2) CSR Sugar owner linked to palm oil deforestation
3) Two years Paniai bloody tragedy: Where is the justice?
4) Incarcerated in West Papua, my son endured a six-month ordeal
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1) Freeport continues to buy time on smelter development
Viriya P. Singgih The Jakarta Post
Jakarta | Thu, December 8 2016 | 09:16 am
Gold and copper mining giant Freeport Indonesia has yet to realize its commitment to build a smelter in Indonesia in support of the government’s downstream industry push, triggering lawmakers to demand the government cancel the company’s export permit.
Freeport Indonesia, a subsidiary of United States giant Freeport McMoRan Inc., said Wednesday that it would only build a new smelter if the government could grant an early extension of the company’s contract, which is due to expire in 2021. The earliest miners can renegotiate contracts is two years before they expire, according to a local regulation.
The smelter development is compliant with a local mining law that bans raw mineral exports, slated to take full effect on Jan. 12, 2017, to encourage smelter development in the country and strengthen the processing sector.
“The point is, Freeport Indonesia is committed to building the new smelter. Nonetheless, there are some considerations that need to be addressed first, including the assurance of our contract extension,” said the newly appointed Freeport Indonesia president director Chappy Hakim during a hearing with the House of Representatives on Wednesday.
“We need funds to build the smelter and such funds can be secured if we have extended our contract,” said Chappy, a retired Indonesian Air Force chief of staff.
Lawmakers of Commission VII overseeing energy affairs bombarded the company with criticism, saying it was just buying time until it gets clearance to extend its contract in 2019.
“We have talked about this over and over again, but it seems like there’s no progress at all with Freeport’s new smelter development. So it looks like such a commitment is only the company’s trick to extend its export permit,” said Endre Saifoel of the NasDem Party.
The progress of the new smelter development is crucial for Freeport Indonesia, as it is currently seeking a recommendation from the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry’s mineral and coal directorate general for an extension of its export permit for copper concentrate, which will expire on January 12, 2017.
“It’s been around 40 years since Freeport first operated here, and considering the profit you guys have made since then, the development of new smelter should not be a problem at all. It’s not like you want to build a whole new country. It’s only a smelter,” said Mat Nasir from the Democratic Party.
Hence, House Commission VII concluded the hearing by urging the ministry’s mineral and coal directorate general not to give a recommendation for Freeport Indonesia’s export permit extension as long as the company was yet to show real commitment to the new smelter development.
“Whatever decision made by the government later is to ensure the smelter development in Indonesia,” the ministry’s mineral and coal director general Bambang Gatot Ariyono said in response to lawmakers’ calls for export permit stoppage.
At present, Freeport Indonesia sells most of the copper concentrate produced from its Grasberg operation overseas and sends roughly 40 percent of its production to PT Smelting Gresik, which operates the only copper smelter in the country. Freeport Indonesia has a 25-percent stake in Smelting Gresik.
On the other hand, it has allocated US$2.2 billion in capital expenditure for the new smelter development, even though only $212.9 million of it has been disbursed, including $115 million as collateral to the government and $50 million for preparing the smelter’s environmental impact analysis (Amdal) document, early works and basic engineering.
Even so, the company is yet to decide where the new smelter will be located, mulling a land plot owned by state-owned fertilizer maker Petrokimia Gresik and the industrial estate Java Integrated Industrial and Port Estate (JIIPE) operated by Berkah Kawasan Manyar Sejahtera. Both are located in Gresik, East Java.
Freeport Indonesia, a subsidiary of United States giant Freeport McMoRan Inc., said Wednesday that it would only build a new smelter if the government could grant an early extension of the company’s contract, which is due to expire in 2021. The earliest miners can renegotiate contracts is two years before they expire, according to a local regulation.
The smelter development is compliant with a local mining law that bans raw mineral exports, slated to take full effect on Jan. 12, 2017, to encourage smelter development in the country and strengthen the processing sector.
“The point is, Freeport Indonesia is committed to building the new smelter. Nonetheless, there are some considerations that need to be addressed first, including the assurance of our contract extension,” said the newly appointed Freeport Indonesia president director Chappy Hakim during a hearing with the House of Representatives on Wednesday.
