Doctoral researcher Belinda Lopez …. interest in community storytelling. Image: FB
Indonesian officials ruin Australian researcher’s honeymoon over Papua
Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk
An Australian doctoral researcher whose honeymoon plans in Indonesia included a cultural festival in the insecure Papua region has been deported after Indonesian officials accused her of being a journalist, a news agency reports.
Belinda Lopez, a fluent Bahasa speaker, is back in Australia with a week left of her holiday but her plans ruined.
Her husband had already been barred from boarding the flight to Bali because his Dutch passport had less than six months validity. She was forced to fly alone.
READ MORE: Amnesty International report on West Papua
Lopez told the Jakarta correspondent of the US-based Associated Press agency she had been detained on arrival in Bali on Friday and had been told she would be deported on a 10pm flight on Saturday.
She told of her ordeal at the weekend on social media, saying immigration officials wanted to know if she was a journalist and repeatedly asked her if she had “done something bad to Indonesia.”
Saturday’s Asia Pacific Report.
Almost a decade ago she was a subeditor for English-language newspapers in Jakarta and had produced podcasts for Australia’s state broadcaster ABC Radio National This Is About programme.
As a former journalist she was described on a website as having won awards as a producer for Radio Netherlands Worldwide in 2012 and 2013.
‘Emerging creators’
“As an educator and producer, she has worked with several not-for-profit organisations, encouraging emerging creators and local communities to tell their own stories,” the website said.
She is currently a PhD student at Sydney’s Macquarie University, researching the cultural experiences of migrants to Java, Indonesia’s most populous island.
Being deported is “devastating,” Lopez told AP.
“It’s the first place I moved to as an adult, have visited so many times since, to learn the language and to visit people who have become some of my best friends in the world,” she said in a WhatsApp message.
Her holiday plans included the Baliem festival in the Melanesian region of Papua that Indonesia strictly controls, including restricting foreign journalists, diplomats and aid workers from visiting.
A pro-independence insurgency has continued in the Melanesian region since it was annexed by Indonesia in the early 1960s.
Indonesia’s police and military are frequently accused of human rights abuses in Papua, reports AP.
Unlawful killings
A recent Amnesty International report documented 95 unlawful killings by security forces in Papua since 2008.
Lopez told AP she had been refused a visa renewal two years ago in Papua because officials suspected she was a journalist. At that time they said she could not re-enter Indonesia for six months, according to Lopez.
The head of the Immigration Office at Ngurah Rai airport in Bali, Amran Aris, said Indonesia’s military had added Lopez to a government blacklist as a “covert journalist”.
He said he couldn’t give other details because it was a state secret.
“We only carry out the duties as her name is listed on the government’s blacklist, so we have to refuse her entry,” said Aris.
The Pacific Media Centre’s director Professor David Robie described the treatment given Lopez as “shameful”.
He said it was high time Indonesian authorities dropped its “paranoid” and “secretive” policy and allowed an open door with journalists and researchers freely visiting the two provinces of Papua and West Papua.
Dr Robie is convenor of the Pacific Media Watch freedom project.
Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz
]]>Dr Swee Ang: We can’t accept this – speak up against Israeli brutality
Dr Swee Ang’s “SOS” call broadcast from the Al Awda as the boat was being hijacked in international waters last week. (Poor quality audio – click on the “subtitles” icon). Video: Freedom Flotilla Coalition
Dr Swee Ang, doctor on board Al Awda, reports on the events from July 29 when Israeli navy commandos stormed the Freedom Flotilla boat Al Awda, hijacked and diverted it from its intended course to break the Gaza blockade, and forced her to go to Israel.
The last leg of the journey of Al Awda (The Return) was scheduled to reach Gaza on 29 July 2018. We were on target to reach Gaza that evening.
There were 22 people on board, including crew, with US$15,000 of antibiotics and bandages for Gaza.
At 12.31 pm we received a missed call from a number beginning with +81… Mikkel was steering the boat at that time. The phone rang again with the message that we were “trespassing into Israeli waters”.
Mikkel replied that we were in international waters and had right of innocent passage according to maritime laws. The accusation of trespassing was repeated again and again with Mikkel repeating the message that we were sailing in international waters.
This carried on for about half an hour, while Al Awda was 42 nautical miles from the coast of Gaza.
Prior to the beginning of this last leg, we had spent 2 days learning non-violent actions and had prepared ourselves in anticipation of Israeli invasion of our boat. Vulnerable individuals especially those with medical conditions were to sit at the rear of the top deck with their hands on the deck table.
The leader of this group was Gerd, a 75-year-old elite Norwegian athlete and she had the help of Lucia a Spanish nurse in her group.
Non-violent barrier
The people who were to provide non-violent barrier to the Israelis coming on deck and taking over the boat formed 3 rows – two rows of threes and the third row of 2 persons blocking the wheelhouse door to protect the wheelhouse for as long as possible.
There were runners between the wheelhouse and the rear of the deck. The leader of the boat, Zohar and I, were at the two ends of the toilets corridor where we looked out at the horizon and inform all of any sightings of armed boats. I laughed at Zohar and said we are the “Toilet Brigade”, but I think Zohar did not find it very funny.
It was probably bad taste under the circumstances. I also would be able to help as a runner and will have accessibility to all parts of the deck in view of being the doctor on board.
Soon we saw at least three large Israeli warships on the horizon with 5 or more speed boats (Zodiacs) zooming towards us. As the Zodiacs approached I saw that they carried soldiers with machine guns and there was on board the boats large machine guns mounted on a stand pointing at our boat.
