Malaria-free Indonesia by 2030: A promise for better Papua

Jakarta Post April 24, 2008 delivered a very important news on national campaign against malaria. For people who live in Papua, malaria is a nightmare and almost unavoidable due to the bad condition of health and sanitation in Papua.

It’s a pity if we ignore the campaign because the issue is of course a very-very serious one. Campaign against malaria should be honest enough to attract the support from all Papuan.

Here is the news

Malaria-free Indonesia by 2030: Govt

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government is launching a national campaign against malaria, saying the disease remains a serious threat despite the recent decrease in the number of cases.

Is West Papua being eco-colonised?

A very nice and enlightened article by Lee Jones at spiked-online

A student writer believes greens are trying to preserve West Papua as an archaic backgarden for Westerners disillusioned by modernity.

Independence movements, once determined to win self-determination by force of arms, have increasingly come to rely on appeals for Western intervention to win freedom on their behalf. Rather than demanding our respect as self-determining peoples, independence movements have learned to depict themselves as victims, to appeal to Western prejudices and paternalism – with the result that, for instance, people in Kosovo are still not trusted to run their own affairs without our supervision (1). Now, in an effort to win backing for independence from Indonesia, West Papuans are even appealing to environmentalism.West Papua was integrated into Indonesia in 1969 via the ‘Act of Free Choice’, a stage-managed consultation of tribal elders, stitched up in advance by Indonesia, the United States, the Netherlands and the UN to produce this outcome. Like other outlying areas of Indonesia, West Papua’s resources were pillaged by powerful Javanese interests and foreign investors like the notorious Freeport mining company, while its people were brutalised by the Indonesian military. The Papuan people have seen little benefit, mostly continuing to live in tribal settlements in grim socio-economic conditions. The Organisasi Papua Merdeka (Organisation for a Free Papua), armed with bows and arrows, was no match for Indonesian troops. Faced with armed defeat, the movement decided to focus entirely on seeking international support for its little-known struggle (2).

Special Autonomy: International Image versus Reality

April 5 2008, Muridan Widjojo wrote a very interesting analysis on recent political development in Papua. He said that there are hardliner elements in Papua and in Jakarta who have a nationalist banal perspective in responding the political development in Papua. Those elements are in agreement to see conflict in Papua and international pressure as a failure of propaganda on the success story of development in Papua. They never thought that problem in Papua is the result of government policy and its implementation. I should fairly say that Muridan get the point and we can criticize Papuan local government, Indonesian central government, and also legislative to be more serious in handling the problem in Papua. Furthermore, Muridan also believed that those nationalist banal hardliners are still using the old perspective of New Order with its military approach in the name of national integration.

Indonesia govt blamed for stagnant special autonomy in Papua

News Update from RNZI

Posted at 22:29 on 31 March, 2008 UTC

A delegation of politicians from Indonesia’s Papua province has been to Jakarta to further pressure the central government to help improve Special Autonomy in their region.

The Jakarta post reports that Papua legislature members, led by chief councilor Jimmy Demianus, held separate meetings with the House of Representatives and Regional Representative Council leadership.

Many Papuans believe Special Autonomy, established in 2001, has failed to address problems such as human rights violations, natural resource management, health, poverty and security.

Mr Demianus has warned that Papua’s problems will become more complex if Jakarta did not improve the implementation of Special Autonomy.

He blamed Jakarta for the stagnation of special autonomy in Papua and neighbouring West Papua province, saying they can’t properly implement autonomy without technical and operational guidance from central government.

Recently, Papua Governor Barnabas Suebu admitted that despite huge special autonomy funds being allocated over the last seven years, most Papuans remain poor and uneducated.

He said that most of the funds have been used to finance bureaucracy.

Papua’s international image

Do Papua needs special envoy to improve Papua’s international image? please think about this idea for the future of Papua.

Source: RNZI

A delegation of politicians from the Papua region has called on the Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, to appoint a special envoy to improve Papua’s international image.

The chief councillor from West Papua, Jimmy Demianus Ijie, who led the delegation, has told the Jakarta Post that a special envoy is needed to counter the campaign that gives an impression human rights abuses continue in Papua.

He claimed the campaign against Papua was related to Indonesia’s efforts to bar the American Samoan member of the US Congress, Faleomavaega Eni Hunkin, from viciting Papua in July last year, and the failure of special autonomy in the region.