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IRIAN JAYA (WEST PAPUA, NEW GUINEA): THE QUEST FOR INDEPENDENCE-AUGUST 1, 2000 TO AUGUST 9, 2000

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THE RECORD
AUGUST 1, 2000 TO AUGUST 9, 2000

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Subj: [wp] Concern as Indonesia dispatches troops to West Papua
Date: 8/9/00 3:41:32 PM Central Daylight Time
From: iris@matra.com.au (Anne Noonan)
Reply-to: iris@matra.com.au
To: WestPapua@topica.com, iris@matra.com.au, admin@irja.org

>From AWPA

The Age 10/8/00
Concern as Indonesia dispatches troops to West Papua

By PAUL DALEY
FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT CANBERRA

Regional intelligence agencies, diplomats and defence officials fear a
new Indonesian military operation to quell growing independence moves in
West Papua could trigger border tensions with Papua New Guinea and
deepen the rift between Canberra and Jakarta.

Intelligence analysts and defence officials confirm estimates from West
Papuan sources that thousands of Indonesian troops have been dispatched
since Monday, when Indonesian
President Abdurrahman Wahid ruled out independence for the province that
borders PNG. Estimates of the number of Indonesian troops normally based
in West Papua range from 1400 to several thousand regular and special
forces (Kopassus) troop. Some sources maintain that up to 600 troops -
including members of the strategic reserve, Kostrad - have been
dispatched in recent
days to each of the province's 13 regencies or districts.

The Indonesian troop build-up is likely to become a serious concern for
Australian defence officials who hold deep fears about the potential for
Indonesian "hot pursuits" of Free Papua rebels across the porous West
Papua-PNG border.The troop build-up could further strain relations
between Jakarta and Australia which - while recognising Indonesia's
sovereignty over West Papua - has called for the protection of West
Papuan human rights.

"What we need to be clear about here is Indonesia's intention and
whether this is the military acting unilaterally or with the imprimatur
of Wahid," a diplomatic source told The Age."Either way, if this is the
beginning of a military exercise designed to put down the rebels by
force rather than just a show of military force, then it signals a
potentially very big blip on the regional stability radar."

Jacob Rumbiak, a West Papuan academic and author who lives in Melbourne,
said he was called at 3am yesterday by a Protestant pastor in one of the
western regencies of West Papua. Dr Rumbiak said the pastor told him
that thousands of Indonesian troops had been dispatched to all regencies
of the province. He said the deployment started six hours after Mr
Wahid's statement to the Indonesian parliament outlining his willingness
to offer West Papua and Aceh autonomy but not independence. "It is clear
that the troops are trying to provoke some sort of reaction," Dr Rumbiak
said.

George Aditjondro, an Indonesian academic who lived in West Papua when
it was known as Irian Jaya, said his contacts in the province had
confirmed big Indonesian troop movements in the past 48 hours. He said
that the dispatch of large numbers of troops to each West Papuan
district has been made easier by the fact that world attention has been
focused on religious fighting in the
Maluku islands and on security surrounding President Wahid's speech to
parliament.

"Now that the troops have actually already landed in West Papua ...
regardless of their views about the role of the military in Indonesian
politics, where some generals are more reformist than others, as far as
territorial integrity is concerned they are all the same, whether it is
West Papua or
Aceh or any other province which wants to break away," Dr Aditjondro
said. "It will always invite a military answer. This also shows that the
regime of Abdurrahman Wahid is still basically an iron fist covered by a
velvet glove." Dr Aditjondro said that although he did "not know exactly
how the troops came in", many had arrived from Java and Ambon.

A spokesman for Foreign Minister Alexander Downer declined to comment
on the troop movements. He said Australia "unequivocally supports
Indonesian territorial integrity and regards West Papua/Irian Jaya as an
integral part of Indonesia"."We want to see the welfare and human rights
of the people of West Papua advanced in a united and peaceful way," he
said.

________________________________
Australia West Papua Association
PO BOX 65
Millers Point
Australia 2000
Tele/fax 61.2. 99601696
_________________________________

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Subj: [wp] Irian Jaya to get 9b euro aid
Date: 8/9/00 3:45:36 PM Central Daylight Time
From: iris@matra.com.au (Anne Noonan)
Reply-to: iris@matra.com.au
To: WestPapua@topica.com, iris@matra.com.au

From AWPA

Jakarta Post10/8/00
Irian Jaya to get 9b euro aid

JAYAPURA, Irian Jaya: Some countries grouped in the European Economic
Union have expressed their willingness to provide a total of 9 billion
euros to boost the development of the easternmost province of Irian
Jaya.

The head of Development Program Bureau, Terry J. Antoh, told journalists
here on Wednesday that the promise was voiced during a visit of a Papuan
delegation to some European countries last month. The delegation was led
by the head of the provincial development board, SP Inauri. 'The
provincial administration will send a team to meet with the EEU
delegation in Jakarta on Aug. 12," Antoh said.

Local people prefer to call themselves Papuans, rather than Irianese.
According to Antoh, the money would we used to finance infrastructure
projects and the empowerment of the local economy. "We will ask the
central government not to 'touch' the money. The money will be
transferred to the Papuan Development Bank which will be established
soon in Jayapura. In the future, the bank will handle and manage all
funds from foreign agencies, including the World Bank and the Asian
Development Bank," said Antoh. Jakarta has allocated Rp 1.5 trillion in
development funds through a crash program for the province.

________________________________
Australia West Papua Association
PO BOX 65
Millers Point
Australia 2000
Tele/fax 61.2. 99601696
_________________________________

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Subj: KABAR-IRIAN: [EN] Autonomy for Provinces (3 articles)
Date: 8/8/00 6:46:07 PM Central Daylight Time
From: admin@irja.org
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Radio Australia
Tuesday 8 August 2000 - 14:16:15
President Wahid offers special autonomy to provinces

Indonesia's President Abdurrahman Wahid has promised special
autonomy by the end of the year for two of the country's most
troubled provinces.

Mark Bowling reports, the move is a bid to try and defuse growing
separatist movements in Aceh and Papua:

“President Wahid says the special autonomy will be delivered by new
and effective regional governments. But speaking to the country's
highest law makers, members of the People's Consultative Assembly,
President Wahid warned restive provinces would not be allowed to
secede. Yesterday, the Indonesian leader apologised to the assembly
for his poor performance during his first year in office. A
secessionist conflict in Aceh and a religious war between Muslims
and Christians in the eastern Maluku province has created widespread
divisions in Indonesian society.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wahid: Indonesia to Tackle Separatist Threats With Reconciliation
Spirit
JAKARTA (Aug. 7) XINHUA

The Indonesian government is determined to continue its effort with
reconciliation spirit in tackling the wide spread disintegration
threats coming from various parts of the country such as provinces
of Aceh and Irian Jaya, but adding that it may take repressive
measures.

The determination was made by President Abdurrahman Wahid when
delivering his progress report Monday before the annual session of
the Peoples Consultative Assembly (MPR). Wahid said that horizontal
conflict which has been taking place in Indonesia is a real threat
to the country's territorial integrity and needs to be swiftly
handled to prevent it from spreading throughout the country.

The president said that "the handling of conflict in Aceh, the
country's predominantly Muslim province, is done by combining the
humanitarian approach and the maintenance of laws."

He also said that the government is determined to continue the
process of reconciliation in Aceh. "If the security condition is
back to normal, the government will be able to effectively
rehabilitate the destroyed infrastructures caused by the conflict, "
he said, citing that the government is currently drafting a bill on
Aceh Special Autonomy as mandated by the Assembly's session held in
1999.

The bill is expected to be fully implemented in the province within
this year.

Meanwhile, in connection with the Irian Jaya issue, Wahid also said
that the government will also give special autonomy status to the
province and the implementation of the status is expected to
coincide with the one in Aceh.

As regards the communal bloodshed in Maluku and North Maluku
provinces, the government comprehends the (nearly) two year long
horizontal conflict as a serious threat to "the esteemed values of
brotherhood among us as a nation."

He said that efforts toward reconciliation between the opposing
parties will therefore be carried out. At the same time, for those
who violate the laws an even stricter action will be taken, Wahid
said.

Maluku and North Maluku provinces have witnessed a nearly two year
communal bloodshed involving Muslims and Christians. Thousands of
people have been killed while tens of thousands were forced to take
shelter in the neighboring provinces.

"Facing all these the government is determined not to compromise,
let alone tolerate the separatist movements in this country. I also
need to underscore the similar stand that would prevail in facing
all kinds of violent actions no matter who does or where it takes
place," Wahid said.
-- Copyright XINHUA NEWS AGENCY
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Straits Times Interactive
AUG 09, 2000
Is this for show?
-- Aides say Megawati distanced herself from the President's report
by refusing to read it as it did not have details on Aceh, Maluku
and Irian Jaya

JAKARTA -- While relations between President Abdurrahman Wahid and
his Vice-President are said to be congenial, aides close to Ms
Megawati Sukarnoputri said the fact that she did not read Monday's
key presidential report was evidence of her dissatisfaction with it.

Monday's ""incident'' was the second time in less than three weeks
that she has reportedly rejected reading a presidential report.

Last month, she was said to have refused to read the President's
explanation at the hearing with Parliament due to Mr Abdurrahman's
controversial view on the proceedings.

On both occasions, officials had stated that Ms Megawati would read
the speech on behalf of the President.

Sources said the Vice-President informed Mr Abdurrahman on Sunday
night that it was better for him to find another official to read
out his progress report to the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR)
on Monday.

A source added that Ms Megawati was critical of the speech because
it was too general and would only confuse the people who needed
concrete and more detailed programmes.

""Ibu refused to read out the speech, because her suggestion to make
the speech more detailed was not heard by the President,'' an
official said.

The official said Mr Abdurrahman's deputy particularly wanted the
inclusion of a more transparent and concrete report about the latest
developments in Aceh, Maluku and Irian Jaya in the speech.

""She clearly conveyed her reservations to the President, but the
President did not react,'' the official said, adding that it paved
the way for Ms Megawati to personally distance herself from the
report.

Cabinet Secretary Marsilam Simanjuntak read out the speech on behalf
of Mr Abdurrahman on Monday.

The President disclosed on Friday that he had agreed with Minister
of Mines and Energy Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's suggestions to avoid
details and to make the speech as general as possible to steer clear
of controversy.
-- The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network

KABAR IRIAN ("Irian News") www.kabar-irian.com
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Subj: KABAR-IRIAN: [EN] Regional representatives demand their own faction
Date: 8/8/00 6:46:10 PM Central Daylight Time
From: admin@irja.org
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The Jakarta Post.com
National News
August 09, 2000
Regional representatives demand their own faction

JAKARTA (JP): Regional representatives are stepping up their fight
to be recognized as a separate faction and not to be merged with the
factions of their respective political parties in the People's
Consultative Assembly.

Alex Hesegem, a regional representative from Irian Jaya, or as he
prefers West Papua, maintained a regional representative faction was
necessary to channel the aspirations of the provinces, which often
were neglected by political interests.

He said the administration and the Assembly would be unable to find
a peaceful and comprehensive solution to problems in Aceh, Riau,
Maluku, North Maluku and Irian Jaya because the aspirations of these
provinces were not accommodated.

"Mass killings in Aceh, Maluku and North Maluku gain no serious
attention in the Assembly's Annual Session as all the factions are
busy fighting for their own political interests," Alex told The
Jakarta Post in an interview here on Tuesday.

Alex, one of five representatives from Irian Jaya in the Assembly,
said that so far no political party had presented a noteworthy
contribution toward finding a comprehensive solution to the problems
in the provinces.

"Papua has an accumulation of problems that do not need political
solutions but concrete action. Our people are facing serious
malnutrition, social injustice, backwardness and transportation
problems," he said.

He argued that other factions had no grounds to reject the regional
representatives' demand they form their own faction, because the
presence of a regional representative faction in the Assembly was
guaranteed by the 1945 Constitution.

"All the factions should look at Chapter Two of the Constitution,
which states the Assembly comprises the House of Representatives,
interest groups and regional representatives," he said.

He also said the establishment of a regional representative faction
was urgent in conjunction with the implementation of regional
autonomy next year.

"The regional representatives will play a significant role in
accommodating regions' aspirations because the role of the regions
will also be increasing," he said.

Alex expressed optimism regional representatives would have their
own faction soon.

He said the regional representatives had intensified their lobbying
of major factions, including the Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) and Golkar Party, which have expressed
support for the proposal.

Under the present rules, major political parties in a province have
the right to select representatives from the province for the
Assembly in accordance to the proportion of votes it won in that
province

The 27 provinces were allocated five Assembly seats each for a total
of 135 seats. If the regional representative faction is eventually
established it would become a key political block.

The faction was dissolved last year and the representatives merged
with the factions of their respective political parties.

Alex refuted arguments that regional representatives should join the
factions of the political parties that selected them. He said the
fact that political parties chose them was a mere technicality since
they already were community leaders in their own right.

"We are public and grassroots leaders. We represent the people and
not political parties."

Josep Umarhadi of the PDI Perjuangan faction said his faction could
understand the regional representatives' reasons for demanding their
own faction.

"This is a consequence of our faction's draft decree on the
implementation of regional autonomy, recommending the government
implement regional autonomy soon in an endeavor to contain the
numerous problems in the regions," he said.

Fahmi Idris, chairman of the Golkar faction, said his faction had no
objection to the establishment of a regional representative faction

"Our faction decided on Sunday it would support the regional
representatives' proposal in line with our policy of empowering the
regions to reduce the threat of disintegration," he said.
(rms/prb/jun/nvn/dja)

KABAR IRIAN ("Irian News") www.kabar-irian.com
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Subj: Updated Action Alert on Missing Aceh Activist
Date: 8/8/00 4:19:53 PM Central Daylight Time
From: fbp@igc.org (John M.Miller)
To: etanst@etan.org

ACTION ALERT
Aceh Activist is Still Missing

Acehnese activist Jafar Siddiq Hamzah has been missing since Saturday,
August 5. He was last heard from in Medan. His family, friends and
colleagues fear the worst. ETAN has often worked with Jafar -- who has
lived in the U.S. for the last several years -- on issues of human rights
issues and military violence in Indonesia and East Timor.

Jafar Siddiq, founder and chair of the International Forum for Aceh, a
human rights organization, was reported missing while visiting Medan, in
Indonesia near Aceh (see background).

Below are numbers you can call to express concern. Urge them to investigate
Jafar's whereabouts and assure his safety. Please note there is a 12 hour
time difference between the U.S. East Coast and Jakarta.

The International Forum for Aceh (IFA) is a non-governmental organization
actively campaigning for peace and human rights in Aceh, the rebellious
region in northern Indonesia. Through the IFA, Jafar has worked to inform
the international community about human rights violations in Aceh. He has
helped to organize several seminars on Aceh involving NGOS and others. He
has also been active in raising the issue of human rights violations at the
UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva.

Additional information can be found on ETAN's website www.etan.org

Contact:

US State Department, contacts:
Karin Lang tel: 202-647-2931, fax: 202-736-4559
Judith Bird tel: 202-647-4455, fax: 202-647-5286
Undersecretary of State, Thomas Pickering tel: 202-647-4314
Undersecretary of Southeast Asia Division, Stanley Roth tel: 202-647-4000

TNI (Indonesian Armed Forces), Jakarta headquarters: tel: 011-62-21-845-1306

US Embassy in Jakarta, Ambassador Robert Gelbard tel: 011-6221-344-2211;
fax: 011-6221-380-5583

POLDA - Regional Police Headquarters of North Sumatra/Medan tel:
011-6261-787-9245 or 011-6261-786-9000; 6261787-0357

KODAM Regional Army Command - Medan. Tel: 011-62-61-8451-300
end

etanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetan
John M. Miller Internet: john@etan.org
Media & Outreach Coordinator, East Timor Action Network
48 Duffield St., Brooklyn, NY 11201 USA
Phone: (718)596-7668 Fax: (718)222-4097
Mobile: (917)690-4391
Web site: http://www.etan.org

Send a blank e-mail message to info@etan.org to find out how to learn
more about East Timor on the Internet
etanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetan

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Subj: KABAR-IRIAN: [EN] Analysis: Wahid's many problems
Date: 8/7/00 6:19:13 PM Central Daylight Time
From: admin@irja.org
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BBC
Sunday, 6 August, 2000, 22:16 GMT 23:16 UK
Analysis: Wahid's many problems
By Richard Galpin in Jakarta

Although a somewhat surprising and controversial choice as
president, Abdurrahman Wahid's election last October brought a wave
of euphoria across Indonesia.

He was seen as a reformer and democrat as well as a man who could
unite the country after the chaos surrounding the downfall of former
President Suharto and his authoritarian regime in May 1998.

