Jakarta – Indonesia should release three men imprisoned for raising a banned separatist flag because the harsh punishment undermines the country's democratic values, a prominent rights groups said Thursday.

Cunding Levi, Jakarta – Papua New Guinea repatriated on Thursday 141 Papuans on Thursday as part of the program to return about 700 Indonesian citizens in the Papua New Guinea territory.

President Yudhoyono has a chance to show Papuans before the December 1 anniversary that Indonesia is a rights-respecting country that upholds free expression. Yudhoyono should have these men freed without delay. – Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch

Harlyne Joku – A West Papuan Independence leader in the United Kingdom, Benny Wenda has described 2009 as a vital year for the indigenous people of West Papua.

Mr Wenda, the Chairperson of the Koteka Tribal Assembly based in UK said it is 40 years since the former Indonesian President Suharto announced the result of the so called "Act of Free Choice".

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Former political prisoners raised the separatist bintang kejora (morning star) flag Monday at the Papua People's Council in Jayapura to protest the failure of seven years of special autonomy for the province.

"We say special autonomy has failed," said protest leader Sem Yaru. "If there isn't any improvement, we'd rather demand independence."

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Activists on Monday urged the government to push the police in their stalled investigations of a number of human rights violations in Papua, particularly the murder of Opinus Tabuni, who was killed in August 2008.

A Morning Star flag was raised in front of the office of the Papuan People's Consultative Assembly in Jayapura, Papua, on Monday. The flag, which is the symbol of the West Papuan pro-independence movement, flew for thirty minutes.

A number of policemen arrived and took the flag down. They arrested three people from the assembly's office.

Jayapura – The Papuan Traditional Council (DAP) chief, Forkorus Yobiosembut, in Jayapura, Monday, stated that it was not Kelly Kwalik or his group that committed the series of terrorist acts in the area of PT Freeport Indonesia, Tembaga Pura, Mimika, Papua.

"I've communicated with Kelly, and he said he wasn't the one who did the terror acts," said Forkorus, Monday.

Ilya Gridneff, Port Moresby – Three Papua New Guinea politicians have joined an international campaign to support West Papuans persecuted by Indonesian authorities.

Jayapura – Logging and agribusiness is threatening environmental destruction in Indonesia's Papua region, one of the world's last vast wildernesses, local leaders said on Thursday.

Mimika – More than 22 percent of the population in Mimika regency, Papua, or about 40,000 people, are illiterate.

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-152-2009

Dear friends,

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – The Indonesian Armed Forces said on Tuesday that it would not seek to influence President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's response to an open letter from two US congressmen regarding the restive Papua region.

Washington, D.C. – The Chairman of the Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and the Global Environment, Rep. Eni Faleomavaega, along with the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health, Rep.

Jayapura – The Papuan Traditional Council (DAP), the Human Rights and Violence Foundation (Yahamak), and the Association of Pengunungan Tengah Students (AMPTI) urged police to release seven people arrested for a series of attacks on PT Freeport Indonesia.

Australia West Papua Association, Sydney
PO Box 28, Spit Junction, Sydney, Australia 2088
email: bunyip@bigpond.net.au

The Hon Stephen Smith MP
Minister for Foreign Affairs
Parliament House
Canberra
ACT 2600

2 November 2009

Re: West Papuan political activists Yoab Syatfle and Victor Yeimo

Dear Stephen Smith,

James Crafti – As workers filed out from their shift at the Buana factory in western Jakarta, they were greeted by members of the Solidarity Alliance for Workers Struggle (GSPB) who handed them leaflets demanding wage rises and improvements to working conditions. Very few of Indonesia's mostly women industrial workers are unionised.

Makassar – Dozens of Papuan students in Makassar staged a protest on Thursday, rejecting the special autonomy status given to Papua in 2001.

The protesters said the special autonomy failed to bring about prosperity in the province, and had instead created new problems in relation to fund disbursement.

Yoab Syatfle, a political activist in West Papua, has received repeated death threats. The threats, sent via SMS to his mobile phone, are apparently related to his peaceful political activities. On 26 October, Yoab Syatfle received six anonymous SMS messages threatening that he would be abducted and killed if he left his house.

An Indonesian political activist has received a number of anonymous SMS messages warning him that he will be killed if he leaves his home, Amnesty International has learned.

Cunding Levi, Jakarta – Indonesian diplomats stationed in European countries faced a protest by dozens of Papuan students during a visit by the diplomats to a university in Jayapura the seat of the province.

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-143-2009

Dear friends,

Markus Makur, Timika – Hundreds of employees at PT Freeport Indonesia refused to resume work Monday in protest at the deteriorating security situation on road from Timika to Tembagapura in Papua.

The strike follows a spate of shootings by unknown gunmen on Freeport convoys along the road.

Roselyn Ellison – Seventy-six people from the West Papuan community in Manus province will move back to their homeland, as part of the nationwide repatriation of refugees from the Indonesian province.

Jayapura – Around 200 people blocked a road in front of Papua Police Headquarters in Jayapura on Friday, as part of a protest against a decision to transfer the Jayapura Police chief.

The rally, which involved people performing a traditional ritual, caused traffic jams in nearby areas from the time it began at 11 a.m. local time (9 a.m. Jakarta time).