From my lookout point the first Israeli soldier climbed on board to the cabin level and climbed up the boat ladder to the top deck. His face was masked with a white cloth and following him were many others, all masked. They were all armed with machine guns and small cameras on their chests.
They immediately made to the wheelhouse overcoming the first row by twisting the arms of the participants, lifting Sarah up and throwing her away. Joergen the chef was large to be manhandled so he was tasered before being lifted up.
They attacked the second row by picking on Emelia the Spanish nurse and removed her thus breaking the line. They then approach the door of the wheel house and tasered Charlie, the first mate, and [New Zealand’s Unite union leader] Mike Treen who were obstructing their entry to the wheel house.
Unite union leader Mike Treen speaking to media at Auckland International Airport last week after being deported by Israel. Image: Rahul Bhattarai/PMC
Mike bleeding
Charlie was beaten up as well. Mike did not give way with being tasered in his lower limbs so he was tasered in his neck and face. Later on I saw bleeding on the left side of Mike’s face. He was semi-conscious when I examined him.
They broke into the wheelhouse by cutting the lock, forced the engine to be switched off and took down the Palestine flag before taking down the Norwegian flag and trampling on it.
They then cleared all people from the front half of the boat around the wheel house and moved them by force and coercion, throwing them to the rear of the deck. All were forced to sit on the floor at the back, except Gerd, Lucy and the vulnerable people who were seated around the table on wooden benches around her.
Israeli soldiers then formed a line sealing off people from the back and preventing them from coming to the front of the boat again.
As we entered the back of the deck we were all body searched and ordered to surrender our mobile phones or else they would take it by force. This part of search and confiscation was under the command of a woman soldier.
Apart from mobile phones – medicines and wallets were also removed. No one as of today (4 August 2018) got our mobile phones back.
I went to examine Mike and Charlie. Charlie had recovered consciousness and his wrists were tied together with plastic cable ties. Mike was bleeding from the side of his face, still not fully conscious. His hands were very tightly tied together with cable ties and the circulation to his fingers was cut off and his fingers and palm were beginning to swell.
At this stage the entire people seated on the floor shouted demanding that the cable ties be cut. It was about half an hour later before the ties were finally cut off from both of them.
Trampled flag
Around this time Charlie, the first mate, received the Norwegian flag. He was visibly upset telling all of us that the Norwegian flag had been trampled on. Charlie reacted more to the trampling of the Norwegian flag than to his own being beaten and tasered.
The soldiers then started asking for the captain of the boat. The boys then started to reply that they were all the captain. Eventually the Israelis figured out that Herman was the captain and demanded to take him to the wheelhouse. Herman asked for someone to come with him, and I offered to do so.
But as we approached the wheelhouse, I was pushed away and Herman forced into the wheelhouse on his own. Divina, the well known Swedish singer, had meanwhile broken free from the back and went to the front to look through the window of the wheel house.
She started to shout and cry, “Stop – stop they are beating Herman, they are hurting him.”
We could not see what Divina saw, but knew that it was something very disturbing. Later on, when Divina and I were sharing a prison cell, she told me they were throwing Herman against the wall of the wheel house and punching his chest. Divina was forcibly removed and her neck was twisted by the soldiers who took her back to the rear of the deck.
I was pushed back to the rear of the boat again. After a while the boat engine started. I was told later by Gerd who was able to hear Herman tell the story to the Norwegian Consul in prison that the Israelis wanted Herman to start the engine, and threatened to kill him if he would not do so.
But what they did not understand was that with this boat, once the engine stopped it can only be restarted manually in the engine room in the cabin level below.
Arne, the engineer, refused to restart the engine, so the Israelis brought Herman down and hit him in front of Arne making it clear that they will continue to hit Herman if Arne would not start the engine.
Engineer aged 70
Arne is 70 years old, and when he saw Herman’s face went ash colour, he gave in and started the engine manually. Gerd broke into tears when she was narrating this part of the story.
The Israelis then took charge of the boat and drove it to Ashdod.
Once the boat was on course, the Israeli soldiers brought Herman to the medical desk. I looked at Herman and saw that he was in great pain, silent but conscious, breathing spontaneously but shallow breathing.
The Israeli Army doctor was trying to persuade Herman to take some medicine for pain. Herman was refusing the medicine.
The Israeli doctor explained to me that what he was offering Herman was not army medicine but his personal medicine. He gave me the medicine from his hand so that I could check it. It was a small brown glass bottle and I figured that it was some kind of liquid morphine preparation probably the equivalent of oromorph or fentanyl.
I asked Herman to take it and the doctor asked him to take 12 drops after which Herman was carried off and slumped on a mattress at the back of the deck. He was watched over by people around him and fell asleep. From my station I saw he was breathing better.
With Herman settled I concentrated on Larry Commodore, the Native American leader and an environmental activist. He had been voted chief of his tribe twice. Larry has labile asthma and with the stress all around my fear was that he might get a nasty attack, and needed adrenaline injection.
Deep breathing
I was taking Larry through deep breathing exercises. However Larry was not heading for an asthmatic attack, but was engaging an Israeli who covered his face with a black cloth in conversation.
This man was obviously in charge.
I asked for the Israeli man with black mask his name and he called himself Field Marshal Ro…..Larry misheard him and jumped to conclusion that he called himself Field Marshal Rommel and shouted how can he an Israeli take a Nazi name.
“Field Marshal” objected and introduced himself as Field Marshal? Ronan. As I spelt out Ronan he quickly corrected me that his name is Ronen, and he, Field Marshal Ronen, was in charge.
The Israeli soldiers all wore body cameras and were filming us all the time. A box of sandwiches and pears were brought on deck for us. None of us took any of their food as we had decided we do not accept Israeli hypocrisy and charity.
