Wasior, West Papua – The remote Indonesian town of Wasior was a scene of devastation on Wednesday, with bodies lying unclaimed in the debris of flash floods that killed at least 86 people and left dozens missing.
The seaside town's Sanduay neighborhood was all but flattened when a wall of mud, rocks and logs hit it on Monday.
Nivell Rayda & Camelia Pasandaran, Jakarta – As calls for independence in Papua and West Papua intensify, leaders in the restive provinces have rejected the possibility of talks with the government until it acknowledges human rights abuses and ensures economic development.
A spokesman for Vanuatu's Prime Minister Edward Natapei has confirmed he did not raise the issue of the status of Indonesia's Papua last week while attending the United Nations General Assembly.
In June, Vanuatu's parliament unanimously passed a motion, sponsored by Mr Natapei, to raise issues around the status of Indonesian territories of New Guinea at the UN.
Timika – One man was killed and at least three injured on Monday in a clash between Indonesian police and dozens of locals over a security check dispute in the restive province of Papua, an official said.
In the past week, two local newspapers in Jayapura have published reports claiming that a number of countries have expressed their support for a referendum to be held in West Papua. These reports have been welcomed by several Papuan organisations who regard this as a victory for their recent demands calling for a referendum to be held on the status of their homeland.
The United States has called for Indonesia to move forward on autonomy in its Papua region and insisted it would not overlook human rights as it seeks broader relations with Jakarta.
Jakarta – The House of Representatives urged the government on Tuesday to establish information commission offices across Indonesia in efforts to preserve national unity.
Hayono Isman, the deputy chairman of House Commission I overseeing information, said access to public information was vital to people's trust in each other and the (Indonesian) government.
Just weeks after it was revealed that members of the Indonesian counter-terrorism unit Detachment 88 was accused of the torture of activists in Maluku, the Australian SAS has conducted a joint exercises with an other Indonesian Special Forces unit, Kopassus, in Bali.
Camelia Pasandaran & Nivell Rayda, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has dispatched his three coordinating ministers and their officials on a quick trip to Papua as part of his promised audit of conditions in the troubled province.
American Samoa's US congressman, Faleomavaega Eni Faleomavaega says the Pacific should not turn its back on the Indonesian region of Papua.
Last week as chairman of the Sub-Committee on Asia, the Pacific and the Global Environment, Faleomavaega hosted a hearing of the US Congress on the issue of ongoing human rights abuses in Papua.
Jayapura – A new detachment of 140 Mobile Brigade personnel from Bogor, West Java, has been dispatched to Puncak Jaya.
The personnel, who are replacing another 102 who have been on for the past four months, were received by Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Bekto Suprapto at Sentani Airport on Saturday.
Serious concerns have been raised in the United States about the treatment of West Papuans under Indonesian rule. For the first time a US Congress hearing has been dedicated to the issues affecting the Melanesian province.
Geoffrey Bell – New Zealand needs to follow the "Bougainville solution" and facilitate peaceful dialogue between representatives of Indonesia and West Papua instead of supporting the status quo and ongoing repression of West Papuans, says a spokesperson for the Indonesia Human Rights Committee.
Jayapura – Eleven Mobile Brigade personnel blamed for a recent deadly incident in Manokwari have been handed sanctions.
On Sept. 15, a traffic accident escalated into a brawl in which two civilians were killed.
Arghea Desafti Hapsari, Jakarta – Papuans told the US Congress at a hearing on Wednesday of the struggle to have their rights acknowledged by the Indonesian government.
Shaun Tandon, Washington – The United States called Wednesday for Indonesia to move forward on autonomy in its Papua region and insisted it would not overlook human rights as it seeks broader relations with Jakarta.
Nivell Rayda, Jakarta – The United States Congress on Wednesday held an open hearing on Indonesia's alleged military abuses in Papua as well as the harsh economic, health and social condition of its people.
Nivell Rayda, Banjir Ambarita & AFP, Jakarta – The United States on Wednesday urged Indonesia to move forward on autonomy for Papua but warned it would not overlook cases of injustice and human rights violations.
Today there are rallies at US Embassies in West Papua, Jakarta, Melbourne and Perth, reminding US Senators in a Congressional Hearing in Washington of Indonesia's atrocious human rights record in West Papua and the republic's dismal effort to decentralize, demilitarize or democratize.
Ismira Lutfia & Camelia Pasandaran, Jakarta – The government is being far too harsh in its handling of the low-level insurgency in Papua, a former minister says.
This week the House subcommittee on Asia will hold hearing on West Papua (Wed, September 22, 3 pm, 2172 Rayburn House Office Bldg., broadcast online via WEBCAST link at http://www.hcfa.house.gov/)
Can't come to hearing please take this simple step to support human rights and justice.
A Papuan political prisoner in Jayapura's Abepura prison says ongoing international pressure is essential to force Indonesia to address human rights abuses.
Nivell Rayda & Banjir Ambarita, Jakarta – Human rights groups in West Papua are calling on the national rights commission to investigate last Wednesday's shooting deaths of two civilians by police.
A Papuan political prisoner in Jayapura's Abepura prison says Indonesia's government is afraid of what he might do if he's released.
Filep Karma, who is serving a fifteen-year jail term for treason after he raised a Papuan nationalist flag in 2004, says international pressure on Jakarta over human rights abuses in Papua must be maintained.
