Agnes Anya – The dispute between the Jakarta administration and Luar Batang residents of North Jakarta has grown more bitter with the residents violently showing their refusal toward the officials telling them to leave.

Hundreds of the residents staged a rally in front of City Hall on Tuesday, unfurling banners and posters demanding the resignation of Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama.

Some of the protestors, who were mostly male teenagers, then threw plastic water bottles at a crowd of reporters who were covering the event. The reporters, however, did not respond aggressively and the situation did not descend into violence.

"Your coverage of our situation in Luar Batang is useless. Your news does not make the administration revoke its plan," said a protestor.

On Monday evening, some residents reportedly attacked a Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) officer who was accompanying city secretary Saefullah on a visit to Luar Batang. The officer was reportedly hospitalized with an open wound on his forehead.

Commenting on the incident, Luar Batang mosque secretary Mansur Amin said on Tuesday that residents were angry because Saefullah had emphasized during his visit that the city would proceed with the eviction plan.

Moreover, he added, the residents suspected that Saefullah visit had an ulterior motive, namely to bring the first eviction warning letter. On the same day, Saefullah denied the allegation and said he merely wanted to provide uniforms for the Mosque caretakers.

"I visited Luar Batang mosque last night at around 8 p.m. because I wanted to measure the bodies of Luar Batang Mosque caretakers," said Saefullah, adding that aside from Satpol PP officers, he had also brought along a tailor. "We want to make the area a religious tourism location, right? Therefore, the caretakers should have an attractive uniform."

However, he added, more and more people had come to the mosque to display their rejection of the eviction plan. Therefore, he decided to leave the area. He further said that Tuesday's visit was the third time he had come to Luar Batang after he previously met with local officials to design the tourism spot.

Earlier this year, the Jakarta administration announced that it would evict residents of Luar Batang and Pasar Ikan, which are adjacent to each other, in a bid to revitalize Islamic tourism along the city's north coast. It plans to connect the area to another tourist destination, Kota Tua (old city) in West Jakarta.

Although having announced the eviction plan, which has aroused anger among Luar Batang residents, the administration has yet to finish designing the master plan of the redesigned tourism destination.

"We still do not know the details [of the plan] as we are still designing the blueprint," said the city's deputy for spatial planning and environment, Oswar Muadzin Mungkasa, last week. "We have not made the master plan as we are still discussing the matter with related officials."

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/05/04/luar-batang-residents-put-fight-defend-their-homes.html

Threatened fishermen rally against reclamation project

Jakarta Post - May 3, 2016

Elly Burhaini Faizal – The sun shone brightly on the hundreds of fishermen occupying reclaimed Islet G in Jakarta Bay on Sunday, April 17. Holding aloft dozens of banners, the fishermen climbed the piles of sand dredged elsewhere and dumped in the bay, and spread out their banners, emblazoned with messages such as "#JakartaTolakReklamasi" (Jakarta opposes reclamation) and "Stop Reklamasi Berselimut Korupsi" (Stop corruption-tainted reclamation).

The fishermen voiced their protest amid suffocating heat, accusing the city government of pursuing a policy that favors only the business interests of big developers in the city, while depriving local fishermen of their livelihoods.

Islet G is one of 17 islets being or to be developed as part of a major reclamation project in Jakarta Bay. Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama has insisted on pressing ahead with the multitrillion-rupiah project, which comprises offshore reclamation and the development of 17 artificial islets.

At least eight property companies have obtained reclamation permits from the Jakarta administration, according to the People's Coalition for Fisheries Justice (KIARA). The advocacy group has further revealed that PT Muara Wisesa Samudera, a subsidiary of property developer PT Agung Podomoro Land (APL), which was granted a permit to develop Islet G, is one of the eight companies granted with reclamation permits. On Islet G, plans have been made to build houses, malls, offices and apartments.

It is not an exaggeration for the fishermen of Jakarta Bay to say that the Jakarta administration has shown favor solely to the interests of private profit. The arrest of Jakarta city councillor Mohamad Sanusi on March 31 on suspicion of accepting bribes from Trinanda Prihantoro, an APL employee, indicates the company's effort to smoothen the project by all means possible. At the same time, the alleged involvement of Sunny Tanuwijaya, an adviser to Ahok, in the bribery case throws ever-darker shadows on the governor's seemingly blind insistence on pressing ahead with the project.

The central government has not yet approved the reclamation; the provincial administration issued reclamation permits despite the absence of the requisite coastal area and small island zoning bylaw. Sunny, a Northern Illinois University (NIU) graduate student who has been in the governor's brains trust since the latter stood in the last gubernatorial elections as deputy to now President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, has repeatedly admitted to acting as a mediator between Ahok and business figures.

The alleged bribing of Sanusi was apparently aimed at influencing the deliberation of bills on the zoning of Jakarta's coastal areas for the period 2015-2035 and on the North Jakarta Strategic Area Spatial Plan. These bills, once passed into city bylaws, were expected to ease the administration's handling of the Jakarta Bay reclamation project.

The reclamation permits issued by the Jakarta administration contradict Article 34 of Law No. 1/2014 in reference to Law No. 27/2007 on the management of coastal areas and small islands, KIARA says. Article 34 stipulates that any reclamation must take into account the lives and livelihoods of local people affected.

"The firm opposition expressed by coastal communities in the Jakarta Bay to the reclamation project is rooted in their concerns that it will lead to the disappearance of their livelihoods and their continued existence in the area," KIARA's deputy head for information management, Parid Ridwanuddin, told thejakartapost.com in a interview.

Recent reports of sharp declines in sea catches in the bay since reclamation began are a strong indication that individual fishermen will have to bear the cost of the adverse social and economic impacts of the reclamation project.

Jakarta-chapter Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) executive director Puput TD Putra says the large-scale reclamation project will disturb mangrove vegetation and its ecosystem in Jakarta Bay and surrounding areas. Mangroves play, according to Puput, a vital role in holding back sea currents and slowing erosion, acting as a natural flood-defense system that does not entail sacrificing the local ecosystem. Mangroves have additional benefit, too, such as serving as good breeding grounds for fish and other marine wildlife.

"The reclamation could further disrupt the ecosystem," Puput told thejakartapost.com. Reclamation, he said, would probably see mangrove vegetation destroyed, on the grounds that it was no longer needed because reclaimed islets would themselves serve to slow the currents in the bay. This would trigger great losses to coastal communities, which depend on fishing in mangrove forests.

The biota and coral reef lost in Jakarta Bay and surrounding areas are another environmental impact of reclamation that Walhi is deeply concerned about. Many small-scale fisher families hunt fish, green mussels or shellfish in the area as an alternative livelihood. Loss of biota and coral reef will as such plunge a whole subsection of Jakarta society into poverty.

Around 18,000 fishermen in the Jakarta Bay will at a stroke lose their fishing grounds if reclamation goes ahead. They will have to search for fishing grounds farther out to sea, entailing spending more money on fuel.

If these men and their families are not to see their livelihoods lost and their lives turned down, it is imperative that the reclamation megaproject, currently under a temporary moratorium, be called off once and for all.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/05/03/threatened-fishermen-rally-against-reclamation-project.html

Hundreds of North Jakartans protest evictions

Jakarta Post - May 3, 2016

Callistasia Anggun Wijaya – Hundreds of North Jakarta residents held a rally in front of Jakarta City Hall on Tuesday to protest the frequent evictions by the Jakarta administration under the leadership of Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama.

The protestors, grouped under the North Jakarta Residents Alliance (AMJU), called on the governor to put a halt to evictions as they said that the action had caused many people to become homeless, particularly if they were not relocated to low-cost apartments.

Among the protesters were residents of Luar Batang in North Jakarta, the next target of evictions by the city administration.

The areas most recently hit with evictions were Pasar Ikan and Akuarium, two coastal areas near Luar Batang. In February, the city also evicted the Kalijodo red-light district, also in North Jakarta, to be converted into parks.

They also protested what they believed to be the plan of the city administration to allow the construction of luxury apartments near Luar Batang Mosque.

"Luar Batang Mosque is an iconic place so it cannot not be surrounded by apartments and a plaza. The administration can carry out development but they can't disregard the basic concept of the mosque," Jamran, a rally coordinator, said.

Ahok spoke briefly about the protest, stressing that he respected the aspirations conveyed through the demonstration. "Democracy allows demonstrations. Therefore, anyone can carry out a demonstration," Ahok said.

Among the protesters were school children, who admitted that they skipped classes to participate in the demonstration. The protesters called on the governor to step down and mocked police officers securing City Hall.

Ahok said initially that the city administration would carry out evictions in Luar Batang in May to implement a revitalization plan for Luar Batang Mosque and its surrounding areas. However, the plan was postponed on account of protests and a lack of low-cost apartments to accommodate the evictees.

Later, the city said it would purchase land in Luar Batang to develop low-cost apartments. Jamran, however, said the residents opposed the administration's plan to revitalize Luar Batang Mosque. (bbn)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/05/03/hundreds-of-north-jakartans-protest-evictions.html

West Papua

KNPB activists claim torture by police

Tabloid JUBI - May 6, 2016

Jayapura, Jubi – Activists from the West Papuan National Committee said they were tortured and beaten up by police during their detention.

Protest Coordinator at Expo rally point Warpo Wetipo said the torture against seven activists took place in a special detention room named Karel Satsuitubun in the police headquarters. "The seven of us were treated inhumanly. They treated us like animals," Wetipo told Jubi in Abepura, Jayapura City on Tuesday (3/5/2016)

He said during the interrogation, officers stepped on the activists' chests or backs, some repeatedly beat them on the head with rifle butts. "An officer came and hit me on my ear. For a minute I lost my consciousness. I regained consciousness when I felt something warm out of my ear. I grabbed it and it was blood," he said.

When other officers came, they kicked him on the chest and back. He said he felt the pain after he woke up the next morning. "Yesterday I didn't feel any pain but I felt the pain. I have difficulty breathing while going up and down the stairs at the dormitory," he said.

KNPB activist Arim Tabuni who arrested at Lingkaran Abepura admitted the Police have acted brutally. They scattered the rally and arrested some activists. The activists were loaded into the Police armored truck and brought them to the Mobile Brigade Command Headquarters.

"They tortured and arrested us at 9:00 am in Lingkaran Abepura. They took us into the armored truck and told us to hand up. They beat us on the chest and head, mostly on the chest. So we looked not hurts," he said on Thursday (5/5/2016).

In the special detention cell, he said, the temperature was extremely hot; they were told to remove their pants. Some activists refused to do it, but some officers did it. "Some activists refused to do so. There were officers telling not to do as well," he said.

During the interrogation, he said the Police terrorized the activists, threatened to kill them and throw their body to the sea. "These four, just kill them. Put their bodies in the sack bag and throw it into the sea for the fishes," said Tabuni imitating the officers when interrogating at the detention cell.

Besides the seven activists, said Warpo, there are four activists being beaten during the detention, including a female activist who arrested at Lingkaran Abepura.

When interviewed by Jubi, she told the Police pulled her cloth. "They pulled off my cloth. My bra untied showing my chest. I was topless. They dragged me to the Police car injuring my right knee and elbow," she pointed her wounds to Jubi.

She said that her and her friends were topless when brought to the Mobile Brigade Command Headquarters. The Police offered her a cloth to cover her chest but she refused it. "I told them I was born from a bare-chest mother. So I told them here I am. I never did something wrong," she repeated her words to the Police on 2 May 2016.

Papua Police Spokesperson Adjunct Senior Commissionaire Patrige Renwarin when being confirmed about this said the Police did not conduct any violence, they only secured the situation. The activists have been released in the afternoon. "No torture," said Renwarin through short message to Jubi on Wednesday afternoon (4/5/2016).

Papua Police Chief Inspector General Paulus Waterpauw who came in the negotiation with legislators of Papua Legislative Council and Rev. Benny Giay to release the activists at Mobile Brigade Command Headquarters confirmed some activists were injured.

"I was informed that there are four activists. Please report it if there are some who are wounded. If afraid, they could make a report through the National Human Rights Commission, Mr. Frits Ramandey will stand for them. We will facilitate it," said the Chief in his speech before the release of protesters on 2 May 2016.

He said he appreciated the protesters who were cooperation though some were wounded. "We don't want any fatalities," he said.

Human rights lawyer Gustaf Kawer said these detention and torture just repeated the same experience. The Police never want to change their pattern to not repeat the same mistake. He said the Police should open the room for the protesters. The restriction, silencing and torturing would only fertilize the idealism. "Ideology, this movement would grow big and wider," he said at the square of the Mobile Brigade Command Headquarters.

According to him, if there is a confession on torturing, it has violated the international covenant of anti-violence. "Telling the activists to remove their cloths; let them under the sun, it could be considered to violate the anti-violence covenant," he said.

Those who claimed to be tortured and beaten are Warpo Wetipo (31), Doli Ubruangge (27), Arim Tabuni (21), Matias Suu (21), Goty Gobay (23), Kombawe Wanimbo (25), Elias Mujijau (19), Agust Pahabol (23) and Izon Kobak (23). (Benny Mawel/rom)

Source: http://tabloidjubi.com/eng/knpb-activists-claim-torture-by-police/

Lawmakers condemn foreign interference in Papua

Jakarta Globe - May 6, 2016

Jakarta – Indonesia's House of Representatives has condemned a meeting by the International Parliamentarians for West Papua, or IPWP, that took place at the British Houses of Parliament in London earlier this week, calling it a "reflection of colonial acts."

"It is final; Papua is part of the NKRI [Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia]. This position has been affirmed by the UN [United Nations], so the IPWP [meeting] is an act outside of the law. This meeting should be condemned by the world and by the British government," the House said in an official statement on Friday (06/05).

The House further stated that President Joko Widodo has shown a strong commitment to resolving domestic issues, including the protection of human rights in Papua.

"Within the first one-and-a-half years of Jokowi's administration, eastern Indonesia's economic growth has surpassed that of the western part of the country," the statement said, referring to the president by his popular nickname.

The House also rejected the IPWP's proposal of establishing a fact-finding mission to investigate the issue of Papuan independence, saying that Indonesia wishes to resolve its domestic conflicts without compromising its sovereignty.

"In addition, the House also fully supports the Indonesian government's new diplomatic strategy to extend and strengthen partnerships with Pacific nations," said the statement, signed by House Commission I deputy chairman Tubagus Hasanuddin and lawmakers I Mahfudz Siddik, Tantowi Yahya, Irene Roba, Charles Honoris, Tuti Roosdiono and Eva Sundari.

The leader of Britain's opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, called for a UN-supervised independence vote in West Papua during Tuesday's IPWP meeting in London.

The cause has gained support from West Papuan separatist leader Benny Wenda, who has been living in exile in London since 2003, and Australian Senator Richard di Natale, who is the leader of the Greens minority party.

In a string of tweets on Friday, the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra disputed claims by the campaign and reaffirmed the government's plan to revitalize infrastructure in Papua.

The embassy also rejected the London meeting, calling it a "publicity stunt" on behalf of Benny and the United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULWMP), which came a day after hundreds of Papuan activists were arrested during protests in Indonesia.

Source: http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/lawmakers-condemn-foreign-interference-papua/

Bring in West Papua, keep Indonesia out: VFWPA

Vanuatu Daily Post - May 6, 2016

Godwin Ligo – Leaders and members of the Vanuatu-Free West Papua Association (VFWPA) presented a Communique to the Deputy Director of the Melanesian Spearhead Group Secretariat (MSG) Mr. Molean Kalpak, requesting him to pass the Communique on to the MSG Chair and Leaders to allow West Papua full membership in the MSG and keep Indonesia out of the MSG.

The Vanuatu-West Papua Association Chairman, Pastor Alan Nafuki, and Vice-Chairman who is also President of the Malvatumauri National Council of Chiefs, Chief Tirsupe Seni-Mao, led the Vanuatu- Free West Papua Association delegation to the MSG Headquarters in Port Vila. Some members of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) were also present.

The Vice-Chairman of the Vanuatu-Free West Papua Association Chief Tirsupe Seni Mao, presented the Communique to the Deputy Director of the MSG Secretariat Mr. Molean Kilepak, in a Vanuatu traditionally woven basket with the namele leaves which is a symbol of peace throughout Vanuatu.

"This Vanuatu Melanesian Traditional Basket symbolizes MSG. Placing the Communique in it is a call for the MSG (Basket) Leaders to bring into the MSG the West Papua full membership and remove Indonesia out of the Basket (MSG) peacefully."

"We humbly call on you (Mr. Kilepak) to convey this message together with the Communique to the Chairman of the MSG and all the MSG leaders before the next MSG Meeting," said the Vanuatu-Free West Papua Association Vice-Chairman, Chief Tirsupe Seni Mao.

In receiving the Basket, the Namele leaves and the Communique, the Deputy Director of the MSG Secretariat Molean Kilepak, said the MSG Secretariat is here to facilitate the work for the MSG, its leaders and members but the decision is not made by the MSG Secretariat but by the MSG Chair and Leaders of the member countries. He told the leaders and members of the VFWPA that the Secretariat will pass the Petition on to the Chair and the leaders.

The Communique contains 5 key resolutions passed by the Association in a Communique called Owen Hall Communique which calls for the MSG to grant full MSG Membership to West Papua and remove Indonesia Membership from the MSG.

Part of the Communique reads: "The Meeting was convened at the right time when Melanesian Spearhead Group is considering the full membership ULMWP.

The meeting called for the removal of Indonesia's membership of the MSG.

"In the Spirit of solidarity and Partnership, Civil Society Leaders:

"1. RE-AFFIRM our resolve to play a complementary role with the MSG leaders to progress development and improve the lives and wellbeing of Melanesian People.

"2. EXPRESS SOLIDARITY with the MSG of its commitments under the preamble of the MSG Constitution, the 2013 Noumea Communique to support the inalienable rights of the people of West Papua towards self-determination and the inclusion of West Papua as an Observer in the MSG at the 2015 MSG Summit.

"3. CALL UPON THE MSG to accept and endorse the full membership of the ULMWP at the 2016 MSG Summit.

"4. FURTHER CALL on the MSG and the Melanesian countries to denounce the ongoing genocide of West Papua Melanesians and colonial rule by Indonesia.

"5. APPEAL TO Pacific Island governments and the International Community for:

"External international intervention into the West Papua emergency situation; recognition and confirmation of ULMWP as rightful leaders of the struggles of West Papua; challenging the Netherlands and the United Nations on legality of Indonesian powers over West Papua; sponsoring of a resolution for the re-unification of West Papua into the United Nations Decolonization list; sponsoring the case of West Papua in the International Court of Justice seeking a judgment on the legality of the 1969 "Act of Free Choice" and supporting the Self-determination and independence of West Papua."

The Communique was dated May 3, 2016 on behalf of participants of the Owen Hall Meeting and signed by; Pastor Alan Nafuki, Chairman Vanuatu Free West Papua Association, Moli Seni Mao Tirsupe, President Malvatumauri Council of Chiefs, Vanuatu, Ms Emele Duituturaga, Executive Director Pacific Islands Association of Non-Government Organizations and Mr. Peter Amdt, Coordinating Team Leader, Australia West Papua Solidarity Movement.

Source: http://dailypost.vu/news/bring-in-west-papua-keep-indonesia-outvfwpa/article_29c600f1-4cbc-5e18-bdbe-818f982ec4d7.html

Report says West Papuans fear they will lose everything

Radio New Zealand International - May 6, 2016

An Australia Catholic group which sent a fact finding team to West Papua says there are no signs that the economic and social status of Papuans is improving.

Transcript

Politicians in Australia have frequently claimed that the economic and social plight of the indigenous people of Indonesia's West Papua region is improving.

But a new report, based on a fact finding mission earlier this years shows this is not the case. The report, from the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission in Brisbane, is called 'We will Lose Everything'.

Don Wiseman asked Peter Arndt, who led the two person team to Papua in February, if he saw any evidence to back up the Australian claims.

Peter Arndt: No, frankly no. We certainly have got the message from the Australian government in letters that we've received on several occasions. But the situation that we found in Papua is that the human rights situation is not improving. The people certainly told us that it is continuing to be a difficult situation to live in, with security forces routinely using violence and intimidation to keep the people, especially those wanting to express their political views about self-determination, at bay. And certainly that's been confirmed too by a prominent Indonesian human rights organisation, KONTRAS, which is the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence, who said that their records showed that there was something like over 1200 cases of human rights violations in the last year (in Papua) and that meant there was no improvement since President Widodo was elected towards the end of 2014.

Don Wiseman: Did your group actually see any examples, did you see anything first hand in terms of violent incidents?

PA: No we didn't see any violent incidents. But certainly on the visit we paid in February this year, and the visit I was on in January, February last year, on both occasions there was an attempt by police and in some cases other security forces to intervene, to interrogate us and so on. On this occasion, our host was able to make sure that the police didn't call us up for interrogation. On the last occasion, police and intelligence and immigration all descended on us, and wanted to take us away and interrogate us immediately. But our local hosts intervened and gave us a few hours to prepare ourselves, and then we presented ourselves for interrogation, and thankfully were let go. So we've had firsthand experience of the security forces, keeping a close eye on people and trying to stop people from investigating the human rights situation. And we were shown photos and so on of people who had been bashed by the military and so on in our last visit, a very recent incident – one of the bishops showed us a photo of a person whom he knew had been bashed by soldiers for complaining about not getting paid for two months.

DW: Did you have any discussions with representatives of the Indonesian government?

PA: No, no we didn't. I did go over by myself after the end of the Papuan leg to Jakarta, and talked to some community organisations. I did make an attempt to speak to an official from the Australian embassy, to report on what we had found when we were in West Papua. But for some reason my appointment was cancelled 45 minutes before it was due to be held. So that's the closest I've got to an official. But certainly no Indonesian officials.

DW: This report, I know it's been taken around the Pacific and being presented right now. What does your group hope to achieve?

PA: Well we made it clear from the start that this report is something that we're trying to ensure is an accurate reflection of the voices of the Papuan people inside West Papua. So they worked closely with us to organise the visit and to prepare the report. And they gave it authorisation to be released. We want it to be something that is widely disseminated throughout the Pacific and globally as an authentic representation of the experiences of the people of West Papua, so the world hears clearly what they are experiencing on a day-to-day basis, what their concerns about their immediate future are, and what they hope can happen to change their situation, because they feel very desperate and anxious about their situation at present. The title of the report says "We Will Lose Everything", that's what one of the leaders of the Papuans said to us in Brisbane in January. They are very worried that within a few years, the (Papuan) population will dwindle to a tiny percentage of the population in West Papua, it'll be dominated by Indonesian migrants, and that they will continue to be deeply marginalised economically and socially. So they want people to hear their story and their desperation, and to take effective action to change that situation in West Papua before it's too late for them.

Source: http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/programmes/datelinepacific/audio/201799624/report-says-west-papuans-fear-they-will-lose-everything

Jeremy Corbyn on West Papua: UK Labour leader calls for independence vote

The Guardian (Australia) - May 6, 2016

Jeremy Corbyn has drawn attention to the plight of West Papuans, saying the recognition of human rights and justice should be the "cornerstone" of the UK Labour party's foreign policy.

