A Remote Education Plan in Papua

The Lippo Group has established a partnership with JSAT, Japan’s largest telecommunication satellite company, to build telecommunication networks in Papua in hopes of giving residents in the province’s remote areas better access to Internet and educational television programs.

Lippo Group chief executive James T. Riady said that education was the core solution to the various issues faced by the people of Papua and that the telecommunication network built by the partnership would provide basic infrastructure needed to boost access to education in the region.

“Indonesia has been independent for more than 65 years, yet there remains plenty of places that have yet to be touched by our national development efforts. As we can see, regions in Papua, especially remote areas such as Mamit and others, need infrastructure and attention in education,” James said during a visit to the Sekolah Lentera Harapan (SLH) in Sentani, Papua, last Tuesday.

JSAT has 16 satellites in Asia and has been in partnership with the Lippo Group previously. Lippo Star is the product of this partnership.

“They are willing to help in Papua, especially in the installation of VSAT [very small aperture terminals] in schools in remote areas, so that they would become connected. They provide Internet as well as the best educational programs in the world for students here to watch,” James said.

Three schools in Papua have been selected to be part of the pilot project in the partnership, namely SLH in Kampung Harapan, Kecamatan Sentani, Sekolah Papua Harapan (SPH) in the Doyo Baru village of Jayapura, as well as the SLH in Mamit Village in the Tolikara district.

In the future, the program will be aimed at other schools in remote areas, mainly those located in mountainous regions.

“The VSAT will be installed in one or two months, not just in Sentani but also in Mamit. The models will be found in two school in Sentani and one in Mamit, if the concept goes well,” James said.

Shinji Takada, chief executive of JSAT, said that they had put initial efforts to improve the quality of education and the school’s facility prior to constructing the connectivity network.

“We have sent teachers with a new concept, where education is not only offered through knowledge but also the learning process. Our teachers here are graduates of UPH [Universitas Pelita Harapan], and they have come from different parts of Indonesia to teach, with the support of local government,” Takada said.

Paul Wetipo, principal of SPH said the installation of a telecommunication network would be useful to teachers.

“This [VSAT] will open up access to the outside world, especially because education is something that continuously evolves. Accessing the internet will offer teachers more knowledge and they will also be able to guide students more effectively,” he said.

Source: The Jakarta Globe

Australian won’t bow to Papua pressure, FM says

Foreign Minister Bob Carr says Australia has been “explicit” in its support for Indonesia’s sovereignty over Papua.

Australian Foreign Minister, Bob Carr

Senator Carr told Newsline the provinces have been recognised “by all the nations in the earth” as Indonesian territory.
(See the video)

“There are Australians, a very small number I think…who take an interest in the notion for more autonomy for Papua but I remind them that you’d be doing a disservice to the Indonesian population of those two provinces if you held out any hope that Australia could influence the cause of events,” he said.

The Foreign Minister has dismissed suggestions public pressure would cause Australia to change its policy on Papua’s autonomy.

“I just ask those idealistic Australians who might entertain some other arrangement, that what would be the cost in terms of our friendship with Indonesia and in terms of our budget of a different arrangement.

“It’s inconceivable, utterly inconceivable.”

‘Australians seen as Asians’

The Foreign Minister says Australia’s relationship with Indonesia involves a “habit of consultation” – a relationship it enjoys with a number of its Asian neighbours including Japan, South Korea and Singapore.

“We had the Singaporeans through in recent weeks and again we have common approaches to issues like the South China Sea, he said.

“A comfortable alignment of our foreign policy positions.”

He also countered criticisms Australia’s perceptions of Asia are superficial and too “Eurocentric” in response to the recently-released Asian Century policy paper.

“The foreign minister of Myanmar was through here last week and he said..’We see Australia as Asians’,” he said.

“Why wouldn’t he? We were there in Myanmar lifting, not just suspending our sanctions.”

Senator Carr says the fact Australia won a seat on the United Nations Security Council is also testament of its strong relationship with its neighbours.

“I was struck by this when I stood there in the UN and I was being congratulated by nations from every region in the world and it dawned on me that they’re comfortable with Australia and that reflects our diplomacy,” he said.

Source: Australia Network News

Japanese ambassador visits Biak

Japanese Ambassador to Indonesia Yoshinori Katori

Japanese ambassador to Indonesia Yoshinori Katori paid a working visit to Biak Numfor regency in Papua to explore mutually beneficial cooperation with the local administration.

The Japanese envoy was welcomed by Biak Numfor regional secretary Johanis Than MM and some other local officials at the grass house of the Biak Regent.

Johanis Than hoped the Japanese ambassador`s working visit to Biak on Wednesday (Oct. 5) could establish cooperation, including in education for the local civil service.

“The Biak Numfor regency administration positively hailed the Japanese ambassador`s working visit hoping it would be followed up with the establishment of bilateral relations,” Johanis Than said.

In the meantime, Yoshinori Katori through his interpreter Ayako Masuda said the aim of their visit is to get acquainted with the condition and situation of Biak regency, develop cooperation in the economy, politics and culture.

“The relations between Japan and the Papua administration and Biak Numfor regency are very important,” Yoshinori hoped.