But the transition to democracy was never going to be easy and
President Wahid's honeymoon was short-lived.

Although he got off to a good start by curbing the influence of the
military over his government, he soon ran into a host of problems,
some of them self-made.

Despite a flare-up of sectarian and separatist violence across the
country, Mr Wahid embarked on a series of long trips abroad, seeming
to ignore problems back home.

His style of leadership soon appeared erratic and unfocused and in
particular without any emphasis on the critical issue of economic
recovery.

Sacking
But perhaps his most controversial move was the sacking of two
senior ministers from the cabinet in April without any proper
explanation, a distinctly undemocratic move.

This also exposed the weakness of his coalition government as the
main parties on whose support he depends began to turn against him.

Mr Wahid's own party only controls around 10% of the seats in the
People's Consultative Assembly and this is what makes him so
vulnerable during this Assembly session.

There is now a large bloc of politicians from several different
parties who may be tempted to try to push him out of power, even
though he has been in office for less than a year.

Ethnic conflict
One of the most important issues likely to be raised will be the
continuing sectarian violence afflicting several parts of the
country, in particular the conflict between the Christian and Muslim
communities in the Moluccas or Spice Islands in Eastern Indonesia
which has now claimed around 4,000 lives.

When the fighting flared up, within two months of President Wahid's
election, the government did nothing except to call on the people to
solve their own problems.

This enraged both the Christian and Muslim communities across the
country, especially as the sectarian violence spread to other
regions, in particular to Sulawesi.

Militant Islamic groups decided to take matters into their own hands
launching a Jihad or 'Holy War'.

Several thousand Muslim fighters recently travelled to the Moluccan
Islands, sparking a new wave of violence there which is continuing.

Whilst the government has finally imposed a State of Emergency
across the region, and brought in a new military commander, it has
done little to quell the bloodshed.

To make matters worse the security forces both army and police are
clearly deeply involved in the fighting.

The virtual state of war in the Moluccas has prompted calls for
international intervention, particularly from the Christian
community, a small minority in Indonesia which is otherwise an
overwhelmingly Muslim country.

So far the government has resisted this, knowing it would be a
massive humiliation, particularly after the international military
intervention in East Timor last year.

But the calls are growing ever louder. Even Indonesia's own Human
Rights Commission now says an international peace keeping force may
be the only answer.

Disintegration
The fear of Indonesia disintegrating has haunted the country ever
since the fall of former President Suharto.

He used the military to suppress any separatist movements.

But the new more liberal era ushered in by his successor President
Habibie and now under President Wahid has loosened Jakarta's hold
over the provinces, and independence movements in Aceh and Irian
Jaya have been spurred on by the example of East Timor, which broke
away from Indonesian rule last year.

But this is the one area where the new government does seem to have
realised the gravity of the situation and taken action.

Firstly, President Wahid made sure the international community did
not support the separatist movements.

His government then negotiated a ceasefire with the rebels in Aceh,
which is still in force.

Although the violence has not stopped, it has declined.

Irian leaders
But progress in Aceh has not been matched in Irian Jaya.

In June, separatist leaders there organised a congress, ironically
with the government's blessing, which brought together
representatives from across the province.

It concluded with what was in effect a declaration of independence,
although since then, little has happened.

The government still hopes a regional autonomy law, due to come into
force next year, will defuse the demands for independence, in
particular, as resource-rich provinces such as Irian Jaya will, for
the first time, be able to keep much of the revenue from their
mining and other industries.

It is a gamble, but if combined with serious attempts by the
government to curb human rights abuses by the security forces, it
may work.

KABAR IRIAN ("Irian News") www.kabar-irian.com
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Subj: KABAR-IRIAN: [EN] Indonesia's Bumi Wermara Sets up Oil Palm Plantation
Date: 8/7/00 6:19:19 PM Central Daylight Time
From: admin@irja.org
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Monday, August 7 1:12 PM SGT
Indonesia's Bumi Wermara Sets up 20,000 Oil Palm Plantation
FAKFAK,Indonesia, Aug 7 Asia Pulse

Indonesian company PT Bumi Wermara has started setting up a
20,000-hectare palm oil plantation in Irian Jaya's Buruway
subdistrict, company director Burhanuddin said.

Burhanuddin said that at least six cooperatives in the subdistrict
were involved in clearing land to make way for the development of
the oil palm plantation.

It would take three years for the company to clear the land and
prepare the oil palm seeds, he said.

In 2002, the company is expected to build a palm oil processing
plant in the plantation, he said.

He also said the construction of a road linking Kaimana, capital of
Buruway subdistrict, to the plantation, is underway.

(ANTARA)

KABAR IRIAN ("Irian News") www.kabar-irian.com
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Subj: Indonesian president pledges autonomy for Aceh, Irian Jaya
Date: 8/7/00 6:11:49 AM Central Daylight Time
From: tapol@gn.apc.org (TAPOL)
To: indonesia-act@igc.apc.org, westpapua@topica.com, east-timor@igc.apc.org
CC: paulbarber1958@hotmail.com, taylorjb@vax.sbu.ac.uk, will.carey@virgin.net

Indonesian president pledges autonomy for Aceh, Irian Jaya

Dow Jones Newswires
August 7, 2000

Highlights Of Indonesian Wahid's State Of Nation Speech

JAKARTA -- Following are the highlights of Indonesian President Abdurrahman
Wahid's state of the nation speech to the nation's highest electoral assembly
Monday:

Indonesia remains in transition and unstable after 32 years of rule under
former dictator Suharto.

The country is facing territorial disintegration, which is intensified by a
political struggle among the political elite. He admits political climate
still tense.

Wahid says the country doesn't have effective institutions, nor the legal
framework, to solve ethnic and religious conflicts.

The government remains unable to resolve separatism in Aceh, Irian Jaya, and
religious clashes in Maluku, which could spread out to other parts of
Indonesia if they are not stopped. The government will give special autonomy
to Aceh and Irian Jaya. Wahid reiterated that his government won't give full
independence to any provinces.

The president highlighted success in reforming the armed forces, which will
end the military's active role in politics, as well as the separation of the
police force from the military.

Wahid admits that upholding rule of the law hasn't been successful. But the
government will continue efforts to eradicate corruption, collusion and
nepotism.

The government has managed to stabilize the economy, although economic
fundamentals remain fragile. Corruption remains rampant, corporate government
still poor, and legal system weak, he adds. Pledges to take stern legal
actions against noncooperative debtors.

Wahid denies that the International Monetary Fund bailout for the Indonesian
economy means the fund is interfering in country's internal affairs.

The government will continue to improve the welfare of its civil servants,
farmers, and laborers.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign
111 Northwood Road, Thornton Heath,
Surrey CR7 8HW, UK
Phone: 020 8771-2904 Fax: 020 8653-0322
email: tapol@gn.apc.org
Internet: www.gn.apc.org/tapol
Campaigning to expose human rights violations in
Indonesia, West Papua and Aceh

26 years - and still going strong
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

=======================================================

Subj: KABAR-IRIAN: [EN] Fate of regional faction still unclear
Date: 8/7/00 6:19:22 PM Central Daylight Time
From: admin@irja.org
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The Jakarta Post.com
National News
August 08, 2000
Fate of regional faction still unclear

JAKARTA (JP): The plenary meeting of the People's Consultative
Assembly's Annual Session skirted controversy on the issue of a
regional representatives faction when it referred to the issue to be
discussed in a commission.

"I personally agree with the establishment of a regional
representatives faction. But let the matter be discussed by the
Assembly's commission," Assembly Speaker Amien Rais said at the
opening of Monday's plenary session.

Amien was responding to interruptions by several regional
representatives during the opening proceedings demanding that the
Assembly accept a proposal to allow it to set up the faction.

The regional representatives demanded that the Assembly alter its
internal rule, specifically Article 13, which states that the
Assembly's factions should only consist of factions from political
parties, the Indonesian Military (TNI)/National Police and
representatives of societal groups.

Legislator Alex Hansekan, a representative from Irian Jaya province,
said the proposal was aimed at highlighting regional development.

"We hope regional interests can be better heard with the
establishment of the faction," said Alex.

Golkar Party chairman Akbar Tandjung said also his party could
accept a regional representatives faction.

"For the sake of the nation and regional development, the proposal
can be considered," Akbar, who is also speaker of the House of
Representatives, said after the session.

But senior legislator Aisyah Amini of the United Development Party
(PPP) rejected the idea of such a faction, saying that it should be
incorporated into respective political parties.

"The regional representatives are appointed by political parties, so
it's normal that they be grouped in political parties' factions,"
Aisyah said.

On Article 49 of the internal rules, the Assembly agreed on Monday
to change the article to allow the Assembly's annual session to
"listen to and evaluate" the president's progress report.

The previous article stated that the session would only listen to
the report. (jun)

KABAR IRIAN ("Irian News") www.kabar-irian.com
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Subj: [wp] I'm sorry, Wahid tells strife-torn Indon; vows steady economic policy
Date: 8/7/00 4:08:37 AM Central Daylight Time
From: tapol@gn.apc.org (TAPOL)
Reply-to: tapol@gn.apc.org
To: indonesia-act@igc.apc.org, WestPapua@topica.com

Received from Joyo Indonesian News

also: Indonesia's Wahid vows steady economic policy

I'm sorry, Wahid tells strife-torn Indonesia

JAKARTA, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid on Monday
told his troubled nation he was sorry for the failings of his stormy first
year in office and vowed to reshuffle his divided and discredited cabinet.

Fronting the top legislature to account for his rule, Wahid told the People's
Consultative Assembly (MPR) to have faith and promised better leadership over
the rest of his five-year term.

The speech and the MPR session that began on Monday are seen as a critical
turning point that will either set the country on the path to stability or
further stoke divisions and unrest.

In his opening remarks to the assembly, Wahid did not say when the cabinet
would be reshuffled.

``To all the people of Indonesia I apologise if in the past 10 months the
government has not fully solved all the problems,'' Wahid said in a speech
later read on his behalf by Cabinet Secretary Marsilam Simanjuntak.

``But please have a faith in us that we will keep trying and working hard and
struggle to do even more. I will learn a lot from the shortcomings and
weaknesses in the past 10 months so I can make many improvements.''

HEATED INTERJECTIONS

The much-awaited speech was delayed briefly by heated interjections over a
range of unrelated issues, from constitutional reforms to criticism of MPR
speaker Amien Rais.

The 700-member MPR has the power to sack Wahid, but despite his increasingly
criticised rule is unlikely to do so because there is no credible
alternative.

Wahid's party holds less than 10 percent of the MPR -- which includes the 500
members of parliament -- and he relies for survival on a wobbly alliance of
Moslems, reformists and populists.

Security forces have thrown a ring around Jakarta, with tens of thousands of
police and troops on the streets in a bid to prevent violent protests during
the session, which runs until August 18. Police have threatened to shoot
rioters on sight.

But the city was calm early on Monday with normal traffic levels and shops
and business opening as usual.

Financial markets fell on the political uncertainty.

The rupiah drifted down to 8,700/8,730 against the dollar by 0500 GMT from
8,560/8,680 in late local trade on Friday.

Stocks also edged down.

Indonesia's first democratically-elected president said separatist
insurgencies in Aceh and Irian Jaya and a bloody war between Christians and
Moslems in the spice islands were the gravest problems facing the world's
fourth most populous nation.

The unrest has killed thousands over the past two years.

``Social disharmony involving religion in the Moluccas clearly brings the
potential of serious national disintegration and if not halted it could
spread to other parts in Indonesia,'' Wahid said, vowing tougher action to
end the slaughter but giving no details.

Pleading for unity, he said the massive problems confronting the mainly
Moslem nation were being compounded by political bickering.

``A wave of disintegration which threatens the existence of the unity and
solidity of the country has been worsened by the rising conflict and power
struggle among the elite and political power,'' he said, adding he had
differences with Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri, but insisting there
was no serious rift.

Wahid also warned domestic friction would continue scaring off foreign
investment badly needed to help kick-start the economy.

BICKERING SCARES INVESTORS

``If what they (the international community) see are protests, expressions of
dissatisfaction, riots and a process of finger-pointing and blaming one
another then...they will judge us as being incompetent in solving domestic
problems,'' he said.

He pledged to maintain sound economic policy and to honour the central bank's
independence.

``To safeguard conducive macro stability for economic restoration, the
government will stick to prudent principles in line with a dynamic
recovery,'' he said.

Wahid did not give any economic forecasts in the prepared remarks although
officials expect the economy to grow 3-4 percent this year from virtually
zero growth last year and a catastrophic 14 percent contraction during
widespread chaos in 1998.

But economic recovery has been slow and largely based on consumption, while
analysts say the central bank needs to get interest rates down to boost local
investment.

Besides evaluating Wahid's report on his first year, MPR delegates will
debate wide-ranging constitutional amendments that could alter the political
landscape in the world's fourth most populous country.

On the agenda will be issues such as a direct presidential election and
establishment of a prime ministerial system.

----------------

Indonesia's Wahid vows steady economic policy

JAKARTA, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Embattled Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid
on Monday pledged to maintain sound economic policy and to honour the central
bank's independence.

``To safeguard conducive macro stability for economic restoration, the
government will stick to prudent principles in line with a dynamic
recovery,'' Wahid said in a written speech to the country's top legislature
to be read out on his behalf.

``The government will continue to honour the independence of Bank Indonesia
in deciding monetary policy,'' he said, adding the central bank must conduct
its own reforms to improve its performance and the transparency of its
operations.

Many Indonesians have had high hopes that Wahid's report on his stormy first
year in office to the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) on Monday would
present a vision for dragging the country out of crisis.

Wahid did not give any economic forecasts in the prepared remarks although
officials expect the economy to grow 3-4 percent this year from virtually
zero growth last year and a catastrophic 14 percent contraction during
widespread chaos in 1998.

But economic recovery has been slow and largely based on consumption, while
analysts say the central bank needs to get interest rates down to boost local
investment.

Both foreign and local investors have been sidelined because of political
instability and widespread violence.

The nearly blind Wahid has also clashed with the Bank Indonesia governor over
a politically-charged banking scandal and liquidity credits handed out by the
central bank under previous governments to help keep ailing banks afloat.

Bank Indonesia governor Syahril Sabirin has since been detained by the
Attorney-General's office over the Bank Bali (BNLI.JK) scandal, which centres
around a massive loan collection fee paid to a firm linked to the then-ruling
Golkar party.

Wahid also said the Indonesian Banking Restructuring Agency (IBRA) would
speed up the sale of assets under its control in order to avoid a mark down
of their market value.

``International experience indicates that a worsening of asset quality will
mark down their value to 30 or 40 percent from the original value. In order
to avoid that, IBRA will speed up the selling of private assets under its
management,'' Wahid said.

IBRA is tasked with raising a total of 18.9 trillion rupiah ($2.19 billion)
in the current fiscal year to help finance the state budget but has had
difficulty unloading assets under its control.

While analysts expect Wahid to survive the annual session of the MPR, the
August 7-18 gathering marks a critical 10 days of politics in Indonesia that
could either lay the foundation for stability or further stoke uncertainty.

Despite growing optimism the MPR session might pass peacefully, the rupiah
currency and the stock market both softened in morning trade.

The rupiah had drifted down to around 8,710/8,735 against the U.S. dollar by
late morning from 8,560/8,680 in late local trade on Friday. The Jakarta
composite index was down 0.7 percent to 490.68 points.

Stocks had been expected to gain.

``It has been widely expected that the president will not be impeached and I
have not heard of any plan for huge protests against the meeting, that should
be positive,'' said a dealer at a local stock brokerage.

Jakarta, a city of 12 million people, was calm early on Monday with business
as usual and normal traffic flows.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign
111 Northwood Road, Thornton Heath,
Surrey CR7 8HW, UK
Phone: 020 8771-2904 Fax: 020 8653-0322
email: tapol@gn.apc.org
Internet: www.gn.apc.org/tapol
Campaigning to expose human rights violations in
Indonesia, West Papua and Aceh

26 years - and still going strong
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

___________________________________________________________
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Subj: [wp] Indonesian events "worrying" says Singapore
Date: 8/6/00 3:03:13 PM Central Daylight Time
From: iris@matra.com.au (Anne Noonan)
Reply-to: iris@matra.com.au
To: WestPapua@topica.com

>From AWPA

Radio Australia 6/8/00

Indonesian events "worrying" says Singapore

Singapore says Indonesia's political and economic problems are a cause
for real concern in South-East Asia. Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister
Lee Hsien Loong says events in Indonesia will have a major impact on
confidence and security throughout the region.

