West Papua's indigenous population under threat

Grasberg - the biggest goldmine in the world - is located in the south of the Indonesian province of West Papua. It is run by the US company Freeport. The mine also produces copper and the consequences for the environment are devastating. Copper wastage and pollution are having a long-lasting harmful impact on the surrounding mangrove forests and coastline.

Theo van den Broek from the Office for Justice and Peace in the provincial capital Jayapura said it was hard to calculate the extent of the damage but that pregnant women and their babies were suffering disproportionately.

"We got a message at the diocese office here in Jayapura telling us that more pregnant women than usual are miscarrying. We reported this to the department of health and I told the guy in charge of healthcare in Timbika that many babies were dying soon after being born. But no step has been taken at all."

One the contrary, the Indonesian authorities are actually promoting the lucrative mining industry despite the fact that it has already destroyed the living environment of the Amungme and the Kamoro, two indigenous peoples of Papua.

Daiget people at risk because of deforestation

However, it is not only gold and copper mining that provides a threat to West Papua’s indigenous population. The Daiget in the northern part of the province are at risk because of deforestation.

The palm oil plantation in Arso has been around since the 1980s when Indonesian businessmen backed by Suharto’s army set it up. The semi-nomadic Daiget had their land confiscated and migrants from other parts of Indonesia were sent to work on the plantation.

Although the Daiget tried to maintain their traditional way of life as much as possible, it became increasingly difficult. The farmer Paul Okiambe explained that they had to travel further and further, even to cross a big river 20 kilometers away, to plant trees or vegetables.

EU demands for palm oil biofuels

The Arso palm oil plantation was one of only a few in West Papua until the European Union decided in 2007 that 10 percent of all fuel used in the EU had to be from sustainable raw materials by 2020.

Indonesia’s government immediately announced that nine million hectares of forest in West Papua would be put aside for oil palms. The military watches over the plantations and civil rights activists say that the indigenous population is under pressure to give up its land.

However, Friederika Korain from the Office of Justice and Peace also said despondently that "resistance is pointless". She recalled a deadly incident in February 2008: "They demonstrated in Nabire and five trucks of police came and shot some of them – two died and more than 25 civilians were arrested." 15 still remain in custody and are awaiting their trials.

Church efforts to combat alcoholism

Many Papuas in Jayapura have fallen prey to alcoholism and prostitution but the Church, which remains influential in the province, tries to put up resistance. Socrates Yoman, the president of the Baptist community in West Papua, thinks that Jakarta’s palm oil plans are criminal.

"They have forced us to take over their values and their language but they have killed our identity, our mind, our potential and our talent," he said. "Before I became president here, people would sing in Indonesian but now they sing in their language, eat their own food, respect their life. We are saving our future for our children and grandchildren."

The suppression of Papua’s indigenous peoples, their language and their culture, continues. The Indonesian police and military presence is there to crack down on opposition. Most of the jobs in the region go to migrants from other provinces of Indonesia.

Author: Thomas Kruchem / act
Editor: Thomas Baerthlein