Our chef Joergen had already prepared high calorie high protein delicious brownie with nuts and chocolate, wrapped up in tin foil to be consumed when captured, as we knew it was going to be a long day and night.
Joergen called it food for the journey. Unfortunately when I needed it most, the Israelis took away my food and threw it away. They just told me ”It is forbidden”. I had nothing to eat for 24 hours, refusing Israeli Army food and had no food of my own.
Total darkness
As we sailed towards Israel we could see the coast of Gaza in total darkness. There were 3 oil /gas rigs in the northern sea of Gaza. The brightly burning oil flames contrasted with the total darkness the owners of the fuel were forced to live in.
Just off the shore of Gaza are the largest deposit of natural gas ever discovered and the natural gas belonging to the Palestinians is already being siphoned off by Israel.
As we approached Israel, Zohar our boat leader suggested that we should start saying goodbye to each other. We were probably 2-3 hours from Ashdod. We thanked our boat leader, our captain, the crew, our dear chef, and encouraged each other that we will continue to do all we can to free Gaza and also bring justice to Palestine.
Herman, our captain, who managed to sit up now, gave a most moving talk and some of us were in tears.
We knew that in Ashdod there would be the Israeli media and film crews. We would not enter Ashdod as a people who had lost hope as we were taken captive. So we came off the boat chanting “Free Free Palestine” all the way as we came off.
Mike Treen, the union man, had by then recovered from his heavy tasering and led the chanting with his mega-voice and we filled the night sky of Israel with “Free Free Palestine” as we approached. We did this the whole way down the boat into Ashdod.
We came directly into a closed military zone in Ashdod. It was a sealed off area with many stations. It was specially prepared for the 22 of us. It began with a security x-ray area.
Money belt stolen
I did not realise they retained my money belt as I came out of the x-ray station. The next station was strip search, and it was when I was gathering up my belongings after being stripped when I realised my money belt was no longer with me.
I knew I had about a couple hundred euros and they were trying to steal it. I demanded its return and refused to leave the station until it was produced. I was shouting for the first time.
I was glad I did that as some other people were parted from their cash. The journalist from Al Jazeera, Abdul, had all his credit cards and US1800 taken from him, as well as his watch, satellite phone, his personal mobile, his ID. He thought his possessions were kept with his passport but when he was released for deportation he learnt bitterly that he only got his passport back.
All cash and valuables were never found. They simply vanished.
We were passed from station to station in this closed military zone, stripped searched several times, possessions taken away until in the end all we had was the clothes we were wearing with nothing else except a wrist band with a number on it. All shoe laces were removed as well.
Some of us were given receipts for items taken away, but I had no receipts for anything. We were photographed several times and saw two doctors. At this point I learnt that Larry was pushed down the gangway and injured his foot and sent off to Israeli hospital for check-up. His blood was on the floor.
I was cold and hungry, wearing only one teeshirt and pants by the time they were through with me. My food was taken away; water was taken away, all belongings including reading glasses taken away.
Toilet not allowed
My bladder was about to explode but I am not allowed to go to the toilet. In this state I was brought out to two vehicles – Black Maria painted gray. On the ground next to it were a great heap of ruqsacks and suit cases.
I found mine and was horrified that they had broken into my baggage and took almost everything from it – all clothes clean and dirty, my camera, my second mobile, my books, my Bible, all the medicines I brought for the participants and myself, my toiletries. The suitcase was partially broken.
My ruqsack was completely empty too. I got back two empty cases except for two dirty large man size teeshirts which obviously belonged to someone else. They also left my Freedom Flotilla teeshirt.
I figured out that they did not steal the Flotilla teeshirt as they thought no Israeli would want to wear that teeshirt in Israel. They had not met Zohar and Yonatan who were proudly wearing theirs.
That was a shock as I was not expecting the Israeli Army to be petty thieves as well. So what had become of the glorious Israeli Army of the Six Day War which the world so admired?
I was still not allowed to go to the toilet, but was pushed into the Maria van, joined by Lucia, the Spanish nurse, and after some wait taken to Givon Prison. I could feel myself shivering uncontrollably on the journey.
The first thing our guards did in Givon Prison was to order me to go to the toilet to relieve myself. It was interesting to see that they knew I needed to go desperately but had prevented me for hours to! By the time we were re-x-rayed and searched again it must have been about 5 – 6 am.
Rusty and dusty
Lucia and I were then put in a cell where Gerd, Divina, Sarah and Emelia were already asleep. There were three double decker bunk beds – all rusty and dusty.
Divina did not get the proper dose of her medicines; Lucia was refused her own medicine and given an Israeli substitute which she refused to take. Divina and Emelia went straight on to hunger strike.
The jailors were very hostile using simple things like refusal of toilet paper and constant slamming of the prison iron door, keeping the light of the cell permanently on, and forcing us to drink rusty water from the tap, screaming and shouting at us constantly to vent their anger at us.
The guards addressed me as “China” and treated me with utter contempt. On the morning of 30 July 2018, the British Vice-Consul visited me. Some kind person had called them about my whereabouts. That was a blessing as after that I was called “England” and there was a massive improvement in the way England was treated compared to the way China was treated.
It crossed my mind that “Palestine” would be trampled over, and probably killed.
At 6.30am, 31 July 2018, we heard Larry yelling from the men’s cell across the corridor that he needed a doctor. He was obviously in great pain and crying. We women responded by asking the wardens to allow me to go across to see Larry as I might be able to help.
We shouted “We have a doctor” and used our metal spoons to hit the iron cell gate get their attention. They lied and said their doctor would be over in an hour. We did not believe them and started again. The doctor actually turned up at 4 pm, about 10 hours later and Larry was sent straight to hospital.
