Indonesia, German firm sign agreement on tanks sale

Indonesia and German defence company Rheinmetall on Thursday signed an agreement that paves the way for the purchase by the Asian nation of 150 tanks from Germany.

“The memorandum of understanding (MoU) is related to transfer of technology and maintenance,” said Major General Ediwan Prabowo, head of the defence facilities agency at the Defence Ministry.

Prabowo said he hoped the contract for the purchase of 100 Leopard main battle tanks and 50 lighter Marder tanks would be signed this month.

Prabowo told that he hoped to sign both the MoU and the contract on Saturday, after a defence exhibition in Jakarta in which Rheinmetall was among the companies from 40 countries participating.

He said there were still some minor sticking points, mostly technical, and that there were no pending political or legal issues.

He also said Indonesia wanted the first batch to be delivered this year, but Rheinmetall had not given assurances about the timing.

Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous country, has embarked on an ambitious drive to modernise its under-equipped military and build a defence industry.

Also on Thursday, the Defence Ministry signed a similar agreement with Brazilian defence company Avibras Industria Aeroespacial for the purchase of multiple launch rockets.

Source: Deutsche Presse Agentur

Lawmakers Plan Papua Visit Amid Escalating Violence

Lawmakers plan to visit Indonesia’s restive Papua province, following reports of escalating violence that have included the shootings of civilians and security officers over the past week.

Members of the House of Representatives’ Commission I, overseeing defense and foreign affairs, are slated to make the visit next week, with commission head Mahfudz Siddiq to lead the team, his deputy Tubagus Hasanuddin said in Jakarta on Thursday (07/06).

“The recent development of the situation shows escalating tension, marked with shootings of civilians and security officers, with none of the perpetrators having been found,” Tubagus said.

House Deputy Speaker Priyo Budi Santoso said House leaders had approved of the plan, adding that the delegation’s visit was expected to push law enforcers to find the perpetrators.

“Next week we will send them [Commission I members] to monitor what’s actually happening,” Priyo said.

“Arrest the troublemakers and make them learn their lesson. Law must be upheld,” he added.

Violence is not new to restive Papua, but in the past couple of weeks, shootings have taken place with increasing frequency.

On Thursday alone, there were reportedly three people shot, two of whom died, including a police officer.

On Tuesday, a member of Free Papua Organization (OPM) shot and injured two civilians and a TNI soldier in separate attacks in Jayapura, the provincial capital. Monday, a 16-year-old student was shot and wounded, also in Jayapura.

No one has been arrested for the attacks, which came a week after a German tourist was shot and wounded in a drive-by shooting in Jayapura on May 29.

Source: The Jakarta Globe

Joint cop team sent to find German tourist’s shooter

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Saud Usman Nasution has said that two teams of police investigators from the Papua Police and the Jayapura Police have been deployed to search for a Free Papua Organization (OPM) member who shot a German tourist.

“We have obtained good leads. However, this information cannot yet be released to the public. Give us time to investigate first,” Nasution told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday (30/05).

A German tourist by the name of Pieter Dietmar Helmut was shot several times on Tuesday while spending the morning at Base G, a beach in Jayapura, which is located about 10 kilometers from the city’s downtown area, by a member of OPM who only minutes before getting out of a blue Toyota Avanza.

Helmut was rushed to Jayapura General Hospital for further treatment. Papua Health Agency head Joseph Rinta said that following surgery, Helmut was in a stable condition and continued to show signs of improvement.

As of Wednesday, Jayapura Police officers tightly guarded Helmut at the hospital. “Nobody is allowed to take his picture without permission from the supervisor,” one of the officers on guard at the hospital’s intensive care unit said.

“He [the victim] has to be tightly guarded because someone may pretend to want to meet him but have ill intentions,” Papua Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Johanes Nugraha Wicaksono said in Jayapura.

If his condition improves further, Johanes said, Helmut would be evacuated to Jakarta for further medical treatment.

Six witnesses have been questioned so far. However, Helmut’s wife, Medina Pachon, is still in shock and has not been questioned as yet.

A bullet was recovered from the scene of the shooting and will undergo forensic testing to identify its type and caliber as well as the victim’s blood, Johanes said.

Source: The Jakarta Post

OPM shots German tourist in Indonesia’s restive Papua

A German tourist was shot three times in a gun attack Tuesday (29/05) in Indonesia’s most eastern Province of Papua, national police said.

The man was on a beach at Port Numbay in the provincial capital Jayapura when shots were fired by a member of Free Papua Organization (OPM) from a minivan.

The German tourist, Pieter Dietmar Helmut (55), sustained serious injuries and was in critical condition as he was hit in the left thigh and the rib.

Pieter, a doctor who was on holiday to Papua with his wife, had checked out of his hotel that morning and gone to the beach for a swim, told Papua police chief detective Wachyono.

“He was shot as he took a break in a hut on the beach,” he said.
The restive province of Papua has witnessed a string of random shooting incidents, targeting at civilians working in foreign mines.

The previous shootings were conducted by separatists demanding an independence state in Papua, separated from Indonesia.(*wpnn)