WEST PAPUA: Indonesian Foreign Minister defends RESTRICTED ACCESS TO PAPUA

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Papuan Human Rights : Military Operations

WEST PAPUA: Indonesian Foreign Minister defends RESTRICTED ACCESS TO PAPUA
By Hamish McDonald
Jun 4, 2008, 18:13

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WEST PAPUA: Indonesian Foreign Minister defends RESTRICTED ACCESS TO PAPUA
"You should not think that if not much access is given [for foreign media and human rights monitors to Papua] that we are hiding something," Mr Wirajuda said. "We simply want for the people to have a peaceful life."

Indonesian political leaders ... are still worried by Australian interest in human rights and independence issues in Papua.

Richard Samuelson
Free West Papua Campaign, Oxford, UK.
www.freewestpapua.org

PM 'snub' of Indonesia a non-issue: Wirajuda

Hamish McDonald

http://www.theage.com.au/national/pm-snub-of-indonesia-a-nonissue-wirajuda-20080602-2kwc.html?skin=text-only

The AGE June 3, 2008

INDONESIA'S Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda has rejected claims by the Federal Opposition and conservative media voices that Kevin Rudd has neglected or snubbed Indonesia by not making an official visit sooner after his election win.

Mr Rudd arrives in Jakarta on June 12 for a three-day visit after going to Japan, which the Opposition says he has also offended.

It will be his second visit to Indonesia since taking office in November, as he attended the climate change summit in Bali in December. He met President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono then, but the visit focused on bilateral relations.

Speaking to a visiting group of Australian editors in Jakarta on Friday, Mr Wirajuda placed the blame for any perceived lateness of the visit on Indonesia.

"We planned the visit much earlier this year, but due to our own problems we had to reschedule and postpone the trip by Mr Rudd," he said.

Mr Rudd's visit comes with high expectations that he will bring new warmth to the relationship, after what parliament member Constant Ponggawa said was a sense that Australia had been "more oriented to making better relations with Western countries" during the Howard years.

Recalling former prime minister Paul Keating's embrace of the late president Suharto in the early 1990s, Mr Ponggawa said: "That's why we also hope that with the new Prime Minister coming from the Labor Party, we'll have even more warm relations with Australia."

Theo Sambuaga, an MP from the former ruling Golkar Party and chairman of the Parliament's committee on defence and foreign relations, said Labor was seen as more friendly. "Here is also the perception and the sentiment of Indonesian politics � that we are more close to the Labor Party than the National and Liberal parties," he said.

Foreign Minister Wirajuda said that Indonesia had been very pleased by the Howard Government's commitment to better relations and that "these were being maintained if not strengthened by the Rudd Government".

Indonesian political leaders appreciate the $450 million in Australian aid but are still worried by Australian interest in human rights and independence issues in Papua.

Mr Wirajuda defended his Government's policy of restricting access by foreign media and human rights monitors to Papua, while the two MPs called on Australians not to question the territory's place in Indonesia.

"You should not think that if not much access is given that we are hiding something," Mr Wirajuda said. "We simply want for the people to have a peaceful life."

But Asara Nababan, of civil liberties group Demos, said Papua was still beset by a military operating with impunity, widespread corruption, and a serious HIV/AIDS epidemic.

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