Monday, September 23, 2013

1) Papua Police Chief Denies Receiving Money from Labora


1) Papua Police Chief Denies Receiving Money from Labora
2) The Army's New Toys Arrive
3) Socratez Yoman on 50 7ears of Indonesian Failures in Papua
4) Komnas HAM report on rights violations in Papua, including the lack of markets  for women traders

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http://en.tempo.co/read/news/2013/09/23/055515713/Papua-Police-Chief-Denies-Receiving-Money-from-Labora
1) Papua Police Chief Denies Receiving Money from Labora
MONDAY, 23 SEPTEMBER, 2013 | 07:26 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jayapura - Papua Police Chief, Insp. Gen. Tito Karnavian, denied having received money from Adj. First Insp. Labora Sitorus--the former member of the Raja Ampat resort Police implicated in illegal logging, illegal fuel distribution and money laundering. Labora's note, which was submitted to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), stated that a Papua police chief received Rp200 million in February 2013.
"Let me clarify; if [Labora] said that the Papua police chief accepted [the money]--check [the story] first. Is it really my name that is written there? Because I never received money from [Labora]," Tito told Tempo on Sunday, September 22.
Tito added that--corresponding with the secret telegram of the Indonesian National Police (Polri) Chief dated September 3, 2012--he was appointed as Papua Police Chief in September 2012, replacing Insp. Gen. Bigman Lumban Tobing.
"The ceremony was done at the Polri Headquarters on September 21, 2012. Whereas my welcoming ceremony in Jayapura took place on September 25, 2012," said Tito.
Tito asked for verification on the information about him being transferred money on February 2013. According to the statement, the money was given via the Raja Ampat Sectoral Police Chief Raja Ampat. "I have called the resort police chief, he said that he never received money from Labora to be given to me," said Tito.
According to the notes Tempo received, the Papua Police chief was transferred money for four times in 2012--in addition to the Rp200 million money-transfer made in February this year. In January 2012 the transfer amounted to Rp629.75 million, in June it was Rp225 million, In August it was Rp300 million and in September the transfer amounted to Rp150 million.
Allegations of collusion between Labora Sitorus and a number of police officials are not without grounds. Labora claimed that he had paid up to Rp10 billion to make sure that his illicit businesses run smooth.
"There are allegations of gratification," Labora Sitorus' family spokesman Wolter Sitanggang said.
The case came to surface after the Center for Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis (PPATK) found a number of suspicious transactions in Labora's accounts throughout 2007-2012. During the period, Labora's total transactions reached an astounding amount of Rp1.5 trillion. Among the suspicious transactions, the PPATK found a number of fund transfers to high-ranking police officers.
 
JERRY OMONA       
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http://en.tempo.co/read/news/2013/09/23/055515882/The-Armys-New-Toys-Arrive
MONDAY, 23 SEPTEMBER, 2013 | 15:52 WIB
2) The Army's New Toys Arrive  
TEMPO.COJakarta - Indonesian National Army had recently received a set of new defense equipment, which consists of two Leopard 2A4 main battle tanks, and two Marder medium tanks from Germany.
The Army Chief of Staff General Budiman confirmed the tanks' delivery news and said that the it arrived in Tanjung Priok, yesterday, September 22. The tanks are currently being painted and prepared to be sent for active duty.
General Budiman mentioned that the new tanks will help to reinforce the Indonesian Cavalry Division. He added that out of the total 156 tanks purchased by the army, all have been completed and have been operational.
Tempo reported that the tanks arrived sooner than the initial schedule set for October 2013. The four new tank units are a part of the US$ 280 million tank purchase agreement signed by the government last year.
INDRA WIJAYA
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3) Socratez Yoman on 50 7ears of Indonesian Failures in Papua
Bintang Papua, 20 September 2013

Jayapura: The chairman of the Alliance of Baptist Churches in Papua, Socratez Yoman said the problems in Papua are very different from Aceh. As regards Aceh, he said that although GAM had an office in Sweden, they hardly ever had the support of the international community and dealt with their problems  through operations by troops acting under the orders of GAM.

