Received
from Joyo Indonesian News
Jakarta Post
May 29, 2000
3,000 Irian representatives meet to 'rectify' history
By Neles Tebay
JAYAPURA, Irian Jaya (JP): More than 2,000 people
from all corners of Irian Jaya arrived here this
weekend ahead of Monday's opening of the six- day
Papuan Congress to discuss the future of the natural
resource-rich province.
While some participants say they hope to hold a
dialogue regarding the possibility of declaring
a separate state, the organizers toned the theme
down by saying that the chief agenda would be to
discuss the history of West Papua and how it became
a part of Indonesia.
Although officially the province is still called
Irian Jaya, most people here, certainly congress
participants, refer to their homeland as West Papua.
President Abdurrahman Wahid, who has already endorsed
the name change, had planned to inaugurate the congress
but changed his mind at the last minute following
criticism in Jakarta that his presence would amount
to an endorsement of the separatist cause.
Agus Alua, chairman of the congress' organizing
committee, said on Sunday that the meeting would
focus on reviewing and rectifying the history of
West Papua's integration into the Republic of Indonesia
in 1963.
"By reviewing and discussing the history, Papuans
can learn the real story behind the integration,"
Agus said.
"The young Papuan generation will learn the history
of West Papua from the perspective of West Papuans,"
he said.
Many West Papuan leaders have disputed the internationally-recognized
integration of their territory with Indonesia in
1963, saying that they were never properly consulted.
They claimed that at the time West Papua had already
secured independence from the Netherlands, but this
was snatched from them by Jakarta.
Agus said the congress is a continuation of the
first West Papuan congress of 1961 which decided
on the name West Papua for the country, Hai Tanahku
Papua (Oh Papua My Land) as the national anthem,
the Morning Star as the national flag and Niew Guinea
golden as the nation's currency.
The congress will also discuss the fundamental rights
of West Papuans and the injustices suffered by them,
he said.
Irian Jaya is home to one of the world's largest
gold mining operations. The territory has also seen
sporadic clashes between the military and the armed
Free Papua Organization (OPM).
Preparations swung into full gear at the Cendrawasih
Sports Hall, the venue of the congress, over the
weekend.
Agus estimated the total bill for the congress at
Rp 3 billion.
The money will be raised through donations, including
Rp 1 billion given by President Abdurrahman and
Rp 30 million from the Association of Indonesian
Forestry Companies (APHI), he said.
Agus did not say whether the organizers met their
objective.
"We don't think there will be any shortages," he
said.
The organizing committee has opened a bank account
at a local Bank BNI and the account number has been
advertised through the local papers to solicit donations.
Participants from the 13 regencies raised the money
locally to pay for their fares. Some of them were
put up by their relatives or people from their hometowns
in Jayapura, he said.
Most arrived by ship or plane. He stated that Fakfak
regency is sending 200 delegates, Sorong 500, Manokwari
500, Nabire 200, Paniai 100, Yapen Waropen 1,000,
Puncak Jaya 300, Jayawijaya 500 and Mimika 150.
The Irian Jaya provincial administration is providing
12 buses to transport the participants locally,
while the Jayapura branch of the Indonesian Sports
Council, which manages the 5,000 capacity sports
hall, has waived the rent.
A task force of some 10,000 people have been set
up to help with the security arrangements in and
around the venue.
Boy Eluay, head of the task force, said task force
members have also been deployed in all the regency
towns as a precaution against the possibility of
certain parties trying to take advantage of the
situation.
"We don't want provocateurs disrupting the congress,"
he said.
Irian Jaya Police Chief Brig. Gen. S.Y. Wenas said
he is also deploying his forces for security reasons.
"We hope it will be peaceful," he said, appealing
to West Papuans to remain vigilant against provocateurs.
The military is keeping its distance from the congress,
Lt. Col. Wais Ningekeula, territorial assistant
to the chief of the Trikora Military Command, said.
The Irian Jaya provincial administration has expressed
support for the congress in spite of talk that the
event will be turned into a show of force for the
pro-independence supporters.
"The congress is a way for Papuans to express their
feelings and aspirations. The local administration
has no objection to that," acting governor Musiran
said.