“We need funds to build the smelter and such funds can be secured if we have extended our contract,” said Chappy, a retired Indonesian Air Force chief of staff.
Lawmakers of Commission VII overseeing energy affairs bombarded the company with criticism, saying it was just buying time until it gets clearance to extend its contract in 2019.
“We have talked about this over and over again, but it seems like there’s no progress at all with Freeport’s new smelter development. So it looks like such a commitment is only the company’s trick to extend its export permit,” said Endre Saifoel of the NasDem Party.
The progress of the new smelter development is crucial for Freeport Indonesia, as it is currently seeking a recommendation from the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry’s mineral and coal directorate general for an extension of its export permit for copper concentrate, which will expire on January 12, 2017.
“It’s been around 40 years since Freeport first operated here, and considering the profit you guys have made since then, the development of new smelter should not be a problem at all. It’s not like you want to build a whole new country. It’s only a smelter,” said Mat Nasir from the Democratic Party.
Hence, House Commission VII concluded the hearing by urging the ministry’s mineral and coal directorate general not to give a recommendation for Freeport Indonesia’s export permit extension as long as the company was yet to show real commitment to the new smelter development.
“Whatever decision made by the government later is to ensure the smelter development in Indonesia,” the ministry’s mineral and coal director general Bambang Gatot Ariyono said in response to lawmakers’ calls for export permit stoppage.
At present, Freeport Indonesia sells most of the copper concentrate produced from its Grasberg operation overseas and sends roughly 40 percent of its production to PT Smelting Gresik, which operates the only copper smelter in the country. Freeport Indonesia has a 25-percent stake in Smelting Gresik.
On the other hand, it has allocated US$2.2 billion in capital expenditure for the new smelter development, even though only $212.9 million of it has been disbursed, including $115 million as collateral to the government and $50 million for preparing the smelter’s environmental impact analysis (Amdal) document, early works and basic engineering.
Even so, the company is yet to decide where the new smelter will be located, mulling a land plot owned by state-owned fertilizer maker Petrokimia Gresik and the industrial estate Java Integrated Industrial and Port Estate (JIIPE) operated by Berkah Kawasan Manyar Sejahtera. Both are located in Gresik, East Java.
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http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2016/s4589563.htm
2) CSR Sugar owner linked to palm oil deforestation
video footage
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcast: 08/12/2016
Reporter: Hayden Cooper
The owner of some of Australia's most famous food brands has been linked to deforestation in Indonesia after new footage of land clearing in North Sumatra was obtained by 7.30.
Transcript
HAYDEN COOPER, REPORTER: The aerial view of deforestation in Indonesia. This footage was filmed earlier this year.
It reveals the rainforests of West Papua, cleared and ready to be replaced by palm oil plantations.
GEMMA TILLACK, RAINFORST ACTION NETWORK: Papua is a critically important tropical rainforest. It is an area that we cannot afford to lose, and right now it is being threatened by palm oil development including the development for other crops like pulp, paper, and other agri business commodities.
HAYDEN COOPER: This is the end result - massive plantations of palm oil as more companies line up to capitalise often at the expense of the environment and local Indigenous communities.
WENSI FATUBUN, PAPUAN FILMMAKER: Papuan people facing difficult with economic development project create by Indonesian governments. Economic development project for who? This is the big question, from the Papuans to the Indonesian government.
HAYDEN COOPER: This has been occurring across the region at an extraordinary rate.
Indonesia and Malaysia produce 85 per cent of the world's palm oil. Across Aceh, Sumatra, Borneo, Kalimantan and now Papua, millions of hectares of forests have been cleared and replaced by the lucrative crop, often endangering species like the Sumatra orangutan.
The palm oil is shipped all over the world and used in roughly half of the products in a typical supermarket.
GEMMA TILLACK: So what you can see here is excavators ripping down the rainforests.
HAYDEN COOPER: San Francisco-based Australian, Gemma Tillack monitors the industry for the rainforest action network.
GEMMA TILLACK: So right now we're at a critical juncture in the fate of Indonesia's rainforests.
The Indonesian president has actually taken a big, bold step forward and announced a moratorium on the further development of oil palm plantations in Indonesia.
