AWPA welcomes articles for the newsletter on any issue in relation to West Papua. The reports in the newsletter are from the various email conferences on West Papua. AWPA appreciates any donations of support to help in its campaign work. Past newsletters can be found at http://www.zulenet.com/awpa/

Since our last update in June, there has been some good news. The Government's decision to deny asylum to David Wainggai (who had been denied refuge status by the Immigration Department on the grounds that he had the right to live in Japan), was overturned by the independent Refugee Review Tribunal at the end of July. The tribunal ruled that David Wainggai was owed protection by Australia under the terms of the refugee convention. The Government also dropped its proposed bill on 'tough new border-protection laws' when it realized that members of its own party would cross the floor in the Senate to vote with the opposition against it.

Congratulations to the the Indonesian Human Rights Committee (IHRC) and all involved in the organising the conference 'West Papua - the hidden Pacific conflict' in Auckland over the weekend of the 18-19 August. This very successful conference has contributed greatly to the solidarity campaign work for West Papua not only in New Zealand but also in the region. The key note speakers included West Papuan Baptist Leader Rev Socratez Sofyan Yoman, President of the Fellowship of Baptist Churches in West Papua and John Wing, coordinator of the West Papua Project at the University of Sydney's Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies. Participants at the conference called on the Pacific Islands Forum leaders to grant observer status to West Papua and for the Forum to go on a fact finding mission to investigate the human rights situation in the territory. AWPA's letter to the PIF leaders is in the update and we encourage organisations to write along similiar lines.

Contents
West Papuans hold flag-raising ceremony
Rights Violations Getting Worse in Papua: Observer
Arrest warrant for Papua activist
Low population in Papua an indication of genocide according to a church leader
Australian magazine warns of possible conflict on PNG/Papua border
PNG denies claims officials paid by Indonesian Govt
Fishermen not spies, says Govt
100 delegates from Papua and PNG to hold meeting in W Kalimantan
PNG asked to proactively repatriate hundreds of border crossers
"Black flight" often occurs over Indonesian territory
Indonesia Broadcasting System expected to open station close to RI-PNG Border
HIV and Indonesia: nation sits on a volcano
AWPA letter to Pacific Islands Forum Leaders
Indonesians reject claims of spying
Books

West Papuans hold flag-raising ceremony
(Kim White From Green Left Weekly, August 23, 2006)
Melbourne < West Papua's Morning Star flag was hoisted at a rally held outside the Indonesia consulate on August 15, the 24th anniversary of the 'Act of Free Choice' (a phony UN ballot that ratified West Papua's incorporation into Indonesia).West Papuan independence activist Jacob Rumbiak called for international intervention against alleged genocide. He applauded the MPs who defeated the Howard government's anti-refugee bill. Herman Wainggai thanked Australia for his temporary protection visa, and appealed for international protection for all West Papuans.

Rights Violations Getting Worse in Papua: Observer
Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura
(The Jakarta Post Wednesday, August 23, 2006)
The level of human rights violations in Papua has increased in recent years, according to one observer, who asked the international community to do more for the province. "Systematic human rights violations continue taking place in Papua every year," Rev. Dora Balubun said Monday during a discussion at the Jayapura Diocese office with Chris Sidoti, director of the Geneva-based International Human Rights Service. Dora said the latest example occurred in Abepura in March, when security officers allegedly assaulted students. The incident he was referring to followed a clash between security officers and protesters demanding the closure of the PT Freeport Indonesia gold and copper mine. In that clash three policemen and a member of the Air Force were beaten to death. Dora, who serves parishioners in conflict areas, attributed some of the alleged rights violations in Papua to the unclear political status of the province, and the manner in which Papua became part of Indonesia. He said while the government insisted Papua was an integral part of the country, many Papuans felt their land had been hijacked by Indonesia through a legally flawed referendum. "That's why many Papuans feel as if they are not part of Indonesia. And as long as the problem of the political status of Papua is not comprehensively settled, human rights violations will continue to take place," he said. Each time Papuans demand their rights, Dora alleged, they are branded as separatists who must be eliminated. "A number of human rights violations have started with (Papuans) demanding their rights, like the Wasior case where Papuans demanded their customary right to manage their natural resources," Dora said.