Women punished
Meanwhile to punish the women for supporting Larry’s demand, they brought hand cuffs for Sarah and took Divina and me to another cell to separate us from the rest. We were told we were not going to be allowed out for our 30 minutes fresh air break and a drink of clean water in the yard. I heard Gerd saying “Big deal”.
Suddenly Divina was taken out with me to the courtyard and Divina given 4 cigarettes at which point she broke down and cried. Divina had worked long hours at the wheelhouse steering the boat. She had seen what happened to Herman.
The prison had refused to give her one of her medicines and given her only half the dose of the other. She was still on hunger strike to protest our kidnapping in international waters. It was heartbreaking to see Divina cry. One of the wardens, who called himself Michael, started talking to us about how he will have to protect his family against those who want to drive the Israelis out.
And how the Palestinians did not want to live in peace…and it was not Israel’s fault. But things suddenly changed with the arrival of an Israeli judge and we were all treated with some decency even though he only saw a few of us personally. His job was to tell us that a Tribunal will be convened the following day and each prisoner had been allocated a time to appear, and we must have our lawyer with us when we appear.
Divina by the end of the day became very giddy and very unwell so I persuaded her to come out of hunger strike, and also she agreed to sign a deportation order. Shortly after that possibly at 6 pm since we had no watches and mobile phones, we were told Lucia, Joergen, Herman, Arne, Abdul from Al Jazeera and I would be deported within 24 hours and we would be taken to be imprisoned in the deportation prison in Ramle near Ben Gurion airport immediately to wait there.
It was going to be the same Ramle Prison from which I was deported in 2014. I saw the same five strong old palm trees still standing up proud and tall. They are the only survivors of the Palestinian village destroyed in 1948.
When we arrived at Ramle prison Abdul found to his horror that he his money, his credit cards, his watch, his satellite phone, his own mobile phone, his ID card were all missing – he was entirely destitute.
We had a whip round and raised around 100 euros as a contribution towards his taxi fare from the airport to home. How can the Israeli Army be so corrupt and heartless to rob someone of everything?
Shocking behaviour
We, the six women on board al-Awda had learnt that they tried to completely humiliate and dehumanise us in every way possible. We were also shocked at the behaviour of the Israeli Army, especially petty theft and their treatment of international women prisoners. Men jailors regularly entered the women’s cell without giving us decent notice to put our clothes on.
They also tried to remind us of our vulnerability at every stage. We know they would have preferred to kill us but of course the publicity incurred in so doing might be unfavourable to the international image of Israel.
If we were Palestinians it would be much worse with physical assaults and probably loss of lives. The situation is therefore dire for the Palestinians.
As to international waters, it looks as though there is no such thing for the Israeli Navy. They can hijack and abduct boats and persons in international water and get away with it. They acted as though they own the Mediterranean Sea.
They can abduct any boat and kidnap any passengers, put them in prison and criminalise them.
We cannot accept this. We have to speak up, stand up against this lawlessness, oppression and brutality. We were completely unarmed.
Our only crime according to them is we are friends of the Palestinians and wanted to bring medical aid to them. We wanted to brave the military blockade to do this.
This is not a crime.
Palestinian toll
In the week we were sailing to Gaza, they had shot dead 7 Palestinians and wounded more than 90 with life bullets in Gaza. They had further shut down fuel and food to Gaza.
Two million Palestinians in Gaza live without clean water, with only 2-4 hours of electricity, in homes destroyed by Israeli bombs, in a prison blockaded by land, air and sea for 12 years.
The hospitals of Gaza since the 30 March had treated more than 9071 wounded persons, 4348 shot by machine guns from 100 Israeli snipers while they were mounting peaceful demonstrations inside the borders of Gaza on their own land.
Most of the gunshot wounds were to the lower limbs and with depleted treatment facilities the limbs will suffer amputation.
In this period more than 165 Palestinians had been shot dead by the same snipers, including medics and journalists, children and women.
The chronic military blockade of Gaza has depleted the hospitals of all surgical and medical supplies.
This massive attack on an unarmed Freedom Flotilla bringing friends and some medical relief is an attempt to crush all hope for Gaza. As I write, I learnt that our sister Flotilla boat, Freedom, has also been kidnapped by the Israeli Navy while in international waters.
But we will not stop, we must continue to be strong to bring hope and justice to the Palestinians and be prepared to pay the price, and to be worthy of the Palestinians. As long as I survive I will exist to resist. To do less will be a crime.
All crew and passengers on the Al Awda, including Kiwi human rights defender Mike Treen, have since been deported to their countries. Treen spoke last night at a packed public meeting in the Freemans Bay Community Centre. Those on board the second flotilla boat to be captured, the Freedom, are currently undergoing a similar process of being deported from an Israeli prison. Asia Pacific Report has shared information with the New Zealand humanitarian group Kia Ora Gaza.
Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz
]]>Death toll in Indonesia’s Lombok quake rises to 37
Staff treat victims of a powerful magnitude 7 quake in the yard of Mataram City Hospital. Image: Ahmad Subaidi/Antara
Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk
The death toll in a powerful magnitude-7 earthquake which rocked Lombok and Sumbawa Islands in Indonesia’s West Nusa Tenggara province last night has risen to 37, Antara news agency reported early today.
The dead victims consisted of 28 in North Lombok district, three in West Lombok district, one in Central Lombok district, one in East Lombok district and four in Mataram city, said the Chief of the Emergency and Logistics Section at the West Nusa Tenggara Provincial Disaster Mitigation Agency Agung Pramudja in a written statement.
