Tag: neglected People’s welfare

Combatting HIV/AIDS is not proceeding well in parts of Papua

Tabloid JUBI

17 August 2013Efforts to deal with the spread of HIV/AIDS are clearly being made in many cities and districts in the Province of Papua. However, in the sub-district of Dogiyai, local people are concerned that the local government is not seriously dealing with this deadly virus.

A youth leader, Laurensius Tebay, said this week that dealing with this disease must be top priority, which means “more testing centers available for everyone – near you and near me (STD clinics)“. It is essential to spread information to the people that this virus is deadly and incurable. ‘We very much hope that the local government will deal with this problem with the seriousness that it merits,’ he said.

He said that as yet there have been no activities to inform people about the danger of the spread of HIV and AIDS, adding that this was the case in ten local areas. ‘We are very disappointed that the local authorities are failing to deal with AIDS with the necessary urgency.’

He said that spreading information and examining people with regard to HIV/AIDS has been proceeding well in the District of Paniai during the past month and this should be done in all the other areas, including the sub-district of Dogiyai. ‘While  this is not something that should be made compulsory, the authorities should do everything possible to persuade people about how important it is to be examined.’

These views were confirmed in  remarks made by the head of the Department to Combat HIV/AIDS, Kristianus Tebai who admitted that dealing with AIDS is a critically important part of the work of the health authorities. ‘Since I was recently appointed to this job, I have discovered that there are many issues that are not being dealt with properly. We are doing everything we can to improve work on this programme,’ he told JUBI. He said that combating the disease was going well in some sub-districts but not yet in the sub-district of Dogiyai.’

[Translated by TAPOL]

 

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Papuan mama-mama should attend the Papua Expo in Jakarta

JUBI,
2 March 2013
The director of the Ecology Papua Instutute, Titus Christoforus announced that a Papuan exhibition will be held at the Convention Centre in Jakarta from 3 April. He said that it should give priority to ensuring the attendance of Papuan mama-mama who use the noken (traditional string bag).He said: ‘I hope that the Papuan Provincial Government will give priority to the mama-mama and their noken at this exhibition.’

He went on to say that the exhibition would involve the Regional Work Units and Event Organisers from Jakarta. This means that in the weeks before the exhibition, special attention should be given to the involvement of the mama-mama.

He also said that this OTSUS exhibition should pay special attention  to the workmanship of people like the mama-mama who lack capital but are very eager to produce their handicrafts. He pointed out that the noken was identified by UNESCO.as a cultural object at a meeting in Paris on 4 December 2012. ‘This makes it all the more important that the mama-mama together with their noken should be involved in the exhibition,’ he said.

Such handiwork depends greatly on how we encourage it, which means that the mama-mama should be involved in the exhibition in Jakarta, he said.

He also said that the noken has become much better known and popular, and it should be presented to the public as a symbol of the identity of the Papuan people.

In conclusion he said: ‘I hope that this exhibition will provide the mama-mama with the maximum motivation and that they should be provided with the necessary facilities for the advancement of their craft.’

[Slightly abridged translation by TAPOL]

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Unconfirmed reports: Riots in Nabire leave 2 shot after truck crash kills schoolboy

West Papua Media

January 6, 2013

Tensions flared into a riot in Nabire on Friday, January 4, after a truck travelling at high speed ploughed into a family group injuring several people and killing a young school boy, drove off from the scene, according to credible but unconfirmed reports from human rights sources in Nabire.

Peter Wakei, a Grade 5 elementary school student, was reportedly buried on Saturday after succumbing from serious head injuries from the collision at 10 am local time on Friday, according to family members spoken to by local human rights activists.  Schoolboy Alfon Tegeke (12, below) was lightly injured from the crash and treated in hospital, with the dead boy’s older brother Anton Wakei (32), the District Head of West Mapia, remains in a critical condition in Nabire hospital.

Indonesian Police were accused by community members of failing to search for the truck driver, according to witnesses, who reported that community members then mounted their own search for the truck driver at the Coral Market on sundown.