Instead of responding to the demand, paramilitary police officers silenced the people by accusing them of threatening the state's sovereignty, Dora said. He added that the incident in Abepura also began with a demand by Papuans for their rights. The authorities' effort to silence any demand by the people for their rights constitutes an effort to kill the country's blossoming democracy, Dora claimed. Meanwhile, Chris Sidoti said the issue of human rights violations in Papua earned little attention internationally because of the perception the violations were not on the same level as what was seen in Aceh for decades. To force the international community to respond to events in Papua, he said, rights campaigners should incessantly and aggressively raise the issue. However, Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Tommy Yacobus denied Tuesday the human rights situation in the province was worsening. He said claims about an increase in the level of rights violations were the result of misunderstandings about what constituted a violation.

"Due to different perceptions, what is classified as a human rights violation here is not classified as one in the international world," Tommy said. Citing an example, he said hitting someone was considered to be a human rights violation in Papua, but in reality it was a normal crime. "How come human rights campaigners here classify the Abepura incident, in which four of my subordinates were killed, as a human rights violation?" he asked. The officer brushed off the critics and rights campaigners, saying they first had to understand what constituted a rights violation and what did not.

Arrest warrant for Papua activist
(The Jakarta Post Thursday, August 24, 2006)
JAYAPURA: Police in Papua have issued an arrest warrant for Jefri Pagawak, a local activist wanted for allegedly masterminding violent demonstrations throughout the province. The order came after Jefri eluded police who tried to arrest him in Timika on Tuesday night. Papua police chief Insp. Gen. Tommy Jacobus said Jefri was wanted for organizing protests in the provincial capital Jayapura and Timika demanding the closure of mining giant PT Freeport Indonesia. The most violent protest happened in Abepura, on the outskirts of Jayapura, on March 16, 2006, when four police officers and a soldier were killed. Mimika police precinct chief Snr. Cmsr. Jimmy Tuilan said while Jefri managed to escape, the police arrested two of the suspect's accomplices. -- JP

Low population in Papua an indication of genocide according to a church leader
(Radio New Zealand International Posted at 06:42 on 17 August, 2006 UTC)
There are claims that the population of Papua province in Indonesia has declined dramatically compared with neighbouring PNG and that the Indonesian military is to blame. The Reverend Socratez Sofyan Yoman, the president of the Communion of Baptist Churches in West Papua, and other Papuan activists will present seminars in Auckland over the next two days, on West Papua - The Hidden Pacific Conflict. Rev Yoman says in 1969 when Indonesia took formal control, the indigenous population was substantially larger than in PNG - but the neighbour now has nearly six times as many people. He puts the low population down to a range of factors, including poor health care, alcoholism and HIV/Aids, but says the principal factor is the activity of the military. 'There are many murdered, many murdered and silent killings happening in West Papua. We need help. Assistance from the international community to stop this terrible situation in West Papua.' Rev Yoman says they want New Zealand encourage the UN to send human rights investigators to Papua.

Australian magazine warns of possible conflict on PNG/Papua border
(Radio New Zealand Posted at 6:54pm on 23 Aug 2006)
An Australian news magazine says Australia could been dragged into a conflict with Indonesia through Jakarta's secret operations on the Papua New Guinea border. Journalist Paul Daley, writing in the Bulletin, says Indonesia's attempts to suppress Papuan rebels could easily trigger a firefight with PNG forces, and Australia could be dragged into a conflict through a defence agreement signed in 1987. He says troops from Indonesia's special forces, Kopassus, are operating secretly and with virtual impunity on both sides of the border, as they track down and kill Papua's OPM guerillas. Mr Daley says some Kopassus personnel and agents from Indonesia's state intelligence agency, the Badan Intelignen Negara, are so well established in PNG that they virtually run some towns. He says there are also claims that the Indonesian fishermen apprehended inside PNG waters two weeks ago were plainclothes Kopassus agents. One of the fisherman was shot dead by PNG soldiers. Mr Daley says the appointment of Major General Zamroni, the former commander of anti-terrorist forces in Kopassus, as the new head of military operations in Papua, shows that the country's elected leaders are not in control of the military.

