[Kabar-Irian] Irian News - 2/13/04

[Admin]

- Indon Warship Carries Aid To Nabire 
- Post-quake diseases concern spread in Nabire town 
- OCHA Consolidated Situation Report No. 167
- Govt denies hiring Bob Dole as lobbyist 
- Home affairs ministry to supervise regional budget 
- Indonesia's Tangguh LNG Project Needs 20% More Sales
*****************************

Antara
Indon Warship Carries Aid To Nabire 
Friday, February 13, 2004 10:34:11 PM

Jakarta, Feb 13 (ANTARA) -- The Indonesian warship KRI Nuku-873 of the Eastern 
Armada left Jayapura for Nabire on Wednesday with relief aid for earthquake 
victims in its holds. 

According to a press release of the Navy Headquarters in Jakarta on Thursday 
the relief aid included 2.5 tons of rice, 200 boxes of instant noodle from the 
West Irian Jaya provincial administration, one ton of rice and 200 boxes of 
instant noodle from the Manokwari regency administration, 1.5 tons of rice from 
the Navy, one ton of rice from KRI Nuku, as well as medication, sugar, canned 
food, salt, milk, and clothing from various business companies and the general 
public. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Jakarta Post.com
National News
February 14, 2004
Post-quake diseases concern spread in Nabire town 
Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura, Papua

Some 155 Nabire residents were treated at the Nabire hospital on Friday, 
bringing the recorded number of residents suffering post-quake diseases to 958.

"The residents have dengue fever, respiratory ailments or dysentery," said 
Second Brig. Hendra Simbolon of the Papua Natural Disaster and Refugee 
Management Task Force in Nabire. 

The number of people suffering illness could be higher, because people who have 
visited other local community health centers for medical treatment have not 
been recorded. Nabire Hospital is the only hospital in town. 

Residents are prone to illness because they have chosen to stay outdoors for 
fear of the frequent aftershocks in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake 
on Feb. 6. 

Residents who are living in tents out in the open are easy prey for the 
anopheles mosquito, the carriers of malaria. 

Living out in the open, they are also vulnerable to respiratory ailments and 
dysentery as sanitation is poor. 

According to Hendra, members of the task force were concentrating on treating 
people suffering from post-quake diseases and people injured in the earthquake. 

At least 592 residents were injured, some seriously, in the earthquake on Feb. 
6, which measured 6.9 on the Richter scale. 

The number of fatalities rose to 39 on Friday, when two more people died. 

Meanwhile, fear continues to grip Nabire, as two aftershocks rattled the area 
on Friday, with the first measuring 4.5 on the Richter scale at 4:20 a.m and 
the second 5.2 at 12:15 p.m. 

Separately, the coordinator of the Health Crisis Center at the Papua 
administration's Health Office, Paminto Widodo said he had not received any 
reports of post-quake diseases. 

"The emerge of post-quake diseases makes sense, because, for example, malaria 
is endemic in Papua. However, we haven't received a report yet," he said. 

Paminto claimed that his office had people in the quake area would contract 
malaria. 

When the office sent medical officers to Nabire right after the earthquake, 
they brought along mosquito nets and equipment to fumigate against the 
anopheles mosquito. 

Meanwhile, aid for victims of the earthquake continued to pour into Nabire. A 
Japanese government official handed over aid to Nabire Regent A.P. Youw on 
Friday. The aid included 120 generators, 70 tents and 3,000 blankets, rice, 
buckets and medicines. 

"They chartered two planes from Biak to Nabire to carry the aid," said Hendra. 
Food and medicine from fellow Indonesians has already poured into Nabire. 

A 56-members-strong government medical team, led by Dr. Dati Indrasnato, 
departed on Friday from Biak to Nabire aboard the KM Kutilang ferry. 

They were from the Ministry of Health in Jakarta, and arrived in Biak on 
Thursday, aboard an Indonesian Army airplane. 

They will help local medical staff treat the victims of the earthquake. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Date: 13 Feb 2004

Indonesia: OCHA Consolidated Situation Report No. 167
7 - 13 February 2004

Provincial Updates 
1. NATURAL DISASTERS 

Earthquake 

Papua 
A series of moderate to minor after shocks continued to be felt in and around 
Nabire. On Thursday (11 Feb.), there were four after shocks. The Government has 
announced that similar shocks would continue for the next few days and advised 
people not to stay inside their houses. 

According to the Health Department on Friday (13 Feb.), the death toll from the 
recent earthquake in Nabire rose to 37. Meanwhile, 115 people are registered as 
seriously injured and 515 with mild injuries. In cooperation with TNI, the 
Health Department has dispatched a medical team and provided ambulances, drugs 
and medical equipment. An emergency hospital (Rumah Sakit Lapangan) has been 
covering the functions of the damaged Nabire Hospital since last week. In 
addition to the earthquake injuries, most patients are treated for Malaria, 
URTI (Upper Respiratory Track Infection) and diarrhoea. 