So we have a critical opportunity right now to get it right and to act together as a global community to protect Indonesia's rainforests.
HAYDEN COOPER: But this footage obtained by 7.30 reveals destruction continues in Indonesia's rainforest and peatlands despite the moratorium.
It was filmed in North Sumatra, in the crucial Leuser Ecosystem.
GEMMA TILLACK: It is the last place on earth where you can find the Sumatra orangutans, the tigers, the elephants and the rhinos all co-existing together in the wild.
HAYDEN COOPER: This land clearing can be linked to some of Australia's most famous food brands through their parent company, Wilmar.
Wilmar International is the world's biggest palm oil trader.
The Singapore-based agri business is controlled by the Malaysian billionaire Kuok Khoon Hong. It's the owner of CSR Sugar, one of Australia's most popular brands.
Together with the Hong Kong based conglomerate, First Pacific, Wilmar also owns Goodman Fielder, the maker of many well-known Australian food products.
The footage was filmed last month and shows a plantation owner clearing forest in the vulnerable Tripa peatland.
GEMMA TILLACK: You can see that the excavator is ripping down the rainforest in the Tripa peatland. This is the orangutan capital of the world. So this is prime habitat for the Sumatra orangutan.
HAYDEN COOPER: The workers have been digging canals in the area and the clearance appears to have been under way for months.
GEMMA TILLACK: The drainage of the peat systems reduces the water table so that you can actually plant oil palm on the land.
HAYDEN COOPER: The Rainforest Action Network researchers decided to investigate further.
At the same plantation, they filmed palm oil fruit being loaded into a truck. They followed it as it drove to a nearby processing mill.
The name of the site, PT Raja Marga. This mill is listed on Wilmar International's website as a supplier.
GEMMA TILLACK: I was shocked. I actually thought that by now Wilmar would have identified all of the third party actor that were still destroying the Leuser and convinced them to either stop or to shut down their operations.
NICK XENOPHON, NXT SENATOR: It's pretty full on, isn't it? There's no, it's not selective. It's just...
HAYDEN COOPER: Senator Nick Xenophon is a vocal critic of the palm oil industry. It even got him deported from neighbouring Malaysia three years ago.
Should Wilmar be held accountable for what is going on there?
NICK XENOPHON: Look, absolutely, and they need to be up front with Australian consumers, all of us, who would have consumed one of the products that Wilmar now controls or owns as to what's going on here.
Particularly where there appears to have been a blatant disregard in the supply chain of a moratorium announced by the Indonesian government.
HAYDEN COOPER: Wilmar International declined 7.30's request for an interview. In a statement it said it shares the concerns about the Leuser Ecosystem.
It says it proactively audits its supply chain and after its own investigation it halted buying from the rogue processing mill in October.
GEMMA TILLACK: Two years ago Wilmar did commit to stopping deforestation, to stopping the destruction of peatland and the exploitation of workers and communities.
So it has taken the first step with this commitment but what we have found on the ground is that its third party suppliers continue to destroy rainforests including those in the Leuser ecosystem.
NICK XENOPHON: Well, Wilmar is talking the talk but not only are they not walking the walk, they're actually walking away from their previous commitments.
HAYDEN COOPER: So how far will the deforestation of Indonesia's rainforests go?
West Papua is now considered the last frontier. But there, too, major companies are looking to expand.
CAMELLIA WEBB-GANNON, WESTERN SYDNEY UNIVERSITY: The companies that are interested in buying the land tend to be Malaysian, Indonesian, Korean and Singapore-based companies, and these companies are the world's major traders in oil palm.
HAYDEN COOPER: Among them is Indo Agri, a key subsidiary of Wilmar's business partner First Pacific, the other part owner of Australia's Goodman Fielder.
As this footage confirms, it's now on the hunt in West Papua.
What's your company, say again?
INDO AGRI WORKER: I'm from Indo Agri.
HAYDEN COOPER: Indo Agri?
INDO AGRI WORKER: Yeah.
HAYDEN COOPER: That's a group of ...?
INDO AGRI WORKER: A company.
HAYDEN COOPER: A company? Based in Jakarta?
