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Subj: Indon state radio halts broadcast in Irian Jaya town after riot Subj: KABAR-IRIAN: [EN-environment] Thousands Of Illegal Arwana Fish Sent Back To Its Habitat
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Subj: TAPOL Release: Draft law protects general against justice >
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Subj: [wp] Freeport's New Overburden System at Grasberg Mine in Irian Jaya
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Saturday, 1 January, 2000, 10:31 GMT
Indonesia apologises to Irian Jaya
Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid, has apologised to the people of the eastern province of Irian Jaya for human rights abuses committed against them by Indonesian troops.
He was speaking during a visit to the region, where there has been a strong demand to break away from Indonesia.
"I am officially conveying my apology for the human rights violations in Papua, Aceh, Ambon and other provinces," he told a meeting with religious and civic leaders in Jayapura, the capital of Irian Jaya.
Volatile situation
As for an independent Papua state ... I will not tolerate efforts to build a country within a country
President Abdurrahman Wahid
During the visit - interrupted by separatist demonstrators - he held talks with tribal and community leaders and agreed that Irian Jaya should revert to its former name of West Papua.
But the president ruled out the possibility of independence for the province.
"As for an independent Papua state ... I will not tolerate efforts to build a country within a country," he said.
Separatist voices grow louder
Observers in the province criticised the president's words, saying they could inflame an already volatile situation. They said Mr Wahid should have stressed the need for dialogue.
But a spokesman for the West Papua People's Front, Victor Kaisiepo, welcomed the apology as an important step forward in restoring democracy.
He also told the BBC the name change amounted to an important acknowledgement of the aspirations of the people of Papua.
Mr Wahid's visit came as part a promise made soon after his election last October to visit regions where separatist voices are growing stronger - including the Muslim province of Aceh in the east - to discuss their grievances.
Although separatist sentiment in Irian Jaya is strong, the violence has been on a lesser scale than in Aceh or the former Portuguese colony of East Timor, which voted on August 30 to break from Indonesia.
But correspondents say Aceh and Irian Jaya are unlikely to get any international support for their aspirations as they are recognised as legitimate parts of Indonesia.
Mr Wahid has talked of offering Irian Jaya autonomy, but the Free Papua Movement (OPM) says this is not enough - it wants full independence.
Rebels maintain that the region has been independent since 1961, when its Dutch rulers agreed to allow self-determination.
Local and international human rights activists have the accused Indonesian military of committing the abuses in Irian Jaya under the pretext of a military operation to suppress the OPM.
Date: 1/30/00 5:50:15 PM Central Standard Time
From: tapol@gn.apc.org (TAPOL)
To: reg.westpapua@gn.apc.org
CC: julierib@pangea.org
Received from Joyo Indonesian News
Indonesian state radio halts broadcast in Irian Jaya town after riot
JAKARTA, Jan 29 (AFP) - State-run Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI) went off the
air in the Irian Jaya town of Fakfak on Saturday after its office was
ransacked in rioting the previous day, a staff member said.
"For the time being, RRI in Fakfak will not broadcast, in line with a
directive issued by the director," an RRI employee said by telephone.
The employee, who identified himself only as Ridwan, said he did not know
when broadcasts would resume but added that as long as there were no security
guarantees, it would stay off the air.
The RRI office was attacked on Friday by hundreds of people who also laid
waste the local offices of the state shipping company PT Pelni, police said.
"The offices of the RRI and Pelni, including at the port, were damaged in the
riot yesterday (Friday) but technically, they can still operate," Sergeant
Sarmun of the Fakfak police said.
"The city has been calm and there was no report of violence or large
gatherings of people," Sarmun said, adding shops were open for business.
He declined to say what had sparked the rioting in town on Friday.
The Detikcom online news service gave three different versions of the
incident that sparked the rioting.
One version had it that some people from the Moluccan island of Seram were
manhandled shortly after arrival by boat at the port of Fakfak by a private
Irianese militia members checking the identity of newcomers.
Another said the attack on the RRI office followed leaflets calling for
people not to apply for government jobs because no Irianese should work for a
government other than their own in an independent Irian Jaya.