The airport remains open and commercial flights with small aircraft begin to 
operate (Trigana Air, Merpati & Mimika Air). However, large aircraft are unable 
to land due to the cracks on the short runway. Sea transportation remains 
uninterrupted. Traffic is normal in the city center and other roads. 

The Government has allocated emergency relief funds through the Coordinating 
Minister for People's Welfare office (IDR 1 billion), the Social Department 
(IDR 200 million, 50 MT of rice) and Provincial Government of Papua (IDR 300 
million) 

Emergency assistance from the local Government and international organizations 
is arriving in Nabire, including assistance from the Government of USA (US$ 
50,000), The Government of Japan (US$ 124,000), AusAID (US$ 39,000) and UN OCHA 
(US$ 40,000). Assistance was also provided by UNICEF (42 kg of drugs), MSF-B (a 
medical team and medicine), PT Freeport (3 generators, drugs, blanket and air 
transportation) and IFRC/PMI (plastic sheets, blood bags, body bags, mosquito 
nets and family kits). PMI is considering to provide additional relief items to 
the affected population (i.e. mosquito nets and water containers). 

The joint OCHA-UNICEF team has returned from Nabire on Thursday (12 Feb.), 
however, OCHA continues monitoring of the situation and maintaining contacts 
with the authorities and organizations. 

6. PAPUA 

General Situation and Population Movement 
Nothing to report 

Details Of Assistance Provided 

5. PAPUA 
Nothing to report 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Jakarta Post.com
National News
February 14, 2004
Govt denies hiring Bob Dole as lobbyist 
Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied on Friday media reports that 
Jakarta had hired former U.S. Republican Senator Bob Dole as an official 
lobbyist.

"It's not correct that Bob Dole has been appointed as an Indonesian lobbyist in 
Washington," ministry spokesman Marty A. Natalegawa said at a media conference 
in Jakarta. 

"The fact is that Bob Dole has expressed his readiness to help Indonesia on a 
case-by-case basis, but not hired as a lobbyist. There is no type of blanket 
contract," said Marty. 

The Far Eastern Economic Review, in its Feb. 5 edition, reported that Dole had 
been hired by the Indonesian government to further its interests in Washington. 

The magazine quoted a senior U.S. official as saying that Dole had the ear of 
both Secretary of State Colin Powell and his deputy Richard Armitage, and could 
exercise considerable influence on Capitol Hill. 

Marty said that Jakarta considered Dole as one of Indonesia's friends in 
Washington. 

He said for the moment there was nothing that immediately required Dole's 
involvement. 

"But if later, there were things that needed Bob Dole's help, we would 
certainly seek his assistance," he said. 

Dole, who is now a special counsel to a major Washington law firm, ran 
unsuccessfully as the Republican candidate against Bill Clinton in the 1996 
presidential election. 

Indonesia may require Dole's help in resolving a legal dispute between its 
state-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina and the American power producer 
Karaha Bodas Company (KBC). 

The government canceled KBC's power project in Garut, West Java, in 1998 due to 
the 1997 financial crisis. 

KBC went to an arbitration panel and won the case. The panel ordered Pertamina 
to pay US$261 million in compensation. Pertamina accepted it had to pay 
compensation to KBC but differed on the amount payable. 

As a result, the U.S. court froze several of Pertamina's bank accounts worth of 
hundreds of millions of dollars, in the U.S. 

Indonesia needs U.S. government help to release its money from the frozen 
accounts. 

U.S. Congress members recently voted against the restoration of a military 
training program in the United States for Indonesian officers. 

Washington has been seeking closer defense ties with Jakarta as part of what it 
calls its global war on terror. 

But it says it cannot resume most of the military links, which were suspended 
in 1999 over the bloodshed in East Timor, without a full accounting for human 
rights abuses and a proper inquiry into the killing of two Americans in Papua 
province in August 2002. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Jakarta Post.com
National News
February 14, 2004
Home affairs ministry to supervise regional budget 
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Ministry of Home Affairs will oversee the use of regional budget, taking 
over the supervisory role from regional legislatures (DPRDs).

In the planned revision of law No.22/1999 on the fiscal balance the central 
government will tightly supervise the use of regional budget. 

According to law No. 22/1999, known also as autonomy law, regional 
administrations and legislatures have the authority to draft regional budgets. 

"Most of the funds come from Jakarta, so it is the obligation of the central 
government to ensure the use of the fund," Minister of Home Affairs Hari 
Sabarno said on Friday. 

He said local legislature members would share the duties to plan the budget 
with regional administrations, but his ministry would also be involved in the 
discussion. 

"We will not let the regions use the fund without clear objectives and purposes 
as the regional autonomy is aimed to improve the people's welfare," Hari said. 

