Mandiri: Rp 12t for investment in Papua

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Fri, 10/09/2009 1:55 PM | Business

State-owned bank PT Bank Mandiri announced on Thursday its commitment to allocate up to Rp 12 trillion (US$1.27 billion) in loans to finance investment in Papua and West Papua provinces.

Special Autonomy: International Image versus Reality

April 5 2008, Muridan Widjojo wrote a very interesting analysis on recent political development in Papua. He said that there are hardliner elements in Papua and in Jakarta who have a nationalist banal perspective in responding the political development in Papua. Those elements are in agreement to see conflict in Papua and international pressure as a failure of propaganda on the success story of development in Papua. They never thought that problem in Papua is the result of government policy and its implementation. I should fairly say that Muridan get the point and we can criticize Papuan local government, Indonesian central government, and also legislative to be more serious in handling the problem in Papua. Furthermore, Muridan also believed that those nationalist banal hardliners are still using the old perspective of New Order with its military approach in the name of national integration.

Indonesia govt blamed for stagnant special autonomy in Papua

News Update from RNZI

Posted at 22:29 on 31 March, 2008 UTC

A delegation of politicians from Indonesia’s Papua province has been to Jakarta to further pressure the central government to help improve Special Autonomy in their region.

The Jakarta post reports that Papua legislature members, led by chief councilor Jimmy Demianus, held separate meetings with the House of Representatives and Regional Representative Council leadership.

Many Papuans believe Special Autonomy, established in 2001, has failed to address problems such as human rights violations, natural resource management, health, poverty and security.

Mr Demianus has warned that Papua’s problems will become more complex if Jakarta did not improve the implementation of Special Autonomy.

He blamed Jakarta for the stagnation of special autonomy in Papua and neighbouring West Papua province, saying they can’t properly implement autonomy without technical and operational guidance from central government.

Recently, Papua Governor Barnabas Suebu admitted that despite huge special autonomy funds being allocated over the last seven years, most Papuans remain poor and uneducated.

He said that most of the funds have been used to finance bureaucracy.

The British Human Rights Report 2007

A very important note was stated in British Human Rights Report 2007.  I think it would be great if a peaceful dialogue among Papuan, Papua local government, Indonesia central government, Indonesian civil society, Papuan local NGO, and national NGO can be held openly and sincerely. The implementation of special autonomy should be discussed carefully in an honest atmosphere as a vital step to resolve the complex problem of Papua. Hostile action and negative propaganda by some radicals should be stopped. Violation of human rights by some military unit should also be stopped. At the same time, during the process of dialogue among parties in Papua, restrictions on access to Papua by NGOs and journalists should be loosen, so the world will see the reality of positive development in Papua. Hopefully, some irresponsible Papuan who take economical and political opportunity in foreign countries will realise that their action is only worsening the situation in Papua.

The Hardliners on Either Side Need Each Other

I just read an enlightened article from Contradiction Blog with title Who supports what? I should congratulate the way the writer put the objective situation in Papua Indonesia.

It seems to me that the writer is a field researcher or activist who really understand that to distinct between different positions in Papua is often obscured. This may be too simple when we talk about the complexity of Papua’s picture. This may be the situation is really that simple and we can ignore the complexity which has been made for 40 years.