2) Minister urged to revoke letter to Freeport boss
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1) Papuan women question Jokowi about promised market -
thejakartapost.com, Jakarta | National | Sat, December 05 2015, 3:19 PM -
People from Papua display traditional handicrafts on the grounds of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute in South Jakarta on Friday, to protest the sluggish progress of a market promised by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.
When President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo visited Papua in December 2014, he led a ground-breaking ceremony to kick of the development of a market named Pasar Mama Mama Papua (Papuan Mamas’ Market), but no progress has been made on its construction nearly one year after the ceremony, except the stone laid by the President.
Six of the Papuan ladies visited Jakarta recently to convey their disappointment to President Jokowi, in the hope that he would give them a guarantee that the market's construction would begin immediately. They women are Mama Yuliana Pigai, Mama Martina Halitopo, Mama Yustina Arobaya, Mama Albertina Yapsenang, Mama Yohana Yumame and Mama Martha Basik Basik.
They said that the President had promised to complete the market development within one year. However, the fate of the market is similar to that of traders, who have to do business at a building formerly used as the Papua Information and Communications Agency office on Jl. Percetaan in the Papuan provincial capital of Jayapura.
“We have met with Lenis Kogoya, a presidential staff member, who is also a Papuan. I have told him everything. I hope President Jokowi will immediately pay attention to the fate of us, Papuan mamas,” Yuliana said at the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta) on Friday, as reported by tribunnews.com.
Yuliana is one of the women who received a portion of a tumpeng (cone-shaped rice dish) from Jokowi during a party to celebrate the inauguration of Jokowi and Jusuf Kalla as the country's new leaders in October 2014.
They met with staff from the Presidential Office on Thursday and planned to meet with other related institutions in Jakarta to ensure that the market would be constructed. “It is not true that the Mama Mama Market has been constructed. What is being constructed is Pharaa Market in Sentani, not the market that is only for Papuan ladies,” Yuliana stressed.
As part of their protest, the women opened stalls selling Papuan handicrafts on the grounds of LBH Jakarta, on Jl. Diponegoro in South Jakarta on Friday. They called the event Pasar Noken, after a fiber used to create handicrafts.
Yuliana said that traders had been told to move from their initial site on Jl. Percetaan in Papua to the Yotefa or Hamadi markets, quite a distance from Jl. Percetaan, forcing the traders, who are mostly women, to spend much more money on operational costs, particularly daily transportation. They have to do business in front of shops, with only limited working hours.
Papuan women who come from mountainous areas need the market promised by President Jokowi to sell agricultural commodities like vegetables, fruits and spices. Most of them cultivate their own land to grow crops. (bbn)
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2) Minister urged to revoke letter to Freeport boss
thejakartapost.com, Jakarta | National | Sat, December 05 2015, 6:26 PM -
Part of a letter sent from Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said to Freeport McMoRan’s chairman of the board James R. Moffet on Oct. 7 is pictured recently. Observers have said the letter could act as a green light for the extension of PT Freeport Indonesia’s contract. (Estu Suryowati/kompas.com)
Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said has been advised to revoke a letter to Freeport McMoRan Inc. board chairman James R. Moffet, which was considered to have given a guarantee that the Indonesian government would extend a contract with PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) to manage its gold mining site in Papua.
The chairman of House of Representatives Commission VII overseeing mining affairs, Kardaya Warnika, said on Saturday that the letter sent by Sudirman on Oct. 7 had put the government in a difficult position in negotiating the contract extension with PTFI.
“It is not easy to revoke a letter. But it [should be done] for the bigger picture,” Kardaya said in Jakarta on Saturday as reported by kompas.com.
The fourth paragraph of the letter states: “The Indonesian government has a commitment to assure the continuity of foreign investment in Indonesia, but because of the need for adjustment of the existing regulations in Indonesia, the agreement on the contract extension with PTFI will be given soon after the result of the reorganization of the regulation on minerals and coal is implemented”.
In the letter, the government appeared to be giving a guarantee that PTFI’s contract would be extended, said the lawmaker, underlining the phrase “will be given soon”. Under the existing regulation, the contract extension could begin to be discussed in 2019, two years before the contract expires in 2021.
“Because there is a promise [in the letter], I propose the revocation of the letter in order to not shackle the Indonesian government,” Kardaya added.
Kardaya also questioned why the minister had sent such a letter to Moffet. According to the lawmaker, if such a letter had to be sent, it should have been directed to PTFI president director Maroef Sjamsoedin.
In relation to the contract extension of PTFI, Sudirman has reported House Speaker Setya Novanto to the House’s ethics council for allegedly claiming to have won the approval of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla to secure shares and projects from Freeport in exchange for helping the company extend its contract and continue operating its gold mine in Papua, which is the largest in the world.
Sudirman and Maroef have given testimony at the council’s hearing, while Setya is scheduled to testify on Monday.(bbn)
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