originally published June 16, 2016 – apologies for delay
Jubi Illustration
Jayapura, Jubi – Jayapura Police Deputy Chief Police Commissionaire Arnold Tata warned two Jubi journalists Benny Mawel and Zely Ariane to make early coordination with the Police while covering a rally by the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) Sentani Region on Wednesday (15/6/2016).
Both took photographs and video for reportage and followed the protesters who were arrested and taken to Jayapura Police Office.
Riding a motorcycle, both journalists intended to cover the arrests at the Police station, but an officer stopped them in front of the station.
An officer from the Sabara Unit warned the two that their journalistic activity was considered intrusive.
Mawel explained that as a journalist, based on the Press Law, they have the right to do their job without restrictions.
But the Police did not want to listen any further.
Deputy Police Chief Tata said KNPB rally was illegal, so reporting is not required.
To calm down the tension, he asked both to enter the Police station to talk with Jayapura Police spokesperson, Inspector Imam Rubianto who then asked permission to photocopy their ID and press cards.
He said during the time the Police considered Jubi is less coordinated with the Police in Sentani area, less participated in such activities carried out by Jayapura Police.
“In many activities held by Jayapura Police, other media came to participate, while Jubi has never been there,” he said while pointing the photographs of their activities hanging on the wall of his office’s lobby.
He also asked Jubi to be more cooperative with the Police related to the reporting agenda. He didn’t question about the reporting done by both journalists today, but he only wanted Jubi to coordinate with Jayapura Police Public Relation.
Jubi Editor-in-chief Dominggus Mampioper said there is no obligation for reporters to do early coordination with the Police in doing coverage.
“Journalist is assigned to cover the fact of ongoing event, and KNPB rally was real happening, doesn’t matter if it was legal or not we should keep reporting it,” said Mampioper. (Victor Mambor/rom)
originally published 9 June 2016 – apologies for delay
Jayapura, Jubi – Papua Governor Lukas Enembe and the Chairman of the Papua Legislative Council Yunus Wonda have been accused of orchestrating recent demonstrations.
The accusations were made by the alleged attackers of Mrs. Henderika Kowenip, who was hurt during a recent protest.
First Deputy of Regional Leadership Council of Democrat Party Papua (DPD PD Papua), Corolus Bolly, said he strongly condemned the attack against Kowenip, Coordinator Deputy of DPD PD Papua, on Thursday (2/6/2016) at around 09:00 Papua time near to Trikora Square, Abepura. Kowenip suffered bruises and wounds on her back and face.
“The Public Hospital Dok II Jayapura, who conducted medical examination will further explain about Mrs. Kowenip’s health condition,” Corolus Bolly through a release on last week to Jubi in Jayapura.
Bolly said he asked both Papua Police and Jayapura Municipal Police to immediately investigate and arrest the perpetrators. “We really want the perpetrators would be punished on their crime in accordance to the Law,” he said.
Regarding to accusations levelled by Kowenip’s attackers against Enembe and Wonda, Bolly asserted as leaders, both persons must present among their people without disrespecting their ethnicity, religion, race or particular groups.
“As regional leaders, it is their obligation to pay attention, facilitate and serve all interest and dynamic of people living in the entire regions of Papua Province by continuing to keep stability and peace in people’s life.
Second Deputy Chairman of DPD PD Papua, Habel Rumbiak, similarly said about dynamic of politic that was occurred recently. He said both Lukas Enembe and Yunus Wonda always appealed to people to respect the Indonesian law and not being anarchy in doing demonstrations.
“People should respect any differences on political view. It shouldn’t become an instrument to divide and create conflict between one and another groups that at the end would lead to separation,” he said,
He added together we should maintain the unitary and integrity as well as lead to separation,” he said.
He added together we should maintain the unitary and integrity as well as stability, security and peace to create a conducive situation in working. “All of these are to materialize the movement towards Stand up, Independent and Prosperous Papua,” he said. (Alexander Loen/rom)
There is currently some momentum for change in the palm oil industry, aiming to reduce its disastrous environmental and social impact. In Papua, some of the biggest companies, such as Sinar Mas, Musim Mas and Wilmar, have all abandoned plantation plans after signing up to ‘no deforestation’ policies (see footnote 1). The Indonesian Government may also finally take some action to bring the industry under control. A new moratorium on palm oil permits is reportedly being prepared and the Forestry and Environment Minister Siti Nurbaya has made clear that one of the moratorium’s main objectives is to save Papua’s forest.
However, many companies with ambitions to vastly increase their plantation area are still looking to Papua as one of the few areas where large amounts of land are still potentially available. Plantations on this new frontier are often much larger than elsewhere in Indonesia, meaning huge environmental destruction and drastic changes which have a devastating effect on local indigenous populations.
