Three border schools to help 'counter separatism' in Papua

Three border schools to help 'counter separatism' in Papua

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura

Indonesian and Papua New Guinea (PNG) agreed on Thursday to build
three vocational high schools in border areas to improve human
resources in both countries, and later help counter separatism.

A cooperation agreement on education was signed by Indra Djati
Sidi, the director of elementary and high school education at the
Indonesian ministry of education, and the acting deputy secretary
of the PNG education department, Damien Rapese.

The cooperation agreement comes on the heels of an agreement
reached at meeting between senior officials from Indonesia and
PNG in June last year in Port Moresby.

The three planned schools will be built in the border areas of
Skouw, Jayapura regency; Mindiptana, Boven Digoel regency; and
Sota, Merauke regency.

Construction work will start in 2004 and finish three years
later, with each school costing Rp 1 billion (US$112,359).

Sidi said the Indonesian government had allocated Rp 1 billion
for the construction of one school and cover its operational
costs for one year.

"We will complete this program in three years. But the central
government will help fund its operational costs for five years,"
he said.

During the signing ceremony in the auditorium of a vocational
high school in Jayapura on Thursday, PNG officials did not
specify the cost of the education cooperation program.

The meeting was also attended by the director of vocational
education at the national education ministry, Gatot HP,
Indonesian Ambassador to PNG, JRG Djopari, the Indonesian consul
in Vanimo, Leo Widayatmo, Papua administration secretary Decky
Asmuruf and PNG's governor of Sandaun, Carlos Yuni, MP.

Under the agreement, the two neighboring countries will also
set up a community skills center at the Yoteva View Hotel,
Jayapura, to improve the community interest-based human resources
of Papuans.

Papuan students from Indonesia and PNG would be allowed to
study at the three schools or enroll in the center to learn
vocational skills.

Currently, there are at least 20 PNG students taking part in a
three-month program in vocational schools in Papua. They were
given US$8,000 in scholarships on Thursday by the Indonesian
central government. The assistance was handed over to Djopari.

Sidi said the building of the schools in the border areas was
also expected to help counter separatist disturbances and
provocations against Indonesia as "the locals will be more
educated".

People living in the border areas share socio-cultural
traditions and family relationships, as members of extended
families living on both sides of the border, according to Decky
Asmuruf.

"Many PNG citizens have relatives in Indonesia and vice versa.
Therefore, the education cooperation program will have a positive
effect on building closer relations between the two neighbors,"
he said.

However on Wednesday, the Women's Alliance in the Skouw border
area, Muara Tami district, demanded that traditional PNG traders,
especially those from the hamlet of Wutung, be prohibited from
selling their agricultural produce in Papua.

The demand was conveyed by alliance chairwoman Paulina Retto
during a meeting with around 30 traditional women traders from
PNG at the immigration office in Wutung, some 50 kilometers west
of Jayapura.

Paulina argued that agricultural products from PNG, such as
areca nut, were sold cheaply to the detriment of local Papuan
traders.

Areca nuts are sold by the PNG vendors for only Rp 30,000 per
25-kilogram sack, while the price of the local product can be up
to Rp 300,000 per sack.

"They (PNG vendors) are killing the market for our
agricultural products," Paulina said.

Wednesday's meeting was held after Paulina's supporters set up
a barricade on the Wutung-Skouw road that stopped PNG traders
from entering Jayapura for three days up to May 10.

"When we closed the road, our products sold well," She said.

Paulina complained that PNG traders were free to come to
Papua, while their Indonesian counterparts had to pass through
tight security along the border.