Yet another version said the RRI was attacked because it still used the term
Irian Jaya and not Papua as had been agreed by Indonesian President
Abdurrahman Wahid while visiting the province on New Year's day.
The new name of the province is yet to be adopted by the legislature.
Sarmun said no one had been arrested so far.
Calls for an independent West Papua state in Irian Jaya have been on the rise
since the fall of president Suharto in May 1998.
Suharto's successor B.J. Habibie had been vague about the independence demand
in Irian Jaya while Wahid, who took over in October, has flatly rejected any
attempt at Irian Jaya breaking away.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign
111 Northwood Road, Thornton Heath,
Surrey CR7 8HW, UK
Phone: 0181 771-2904 Fax: 0181 653-0322
email: tapol@gn.apc.org
Internet: www.gn.apc.org/tapol
Campaigning to expose human rights violations in
Indonesia, East Timor, West Papua and Aceh
26 years - and still going strong
=======================================================
Date: 1/29/00 11:26:46 AM Central Standard Time
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National News
Thousands Of Illegal Arwana Fish Sent Back To Its Habitat
Friday, January 28, 2000/2:07:49 PM
Jayapura, Irian Jaya, Jan 28 (ANTARA)
Thousands of illegal Arwana fish confiscated by the forestry
officers in the Mopah Airport of Merauke last December have been
sent back to its habitat, a local official said.
"We have kept the fish for the past two months," head of the natural
resources conservation (KSDA) of the local forestry and plantation
office Herman Prayitno said here on Friday.
The fish were confiscated by the KSDA officers in the airport last
December as there were no documents accompanying the shipment,
Herman said.
He added the rare fish were brought by a businessmen who admitted
that he did it in cooperation with an apparatus. "They both have
been at the Merauke Police`s custody now," he added.
Herman, however, called on the security personnel to keep on
searching the actors and their smuggling-ring.
"Irian Jaya Governor Freddy Numberi has even agreed to this efforts
by instructing all leaders of police and security bodies to take
stern measures against such crimes as bringing rare animals abroad,"
he said
Date: 1/24/00 10:07:58 AM Central Standard Time
From: tapol@gn.apc.org (TAPOL)
To: indonesia-act@igc.apc.org, east-timor@igc.apc.org, reg.westpapua@gn.apc.org
CC: taylorjb@vax.sbu.ac.uk, will.carey@virgin.net, indonet@antenna.nl, mriht@pacific.net.sg, lwithers@amnesty.org, 104125.1657@compuserve.com, richardlloydparry@compuserve.com, johnag@ibm.net, iht@iht.com
Press Release 24
January 2000
For immediate release
Indonesia's draft law on human rights court will protect generals from justice
A draft law shortly to be submitted to Indonesia's parliament on the creation
of a human rights court has been deliberately framed so as to protect
Indonesian generals from being brought to justice for the horrific crimes
against humanity committed during the last few months of Indonesia's
occupation
of East Timor.
The draft has abandoned the principle of retroactivity, and therefore rules
out
the prospect of any grave human rights violations committed prior to the
creation of the court from being tried in a court of law. Instead,
according to
the draft law, such cases will be taken to a truth and reconciliation
commission.
Carmel Budiardjo, director of TAPOL said: 'This will render totally useless
all
the investigations carried out for the past four months by Indonesia's
Commission of Investigation into Human Rights Violations, KPP HAM, which has
closely investigated the linkage between top-level officers in the Indonesian
army and the militias who wrought such havoc on East Timor before and after
the
ballot on 30 August.'
The recent revelations about the contents of the draft law fully confirm the
analysis contained in a Memorandum published today in which TAPOL analyses
the
problems confronting the investigation and trial of persons suspected of
having
committed crimes against humanity in East Timor during the period before and
after the ballot in that country on 30 August which resulted in an
overwhelming
victory for East Timor's independence.
The Memorandum summarises the investigations undertaken by Indonesia's own
commission of inquiry, the KPP HAM. While stating a preference for these
trials
to be held in Indonesia, it describes the difficulties that make it almost
impossible for this to happen because there is no special human rights court
and Indonesian law does not incorporate crimes against humanity and war crimes
into its legal code, under which suspects would have to be tried.