**********
Received from Joyo
Indonesian News
South China Morning Post,
May 29, 2000
Irianese seeking path to freedom By Chris McCall
in Jakarta
Once-banned separatist flags will adorn
the capital of Indonesia's vast Irian Jaya province
today as a congress to chart a course to independence
opens. Ignoring a last-minute decision by President
Abdurrahman Wahid not to attend, would-be independence
leaders spent the weekend making final preparations
for the six-day Papuan People's Congress. More than
5,000 people are expected to attend, most clad in
just a native penis gourd.
Thom Beanal, one of two co-chairmen of a 31-member
organising presidium, said the gathering was being
held "so the Papuan people can find the best way,
without trouble, to find a route to freedom".
Long suppressed by the authoritarian regime of former
president Suharto, calls for independence have broken
out into the open in Irian Jaya since his fall in
1998. The "Morning Star" flag of the rebel Free
Papua Movement (OPM) is now displayed openly and
the local name for the province, West Papua, used
freely.
Politicians elsewhere in Indonesia are distinctly
nervous about these calls, fearing they have the
potential to tear the country apart. Mr Wahid took
the decision not to go to the capital, Jayapura,
on the advice of Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri,
whose recent visit was marked by pro-independence
protests.
Racially distinct from other Indonesians, Irianese
resent the vast profits Jakarta has made from the
territory's rich natural resources without giving
much back in return. A low-level insurgency by the
OPM has carried on for decades.
Congress chairman Agus Alua said allies of top rebel
leaders Mathias Wenda and Kelik Kwalik would attend
but were not likely to advertise their presence
for security reasons.
Mr Wahid has been trying to appease calls for independence
by promising to rename the province - giving it
the indigenous name Papua - and pledging wider autonomy
and a fairer deal for ordinary Irianese, many of
whom have only just emerged from the Stone Age.
He has met many independence activists, and spent
the New Year in the province. He even provided one
billion rupiah (HK$1 million) to help cover the
cost of staging the congress.
Ms Megawati's father, Indonesia's founding president,
Sukarno, engineered Irian Jaya's controversial incorporation
into Indonesia in 1963, nearly 20 years after the
rest of the country declared independence from Dutch
colonial rule. The Netherlands had been preparing
the territory for self-government.
Two civilian figures have emerged in recent months
as leading voices of the independence movement.
Both are tribal chiefs, and they are co-chairmen
of this week's presidium.
Mr Beanal, of the Amungme people, has successfully
led efforts to get better compensation from the
company PT Freeport Indonesia for the adverse impact
of the giant and hugely profitable gold and copper
mine it operates near the southern town of Timika.
Theys Eluay, leader of the Sentani people from near
Jayapura, led demonstrations in December at which
the rebel flag was publicly raised across the province.
Once a legislator for Mr Suharto's Golkar party,
he now styles himself "The West Papuan Leader".
The congress' agenda is open and it is is intended
as a forum where all sides can speak, although it
may decide to choose a single leader for the independence
movement. "We will see what the process is, and
whether there is a need for a leader," Mr Alua said.
Recent reports of anti-independence militia activity
in parts of Irian Jaya have unsettled many, who
are well aware of the destruction wrought on East
Timor last year.
But Mr Beanal stressed that the congress was about
seeking a non-violent way to achieve independence
for his homeland. "If there is trouble, it is certainly
not Papuans. It is others," Mr Beanal said.
**********
Received from Joyo Indonesian News
(Reuters)
May 19, 2000
Protest blocks Freeport Indonesia staff from work
JAKARTA, May 19
A small protest against PT Freeport Indonesia, the
second in two weeks, blocked hundreds of workers
from the mining giant and other companies entering
their office block on Friday.
The 50 protesters attacked Freeport's environmental
performance at its massive Grasberg copper and gold
mine in remote Irian Jaya province in Indonesia's
far east.
A security guard told Reuters more than 1,000 workers
from Freeport and other companies in the same office
block could not enter the building and many had
gone home.
Freeport spokesman Mindo Pangaribuan told Reuters
the company had yet to decide if it would close
its office for the day.
Freeport officials were trying to speak with the
protesters.
