Champ

The first Indonesian athlete to win a medal at the Sydney Olympics was Raema Lisa Rumbewas, a Papuan weightlifter. Lisa Rumbewas was born in Jayapura on 10 September 1985. Her mother Ida Korwa was also a weightlifter, while her father Levi Rumbewas achieved a name as a bodybuilder. Lisa won bronze by lifting a total of 185 kg in the 48 kg division - the same as silver medalist Tara Nott from the US, but Tara lifted a little more than Lisa in the snatch event. Her mother was there to watch Lisa compete. 'I'm so proud of her', she said wiping away tears of happiness. 'Every night I prayed that Lisa would be able to give her best for the country'. Lisa had never taken part in an international competition before.

Kompas 17 September 2000, Timika Post 19 September 2000

Hard landings

Villagers found the remains of two US fighter planes that crashed during World War II, the official Antara news agency reported in June 2000. Believed to be Republic P-47 Thunderbolts, the planes were discovered near the villages of Mos and Makmakerbon in Irian Jaya. The surrounding area was littered with unexploded ammunition. Irian Jaya was a major battleground between Japanese and Allied forces during World War II. The P-47s were heavy, long-range fighters that escorted allied bombers on raids against Japanese bases along the northern coast of New Guinea. Quite a few such wrecks have been found over the years. In April 2001, workers mapping a forest concession found another suspected US plane from WWII near the border with PNG.

Flying remains dangerous. On 8 January 2001 a military plane carrying ten people, including regional military commander Maj-Gen Tonny Rompis and provincial police chief Maj-Gen Sumardi, crashed into mountains at a height of nearly 12,000 feet on a flight from Timika. It had to pass through gaps in the high mountain range to reach Wamena. It is believed the aircraft took the wrong gap when it attempted to enter Wamena from the South Gap, where there are numerous gaps with similar features.

Associated Press 29 June 2000; Jakarta Post 14 January 2001 & 9 April 2001

Morning after...

The hostage drama began on 16 January 2001 when OPM commander Willem Onde seized 17 employees of Korean plywood company Korindo hostage in Merauke. Onde demanded that Korindo pay a US$2 million ransom, that all Mobile Police Brigade (Brimob) personnel withdraw from Papua, that the Indonesian government recognise Papuan sovereignty, and (later on) that Onde be allowed to meet President Abdurrahman Wahid. Intriguingly, he also asked for his bar tab at the Nikita Bar to be paid.

The 39 year old is no Che Guevera. He has had a close relationship with the Indonesian military since 1997. In July 2000, the military even took Onde to Jakarta to meet Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri. The chaotic events began with a drunken night in the Nikita Bar in Merauke on 9 January. A man with untidy hair looked at his bar bill and his eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw the total: Rp 2.4 million. He certainly didn't have that kind of money in his pocket. As usual, he called Korindo boss Lee Hun (one of the hostages) and asked him to pay it - Onde had been working there as a security guard since 1999. Fed up with the same thing happening over and over again, the firm refused to foot the bill. The elementary school dropout then lost his temper. And so the half-hearted hostage drama began. It was resolved when all hostages were released unharmed three weeks later.

Tempo 13-19 February 2001

Human Rights Network

So you don't live in a militarised zone or a refugee camp in Indonesia. Still if you knew you could take action to save an innocent woman, child or man from being beaten, disappeared or killed, you would. We are offering you that opportunity, and the opportunity to reverse a failed US policy that has supported Indonesian government repression of its own people for decades.

Founded in the northern summer of 2000, the Indonesia Human Rights Network is committed to influencing US policy to support human rights and oppose militarism in Indonesia. IHRN is committed to educational campaigns, grassroots organising, public education, and media work to make this happen. But we need your help.

We began our work in earnest when our dear friend Jafar Siddiq Hamzah was disappeared in Medan. Jafar, a human rights lawyer, had recently returned to his homeland from five years of US residence in New York City, where he founded the International Forum on Aceh. For many months before his disappearance, Jafar had persistently urged many of us to complete the formation of a grassroots network to champion human rights in Aceh and other areas of Indonesia, like we had done in East Timor. The Indonesia Human Rights Network is dedicated to Jafar's memory.

Become a member! Send an email to ihrn@etan.org with your contact information. IHRN is pleased to work in close coordination with the Indonesia Working Group in Washington, and scores of non-governmental organisations and grassroots networks across the United States. By making a [US] tax-deductable contribution of $25, $35 or $50 to support the Indonesia Human Rights Network, you can help stop military repression in Indonesia.

Kurt Biddle (kurtbiddle@earthlink.net), member Executive Board IHRN, Berkeley, USA, 07 January, 2001, web: www.indonesianetwork.org.

Timor veteran

The appointment at the end of January 2001 of Major-General Mahidin Simbolon as the commander of the Trikora military command in Jayapura followed the death in an air crash of the previous commander. Simbolon, a member of Kopassus, the army's elite commandos, has had no fewer than six tours of duty in East Timor. Simbolon played an active role in SGI, the special Kopassus unit whose local command posts were used to torture captured East Timorese. He led the unit which arrested resistance leader, Xanana Gusmao, in 1992, for which he was given a special promotion from major to colonel. In 1999 he was chief of staff at the Udayana military command based in Bali, in overall control of East Timor. Under his tenure the operation was launched whose main purpose was to create, recruit and finance the many militia units that spearheaded the army's violence before, during and after the UN-supervised ballot.

Tapol Bulletin Online (www.gn.apc.org/tapol/bulletin161.htm) March/April 2001

It's a gas

British-American oil and gas company Beyond Petroleum (BP), formerly British Petroleum, expects the construction of the Tangguh liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Irian Jaya to start in the second quarter of 2002. The planned LNG centre is located in Berau Bay, north of Fak-Fak on Papua's southwestern coast. The nearby gas fields of Wiriagar, Berau, and Muturi have proven gas reserves of 14.4 trillion cubic feet. BP senior vice president for external affairs John O'Reilly said BP would start construction after completing an environmental assessment of the project. Pertamina says the assessment for Tangguh is the first in the country's oil and gas industry to include consultation with the local community.

Pertamina and BP initially planned to start construction this year. But the absence of a long-term buyer forced them to revise the schedule. However, BP remains upbeat on its original target to start LNG production by the year 2006. They hope to sell LNG to China and Taiwan. A surge of new gas suppliers across the globe has made competition tougher. About US$2 billion will initially be spent on the project, which has the potential to generate foreign currency earnings of US$22 billion.

Jakarta Post 11 April 2001

Small world

A total of 148 Afghans will be deported from Fak-Fak district of Irian Jaya, Governor Jaap Salossa said. A team of the United Nations' High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) offered assistance to help deport them. They had been stranded in Fak-Fak's Kaimana subdistrict since November 2000, on their voyage to Australia. Officials found that they all could produce the required identity documents.

Antara 28 February 2001