Border concerns as new road gets ready to open

Residents of Vanimo in Papua New Guinea have protested against the opening of a new cross-border road linking their township with the capital of Indonesia's Papua province, Jayapura. According to the Port Moresby Post-Courier, the demonstrators are concerned that PNG does not seem prepared and ready to handle the influx of visitors passing through the border post at Wutung onto the PNG side.

"The opening of the highway could cause far more serious problems for PNG as a new wave of illegal immigrants could be passing through the border post and then disappearing into PNG like others have done in the past. PNG needs to provide the infrastructure and staff to secure the border post and provide quarantine, immigration, customs, police, Defence Force, taxation and other services needed to ensure strict compliance with PNG laws by anyone wishing to enter PNG," the newspaper commented.

"The government should not rush into any opening ceremony until all required services and manpower are ready to administer movements across the common border. It should also ensure the people of West Sepik, the churches, women's groups and the youths clearly understand the full implications of opening up their border town to visitors from the Indonesian side. The opening of links between the two countries needs to be carefully done to ensure the common border does not become a transit point for transnational criminal activities such as human smuggling, drugs and guns trafficking, prostitution and importation of illegal products into PNG," it said.

The Vanimo protesters have delivered a petition regarding their concerns to their provincial governor, Carlos Yuni, to give to the prime minister.

Across the border, special petrol stations are being built for PNG visitors to prevent them from purchasing diesel oil and gasoline subsidised by the Indonesian national government. But Papua provincial governor Barnabas Suebu expects a surge of PNG visitors, particularly from Vanimo, because Jayapura's prices are cheaper. "There are benefits to be had by both sides. They get cheaper prices and we will be able to sell our commodities," he said.

PNG dance troupe to perform in Papua province

Dr Jacob Gris Jumogot MP, Governor of the Papua New Guinea province of Manus announced a cultural tour to Indonesia's Papua province on 15-20 March. He made the remarks during a meeting with Indonesia's Consul in Vanimo, Ign. Kristanyo Hardojo and Maria Wagey, a cultural team liaison officer. "I will directly head the artists troupe of Manus province in a visit to Papua. The troupe of artists is called Paksonon Heritage Cultural Dancing Group," Jumogot told Antara newsagency, adding that cooperation in fishery and maritime affairs will follow.

The 45 dancers and seven other members of the troupe will perform on the Melanesian Cultural stage in Jayapura and Keerom districts in Papua province. Governor Jumogot opined that it "was a proper cultural cooperation because people of PNG's Manus and Papua province have the same culture and tradition."

How "Papua" originated in western New Guinea

From Letters Page of The National (Port Moresby)

"... the name Papua originally derived from “Pua-pua” in Eastern Malay dialect which means frizzy hair referring to inhabitants of the Western part of New Guinea mainland. This is attributed to the Portuguese explorer who then pronounced it as Papua."

Noah Omaleh Kaiyo,
Vanimo, West Sepik province
Papua New Guinea

"Tanah Papua will be more advanced than PNG"

Indonesian Papuan citizens living in Papua New Guinea and abroad for the past 40 years can now return to rebuild their homeland in western New Guinea, Logohu Award winner and PNG journalist Franz-Albert Joku told a 'West Papuan' community gathering in Erima Parish, Gordon, PNG. He had just returned to Port Moresby after negotiating with Indonesian central government and Papuan provincial government officials on the special autonomy and how West Papuans in PNG and abroad could participate.

The PNG government supports the special autonomy process in the two Indonesian provinces, Papua and Papua Barat and PNG officials will be liaising with the Indonesian government and the Papua province government to register West Papuans who fled Indonesia in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s who agree to return home.

"Mr Joku appealed to the West Papuans fighting for independence in the bushes and mountains to reach a compromise and work together under the new special autonomy process," Harlyne Joku reported in The National (Port Morsby). "He said under the special autonomy, West Papuans would have 85 per cent freedom to empower themselves on their own land. He said now, a positive pace had been set and the special autonomy process passed by the Indonesian government in October 2001 was beginning to work. Leaders were being elected in a democratic process."