In the meantime, chairman of Biak legislative assembly Nehemia Wospakrik said many Japanese officials in Indonesia had already made working visits to Biak Numfor regency, but none have established concrete cooperation programs with the regency administration and people of Biak.

“The local legislative assembly said many Japanese officials had often made working visits there but none of them had established concrete cooperation or contributed to Biak Numfor regency,” the local legislative chairman Nehemia Wospakrik said.

He meanwhile hoped the Japanese government could give concrete assistance to the Biak regency administration and people so that the cooperation between the two sides would be beneficial to the interest of the people in the region.

In Biak, the Japanese ambassador and an entourage will visit several schools in Biak, inspect the famous Japanese cave, Second World War monuments, and several popular places and parks of recreation in Biak and surroundings.

Source: ANTARA News

Japan Donates $700k to UN’s Papua School Meals Initiative

The United Nations World Food Program on Thursday (06/06) received nearly $700,000 from Japan to support the organization’s school meals program and broader efforts to tackle food insecurity in Papua.

Under the WFP’s school meals program, nutritious foods are sourced from local smallholder farmers in Indonesia to use as the main ingredients in meals served in schools, a WFP press release said.

“WFP is very grateful for this important assistance from Japan, which will help us provide healthy and nutritious school meals to students in 11 Papua elementary schools,” Coco Ushiyama, WFP’s Indonesia representative and country director, said in the release.

“It will also enhance our collective work to improve food and nutrition security among schools, smallholder farmers and poor rural communities.”

Two years ago, WFP phased out its traditional program providing nutritious biscuits as snacks to schoolchildren. This new model has been successfully piloted in East Nusa Tenggara province. The effort to bring smallholder farmers’ associations into the food supply chain for school meals has created production incentives and new income-generating opportunities, the statement said.

“School meal programs are important in promoting health and nutrition as well as education,” said Yoshinori Katori, the Japanese ambassador to Indonesia.

Typically, school meal programs help increase attendance, attention spans, and the overall health and well-being of schoolchildren, while teachers, parents and cooks learn important facts on nutrition and how to maintain a healthy diet, the WFP statement said. The program’s inclusion of many members of the community has a multiplier effect that leads to a more nutritious and balanced diet throughout the population, it added.

In addition to the school meals program, WFP said it is supporting the government’s push for food and nutrition security for all through several other initiatives, particularly in light of the archipelago’s vulnerability to natural disasters.

These include upgrading food and nutrition security monitoring and analysis tools, improvements in food diversification and supply chain management, and an expansion of public-private partnerships.

Source: The Jakarta Globe

Pupuk Indonesia plans $5.2 bln petrochem complex in Papua

Indonesian fertilizer firm PT Pupuk Indonesia plans to build a petrochemical complex worth $5.2 billion in the country’s Papua region, an official said on Wednesday (19/04).

Investors from Japan, South Korea and Germany have expressed interest to take part in a plant that will have annual capacity of 2 million tonnes a year, said the firm’s CEO Arifin Tasrif.

“We want to be the majority (owner) in a joint venture company,” Tasrif said, without giving details on the timeframe for the plant.

Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, is seeing strong economic growth of over six percent and the government is keen for investors to expand the petrochemical industry to make higher value products from the country’s oil and gas output.

Papua, a remote and mountainous region in eastern Indonesia home to BP’s ‘s Tangguh liquefied natural gas plant, sees high costs for construction and businesses because of the expense in transporting materials from the country’s main industrial centres on Java island.

Pupuk Indonesia, a holding firm of four state-controlled fertilizer firms, already has plants in west and east Java, in Kalimantan on Borneo island and Aceh in Sumatra island, with a total capacity of 12 million tonnes.

The firm expects sales in 2012 to reach 45 trillion rupiah ($4.90 billion), up from last year’s 40 trillion rupiah.

*($1 = 9,180 rupiah)

Source: Reuters

New petrochemical estate for West Papua

The government plans to build a petrochemical industrial estate in West Papua next year to help meet rising demand for petroleum-based products and reduce dependency on imports, officials say.

Industry Minister MS Hidayat said on Thursday (15/03) that a master plan was being drafted and would soon be followed by a feasibility study.

“We have a potential space of 400 hectares there. The gas supply for the industry can be sourced from the Tangguh field,” he told reporters at his office in Jakarta.

The master plan, which maps out the infrastructure and funds required for the development, should be completed by October, according to Industry Ministry director general for industrial regions development Dedi Mulyadi.

British Petroleum has already expressed an interest in investing in the estate, he added.

Other investors submitting proposals include state-owned fertilizer firm PT Pupuk Sriwijaya (Pusri) and foreign investors, including some from South Korea, Japan and Germany, the ministry’s director general for manufacturing-based industry Panggah Susanto said.

The investment needed for the project might total US$4.3 billion, with $800 million spent on building a methanol plant, $500 million for a polyprophylene plant, $2 billion for ammonia- and urea-fertilizer plants, and $1 billion for building utilities and port facilities.

The ministry has consulted the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry (ESDM) over the necessary gas supply for the project.