The Labour leader made the comments in an address to a meeting of international parliamentarians, supporters and activists in London on Tuesday.

The group, which included Pacific region ministers and leaders, among them the West Papuan independence leader Benny Wenda, called for a UN-supervised independence vote in the Indonesian territory.

West Papuans are the indigenous people of a region on the western half of the island shared with Papua New Guinea, formerly under Dutch rule. Indonesia took temporary control of West Papua under a UN – backed treaty in 1963. It consolidated its rule through a UN-sanctioned but discredited ballot in 1969, in which barely 1,000 West Papuan representatives selected by Indonesia cast votes under threat of violence.

Wenda, who sought asylum in the UK in 2003 after escaping prison in West Papua, has led an international campaign for independence, drawing attention to continuing acts of violence and alleged human rights abuses by Indonesian authorities. Indonesian police have arrested thousands of West Papuans in recent weeks.

"Essentially what we're looking at is a group of people who did not enjoy their rights during a period of decolonisation, did not enjoy the rights bestowed to them by the UN charter and by the statutes on decolonisation," Corbyn said.

"As a member of parliament I support them, as a member of this group and as a former vice-chair of the all-party human rights group."

Recognising human rights and justice "has to be the cornerstone of foreign policy, the cornerstone of our relationship with every other country", Corbyn said, pledging he would discuss a list of recommendations made by the group with the Labour party.

"I want these issues to become central to our party's policies in the future and above all I want to see an end to environmental degradation and destruction and the right of people to be able to make their own choice on their own future."

Corbyn, who is a cofounder of the International Parliamentarians for West Papua, described Monday's gathering as "historic" and said the recommendations put forward were a good framework for moving towards recognition of the human rights issues, rights of representation and the right of people to choose their future in West Papua.

He noted the recommendation called for a visit by the UN special rapporteur, the reinstatement of NGOs in the region and questioning of international companies working in West Papua.

"It's about a political strategy that brings to worldwide recognition the plight of the people of West Papua, forces it onto a political agenda, forces it to the UN, forces an exposure of it and ultimately that allows the people of West Papua to make the choice of the kind of government they want and the kind of society in which they want to live," he said. "That is a fundamental right."

He said the international community could continue "pretending the issue will go away" or it could "do something bold".

"Recognise injustice when you see it," he said. "Recognise the abuse of human rights when you see it and recognise that both sides in any conflict benefit from a peace process and benefit from recognition of human rights, law and justice."

The Free West Papua campaign hopes to see a UN resolution within two years to send international peacekeepers to protect West Papuans as they vote on independence. It urged international governments – particularly those of Australia and New Zealand – to support the vote.

"For 50 years Indonesia massacred my people, 500,000 people. We need international peacekeeping force in West Papua," Wenda said. "In maybe another 10 or 20 or 50 years time I think my people will become a minority. We need this as soon as possible."

On Friday the Indonesian embassy in Australia released a statement dismissing the meeting as a publicity stunt organised by a "small group of Papua separatists and sympathisers".

"Papua and Papua Barat (West Papua) are parts of Indonesia. The UN and the international community recognise this," it said in a series of tweets.

It accused the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, which Wenda leads, of making "false claims" and said West Papuans already had self-determination through special autonomy, free and fair elections, and education.

"President Jokowi is mobilising resources of the nation to deliver much needed infrastructure and public services in Papua," it said.

"However, cases of violence are still a challenge. For example cases killed civilians, members of security authorities and separatists. Many cases are brought to court. And more to be brought to justice. President Jokowi is personally looking after human rights protections."

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/06/jeremy-corbyn-on-west-papua-uk-labour-leader-calls-for-independence-vote

Arrest of Papuans showcases paradox in democracy, human rights: Activist

Jakarta Post - May 5, 2016

Nether Dharma Somba – Rights activists in Papua have slammed the arrest of 1,888 students and activists who were carrying out a peaceful rally on Monday to support the United Liberation Movement for West Papua's campaign to gain full membership of the Melanesia Spearhead Group.

They said the arrests revealed Indonesia's paradoxical democracy and attitude toward human rights.

"During his visit to Papua to release five political prisoners in 2015, President Jokowi said he would open democracy up as widely as possible in Papua. However, the stifling of that aspiration has been continuous. Indonesia is widely acclaimed as Asia's biggest democratic country, but in Papua, voicing your aspirations is prohibited," Ferdinand Marisan, the director of rights group Elsham Papua, said in Jayapura on Wednesday.

According to Elsham Papua, the difference between what the government has stated and what it has done reveals the paradox in Indonesia's democracy and its upholding of human rights. "Efforts by the government to uphold human rights, and its statements on freedom of expression, are aimed at merely creating a good image because the silencing of [opinions] has continued to happen," Ferdinand said.

Gustaf Kawer, a law practitioner in Papua who often gives legal assistance in cases involving separatism, said the stifling of voices in the province, where many want to separate from the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI), was getting stronger and continued to affect more and more Papua residents and youths.

"Last year, only hundreds of Papuan people were arrested for [protesting] for freedom, or separation from Indonesia. Now more and more people are being arrested and recently, around 1,000 people were arrested and taken to the Mobile Brigade [Brimob] Kotaraja headquarters," said Gustaf.

"People's aspirations cannot be silenced. The harder they try to silence us, the stronger we will voice our aspirations," he said. The arrest of 1,888 Papuan residents, he continued, was in violation of human rights and various laws that ensured freedom of expression.

As reported earlier, during the commemoration ceremony for National Education Day on Monday, West Papua National Committee members staged a rally, rejecting the integration of Papua into Indonesia, a move which was formalized on May 1, 1963. Security arrested the protesters and took them all to the local Brimob headquarters in Kotaraja, Jayapura, where they were held in a field at the headquarters from 9 a.m. to 7.30 p.m. local time.

Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Paulus Waterpauw said the activists were arrested because the police had not issued a permit for the rally, adding that they were prohibited from staging any rally in support of separation from Indonesia. Several demonstrators were reportedly beaten and journalists were not allowed to cover the arrest.

Papua Legislative Council Speaker Yunus Wonda regretted the repressive measures used by security officers. "The police should have taken a persuasive approach in guarding the [rally]. If the arrests happened because they were voicing their aspirations, democracy in Papua is being silenced," said Yunus.

Elsham Papua considers the government not serious about resolving human rights violations in Papua. Though many rights violations have occurred in Papua, only one case has been brought before the human rights tribunal, and the perpetrator in that case released.

"Human rights violations in Papua have continued to occur and none of them have been resolved. There is no government willingness to properly resolve the cases, which leads the people to lose their trust in the government because there is no justice for victims," said Ferdinand.

Elsham Papua has made three recommendations following the incident. First, it has called on the Pacific Islands Forum to dispatch a fact-finding team to Papua to meet with victims of human rights violations, which have been occurring since May 1, 1963, and continue today.

Second, it calls on UN member countries, international human rights organizations and all networks in support of upholding human rights to also establish a fact-finding team. Elsham Papua expects this team to visit Papua before the UN Human Rights Council conducts its Universal Periodic Review in 2017.

Third, Elsham Papua calls on the government to be ready and willing to cooperate with neutral third parties in carrying out an investigation on human rights violations in Papua. The investigation, the rights groups states, should not involve the Indonesian Military or the National Police, two institutions that it claims have often committed human rights violations in Papua. (afr/ebf)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/05/05/arrest-of-papuans-showcases-paradox-in-democracy-human-rights-activist.html

Support for West Papua

Fiji Times - May 5, 2016

Matilda Simmons and Tevita Vuibau – SODELPA says they continue to stand with the people of West Papua in their struggle for self determination, their show of support coming just days after a damning report on Indonesian human rights violations in West Papua was released.

SODELPA president Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu made the comments yesterday as Indonesian soldiers arrived in Fiji to help with the rebuilding of Queen Victoria School in Tailevu.

The report titled "We Will Lose Everything," was compiled by a two-person delegation from the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission of the Archdiocese of Brisbane.

The pair, Commission Executive Officer, Peter Arndt, and Sister of St Joseph from Sydney, Sr Susan Connelly spent two weeks in West Papua early this year travelling through Merauke, Jayapura, Timika and Sorong.

It noted reports of human rights violations by members of the Indonesian security forces had not declined nor had the economic and social status of Papuans improved.

"While we welcome their valuable assistance in rebuilding Queen Victoria School, the school which has produced distinguished leaders of this nation, this should not be a reason for Government's acquiesce on Indonesia's continuing abuse of human rights on West Papua," Ratu Naiqama said.

"Our Melanesian brothers and sisters can count on a future SODELPA Government to support indigenous rights and movements in Melanesia and in the South Pacific".

Launching the report at St Andrews Presbyterian Church in Suva on Tuesday, the Head of the Anglican Diocese of Polynesia, Archbishop Winston Halapua said the Pacific needed to stand with West Papua in their struggle for self-determination.

"The message is, stand strong and do not be afraid, with God nothing is impossible. As the Pacific, we have done this before, standing together recently prior to the Paris Climate Change Agreement talks to raise our voices," Archbishop Halapua said.

Source: http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=352431

NZ government concerned about human rights abuses in Papua

Radio New Zealand International - May 5, 2016

On Monday as many as 1,700 people were arrested in demonstrations across all of the main Papuan cities.

The demonstrations were in support of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua's bid to be a full member of the Melanesian Spearhead Group, as well as the International Parliamentarians for West Papua summit held in London this week.

Responding to questions in parliament today from opposition Green MP Catherine Delahunty about ongoing human rights abuses the Foreign Minister Murray McCully said New Zealand had always been concerned about the situation in West Papua.

"I have been following the reports of arrests with some interest. The government is concerned about these matters and the government wants to see an improvement in the situation in that part of the world. The government does not believe that megaphone diplomacy will serve that objective."

Earlier this week the government blocked a motion by Ms Delahunty which was to have asked New Zealand's parliament to support the call by the International Parliamentarians for West Papua for a referendum on self-determination in Papua.

Source: http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/303151/nz-govt-concerned-about-human-rights-abuses-in-papua

West Papua report dismisses Canberra's claims

Radio New Zealand International - May 5, 2016

Claims by Canberra that the plight of West Papuans in the Indonesian region is improving are false, according to an Australian Catholic Church fact finding mission's report.

The mission in February by the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission in Brisbane has produced a report called 'We will Lose Everything'

Peter Arndt, who led the fact finding team, says the indigenous people they met made it clear the human rights situation was not improving and it remains a difficult environment.

"With security forces routinely using violence and intimidation to keep the people, and especially those wanting to express their political views about self determination, at bay," he said.

Following his last trip to West Papua, Mr Arndt said he went to Jakarta where he said he made an attempt to speak to an official from the Australian embassy, to report on what his team had found in Papua. "But for some reason my appointment was cancelled 45 minutes before it was due to be held."

Peter Arndt said it's hoped that the report, which is being progressively launched around the Pacific, would lead to a greater understanding of what is happening in West Papua.

Some Papuans say life in their region has improved significantly, compared to the years under the rule of Indonesia's President Suharto who fell in 1998. But the proportion of West Papuans to the overall population of their region is declining quickly as non-Papuan migrants stream in on a regular basis, via the state-facilitated transmigration system.

Mr Arndt explained that Papuans he had spoken to were very worried that they would continue to be deeply marginalised economically and socially. "So they want people to hear their story and their desperation," he said, "and to take effective action to change that situation in West Papua before it's too late for them."

Source: http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/303138/west-papua-report-dismisses-canberra's-claims

Australian report excoriates Indonesia, church over Papua

UCA News - May 4, 2016

Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – Church officials in Indonesia welcomed a report by an Australian archdiocese that criticizes the country for persistent human rights abuses in West Papua, and the church for not doing enough to stop it.

The Archdiocese of Brisbane's Justice and Peace Commission officially launched the 24-page report, "We Will Lose Everything" on May 1. The report was based on the commission's fact-finding mission to West Papua in February that found no improvement to the human rights situation there.

The report said the genesis of the present violence and marginalization endured by the Papuan people was in the shabby dealings by international powers that enabled the Indonesian government to annex West Papua in 1963 without the consent of the people.

Resistance to the Indonesian occupation has continued, as did brutal repression by Indonesian security forces, the report said. Resistance leaders were assassinated while thousands of other Papuans were killed as a result of violence led by Indonesian security forces.

Divine Word Father Paulus Rahmat, coordinator of VIVAT International-Indonesia, a Catholic human rights advocacy organization, said the report was important because it demonstrated the concern of the church in the Asia-Pacific region for the suffering of the Papuan people.

"On one hand, the report helps us see obviously that problems in Papua have worsened. On the other hand, the report serves as an important input since it's such an autocriticism against the church in Indonesia," he said during a May 3 Jakarta meeting that addressed the report.

Speaking with ucanews.com separately, Father John Djonga from the Diocese of Jayapura in Papua, said the report "strongly criticizes the church in Indonesia" for not taking "strict actions to deal with problems in Papua."

"Such a stance taken by the church in Australia strengthens our steps in consistently fighting together with the Papuan people against any kinds of injustice," said Father Djonga.

Natalius Pigai, a Papuan and a member of the National Commission on Human Rights, said the report offered no surprises. "That's what happens in Papua," he said. "So the question is, when will crimes in Papua stop?" he said.

Budi Hernawan, a researcher at the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy, said President Joko Widodo failed to meet his commitment to restoring human rights in the region. He referred to May 2 protests in which more than 1,700 people were arrested for protesting the May 1, 1963, annexation of West Papua.

"What happened recently shows an irony: the Papuan people were arrested only because they expressed their political aspirations," he said. "What is written in the report is basically a confirmation of the present situation in Papua," he said.

Source: http://www.ucanews.com/news/australian-report-excoriates-indonesia-church-over-papua/75941

Report of atrocities in West Papua launched

Vanuatu Daily Post - May 4, 2016

Len Garae – "This report is an act of solidarity, I make it clear that this struggle is the struggle of the people of Papua. It is not my struggle as an Australian, but I am proud to be in solidarity with them and to support them in whatever they want."

The Executive Officer of the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission in Brisbane, Peter Urns made the statement before handing over the Report to the Chairman of Vanuatu Free West Papua Association, Pastor Allan Nafuki in front of the Paton Memorial (Presbyterian) Church at Independence Park yesterday.

In February this year, the Executive Officer went to West Papua for the second time with a small delegation, after the Pacific Island Forum Summit agreed to seek Indonesian Government cooperation for a South Pacific human rights fact finding mission to be sent to West Papua which has not happened. His group was the first "shadow fact finding mission" to West Papua this year.

The 24-page Report called "We will lose everything on a Human Rights Fact Finding Mission to West Papua", is produced by the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission following its visit to West Papua last February.

The Report has documented the constant killings and human rights abuses of the West Papuans despite assurances from the Indonesian Government that such atrocities have stopped.

The Executive Officer explains, "When we did this report, Papuans showed us where we would go (in West Papua) and they guided us and told us what we could do and what we could not do.

"And when we finished the draft of the report, we handed it to our Papuan friends who told us what changes were needed and they gave us final approval before we released it as an act of solidarity.

"And it is a great pleasure to have this launched here in Port Vila today (yesterday), in Fiji yesterday (before yesterday), in Australia last Sunday, in Jakarta even today (yesterday) to say the people of Melanesia agree that this is the voice of the people of West Papua that we are trying to represent solely, as I said to one Papuan friend, that this is the voice of the people of West Papua, and not the voice of the Government of Indonesia.

"And so it is with great pleasure that I hand this Report over to the Chairman of the Vanuatu Free West Papua Association, Pastor Allan Nafuki."

Pastor Nafuki launched the Report and blessed it with a prayer while the West Papuan Morning Star Flag was flying freely in the wind outside the church.

The Executive Officer Peter Urns is also leading the coordination team of the Australian West Papua solidarity movement with the United Liberation Movement of West Papua.

Source: http://dailypost.vu/news/report-of-atrocities-in-west-papua-launched/article_a9dadd9e-6e76-5bd8-a0d1-619842286b7b.html

West Papua – 'a nation in waiting': Behind this week's uprising

Asia Pacific Report - May 4, 2016

Nearly 2000 people were arrested on Monday, 2 May 2016, in mass unarmed civilian-based uprisings across West Papua, reports We Are Moving Stories.

"The Indonesian police were completely overwhelmed by the size, scale and disciplined defiance of the activists who came from a range of groups organised by the United Liberation Movement for West Papua," says author Jason MacLeod.

Dr Jason MacLeod is an authority on West Papua and author of "Merdeka and the Morning Star: Civil resistance in West Papua". A Brisbane academic, he works as an organiser, educator and researcher. He has been active in the West Papua solidarity movement since 1991.

How many people were arrested on Monday? Why were they arrested?

Nearly 2000 people were arrested on 2 May 2016 in mass unarmed civilian based uprisings across the country – in Jayapura, Wamena, Merauke, Manokwari, Timika, Sorong and Fak Fak.

The Indonesian police were completely overwhelmed by the size, scale and disciplined defiance of the activists who came from a range of groups organised by the United Liberation Movement for West Papua.

In Jayapura, for instance, activists were detained on the oval inside the mobile police brigade's headquarters. Most people arrested were released by Monday night.

At the time of this interview 45 – including 19 children aged 8-18 – remain in detention in Fak Fak.

The Indonesian police routinely use torture against Papuan dissenters so we are concerned about their welfare. I expect the organisers will be charged with treason and rebellion later this week.

At the same time, we are noticing that Jakarta is becoming constrained, or at least uncertain of what to do, in the face of rising international support for a free West Papua, especially in the Pacific.

What does this video clip show?

The video shows activists being transported by an Indonesian police truck from Waena, a suburb in Jayapura, to the Mobile Police Brigade's headquarters in Kotaraja, about 15-20 minutes away, where they were detained on a sports oval.

You can see fists being raised in defiance and hear them yelling "merdeka" (freedom). This is the fifth truck with activists that went past in minutes. The film was shot by a local organiser hidden behind a fence.

Why is it so difficult to see videos about what's going on in West Papua?

Foreign journalists are effectively banned from travelling to West Papua. In recent years, particularly since 2011, social media has been the quickest and most reliable way to get information out. It has only really been in the last six months that we have been able to send video out quickly.

Background

West Papua is a nation in waiting, one half of the island of New Guinea, is currently occupied by Indonesia. Like East Timor, West Papuans want to be free, to determine their own political future. At least 100,000 people have been killed by the Indonesian military since they took control in 1963 but the West Papuans continue to struggle, determined to be independent.

[This was first published by We Are Moving Pictures. It is republished here with permission.]

Source: http://asiapacificreport.nz/2016/05/04/west-papua-a-nation-in-waiting-behind-this-weeks-uprising/

West Papua: Jeremy Corbyn calls for democratic reform in Indonesian province

ABC News - May 4, 2016

Steve Cannane – UK Opposition Leader Jeremy Corbyn has spoken out about the plight of the West Papuan people and supported a push for democratic reform in the Indonesian province.

Speaking at a meeting of the International Parliamentarians for West Papua at the House of Commons, Mr Corbyn said it was time the West Papuan people were able to make their own choice about their political future.

"It's about a political strategy that brings to worldwide recognition the plight of the people of West Papua, that forces it onto a political agenda, that forces it to the UN, and ultimately allows the people of West Papua to make a choice about the kind of government they want and the kind of society in which they want to live," he told the meeting.

The Labour leader described the meeting as historic. Speakers included MPs, ministers and political leaders from the UK, Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

Mr Corbyn endorsed a report published by the University of Warwick that called for the reinstatement of NGOs in Papua, the release of political prisoners, and a parliamentary delegation being sent to the region.

West Papua has been under Indonesian rule since 1969, when the so-called Act of Free Choice took place, a vote that Indonesia claims rightfully handed over sovereignty of what was then known as West Irian.

West Papuan independence advocates claim the vote was a sham and the UN should now facilitate a free and fair vote for independence. This week Indonesian police detained hundreds of pro-independence demonstrators in the provincial capital of Jayapura.

Lord Harries of Pentregarth, a former Bishop of Oxford who was at the House of Commons meeting, has described the ongoing situation in West Papua as "one of the great neglected scandals of our time".

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-04/jeremy-corbyn-calls-for-democratic-reform-in-west-papua/7381886

West Papua: Westminster meeting makes new declaration for the future

Pacific Media Centre - May 4, 2016

London (Free West Papua Campaign/Pacific Media Watch) – An historic step on the road to freedom for West Papua was taken in London today. At a meeting of the International Parliamentarians for West Papua in the Houses of Parliament, a new declaration was made calling for an internationally supervised vote on the independence of West Papua.

The meeting was attended and supported by Samuela Akilisi Pohiva the Prime Minister of Tonga; Bruno Leingkone, Minister for Foreign Affairs in Vanuatu; Rex Horoi, MSG Special Envoy on West Papua, Solomon Islands; Ralph Regenvanu, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources in Vanuatu; Gary Juffa, Governor of Oro District, Papua New Guinea; Lord Harries of Pentregarth, UK House of Lords, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Leader of the UK Opposition; and Benny Wenda, international spokesperson of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua and several other British MPs.

The Prime Minister of Tonga offered his country's full support for the ongoing struggle of the people of West Papua. He explained how it was the responsibility of the United Nations to ensure human rights were upheld in West Papua and how he would continue to push for this.

Jeremy Corbyn spoke of his personal interest in West Papua and his role as a UN observer in East Timor. He talked of the need for justice and human rights to be delivered to the people of West Papua and stated that the world could either continue having this conflict or could choose to live in a world of peace and justice which would come from the recognition of human rights for everybody – a cornerstone of foreign policy.

He reiterated his support for the struggle for freedom of West Papua and how he would like this to be written in the policy of the British Labour Party.

A statement by the Prime Minister of Guyana, Moses Nagamootoo was read by Melinda Janki, an international human rights lawyer. He offered his country's ongoing support of the right to self determination for the people of West Papua.

Ralph Regenvanu told of Vanuatu's long term support for West Papua. He spoke of how the first Prime Minister of Vanuatu, Father Walter Lini, had stated that "Vanuatu would not be truly independent while any other Melanesian country is not".

MSG commitment

He spoke of the commitment by Melanesian countries to bring West Papua into the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) and that Vanuatu was working for West Papua to gain full membership of the MSG at its upcoming meeting.

Rex Horoi special envoy from the Solomon Islands highlighted the key areas of the Solomon Islands support for West Papua which involved: urgency of stopping Human rights abuse in West Papua, recognsising the political identity of the ULMWP and the strategic engagement of the Solomon Islands government with neighbours in the Pacific and around the world. He also redefined the importance of the Pacific by renaming the "small island states" as the "big ocean states".

Gary Juffa also mentioned his personal connection with the people of West Papua. He told of how his father had captained the first boat of refugees from West Papua and how he promised them that he would do everything he could to fight with them for their freedom.

He explained that regrettably PNG still recognised Indonesian sovereignty but a large movement in PNG was emerging in support of West Papuan freedom and that he would continue to be one of the main political voices of this movement.

Lord Harries remembered meeting Benny Wenda when he first came to the UK in 2003, how the issue was almost unknown at this time and what a long way it had come today with representatives from the "big ocean nations" championing the cause.