The Memo also argues that the international community will be unable to accept
trials held in Indonesia if suspects are tried by national courts under
any of
the following conditions:
1. The suspects are tried for ordinary crimes, not for crimes against
humanity as defined under international humanitarian law.
2. The courts do not meet the criteria of independence and
impartiality and
are convened primarily to protect the suspects against being indicted
before an
international tribunal.
3. The courts pass sentences deemed inappropriate to the gravity of the
crime.
Persons tried under such conditions would not enjoy the protection of the
principle of double jeopardy and could therefore still be indicted by an
international tribunal.
It also argues that the Indonesian Government proposal to try suspects from
the
armed forces in so-called koneksitas courts before a mixed panel of
civilian and
military judges is a sop to the army by using courts that fail the test of
independence and impartiality. In the absence of appropriate courts and the
inclusion of international humanitarian law into Indonesia's legal code, it
must allow the trials to be held before an international tribunal.
TAPOL states categorically: The new government must show the necessary
commitment and political will to end the cycle of impunity. Only by so doing
will it ensure the supremacy of civilian government over the militarism that
has held Indonesia in its grip since Suharto seized power in 1965.
In conclusion, TAPOL puts forward the following demands:
1. The government of President Abdurrahman Wahid should reconsider the
draft law on a human rights court and make it retroactive for at least fifteen
years.
2. In the absence of any sign that the Indonesian government is
willing to
create a national human rights court with the necessary powers to try recent
grave violations in East Timor and elsewhere, governments throughout the
world,
especially the member states of the UN Security Council, should support the
establishment of an international tribunal to try all those suspected of being
perpetrators of crimes against humanity in East Timor.
3. Governments should use their influence with the Indonesian
Government to
persuade it to accept the creation of an international tribunal.
4. The international community should press for this international
tribunal
to be set up, with or without the consent of the Indonesian government.
5. Human rights groups and East Timor solidarity groups in Indonesia and
around the world should join in a campaign to persuade their governments to
support the establishment of this international tribunal
6. Everything should be done to remind the international community and
the
Indonesian people of the horrific practices visited on the people of East
Timor
throughout the illegal Indonesian occupation and in particular during the
months before and after the ballot on 30 August 1999.
7. The international community should continue to impose sanctions
against
the TNI in the form of an embargo on arms sales and ties with the Indonesian
military until it fully collaborates with actions to properly investigate and
bring to trial all those, at whatever level, responsible for crimes against
humanity in East Timor.
A copy of the eight-page memorandum entitled: ENDING THE CYCLE OF IMPUNITY:
CAN
THE EAST TIMOR INVESTIGATIONS PAVE THE WAY? is available on request.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign
111 Northwood Road, Thornton Heath,
Surrey CR7 8HW, UK
Phone: 0181 771-2904 Fax: 0181 653-0322
email: tapol@gn.apc.org
Internet: www.gn.apc.org/tapol
Campaigning to expose human rights violations in
Indonesia, East Timor, West Papua and Aceh
26 years - and still going strong
=======================================================
>www.KABAR-IRIAN.com & www.IRJA.org
>
>For KI help or information see the end of this message
>
>Received from Joyo Indonesian News
>
>Indonesian president apologizes for past rights abuse in Irian Jaya
>
>JAKARTA, Jan 1 (AFP) - President Abdurrahman Wahid, on a visit to the restive
>province of Irian Jaya, has publicly apologized for years of human rights
>abuse in Indonesia, a report said Saturday.
>
>The apology "is very important" since past mistakes were the
>misimplementation of government policies, the official Antara news agency
>quoted Wahid as saying.
>
>"I am officialy conveying my apology for the human rights violations in
>Papua, Aceh, Ambon and other provinces," he told a meeting with religious and
>civic leaders in Jayapura, the capital of Irian Jaya.
>
>He also agreed to officially change Irian Jaya's name to Papua -- an ethnic
>name for the Melanesian nation inhabiting the New Guinea island.
>
>Wahid's visit to Irian Jaya is the first part of a promise made soon after
>his election last October to visit the troubled regions of Aceh and Irian
>Jaya to discuss their grievances.
