Wednesday, February 24, 2016

1) TNI to build new bases in eastern Indonesia


2) Prevalence of Cataract in Papua High
3) Amnesty International country report 
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1) TNI to build new bases  in eastern Indonesia
Ayomi Amindoni, thejakartapost.com, Jakarta | National | Wed, February 24 2016, 4:27 PM - 

The Indonesian Military (TNI) plans to set up new military bases in eastern Indonesia, with Biak and Merauke in Papua and Morotai in Maluku among the options for its the location.
TNI commander Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo pointed out that currently Indonesian forces, especially the Indonesian Air Force, were concentrated in Java.
He added that the Air Force base in Yogyakarta was designated for pilot training, while the Malang Air Force Base in East Java was being used as a Hercules squadron base. Another Air Force base in Madiun, East Java, was used as a base for fighter jets.
Gatot said such a heavy concentration of Air Force bases in Java had led to dense commercial aviation traffic in some regions, because commercial airlines were prohibited from passing air space in the center of the island, forcing them to fly through northern Java.
"If we take a look at this, our defense forces are concentrated in Java. This is not right. We will develop military bases in eastern areas of Indonesia. This can boost the economy of those areas while at the same time allowing pilots to practice anytime. There are Biak, Morotai, Merauke and so on," Gatot told reporters after a meeting at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Tuesday.
He added that TNI would also strengthen Indonesia's defense forces in outer islands, such Alor, Lirang and Wetar in East Nusa Tenggara.
"Earlier, we had East Timor [Timor Leste] as one of our outer islands facing Australia. Now, our outer islands are Lirang, Wetar and Alor," Gatot said.
"We need to increase our defense forces, so that we will have eyes and ears on our outer islands that can inform us on all developments," he added.
Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung said that during the meeting, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo had demanded that the development of the country’s defense capabilities should happen all over Indonesia, rather than being concentrated in Java. 
He added that President Jokowi had called for a higher budget allocation for TNI, with funds to exceed 1 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). "If our economy grows by 6 percent, we expect the funds allocated for the Indonesian Military to be around Rp 200 trillion [US$14.9 billion] to Rp 240 trillion," Pramono said. (ebf)
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2) Prevalence of Cataract in Papua High
Victor Mambor 3 days ago
Women, Jubi – Papua has the highest prevalence of cataract among other provinces in Indonesia, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Indonesian Red Cross (Palang Merah Indonesia) released a data based on the eye-care services in all regions of Indonesia. “Due to this prevalence, the ICRC and Indonesian Red Cross believe some remote areas in Papua are requiring health services, in particular eye treatment to reduce the number of blindness among the local people,” Program Manager for program partnership of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Freddy Nggadas told reporters in Wamena on last week. So far, ICRC always supports the local government in Papua though collaboration with the Indonesian Red Cross in Jakarta and Papua as well as the local hospital Dian Hardpan Jayapura Hospital in providing the eye-treatment services or cataract surgery in many regions. “We’d like to support PMI and Dian Hardpan to work in Papua, because some regions at the highland and remote areas have difficult access of transportation, lack of ophthalmologist, therefore we collaborated with Dian Harapan and PMI to enforce the local government to the elimination of blindness and catarac,” said Nggadas. Since the last week, the ICRC has provided the eye treatment and cataract surgery for local residents in Lanny Jaya Regency in collaboration with the Central PMI, PMI Papua, Dian Harapan Hospital and local government. ‘Within this year, we are trying to work with local governments of Yalimo, Mamberamo Tengah and Yahukimo as well. Next year we will traveling, possibly to Lanny Jaya once again expecting to conduct the next treatment of previous surgery, therefore we can work with the people, while the local government could be independent,” he said. Meanwhile, the ophthalmologist of Dian Harapan Jayapura Hospital, Januar Ali, revealed in Indonesia, especially in Papua, the blindness is mostly trigered by cataract, which is 0.78 percent of the number of population in a region. “For example in Lanny Jaya Regency; if the number of population reaches 200 thousand people, about 0.78 cases was resulted by cataract. But most cases are treated medically, so people could see as before,” he told reporters. He further explained cataract is mostly occurred due to aging, but could be triggered by other diseases such as diabetes or trauma, or simply by birth. “Of cases discovered in Papua, especially in the highland area, though there is still no official survey, but since 2003 I had traveling to several regions in Papua, I founded the residents in the highland area mostly got cataract but the reason is still unidentified. So far there is no survey or research on this issue, but referring to the habit of highlanders, due to cold weather, prefer sunbathing, it is likely the ultraviolet causing people are more prone to cataract,” he said. (Islami/rom)
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3) Amnesty International country report 
INDONESIA 2015/2016

Security forces faced allegations of human rights violations, including the use of unnecessary or excessive force. Arbitrary arrests of peaceful protesters, especially in Papua, occurred throughout the year. The government restricted activities marking the 50th anniversary of the serious human rights violations of 1965-1966. Harassment, intimidation and attacks against religious minorities occurred throughout the country. A new Acehnese Islamic Criminal Code came into force in October, expanding the use of corporal punishment to include consensual sexual relations. There were 14 executions.

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