He continued to read out a statement of support by Reverend Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu:

"Dear people and friends of West Papua. Please accept, from the southern tip of Africa, the love and blessings of a retired fellow-traveller for justice. Human rights and justice are universal values. It has been very heartening to witness the growth of the movement to secure justice for the people of West Papua. Your call for an internationally supervised vote to determine the will of the people of West Papua has my support. God bless you."

Finally Benny Wenda, described his feelings around being here now after a long journey, declaring that the Indonesian occupation is illegal and must be ended now. He finished by reading out the declaration that was signed by all international parliamentarians present.

The secretary-general of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, Octovianus Mote, rounded it off thanking everyone including the various generations of freedom fighters for Papua represented here.

The declaration reads as follows:

Westminster Declaration for an Internationally Supervised Vote in West Papua

We the undersigned Members of Parliament, being members of the International Parliamentarians For West Papua:

I. Declare that continued human rights violations in West Papua are unacceptable.
II. Warn that without international action the West Papuan people risk extinction.
III. Reiterate the right of the people of West Papua to genuine self-determination.
IV. Declare the 1969 'Act of Free Choice' to be a gross violation of this principle.
V. Call for an internationally supervised vote on self- determination in accordance with UN General Assembly Resolutions 1514 and 1541 (XV).

Palace of Westminster, the 3rd of May, 2016

Source: http://www.pmc.aut.ac.nz/pacific-media-watch/west-papua-westminster-meeting-makes-new-declaration-future-9647

Police chief should be punished over arrest of Papuan activists: LBH Jakarta

Jakarta Post - May 4, 2016

The Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta) has urged President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to punish the National Police chief over the arrest of 1,724 activists in Papua for holding rallies in support of a pro-referendum group.

Veronica Koman, a lawyer with LBH Jakarta, also criticized the police's move to detain two activists in Merauke who were delivering a notification letter on a rally plan on Tuesday. The rally was aimed to show their support for the International Parliamentarians for West Papua (IPWP) event in London.

"What was the basis for detaining people delivering a notification letter on a rally plan? Forty-one activists were held in Jayapura just for distributing rally invitation pamphlets. These are indiscriminate, unconstitutional measures," she said as quoted by tempo.co on Tuesday.

Thousands of the activists on Monday held simultaneous rallies in seven cities in four provinces, namely Papua (Merauke, Jayapura, Wamena), West Papua (Fakfak, Sorong), Central Java (Semarang), and South Sulawesi (Makassar).

The rally was aimed to show support for the United Liberation Movement for West Papua's (ULMWP) full membership in the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG). ULMWP is a political organization calling for a referendum on Papua.

According to LBH Jakarta data, 1,449 activists were detained in Jayapura, 118 in Merauke, 45 in Semarang, 42 in Makassar, 29 in Fakfak, 27 in Sorong, and 14 others in Wamena on Monday. Taking previous arrests in Merauke (April 25), Jayapura (April 30), Wamena and Merauke (May 1) into account, 1,839 Papua activists have been detained since April.

"Most of them have been released, but dozens are still detained in Merauke, Fakfak and Wamena. [...] President Joko Widodo's frequent visits to Papua are useless if he only attends ceremonial events. He must listen to people's aspirations," Veronica said.

LBH Jakarta director Alghiffari Aqsa claimed that the arrests violated the 1998 law on the freedom of expression in public spaces. Despite their political call for a referendum, he highlighted the importance of preserving the activists' constitutional rights as Indonesian citizens.

He urged Jokowi to punish the National Police chief, Papua Police chief, and West Papua Police chief for violating Papuans' constitutional rights. He also urged the release of the detained activists. (ags)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/05/04/police-chief-should-be-punished-over-arrest-of-papuan-activists-lbh-jakarta.html

Assault claims during mass arrests over West Papua independence push

SBS News - May 3, 2016

Activists have accused Indonesian police of being heavy handed as they arrested pro-independence protesters in the eastern province of Papua.

Around 1,000 protesters were detained in the provincial capital Jayapura, and hundreds more in other cities in the biggest clamp down by Indonesian police in more than a decade. Those in Jayapura were held in an outdoor jail at police headquarters for eight hours before being released.

Chairman of the West Papua National Committee Victor Yeimo has told SBS many people were assaulted during the arrests.

"There's no room for democracy in West Papua, so they came suddenly to the place where we wanted to prepare for demonstration and they arrested the people, they beat the people," Mr Yeimo said. "This is peaceful action, we are the peaceful resistance. There are no [forms of] torture there is no violence, but Indonesians give us the torture."

The protests coincide with the anniversary of the end of Dutch colonial rule in 1963, as well as a weekend visit by Indonesian President Joko Widodo.

Papua, the western half of the island of New Guinea, has seen a long-running and often violent separatist conflict since being incorporated into Indonesia after a widely criticised UN-backed referendum in 1969. Demands for a new referendum as an act of self-determination are viewed as treason, and this has been hugely detrimental according to Papuan journalist Victor Mambor.

"It's terrible for us. In my opinion it is not good for Indonesia [either]," Mr Mambor told SBS. "The problem is not about the welfare or the economic development, but the problem is the history."

Access to police headquarters had been blocked off to media, family and advocacy groups, as up to 40 people remain detained. Camellia Webb-Gannon from Sydney University think tank West Papua Project believes the arrests highlight Indonesia's heavy-handed approach. She has called on the Australian government to pressure Indonesia President Joko Widodo over the matter.

"I'm surprised that such a large number of people would be detained for simply exercising their right to gather and to peacefully protest," Ms Webb-Gannon said. "They have the right to gather to assemble and to peacefully protest for their other right: their right to self-determination."

Activists said the arrests will not stifle them, and have pledged to continue to publicly state their demands.

West Papuan independence leaders are joining parliamentarians, lawyers and humanitarian groups from the United Kingdom and the Pacific region in London on Tuesday to demand the United Nations pass a resolution for an independence referendum.

Sade Bimamtara, spokesman for the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra, has told SBS he cannot verify the number of people arrested but believes that number is closer to 400. "I cannot verify the 1,700 number, from what I heard there we don't think it was that many, we believe it was around 400 people," Mr Bimamtara said.

"In Indonesia demonstrations are quiet regular and often it is okay for people to have demonstrations. But if people are breaking the law then police will try to control the crowd. If (allegations of abuse are) true then we have a way of rectifying that problem."

Source: http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2016/05/03/assault-claims-during-mass-arrests-over-west-papua-independence-push

No improvement in Papua human rights – UN must help, says report

Asia Pacific Report - May 3, 2016

The report of the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission on its "shadow" human rights fact-finding mission to West Papua this year has found no improvement in human rights.

It has called on the United Nations to investigate human rights abuses and for the Indonesian government to negotiate with the United Liberation Movement for West Papua to find a pathway towards self-determination.

"'We will lose everything!' This was the grim prediction made by the four members of the executive of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) when they presented their three-year campaign strategy to a Brisbane meeting of representatives of solidarity groups from around the South Pacific in January 2016," says the report.

When ULMWP secretary-general Octovianus Mote uttered these words on behalf of his colleagues, both the anguish of the people of West Papua and their grim determination to overcome their oppression was evident in his voice, reports the Catholic commission of the Archdiocese of Brisbane.

"Faced with becoming a small minority in their own land within a few short years and living with unrelenting intimidation and brutality at the hands of the Indonesian government's security apparatus together with rapidly growing economic and social marginalisation, he stressed the need for urgent action to stop the violence in their land and to secure an international commitment to give their people a genuine opportunity to freely determine their future."

The message was clear, says the Catholic report. "The situation in West Papua is fast approaching a tipping point. In less than five years, the position of Papuans in their own land will be worse than precarious. They are already experiencing a demographic tidal wave.

'Ruthless domination'

"Ruthless Indonesian political, economic, social and cultural domination threatens to engulf the proud people who have inhabited the land they call Tanah Papua for thousands of years," says the report.

One week after the meeting in Brisbane, a two-person delegation from the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission of the Archdiocese of Brisbane travelled to West Papua to speak directly to Papuans about their situation.

"The Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Leaders Summit in Port Moresby in September 2015 had agreed to send a human rights fact-finding mission to West Papua, but the Indonesian government has not allowed this to happen," says the Catholic report.

"One of the commission's objectives in sending the delegation was to build relationships with the Church in West Papua for future collaboration on human rights and environmental issues.

"However, because of the Indonesian government's unwillingness to accept a PIF mission, our delegation effectively became the first of a number of shadow human rights fact-finding missions to West Papua from the Pacific.," says the report.

'We will lose everything': A Report on a Human Rights Fact Finding Mission To West Papua – Catholic Justice and Peace Commission of the Archdiocese of Brisbane. May 1, 2016: https://cjpcbrisbane.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/we-will-lose-everything-may-2016.pdf

Source: http://asiapacificreport.nz/2016/05/03/no-improvement-in-papua-human-rights-un-must-help-says-report/

New Zealand parliament blocks West Papua motion

Radio New Zealand International - May 3, 2016

The New Zealand government has blocked a motion moved without notice by an opposition Green Party MP Catherine Delahunty on West Papua.

The motion was to have asked New Zealand's parliament to support the call by the International Parliamentarians for West Papua for a referendum on self-determination in Indonesia's Papua region.

The IPWP is meeting in London where MPs and leaders from across the world are discussing strategies to push for a West Papua referendum by the end of the decade.

Ms Delahunty said the New Zealand government had a history of ignoring the call of West Papuan's for self-determination. New Zealand has always recognised Indonesia's territorial integrity with regard to the Papuan region.

Ms Delahunty said with the mass arrests of Papuans in the last 48 hours, attempting to table a motion was the least she could do.

"In the Pacific we see the French and Papua New Guinea being willing to consider referenda for places such as Kanaky and Bougainville," said Ms Delahunty before submitting her motion.

"There is no reason why Indonesia should not have pressure put on it and it would be great if the New Zealand parliament would step up to this but I am not at all sure how it is going to go."

However in parliament, the government objected.

Source: http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/302929/new-zealand-parliament-blocks-west-papua-motion

West Papua: UN must supervise vote on independence, says coalition

The Guardian (Australia) - May 3, 2016

Helen Davidson – The United Nations must pass a resolution for an internationally supervised vote for independence in West Papua, global parliamentarians and independence advocates have said.

In a meeting in London on Tuesday, the West Papuan independence leader, Benny Wenda, will join parliamentarians, lawyers and humanitarians from the UK and the Pacific region to demand the United Nations pass a resolution for an independence referendum, in order to make up for its "mistake" in allowing Indonesia to take control almost 50 years ago.

West Papuans are the indigenous people of a region on the Western half of an island shared with Papua New Guinea. Formerly under Dutch colonisation, Indonesia took temporary control of West Papua under a UN-backed treaty in 1963. It later gained complete rule through a UN-sanctioned but discredited ballot in 1969, in which just a little over 1000 Indonesian-picked West Papuan leaders representatives cast votes under threat of violence.

Wenda said that vote, so called the "act of free choice", was a betrayal of West Papuans and now was the time for the United Nations to set it right. "We West Papuans call it the act of no choice," Wenda told the Guardian. "The UN already made a mistake, they broke their own rule. That's why the UN needs to correct it now."

The Free West Papua movement hopes to see a UN resolution within two years to send international peacekeepers to protect West Papuans as they vote on independence.

"For 50 years Indonesia massacred my people, 500,000 people. We need international peacekeeping force in West Papua," said Wenda. "In maybe another 10 or 20 or 50 years time I think my people will become a minority. We need this as soon as possible."

Joining Wenda at Tuesday's announcement will be Akilisi Phiva, the Tongan prime minister and first head of state to attend a Free West Papua meeting, Papua New Guinea governors Powes Parkop and Garry Juffa, and Vanuatu minister Ralph Regenvanu. A message of support will be read on behalf of Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Regenvanu told the Guardian his nation had always supported a free West Papua, and he called on others in the region, in particular Australia and New Zealand which currently back Indonesia's sovereignty, to join them.

"They need to step up and recognise what's happening on their doorstep," he told the Guardian. "I think the attitude of the governments of New Zealand and Australia is quite shameful when it comes to West Papua."

Human Rights lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, noted both nations also supported Indonesian sovereignty over East Timor until "the very last moment".

"It's important we continue build strong civil society campaigns within Australia and New Zealand to put further pressure on the governments to do the right thing," Robinson told the Guardian.

"It is of course unlawful as a matter of international law to recognise an unlawful situation, and Indonesia's occupation of West Papua is unlawful because they did not respect international law in the process by which West Papua was incorporated into the state."

The referendum called for on Tuesday is modelled on that held in the former Indonesian territory of Timor Leste in 1999. While the hope is West Papua would see similar success in gaining independence, there is fear it could also see the same human rights atrocities and widespread violence by Indonesian forces.

It's estimated about one third of East Timor's population was killed during Indonesian occupation and during the fighting which marred the independence vote despite the presence of peacekeepers.

Tuesday's demand is the culmination of decades of campaigning and a recent surge in grassroots support for the Free West Papua movement and an increase in membership of the International Parliamentarians for West Papua (IPWP), which includes Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn among its cofounders.

"This conference is welcome recognition of the growing international support, notably in the Pacific, for the people of West Papua to be accorded their right, so long and wrongly denied, of self-determination," Oxford East MP Andrew Smith, Chair and cofounder of the IPWP, said.

"Its denial is a stain on the record of the United Nations, which we must continue to campaign for the international community to put right."

Lord Harries of Pentregarth, the former Bishop of Oxford, and also a cofounder of the group, described West Papua as "one of the great neglected scandals of our time".

"At last however parliaments around the world are waking up to this and the visit of political leaders from the Pacific is a very welcome step towards getting proper UN recognition of the indigenous people of West Papua and their desire for self-determination."

Despite verbally softening on West Papua's autonomy and freedom, the Indonesian president Joko Widodo has largely failed to follow through. Under his rule, alleged abuses and violent attacks by military and police, including mass arrests and crackdowns on peaceful protests, have continued.

In the last month alone more than 60 people have been arrested, Wenda said. "This is everyday life in West Papua. Physically, mentally, Indonesia intimidates every day," said Wenda.

Wenda, who famously escaped an Indonesian prison and fled to Papua New Guinea before seeking asylum in the UK, was coy about any role in a future West Papuan parliament. "My people will decide on whoever they want to lead us independence, but my obligation now is to free West Papua," he said.

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/03/west-papua-un-must-supervise-vote-on-independence-says-coalition

Almost 1700 arrests in West Papua demos

Radio New Zealand International - May 3, 2016

Latest reports from Indonesia indicate police arrested almost 1700 West Papuans yesterday for taking part in a series of demonstrations across Papua region.

The demonstrations were held to express support for the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, which is vying for full membership in the Melanesian Spearhead Group.

Monday's protests came as West Papuans marked the anniversary of transferral of administration in the former Dutch New Guinea to Indonesia in 1963.

The independent West Papuan newspaper, Tabloid Jubi, reports that overall 1692 people were arrested. Jubi reports that a researcher from Bern University in Switzerland was interrogated by police too. The Jakarta Globe reported that over 500 arrests were made in a huge demonstration in Jayapura.

Reports from local media indicate that hundreds of others were arrested for demonstrating in cities like Merauke and Sorong, but also cities in other parts of Indonesia like Makassar and Semarang.

Last month, the head of Indonesia's Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence, KONTRAS, said that last year more than 1,200 Papuans suffered from harassment, killings, torture and ill-treatment.

Haris Azhar said these abuses were often made by security forces against Papuans for exercising their right to freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and movement.

Source: http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/302973/almost-1700-arrests-in-west-papua-demos

Police ban media coverage on protesters' detention

Tabloid JUBI - May 3, 2016

Jayapura, Jubi – Journalists have been banned from covering the arrest of protesters who support the West Papua Liberation (United Liberation Movement for West Papua) in the square of the Mobile Brigade Command Headquarters in Kotaraja, Papua on Monday (2/5/2016).

Reporters saw hundreds of protesters being grouped at the square, asked to remove their clothes and footwear and stand in the sun at noon. Police officers who guarded the headquarters gate, about 100 meters height, prevented media crews including a Tabloidjubi.com reporter to enter the square.

About 20 officers stood guard outside of gate holding wood batons and telling people to stop. They also prohibited journalists from taking photos of the arrested protestors.

One of the officers said they were acting on a direct order from Mobile Brigade Unit Chief of Papua Police, Senior Police Commissionaire Mathius Fakhiri.

"The point is the Chief Fakhiri ordered us to ban people particularly journalists from covering this," said Mobile Brigade Officer Romansyah when asked by Jubi at the checkpoint on Monday (2/5/2016).

The protesters were detained in several locations, including Expo, Perumnas 3 Waena and Lingkaran Abe before taken by the police truck to the square of Mobile Brigade Command Headquarters. (Yuliana Lantipo/rom)

Source: http://tabloidjubi.com/eng/police-ban-media-coverage-on-protesters-detention/

The chronology of mass arrest in West Papua on May, 2nd

Tabloid JUBI - May 3, 2016

Jayapura, Jubi – Monday, (02/05/2016), Papua Police arrested protesters including West Papua National Committee (KNPB) members, student activists and Papuan pro-independence supporters.

The activists were held in several places, including Jayapura, Sentani, Merauke, Manokwari, Timika and Sorong. In Jayapura Municipality, the police detained activists who were protesting in seven locations.

The Secretary General of the Central West Papua National Committee (KNPB), Oneh Suhuniap said the arrest was initially occurred on Monday, 2 May 2016 at 09:00 Papua time in front of the Campus Gate of Cenderawasih University, Perumnas 3 Waena. Jayapura Municipal Police have detained 178 activists consisting of the students of University of Cenderawasih, KNPB activists and Papuan supporters.

In this detention, the First Chairman of Central KNPB Agus Kossay, First Secretary of Central KNPB Mecky Yeimo, KNBP Spokesperson Bazoka Logo and Deputy Chairman of West Papua National Parliament (PNWP) of Ha Anim Region Eliaser Anggainom were also arrested.

Initially at 07:00 Papua time, Agus Kossay and the protesters walked through the circle of the Perumnas III Waena. At 08:00 Papua time, the crowed arrived in front of the campus gate of the University of Cenderawasih but the Police have waited the crowd.

"In a half hour, at 09:00 Papua time, the Police conducted an arrest against some student and KNPB activists as well as the mass supporters. In this detaintion, the Police have seized a number of KNPB flags, 181 cellphones and banners," said Ones Suhaniap to Jubi.

Additionally, about two hundreds were arrested at Lingkaran Abepura. And the third detention was occurred at 10:30 Papua time. The Police seized a number of KNPB flags, pamphlets, megaphone, cellphones and other attributes.

He explained, at 06:00 Papua time, the crowd has been gathered at Mimika Student Dormitory in Abepura sector. The preparation was done from 06:00 to 08:00 Papua time before they walked from the gathering point at 08:30 Papua time and prayed at the Secretariat of Abepura Sector.

At 08:40 Papua time, the crowd walked through the gathering mass point at Lingkaran Abepura led by the Area Coordinator Dolia Ubruangge and Deputy Area Coordinator Lacar Sama. The mass has already been gathered at Lingkaran Abepura at 08:30.

"At 09:00 Papua time, the protesters led by Ubruangeg and Sama did the political orations. After a half and an hour, at 10:30 Papua time, the Police came to arrests the protesters. About two hundreds activists were taken by four police trucks towards the Mobile Brigader Headquarters in Kotaraja," he said.

In the same day, 203 activists were detained at Den Zipur Waena. People have already gathered at the KNPB Expo Sector at 07:30 Papua time. For five hours, the crowd was gathered at Expo Square, Waena. They walked from the Expo Sector Secretariat at 10:00 towards Abepura to join the mass protesters in the campus gate of the University of Cenderawasih Abepura. But the Police have blockaded the road, so the crowd turned to walk behind the Mega Supermarket towards Den Zipur.

At 11:20 Papua time, the Police blockaded the crowd at Zipur Waena. The mass tried to conduct negation with the Police, but failed. The Police did not allow them to go to Abepura. 203 activists were arrested then at 11:30 Papua time. The Police got them in 3 police's truck and brought them to Mobile Brigade Headquarters in Kotaraja. They remained not being released until now.

Suhuniap added 50 KNPB activists and students have been arrested at Waena traffic light. The second mass rally was occurred from Puncak Jaya Women Dormitory, Yahukimo Student Dormitory and Paniai Student Dormitory. They conducted a rally to Abepura to join the first crowd. The Police banned the protesters and arrested them, brought them into the Police truck to the Mobile Brigade Headquarters in Kotaraja.

Some students who gathered at the campus of the University of Cenderawasih in Abepura were also been arrested by the Police and took to the Mobile Brigade Headquarters.

Then, 115 people were arrested at the bus halt, Yapis Dok V, Jayapura City. The crowd led by the First Chairman of KNPB Numbay Jimmi Browai was detained and took to the Jayapura Municipal Police in two Police's trucks.

"So, in total about 1.449 people were arrested in Jayapura City within the day," he said. In addition, a number of 27 KNPB Sorong Raya activists have been arrested when conducting a rally in UKIP Malanu, Sorong City on Monday (2/5/2016) at 08:00 Papua time. The Police and Military Joint Force disbanded the crowd. Now they are detained at Sorong Municipal Police Headquarters.

The Chairman of KNPB Sentani Alen Halitopo said 6 activists were arrested in Sentani at 08:00 Papua time. The arrest was occurred when people were gathered at Pos 7 Street.

"Without negotiation, they were arrested and took to Jayapura Regional Police Headquarters at Doyo Baru Sentani. Besides the detention, a number of mass attributes were seized by the Police," said Halitopo.

As many as 200 KNPB activists were arrested by Merauke Police in the peace rally at Tugu Pepera Merauke. The Military and Police Joint Force has blockaded the mass led by the Chairman of Merauke KNPB Gento Doop and First Secretary Charles Sraun and forcedly disbanded them. After dispersing the crowd, the Police took the activists into 5 Police trucks and brought them to the Police Headquarters. led by the Chairman of Merauke KNPB Gento Doop and First Secretary Charles Sraun

Some KNPB in Baliem Region were also conducted a rally at the Secretariat of KNPB Baliem Wamena. The Police reportedly arrested them but the number is still not being confirmed. "The total of today arrest, Monday (02/05/2016) in Papua is 1.692 activists. It is the recent data reported from Merauke, Jayapura, Sorong and Sentani," said Ones Suhuniap.

Peace rally organized by KNPB is express the support on the International Parliamentarian for West Papua (IPWP) conference and support to ULMWP to be accepted as the full member in the Melanesia Spearhead Groups. The rally, according to, Papua Police Spokesperson Senior Police Commissionaire Patrige Renwarin has not obtained license from the Police.

"It's already clear. Papua Police Chief has firmly said this organization is not listed. There is no permit for demonstration. If they insisted to do that, they would be disbanded. Moreover this demonstration was against the State sovereignty and it cannot be justified," he said. (Abeth You/rom

Source: http://tabloidjubi.com/eng/the-chronology-of-mass-arrest-in-west-papua-on-may-2nd/

Hundreds arrested in pro-MSG protests in Papua

Jakarta Globe - May 2, 2016

Jakarta – Police have arrested 500 demonstrators during a rally in support for the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, or ULM, and its effort to reach full member status of the regional Melanesian Spearhead Group in Jayapura on Monday (02/05).

