backed off commitments to stop deforestation in Indonesia made at the COP26 summit in Glasgow in 2021.
Long-term impacts of Merauke failure
In the same week that the Indonesian government banned palm oil exports in the face of a global shortage of cooking oils, the report shows that while plans in southern Papua from 2007 for a Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate (MIFEE) failed, MIFEE had serious long-term impacts.
As the report states, MIFEE became a “major enabling factor behind the growth of oil palm plantations in the area which have severely impacted [on] West Papuan communities socially, economically and ecologically.”
The report includes:
A chronology of past top-down agricultural development plans in West Papua
How plans for food estates could potentially lead to the flourishing of corruption
How this potential corruption is being facilitated by new legislation which gives new powers to the central government to grab land for food estates, also circumventing environmental safeguards
That the growth of the plantation industry in West Papua over the last decade has highlighted many of the potential negative consequences indigenous people are likely to suffer under the current plans
That it is not only indigenous communities’ livelihoods that are threatened by food estates but also their culture.
‘Enduring land grabs’
TAPOL chairperson Steve Alston commented: “Communities in southern Papua province have for more than 15 years had to endure land grabs and clearances for massive plantations.
“We have supported local NGOs to campaign for indigenous peoples’ rights and AwasMIFEE! has publicised and tirelessly reported on the situation.
“But despite it being within its power to review and halt food estates, the Indonesian government has failed to listen to local communities. They have been promised jobs on plantations but then sidelined as transmigrants from other parts of Indonesia have replaced them.
“The food security reasoning for food estates is actually very thin, what we’re seeing instead is cultivation of cash crops for exports, with the government taking a role to support this goal.
“In a time of global crisis for food production, we urge the government to act now to halt plans for food estates which dispossess Papuans of their land, lead to deforestation and will eventually ruin the land of Papua.”
