West Java governor to testify at graft trial

Papua People’s Assembly members plan New Zealand study tour

Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura

The Papuan People’s Assembly (MRP) will leave for New Zealand in December to conduct a comparative study on the programs used to empower that country’s indigenous Maori population.

 The New Zealand government programs will be used as a model for the indigenous Papuans empowerment agenda, as stipulated in the 2001 law on Papua’s special autonomy.

 The trip to New Zealand will be the MRP’s first overseas visit since it was established on Oct. 31, 2005.

 MRP Vice Speaker Frans A. Wospakrik told The Jakarta Post on Sunday, during an event commemorating the assembly’s first anniversary in Sentani, Jayapura, the assembly had chosen New Zealand due to that country’s success in empowering the Maori community in all aspects of life.

 “The Maori people have been given a place, they are respected and given opportunities like any other citizens. The government also recognizes their customs and traditions,” said Wospakrik.

 Besides meeting with government officials, the MRP members will also meet with members of the Maori community to learn about their culture and how government programs have enabled their communities to develop.

 “The MRP will also examine Maori social interaction in the wider society and their traditional values, and the regulations used by the government to assure their respect and progress,” said Wospakrik.

 He said the MRP wished the whole of Indonesia could respect the existing tribal groups in Papua and help ensure their inclusion in the nation’s progress.

 “A nation consisting of many ethnic minorities should protect and empower the smaller groups, just
like it does the larger ones,” he said.

 Wospakrik warned that without protection the native tribes in Papua could one day disappear, and that large economic gaps would have the potential to cause social problems. He cited as an example the tension between the Dayak tribe and migrants in West Kalimantan.

 “We don’t want this to happen in Papua. We want everyone to live side by side, and for indigenous Papuans to be respected and given an equal role as a part of this great nation,” he said.

 Meanwhile, Frans Maniagasi, from the Papua Working Group, said the trip to New Zealand was unnecessary at the moment. He said there were more pressing issues to settle, especially with regard to indigenous rights.

 “There are important tasks which have not been resolved, such as the special regional regulations determining the rights of native Papuans, which is especially important when the MRP is a cultural institution that is tasked to fight for the rights of Papuans,” he said Monday.

 Frans added that the MRP should assess its performance over the past year instead of wasting time with trivial activities.

Anger in Papua over murder trial, presence of Freeport

Markus Makur, The Jakarta Post, Timika

Hundreds of people rallied in Timika, Papua, on Monday in opposition to the trial in Jakarta of seven Papuans charged with the 2002 murders of two American teachers and an Indonesian colleague employed by PT Freeport Indonesia.

 Protesters blocked off access for several hours to Freeport’s operational area starting at around 1 p.m.

The area was cleared at 5 p.m. after the police provided trucks to transport the protesters home.

 Earlier in the day, demonstrators gathered in front of the Timika District Court to demand the unconditional release of the seven defendants.

 Damaris Onawatme and Vincen Onayame, who organized the rally, said the demonstrators had earlier sent a message to the Central Jakarta District Court, where the seven Papuans are being tried, through the Timika District Court, demanding the release of the defendants.

 The organizers said the demonstrators arrived at the court Monday expecting to receive a response to their message.

 “We came here for an answer to our earlier conveyed demand,” Onawatme said.

 The demonstrators were met by court official Jhoni Kondolele, who said their demand had been forwarded to Jakarta but there had yet to be a response.

 From the court the demonstrators marched to the Freeport compound, handing out leaflets along the way about the deadly 2002 shooting.

 The leaflets also outlined the demands of the demonstrators, including the release of the seven defendants, the closure of the Freeport mine and the withdrawal of soldiers and police officers from Papua.

 “We will not hesitate to demand that the Indonesian government launch a fair investigation of the 2002 shooting. The incident took place in Freeport’s compound. The Papuan people, who own the country’s largest stock of natural resources, have been treated unfairly by the U.S. and Indonesia,” he said.

 Onayame accused Freeport, which is based in the U.S., of exploiting Papua’s natural resources while failing to improve the lives of Papuans.

 “Moreover, the working contract awarded to Freeport does not benefit the people of Timika,” he added.