Similar rallies in Merauke and Sorong also netted over 100 arrests, according to the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute. Solidarity rallies across the country also ended in arrests, with 48 Papuan students arrested in Semarang, Central Java, and 42 in Makassar, South Sulawesi.

Leaders of other MSG members have reaffirmed their support for the full admission of West Papua to the regional organisation. Most recently, Vanuatu's council of chiefs president Seni Mao Tirsupe called for the admission following a rally in Port Vila on Friday.

ULM, which represents a number of pro-independence groups in Indonesia's two easternmost provinces, had sought full membership in a bid to push for self determination and to air human rights grievances.

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O'Neill said in a statement last year that the ULM was given observer status as a "development partner representing the welfare of Melanesian people living outside," Radio New Zealand International reported at the time.

Indonesia – which was granted observer status in 2011 – is represented by leaders from its ethnic Melanesian provinces of Papua and West Papua, according to AFP.

The ULM bid is the second time West Papua's pro-independence movement has attempted to gain membership to the MSG. A similar bid in October 2013 by the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation (WPNCL) was rejected.

Source: http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/hundreds-arrested-pro-msg-protests-papua/

Arrests begin in West Papua mobilisations, after night of armed police terror raids

West Papua Media - May 2, 2016

Arrests by Indonesian security forces of West Papuan demonstrators have just begun minutes ago in Jayapura, as West Papuan people begin planned mass mobilisations to demand self-determination and referendum on the occupied colony's future.

Less than twenty minutes ago, at 0831AM local time, police officers led by the Jayapura region Chief of Police AKBP YERMIAS RUNTINI, have arrested approximately 10 students Cenderawasih University (UNCEN) students, at the gate of the UNCEN Waena student housing dormitory (Perumnas 3).

Police are currently barricading the road with barbed wire to the hostel UNCEN Waena hostel where the KNPB headquarters are located. Currently the police are also pursuing activists and patrolling around the Waena taxi roundabout.

Indonesian Police have also just surrounded and arrested (0845) the gathered masses who were preparing to rally, filling 3 trucks with students, 1 truck of KNPB members, and two trucks of civilians.

This comes after Reports from students in Papua have come in overnight of an attempted raid overnight at a that failed due to student security preparations.

A platoon of heavily armed Dalmas Public Order riot police, allegedly containing members of the elite Australian-funded Densus 88 anti-terrorism unit, attacked the Cenderawasih University (UnCen) student dormitory in Waena, Abepura, at 0220 (AM) local time, according to confirmed reports from West Papua National Committee (Komite Nasional Papua Barat or KNPB) officials.

However, students maintaining watch ahead of expected security sweeps overnight escaped into the night, thanks to an effective early warning system, according to sources, and the Dalmas platoon gave up the chase.

Raids have been occurring across Papua overnight by Indonesian security forces in a bid to terrorise Papuans into abandoning mass mobilisations across the country today, due to start at the time of publication. Reports have come in from Wamena, Merauke and Manokwari of preemptive security sweeps overnight. More information as it comes to hand.

The demonstrations are demanding for a referendum as an act of self-determination on Papuan aspirations, seen as treason by the Indonesian colonial government. Indonesian police in Papua have vowed to crackdown on all displays of "separatism" and have banned all gatherings.

The rallies form part of a global day of action under the social media hashtag #LetWestPapuaVote, and coincide with a historic gathering of the International Parliamentarians for West Papua network in the UK Parliament on May 3.

This is a developing story. More information as it comes to hand. Please follow the twitter hashtag #LiveUpdatesPapua for up to the minute coverage.

Source: http://westpapuamedia.info/2016/05/02/liveupdatespapua-arrests-begin-in-west-papua-mobilisations-after-night-of-armed-police-terror-raids-across-papua/

Mass arrests in West Papua ahead of demos

Radio New Zealand International - May 2, 2016

Indonesian police have made widespread arrests in Papua region as West Papuans prepare to hold demonstrations.

Protests were planned for today in most of the region's urban centres as West Papuans mark the anniversary of transferral of administration in the former Dutch New Guinea to Indonesia in 1963.

Dozens of West Papuans were arrested in Papuan cities such as Jayapura and Merauke for organising the demonstrations expected to take place later today. West Papua Media Alerts reported that 178 arrests had been made in Jayapura alone.

The arrests follow a series of marches on 13 April, when thousands of West Papuans demonstrated in support of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua. Forty-four demonstrators were arrested during those peaceful protests.

One of the movement's key groups, the West Papua National Committee (KNPB), said it would persevere with its plans to hold public events despite them being disallowed by security forces.

However, Papua Police Chief Paulus Waterpauw said the KNPB's request for permission to march was rejected because it did not complete requirements under the law.

Source: http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/302841/mass-arrests-in-west-papua-ahead-of-demos

Vanuatu chiefs again push for West Papua full MSG bid

Radio New Zealand International - May 2, 2016

A public march in Vanuatu's capital delivered a petition to the Melanesian Spearhead Group secretariat calling for full membership for West Papua.

The President of Vanuatu's council of chiefs says the Melanesian Spearhead Group needs to grant full membership to the United Liberation Movement of West Papua.

Chief Seni Mao Tirsupe made the statement at the MSG Secretariat in Port Vila following a peaceful march on Friday. 200 people joined the march and the group's chairman, Pastor Allan Nafuki, said he had a petition with over 5,000 signatures to support the bid.

Speaking for the people of West Papua, West Papuan leader Jacob Rumbiak said Vanuatu is the only country in the world that has stood with his people and supported their freedom, while many others have turned a blind eye. He said many innocent Melanesian people had been killed by Indonesia and Papua's natural resources had been plundered.

Last year, the MSG granted Indonesia associate member status. The membership issues were to be discussed at an MSG summit in Vanuatu this week, but the meeting has been deferred in part because Fiji's prime minister Frank Bainimarama decided to go to London to help celebrate the Queen's birthday.

Source: http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/302828/vanuatu-chiefs-again-push-for-west-papua-full-msg-bid

President's visits to Papua now seen as merely tourism

Jakarta Post - May 2, 2016

Nethy Dharma Somba – Less than three months after his presidential inauguration, Joko "Jokowi" Widodo arrived in the Papua capital of Jayapura in December 2014 to a rock-star welcome.

As he alighted from the aircraft at Sentani Airport, dozens of native tribal people greeted him in a regal ceremony. He grinned as he had a Papuan hat adorned with bird-of-paradise feathers put on his head. On the tarmac, he stopped to enjoy entertainment by tribal dancers.

On leaving the airport, thousands of people in traditional costumes lined the streets cheering and waving as his entourage proceeded to the heart of the city where he laid the cornerstone of a Rp 15 billion (US$1.15 million) women's market he had promised during his presidential campaign a few months before. Later in the day, he mingled with locals attending Christmas celebrations at the Mandala sports stadium, after inaugurating the Alhidayah Islamic boarding school.

Jokowi has tried to build trust with Papua, Indonesia's eastern-most territory, which is blessed with abundant natural resources but whose native people have been left impoverished from decades of neglect that has given rise to low-level separatist conflict.

Since his ascension to the presidency, Jokowi has regularly toured the Papua and West Papua provinces keeping his word on direct involvement in his efforts to raise the Papuans' dignity and wellbeing.

Addressing an open-air gathering in the breezy town of Merauke in West Papua last December, he described the land as "a little heaven on earth" and invited local people to build their work ethic to achieve the common dreams he encapsulated in the "Indonesian Dreams 2015-2085".

Sporting a fluttering Papuan hat, he stated, "Make the dreams happen through hard work, honesty and high proficiency. Our challenge ahead is competition. Again, competition."

Papuans had begun to build a rapport with Jokowi ever since he embarked on his presidential campaign in the provinces. Locals placed high hopes in him for a more humane, prosperity-based approach to the territory, which had suffered in the past as a result of Jakarta's militaristic tactics.

However, 18 months on since his epic presidential campaign in Papua, local people's faith in Jokowi has been fading – and fast. Papuans can no longer wait for Jokowi to honor his election promises. They believe the changes that he has promised have been coming too slowly.

A major disappointment is Jokowi's inability to implement Law No. 21/2001, which gives Papua special autonomy, in the way the indigenous Papuans want it. The law passed three years after the Reform era began, was aimed at improving the local economy, putting an end to secessionism, promoting local culture and improving education to help them catch up with people in the more developed western provinces.

"Jokowi doesn't use the law on special autonomy when he designs his policy for Papua," says Yusak Reda, an academic with the University of Cenderawasih in Jayapura. "He is overly focused on the infrastructure development over public service."

The Papua Road Map, a book authored by a team of researchers from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), cites different interpretations of the special autonomy status granted by the central government as an underlying source of conflict between Jakarta and Papua.

The central government intended it as a means of improving Papuans' wellbeing in the perspective of Papua as part of the Unitary Republic of Indonesia while the Papuans have hoped for better protection of their indigenous culture, human rights and the "Papuanization" of their natural resources.

Despite the trillions of rupiah that Jakarta transfers to Papua each year in "autonomy funds", better access to education, health care and economic resources remain elusive for most indigenous people who have to compete for resources with the better off migrants from other islands, especially Java, Sulawesi and Sumatra.

In support of Jokowi's focus on Papua, his Cabinet ministers have been very eager to start their projects there. However, due to poor coordination with local administrations and a lack of public consultation, many of the projects are misplaced, overlapping and ineffective.

"They [ministers] assume that they are contributing to the development in Papua once they spend a lot of money there. The yardstick of success should be prosperity, not the amount of money, and that is the thing that we are yet to see after 15 years of autonomy," says Yusak.

Jokowi's promise to pay at least three visits a year to the "little heaven on earth" is now often derided as mere tourism because he has not brought the significant change people expected in exchange for their support for his presidential ascension.

Whenever the President comes again, people are no longer star-struck. "People in Papua are fed up with promises. They need proof," Yusak says.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/05/02/president-s-visits-papua-now-seen-merely-tourism.html

1965 anti-communist purge

Digital community Ingat65 remembers 1965

Jakarta Post - May 7, 2016

Ayomi Amindoni – Most people born after 1965 only learn about the 1965 tragedy through school textbooks and the G30S/PKI movie that many historians deem a propaganda tool of the New Order regime. Therefore, many remain clueless about the reality of the communist purge in the dark past of our country.

A digital storytelling movement that goes by the name of Ingat65 (which translates to "Remember65") sets out to raise concern among young people for the 1965 tragedy.

The movement, according to Ingat65 chief editor Prodita Sibarani, aims to provide a platform for young people and their family members to collectively remember the purge and do something about the findings.

"Hopefully in the end we can show that there's a lot of support to create justice for the victims," Prodita told thejakartapost.com after a discussion on remembering the 1965 tragedy during the ASEAN Literary Festival 2016 in Taman Ismail Marzuki in Central Jakarta on Friday.

Prodita explained that the movement had begun after she had talked to many people who were pessimistic about young people's poor knowledge of the dark past. Unfortunately, many did not know what to do, she added.

The objective of Ingat65 is to the spread of knowledge on the tragedy, as the government remains reluctant to establish transparency on what really happened. "That's what the movement is all about," she went on.

Ingat65, which can be accessed at medium.com/ingat-65 has been running since March 24 with two stories related to the anticommunist purge published every week to shed light on long-forgotten facts.

"We want to make the stories a permanent archive in order to move them forward and make them [a part of collective] memory. We've been told to forget about it, but in fact we are now remembering it," Prodita said.

Ingat65 editor and podcast producer Febriana Firdaus only found out from her mother's bedtime stories when she was fourteen years old that her grandfather had been a Communist Party member and suffered in the anticommunist purge.

"After that day, I began to dig deeper into my mother's and my grandmother's stories, and also in literature. My grandmother said the family never found out about my grandfather's fate," she said, adding that the country itself remained silent on what had happened.

Similarly, Puri Lestari, the granddaughter of Sutoyo Siswomiharjo – an Indonesian general who was kidnapped and murdered in 1965 – said it had taken a long time for her to find out the truth about her family history.

"My parents never told me about it, and I just found out by myself when I began to read Pramoedya Ananta Toer's short stories, Cerita dari Blora (Story from Blora), during my early university years. My father told me that it was a communist book. I knew then that Pram was once part of LEKRA (the cultural wing of the Communist Party)," she explained.

She added that by sharing the stories she hoped young people could move on and not be emotional about the 1965 tragedy. She added that to demand a government apology for the tragedy was "contradictory". "It seems like we are putting ourselves in the position of 'you are wrong, I am right'. In my opinion, it is strange to demand an apology," she said.

The ASEAN Literary Festival 2016 also features three more events related to the 1965 tragedy: a panel discussion on exile stories, the launching of a book on 1965 victims and a monolog called Nyanyi Sunyi Kembang-Kembang Genjer on Saturday. (bbn)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/05/07/digital-community-ingat65-remembers-1965.html

Massacre survivors give Indonesian government list of mass graves

Associated Press - May 3, 2016

Niniek Karmini, Jakarta – Survivors of Indonesia's anti-communist massacres in 1965 submitted a list of what they say are more than 100 mass graves to the government on Monday after the president called for an investigation into the killings.

Five survivors, aged in their 70s, who are founders of the Research Foundation for 1965 Murder Victims, gave the documents to the Coordinating Ministry for Politics, Legal and Security Affairs, which is responsible for the probe.

The list is the product of research since 2000 and the graves, which are located on the islands of Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Sulawesi, Flores and Bali, account for nearly 14,000 victims, according to the group.

Historians say half a million people died in the months-long frenzy of killing that began in October 1965 at the instigation of the military after six right-wing generals were killed in an attempted coup by suspected communists.

Security Minister Luhut Pandjaitan was not on hand to receive the documents but his officials said he would meet with the group next week.

He was instructed by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to oversee an investigation into the massacres after a conference held by the government and rights groups last month broke a half-century taboo on public discussion of the killings.

Luhut, a retired general, caused a stir by saying at the event that very few people were killed and vowing the government would never apologize. He later demanded that rights groups prove that mass graves exist.

Bedjo Untung, a survivor of the massacres who heads the foundation, said it had documented the locations of 122 mass graves with the help of survivors and witnesses, including people who dug the graves and buried the bodies. "We believe this is only 2 percent of the victims," he said.

Kontras, an advocacy group, has refused to give its information about mass graves to the government out of fear it could be used by opponents of the investigation to conceal the truth.

Source: http://www.irrawaddy.com/asia/massacre-survivors-give-indonesian-govt-list-of-mass-graves.html

Activists report 122 mass graves of 1965 victims across Java and Sumatra

Jakarta Post - May 3, 2016

Marguerite Afra Sapiie – Right activists visited the Office of the Coordinating Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Minister on Monday to report their findings on 122 mass graves across Java and Sumatra containing the bodies of at least 13,900 victims of the 1965 communist purge.

The findings, from the Murder Victims Research Foundation (YPKP) 1965/1966, were compiled from a study it began in 2000 involving victims and witnesses of the massacre that killed at least 500,000 people accused of being affiliated with the now-defunct Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).

Reza Muharam, a member of the International People's Tribunal (IPT) on the 1965 tragedy, an organization that supports YPKP, said the report was intended to urge the coordinating minister to immediately coordinate with the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) to settle the human rights abuse case.

Earlier, the activists had handed over the report to Komnas HAM to be investigated, since it was the commission that was authorized by law to investigate the case, Reza said.

"Now the office of the coordinating minister doesn't have any more excuses to say there are no mass graves [...] it should cooperate with Komnas HAM and the Attorney General's Office (AGO) to take action and reveal the truth," Reza told the journalists.

The data was important part of pushing the judicial process, which remains at the AGO even though Komnas HAM filed a report of its investigation into the 1965 massacre to the AGO in 2012. Reza said that besides this, it was also significant as a part of efforts to allow truth to prevail.

Based on the findings, there are 122 mass graves in 12 provinces across Java and Sumatra, with the highest number in Central Java with 50 graves alone. However, as the study continued, so did the number of sites, Reza said.

Bedjo Untung, the head of YPKP, said the 122 mass graves were only two percent of the real number spread across Indonesia. Their locations were dispersed and often not in secluded areas, with some buried under parks, forests and street pavement, while some are hidden under malls or housing complexes. "The findings have become the start of true reconciliation and the revelation of truth," Bedjo said.

Previously, Coordinating Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Panjaitan has said that if there really were mass graves of 1965 victims, the government would apologize for the killings.

The government should immediately address the issue, Bedjo said, now that the locations of the mass graves had been found, some parties would try to interfere with the locations erase the trace of the killings, Bedjo said.

Meanwhile, the coordinating minister's deputy assistant for human rights protection and advancement, Brig. Gen. Hafil Fuddin who received the report said the findings would be taken into consideration in drafting the policy to settle past human rights abuses. (dan)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/05/03/activists-report-122-mass-graves-of-1965-victims-across-java-and-sumatra.html

Film showing on Buru Island political prisoners closed down by Yogyakarta police

Detik News - May 3, 2016

Sukma Indah Permana, Yogyakarta – A film showing of the documentary "Buru Island My Homeland" (Pulau Buru Tanah Tanah Air Beta) at the offices of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) in the Umbul Harjo area of the Central Java city of Yogyakarta has been closed down by police.

The film showing about the lives of former Buru Island political prisoners which was organised by AJI as part of International Press Freedom Day was initially threatened with closure on the grounds that it did not have a permit.

At around 7pm on Tuesday May 3, officers from the Yogyakarta municipal police (Polresta) arrived led by operational section chief Police Commander Sigit.

When asked about a permit, the AJI organising committee explained that the event would not involve large numbers of people and that an invitation had already been submitted to the Yogyakarta provincial police chief and the deputy police chief.

Sigit however, who continued to ask for a permit, then requested that the event be stopped. "This [event] doesn't have a permit, there was no notification", explained Sigit.

A short time later members of a mass organisation wearing military fatigues arrived and began shouting for the event to be closed down. Scores of police officers then took up positions and prevented the group from entering the venue. Sigit again insisted that the event be stopped, this time on the grounds of avoiding a conflict.

AJI members again explained that the event was part of the commemorations of International Press Day. The Indonesian national anthem Indonesia Raya was also sung by scores of people at the venue. Police however refused to budge and the event was closed down.

The situation at the venue became tense with scores of police remaining on guard until 8.30pm, even after the event had been closed. (sip/dra)

[Translated by James Balowski for the Indoleft News Service. The original title of the report was "Acara Pemutaran Film 'Pulau Buru Tanah Air Beta' di AJI Yogya Dibubarkan Polisi".]

Source: http://news.detik.com/berita/3203090/acara-pemutaran-film-pulau-buru-tanah-air-beta-di-aji-yogya-dibubarkan-polisi

Sexual & domestic violence

Advocates urge government to focus on child sex crime prevention

Jakarta Globe - May 7, 2016

Jakarta – Child advocates on Saturday (07/05) warned the government to take serious preventative action against child sex crimes, rather than focusing on law revisions imposing harsher personalities on offenders.

A bill promising tougher punishment for sexual violence is being deliberated at the House of Representatives, with a number of ministers urging for its immediate issuance.

The calls have been mounting since the widespread publication of a gang rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl by 14 male attackers – many of whom were her age – last month in Bengkulu.

The case follows several high profile violence against women and girls, including the murder and mutilation of a pregnant 34-year-old woman last month in Tangerang, Banten, and the sexual assault and murder of 9-year-old Putri Nur Fauziah in October.

"Such incidents keep on recurring but the state never wishes to learn," National Commission on Child Protection chairman Arist Merdeka Sirait said Saturday, as quoted by Kompas.com. "The root causes should be looked for."

"Think of what we can do to break the chain of sexual violence and don't just debate over the punishment," Arist added.

Several government officials have recently called for the death penalty against sex offenders, believing it could effectively set a deterrent and reduce the number of rampant cases of sexual violence.

Others have meanwhile called for chemical castration against perpetrators, a penalty which the government is currently deliberating under a regulation in lieu of law that is expected to be issued soon. "Law revisions could lead to a change in behavior but programs to prevent sexual violence should also be run," Ali Aulia Ramli of Unicef Indonesia said.

Among others, Ali pointed the low education and economic statuses as the drivers of sexual violence. "This is complex and there is no single factor," Ali said. "We should look to the values upheld by society and determine to what extend they could prevent such offenses."

Source: http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/advocates-urge-govt-focus-child-sex-crime-prevention/

Teenage gang rape case at forefront of Indonesia's battle against sexual violence

Jakarta Post - May 5, 2016

Liza Yosephine – The recent case of the gang rape and murder of a junior high schoolgirl in a remote village in Bengkulu has gathered hundreds of people in Indonesia's capital, Jakarta, to speak up against violence against women.

Kate Walton, a Jakarta-based Australian activist, said the gruesome case of 14-year old Yuyun, who was brutally raped and murdered by 14 young men in Bengkulu last month was only one of many other similar cases happening across the country.

Currently working on a USAID-funded project that documents the cases of women who have been killed by men in Indonesia, Walton said 44 cases of violence against women had been recorded in the first four months of this year alone. Seven of the victims were teenage girls, including Yuyun, she added.

"I think this indicates that Indonesia is experiencing a much broader crisis of violence against women," Walton told thejakartapost.com on Wednesday. She was speaking during a candlelight vigil in memory of Yuyun, which was held in front of the State Palace. People gathered at the event to call for an end to violence against women.

Walton said the vast majority of the victims were killed by their intimate partners, adding that these women were murdered in violently dramatic circumstances and their killings were often related to sex-related matters. "The punishment and prosecution of these men is quite limited and part of that is due to the absence of necessary laws," Walton said.

Although she was not involved in organizing the protest, Walton was one of first activists to raise the issue of sexual violence against women on social media. It was triggered by her concern over the lack of awareness in society of the need to fight the crime.

"Frankly, we need to talk about it at all levels," she said. She further said there was a need to provide better education on sex and respectful relationships between men and women for the public. Adequate laws that protect women who become victims and survivors of sexual violence are critical as well.

Martha Veronica, a recent college graduate from Bengkulu, expressed her concern over delayed public attention, which often happens in cases of violence against women, including Yuyun's case, and this was something that needed to be questioned.

She regretted the slow public reaction toward Yuyun's case although she was also aware that such a delay was due to the remoteness of the incident site, leading to less attention from society at large. The government also tends to overlook violence against women cases, she added. "I think the government needs to be more assertive in laws on violence against women and children," Martha said.

Lynda Mills, an Englishwoman who has been living in Indonesia for eight years, said Yuyun's case reminded her of the major rape case in India in 2012. Mills commended the public's efforts at raising awareness and also called for the government to strengthen laws against brutal acts of violence.

"It doesn't matter where these atrocities are committed, no matter how remote, we need to raise our voices and say, 'your stories will be told and there will be consequences'," Mills said.

National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) vice chairwoman Budi Wahyuni, who was also at the rally, said there was an urgent need to fight against sexual violence against women because the number of cases of violence against women had continued to grow.

Komnas Perempuan recorded 16,217 cases of violence against women in 2015, a rise from 11,207 in the previous year, with 1,657 of those cases being sexual-violence cases.