PNG denies claims officials paid by Indonesian Govt
ABC News onlineLast Update: Thursday, August 24, 2006. 11:00pm (AEST)
By PNG Correspondent Steve Marshall
The Papua New Guinea Government has denied claims that its officials and citizens are being paid by the Indonesian military to hunt down members of the Free West Papua movement. The Government's response comes after a report published yesterday claimed an Australian intelligence source had intercepted phone calls from Indonesia to its embassy in Port Moresby inquiring about payments to PNG officials. A Government spokesman says the report is propaganda by individuals who want to the put the Papua refugee issue back in the political spotlight. The spokesman also denies an Indonesian fisherman killed by PNG soldiers near the border recently was a member of the Indonesian military.

Fishermen not spies, says Govt
(Post Courier PNG 25-27 August)
THE Government has denied reports that the eight Indonesian 'fishermen' who were shot at along the border by Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF) soldiers were spies. But intelligence sources yesterday refuted the Government's position saying it was trying to cover-up for alleged TNI (Indonesian armed forces) soldiers on a clandestine operation in PNG's Sandaun Province. 'They (the Indonesians) are Kopassus members. The eight that were shot at outside Vanimo were made up of five professionals (soldiers) including a medic, a radioman, a commander, signaler and rifleman while the other three were Kopassus,' said an ex-PNGDF soldier who worked with the army intelligence unit between 1989-1999, now residing in a PNG border town. When told that the Government had denied the Indonesians' links to the TNI and Kopassus, the former soldier said: 'This is not bullshit, it is true and they (PNG Government) are lying as we were always told to deny (when I was with the PNGDF intelligence unit).' A Government official speaking on condition of anonymity said Waigani had taken the reports seriously and had dispatched a National Intelligence Organisation (NIO) official to Vanimo < after a meeting by the National Security Advisory Committee (NSAC). But a statement released by the Government late Wednesday afternoon said there was no truth in the allegations.

100 delegates from Papua and PNG to hold meeting in W Kalimantan
(Antara news August 26, 2006)
Pontianak, West Kalimantan (ANTARA News) - Some 100 delegates from Indonesia`s Province of Papua and Papua New Guinea`s Western and Sandaun Districts will attend the Border Liaison Meeting (BLM) here from August 28 to 30, 2006. The head of the Border Areas Development Preparation Agency (BP2KKP), Nyoman Sudana said here that the BLM is a routine meeting between the Papua Province and the PNG to step up cooperation, especially in the social and economic sectors. The upcoming meeting is also related to a plan to inaugurate a border crossing post in Skow, Jayapura. West Kalimantan has been chosen as venue of the meeting as Entikong, the first border crossing gate in Indonesia also located in this province, he said.

Areas in Papua province which are located adjacent to Papua New Guinea, are Merauke regency, which shares the borderline with PNG`s Western district, and Jayapura municipality and Kerom regency, which share the borderline with PNG`s Sandaun district. The Papuan delegation to the BLM here will be headed by Papua Deputy Governor Alex Hesegem SE, and the PNG delegation by Samuel Pulup. The delegation of the central government will be led by Yuri Thamrin of the Foreign Ministry, who will preside over the meeting. The delegation from Papua is scheduled to arrive here on Sunday morning, August 27, while the PNG delegation is expected to arrive later in the evening. A dinner party for the BLM delegation will be held at the Melayu Traditional Building here Sunday night. West Kalimantan Governor Usman Jafar will deliver a welcome address at the dinner party. The West Kalimantan administration only facilitates the BLM to meet a Papuan proposal, without participating in the meeting. The two delegations will visit the border crossing location in Entikong, Sanggau regency, to observe the condition and the service system in Indonesia`s very first border crossing gateway. (*)