Markus Makur, Timika – The Timika church in Mimika, Papua, has voiced its opposition of the province's planned oil palm plantation project, arguing that it would damage the environment and lead to a shortage of sago, the staple food of the Papuan Kamoro indigenous people.
Jakarta – Papua Police are questioning seven Mobile Brigade (Brimob) personnel in relation with a clash between police and local residents in in the West Papua capital of Manokwari on Wednesday night that killed two people.
"We are questioning Brimob personnel, we are yet to question residents," National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Marwoto Soeto said Friday.
Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Two people are dead after a traffic accident triggered a riot on Wednesday at a police station in Manokwari, West Papua.
The victims were identified as Naftali Kwan and Septinus Kwan. Naftali was reported to have died from gunshot wound to the leg and Septinus from bruises and injuries.
Timika, Indonesia – Indonesian police opened fire and killed two men and injured a woman as a dispute over a traffic accident spun out of control in the restive province of West Papua, officials said on Thursday.
Banjir Ambarita, Jakarta – The military deployed soldiers across Manokwari, West Papua, on Thursday as thousands of residents stayed on the streets to protest the killing of two men by police a day earlier. A woman was also severely injured in the shooting that followed a dispute over a traffic accident.
Australia West Papua Association, Sydney
PO Box 28, Spit Junction, Sydney, Australia 2088
The Hon Julia Gillard MP
Prime Minister
Parliament House
Canberra
ACT 2600
15 September 2010
Dear Prime Minister,
Tom Allard, Jakarta – Detachment 88 has a legitimate role in countering separatism and will remain in Papua, where a long-simmering independence campaign has been running, the unit's commander, Tito Karnavian, has confirmed.
There are questions over the benefits of New Zealand's police training programme in Indonesia's Papua and West Papua provinces.
Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan said his ministry received a proposal to make use of 500,000 hectare areas for the 1.6-million-hectare food and energy estate projects planned in Merauke, Papua.
He said half of the proposed area could be planted directly since it was not in forested areas that have been allocated for other business aims.
Dev Nadkarni – John Otto Ondawame, Vice President of the West Papua National Council for Liberation, was a deeply disappointed man at the end the 41st Pacific Islands Forum summit in Port Vila last month.
There's no sign that Indonesia's government will release any more political prisoners in Papua region despite a large campaign pressing the President on the issue.
At least 45 Papuans are known to be incarcerated in prisons in Papua and West Papua provinces for their involvement in non-violent demonstrations or expressions of opinion.
Indonesia's government has been accused of clamping down on the most prestigious and well-established NGOs operating in the Papua region following its decision to ban another leading agency from working there.
Indonesia's government has been accused of running a campaign to limit global awareness of Papua following its decision to ban another leading international NGO from working there.
Jakarta has refused to renew the agreement under which the Dutch development agency Cordaid has been operating in Papua region for more than three decades.
The West Papua Advocacy Team says ordinary Papuans stand to lose considerable benefits after another leading NGO was banned from working in Indonesia's easternmost region.
Jakarta has refused to renew the agreement under which the Dutch development agency Cordaid has been operating in Papua for over three decades.
Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-128-2010
Dear friends,
Banjir Ambarita, Jayapura – The incumbent head of Boven Digoel district in Papua is leading the early vote count in his bid for re-election, despite being detained in a Jakarta cell on charges of embezzling Rp 49 billion ($5.4 million) from the district budget.
Activists have described the need for dialogue between the central government and Papuans as "urgent" and "critical" if Jakarta hopes to save the country's easternmost provinces from potential conflict, stemming from horizontal inequality, and disintegration.
Maire Leadbeater – New Zealand's diplomacy with respect to Indonesian-controlled West Papua, especially in light of its aid to the Indonesian military and to the police in West Papua, has worrying aspects. The Indonesian military is not yet accountable to the civilian authority, and both the police and the military in West Papua have a grievous record of human rights violations.
The two sentiments that define the political impasse in Papua are frustration on the part of many Papuans that "special autonomy" has meant so little, and exasperation on the part of many Indonesian government officials that Papuans are not satisfied with what they have been given.
Nivell Rayda, Jakarta – The government must rethink its relationship with Papua as soon as possible if it wants to avoid further civil violence and more adamant calls for independence, activists and social scientists have said.
In the past decade, the combined population of Papua and West Papua has grown 64 percent, making them the provinces with the fastest population growth in Indonesia.
An Australia-based Papua specialist says it remains to be seen whether an increase in state funding for Indonesia's Papua region will have any benefit for indigenous people.
Indonesia's President has announced a 63 per cent increase of special autonomy and regional funds allocated to Papua, West Papua and Aceh for 2011.
The New Zealand Police says that its community police training-the-trainers in Indonesia's Papua region is making a positive impact.
New Zealand Police is the first foreign force to be invited into Papua and West Papua provinces to undertake this mode of practical training. This follows an Indonesian decree that community policing must be adopted by its force.
Jayapura – Local church leaders have called for an independent investigation of a series of church shootings in Puncak Jaya, Papua, that started in 2004.
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
President
Republic of Indonesia
Istana Merdeka
Jakarta Pusat 10110 Indonesia
Via Fax, E-mail
August 16, 2010
Dear President Yudhoyono:
Jason Tedjasukmana – Rising tensions in Papua have Indonesian authorities worried about possible international intervention in the nation's easternmost province, reports the head of a government-funded study on how to solve the simmering conflict in the restive territory.