[Kabar-Irian] News: August 15-16 2006

Wed Aug 16 01:41:56 MDT 2006

August 15-16 2006
KABAR IRIAN NEWS

TOPICS

* Note From Admin/Pemberitahuan oleh Admin
* Refugees protest at Indonesian Consulate
* Uninvited and unwelcome
* John Howard has played down an Indonesian warning on asylum seekers.
* Arrested fishermen back in Papua
* Chinese plan for timber investment in Papua opposed
* Government sees lengthy Freeport contract revision
* AJI releases annual report on violence against journalists
* Indonesian Govt regrets migration backflip
* Howard tries to ease Jakarta’s fears over immigration rule
* China denies plundering world's rain forests
* Howard plays down Indonesian asylum warnings

---

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http://www.melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2006/08/119509.php

West Papuans Mark Death of Free West Papua: Refugees protest at Indonesian
Consulate
by freewestpapua Monday August 14, 2006 at 10:53 PM
freepapua_pacifica at nym.hush.com 0409 268 978

    Tomorrow, the West Papuans in Australia will mark the handing over of
West Papua to Indonesia 44 years ago on August 15,

1962. “Everything happening currently in West Papua is because of this
event, because of the failure of the international

community to give the people of West Papua meaningful self determination,”

FREE WEST PAPUA CAMPAIGN (Melbourne)
http://www.freewestpapua.com
MEDIA RELEASE - MEDIA RELEASE - MEDIA RELEASE - MEDIA RELEASE
For immediate release: 14th August, 2006.

West Papuans Mark Death of Free West Papua
Refugees protest at Indonesian Consulate

Tomorrow, on the day that the Australian Senate debates the Border
Protection Bill, the West Papuans in Australia will mark

the handing over of West Papua to Indonesia 44 years ago on August 15, 1962.

“Everything happening currently in West Papua is because of this event,
because of the failure of the international community

to give the people of West Papua meaningful self determination,” said Free
West Papua spokesperson Nick Chesterfield.

“It is a very significant day for the people of West Papua. Protests are
occuring in many places across West Papua today

also.”

The protesters will meet at the GPO in Melbourne at 12 pm and then head to
the Indonesian Consulate, where they will raise

the independence flag of West Papua, the Morning Star. West Papuan
refugees will also conduct ceremonies and dances in

traditional clothing.

On August 15 1962 the US, the Dutch and Indonesia brokered the 'New York
Agreement' to hand over West Papua to the Republic

of Indonesia. The people of West Papua were never consulted at any stage.
After 1962 the Indonesians commenced a campaign of

intimidation and violence in West Papua that culminated in the ‘Act of No
Choice’, a sham plebiscite of only 1026 voters that

led to the permanent appropriation of West Papua by Indonesia.

There are currently over 40 000 Indonesian troops in West Papua, which has
a population of less than 2.8 million. The

Indonesian army have employed genocidal tactics to maintain its
stranglehold on West Papua, and has been responsible for

scores of internationally documented cases of killings, imprisonment and
torture of West Papuan people.

For media comment:
Herman Wainggai (on the day) 0407 422 413
Nick Chesterfield 0409 268 978

---

http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=4804

(KI Admin Note: This site contains links for those who wish to comment)

Uninvited and unwelcome
By Des Moore - posted Wednesday, 16 August 2006

A majority of West Australians in the last century wanted to secede from
Australia, but were denied.

Many West Papuans now want to secede from Indonesia, but have been denied.
Still, two basic differences. The West Australians

acted within the law and accepted peaceably their disappointment. The West
Papuans, in contrast, have engaged in armed

insurrection and outside the law.

Indeed, they are clearly determined to go on using force to achieve their
desires.

More than that, some are clearly determined to escape the arm of the law
by fleeing abroad, leaving behind the misguided but

at least brave to continue the fight.

Those who flee justify their cowardly action by claiming to continue the
fight by trying to persuade another, powerful,

country to take up their cause politically and materially and, they hope,
in the end forcibly.