Mr Lee said the latest fighting between Christians and Muslims in
Indonesia's Maluku islands is one of Indonesia's most urgent problems
along with problems with separatists in West Papua.
He went on to say that Indonesia's military had been "demoralised and
discredited".

________________________________
Australia West Papua Association
PO BOX 65
Millers Point
Australia 2000
Tele/fax 61.2. 99601696
_________________________________

___________________________________________________________
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Subj: KABAR-IRIAN: [EN] Three injured in Wamena rioting
Date: 8/6/00 6:47:37 PM Central Daylight Time
From: admin@irja.org
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The Jakarta Post.com
Across the Archipelago
August 07, 2000
Three injured in Wamena rioting

JAYAPURA, Irian Jaya: Two civilian and one policeman were severely
injured in a clamor which broke out in the town of Wamena,
Jayawijaya regency, on Saturday.

Antara said the police officer was chief Sgt. S Tamaela, while one
of the civilians was identified as Nasrun. The identity of the other
civilian was not known.

The three are now being treated for severe wounds at the intensive
care unit of the local hospital.

The officer suffered stab wounds to his right arm, while one of
Nasrun's ears was severely cut. The other patient was injured in the
buttocks. Witnesses said an arrow hit him from behind.

The clash erupted after locals were informed that the chief of the
Papuan civilian militia (Satgas) in Wamena was shot dead by police
at the airport. Approximately 2,500 Satgas members, with arrow,
swords and other sharp weapons entered the town of Wamena soon after
hearing the rumor. They besieged the Jayawijaya Police station.

A brawl then ensued and warning shots from the police failed to
break it up.

The mob dispersed after learning that their chief, Elyas Babinggen,
was still alive.

The situation had returned to normal by Saturday evening but Wamena
remained tense. (sur)

KABAR IRIAN ("Irian News") www.kabar-irian.com
NOTE: "All items are posted for their news/information content. They are
not necessarily the views of IRJA.org or subscribers. "

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Subj: KABAR-IRIAN: [EN] Koreans to build Irian road
Date: 8/6/00 6:47:37 PM Central Daylight Time
From: admin@irja.org
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The Jakarta Post.com
Business Brief
August 07, 2000
Koreans to build Irian road

JAKARTA (JP): Four South Korean companies signed a memorandum of
understanding with Irian Jaya authorities on Friday for the
construction of a US$1.7 billion road stretching 11,280 kilometers
from Jayapura to Wamena.

The deal was signed in Jakarta by representatives of the Korean
companies -- Initiative Co. Ltd., Dong Ah Co. Ltd., Tong Woo Co.
Ltd. and Chong Buk Co. Ltd. -- and of the Irian Jaya provincial
administration and the Irianese Council.

The cost covers land clearance and construction for the road linking
the provincial capital city in the northeast to the main town in the
Baliem Valley.

Irian Jaya deputy governor JRG Djopari, who signed the agreement on
behalf of the government, said the consortium would be repaid partly
from the sale of timber obtained from land clearing activities for
the road.

Survey for the construction will begin later this month and
construction is expected to start in January. The road is estimated
to be finished in 15 years, he said. (10)

KABAR IRIAN ("Irian News") www.kabar-irian.com
NOTE: "All items are posted for their news/information content. They are
not necessarily the views of IRJA.org or subscribers. "

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Subj: [wp] Indonesian president pledges autonomy for Aceh, Irian Jaya
Date: 8/7/00 6:12:09 AM Central Daylight Time
From: tapol@gn.apc.org (TAPOL)
Reply-to: tapol@gn.apc.org
To: indonesia-act@igc.apc.org, WestPapua@topica.com, east-timor@igc.apc.org
CC: paulbarber1958@hotmail.com, taylorjb@vax.sbu.ac.uk, will.carey@virgin.net

Indonesian president pledges autonomy for Aceh, Irian Jaya

JAKARTA, Aug 7 (AFP) - Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid on Monday
promised broad autonomy as early as this year for the provinces of Aceh and
Irian Jaya in the face of mounting separatist movements.

Wahid said the government was preparing an autonomy bill for Aceh, based on
proposals from the local government and legislature.

"God willing, the special autonomy for Aceh will materialise within this very
year of 2000," Wahid said.

The plan was for a regional administration in Aceh, he said.

"The implementation of a special autonomy will also take place in Irian Jaya,
the land of Papua, at about the same time as the implementation of the same
system in Aceh," he said.

The president admitted calls for separatism in those regions, "did not come
without reasons."

But in his progress report to the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), Wahid
stressed: "The government is reaffirming its stance not to open the channel
of compromise with, even less to tolerate, any separatist movement in this
country."

The report, addressed to a plenary of the first annual session of the MPR,
was read out by Cabinet Secretary Marsilam Simajuntak. Wahid is clinically
blind.

The 60-year-old president cited separatism as one of the "main problems"
facing Indonesia during its transition from the dictatorship of the Suharto
era to democracy.

But he said he was convinced the calls for separatism in Aceh and Irian Jaya,
which is also known as Papua, were not supported by the majority of the
populations there.

"Separatist movements that have appeared in the those two regions are not
representative of the stance of their entire population," Wahid said.

Wahid in January gave his consent for Irian Jaya --- a name coined by
Indonesia's founding president Sukarno in the 196Os -- to change its title to
Papua. The change has yet to be legally approved by the legislature.

He said governmental negligence in responding to local aspirations and
demands, the reckless exploitation of the regions's riches, and a failure to
accommodate local populations in government and central bureaucracy were all
to blame for growing separatism.

But he also added "fanatic separatist elements" were also to blame, saying
they had fanned local disatisfaction to further their own political agenda.

Indonesia was shaken last year by the overwhelming vote for independence by
the then province of East Timor, a former Portuguese colony it invaded in

East Timor's independence, and the foreign troops sent by the United Nations
to defend it, raised the spectre in Jakarta of the disintegration of the vast
archipelago of some 210 million people.

---------------

Dow Jones Newswires
August 7, 2000

Highlights Of Indonesian Wahid's State Of Nation Speech

JAKARTA -- Following are the highlights of Indonesian President Abdurrahman
Wahid's state of the nation speech to the nation's highest electoral assembly
Monday:

Indonesia remains in transition and unstable after 32 years of rule under
former dictator Suharto.

The country is facing territorial disintegration, which is intensified by a
political struggle among the political elite. He admits political climate
still tense.

Wahid says the country doesn't have effective institutions, nor the legal
framework, to solve ethnic and religious conflicts.

The government remains unable to resolve separatism in Aceh, Irian Jaya, and
religious clashes in Maluku, which could spread out to other parts of
Indonesia if they are not stopped. The government will give special autonomy
to Aceh and Irian Jaya. Wahid reiterated that his government won't give full
independence to any provinces.

The president highlighted success in reforming the armed forces, which will
end the military's active role in politics, as well as the separation of the
police force from the military.

Wahid admits that upholding rule of the law hasn't been successful. But the
government will continue efforts to eradicate corruption, collusion and
nepotism.

The government has managed to stabilize the economy, although economic
fundamentals remain fragile. Corruption remains rampant, corporate government
still poor, and legal system weak, he adds. Pledges to take stern legal
actions against noncooperative debtors.

Wahid denies that the International Monetary Fund bailout for the Indonesian
economy means the fund is interfering in country's internal affairs.

The government will continue to improve the welfare of its civil servants,
farmers, and laborers.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign
111 Northwood Road, Thornton Heath,
Surrey CR7 8HW, UK
Phone: 020 8771-2904 Fax: 020 8653-0322
email: tapol@gn.apc.org
Internet: www.gn.apc.org/tapol
Campaigning to expose human rights violations in
Indonesia, West Papua and Aceh

26 years - and still going strong
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

___________________________________________________________
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Subj: KABAR-IRIAN: [EN] Stone Age rebels risk wrath of Indonesia
Date: 8/6/00 6:47:53 PM Central Daylight Time
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The Observer [UK]
Sunday August 6, 2000
Stone Age rebels risk wrath of Indonesia

For 30 years, West Papua has been terrorised and plundered by its
conquerors. Now the hill tribes are fighting back, reports Ian
Williams

Erson Wenda stands on a ridge above the remote Baliem Valley,
gesturing wildly with his arms, tears in his eyes. 'The soldiers
came from over there. They took people from my village, tying their
hands, and brought them to these holes.'

He bends forward, his hands behind him, re-enacting what happened
when 11 of his terrified neighbours were shot and dumped into
shallow graves on the ridge.

A silent crowd gathers as he continues his story. A tribesman,
wearing only a codpiece and feathers in his hair, stamps his spear
and utters a deep moan. An old man in soiled shorts steps forward,
pointing to bullet wounds in his thigh and foot.

Rain suddenly sweeps in across the valley, hammering on the tin-roof
missionary's house at the foot of the ridge. Everyone scrambles for
the shelter below. Erson's words now compete with rain on the tin
roof: 'They hacked the bodies before they threw them into the
holes.'

For the first time, the full horror of Indonesian rule in Irian Jaya
(or West Papua, as Papuans prefer to call it) is emerging.

For more than 30 years Jakarta fought a dirty war against the rebel
group OPM and anyone thought to sympathise with them. Thousands are
thought to have died.

Only now are villagers like Erson coming forward to have their
reports documented by human rights workers in the highland capital
of Wamena. 'We're not scared any more. Before, if you as much as
mentioned the rebels you'd be killed. People would be terrorised for
as much as writing down their name. People were scared to even use
the word Papua,' says Yafet Yelemaken, who is gathering the
evidence.

Years of repression now fuel an urgent desire for independence. The
Baliem Valley is technically still an area of military operations,
but suddenly the hated Indonesian military has disappeared. All
along the bumpy road that threads through the valley, villagers have
set up their own security posts. Groups of men in bare feet and
tattered clothes spring to attention as strangers approach.

They brandish the ancient weapons of the Dani tribe that dominates
this valley: bows and arrows, spears and crude knives.

Veteran members of the OPM, whooping and waving, emerge from the
hills, like men from another age. They wear elaborate feathered
head-dresses and enormous gourds over their loins. Their necklaces
of giant boar's teeth glint as the valley is again bathed in
sunshine.

'We're not afraid. Not now,' they insist. Some of those we spoke to
thought West Papua was already independent. Later, at Wamena's
ramshackle airport, I sat between a naked tribesman wanting to sell
me a necklace and a villager taking her child for medical treatment
in the capital, Jayapura. It was funny, said the woman, so many
strangers - single Javanese men - had arrived in Wamena recently,
yet there seemed to be no work for them.

It was a throwaway comment, and I thought nothing of it at the time.
After all, the Baliem Valley seemed to have already thrown off the
Indonesian shackles.

In Jayapura the independence movement organised its most forthright
challenge yet. Hundreds flooded the city centre last week for the
raising of the outlawed Morning Star flag. The only sign of
Indonesian authority was a solitary and bemused traffic policeman.

Indonesia's President Abdurrahman Wahid has said he will never let
Irian Jaya go. Yet in the valley and here in Jayapura it looked too
late, as black-clad militiamen, forbidden flags on their breasts,
paraded openly.

These men policed the port with sticks and knives when a refugee
ship arrived from Ambon. The atmosphere was tense, and at first
nobody was allowed ashore. The few eventually permitted to land for
medical treatment were escorted, menacingly, by those same
militiamen.

One pro-Indonesian businessmen was reportedly kidnapped and beaten
by militia men. Chinese shop owners have been threatened.

At the local human rights office, long-standing critics of
Indonesia's heavy-handed rule were deeply uneasy, drawing parallels
with strife-torn Ambon and East Timor.

'This is a time-bomb waiting to explode. I'm afraid it's all going
to end in tragedy,' said Albert Rumbekwan, one activist. And then
cryptically: 'Why are we accepting favours from our enemies?' Among
those 'favours' is cash for the black-clad militia, from an
unlikely, but disturbing source. The self-proclaimed 'Big Leader' of
the West Papua independence movement,who runs the militia, is
62-year-old Theys Eluay, a tall, imposing man with a shock of white
hair and a taste for loud jackets and ties. He was once a member of
the ruling Golkar party and voted for integration with Indonesia in
a dubious 1969 plebiscite of local leaders. For 30 years, he kept
quiet about Indonesia's human rights abuses.

More sinister is his main source of money: Yorris Raweyai, deputy
head of an Indonesian youth organisation with close ties to the
Indonesian army and ex-President Suharto.

Yorris's youth organisation is involved in gambling, prostitution
and protection rackets. In the past it was used by the military for
the dirty work that they preferred to avoid: Yorris is awaiting
trial over an attack in 1996 on the headquarters of Megawati
Sukharnoputri, then an opposition leader.

Now it is his money funding Eluay, his West Papuan separatist
movement and their black-clad militia, called Satgas (Taskforce),
and now claimed to be 7,000 strong.

Why is it being accepted? 'The people are hungry for freedom, and
that seems to matter more to them than the personalities fighting
for it,' says human rights activist Albert Rumbekwan.

More worrying, Rumbekwan's office has received reports of rival 'red
and white' militias, loyal to Jakarta, being trained by the military
in other cities. At least one clash has been reported. Jakarta is
boosting the number of troops in the province, they claim. I thought
again about the woman at Wamena airport and her story of those
single Javanese men arriving.

Unlike East Timor, or Ambon, Irian Jaya has rich reserves of
minerals and metals. The Grasberg mine, in the mountains of this
wild province, has the world's biggest gold deposit. Freeport
McMoran, the American firm that runs it, is Indonesia's single
biggest taxpayer.

Economically, the province is vital to Indonesia. The fear among
human rights groups in Jayapura is that some powers in Jakarta want
to create conditions to justify a military crackdown here or to
unleash chaos to undermine President Wahid's dwindling
credibility.The parallels with East Timor and Ambon are frightening
indeed.
-- Ian Williams is Channel 4 News Asia Correspondent. His film on
West Papua will be shown on Sunday at 6.30pm.

KABAR IRIAN ("Irian News") www.kabar-irian.com
NOTE: "All items are posted for their news/information content. They are
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Subj: KABAR-IRIAN: [EN] Indonesian police take control of airport from Papuan
Date: 8/5/00 6:20:09 PM Central Daylight Time
From: admin@irja.org
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activists
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Radio Australia
Saturday 5 August 2000 - 23:07:21
Indonesian police take control of airport from Papuan activists

Indonesian police hjave taken control of a remote highland airport
from Papuan independence activists who had seized it five days
earlier.

Police said the airport at Wamena, in far eastern province of Papua,
formerly Irian Jaya, had been taken over on July 31 by around 100
people associated with the pro-independence Presidium of the People
of Papua, armed with bows, arrows and clubs.

They had screened those flying in and out of Wamena's airport,
saying they were worried refugees from the riot-torn Maluku islands
intended to arrive by plane.

KABAR IRIAN ("Irian News") www.kabar-irian.com
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Subj: KABAR-IRIAN: [EN] New highway for Papua
Date: 8/5/00 6:19:40 PM Central Daylight Time
From: admin@irja.org
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Radio Australia
Saturday 5 August 2000 - 20:09:04
New highway for Papua

Four South Korean companies are to form a consortium to build a
one-point-seven Billion dollar highway across the Indonesian
province of Papua, formerly known as Irian Jaya.

The four companies have signed a memorandum of understanding on the
project with the province's Vice Governor.

The memorandum says the consortium will build an 11,280-kilometre
long highway.

Under the deal, the government will not contribute funds but will
allow the consortium to sell wood felled to make way for the road.
The consortium will also be compensated with plantation and forestry
concesssions for a period yet to be decided.

KABAR IRIAN ("Irian News") www.kabar-irian.com
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Subj: KABAR-IRIAN: [EN] 'We Paid With our Lives'
Date: 8/5/00 6:19:46 PM Central Daylight Time
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AsiaWeek.com
August 11 , 2000 Vol. 26 No. 31
'We Paid With our Lives'
-- Of independence, nation-building and ASEAN

East Timor leaders Xanana Gusmao and Jose Ramos-Horta were special
guests of the Thai government at the ASEAN meetings. During their
stay, news came in from home that a New Zealand soldier serving on
the U.N. peacekeeping force had been killed in a clash with
anti-independence militias. It was the 8,500-strong detail's first
combat casualty. In Gusmao's hotel suite, both men spoke to
Asiaweek's Alejandro Reyes about the situation in East Timor:

What is your reaction to the soldier's killing?

Ramos-Horta: The killing tells us more about the breakdown of
discipline and law and order in Indonesia than about peace and
stability in East Timor. Evidence shows that members of the
Indonesian army, who are beyond control in West Timor, Ambon, Aceh
and Irian Jaya, are behind it.

Gusmao: We support a smooth democratization process in Indonesia. We
want reconciliation, but this kind of military action against the
U.N. is not helpful. We believe that President [Abdurrahman] Wahid
is concerned, but it's the lack of control that is the problem.