Antara said the quake, which rattled the two islands at 06.46 p.m. local time yesterday was centered 8.3 degrees southern latitude and 116.48 degrees eastern longitude at a depth of 15 kilometers.
The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics (BMKG) issued a tsunami early warning shortly after the quake and lifted it at 09.25 p.m. local time last night.
Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz
]]>Papuans protest over ‘Act of Free Choice’ in 13 cities in Indonesia
By Kustin Ayuwuragil and Ramadhan Rizki in Jakarta
Papuans have launched protest actions in 13 cities across Indonesia to demonstrate against the so-called “Act of Free Choice” that enabled Jakarta to take control of the Melanesian region.
The Papuan Student Alliance (AMP) and the Indonesian People’s Front for West Papua (FRI-WP) organised the rallies in cities, including Jakarta, Bandung and Ambon.
AMP spokesperson Surya Anta said that they were taking to the streets based on two principal issues related to West Papuan independence.
“[Papuans had] already declared their independence in 1961, deciding not to be part of the 1945 [declaration of Indonesian] independence [from the Dutch],” Surya told CNN Indonesia in front of the State Palace in Central Jakarta last Thursday marking the August 2 date.
Surya said that at the time, the people of West Papua already had a state symbol, flag and currency, although no administration had yet been established.
The second reason was that the people of West Papua wanted to separate from Indonesia because for years and years they had suffered “slow-motion genocide”.
This was in no way in accordance with the values enshrined in the state ideology of Pancasila in realising independence for all nations.
‘Oppression, slow-motion genocide’
“They suffer oppression, abuse, slow-motion genocide, rape, abductions, no freedom of expression and access to information, and many other things,” he said.
The problems facing the West Papuans also included the massive exploitation of natural resources, which according to Surya, is because of the PT Freeport Indonesian gold-and-copper mine problem.
Social inequality was also high compared with other parts of Indonesia.
Surya added that the West Papuan people wanted to separate from Indonesia because they did not feel Indonesian because of the numerous problems cited.
“Yes (they want to separate from Indonesia) because from the very beginning they did not feel Indonesian. Go ahead and check the [1948] Youth Pledge. Was West Papua mentioned there?,” he said.
Surya said that the infrastructure development which was being touted by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in Papua had not been enough to make the people feel Indonesian.
“Yeah, like the Dutch [colonial] period, we got schools, but did this then make us become Dutch citizens? No. We still felt convinced that our identity was different,” he said.
Widodo has become known as the Indonesian president which has most often visited Papua. His agenda has been varied but in his Nawa Cita [nine point priority programme], Widodo has prioritised the resolution of past human rights violations and the development of infrastructure in Papua.
‘Same old song’
Coordinating Minister for Security, Politics and Legal Affairs Menko Polhukam Wiranto referred to protests by Papuan pro-independence activists such as these as being a “separatist” action seeking to attract international attention.
“It’s a small separatist movement but by methods such as this [they] want to get world attention,” said Wiranto at his office in Jakarta.
The former commander of ABRI (Indonesian Armed Forces, now TNI) said that threats by Papuan pro-independence groups which had been widespread lately were just the “same old song” which had been played repeatedly for a long time.
As has been reported, the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) were holding actions in Jakarta and London to support a new referendum for the Papuan people.
At Thursday’s action in front of the State Palace the AMP and the FRI-WP expressed their support for West Papuan liberation from the NKRI or Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia.
Responding to this, Wiranto suggested that people do not need to become upset or anxious about the frequent actions by such groups.
“This old song is the same as the one played in the past. We don’t need to get upset, we don’t need to get anxious, we will just fight it,” he said.
Wiranto also said that the government would not be influenced by the “separatist” threat from such groups.
He asserted that in principle the government still considered Papua would remain part of the NKRI forever and did not need to be disturbed by challenges by any party at all.
“It is clear that we have a principled and standing position which cannot be disrupted by challenges from movements such as this,” he said.
Soft diplomacy
Wiranto also insisted that the government had repeatedly made efforts to develop diplomatic relations with neighbouring countries in order to suppress “biased issues” related to development in Papua.
Wiranto claimed that heads of state in the Asia-Pacific region such as Micronesia, Nauru, and Australia were often invited to help in “suppressing” such groups.
“Soft diplomacy activities which we are carrying out in the South Pacific continue apace. They [the Papuan separatist groups] perhaps then feel angry about the soft diplomacy activities that we are conducting,” said Wiranto.
Wiranto claimed to have invited officials from these countries to see for themselves the current conditions and social developments in remote parts of Papua.
This is aimed at preventing countries in the Asia-Pacific region from “misunderstanding” the current social developments and situation in Papua.
“So we invite them to see the facts [on the ground]. As if we do not provide good education to our friends in Papua. This issue is being continually pushed, continually made an issue of, in Europe, the South Pacific, but you know yourself right, the reality is not like that,” he said.
Wiranto said that there were still potential threats from irresponsible parties which resulted in the emergence of separatist groups in Papua.
He was reluctant however to cite which parties he meant. Wiranto said only that these parties did not want Indonesia to be united and only wanted to take the profits from mining in Papua.
“Because there are still parties that do not want our country to be united, there are still parties which take the profits from mining activities”, he said.
Translated by James Balowski for the Indoleft News Service. The original title of the article was “Aksi Referendum Papua: Infrastruktur Jokowi Bukan Jawaban”.
Background:
In 1969, Pepera — Known as the “Act of Free Choice”, a referendum, was held to decide whether West Papua, a former Dutch colony annexed by Indonesia in 1963, would be become independent or join Indonesia. The UN sanction plebiscite, in which 1025 hand-picked tribal leaders allegedly expressed their desire for integration, has been widely dismissed as a sham.
