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Category: indonesia

  • Indonesia readies to restart IF-X work with KAI

    Engineers from Indonesian aerospace firm PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PTDI) are set to re-join Korea Aerospace Industries’ (KAI’s) KF-21 Boramae multirole combat programme this month following Jakarta’s affirmation of its commitment to the joint development, South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) announced on 11 August. DAPA said in a statement that 32 Indonesian engineers are […]

    The post Indonesia readies to restart IF-X work with KAI appeared first on Asian Military Review.

    This post was originally published on Asian Military Review.

  • Papuan pro-independence activist Yeimo to stand trial next week

    By Ronna Nirmala in Jakarta

    A pro-independence activist in Indonesia’s Papua province will stand trial next week on charges of treason, says his lawyer.

    A day earlier, one protester suffered gunshot wounds when police opened fire to disperse a rally demanding the activist Victor Yeimo’s release, activists and a church group said.

    Yeimo’s attorney, Gustav Kawer, said his client’s arraignment was scheduled for Tuesday, August 24, and expressed concern about his deteriorating health.

    “Despite his health condition, he is still forced to go on trial. This is an attempt to pursue a timetable regardless of the quality of the trial,” Kawer told BenarNews.

    Yeimo, the international spokesman for the West Papua National Committee (KNPB), a group seeking a referendum on independence for the region, was arrested in May for allegedly leading anti-Jakarta demonstrations that turned into deadly riots there in 2019.

    Yeimo is facing charges of treason, desecration of state symbols, and weapons smuggling, police said. He could face two years to a maximum of life in prison, if found guilty.

    In 2019, more than 40 people were killed in Papua during demonstrations and riots sparked by the harsh and racist treatment of Papuan students by government security personnel in Java that August.

    The incident cast another spotlight on longtime allegations of Indonesian government forces engaging in racist actions against indigenous people in mainly Melanesian Papua, where violence linked to a pro-independence insurgency has simmered for decades, and grown in recent months.

    Last year, at least 13 Papuan activists and students were convicted for raising Morning Star flags — the symbol of the Papuan independence movement — during pro-referendum rallies in 2019 as part of nationwide protests against racism towards Papuans.

    They were sentenced to between nine and 11 months in prison on treason charges.

    Papuan leader Victor Yeimo
    Detained Papuan leader Victor Yeimo … “clear victim” of Indonesian racism and his health is deteriorating. Image: Foreign Correspondent

    Team of doctors ‘not independent’
    Yeimo’s lawyer, Kawer, said that repeated requests from the legal team for his client to undergo a comprehensive health check-up were denied, although he had complained of chest pain and coughed up blood.

    Yeimo is being detained at a facility run by the Mobile Brigade police unit, Kawer said. The activist is lodged in a cell with minimal lighting, poor air circulation, and located next to a septic tank, he added.

    Kawer said he had sent a letter to the prosecutor’s office requesting that Yeimo be transferred to the main Abepura prison in Jayapura but there had been no response.

    Kawer acknowledged that his client had previously undergone two health examinations since his detention — the last one on June 17 — but they had not been thorough.

    “We suspect that the team of doctors is not independent. We are very worried that the results will be brought to court, but they are not in accordance with Yeimo’s actual condition,” Kawer said.

    Police spokesman Ahmad Musthofa Kamal denied that Yeimo was ailing.

    “He is fine. He has been examined by hospital doctors, not from the police, and is accompanied by a lawyer,” Kamal said.

    Bail to be requested
    The head of the Papuan branch of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), Frits Ramandey, said he would request bail for Yeimo.

    Yeimo’s arrest was not his first brush with the law.

    In 2009, he was arrested and sentenced to a year in prison for leading a rally demanding a referendum on self-determination for Papua.

    In 1963, Indonesian forces invaded Papua and annexed the region, which makes up the western half of New Guinea Island. Papua was formally incorporated into Indonesia after a disputed UN-sponsored ballot called the “Act of Free Choice” in 1969.

    Locals and activists said the vote was a sham because only about 1000 people took part. However, the United Nations accepted the result, which essentially endorsed Jakarta’s rule.

    The region is rich in natural resources but remains among Indonesia’s poorest and underdeveloped ones.

    ‘They beat us with rifle butts’
    On Monday, a 29-year-old protester, Ferianus Asso, suffered a gunshot wound to his stomach after police opened fire to disperse the crowd during a rally demanding Yeimo’s release in Yahukimo regency on Monday.

    “Ferianus is still undergoing treatment at a hospital in Yahukimo,” said Jefry Wenda, spokesman for the Papuan People’s Petition.

    Wenda said police detained at least 48 protesters in Yahukimo but all but four had been released.

    Papuan police spokesman Kamal said all detainees had been released.

    “We are not detaining any protester at the moment,” Kamal said.

    In the provincial capital Jayapura, KNPB chairman and former political prisoner Agus Kossay suffered a head injury after he was hit by a police gunstock — a support to which the barrel of a gun is attached.

    “They sprayed us with water and beat us with rifle butts until we bled, but even if they beat and kill us, we will still fight racism, colonialism and capitalism,” Kossay said in a video clip sent to BenarNews.

    ‘Violating’ covid-19 rules
    Jayapura police chief Gustav R. Urbinas said the mass dispersal was carried out because the demonstration did not have an official permit and violated covid-19 social distancing rules.

    Urbinas said that the crowd attacked the police who tried to disband the protest.

    “Our personnel had to take firm action to prevent them from causing public disturbances,” he said in a statement.

    Kossay, however, said the organisers had notified the police about the protest three days earlier.

    Reverend Socratez S. Yoman, president of the Fellowship of Baptist Churches of West Papua, condemned the use of violence by police against the protesters.

    “This kind of cruelty and violence by the security forces has led to an increase in the Papuan people’s distrust of Indonesia,” he said in an open letter.

    Ronna Nirmala is a journalist with Benar News.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Papua’s Victor Yeimo must be set free immediately, says Wenda

    Asia Pacific Report newsdesk

    The United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) has called on Indonesian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Papuan leader Victor Yeimo from custody.

    Benny Wenda, interim president of the ULMWP, said Yeimo was a “clear victim” of Indonesian racism and his health was deteriorating under captivity.

    Yeimo, spokesperson for the West Papua National Committee (KNPB), has been detained for three months on charges of makar, alleged treason.

    “Victor Yeimo is now facing possible life imprisonment for “treason”. Why? Simply for being accused of peacefully protesting against racism towards West Papuans,” Wenda said in a statement.

    “Victor Yeimo is himself a clear example of what it means to be a victim of the deep-seated racism we West Papuans endure under Indonesian colonialism.”

    The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, Mary Lawlor had raised particular concerns about Yeimo’s deteriorating health in prison, stating on Twitter, “I’m concerned because his pre-existing health conditions put him at grave risk of #COVID19.”

    Amnesty International was calling for Yeimo’s immediate and unconditional release from jail and was running a letter writing campaign encouraging people to support this call.

    Similar to ‘Balikpapan 7’ case
    “Victor Yeimo’s situation is highly similar to the plight of the ‘Balikpapan 7’, West Papuan political prisoners who were also arrested and jailed in 2020 for the same anti-racist protests of the 2019 West Papua Uprising.

    “They were finally released following a huge national and international solidarity campaign.

    “Their suffering and struggle should have proved to Indonesia and to the world, we do not need any more political prisoners in West Papua.

    “I also condemn all Indonesian state violence towards the people of West Papua which has been perpetrated by the Indonesian security forces in recent days.”

    During last weekend’s demonstrations for the right of self-determination and for Victor Yeimo’s release, “many people were arrested and tortured and one person in Yahukimo was shot by the Indonesian police“.

    In Jayapura, several people were brutally beaten by the Indonesian police, including KNPB chairman Agus Kossay.

    People were also arrested in other cities, including Indonesians “standing in solidarity with us West Papuans”.

    “There must be justice following these human rights violations,” Wenda said.

    He called on Indonesian authorities to immediately release all those detained from custody.

    On August 16, police harassed and blocked West Papuan church leader and peacemaker Rev Dr Benny Giay from entering the local Parliament where he had wanted to pray, Wenda said.

    “Who are the peacemakers in West Papua? Certainly not the Indonesian police, who have no respect for those actively building peace,” he said.

    “This is a disgraceful incident and the Indonesian police should be deeply ashamed.”

    Wenda said the Indonesian government had shown it had no respect for the human rights of the West Papuan people.

    The only solution for West Papua was a peaceful one of self-determination.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • ‘The East’ in a transnational context: The Indonesian War of Independence in film

    On the 13th of August 2021, four days before Indonesia celebrated its 76th year of independence, Jim Taihuttu’s De Oost [henceforth The East] was released worldwide. This new Dutch film about the Indonesian War of Independence (1945-1949) follows the war volunteer Johan de Vries (Martijn Lakemeier) as he arrives in Indonesia and joins a special forces unit led by “The Turk” (Marwan Kenzari), the historical and controversial figure Captain Raymond Westerling. Even before its release the film was disputed (predominantly by veterans and their descendants) and questioned for its veracity, as Westerling and his men used intimidation, violence and terror in a process that Westerling described as “pacifying the Celebes”. The international trailer summarises it as follows: “At the end of WWII, The Dutch sent troops into Indonesia. Their mission was to crush a rebellion and reclaim a colony. All in the name of peace.”

    In an interview with Dutch television presenter Humberto Tan immediately after the online press screening of the film, lead actor Martijn Lakemeier said he was surprised to find out that Indonesian extras were so familiar with the events of the Indonesian War of Independence. From an Indonesian perspective that familiarity comes as no surprise. In addition to being a crucial part of Indonesia’s history, in recent decades a vibrant popular culture has emerged around the occupation and the war of independence. While the Netherlands is clearly still struggling to come to terms with its colonial legacy, Indonesians are widely using popular culture to remember the past—including the Indonesian War of Independence. Film plays a central role in this.

    The international release of The East highlights that the remembrance of the Indonesian War of Independence in popular culture is becoming increasingly transnational. The result, however, is composed of cultural objects from various national contexts.

    Film perjuangan

    Shortly after Indonesia’s independence in 1945, a first wave of war films about the struggle for independence appeared: the so-called film perjuangan or “struggle films”. These films revolve in general around a group of freedom fighters who fight against the Dutch army: the emphasis in these films lies usually in Indonesian heroism and nationalist fervour. These films were an essential part of the birth of the Indonesian film industry. A significant example is Usmar Ismail’s Darah dan doa [Blood and prayer] about the Siliwangi Division, an elite division of the Indonesian army led by Captain Sudarto. The film is considered the first Indonesian film and 30 March, the date the film first began shooting, has been declared Indonesia’s National Day of Film. Darah dan doa may be the first film about the Indonesian National Revolution, but it has certainly not been the last.

    It wasn’t Ismail’s last war film either. In Enam Djam di Jogja [Six Hours in Yogyakarta] he covered the 1949 siege of Yogyakarta known as the Serangan Umum 1 Maret 1949 (“General Offensive of 1 March 1949”). The choice to depict this particular offensive is remarkable from a Dutch perspective. After Yogyakarta was taken by Dutch soldiers during Operation Crow, Indonesian freedom fighters launched an offensive in the early morning of 1 March 1949. They managed to regain control of the city, but after six hours they withdrew. On paper this seemed like a defeat, but in Indonesian popular culture this offensive is remembered as an ideological tipping point in the struggle for independence, as a soldier in the film concludes: “The news of our attack will echo through the rest of the world, until it reaches the United Nations”.

    National identity

    During Suharto’s New Order (1966-1968), Ismail was hailed as the “father of Indonesian cinema”, partly due to the nationalistic subjects of his work. According to Indonesian film critic Adrian Jonathan Pasaribu, the earliest post-independence films not only set an example of what Indonesia’s national cinema should be, but also established the Indonesian “us,” who fought against the imperialist “them”. The first wave of film perjuangan ended halfway through the sixties, but a new wave appeared during Suharto’s era and rolled on into the early 1990s.

    Typical of the New Order film perjuangan, as film scholar Eric Sasono has observed, is the focus on heroes and heroism to affirm national identity. In Indonesian B-movies about the war of independence that appeared in the 1970s and 1980s, and even today, the Dutch are often stereotypically represented as violent, rude and immoral. Indonesians on the other hand are represented as polite, pious and typical heroes of the people.

    This does deserve nuance. Representations of the Indonesian War of Independence differ, among other things, due to the control that successive Indonesian governments had over film production. Because of the political upheavals that Indonesia went through after independence, the war has been remembered in various ways. Two films made during the authoritarian Suharto era are illustrative of this. Janur Kuning [Yellow Coconut Fronds] (Alam Surawidjaja, 1980) and Serangan Fajar [Attack at Dawn] (Arifin C. Noer, 1982) portray Suharto as a national hero, but were later criticised for creating a false narrative in which Suharto’s military role during the war of independence was exaggerated.

    New Indonesian films about the war

    Nearly twenty years after the last film perjuangan, a new struggle film was released in 2009: Yadi Sugandi’s Merah Putih [Red and White]. Two films followed, completing the now well-known Merdeka trilogy [Freedom trilogy]. The trilogy revolves around a diverse group of Indonesians who join the army to fight against the Dutch during the war of independence. These are archetypical war films and Indonesian blockbusters, and the start of the current wave of diverse fim perjuangan.

    In most cases, the Western antagonist is represented with a backstory that incorporates European narratives about the Second World War. In the Merdeka trilogy, the ruthless Dutch Colonel Raymer (loosely based on Raymond Westerling) is interned and tortured in a Japanese camp. The Dutch soldier Robert is linked to the German occupation of the Netherlands in Soegija (Garin Nugroho, 2012) and the backstory of the English Captain Wright in the animated film Battle of Surabaya (Aryanto Yuniawan, 2015) is shown by means of a flashback in which his son is seen murdered by Nazis. In different films, stereotypical images of these occupiers and their criminal behaviour in Indonesia are either confirmed, or a “myth of pure evil” is dispelled.