Father loses wife and daughters when boat trip turns tragic

Syofiardi Bachyul Jb, The Jakarta Post, Padang

For Syafri and daughter Rahmi the Idul Fitri holiday will never be the same.

 The 45-year-old lost his wife and two of his three daughters when a boat they were on capsized Wednesday, during what was supposed to be a happy holiday outing at the Lake Singkarak tourist resort near Solok in West Sumatra.

 Syafri’s wife, Darmiati, 40, and eldest daughter, Depi, 18, were two of the five people who drowned in the accident, while his youngest daughter, Suci Ramadani, 5, passed away Sunday after being treated at the M. Djamil Hospital in Padang. Two more victims are still being treated at the hospital.

 The boat, which a witness says was dangerously overloaded, overturned in six meters of water only 15 meters from shore. None on board were wearing life jackets.

 Syafri’s remembers his second-eldest daughter, Rahmi, 8, who survived, had repeatedly asked the family to go to lake on that fateful day.

 “That’s why her mother, eldest sister and Suci decided to go to Singkarak with several of the neighbors. Rahmi insisted strongly on going and then, out of the blue, the accident occurred,” said Syafri, who stayed at home on the family farm.

 His house in Aie Angek village, Sepuluh Koto district, is only around 8 k.m. from the lake, which regularly fills up with visitors during Idul Fitri, most of them residents from nearby towns.

 Dozens of tour boats with outboard motors offer rides around the picturesque area, charging Rp 3,000 (US 31 cents) for each passenger for a 30-minute, 20-k.m. ride circling the lake.

 On Wednesday, a survivor remembers Syafri’s family along with several neighbors boarding the boat operated by 56-year-old Syamsul Bahri. Ten minutes into the ride, the vessel suddenly capsized and its passengers were thrown overboard. Many of them were able to swim to the shore, bordering the Solok-Padangpanjang highway. Despite the close proximity to land, five passengers, all women and children, could not swim and drowned.

 Thirty-seven-year-old survivor, Jasmi, who is also Syafri’s neighbor, said she saw water seeping into the boat before it tipped over. She asked Syamsul whether or not it was risky to continue the ride, but he told her it was OK. The boat then began to dangerously list to one side and the operator asked some of the passengers to move. In the ensuing panic, the boat overturned and its passengers were thrown overboard.

 “When the boat was rocking, Darmiati was about to grab Rahmi, but she refused her. Rahmi was eventually saved by someone I didn’t recognize,” Jasmi said.

 Jasmi estimated there were around 40 people on board the boat, which was supposed to carry only 20. Many passengers stood in the vessel because there were no seats.

 Syafri is not alone grieving in Aie Angek — one of his neighbors was mourning the loss of Nur, 45. The two other people confirmed drowned in the accident were named as It, 25, and her daughter, Husna, 5.
 State insurance company PT Jasa Raharja has promised to compensate the families Rp 10 million for each deceased relative and pay Rp 3 million for those treated in hospitals. The Solok regental administration has also pledged to give families Rp 1 million for each dead relative and Rp 500,000 for hospital fees, while the management of the tourist site will pay Rp 500,000 to families of the deceased and Rp 300,000 for hospital fees.

 A search and rescue team assisted by local residents ceased search efforts for bodies as of Thursday, while police have detained Syamsul and his assistant, Erizal, 35, as suspects.

 Solok Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Puji Sarwono said based on Syamsul’s testimony, the boat’s propeller was caught in a fishing net before it capsized.

 “If found guilty, both suspects are liable to a five-year prison term for negligence leading to death,” Sarwono said.

 Solok Regent Gusmal said the administration would evaluate facilities at Lake Singkarak and other tourist sites in the regency, and scrutinize the management of tour boats operated by local residents.

 Other popular destinations in the region include the Diatas, Dibawah and Talang lakes.

 “I will straighten out the facilities and management of tourist sites, certainly in tourist peak times, in an effort to improve the image of tourism in Solok following the tragedy,” Gusmal said Friday.

