2) Researcher warns over West Papuan deforestation impact on traditional noken weaving
3) Far East Gold targets resource expansion with extensive drilling program at Idenburg gold project in Papua, Indonesia
4) Indonesia’s revised military law: Growing protests and concerns over democracy and human rights
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Mongabay
1) Indigenous communities in Indonesia demand halt to land-grabbing government projects
HANS NICHOLAS JONG 26 MAR 2025 ASIA
- More than 250 members of Indigenous and local communities gathered in Indonesia’s Merauke district to demand an end to government-backed projects of strategic national importance, or PSN, which they say have displaced them, fueled violence, and stripped them of their rights.
- PSN projects, including food estates, plantations and industrial developments, have triggered land conflicts affecting 103,000 families and 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) of land, with Indigenous communities reporting forced evictions, violence and deforestation, particularly in the Papua region.
- In Merauke itself, the government plans to clear 3 million hectares (7.4 million acres) for rice and sugarcane plantations, despite Indigenous protests; some community members, like Vincen Kwipalo, face threats and violence for refusing to sell their ancestral land, as clan divisions deepen.
- Officials have offered no concrete solutions, with a senior government researcher warning that continued PSN expansion in Papua could escalate socioecological conflicts, further fueling resentment toward Jakarta and potentially leading to large-scale unrest.
JAKARTA — Hundreds of Indigenous people and civil society groups in Indonesia are demanding an end to government projects that have seized their lands, fueled violence, and stripped them of their rights.
In the second week of March, more than 250 members of Indigenous and local communities affected by projects classified as being of strategic national importance, or PSN, gathered in Merauke, a district in Indonesia’s Papua region bordering Papua New Guinea.
Over four days, attendees shared their experiences of displacement and suffering caused by PSN projects, which include roads, dams, power plants, industrial estates and plantations.
The communities represented at the dialogue included those impacted by food estate projects in the provinces of North Sumatra, Central Kalimantan, Papua and South Papua; the Rempang Eco City project in the Riau Islands province; the Nusantara capital city (IKN) project in East Kalimantan; the Poco Leok geothermal project in East Nusa Tenggara; extractive industries related to biofuel in Jambi; various projects in West Papua; and the expansion of oil palm plantations across the wider Papua region.
Some community members have been displaced from their ancestral lands. Others, who continue fighting for their land rights, face violence at the hands of the military and police.
According to the Agrarian Reform Consortium (KPA), there were 154 PSN-related conflicts from 2020 to 2024, affecting 103,000 families and 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) of land. The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) received 114 complaints related to PSN between 2020 and 2023, including allegations of forced evictions, violence against protesters, labor abuses, environmental degradation, and attacks on journalists.
With PSN projects continuing, affected communities at the Merauke dialogue, facilitated by the NGO Pusaka, issued a declaration on March 14, calling for the projects’ termination in front of government officials.
“We demand the complete cessation of National Strategic Projects and other so-called national interest projects that clearly sacrifice the people,” the declaration read in part. “The perpetrators of state-corporate crimes must return all stolen wealth to the people and immediately restore their health and living spaces in all areas sacrificed in the name of national interest.”
Pusaka director Franky Samperante said the “Merauke solidarity declaration” marks the beginning of resistance to the destruction of communities and their living spaces.
“Our next task is to strengthen the Merauke solidarity movement and continue rejecting and resisting PSN and other so-called national interest projects that blatantly sacrifice the people,” he said.
History of PSN
The PSN framework was formalized during the administration of former president Joko Widodo, in office from 2014-2024. His government prioritized infrastructure development as a key driver of economic growth, issuing a regulation in 2016 that outlined a list of priority projects to be developed under the PSN framework. The main benefit to developers of such a designation is eminent domain: the government can invoke this power to take private property for public use, ostensibly to fast-track development, but often at the cost of people’s rights and environmental and social impacts.
Between 2016 and 2024, the government initiated 233 PSN projects, with a total investment value of around $378 billion.