    Even more important than the Dutch perpetrator are the figures of the Indonesian hero and heroine. They are not only brave and fearless, but can also have doubts about the intentions of war. Male and military heroes are overrepresented in these films, but minorities can also be found in film perjuangan. The celebrated Indonesian filmmaker Garin Nugroho, for instance, focused with his film Soegija on the first Indonesian Archbishop Albertus Soegijapranata, who bears the title National Hero of Indonesia. In doing so, Nugroho opposes the dominant discourse in which Indonesian independence heroes largely come from the same religious or military background. The film not only centres on Soegija’s nonviolent actions, but through him also gives voice to the “other” in Indonesia.

    Nugroho also engages with the ubiquitous mythology of the revolutionary pemuda (“young revolutionary”) as heroes of the nation. The film critically connects the Indonesian struggle for independence with the uncontrollable violence of the pemuda, who blur the line between fighting for freedom and acting criminally. This is a discourse not commonly found in Indonesian remembrance culture. Modern Indonesian film perjuangan prove to be layered and adaptive according to new insights and contemporary concerns.

    Violence

    In The East, the emphasis lies on Dutch violence during the Indonesian War of Independence. This is long overdue; the Netherlands has hardly looked back at its misdeeds in Indonesia. The question of whether extreme acts of violence were perpetrated by the Dutch is a topic that is currently in the public eye in the Netherlands. In Indonesia that violence is presented as a fact and as common knowledge; Indonesian films are mainly concerned with how the Indonesians resist this violence.

    Importantly, acts of violence are deeply entrenched in Indonesian war films, whether a film is strongly politically biased, propagandistic in nature, or a mainstream blockbuster. Dutch summary executions, as The East also prominently portrays, can often be found in these films. Torture scenes can even be found in Laskar Pemimpi [A Troop of Dreamers] (Monty Tiwa, 2010), which is a musical comedy about an unlikely group of independence fighters.

    It is therefore more interesting to go beyond the representation of violence and look into the underlying motivations of combatants. An example might be that of the war volunteer: what motivated Indonesian and Dutch volunteers to join the war and how is it imagined in films? For instance, in The East the lead character Johan is in part driven to volunteer because of his father’s fascist past. Later in the film he reconsiders his motivations when he asks a fellow soldier “Don’t you ever question what we are actually doing here?”

    Dutch films about the war

    While the war is thus actively remembered in Indonesian films, the opposite can be said about the Netherlands. Feature films about the Indonesian War of Independence and Dutch actions at the time are scarce and often less explicit than Indonesian films. Gekkenbriefje [Crazy Going] (Olga Madsen, 1981), for instance, is about a teacher who does not want to refuse his conscription during the war, but tries to avoid it by being declared mentally unstable. The film is set with the independence struggle as thematic background, but takes place in the Netherlands.

    Gordel van Smaragd [Tropic of Emerald] (Orlow Seunke, 1997) is set in the Dutch East Indies and Indonesia, but emphasises the Japanese occupation and Dutch victimhood during that period. The violence during the independence struggle does receive some attention, including an execution by a Dutch soldier, but it is hardly notable within the film’s broader narrative. Oeroeg (Hans Hylkema, 1993) is the best-known Dutch example of a film about soldiers during the Indonesian War of Independence and contains explicit scenes of Dutch violence. Yet the film largely revolves around the relationship between the Dutch Johan (Rik Launspach) and his native Indonesian childhood friend Oeroeg (Martin Schwab).

    Related

    When Will Indonesia’s Film Industry Recover?

    COVID-19 interrupted a boom for Indonesian cinema: their rate of recovery may be a bellwether for other sectors.

    James Guild 25 November, 2020

    The East

    With The East now exists a Dutch film that focuses entirely on controversial Dutch military actions during the Indonesian War of Independence. The struggle of the Dutch soldier is central to the film and the Indonesian perspective is secondary to it. Those who fight for independence remain practically invisible. We never actually see Indonesian freedom fighters in action; the Indonesian characters have little agency. An example is the role of prominent Indonesian actor Lukman Sardi, who briefly shows up as an unnamed Indonesian civilian who requires the help of the notorious Captain Raymond Westerling.

    The ethical questions around Dutch soldiers’ actions on which the film reflects are less urgent in Indonesian films, as is the Dutch soldiers’ return home and their reception in the Netherlands, which The East deals with from the very first scene. The East thus opts to engage with questions circulating in the Dutch public debate. The geographical connotation of the title also affirms this perspective.

    In the Dutch press, The East has been praised for its filmic qualities and ruthless representation of atrocities. At the same it has been critiqued for its lack of attention to Indonesian victims and its resemblance to Hollywood Vietnam war movies fixated on white soldiers. The film has also been released in Indonesia and it will be interesting to follow the film’s reception there. Media scholar Ariel Heryanto doubts it will lead to public protests, as the The East’s narrative supports the Indonesian nationalist agenda in practically all Indonesian films about the evil Dutch coloniser. Early Indonesian responses indeed connect the film to earlier film perjuangan and the “genocide in South Sulawesi”, but also see the Dutch viewpoint as a way of acknowledging mistakes of the past.

    Positioning Indonesian and Dutch films in the same context helps to understand contrasting views on the same war. In doing so, it lays bare the differences between Indonesian and Dutch film and remembrance culture about the same war. Although previously absent, the culture of remembrance that has been so vividly present in Indonesian films for decades is now hopefully finally taking shape in the Netherlands.

    This review is based on the earlier publication “De Oost in context” on 12-05-2021 in De Filmkrant (https://filmkrant.nl/artikel/de-oost-in-context/) and in print in De Filmkrant 437 (2021): 20-21.

    The post ‘The East’ in a transnational context: The Indonesian War of Independence in film appeared first on New Mandala.

    This post was originally published on New Mandala.

  • KAPLAN MT, The Only Tank Exported by Turkish Defence Industry, Will Be Exhibited at IDEF2021

    The design perfection process for KAPLAN MT is completed. FNSS successfully applied the technology transfer model with PT Pindad through the KAPLAN Medium Tank development project. The serial production contract was signed after the prototype tests were ended.  The KAPLAN MT, which will be exhibited at IDEF 2021, has successfully completed the endurance and firing […]

    The post KAPLAN MT, The Only Tank Exported by Turkish Defence Industry, Will Be Exhibited at IDEF2021 appeared first on Asian Military Review.

    This post was originally published on Asian Military Review.

  • Indonesian police break up Papuan petition protests in crackdown

    RNZ Pacific

    A series of demonstrations in the West Papua region today have been forcibly stopped by Indonesian police.

    The protests were organised by a network of 111 civil organisations behind the Papuan People’s Petition (PPP), formed to reject Jakarta’s plans to renew Special Autonomy in Papua.

    Demonstrators have also been protesting against racism, and calling for the release of political prisoner Victor Yeimo, a leading figure in the West Papuan pro-independence movement.

    Yeimo, the foreign spokesman for the West Papua National Committee (KNPB), was arrested in May and faces numerous charges, including treason and incitement, for his alleged role in anti-racism protests in 2019.

    Demonstrations have been taking place today in cities and towns across the Papuan provinces including Jayapura, Wamena, Manokwari and Timika.

    In Jayapura, police forces backed up by water canons dispersed demonstrators at numerous locations. Several Papuans were injured, including the KNPB’s chairman Agus Kossay.

    KNPB chair Agus Kossay
    West Papua National Committee (KNPB) chair Agus Kossay shows his head wound from a brutal Indonesian police attack. Image: AWPA

    One demonstrator was shot at a rally in Dekai, Yahukimo, a remote highlands regency, while eight people were reportedly arrested.

    Even a vigil march this morning in Jayapura led by the West Papua Council of Churches’ moderator Benny Giay was stopped by security forces.

    As with their crackdown on Papuan demonstrations last month and in May, police have said that due to the covid-19 outbreak in Papua, they would not allow public events such as demonstrations to proceed.

    The Papuan People’s Petition is reportedly supported by more than 700,000 people who have signed the petition rejecting Special Autonomy, and demanding the immediate release of Victor Yeimo without any conditions.

    “Victor Yeimo is not a perpetrator of violence or a criminal. He is the victim of widespread structural racism of the Indonesian colonial state who continues to persecute Indigenous Papuans,” said PRP National Spokesperson Sam Awom.

    Human rights advocates, including the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders Mary Lawlor have voiced concern at Yeimo’s reportedly deteriorating health in prison.

    Indonesian flags near Freeport 150821
    Indonesian security forces raise national flags on the road between Tembagapura (near Freeport mine) to Banti, Kimbeli, and Opitawak Villages in advance of Indonesia’s Independence Day. Image: Veronica Koman

    In Sydney, the Australia West Papua Association (AWPA) condemned the crackdown on peaceful demonstrators in West Papua.

    Early reports according to social media and local media indicated up to 50 people had been arrested and two had been wounded, said the AWPA in a statement.

    In a Twitter posting by human rights lawyer Veronica Koman, she said: Indonesia’s annual obsession to ‘Indonesianise’ West Papua in the lead-up to Independence Day tomorrow, fully armed soldiers hoisted red and white Indonesian flags along the road from Tembagapura (Freeport) to Banti, Kimbeli, and Opitawak Villages.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Surviving Four Disasters in Sumba

    A year after our NM article about the impact of COVID-19 mitigation measures on Sumba we have an update. The main conclusions of our brief check in East Sumba last year in May was that there were very few COVID-19 infections, that people were more worried about harvest failure than about getting the virus, and that the local economy suffered from the lock down measures because market demand for products had collapsed.

    We’ve closely followed developments since then, and in July 2021 the second author checked on the villages we studied in 2017 for our research on household vulnerability, poverty and the impact of social protection programs in Indonesia. What are the effects of the current crisis on the villagers? From their stories about the last year, we realised that the COVID-19 pandemic and mitigating measures were not the only crisis. Rather, four disasters occurred simultaneously. As well as COVID-19,  a cyclone and animal diseases have hit the island, and a plantation expansion continues to threaten subsistence farmers’ livelihoods. The mix of all these disasters is leading to a decrease in the communities’ resource basis on which their resilience depends, but also had some surprisingly positive results. For example, where one family lost everything when the floods following the cyclone washed away their house and the crops in their riverbank garden, another family had a good year because excessive rain allowed a second crop of rice.

    Community resource base

    News stories about effects of disasters often show what happened to an individual or household. However, in Sumba the impact of disasters is very much a community matter. Sumba has a specific community economy, in which mutual assistance between members of lineage communities is a strong mechanism for coping with crisis. Local society has an economic class divide with a top layer consisting of government officials, businessmen, and local leaders who are well connected to government and business. Their spouses and children are included in this level. The remaining large majority consists of people who are mostly self-employed or work as casual labourers, and their households. Cross-cutting this class divide, lineage communities function very well, connecting the poorer population in the villages to their salary-earning relatives in town. These communities have their natural resource base in their ancestral villages and surrounding land. (Bio)diversity in the community base allows a large extent of food sovereignty, also for the community members living in town. Relatives in the village grow rice and maize and vegetables, dry fish and collect forest products. They share part of it with their urban relatives who in turn help them out when they have to pay school fees, tax or other monetary expenses.  In Sumba, a sound resource base is a prerequisite for resilience in times of crisis, because there is little insurance and only limited regular government support. Ceremonial exchange between affiliated communities during weddings and funerals keeps the community economy alive. The main currencies in that exchange are livestock (pigs, horses and water buffaloes) and hand woven ikat cloths. These ceremonial assets are also part of the community’s resource base. During the last year four factors threatened that base, thereby increasing the common people’s vulnerability.

    Four disasters

    The first and silently continuing change that threatens the communities’ resource base is  capitalist expansion, in particular the enclosure of areas for plantations, food estates and the tourism industry. The owners and investors are companies from outside Sumba, including large national business conglomerates (like Djarum) that work locally through smaller subsidiary companies. Large plantations reduce the local population’s access to lands, in particular to the fields where they used to graze their horses, cows and goats. A former herdsman told us that he then had to keep his cattle at stable and collect fodder which is an extra claim on his labour. Selling his livestock was the only remaining option. Water problems are another impact of capitalist plantation expansion. The sugar plantation of PT MSM has appropriated the rivers and springs in the Umalulu district, using the water for irrigating sugarcane. The downstream community irrigation scheme dried up in 2016. For some local peasants who could no longer cultivate their paddy fields, the closest available alternative employment was working as casual labourer for the plantation company. Steady plantations jobs are mainly for staff from Java, while casual labourers’ wages are low and labour conditions bad.  Agrochemicals in the plantation’s wastewater pollute the rivers, and will do so even more when operations are at full scale. This is a threat to community health and to fishery.

    Capitalist expansion in the tourism sector decreases the local population’s access to land in similar ways as plantations do. Sumba’s coastal strip of land has been for sale for two decades. The fences that speculative land purchasers and resort owners from other areas in Indonesia have put up make access difficult. Fishermen also suffer from enclosure of coastal plots for establishing tourist resorts, because resort owners prohibit access to their territory, including their strip of beach and sea.  Capitalist expansion is supported by the district government with legal permits, which turns the local population into illegal encroachers if they access their former lands or fishing areas. Although these developments are no longer news items, they have a heavy impact as basic resilience-disrupting force at work in East Sumba.  Profit-oriented large-scale capitalist expansion is a disaster for the common people in Sumba, and will be eventually for the elite class and the environment as well.

    The second disaster is an epidemic of livestock disease.  Although peasants in Sumba are used to having pests and plant diseases in their crops, and losing some livestock to animal diseases, this epidemic was extraordinary. The African Swine Fever (ASF) entered the island Timor in 2019, and spread over the province NTT from March 2020 onwards. It killed a large part of the pig population—estimated at 2 million animals—in the province.