Joko also appealed to educated West Papuans not be spectators of the autonomy process but make it work, adding there was freedom of speech, movement and elections. Although their fathers had demanded political independence, the Indonesian government had given special autonomy.

"Not like before when people were ruled under the barrel of a gun. If all goes as expected under special autonomy, between seven and nine years time, in development than PNG," he said.

The meeting was a first of a series of meetings in Port Moresby for the West Papuan community to discuss the special autonomy process. The next meeting is set for next month.

References to "West Papua" appear to include both Papua and Papua Barat (West Papua) provinces of Indonesian New Guinea.

PNG visitors prevented from buying subsidised fuel

The Indonesian government has imposed the international oil price standard on Papua New Guinea residents who buy fuel oil in Wutung, Jayapura in Papua province. The measure was taken to prevent border crossers from purchasing diesel oil and gasoline subsidised by the Indonesian national government, Indonesian Consul General to Vanimo, Ignatius Kristanyo, told Antara newsageny.

"If border crossers from PNG are allowed to buy fuel oil at gas stations in Jayapura, they will buy the commodity in bulk and the Indonesian people in Jayapura and environs will run out of the fuel oil they need," he said. He said the purchase of fuel oil in great volume could happen because the rate of PNG's currency, Kina, is higher than the Indonesian unit, Rupiah, namely, Rp3,000 to one Kina.

Thus, the Indonesian government would set up gas stations on areas bordering on PNG to avoid the purchase of fuel oil in bulk by PNG people in rupiah, he said, adding that the government would also limit the volume of fuel oil to be sold in the border areas. He cited as an example that diesel oil would be sold at four Kinas or Rp12,000 per liter and gasoline at 4.50 Kinas or Rp14,000 per liter.

"The oil prices of international standard are lower than those in PNG," he said while disclosing that the living cost in PNG was higher than that in Indonesia. Therefore, many PNG people come to Indonesian areas bordering on PNG for shopping as the prices of basic necessities in the achipelagic country are lower than those in the beighbouring nation, he said.

Indonesia ready to open Papua/PNG border road

Indonesia has announced that it is ready to open its cross-border road with the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, saying it is proof of the bilateral cooperation between the two countries. Minister for Home Affairs, M. Ma'ruf visited a border post at Skow Wutung in Jayapura, Papua province, to check on immigration services.

"There has been much progress, including in the trial services. Here we can check how long it takes for a traveler to process his or her documents and baggage. We will speed it up to provide a better service," he said.

Papuan Governor Barnabas Suebu said that with the opening of the border crossing the number of people from PNG coming to shop in Jayapura would increase because the city's prices were cheaper, while Indonesian traders from Jayapura would find it easier to sell their products in Vanimo, a PNG provincial capital close to the border. "There are benefits to be had by both sides. They get cheaper prices and we will be able to sell our commodities," Suebu said.

The border post is also expected to reduce the number of illegal crossings. "With the opening of the legal post, local people are expected to use it," he said.

The post is scheduled to be officially opened next month by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and PNG Prime Minister Michael Somare, The Jakarta Post reported.

Central ministries review Papua's border with PNG

Indonesian Home Affairs Minister M Ma'ruf is scheduled to leave for Papua Province on 18 February for a working visit in the province. The Minister and a group of national legislators and central government ministry officials will visit Skouw border line area shared by Indonesian eastern most province of Papua and neighbouring Papua New Guinea. The Skouw border patrol post was newly constructed and will be officially inaugurated in March.

Last year, Indonesia and PNG twice discussed the two countries' border issues, respectively taking place in Pontianak (West Kalimantan) in August 2006 and in Jakarta in December 2006.

Indonesia's two provinces on New Guinea island, Papua and Papua Barat (West Papua) are home to a native Melanesian population of about 2 million people, plus another 700,000 settlers from other parts of the country.

Antara reports that the minister, who is also accompanied by officials from the coordinating ministry for political, legal and security affairs and the transportation and health ministries, will then proceed to East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), to visit the country's borderline in Mota Ain, Belu District, which shares a common borderline with Timor Leste.