PNG asked to proactively repatriate hundreds of border crossers
(Antara News 29 August 2006)
Pontianak, W Kalimantan (ANTARA News) - The administration of Indonesia`s Papua province has asked Papua New Guinea (PNG) to proactively repatriate hundreds of people who have migrated from the province to the neighboring state. "Hundreds of people have crossed the border and entered PNG`s territory not for traveling, but for various other purposes," Papua Vice Governor Alex Hesegem said when attending a Border Liaison Meeting (BLM) between Indonesia and the PNG here Monday. The border crossers are actually longing for returning to their home towns and villages in the province, but they are still not sure about the situation in Indonesia, according to Alex. The Indonesian government and the provincial administration have opened wide opportunities for the Papuan migrants to return to their home towns, the vice governor said. "We are ready to receive them," he added. "Indonesia, especially Papua province, is always ready to receive border crossers who have stayed in the PNG, so we ask them not to hesitate to return," said Alex, who heads the Indonesian delegation to the meeting. Some of those leaving Papua province for the PNG are believed to be involved in the bloody violence that killed four security guards in Abepura not long ago. Simon W.Namis, assistant director of Asia for International Relations at the PNG Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration, said that he did not know the exact number of border crossers from Papua province that had entered and stayed in the PNG. "We repatriated 600 border crossers to Papua province last year," he said, adding that the PNG always supports the enhancement of friendship and cooperation between the two neighbors.(*)

"Black flight" often occurs over Indonesian territory
(Antara News 29 August 2006)
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Illegal flights and "black flights" continue to occur frequently over the Indonesia territory, according to Deputy Chief of Staff of the Indonesian Air Force Vice Marshal Wresniwiro. "Both black flights and illegal flights still often occur here," Vice Marshal Wresniwiro told ANTARA here on Monday after officiating an Indonesian Air Force (TNI AU) Exercise called "Yudha Sky" 2006. To anticipate further incidents, the TNI AU would intensify surveillance among other things by increasing the number of air radars, air planes and missiles guarding the country`s sky, he said. The radars would especially set up in certain strategic locations in eastern Indonesia, including in Biak, Papua province, he added. The Yudha Sky military exercise will last from August 28 until 31, 2006, and will be followed by a field maneuver exercise in Pekanbaru air force base, Riau Province, from September 10 to 13, 2006. The exercise will use technical supports of Virtual Private Network - Internet Protocol (VPN-IP) and teleconference. "The use of information technology is a progress this year, and aims to promote the effectiveness and efficiency of the exercise, as well as to guarantee the secrecy, which is an important factor in every military operation," Wresniwiro said. (*)

Indonesia Broadcasting System expected to open station close to RI-PNG Border
(Antara News July 28, 2006)
Boven Digoel, Papua (ANTARA News) - The Legislative Council (DPRD) of Boven Digoel regency, Papua, hopes that the Indonesian Broadcasting System (RRI) open soon a radio station close to the borderline between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea (PNG). "We really long for the presence of an RRI station in the border area to counter broadcast domination by PNG's and Australia's radio stations," Boven Digoel DPRD Speaker Paulus Wanggimop said here early this week.

Paulus said he had to reiterate his hope as people in Boven Digoel can no longer wait for the presence of a radio broadcast station as the realization of cooperation between the Boven Digoel administration and RRI Boven Digoel Regent Yusak Yaluwo met with RRI directors in Jakarta last month to discuss the opening a broadcast station close to the borderline in the regency. DPRD Chairman Paulus Waingapu emphasized the importance of opening a broadcast station near the borderline as part of efforts to maintain national unity. People in Boven Digoel should not get information about the situation in the country only from foreign broadcast stations, which may engineer the news in accordance with their taste, he added. Petrus K (28), a youngster of the Muyu tribe in Tanah Merah, capital of Boven Digoel regency, conceded that it is difficult for the youth in the border area to get Indonesian broadcasts. "We have become familiar with broadcasting programs in the Indonesian language or English from Australia or Western songs from Papua New Guinea," he said.(*)