    Pigs are extremely important in Sumba for two reasons. First, they are the main currency in ceremonial exchange, and therefore the cement of the community economy. Every important meeting or event in Sumba should end with a meal including pork.  Pigs are also the most important source of savings among the village population.  In our 2017 household survey, in a village with a strong resource base in the south-eastern tip of the island, we found that income from selling pigs and chicken contributed largely to household cash income that year, both for the poor (42%) and for the non-poor (72%). The ASF epidemic is like a banking crisis in which savings and assets have evaporated. The government veterinary service seems unable to prevent or stop the epidemic, which persists.

    The third disaster in the past year was the cyclone that occurred on 4 and 5 April 2021. Cyclone Seroja was an extreme example of the main climate change problem of the last two decades:  disturbed rainfall patterns. In daily practice this means that farmers no longer know when exactly to sow or plant their new crops; in some years there are severe droughts and in others there are floods. But this year was exceptional. Cyclone Seroja washed away crops in the lower parts of valleys and along overflowing rivers, and damaged around 5000 houses. Not far from Waingapu floods caused by the cyclone broke the Kambaniru dam, which destroyed irrigated rice cultivation in an area of 1440 hectares.

    Image of an uprooted breadfruit tree to illustrate the text

    Cyclone Seroja uprooted a breadfruit tree- an important source of food security. Waingapu, 6 April 2021 © S.Makambombu

    In the village mentioned above people prefer to cultivate their crops in river-bank gardens to cope with droughts. This year they lost everything. Meanwhile, the harvest in the uphill gardens was better than normal.  The cyclone also toppled many trees, including rare local varieties of banana trees with famously delicious fruit. In the rice fields most crops were harvested before April, but for those who had planted late, the flood washed away everything.

    Since March 2020 the COVID pandemic has become the fourth disaster.  In last year’s article we wrote how the mitigating measures had negative effects on the local economy.  By mid-June 2020, trade opportunities were slightly restored after the provincial government eased lock down measures. Communities could gather again for ceremonial events, be it with limited attendance. There were no tourists to buy food, snacks or handwoven cloths from locals. The single high-end resort on the island was the exception, where the world’s rich continued to enjoy perfectly comfortable self-isolation. For a long time the number of infections remained low, and particularly in rural areas there was little sign of a pandemic.

    At the end of June 2021 that changed. The number of positive cases went up from 92 on 28 May to 860 on 21 July.  That is extremely worrying, because the island lacks sufficient, capable health care facilities. By 26 July 2021, government health service data indicated 3,215 infections in East Sumba the outbreak of the pandemic, with 62 deaths. On that day, 935 people were being treated: 34 patients in Waingapu’s public hospital (which is its full capacity) and 31 in the official public quarantine facility. The remaining 879 were in self-isolation at home, where they should receive medical supervision from the local health post. However, that does not always happen, particularly outside of the capital. Government Health Service data about the spread of the infections in East Sumba indicated proliferation to nearly all subdistricts by 21 July .

    A map of Covid-19 numbers for 21 July in East Sumba

    Case numbers on 21 July, according to the East Sumba Regency Coordinating Post for the Accelerated Prevention and Treatment of COVID-19.

    Most instances occur in the capital town and adjacent area, and are concentrated around the sugar plantation, PT MSM.  However, the figures only represent positive test results  in an area with low testing capacity. We do not know how many people have been infected in reality. Many “self-employed” people in East Sumba prefer not to get tested, either embarrassed by the stigma of “COVID-positive”, or unable to risk the loss of income due to a 14-day mandatory self-quarantine.

    The vaccination rate in East Sumba is below the national level in Indonesia.  By 12 July 2021, of a total population of 26,500  in 2020, 10 percent had received at least one vaccination (13.4 percent nationally), while 2.5 % is fully vaccinated (5.6 % nationally). Civil servants were prioritised for vaccination; they make up 58% of the total vaccinated population in this area. Common people’s vulnerability to COVID infections is very high.

    Related

    COVID-19 mitigation measures compound an economic crisis in Sumba

    Infection rates appear low in NTT, but the economic impacts of the pandemic combined with poor harvest yield are potentially devastating.

    Jacqueline Vel and Stepanus Makambombu 11 June, 2020

     Resilience during the mix of disasters

    Zooming in to our field research in three villages, we glimpse how the mix of disaster factors has affected people in varying ways.

    First of all, in the two most remote villages there were no cases of COVID infection reported up to July 2021. By contrast, the sugar plantation, close to the third village, became a centre of infections after staff members from Java had spent their Ramadan holidays in their hometowns, with 113 cases on 21 July 2021. The adjacent village had 10 positive cases at that time. This suggests that plantation labourers are more vulnerable to getting infected than the peasants in the remote villages.

    A positive development in the three villages, and all over East Sumba, was that the rainy season was abundant and early. Even in the usually driest areas people began cultivating rice and maize in November and harvest in February and March 2021.  The heavy rains during Cyclone Seroja did not only lead to disaster. The area with the village irrigation scheme downstream from the sugar plantation benefitted from water excess. In the middle of the rice fields springs appeared and upstream, rivers that would usually be dry by April were flowing. Many people could grow a second rice crop, even on high plots. Consequently, 2021 has seen an excellent rice harvest in East Sumba. For peasants who grow maize and other dry land crops the year was not as good. Too much rain stimulated pests in these crops.

    The rough seas with storms and rain brought a huge amount of seas grass to the coast of East Sumba, offering sea grass gatherers a great income.

    The mix of disasters led to a steady flow of emergency assistance from the government.  Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, villagers have received direct cash support in the two remotest villages.  A villager told us that all households had received a small grant from the Village Fund (Dana Desa), because in this COVID year the village government had cancelled all plans for building roads or bridges, simultaneously cutting off income opportunities for village road workers. Regular forms of government social support also continued. After the cyclone there was emergency aid for those whose houses had been severely damaged.

    There was also a positive effect for ex-migrant workers. Because the heavy rains extended the wet season there was more time and opportunity to grow crops. That was fortunate for those who had returned to the village after losing their jobs as migrant workers in other parts in Indonesia. Cultivating community lands offered work, food and income, and new ideas for improving farming produce and techniques.

    When the severe lock down measures were lifted in June 2020, villagers continued the ceremonial events they had postponed for months. However, they lacked the livestock they needed for ceremonial exchange, because of the swine fever epidemic and reduced access to grazing lands, where previously they would let their horses and cattle graze freely. As a solution, societal consensus allowed a change of norms: gifts of pigs, horses and buffaloes could be replaced by cash contributions, whereas beef (instead of pork) became accepted for the meals at these events. A second saving solution was that traditional leaders decided to reduce the duration of ceremonial events as well as the number of invitations. The change is temporary, leaders say, but this adaptation might last if the causes of crises continue.

    Continuing vulnerability

    Although there have been positive results from the mix of disasters in East Sumba, demonstrating remarkable resilience, we should not conclude that the problems have been solved. What is described above is not a series of incidental disasters, but the result of structural problems related to capitalist expansion, climate change and recurring global epidemics.

    If next season will be one of drought again in East Sumba, people will suffer from the sugar plantation’s water grabbing. So long as there is no vaccine for African Swine Fever there will be a continuing ‘banking crisis’ in Sumba.  If common people in Sumba do not get COVID-19 vaccinations soon many people’s lives will be at risk.

    In absence of a welfare state that reaches all citizens, the district and village governments of East Sumba should give top priority to (legally and environmentally) protecting communities’ resource bases, instead of supporting capitalist expansion which depletes the island’s resources and exports profits out of reach of the local population.

    The post Surviving Four Disasters in Sumba appeared first on New Mandala.

    This post was originally published on New Mandala.

  • ‘A day of betrayal’, says Wenda about 1962 secret pact over West Papua

    Asia Pacific Report newsdesk

    Today — 15 August 15 1962 — marks “a day of betrayal for us West Papuans”, says a Papuan leader as critics reminded the world about what happened 59 years ago.

    “This is the day a secret deal was done between the United States, Indonesia and the Netherlands, deciding our future without any consultation with the people of West Papua,” said interim president Benny Wenda of the United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP).

    “This secret deal was done without a single West Papuan in the room.”

    This deal led to the Indonesian invasion of West Papua in 1963, “sanctioned by the big powers”, said Wenda in a statement.

    “The secret deal contained a proviso: that there be a referendum, one person one vote, to decide the long-term future of West Papua.

    “But it never happened. The 1969 Act of No Choice was a fraud. Our right to self-determination remains stolen from us by Indonesia.

    “I’m calling on all my people in West Papua, in exile, in a refugee camp, wherever you are: do not join the Indonesian independence day celebrations on August 17.

    Independence ‘snatched from us’
    “This is not our independence day. Our independence day is 1 December 1 1961, an independence and sovereignty snatched from us by the Indonesian military. We have our own constitution, our own provisional government, our own interim president.

    “We know that Indonesian security services will go door to door trying to force West Papuans to raise the Indonesian flag. We do not want to celebrate your flag in West Papua.

    “Under the name of the Indonesian flag, many of my people have been killed. Indonesia must respect our rights; you cannot force my people to raise your flag.

    Wenda said Papuans must hold a day of mourning instead to “remember what has been done to us”.

    He added: “Due to this covid crisis, we must stay at home this year. If you can safely hold a prayer meeting in your village, do so, but remember that covid-19 is a killer. We must be safe.”

    Wenda also called on the Indonesian government to “begin to rectify this history” by setting freed all political prisoners, including Victor Yeimo, spokesperson of the KNPB, and Frans Wasini, of the ULMWP provisional government.

    “Their condition is worrying, due to their unfair treatment. They are at risk of dying in prison if nothing is done.

    UN visit needed urgently
    Indonesia must also allow the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights into West Papua as a matter of urgency, Wenda said.

    He added that Papuans would continue fighting until they regained their right to self-determination through an internationally-mediated referendum on independence.

    In Sydney, Joe Collins of the Australia West Papua Association (AWPA) also described the New York agreement as a “betrayal”, saying that he hoped the Indonesian security forces would allow any rallies that take place commemorating this tragic event today to go ahead peacefully.

    A rally by the People’s Front of Indonesia For West Papua (FRI-WP) and the Student Alliance of Papua (AMP) Ambon City Committee, were being held today to commemorate the tragic event with the theme: ′′ 59 years of New York illegal agreement and against racism in the Land of Papua.′

    Collins said in a statement there was also concern that as the Indonesian Independence Day on August 17 approached, West Papuans might be intimidated or forced to take part in celebrations against their will.

    An article by Antara news agency titled “Papuans urged to display flags ahead of Independence Day celebration” reported that the Papua local administration had urged residents and bureaucrats to join the celebration of Indonesia’s 76th Independence Day by displaying the Red and White national flag in front of their homes, shops, and offices.

    Tomorrow, the Papuan People’s Petition (PRP) facilitators have called for people in the Land of Papua to be involved together in the Papuan people’s free pulpit action to urge the unconditional release of Victor Yeimo.

    According to Tabloid Jubi, spokesperson for the petition, Samuel Awom, said that Yeimo was not a perpetrator but a victim of Indonesia’s structured and massive colonial racism that had happened to indigenous Papuans.

    Yeimo currently holds the status of a “prosecutor’s detainee” but is being temporarily placed in the Papua Police Mobile Brigade detention centre while waiting for the trial process.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Ceyhun Süer – Middle and Far East Programs Director

    1. FNSS stands out as the most successful company with export projects among the Turkish defense industry companies operating in the Southeast Asia region. Could you give us information about the ongoing projects in the current period? We have ongoing programs in Malaysia, Indonesia and Philippines. In the AV-8 GEMPITA program in Malaysia, we are […]

    The post Ceyhun Süer – Middle and Far East Programs Director appeared first on Asian Military Review.

    This post was originally published on Asian Military Review.

  • International calls grow to free Papuan activist Victor Yeimo’s over health

    Asia Pacific Report newsdesk

    International pressure is mounting on Indonesia to free West Papuan activist Victor Yeimo, the international spokesperson for the peaceful civilian West Papua National Committee (KNPB), as concern grows over his worsening state of health.

    Following the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders Mary Lawlor’s declaration on twitter two days ago that Yeimo was at risk of being infected with covid-19, the Australia West Papua Association (AWPA) has written to Foreign Minister Marise Payne saying there was concern over his deteriorating health.

    “He is losing weight and has been coughing blood for the past few days,” spokesman Joe Collins said in the letter today.

    Amnesty International Indonesia has also raised concerns about Yeimo and about the arrest of 14 Cendrawasih University (Unicen) students who on Tuesday called for his release from Mako Brimob prison in the Papuan capital Jayapura.

    Suara Papua reports that the KNPB on Monday urged the Papua regional police and the Papua chief public prosecutor to immediately release Yeimo because there was no legal basis for his detention and his health had been deteriorating since his arrest on May 9.

    “For the sake of humanity and the authority of the Indonesian state, immediately release Victor Yeimo and all Papuan independence activists who have been arrested without [legal] grounds, evidence or witnesses,” said KNPB chairperson Agus Kossay in a media statement.

    “The Papuan people are not the perpetrators of racism.”

    ‘Disturbing reports’
    Lawlor’s twitter post the following day said: “I am hearing disturbing reports that human rights defender from #WestPapua, Victor Yeimo, is suffering from deteriorating health in prison. I’m concerned because his pre-existing health conditions put him at grave risk of #COVID-19.”

    Yeimo faces a number of charges, including treason, because of his peaceful role in the anti-racism protests on 19 August 2019.

    He is accused of violating Articles 106 and 110 of the Criminal Code on treason and conspiracy to commit treason.

    Many analysts on West Papuan affairs consider these charges to be trumped up.

    Amnesty International Indonesia deputy director Wirya Adiwena said that the students protesting for Yeimo should be protected — not arrested and treated like criminals.

    “Like Victor, these Uncen students are only using their right to exercise freedom of expression, assembly and association, to peacefully speak their minds,” said Adiwena.

    Against human rights
    The jailing of peaceful activists because they had taken part in a demonstration was against their rights under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states,
    Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek receive and impart information and ideas though any media and regardless of frontiers (Article 19).

    Article 20(1) states that everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

    Lawyer and human rights activist Veronica Koman also called for the release of Yeimo.