INDO AGRI WORKER: Yes, based in Jakarta.
HAYDEN COOPER: Your core business is ...?
INDO AGRI WORKER: Oil palm.
HAYDEN COOPER: Oil palm? Oh okay.
HAYDEN COOPER: The encounter was filmed near the hometown of a Papuan filmmaker, Wensi Fatuban.
WENSI FATUBUN: When (inaudible) come and taken Marine people's land, they not only lost land but they also lost their culture.
CAMELLIA WEBB-GANNON: For the majority of these negotiated contracts, there has not been free, informed and prior consent on behalf of the Indigenous peoples and that is something companies are beholden to ensure.
HAYDEN COOPER: These latest images have inspired Nick Xenophon to act. He'll reintroduce a bill to require better labelling of palm oil products.
NICK XENOPHON: At the moment palm oil is just labelled as a vegetable oil and it's given a number. It's meaningless in terms of consumers being informed.
HAYDEN COOPER: In the meantime, the clock is ticking for Indonesia's forests and the famous Australian brands that have aided their demolition.
GEMMA TILLACK: Wilmar is connected to the destruction of Tripa's peatland and it is connected to the destruction of the Leuser ecosystem. That needs to change.
Wilmar need to go beyond the mill, they need to get down to the front line of forest destruction and stop the bulldozers in their tracks.
LEIGH SALES: Hayden Cooper reporting.
It reveals the rainforests of West Papua, cleared and ready to be replaced by palm oil plantations.
GEMMA TILLACK, RAINFORST ACTION NETWORK: Papua is a critically important tropical rainforest. It is an area that we cannot afford to lose, and right now it is being threatened by palm oil development including the development for other crops like pulp, paper, and other agri business commodities.
HAYDEN COOPER: This is the end result - massive plantations of palm oil as more companies line up to capitalise often at the expense of the environment and local Indigenous communities.
WENSI FATUBUN, PAPUAN FILMMAKER: Papuan people facing difficult with economic development project create by Indonesian governments. Economic development project for who? This is the big question, from the Papuans to the Indonesian government.
HAYDEN COOPER: This has been occurring across the region at an extraordinary rate.
Indonesia and Malaysia produce 85 per cent of the world's palm oil. Across Aceh, Sumatra, Borneo, Kalimantan and now Papua, millions of hectares of forests have been cleared and replaced by the lucrative crop, often endangering species like the Sumatra orangutan.
The palm oil is shipped all over the world and used in roughly half of the products in a typical supermarket.
GEMMA TILLACK: So what you can see here is excavators ripping down the rainforests.
HAYDEN COOPER: San Francisco-based Australian, Gemma Tillack monitors the industry for the rainforest action network.
GEMMA TILLACK: So right now we're at a critical juncture in the fate of Indonesia's rainforests.
The Indonesian president has actually taken a big, bold step forward and announced a moratorium on the further development of oil palm plantations in Indonesia.
So we have a critical opportunity right now to get it right and to act together as a global community to protect Indonesia's rainforests.
HAYDEN COOPER: But this footage obtained by 7.30 reveals destruction continues in Indonesia's rainforest and peatlands despite the moratorium.
It was filmed in North Sumatra, in the crucial Leuser Ecosystem.
GEMMA TILLACK: It is the last place on earth where you can find the Sumatra orangutans, the tigers, the elephants and the rhinos all co-existing together in the wild.
HAYDEN COOPER: This land clearing can be linked to some of Australia's most famous food brands through their parent company, Wilmar.
Wilmar International is the world's biggest palm oil trader.
The Singapore-based agri business is controlled by the Malaysian billionaire Kuok Khoon Hong. It's the owner of CSR Sugar, one of Australia's most popular brands.
Together with the Hong Kong based conglomerate, First Pacific, Wilmar also owns Goodman Fielder, the maker of many well-known Australian food products.
The footage was filmed last month and shows a plantation owner clearing forest in the vulnerable Tripa peatland.
GEMMA TILLACK: You can see that the excavator is ripping down the rainforest in the Tripa peatland. This is the orangutan capital of the world. So this is prime habitat for the Sumatra orangutan.