How can it possibly be in Australia's national interest to fall in with
the miscreants' desires? True, the Australian

Government 40-odd years ago decided it was in our interest to keep
Indonesia away from West Papua, if necessary by military

action. But our national interest was not seen to be in making West Papua
independent.

Indeed, we wanted a totally alien power - Holland - to continue governing
West Papua from the far beyond. Fortunately, the US

pulled the military rug from under our and the Dutch feet, and the
conversion of the Netherlands East Indies into Indonesia

was completed.

That some West Papuans do not like being part of Indonesia is none of our
business, any more than it is our business that

some Kashmiris do not like being part of India, some Chechens do not like
being part of Russia, and some Scots and some Irish

do not like being part of Britain.

To buy into others' troubles because they urge us to, or because it gives
us a warm inner glow, is simply irrational if our

national interest is not affected by how those troubles pan out. And our
national interest is certainly not engaged in West

Papua.

That it is close to Australia is not to the point, but only another
example of the Tyranny of Proximity. Indeed, the

continuation of Britain matters far more to us - and many others - than
the fate of West Papua.

Unless, of course, we take the side of West Papuan independence. For then
we would have deliberately ranged ourselves against

a central Indonesian national interest: keeping together a country with
many fissiparous tendencies.

That would incur a hostile Indonesia, determined to wreak what damage it
could on Australia - not mainly out of vengeance but

with the purpose of changing our policy.

Indonesia could not sensibly act with military force against us, but it
could do plenty to damage us politically and

practically. Why on earth would we want to invite that outcome?

More even than wantonly ranging ourselves against a central Indonesian
national interest is acting against a central

Australian national interest: that Indonesia not break up.

The Balkanisation of Indonesia would complicate disastrously our foreign
and defence policies, and give real and sinister

meaning to the easy phrase arc of instability right across our main egress
to Asia and the Middle East and Europe.

Despite all the foregoing obvious realities, the ALP and some Government
members resort from a mixture of poor motives to

characterising the Government as appeasers of Indonesia. That is nonsense.

Certainly, if Indonesia's policies were as much against our national
interests as Hitler's were, Australia's inaction would

merit the charge of appeasement. But that is not the case.

What the Government's Pacific Solution is doing is to prevent, where
possible, West Papuans (and others) from gaining

uninvited and unwelcome entry to Australia - this not because they are
being acted against in their country for what they

are, like Hitler persecuting the Jews simply for being Jews, but because
they are acting outside the law, both Indonesian and

Australian.

And above all because they seek to come to persuade Australia and
Australians to add their considerable weight to the taking

on of Indonesia.

The West Papuans are not just economic refugees. They arrive here not just
to vastly better their standard of living at an

unearned stroke but to better their political cause in the land they have
deserted.

And to accomplish that nefarious aim by working on the bleeding hearts,
but not the rational minds, of well-meaning but

misguided and soft-centred Australians.

And by working too on those who will seize on any stick with which to beat
the Government, even though they will be beating

Australia too.

First published in The Courier-Mail on August 15, 2006 as part of a debate
with Paul Syvret on the dumping of the proposed

tough new immigation laws.

Des Moore is Director of the Institute of Private Enterprise and
Councillor at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute and

is a former deputy secretary of the federal Treasury. The views are his own.

Creative Commons License

---

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200608/s1715195.htm

Last Update: Tuesday, August 15, 2006. 3:23pm (AEST)
John Howard has played down an Indonesian warning on asylum seekers. (File
photo)

John Howard has played down an Indonesian warning on asylum seekers. (File
photo)

Howard plays down Indonesian asylum warnings

Prime Minister John Howard is playing down Indonesian warnings that the
failure of his immigration laws this week could open

the door to a new wave of asylum seekers making their way to the
Australian mainland.

An Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman says hundreds of illegal
immigrants who have been in Indonesia for years could now

head to Australia.

But Mr Howard has played down the warning.