    “Victor Yeimo will not be safe if he remains behind [the bars] of a colonial prison. Colonialism will continue to demand political sacrifices,” wrote Koman on her Facebook.

    Collins of AWPA said his movement was greatly concerned that by denying Yeimo proper adequate medical care, the Indonesian authorities were putting his him at “grave risk of death or other irreversible damage to his health”.

    The AWPA called on Minister Payne “to use your good offices with the Indonesian government to call for the immediate and unconditional release of Victor Yeimo and all political prisoners”.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Indo Pacific UAV Directory 2021

    The development of unmanned aerial vehicles is growing apace, especially in China. New longer range ISR platforms are also on the procurement list of several nations. Regional military forces continue to develop and field unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as part of ongoing modernisation efforts, with an eye on applications – such as border/maritime patrol and […]

    The post Indo Pacific UAV Directory 2021 appeared first on Asian Military Review.

    This post was originally published on Asian Military Review.

  • Lawyer Veronica Koman joins calls to free Papuan activist Victor Yeimo

    Asia Pacific Report newsdesk

    Lawyer and human rights activist Veronica Koman has spoken out about the worsening health of Papuan activist Victor Yeimo who has been detained at the Mobile Brigade command headquarters detention centre (Rutan Mako Brimob) for the last three months, reports Suara Papua.

    “Victor Yeimo will not be safe if he remains behind [the bars] of a colonial prison. Colonialism will continue to demand political sacrifices,” wrote Koman on her Facebook on Monday.

    Koman said that Yeimo’s imprisonment is part of the colonisation of the Papuan people’s dignity which had been going on for decades.

    “The imprisonment of Victor is a problem of trampling on the West Papuan people’s dignity: The West Papuan people aren’t allowed to fight racism, the West Papuan people aren’t allowed to speak about self-determination — even in a peaceful manner,” she wrote.

    Koman believes that moving Yeimo, who is in a weak condition, to Abepura prison is the same as moving him from one “tiger’s den” to another.

    “The Abepura prison is over-capacity, so it’s a nest of covid-19. Because of this, [we must] unite in the demand: Release Victor Yeimo right now!” said Koman.

    Yeimo, who is the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) international spokesperson and spokesperson for the Papua People’s Petition (PRP), was arrested by police in the Tanah Hitam area of Abepura in Jayapura city on May 9.

    He was detained at the Papua regional police headquarters before being transferred to the Brimob detention centre.

    Since his arrest there have been ongoing calls for his release from the charges against him. The charges and lack of access to lawyers and family are considered not to be in accordance with the law.

    Because of this, the government of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo is being urged to immediately release Yeimo along with all Papuan students and people from prisons in Indonesia.

    “Victor Yeimo is not the perpetrator of racism. He is in fact a victim of racism. He was not involved in the [August-September 2019] riots in Jayapura city.

    “Why after three months is he still being held at the Papua Brimob? His health is deteriorating. We are asking that he be released immediately from prison,” said Sam Gobay, who is on the management board of the Mee ethnic group traditional council in Mimika regency.

    From information received by Gobay, Yeimo’s health had deteriorated drastically.

    “There is no access to healthcare for Victor Yeimo. He’s ill, he’s not being allowed treatment. He also isn’t being given food. All access is restricted.

    “What is the plan for Victor Yeimo? We’re asking for Victor’s immediate release”, he said.

    The arrest of detention of Yeimo is seen as part of curbing democratic space and even an effort to criminalise Papuan activists.

    “What kind of legal basis is there for the state to discriminate against Victor Yeimo. He is not a perpetrator of racism, let alone labeling him as committing makar [treason, rebellion, sedition].

    “Everyone knows that Victor Yeimo was not involved in the demonstrations which ended in riots in Jayapura city,” said Gobay.

    “The Papuan people are urging Bapak [Mr] Jokowi to immediately urge the Indonesian police chief and the Papuan regional police chief to release Victor Yeimo from the Brimob detention centre,” said Gobay.

    A similar statement was made by KNPB general chairperson Agus Kossay in a press release on Monday.

    The KNPB is urging the Papuan regional police and the Papua chief public prosecutor to immediately release Yeimo. According to Kossay, Yeimo had been detained without legal basis and his health continued to deteriorate.

    “For the sake of humanity and the authority of the Indonesian state, immediately release Victor Yeimo and all Papuan independence activists who have been arrested without [legal] grounds, evidence or witnesses. The Papuan people are not the perpetrators of racism,” said Kossay.

    KNPB spokesperson Ones Suhuniap, meanwhile, said that if Yeimo was not released then the KNPB would call on all Papuan people and all KNPB activists to get themselves arrested by police.

    He also believes that the Papua regional police and the prosecutor’s office have violated Indonesian law.

    “Victor Yeimo must be released for the sake of the law because based on the KUHP [Criminal Code] the 60 day period of detention has already passed, but the addition of 30 more days detention for Victor Yeimo violates the law itself,” said Suhuniap.

    Earlier, Yeimo’s lawyer Emanuel Gobay, who is from the Papua Law Enforcement and Human Rights Coalition (KPHHP), urged the Papuan and Jayapura chief prosecutors to respond to their call to transfer Yeimo from the Brimob detention centre to Abepura prison.

    This call, according to Gobay, is based on the fact that Yeimo had been incarcerated at the Brimob detention centre since May 10 and his rights as a suspect had not been met.

    “When the prosecutor questioned Victor Yeimo in relation to matters that he wished to convey, Victor asked to be transferred from the Rutan Mako Brimob to the Abepura prison in consideration of meeting his rights as a suspect.

    “Victor argued that since the start of his detention at the Papua regional police Mako Brimob he has been neglected because of the Mako Brimob’s standard operating procedures. Also because of his psychological condition as a result of being left alone in a stuffy cell which could endanger his health,” explained Gobay.

    Unfortunately, said the director of the Papua Legal Aid Foundation (LBH), the prosecutor failed to respond professionally to Yeimo’s request.

    “The Papua chief public prosecutor [must] immediately instruct the Papua chief public prosecutor supervising prosecutor acting as the Jayapura chief public prosecutor supervising prosecutor to examine the prosecutor who received the dossier of the suspect in the name of Victor F Yeimo which was not conducted in accordance with the instructions of Article 8 Paragraph (3) b of Law Number 8/1981,” he said.

    Also, the head of the Papua representative office of the Ombudsman of the Republic of Indonesia has been asked to supervise the Jayapura district attorney’s office in its implementation of Yeimo’s rights as a suspect which is guaranteed under Law Number 8/1981.

    This call was made after the Papua regional police investigators handed Yeimo’s dossier over to the Jayapura district attorney’s office on August 6.

    Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft News. Abridged slightly due to repetition and for clarity. The original title of the article was “Ini Pendapat Veronica Koman Terhadap Kondisi Victor Yeimo”.


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Bali legal aid director cited for ‘treason’ after assisting Papuan protesters

    Asia Pacific Report newsdesk

    The director of the Bali Legal Aid Foundation (LBH), Ni Kadek Vany Primaliraning, has been reported to the Bali regional police for treason for allegedly facilitating a mass action by Papuan activists, reports CNN Indonesia.

    The report was confirmed by Vany when contacted by CNN Indonesia.

    Vany sent CNN Indonesia a photograph of the official receipt of the public complaint, which was registered with the Bali regional police and dated Monday, August 2, via a message application.

    Vany has yet to explain in detail about the report but she suspects that it was related to legal assistance that they gave to Papuan activists conducting a protest.

    “Assistance for Papua comrades holding a protest action,” said Vany via an SMS message.

    The receipt of the reports shows that it is a public complaint registered as Bali regional police report Number Dumas/539/VIII/2021/SPKT.

    In the document it states that the person submitting the report is Rico Ardika Panjaitan SH, who is an assistant advocate residing in Datuk Bandar Timor sub-district in North Sumatra. The person being reported is Ni Kadek Vany Primaliraning as the director of LBH Bali.

    Alleged makar
    The brief description of the report concerns an act of alleged makar (treason, subversion, rebellion) and conspiracy to commit makar. The report cites the victim in the case as being the “Constitution of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia” (NKRI).

    Vany then explained about the action by activists from the Bali Papua Social Concern Front (FORMALIPA) Bali which resulted in her being reported to the Balinese police.

    “The comrades asked for legal aid (assistance) related to a freedom of expression action. On the day of the action the comrades coordinated with us to leave their motorcycles at the LBH for safekeeping then marched to the Bali regional police to hold the action,” she said.

    During the march, however, there was an ormas (mass or social organisation) which blocked and assaulted the protesters. As a result they sought refuge on the grounds of the LBH Bali.

    “Those assisting the action (LBH Bali) coordinated with police to protect the protesters, bearing in mind that the comrades had already sent a notification [of the action to police]. And, the action was an action to convey an opinion in public, even though the police still asked them to disband,” said Vany.

    “After a protracted debate, in the end the comrades were allowed to convey their views in front of the LBH Bali,” she said.

    In response to the report against Vany, which is suspected to be related to her providing legal assistance, Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) chairperson Asfinawati that it would be inappropriate for police to pursue the report.

    ‘This is fabricated’
    “The LBH Bali was acting in accordance with its capacity. This is fabricated, if it’s followed up then the police will be endangering all lawyers or people at LBH,” she said when contacted.

    Asfinawati – known as Asfin by her friends – emphasised that the LBH’s activities are in accordance with legislation as regulated under Law Number 16/2011 on Legal Aid.

    When contacted separately, Rico Ardika Panjaitan, who submitted the police report, claimed that he had reported Vany over a mass action by Papuan activists on May 31.

    At the time, he said, the Papuan demonstrators gave speeches in front of the LBH offices, one of which contained the statement, “That the red-and-white [national flag] is not Papua, Papua is the Morning Star [flag]”.

    It was this that made him report the LBH Bali for allegedly violating Article 106 of the Criminal Code (KUHP).

    “According to my understanding, in legal terms, under Article 106 of the KUHP it is written, right, or it means one thing, meaning that when a part of the Indonesian territory wants to be given independence this is included in the category of makar.

    “This means that in the case of the AMP [Papua Student Alliance] it fulfilled [the stipulations of] that article, right?” he said when contacted.

    LBH Bali accused
    In the case of LBH Bali, meanwhile, he is accusing them of facilitating the Papuan mass action and therefore violating Article 110 of the KUHP.

    “They (LBH) can be indicted under Article 110”, said Panjaitan, who claimed to have made the report in an individual capacity although he received support from the group Patriot Garuda Nusantara of which he is a member.

    CNN Indonesia has attempted to confirm the report with Balinese regional police public relations division chief Senior Commissioner Syamsi but at the time of publication had not received a response.

    Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was “Direktur LBH Bali Dipolisikan Dugaan Makar Bantu Massa Papua”.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Indonesian artist charged under ‘pornography’ law for bikini protest faces 10 years jail

    Pacific Media Watch newsdesk

    Artist Dinar Candy has held a protest action over the extension of Indonesia’s Enforcement of Restrictions on Public Activities (PPKM) by wearing a bikini on the side of a road in Jakarta, reports CNN Indonesia.

    During the action, Candy also brought a banner with the message, “I’m stressed out because the PPKM has been extended”.

    Candy was arrested by police last Wednesday, August 3, about 9.30 pm near Jalan Fatmawati in South Jakarta. She was taken directly to the South Jakarta district police for questioning.

    In addition to this, police also confiscated material evidence in the form of a mobile phone belonging to Candy, which is alleged to have been used to record the protest.

    And it was not only Candy. Her younger sister and assistant were also questioned by police for recording the protest at Candy’s request.

    After being questioned by police, who also sought advice from an expert witness on morality and culture, Candy was then declared a suspect.

    “We have declared DC as a suspect for an alleged act of pornography,” South Jakarta district police chief Senior Commissioner Azis Andriansyah told journalists on Thursday.

    Candy has been charged under Article 36 of Law Number 44/2008 on Pornography which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison or a fine of 5 billion rupiah (NZ$987,000).

    Candy not detained
    Despite being declared a suspect, police have not detained Candy who is only obliged to report daily. Andriansyah said that Candy’s protest wearing a bikini did not heed cultural norms.

    Artist Dinar Candy
    Artist Dinar Candy … many believe her bikini protest should not be prosecuted under Indonesian law. Image: CNN Indonesia

    This is because Candy’s action was held in Indonesia where there are cultural and religious norms which apply in society.

    “Anything that is done in Indonesia [is subject to] existing norms, there are ethics, there are cultural norms, there are religious norms which apply in our society, now, the actions of the person concerned did not pay heed to cultural norms,” said Andriansyah.

    A number of parties, however, believe that Candy’s bikini protest does not need to be prosecuted under law.

    National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) Commissioner Theresia Iswarini believes that Candy did not commit a crime even though she wore a bikini during the protest. She suspects that Candy’s protest was related to mental health issues.

    “It would indeed be best, it has to be thought about, [although] this [wearing a bikini in public] is indeed inappropriate, but it does not mean she committed a crime, remember,” Iswarini told CNN Indonesia.

    The Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH), meanwhile, is worried that the state is going too far in regulating what people wear in public. LBH Jakarta lawyer Teo Reffelsen is of the view that in the future the state could enforce its own values on what the public wears.

    “If so, then eventually our prisons will be full just because people wear bikinis,” Reffelsen said.

    Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was “Protes Bikini Dinar Candy Berujung Jerat UU Pornografi”.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Indonesia, PNG hold talks over possible reopening of border

    RNZ Pacific

    Papua New Guinea and neighbouring Indonesia have been discussing a potential reopening of their shared border.

    The border was officially closed early last year due to the covid-19 pandemic, but the illegal movement of people back and forth has continued across the porous international boundary.

    PNG Prime Minister James Marape met with Indonesia’s Ambassador in Port Moresby, Andriana Supandy, and agreed that the border must be properly policed to prevent the spread of covid-19.

    Indonesia’s heath system is being stretched with high covid infection rates, and PNG has also struggled to contain the spread of the virus.