HAYDEN COOPER: The workers have been digging canals in the area and the clearance appears to have been under way for months.
GEMMA TILLACK: The drainage of the peat systems reduces the water table so that you can actually plant oil palm on the land.
HAYDEN COOPER: The Rainforest Action Network researchers decided to investigate further.
At the same plantation, they filmed palm oil fruit being loaded into a truck. They followed it as it drove to a nearby processing mill.
The name of the site, PT Raja Marga. This mill is listed on Wilmar International's website as a supplier.
GEMMA TILLACK: I was shocked. I actually thought that by now Wilmar would have identified all of the third party actor that were still destroying the Leuser and convinced them to either stop or to shut down their operations.
NICK XENOPHON, NXT SENATOR: It's pretty full on, isn't it? There's no, it's not selective. It's just...
HAYDEN COOPER: Senator Nick Xenophon is a vocal critic of the palm oil industry. It even got him deported from neighbouring Malaysia three years ago.
Should Wilmar be held accountable for what is going on there?
NICK XENOPHON: Look, absolutely, and they need to be up front with Australian consumers, all of us, who would have consumed one of the products that Wilmar now controls or owns as to what's going on here.
Particularly where there appears to have been a blatant disregard in the supply chain of a moratorium announced by the Indonesian government.
HAYDEN COOPER: Wilmar International declined 7.30's request for an interview. In a statement it said it shares the concerns about the Leuser Ecosystem.
It says it proactively audits its supply chain and after its own investigation it halted buying from the rogue processing mill in October.
GEMMA TILLACK: Two years ago Wilmar did commit to stopping deforestation, to stopping the destruction of peatland and the exploitation of workers and communities.
So it has taken the first step with this commitment but what we have found on the ground is that its third party suppliers continue to destroy rainforests including those in the Leuser ecosystem.
NICK XENOPHON: Well, Wilmar is talking the talk but not only are they not walking the walk, they're actually walking away from their previous commitments.
HAYDEN COOPER: So how far will the deforestation of Indonesia's rainforests go?
West Papua is now considered the last frontier. But there, too, major companies are looking to expand.
CAMELLIA WEBB-GANNON, WESTERN SYDNEY UNIVERSITY: The companies that are interested in buying the land tend to be Malaysian, Indonesian, Korean and Singapore-based companies, and these companies are the world's major traders in oil palm.
HAYDEN COOPER: Among them is Indo Agri, a key subsidiary of Wilmar's business partner First Pacific, the other part owner of Australia's Goodman Fielder.
As this footage confirms, it's now on the hunt in West Papua.
What's your company, say again?
INDO AGRI WORKER: I'm from Indo Agri.
HAYDEN COOPER: Indo Agri?
INDO AGRI WORKER: Yeah.
HAYDEN COOPER: That's a group of ...?
INDO AGRI WORKER: A company.
HAYDEN COOPER: A company? Based in Jakarta?
INDO AGRI WORKER: Yes, based in Jakarta.
HAYDEN COOPER: Your core business is ...?
INDO AGRI WORKER: Oil palm.
HAYDEN COOPER: Oil palm? Oh okay.
HAYDEN COOPER: The encounter was filmed near the hometown of a Papuan filmmaker, Wensi Fatuban.
WENSI FATUBUN: When (inaudible) come and taken Marine people's land, they not only lost land but they also lost their culture.
CAMELLIA WEBB-GANNON: For the majority of these negotiated contracts, there has not been free, informed and prior consent on behalf of the Indigenous peoples and that is something companies are beholden to ensure.
HAYDEN COOPER: These latest images have inspired Nick Xenophon to act. He'll reintroduce a bill to require better labelling of palm oil products.
NICK XENOPHON: At the moment palm oil is just labelled as a vegetable oil and it's given a number. It's meaningless in terms of consumers being informed.
HAYDEN COOPER: In the meantime, the clock is ticking for Indonesia's forests and the famous Australian brands that have aided their demolition.
GEMMA TILLACK: Wilmar is connected to the destruction of Tripa's peatland and it is connected to the destruction of the Leuser ecosystem. That needs to change.
Wilmar need to go beyond the mill, they need to get down to the front line of forest destruction and stop the bulldozers in their tracks.