How is the reconciliation going between pro-independence and
pro-integration factions in Timor?

Gusmao: Reconciliation will take time because of the destruction and
because we've had so many years of war. We have established a
council for reconciliation. Some [integrationist] leaders have
returned. Many more will come back and we will involve them.

You were critical of the U.N. initially. Has the administration
improved?

Gusmao: The criticism was to push the process toward independence
faster. The expectations of East Timorese were very high. We are
learning how to deal with the international community, donors,
financial institutions. It's not as if we said we don't want them
anymore.

Ramos-Horta: Our criticisms were constructive, borne out of the
people's frustrations, which were fully justified. But it is
understandable why the U.N. was slow. Every single thing was
destroyed. They had to bring in everything — chairs, tables,
typewriters, cars, even soap.

What is your view on the other places in Indonesia experiencing
ethnic and religious strife?

Gusmao: Some people say that we can be an example, but I have to
remind them that our situation was very different historically and
legally. We respect the integrity of the Republic of Indonesia. That
is why we have very good relations with the current administration.

Ramos-Horta: I told the West Papuans recently: Don't miss this
opportunity now. Walk halfway. Grab the olive branch that [Wahid] is
offering you in terms of limited but genuine autonomy. The rest God
will take care of. Today, the West Papuans and Acehnese are dealing
with a new Indonesia so they could have genuine autonomy.

Is East Timor's smallness a liability?

Ramos-Horta: Precisely the opposite. In a globalized world, the size
of the territory and the population no longer matters. It all boils
down to human-resource skills, know-how, creativity and dynamism. We
have resources — oil, gas, the best coffee in the world, all kinds
of marble. East Timor can be totally self-sufficient in agriculture
and fisheries. There is potential for tourism. And we are at the
crossroads of the Asia-Pacific region.

Last year, you called ASEAN "hypocrites," but now you are in Bangkok
making friends.

Ramos-Horta: Did I? Are you sure it was me? You must be talking
about my twin brother. [Laughs.] ASEAN obviously is very important
for us. Our future security rests not so much on a deterrent force
or standing army but on a web of relations in the region. ASEAN
provides that framework.

Does East Timor have enough skilled people to run a government?

Ramos-Horta: We have more university graduates than Indonesia and
Papua New Guinea had when they became independent. But that doesn't
mean we have experience. It'll take many years of training.

You have just spoken to President Wahid. What did you talk about?

Gusmao: He expressed concern about the soldier's death, and we
offered to help solve the conflict in Ambon. We know what the price
of destruction can be. The president was proposing to send the
factions to Timor to give them a chance to see the consequences of
division.

Was the whole struggle for independence worth it?

Ramos-Horta: The people of East Timor paid with their lives because
they were determined to preserve their sense of honor, dignity and
freedom. Far be it for anyone to discourage that. Five years from
now, I hope we can say we've eliminated malaria, tuberculosis and
poverty, and given clean water to people, schools and textbooks to
children. Then we can say that we did not betray those who died.

KABAR IRIAN ("Irian News") www.kabar-irian.com
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Subj: [wp] Vanuatu, Nauru back West Papuan independence
Date: 8/4/00 5:03:56 AM Central Daylight Time
From: iris@matra.com.au (Anne Noonan)
Reply-to: iris@matra.com.au
To: WestPapua@topica.com, iris@matra.com.au, kabar-irian@irja.org

>From AWPA

Radio Australia 4/8/00 (18:52:21)

Vanuatu, Nauru back West Papuan independence

Vanuatu and Nauru have expressed support for the independence movement
in West Papua, promising to convey the aspirations of the Indonesian
province to the United Nations' general assembly in September.

The move follows a meeting in Vanuatu's capital of Port Villa, attended
by a delegation from West Papua and the leaders of the two Pacific
countries. Chairman of the Committee for an Independent Papua, Laurents
Mehue, says Vanuatu and Nauru have also agreed to help finance the
independence struggle.

Vanuatu's Prime Minister Barak Sope says his country, as chair of the
Melanesian Spearhead Group will lobby other members in a bid to secure
increased support for West Papuan independence.
4/8/00 (18:52:21)
________________________________
Australia West Papua Association
PO BOX 65
Millers Point
Australia 2000
Tele/fax 61.2. 99601696
_________________________________

___________________________________________________________
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Subj: KABAR-IRIAN: [EN] BBC Summary of World Broadcasts
Date: 8/4/00 7:44:35 PM Central Daylight Time
From: admin@irja.org
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Received from Joyo Indonesian News

also: Eastern Fleet commander on vessel-searching operations around
Maluku; and Papua Task Force militia stage show of strength at local
airport

BBC Summary of World Broadcasts
August 4, 2000
Source: Antara news agency, Jakarta, in English 2 Aug 00; and 'Riau
Pos', Pekanbaru, in Indonesian 2 Aug 00

Media report on impact of Maluku trouble on Irian Jaya

There were two reports in Indonesian media sources on perceptions of
the impact of the Maluku conflict on the neighbouring province of
Irian Jaya/Papua.

According to a 2nd August report in the Internet, English language
version, state news agency Antara, Fakfak Police Chief
Superintendent Totok Kasmiarto told Antara on 2nd August that police
had found another home-made weapon with five bullets in it, bringing
to four the total number of home-made weapons recently confiscated.

Kasmiarto said the home-made weapon, which he described as similar
to those being used in the sectarian clashes in Maluku Province,
belonged to an employee of the plywood company, PT Prabu Alaska, in
Karas village, East Fakfak subdistrict.

Police also confiscated two military-issue weapons with live
ammunition in them.

The Antara report claimed that, "Locals are reportedly afraid that
some irresponsible people would spark a conflict in Fakfak and turn
it into 'another Ambon', considering that there is a group in the
district which supports Irian Jaya's separation from Indonesia and
another group which wants to stay with
the republic."

According to a report in the 2nd August Internet edition of the
Pekanbaru-based daily 'Riau Pos', Irian Jaya Police Chief Brig-Gen
S.Y. Wenas said that he had ordered Sorong Police Chief
Superintendent Ch.V. Sitorus to "carefully" investigate allegations
that jihad forces from Maluku had moved into Sorong.

He said that he had received a report from Papua Council Presidium M
oderator Pastor Herman Awom that jihad troops had established a base
and were holdingtraining exercises in the Raja Ampat islands -
Missol, Yapen, Waigeo and Batanta - and at Aimas in Sorong District.

The jihad forces were allegedly armed with automatic and home-made
firearms.

The provincial police chief also commented that the Sorong police
were investigating a violent incident over the weekend (29th-30th
July) when the Dobonsolo attempted to dock in Sorong harbour. Five
civilians were injured when police fired rubber bullets into the
crowd attempting to block the ship berthing, and three police
officers were seriously wounded by stone-throwers.

----------------------

BBC Summary of World Broadcasts
August 03, 2000, Thursday
Source: 'Waspada' web site, Medan, in Indonesian 2 Aug 00

Eastern Fleet commander on vessel-searching operations around Maluku

Surabaya: As of 31st July, TNI [Indonesian armed forces]-AL
[Indonesian navy] patrol boats from Eastern Fleet busy on
surveillance operations under the civil emergency legislation had
stopped and searched 726 vessels suspected of carrying arms and
ammunition.

After inspecting five Thai fishing boats being detained in Surabaya
on Tuesday (1st August), the commander of the Eastern Fleet, Rear
Adm Adi Haryono, said: "We have checked 726 vessels and 23 have been
arrested for carrying arms and ammunition. We questioned a total of
3,429 people but all were released." He explained that after the
initial search, the 23 seized vessels were handed over to the police
for further investigation. TNI-AL crews seized more than 7,000
rounds of ammunition, hundreds of bombs, thousands of sharp weapons
and poisoned arrows...

There are currently 12 TNI-AL ships operating in Maluku and North
Maluku. These include KRI Sorong, KRI Multituli, KRI Teluk Sabang
and KRI Tongkol. According to the Eastern Fleet commander, the
security situation in Maluku and North Maluku waters was improving.
The reduced numbers of vessels now found carrying ammunitions and
weapons was an indication of this...

--------------

BBC Summary of World Broadcasts
August 03, 2000
Source: 'Jawa Pos' web site, Surabaya, in Indonesian 1 Aug 00
Papua Task Force militia stage show of strength at local airport

Wamena: On Monday (31st July), the Papua Task Force [PTF;
pro-independence civilian militia] took over security at the airport
in Wamena, capital of Jayawijaya District, Irian Jaya. Local police
and security guards could do little about it.

Around 100 PTF members armed with bows and wooden clubs closely
guarded the entrances and exits of the terminal building. The
waiting room and check-in areas were also tightly guarded. Dozens of
PTF members ransacked the luggage of passengers bound for Jayapura.
All passengers seeking to buy tickets were scrutinized, and some
were even prevented from departing for the Irian Jaya capital.

Twenty bundles of census documents for the year 2000 relating to the
Jayawijaya population were extracted from the ransacked baggage. The
documents were to be taken to the capital by the head of the local
Census and Statistics Office, Amin Nazar. The census documents were
almost seized and burned by the PTF, but were saved by police and
secured at the Jayawijaya police district HQ. Some 300 PTF members
led by Yafet Yelemaken went to the police station to ask for the
documents. However, after negotiations with Superintendent D.
Suripatty, the documents were allowed to be sent to Jayapura.

Suripatty said that the PTF rejected the census process in
Jayawijaya. There was a suspicion that the results had been
manipulated...

An Antara [Indonesian state news agency] source in Wamena said the
PTF members had not mobilized at Wamena airport to try to prevent
the dispatch of the census documents, but rather because they had
received information that 300 refugees from Maluku were going to
arrive there.

KABAR IRIAN ("Irian News") www.kabar-irian.com
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not necessarily the views of IRJA.org or subscribers. "

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Subj: [wp] PAPUA CAUNCIL CANCELS MEETING WITH PRESIDENT
Date: 8/4/00 3:40:15 PM Central Daylight Time
From: iris@matra.com.au (Anne Noonan)
Reply-to: iris@matra.com.au
To: WestPapua@topica.com, iris@matra.com.au, kabar-irian@irja.org

>From AWPA

PAPUA COUNCIL CANCELS MEETING WITH PRESIDENT
Friday, August 04, 2000/9:54:42 PM

Jakarta, Aug 4 (ANTARA) - The Papua Council headed by Theis Aluay
cancelled a planned
meeting with President Abdurrahman Wahid here on Friday evening.

"The meeting was cancelled unilaterally," the head of the presidential
bureau of media and press, Dharmawan Ronodipuro, said. He said the
Papua Council initially planned to come with a 150-strong delegation but
later they stated only 51 and then 21 would come to the meeting. They
failed to come after preparations had been made. "They cancelled it, not
us," Ronodipuro said.

President Abdurrahman Wahid held meetings with Commander of the Defence
Forces (TNI)
Admiral Widodo who was accompanied by National Police Chief General
Rusdihardjo and
Army Chief General Tyasno Sudarto and later with Mines and Energy
Minister Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono who came along with Coordinating Minister for
Political and Security
Affairs/Home Affairs Minister Surjadi Soedirdja.

________________________________
Australia West Papua Association
PO BOX 65
Millers Point
Australia 2000
Tele/fax 61.2. 99601696
_________________________________

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Subj: KABAR-IRIAN: [EN] Foreign NGOs to assist refugees
Date: 8/4/00 7:44:38 PM Central Daylight Time
From: admin@irja.org
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Indonesian Observer
Saturday, August 05 - 2000
Foreign NGOs to assist refugees

JAKARTA (IO) — Several non-government organizations (NGOs), mostly
from Europe and the US, will extend Rp97 billion (US$11.3 million)
in financial aid for refugees and low-income families in eastern
Indonesia, an official said yesterday.

Public Affairs Minister Anak Agung Gde Agung said the assistance is
for 379,000 families displaced due to clashes in their provinces, as
well as low-income families from 150 districts in eastern Indonesia.

“The aid will also include training programs and capital
assistance,” Agung was quoted as saying by Antara after a meeting
with Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri.

The signing of the memorandum of understanding between the NGOs and
the ministry will be held on August 15. “We have asked the vice
president to witness the signing ceremony,” Agung said.

The minister acknowledged that the issue of refugees, especially in
the provinces of Maluku, North Maluku, Central Sulawesi and East
Nusa Tenggara (West Timor), has been a serious problem for the
government.

He said Irian Jaya’s recent rejection of Ambonese refugees could be
a manifestation that the people are “saturated” with the refugee
problem.

Maluku, North Maluku and parts of Central Sulawesi have been hit by
a series of communal clashes which have claimed thousands of lives
and forced thousands of others to flee their homes.

In East Nusa Tenggara, hundreds of refugees from East Timor have yet
to be repatriated due to an alleged lack of transportation and the
presence of evil militia bandits.

KABAR IRIAN ("Irian News") www.kabar-irian.com
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Subj: AWSJ: Column: Jakarta's West Papuan Challenge
Date: 8/4/00 12:34:52 AM Central Daylight Time
From: plovers@gn.apc.org (Tapol)
To: indonesia-act@igc.apc.org, u.braun@xcc.de, slliem@xs4all.nl, taylorjb@vax.sbu.ac.uk, jonathan.head@bbc.co.uk, tapol@gn.apc.org, westpapua@topica.com, u.braun@xcc.de, slliem@xs4all.nl, taylorjb@vax.sbu.ac.uk

Received from Joyo Indonesian News

Asian Wall Street Journal
August 3, 2000

Column

Jakarta's West Papuan Challenge

By RODD MCGIBBON

(Editor's Note: This is an opinion piece from Friday's Asian Wall Street
Journal. Mr. McGibbon is a Jakarta-based researcher and analyst. The views
expressed here are his own.)

Participating in June's historic West Papuan People's Congress, community
leaders and representatives from across the Indonesian province (also known
as Irian Jaya) gave growing voice to West Papuan demands for independence.
The persistence of those calls for self-rule is raising new concerns in
Jakarta that the province's secessionist sentiments could presage a
disintegration of the Indonesian state.

But West Papua is unlikely, in the immediate future at least, to follow the
path of East Timor, which broke away from Indonesia in tumultuous
circumstances last year. This is due to three main factors.

First, the international community does not support self-determination for
West Papua as it did for East Timor. Western governments supported the
U.N.-sponsored integration of West Papua into Indonesia in 1969 and continue
to acknowledge Indonesian sovereignty over the province.

Second, political leaders in Jakarta are united in their determination to
defend Indonesian rule over West Papua. Losing the revenues that
resource-rich provinces like Aceh and West Papua provide (from oil, copper,
gold and timber) would mean a huge financial loss to the state, a prospect
Indonesian officials simply refuse to entertain.

After the humiliating loss of East Timor, military and civilian leaders have
renewed their resolve to defend the territorial integrity of the state. These
leaders claim that, unlike East Timor, West Papua was part of the Dutch
colonial state to which modern Indonesia is the successor. Finally, divisions
among the Papuans themselves have prevented the emergence of a strong
secessionist movement. This is partly because personal rivalries within the
province have contributed to a lack of unified leadership. It is also because
local leaders have failed to articulate a coherent nationalist ideology
beyond a vaguely articulated concept of independence.

Still, the rapidity of recent developments cautions against making definitive
judgements about the prospects for a unified Indonesia. Indeed, if Jakarta
does not move decisively to address mounting dissatisfaction in the
provinces, separatist sentiments are likely to increase beyond the
government's ability to control them.

The preoccupation with Indonesia's possible "Balkanization," however, is
masking more immediate challenges Jakarta must confront in West Papua. The
10-month-old government of President Abdurrahman Wahid is faced less with an
impending secessionist rebellion than with the prospect of an explosive
outbreak of ethnic and religious conflict.

The Maluku islands provide a sobering example of what could happen in West
Papua. The Malukus have descended into a spiral of communal violence over the
last two years. Like the Malukus, West Papua is characterized by growing
economic, political and social competition between local and migrant
communities divided by ethnicity and religion. It is violence of this kind,
rather than a strictly secessionist threat, that is the more immediate
problem for Jakarta.

A key factor is the recent influx of migrants into West Papua. Drawn to the
province's natural resource base, migrants from Java and Eastern Indonesia
are threatening to overwhelm West Papua's indigenous populations. While the
former tend to be Muslim, the latter are overwhelmingly Christian. Usually
better educated than their Papuan counterparts, the migrants are thus better
able to exploit the benefits of development, while indigenous groups lag
behind. As more outsiders are lured to the province's large development
projects, competition for land and resources is likely to intensify,
heightening tensions.