Accurate information on how the oil palm industry is developing in Papua is crucial to be able to assess whether the changes in the industry will actually protect the forest and make a positive difference to the lives of indigenous Papuans, or if it will just give a better image masking the same old problems. Nevertheless, obtaining full data is still a major challenge. This series of articles aims to give it a shot, profiling a few of the newest companies to start operations in Papua, especially companies which have recently started cutting the forest, or appear to be preparing to start work. The first is a particularly worrying case, where forest clearance started last year: Pacific Inter-link.
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Anggai
In a remote area of Southern Papua an immense block of 2,800 square kilometres (the size of Luxembourg, or three times Singapore) of primary rainforest has been given permits for oil palm, and deforestation has already started. In an incredibly brazen move by local politicians, (later supported by the Forestry Ministry), this whole area was given away to just one company, the Menara Group, divided into seven contiguous concessions.
The Menara Group has since sold most of the concessions to two Malaysian-based companies: Pacific Inter-link took four of the concessions (PT Megakarya Jaya Raya, PT Kartika Cipta Pratama, PT Graha Kencana Mulia and PT Energi Samudera Kencana) and Tadmax Sdn Bhd took two (PT Trimegah Karya Utama and PT Manunggal Sukses Mandiri). The remaining concession, PT Usaha Nabati Terpadu, either still belongs to the Menara Group or has been sold to an unknown buyer.
Pacific Inter-link started work on one of the concessions, PT Megakarya Jaya Raya in mid 2015. Satellite images show that by April 2016, 2,840 hectares of forest had been cleared. About one third of that area was on deep peat, and the area lies within an intact forest landscape. Most of PT Megakarya Jaya Raya’s concession is classified on Indonesian government maps as primary forest, as are the other three concessions.
Pacific Inter-Link Deforestation April 2016
It isn’t easy to greenwash the conversion of 160,000 hectares of primary rainforest to palm oil plantation. Nevertheless, Pacific Inter-link makes a lame attempt to do just that on its website, stating that “Lots of careful measures are taken to ensure no ecological damage takes place due to this project.” The company did not respond to a request to view high conservation value assessments or social and environmental impact assessment.
How did one company manage to get its hands on so much land? There are no local groups in this remote area which have been able to undertake a full investigation. However, corruption must be suspected. The Boven Digoel Regency Head, Yusak Yaluwo, issued the initial location permits in July 2010, three months after being arrested on unrelated corruption charges. He was found guilty in November that year, and declared non-active by the interior minister. Nevertheless, despite being imprisoned in Sukamiskin Prison, Bandung, there were frequent allegations that Yusak Yaluwo was continuing to run the Boven Digoel government from his prison cell by mobile phone. He was officially removed from his post in May 2013, but wasn’t formally replaced by his deputy until June 2014. The upshot of this bizarre story is that there was no effective local government in Boven Digoel for three and a half years, the time which the Menara Group was engaged in the permit process for the plantations which would later be sold to Pacific Inter-link.
At the same time in the Aru Islands in Maluku, the Menara Group had tried to claim an even larger area for a sugar-cane plantation. However, as a strong local campaign was unearthing irregularities at every level, the Forestry Minister eventually declared that the plantation would not go ahead, giving the reason that the land was not suitable for sugar cane after all.
The land which is being cleared is near an indigenous village, Kampung Anggai, but there have been no reports of how the local people view the company, nor what methods the company used to persuade people to allow it to use their land.
Tadmax, the other company involved, has so far not developed its concessions, claiming to be looking for a partner, or to sell the land. Its 2015 Annual report states that “the Group is in the process of identifying parties to undertake a plantation development (both on its own or through joint ventures) and/or outright disposal of all or part of the land or a combination of the above. “
Previously both Pacific Inter-link and Tadmax had signed up to a joint venture in 2012 for an integrated timber complex which would use the wood from their concessions, but there is no recent news that might indicate the plan is still going ahead.
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Anggai plantation 2
Pacific Inter-link is based in Malaysia, but is part of the privately-owned Yemeni conglomerate, the Hayel Sayed Anam Group. Its plantation in Boven Digoel is the company’s first, but palm oil has long been part of its core business and the company has a presence at almost all levels of the industry. It operates refineries on Sumatra, is a trader of crude palm oil which it buys from other plantation companies, and markets consumer goods produced from palm oil under a number of brand names: Avena, Madina, Pamin and Sheeba cooking oils, Saba Juliet and Meditwist Soap and Milgro milk products. As well as South East Asia, Pacific Inter-links products are marketed in the Middle East and Africa, where its brands have a dominant market position.
This high degree of vertical integration in its supply chain insulates Pacific Inter-link from the pressures on other palm oil producers, which have to contend with the possibility that if they continue to deforest, their product may be boycotted by several of the largest palm oil traders.
