2) Indigenous community employed by the palm oil plantation company PT BIA as manual workers
——————————————-
1) DAP organises a petition against Autonomy Policy Phase II on the commemoration of the International Indigenous Peoples Day
Admin1 August 16, 2020 5:53 pm
Papuan indigenous peoples sign the petition to decline the Special Autonomy Phase II on the commemoration of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous peoples at DAP square in Wamena. -Jubi/Islami
Wamena, Jubi – Papua Customary Council (DAP) commemorated the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples of 9 August 2020 by organising public prayer at Karma football square of DAP Hubula Office located in Wesaput Sub-district on Monday (10/8/2020).
The council also organised a petition to decline the extension of autonomy policy. The Chairman of Papua Customary Council elected through the extraordinary consensus, Dominikus Sorabut, stated two points marked in this commemoration day, namely the Covid-19 pandemic and human rights violations in Papua.
“This momentum combines two points of concern. They are mainly food security of indigenous peoples that are being threatened amid the Covid-19 pandemic and severe human rights violations against indigenous Papuans,” he said.
According to him, regarding their rejection over the Special Autonomy, DAP and the indigenous community would not organise demonstrations, but create a petition and distribute it to all customary territories. This petition is a form of public consultation for the government to assess what people need, which is the evaluation of Special Autonomy policy.
“It has never been evaluated yet but forced to amend for an extension. As such, we cannot categorise it as Special Autonomy since the Special Autonomy should belong to the indigenous peoples. Therefore, this petition will be compiled by a working committee. If the targeted signatures from seven customary areas have been collected, the working committee would decide the next step,” he said.
Regarding the world’s indigenous peoples, Article 1 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of International Indigenous Peoples acknowledges that indigenous peoples have rights to collectively or individually pursue all human rights and fundamental freedoms recognised in the UN Charter, the Charter of Human Rights and the Charter of International Human Rights Law.
“The awareness of Papuan indigenous peoples begin in the implementation of the protection of their basic rights over natural resources and their identity as part of the world’s indigenous peoples.” The statement was declared by the Head of Manokwari Legal Aid Research and Development Institute (LP3BH), Yan Warinussy, in a release received by Jubi on Monday (9/8/2020) in Jayapura. (*)
Reporter: Islami Adisubrata
Editor: Pipit Maizier
———————————————-
2) Indigenous community employed by the palm oil plantation company PT BIA as manual workers
Admin1 August 16, 2020 5:57 pm
Merauke, Jubi – Oktovianus Mahuze Milafo, a customary landowner whose land is used by PT BIA for oil palm plantation (https://www.ptbia.co.id/), talked about his dissatisfaction after finding out that two customary landowners hired by the company located at Ulilin Sub-district, Merauke Regency, Papua, as manual workers only.
“We, Mahuze Milafi clan, own 3,000 hectares of the land under the management of PT BIA. In the meantime, 900 hectares of the total land used for oil palm plantation,” said Oktavinus Mahuze to Jubi in an interview held in Kindiki Village of Ulilin Sub-district, Merauke Regency, earlier this week.
Regarding employment, he said the indigenous community as the customary landowners mostly employed as land cleaners, palm oil harvesters, and chainsaw operators, and only two customary landowners recruited to work in PT BIA Office.
It contradicts with their expectation as the customary landowners to work in the office. “That is right if some indigenous people from Kindiki Village whose land is used for palm oil plantation by PT BIA work in the palm oil plantation. We thought the company should recruit them to work at the office,” he said.
In the meantime, PT BIA Public Relations Officer Erwan told Jubi on Friday (7/8/2020) that he must confirm this complaint to the Human Resources Department first to clarify the issue.
We also have data on the indigenous peoples working in the PT BIA office. Where did the data saying only two people hired in the office come from?” Erwan asked Jubi in an unfriendly tone.
The corporation should provide short and long-term community programs
Given that PT BIA has long been operating in Muting Sub-district, Merauke Regency, a religious leader is concerned about how the corporation does not accommodate the local community to get a better position in the corporation. It only focuses on business.
“The corporation should consider to provide both short and long-term programs to offer to the customary landowners,” said Pastor Anselmus Amo, the Director of the Secretariat of Justice and Peace (SKP) of Merauke Archdiocese (KAME), on Saturday (8/8/2020).
According to him, PT BIA should provide training, courses and other empowerment programs to the community as part of their short-term program, while providing scholarship for children and youth to access various levels of education can be their long-term program. Therefore, it would accommodate them to access employment in the office after finishing their studies.
“If PT BIA has no such policy like this, the customary landowners would continue to become manual workers in the palm oil plantation. As a result, the complaint and demonstration would continue to emerge because they cannot be hired to work in the office,” added Pastor Amo.
PT BIA’s unresponsive attitude towards the customary landowners is ironic because it has been operating in the village for a long time. It means the corporation only wants to do a shortcut by bringing workers from outside rather than invest in education for the children of the customary landowners.
“If it has not put this matter as a priority, it is a failure of the corporation because they have not provided proper investment on education for the customary landowners,” said Pastor Amo. (*)
Reporter: Ans K
Editor: Pipit Maizier
------------
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.