LEIGH SALES: Hayden Cooper reporting.
———————————————————-
A google translate.Be-aware google translate can be a bit erratic.
Original bahasa link at
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
3) Two years Paniai bloody tragedy: Where is the justice?
News Portal Papua No. 1 | Jubi,
Jayapura, Jubi - Eruption accompaniment weapons fall due terbembus dozens of bullets in the Field Karel Gobay, Enarotali, Paniai regency capital, two years ago, December 8, 2014 around 10:30 am, leaving sorrow until now. A total of 18 civilians were wounded. Four high school students and a farmer's last breath. That date, it will not disappear from the minds of people in Paniai. The day of the ill-fated, they lost relatives. Death by intermediaries hot lead, whoever the owner, forced to pick them up.
Alpius Youw (17) high school students YPPK Epouto, Yulian Yeimo (17) high school students YPPGI Enarotali, Simon Degei (18) SMA Negeri 1 Enarotali, Alpius Gobai (17) SMA Negeri 1 Enarotali lying lifeless. In addition to the four, Abia Gobai (28), a farmer from Enarotali also picked want despite being treated in hospitals Madi, Paniai.
The urge completion of cases Paniai voiced parties without ceasing. Not only by activists and those who care about human rights in Papua. Insistence that reveal the country also come from those who are outside Papua.
Two years passed. Bloody tragedy at Tiananmen Karel Gobay never revealed. Owners bullets spewed stealth no man's weapon was still a mystery. I wonder where the justice is hiding. Victims and families of victims continue to wait for the miracle of justice.
"I want to talk any more. During this time I continued to express what people want Paniai generally and their families in particular. But there was no action from the state," said legislator Papua, Laurenzus Kadepa via telephone to the Jubi, Wednesday (07/12/2016 ).
Commission I of Papua, the Commission for Political, Legal and Human Rights wants the state really had no intention of solving cases Paniai. During this time various team has conducted an investigation. But there was no result.
"I want a country is really sincere to solve this case. Giving a sense of justice to the victims and their families. Let the commission or other independent teams to work without pressure. Without any intervention. This is my message commemorating the tragedy Paniai two years," he said.
During this time the victim's family could not stay silent. Make efforts to get justice. They want the perpetrators brought to justice arrested. But so expensive justice to them.
"Victims and families of victims are still kept waiting when the actors revealed. Whenever the state to deliver justice to them," he said.
While the Commission Commissioner RI, Natalius Pigai states, the disclosure of Paniai bloody tragedy so important to society in particular Paniai, Papua general and for Indonesia in the eyes of the world.
"Case Paniai, guilt rests with the government. As long as the government cover-up of actors, particularly related to the results of the investigation TNI and Polri, the community against those who conduct investigations. I think people in Paniai think smart," said Natalius Pigai to Jubi recently.
Learning from other cases Natalius words, all was never proven because the military and police never declared culprit even hide the culprit. Unless the public or the victim's family want to do an autopsy in the case of Paniai. But the clash with the culture. The only way out is the military and police should announce the results of the investigation.
"We want the perpetrators were given severe punishment in accordance with Act 26 of 2000, even facing death sentence. The case Paniai asked by anyone, including the international community then covering the offender and refused to open an investigation, the government," he said.
Regent Paniai, Kayame Heng also said he wants the case was soon revealed. He said that so far has been a lot of teams who go down to Paniai, but to no avail.
"I wish Tim Ad Hoc Human Rights Commission could soon menungkap the case and the perpetrators brought to justice. Now Paniai wait disclosure of Paniai," said Hengy Kayame to Jubi recently.
Some time ago Kemenko Polhukam has formed a team. The team was named Team of Integrated Settlement human rights violations in Papua. Some cases of alleged human rights violations in Papua, including the agenda Paniai case team. But until now the performance of the team has not given it meaning.
Coordinating Minister for Politics, Wiranto has recently stated, there are various constraints experienced by the team. One of them cost constraints and outopsi.
"The government already has the intention. We are going to solve. But it is not easy. Not to be fast," said Wiranto was recently quoted as saying of the various media.
