Cenderawasih Pos, 16 September 2008

Jakarta:
Although Freeport has been operating for more than forty years in Papua, the local communities still have problems with the company.

Seven Amungme Papuans from the villages of Tsinga, Waa-Banti, Aroanop in the sub-district of Tembagapura, Timika went to the head office of the company in Jakarta, accompanied by activists from the Indonesian Human Rights Committee for Social Justice.

They wanted to know why the Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2000 which stated that the company would provide the necessary infrastructure and funds for its protection has still not been implemented eight years later, said the director of the IHCS programme, Gunawan.

However, their efforts were not successful as they were only able to meet members of the staff of the Law and Communications Department of the company.

‘They gave us the standard reply, that they would deal with the matter and promised to pass it on to the directors, even though we had asked to meet the directors,’ said Gunawan.

Another matter that they raised was that the local people’s customary rights had been destroyed by the activities of Freeport. One example was the way that Lake Wanagon had been polluted.

In view of the unsatisfactory response, the Amungme people said that they would raise the matter with Indonesia’s Human Rights Commission, Komnas HAM and ask them to mediate between the two sides.

They were asked (by journalists?) whether their efforts to meet the directors was in any way connected with the acts of terror that have recently occurred in Timika. In reply, they said that this had nothing to do with these recent acts of violence. ‘As you can see, we have not carried out a demonstration. This means that we want peace.’