HIV and Indonesia: nation sits on a volcano
(SMH August 19, 2006 Ruth Pollard Health Reporter in Toronto)
THEY are in many ways a throwback to their parents' era, often either saving themselves until marriage or having few sexual partners. But whereas Indonesia's teenagers may be shunning their Western peers' interest in sex, they are taking up drug use with an increasing passion, from Jakarta rich kids to those in the poorer outlying areas across Java, Kalimantan and South Sulawesi. It is injecting drug use that is fuelling Indonesia's HIV epidemic, and new modelling obtained by the Herald suggests that if prevention efforts are not stepped up, the country could be facing 2 million HIV infections by 2025. More than 145,000 of those would be in Papua, representing 7 per cent of the 2.3 million residents of the troubled province, where HIV, unlike in the rest of the vast Muslim nation, is transmitted by sex.

As Indonesia deals with the scale of the effects of the tsunami, the recent Yogyakarta earthquake and the threat of terrorism, more and more families are facing an added burden of caring for HIV-positive loved ones. And as Indonesia attempts to quash the corruption endemic in its government agencies and push through policies such as the abolition of longstanding fuel subsidies and deal with the poor health of much of its population, experts fear HIV could stop the nation's progress in its tracks.

The United Nations AIDS Program estimates that there are at least 170,000 people living with HIV or AIDS across Indonesia, although the recent Australian modelling indicates a much higher infection rate. By 2025, HIV prevalence will have climbed to 40 per cent in injecting drug users, and the flimsy barrier between users and the general population will have been well and truly broken, according to figures from Australia's National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research, and the National Centre in HIV Social Research, produced for AusAID. Over the same period, HIV infection among the country's 270,000 prostitutes will rise from 4 per cent to 23 per cent. Prevalence among their 7-10 million clients will rise from 0.5 per cent to 3 per cent, forming "a bridge to wives and girlfriends in the general population", the researchers predicted. The impact on Papua will be catastrophic, with an estimated 85,000 deaths expected by 2025, mostly among people aged 14-49. In the rest of Indonesia, which has a population of about 245 million, more than 300,000 will have died by 2010 and 1.5 million by 2025, placing untold pressure on the health sector as large numbers of people require treatment and hospital admission. Nearly a third of all hospital beds will be filled by people with AIDS.

There is a growing awareness in Indonesia that HIV will have an impact on the country's social and economic development, yet a mass mobilisation of government resources remains a long way off. It is also acknowledged that if a widespread, comprehensive prevention and treatment program was enacted now, HIV prevalence rates would drop immediately and a large-scale, generalised epidemic could be averted. "There are some needle and syringe programs but not nearly enough - they are just a drop in the bucket in the face of these staggering numbers," says Heather Worth, one of the researchers and deputy director of the National Centre in HIV Social Research at the University of NSW. "Getting donor money into Indonesia is not the problem. It is changing public and political opinion on the issue of injecting drug use that is the challenge." Added to that, she says, the severe social dislocation in Papua, fuelled by feelings of dispossession among indigenous Papuans, was feeding the HIV epidemic. Australia is a large donor to Indonesia. A five-year, $37 million project funded by AusAID is due to be completed next year, involving work with Indonesia's National AIDS Commission. Harm reduction - involving the provision of clean needles and syringes to injecting drug users, as well as treatment and support programs - is an urgent priority, says Tim Mackay, the Australian team leader of the AusAID-funded Indonesia HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care Project. Despite small improvements, the number of people taking HIV treatments is still scandalously low - there are only 5000 people on antiretroviral treatment, including 80 in Papua. The head of program and policy at Indonesia's National AIDS Commission, Muhammed Nasser, says the Indonesian Government is not moving quickly enough. "Around 50 to 60 per cent of all new HIV cases are through injecting drug use, mostly involving 22- to 27-year-olds, but the national response is just too slow," Dr Nasser says. "There is inadequate legislation - we need to reform the health and narcotic laws so we can intensify our prevention efforts and improve treatment and care." The commission aims to have needle and syringe programs in 100 districts and cities by 2007, as well as an extensive network of methadone programs in hospitals and health centres. "Under current laws, drug users are arrested and then there is no chance to give them access to clean needles or methadone treatment," Dr Nasser says.