"They have a domestic political audience and I'm not going to respond to
the comments made by spokesmen for some sections of

the Indonesian Government," he said.

"I have no doubt that our relationship with Indonesia will continue to be
strong.

"I have a good relationship with the President. We don't always agree, we
won't always agree in the future."

Mr Howard has stressed the importance of ongoing Australian-Indonesian
cooperation to stop people smuggling operations.

"Indonesia has helped us stem the flow of boat people," he said.

"Part of the success we've had over the past five years, since 2001, in
stopping a large number of asylum seekers coming to

Australia has involved Indonesian cooperation and some of Indonesia's
critics forget that.

"Without Indonesia's cooperation our task would be harder."
'Tell Indonesia'

The Government drafted the new laws after 43 Papuan asylum seekers arrived
on the mainland.

All have since been granted protection visas.

Labor says there is no sign that dumping the new migration bill will open
the floodgates to Papuan asylum seekers.

Labor spokesman Tony Burke says it is not appropriate for Australian
politicians to respond to any Indonesian threats that a

new wave of boat arrivals might be encouraged.

"Yesterday the Prime Minister received a message loud and clear finally,
and that is that the laws, the immigration laws of

Australia should be made by the Australian Parliament, not under pressure
from Indonesia.

"It's now finally time for the Prime Minister to take that message to
Indonesia.

"The new demands from Indonesia simply show what happens when you follow a
policy of appeasement, when you let another

country believe that there's some willingness to change our domestic law
in order to please them, then the demands keep

continuing."

However Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone is flagging a concern people
in Indonesia would seek to re-awaken asylum

seekers' interest in coming to Australia.

"I am sure of this, that there are people in Indonesia who are not
Indonesian who would like to come to Australia and they

will take every opportunity they can to do so," she said.

"I hope they certainly don't look at Australian Parliament's unwillingness
to pass this bill as a free entry pass."
The Federal Opposition says it is an overreaction for the Government to
claim that asylum seekers will see the demise of the

migration Bill as a "free entry pass" to Australia.

Coalition backbencher Wilson Tuckey says only time will tell if the
floodgates have opened, but maintains the Opposition will

have a lot to answer for if West Papuans begin arriving in large numbers.

"They will arrive on the Australian mainland because that's the shortest
trip," he said.

Democrats leader Lyn Allison says the focus should now be on investigating
allegations of human rights abuses in West Papua.

---

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailnational.asp?fileid=20060816.G07&irec=6

Arrested fishermen back in Papua

Nine Papua fishermen returned home to Jayapura on Tuesday after being
released from a prison in Vanimo, Papua New Guinea.

The nine, including two men who were injured when authorities from Papua
New Guinea fired on their boat, were handed over to

Papua officials in Wutung, near the border between the two countries. One
fisherman died in the shooting.

The fishermen were greeted by family members. The injured fishermen were
transferred by ambulance to Dok II Hospital in

Jayapura for treatment. The other seven were questioned by Jayapura Police.

Fisherman Hamka said they had been arrested in Papua New Guinea for
illegally fishing in that country's territorial waters.

They were required to pay a fine of about Rp 5.4 million (US$586) but
treated well while in police custody in Papua New

Guinea.

Hamka claimed they received no warning before the Papua New Guinea
military opened fire on their boat.

Indonesia has set up a team to investigate the shooting. (JP/Nethy Dharma
Somba)

---

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailnational.asp?fileid=20060816.H02&irec=1

Chinese plan for timber investment in Papua opposed

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Environmental and business groups joined hands here Tuesday in opposing a
Chinese company's plan to invest in forestry in

Papua, saying the project could accelerate the destruction of forests in
the resource-rich province.

The government is conducting a feasibility study on the plan by China
Light to establish a timber processing factory in

Papua. Some of the products would reportedly support the construction of
facilities for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Bogor-based environmental group Telapak and the Indonesian Furniture
Industry and Handicrafts Association (Asmindo) said the

planned project could pose serious threats to Papua's remaining pristine
forests, as well as harming the country's revenues

from furniture exports.