A heavily armed unit of Indonesian police confronted the Papuan community members in the market, and opened fire without warning on the group at 1830 local time, hitting two civilians with live bullets.  Apedus Wakei (31), was shot in the buttocks, while John Tekege (26) was shot in the thigh, and were taken to Nabire district hospital in a serious but stable condition, according to reports from Napas (National Papua Solidarity) sources in Nabire.

Police then arrested seven more community members and held them overnight without charge.  The seven detainees were released the following morning after the Nabire Police Chief met with members of the victim’s families together with the new Dogiyai Regent in order to defuse the tense situation in Nabire.  The inflamed situation has since returned to safe conditions after the intensive community negotiations, according to local human rights activists.

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No primary schools in over a thousand kampungs in Papua

JUBI,

28 November 2012

Jayapura: The head of  the Education, Youth and Sports Service in the province of Papua, James Modouw, said that there are at least one thousand kampungs (villages) spread across the province where there is no primary school.

‘Of the more than four thousand kampungs in Papua,’ he said, ‘ it is thought that around 1,047 do not have a primary school. It is also the case that throughout the district of Suru-Suru in the Regency of Asmat, there are eight kampungs, none of which has a primary school. This does not include the regency of Yahukimo about which no data has yet been received.’

He said that the kampungs without a primary school are mainly in the mountainous regions of Papua. ‘In the whole of the Bintang Highland Regency, there is not a single primary school,’ he said. The same is true throughout the regencies of Lany Jaya, Puncak Jaya and Nduga. ‘This is a matter that requires the attention of the local governments in these areas,’ he said.

He said that the problem of the lack of availability of primary education in Papua should be resolved. ‘We call on the local and municipal  administrations to  insist that adequate funds are made available for primary schools everywhere in the 2013 budget.so as to deal with the lack of schools and the widespread illiteracy among the Papuan people. He said that is calculated that thirty percent of Papuan children get no education at all.

[Translated by TAPOL]

[COMMENT: Over the years, we have read so many reports about the non-availability of teachers as well as healthcare workers in so many parts of West Papua. This is clearly an extremely serious matter indeed, a situation that clearly has not improved since the enactment of the Special  Autonomy Law in 2001, more than eleven years ago. No wonder Papuans are being thrust aside as more and more better-educated migrants from other parts of the country outnumber Papuans and take control of the territory’s economy and administration. As is so often the case, Papuans are frequently described as being ‘terbelakang’ or ‘backward’. So whose fault is that?! TAPOL]

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Primary school education must be improved: teachers often fail to turn up in school

JUBI,2 May 2012
Many more primary schools needed

Merauke: The district head of Merauke, Drs Romanus Mbaraka has called for an improvement in primary school education. Teachers must be prepared to stay in remote places and accept responsibility for improving the level of primary education.

He said that the government should provide the necessary facilities to make this possible, in particular providing houses for the teachers.. He made these remarks while addressing a meeting of head teachers of higher level education.’ We cannot put too much pressure on  pupils at middle school who are not able to do well at school, because the education that they received at the primary school failed to reach the required level and the children did not get the education they needed at primary school.

He said that all too often, young people who had completed their education at secondary schools were not able to pass entry tests when they wanted to enrol at tertiary-level colleges in Java because they had not reached the same level as children from other parts of the country.

Such a situation represents a challenge for all of us, especially for teachers who should be thinking about  how to improve the level of schooling available for children living in kampungs. If children receive good education at primary school, it will be much easier for them to pass tests to go on to a higher school.

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Merauke: A deputy district chief has said that  one of the basic problems in the kampungs is that educational facilities are not sufficiently available. The problem is that teachers prefer to stay in the cities in order to get certificates for their own career promotion, and earn a better wage.

Sunarjo said that he had asked the central government  to provide the necessary funds to pay higher wages to teachers in Merauke. The certificates should be granted   step by step, making it possible for others to stay in the kampungs and deal with the educational needs there.

He said if the government fails to provide the certificates they need, this will make it difficult for them to improve their prospects. However, teachers who fail to comply with their teaching schedule for forty-five days running should be dishonourably sacked.

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