    No date has been given for when the border may reopen officially.

    In others areas discussed, Supandy proposed for the two countries to enter into a Free Trade Agreement to boost trade and commerce, citing the potential as demonstrated in the success of vanilla trade between PNG and Indonesia.

    The ambassador also informed Prime Minister Marape that Indonesia has already ratified the Border and Defence Cooperation Agreement and Land Border Transport Agreement and was awaiting PNG to do the same.

    He said these agreements would pave the way for a more robust bilateral tie between the two countries.

    On West Papua, the diplomat said that Indonesia appreciated the consistent position that PNG government has taken in acknowledging that the western half of New Guinea was an integral part of Indonesia.

    He said the West Papuan self-determination demands remained an internal issue for Indonesia to resolve.

    A release from Marape’s office also said both countries had discussed the need for joint cooperation in power connectivity to areas in PNG’s Western and West Sepik provinces.

    Military donation
    The Indonesian military has donated an aircraft engine to the PNG Defence Force Air Transport Squadron for one of its aircraft to be used for operations in the 2022 general election.

    Marape also confirmed yesterday that US$14 million would be ballocated in 2021 and 2022 to ensure all aircraft were ready to be used next year.

    The The National newspaper reports Marape saying the aircraft would also be used in enforce transborder security.

    The head of the Indonesian National Armed Forces Strategic Intelligence Agency, Lieutenant-General Joni Supriyanto, arrived on a Lockheed C-130H Hercules in Port Moresby yesterday with the engine.

    He said transporting the overhauled Casa aircraft engine to PNG “would enhance relationship and cooperation between the armed forces contributing to security and stability in the region”.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Australia trained Indonesian police officer accused of West Papua violence

    ‘We will chop them up’: an Indonesian police chief implicated in alleged human rights abuses against a group of West Papuan activists was trained by Australian Federal Police

    Charles Sraun was chatting with five friends at a house in Merauke, the easternmost city of the disputed Indonesian territory of West Papua, when police stormed the building.

    The 39-year-old health worker says he and his friends, all members of a pro-independence organisation called the National Committee for West Papua, were beaten with batons, made to lie face down and some forced to undress, before being cable-tied and bundled into the back of a vehicle belonging to the Indonesian paramilitary police unit, Brimob.

    Related: ‘We are living in a war zone’: violence flares in West Papua as villagers forced to flee

    Translation by Zelda Grimshaw

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • ULMWP calls for suspension of Indonesia from UN rights council over assault on deaf Papuan

    Asia Pacific Report newsdesk

    The United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) has called on the international community to immediately suspend Indonesia from the UN Human Rights Council over a shocking assault on a young deaf indigenous Papuan that has been likened to the George Floyd tragedy in the United States.

    The treatment of Steven Yadohamang, 18, who was crushed under the boot of two Indonesian military policemen in Merauke on Tuesday was the latest incident “in a long history of systematic racism and discrimination against my people”, said ULMWP interim president Benny Wenda.

    “The reality of everyday life for my people in West Papua is violence and racism at the hands of Indonesian soldiers, police and intelligence officers,” he said in a statement as the assault caught on video sparked angry condemnation by community leaders.

    Screenshot of Indonesian assault on deaf Papuan
    How Asia Pacific Report covered the assault on deaf Papuan Steven Yadohamang on Thursday. Image: Screenshot APR

    In the middle of a pandemic, Indonesia had continued to launch military operations, displacing more than 50,000 people, Wenda said.

    “We have suffered trauma, we have suffered the impunity of the Indonesian colonial regime since the illegal invasion of 1963,” he said.

    “There is no difference between what happens to African Americans in the US and what happens to West Papuans at the hands of the illegal Indonesian occupation.”

    He said the images of Yadohamang being crushed under the foot of an Indonesian police had been compared to the images of George Floyd before he died at the hands of US police in May 2020.

    ‘Papuan Lives Matter’
    “My people rose up against racist treatment in 2019 [the Papuan Uprising], and followed the global BLM [Black Lives Matter] movement with our own cry: Papuan Lives Matter. What we are suffering is the same as the Rohingya, the same as South Africa under apartheid,” Wenda said.

    He said Indonesia’s systematic, institutional racism against West Papuans violated international law.

    The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which Indonesia has ratified, ban racial discrimination.

    “Indonesia’s military operations, racial abuse, ethnic cleansing, and systematic destruction of our health and educational opportunities represent clear violations of these conventions,” Wenda said.

    “The international community must respond by suspending Indonesia from the UN Human Rights Council immediately. If our international human rights protections mean anything, there must be a global response to what is happening to my people.”

    Reuters reports that the Indonesian government had apologised for the actions of the two Air Force military officers it said used “excessive force” to pin down Yadohamang’s head after a video of the incident was widely shared online.

    In a statement on Wednesday, presidential chief of staff Moeldoko said his office condemned what it characterised as “a form of excessive force and unlawful conduct”.

    The statement also said the Papuan man was unarmed, did not resist and had been identified as a person with a disability.

    Indonesian Air Force spokesman Indan Gilang Buldansyah said the two officers would be tried in a military court.

     


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Vaccine resistance in West Papua as covid-19 pandemic rages

    By Johnny Blades, RNZ Pacific journalist

    As with much of Indonesia, the country’s easternmost provinces of Papua and West Papua are struggling to contain the spread of covid-19, with the delta variant on the loose.

    In their latest update, health authorities in Papua province reported 33,826 confirmed cases of the virus to date, as well as 794 known deaths. In West Papua province, there were 18,027 confirmed cases and 278 deaths.

    Earlier this week, the Papua provincial health spokesman Silvanus Sumule spoke to media outside a hospital in downtown Jayapura, explaining that hospital capacity had passed 100 percent, while they were short of oxygen tanks for covid patients.

    Patients were being treated in corridors or outside the building, the sort of desperate scenes being experienced across Indonesia, which has become the latest epicentre of the pandemic in Asia, with more than 3.2 million cases and 90,000 deaths from covid.

    Papua provincial health spokesman Silvanus Sumule July 2021
    Papua provincial health spokesman Silvanus Sumule outside a hospital in downtown Jayapura this week as he explains the strain on the health system from covid-19. Image: RNZ

    But the health system in Papua is weaker than most other parts of the republic, adding to fears that the virus is on track to cause devastation in indigenous Papuan communities.

    A human rights adviser to the Papuan People’s Assembly, Wensi Fatubun, said that with the Delta variant rampaging through communities, Papua’s provincial government had sought a full lockdown for the month of August.

    “So the local government announced for the lockdown. But the national government doesn’t want Papua province locked down, and to use different restrictions on community activities.”

    With Jakarta having overruled Papua’s local government on the matter, the onus goes on how people respond to the restrictions on gatherings as well as safety measures. But adherence to these basic measures has been mixed in Papua during the pandemic.

    “We are really worried with covid-19. If it goes to the remote areas, we don’t know, maybe many, many indigenous Papuans will die, because there’s not enough doctors, nurses, and also health facilities,” Fatubun said.

    Across Jayapura, there has been a spate of burials in recent days — another sign of the surge in covid-19 cases, which could be significantly higher than official statistics show.

    ‘Many Papuans are dying’
    To avert the death rate growing more out of control, the national government of President Joko Widodo is focussing on efforts to vaccinate as many people as possible in the coming weeks and months.

    Abepura cemetery, Jayapura, Papua, 25 July, 2021
    Abepura cemetery … a spate of burials in Jayapura in recent days – a sign of the surge in local deaths from covid-19. Image: RNZ

    But so far only around 7 percent of the population of 270 million have had at least a first dose of the vaccine. In Papua region, the take-up is understood to be lower than average.

    The moderator of the Papuan Council of Churches, Reverend Benny Giay said many West Papuans were resisting the vaccine rollout, chiefly because of the role of Indonesian security forces who he said indigenous Papuans deeply mistrusted.

    “In the past few months, in several districts, it’s the military and police who accompanied medical teams who go promoting the vaccines. But people turn them away. It’s very difficult to convince the people,” he said.

    Given the ongoing violent conflict between Indonesian security forces and West Papuan independence fighters, as well as decades of human rights abuses and racism against Papuans, Reverend Giay said the resistance was understandable.

    “The reality here is that they’ve gone through this crisis and violence, and the government is involving military and police to be part of this and we don’t like that.”

    Warning against misinformation
    Reverend Giay wants his people to get vaccinated, and is urging Papuans to not be dissuaded by misinformation propagated on social media. He suggested outside help was required.

    “Many Papuans are dying. We’ve been calling international community for help — maybe the International Red Cross, maybe a humanitarian intervention to convince our people (to get vaccinated).”

    This proposal is highly unlikely to be accepted by the Indonesian government which has long restricted outside access to Papua.

    Jakarta continues with a business-as-usual approach in the remote eastern region, and is sticking to its plans for Papua to host the Indonesia National Games in October which will bring in many people form other parts of the country.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Refugees in Indonesia: Australia’s political pawns

    Filmmaker Alfred Pek’s new documentary tells the moving stories of three refugees stuck in limbo in Indonesia, exposing Australia’s cruel border protection policy.

    This post was originally published on Green Left.

  • KAI’s Golden Eagle advanced jet trainer expands regional footprint

    Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) is poised to expand the footprint of its T-50 Golden Eagle advance jet trainer after signing a US$240 million agreement with the Indonesian Ministry of Defence (MoD) to provide additional six T-50i Golden Eagle for its lead-in fighter trainer (LIFT) programme. The company announced on 20 July that the deal will […]

    The post KAI’s Golden Eagle advanced jet trainer expands regional footprint appeared first on Asian Military Review.

    This post was originally published on Asian Military Review.

  • Indonesia’s open-door lockdown

    Four years ago Oxfam published research showing the four richest men in Indonesia own as much wealth as the country’s poorest 100 million citizens.

    The statistic is so disturbing it had to be rechecked, particularly as President Joko Widodo continually claims he’s fighting inequality. But so far there’s been no credible challenge to the development charity’s calculations.

    Also, no show of government resolve to tackle a divide so wide reduction seems impossible without determined leadership backed by a surge of altruism from the oligarchy. Right now this looks unlikely.

    The situation has worsened since the pandemic hit last year. The Badan Pusat Statistik (BPS – Central Statistics Agency) latest release shows almost ten million unemployed. Uncounted are the millions of casuals and self-employed sole traders whose takings have been slashed by the plague.

    “Indonesia could become the epicentre of the pandemic, but it’s already the epicentre of Asia,” said Dicky Budiman, an Indonesian epidemiologist at Griffith University. He’s been predicting numbers will double in the next few weeks.

    “If you look at the population difference between India and Indonesia…then the pandemic is far more serious than in India.”

    The top end of town also reports tumbling takings. Last year Southeast Asia’s biggest economy was thumped by its first recession since the 1998 Asian financial crisis; 2021 first-quarter data from the BPS confirms the downhill trend.

    Related

    Frontline women: unrecognised leadership in Indonesia’s COVID-19 response

    Incorporating women’s experiences and skills would improve pandemic responses.

    Rebecca Meckelburg 05 July, 2021

    After flip-flopping on saving commerce or citizens, Widodo ordered a 17-day lockdown across Java and Bali ending on 20 July. This may be extended to 3 August. Implementation has been hit and miss—mostly the latter.

    Sutiaji, the Mayor of Malang in East Java, told local media he won’t follow the president’s edict, though more than 300 cases were found in his city on one day last week. There are testing stations, but the fee of Rp 200,000, the equivalent of two days work for a casual labourer and three for a household maid, is a hefty deterrent, corrupting official figures.

    Immunisation is patchy with clinics mainly using the Chinese Sinovac, plus some Astra Zeneca.  Reuters reports about ten per cent of the population (273 million) has had two jabs.

    In the absence of any peer-reviewed academic surveys on the effectiveness of the lockdown, personal observations will have to suffice. The snapshots come from Malang, population 900,000, the second biggest metropolis in the province. All are first hand.

    A dozen black-uniformed satpol (unarmed local government security) arrived at a packed street produce market at 6 am after it had been running for an hour, ordering around 100 vendors to gather their wares and go.

    They shouted back that if they couldn’t sell they’d starve. The outnumbered and sympathetic satpol gave up, not even bothering to warn scores of unmasked customers to cover up as mandated or enforce social distancing.

    Eateries are take-away only, unless diners say they’re weary. Then a back room can be found for sit-down meals. One warung (permanent food stall) at the entrance to a central city gang (lane) doesn’t even bother with subterfuge. Customers use tables in clear view of pedestrians, though not patrol cars, so no worries

    Virtue signalling is rampant. A story of a transport business helping people in isolation was dominated by photos of the company’s bus fleet and staff. Others are using the same tactic to get their logos on the news pages.

    Hawkers bike around the suburbs flogging foods and household knick-knacks though other goods are on offer. Buyers are cautious, slowing the hand-to-mouth pedlars’ cash flows to a trickle.

    Sutedjo, 55, offers gemstones set in clunky rings much admired by men with big egos and little else. He pushes his last century cycle around the nooks and crannies of the ancient hilltown, accompanied by his wife Kartini, 43, and two of their three children, surviving on handouts. “Before Covid 19 I could sell five rings a day,” he said. “Now I’d be lucky to sell one. Few have money.”

    The family is untroubled by police who are rarely seen. Kartini said she and her husband are too frightened to be immunised and claim no one has tried to persuade them that the disease is serious and protection free. Government advertising has generals and politicians in uniforms sagging with medals above captions urging the populace to stay indoors. Some do—most don’t.

    The posters also urge people to exercise—impossible in tiny rooms in cramped houses. The few public parks have been closed, but those determined to follow the recommendation and shake their limbs have pulled down fences. The gaps remain.

    Sellers of jamu (traditional herbal potions) are among the few street criers doing good business having expanded their cure-alls from colds to COVID.

    Orders to shut mosques and churches lasted but a day before pressure from clerics forced the government to reverse its decision.