Critics claim that that the selected voters were coerced, threatened and closely scrutinised by the military to unanimously vote for integration.
Although it is widely held that West Papua declared independence from Indonesia on December 1, 1961, this actually marks the date when the Morning Star (Bintang Kejora) flag was first raised alongside the Dutch flag in an officially sanctioned ceremony in Jayapura, then called Hollandia.
The first declaration of independence actually took place on July 1, 1971 at the Victoria Headquarters in Waris Village, Jayapura, when Oom Nicolas Jouwe and two Free Papua Organisation (OPM) commanders, Seth Jafeth Roemkorem and Jacob Hendrik Prai, raised the Morning Star flag and unilaterally proclaimed Papua Barat or West Papua as an independent democratic republic, complete with a National Liberation Army (TPN), a provisional constitution, government, senate and parliament.
One of the rallies in West Papua. Source: Voice West Papua
Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz
]]>‘Blacklisted’ Australian researcher detained in Indonesian airport
Researcher Belinda Lopez … detained by Indonesian authorities in Bali’s Denpasar airport. Image: Belinda Lopez/FB
Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk
An Australian-based doctoral media researcher says she has been “blacklisted” by Indonesian authorities and refused entry to the country while embarking on a holiday in Bali.
Belinda Lopez, based at Sydney’s Macquarie University and who has researched human rights and other issues in Indonesia, says she is being detained in a room at Denpasar’s Ngurah Rai International Airport and she will have been held for 24 hours before being deported on a flight at 10pm tonight.
A former journalist, she is doing a doctorate in Indonesian studies.
She was travelling to Bali, Jakarta and the Baliem cultural festival in Papua.
Lopez made a plea today for help from friends and colleagues which has been circulated by members of the Journalism Education and Research Association of Australia (JERAA).
READ MORE: Australian student barred from Indonesia
Two years ago when visiting West Papua she was refused renewal of her visa and told she was “suspected of being a journalist”, Lopez says.
Indonesia claims to have softened its policy on media entry to West Papua since President Joko Widodo took office in 2014.
However, media freedom and civil society advocates say there has been little change in practice.
On her Facebook page, Lopez says:
‘Blacklisted by Indonesia’
“This is not a joke: I’m blacklisted by the Indonesian government.
Saya termasuk dalam daftar tangkal Indonesia (terjemahan dibawah). Share!
“I’ve been refused entry to Bali and have been held in a room at Denpasar airport on a couch since midnight. I am told I can only board a flight at 10pm tonight, so that means I’ll be detained for nearly 24 hours before I’m deported.
“I explained I was on a holiday and that I was planning to visit friends in Bali and Java and go to the Baliem tourism festival in Papua.
“Immigration asked me if I was a journalist. Two staff members kept asking me if I had ‘done something wrong to Indonesia’.
“Nine years ago I worked for English language newspapers Jakarta Globe and The Jakarta Post as a subeditor. I have made podcasts for the ABC. And I am a PhD student of Indonesia.
“This was meant to be a holiday from university, officially on leave. My honeymoon. But the immigration staff member kept asking if I was a journalist and if I’d ‘done something bad to Indonesia’.
“Two years ago when I was in Papua, the immigration office wouldn’t renew my visa, wouldn’t explain why and then finally told me I was suspected of being a journalist so I had to leave. I was told it was an administrative matter (not a criminal one) and meant I couldn’t return to the territory for six months. I didn’t make a big deal about it because I wanted an ongoing relationship with Indonesia and I thought keeping respectfully quiet was the way to do that. It’s the first place I moved to as an adult, have visited so many times since, to learn the language and to visit people who have become some of my best friends in the world.
“So why am I now on the Indonesian government blacklist? For how long? For what reason? For going to Papua? This is devastating for me.”
Pacific Media Watch condemned the arbitrary Indonesian action against the researcher and appealed for a more humane treatment of visitors.
The room where Belinda Lopez is being detained at Bali’s Denpasar airport. Image: Belinda Lopez/FB
Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz
]]>Short-wave radio saves lives and foreign aid dollars, says McGarry
A recent photo of the current rumbling of Mt Lombenden volcano on Ambae Island, Vanuatu. Image: lechaudrondevulcain.com
Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk
Vanuatu has appealed to Australia to restore short-wave radio services to the Pacific region, after they were switched off by the ABC in 2017, reports Radio Australia.
Prime Minister Charlot Salwai said other forms of communication usually failed during natural disasters.
He added his voice on the final day yesterday for submissions to an Australian government review of broadcasting to the region, Linda Mottram reported on a segment of the PM programme.
LISTEN: Linda Mottram’s current affairs report on ABC PM
As if to make the point, his statement came as a major operation is underway to evacuate more than 8000 residents from the island of Ambae, which has been made uninhabitable by an erupting volcano.
Featured:
Nikita Taiwia, Vanuatu coordinator, Red Cross
Dan McGarry, media director, Vanuatu Daily Post newspaper
Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz
]]>Indonesian influence in the Pacific grows, brushing aside West Papua
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By Johnny Blades of RNZ Pacific in Wellington
Indonesia’s influence in the Pacific Islands is growing, but is shadowed by disquiet over its region of Papua, known widely as West Papua.
The West Papuan independence movement has significant traction in the region, where it continues to push for its self-determination aspirations to be addressed by the international community.
Considering Papua’s political status as non-negotiable, Indonesia has been busy strengthening ties with a number of countries in the three Pacific Islands regions of Melanesia, Polynesia and Micronesia.