>
>"The human rights violations are something that has disturbed my own
>feelings," Wahid said at the Friday night gathering which include four
>prominent Irian civic leaders.
>
>The four leaders told Wahid that since Irian became a part of Indonesia in
>1963, there had been "too many Irianese being killed, tortured, raped as well
>as suffering from other forms of violence."
>
>Wahid said the human rights problems in Irian Jaya "couldn't be solved in
>just one or two days" and justice would take its course.
>
>He stressed he had not interfered in the work of the Commission on Human
>Rights Violations in East Timor, and had urged the commission to "feel free
>to investigate any individuals and if they are proven guilty, take them to
>court."
>
>Local and international human rights activists have the accused Indonesian
>military of committing the abuses in Irian Jaya -- or West Papua -- under the
>pretext of a military operation to suppress the Free Papua (OPM) separatist
>movement.
>
>Although separatist sentiment in Irian Jaya is strong, the violence has been
>on a lesser scale than in other regions such as the Muslim stronghold of Aceh
>or the former Portuguese colony of East Timor which voted on August 30 to
>break from Indonesia.
>
>A Free Papua state -- loaded with gold, copper, oil and gas and other natural
>resources -- was declared by Irian Jaya leaders while the territory was still
>under Dutch occupation on December 1, 1961.
>
>Indonesia claimed Dutch New Guinea as its 26th province and renamed it Irian
>Jaya in 1963 -- a move recognised by the United Nations in 1969.
>
>But the people of the province, which shares a land border with Papua New
>Guinea, consider themselves closer to the Melanesian people of the South
>Pacific than the dominant Javanese in Indonesia.
>
>+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign
>111 Northwood Road, Thornton Heath,
>Surrey CR7 8HW, UK
>Phone: 0181 771-2904 Fax: 0181 653-0322
>email: tapol@gn.apc.org
>Internet: www.gn.apc.org/tapol
>Campaigning to expose human rights violations in
>Indonesia, East Timor, West Papua and Aceh
>
>26 years - and still going strong
>++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
>
>
>KABAR IRIAN ("Irian News")
>
>NOTE: "IRJA.org Inc., the moderator/s and subscribers do not neccessarily
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>
Date: 10/10/00 9:00:25 AM Central Daylight 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
Mining Magazine
September, 2000
Grasberg's new overburden system
Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold recently started up a new overburden
handling
system from Krupp Fordertechnik at its Grasberg open pit in Irian Jaya,
Indonesia. The system includes one of the world's two biggest gyratory
crushers and a transport crawler with a load-bearing capacity 50% higher than
any previously known crawler. Krupp Fordertechnik's engineers included a
number
of innovations in the system to adapt it to geographical location of the mine
and local conditions.
Grasberg is a massive copper and gold deposit situated around 3 deg. south
of
the equator, 4,000 m above sea level. Its stripping ratio is 3:1 and with
overburden volumes growing in line with increasing mining depths, Freeport
decided on a continuous handling system. It comprises a semi-mobile crushing
plant with a 63-114 gyratory crusher, three belt conveyors, a semi-mobile
stacker / spreader and a T1250 transport crawler. The gyratory crusher
reduces
the overburden to a conveyable size at a rate of up to 10,000 t/h.
The 160 m long stacker dumps the overburden to a depth of 400 m from its
127
m long boom. Dumping from this height means that the stacker can be operated
for a relatively long time without slewing or relocation. It was because of
this that Freeport chose a semi-mobile system without its own travel and
slewing
mechanism. When required, the 1,250 t capacity transport crawler will move
the
stacker.
Because the weight of the stacker must not exceed the load-bearing capacity
of the crawler, Krupp Fordertechnik engineered the entire boom support
structure
from light-weight tubes braced by horizontal and vertical ropes. The overall
weight saving achieved in this way, compared with conventional systems, was
more
than 50%. Also, the capital cost of the stacker was lower, as are its
operating
costs.
GRAPHIC: Picture, The stacker Krupp Fordertechnik designed for Freeport's
Grasberg operation dumps overburden to a depth of 400 m