    Kartini said her family hadn’t received any aid from their mosque or the government and couldn’t explain why. Her response would puzzle individualist Australians used to a welfare system where the needy expect state support and are quick to assert their rights.

    Traditional Javanese believe life is predestined, so what’s the point of trying to make a difference?   Muhammadiyah University psychology lecturers Diah Karmiyati and Sofa Amalia have written of the principle of nrima (acceptance of the existing situation). These values make it easier for authorities to do what they like—and that includes politicians.

    Jakarta trumpets that its Program Sembako (essential foods) project—which includes a cash payment of Rp 200,000 a month (AUD 18.50)—has reached about 20 million households. Not all parcels have arrived intact.

    Late last year social affairs minister Juliari Batubara was charged by the Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi (Corruption Eradication Commission) with taking bribes totalling Rp 14.5 billion (AUD 1.4 million). The KPK reported Batubara and two others took a ‘commission’ of Rp 10,000 from suppliers for each Rp 300,000 sembako pack destined for the needy.

    Along with the ineffectual lockdown the widely reported graft has fomented outrage and eroded trust in the government’s ability to handle the pandemic and keep its people safe.

    Psychologist and civil rights activist Alissa Wahid, eldest daughter of Indonesia’s fourth president Abdurrahman Wahid, aka Gus Dur, has been running an online petition urging leaders to lift their game. Her slogan: “Without integrity, no one listens; without trust, no one follows.”

    The post Indonesia’s open-door lockdown appeared first on New Mandala.

    This post was originally published on New Mandala.

  • Wenda appeals to NZ, West to supply covid vaccines direct to Papuans

    Asia Pacific Report newsdesk

    A pro-independence movement in West Papua has appealed to several Western countries — including New Zealand — to provide urgent humanitarian help by supplying covid vaccines directly to the Papuans to cope with the “double crisis” in the Indonesian-ruled region.

    Benny Wenda, interim president of the Provisional Government of West Papua, said today he had made the appeal by writing to the foreign ministers of Britain, Australia, New Zealand and the US.

    “I have also written to the President of the European Commission, the WHO [World Health Organisation] and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights regarding the escalating covid-19 situation in our land,” he said in a statement.

    “This new crisis is a further existential threat to my people.”

    Indonesia had caused a double crisis for the people of West Papua by launching military operations in the middle of the pandemic, Wenda said, as he had warned.

    “Just yesterday, villagers from the West Moskona district were attacked by troops after attending a peaceful worship session against ‘Special Autonomy’, fleeing to the forests and the city of Bintuni,” he said.

    “Woman and children are afraid to return to their villages in case the military and police arrest or attack them.”

    50,000 plus displaced
    “More than 50,000 people have been displaced in Nduga, Puncak and Intan Jaya over the past two and a half years. Their homes have been destroyed, their churches burned and their schools occupied by soldiers.

    “They are left in internal displacement camps, where the virus will spread rapidly. Already in the cities, patients are being turned away or treated in cars outside the hospital.”

    Western countries and the WHO had an urgent moral obligation to give vaccine doses direct the local Papuan government for distribution, Wenda said.

    “As the 2018 Asmat health crisis showed, Jakarta cannot be trusted with the health of the West Papuan people,” he said.

    “Over nearly 60 years of colonisation we have seen a chronic failure to develop health facilities in West Papua, leaving us dying on top of the natural riches Indonesia is extracting. If Jakarta is allowed to hold the reigns of vaccine development, my people will suffer further.”

    Wenda said the developments were part of a “continued genocide against my people”.

    “Our forests have been torn down, our mountains decapitated, our way of life destroyed. Indonesia restricts healthcare and enforces a colonial education whilst killing anyone who speaks out for self-determination,” Wenda said.

    “Launching military operations in the middle of a pandemic is a policy designed to further wipe out our population. We need urgent international assistance, direct to the local Papuan government, not through the colonial occupier.”

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • The Jakarta Post: New deal, old approach over West Papua

    EDITORIAL: By the editorial board of The Jakarta Post

    The unanimous House of Representatives decision in Indonesia last week to endorse the revised Papuan Special Autonomy Law shows, yet again, the propensity of the Jakarta elite to dictate the future of the territory, despite persistent calls to honor local demands.

    This “new deal” is not likely to end violence in the resource-rich provinces, which stems in large part from Jakarta’s refusal to settle past human rights abuses there.

    On paper, the revision offers some of the substantial changes needed to help Papuans close the gap with the rest of the nation. For example, it extends special autonomy funding for Papua and West Papua to 2041 and increases its amount from 2 percent to 2.25 percent of the general allocation fund, with a particular focus on health and education.

    The Jakarta Post
    THE JAKARTA POST

    The Finance Ministry estimates that over the next 20 years, the two provinces will receive Rp 234.6 trillion (US$16 billion).

    The revisions also strengthen initiatives to empower native Papuans in the policy-making process by allocating one fourth of the Regional Legislative Council to native, nonpartisan Papuans by appointment. They also mandate that 30 percent of those seats go to native Papuan women.

    Under the new law, a new institution will be established to “synchronize, harmonize, evaluate and coordinate” the implementation of special autonomy. Headed by the Vice President, the new body will answer to the President and will have a secretariat in Papua. The previous government formed a presidential unit to accelerate development in Papua and West Papua (UP4B), but President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo dissolved it shortly after taking office in 2014.

    The chairman of the special House committee deliberating the revision, Komarudin Watubun, a Papuan, described the new law as “a breakthrough” as it would require the government to consult the Papuan and West Papuan governments in the drafting of implementing regulations.

    But this is where the core problem of the special autonomy law lies. In democracy, respecting the will of the public, including dissenting views, is vital to the lawmaking process, precisely because the laws will affect that public. Public scrutiny should precede rather than follow a law, but in the case of the special autonomy law, that mechanism was dropped from the House’s deliberation, which lasted seven months, under the pretext of social distancing to contain the spread of covid-19.

    The Jakarta elite have clearly left the Papuan People’s Assembly (MRP) behind as a representation of the customs and will of the provinces’ people, as well as the Papuan Legislative Council (DPRP), not to mention civil society groups, tribes and those who mistrust special autonomy and the government. In the words of MRP chief Timotius Murib, the revisions reveal Jakarta’s lack of good intentions for Papuan development.

    This is not the first time the executive and legislative powers have colluded to bypass public consultation on a highly controversial bill. The tactic worked in the passage of the Job Creation Law last year, as well as the new Mining Law, and the approach is apparently repeating in the ongoing deliberation of the Criminal Code revision.

    As long as the obsolete, Jakarta-centered approach remains intact, Papuan peace and prosperity will remain elusive.

    This Jakarta Post editorial was published on 21 July 2021.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • ‘We’ll be extinct,’ warns West Papuan churches, call for halt to ‘racist’ Otsus

    Tabloid Jubi in Jayapura

    The West Papuan Council of Churches (WPCC) has condemned the Indonesian government’s Special Autonomy (Otsus) law ratified by the Jakarta parliament last week, describing it as racist and warning that Papuans could “become extinct”.

    The WPCC was speaking in an online forum organised by the International Coalition for Papua (ICP) last Wednesday — the day before the draft bill was ratified.

    It appealed to the Pacific and international community to stop the Indonesian government’s racism toward the West Papuans which was being perpetuated by the Otsus Law, widely condemned by Papuans.

    The forum included representatives of the World Council of Churches (WCC), the Pacific Islands Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (PIANGO), the United Evangelical Mission (UEM), the West Papua Project, the Franciscans International, and the Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC).

    The Evangelical Church in Indonesia (GIDI) president Dorman Wandikbo said the Otsus Law had become an enabler for gross human rights violations in West Papua in the past 20 years, such as the Biak, Abepura, Paniai and Wamena massacres.

    “Therefore, the Papuan people reject the continuation of the Otsus Law,” he said.

    Wandikbo cited the result of a study conducted by the Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI), which said the root of the problems in Papua was racism, which had caused Papuans to suffer culturally, politically, and economically despite being given a special autonomy.

    Appeal for international help
    He asked for the international community’s help in underlining the rejection of continuation of the Otsus Law.

    Wandikbo also said that the covid-19 pandemic must not be used as an excuse to obstruct the United Nations special envoy on human rights from entering West Papua.

    “This is an emergency situation. We, the Papuan people, will be extinct in 20 or 30 years if something is not done,” he said.

    “God put us here in the land of Papua not to be killed, enslaved, nor called monkeys.”

    Human rights lawyer Veronica Koman said international organisations such as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) were effectively banned from entering the region.

    Rev Socratez Yoman
    Alliance of West Papuan Baptist Churches president Reverend Socratez Yoman … “the Papuan people are left out.” Image: APR File

    Reverend Socratez Yoman of the WPCC, who is also the head of the Aliance of West Papua Baptist Churches, said that Indonesian lawmakers had been debating the Special Autonomy Law while ignoring the law itself, which required the Papuan People’s Assembly (MRP) and the Papuan Legislation Council (DPRP) to be included in the evaluation and amendment of the law.

    “In fact, the MRP and DPRP are not included in the deliberation process. Only Jakarta ha[d] to agree, the Papuan people are left out,” Reverend Yoman said.

    Division into more provinces
    Reverend Yoman also said that under the upcoming Otsus Law, the Indonesian government planned to divide the region — currently two provinces, Papua and West Papua — into more provinces despite the low population in Papua.

    “Who is this [plan] really for? It will only result in more military basis, more migrants coming from the other provinces in Indonesia, and we will be a minority in our own land and eventually be extinct,” he said.

    In the online forum, Sister Rode Wanimbo of the WPCC also gave updates on the situation in West Papua, as she had just returned from Puncak regency’s capital of Ilaga last Tuesday.

    “There are 11 civilians who have been shot dead in Ilaga from April to July this year. There are also nine churches destroyed and bombed by the Indonesian military from the air,” she said.

    Wanimbo said that there were currently 4862 displaced people accommodated in six districts in Puncak, not including the displaced people from Paluga village and Tegelobak village.

    “They don’t build a tent, the community let the displaced people stay in their homes. No health services for these displaced people,” he said.

    Food aid limited
    “They got food aid from the local government once, but mostly it was from the church, parliament members, and the people,” he said.

    Responding to the WPCC updates on the latest conditions in West Papua, WCC director of International Affairs Peter Prove said that the WCC had held a bilateral meeting in Geneva with the Indonesian government and other diplomats in a hope to bring the Papuan issue to light.

    They were especially trying to address the internally displaced people in West Papua and pushing for humanitarian actors to be allowed to enter the region.

    “I have also talked to the UN Special Adviser that West Papua has a high risk for genocide,” he said.

    Republished with permission.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Kaum perempuan di garis depan: Peran kepemimpinan yang tak dihitung dalam penanganan COVID-19

    Respon pemerintah daerah dan masyarakat sipil terhadap pandemi Covid-19 di Indonesia telah banyak dipuji dalam media akademis dan populer sejak kasus pertama Covid-19 dikonfirmasi Maret 2020. Mitigasi lokal dan respon kesehatan telah terbukti menjadi faktor kritikal ketika pemerintah pusat telah gagal dalam banyak aspek penanganan pandemi. Namun apa yang tidak ditunjukkan oleh kajian-kajian awal adalah peran yang dimainkan kaum perempuan dalam memimpin tanggapan lokal ini. Kajian baru saya mengungkap kesenjangan antara keterwakilan tinggi kaum laki-laki dalam kepemimpinan formal dan badan pengambilan keputusan tanggap COVID-19 di satu sisi, dan dominasi perempuan yang luar biasa dalam kepemimpinan sehari-hari baik dalam mitigasi maupun perawatan kesehatan. Meskipun saya hanya berfokus pada satu kota di Jawa Tengah, kita dapat berasumsi bahwa fenomena ini juga terjadi di bagian lain Indonesia dan di banyak bagian dunia.

    Hasil penelitian yang diterbitkan dalam laporan baru saya, menjelaskan kenapa keterwakilan perempuan dalam struktur satuan tugas (Satgas) Covid-19 sangat minimal, sementara di sisi lain mereka mendominasi peran garis depan baik tanggap darurat maupun penanganan pandemi jangka panjang. Pada bulan Januari dan Februari 2021 saya melakukan penelitian lapangan dengan seorang mahasiswa paska sarjana di kota Salatiga, Jawa Tengah. Kami mengumpulkan data tentang peran kepemimpinan Aparat Sipil Negara perempuan dalam penanganan pandemi. Dalam kajian ini saya memperluas penelitian saya sebelumnya tentang respon pandemi di tingkat lokal, dengan menerapkan lensa gender untuk memeriksa mengapa pejabat dan petugas kesehatan perempuan, yang memiliki peran dan tanggung jawab terbatas pada Satgas Covid-19 kota dan kecamatan, dalam prakteknya telah menjalankan peran kritikal dalam memimpin strategi mitigasi di kedua tingkat tersebut.

    Tembol dibawa untuk mengunduh dokumen arahan kebijakan seluruhnya.

    Kegagalan struktur satuan tugas COVID-19 di tingkat lokal

    Peraturan nasional menyatakan bahwa kebijakan pengarusutamaan gender harus diintegrasikan dalam rencana tanggap darurat dan bencana baik di tingkat nasional maupun di bawahnya. Kenyataannya, keterwakilan kaum perempuan di Satgas Nasional hanya 7%, serta 12% untuk Satgas Provinsi Jawa Tengah. Sejak bulan Februari 2020, pembuatan kebijakan penanganan pandemi tingkat nasional sama sekali tidak membuat ketentuan terkait dengan gender. Dalam komposisi pegawai pemerintahan Kota Salatiga, tingkat perimbangan keterwakilan secara gender lebih tinggi dari rata-rata nasional, namun perempuan yang menduduki jabatan eselon tinggi masih sangat sedikit. Kesenjangan ini, pada gilirannya memberikan dampak langsung pada penyusunan anggota Satgas COVID-19 Kota Salatiga, dimana posisi-posisi di dalamnya dialokasikan atas dasar jabatan struktural dalam pemerintahan, tanpa mempunyai rujukan khusus pada gender.