READ MORE: Indonesia strengthens ties with Pacific ‘good friends’
Amid a flurry of diplomatic activity in recent months, Indonesian cabinet minister Wiranto attended independence anniversary celebrations on Nauru, and the president of the Federated States of Micronesia was given red carpet treatment in Jakarta.
Jakarta says this is about working together with Pacific island countries on mutual interests. Others say it’s principally about quelling support for West Papuan independence aims.
Some regional observers even suspect the hand of Jakarta was at play behind the change in the Solomon Islands government’s policy on West Papua since Rick Hou replaced Manasseh Sogavare as prime minister last December.
April’s visit by a Solomon Islands delegation to Indonesia’s Papua and West Papua provinces caused an upset among some elements of civil society in Honiara, but showed how extensive Jakarta’s diplomatic outreach has become.
Serious threat
The secretary of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, Rex Rumakiek, said Australia’s angst about the rising influence of China in the Pacific missed a more serious regional threat.
“The Melanesian countries are not very much concerned about Chinese influence. They are concerned mostly about the Indonesians’ influence in Melanesia, because they’re very destructive, they go right down to village level.
“They bribe people and buy political parties to change the government and so on. It’s already happening. It’s much more serious than the Chinese influence,” Rumakiek said.
LISTEN: RNZ’s Dateline Pacific
A spokesperson from Indonesia’s Embassy in Canberra, Sade Bimantara, said Rumakiek’s accusation was unsubstantiated and false.
He said Indonesia had consistently engaged and worked with Pacific Island nations for many years while respecting each other’s domestic affairs and sovereignty.
“On the contrary, a handful of people claiming Papuan heritage and living overseas are the ones interfering in the domestic politics of Papua and West Papua provinces,” Bimantara said.
“They are not citizens and were never democratically elected into public offices in those provinces by the 2.7 million voters of Papua and West Papua. And yet, they claim to be the rightful heir to the provinces.”
Franz Albert Joku … “Demographically, geographically, [Indonesia is] part of the Pacific. One third of the total area of the country, to the east, is inhabited by Melanesians and Polynesians.” Image: Koroi Hawkins/RNZ PacificIndonesia ‘part of Pacific’
According to Franzalbert Joku, who is a consultant for Jakarta on Papua issues, President Joko Widodo and his administration recognise that Indonesia is a part of the Pacific.
“Demographically, geographically, we are part of the Pacific. One third of the total area of the country, to the east, is inhabited by Melanesians and Polynesians,” he said.
Joku, a West Papuan who frequently represents Indonesia at meetings of the Melanesian Spearhead Group and the Pacific Islands Forum, said the country wanted to help small island countries with their development needs.
He cited Indonesian assistance in plans to build a convention centre in Tuvalu and a sports stadium in Kiribati as examples.
Indonesia is also offering help to Pacific Island countries with efforts to protect their all-important marine environment, although it is not the only larger country doing so.
Foreign governments sometimes take up the issue of human rights abuses in West Papua in their representations to Indonesia’s government.
But few human rights defenders would have been satisfed with wan assurances by Dutch Foreign Affairs minister Stef Blok that he discussed a recent damning Amnesty International report on the issue when in Jakarta last month.
Regional efforts obstructed
Some Pacific governments, notably Vanuatu, are concerned that Indonesia has obstructed efforts in regional forums to address West Papuan grievances.
A former Vanuatu prime minister and leader of the Vanua’aku Pati, Joe Natuman, said the move by some members of the Melanesian Spearhead Group to accept Indonesia into the regional organisation was problematic.
“Whoever had that wise idea is causing us problems,” he explained.
“You know, they said Indonesia comes into join [the MSG] to discuss issues of West Papua; Indonesia comes in and it doesn’t want to discuss West Papua. So I think we have to review the Indonesian membership of MSG.”
But Franz Albert Joku said it was not the responsibility of the MSG or Pacific Islands Forum to speak for Papuans. He said Papuans should be allowed to speak for themselves “by dealing with our own leaders in Jakarta and our own government.
“It’s not for offshore organisations like the Melanesian Spearhead Group and the Pacific Islands Forum to decide what should happen in Papua. Our position and especially our future is firmly within our grip.”
However, the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), which has observer status at the MSG, argues that West Papuans are not free to express themselves and their political aspirations in their homeland.
Thousands arrested
Indonesian police arrested thousands of Papuans in 2016 when they demonstrated in Papuan cities in support of the Liberation Movement.
Jakarta also remains sensitive to regional calls for West Papua’s political status, and the controversial process by which the former Dutch New Guinea, was incorporated into Indonesia in the 1960s, to be reviewed.
Last month while in Fiji, Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister Peter O’Neill was reported to have encouraged regional countries to take the issue of West Papua to the United Nations Decolonisation Committee.
Following this, PNG’s Foreign Minister Rimbink Pato made a visit to Jakarta for talks with his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi, reaffirming his country’s support for the status quo in the Papuan provinces.
“They are an integral part of the Republic of Indonesia,” he said.
“There has been some misreporting on this issue. Papua New Guinea’s position has not changed and there is no intention to ever change it.”
Natuman said he understood the sensitivity of the matter for PNG as West Papua’s neighbour.
“But I think they should be honest with themselves and discuss openly with the MSG and with Indonesia, and of course eventually we have to involve the United Nations,” he said.
United Nations mess
“This is a mess created by the United Nations, and the the United Nations have to come clean on this.”
The regional calls for international action on West Papua persist from the likes of New Zealand government MP Louisa Wall, who is among a small but vocal group of local MPs pushing for the issue of West Papuan self-determination to be heard at the UN.