When Prabowo Subianto took office as president in 2024, he continued and expanded the PSN program. His administration retained 48 ongoing projects from the previous administration, while adding 29 new projects, increasing the total PSN count to 77 projects. The new projects focus on food security, energy sovereignty, water infrastructure, and mining and industrial downstreaming.
The awarding of PSN designation to various projects has drawn criticism for bypassing regulatory hurdles, fast-tracking approvals, limiting oversight, and granting the government eminent domain rights to evict entire communities. Many projects primarily benefit large corporations and politically connected businesses rather than local communities, despite the government claims that they drive economic
Food estate
One example is the food estate project in Merauke, where agribusiness giants have secured vast concessions, often at the expense of Indigenous land rights. Carried over from the previous administration, the project aims to clear 3 million hectares (7.4 million acres) of land in Merauke — two-thirds of it for rice fields and the rest for sugarcane plantations — an area 45 times the size of Jakarta.
From the start, Indigenous Papuans living in the project area have protested, saying they were never properly informed or consulted. Many say they fear for their safety due to the heavy military presence and pressure from fellow community members who had already sold their land to developers.
Vincen Kwipalo, a 67-year-old Indigenous man from the Kwipalo clan of the Yei tribe, has been vocal in opposing the project, as the planned concessions overlap with his clan’s ancestral lands.
“We are not selling our customary land. The forests and hamlets owned by the clan are not large. We want to manage them ourselves for our livelihoods and food sources, for our children and grandchildren,” he said.
Vincen said that on Dec. 11, 2024, he was confronted at his home by five machete-wielding men who verbally assaulted him, calling his family “stupid.” He called the police, and the attackers fled when officers arrived.
The next morning, a larger group returned with machetes, threatening to kill him. The situation deescalated only after the village chief intervened.
Vincen said he suspects the attackers were from a neighboring clan that’s been embroiled in a land dispute with his clan. He said this clan had already sold their customary land to a sugarcane developer for around 300,000 rupiah ($18) per hectare — the same offer made to Vincen’s family, which they refused.
Vincen’s wife, Alowisia Kwerkujai, has stood by his side throughout the ordeal. For her, the forest is the source of their life.
The 1,400-hectare (3,460-acre) customary forest claimed by the Kwipalo clan is a thriving ecosystem that’s home to towering trees and diverse wildlife such as cassowaries, wallabies, parrots and eagles. It provides food, materials for daily needs, and is a source of income through rubber and teak plantations.
“That’s why I won’t give the land to the company,” Alowisia said as quoted by BBC Indonesia. “Where would we go? I am a mother raising children, and this land is for them.”
Disappearing forests
Despite the opposition from Indigenous peoples, the food estate project is moving ahead.
As of January 2025, 7,147 hectares (17,660 acres) of forest and savanna had been cleared in Tanah Miring district for the sugarcane project, while 4,543 hectares (11,226 acres) of forest and mangrove had been cleared for the rice-related infrastructure, such as roads and a port, in Ilwayab district, according to data from Pusaka.
Senior officials have claimed there are no forests being cleared.
“There’s no forest in the middle of Merauke,” said the country’s energy minister, Bahlil Lahadalia, who’s in charge of a government task force that manages the project. “There’s only eucalyptus [trees], swamps and savannas.”
However, a spatial analysis by TheTreeMap shows that the ecosystems cleared for the rice project are mostly Melaleuca swamp forests, which are dominated by paperbark trees (Melaleuca leucadendron). These forests are unique ecosystems that appear sparse but are rich in biodiversity and store large amounts of carbon.
A 2016 study in Australia found that Melaleuca forests there store between 210 and 381 tons of carbon per hectare — higher even than the Amazon Rainforest on a per-hectare basis.
“However, Melaleuca forests are often overlooked because, unlike dense rainforests, they are less diverse and have more open structures,” TheTreeMap wrote in a blog post. “These characteristics are sometimes mistaken for signs of degradation, leading to misconceptions that Melaleuca forests are degraded ecosystems, which are not worthy of conservation.”
The construction of a new road for the rice project will further threaten these ecosystems, it added.