“We have requested, to the ESDM, the gas and once there’s certainty about the gas supply, we can start the project,” he said.

According to Industry Ministry estimates, the first phase of the petrochemical industrial estate will require around 382 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) of gas to fuel two urea plants with a total production capacity of 3,500 tons per day, two ammonia plants with a production capacity of 2,000 tons per day and a methanol plant.

Meanwhile, the second phase of the project will need around 200 mmscfd of gas to develop a diesel plant.

“We should begin soon, as the gap between local production and imported materials has been higher than consumption (of petrochemical products) by industrial sectors, such as packaging and automotive industry that continue to surge,” Panggah said.

Industry leaders have agreed that the development of an integrated petrochemical industrial estate will help reduce production costs for olefin, aromatic and fertilizers.

Overseas, as well as local, firms have geared up to realize investment in the sector as demand for petrochemicals is predicted to rise in line with the country’s economic growth.

In the next year, companies plan to invest about $26 billion in the industry.

Source: The Jakarta Post

China to offer $4 billion for Indonesian infrastructure

China to invest up to $200 million to build a cement factory on Indonesia’s Papua island and may invest in power plants there.

China Investment Corp plans to offer $4 billion of loans for Indonesian infrastructure, part of a package of deals Indonesia is hoping for during a visit this week by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Indonesian officials said on Thursday.

The plans by the $300 billion wealth fund are likely to be announced during a two-day visit to Indonesia by Wen, due to arrive in Jakarta later on Thursday in an effort to boost bilateral trade and gain access to the archipelago’s resources.

“CIC plans to provide about $4 billion in the form of loans to Indonesia’s infrastructure projects…and the loans are supposed to be for Indonesian firms,” Gita Wirjawan, Indonesia’s investment chief, told Reuters.

In addition, Bank of China and and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China plan to lend several billion dollars to Chinese firms for investing in Indonesian industry, Agus Tjahajana of the industry ministry, told Reuters.

Indonesia is trying to attract over $100 billion from investors to overhaul poor infrastructure among its 17,000 islands, while China is on a global hunt to secure long-term resource supplies to fuel its fast-growing economy.

So far Chinese infrastructure investment in Indonesia has lagged that from other Asian countries such as Japan, South Korea and India, though China is the largest trading partner for Indonesia, the world’s top exporter of coal for power plants.

Wirjawan said China’s State Development and Investment Corp, a state-owned investment holding firm, also plans to invest up to $200 million to build a cement factory on Indonesia’s Papua island and may invest in power plants there.

This would be the first cement factory on Papua, cutting construction costs in a province lacking infrastructure but home to the world’s largest gold mine, huge natural gas deposits and forests that the government wants to turn into food plantations.

Source: Reuters

Ministry of Maritime helps Papua tsunami victims

The Ministry would extend its assistance in fishermen settlement reconstruction and fishery facility and infrastructure reconstruction.

The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) is ready to extend assistance to tsunami victims at Mettu Daby island in Papua.

On Friday, March 11, 2011, the island in Papua province was hit by the tail of gargantuan tsunami, triggered by a powerful earthquake measuring 8.9 on the Richter scale in Japan.

The Meteorology Climatology and Geophysics Agency of Papua had earlier issued a tsunami warning to the northern coast of Papua at 04.15. pm. to enable its people to evacuate to the safer places.

Based on data collected by the local government in the field, the tsunami that hit Papua`s northern coastal areas had caused extensive damage at two locations namely Hotekamp coastal area and Enggros village.

At least 43 houses were damaged and one person perished, Head of the National Disaster Management Office (BNPB) of Papua, Yohanis Wemben said on Monday.

According to Wemben, 14 houses were seriously damaged and three others lightly in Tobati Village, while nine in Enggros Village seriously. There are also 19 houses in Holtekam and 13 in Hanurata damaged due to the tsunami waves.

The most damaged region is the Hanurata complex, Muara Tami District, located around 75 kilometer from Jayapura. Some of the public infrastructure facilities near the coast were also damaged by the tsunami.

Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Fadel Muhammad said on Sunday that the KKP would soon help rehabilitation and reconstruction program at Enggros village in Mettu Daby island which was hit by the tsunami.

Fadel said his office would also allocate an amount of funds from 2011 budget to assist the recovery process at the tsunami-hit island in Papua.

The minister said that for the preliminary step, the KKP would send a team to the disaster area in Papua to conduct an inventory of the needs of the tsunami-affected communities and to find out the amount of funds to be allocated for the rehabilitation and reconstruction program.

Therefore Fadel said the KKP would extend its assistance in fishermen settlement reconstruction and fishery facility and infrastructure reconstruction.

“The KKP is also mapping out other locations that have a big potential to be hit by tsunami, and expecting to cooperate with the local government to anticipate tidal wave disaster,” Fadel said.

He added that the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries was also actively making familiarization of earthquake and tsunami mitigation at the coastal areas of smaller islands across Indonesia.

The mitigation of disaster threatening the coastal areas and smaller islands in the country has been arranged in Law No.24/2007 and Law No.27/2007 on coastal areas and smaller islands management.***(wpnn)