That could change on September 1, when the National AIDS Commission, the National Narcotics Control Board and the police are expected to sign a memorandum of understanding regarding injecting drug use and harm reduction - a step made easier by the fact that Indonesia's police chief now reports directly to the President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and not to the military. Anak Agung Gede Hartawan is the director of the methadone program at Bali's Kerobokan jail, where 56 per cent of prisoners who inject drugs are HIV-positive and where sharing needles and tattooing are common practices. Dr Hartawan says Indonesia's tough drug laws mean prisons are filled with young men charged with possession of a small amount of drugs. He told the 16th International Conference on AIDS in Toronto this week that the AIDS epidemic inside jails would soon move into the general population. "Reports of deaths of prisoners are growing, indicating growing numbers of HIV infections," he said, describing jails as "AIDS factories". But the methadone programs operate within a prison system that spends less than 50 US cents per prisoner on health care annually, leaving many without help. Jane Wilson, the country co-ordinator for UNAIDS in Indonesia, describes the population of injecting drug users as "very, very young" and often from middle-class or wealthy families. Dr Wilson says the current figures on HIV infection are "just the tip of the iceberg", with cities such as Jakarta reporting rates of infection up to eight times the national average. "Drug use is prevalent across all social classes, it is very much the norm, while behavioural surveillance surveys indicate the number of sexually active teenagers is absolutely minuscule." Frika Chia Iskander is the new face of the HIV epidemic - a young Asian woman. She is 24, and has been HIV-positive for six years. She is not hopeful the Government will act fast enough to avert an African-style HIV catastrophe. Instead, she laments, it will wait until it is a disaster. "It is really important not just to see AIDS as a problem of Africa - if we only see Africa and forget about Asia we will not learn from the mistakes Å  and the epidemic will remain hidden until it is too late."

AWPA letter to Pacific Islands Forum Leaders
15 August 2006
On behalf of the Australia West Papua Association (Sydney), I am writing to you concerning the issue of West Papua. It was disappointing that concern for the human rights situation in West Papua was not mentioned in last years PIF Communique, as it has been in previous years. I congratulate the Forum on granting observer status to Tokelau, joining New Caledonia, East Timor and French Polynesia. The granting of observer status to West Papua is one of the issues we would like to raise. I understand that at the 2005 Forum, it was decided to adopt a policy which 'establishes a new category of associate membership, and governs the admission criteria and entitlements for associate membership and observer status'.

We believe the time is now right for West Papua to be granted observer status at the Forum. We point out that the Melanesian people of West Papua have always been considered part of the Pacific Community. Netherlands New Guinea, as West Papua was then known, was a member of the South Pacific Commission (SPC) and Papuan leaders continued to participate in the SPC meetings until the Dutch ceded their authority to the United Nations Temporary Executive Authority (UNTEA) in 1962.

Human rights abuses
Since last year's PIF, human rights abuses have continued to occur in West Papua and we have included a briefing paper documenting these abuses. The West Papuan people face great challenges including human rights abuses, the exploitation of their natural resources (with little or no benefit to themselves), they danger of becoming a minority in their own land and a possible HIV/Aids epidemic. The West Papuan people need all the support from the international community they can get.