Toddlers join families onlong-distancejourneys

Suherdjoko and Hyginus Hardoyo, The Jakarta Post, Semarang/Jakarta

An increasing number of small children are joining their parents to travel by motorcycle for arduous journeys of hundreds of kilometers during the Idul Fitri holiday period.
Riding motorcycles is cheaper than catching the bus or the train with costs estimated to be around a fifth of public transportation.
Rizki, a one-year-old boy, was one of many children who traveled by motorbike with his family from Jakarta to the Central Java capital of Semarang two days before the Idul Fitri holidays began last week. On Sunday he joined parents Syafrudin and Yuniarti on the long ride back to the city.
“The thing that makes me happy is that my child is still healthy (despite the long journey). It means a lot to me,” said Syafrudin, a resident of Pluit in North Jakarta, when the family stopped in the Mangkang rest area, to the west of Semarang.
“Frankly speaking, I was forced to go by motorcycle with the family because
bus and train fares are ex-pensive, and public transportation is often uncomfortable and … overcrowded,”
he said.
Traffic jams and a lack of tickets were another reason why it was preferable to take a motorcycle, Udin said.
The Jakarta Post met several families with children
traveling by motorbike at Mangkang.
The children often sat in the middle between their
parents or up front with
their fathers, with the larger ones sitting behind on the back-bar.
The large bags the families brought on the trip were neatly tied on extended wooden baggage racks on the back
of the bikes.
Convoys of thousands of motorcycles have crowded Java’s major roads during the weekend, filing past slow-moving trucks and buses, especially on roads leading
to Jakarta.
According to data at the Central Java Transportation Office the number of motorcycles used to travel during this year’s Idul Fitri holiday reached a recorded 841,487, a jump of 57 percent from only 533,684 last year.
Responding to the substantial increase, a member of
the House of Representatives has urged the government to pass a law on the use of motorcycles for inter-provincial transportation.
With tens of thousands of motorcycles being used for long-distance travel, the government is overdue in regulating their use, Sumaryoto, a legislator, said, as reported
by Antara.
If the government allowed the continued use of the bikes for long-distance travel, it should build motorcycle-only lanes to prevent traffic accidents, he said.
Meanwhile, Transportation Minister Hatta Radjasa said in Surakarta, Central Java, Saturday that the govern-ment would intensify controls on the use of motorcycles
as a means of traveling between provinces during Idul Fitri.
Traveling a long distance by motorcycles needs rulings, he said. “We will regulate them to make sure they are orderly during the journey so as not to disturb drivers of other vehicles,” he said.

South Sumatra farmer devoured by hungry tiger, official says

Khairul Saleh, The Jakarta Post, Palembang

A farmer of Berlian Jaya village at Bayung Lencir district in Musi Banyuasin regency, South Sumatra, was killed by a starving tiger, which ate nearly all of his body parts,
leaving only bones and entrails, an official said Saturday.
Musi Banyuasin Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Rahardi Mulyanto said the remains of victim identified as Dali bin Dul Hasan, 28, were found by his neighbors Friday near an oil palm estate after he went missing three days earlier.
Clothes and the remains of the body, consisting only of arm and chest bones as well as entrails, were found, but his head was missing, Rahardi said, adding that the victim left his house on Tuesday, the first day of Idul Fitri.
“After a collective search, neighbors found him at the oil palm estate adjacent
to a rubber plantation,” Rahardi said.
He further explained that the residents also found bloodstains about 50 meters from the victim’s tent (where
workers stay to guard the plantation to prevent wild animals from damaging or eating crops).
The remains were later sent to a nearby public health center for an autopsy before being buried by his family.
Local residents are getting anxious, especially after they spotted four tigers loitering around the oil palm plantation.
“We’re still investigating the incident, including the argument that illegal
logging and forest fires are threatening the natural habitat of the wild animals,” Rahardi said. With the diminishing habitat, as a result of deforestation the tigers are increasingly venturing into villages in search of food.
It was the second fatal tiger attack to take place in the area in the last month.