    Dalam struktur anggota Satgas yang disusun bulan Okober 2020, partisipasi perempuan hanya 17% dari sebuah tim beranggotakan 12 orang. Kepala-kepala instansi pemerintah yang strategis, Kepolisian Resor (Polres), Komando Resor Militer (Korem), Satuan Polisi Pamong Praja (Satpol PP), Badan Perencanaan Pembangunan Daerah (Bappeda) dan kantor Kesatuan Bangsa dan Politik (Kesbangpol), secara otomatis ditunjuk untuk masuk dalam struktur Satgas, dan semua posisi ini dijabat oleh laki-laki. Meskipun melanggar prinsip pengarusutamaan gender, gambaran lokal dari Kota Salatiga ini adalah keadaan tipikal di seluruh Indonesia baik di wilayah jabatan publik yang diduduki lewat pemilihan maupun karir kepegawaian, dengan laki-laki adalah mayoritas pemegang jabatan eselon tinggi.

    Rapid Test facility at Pasar Senen Station. Image credit: Gaudi Renanda in Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0

    Satgas COVID-19 Kota Salatiga bertanggung jawab dalam hal kebijakan dan perencanaan strategis mitigasi pandemi, koordinasi lintas instansi, pemantauan dan penegakan langkah-langkah mitigasi, alokasi anggaran dan sumber daya lainnya. Terlepas dari peran kepemimpinan yang tersemat pada lembaga yang didominasi laki-laki ini, dalam prakteknya kaum perempuanlah yang secara prinsip telah memimpin tindakan mitigasi dan penanganan kesehatan. Para perempuan ini telah berinisiatif maju untuk mengisi celah-celah kekosongan dalam kepemimpinan formal respon pandemi COVID-19, yang tidak responsif.

    Peran kepemimpinan perempuan dalam pandemi

    Kontras dibanding struktur Satgas COVID-19 tingkat kota, Dinas Kesehatan Kota Salatiga memiliki proporsi perempuan yang jauh lebih tinggi baik dalam peran kepemimpinan maupun tenaga kesehatan lapangan, dimana kaum perempuan mencakup 80% dari seluruh pegawainya. Di tingkat komunitas, kerja-kerja penangangan COVID-19 lebih lagi didominasi oleh kaum perempuan. Kepala dari enam Puskesmas di Kota Salatiga semua adalah perempuan, dengan 90% tenaga kerja adalah perempuan.

    Secara praktis, aspek penanganan pandemi ini tak hanya pelayanan kesehatan, namun juga meliputi wilayah-wilayah kritikal lain terkait mitigasi penyakit menular, yang dipimpin oleh kaum perempuan dari Dinas Kesehatan, Puskesmas dan dari pusat perawatan di rumah sakit daerah dan rumah sakit lain di Salatiga. Kelemahan utama penanganan pandemi yang telah diidentifikasi oleh semua responden dalam wawancara adalah kegagalan Satgas untuk memberikan kepemimpinan dan arah. Seorang pejabat Dinas Kesehatan menyampaikan bahwa meskipun terdapat instansi-instansi pemerintah yang mempunyai tanggung jawab sendiri-sendiri dalam Satgas, dalam prakteknya, mereka selalu lari ke Dinas Kesehatan untuk mendapatkan pemecahan masalah.

    Perempuan yang memimpin di pusat kesehatan kota dan kecamatan berpendapat bahwa penguatan peran Satgas tingkat kota sangat perlu, untuk: secara efektif melakukan pengawasan dan penilaian pelaksanaan kebijakan di lapangan, serta mensupervisi komunikasi publik yang efektif, termasuk mengkomunikasikan kebijakan mitigasi, sehingga layanan kesehatan dapat memprioritaskan diri pada pendalaman pengetahuan mengenai berbagai ilmu terkait COVID-19 yang berkembang sangat cepat dan dinamis, serta ilmu penanganan pandemi.

    Sebuah spanduk yang menyampaikan strategi mitigasi untuk COVID-19. Dipotret oleh penulis.

    Laporan saya menunjukkan bahwa ada empat institusi yang sangat penting dalam pelayanan kesehatan garis depan; Dinas Kesehatan, Puskesmas, rumah sakit daerah dan fasilitas isolasi khusus. Dua lembaga yang disebut pertama juga punya peranan vital dalam pelaksanaan mitigasi. Dan Puskesmas adalah tulang punggung dari strategi mitigasi dan perawatan kesehatan sebagai garis depan pelaksanaan pengetesan, penelusuran dan dukungan pada mereka yang terinfeksi COVID-19.

    Respon-respon strategis dari layanan kesehatan ini inovatif; secara cepat melakukan reorganisasi tenaga kesehatan dan penyesuaian tugas-tugas. Terdapat dua tim; yang didedikasikan untuk penanganan COVID-19, dan tim yang memastikan layanan kesehatan umum tetap berjalan.

    Di tingkat masyarakat, kepala Puskesmas memprakarsai komunikasi lintas sektor antar pemangku kepentingan di wilayah kecamatan (pemerintah kecamatan, satuan polisi dan tentara setempat, serta aparat kelurahan), serta melakukan koordinasi antar elemen masyarakat, organisasi sipil, kelompok agama dan pemerintah kecamatan.

    Beban kerja pandemi bagi perempuan

    Kegagalan kebijakan nasional penanganan pandemi COVID-19 di Indonesia dan banyak negara lain telah meningkatkan beban kerja dari tenaga kerja kesehatan perempuan, baik beban kerja yang dibayar maupun tidak. Sebagian besar tenaga kesehatan perempuan bahkan tidak diperhitungkan, apalagi dianggap penting dalam penyusunan kebijakan publik, baik dalam hal biaya yang dialokasikan pada sektor kesehatan khususnya maupun untuk sektor-sektor sosial secara lebih umum – yang keduanya didominasi perempuan, juga dalam hal manfaat-manfaat yang diberikan kaum perempuan dalam sektor kerja pelayanan dan reproduksi sosial. Akibatnya, penangan pandemi menjadi lebih rumit dengan beban kerja yang lebih tinggi bagi perempuan di garis depan. Apalagi, tak ada tambahan sumber daya manusia, sementara perempuan-perempuan ini juga harus lebih intensif menangani implikasi pandemi dalam peran domestiknya.

    Pekerja laboratori di pabrik BioFarma, Bandung, sedang memeriksa vial vaksin (bukan vaksin COVID-19). Image credit: Ümit Kartoğlu for VOA on Wikimedia Commons (public domain).

    Penting sekali untuk dicatat bahwa para perempuan ini telah mengembangkan pengetahuan secara signifikan melalui pengalaman mereka menangani pandemi. Mereka paham betul apa itu pandemi COVID-19 dan tahu langkah-langkah penanganan seperti apa yang bisa berjalan untuk mitigasi krisis – dan mana yang tidak. Namun terbatasnya keterlibatan perempuan dalam struktur formal yang memiliki kewenangan membuat kebijakan, telah membatasi ruang perempuan baik untuk mengkritik maupun untuk mengarahkan pembuatan kebijakan politis mengenai prioritas-prioritas dalam penanganan COVID-19.

    Kontribusi perempuan pada kepemimpinan pandemi

    Akademisi dan pegiat advokasi telah mendorong untuk dibukanya ruang partisipasi perempuan dalam penyusunan rancangan, pelaksanaan dan pengawasan aturan serta kebijakan terkait penanganan COVID-19 di semua tingkat pembuatan keputusan di pemerintahan. Kajian saya menunjukkan bahwa partisipasi ini sangat perlu, tak hanya untuk memastikan bahwa kebutuhan khusus bagi perempuan selama pandemi bisa terakomodasi, lebih jauh lagi, untuk bisa mendayagunakan pengetahuan yang terus berkembang serta pengalaman-pengalaman dari para perempuan ini sebagai sumber penting dalam rangka menyusun strategi-strategi penanganan pandemi yang tepat.

    Manajer kesehatan dan tenaga kesehatan garis depan telah mengidentifikasi beberapa bidang yang memerlukan tindakan serius dan segera. Pertama, perlu ada koordinasi, kepemimpinan dan pelaksanaan tugas resmi yang lebih efektif di Satgas Kota. Kedua, peningkatan pemantauan dan penegakan protokol kesehatan di tempat kerja, ruang publik dan acara-acara umun yang disetujui, termasuk pernikahan, upacara dan di tempat-tempat yang memfasilitasi pertemuan publik. Ketiga, harus ada pemantauan dan penegakan aturan pembatasan pergerakan dan peraturan daerah tentang kuota work from home, pembatasan kapasitas di restoran, hotel dan tempat lainnya serta isolasi mandiri di rumah. Keempat, perlu memperbesar kemampuan penelusuran dan pengetesan, yang dicapai dengan menambah fasilitas fisik untuk mendukung pengetesan sebagai ujung tombak pemantauan epidemiologis yang baik terhadap tingkat persebaran virus. Pemantauan epidemiologi ini akan mendukung penyusunan arah kebijakan menuju penekanan pandemi COVID-19 secara lebih efektif.

    Puskesmas di Indonesia, yang sebagian besar dijalankan oleh perempuan, telah menjadi bagian kritikal dari infrastruktur untuk penanganan pandemi di Indonesia. Upaya menjalin hubungan secara intensif dengan masyarakat yang dilakukan petugas-petugas Puskesmas telah menghasilkan pemahaman yang lebih besar tentang apa itu COVID-19 di masyarakat setempat, mendorong koordinasi pemangku kepentingan lintas sektor jika memungkinkan, memberikan dukungan aktif untuk pasien positif, dan mengurangi stigmatisasi masyarakat. Sayangnya, peran kritikal serta pengetahuan dan pengalaman yang diperoleh kaum perempuan ini, belum diakui secara formal ataupun dijadikan sebagai sumber rujukan penting dalam perencanaan dan kepemimpinan pandemi jangka panjang. Pada akhirnya, kegagalan ini melemahkan kapasitas untuk memberikan respon menyeluruh yang terkoordinasi dengan baik terhadap pandemi COVID-19 di tingkat lokal, yang mengakibatkan tingginya tingkat penularan virus.

    Terakhir, peminggiran struktural terhadap perempuan dan kegagalan untuk mengakui pengalaman, pengetahuan dan kapasitas kepemimpinan mereka dalam penyusunan kebijakan pandemi serta pengalokasian sumber daya, secara efektif telah memperpanjang jangka waktu krisis multi dimensi yang diakibatkan oleh pandemi COVID-19.

    The post Kaum perempuan di garis depan: Peran kepemimpinan yang tak dihitung dalam penanganan COVID-19 appeared first on New Mandala.

    This post was originally published on New Mandala.

  • NZ should raise human plight of West Papuans at UN, says author

    RNZ Pacific

    A New Zealand explorer who trekked in West Papua before Indonesian rule says he is saddened to see what colonisation has done to the region’s indigenous people.

    Philip Temple, who is also a renowned author, was part of a small group who made the first recorded ascent of the Carstensz Pyramid in West Papua in 1962 before Dutch colonial rule ended.

    “The Dutch had already given [West Papua] its own flag and all that sort of thing. And in fact when we made the first ascent of the Carstenz Pyramid, that was the flag we took to the top,” he said.

    “It was a West Papuan flag that made it to the top, not an Indonesian flag.”

    Temple said it was sad to see ongoing human rights violations against West Papuans, and their marginalisation in their own homeland due to transmigration of settlers from other, heavily populated parts of Indonesia.

    Dani tribesmen with Philip Temple
    A member of the Dani tribe hangs on to Philip Temple for balance as he embarks on the first Yehlimeh trek. Image: Heinrich Harrer/RNZ

    He also cited the violence and displacement suffered by the indigenous people of Papua’s highlands due to ongoing conflict between Indonesian security forces and pro-independence fighters.

    This was the remote interior region where Temple explored six decades ago. Today it is also a resource-rich region where the one of the world’s largest gold mines, Grasberg, operated by US company Freeport McMoran, has been in operation since Indonesian administration began, producing major revenue for the state while devastating the environment.

    Papua example of modern colonisation
    What has happened to the territory, according to Temple, is another example of modern colonisation.

    “There’s quite a thing going on in New Zealand at the moment about the effects of colonisation, and yet not that far away in the geopolitical sphere, it’s happening right now,” he said.

    “What is really distressing for me is that the Dani people, who I got to know pretty well, they’ve been completely taken over by Indonesian settlers, especially in the Grand Valley, the Baliem, and they’re now treated as kind of curiosities by Indonesian visitors and so on.

    “It’s the same kind of thing that happened to Māori at the end of the 19th century.”

    Temple said that the New Zealand government’s reluctance to upset Indonesia by pushing for a resolution of the conflict in West Papua is at odds with its obligations to support the rights of indigenous Pacific peoples.

    He said there was a lot that New Zealand could do, including raising the issue at the United Nations level, and also review defence ties it has with Indonesia, as well as military exports to Indonesia.

    Descending to Mangaleme in the Toli Valley, Papua
    Descending to Mangaleme in the Toli Valley in Papua. Image: Philip Temple/RNZ

    NZ ‘closely monitors’ West Papua
    A spokesperson from New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it continued to closely monitor developments in Papua.

    “For example, earlier this year the New Zealand Ambassador met virtually with local government and civil society leaders in Papua,” he said.

    “We support the PIF (Pacific Islands Forum) Leaders’ call for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to be permitted to visit Papua, in a manner that is safe and consistent with covid-19 restrictions.

    “New Zealand recognises Papua as part of Indonesia’s sovereign territory. We encourage Indonesia to continue with its efforts to deliver on the goals and principles underpinning special autonomy for the benefit of all Papuans, including its recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples in Papua.

    “New Zealand continues to encourage Indonesia to promote and protect the human rights of all its citizens. We take appropriate opportunities to raise concerns with the Indonesian government.”