The Pacific Islands Forum can help the West Papuan people by,
1 granting observer status to West Papua. By granting observer status, West Papuan representatives can dialogue with Indonesian representatives at the Å’Post Forum Dialogue', to try and solve the many problems in West Papua.
2 seeking support from the Indonesian Government for a Forum fact finding mission to West Papua to investigate the human rights situation in the territory.
3 encourage the Indonesian Government to release all political prisoners as a sign of good faith to the West Papuan People.
4 urge the Indonesian Government to control its military and police in the territory and to remove all non-organic troops.
5 encourage the Indonesian Government to dialogue with the West Papuan leadership, to work towards peacefully solving the many issues of concern in the territory.
6 urge the Australian government not to be involved in the training of the Indonesian military and in particular, the Indonesian special forces troops such as Kopassus. AWPA believes that by their very nature, troops such as Kopassus will always be used in conflict areas such as West Papua and such training will only increase the danger to the West Papuan People.

We also urge the Forum to encourage the Australian government (as one of the best resourced countries in the region) to support the West Papuan people in the areas of health and education programs and to support not only West Papua but all the Forum countries economically, by involving the people of these countries in a guest worker scheme. Such a scheme would be of enormous benefit to the people of the Forum countries. Joe Collins AWPA

Indonesians reject claims of spying
(National PNG 28 August)
THE Indonesian Embassy in Port Moresby has rejected media reports that it is spying on Papua New Guinea, and that fishermen caught in PNG waters Sandaun province were in fact Indonesian soldiers. The embassy made reference to the report, which appeared in the Post-Courier last Thursday, extracted from an Australian publication, and also quoting PNG intelligence sources. 'The embassy deeply regrets the misinformation being paddled to the public by parties with vested interest, as it is mindful of the potential harm such action could cause to the long-established, warm and friendly neighbourly relations between the two countries,' the embassy said in a statement released last Friday. It said there was not the slightest grain of truth in the published allegations in the Post-Courier last week that the Indonesian fishermen shot dead and others wounded by PNGDF soldier in Sandaun waters were members of the Indonesian Armed Forces (Tentara National Indonesia). The embassy said they were bona fide fishermen, originally from Palopo in South Sulawesi, who had been residing and pursuing their fishing interest in Jayapura, Papua province, for a considerable part of their working life. Information available to the embassy also suggested that the Indonesian fishermen were present in Sandaun waters at the invitation of local villagers, as both parties had forged a cooperative working arrangement to market their catches at better price across the border in Jayapura on a profit-sharing basis. The embassy said there was also no truth in suggesting that there had been increased number of TNI detachments being deployed along the Indonesia-PNG border, with the exception of the security personnel comprising both police and army officers undertaking routine work in manning the border posts. There is absolutely no reason for Indonesia to embark on intense Å’espionage' operation in Papua New Guinea, as the media reports seem to allege. In the diplomatic world, regular exchange of information among officials of different countries in their respective fields is a normal practice and takes place all the time. 'As far as the PNG-Indonesia relation is concerned, this is provided for under the various treaties entered into between the two countries to date. 'Therefore, there is no truth either in suggesting that the Indonesian government offers monetary rewards to Papua New Guinean officials for intelligence information,' the embassy said.

Books
John Saltford's book now in paperback

The United Nations and the Indonesian Takeover of West Papua, 1962-1969: The Anatomy of Betrayal

Author John Saltford List Price: £20.00 ISBN: 0415406250

Publisher: Routledge Publication Date: 26/05/2006 Pages: 256 Available Binding(s): Paperback

Note: Only available through Routledge's "paperback direct" scheme at
routledge.co.uk

Reviews 'This well-researched book is essential reading for anyone interested in Papua' - Journal of Pacific History
'Saltford provides us with a competent and carefully structured monograph about a shameful period in the history of the United Nations ... This is a book to be highly recommended to anyone interested in post-war politics in Southeast Asia.' - Journal of Contemporary Asia

New book on West Papua, due out in October by Clinton Fernandes.
Reluctant Indonesians the future of West Papua
Clinton Clinton Fernandes is also author of Reluctant Saviour
Australia, Indonesia and the Independence of East Timor

______________________________________________
Australia West Papua Association (Sydney)
PO Box 28, Spit Junction, NSW 2088