Papuans welcomes development acceleration plan

The government to make sure that the development acceleration in Papua well conducted.

Papuan community leader and city councilor Athanasius Allo Rafra has welcomed the government plan to establish a taskforce in March in a bid to accelerate development in Papua and West Papua provinces.

“I support the establishment of the taskforce because the development of Papua and West Papua has progressed at a snail’s pace,” said Allo Rafra on Wednesday.

Boediono to lead Papua meeting

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 02/14/2011 10:42 AM | National

Vice President Boediono will lead a meeting of 22 ministers in his office to discuss accelerating development in Papua on Monday.

In attendance are expected to be the National Education Minister, the Health Minister, the Home Affairs Minister, the Public Works Minister, the Industry Minister, the Trade Minister, the Law and Human Rights Minister, the Agriculture Minister and the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister.

“This follow-up meeting will discuss the concept and design of the presidential decree on the acceleration of development in Papua and West Papua,  Beodiono’s spokesman, Yopie Hidayat said, as reported by kompas.com news portal.

Papua Governor Barnabas Suebu and West Papua Governor Abraham O will not attend the meeting since the pair was at a meeting at the presidential office on the same subject in January.

Greenpeace Unveils Solar-Wind Hybrid Power System in West Papua, Indonesia

Greenpeace, a non-governmental environmental organization, has unveiled a solar-wind hybrid power system in West Papua, Indonesia. The organization requested the Indonesian government to utilize its abundant source of renewable energy.

The solar-wind hybrid power system has a capacity of one MW and it consists of solar panels producing 800 W of energy and a wind turbine generating 200 W of energy. The power system was constructed on Mansiman Island in Manokwari district.

US: Indonesia making progress on human rights

Indonesia’s military is largely moving in the right direction on human rights despite the videotaped torture of civilians in restive Papua, a senior US defense official said Tuesday.Robert Scher, the top Pentagon official handling Southeast Asia, reiterated US concerns that the 10-month sentences handed last month to three soldiers over the abuse in Papua were too lenient.

ASEAN chairmanship helps Indonesia bring peace in Papua

by Mangadar Situmorang*)

Having officially assumed the chairmanship of ASEAN, Indonesia brings forth an agenda of making ASEAN a people-centered community. This has proved that the widely held cynicism that views ASEAN as merely a forum for the Southeast Asia’s government elites is baseless.

But what does this new approach really mean? What then is the role played by the government elites and notably the ASEAN Secretariat? And, with a very specific interest, does will the new agenda have any impact on Papua?

PNG launches border crackdown operation

Papua New Guinea’s government has deployed a joint security operation to destroy alleged free West Papua activist training camps along the PNG-Indonesia border.

Authorities in Papua New Guinea have launched a massive operation to stop the illegal flow of people and goods across the country’s border with Indonesia.

Illegal activities in Vanimo along its side of the border pose a national security threat to its sovereignty.

West Papua: Attacked Border Post in Merauke

Violence Attack by Free Papua Movement

Merauke: An attack on a border post between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea when two local inhabitants, Klemen Basik-Basik and Amandus Basik-Basik were shot dead is now under investigation. The two lost their lives because they attacked members of infantry battalion 132/Bima Sakti who were on duty at the post.

Indonesia rights body reports torture in Papua

The National Human Rights Commission has submitted to President Yudhoyono a report on its investigations

Indonesia’s top human rights body on Thursday urged President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to take action against “serious” rights violations by security forces in Papua region, the most eastern provinces of Indonesia.

Child injured in Papua attack

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Sun, 11/28/2010 6:55 PM | Archipelago

Police announced Sunday that a 10-year-old child was among those injured in an attack perpetrated by unidentified armed men in Nafri village, Abepura, Jayapura.

The child was identified as Fernal Nongka, tempointeraktif.com reported.

Fernal and two other victims – Alex Nongka, 40, and Baharudin, 49 – are now being treated at the Abepura hospital

President SBY Opens Five State Universities in Border Areas

The government will provide education for every Indonesian and develop centers of quality education throughout the country.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono inaugurated five state universities in several border areas on Monday.

The launch was held at the auditorium of the Cenderawasih University in Jayapura, Papua. “We are opening these five state institutions to improve the country’s education,” said Yudhoyono, who also opened the national meeting of Student Executive Boards from universities across the nation.

Indonesian president vows no immunity for torturers

There is “no immunity” for members of the country’s armed forces

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Monday there was “no immunity” for members of the country’s armed forces, after a video showed them torturing unarmed civilians in Papua.

He told a weekly cabinet meeting that the soldiers involved would be punished, and rejected international pressure over the issue ahead of a visit to Jakarta by Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Indonesia, Australia and UNICEF to improve education in Papua

“Australia is very pleased to extend our support to education in Papua and West Papua,” the Australia’s Ambassador Bill Farmer.

The Government of Indonesia, Australia and UNICEF signed a new partnership program to improve the quality of primary education in the provinces of Papua and West Papua in March 2010.

OPM makes Thousands of Papua Kids Absent from School

The insurgents have often blackmailed drivers passing on Tingginambut.

Gunshots and killings that have been taken place in Tingginambut, Puncak Jaya, Papua, within the last two years have caused thousands of children to be absent from school. The reason for this is that the alleged armed separatists from the Free Papua Movement (OPM) have burnt many schools.