However, the concessions have caught the eye of Forestry and Environment Minister Siti Nurbaya. In an interview with foresthints.news she described how existing palm oil permits will be reviewed in preparation for a moratorium, “Several of our findings indicate that in areas where forest release permits have been granted since 2011 in Papua, nothing has been done there and they are simply landbanks. We even found that some of these permits have been traded. For example, seven forest release permits for palm oil development in that province [Papua], amounting to almost 300 thousand hectares, were sold to a number of business groups in Malaysia. This practice of trading involves 20 percent of the areas that should be given to communities.”
Pacific Inter-link is an RSPO member as a trading and processing company, but has not mentioned the existence of its plantations in any submissions to the RSPO. Neither has the company responded to requests for information from awasMIFEE.
The situation is extremely alarming: what is likely to be the largest single palm oil plantation development project ever to take place in Indonesia is happening in an area of primary rainforest, containing peat swamps, and with no information whatsoever on how the plantation is affecting the tribes living in one of the remotest areas of Papua. A large area has been cleared already, but this is still only so far only 1% of the total areas under permit. Serious and immediate attention is needed on how the Menara Group, and subsequently Pacific Inter-link managed to get control of such a large area, and it needs to be held to account on its potentially devastating social and environmental impact.
Footnote: 1: in the case of Wilmar, the abandoned plantations would have planted sugar-cane.
Jayapura, Jubi – Melianus Duwitauw, a witness to the case of the death of the Secretary of Papuan Merchants Solidarity (Solpap), Robert Jitmau (Rojit), has now been interviewed by the police. In addition, Melianus also reported beating by the time of the crash that killed Rojit on 20 May.
“The Team of lawyers assisting Melianus Duwitau in Papua Police office in terms of making a police report, related to the beating suffered by Melianus Duwitau. Papua Police directed us to make police report at the Jayapura Police South Station, ” wrote Hardi, one member of the team of lawyers who advocate Rojit’s case, through short message received Jubi, Saturday (06/11/2016).
He added that the team of lawyers assisting Melianus Duwitau made police report at the police South station with a report number: LP / 312 / VI / 2016 / Papua / Res JPR City / Sek Japsel on Friday 10 June 2016 and a letter of proof of report number: TBL / 312 / VI / 2016 / Papua / Resta Jayapura / Sekta Japsel.
Melianus Duwitauw, admitted to JUBI being hit by someone when he fell after the car rammed Rojit. He did not know who hit him.
“I fell, then someone hit me,” said Melianus briefly about the beating.
South Jayapura police chief, Commissioner Heru Hidayanto confirmed Melianus has been questioned by the police.
We have the witness, Melianus Duwitau, statement, after undergoing treatment in a hospital,” quoted by Antara news agency on Saturday (06/11/2016).
Regarding the request of the family of the late Rojit for the case to be transferred to the Papua Police Provinsial office, Heru confirmed that is true.
“Yes, there is such a request, but we have investigated and process this case, soon the case will be completed,” he said again.
Heru also reiterated that Rojit, an activist of Papua Solidarity Merchants (Solpap), died because hit by a four-wheel vehicle drivers who were drunk when he was at the scene at street Ring Road, near the tourist beach Hamadi, South Jayapura District.
“Based on witness testimony and evidence we get, the deceased were killed by a car-hit. Investigators have not received other correlations in this case,” he said. (*)
Supporters of free Papua rallied against Coordinating Minister of Political, Legal and Security Affairs Luhut B. Panjaitan at the Australia National University (ANU) in Canberra – Jubi
Jayapura, Jubi – Supporters of free Papua rallied against Coordinating Minister of Political, Legal and Security Affairs Luhut B. Panjaitan at the Australia National University (ANU) in Canberra.
The minister was scheduled to speak at a forum titled ‘Solving Security Issues in Indonesia’ on Wednesday (8/6/2016) at the Australian National University, but about eight Papuan pro-independence supporters greeted the delegation by singing and holding posters to reject the team formed by the ministry to resolve the human rights issues in Papua.
Some non-Papuan Indonesian students were also among the protesters.
“We reject Luhut’s team, we want the fact finding mission that recommended by the Pacific Islands Forum to come to Papua. And Indonesia must communicate with the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) to solve the Papua problems,” said Ronny Kareni, Free Papua supporter in Canberra.
Among the protesters, one of five negotiators assigned by ULMWP, Rex Rumakiek was also among the protesters. “ULMWP is the representative and legitimate institution representing the people of Papua,” said Rumakiek.
Avoiding the protesters, Minister Panjaintan, according Kareni, decided to go through back door. Along with the minister, there are the Indonesian Police Chief General Badrodin Haiti, National Terrorism Tackling Chief Inspector General Tito Karnavian and Papua Police Chief Inspector General Paulus Waterpauw, and three Papuan representatives Lien Maloali, Matius Murib and Marinus Yaung. (Victor Mambor/rom)
of the Secretary of Papuan Merchants Solidarity (Solpap), Robert Jitmau (Rojit), has now been interviewed by the police. In addition, Melianus also reported beating by the time of the crash that killed Rojit on 20 May.
West Papua Media Alerts 