HIV/AIDS in neighbouring Papua New Guinea

The Government of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea has rejected a report which predicted that up to a quarter of the nation's population could be infected with HIV/ AIDS by 2020 and up to a million people could die of AIDS and HIV. The report, released online (pdf format) by the Australian Centre for Independent Studies, argues that if HIV prevention measures are not increased, the virus could have a negative impact on the country's economy and labor force.

It estimates that 118,000 people, or 2% of the population, living in Papua New Guinea are HIV-positive and that HIV prevalence will be 18% by 2010 and 25% by 2020.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the virus is spread mainly through heterosexual contact. Miranda Tobias, report author and a research fellow at CIS, said that young women in the country are being targeted by residents who believe that HIV is spread through witchcraft. Tobias said that there were about 500 attacks on women in the past year that involved torture, sometimes for days, to obtain "confessions" from the women and that some of the attacks resulted in murder.

The government has not acknowledged the "actual and potential dimensions of the spread of HIV/AIDS and its effects," Tobias said, adding, "the problem has been coming for a while, and it is snowballing." The country has other health care problems, including the second-highest maternal mortality rate in the world and a lack of running water in some hospitals, Tobias said.

However Papua New Guinea's Health Minister Peter Barter told Xinhua that the report's HIV prevalence projections are for the "worst possible scenario," but the "fact is that we don't have the worst scenario in Papua New Guinea."

PNG military shoot Papuan fishermen, one killed

The Vice Governor of Papua province, Alek Hesegem, said the defense force of neighbouring Papua New Guinea should have abided by the human rights principles so that a shooting incident that had killed an Indonesian fisherman, would not have happened. "There are universal laws which must be respected by all countries, including PNG, in dealing with poaching," Papua Vice Governor Alek Hesegem told Antara in Jayapura.

The PNG security personnel should have arrested the Indonesian fishermen, processed them legally for illegal fishing on PNG waters, and reported the case to the Indonesian Consulate in PNG, he said.

The Papua authorities have asked the PNG government to return the body of the shot Indonesian fisherman. Papua wanted to maintain good ties with PNG, and the return of the body would be at the Papua administration`s expenses, he said.

PNG soldiers shot at Indonesian poachers on PNG waters on 8 August killing one fisherman andwounded two others, while seven others were unharmed and currently being detained in Vanimo, PNG. The 10 men, residents of the Dok V area in Jayapura, left Papua on the boat last Monday.

Papuans and PNG meet for border discussions

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) in Pontianak, West Kalimantan from 28 to 30 August 2006. The head of the Border Areas Development Preparation Agency (BP2KKP), Nyoman Sudana told Antara that the BLM is a routine meeting between the Papua Province and 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 will be headed by Papua Deputy Governor Alex Hesegem SE, and the PNG delegation by Samuel Pulup. The delegation of the Indonesian central government will be led by Yuri Thamrin of the Foreign Ministry, who will preside over the meeting.

OPM claims to give up armed struggle in Papua

Some 40 years of sporadic guerrilla warfare against Indonesian troops in the province of Papua appears to be drawing to a close. The Free West Papua movement, known as the OPM, has long promoted independence from Indonesia. This week, OPM guerrilla commanders held an historic meeting in Madang in neighbouring Papua New Guinea. There, they pledged to end their armed struggle and continue their fight for Papua's independence, but through non-violent action, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's PNG correspondent Steve Marshall reported.

"The commanders responsible for coordinating attacks on Indonesian troops have agreed to operate together. Now, they are appealing to the international community to support this new umbrella organisation," Nikolaus Ipo Hau, the OPM Revolutionary Council chairman who lives in exile in PNG said. "This doesn't mean a surrender and it is not a defeat for the OPM. Now, the organisation wants to be respecting of human rights. We want to promote this. It doesn't mean we can't fight - we will defend ourselves and if we are attacked, we will attack - but we want to move forward with a peaceful solution."