Budi said the commission continued to push for the sexual violence bill, which was currently included in the additional 2017 National Legislation Program (additional Prolegnas). "Hopefully, it can be moved forward and fast-tracked," Budi said. (ebf)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/05/05/teenage-gang-rape-case-at-forefront-of-indonesias-battle-against-sexual-violence.html

Despite rampant sexual violence, bill remains low priority

Jakarta Post - May 4, 2016

Erika Anindita Dewi – Reports of rampant sexual violence against women and girls have not motivated lawmakers to bring forward deliberations of a sexual violence bill, arguing that there are many other urgent bills that also need their attention.

The deputy chairperson of House of Representatives Commission VIII overseeing religious and social affairs, Ledia Hanifa Amaliah, said on Wednesday that her commission had not started to deliberate the sexual violence bill, which has been listed among the House's national legislation program priorities.

"The problem is each House internal body can only discuss two draft bills," Ledia told thejakartapost.com on Tuesday evening, adding that Commission VIII was already discussing two draft bills.

She suggested that Commission III overseeing law, human rights and legal affairs could take over the deliberation of the sexual violence bill to make the process faster.

Human rights and NGO activists have demanded that lawmakers immediately approve the bill into law to ensure legal protection for women who fall victim to any type of sexual abuse.

The National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan) recorded 321,752 cases of violence against women in 2015, up from 293,220 cases in the previous year. The latest incident was the gang rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl by 14 teenage boys in Bengkulu, which has ignited a spirit of solidarity in social media.

Speaking separately, Commission III chairman Bambang Soesatyo said the commission was still focusing on the revision of the Criminal Code (KUHP) and the Criminal Law Procedures Code (KUHAP). Therefore, the commission may only start deliberating the sexual violence bill next year.

In 2014, Komnas Perempuan began to draft the sexual violence bill, which has been given priority status to be deliberated this year.

In the bill, Komnas Perempuan listed six forms of sexual violence against women: rape, sexual harassment, sexual exploitation, sexual control, sexual torture and sexually charged punishment. The bill also stipulates a maximum sentence of 15 years' imprisonment for those convicted of sex crimes. It also included several articles that provide better protection for rape victims.

Meanwhile, House legislation council chairman Supratman Andi Agtas argued that the sexual violence bill lacked an academic paper. (bbn)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/05/04/despite-rampant-sexual-violence-bill-remains-low-priority.html

Government urged to pass bill to combat sexual violence against women

Jakarta Post - May 3, 2016

Rights activists are calling on the government to immediately pass the sexual violence bill, having deemed the bill crucial to protect women from such crime.

"The number of rape victims, many of them later murdered, has continued to increase. The state must be responsible," Lathiefah Widuri Retyaningtyas of the Indonesian women's foundation Perempuan Mahardhika said in Jakarta on Tuesday.

"There is no reason for the government not to pass the sexual violence bill immediately," she went on.

Perempuan Mahardhika, together with 117 other NGOs and institutions, including the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) and Simponi (Music Syndicate of Earth Dwellers), condemned the rape of YY, a 14-year-old student. She was found dead in Bengkulu after a brutal gang rape carried out by 14 men, most of whom were teenagers.

M. Berkah Gamulya of Simponi said sexual violence against women likely occurred because of the society's patriarchal culture, which often tolerated such crimes. He said many victims of sexual harassment had been blamed for the crime, accused of wearing sexy clothes or being out late at night.

Gamulya later cited the 2013 UN study, which stated that one out of four men in six Asia-Pacific countries admitted to having raped a woman who was not his partner. "Hence, it is a male responsibility to educate other men not to rape women. It is not their responsibility to educate women to dress 'properly'," he further said.

Gamulya said the government should include a one-hour minimum gender equality lesson in schools to lessen patriarchal culture in the society.

YY disappeared on April 2. Her body was found two days later in a ravine in desolate bushland area in Padang Ulak Tanding district, Rejang Lebong regency. Local police have arrested 12 of the 14 suspects, some of them are believed to have been the girl's schoolmates.

Local media outlets reported the murder and rape, but had treated it as an ordinary crime – alongside news on landslides and junior high school final exams.

The National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) recorded 321,752 cases of violence against women in 2015, up from 293,220 cases in the previous year. The commission began to draft the sexual violence bill in 2014 and it has been included as a 2016 national legislation priority (Prolegnas).

In the bill, Komnas Perempuan listed six forms of sexual violence against women: rape, sexual harassment, sexual exploitation, sexual control, sexual torture and sexually charged punishment. The bill also stipulates a maximum sentence of 15 years imprisonment for sex-crime convicts. It also has several articles that provide better protection for rape victims. (vps/ebf)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/05/03/govt-urged-to-pass-bill-to-combat-sexual-violence-against-women.html

Public ignorance leads to child victims

Jakarta Post - May 3, 2016

Margareth S. Aritonang – Public ignorance and poor law enforcement have made children vulnerable to crime, particularly rape, a child protection activist has said.

The recent murder and rape of a junior high school student in Bengkulu, Sumatra, is an example of how the public ignores such gross crimes, National Commission on Child Protection chairman Arist Merdeka Sirait said Monday.

The victim's body was found naked on April 4, but news reports of the incident were difficult to find even days later. Some local media outlets reported the murder and rape, but they treated it as an ordinary crime – alongside news on landslides and the junior high school final exams.

"Those are some of the reasons crimes against children in Indonesia are rampant. This is why rape against children continues to occur, including the recent murder and rape of a 14-year-old girl in Bengkulu," Arist said.

Expressing his concern over the nation's disregard the crime, Arist said that the way Indonesians reacted to crimes against children was "as bad as some countries that poorly enforce the law on child rape".

Meanwhile, to help support the police in handling the case, the National Commission on Child Protection has teamed up with the Women's Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry to investigate the case. The joint team began its investigation early this week and expects results soon.

The girl was found dead in a desolate bushland area in Padang Ulak Tanding district, Rejang Lebong regency, Bengkulu. Local police have already arrested 12 of the 14 suspects, following the discovery of her decomposing body.

"Of the 12 suspects that have been arrested, six of them are minors. Two of these minors are junior high school students. They allegedly committed the crime after drinking tuak [palm liquor]," Rejang Lebong Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Dirmanto said.

After drinking the liquor, they waited on the side of a road routinely passed by the victim on her way home from school. Some of those suspects, who police believe to be the girl's schoolmates, approached her and dragged her into the bush before raping and killing her, Antara news agency reported.

Three suspects, aged between 17 and 19, were nabbed during a special operation involving policemen and village leaders four days after the girl's body was found.

From those three suspects, the police acquired information about the other nine suspects and arrested them the following day. Two of those suspects were the girl's seniors at school, police said.

Ironically, some of the suspects joined the search for the girl, Dirmanto said. "They also helped dig the grave for her burial," he added.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/05/03/public-ignorance-leads-child-victims.html

Female-only train cars like 'Hunger Games' for many

Jakarta Post - May 2, 2016

Corry Elyda – Dian Riski Rosmayanti, a 25-year-old worker, already felt dizzy when she got to the women-only train car that would transport her from Depok to her office in Pasar Baru, Central Jakarta, one morning.

Dian, who was one-month pregnant at the time, did not get a seat because the train was so full. Although she felt she wanted to throw up, she could not do anything but try to pull herself together. "A passenger next to me said that I was pale," she recalled.

Dian said when the train reached Manggarai Station in South Jakarta, she wanted to get off so she could rest. The on-board officer had warned the boarding passengers to be orderly, but they rushed to the train and pushed her back.

"I fell on the floor. Since then, I avoid taking trains in the rush hours," Dian, who is now six-month pregnant, told The Jakarta Post on Sunday. She said the incident was one of several that occurred when she took the women-only train. "Even when people can tell that I am pregnant, they still turn their faces away to avoid giving me a seat," she said.

She said she could not ask for help from the on-board officers. Because they were male they could not freely patrol when the car was full of women, she explained.

Dian, however, said she never begged other passengers to give her a seat. "Maybe they are also tired," she said. Dian added that she now stays at her grandmother's house on weekdays and goes back to Depok only on weekends to avoid taking trains.

Since 2010, city train operator PT KAI Commuter Jabodetabek (KCJ) has provided two cars in each train that are dedicated for women passengers in order to prevent the sexual harassment that rampantly occurs in crowded public transportation.

The action has been praised by many but Dian and numerous other women, especially those with special needs, are becoming reluctant to use the cars as they think that other women passengers tend to be meaner.

Many passengers expressed their opinions on social media with expressions like: "Kejamnya ibu tiri, lebih kejam ibu-ibu di gerbong perempuan" (as cruel as a stepmother can get, middle-aged women are crueler in female-only cars).

The case of Dinda, a commuter line passenger, who delivered an opinion on her social media Path account that went viral in 2014 depicts a similar situation.

Dinda, who was then bullied by many netizens, said that she did not want to give up her seat as she had to struggle to wake up early to get it. Meanwhile, she argued that it was not fair when pregnant women came later and asked for her seat.

Amelia Nur Fikri, a 21-year-old who commutes every day to Tanah Abang in Central Jakarta, said that women-only cars were like a Hunger Games arena. "Middle-aged women usually yelled back and got mad if they were told to give up their seats, or not to rush when going in or out," she said.

Amelia said that she considered that women were meaner because they thought they were equal, so there was no reason to give up their seats to other women. "Men are usually embarrassed if they have to argue with us about not giving up their seats," she said.

KCJ spokesperson Eva Chairunisa said the company had provided the facilities and officers to ensure that women, especially those with special needs, could travel comfortably.

She said, however, that the company could not go further, like ensuring that passengers, who total up to 860,000 per day, behave well when they were on trains by calling them to be more patient and understanding of people with special needs.

Sociologist Musni Muin said urban people tended to be more selfish, so they usually did not have empathy for other people. "People do not respect each other anymore, let alone by helping the weak and giving seats to the elderly," he said.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/05/02/female-only-train-cars-hunger-games-many.html

May day 2016

Workers demand wage rule revocation on May Day

Jakarta Post - May 2, 2016

Tens of thousands of workers from diverse unions in Greater Jakarta participated in a high-spirited rally in commemoration of International Labor Day, also known as May Day, on Sunday in the capital, demanding the revocation of a regulation on wages.

Carrying big flags and banners and, some hitting drums to ignite the spirit, the workers assembled at the Arjuna Wiwaha Statue, also known as the Horse Statue, in Central Jakarta, before heading to Gelora Bung Karno (GBK) Stadium in South Jakarta.

Abdurohim, a worker grouped under the National Worker Union (SPN), said that he and 56 of his friends arrived early at the Horse Statue from Bekasi, West Java, and faced no significant obstacles on the way and during the rally.

"Although we rallied in huge numbers, we didn't experience any problems," said the employee of a metal factory in Bekasi.

Another rally participant, Warseno, 42, a contract teacher in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, said that he used the occasion to voice his concern about his status.

Warseno, who has been a contract teacher for 15 years, demanded that the Jakarta administration acknowledge his contributions and grant him permanent civil servant status.

"The administration offers us an income equal to the minimum salary of a worker in Jakarta, as long as we stop demanding to be hired permanently. However, I cannot accept that," he said, adding that he earned Rp 600,000 (US$45.46) a month. He went on to say that around 30,000 contract teachers in Jakarta demanded the same thing.

Foreign labor activists also took part in the capital's May Day rally. Josetta Nousjoki, a member of a workers' union in Finland (PAM), the members of which are employed in the service industry, said she provided assistance to the Indonesia Labor Unions Association (ASPEK).

"We are here to assist ASPEK, because we work in the same field. We offer a program to give them training on how to earn better bargaining power to help them negotiate with their employers," Nousjoki said.

Although most workers around the globe face similar conditions, she said Indonesian workers needed to improve their bargaining power.

ASPEK secretary-general Sabda Pranawa Djati said that the assistance given by PAM included training to recruit members and creating a single voice to improve bargaining power. "We have nearly 100,000 members. We could have a stronger voice if we're under one command," he said, adding that the union was established in 2000.

Besides ASPEK, the Confederation of Indonesian Workers Union (KSPI), the Indonesian Workers Movement (GBI), the Indonesian Prosperity Trade Union (SBSI) and the Federation of Indonesian Labor Unions (FSBI) also deployed members to join the rally.

The unions demanded the authorities to make changes, including by revoking point 44 of Government Regulation No. 78/2015 concerning wages. The workers deemed the policy unfair because it allowed the government to set the minimum wage without consulting workers.

Apart from that, the rally also demanded that the government stop criminalizing workers who voiced their concerns, cancel reclamation projects, evictions and tax amnesty bill deliberation.

By 1 p.m. rally participants gathered at GBK Stadium to witness the establishment of the Indonesian Citizen Organization (ORI) and the Indonesian Citizen House (RRI), which aim to accommodate the political interests of workers.

The May Day celebration also featured the well-known Gigi band and several dangdut singers. Half of the 88,000-capacity stadium was filled with workers. (fac)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/05/02/workers-demand-wage-rule-revocation-may-day.html

Workers stage peaceful rally for fair wages

Jakarta Post - May 2, 2016

Nurul Fitri Ramadhani and Ni Komang Erviani – Workers and labor activists spent their Sunday celebrating International Labor Day, also known as May Day, staging rallies in major cities nationwide, demanding the government provide fair wages.

They also called on the government to mitigate the severe impacts of dismissal, resulting from a sluggish economy and falling commodity prices.

The workers demanded the government revoke a regulation on wages that eliminated the tripartite system in minimum wage calculations, deeming the policy unfair as it allowed the government to set minimum wages without involving workers.

In addition, the rally participants said economic conditions and inflation should not be the only considerations when setting wages. They also urged the government to stop criminalizing workers who voiced their concerns.

Despite brawls taking place between groups in various areas, May Day rallies were mostly peaceful.

In Jakarta, tens of thousands of workers from different labor unions took part in a high-spirited rally. Unfurling big flags and banners, the workers assembled near the National Monument in Central Jakarta, before heading to Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Senayan, South Jakarta. Some of them banged large drums to ignite and fuel the spirit.

Rally participant Warseno, 42, a contract teacher in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, said he used the rally to voice his concerns regarding his employment status. Having served as a contract teacher for 15 years, he demanded that the Jakarta administration acknowledge his contributions and grant him the permanent status of civil servant.

In Medan, North Sumatra, hundreds of protesters grouped under the Front of People's Struggle (FPR) marched from the Gatot Subroto traffic circle to the North Sumatra Legislative Council (DPRD).

In Denpasar, Bali, dozen of workers and social activists from across Bali staged a rally, demanding the implementation of policies to improve their livelihoods.

Meanwhile, in Bandung, West Java, 49-year-old Neneng Jamilah spent her Sunday distributing water to rally participants in front of Gedung Sate, an activity she has carried out for four years every May Day. (fac)

[Suherdjoko, Rizal Harahap, Apriadi Gunawan and Arya Dipa contributed to this story.]

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/05/02/workers-stage-peaceful-rally-fair-wages.html

May Day rally in Yogyakarta declares precursor to workers' political party

Harian Jogja - May 2, 2016

Jogja – Hundreds of workers from various trade unions in the Central Java province of Yogyakarta commemorated International Labour Day or May Day by declaring the formation of a mass organisation called "The House of the Indonesian People" during a rally in the centre of Yogyakarta city on May 1.

The mass organisation (Ormas) represents a precursor to a political party that will be formed by trade unions.

"This Ormas is part of an embryo for the establishment of a political party, our target for this party in 2019 is already official", said Yogyakarta Indonesian Employees Association (Aspek) regional leadership board treasurer Agung Nugroho during a break in the May Day commemorations on Sunday.

During the declaration of the Home of the Indonesian People mass organisations, which will act on behalf of Indonesian workers, teachers, students, youth, women and the ordinary people, the groups said that it will fight for democracy and social justice for all Indonesian people.

Issues such as the organisation's public program, constitution and other stipulations will be prepared thoroughly in the shortest possible time frame.

Agung said that plans to establish a workers' political party represents a mutual desire because up until now the existing political parties have not accommodated the interests and demands of workers.

"So it will be more effective if workers have their own representative that will specifically fight for workers", he said.

[Translated by James Balowski for the Indoleft News Service. The original title of the report was "Buruh Deklarasikan Ormas Cikal Bakal Partai".]

Source: http://www.harianjogja.com/baca/2016/05/02/hari-buruh-2016-buruh-deklarasikan-ormas-cikal-bakal-partai-715625

Informal workers in Yogyakarta demand basic rights, social security

Tempo - May 1, 2016

Shinta Maharani, Yogyakarta – Hundreds of informal sector workers from the Yogyakarta People's and Worker Alliance (ARPY) called for the protection to ensure the rights of home-based and domestic workers and the fulfillment social guarantees by the Social Security Management Agency (BPJS).

The demonstrators who marched from the Abu Bakar Ali parking area in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta to the zero kilometre point were commemorating International Labour Day or May Day.

Yuli Maheni, a speaker from the Domestic Workers Trade Union (SPRT), calculated that that there are currently 10.7 million domestic workers who lack any kind of protection. They have no social security and face physical, psychological and sexual violence.

Meanwhile the Draft Law on the Protection of Domestic Workers that was submitted to the House of Representatives in 2004 has still not been ratified. "We call for the law to be ratified immediately for the sake of the protection of domestic workers", said Yuli on Sunday May 1.

In addition to asking for improvements to the welfare of domestic workers, the protesters also called for protection for home-based workers. In Yogyakarta, many home-based workers are employed in small- and medium-scale industries, including handicrafts.

They work at home without any kind of written contract, have no bargaining power, receive wages well below the provincial minimum wage. In addition to this, they have no work safety guarantees or social security such as BPJS.

This kind of situation is faced by women workers who carry loads in baskets or shawls on their backs (buruh gendong) at the Beringharjo and Giwangan markets in Yogyakarta. They are not recognised as formal workers by the government yet they carry a heavy work load.

[Translated by James Balowski for the Indoleft News Service. The original title of the report was "Buruh Informal Tuntut Perlindungan Hak dan Jaminan BPJS".]

Source: https://m.tempo.co/read/news/2016/05/01/058767566/buruh-informal-tuntut-perlindungan-hak-dan-jaminan-bpjs

Workers in Surabaya say capitalist system only benefits companies

Merdeka - May 1, 2016

Masfiatur Rochma – Thousands of workers held a protest action at the East Java Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) and the governor's office in the East Java provincial capital of Surabaya on May 1.

During the action they not only carried posters and banners, but they also brought a giant umbrella as a symbol of workers' need for a legal umbrella.

"The umbrella is a symbol of workers needing protection. The umbrella is a symbol of the workers' protector", shouted one of the action coordinators Eric in front of the governor's office on Sunday.

It was to convey these demands that they wanted to meet with Governor Soekarwo. However they were unable to meet with him because the Number 1 person in the East Java government was on a pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca.

The workers also rejected the regime of capitalism because it is this system that benefits company owners. In addition to this the workers also held a rally in front of the East Java DPRD.

"Pak De (Soekarwo's familiar name) is currently on a pilgrimage. So as his representative I will meet with the workers who are holding a protest action at the East Java provincial DPRD and the East Java governor's office", explained East Java Deputy Governor Saifullah Yusuf.

[Translated by James Balowski for the Indoleft News Service. The original title of the report was "Buruh geruduk gedung gubernur, Soekarwo pergi umroh".]

Source: http://www.merdeka.com/peristiwa/buruh-geruduk-gedung-gubernur-soekarwo-pergi-umroh.html

May Day commemoration in South Sulawesi calls for end to outsourcing, decent wage

Tribune Timur - May 1, 2016

Fahrizal Syam, Makassar – Thousands of workers from various different trade unions in the South Sulawesi provincial capital of Makassar held a rally to commemorate Labour Day at the flyover on Jl. Urip Sumiharjo Makassar on Sunday May 1.

A number of different trade unions were present including, among others, the Confederation of the All-Indonesian Workers Union (KSPSI), the Indonesian Independent Trade Union (GSBMI), the Indonesian Transportation Trade Union Federation (FSPTI), the Indonesian Federated Trade Union of Struggle (FSPBI) and the National Trade Union Confederation (KSN).

The workers arrived on motorcycles and in cars and brought the flags of their respective trade unions along with a list of their demands on the government.

South Sulawesi KSPSI regional chairperson Basri Abbas said that the action would be a peaceful one to convey their demands to the government. "We call in the government to pay attention to the fate of workers, because there are still many companies that oppress workers", he said.

Abbas also called on the government and companies to abolish contract labour systems and outsourcing that harm workers' interests. "Abolish contract labour systems and outsourcing, along with giving workers a decent wage", he said.

It was not just workers and their trade unions that took part, representatives from the Makassar and South Sulawesi Labour and Transmigration Office also joined the action.

[Translated by James Balowski for the Indoleft News Service. The original title of the report was "Ribuan Buruh Gelar Aksi Unjuk Rasa di Fly Over Makassar".]

Source: http://makassar.tribunnews.com/2016/05/01/ribuan-buruh-gelar-aksi-unjuk-rasa-di-fly-over-makassar

May Day rally at State Palace calls for end to criminalisation of activists

Tribune News - May 1, 2016

Taufik Ismail, Jakarta – Thousand of protesting workers who commemorated May Day on Monday May 1 held a theatrical action in front of the State Palace in which they placed a giant puppet inside an iron cage.

They then destroyed the iron bars and demolished the more than two-metre tall black puppet. The theatrical action was to depict workers who have been criminalised for their activism.

As has been reported, two Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH) lawyers, Tigor Gempita Hutapea and Obed Sakti Andre Dominika along with 23 workers are facing trial as a result of a demonstration in October last year rejecting Government Regulation Number 78/2015 on wages that ended in a clash with police.

The demonstrating workers demanded that their colleagues be released from the indictments. During the theatrical action the workers also lit fireworks and firecrackers.

Despite the noise and smoke this created on Jl. Merdeka Barat, the action did not end in a clash. After setting off the fireworks, the workers moved back from the State Palace and moved off to the nearby Arjuna Wijaya statue.

"Our intent with the earlier action was to call for corruptors to be destroyed. Not for our comrades to be arrested, we call for them to be released and the corruptors put in jail", said one of the demonstrators.

Earlier, thousands workers from various different organisations demonstrated in front of the State Palace to commemorate International Labour Day. They demanded improvement in workers' welfare and for Government Regulation Number 78/2015 to be revoked.

[Translated by James Balowski for the Indoleft News Service. The original title of the report was "Buruh Nyalakan Kembang Api di Depan Istana".]

Source: http://www.tribunnews.com/nasional/2016/05/01/buruh-nyalakan-kembang-api-di-depan-istana

May Day rally in Jakarta ends with the singing of The Internationale

CNN Indonesia - May 1, 2016

Prima Gumilang, Jakarta – The Internationale was sung at the close of a commemoration of International Labour Day or May Day in Jakarta. Thousands of workers from the Indonesian Trade Union Congress Alliance (KASBI) sang the song which was popularised by followers of socialism in the 19th century.

"Arise those who are oppressed, arise those who are hungry..." [sic] sang the protesters loudly as they raised their left fists in the air in front of the offices of the Ministry of Human Development and Culture in Central Jakarta on Sunday May 1.