Another source of resentment among the local, largely Melanesian ethnic
population is the repressive presence of the Indonesian military, which has
had an appalling history of human rights abuses there. It is economic
marginalization and resentment of injustices gone unpunished, rather than
ethnic nationalism, that is fueling their dissatisfaction with Jakarta.

But is Mr. Wahid's government capable of redressing those injustices and
restoring faith in Indonesian federalism? Answers will remain elusive as long
as Jakarta's politicians remain mired in political infighting in the run-up
to the August 7 session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR). Facing
the possibility that his opponents may seek to remove him during the meeting,
Mr. Wahid is in a difficult position. His task is complicated by the fact
that the country's main political institutions have proven to be no more than
an empty shell, the legacy of Indonesia's long authoritarian past. They are
now in critical need of rebuilding from the ground up.

Reflecting this perilous state, the security forces are largely discredited
and have been ineffectual in controlling the religious, ethnic and political
violence tearing at Indonesia's social fabric. The government itself has
proven incapable of basic policy coordination among agencies at a time when
collective action is urgently needed.

Despite these depressing facts, the government is moving to implement a

sweeping decentralization program that could re-empower local communities
and
address provincial resentments. Decentralization envisages a substantial
devolution of power to provincial and local governments. It also involves
(perhaps more importantly) a reallocation of funds away from Jakarta back to
the
regions. If implemented fairly and efficiently, decentralization could provide
the basis for democratic local governance and for improving social conditions
at
the core of Papuan dissatisfaction.

Although fraught with risk and likely to place a heavy fiscal strain on
Jakarta, the terms of a recent $5 billion loan agreement with the
International Monetary Fund grant the provinces greater financial autonomy to
gather and keep more of their own revenues. The government has also promised
by September to draw up plans for the sale of state assets to be completed by
2004.

All of this suggests Jakarta is mustering the political will to address calls
for justice and self-determination in West Papua and elsewhere. But it will
need to do this before West Papua descends into a black hole of communal
violence.

The international community can and should support Indonesia's attempts to
maintain peace amid its wrenching transition to democracy. The costs of not
doing so are that conflict in West Papua could set back economic recovery and
undermine ongoing democratic reforms.

Indeed, the kind of investment climate that develops in rich outer-island
provinces like West Papua will have a bearing on how foreign investors view
Indonesia. Moreover, widespread violence in West Papua could strengthen the
hand of strident nationalists in the government and military who are
resistant to democratic reforms.

A new democratic Indonesia should be given a chance to right the wrongs of
the past. The challenge is enormous. With the support of the international
community, Jakarta needs to move quickly if the West Papuan challenge is to
be addressed and widespread violence averted.

**************************************************
Paul Barber
TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign,
25 Plovers Way, Alton Hampshire GU34 2JJ
Tel/Fax: 01420 80153
Email: plovers@gn.apc.org
Internet: www.gn.apc.org/tapol
Defending victims of oppression in Indonesia and
East Timor, 1973-2000
**************************************************

======================================================= ===

Subj: BBC: Media reports on impact of Maluku trouble on Irian Jaya
Date: 8/4/00 12:35:39 AM Central Daylight Time
From: plovers@gn.apc.org (Tapol)
To: indonesia-act@igc.apc.org, u.braun@xcc.de, slliem@xs4all.nl, taylorjb@vax.sbu.ac.uk, jonathan.head@bbc.co.uk, tapol@gn.apc.org, westpapua@topica.com, u.braun@xcc.de, slliem@xs4all.nl, taylorjb@vax.sbu.ac.uk

Received from Joyo Indonesian News

also: ELS-HAM protests against treatment of Malukan refugees, appeals to UNHCR
for help; Eastern Fleet commander on vessel-searching operations around
Maluku; and Papua Task Force militia stage show of strength at local airport

BBC Summary of World Broadcasts
August 4, 2000
Source: Antara news agency, Jakarta, in English 2 Aug 00; and 'Riau Pos',
Pekanbaru, in Indonesian 2 Aug 00

Media report on impact of Maluku trouble on Irian Jaya

There were two reports in Indonesian media sources on perceptions of the
impact of the Maluku conflict on the neighbouring province of Irian
Jaya/Papua.

According to a 2nd August report in the Internet, English language version,
state news agency Antara, Fakfak Police Chief Superintendent Totok Kasmiarto
told Antara on 2nd August that police had found another home-made weapon with
five bullets in it, bringing to four the total number of home-made weapons
recently confiscated.

Kasmiarto said the home-made weapon, which he described as similar to those
being used in the sectarian clashes in Maluku Province, belonged to an
employee
of the plywood company, PT Prabu Alaska, in Karas village, East Fakfak
subdistrict.

Police also confiscated two military-issue weapons with live ammunition in
them.

The Antara report claimed that, "Locals are reportedly afraid that some
irresponsible people would spark a conflict in Fakfak and turn it into
'another
Ambon', considering that there is a group in the district which supports Irian
Jaya's separation from Indonesia and another group which wants to stay with
the republic."

According to a report in the 2nd August Internet edition of the
Pekanbaru-based daily 'Riau Pos', Irian Jaya Police Chief Brig-Gen S.Y. Wenas
said that he had ordered Sorong Police Chief Superintendent Ch.V. Sitorus to
"carefully" investigate allegations that jihad forces from Maluku had moved
into
Sorong.

He said that he had received a report from Papua Council Presidium
Moderator
Pastor Herman Awom that jihad troops had established a base and were holding
training exercises in the Raja Ampat islands - Missol, Yapen, Waigeo and
Batanta
- and at Aimas in Sorong District.

The jihad forces were allegedly armed with automatic and home-made
firearms.

The provincial police chief also commented that the Sorong police were
investigating a violent incident over the weekend (29th-30th July) when the
Dobonsolo attempted to dock in Sorong harbour. Five civilians were injured
when
police fired rubber bullets into the crowd attempting to block the ship
berthing, and three police officers were seriously wounded by stone-throwers.

----------------

ELS-HAM protests against treatment of Malukan refugees, appeals to UNHCR
for help

1 August 2000

In a statement issued on 1 August 2000, the leading human rights
organisation in Papua, ELS-HAM has strongly criticised the actions of the
local government authorities and Satgas Papua (Papua Taskforce) forces for
the inhumane way they have treated the thousands of Malukans who have
arrived in Papua recently seeking sanctuary from the bloody conflict in
Maluku and North Maluku.

It points out that around 20,000 Malukans have already sought refugee in
Papua since the start of the conflict in Maluku in January 1999 and
recognises that the influx has aroused fears in Papua it could result in
the spread of the civil war now raging in Maluku and North Maluku to Papua.
It roundly condemns the central government for failing to bring an end to
the conflict in Maluku and North Maluku.

After describing how refugees have been manhandled and badly treated by the
security forces and members of Satgas Papua, ELS-HAM states that the
refugees, in particular the women, children and the elderly are entitled to
protection and to be treated humanely. They are the innocent victims of a
political struggle being waged in the interests of the political elite in
Jakarta and in Ambon. They have the right to be treated without regard to
their ethnic or religious origins.

While stressing the need for the war in Maluku and North Maluku to be
stopped ELSHAM:

- Strongly protested to the provincial government for preventing the
refugees from remaining in Papua on political grounds.
- Strongly condemns the behaviour of Satgas Papua towards the refugees, in
disregard for humanitarian values.
- Calls on humanitarian and religious organisations in West Papua as well
as in Jakarta, and calls on national and international agencies, including
the UNHCR, to help solve the problem as quickly as possible, by according
them humanitarian treatment without regard for their origins, and also
urges the TNI and the Police to seriously search for weapons wherever they
are being stored in Papua as they represent a threat to security.

ELSHAM also urges the central government to agree to international
intervention in Maluku to help resolve the crisis, particularly humnitarian
intervention to help civilians so many of whom have suffered so grievously
as a result of the civil war raging in the region. The concept of 'national
sovereignty' and other such prejudices should not be allowed to close the
way to end the sufferings of our fellow-country men and women in Maluku.

It is our fervent hope that peace will be restored in Maluku, making it
possible for the refugees to return home and start re-building their
country which has been ravaged by war.

----------------

BBC Summary of World Broadcasts
August 03, 2000, Thursday
Source: 'Waspada' web site, Medan, in Indonesian 2 Aug 00

Eastern Fleet commander on vessel-searching operations around Maluku

Surabaya: As of 31st July, TNI [Indonesian armed forces]-AL [Indonesian
navy]
patrol boats from Eastern Fleet busy on surveillance operations under the
civil
emergency legislation had stopped and searched 726 vessels suspected of
carrying
arms and ammunition.

After inspecting five Thai fishing boats being detained in Surabaya on
Tuesday (1st August), the commander of the Eastern Fleet, Rear Adm Adi
Haryono,
said: "We have checked 726 vessels and 23 have been arrested for carrying arms
and ammunition. We questioned a total of 3,429 people but all were released."
He
explained that after the initial search, the 23 seized vessels were handed
over
to the police for further investigation. TNI-AL crews seized more than 7,000
rounds of ammunition, hundreds of bombs, thousands of sharp weapons and
poisoned
arrows...

There are currently 12 TNI-AL ships operating in Maluku and North Maluku.
These include KRI Sorong, KRI Multituli, KRI Teluk Sabang and KRI Tongkol.
According to the Eastern Fleet commander, the security situation in Maluku and
North Maluku waters was improving. The reduced numbers of vessels now found
carrying ammunitions and weapons was an indication of this...

--------------

BBC Summary of World Broadcasts
August 03, 2000
Source: 'Jawa Pos' web site, Surabaya, in Indonesian 1 Aug 00

Papua Task Force militia stage show of strength at local airport

Wamena: On Monday (31st July), the Papua Task Force [PTF; pro-independence
civilian militia] took over security at the airport in Wamena, capital of
Jayawijaya District, Irian Jaya. Local police and security guards could do
little about it.

Around 100 PTF members armed with bows and wooden clubs closely guarded
the entrances and exits of the terminal building. The waiting room and
check-in
areas were also tightly guarded. Dozens of PTF members ransacked the luggage
of
passengers bound for Jayapura. All passengers seeking to buy tickets were
scrutinized, and some were even prevented from departing for the Irian Jaya
capital.

Twenty bundles of census documents for the year 2000 relating to the
Jayawijaya population were extracted from the ransacked baggage. The documents
were to be taken to the capital by the head of the local Census and Statistics
Office, Amin Nazar. The census documents were almost seized and burned by the
PTF, but were saved by police and secured at the Jayawijaya police district
HQ... Some 300 PTF members led by Yafet Yelemaken went to the police station
to ask for the documents. However, after negotiations with Superintendent D.
Suripatty, the documents were allowed to be sent to Jayapura.

Suripatty said that the PTF rejected the census process in Jayawijaya.
There
was a suspicion that the results had been manipulated...

An Antara [Indonesian state news agency] source in Wamena said the PTF
members had not mobilized at Wamena airport to try to prevent the dispatch of
the census documents, but rather because they had received information that
300
refugees from Maluku were going to arrive there.

**************************************************
Paul Barber
TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign,
25 Plovers Way, Alton Hampshire GU34 2JJ
Tel/Fax: 01420 80153
Email: plovers@gn.apc.org
Internet: www.gn.apc.org/tapol
Defending victims of oppression in Indonesia and
East Timor, 1973-2000
**************************************************

=======================================================

Subj: [wp] WEST PAPUANS ACCUSE AUSTRALIA OF INACTION
Date: 8/3/00 2:30:26 PM Central Standard Time
From: iris@matra.com.au (Anne Noonan)
Reply-to: iris@matra.com.au
To: WestPapua@topica.com, iris@matra.com.au, kabar-irian@irja.org

>From AWPA

SBS TV News Summary for 3/8/00

TONIGHT`S WORLD NEWS HEADLINES

WEST PAPUANS ACCUSE AUSTRALIA OF INACTION

Australia has been accused of failing the people of West Papua. Leaders
of the Indonesian-run province have been meeting in Vanuatu - one of the
few countries in the world to recognise the West Papuans` right to
self-determination. The province, formerly known as Irian Jaya, is
seeking to break away from Indonesian rule.

Delegates from the Indonesian controlled province of West Papua have few
allies in their quest for independence. Australia is not one of them.
But Vanuatu`s PM, Barak Sope, extended more than diplomatic niceties
during a recent visit from Papuan leaders.

BARAK SOPE, VANUATU PRIME MINISTER:
Vanuatu is ready to... go into the international arena and speak out on
behalf of West Papua.
West Papua has watched East Timor`s independence with a jealous eye. In
June, the leaders of key Papuan tribal groups renewed their calls for
secession from Indonesia. Vanuatu has long
supported its Melanesian brothers and its PM is scathing of Australia`s
stance, which is to support Indonesia`s territorial integrity.

BARAK SOPE: I don`t think Mr Downer understands the situation that well,
and he is only supporting it to please the Indonesians. PM Sope didn`t
limit his disdain to Australia`s position on West Papua.

BARAK SOPE: What Australia is trying to say to Fiji and other countries
is that, "OK, have
democracy," but democracy which is dictated by Australia.

But Canberra is loath to cause friction in the tinder box of West Papua.
There are reports that
Indonesian militia groups have moved to the province from East Timor.
The idea that they might
agitate the largely pro-independence population right next door to
former Australian colony Papua New Guinea is a nightmare scenario. But
the leaders of this aspiring nation won`t allow the matter to go away,
and nor will the Vanuatan PM when he raises the issue with the UN
General Assembly in September

________________________________
Australia West Papua Association
PO BOX 65
Millers Point
Australia 2000
Tele/fax 61.2. 99601696
_________________________________

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Subj: [wp] SUHARTO MUST BE TRIED FOR CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
Date: 8/3/00 5:51:55 AM Central Standard Time
From: tapol@gn.apc.org (TAPOL)
Reply-to: tapol@gn.apc.org
To: indonesia-act@igc.apc.org, WestPapua@topica.com, east-timor@igc.apc.org
CC: antara@rad.net.id (Antara), johnag@attglobal.net (John Aglionby), tempo@elang.idola.net.id (Tempo), kompas@cbn.net.id (Kompas), editor@jawapos.co.id (Jawa Pos), jktpost2@cbn.net.id, richardlloydparry@compuserve.com

TAPOL, the Indonesian Human Rights Campaign today issued the follow Press
Release

For Immediate Release 3
August
2000

SUHARTO MUST BE TRIED FOR CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY

The decision announced today by the Indonesian government that Suharto, the
former dictator, will go on trial later this month on charges of corruption is
a totally inadequate response to the horrendous crimes for which he was
responsible.

During his nearly 33 years in power, he was responsible for killings on a
scale
with few parallels in the blood-stained twentieth century. Within weeks of his
seizure of power in October 1965, the Indonesian armed forces under his
command
launched a campaign of slaughter which left up to a million people dead by
early 1966. Western governments knew very well what was happening but turned
their eyes away, ready to welcome the installation of a military regime that
would open up the country to unbridled foreign exploitation.

Suharto was never called to account for these massacres which occurred as part
of a systematic campaign to destroy political opposition and pave the way for
the creation of a repressive apparatus that held the entire population at its
mercy for more than three decades.

Suharto should also face charges for war crimes which were perpetrated by his
armed forces in East Timor. The invasion of East Timor in December 1975 was an
act of aggression that resulted in the deaths of at least 200,000 people, a
third of the population.

Carmel Budiardjo, director of TAPOL, said: ‘The corruption charges against
Suharto do not measure up to the need to indict and punish Suharto for
presiding over a systematic campaign of killings and repression which was the
hallmark of the Suharto era. My recent visit to Indonesia convinced me that
people want to see Suharto in the dock and behind bars for the crimes against
humanity perpetrated during his regime of terror.’

The massacres of 1965/66 paved the way for numerous other slaughters, the most
notorious of which were the shooting to death of hundreds of Muslims taking
part in a protest demonstration in September 1984, the killing of thousands of
alleged criminals on city streets in 1985 which Suharto has since acknowledged
took place on his orders, numerous killings in West Papua after the territory
was annexed by Indonesia in 1963, and the murderous military operations in
Aceh, North Sumatra which lasted throughout the 1990s and led to at least five
thousand deaths.

TAPOL calls upon the Indonesian government to initiate investigations into the
crimes against humanity for which Suharto must be held responsible. Only then
will it prove that it takes seriously the need for Suharto to be called to
account for the untold damage he inflicted on the people of Indonesia and East
Timor.

The international community too should recognised that Suharto blood-stained
rule places him the same category as other notorious killers twentieth century
like Pinochet and Pol Pot.

