Transmigration or the settlement of Indonesians outside of their original homelands has been used by the Suharto regime, ostensibly to ease population pressures in densely-populated areas such as Java, where Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia is situated. However, the population of Indonesia, which has doubled to over 200 million in the past 30 years is scarcely dented by the programmes of re-settlement. The pressures exerted on the target settlement locations are however grievous. In the case of West Papua, some focused transmigration is used for military-strategic purposes to control and hem in the indigenous population, in particular at the border with Papua New Guinea. Indonesian officials might term this "integration"; politically-conscious Papuans might call it "obliteration".

( The source of the following is: Suara Pembaruan, 21 September 1997, via TAPOL )

A transmigration site, Sota I, was set up in 1996 in Sota, a village close to the border with Papua New Guinea and 75 kms from Merauke. Sota village is inhabited by the Kanum tribe and it is located inside Wasur National Park. The Kanum tribe have inhabited the area for generations and have ancestral rights over the land.

Sota I will shortly be followed by the establishment of transmigration sites called Sota II and Sota III. The sites are being established here for reasons of security and economic stability. The total area for the three sites will be 2,300 hectares, all of it within the Wasur National Park which, by law, should be protected for that purpose only.

Already 320 families have been settled in Sota I. Land-clearance for the settlement of more families is underway in Sota II and Sota III.

A Pembaruan journalist recently visited this security and economic defence village and found that the people now living there are almost all from Central Java, along with retired members of the armed forces whose task will be to motivate the local community to take part in territorial defence.

The area is being prepared to become a district capital. A number of facilities have already been built, including a well-equipped secondary school. The site is located along the Trans-Irian Highway.

The head of the Kanum Tribe, Diomsius Kikkuan, tells Pembaruan that the establishment of the transmigration site is harmful to his people. 'This is our land which should be passed on to future generations' he says. 'Why is it be occupied by them?' He acknowledged that this might lead to exchange of experiences with the newcomers but such cooperation is very limited and the local people do not benefit from the arrangement. He also feared that if the transmigrants increase in number, the local people will be marginalised. He also feared that the influx of newcomers will damage Wasur Forest. 'Even now, newcomers come here every day to hunt our wildlife, whereas hunting should be restricted only to the local people.'

At least four people were killed in suspicious circumstances in the vicinity of the Freeport/RTZ copper and gold mine in August 1997. The Government-sponsored Indonesia Human Rights Commission ( KomNas Ham ) visited the area subsequently in what appeared to be a welcome development. The visit, however, turned out to be a disappointment. A spokesperson for the Commission later said it was not going to conduct investigations: the visit was just a "friendly visit"
( Jakarta Post, 30 August, 1997 ).
The one day visit to Timika turned out to be in the words of TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign, "nothing but a PR exercise".

There has been little media coverage in Ireland of West Papua since the last West Papua News. One of the members of the group recorded an interview for the Dublin-based radio station, Anna Livia; the Irish Times carried a press release from West Papua Action on August 29th, 1997 in relation to the August 1997 killings ( see above ). Jonathan Miller did a report on BBC 1 on the OPM ( Free Papua Movement ) on 20 September, 1997.

Two members of West Papua Action had a meeting with an official in the Asia/Oceania section of the Department of Foreign Affairs on 14 May 1997 to discuss the so-called "Act of 'Free' Choice" in the context of the document "West Papua: the Case for Re-examination". Mr. Dick Spring, TD, then Minister for Foreign Affairs, replied by letter to our representations. Copies of these documents are available on request.

One of the members of West Papua Action visited the Netherlands for five days at the end of June/beginning of July 1997. A short speech was given at the annual 1st of July celebrations there, a copy of which is available on request. Meetings were held with various interested parties including the 1st July organising committee, West Papua People's Front, the Foundation for Papuan Peoples ( PaVo ). The Netherlands has a sizeable West Papuan community.

West Papua Action gave workshops at "Earth '97", hosted by Presentation College, Portlaoise; in Portarlington; and in Camross. Thanks to everyone involved with these.

