Tony Abbott has an Indonesian problem he doesn’t want to talk about

1) Tony Abbott has an Indonesian problem he doesn’t want to talk about
2) Benny Wenda sceptical of Indonesian promises on West Papua

http://www.news.com.au/national/politics/tony-abbott-has-an-indonesian-problem-he-doesnt-want-to-talk-about/story-fns0jze1-1227286229621

1) Tony Abbott has an Indonesian problem he doesn’t want to talk about

• 2 HOURS AGO MARCH 31, 2015 3:00PM

Lober Wainggai flying the West Papua independence Morning Star flag on Anzac Hill on Monday Source: Supplied
IT’S the Indonesian issue Tony Abbott doesn’t want to deal with.
Increasing protests for self-determination in West Papua are gaining traction online as the Free West Papua Campaign has reached over 150,000 Facebook supporters.
Pro freedom demonstrators marched in Brisbane over the weekend, as calls for West Papuan sovereignty grow louder. As for the Australian and Indonesian governments, those calls continue to fall of deaf ears.
West Papua (the western half of the island of New Guinea, bordering PNG) has been a part of Indonesia for over 50 years after an international agreement handed the territory from the Dutch to the Indonesians. Yet West Papuans were never given a genuine chance to affect their political destiny and factions of the population have repeatedly called for secession.
The conflict that has been bubbling under the surface for over five decades, marred by occasional outbreaks of violence. It’s a sticky diplomatic issue and one that Tony Abbott doesn’t want to be drawn into.
Supporters of West Papuan self-determination were buoyed by comments made last week by the PNG Prime Minister, Peter O’Neil. He told ABC Radio that the previous Indonesian president promised he would reduce the number of troops stationed in West Papua and grant greater autonomy to the island. Indonesia has said no such thing publicly and has been historically defiant on the issue.
With the freedom movement embracing social media with fervour and intermittently arranging demonstrations across the world, it is going to become an issue that is increasingly difficult for regional governments to ignore.

Demonstrators marched in Brisbane over the weekend to support the West Papuan Freedom Movement. Source:Facebook
In West Papua, militants involved with the freedom movement has been committing subtle acts of insurgency against the government. However Indonesian rule in West Papua has sought to squash such insurgency and residents can even face 15 years imprisonment for simply displaying the West Papuan flag (pictured above).
Mr. Abbott rarely addresses the issue but the few times he has, he remains steadfast in his support for Indonesia’s position of control. In the wake of West Papuan activists scaling the Australian embassy in Bali in 2013, Mr. Abbott assured Indonesia of Australia’s solidarity on the issue. The Prime Minister promised to “do everything that we possibly can to discourage and prevent” people using Australia “as a platform for grandstanding against Indonesia.”
Australia has typically turned a blind eye to the West Papuan cause and while the current government has ensured it’s an issue that remains at arms length, there has been moments in the past when Australia adopted a softer approach.
Somewhat controversially, the Australian government accepted a group of 43 West Papuan asylum seekers as genuine refugees back in 2006 which put a serious diplomatic strain on the Indonesian relationship. Mr. Abbott’s former boss, John Howard was Prime Minister at the time.
But while the Howard government was instrumental in the liberalisation on East Timor from Indonesian rule, his government and all its predecessors have remained largely silent on the issue of West Papua.

Protests continue to pop up in support of West Papuan freedom. Source: News Limited
Abbott’s time in office has seen Australia’s diplomatic relationship with Indonesia deteriorate somewhat. Given the tension over the Bali 9 executions, the Australian Navy’s incursions into Indonesian territory and the criticism the government has received for its own human rights violations, Abbott is hardly in a position to lecture Indonesia.
However many believe the situation in West Papua is tantamount to modern colonialism and the freedom movement appears to be gaining momentum as it frequently decries human rights violations carried out by the government.
Mr. Abbott’s stance (or lack thereof) on West Papua makes political sense for his government. But whether he likes it or not, he might have to engage the issue sooner rather than later.
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http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/radio/program/pacific-beat/benny-wenda-sceptical-of-indonesian-promises-on-west-papua/1431834
2) Benny Wenda sceptical of Indonesian promises on West Papua
Updated 31 March 2015, 17:25 AEDT
West Papuan independence movement leader Benny Wenda doesn’t believe Indonesian promises to PNG prime minister Peter O’Neill of troop withdrawals from the province.
He says undertakings to withdraw some military personnel given to Papua New Guinea prime minister Peter O’Neill by the previous Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono are false.
Mr Wenda says that Mr O’Neill’s diplomatic approach is unlikely to have much effect in Jakarta.
Presenter: Bruce Hill
Speaker: Benny Wenda, West Papuan independence movement leader

http://www.cpj.org/blog/2015/03/media-restrictions-in-papua-underscore-indonesias-.php
CPJ Committee to Protect Journalists

• Media restrictions in Papua underscore Indonesia’s wider problems

By Bob Dietz/Asia Program Coordinator

A rally in Jakarta for the Free Papua Movement. Restricted media access to the Indonesian region has left the ongoing fight for secession under reported. (Reuters/Pius Erlangga)
With more than 50 years of restricted media access, one of the least covered armed conflicts in the world is the long-simmering struggle between Indonesia’s military and the secessionist Free Papua Movement. Under Indonesia’s seven successive post-independence governments–the early ones led by autocratic strongmen, the recent ones more or less democratically elected–the world has been deprived of details of the persistent low-intensity battle for autonomy playing out in the Papuan provinces.
Without open media access in the Papua and West Papua provinces, alleged abuses by security forces operating without media scrutiny will hound any bid by President Joko Widodo to bring peace and prosperity to the resource-rich region: apromise he made on assuming office in October.