Telapak investigator Yayat Afianto said the US$1 billion scheme would
further reduce the province's remaining natural forests

and fuel illicit logging practices.

"Indonesia and China have not yet established detailed action plans to
monitor timber trading between the two countries. That

poses a threat to Papua's forests," he told a media gathering here.

He said the absence of such action plans would allow several timber
companies accused of involvement in illegal logging to

supply the Chinese company with illicitly sourced lumber, thus fueling
more illegal forest destruction in Papua.

Telapak's investigation found that about 300,000 cubic meters of merbau
(intsia) are smuggled monthly from Papua to China.

The investigation, conducted jointly with the London-based Environmental
Investigation Agency (EIA), found that the wood was

manufactured into flooring in China and sold through scores of home
improvement chain stores in Europe and the United States.

Earlier in 2005, EIA and Telapak released a report asserting that more
than US$1 billion worth of merbau trees were being

smuggled out of Papua every year.

Following the report, the government launched two operations in Papua
against illegal loggers, seizing more than a half-

million cubic meters of illegal wood and arresting more than a dozen
foreign and local timber barons and financiers.

However, all the suspects were later acquitted due to lack of evidence.

Asmindo chairman Ambar Tjahyono said foreign investment would also harm
furniture industries in Papua due to fears of

vanishing local raw materials.

"We oppose any move to allow the Chinese investor into Papua, not only
because China's timber demand is fueling illegal

logging, but also because it would hurt domestic firms," he said.

The Chinese government denied it was plundering the world's rain forests,
including Papua's, to meet its booming demand for

wood, calling the allegations groundless.

"The Chinese government consistently upholds and practices collective
international responsibility, opposing and cracking

down on illegal logging and illegal wood imports," China's State Forestry
Administration spokesman Cao Qingyao said as quoted

by AFP.

"We have very strict import controls," he added.

The EIA-Telapak investigation found that illicit Papuan timber was first
sent to Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong or Papua New

Guinea to conceal its origins.

Indonesian Forestry Ministry director general for forestry production Hadi
S. Pasaribu said the government was still

examining the feasibility of the Chinese firm's proposal.

"As long as the company conforms to our regulations, we have no
objection," he told the Post.

He said the company would not only establish a timber estate and flooring
factory, but would also buy 400,000 cubic meters of

timber from Indonesia to support the construction of facilities for the
2008 Olympics.

---

http://www.thejakartapost.com/yesterdaydetail.asp?fileid=20060814.L01

Government sees lengthy Freeport contract revision

Business and Investment - August 14, 2006

Rendi Akhmad Witular, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya

The government has indicated that the process of reviewing and possibly
revising the mining contract of PT Freeport Indonesia

may not be completed until next year.

"We are still waiting for the outcome of a special team formed by the
House to review Freeport's contract and operations, and

from the Finance Ministry on royalty issues," said Energy and Mineral
Resources Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro.

"The ministry wants to speed up the process and wrap it up as soon as
possible. But we cannot do that since other

institutions are also involved in the process. We hope to be able to
complete it by this year, but that is unlikely to

happen," he said.

He reiterated the revisions would likely be related to securing the
government a greater share of the revenue from Freeport's

mining operation in Timika, Papua, which has become a frequent target of
protests from the local community and legislators.

Purnomo, however, refused to say what percentage of revenue the government
was seeking.

"In the mining sector, there is no ideal figure for revenue sharing. A
zero-sum game is always in play, meaning that one

party should have a higher share of the revenue than the other. For sure,
the revenue share we will ask for will not deter

investment in the sector," he said.

Freeport, a local unit of the world's largest gold and copper miner,
Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc, has on numerous

occasions said it has lived up to all of its financial obligations to the
government.

The company's total output in 2005 was 1.46 billion pounds of copper and
2.8 million ounces of gold. It paid around US$1.2

billion in taxes to the government.