Eventually, Aceh won international support following the tsunami  in 2004 when hundreds of thousands of people lost their lives or disappeared without trace. Aceh, he said, from the very beginning fought alongside the Indonesian struggle for independence.

Furthermore, Muslim organisations across the world  have paid no attention to the struggle waged by GAM, because there were internal conflicts between various Muslim groups. and between  Muslim countries.

With regard to Papua, he said, the Papuan people have won international support  from the international community because of the activities of churches in Papua and around the world.

'The actions taken by the Indonesian Government  to suppress, annihilate, imprison and torture  Papuans  have been raised with regard to attacks against the body of Christ and the Church internationally.'

He spoke about activities by the Indonesian Government to create divisions between the different churches  as well as the stigma against Papuans as 'separatists', as a result of which churches around the world have failed to reach a common understanding about the situation in Papua.

He also asked how often have churches in other countries spoken out about the many attacks on members of the various congregations in Papua.which have occurred over  the past fifty years.

None of these things have happened, so why should we blame the Indonesian Government for what they have done against the churches in Papua for calling for self-determination and independence?

The next point he raised was to say that the Papuan people have waged their struggle by peaceful means, lobbying, and diplomacy, with very limited funds and personnel. What the Papuan people have done has been to carefully investigate grave violations of human rights as well as the pervasive poverty of people living in the midst of abundant natural resources, the lack of a properly run and funded healthcare system and the inadequacy of education in Papua.

His third point was the absence of peaceful dialogue between the Indonesian Government and the Papuan people mediated by a neutral party.

He drew attention to the fact that the Papuan people had in fact declared their independence on 1 December 1961, an act that had been stamped out by President Sukarno.

Fifthly, there was the fact that the Indonesian army had rigged  the so-called Act of Free Choice. And his sixth point was  the role of the United Nations in all these matters, with the support of the the USA and Dutch governments. Furthermore, Papuans were not  involved in independence actions taken by Silas Papare and his colleagues.

The eighth point was  that Special Autonomy Law for Papua might have been a good solution but it was a complete flop. Moreover, the unit known as UP4B, for accelerated development had come to nothing.

This is the list of deceptions and failings that have occurred for the last fifty years.

What else can the Indonesian Government do to find yet more actions to deceive the Papuan people and the international community?

'The Papuan people have lost whatever trust they may have had in the Indonesian Government, while the Government ignored the sympathetic views expressed by Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X which were conveyed to the Indonesian Government on 15 May 2013 when he also spoke about the fact that Indonesia had failed for fifty years to turn Papuans into Indonesians.

[Translated by TAPOL]
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4) Komnas HAM report on rights violations in Papua, including the lack of markets  for women traders
JUBI, 20 September 2013

During a visit last week to Jayapura, the National Human Rights Commission, Komnas HAM, produced a special report about the need to build special, permanent markets for indigenous Papuan women traders.

A member of the Komnas HAM team, Sriyana, said: in an interview with JUBI that every time the team tried to raise this issue, the discussion came to a halt.  'When we looked carefully into the problem, we came to the conclusion that what we were dealing with was a violation of human rights in economic, social and cultural affairs.'

Sriyana said that the issue cannot be dealt with unless it is raised in writing with Komnas HAM. 'A letter of complaint needs to be sent to Komnas HAM.' She was speaking during a discussion with the Papua Peace Network (Jaringan Damai Papua), which took place at the College of Philosophy and  Theology  last Thursday.

Another member of Komnas HAM, Decky Natalius Pigai, said on the same occasion that there were as many as five or six thousand violations of human rights each year in the two provinces of Papua and West Papua.

'Yet this is the region from which hardly any cases are raised as compared with other parts of the country.'

He said he felt that it was very necessary for  the Commission to make a visit like this because  he felt that the various NGOs in Papua seemed to lack the confidence  to raise these issues as the way to resolve the many human rights violations which occurr.

[Translated by TAPOL]

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