Indonesia

Jakarta dispatches 950-strong force to PNG border

The soldiers were sent from the Central Java and Yogyakarta command posts.

The Jakarta Post reports they travelled by war ships and will be stationed along the 760 kilometre land border.

Major General Jaswandi, who is overseeing the deployment, says it is a routine assignment and the soldiers will also be preventing illegal logging practices.

They will be stationed there for nine months before being replaced.

Forum Chair to ask Indonesia about fact-finding mission

The situation in Indonesia's eastern region was one of the main issues discussed at this week's Forum summit in Port Moresby amid intensive lobbying by civil society for more scrutiny on abuses in Papua.

Peter O'Neill says the concerns have been taken seriously by the Forum leaders.

West Papua special envoy criticises Indonesia

Since the admission of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) as an observer to the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare appointed a Special Envoy on West Papua to highlight the situation in West Papua.

Member of Parliament, Matthew Wale is in Port Moresby this week to reach out to Pacific Leaders and remind them of their moral responsibility towards the sufferings of the more than 10 million West Papuans in Indonesia.

Pacific island partnership to highlight climate adaptation

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi had just come back on Thursday from her visit to Fiji, where she attended the Pacific Island Development Forum (PIDF) and discussed how to build resilience to climate change.

“The focus is how the Pacific Islands prepare adaptation and mitigation measures for climate change,” the ministry’s spokesperson, Armanatha Nasir, said .

Pacific Churches condemn killing in West Papua

And they have called on regional leaders to speak out against summary killings, torture and human rights abuse in the Indonesian-occupied territory.

Reports from Timika, West Papua, say a group of Special Forces troops shot dead two members of the Catholic Youth Group at the Cathedral Parish of the Three Kings Timika.

At the time of the Kamoro people were performing traditional rituals.

Sources say the soldiers, who were refused entry to the area, went to their barracks, returned with weapons and fired on the group.

Pole-and-line tuna catch remains healthy, affirms IPNLF

The study focused on the production of Indonesian tuna fisheries in selected provinces, with the aim of  helping dispel any confusion over the size of the country’s pole-and-line catch and to clarify how much of the production enters commercial supply chains.

Recent reports have been circulated claiming Indonesia’s pole-and-line tuna catch fell to 10,000 tonnes last year, which is just one-tenth of the total volume that is generally accepted and reflected in the most recent Government capture fisheries statistics for 2014.

Indonesia to participate in developing Timor Leste`s infrastructure

“We will encourage investment between the two countries,” he said in a joint press conference with Timor Leste Prime Minister Rui Maria de Araujo on Wednesday.

President Jokowi said he will also try to encourage mutually beneficial trade relations between Indonesia and Timor Leste.

He further said the issue of Indonesia-Timor Leste borders particularly two land borders is expected to be settled at the end of this year.

Both countries will discuss the settlement of northern sea borders before the southern sea border, he said.

Tighter new media rules likely to have impact on West Papua

The director-general of political and general administration at the Home Ministry, Soedarmo, said the new regulation was a follow-up policy drawn up after ministries and state institutions in charge of supervising foreigners in Indonesia, with the Foreign Ministry as the leading institution, agreed that it was important to monitor all activities of foreign journalists in Indonesia.

Attempt to smuggle bullets to Papua foiled

A Jakarta police spokesperson says they are still investigating the case, but it's suspected the ammunition had been ordered by Papuan separatists.

The police say the ammunition was found without proper paperwork on Monday, and was ready to be dispatched to Papua.

After arresting the man who checked in the baggage, the police say they learned that a Papua separatist group member had ordered the bullets.

The ammunition is now being kept at the airport while investigations continue.

 

Balibo widow angry over implicated Indonesian spy chief

Almost 40 years since the killing of the five journalists in Timor-Leste, Shirley Shackleton fears the appointment of retired lieutenant-general Sutiyoso has dashed hopes of her husband's remains ever being returned.

The 70-year-old Sutiyoso, who President Joko Widodo named in June as the new chief of the Indonesian Intelligence Agency (BIN), was an army captain in charge of a special forces unit in East Timor when the newsmen were killed on October 16, 1975.