“I believe in self-determination, I believe in indigenous rights. This is a right of the West Papuan indigenous peoples to re-litigate something that has been highlighted, actually was done in an unjust and unfair way,” Wall said.
Wall’s voice is still only part of a minority in New Zealand’s government whose formal position remains in support of Indonesian control of Papua.
NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern with President Joko Widodo … reaffirmed backing for Indonesia. Image: Marty Melville/Pool
New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, reiterated this support to Indonesia’s president Joko Widodo during his state visit to Wellington earlier this year.
The issue of human rights abuses in Papua is a standing item on the agenda of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), whose leaders meet in Nauru next month.
Yesterday, the outgoing Forum chairman, Samoa’s Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, suggested some Pacific leaders sensationalised the alleged abuses by Indonesian military in Papua.
Speaking on national Radio 2AP, Tuilaepa, who has forged closer ties with Indonesia in the past year, conceded that various West Papuans wanted independence and sought to stop infringements of their human rights.
Tuilaepa said that where it concerned human rights issues, they should take up the matter through the United Nations Human Rights Commission.
The Pacific Media Centre has a content sharing partnership with RNZ Pacific.
Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz
]]>Rapa Nui activist calls for rigorous curb on ‘flouting’ of migration rules
Ahu Akivi maois (statues) on the island of Rapa Nui. Image: RNZ Pacific/AFP
By RNZ Pacific
An indigenous activist on Chile’s Rapa Nui says new rules restricting internal migration to the island need to be rigorously enforced.
Non-Rapa Nui Chileans now need to have Rapa Nui spouses or children to migrate to the island without a work contract.
The activist, Santi Hitorangi, said the rule requiring a contract has previously been flouted.
READ MORE: Rapa Nui limiting visitor time to stop overcrowding
“The authorities are saying that once in action there’s going to be rigorous enforcement. So far we haven’t experienced that.
“What we have experienced is the ability of the Chilean authority in collusion with business people on the island, be it Rapa Nui or Chileans, they are keen to find creative ways to jump over those so called provisions.”
Santi Hitorangi said Chileans moving from the mainland had overwhelmed Rapa Nui’s infrastructure and warped its culture.
“The Chileans who come from the marginalised neighbourhoods of Chile and have brought crime, degenerating the culture. They are doing taxi tours and the problem with that is the information they give to those tourists. They are a warped perspective of who we are,” Hitorangi said.
Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island, had become overcrowded during 130 years of colonial rule and its environment was suffering with the water no longer being safe to drink, the activist said.
“Many of the underground wells are polluted because as long as we have had Chile on the island the waste has been dug in pits, plastics, chemicals what have you all covered over with dirt,” he said.
The Pacific Media Centre has a content sharing partnership with RNZ Pacific.
Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz
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Free Palestine and Free Gaza supporters gathered at Auckland International Airport to welcome home union leader Mike Treen, deported by Israel for trying to breach the illegal Gaza blockade. Image: Rahul Bhattarai/PMC
“Nine, which will have control of the new entity, has already announced A$50 million (32 million euros) in budget cuts, to the alarm of news staff at Fairfax’s publications.” Image: RSF
Investigative story targets in three countries: 2007-2016; n=100. Andrea Carson/Journalism Studies
The crowd in Port Vila’s Independence Park yesterday. Image: Vanuatu Daily Post
Unite Union leader Mike Treen … attacked and detained, says union.
New Caledonia: What next? Part 3 of Lee Duffield’s series
Five Kanak school leavers in Noumea’s main park, Place des Cocotiers – Kanaky Daita Weinane, Edouard Kate, Eta Roine, Noel Wazone and Siwene Wayaridge … all back independence. Image: Lee Duffield
Historian Luc Steinmetz … France “did not want to provide loudspeakers to voices that would be too critical.” Image: France TV 1
French lawyer Philippe Bernigaud representing indigenous Kanak groups negotiating over land rights. He has lived in Noumea for 17 years but cannot vote in the referendum. Image: Lee Duffield
Kanak community leader and Radio Djiido coordinator Andre Qaeze Ihnim … sharing is key to the Melanesian way of life and is the main argument of the Kanak political organisation, the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front – FLNKS. Image: Lee Duffield
Tui O’Sullivan at her recent Auckland University of Technology farewell on Ngā Wai o Horotiu marae. Image: Del Abcede/PMC
Tui O’Sullivan (right) with fellow foundation Pacific Media Centre advisory board member Isabella Rasch. Image: Del Abcede/PMC
Students and staff at the Pacific Media Centre’s farewell for Tui O’Sullivan. Image: Del Abcede/PMC
Tui O’Sullivan (centre) with Pacific Media Centre director Professor David Robie and advisory board chair Associate Professor Camille Nakhid. Image: Del Abcede/PMC
Dr Lee Duffield’s New Caledonia seminar to be hosted by the Pacific Media Centre at Auckland University of Technology today.
Three flags of Noumea – European Union, French tricolour and the independent Kanak ensign. Image: Lee Duffield
The Ambae volcano article as it appeared in the Vanuatu Daily Post at the weekend.
The Al Awda, one of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla’s four boats. Mike Treen is on board for the final leg of her voyage to Gaza. Image: Kia Ora Gaza
Mike Treen (left) and Youssef Sammour with the Palestinian Ambassador to Italy, Dr Mai Alkailla. Image: Kia Ora Gaza
Canadian activist Ron Rousseau from Yukon … “as an Indigenous activist … we feel that it’s necessary to be defending Palestine.” Image: Scoop
Youssef Sammour’s boat Freedom. Image: Lois Griffiths/Scoop
A 
The scene at the Indonesian police raid on Papuan student quarters in Surabaya over the film Bloody Biak. Image: Suara.com