For more information, ring 020 8771-2904

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign
111 Northwood Road, Thornton Heath,
Surrey CR7 8HW, UK
Phone: 020 8771-2904 Fax: 020 8653-0322
email: tapol@gn.apc.org
Internet: www.gn.apc.org/tapol
Campaigning to expose human rights violations in
Indonesia, West Papua and Aceh

26 years - and still going strong
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

___________________________________________________________
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Subj: [wp] JP: Indon government to boost health care in Irian Jaya
Date: 8/3/00 12:35:49 AM Central Standard Time
From: plovers@gn.apc.org (Tapol)
Reply-to: plovers@gn.apc.org
To: WestPapua@topica.com, u.braun@xcc.de, slliem@xs4all.nl, taylorjb@vax.sbu.ac.uk

Received from Joyo Indonesian News

The Jakarta Post
August 03, 2000

Government to boost health care in Irian Jaya

JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Health will launch an intensive health care
program in Irian Jaya this August in order to improve community health in
Indonesia's easternmost province, which is below national standard.

The program begins on Tuesday with a three-day polio immunization campaign
and distributing high dosages of vitamin A to some 292,000 infants below five
years of age.

Director General of Communicable Disease Control and Environmental Health
Umar Fahmi said Vitamin A was needed to prevent pneumonia, which is the
leading cause of death among infants in Indonesia.

"The prevalence of death caused by pneumonia among infants in Irian Jaya and
the eastern provinces is high," Umar announced on Wednesday.

Umar noted that in eastern provinces, like West Nusa Tenggara and Irian Jaya,
70 infants out of every 1,000 were less than a week old when they died from
pneumonia, compared to other provinces where 45 died out of every 1,000.

Pneumonia is also the most common health concern among adults in Irian Jaya,
followed by malaria and diarrhea.

"That's why we are giving infants high dosages of Vitamin A, so it can
restore their body cells," he added.

"As for polio, we're giving immunization to prepare for the rainy season," he
said, adding that the higher the rainfall, the more likely the humid
conditions would help the polio virus spread.

Some Rp 7.5 billion (US$833,333) has been allocated by the government and
other funding organizations, including Unicef, to finance the three-day
program.

Minister of Health Achmad Sujudi said health conditions in Irian Jaya were
poorer compared to other regions.

There is a lack of qualified human resources and medical facilities and
limited accessibility to health services due to its difficult natural
terrain.

Irian Jaya, which has an area of 421,981 square kilometers, is three times
larger than Java, and has a population of only 2,098,310.

Eighty-five percent of the people there live in rural areas.

According to the Ministry of Health there are only ten hospitals and 1,034
community health centers throughout the province.

Ministry officials claim that a follow-up program will be implemented after
the initial phase with the aim of improving health services, including
providing better equipment, medicine and medical staff.

The ministry also plans to hold a workshop and open a medical school at
Cendrawasih University in Jayapura. (09)

**************************************************
Paul Barber
TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign,
25 Plovers Way, Alton Hampshire GU34 2JJ
Tel/Fax: 01420 80153
Email: plovers@gn.apc.org
Internet: www.gn.apc.org/tapol
Defending victims of oppression in Indonesia and
East Timor, 1973-2000
**************************************************

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Subj: KABAR-IRIAN: [EN] Will Indonesia Survive?
Date: 8/3/00 9:38:46 PM Central Daylight Time
From: admin@irja.org
Sender: owner-kabar-irian@irja.org
Reply-to: admin@irja.org
To: kabar-irian@irja.org

Too much mail? Try our digest version. Info available at
http://www.irja.org/conf.htm

Indonesian Observer
Friday, August 04 - 2000
Editorial & Opinion
Will Indonesia Survive?
By Dr. H. Roeslan Abdulgani

“Indonesia will survive. Aceh and Papua may not remain inside it;
but their farewells, if they happen, are unlikely to set in motion a
process that reduces the republic to the island of Java. Adaptations
to differing localities and demands can still usefully be made, even
at some cost in consistency.

Barring another economic collapse, co-optation by Jakarta can be
effective. Revenues from resources can be shared. Decentralization
can be tried. Centripetal diplomacy can work. But these “cans”
cannot be turned into “wills” without sustained, focused, and adroit
behavior by a central government that is weak, divided, and
embattled on many fronts at once.”

US political expert Donald K. Emmerson in his article “Will
Indonesia Survive”, published in the journal Foreign Affairs,
May-June 2000.

Negative spotlight
Foreign spotlight on Indonesia is now increasingly focused on the
existence of unity and integrity in the regions. In view of the
unfinished turbulence in Aceh, the Moluccas, and Irian Jaya, they
ask: can Indonesia’s unity and integrity survive?

In the eyes of the rest of the world, the matter of Indonesia’s
Unity and Integrity indeed is an extraordinary achievement. There
are more than 17,000 islands in our archipelago, stretching out from
Sabang to Merauke, the same distance from London to the Caucasus
mountains in Europe, bridging two continents and two oceans, and
passed by two fifths of the world’s shipping.

This reality really astonishes people abroad. Its abundant natural
riches, the size of its human resources which now amount to more
than 210 million people and its strategic and vital geographic and
geopolitical location are all reason to draw the attention of the
world, especially that of the larger countries.

The damage
In the last few years, Indonesia has gone through a
multi-dimensional crisis, causing it to rank in third position among
the most corrupt countries in the world. The two countries rated
above Indonesia are two poor African countries, namely the Cameroons
and Nigeria.

We are also classified as the country with the lowest competitive
ability.

This negative focus is also revealed in the results of an
international world survey, including us in the category of big
borrower countries, with the heaviest burden in paying both
installments and interest.

And even more unfortunate is the fact that Indonesia is often
stigmatized by foreign mass media as a country of barbarians,
because of the Human Rights violations, as well as home to a culture
of violence in which petty criminals are burned alive in public!
This all really is of great concern to us.

And in the midst of such a negative spotlight, world attention is
also focused on the process of disintegration now taking place in
Aceh, Irian Jaya and the Moluccas, especially the uproar in Aceh and
Irian Jaya, which have parallels with the separatist movement in
East Timor.

Aceh with its 4 million population, and Irian Jaya with its 2.5
million people are considered to be regions with the greatest
potential to continue the process of disintegration into separatism.
After this, Riau and East Kalimantan may follow. Why? Because these
four regions have sufficient oil and natural gas sources to finance
their ‘independent status’.

Australian author Harold Crouch compares these four regions to that
of a ‘mini-Kuwait’. Brunei and Kuwait, even though small in
geographic mass, stand firmly as independent countries, just because
of their oil and natural gas wealth. Why would Aceh, Irian Jaya,
Riau and West Kalimantan not able to live like Brunei and Kuwait?
Thus is the rhetorical, but very dangerous and misleading question.

US Opinion
The American author Donald K. Emmerson from Stanford University
recently wrote in the journal Foreign Affairs of May-June 2000, that
even though Aceh and Papua may not remain inside Indonesia, their
departure, should they happen, is unlikely to set in motion a
process that reduces the republic to the island of Java.

Adaptations to differing localities and demands can still usefully
be made, even at some cost in consistency.

Thus is the view of Prof. Donald K. Emmerson, who continued his
‘prediction’ as follows: “Barring another economic collapse,
co-optation by Jakarta can be effective. Revenues from resources can
be shared.

Decentralization can be tried. Centripetal diplomacy can work. But
these ‘cans’ cannot be turned into ‘wills’ without sustained,
focused, and adroit behavior by a central government that is weak,
divided and embattled on m any fronts at once.”

How to overcome this
Thus is the sequence of conditions submitted by Prof. Donald K.
Emmerson, if Indonesia wants to overcome its present
multi-dimensional difficulties.

And even more so if Indonesia wants to extricate itself out of the
various difficulties which are still piling up in front of us now,
and should it want to guard its Unity and Integrity in its regions.

This last problem is at present most gripping. Although the
international world does not want the Indonesian region divided, we
ourselves must also try as hard as possible to guard the Unity and
Integrity of our region.

The conditions stated by various foreign observers, are also given
by Prof. Donald K. Emmerson. We may well not be of the same opinion,
but our own honest and clear analysis should make us admit that
there are points of truth in those foreign observations.

It is left up to us to work harder in order to overcome these
difficulties. This is the burden and historical responsibility of
our present Generation. As members of the older generation, we
should pray that they will not become desperate. And that they
continue to endeavor and struggle to save our Nation, Homeland and
People.

KABAR IRIAN ("Irian News") www.kabar-irian.com
NOTE: "All items are posted for their news/information content. They are
not necessarily the views of IRJA.org or subscribers. "

To unsubscribe send an email (leave subject blank) to majordomo@irja.org
that says: unsubscribe kabar-irian - or you can also un/subscribe at
http://www.irja.org/conf.htm

=======================================================

Subj: [wp] ELS-HAM condemns inhumane treatment of Malukan refugees, appeals to UNHCR
Date: 8/3/00 2:56:42 PM Central Standard Time
From: tapol@gn.apc.org (TAPOL)
Reply-to: tapol@gn.apc.org
To: indonesia-act@igc.apc.org, WestPapua@topica.com

ELS-HAM protests against treatment of Malukan refugees, appeals to UNHCR
for help
1 August 2000

In a statement issued on 1 August 2000, the leading human rights
organisation in Papua, ELS-HAM has strongly criticised the actions of the
local government authorities and Satgas Papua (Papua Taskforce) forces for
the inhumane way they have treated the thousands of Malukans who have
arrived in Papua recently seeking sanctuary from the bloody conflict in
Maluku and North Maluku.

It points out that around 20,000 Malukans have already sought refugee in
Papua since the start of the conflict in Maluku in January 1999 and
recognises that the influx has aroused fears in Papua it could result in
the spread of the civil war now raging in Maluku and North Maluku to Papua.
It roundly condemns the central government for failing to bring an end to
the conflict in Maluku and North Maluku.

After describing how refugees have been manhandled and badly treated by the
security forces and members of Satgas Papua, ELS-HAM states that the
refugees, in particular the women, children and the elderly are entitled to
protection and to be treated humanely. They are the innocent victims of a
political struggle being waged in the interests of the political elite in
Jakarta and in Ambon. They have the right to be treated without regard to
their ethnic or religious origins.

While stressing the need for the war in Maluku and North Maluku to be
stopped ELSHAM:

- Strongly protested to the provincial government for preventing the
refugees from remaining in Papua on political grounds.
- Strongly condemns the behaviour of Satgas Papua towards the refugees, in
disregard for humanitarian values.
- Calls on humanitarian and religious organisations in West Papua as well
as in Jakarta, and calls on national and international agencies, including
the UNHCR, to help solve the problem as quickly as possible, by according
them humanitarian treatment without regard for their origins, and also
urges the TNI and the Police to seriously search for weapons wherever they
are being stored in Papua as they represent a threat to security.

ELSHAM also urges the central government to agree to international
intervention in Maluku to help resolve the crisis, particularly humnitarian
intervention to help civilians so many of whom have suffered so grievously
as a result of the civil war raging in the region. The concept of 'national
sovereignty' and other such prejudices should not be allowed to close the
way to end the sufferings of our fellow-country men and women in Maluku.

It is our fervent hope that peace will be restored in Maluku, making it
possible for the refugees to return home and start re-building their
country which has been ravaged by war.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign
111 Northwood Road, Thornton Heath,
Surrey CR7 8HW, UK
Phone: 020 8771-2904 Fax: 020 8653-0322
email: tapol@gn.apc.org
Internet: www.gn.apc.org/tapol
Campaigning to expose human rights violations in
Indonesia, West Papua and Aceh

26 years - and still going strong
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

___________________________________________________________
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Subj: KABAR-IRIAN: [EN] Government to boost health care in Irian Jaya
Date: 8/2/00 5:26:26 PM Central Standard Time
From: admin@irja.org
Sender: owner-kabar-irian@irja.org
Reply-to: admin@irja.org
To: kabar-irian@irja.org

Too much mail? Try our digest version. Info available at
http://www.irja.org/conf.htm

The Jakarta Post.com
National News
August 03, 2000
Government to boost health care in Irian Jaya

JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Health will launch an intensive health
care program in Irian Jaya this August in order to improve community
health in Indonesia's easternmost province, which is below national
standard.

The program begins on Tuesday with a three-day polio immunization
campaign and distributing high dosages of vitamin A to some 292,000
infants below five years of age.

Director General of Communicable Disease Control and Environmental
Health Umar Fahmi said Vitamin A was needed to prevent pneumonia,
which is the leading cause of death among infants in Indonesia.

"The prevalence of death caused by pneumonia among infants in Irian
Jaya and the eastern provinces is high," Umar announced on
Wednesday.

Umar noted that in eastern provinces, like West Nusa Tenggara and
Irian Jaya, 70 infants out of every 1,000 were less than a week old
when they died from pneumonia, compared to other provinces where 45
died out of every 1,000.

Pneumonia is also the most common health concern among adults in
Irian Jaya, followed by malaria and diarrhea.

"That's why we are giving infants high dosages of Vitamin A, so it
can restore their body cells," he added.

"As for polio, we're giving immunization to prepare for the rainy
season," he said, adding that the higher the rainfall, the more
likely the humid conditions would help the polio virus spread.

Some Rp 7.5 billion (US$833,333) has been allocated by the
government and other funding organizations, including Unicef, to
finance the three-day program.

Minister of Health Achmad Sujudi said health conditions in Irian
Jaya were poorer compared to other regions.

There is a lack of qualified human resources and medical facilities
and limited accessibility to health services due to its difficult
natural terrain.

Irian Jaya, which has an area of 421,981 square kilometers, is three
times larger than Java, and has a population of only 2,098,310.

Eighty-five percent of the people there live in rural areas.

According to the Ministry of Health there are only ten hospitals and
1,034 community health centers throughout the province.

Ministry officials claim that a follow-up program will be
implemented after the initial phase with the aim of improving health
services, including providing better equipment, medicine and medical
staff.

The ministry also plans to hold a workshop and open a medical school
at Cendrawasih University in Jayapura. (09)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Indonesian Observer
Thursday, August 03 – 2000
Indonesian scientist to join world congress on tropical medicine

JAKARTA (IO) — Indonesia is to participate in the 15th International
Congress for Tropical Medicine and Malaria, which will take place in
Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, over August 20-25.

A press release yesterday from the Colombian Embassy said the
congress has accepted the presentation of a paper on malaria control
in West Papua (Irian Jaya) written by Dr Emiliana Tjitra, who is
from the National Institute of Health Research and Development.

Tjitra works at the institute’s Center for Disease Control Research
and Development.

The full title of his research paper is “Randomized trial of
combined artesunate/pyremethamine vs sulfadoxine/pyremethamine alone
in uncomplicated falciparum malaria in Papua”.

The congress will be attended by nearly 300 leading scientists from
France, Canada, the US, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Sweden,
Germany, Norway, Spain, Thailand, Belgium, Cameroun, Gambia, Kenya,
India, Israel, Mexico, Argentina, Nicaragua, Peru, Venezuela,
Bolivia, Honduras, Brasil, Indonesia and Colombia.

There will also be scientists from many international bodies,
including the Southeast Asia Medical Organization for Tropical
Medicine, Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, and the
Australasian College of Tropical Medicine.

The congress will be combined with the 6th Latin American Congress
for Tropical Medicine, the 3rd Latin American Congress for Malaria,
and the 10th Congress of the Colombian Society for Parasitology and
Tropical Medicine.

Joining the congress will be Nobel Medicine Prize winners, Gunter
Blobel and Gobind Khorana, and Nobel Chemistry Prize recipient Bruce
Merrifield.

Other figures to attend the event include World Health Organization
Director Carlos Morel, President of the African Malaria Vaccine
Testing Network Wenceslao L. Kilama, head of Vaccines and
Immunization at the Pan-American Health Organization Ciro de
Quadros, Washington University’s Professor Emil Unanue, Cambridge
University’s Professor Gerard Bricogne, Scripps Research Institute
official Ian Wilson, and Director of the Immunology Institute of
Colombia Manuel Elkin Patarroyo.

KABAR IRIAN ("Irian News") www.kabar-irian.com
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Subj: KABAR-IRIAN: [EN] Experts: Regions unprepared for regional autonomy
Date: 8/2/00 5:26:17 PM Central Standard Time
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The Jakarta Post.com
National News
August 02, 2000
Experts: Regions unprepared for regional autonomy

JAKARTA (JP): The National Economics Council (DEN) chairman, Emil
Salim, warned on Tuesday of the consequences of the implementation
of regional autonomy laws next year, because, economically, only
seven of the country's 27 provinces could survive without the
central government's assistance.

Speaking at a seminar organized by the National Resilience Institute
(Lemhanas) here, Emil predicted that the survivors would be Jakarta,
West Java, Central Java, East Java, Riau, East Kalimantan and Irian
Jaya, thanks to their original revenue and profit-sharing income
which were higher than their routine expenditure.