Another point that will be revised in the autonomy law is the reinstatement of 
governor's authority to deal with problems in the region. 

"However, the discussion on governor's authority is not yet finalized, but we 
will strengthen their position," the minister added. 

The regional autonomy was introduced in 2000, during the tenure of former 
president Abdurrahman Wahid, but calls for revision of autonomy laws came 
almost immediately after the regional autonomy came into effect. 

President Megawati Soekarnoputri has on several occasions demanded for 
revisions of the law, arguing that the autonomy has gone too far, as it 
provides excessive power to regional administrations. 

Megawati said that regional autonomy should not turn regional leaders 
into "little kings" and there should be strict rules to ensure people's welfare 
in the autonomous era. 

The government has been discussing the revision of the autonomy laws in the 
past two years and plans to complete the revision before the election of new 
president later this year. 

Hari said there will be two or three cabinet meetings more before the 
government could finalize the revision and propose it to the House of 
Representative. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Indonesia's Tangguh LNG Project Needs 20% More Sales
Friday February 13, 2:54 PM 
By Edgar Ang
Of Dow Jones Newswires

Singapore (Dow Jones)--Indonesia's Tangguh liquefied natural gas project is 
still about 20% short of meeting sales volume targets despite already having 
won three LNG supply contracts, and this may delay the startup of production. 

The Tangguh project needs to sell about 20% more of its proven reserves of 14.4 
trillion cubic feet, Pudjo Suwarno, vice-president of gas marketing at PT 
Exspan Nusantara, told Dow Jones Newswires. 

PT Exspan Nusantara is an Indonesian oil and gas exploration and production 
company in charge of E&P operations in the Donggi gas fields in Central 
Sulawesi, Indonesia. 

The official has a particular interest in progress at Tangguh - once Tangguh 
production starts, the next Indonesian LNG project in line for start-up is the 
Donggi project. 

Despite the Tangguh sales and continuing marketing efforts, some industry 
participants are saying the planned start date for gas production of 2007 might 
be delayed. 

The BP PLC (BP)-led Tangguh LNG greenfield project is expected to produce 7 
million tons of LNG per year from two initial processing trains, with the first 
production due in 2007. 

So far, 7.65 million tons per year of LNG sales have been contracted. 

The shareholders of Tangguh proven gas reserves are BP with 50%, Mitsubishi 
Corp. (8058.TO) 16%, Nippon Oil Corp. (5001.TO) 12%, BG Group PLC (BG.LN) 11%, 
Kanematsu Corp. (8020.TO), Japan National Oil and Overseas Petroleum 10%, and 
Nissho Iwai 1%. 

The Tangguh project will supply 1.35 million tons per year of LNG to SK Corp. 
(003600.SE) and POSCO (005490.SE) in South Korea and 2.6 million tons per year 
to the Fujian LNG receiving terminal project in China. 

The third sales contract is for about 3.7 million tons a year, with Sempra 
Energy (SRE) in the U.S. West Coast and Mexico. 

Uncertainty Remains
All three long term supply contracts are to take effect in 2007, but the BP-led 
consortium may choose to supply LNG to the three buyers from other sources if 
the Tangguh project doesn't begin on time, industry sources said. 

"BP doesn't necessarily need to supply LNG to the three customers from Tangguh. 
It could supply from other sources," an industry source said. 

Indonesia is trying to develop an integrated LNG supply system, similar to 
Malaysia's MLNG Bintulu LNG complex, where three LNG plants share a common 
storage tank, he said. 

"Indonesia has learnt its lesson from the production problems at Arun LNG," 
which is seeing declining gas production rate from the fields, the source said. 

Indonesia wants to adopt a supply sharing system, discarding the current buyer-
dedicated LNG production train system. 

Also, the Japanese equity holders of Tangguh reserves may want to gas supply 
for the Japanese market, a second industry source said. 

"Japanese shareholders may want to keep the gas reserves for 
themselves...Everything is not set in stone yet because the LNG sellers (BP 
consortium) could source the supplies from somewhere else to supply to its 
three (Tangguh LNG) buyers," he said. 

Tough Competition
BP is expected to be eyeing the US and Chinese markets for more Tangguh LNG 
supply contracts, but competition will be tough because of cheap Middle East 
LNG prices, Suwarno said. 

"Apart from low prices, the buyer will (need to) consider the delivery 
distance, technology and politics," he said. 

"We'll be responsible for Donggi LNG marketing, but Tangguh gas has to be sold 
out before we can start on Donggi LNG marketing," he said. 

While PT Exspan Nusantara will handle the marketing of Donggi LNG sales, the 
contracts are to be concluded by BP Migas, Indonesia's upstream oil and gas 
watchdog, Suwarno said. 

A major portion of the 12 trillion cubic feet Donggi gas reserves is slated for 
domestic use, he said.