ETAN and WPAT on Obama's Upcoming Trip to Indonesia

UPDATE: Obama is not going to Indonesia because of U.S. government shutdown. Our criticisms of U.S. policy to Indonesia remain; the policy needs to change.

Read: ETAN Urges President Obama to Put Human Rights at Center of U.S.-Indonesia Relations During Upcoming Visit to Indonesia

excerpts:
“The U.S. must not ignore injustice and human rights violations to advance narrow strategic and economic interests that have little to do with the well-being of the U.S. or Indonesian people,” said ETAN National Coordinator John M. Miller. “While much has changed in Indonesia since the Suharto dictatorship, U.S. security assistance does not promote further change. Instead it encourages impunity and further violations of human rights.” 
“We are calling for a new relationship between the two countries built on an honest assessment of the bloody past,” said Miller. “Instead of offering more weapons and more training to Indonesia’s military, President Obama should suspend this assistance until there is an end to abuses and real accountability for past human rights crimes.”

We are calling for a new relationship between the two countries built on an honest assessment of the bloody past.


Since Obama's last visit to Indonesia, the human rights situation has deteriorated in West Papua and religious intolerance has grown.
“President Obama can send a strong message against impunity by making clear he and and other senior U.S. officials will not to meet with any Indonesian politicians -- including likely presidential candidates, such as retired generals Prabowo and Wiranto -- who have been credibly accused of human rights and other crimes,” said Miller.
The two presidents.
Read: West Papua Advocacy Team Open Letter to President Obama

excerpts: 
This year marks 50 years of Indonesian rule over West Papua, which had previously been a Dutch colony slated for independence. Half a century of Indonesian rule has seen West Papua subjected to crimes against humanity, according to numerous credible human rights reports. Half a century of colonization of one people by the armed forces of another has taken place. Half a century of ongoing conflict has been the result. To resolve the conflict peacefully, international mediation is needed. West Papua was delivered to Indonesian rule as a result of American mediation, which confers upon the United States a special responsibility to act to resolve the current conflict peacefully.
and

The increasing militarization of West Papua indicates that there is no let-up in sight to the half-century of widespread violations of basic human rights in West Papua. If Indonesia is democratizing, the reverse is the case in West Papua.



We therefore recommend that on your trip to Indonesia, you:
  1. Press for a dialogue between the Indonesian government and West Papuan civil society, with international third-party mediation, along the lines of the successful international medication of the Aceh conflict in 2005. Current policy is not advancing dialogue. Internationally-mediated dialogue is a growing call from civil society voices in both West Papua and Indonesia.
  2. Halt military assistance to the Indonesian security forces. United States cooperation with the most brutal elements of the security forces encourages the climate of impunity, and United States sale of Apache helicopters increases the repressive capacity of the security forces in West Papua. Cooperation with the Kopassus Special Forces and Detachment 88of the Indonesian National Police should be suspended pending an improvement of the human rights situation in West Papua and the initiation of dialogue, and the agreement to provide Apache helicopters should be cancelled. Non-military ties should continue to expand but military cooperation be made conditional on respect for human rights in West Papua, as it was with respect to the Timor-Leste situation prior to Timor-Leste's independence.
  3. Press for open access to West Papua by international observers, NGOs and others, so that the conflict will no longer be hidden.
  4. Support efforts from within Melanesia to address the root causes of the conflict in West Papua, the denial of self-determination and the persistence of repressive policies by the Indonesian security forces.
  5. Press President Yudhoyono to order a halt to security forces' violations of the human rights of West Papuan civilians, and hold security personnel accountable for their crimes by laying charges, where evidence merits, in civilian courts.
West Papua Advocacy Team

Air quality permit issued for Holbrook potash mine

Arizona Department of Environmental Quality officials announced today that an air quality permit has been issued to American West Potash, the first permit to be issued for a large, proposed potash mining operation 30 miles southeast of Holbrook in Navajo County.  [Right, lease/ownership map of the Holbrook basin potash play.  AWP lands in purple on east side of Petrified Forest National Park in pale yellow]

The permit incorporates all applicable state and federal regulations and all appropriate pollution control requirements, monitoring and record keeping provisions to ensure protection of human health and the environment. While not required by air quality regulations, American West Potash addressed ADEQ’s request to work with the United States Forest Service and the National Park Service to document that the project would not adversely impact air quality at Petrified Forest National Park, which is located in close proximity to the project site.

American West Potash expects to begin construction of the mine in early 2015 and hopes to begin potash production in late 2017 or early 2018. The company anticipates creating  more than 750 full-time positions  and another nearly 200 jobs are expected to be created by outside businesses that will provide goods and services for mine operations.

“This mine could add nearly 1,000 much needed jobs to northeast Arizona’s economy and our air quality permit is highly protective of human health and the environment,” said ADEQ Director Henry Darwin. “This is an excellent example of how all parties can work together to protect the environment and grow the economy.”

American West Potash LLC, headquartered in Denver, Co., owns mineral claims covering an area of 32,000 acres in the Holbrook Basin. The company has estimated that as many as 2.5 billion tons of potash could be extracted in the next 60 years from the region. Potash contains potassium in water soluble form that is used in fertilizers throughout the world.
      
In addition to the air quality permit, American West Potash is expected to need an aquifer protection permit, an Arizona Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (AZPDES) permit  and possibly other permits from ADEQ before construction activities can begin.

[This post is the ADEQ news release]