A revision of the contract is possible, Purnomo said, because one of the
three requirements that allow the government to

revise the contract has been met.

According to Purnomo, the government can only propose a contract revision
if Freeport fails to comply with its working

contract, is found to have violated Indonesian law or requests a contract
revision.

"I cannot specifically mention which of these conditions has been met. But
there was a recent audit to verify the occurrence

of certain violations that would lead to a revision," he said.

The government also is working to improve Freeport's community development
programs, to allow people living near the mining

concession to receive more benefits.

Environmentalists and politicians have urged the government to revise
Freeport's mining contract, saying the company, despite

its huge annual profits, has failed to make significant contributions to
the improved welfare of local tribes. They also

allege massive environmental pollution at the mining site.

The Papua administration has on several occasions urged the central
government and Freeport to show greater commitment to the

development of the country's easternmost province.

Freeport has been under the spotlight since early this year amid
allegations that it is responsible for serious pollution in

and around its mining concession, as well as for providing fees to
security personnel to help guard its operations.

---

Press Release

 <http://www.ifex.org/en/layout/set/print/content/view/full/76326/> PRINT
PAGE

AJI releases annual report on violence against journalists

Country/Topic: Indonesia
Date: 14 August 2006
Source: Aliansi Jurnalis Independen (AJI)
Person(s):
Target(s):
Type(s) of violation(s):
Urgency: Bulletin

(AJI/IFEX) - The following is an 11 August 2006 AJI press release:

In conjunction with the 12th anniversary of the Alliance of Independent
Journalists (AJI), the advocacy division of AJI Indonesia announced the rate
of violence against journalists in 2006, the provinces/cities with the
highest rates of violence, and the 2006 "Enemies of Press Freedom".

During the period of August 2005 - August 2006, AJI Indonesia recorded 64
cases of violence against the press and journalists, occurring from the
province of Aceh to that of Papua. The most dangerous provinces/city for
journalists/press were Jakarta (13 cases of violence), East Java (8 cases),
and Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (8 cases).

The winners of the title 2006 "Enemies of Press Freedom" are mobs and thugs,
who committed 23 cases of violence. The second-place position for top
perpetrators of violence goes to government figures (district heads,
regents, governors, ministerial staffs, etc.), who were responsible for 14
cases. Policemen placed third with eight cases.

The AJI urges the Indonesian community and government to respect the
journalistic profession, as stipulated by the 1945 Constitution and Press
Law Number 40, Year 1999.

AJI condemns all kinds of violence - both physical and non-physical -
against journalists, whether or not related to questions of ethnicity,
grouping or religion. AJI calls on all parties to exercise their rights to
contest media assertions and to request corrections, to file complaints with
the Press Council or with existing journalists' organizations, or to
undertake legal processes without criminalizing the profession of
journalism.

Jakarta, August 11, 2006
Coordinator of the Advocacy Division, Eko Maryadi

MORE INFORMATION:

For further information, contact the Alliance of Independent Journalists
(Aliansi Jurnalis Independen, AJI), Jl. Danau Poso D1 no. 29, Bendungan
Hilir, Jakarta 10210 Indonesia, tel: +62 21 57900 489, fax: +62 21 5734 581,
e-mail:  <mailto:sekretariat at ajiindonesia.org> sekretariat at ajiindonesia.org
(please cc  <mailto:sekretariatnya_aji at yahoo.com>
sekretariatnya_aji at yahoo.com), Internet:  <http://www.ajiindonesia.org>
<http://www.ajiindonesia.org> http://www.ajiindonesia.org

---

http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2006/s1714680.htm

Indonesian Govt regrets migration backflip
PM - Monday, 14 August , 2006  18:27:31
Reporter: Michael Edwards
MARK COLVIN: The Free Papua Movement and human rights activists are
applauding the Prime Minister's decision not to proceed

with the changes to Australia's migration policy.

But the tone isn't quite so positive from the Indonesian Government. It
says it regrets the decision and it could be

interpreted as Australia opening the door for asylum seekers.