"We are willing and trying to talk to them, but
so far we are not clear what their demands are,''
said Pangaribuan.
On May 8, hundreds of Irianese protesters demanded
Freeport, a subsidiary of U.S.-based Freeport-McMoran
Copper & Gold Inc, hand over more of its earnings
to support locals in impoverished Irian Jaya province.
That protest forced Freeport, which employs 16,000
people in Indonesia, to close its office for the
day.
**********
Received from Joyo Indonesian News
Jakarta Post
May 16, 2000
Environmentalists demand
Freeport's temporary closure
JAKARTA (JP): An environmental group demanded a
temporary halt to operations of mining company PT
Freeport Indonesia following a May 4 accident which
resulted in four missing workers.
The chairwoman of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment
(Walhi) Emmy Hafild also announced on Monday the
organization's plans to sue Freeport on charges
of environmental damage.
Walhi said Freeport had violated the 1997 environment
law, and government regulations on water pollution,
rivers and management of toxic materials and other
harmful waste.
"We (Walhi) will be filing a lawsuit against
the company this week and demand
a temporary closure of Freeport until the company
meets requirements for safe
operation of its facility," Emmy said, adding
that Walhi also wants a review
of Freeport's contract.
Walhi is not recommending the permanent closure
of the company in Irian Jaya,
she said. "For who would take care of the environment
rehabilitation then?"
Walhi also demanded that Freeport reduce its production
scale to a safe
level.
Emmy said the Wanagon basin accident was caused
because it could not
accommodate the waste from Freeport -- some 260,000
tons every day.
"Even at 33,000 tons during 1973 to 1990, the
company's activities had a
devastating impact on the environment," Emmy
told a press conference.
Emmy also said that an independent analysis was
needed in order to determine an acceptable production
scale for the company.
The accident at the Grasberg mine in Tembagapura,
Mimika regency was caused by the slippage of overburden,
which caused a wave of water and material to overflow
the Wanagon basin spillway and enter Wanagon Valley.
Company officials blamed four days of rainfall --
which reached an average of 40 millimeters a day
-- as the cause of the accident.
Antara on Monday quoted Mimika regent T.O. Potereyauw
as saying that the search had continued for the
four missing victims, but so far with no
results.
Walhi's report said 420 million tons of solid waste
had been produced by
Freeport's mining operation since 1995, about 95
percent of which was dumped in the Wanagon Valley.
Walhi activist Joko Waluyo, who observed the site
after the incident, said
that the 50-meter high wave had also destroyed pig
stys, vegetable gardens and a burial ground of the
Amungme tribe in Banti village, some 12 kilometers
downstream of the basin.
Emmy said that the earlier statement of Freeport's
president director Adrie
Machribie's, which blamed heavy rain for the incident,
was "unacceptable."
She said that Walhi had warned Freeport "years
ago" about the possibility of heavy rain damaging
the dumping system but "Freeport said that
they had already calculated (the rain factor)."
Protest
Meanwhile in Jayapura, hundreds of Irianese students
held a peaceful
demonstration at the local legislature demanding
that the government re-
evaluate the company's Environmental Impact Assessment
(AMDAL).
Spokesman for the demonstrators, Diaz Gwijangge,
said "Wanagon Lake is a sacred place for the
Amungme tribe ... Freeport has been deliberately
destroying the tribe's spiritual lands and culture."
The protesters also demanded that Freeport stop
dumping waste in Mimika's Ajkwa River, saying that
the practice has destroyed thousands of hectares
of mangrove and sago palm trees.
Yance Kayame, a member of the provincial council
who met the students, said that they were collecting
data -- to be eventually submitted to non-
government organizations working on the environment
-- to decide the
company's fate.
Legislators in Jakarta announced that Freeport's
contract could be revised if the company was found
guilty of its involvement in the incident. Calls
for a temporary halt to production operations, such
as those raised by Walhi, evoke the controversy
surrounding rayon and pulp producer PT Inti Indorayon
Utama in North Sumatra and gold mining firm PT Newmont
Minahasa Raya in North Sulawesi.
In both cases the government issued conflicting
decisions, raising feelings
of insecurity among business operators.
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