The song, which was written by Eugene Pottier in 1871 has been translated into many different languages around the world. The first translation into Indonesian was done by Ki Hajar Dewantara, the father of Indonesian education.

As they sang the song, several people also lit fire crackers. Others lit flares so red smoke blanketed the area around the protest action. After singing The Internationale, the demonstrators then sang the Indonesian national anthem Indonesia Raya.

Several people then destroyed a giant puppet in the form of an axe wielding devil locked in a prison cell as a symbol of the people's resistance.

"The Ogoh-ogoh [giant puppet] is a symbol of corruptors and the enemies of the people who should be locked up in prison. They must be destroyed", said KASBI action coordinator Sarman after the action had ended.

Earlier, a number of workers held a theatrical action in which three workers were incarcerated in a replica jail because they had tried to fight for their rights. Others then broke open the bars and freed the jailed workers. (gir)

[Translated by James Balowski for the Indoleft News Service. The original title of the report was "Lagu Internasionale Menutup Hari Buruh di Jakarta".]

Source: http://www.cnnindonesia.com/nasional/20160501174149-20-127869/lagu-internasionale-menutup-hari-buruh-di-jakarta/

Tens of thousands of workers rally in Central Jakarta for May Day

Liputan 6 - May 1, 2016

Nafiysul Qodar, Jakarta – Demonstrating workers from a number of different labour alliances held huge rallies in several parts of Jakarta on Sunday May 1. The protesters who came from various different areas held the action to commemorate International Labour Day or May Day.

The tens of thousands of workers, who started by giving speeches in front of the State Palace in Central Jakarta, then gradually disbanded and headed off to the nearby Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium (SUGBK) where they joined the main event commemorating May Day 2016 at Indonesia's biggest stadium.

Scores of other workers continued to arrive at the stadium while others remained in front of the State Palace and gave speeches.

Based on Liputan 6's observations, workers from the Indonesian Trade Union Congress Alliance (KASBI) and the Indonesian Labour Union Confederation (KPBI) were still giving speeches in front of the palace. Wearing clothing that was entirely red, the demonstrators swarmed around and voiced their demands.

Meanwhile thousands of security personnel from the national police (Polri), the Indonesian military (TNI) and the Jakarta provincial government remained on guard along the length of Jl. Medan Merdeka Utara in front of the State Palace.

A number of tactical vehicles such as Barracuda armoured cars and water cannons were lined up in front of the palace. A barricade was also erected at a radius of around 100 metres from the palace gates in anticipation that protesters might force they way in.

During the action the workers demanded that the government end low wages by revoking Government Regulation Number 78/2015 on wages. They also raised other issues such as the reclamation of coastal areas, forced evictions and a draft law on tax amnesty.

[Translated by James Balowski for the Indoleft News Service. The original title of the report was "May Day 2016, Puluhan Ribu Buruh Merahkan Istana Merdeka".]

Source: http://news.liputan6.com/read/2496870/may-day-2016-puluhan-ribu-buruh-merahkan-istana-merdeka

Journalists in Bandung call on media workers to form trade unions

Merdeka - May 1, 2016

Andrian Salam Wiyono – A commemoration of International Labour Day or May Day was also held in the West Java provincial capital of Bandung where journalists from various different trade unions demonstrated in front of the governor's office on Jl. Diponegoro on May 1.

Bandung city Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) chairperson Adi Marsiela called on media companies to put an end to all labour violations saying that May Day should be used by the government to supervise media companies and audit the conditions of workers in the media sector.

"In Indonesia there are around two thousand media companies [while] there are only 40 media trade unions. But only 20 are active", said Marsiela in a speech.

The AJI workers also brought posters with messages such as "Journalists are also Workers" and "Journalists Demand Decent Wages".

Marsiela also called on journalists to form trade unions to protect journalists. "We also call on journalists to form trade unions in their respective companies", he asserted.

AJI also conveyed a number of demands during the action including that the owners and management of media companies provide social security for their journalists, set decant wages in each region and that regional governments apply a sectoral wage for media workers.

They also called on the government to audit the conditions of workers at media companies and for journalists to be aware of and pioneer the formation of trade unions in their companies.

According to Merdeka's observations, the solidarity action proceeded peacefully with an estimated 500 workers taking to the streets to voice their demands. (war)

[Slightly abridged translation by James Balowski for the Indoleft news service. The original title of the report was "Jurnalis juga ikut demo buruh di Gedung Sate: Mari berserikat!".]

Source: http://www.merdeka.com/peristiwa/jurnalis-juga-ikut-demo-buruh-di-gedung-sate-mari-berserikat.html

Workers in Bandung bring giant red-and-white flag to May Day rally

Merdeka - May 1, 2016

Andrian Salam Wiyono – The commemoration of International Labour Day or May Day was marked by a protest action at the governor's office in the West Java provincial capital of Bandung on Sunday May 1 where workers unfurled a 100 metre-long red-and-white flag.

The national flag was held up by several workers so it faced directly at Governor Jabar Ahmad Heryawan's office. Prior to giving speeches, the workers sung the national anthem Indonesia Raya.

After singing the national anthem, a worker from the Indonesian Metal Trade Workers Federation (FSPMI) gave a speech conveying the workers' demands. During a break in the action, FSPMI action coordinator Yayo Winaryo explained the reason for bringing the giant flag to the May Day rally.

"Our intention was so that the government knows that we also have a love for Indonesia", said Winaryo, who wore an FSPMI T-shirt and bandana on his head.

He said however that he feels that the current government is not pro-worker. Through the momentum of this year's May Day with the symbol of the giant flag workers are calling on all elements to join forces under the name "The House of the Indonesian People".

"The aim is to increase the power of [our] forces. To develop this country. If we come together we could put forward a political party from the working class where our representatives could become leaders", he explained saying that they could sit in the executive or legislative branches of government.

Winaryo added that workers still often haunted by all kinds of problems. The most obvious one is the problem of healthcare and retirement insurance. Through May Day which is commemorated every May 1, he hops that the very best pick of people from the working class will be present.

From Merdeka's observations, the protest action proceeded in a peaceful manner escorted by hundreds of police. An estimated 1,000 workers attended representing a number of different organisations who took turns in conveying their demands through a megaphone. Jl. Diponegoro, in front of the governor's office, was closed off in both directions. (rhm)

[Translated by James Balowski for the Indoleft News Service. The original title of the report was "May Day di Bandung, buruh bentangkan bendera merah putih 100 meter".]

Source: http://www.merdeka.com/peristiwa/may-day-di-bandung-buruh-bentangkan-bendera-merah-putih-100-meter.html

Traditional Balinese music enlivens May Day rally in Denpasar

Okezone - May 1, 2016

Puji Sukiswanti, Denpasar – Hundreds of workers from the United Balinese Labour Alliance (ABBB) held a rally to commemorate International Labour Day which falls on May 1.

The action was accompanied by music from traditional Balinese gamelan and sang sakala whistles which were used as signal for the workers to shout slogans and to add to the spirit of the protest.

The workers began the action at 8am by marching around the Niti Mandala square in Renon, Denpasar. Many local residents witnessed the action as it was being held on a Sunday and upon hearing the workers' shouts of solidarity joined in to shout along with the workers.

ABBB action coordinator Ida I Dewa Made Rai Budi Darsana said that this Labour Day was a sign of thankfulness and concern for workers in Bali who are still far from enjoying dignity or prosperity.

The ABBB he said are demanding, among other things, the implementation of a sectoral minimum wage. "Up until now companies rarely apply the UMK [municipal minimum wage] or the UMP [provincial minimum wage]. It's only on paper", he said in Renon on Sunday May 1.

In addition to this, the workers also rejected low wages and called for the abolition of outsourcing which does not treat workers humanly. Bali, which carries the title of the "Island of Paradise", is not a paradise for workers. Moreover since the enactment of Industrial Regulation 19/2012, workers have become victims of outsourcing.

"We also demand the abolition of contract labour systems. The current contract labour system mechanism using an 'on and off' system where when the contract period is up companies do not want to change the status of a worker to a permanent worker", he said. (erh)

[Slightly abridged translation by James Balowski for the Indoleft news service. The original title of the report was "Aksi Buruh di Bali Diiringi Musik Bale Ganjur".]

Source: http://news.okezone.com/read/2016/05/01/340/1377337/aksi-buruh-di-bali-diiringi-musik-bale-ganjur

Workers in Aceh say many companies fail to pay minimum wage

Waspada Online - May 1, 2016

Banda Aceh – Scores of workers from the Aceh Labour Alliance (ABA) in Indonesia's northern most province of Aceh commemorated May Day by calling on the governor to set the provincial minimum wage (UMP) for 2017 at 2.8 million rupiah a month.

This was conveyed in speeches at the Simpang Lima traffic circle in Banda Aceh city on Sunday May 1. The workers said that the wages received by workers are still far too low and the number of components in the reasonable living cost index [used by the government to determine the minimum wage] is still very minimal. They also said that Government Regulation Number 78/2015 (PP 78/2015) on setting the minimum wage had further sidelined workers in terms of wages.

"The PP 78/2015 has further sidelined workers because wages cannot [just] be based on the reasonable living cost index (KHL) let alone economic growth", said labour alliance representative Habibi.

Indonesian Metal Trade Workers Federation (FSPMI) action coordinator, Bayu, said that the problem is that workers are still fighting for normative rights, one of which is wages. As mandated under Labour Law Number 13/2003 workers are pushing for the Aceh UMP for 2017 to be set at 2.8 million rupiah a month.

"A wage of 2.8 million is already a reasonable UMP in Aceh, we are also calling on the government to revoke the PP No. 78/2015 and to ratify labour bylaw number 7/2014", he said.

According to Bayu, there are still many workers who have yet to receive a reasonable wage as set by the government. So the government must act firmly against companies that are still paying less than the UMP. (wol/aa/waspada/data1)

[Translated by James Balowski for the Indoleft News Service. The original title of the report was "Buruh Tuntut UMP Rp 2,8 Juta".]

Source: http://waspada.co.id/aceh/buruh-tuntut-ump-rp28-juta/

Government urged to protect rights of Indonesian migrant workers

Jakarta Post - May 1, 2016

Workers' rights NGO Migrant Care says Indonesian workers are still facing restrictions in expressing their opposition to the vulnerability and oppression they face in their workplaces.

The NGO said in a statement issued to mark International Labor Day, or May Day, which is celebrated across the world every May 1, that Indonesian workers cannot enjoy freedom to celebrate May Day despite the government making it a public holiday for the past two years.

"Through statements conveyed by its officials, the Indonesian government has tended to narrow the celebration of the International Labor Day into merely a ceremonial event. In fact, May Day must be celebrated as a declaration on the political stance of workers over the conditions they face," Migrant Care said in a statement on Sunday.

It further said the government's acknowledgement of International Labor Day was not automatically accompanied by the fulfillment of the rights of Indonesian workers either at home or abroad.

Up till now, Migrant Care said, the government continued to produce policies, which were against labor rights, such as unfair wages, restrictions on labor union activity and union busting.

Although it had ratified the 1990 International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families since 2012, the NGO further said the government had not yet changed the paradigm of its worker migration management policy, which was exploitative.

Until today, the group said, the government had continued to produce discriminative policies on the placement of Indonesian migrant workers, especially female workers who worked as migrant domestic helpers. The government also allowed private parties to monopolize the recruitment and placement of migrant workers, which led to the neglect of their rights and had the potential for the criminalization of migrant workers.

"Indonesia's bureaucratic culture, which operates a corrupt worker migration management, has also contributed to the high cost of migration, which could lead to human trafficking," said Migrant Care.

The government's neglect of the rights of the country's migrant workers could be seen in the Manpower Ministry's reluctance to maximize the state's protection role in the process of replacing Law No.39/2004 on the placement and protection of migrant Indonesian workers abroad with a draft law on the protection of Indonesian workers abroad (PPILN).

Migrant Care said it seemed the Manpower Ministry was very conservative in responding to the PPIPLN bill. "It can be seen from their rejection of the inclusion of non-discriminatory principles and the rights of migrant workers, which are stipulated in the Migrant Worker Convention [which has been ratified through the issuance of Law No.6/2012]," the group said.

It further said the government's discriminative attitude could also be seen in its insistence on implementing the Zero Migrant Worker road map, which was gender biased, discriminatory, and violated human rights and the Constitution. The road map showed the government's reluctance to bear its responsibility for protecting its citizens, especially women, who wanted to work abroad as migrant domestic helpers.

"If the Indonesian government's conservatism on migrant worker protection initiatives continues, and at the same time the country's worker migration management is still conducted as business as usual, the vulnerability and oppression of Indonesian migrant workers will remain and even get worse," said Migrant Care. (ebf)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/05/01/govt-urged-to-protect-rights-of-indonesian-migrant-workers.html

Freedom of speech & expression

ASEAN Literary Festival continues, holds discussions on 1965 tragedy

Jakarta Post - May 6, 2016

Ayomi Amindoni – The ASEAN Literary Festival 2016 continues as its second day on Friday saw a varied discussion about voicing social issues despite protests from several groups at the festival's opening.

The event held at Taman Ismail Marzuki (TIM) in Central Jakarta on Friday started from morning to evening, included a book launching from author Syarifudin Yunus, poetry readings, several kids program, literary workshops, discussions on the 1965 communist purge and also a special session bring two prominent Indonesian poets together, Sapardi Djoko Damono and Joko Pinurbo.

On the 1965 tragedy, the organizers held a discussion entitled "Ingat65: Remembering the 1965 tragedy through digital story telling".

Despite protests from several groups, such as the Alliance of Muslim People and Students demanding police to shut down the event on its opening day on Thursday, the committee continued on with the annual event.

The organizers were the ones who decided to include a session on the country's darkest event, said program director and novelist Okky Puspa Madasari.

Aside from discussion on 1965, the festival will also address several controversial subjects, including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) and sexuality issues.

LGBT and communism related issues had been behind the protests against the annual literary event, which first started in 2014.

The protesters slammed the organizers for having a hidden agenda of championing communist ideas, provoke separatism and promote the LGBT community, said Sahril member of the Alliance of Muslim People and Students on Thursday.

Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Moechgiyarto said on Thursday that Police would not ban the event as it consisted a series of discussions. Moreover, the organizers had also been granted a permit to hold the four-day event from May 5 to 8 at TIM.

Dozens of police personnel guarded the TIM area on Friday such as the venue of each discussion to prevent any unwanted trouble occurring. (rin)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/05/06/asean-literary-festival-continues-holds-discussions-on-1965-tragedy.html

Group wants literary festival cancelled for 'spreading communist and LGBT values'

Asian Correspondent - May 5, 2016

A local group is organizing demonstrations against this year's ASEAN Literary Festival (ALF), accusing the event's organizers of having "ulterior motives".

Members of Aliansi Masyarakat dan Mahasiswa Muslim (the Muslim Community and Student Alliance) issued a press statement this morning saying that the event was merely using the human rights and social justice movement as a cover, reported Rappler.

They suspected the event of being used to promote communist and LGBT ideologies, as several discussions are scheduled to take place throughout the festival, including those covering sensitive issues like the 1965 massacre, as well as religion and radicalism.

The group announced that it planned to oppose the festival by organizing rallies to urge authorities to shut the festival down.

The group's three demands are for the organizers to stop spreading communist teachings, as it was illegal; to push for unity between Indonesia and its easternmost province of Papua, and reject the idea of separatism; and to refrain from supporting the LGBT movement, as it "goes against human nature and Indonesia's culture".

According to novelist Leila S. Chudori, who is also involved in the event, there has been pressure from the authorities to cancel the discussions in question. "The police have asked the organizers to cancel the discussions that cover the 1965 massacre and LGBT issues," she said.

The organizers maintained that the festival, which opens today, will continue as planned. The event is scheduled to last until May 8 (Sunday) in Jakarta.

Despite the organizers' optimism, however, the demonstrators turned up as promised today. Even one of the rooms where a workshop is meant to take place was locked by the venue's management, blocking access. The demonstrators have threatened to gather in larger numbers tomorrow if the festival is allowed to go on.

Some netizens have expressed their support for ALF and its organizers via social media, condemning the attempts to stifle freedom of speech:

The ALF website states that the festival is a cultural event meant to build a bridge between the literati and the general public, with the aim to "promote the cultures, arts and literary works not only in the region, but to the broader global audience."

Source: https://asiancorrespondent.com/2016/05/indonesia-group-wants-literary-festival-cancelled-for-spreading-communist-and-lgbt-values/

Islamic vigilantes threaten to shut down 3rd Asean Literary Festival in Jakarta

Suara.com - May 5, 2016

Siswanto, Welly Hidayat – Islamic demonstrators have protested against the 3rd Asean Literary Festival (ALF) 2016 which is to be held today Thursday May 5 at the Ismail Marzuki Cultural Centre in Central Jakarta.

The event, which is planned to go through until Sunday May 8, is being protested because it allegedly supports the spread of communist, Lesbian, Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) rights and is promoting the disintegration of Papua.

"The organisers of the 3rd ALF 2016 who [claim] to be acting on behalf of freedom of expression, justice and humanity are just using this as a cover", said Sahril Hasibuan, the coordinator of the group calling itself the Muslim Student and Social Alliance (AM3).

This suspicion is based on the series of activities that make up the agenda of the ALF. Hasibuan, who is demanding that the AFL be closed down, also called for the Papuan people to unite under the framework of the NKRI (Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia).

He also asked that the spread of ideas justifying LGBT be ended because it is not in accordance with the human character and culture of Indonesia.

Following mediations with police, the demonstration by the AM3 was halted. However they threatened that more demonstrators would return if the event continued the following day.

According the schedule of events received by Suara.com for the first day of the ALF, there will be a translation activity by writer Anton Kurnia followed by a workshop from literary works to music by Ananda Sukarlan. In the evening the main event will be opened by former East Timorese President Jose Ramos-Horta followed by a performance by the Korean Orchestra and the Modern Puppet Show.

[Translated by James Balowski for the Indoleft News Service. The original title of the report was "Massa Demo Tuntut Bubarkan The 3rd Asean Literary Festival di TIM".]

Source: http://www.suara.com/news/2016/05/05/175210/massa-demo-tuntut-bubarkan-the-3rd-asean-literary-festival-di-tim

Political parties & elections

Fee for Golkar chairmanship race is money politics: KPK

Jakarta Post - May 4, 2016

Nurul Fitri Ramadhani – The country's antigraft agency has lambasted the Golkar Party's policy that imposes a Rp 1 billion (US$76,000) registration fee for each candidate contesting the party's upcoming chairmanship elections. The agency claims it is clearly money politics.

Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputy chairman Laode Muhammad Syarif said on Tuesday he hoped Golkar would dismiss the requirement.

"Never have I heard the registration fee for chairmanship candidates of a political party costing billions of rupiah. Candidates should only be required to contribute their ideas for their party's improvement," Laode said.

The party lacking funds for its extraordinary national congress (munaslub), where it is set to elect a new chairman, is slated as the reason the steering committee of the congress has implemented the compulsory fee for prospective candidates. Moreover, each candidate will also have to bear additional costs after registering, with the amount based on the candidates' agreement.

Another KPK deputy chairman, Saut Situmorang, said he understood how the party wanted to raise funds to ensure the congress runs well. He, however, warned the imposed candidacy fee should remain transparent as such a money-collecting procedure was prone to "underhanded deals".

Head of the steering committee, Nurdin Halid, meanwhile, had instructed the committee's ethics division to immediately consult with the KPK regarding the policy and pledges to cancel it if the antigraft body deems it a form of gratuity.

However, consultation has yet to occur. In response to Laode's statement, steering committee member Andi Sinulingga said the KPK should comment with facts, not opinion.

"If the KPK sees it [the candidacy fee] as violating the law, they should immediately send an official letter to Golkar explaining which points are in violation," Andi said.

Golkar ethics division deputy head Lawrence Siburian said he had arranged consultation with the KPK chairman. "We will follow whatever the KPK advises us," Lawrence said.

Ahead of the congress, Golkar's chairmanship race also shows the government's influence over the party, as the steering committee has scheduled the congress to accommodate President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's availability. The three-day congress will take place in Nusa Dua, Bali, on May 15, eight days earlier than the previously set date.

Nurdin said the committee had changed the schedule four times, after coordinating with the Palace, to ensure the President was available to attend. After all, the party will not let Jokowi be absent for the congress' opening, as the President is the symbol of political legitimacy.

"We want the president to open the congress, because Golkar was born to support the government. It's us that should follow his schedule, not vice versa," Nurdin said.

As the deadline draws closer, the committee has decided to limit the zones for candidates' campaign trips. The first zone will be in Medan, North Sumatra, while the second will be in Surabaya, East Java, to cover DPD members across Java. The trip will end in Makassar, South Sulawesi, which will cover members from Sulawesi, Kalimantan and Papua.

The committee has opened a two-day registration period for chairman candidates from Tuesday, with lawmaker Aziz Syamsuddin being the first candidate to register.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/05/04/fee-golkar-chairmanship-race-money-politics-KPK.html

Tommy Soeharto's Golkar chairmanship candidacy questioned

Jakarta Post - May 3, 2016

The nomination as Golkar Party chairman of Hutomo 'Tommy' Mandala Putra, the youngest son of late former president Soeharto, will hamper the party's struggle to rebuild its image, an observer has opined.

"People would question Tommy's eligibility as regards his track record. In the current situation, Golkar needs to find the right chairman, someone who can unify and is committed to improving the party and grooming its cadres, instead of someone who can merely finance it," Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) senior political analyst Siti Zuhro said on Monday.

Born in 1962, Tommy took control of a large number of businesses during his father's New Order regime (1966-1998), allegedly making vast amounts of money through corruption and embezzlement.

Golkar has been split into two factions for around a year. The Golkar leadership led by Aburizal Bakrie was chosen by a party national congress (munas) in Bali in November 2014, while a splinter faction led by Agung Laksono was elected at a munas at Ancol in Jakarta in December 2015.

The conflict receded earlier this year when the Supreme Court ordered Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna H Laoly to revoke a decree acknowledging the legitimacy of the Agung camp. The minister later issued a decree that legalized the Golkar leadership declared at the Bali Munas.

The Law and Human Rights Ministry extended the Golkar leadership formed at a Riau congress, which should have expired in 2014, for six months on Jan. 28 to help the party organize a reconciliation congress. It was then decided that Golkar would hold an extraordinary national congress (munaslub), scheduled for May 23 to May 26 in Bali.

The chair of the congress' steering committee, Nurdin Halid, confirmed on Monday that Tommy would run for the party chairmanship along with other candidates Ade Komaruddin, Airlangga Hartarto, Aziz Syamsuddin, Indra Bambang Utoyo, Mahyudin, Priyo Budi Santoso, Setya Novanto, Syahrul Yasin Limpo and Wati Amir.

Nurdin said as quoted by Tempo.co that Tommy had sent a representative to attend an event set by the committee to introduce the mechanisms and procedures of the munaslub and chairmanship race, although the son of the late president has yet to formally declare his candidacy.

During Soeharto's 32-year authoritarian leadership, Golkar enjoyed the benefits of being the single biggest party in the country. It consecutively swept all six general elections from 1971 until 1997, garnering an average vote of over 60 percent.