And a senior Indonesian parliamentarian has told PM that the decision
could lead to a low point in the two countries'

relations.

Michael Edwards has this report.

MICHAEL EDWARDS: The Prime Minister's backflip on the changes to migration
laws may be a political low point. But it's also

getting him some high praise from unlikely quarters.

TIM COSTELLO: Look, I think this is the right decision. I think human
rights are the cornerstone of really the fair go that

Australians believe in.

MICHAEL EDWARDS: Human rights activist Tim Costello doesn't always praise
the Prime Minister. But he says he's done the right

thing this time.

TIM COSTELLO: This wasn't a huge problem for our sovereignty or deciding
we were going to be flooded.

And I think we can allow ourselves the decency of processing those people
onshore, testing if their claims of persecution are

well founded and balancing defending our borders with the human rights
under the Refugee Convention.

MICHAEL EDWARDS: The Edmund Rice Centre rarely has anything positive to
say about the Coalition Government. The centre's Phil

Glendenning says he won't go as far as praising Mr Howard. But he will
give credit to certain Coalition politicians.

PHIL GLENDENNING: Members of the Coalition who have stood up today have
shown us what is possible in public life. That it is

possible to stand for human rights and stand for principle.

And those senators and members in the Coalition deserve the nation's
praise and support because it now enables us not to

victimise people but to look at the causes of what's occurring
internationally. And to say we will not blame those who flee

from terror as those they are terrorists. They're not.

MICHAEL EDWARDS: The changes would have seen all boat people processed in
offshore detention centres, even if they reached

the Australian mainland.

Critics say it was designed to appease Indonesia after the fallout when
Australia granted asylum to a boatload of Papuan

refugees who landed on Cape York earlier this year.

The Free Papua Movement says the backflip is a victory for human rights.
Its spokesman is Jacob Rumbiak.

JACOB RUMBIAK: I hope decision made by John Howard today, it's a real
stand on basic human rights, not to Papuans only but to

help human beings.

MICHAEL EDWARDS: But the issue of the West Papuan asylum seekers led to
the withdrawal of the Indonesian Ambassador and

marked a low point in Australian-Indonesian relations.

Yasril Ananta Baharuddin is a senior parliamentarian from Indonesia's
Golkar Party. He says this backflip will sour relations

further.

YASRIL ANANTA BAHARUDDIN: Next time any people from every place will just
make reason, political reason or humanitarian

reason, and they will run to your country.

In fact, in the back of their minds is an economic reason, you see. You
can give them temporary visa, or any policies like

this, and this creates a problem with the government, with your neighbour
country, with your brotherhood?

MICHAEL EDWARDS: Mr Baharuddin says much of the anger is directed
personally against Mr Howard.

YASRIL ANANTA BAHARUDDIN: Since the very beginning the problem is create
from your Prime Minister Howard and your Foreign

Minister. We have a very exact (inaudible) before when the Prime Minister
Keating, and the Foreign Minister Gareth Evans, we

have a very good relationship, you see? It doesn't mean the people of
Indonesia is against Australian people and Australian

country or state. But a few people like the Prime Minister in the
Government, it is make problems and creates damage between

our relationship.

MICHAEL EDWARDS: Mr Baharuddin says the decision will be interpreted as a
direct challenge to Indonesia's territorial

integrity.

MARK COLVIN: Michael Edwards.

---

http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?

section=World_News&subsection=Rest+of+the+World&month=August2006&file=World_News2006081613628.xml

Howard tries to ease Jakarta’s fears over immigration rule
Web posted at: 8/16/2006 1:36:28
Source ::: REUTERS

canberra • Australia scrambled to reassure Indonesia yesterday that it
would keep up its tough stand against illegal

immigrants a day after strict new asylum laws were scrapped following a
revolt by government lawmakers.

Indonesia has expressed deep regret that the laws, designed to ease
Jakarta’s concerns after Australia granted asylum to 43

Papuans in March, had been scrapped and warned the move could be seen as
encouraging more illegal immigration.