According to him, to convince their human rights violations required outopsi. However it was contrary to the local culture.
"Cultures do not allow it. If there is a result in the next outopsi there," he said.
But the chairman of Commission I of Papua, Elvis Tabuni rate, outopsi and the budget can not be used as an excuse hamper the completion of the human rights in Papua.
"If plagued many things entrusted to a team from outside
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4) Incarcerated in West Papua, my son endured a six-month ordeal
Susan Skyvington
Before gaining independence in 1999, East Timor endured 24 years of brutal suffering under Indonesian occupation. Are we aware, do we care that this is today being repeated in West Papua?
Just 200km from Australia, the western half of New Guinea island, formerly Irian Jaya, West Papua also wants freedom from Indonesia, but is being violently oppressed.
My son Saul Dalton was detained for six months in this remote province, inadvertently caught up in both independence struggles.
A a young graduate, Saul went as a UN-sponsored witness to the referendum in East Timor. Proud of him for his social conscience, unusual among his materialistic Gen X cohort, I was also concerned. Massacre was predicted if the vote went against Indonesia retaining East Timor.
Bloodbath
A violent bloodbath did ensue. Saul hopped onto an inter-island ferry to escape trouble. Or so he thought. Ten days later he landed up in Irian Jaya. Out of the frying pan into the fire. John Howard had just sent Australian-led troops into Timor to quell the slaughter.
Indonesia hated Australia for this intervention, for their loss of face. Saul was arrested on boarding a short flight back to Darwin. At midnight, driven into dark remote jungle, he was sure this was where his life would end.
Indonesian foreign minister Ali Alatas gloated next day to his Australian counterpart Alexander Downer at a New York UN meeting: ‘We are holding one of your countrymen’.
I went to try to get him out. From Byron paradise plunged into Papua hell. I was told, ‘We do not like your country, we will not help your son. We have photographed him in Darwin wearing a Falintil [the ET resistance movement] t-shirt demonstrating against the Republic of Indonesia.’
My naive plea, ‘But we were all supporting East Timor,’ did not help.
Alone, defended only by a police-appointed non-English-speaking lawyer, Saul was put through a drawn-out trial on charges of misusing his visa (endorsed by the Indonesian Consulate in Darwin with ‘Pro-UNAMET’, to assist in the UN mission to East Timor) for espionage, for trying to wrest this province from the Republic of Indonesia – sent moreover by the Australian government!
Payback
The Papuan prosecutor told me, ‘I know your son has done nothing. I am being asked to bring these false charges against him as a payback to Australia’. Young Melky Huka, who had helped Saul, died suddenly, mysteriously.
Eventually my son was released. A case of straying into the wrong place at the wrong time. They had not caught a big spymaster, just small fry. Face had been saved.
We were asked to write a statement to General Siagian, head of armed forces of Irian Jaya, to never speak out against the Republic of Indonesia.
Through our long ordeal, the legacy of which is PTSD, we learned about this most remote, secret, sinister place, of its exploited natural beauty and rich resources, its brave, gentle freedom-loving people. I have met human rights lawyers and advocates, tribal and church leaders, musicians, artists – all have lost loved ones, land, and livelihood. But not their spirit.
Saul was held near giant US-owned Freeport, the world’s largest gold and third largest copper mine (200,000 tons of copper ore per day). Freeport’s four per cent royalty is the single largest contribution to Indonesia’s GNP.
It pays millions of dollars to Kopassus, the ‘elite’ Indonesian military unit, to provide security to the mine.
Destruction
That is also why Saul was arrested: no-one is meant to go there, to reveal what is happening in this last innocent Shangri-la being brutally raped behind closed doors.
I witnessed a kilometres-wide swathe of mining waste descending from the glacier-topped mountain of gold to the sea, decimating rainforest, rivers and villages along its path. Papua’s rainforest, home of exotic birds of paradise, is being destroyed.
In 2004 Yale Law School concluded that genocide is occurring, half a million of West Papua’s people massacred since Indonesia appropriated it in 1969. Australia is complicit in turning a blind eye, and our taxes are paying for Kopassus training.
• Free West Papua activism
An Australian site for human rights in West Papua is at freewestpapua.com.au
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