However, the party suffered defeat for the first time in the 1999 general election, in which it came second with 22.44 percent of the votes after the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), led by Megawati Soekarnoputri, daughter of founding president Sukarno.

Golkar's performance in recent regional elections showed an even greater decline; the party ranked ninth of 12 political parties participating in the elections, far below the PDI-P, which topped the poll, according to data compiled by NGO the People's Voters Education Network (JPPR).

"Currently, there is great public attention on all political parties including Golkar. It will as such be hard for the party if it fails to convince the public, especially before the next simultaneous regional elections in 2017 and legislative and presidential elections in 2019," Siti said. (vps/ebf)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/05/03/tommy-soehartos-golkar-chairmanship-candidacy-questioned.html

Journalism & press freedom

Komnas HAM to investigate shutdown of World Press Day event in Yogyakarta

Jakarta Post - May 5, 2016

Bambang Muryanto – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) will investigate alleged human rights violations in the recent shutting down of World Press Day celebrations by the police and various conservative social organizations in Yogyakarta.

"Our monitoring sub-commission members will go to Yogyakarta to gather information and facts. We will meet all parties, including police personnel," Komnas HAM chairman M. Imdadun Rahmat said in Yogyakarta early on Thursday.

He made the statement after receiving a report of the incident from the Yogyakarta chapter of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI).

It was earlier reported that police personnel and members of the Communication Forum of Indonesian Veterans' Children (FKPPI), an association of families of retired military and police personnel, dispersed an event that was celebrating World Press Day, held by AJI Yogyakarta on Tuesday.

The police and FKPPI members said a movie titled "Pulau Buru Tanah Air Beta" (Buru Island: My Homeland), by Rahung Nasution, was screening at the event and had the potential to ignite conflict as it contained communist teachings.

The police insisted the event had no permit although AJI Yogyakarta claimed it had sent an invitation to Yogyakarta Police chief Brig. Gen. Prasta Wahyu Hidayat and Yogyakarta City Police chief Sr. Comr. Pri Hartono Eling Lelakon.

"The Yogyakarta Police chief has ordered that this activity be stopped," Yogyakarta City Police head of operations Comr. Sigit Haryadi said on Tuesday.

Imdadun said two serious human rights violations had taken place. First, the shutting down of the event, and second, the expulsion of AJI Yogyakarta members and activists who insisted on staying at the AJI office after the event had been shut down on Tuesday evening.

"We will also see what rights have been violated in terms of violence. The result of our investigation will form the basis for recommendations we will submit to several government institutions," he said.

If there was an ethics violation, the commissioner said, Komnas HAM would push the National Police to hold an ethics hearing. Or, it will bring the case to the general court if the violation could be categorized as a crime.

"The state must protect its citizens who want to meet or work anywhere they like. There should be no expulsion. It seems this country has no rules," said Imdadun.

In an official statement, AJI Yogyakarta secretary Bhekti Suryani asked the government to be serious in handling the case and the violations perpetrated by the police officers. The police, Bhekti said, tended to take sides with intolerant groups.

"We urge the National Police chief [Gen. Badrodin Haiti] and the National Police Commission to evaluate the work performance of the Yogyakarta Police and all of their divisions, which have allied themselves with intolerant groups," said Bhekti.

Yogyakarta-based Indonesian Islamic University Center for Human Rights Studies (Pusham UII) director Eko Riyadi symbolically expressed his condolences for the death of press freedom in Indonesia.

He said the repression perpetrated by security authorities had exceeded the limits of what could be tolerated in a democratic country. "The shutdown has marked a new era where the police are very actively limiting human rights," Eko said.

He called on Komnas HAM to investigate the case seriously because cases of intolerance were continuing to happen in Yogyakarta. In the city, known as a "city of tolerance", Eko said he had witnessed state apparatus instead form an evil axis with intolerant groups.

"The result [of the investigation] is not only aimed at dismissing either the Yogyakarta Police chief or the Yogyakarta City Police chief but also at improving the situation in Yogyakarta," said Eko.

Meanwhile, a researcher from the Institution of Social and Islamic Study (LKIS), Hairus Salim, said the shutdown of the commemoration of World Press Day was really frightening and tense.

"There were many fully armed police personnel. They actually would've been quite strong enough to fight against the intolerant groups," said Hairus. He said he regretted that the police officers had refused to function as they should and protect the citizens being threatened with violence by the FKPPI. (afr/ebf)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/05/05/komnas-ham-to-investigate-shutdown-of-world-press-day-event-in-yogyakarta.html

Yogyakarta Sultan defends police banning of film on 1965 political prisoners

Tempo - May 5, 2016

Pito Agustin Rudiana, Shinta Maharani, Yogyakarta – Yogyakarta Sultan Hamengku Buwono X has defended the Yogyakarta metropolitan police for shutting down an event commemorating International Press Freedom Day held by the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) in Yogyakarta on the evening of Tuesday May 3.

The reason for this is because there were pro- and contra-views at the event at the AJI secretariat that was planning a film showing of the documentary "Buru Island My Homeland" (Pulau Buru Tanah Air Beta) by director Rahung Nasution.

"The police had no choice. Rather than a clash taking place with the potential to make things more difficult for police, it was better it be resolved, stopped", said the Sultan speaking after an economic census socialisation at the Inna Garuda Hotel in Yogyakarta on Wednesday May 4.

The Sultan rejected the view that he does not allow differences given the origins of this country that was established amid a background of differences. The Sultan claimed that the measures taken by police were simply to prevent a clash between pro- and contra groups, namely violence.

"If [members of] the public itself generate these (the pro- and contra views), then the police are in a very difficult position", said the Sultan.

According to the Sultan, an attitude of tolerance must be a mutual agreement because the differences that have been born since the Indonesian state was establish have not been a weakness. Nor has it been based on forcing ones views on others.

"Up until now there has never been an agreement, yes these pro- and contra-[groups] are a problem. [If] each feels that their views are correct, [then] it will continue to happen", said the Sultan.

The Sultan also doubts that a dialogue between the different parties could be held. According to the Sultan, a dialogue can only be held if those invited can accept the views of other people and accept those elements that are not the same.

"If there is a dialogue and [they] maintain their differences, how can they understand [each other]? It's not possible right", said the Sultan.

AJI Yogyakarta's records show that there have been a series of threats against the freedom of expression, belief and discussion over the last few years. According to the Wahid Institute, in 2015 Yogyakarta become the second most intolerant city in Indonesia.

"The Sultan as the governor of Yogyakarta province and the king of the Yogyakarta Royal Palace has allowed intolerance to grow in the region", said AJI Yogyakarta chairperson Anang Zakaria.

Responding to the pro- and contra-views, Yogyakarta Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) speaker Yoeke Indra Agung Laksana has asked that scholarly events not be viewed as activities that can give rise to sensitivities.

"Please sort it out. Provide protection. But it has to be purely scientific. Don't take up political missions or group interests", said Laksana when speaking at the DPRD building.

Earlier, police banned a film showing of the documentary about Buru Island which was accused of being communist propaganda. During negotiations, police asked the AJI to show a different film instead.

Not only did they ban the film showing but the police, which press groups accuse of being the principle enemy of press freedom in Indonesia, also forcibly closed down the event.

[Translated by James Balowski for the Indoleft News Service. The original title of the report was "Sultan Yogya Bela Polisi Bubarkan Pemutaran Film Pulau Buru".]

Source: https://m.tempo.co/read/news/2016/05/05/078768649/sultan-yogya-bela-polisi-bubarkan-pemutaran-film-pulau-buru

Police disperse World Press Day event in Yogyakarta

Jakarta Post - May 4, 2016

Bambang Muryanto – The Yogyakarta Police dispersed members of the city's Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) as they attempted to commemorate World Press Day on Tuesday.

The commemoration was to be marked by a showing of the movie Pulau Buru Tanah Air Beta (Buru Island My Motherland), directed by Rahung Nasution.

The police were reportedly responding to pressure from the Communication Forum of Indonesian Veterans' Children (FKPPI), an association of families of military and police veterans, who rejected the movie screening.

Yogyakarta Police officer Com. Sigit Haryadi said the screening had the potential to create conflict as local residents had rejected the event. Thus, the screening should be halted for security reasons, he explained. "It is also to protect the image of Yogyakarta as a city of tolerance," Sigit added.

The disbandment took place following pressure from a number of FKPPI youth members who visited the AJI headquarters along with the founder of the Indonesia Anti-Communist Front (FAKI), Burhanuddin, who is implicated in killings during the 1965 massacre.

Previously, Sigit visited the AJI Yogyakarta's office to meet with the committee, but he reportedly shouted at them and asked why the alliance had organized an event without informing the police, adding that the Yogyakarta Police chief demanded the event be halted.

FKPPI members and Burhanuddin himself, who stood in front of the AJI office, also clashed with members of the alliance, who were in turn supported by artists, university students and NGO activists. Those opposing the screening accused the AJI committee and the activists of being communists.

Yogyakarta Police officers on Tuesday afternoon urged the committee to cancel the screening, which they claimed could contain communist teachings, adding that there had been no prior information about the movie.

Press Council commissioner Nezar Patria called Yogyakarta Police's intelligence and security division head Comr. Wahyu Dwi Nugroho in support of the event taking place, but he said he could not make a final decision as he had to follow commands.

The committee, however, insisted on making every effort for the event to take place, as canceling it would have smothered the commemoration of World Press Day. "We only want to halt the event if there is an official disbandment from the police," said AJI Yogyakarta chairman Anang Zakaria.

The FKPPI and the local administration continued to pressure the committee until the police officially banned the screening, leading the committee to cancel it. Anang said the committee had fought for its rights to the maximum, adding that they were not afraid as being scared only prolonged slavery.

However, Anang regretted that police officers had once again bowed down to pressure from intolerant groups. "We had asked for permits from village officials and invited the Yogyakarta Police chief," Anang said.

The incident adds to a list of recent cases of intolerance that have occurred in Yogyakarta. (afr/bbn)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/05/04/police-disperse-world-press-day-event-in-yogyakarta.html

World Press Freedom Day celebrated

Jakarta Post - May 4, 2016

Thirty journalists, representing a variety of mass media outlets in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), staged a rally to demand guarantees for press freedom on Tuesday to commemorate World Press Freedom Day.

The group staged a theatrical performance depicting journalists struggling for the freedom of their profession, grouped under the moniker Journalist Association (Kawan) of Mataram.

Protest coordinator Haris Maftul, also chairman of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) Mataram branch, said the rally had been organized to remind the central government and regional administration of their commitment to press freedom.

"We also want to ask the press, in particular those that live and work in NTB and also in wider Indonesia, to say no to any form of intervention, especially those made by political parties," Haris said.

Chairman of the Indonesian Television Journalists Association (IJTI) NTB branch, Herman Zuhdi, said that press freedom,as stipulated in Law No. 40/1999, had not yet been implemented effectively.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/05/04/islands-focus-world-press-freedom-day-celebrated.html

Environment & natural disasters

Indonesia moves to ban new palm oil plantations to stop forest fires

Agence France Presse - May 1, 2016

Indonesia is pushing to ban new palm oil operations after last year's haze-belching forest fires were partly blamed on the industry's expansion, but producers are warning the move could hit the economy and green groups are sceptical.

President Joko Widodo has proposed a halt on granting new land for palm oil plantations in the world's top producer of the edible vegetable oil – a key ingredient in many everyday goods, from biscuits to shampoo and make-up.

In a statement, Mr Widodo said "palm oil concessions available at the moment are already adequate" and urged producers to concentrate on using better seeds to increase their yields.

Plantations on Sumatra island and the Indonesian part of Borneo have expanded in recent years as demand for palm oil has skyrocketed, bringing huge profits to companies and healthy tax revenues to the Government.

The rapid growth has been blamed for the destruction of tropical forests that are home to many endangered species, and forest fires that occur every year during the dry season due to illegal slash-and-burn clearances.

The 2015 blazes were the most serious for some years, worsened by dry weather caused by an El Nino phenomenon, and cloaked large stretches of South-East Asia in toxic smog for weeks.

The proposed moratorium on new concessions is the latest move by Mr Widodo aimed at reducing environmental destruction caused by the industry and halting the annual smog outbreaks.

The Indonesian Palm Oil Association warned the ban could damage a mainstay of South-East Asia's biggest economy that supports 24 million jobs, directly or indirectly.

"Palm oil is a strategic sector which contributed $19 billion in exports in 2015," said Tofan Madji, a spokesman for the group, which represents about 650 companies. "It contributes to economic growth, especially in remote areas." Main cause of fires is 'greed'

Activists were cautious about the proposal, with Greenpeace Indonesia warning it would not be effective unless the Government introduces a tough regulation, rather than just a weaker "presidential instruction".

The details of the proposed moratorium are still being discussed, and it is not yet clear when it will be adopted, the environment ministry said.

Kiki Taufik, Greenpeace Indonesia forest campaigner, also warned of implementation problems as various parts of government would need to work together for a ban to operate smoothly. "This is probably one of the hardest parts – lack of coordination among officials is common and it often leads to bad implementation of regulations," Mr Taufik said.

Implementation of laws is also difficult because of heavily decentralisation of power across the archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, with rules set in Jakarta often flouted by local administrations.

Some believe that little can be done to stop the annual fires when there is still money to be made from palm oil.

"The main cause of forest fires is greed," said Herry Purnomo, a scientist at the Indonesia-based Centre for International Forestry Research. "As long as people want a quick return, quick money, the forest will keep burning."

Source: http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/2016-05-01/indonesia-moves-to-ban-new-palm-oil-plantations-to-stop-forest-fires/1575648

Graft & corruption

Regulation revision to give graft convicts advantages: ICW

Jakarta Post - May 2, 2016

Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) spoke on Sunday against a revision of Government Regulation No. 99/2012 on requirements for remission, which has been touted as a solution to prison overcrowding.

Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly has said that the government is preparing a revision of the regulation, which also regulates sentence cut requirements for extraordinary crimes such as corruption and terrorism, following clashes in overcrowded penitentiaries.

Riots have erupted over the past few months in poorly guarded narcotics-infested penitentiaries ruled by drugs kingpins.

ICW activist Emerson Yuntho said that the 2012 regulation tightened the granting of remission and parole to corruption convicts.

"I question Yasonna's plan to revise the government regulation. I see that political interest stands out as the reason for the revision because a lot of corruption convicts are politicians," Emerson said at the ICW's office.

He added that with the revision, corruption inmates would gain advantages as he believed that the ministry intended to replace the prevailing regulation with the previous one.

Article 34 of Government Regulation No. 26/2006, the previous regulation, states that inmates of terrorism, drugs, corruption, crimes against state security and severe human rights violations and other organized transnational crimes would only be granted remission if they were well-behaved and had served one-third of their prison sentence.

However, Article 34 in the prevailing regulation includes several requirements for inmates to receive remission, such as agreeing to be a justice collaborator and having fully paid either fines or substitute funds as determined by a court verdict.

"I'm concerned about the fact that the revision of the regulation will ease requirements for corruption convicts to receive remission. And that will not create a deterrent effect," Emerson said.

The ministry has acknowledged that the major problem of overcrowded prisons were narcotics inmates, which account for one-third of inmates. Most of the inmates are addicts, not traffickers or kingpins.

In 2014, ICW monitored 395 corruption cases with 479 defendants, 372 of whom were sentenced to under four years in prison. The average punishment for corruption convicts was two years.

"With such light sentences, added with remission or parole, I can assure you that there will not be a deterrent effect. That is a bad message for the public," Emerson said.

Trisakti University law expert and former judge Asep Iwan Iriawan said that all inmates had remission rights, but that the revision of the government regulation was not needed.

"Revising the regulation on account of prison overcapacity does not make any sense. Have you ever been to Sukamiskin Penitentiary? Because corruption inmates there get their own cell," Asep said.

He added that prison overcapacity was not related to the revision of the 2012 government regulation. "Overcapacity is being used to push the ministry to revise the regulation," Emerson said.

He added that most of the overcrowded prisons housed drug inmates, however if the government only focused on giving remission to them, some people would voice concerns of being treated unfairly. "If the revision only specifies remission for drug inmates, that is discriminatory toward other inmates," Emerson said. (wnd)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/05/02/regulation-revision-give-graft-convicts-advantages-icw.html

Jakarta & urban life

Evictions begun, but no master plan ready for Pasar Ikan area

Jakarta Post - May 7, 2016

Corry Elyda, Jakarta – Despite its hasty move to evict Pasar Ikan residents and plans to kick out residents of Luar Batang in North Jakarta, the city administration has not made a detailed plan on the revitalization of the areas.

Assistant to the governor for spatial planning and environment, Oswar Muadzin Mungkasa, said recently that the city administration did not have a master plan for the revitalization as it was still collecting information and taking suggestions from various parties regarding the design. "I cannot talk about it right now. There will be an integrated design for the entire area," Oswar said.

He did disclose that the areas would be divided into several zones, including open green space (RTH), heritage areas and others. Oswar could not guarantee, however, that Pasar Ikan would get the integrated low-cost apartments that are supposedly going to be provided for evicted fishermen.

In April, about 4,200 joint personnel form the Jakarta Police, the Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) and the Indonesian Military (TNI) evicted 347 households whose homes were standing on the coastline near Sunda Kelapa port.

The administration said it planned to create heritage maritime-based tourist attractions in the area, which is tucked between Sunda Kelapa port and the Maritime Museum. The eviction was rejected by residents as the administration did not discuss its plans with them, instead just issuing a warning letter of the eviction date.

Most of the families were moved to Rawa Bebek rental apartment in East Jakarta, which is 25 kilometers away from their previous home and working space. The apartment, however, is only for single workers while apartments for families will not be ready until September. Some of the residents are also choosing to live on their boats.

The city is also mulling the eviction of residents in nearby Luar Batang, known for its historical mosque. The city plans to turn the area into a religious tourism site. Oswar said that the eviction plan was still tentative. "The sure thing is that the mosque will have a plaza built in front," he said.

Jakarta Development Planning Board (Bappeda) head Tuty Kusumawati said that the revitalization of Pasar Ikan and Luar Batang would follow a detailed spatial planning bylaw and a gubernatorial regulation on the development of the Kota Tua heritage area.

"Revitalizing the area is also part of an effort to improve infrastructure for flood mitigation in Pakin and Luar Batang. It is part of a grand design by the city administration to save the area from sea flooding," she said.

The city is planning to revamp the embankment on the coastline of Jakarta Bay as part of the National Coastal Integrated Capital Development (NCICD) program.

Candrian Attahiyat, former head of Jakarta's cultural heritage conservation body, said the city had invited him twice to talk about the revitalization plan. "However, none of the plans are fixed. We need to discuss them more," he said.

Candrian, who is an archaeologist, said that he hoped the city administration would not sterilize the area by removing the community that was a part of its heritage. "The area should live for 24 hours. It cannot just become a tourism site," he said.

Candrian also warned the city administration about demolitions in historical areas and said it had not asked for his advice before knocking down evicted residents' houses. "They damaged the top of the 21.5-meter Kota Tua wall when they removed other buildings above," he said.

Candrian said he hoped the city administration would be careful next time. "We just found out there are remains of foundations of a colonial-era bridge connecting the museum to the fishing area. We need to warn the agency to be careful if they want to dredge the river," he said.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/05/07/evictions-begun-no-master-plan-ready-pasar-ikan-area.html

Jakartans complain of suburb neglect amid Asiad development

Jakarta Post - May 7, 2016

Agnes Anya – Residents have criticized the city administration for ignoring suburban development, accusing it of having prioritized specific projects in a bid to beautify the capital ahead of the 2018 Asian Games.

Lutfi Hadi Kusuma, a resident of Kebayoran Baru in South Jakarta, questioned the urgency of the administration's current plan to rearrange, as well as beautify, Jl. Sudirman and Jl. MH Thamrin in Central Jakarta.

"In my opinion, Jl. Sudirman and Jl. MH Thamrin are already well-developed, especially when compared to other main roads in Jakarta," Lutfi told The Jakarta Post recently. Lutfi suggested the administration should have instead focused on less-developed main roads, like Jl. Pemuda in East Jakarta and Jl. TB Simatupang in South Jakarta.

Like Lutfi, Yohana Beryl Hapsari of Pondok Gede of East Jakarta, also criticized the administration for having focused mostly on roads near the high-security area, popularly called Ring 1, in which the Presidential and Vice Presidential offices, as well as several government offices and the US Embassy, are located.

"The capital does not only consist of the Ring 1 area. The administration should take a look at other roads. Few very important people travel along them, but they are essential for Jakarta residents," Beryl said. "This city is not just for VIPs, right?"

Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama previously said that his administration would launch a number of projects to ease the capital's notorious traffic and promised these efforts would provide the city with a better image for the Asian Games.

The projects, Ahok said, included the rearrangement of Jl. Sudirman and Jl. Thamrin and the construction of additional roads in Semanggi interchange in South Jakarta.

With the development funded at Rp 345 billion (US$26.14 million) by private firm PT Mitra Panca Persada as compensation for its proposal to increase its building floor coefficients (KLB), the construction of the additional roads began last month.

KLB refers to the total square feet of a building divided by the total square feet of the lot on which the building is located. The higher the KLB, the denser an area is. A gubernatorial regulation stipulates compensation in the form of a social or public facility to the city administration if developers exceed the KLB limit.

Regarding the revitalization of Jl. Sudirman and Jl. Thamrin, Ahok said that funding would likely be provided by a private firm through the KLB compensation scheme, as the project was not included in the 2016 budget plan. He said that revitalization would begin this year and should be finished by August 2017. The Semanggi project is also due for completion at this time.

"There will be a test event for Asian Games venues in 2017. So, when they [international athletes and committees] come, we will not be embarrassed by the road conditions," Ahok said in a weekly meeting with his subordinates as quoted by beritajakarta.com on Monday.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/05/07/jakartans-complain-suburb-neglect-amid-asiad-development.html

Alfini Lestari: a courageous hero for pedestrians

Jakarta Post - May 3, 2016

Callistasia Anggun Wijaya – Motorcycle riders mounting the sidewalk is a common practice across the city, particularly when roads are packed with other vehicles.

Like other pedestrians, 34-year-old Alfini Lestari is annoyed by this incursion into spaces that are supposed to be only for pedestrians.

But unlike many other pedestrians, she has dared to take action. A photo of her blocking bikers attempting to ride along a sidewalk on Jl. M.H. Thamrin in Central Jakarta on Monday was published on the front page of The Jakarta Post on Tuesday. The picture of a woman also went viral on social media with many netizens expressing appreciation for her courage.

However, some people suggested that she was just looking for attention and was only imitating Daffa Faros Oktoviarto, an elementary school student in Semarang, Central Java, who recently received a lot of press for taking similar action. "It was a coincidence that there was a photographer who captured what I did," she told thejakartapost.com on Tuesday.

Alfini, who has worked as a cook for a Japanese family in the Sultan Residence apartment block for the last three years, said that she often saw motorcycle riders using pedestrian walkways.

She observed that the violation against the traffic regulation had been worsening in the last two months, particularly after the Jakarta city administration removed the three-in-one traffic restriction, which has worsened congestion on Jl. M.H. Thamrin and Jl. Sudirman.