Prime Minister John Howard said he expected Australian ties with Indonesia
to remain strong, adding that his conservative

government had been strongly in favour of the tougher new laws. “I wanted
this bill. The world and his wife knew I wanted

this bill,” Howard told Australian radio yesterday.

The new laws would have sent all asylum seekers who arrive by boat to
immigration detention camps on the remote Pacific

islands nation of Nauru.

But Howard scrapped the laws on Monday after a revolt by government
lawmakers ensured he would not have the numbers to pass

the legislation through the upper house Senate.

Some lawmakers were concerned the new laws would have broken a promise by
Howard a year ago that children would no longer be

held in immigration detention.

Australia’s decision to grant asylum to the Papuans in March caused a deep
rift in ties between Australia and Indonesia.

Indonesia temporarily withdrew its ambassador in protest, and said the
decision demonstrated Australian support for a

secessionist movement in Indonesia’s restive eastern province.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said he had spoken to his
Indonesian counterpart Hassan Wirajuda late on Monday

to explain why the laws would not go ahead.

Australia has courted Indonesian support for its tough stand on asylum
seekers and sees Indonesia as crucial in its efforts

to stop people smugglers sending crowded refugee boats to Australia.

Howard said Indonesia had been a key part of Australia’s success in
stopping an influx of refugee boats over the past five

years. He added that Australia needed continued Indonesian cooperation.

“I have no doubt that our relationship with Indonesia will continue to be
strong. I have a good relationship with the

President. You don’t always agree, we won’t always agree in the future,”
Howard said.

Australia has reassured Indonesia that it sees Papua as an integral part
of Indonesia, and does not support separatists.

But Howard’s Liberal Party deputy and Treasurer Peter Costello said the
best way to stop future Papuan asylum claims would be

to ensure that Papuans were not subjected to any discrimination. “The most
important thing is if we can protect the rights of

people so that they don’t fear discrimination, then they would not have
the basis to claim refugee status,” Costello told

reporters.

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http://thestaronline.com/news/story.asp?file=/2006/8/15/worldupdates/2006-08-15T102414Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_-263664-

1&sec=Worldupdates

World Updates
August 15, 2006

China denies plundering world's rain forests

BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Tuesday denied accusations of plundering the
world's rain forests to meet booming demand for

wood.

Environment groups say China is at the heart of a global trade for lumber
it sells to markets in the United States and Europe

and that much of its plywood exports comes from illegal logging.

Domestic demand from a fast-growing economy only adds to the problem, they
say.

"As for the question that China's large demand for timber assists illegal
logging and smuggling from Asia, this statement has

no basis," State Forestry Administration spokesman Cao Qingyao told a news
conference.

"The Chinese government consistently upholds and puts in practice
collective international responsibility, opposing and

cracking down on illegal logging in illegal wood imports," Cao said. "We
have very strict import controls."

Global Witness, a British-based non-governmental organisation, said last
year China imported timber from Myanmar alone worth

an estimated $350 million, almost all of it illegal.

But the group conducted an investigation in May that showed Chinese
checkpoints had been sealed to log transports from the

former Burma, where years of military rule and ethnic unrest in remote
mountain areas have lead to widescale forest

clearances.

A report issued in March by the Centre for International Forestry Research
and other groups found about 70 percent of all

timber imported into China, now the largest consumer of wood from tropical
developing countries, was converted into

furniture, plywood and other processed products for export.

China accounted for over half the log exports from Papua New Guinea,
Myanmar and Indonesia, the report said.

Cao said that over the next few years China's timber trade would be
stable, with exports not exceeding imports, though that

for certain products, like paper, there was still a lack of domestically
sourced wood.

"But at the same time, we export a large amount of wood, and in 2005 our
exports exceeded imports," he said.

Copyright © 2005 Reuters

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http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200608/s1715195.htm

Last Update: Tuesday, August 15, 2006. 3:23pm (AEST)