Emil, one of the country's leading technocrats who designed the
long-term economic development in early 1970s, also maintained that
only 17 regencies and mayoralties of about 300 regencies and
mayoralties across the country were able to economically survive
because of government assistance.

"The government needs a general allocation fund to assist the
provinces that are suffering from their routine deficit," he
commented.

Law No. 22/1999 grants more autonomy to local administrations and
Law No. 25/1999 provides a larger proportion of revenue for the
provinces, regencies and mayoralties.

Minister of Finance Bambang Sudibyo disclosed on Saturday that the
local administrations would get more than 61.5 percent of the
government's total domestic revenue when the autonomy laws take
effect next year.

According to Emil, without a subsidy from Jakarta, only Bekasi,
Tangerang, Karawang, Serang, Bogor and Bandung in West Java, Riau
island in Riau, Denpasar and Badung in Bali, Kutai in East
Kalimantan, Medan, Surabaya and Semarang were considered
self-financing regions.

In implementing the autonomy laws, the central government is
required to streamline its bureaucracy and the Cabinet.

"Therefore, a just and fair decentralization of fiscal policy is
strategic to maintaining national unity and integration," Emil
noted.

Emil said President Abdurrahman Wahid was facing heavy pressure from
the regions, because the 350 regencies and mayoralties were
demanding the implementation of the autonomy policy at the second
administrative level, not at provincial level as currently planned.

"The regents and mayors are scheduled to meet with the President on
Thursday in Kutai to convey their demands," Emil noted.

Economist Sri Adiningsih from Gajah Mada University said the regions
were frustrated at what they called unfair treatment from the
central government as most of the government's annual budget was
spent in Java.

The economist said that based on data from 1995 and 1996, before the
economic crisis hit the country in 1997, 60 percent of the national
economic cake was enjoyed by the five provinces in Java, with
Jakarta on top with 16 percent.

"Money circulation in Jakarta alone reached between 60 percent to 70
percent of total national circulation," said Adiningsih, who also
addressed the seminar.

In the Dark
In a related scientific forum held by Hasanuddin University in
Makassar, South Sulawesi, senior sociologist Selo Soemardjan said
many people remained in the dark about the form of regional
autonomy.

"They don't even know what autonomy really means. Therefore, they
don't have any idea what sort of regional autonomy will be applied,"
he said at the opening of a four-day international symposium on
regional administration.

Selo said that the regional autonomy laws had been so badly promoted
that many people were poorly informed about them.

"Many people are unaware that the law acknowledges the traditional
administration of villages. Article 93 of the law stipulates that
villagers have the power to establish, dissolve or unite villages
upon approval of the regencies," he said.

Ben Mboi, former governor of East Nusa Tenggara, agreed, saying that
the concept of regional autonomy was unclear.

"If the concept of the extended autonomy only means more burdens on
the regencies or mayoralties, provinces with many regencies will
suffer," he said, citing East and West Nusa Tenggara, Maluku, Irian
Jaya, South and Southeast Sulawesi as examples. (27/prb/sur)

KABAR IRIAN ("Irian News") www.kabar-irian.com
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Subj: KABAR-IRIAN: [EN] Independence Group Takes Over Airport In Irian Jaya (2
Date: 8/2/00 5:26:08 PM Central Standard Time
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from: Australia West Papua Association

Pacific Islands Report
2/8/00
Independence Group Takes Over Airport In Irian Jaya

JAYAPURA, Irian Jaya (August 2, 2000 - ABC Australia)---One hundred
members of a pro-independence Papua taskforce have forcefully taken
over security at an airport in the highland town of Wamena in Irian
Jaya.

The taskforce, set up by the pro-independence Presidium of the
People of Papua, were armed with bows, arrows and clubs and forced
their way into the airport while the local security guard and police
remained helpless, according to the state Antara news agency.

They then set up a guard at the entrance to the airport, searching
those entering and even deciding on which people could enter.

The taskforce also trashed 20 packs of census documents bound for
Jayapura, the province capital.

The papers, the results of a government census last month, were
rescued by police and finally flown to Jayapura after tough
negotiations.

Taskforce members have opposed the population census ordered by
Jakarta in the belief that the results had been engineered.

For additional reports from ABC Australia News Online, go to PACIFIC
ISLANDS REPORT News/Information Links: Radio/TV News/ABC News
Online.

-----------------------------
Radio Australia
Wednesday 2 August 2000 - 10:09:03
Separatists take over West Papua airport

In the Indonesian province of West Papua, armed pro-independence
supporters have taken over the airport in the highland town of
Wamena...a key communications hub.

About a hundred members of a separatist task force are said to have
overwhelmed local police, setting up a guard post at the site and
and controlling access.

Indonesia's Antara news agency says the group had gone to the
airport after rumors that hundreds of refugees from the strife-torn
Maluku islands were about to arrive.

There's been strong resistance to the arrival of Maluku refugees
elsewhere in the province,authorities and others citing fears their
presence would spark a similar sectarian conflict in West Papua.

KABAR IRIAN ("Irian News") www.kabar-irian.com
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Subj: KABAR-IRIAN: [EN] Religious unrest blamed on transmigration policy
Date: 8/2/00 5:26:20 PM Central Standard Time
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Indonesian Observer
Thursday, August 03 – 2000
Religious unrest blamed on transmigration policy

JAKARTA (IO) — Public Affairs Minister Anak Agung Gde Agung says
religious violence that started in Central Sulawesi in May, was
partly due to transmigration policies that ignored socio-cultural
disparities between different ethnic groups.

He yesterday said the government must learn from this mistake and
make sure that refugees from Poso, Central Sulawesi, and the Maluku
islands have a good understanding of the places where they will try
to build new lives.

“This is why I and Coordinating Minister for Poverty Eradication and
People’s Welfare Basri Hasanuddin have agreed to pay more attention
to socio-cultural issues in the new regions where refugees from Poso
and Ambon are going,” he said.

Agung said that although the situation in Poso is improving, the
core problem behind the religious riots has still not been resolved.

According to him, the main cause of the unrest is the socio-economic
differences between indigenous people and transmigrants.

“When the transmigrants become more and more prosperous because of
their hard work, the indigenous people become jealous of them. And
when provocateurs come along and spread religious dictums among
them, clashes between the two groups easily erupt.”

Agung said that when seen from the outside, the unrest appears to be
based on religious and sectarian disputes, but it is actually based
on shortages of basic commodities and a lack of understanding.

“If people have good meals and know the characteristics of the new
groups in their regions, they wouldn’t dream of fighting each
other,” he explained.

Hasanuddin said his ministry is now trying to come up with an
appropriate formula on how to relocate transmigrants from Poso and
Ambon.

He said the transmigrant refugees will have to be learn more about
social conditions in areas where they will be sent, such as Nusa
Tenggara, Irian Jaya (West Papua), Kalimantan and Sumatra. “By
providing the transmigrants with information about the culture and
traditions in the regions where they will be sent to, it is hoped
that we can minimize the potential for future clashes.”

Study problem
Many of the refugee camps in Sulawesi and Nusa Tenggara are
providing school lessons for children at the sites, although the
youths are regarded more as “listeners” rather than “students”.

That’s because there is a big shortage of teachers, books,
classrooms and teaching materials at the camps.

The government once promised that refugee children could attend
local schools free of charge, but that has not been the case.

It is difficult for refugees to enroll their children at local
schools, and often they must pay a special fee.

KABAR IRIAN ("Irian News") www.kabar-irian.com
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Subj: KABAR-IRIAN: [EN] More Homemade Weapons Found In Fakfak
Date: 8/2/00 5:26:17 PM Central Standard Time
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From: Australia West Papua Association

National News
More Homemade Weapons Found In Fakfak
Wednesday, August 02, 2000/5:08:23 PM

Fakfak, Irian Jaya, Aug 2 (ANTARA) - Police here have found another
homemade weapon with five bullets in it, bringing to four the total
number of homemade weapons they have recently confiscated.

"We have also found another one that has not yet been finished,"
Fakfak Police Superintendent Totok Kasmiarto told ANTARA here
Wednesday. Kasmiarto said the homemade weapon, which he described as
similar to those being used in the sectarian clashes in Maluku
province, belonged to an employee of the plywood company, PT Prabu
Alaska, in Karas village, East Fakfak subdistrict.

He said a group of detectives led by First Inspector Jules A Abast
has visited the company to make some investigations. He did not
state who owned the unfinished weapon. Apart from the homemade
weapons, the police have also confiscated two organic weapons with
live ammunitions in them.

The locals are reportedly afraid that some irresponsible people
would spark a conflict in Fakfak and turn it into "another Ambon",
considering that there is a group in the district which supports
Irian Jaya`s separation from Indonesia and another group which wants
to stay with the republic.

Pro-independence Irianese gathered last June for the Papua People`s
Congress, which ended with a declaration that Papua, as they call
Irian Jaya, has never been a part of Indonesia. Indonesian
President Abdurrahman Wahid refused to recognize the congress and
instructed the Indonesian military to take stern measures against
any separatist move in Irian Jaya.

KABAR IRIAN ("Irian News") www.kabar-irian.com
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Subj: KABAR-IRIAN: [EN] West Papua riding tide of history to independence
Date: 8/2/00 5:26:30 PM Central Standard Time
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The Age (Melbourne)
Comment & Analysis
West Papua riding tide of history to independence
By Keith Suter
Thursday 3 August 2000

WEST Papua will eventually become independent. This is contrary to
statements from the Indonesian and other governments (including
Australia's). But history is on the side of West Papuans as they
struggle for independence. Their campaign has many aspects that
resonate with other international campaigns. The people have
struggled for independence for decades: now they have a window of
opportunity.

West Papua was part of the Dutch empire. While the rest of Indonesia
received independence in 1950, the Dutch kept control of the
easternmost part of their empire. By 1962, the mood of the
international community was running against Dutch imperialism and so
the province was handed over to the United Nations for an "act of
free choice" for the people to determine their own future. But that
process was hijacked by the Indonesian Government so that the 1969
act of free choice was simply a survey of 1025 pro-Indonesian Papuan
leaders, who opted for integration into Indonesia.

One reason for claiming that West Papua will eventually be
independent is that there has been another change in the mood in the
international community. Human rights considerations are
overcoming - or at least eroding - shabby political deals. The
Pinochet case, ad hoc war crimes trials, and the first steps towards
an international criminal court are all issues that would have been
inconceivable only a decade ago. Some international human rights
groups are pressing for a re-opening of the 1969 "act of free" case.

Second, this is not a good time for the Indonesian Government. Now
that the Cold War is over, issues can be looked at on their own
merits. Indonesia, as one of the leaders of the Third World
political bloc, was wooed by the US and USSR. Now the Second World
has collapsed and is trying to join the First World, while the Third
World is in political disarray. Indonesia cannot get away with today
what it could in the 1960s.

The Indonesian Government has public relations problems. In Western
countries there has been a revulsion against its behavior in East
Timor, while Islamic countries monitor its brutality in Aceh. The
government can rely - for the present - on friends in other
governments but it enjoys little standing in international public
opinion.

Third, the causes of indigenous peoples now have a greater profile
in international politics. Indigenous Papuans are only barely the
majority population in the territory's 2.25million people. Each
year, thousands of Indonesians migrate to West Papua and enjoy a
better standard of living than the indigenous people. Papuans are
second-class citizens in their own country. They are at the bottom
of almost all the development indices in Indonesia.

Fourth, the indigenous peoples have resented Jakarta's occupation
and have fought against it. They have had little success so far. But
a well-organised, well-motivated guerrilla group fighting on a
terrain they know well, with the support of local people, cannot be
beaten. The Americans in Vietnam, British in Northern Ireland,
Soviets in Afghanistan, Portuguese in their African colonies and
Indonesians in East Timor have all experienced that fact of modern
military life. The Papuan guerrillas cannot drive out the Indonesian
forces with a single blow. But in a guerrilla campaign, a group can
win the war while losing every battle. The occupation force
eventually gets sick of the fighting and goes home.

Fifth, there is a growing anger against the activities of
transnational corporations. There are several operating in West
Papua, exploiting the territory's natural gas, nickel, oil and other
resources. The Freeport mine is the world's second largest copper
mine and holds gold reserves thought to be worth $A70billion (the
world's largest). Incidentally, mining activities are difficult to
protect against guerrilla raids (as has been shown on Bougainville).

Finally, environmental matters are of increasing importance to
international public opinion. Here, again, Papua resonates with this
concern. Degradation of West Papua's environment is occurring at
great speed, with deforestation and soil erosion the most serious
problems. In March gold mining companies were responsible for two
major leaks of cyanide into the province's rivers.

The tide of history is now moving in Papua's favor. Jakarta and
other governments will claim that West Papua has to remain in
Indonesia or else its exit will set an example for other parts of
the country to break away. But that is what they said about East
Timor.
-- Keith Suter is senior fellow, Global Business Network Australia.

KABAR IRIAN ("Irian News") www.kabar-irian.com
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Subj: KABAR-IRIAN: [EN] Asia Buzz: Rough Weather Ahead?
Date: 8/2/00 5:26:28 PM Central Standard Time
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Time Asia.com
Asia Buzz: Rough Weather Ahead?
Indonesia could pose serious problems for Australia
By Terry McCarthy
August 2, 2000
Web posted at 9:30 a.m. Hong Kong time, 9:30 p.m. EDT

The scene is picture-perfect: It is a sunny winter afternoon in
Sydney, blue sky and about 17[degrees]C. I'm in a park in Rose Bay
down by the harbor, watching as the seaplanes take off on their
trips up to beautiful Palm Beach. There is food on the camp table,
wine and beer in the cooler. Children play touch football with their
dads, dogs walk their owners -- total urban contentment in one of
the world's most beautiful cities.

Then comes the bombshell: "Listen, mate, Australia is on a slow
march to war with Indonesia." I nearly choked on my chicken and
avocado sandwich. Why, I thought, would anyone want to give up this
idyllic life for warfare with 200 million Indonesians to the north?
It is not as if Indonesia could invade Darwin -- the Royal
Australian Air Force could take out all of Indonesia's air
capability in less than the time it took their rugby players to
defeat South Africa recently. So if there were war, it would mean
that Australia went looking for it.

I questioned the man who had made the provocative statement -- a
photographer who has traveled extensively in the region. "It's West
Papua, mate, that's going to make East Timor look like a children's
party." As this man sees it, discontent is stirring throughout the
South Pacific. Arms that once fuelled the wars in Indochina, he
says, now have nowhere else to go, except in the hands of willing
buyers in those societies with unsolved ethnic conflicts. Places
like Fiji and the Solomon Islands are the obvious examples, "but
West Papua, that's the big one, mate. It is the boundary between
Asia and Melanesia -- the Papuans are Melanesians, they have nothing
in common with the Javanese." (The same argument applied to the
Timorese, and we all know what happened there.)

Certainly things don't look good in West Papua (formerly known as
Irian Jaya, and home to extensive deposits of gold and other
minerals). Recently two young men were apparently shot dead by
Indonesian security forces for nothing more threatening than
hoisting a Papuan independence flag. Resentment against Jakarta is
growing, separatists have already proclaimed independence
unilaterally, and the government doesn't seem to have any strategy
to neutralize the shift towards confrontation. Worse, there are now
reports that the feared militias, who wrought terrible damage to
East Timor, are now starting to move in to Jayapura, presumably with
the tacit support of at least some factions within the military.

So if it comes to all-out war in West Papua between the indigenous
population (who want self-rule) and the militias (who will do
anything to stop Indonesia losing another large chunk of territory),
would Australia intervene? Prime Minister John Howard has backed
away from his posturing during the East Timor crisis last year of
Australia being America's deputy in the South Pacific. Now he says
that in crises like Fiji, Australia would only get involved if there
were a United Nations mandate to do so.

It is hard to see Howard sending thousands of Australians into the
dense jungles of West Papua, where they could get bogged down in
guerrilla warfare for years. But if Indonesia plunges further into
chaos and armed conflict, the situation could change. Refugees could
start flooding into northern Australia, massacres could be shown on
TV screens nightly, and instability could start spreading to
neighbors -- the Philippines, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea.

The weather is pleasant now in Sydney -- but that won't last
forever, either.

KABAR IRIAN ("Irian News") www.kabar-irian.com
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Subj: KABAR-IRIAN: [EN] Bird smugglers foiled
Date: 8/1/00 5:43:18 PM Central Daylight Time
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Indonesian Observer
Wednesday, August 02 - 2000
Bird smugglers foiled

JAKARTA (IO) — Forest rangers from the Natural Resources
Conservation Body (KSDA) in West Papua (Irian Jaya) have foiled two
attempts to smuggle endangered black parrots and parakeets out of
the remote province to Java.