Given Indonesia’s experience in East Timor, it is no wonder successive Indonesian governments have restricted media access to its Papua and West Papua provinces. Unable to completely stifle media coverage of East Timor during a bloody 27-year war for independence that ended in 2002, Indonesia’s leaders appear determined not to lose another part of its far-flung archipelago by having troublesome reporters, international or Indonesian, expose what is happening in Papua.
The vast Grasberg copper and gold mine in Papua. Journalists wanting to report on the mine and surrounding area say they have trouble getting visas. (Reuters/M Agung Rajasa/Antara Foto)
And there are discomfiting economic and social angles too: Restricted press coverage has meant little media scrutiny of Freeport-McMoRan Incorporated’s Indonesian copper mine at Grasberg, the world’s largest gold and second largest copper mine in the world. The American-owned company has long been Indonesia’s top tax payer, and its remote operations in Papua have been targetedby insurgents and environmental groups. Journalists–including a BBC team who wanted to visit the mine in 2011 when reporting on strikes–often find access is denied.

Despite the wealth of its natural resources, Papua has historically fallen far behindin development compared to Indonesia’s other regions, analysts say. The region’s literacy rate is around 74 percent, Indonesia’s lowest, and Papuans find themselves under increasing demographic pressure, too. Indonesia’s in-country migration is coming close to making Papuans a minority in their traditional homeland. About 50 percent of the population in Papua and West Papua are from other parts of Indonesia, and the in-flow seems most likely to continue, analysts say.

Many things seem deeply amiss in Papua, and they are going unreported.

Because of the media restrictions, it is largely foreign journalists who get the international attention that comes with being detained and eventually shipped back home. An Australian academic, Ross Tapsell, in his book By-Lines, Balibo, Bali Bombings: Australian Journalists in Indonesia, published in January, has a large section on restrictions in Papua dating back to the 1960s. Indonesia continues to require international correspondents to secure special visas before entering the country, a practice CPJ has repeatedly (see here, here, and here for examples) urged the government to abandon after it was used to blacklist reporters under earlier, more authoritarian regimes.

Thomas Dandois, left, and Valentine Bourrat, center, arrive at a court in Indonesia’s eastern Papua province in October 2014. The French journalists were expelled for breaching visa regulations. (AFP/STR)
The government seldom, if ever, issues permission to investigative journalists. “Eighteen ministries and related institution are involved in the process to issue a permit,” according to the Foreign Ministry’s director of information and media, Siti Sofia Sudarma. She was testifying at the October 2014 trial of the French documentary filmmakers Thomas Dandois and Valentine Bourrat, who were convicted of breaking immigration laws by trying to film in Papua. The pair had been detained for almost three months before being expelled from the country after their conviction. Their trial coincided with President Widodo’s election campaign, in which he promised to address Papua’s problems.

Siti said that, according to the ministry’s data, 28 international journalists had submitted permit requests to cover news in Papua and West Papua in 2013. She said 21 had been allowed to enter the two provinces. But Andreas Harsono, a Jakarta-based researcher for Human Rights Watch, told CPJ by email that those getting the permits are tourism writers or Japanese journalists covering the search for remains of soldiers killed during World War II. And such restrictions beg the question of what is so special about Papua and why journalists are allowed to cover other areas of Indonesia with little government interference. The restrictions go against Indonesia’s 1999 Press Law, which says there should be no restrictions on journalists in Indonesia.
It is not just outsiders who have complaints about access to Papua. As we have reported over the years, Indonesian journalists are prey to a host of malevolent actors–from politicians and the military to religious hardliners and business owners. And unless they are native Papuans, Indonesia’s journalists have an almost impossible time getting in to cover the story. As far back as 1999, CPJ noted that ethnic and communal violence in many parts of the country made local reporters’ jobs increasingly dangerous. More recent assessments by groups including Human Rights Watch show the situation has deteriorated further despite pledges from successive governments to address the political confrontation.
President Joko Widodo, pictured second left in Aceh province in March. Before he was elected in 2014, Widodo said he would allow international journalists access to Papua. (AFP/Chaideer Mahyuddin)
There was a sense of optimism following Widodo’s election. We called it a Window of opportunity to advance press freedom in Indonesia following a mission there in late 2014. But we noted steady pressure on media across the country. The 2008 Electronic Information and Transactions Law targets Web commentators with up to six years in prison, and up to IDR 1 billion ($80,800) in fines. Criminal defamation cases carry a nine-month jail term. And a worrisome state secrets bill, viewed by critics as a threat to freedom of information, remains under discussion. Nor has there has been movement to address impunity in the cases of 10 journalists confirmed to have been killed for their work since 1992. Eight of them appear to have been murdered, according to CPJ data. In such a context, it is realistic to view the president’s pledge to allow international journalists and organizations access to Papua and West Papua with a high degree of skepticism until those restrictions are lifted, a promise that can be quickly and easily fulfilled.
Bob Dietz, coordinator of CPJ’s Asia Program, has reported across the continent for news outlets such as CNN and Asiaweek. He has led numerous CPJ missions, including ones to Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka. Follow him on Twitter @cpjasia and Facebook @ CPJ Asia Desk.
Anne Noonan, Jo Collins, Australia West Papua Association (Sydney)