A member of WPA also spoke at an open meeting with a representative of the World Bank Group, which includes the MIGA ( Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency ) - which had controversially underwritten the Freeport/RTZ mine in West Papua.

Mr. Leonard Good, who sits on the board of MIGA, showed an alarming lack of awareness of the Bank's and MIGA's involvement in the mining project. Freeport/RTZ withdrew from its contract with the World Bank/MIGA shortly previous to a planned inspection trip by a Bank delegation to West Papua; the delegation's mooted visit was also cancelled on the pretext that the contract had been terminated, and that thus it was no longer the Bank's business.

Freeport/RTZ to date has not undergone an independent environmental and social audit of its operations in the Timika region.
 

Daniel Start's book "The Open Cage - the Ordeal of the Irian Jaya Hostages" was published in May 1997 by Harper Collins.

Tom Beanal of LEMASA, the Amungme Tribal Council, has published a book simultaneously in English and Bahasa Indonesian. The controversial Freeport/RTZ mine operates on Amungme lands.

The Jakarta Post reported the launch on 27 June, 1997 as follows :

An Irianese tribal leader called yesterday for better treatment of indigenous people around PT Freeport Indonesia's gold and copper mine. Tom Beanal, chief of the Amungme tribe, said that Irianese locals wanted to be treated "like human beings" so that there wouldn't be anymore conflict. "Actually, we don't want to fight. We only want them to treat us as individuals... as human beings, said the former legislator while launching his book titled Amungme: Magaboarat Negel Jombei Peibei (Amungme: The Culture of the Owners of the Cloud-covered Mountain Top). The book is written in Bahasa Indonesia and English.

PT Freeport is 81 percent owned by the New Orleans-based mining giant Freeport McMoran Copper and Gold Inc. The Indonesian government and a local private company, PT Nusamba, own 9 percent each.

Beanal has accused PT Freeport Indonesia of causing local environmental and cultural destruction. He lost the first part of a legal battle against Freeport when a U.S district court rejected his US$6 billion lawsuit last April. The court dismissed the case on the grounds that no definitive international environment law could apply to a private corporation.

PT Freeport claims to have provided basic facilities to local tribes. It is also committed to setting aside 1 percent of its net profit to the tribes.

Beanal told The Jakarta Post that he had not lost hope and would continue to sue Freeport in the U.S. for human rights violations against the Amungme people. But Beanal said that winning or losing in court was not the central issue.

"What we want mostly is recognition from Freeport of our existence as a tribe and a culture," he said.

Last February, the directorate general of taxation announced that Freeport had been the biggest taxpayer in Indonesia in 1995, rising from No. 53 in 1994. Freeport chief executive officer Jim Bob Moffet said earlier this year that his company had been thrusting a spear of economic development into the heartland of Irian, about 3,000 kilometres east of Jakarta.

In a discussion on the book, Beanal explained his tribe's philosophy on land.

"We consider that land is an integral part of our life. Destroying nature amounts to destroying ourselves", he said.

Freeport's concession of the world's largest known gold and copper reserves is in the north central part of the Amungme's land. "We do not object to the extraction of natural resources. But please respect our culture", said Beanal, who had supported the mine when it opened in 1972.

West Papua Action has been informed that West Papuan tribes have been among those from whom human samples from indigenous peoples have been taken - as part of the international collection and trade in human cell lines and tissues, which, according to the Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI), "is growing rapidly and has substantial and unanticipated commercial and military implications".

The "West Papua Forum" was launched in London on 30 September, 1997. Speakers included Daniel Start, held as a hostage by the OPM in 1996 ( who had since re-visited West Papua ), Roger Moody of "People Against RTZ" ( Partizans ), and Leonie Tanggahma of the West Papua People's Front ( based in the Netherlands ). Carmel Budiardjo of TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign, chaired the meeting.

West Papua: the Obliteration of a People. Copies available from the office. Price £6.00, incl. p&p.