    Temple has written dozens of books, including The Last True Explorer: Into Darkest New Guinea, published by Godwit in 2002, which details his exporations of unmapped swathes of central New Guinea Highlands.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • 714,000 Papuans, 112 organisations oppose ‘failed’ special autonomy law

    Asia Pacific Report newsdesk

    As many as 714,066 Papuans and 112 organisations which are part of the Papuan People’s Petition (PRP) have rejected last week’s enactment into law of revisions to Law Number 21/2001 on Papua Special Autonomy (Otsus), reports CNN Indonesia.

    They believe that special autonomy is not the answer to resolving the problems in the land of Papua.

    “There’s no such thing as Otsus in the Papuan people’s dictionary. The Papuan people are asking for the right to self-determination,” said Rawarap from the group West Papua Youth and Student National Solidarity (Sonamapa) during a PRP event broadcast on the Suara Papua TV YouTube channel on Friday, July 16.

    Rawarap believes that special autonomy is a product conceived out of an illicit affair between the political elite in Papua and Jakarta. According to Rawarap, the policy has not accommodated the Papuan people at all.

    “Otsus is like an illegitimate child conceived during a sex party between the Papua elite and the Jakarta elite. We explicitly reject Otsus because Otsus is an illicit product. It’s the result of an illicit affair,” he added.

    Rawarap said that the decision by the House of Representatives (DPR) to ratify the revisions into law would not in any way make Papuans feel proud.

    More than 20 years of the implementation of special autonomy has failed to bring prosperity to the Papuan people.

    ‘Still many mama-mama‘
    “The fact also is that many have already explained that over the 20 years Otsus has been in force in the land of Papua, there are still many mama-mama [traditional Papuan women traders] who sell on the side of the road,” he said.

    “Still using cardboard, sacks as mats, sitting on the road selling areca.

    “The fact also is that there are still many Papuan children who drop out of school and cannot continue their studies at tertiary institutions because education is expensive, yet there is money from Otsus.

    “But, the fact is that many Papuan children drop out of study or do not continue school, and the unemployment rate is high — what is there to be proud of with Otsus?,” he asked.

    Rawarap then touched on the findings of the National Statistics Agency (BPS) which says that the Human Development Index for Papua and West Papua provinces are the lowest in the country despite Otsus being in place for two decades.

    “Sonamapa — along with the 112 organisations involved in the Papua People’s Petition reject Otsus — explicitly states that we reject Otsus Chapter II resulting out of secret revisions [to the Otsus Law] by the [DPR’s] special committee,” he said.

    PRP spokesperson Sam Awom said that group rejected all forms of compromise with any deliberations on special autonomy which failecd to involve ordinary Papuan people.

    ‘Return mandate to the people’
    “He also asked policy makers to return a mandate to the Papuan people to determine their own future,” he said.

    “We demand the immediate return to the Papuan people [of the right] to choose and determine their own future on whether they accept Otsus or independence as a country”, said Awom, reading out a statement.

    Awom declared that they would hold a national strike if the demands of the Papuan people were not followed up.

    “If the petition [against Otsus] is not followed up, then we will hold a national, peaceful civil strike throughout the territory of West Papua,” he said.

    Coordinating Minister for Security, Politics and Legal Affairs Mahfud MD has stated that the government will prioritise dialogue with “separatists” seeking self-determination and independence in Papua and use law enforcement against alleged armed criminal groups (KKB).

    “On the Papua issue the government will use an approach prioritising prosperity which is comprehensive and covers all aspects,” he said.

    “In confronting separatism, the government will prioritise dialogue.”

    Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was “714 Ribu Orang dan 112 Organisasi Diklaim Tolak Otsus Papua”.


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Indonesian lawmakers adopt unpopular bill to reshape Papua

    SPECIAL REPORT: By Johnny Blades, RNZ Pacific journalist

    Indonesia’s House of Representatives has passed a controversial bill that is expected to reshape the future administration of West Papua.

    The Revision of the Special Autonomy Law for the provinces of Papua and West Papua (known as the Otsus law) was ratified by Indonesian lawmakers despite widespread opposition by Papuans who have been calling instead for an independence referendum.

    The revised version of autonomy provisions first introduced 20 years ago paves the way for further division of Papua region into more administrative areas.

    It includes provision for the formation of new representative institutions at regency and municipal level, replacing the Regional Legislative Councils.

    Within these institutions, a quarter of seats are to be reserved for indigenous Papuans who are not members of any political parties, 30 percent of whom should be female.

    However, West Papuan customary, church and community groups say they were not properly consulted over the law, the first version of which they roundly rejected as having failed to protect their rights.

    Special Autonomy status was originally granted to West Papua in 2001 in response to growing Papuan demands for independence, purportedly to empower Papuans within the Indonesian republic framework.

    But implementation of the law was poor, misuse of public funds was rife, and violations against basic human rights of Papuans continued, with calls for a legitimate self-determination process persisting among the region’s indigenous people.

    Jayapura Harbour, Papua province, Indonesia
    Jayapura Harbour, Papua province, Indonesia … the revised version of autonomy provisions first introduced 20 years ago paves the way for further division of Papua region into more administrative areas. Image: RNZI/Johnny Blades

    Papuan rights, development marred by conflict
    Indonesia’s government has described the new law, which is valid for 20 years, as a conduit for fostering economic and human development in Papua.

    The Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian, a former national police chief who last year urged nationalist militia groups to play an active role in development of Papua, told Parliament the new bill would help Papuans prosper.

    But development is marred in Papua by ongoing conflict related to core grievances over how Indonesia took control of West Papua in the 1960s, without free consent from Papuans themselves, and the decades of human rights violations that followed.

    Since 2018, Papua province in particular has become increasingly militarised as Indonesian security forces deploy in growing numbers to respond to attacks in the highlands region by the West Papua Liberation Army’s guerilla fighters.

    It has resulted in deaths on both sides, and mass displacement of Papuan villagers caught in the middle of the conflict. It also gave Jakarta a reason to designate a new categorisation of “terrorist” for Papuans who fight for independence.

    Right up until Thursday, demonstrations by Papuans against the planned Special Autonomy extension were met with crackdowns by police who say such public events are forbidden while transmission of covid-19 is rampant across the country.

    A demonstration by West Papuans against the Indonesian government's plans for Special Autonomy provisions for their region, Manokwari, 15 July 2021
    A demonstration by West Papuans against the Indonesian government’s plans for Special Autonomy provisions for their region at Manokwari on 15 July 2021. Image: RNZ

    Dozens of Papuans were arrested for involvement in these demonstrations – it is not yet clear whether they will face treason charges like numerous Papuans involved in large anti-racism protests in 2019 are facing.

    Amnesty International appeal
    Amnesty International Indonesia made a last minute appeal to national lawmakers to postpone passing the Special Autonomy bill until Papuans had been properly consulted.

    Its executive director Usman Hamid said the government should ensure that indigenous Papuans were given meaningful involvement in the Special Autonomy law.

    “This can only happen if the government upholds the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly for all Papuans and stops using the article of treason to try peaceful protesters,” he said.

    The appeal was too late. Jakarta’s revised form of Special Autonomy will likely allow for Papua region to be further carved up into more political divisions, thereby diluting Papuan leadership and disempowering any party with self-determination aspirations.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Covid delta strain reaches PNG via cargo ship from Indonesia

    By Godwin Eki in Port Moresby

    Papua New Guinea has been hit with a positive delta variant case of covid-19 for the first time, Deputy Pandemic Controller Dr Esorom Daoni has confirmed.

    Dr Daoni said the case was confirmed around 9am yesterday after lab results had been sent back to Port Moresby from Melbourne, Australia.

    A 65-year-old Filipino, captain of the cargo ship Grand Tajima, contracted the delta variant after leaving Indonesia for Papua New Guinea on June 26.

    “We are grateful that procedures were followed when the ship docked and we managed to keep all crew including the captain under quarantine and do testing. The result, a positive case of the delta variant,” Dr Daoni said.

    “We also got the rest of the crew to be tested for covid-19 and tested positive. Six people tested positive, including the captain, who is the only person to have tested positive to the delta variant,” Dr Daoni said.

    He said the man departed from the Indonesian province of Kalimantan, heading for PNG, and became unwell while at sea. The ship arrived in Port Moresby on July 7.

    “We are keeping everyone in isolation and closely monitoring them. The 65-year-old is currently at the Pacific International Hospital while the others who tested positive to covid-19 are also in isolation facilities,” said Dr Daoni.

    Dr Daoni said that out of the 14 crew members, 6 were positive cases, one of whom is the ship’s captain, who was the only one confirmed positive case with the delta variant, while the other 5 tested positive to covid-19 — two seriously ill.

    “We are now going to have to do what we can for the safety of the general public, and like we said throughout, citizens are encouraged to follow the covid-19 protocol,” he said.

    “We know the delta variant is a serious case and we must start to take extra precautions.

    As we know, the delta variant has really hit hard international countries where many have lost their lives. I am encouraging everyone to get their covid-19 shots and please look after yourselves,” said Dr Daoni.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Indonesia records highest increase in covid cases –– numbers likely to rise again

    ANALYSIS: By Dicky Budiman, Griffith University

    Indonesia is currently experiencing a massive spike in COVID-19 infection and deaths, as experts (including myself) have unfortunately been predicting.

    The country recorded its largest single-day increase in new cases on July 13, with more than 47,000 infections.

    And this is likely to be a huge undercount because too few people are getting tested.

    The positivity rate — the percentage of people taking covid tests who return a positive result — currently sits at 26 percent, according to Our World In Data, which indicates Indonesia is almost certainly missing many more cases.

    Local research found 44 percent of Jakarta residents had antibodies against the virus. Only 8 percent had actually been confirmed cases.

    One reason for the low testing rates is a lack of access to covid tests. Free tests are only available in health-care facilities for people with symptoms or who have been in contact with confirmed cases.

    The price private laboratories charge for covid tests can be prohibitive.

    What’s gone wrong?
    The central government had resisted lockdowns, despite the hospital system hitting crisis point, and has instead prioritised keeping the economy open.

    Over the past 16 months, health authorities have struggled to implement contact tracing systems, where people who may have come in contact with the virus are asked to isolate to stop them spreading the virus.

    The government has downplayed the pandemic since the beginning, both underestimating the risk in its pandemic planning, and understating the harms in its public communication.

    There has been little transparency and poor public communication about the disease.

    These shortcomings have put Indonesia in an extremely vulnerable position. The islands of Java and Bali in particular are seeing record-breaking numbers of new cases and deaths.

    The faster-spreading delta variant is playing a significant role. Genomic analysis shows delta has displaced other SARS-CoV-2 variants which first circulated in Indonesia.

    What has the government done so far?
    On July 1, the government announced a semi-lockdown for Java and Bali. Under the restrictions, all employees in non-essential industries must work from home, while 50 percent of employees in essential industries, including finance, can work in an office.

    Critical sectors, such as health facilities and food outlets, may operate with total capacity on-site.

    Shopping malls must close, and grocery stores and supermarkets can operate until 8pm daily at 50 percent capacity. Food outlets can only offer takeaway or delivery services.

    Public transport may operate at 70 percent capacity. Air and long-distance bus and train travellers must produce a vaccine card indicating at least one dose of a covid vaccine.

    Face masks are mandatory in public areas.

    Authorities have instructed security forces to enforce the protocols.

    On July 7, these restrictions were expanded to all other parts of the country.

    A large part of the current strategy focuses on covid vaccination. By the end of June the country was administering one million vaccine doses a day, and has maintained a similar rate since then.

    But Indonesia currently lacks a robust system of testing, contact tracing and isolating, which should be the main strategy in dealing with a pandemic; the goal of restrictions should be to supplement and strengthen this strategy.

    When it will reach the peak?
    Based on my calculations, if the restrictions and mask mandates are adhered to, I estimate covid cases in Indonesia could peak in late July or early August, with new case numbers rising to 200,000 a day.

    But if restrictions are ineffective, we could see up to 400,000 new daily cases at the peak.

    I base these projections on a few factors. I start with the assumption that reported cases are a massive undercount. Then I use an estimate of the spreading rate of covid under certain assumptions, including whether or not restrictions are adhered to.

    I also use the number of reported deaths and work backwards to estimate how many cases are likely to have caused that many deaths.

    For example, over the last few days Indonesia has recorded around 1000 deaths per day. Deaths lag cases, so let’s look at new daily cases from three weeks ago — they were around 15,000 a day.

    But if we assume a case fatality rate of around 2 percent, that means 1000 deaths could translate to 50,000 cases.

    Because reported deaths are likely to be an undercount too, that figure could be more like 100,000 cases. So the real number of cases could be three to six times higher than reported cases.

    And that was three weeks ago.

    I also estimate the number of deaths each day will peak at the end of July or early August, with 1000 to 2300 deaths per day. The number of people in hospital and ICUs could reach 93,000 and 20,000 per day, respectively.

    What challenges must be overcome?
    The Indonesian government faces a number of challenges in controlling the covid crisis.

    Some parts of Indonesia are densely populated, including the covid epicentres Java, Bali and Madura, which makes it easier for the virus to spread. Therefore, the success of Indonesia’s pandemic control will depend on how the government handles the situation on these islands.

    Hospitals are increasingly becoming overwhelmed with some running out of oxygen.

    Other challenges include regional disparities in covid vaccination rates, the spread of false covid information, vaccine hesitancy, a lack of universal access to clean water, low immunisation coverage among children, and the poor socioeconomic status of most of the population.

    This makes it difficult for the government to apply stricter public health measures to contain the virus, as we’ve seen in more socioeconomically advantaged countries.

    Australia’s role
    As a high GDP country which has been successful in suppressing covid, Australia has an obligation to help protect Indonesia and the region by providing international aid.

    Last week, Australia announced a support package, with 2.5 million AstraZeneca vaccines, along with oxygen supplies, rapid testing kits, and ventilators.

    Bilateral and regional cooperation is essential during the covid crisis; no country can be safe until all countries are safe.
    The Conversation

    Dicky Budiman, MD, epidemiologist and PhD candidate on Global Health Security, Griffith University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.