RI-Timor Leste borderline tightened

Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Kupang

Soldiers stationed at the Indonesia-Timor Leste border have intensified security along the southern part of Belu regency in East Nusa Tenggara to prevent trespassing by insurgents from the newly established country.
Commander of the Indo-nesian Border Security Troops, Col. Ediwan Pra-bowo, said security was being intensified in an area adjacent to Timor Leste’s Kovalima district where insurgents together with their leader Maj. Alfredo Reinado had been hiding.
Ediwan said that based on information from the United Nations Peacekeeping Force (UPF) in Timor Leste, Alfredo Reinado and his men were believed to be hiding in the kampongs of Fatululik, Fatutean and Sibuare.
However, the possibility of Alfredo and his subordinates fleeing to the Indonesian part of West Timor was very remote, Ediwan said.
“The UPF is currently holding routine patrols in the kampongs to hunt down Alfredo and friends…but they have not captured them,” he said.
Ediwan explained that the intensified security was necessary to prevent Alfredo from trespassing into Indonesian territory.
“Up to 1,250 soldiers have been deployed to strengthen security at the border,” he said.
Timor Leste has been plagued by instability since rival security forces clashed in the capital in April and May after the government dismissed a third of the members of the armed forces. The violence killed 37 people and drove some 155,000 from their homes.
A wave of violence continued in the troubled nation’s capital where two men were hacked to death with machetes, a hospital official said Friday.
The bodies were taken by UN police to Dili’s National Hospital, which performed the autopsies Friday, said supervisor Zony Santos.
At least eight people have died and more than 50 have been wounded in clashes between rival gangs in Timor Leste since last weekend.
The scale of the unrest — involving 200 to 300 people in the fighting — has led UN officials to suggest the bloodshed may be planned.
“These incidents of fighting over the last few days have involved quite large numbers,” said UN spokesman Adrian Edwards, as quoted by the Associated Press.

Promoting and preserving historical texts through T-shirts

ID Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya

Historical documents can be preserved in many ways, such as by keeping them in display cabinets, reinscribing them or framing them.
However, Kuncarsono Prasetyo has his own distinct way of preserving them — printing the old texts on T-shirts.
“I want people to know that there’s a uniqueness in the old texts, and one of the ways to preserve them is to print them on T-shirts,” Kuncarsono, fondly called Kuncar, told The Jakarta Post.
His attraction for the old texts started when he worked as a reporter with a local
publication. The former student activist was then writing about historical documents
in East Java. He noticed that each document had its own character.
“I’m surprised that not many people are aware of these historical works — such as old advertisements, stamps and coins, which have their own distinct character — they are only stored in cabinets at the library,” he said.
He said that the old advertisements and stamps, for example were well designed, through which they have now transformed into various styles.
He said that many people were unfamiliar with the
faces of the country’s historical figures.
“Few people in East Java recognize the faces of Javanese rulers, or even regents who played a vital role in the country’s history,” he said.
Not to mention local figures, who are known to people only by their names, such as Cak Durasim, Sarip Tambak Yoso, Besoet and Sakerah.
“People know overseas figures like Che Guavara and Malcolm X better, despite
the fact that East Java fig-ures like Cak Durasim, Sarip Tambak Yoso, Besoet and
Sakerah, without doubt were also revolutionary figures,” said Kuncar.
Cak Durasim, for example was known for his fiery poems which aroused the fighting spirit of freedom fighters against the Japanese occupying forces. He was later arrested and banished by the Japanese forces, but had successfully ignited the spirit of the Arek Surabaya freedom fighters at that time.
With Rp 10 million (US$1,100) as capital, Kuncar, together with a local artist, Junaedi, started printing the historical texts on T-shirts. Although the business was a gamble, the move was deemed timely due to the current retro and vintage fashion trend.
“People say the trend now is anything that is old, so there’s no harm trying to familiarize the public with history and
at the same time sell T-shirts,” he quipped.
Kuncar chose old advertisements as his initial project. The ads have their own distinctive character, especially in the use of the Indonesian language, such as an ad about a rabies drug published in the Tjahaja Siang daily in 1869, that is cited as the oldest ad in the book Indonesian Advertising History published by the Association of Indonesian Advertising Agencies (PPPI). The other ad is on the Bintang Timoer Band printed in the Keng Po newspaper in 1932 and the Surabaya municipality ad printed in the Alijoem daily in 1936.
“The newspapers which had published the ads don’t exist anymore, but that’s what makes it more interesting,” said Kuncar.
He plans to print T-shirts of old stamps and historical portraits later. “I will produce other themes when I’ve collected from the sales of the ad T-shirts,” said Kuncar.
Kuncar allows anyone to copy his T-shirts.
“Please, do duplicate my
T-shirts. I won’t sue anyone because every Indonesian citizen has the right to obtain historical information,” he said.