Alfini says she cannot resist taking action when she sees bikers using the sidewalk, and admitted that she has spontaneously confronted bikers several times upon seeing them riding on sidewalks.

She says that she does not care if the bikers throw insults at her, try to drive her off the sidewalk or tell her that she doesn't own the sidewalks and should stop trying to be a hero. "I told them that they should be ashamed of themselves. They have their own roads but they still use the sidewalk," said Alfini.

"I told them to get off the sidewalks, and said that if they didn't want to get off, I would stand my ground [...] I also told them that if they wanted to hit me I wasn't scared," she said adding that some bikers had returned to the road when they saw how persistent Alfini was.

She expressed hopes the police would enforce the law by cracking down on such traffic violations to ensure the sidewalks were free of inconsiderate bikers. (bbn)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/05/03/alfini-lestari-a-courageous-hero-for-pedestrians.html

Armed forces & defense

Indonesia, Russia to sign deal for 8 Sukhoi jets this month

Jakarta Post - May 6, 2016

Indonesia and Russia will sign a purchase agreement for eight Russian-made Sukhoi SU-35 jets in May as part of Indonesia's plan to renew its primary weaponry system, or alutsista.

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo will witness the signing of the procurement deal in Russia in mid-May, Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu announced recently as reported by Antara news agency.

Indonesia had planned to purchase the 4.5 generation Sukhoi jets from Russia after the previous purchase of 24 Sukhoi 27/30 jets. The main purpose of the purchase was to secure the archipelago's vast airspace as well as border areas, Ryamizard said.

No details about the budget for the purchase have been disclosed, but according to media reports the price tag of one Su-35 is around US$65 million.

A lawmaker of the House of Representatives commission I overseeing intelligence, defense and foreign affairs expressed his support for the procurement plan, saying that the purchase would strengthen national air defense.

Jokowi is scheduled to visit Russia and South Korea on May 16 to 20 to attend the Russia-ASEAN Summit in the Russian city of Sochi, at which leaders will discuss ASEAN cooperation with Russia. He will continue his state visit to South Korea.

Indonesia and South Korea have also signed an agreement worth US$8 billion for the manufacture of the Korea Fighter Xperiment and Indonesia Fighter Xperiment (KFX/IFX) jets fighter, which will be available within five years as part of the government's efforts to produce jets for alutsista. Indonesia will contribute 20 percent to the total project, with state-owned aircraft manufacturer PT Dirgantara Indonesia involved in the production of the semi-stealth jets.

Indonesia and the Korea Aerospace Industry (KAI) are still working on the design of the jets, Ryamizard added. (rin)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/05/06/indonesia-russia-to-sign-deal-for-8-sukhoi-jets-this-month.html

Activists want military to stay out of evictions

Jakarta Post - May 4, 2016

Indra Budiari – Human rights activists deplored on Tuesday the city administration's decision to involve military officers in evictions, saying it was a violation of law and could potentially lead the country back to authoritarianism.

The Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta), which recorded military involvement in 65 out of the 113 evictions carried out by the administration in 2015, believes the number remains high this year.

"It's a violation of law when the military takes part in a civilian eviction, yet it keep happening almost every time," LBH Jakarta lawyer Alldo Fellix Januardy said, referring to the Social Conflict Law and its associated government regulation.

Article 33 of Law No. 7/2012 on social conflict stipulates that the governor could asked for military assistance during a national-scale conflict and should be carried out in accordance to government regulation.

Meanwhile, according to Article 40 on Government Regulation No. 2/2015 on implementing regulation of the Social Conflict Law, the regional administration or central government must declare a state of conflict before military personnel can be deployed to handle or mitigate a conflict situation.

Furthermore, Article 43 of the regulation defines a state of conflict as a situation where the police is unable to handle and that it possesses a threat to the system of governance.

"Forced evictions are not categorized as a social conflict as regulated in the law," Alldo said. "The main duty of military forces is to safeguard state sovereignty, not evict civilians."

LBH Jakarta also recorded that from 113 forced-eviction cases, in 95 eviction cases, the city administration did not initiate dialogue with residents, while in 72 cases, the city did not offer fair compensation to evicted residents.

Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama has often asked for military and police personnel to support the eviction of civilians he considered illegal occupants of government land. While many have criticized military involvement, Ahok insists he needs police and military forces to handle violent evictees.

In February, Ahok said military officers were deployed at the scene of evictions to make sure procedures are carried smoothly. "I have heard the complaints ever since the Waduk Pluit eviction [in 2013]," he said, playing down the criticism.

Purportedly a thousand-plus police and military officers have answered the governor's call by taking part in recent evictions including in August 2015 when a clash broke out during the eviction of 3,400 residents from Kampung Pulo, East Jakarta.

Gugun Muhammad of the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC) said the policy to involve soldiers in evicting civilians was similar with the actions applied during the New-Order era under the Soeharto dictatorship, in which the military engaged in many aspects of civilian life.

"The public haven't completely forgotten the bad image our military forces had during the New Order era, where their involvement in the recent forced evictions does not help at all," Gugun said.

The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) have also criticized the Jakarta Administration's move to utilize military forces in eviction processes, as it emphasized dialogue and other more humane approaches be prioritized rather than brute force.

Komnas HAM's Hafidz Abbas said recently that it showed the "arrogance" of the city administration, as military officers were also deployed to place pressure on residents who refused to be evicted.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/05/04/activists-want-military-stay-out-evictions.html

Criminal justice & prison system

No tolerance for drug abuse: TNI chief

Jakarta Post - May 2, 2016

Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo said Sunday that any military official proven to be a drug user or dealer would face dismissal from his or her duties.

"I will ensure that he or she would be dismissed by the TNI, to add to his or her possible criminal charge," Gatot told reporters in Sorong, Papua, as quoted by tribunnews.com. Currently, Gatot said, the TNI has always discharged members implicated in drug cases.

Drugs have been a perennial problem for the TNI. Several military officials have made headlines for drug use, including the latest case on April 7, when police arrested Makassar Military commander Col. Inf. Jefri Oktavian Rotti, along with the head of the operation command and control center, Lt. Col. Budi Iman Santoso and five civilians at a hotel in Makassar. "We have dismissed them from their positions," Gatot added.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/05/02/national-scene-no-tolerance-drug-abuse-tni-chief.html

Economy & investment

Trade, services sector cushion RI unemployment rate

Jakarta Post - May 7, 2016

Indonesia saw its unemployment rate slightly fall in February, thanks to a higher absorption rate of workers by a number of sectors, including trade and services, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) has reported.

The BPS announced Wednesday that the open unemployment rate (TPT) decreased to 5.5 percent in February, lower than the 5.81 percent posted in the same month last year.

The agency also reported that the country's workforce had slightly fallen to 120.65 million of people in February of 2016 from 120.85 million in the same period of 2015, which represents a 0.16 percent decline.

Meanwhile, the total number of unemployed people had decreased to 7.02 million people in February of 2016 from 7.45 million people recorded in the same period last year.

The majority of the workforce, or approximately 38.29 million people, work in the agricultural sector, the data shows. Workforce numbers in this sector, however, declined by 5 percent from the 40.12 million workers recorded in the corresponding month last year.

"The mechanization of the agricultural sector has caused a workforce reduction," BPS chief Suryamin said, adding that a similar reduction had also occurred in the industrial sector.

The BPS recorded workforce numbers in the industrial sector had dropped to 15.97 million in February this year from 16.38 million in the same month of 2015.

However, Suryamin added, the workforce reduction in the agricultural and industrial sectors could be balanced by the, also, significant labor recruitment increase in the trade and service sectors.

BPS noted an increase of 1.85 million of workers in the trade sector, to 26.65 million in February from 28.5 million recorded in the same month last year. It also reported that the workforce number in the services sector had increased to 19.79 million from 19.41 million.

Commenting on the data, a labor researcher at the Bandung-based (West Java) AKATIGA Center for Social Analysis, Indrasari Tjandraningsih, said that the mechanization of the agricultural sector, such as the use of combine harvesters – a machine harvesting grain crops – was indeed the cause of workforce reductions in the sector.

"With using a combine harvester, 4 hectares of land can be harvested by only 7 people. Meanwhile, with the manual harvesting system that uses a power thresher, harvesting land of the same size requires up to 120 people," Indrasari told The Jakarta Post, referring to research conducted by AKATIGA in the provinces of West Java, Central Java and South Sulawesi in 2013.

The widespread use of machines in the agricultural sector needs to be reconsidered as the majority of workers in the country work in the agricultural sector, she added.

According to BPS data, 31.74 percent of the nation's workforce work in the agricultural sector. It is followed by the trade, service and industrial sectors, which employs 23.62 percent, 16.4 percent and 13.24 percent of the workforce, respectively. The rest are represented by those working in construction, transportation, finance and other sectors. (vny)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/05/07/trade-services-sector-cushion-ri-unemployment-rate.html

Sluggish RI economy due to limited government spending: BI

Jakarta Post - May 5, 2016

Ayomi Amindoni – Indonesia's slow pace of economic growth in the first quarter of 2016 is mainly due to the limited growth in both government spending and investment, a Bank Indonesia (BI) official has said.

Indonesia's economy recorded 4.92 percent growth in the first quarter of 2016, lower than the country's growth in the previous quarter, which stood at 5.04 percent. However, the economic growth in the first three months of 2016 was higher than the same period last year.

"The weak government spending is influenced by the seasonal pattern of government spending, which is still relatively limited at the beginning of the year," the central bank's executive director of communication Tirta Segara said on Wednesday.

He said private investors were in wait-and-see mode, despite the government's efforts to speed up infrastructure projects. He further explained consumer spending was still growing strongly supported by basic food prices, which remained stable.

On the external side, Tirta said, along with improvements in some export commodities, Indonesia's overall export performance had improved although it was still experiencing a contraction phase.

"Looking ahead, BI predicts economic growth in the second quarter of 2016 will rise, driven by the fiscal stimulus, particularly with respect to accelerating the development of infrastructure projects," he went on.

Meanwhile, consumer spending is also expected to improve, in line with controlled inflation and rising earnings expectations. Along with that, the implementation of the economic policy packages is expected to boost investment and exports.

Tirta said it was expected that the easing of Indonesia's monetary policy, which had been pursued consistently, could boost economic growth.

He also said BI would continue to monitor developments, both domestically and externally. At the same time, the central bank would continuously strengthen coordination with the government to continue to boost economic growth, while it would continue to maintain the country's macroeconomic stability.

"With the macroeconomic stability, Indonesia's economy will grow at a higher rate on an ongoing basis," he said. (ebf)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/05/05/sluggish-ri-economy-due-to-limited-government-spending-bi.html

Tobacco drives Indonesia's manufacturing production down in Q1

Jakarta Post - May 3, 2016

Ayomi Amindoni – Manufacturing was under pressure in the first quarter of 2016, with a 1.41 percent quarter-on-quarter (qoq) decline, according to the latest reading of the Central Statistics Agency (BPS).

BPS head Suryamin said industries that experienced production decline during the period were tobacco processing, rubber products and plastics, as well as pulp and paper.

"Tobacco processing fell 9.99 percent, rubber products and plastics down 7.66 percent, and paper products were down 5.73 percent," he said in a press conference in Jakarta on Monday.

On the opposite end, wood, bamboo, rattan and products scored the largest increase of 5.6 percent. Basic metal products and transportation equipment industry followed with 3.76 percent and 3.51 percent growth, respectively.

However, on a year-on year (yoy) basis, manufacturing registered 4.08 percent growth, BPS data showed. The increase was mainly due to the upsurge production in pharmaceutical products, chemical drugs and traditional medicine by 10.50 percent. The non-metal mineral products also grew by 8.58 percent, followed by basic metal products by 7.61 percent.

Meanwhile, industries having experienced a production decline were the chemicals and chemical goods, down 10.85 percent, electrical equipment (down 9.97 percent), and apparel industry (down 9.97 percent).

Commenting on the data, Industry Minister Saleh Husen said conditions would improve in the next quarter, especially in the chemical industry. Petrochemical companies such as of Petrokimia Gresik and Pupuk Sriwijaya are scheduled to start operating new plants soon.

"We hope it [the production] will increase in the second quarter of the year. Pupuk Sriwijaya has finished its plant expansion, and will inaugurate it soon, so it can boost production in the second quarter," he said at the State Palace. (ags)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/05/03/tobacco-drives-indonesias-manufacturing-production-down-in-q1.html

Indonesia sees highest deflation since 2000

Jakarta Post - May 2, 2016

Ayomi Amindoni – Indonesia recorded monthly deflation of 0.45 percent in April, an impact of a cut in fuel prices and concurrent reduction in public transportation fares at the beginning of the month, according to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS).

The figure is the highest deflation rate since 2000 and brings the year-to-date inflation rate to 0.16 percent and the annual rate to 3.36 percent year-on-year.

"The transportation, communication and financial sectors recorded the most significant deflation as a result of the cut in fuel prices in April," BPS head Suryamin said in a press conference on Monday.

In addition, staple foods also recorded deflation of 0.94 on the downward trend of prices of several commodities, such as rice, meat, fish and eggs. Water, electricity and gas scored 0.13 percent deflation, while food, drinks and cigarettes recorded slight inflation of 0.35 percent. "This shows that the development of staple commodity prices remains under control," Suryamin noted.

The April deflation is in line with Bank Indonesia's estimation, the central bank previously predicting slight deflation of 0.33 percent following the roughly 4 percent decline in public transportation fares and Rp 500 (4 US cents) per liter decline in fuel prices.

The price of subsidized Premium gasoline was cut by Rp 500 from Rp 6,950 per liter to Rp 6,450 since April 1, while the price of subsidized diesel was cut by Rp 500 from Rp 5,650 to Rp 5,150 per liter. (ags)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/05/02/indonesia-sees-highest-deflation-since-2000.html

Analysis & opinion

Finding a dignified resolution for West Papua

The Conversation - May 6, 2016

Benny Giay – On Monday, Indonesian police arrested nearly 1,500 protestors in Jayapura, Papua. They were rallying in support of a coalition of groups representing West Papuans' aspirations for independence.

The police stopped the protesters, who were heading to the local parliament, forced them to board military trucks, and took them to the Mobile Brigade compound.

The protesters were demonstrating their support for the United Liberation Movement of West Papua's (ULMWP) bid to gain full membership in the grouping of Melanesian countries, the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG).

The ULMWP holds observer status in the group, which consists of Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands. Last year, Indonesia was granted associate membership.

To prevent further violent mistreatment of protesters, together with several Papuan councillors and church leaders, that day I went to the Mobile Brigade's compound to negotiate with the security forces to release the detainees peacefully.

Monday's arrests were the largest in the West Papua independence movement's history.

Why did thousands of people in Papua take to the streets to support ULMWP?

Public discontent in West Papua is a result of a complicated past. It is a product of historical manipulation and repression of the right to self-determination of West Papuans.

Over the past five decades, the Papuan people have not moved from their position in relation to Indonesia. They have struggled to make progress in their predicament as the oppressed people. They are marginalised, suffering from various forms of violence, and being pushed from their own land.

Solving the problem of West Papua in a dignified manner should involve not only Indonesian authorities but also Papuans and the international community. In that sense, ULMWP and the popular support for ULMWP within West Papua is part of the solution and should not be repressed.

The silenced truth

Ever since West Papua was transferred into the hands of Indonesia in the early 1960s from being a remote outpost of the Dutch, it has become the land of "mourning and grief".

Gross human rights violations have been taking place in West Papua since Indonesia, backed by the United Nations, annexed the western half of the island of New Guinea in 1963. In 1969, Indonesia gained complete rule of West Papua via a sham referendum.

West Papuans have looked to their Melanesian brothers and sisters to assist them in seeking resolution of past abuses by the Indonesian government and to build a new Papua. But they are still confronted with many challenges.

In September, countries in the Pacific Island Forum, a grouping of 14 countries that includes Australia and New Zealand, agreed to send a fact-finding mission to investigate human rights violations in West Papua. The Indonesian government refused to accept such a team.

Indonesia's co-ordinating minister for politics, law and human rights, Luhut Pandjaitan, instead held two focus group discussions at a luxury hotel in Jayapura for the so-called "settlement of human rights issues".

But West Papua is a nation that grew up with and is shaped by experiences of living under Indonesia's military operations. These cannot be solved simply with focus group discussions.

Sadar Operation (1962, 1965-67), Wisnumurti Operation (1963), Wibawa Operation (1969), Pamungkas Operation (1970-1971), military operations in Jayawijaya (1977-80), Sapu Bersih Operation (1979-82), and Tumpas Operation (1983-84) are only a few of a series of violent acts of oppression that have confronted ordinary Papuans.

Today, Indonesia's militaristic approach in West Papua remains intact. This approach has resulted in a series of acts of intimidation and terror committed by security forces. They are involved in land expropriation and natural resources extraction under the banner of development and investment, in the name of Papuan welfare.

Diplomatic pressure from Indonesia

Following the increasing concern and solidarity from the Pacific region and support from the MSG for a resolution of West Papua's problem, the Indonesian government is aggressively lobbying countries and political leaders in the Pacific.

Upon his return from a visit to PNG and Fiji last month, Pandjaitan boasted that Indonesia had the support of the two countries and could handle the MSG. At the same time, he argued that foreigners should not interfere in matters of human rights in West Papua.

Meanwhile, environmental destruction and rampant militarism walk hand in hand in West Papua. Papuans are continuously stigmatised as backward, ignorant and poor. This has become a pretext for what Indonesian authorities call "the acceleration and expansion of development".

Pressed against waves of Indonesian migration, Papuans are not given any chance at all to develop themselves. They are a minority in their own land, not only in terms of number but also in terms of power. Every protest and negotiation effort by indigenous people is met with brutal responses and security operations.

Dignified resolution

In talking about West Papua, the Indonesian government often uses language that obscures past abuses. Papua's relationship with the outside world is heavily controlled. The Indonesian government makes it difficult for international journalists to cover Papua and bans international researchers from studying the region.

Indonesia's solutions for West Papua are based on shallow reflections and fear of the West Papuan people. A genuine resolution for the West Papuan problem will only come from Indonesia's willingness to listen to and stop oppression of West Papuans.

Indonesia should welcome the support from international communities, such as the MSG and the United Nations, as mediators in finding a resolution on West Papua.

[Benny Giay is the head of Synod of Kingmi Church in West Papua.]

Source: http://theconversation.com/finding-a-dignified-resolution-for-west-papua-58805

Why today's global warming has roots in Indonesia's genocidal past

The Guardian (Australia) - May 3, 2016

Joshua Oppenheimer – There has been tremendous concern over the ways climate change will affect human rights, but little attention to how human rights abuse affects our global climate.

Fifty years ago, Indonesia went through a genocide. The massacres may be relatively unknown, but in a terrible way the destruction continues, and threatens us all. In 1965, the Indonesian army organised paramilitary death squads and exterminated between 500,000 and 1 million people who had hastily been identified as enemies of General Suharto's new military dictatorship. Today, the killers and their proteges are comfortable establishment figures whose impunity, political power and capacity for intimidation endure.

Over this past year the lawlessness that began with the genocide arrived in all our lives. Some 130,000 forest fires in Indonesia darkened the skies over much of south-east Asia last summer and autumn, destroying more than 8,100 square miles of virgin rainforest – an area larger than New Jersey or Wales. The fires released more than 1.75 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, equal to the total annual emissions of Japan. While last year's fires were the worst on record, fires on a similar scale have burned annually for nearly 20 years, making a mockery of our efforts to curb global warming.

The fires are started by Indonesian and international companies to burn rainforest and replace it with oil palm plantations. Palm oil is the world's most commonly used plant-based oil, and the market for it has exploded along with the global middle class. Setting fires is the cheapest way to clear land for new oil palm plantations.

Although Indonesia has strict laws aimed at keeping the fires in check, the laws exist on paper only. The companies get away with burning the forest because they work in partnership with the military – an institution that, ever since the genocide, has committed human rights violations with alarming regularity. These recurring atrocities keep the military feared – and above the law. Since 1965, multinational companies have collaborated with the armed forces to seize land and exploit a cheap labour force too afraid to demand safe working conditions or a fair wage. (Land is also seized for other lucrative, often illegal uses, mainly timber concessions and mines, which are similarly destructive of the environment.)

And thus the military and its corporate partners get away with appalling corruption and unspeakable ecological crimes. For 50 years the capacity to terrorise has determined the distribution of wealth and power.

While palm oil producers and their military partners profit from the fires, the people of Indonesia pay an incalculable price. Last year's inferno spread an unremitting, sickening haze over 43 million people. Half a million sought care for respiratory illnesses, while an average of 110,000 south-east Asians die every year as a result of the conflagration. And the never-ending rows of oil palm spread brutally exploitative labour conditions – including child labour and poisoning by lethal herbicides and pesticides.

Meanwhile, the deforestation has critically endangered a third of Indonesia's mammals. And, according to Pep Canadell, director of the Global Carbon Project, the fires were "the global tipping point" that will push the world beyond 2C of warming, and squarely into the acknowledged danger zone for the planet's climate.

This is both the world's worst ecological disaster and a human rights catastrophe – and we are all implicated. We benefit from this rule of fear and the destruction of the forests by consuming many of Indonesia's exports. Palm oil is used in many beauty products, snacks and desserts from companies like Starbucks, PepsiCo, McDonald's, Domino's Pizza, Unilever, and countless others. While a few companies have started to make meaningful strides towards eliminating conflict palm oil from their products, most remain recalcitrant – to the detriment of Indonesians and our global ecosystem.

The fires and the exploitation must be stopped, yet the institutions meant to hold corporations and the military accountable are deliberately kept weak. Those who ought to police the country – the courts, civil servants and elected officials – are often the very ones who encourage, and profit from, its ruination.

Even President Joko Widodo, who was elected for his reformist credentials, has been ineffective at reining in the military and their corporate partners. Nor has he yet made good on his campaign promise to punish human rights abuses, including the 1965 genocide. He has refused to establish a truth commission, let alone consider proceedings against perpetrators. That means impunity is still the norm, and as if to prove the point, the Indonesian government recently announced that man-made fires in the rainforests have begun again – and burn today.

Still, there have been some hints of change. The release of my films The Act of Killing (2013) and The Look of Silence (2015) in Indonesia has stimulated a national discussion about the genocide and the consequences of impunity. According to Indonesian cultural commentator Ayu Ratih, the thousands of screenings across the country have been, for the younger generation, a rite of passage, "an initiation to adulthood which makes them feel more mature, socially and politically".

This younger generation will no longer accept silence and inaction, and recently we have seen mounting public pressure on the government. Just this month Indonesian officials convened, for the first time ever, a symposium to examine the killings. Members of President Widodo's cabinet, Indonesia's attorney general, police chief, and justice minister attended the conference – as did NGO activists, former military leaders, survivors and families of those killed. While it was an unprecedented gathering, it is still only a small step toward ending the lawlessness that began in 1965. The government refused to apologise, and no steps were taken toward true accountability.

Indonesia's movement against impunity has a long struggle ahead. Our survival as a species may depend on its success.

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/03/genocide-indonesia-human-rights-abuse-climate-change-palm-oil