Local KSDA head Sutedja was yesterday quoted by Antara as saying the
first seizure took place when the Umsini motorboat was about to
leave West Papua for Java on Monday night.

Forest ranger Derek Makabori discovered 10 black parrots inside a
box in a cabin on the boat, which had berthed at Jayapura Port, said
Sutedja.

Another ranger, Benny Tiba, also found on Monday two black parrots
and two parakeets kept inside a room at Sentani Airport, some 42
kilometers west of Jayapura.

The four endangered birds were about to be flown to Jakarta aboard a
Merpati Airlines flight. All 14 birds will be returned to their
habitats soon, said Sutedja.

KABAR IRIAN ("Irian News") www.kabar-irian.com
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=======================================================

Subj: [wp] INDEPENDENCE GROUP TAKES OVER AIRPORT IN IRIAN JAYA
Date: 8/2/00 8:42:32 AM Central Daylight Time
From: iris@matra.com.au (Anne Noonan)
Reply-to: iris@matra.com.au
To: WestPapua@topica.com, iris@matra.com.au

from AWPA

Pacific Islands Report
2/8/00
INDEPENDENCE GROUP TAKES OVER AIRPORT IN IRIAN JAYA

JAYAPURA, Irian Jaya (August 2, 2000 ? ABC Australia)---One hundred
members of a
pro-independence Papua taskforce have forcefully taken over security at
an airport in the highland
town of Wamena in Irian Jaya.

The taskforce, set up by the pro-independence Presidium of the People of
Papua, were armed with
bows, arrows and clubs and forced their way into the airport while the
local security guard and
police remained helpless, according to the state Antara news agency.

They then set up a guard at the entrance to the airport, searching those
entering and even deciding
on which people could enter.

The taskforce also trashed 20 packs of census documents bound for
Jayapura, the province capital.

The papers, the results of a government census last month, were rescued
by police and finally
flown to Jayapura after tough negotiations.

Taskforce members have opposed the population census ordered by Jakarta
in the belief that the
results had been engineered.

For additional reports from ABC Australia News Online, go to PACIFIC
ISLANDS REPORT News/Information
Links: Radio/TV News/ABC News Online.

Separatists take over West Papua airport

In the Indonesian province of West Papua, armed pro-independence
supporters have taken over the airport in the highland town of
Wamena...a key communications hub. About a hundred members of a
separatist task force are said to have overwhelmed local police, setting
up a guard post at the site and and controlling access.

Indonesia's Antara news agency says the group had gone to the airport
after rumors that
hundreds of refugees from the strife-torn Maluku islands were about to
arrive. There's been strong resistance to the arrival of Maluku refugees
elsewhere in the province,authorities and others citing fears their
presence would spark a similar sectarian conflict in West Papua.

________________________________
Australia West Papua Association
PO BOX 65
Millers Point
Australia 2000
Tele/fax 61.2. 99601696
_________________________________

___________________________________________________________
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Subj: Time: Indonesia could pose serious problems for Australia
Date: 8/2/00 11:38:00 AM Central Daylight Time
From: plovers@gn.apc.org (Tapol)
To: westpapua@topica.com, u.braun@xcc.de, slliem@xs4all.nl, taylorjb@vax.sbu.ac.uk

Received from Joyo Indonesian News

TIME-Asia website
August 2, 2000

Asia Buzz: Rough Weather Ahead?

Indonesia could pose serious problems for Australia

By TERRY McCARTHY

The scene is picture-perfect: It is a sunny winter afternoon in Sydney, blue
sky and about 17[degrees]C. I'm in a park in Rose Bay down by the harbor,
watching as the seaplanes take off on their trips up to beautiful Palm Beach.
There is food on the camp table, wine and beer in the cooler. Children play
touch football with their dads, dogs walk their owners -- total urban
contentment in one of the world's most beautiful cities.

Then comes the bombshell: "Listen, mate, Australia is on a slow march to war
with Indonesia." I nearly choked on my chicken and avocado sandwich. Why, I
thought, would anyone want to give up this idyllic life for warfare with 200
million Indonesians to the north? It is not as if Indonesia could invade
Darwin -- the Royal Australian Air Force could take out all of Indonesia's
air capability in less than the time it took their rugby players to defeat
South Africa recently. So if there were war, it would mean that Australia
went looking for it.

I questioned the man who had made the provocative statement -- a photographer
who has traveled extensively in the region. "It's West Papua, mate, that's
going to make East Timor look like a children's party." As this man sees it,
discontent is stirring throughout the South Pacific. Arms that once fuelled
the wars in Indochina, he says, now have nowhere else to go, except in the
hands of willing buyers in those societies with unsolved ethnic conflicts.
Places like Fiji and the Solomon Islands are the obvious examples, "but West
Papua, that's the big one, mate. It is the boundary between Asia and
Melanesia -- the Papuans are Melanesians, they have nothing in common with
the Javanese." (The same argument applied to the Timorese, and we all know
what happened there.)

Certainly things don't look good in West Papua (formerly known as Irian Jaya,
and home to extensive deposits of gold and other minerals). Recently two
young men were apparently shot dead by Indonesian security forces for nothing
more threatening than hoisting a Papuan independence flag. Resentment against
Jakarta is growing, separatists have already proclaimed independence
unilaterally, and the government doesn't seem to have any strategy to
neutralize the shift towards confrontation. Worse, there are now reports that
the feared militias, who wrought terrible damage to East Timor, are now
starting to move in to Jayapura, presumably with the tacit support of at
least some factions within the military.

So if it comes to all-out war in West Papua between the indigenous population
(who want self-rule) and the militias (who will do anything to stop Indonesia
losing another large chunk of territory), would Australia intervene? Prime
Minister John Howard has backed away from his posturing during the East Timor
crisis last year of Australia being America's deputy in the South Pacific.
Now he says that in crises like Fiji, Australia would only get involved if
there were a United Nations mandate to do so.

It is hard to see Howard sending thousands of Australians into the dense
jungles of West Papua, where they could get bogged down in guerrilla warfare
for years. But if Indonesia plunges further into chaos and armed conflict,
the situation could change. Refugees could start flooding into northern
Australia, massacres could be shown on TV screens nightly, and instability
could start spreading to neighbors -- the Philippines, Malaysia, Papua New
Guinea.

The weather is pleasant now in Sydney -- but that won't last forever, either.

**************************************************
Paul Barber
TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign,
25 Plovers Way, Alton Hampshire GU34 2JJ
Tel/Fax: 01420 80153
Email: plovers@gn.apc.org
Internet: www.gn.apc.org/tapol
Defending victims of oppression in Indonesia and
East Timor, 1973-2000
**************************************************

=======================================================

Subj: KABAR-IRIAN: [EN] Police clash with soldiers in Papua
From: admin@irja.org
Sender: owner-kabar-irian@irja.org
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Indonesian Observer
Tuesday, August 01 – 2000
Police clash with soldiers in Papua

JAKARTA (IO) — At least one policeman was shot dead when Army troops
clashed with members of the Mobile Brigade (Brimob) Police in West
Papua (Irian Jaya), a report said yesterday.

Antara quoted Irian Jaya Police Chief Brigadier General S.Y. Wenas
as admitting that soldiers and anti-riot police had exchanged fire
in downtown Timika on Sunday.

But Wenas said he could not reveal the total death toll, as he had
not been given a complete report. “I received an initial report on
the clash between the Army and Brimob personnel in Timika. I don’t
have the full report yet.”

The police chief said he has ordered his deputy, Senior
Superintendent H. Simandjuntak, and Trikora Military Command Chief
Brigadier General Karel Rahalahu to investigate the clash and visit
Timika.

The gunfight was apparently triggered by a brawl among members of
the two security groups.

Wenas said the situation in Timika is returning to normal.

KABAR IRIAN ("Irian News") www.kabar-irian.com
NOTE: "All items are posted for their news/information content. They are
not necessarily the views of IRJA.org or subscribers. "

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=======================================================

Subj: [wp] Kopassus plot suspected in the Malukus
Date: 8/1/00 5:54:10 PM Central Daylight Time
From: iris@matra.com.au (Anne Noonan)
Reply-to: iris@matra.com.au
To: WestPapua@topica.com, iris@matra.com.au

>From AWPA

Australian 2/8/00
Kopassus plot suspected in the Malukus
By PAUL DILLON

THE detention of five members of Indonesia's notorious Kopassus (Special
Forces) in the Maluku islands has raised fears the Australian-trained
commandos are engaging in an East Timor-style dirty tricks campaign.

A senior military source has confirmed five unarmed Kopassus commandos
were arrested after
being spotted aboard a ship that arrived in the Malukan capital of Ambon
on Sunday. The source
said two Indonesian navy officers boarded the ship, Lambelu, outside the
port to check for
suspicious people and prevent the secret off-loading of weapons and
munitions to Muslim forces
engaged in the 19-month conflict.

The officers spotted the five long-haired Kopassus members and passed
the information to their commander. Kopassus commandos, who are feared
by the population of the sprawling island archipelago, from separatist
Aceh province to Papua, usually wear their hair long. The navy was
ordered to detain the commandos if they could not produce travel orders,
but their fate is unclear.

Records show the Kopassus men boarded the vessel on Buru Island, a
stronghold and staging
point for Laskar Jihad (Legion of the Holy War), an extremist Muslim
group from Java whose
arrival here in May resulted in a sharp escalation in the number and
scale of clashes between
Christians and Muslims. Ninety per cent of Indonesia's 210 million
people are Muslim, but in
Maluku province (formerly the Spice Islands) roughly half the population
is Christian.
The source said the presence of Kopassus members was unusual. He did not
know the current whereabouts of the five, but said they did not
disembark in Ambon.

The Indonesian Special Forces were responsible for organising some of
the most notorious East
Timorese militias, who laid waste to the former Portuguese colony
following the independence
vote last August. More than a thousand people died and East Timor's
infrastructure was destroyed in a three-week orgy of militia violence
before the arrival of an Australian-led multinational force in late
September.

Meanwhile, authorities and civic leaders in Jayapura, capital of the
Indonesian province of Irian
Jaya, have agreed to let about 1200 refugees from the Maluku islands
come ashore from an
impounded state ferry. Prompted by past demonstrations against dumping
refugees in the region, the authorities had barred the ship from
berthing at the port and its passengers from disembarking.

________________________________
Australia West Papua Association
PO BOX 65
Millers Point
Australia 2000
Tele/fax 61.2. 99601696
_________________________________

=======================================================

Subj: JP: Jayapura accepts refugees fleeing strife-torn Maluku
Date: 8/1/00 1:39:22 AM Central Daylight Time
From: plovers@gn.apc.org (Tapol)
To: indonesia-act@igc.apc.org, u.braun@xcc.de, slliem@xs4all.nl, taylorjb@vax.sbu.ac.uk, jonathan.head@bbc.co.uk, tapol@gn.apc.org, westpapua@topica.com, u.braun@xcc.de, slliem@xs4all.nl, taylorjb@vax.sbu.ac.uk

Received from Joyo Indonesian News

The Jakarta Post
August 1, 2000

Jayapura accepts refugees fleeing strife-torn Maluku

SORONG, Irian Jaya (JP): The remaining 968 refugees fleeing strife-torn
Maluku on board the KM Dobonsolo disembarked in Jayapura on Monday.

"After a few days of disputes and rejection from some locals, the refugees
were finally dropped off in Jayapura and will be sheltered temporarily at the
naval base here," a police officer in Jayapura said in a telephone interview.

The Dobonsolo has reportedly departed for the towns of Biak and Fak Fak in
Irian Jaya before heading for Kupang in East Nusa Tenggara.

The ferry, which carried 4,215 passengers, about 1,200 of whom were refugees,
was impounded off Jayapura after arriving on Sunday from the Maluku capital
of Ambon.

Local administration prohibited the state-owned ferry from berthing or
disembarking the refugees, citing fear that they might bring further violence
to the area.

The decision on whether to allow the Maluku refugees to enter Irian Jaya was
heatedly debated in a coordinated meeting presided over by Deputy Governor
Brig. Gen. (ret) Abraham O. Atururi and attended by Maluku Police chief Brig.
Gen. S.Y. Wenas, Irian Jaya Navy Base commander Commodore Franklin W.
Kayhattu, provincial councillors and community leaders on Monday afternoon,
Antara reported.

Both Wenas and Franklin, however, urged the local leaders to accept the
refugees for humanitarian reasons.

"Do not confuse a benevolent action with political motives. The refugees are
in a very poor condition and need our help," Wenas said.

Franklin, however, said his troops were ready to take firm action if any of
the refugees instigated riots in the country's easternmost province.

After hours of acrimonious debate, which ended in the evening, the Irianese
civilian guards agreed to accept the refugees.

But an incident broke out at almost the same time, when the Maluku refugees
rushed back to the Dobonsolo and demanded the crew return them to Ambon. The
dispute remained unsettled as of 10 p.m. local time, witnesses said.

Separately in Ambon, Governor Saleh Latuconsina said he sent the list of
passengers on board to the Irian Jaya governor in a bid to recheck the
travelers.

"May I say here that not all of those passengers are refugees. There are
three categories, the first are those who want to reach Tual in North Maluku
but have to transit in Manokwari. The second group are merely visitors and
the third band comprises refugees," Latuconsina said, adding that so far
there were no changes to the vessel's route.

In Makassar, South Sulawesi, Governor H. ZB Palaguna urged the central
government on Monday to take concrete steps to deal with Maluku refugees who
were denied entry into Irian Jaya.

"South Sulawesi is one of the popular destinations for refugees arriving from
areas ravaged by communal clashes, such as Irian Jaya, Maluku, East Timor and
Poso," he said.

"The government is obliged to take care of them and protect them from
possible terror and intimidation."

He said, however, that he could understand why certain areas could not accept
people from other places. "Seeking refuge in our own country is more
honorable than seeking asylum abroad."

Back in Maluku, Governor Latuconsina and security authorities inspected the
ravaged village of Waai on Monday following an overnight fray which killed at
least one person and wounded six others.

Waai, which is about 28 kilometers south of Ambon, was attacked for the third
time this month after armed rioters from the predominantly Muslim Tulehu and
Liang villages raided the area on Sunday at about 10 a.m. local time.

"The situation seems relatively calm, but we're still collecting more data,"
Latuconsina said after the 30-minute inspection. He was accompanied by
Pattimura Military chief Brig. Gen. I Made Yasa and Maluku Police chief Brig.
Gen. Firman Gani. (edt/sur)

**************************************************
Paul Barber
TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign,
25 Plovers Way, Alton Hampshire GU34 2JJ
Tel/Fax: 01420 80153
Email: plovers@gn.apc.org
Internet: www.gn.apc.org/tapol
Defending victims of oppression in Indonesia and
East Timor, 1973-2000
**************************************************

=======================================================

Subj: KABAR-IRIAN: [EN] Papuans' aspiration wins support
Date: 8/1/00 5:43:45 PM Central Daylight Time
From: admin@irja.org
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The Jakarta Post.com
Latest News
Papuans' aspiration wins support
August 02, 2000 - 03:49

JAYAPURA, Irian Jaya: Vanuatu and Nauru are the first countries to
express support for the independence movement in Irian Jaya,
promising to convey the aspirations of the province to the United
Nations' general assembly in September.

The support from the two South Pacific countries was revealed during
a meeting in Vanuatu's capital of Port Villa on July 31 between a
nine-man Papuan delegation and Vanuatu Premier Barak T. Sope
Mautamate and Nauru Premier Bernard Dowiyogo, a Papuan figure said
here on Tuesday. Chairman of the Committee for an Independent Papua,
Laurents Mehue, told The Jakarta Post when the delegation arrived
home that Papuan Council Presidium chairman Theys Hiyo Eluay led the
Papuan delegate.

"The two countries have also agreed to finance the Papuans' struggle
for independence as they feel Papuans are part of the Melanesian
people," Laurents claimed. Meanwhile, deputy speaker of the House of
Representatives (DPR) AM Fatwa said that the House would summon
Theys over his trips to Middle Eastern and Pacific countries and
Australia.

KABAR IRIAN ("Irian News") www.kabar-irian.com
NOTE: "All items are posted for their news/information content. They are
not necessarily the views of IRJA.org or subscribers. "

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IRIAN JAYA (WEST PAPUA, NEW GUINEA): THE QUEST FOR INDEPENDENCE-AUGUST 1, 2000 TO AUGUST 9, 2000

THE RECORD AUGUST 1, 2000 TO AUGUST 9, 2000

E-Mail:isssues@lykos.com

THE RECORD
AUGUST 1, 2000 TO AUGUST 9, 2000

E-Mail:
isssues@lykos.com