Markus Makur, Timika – The wives and children of PT Freeport Indonesia employees rallied at the Mimika legislative council office in Papua on Thursday, demanding the giant US-based gold and copper company ensure the safety of their husbands.

Farouk Arnaz – National Police have dispatched 150 officers, including antiterror police, to Timika, Papua, to support local officers and the military in their hunt for suspects following violent attacks targeting Freeport employees.

Nethy Dharma Somba and Markus Makur, Jayapura, Timika – Residents in Nomouwodide, Bogobaida district in Paniai, Papua, seized Wednesday a helicopter scheduled to haul heavy equipment to a small-scale gold mine at the Degeuwo River.

Unidentified assailants have shot a soldier near the giant Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold mine in Papua, police said on Thursday.

Papua Police Chief Insp. Gen. Bagus Ekodanto said a soldier was shot in the leg as he was returning from a patrol around the 37-mile mark in Kali Kopi, Timika, on Wednesday.

Markus Makur, Timika, Papua – Papua Police are cooperating with the military as they begin hunting for gunmen responsible for a shooting incident that wounded two employees of US mining company PT Freeport Indonesia in Mimika, Papua.

Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Bagus Ekodanto said Wednesday the unidentified gunmen were very mobile.

Nethy Dharma Somba and Markus Makur, Jayapura, Timika – One person was killed and three others injured Tuesday in two separate attacks blamed on unidentified gunmen in restive Papua province.

Violence flared again near the Freeport gold mine in Indonesia's Papua province as gunmen shot and wounded two of the company's employees, police said on Tuesday.

It is to be hoped that Prime Minister Rudd will also raise the issue of West Papua on his trip to Indonesia for the inauguration of the Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Tuesday.

A New Zealand based Indonesian human rights group says it's totally opposed to the importation of the tropical hardwood, Kwila, regardless of whether it is certified sustainable or not.

Ten-thousand metres of the wood, which is certified by New Zealand's Forest Stewardship Council, is due to be imported from Malaysia shortly and more is planned.

The Indonesian embassy in Papua New Guinea has denied that West Papuan refugees who are repatriated to Indonesia will be in danger at the hands of the security forces when they return.

Indonesia's government is planning a mass repatriation of about 400 Moresby-based refugees next month, having offered to fund any West Papuans who want to return by the end of the year.

It is understandable that some West Papuan refugees who have been in exile in PNG since the 1980's may want to return home to reunite with family members and in the hope things have changed for the better in their homeland. It is difficult being a refugee in any country and it is natural to want to improve life for your family and children.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The West Papua National Coalition for Liberation (WPNLC) said dozens of organizations in the restive province of Papua demanded talks with the central government to find peaceful solutions for separatist and human rights' violation issues.

Indonesia is currently undertaking a program to repatriate several thousand West Papuan freedom activists living in Papua New Guinea. The West Papuans have been living PNG since they left their homeland during their struggle for political freedom over the last 30 years – and have called PNG home.

Presenter: Firmin Nanol

Jayapura – The first phase of the repatriation of Papuans from Papua New Guinea (PNG) is scheduled to begin by the end of this year, after all the facilities had been prepared.

"I think this year will see the start of the repatriation, because the project had been delayed several times since 2006," Papua Governor Barnabas Suebu said in Jayapura Thursday.

Heru Andriyanto – A court showdown between a Papuan tribe and US mining giant Freeport McMoRan resumed on Thursday after negotiations to settle the dispute out of court collapsed, a lawyer said.

Timika – Members of two warring tribes in Timika, Mimika regency, Papua, the Amungme and Kei tribes, clashed at around 2:30 a.m. local time Thursday at the Kampung Kodok complex in Kwamki Baru district, Mimika, on Thursday.

A group of West Papuans and their supporters have called on the Australian government to help mediate a settlement over the province of West Papua.

Thousands of West Papuans have turned out in rallies in Indonesia's Papua demanding international help in mediating a political settlement between Jakarta and a new so-called West Papua Transitional Authority.

Reports indicate that the rallies in Sorong, Manokwari and Jayapura drew between five and ten thousand people.

Timika, Papua – Vice President-elect Boediono, making his first ever visit to troubled Papua, said here on Monday that development in the region would be given special attention by the incoming administration.

Problems in Indonesia's Papua province include security at the Freeport mine, high HIV rates, fast-shifting demographics and the ongoing conflict between the Free Papua Movement – known as OPM – and Indonesian security forces.

Some say, all these factors amount to a "slow-motion genocide" of local West Papuans. But is this being too dramatic?

Presenter: Sen Lam

Classes at some schools in Papua's Mimika district have been at a standstill for the past few months because their teachers are stuck in Timika city.

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-121-2009

Dear friends,

Jakarta – A security guard was wounded in a shooting near Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc's Grasberg mine in Indonesia's Papua province, a company spokesman said on Wednesday, the latest in a series of attacks in the area.

Hunger Alert Case: AHRC-HAC-006-2009

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission on Wednesday said it had received information that the death toll from famine continues to rise in Yahukimo, Papua, even as some government officials denied the existence of any famine.

AHRC said 113 villagers had now died of famine and related diseases since January.