Direct plea
During the Merauke dialogue, Vincen addressed government officials in attendance, including the Deputy minister of human rights, Mugiyanto Sipin.
He described how the arrival of the sugarcane plantation project under the PSN scheme had torn apart the social fabric of his community, with families and clans who refuse to sell their land being pressured, intimidated and pitted against each other.
“Sir, can you guarantee my safety if I get killed in the forest?” Vincen asked Mugiyanto as reported by BBC Indonesia. “The government doesn’t see what’s happening. Forget about Jakarta — even the local government here isn’t paying attention to how we are being pushed to fight one another.”
He also made a direct plea to President Prabowo.
“Mr. President, you see the development happening, but you don’t see that we, the Indigenous people, are being forced into conflict — into bloodshed,” Vincen said. “Where else can we seek legal protection?”
Despite growing evidence of human rights violations, Mugiyanto offered no concrete solutions beyond saying he would relay the concerns to higher authorities.
If left unchecked, PSN projects like the Merauke food estate are a “ticking time bomb” waiting to explode, warned Cahyo Pamungkas, a senior researcher at Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN).
In Merauke, the food estate project could further escalate tensions, deepening resentment of Papuans toward Jakarta, he said.
If ignored, these warnings foreshadow a crisis unlike any in Indonesia’s history, with “an escalation of socioecological chaos,” warned affected community members in their declaration.
Citation:
Tran, D. B., & Dargusch, P. (2016). Melaleuca forests in Australia have globally significant carbon stocks. Forest Ecology and Management, 375, 230-237. doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2016.05.028
Banner image: Local and Indigenous communities affected by PSN projects in Indonesia gathered to read a declaration calling for the halt of PSN projects in Merauke on March 14, 2025. Image courtesy of YLBHI.
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Photos in article
2) Researcher warns over West Papuan deforestation impact on traditional noken weaving
By APR editor - March 27, 2025
Asia Pacific Report
A West Papuan doctoral candidate has warned that indigenous noken-weaving practices back in her homeland are under threat with the world’s biggest deforestation project.
About 60 people turned up for the opening of her “Noken/Men: String Bags of the Muyu Tribe of Southern West Papua” exhibition by Veronika T Kanem at Auckland University today and were treated to traditional songs and dances by a group of West Papuan students from Auckland and Hamilton.
The three-month exhibition focuses on the noken — known as “men” — of the Muyu tribe from southern West Papua and their weaving cultural practices.
It is based on Kanem’s research, which explores the socio-cultural significance of the noken/men among the Muyu people, her father’s tribe.
“Indigenous communities in southern Papua are facing the world’s biggest deforestation project underway in West Papua as Indonesia looks to establish 2 million hectares of sugarcane and palm oil plantations in the Papua region,” she said.
West Papua has the third-largest intact rainforest on earth and indigenous communities are being forced off their land by this project and by military.
The ancient traditions of noken-weaving are under threat.
Natural fibres, tree bark
Noken — called bilum in neighbouring Papua New Guinea — are finely woven or knotted string bags made from various natural fibres of plants and tree bark.
“Noken contains social and cultural significance for West Papuans because this string bag is often used in cultural ceremonies, bride wealth payments, child initiation into adulthood, and gifts,” Kanem said.
“This string bag has different names depending on the region, language and dialect of local tribes. For the Muyu — my father’s tribe — in Southern West Papua, they call it ‘men’.
In West Papua, noken symbolises a woman’s womb or a source of life because this string bag is often used to load tubers, garden harvests, piglets, and babies.
“My research examines the Muyu people’s connection to their land, forest, and noken weaving,” said Kanem.
“Muyu women harvest the genemo (Gnetum gnemon) tree’s inner fibres to make noken, and gift-giving noken is a way to establish and maintain relationships from the Muyu to their family members, relatives and outsiders.
“Drawing on the Melanesian and Indigenous research approaches, this research formed noken weaving as a methodology, a research method, and a metaphor based on the Muyu tribe’s knowledge and ways of doing things.”
Hosting pride
Welcoming the guests, Associate Professor Gordon Nanau, head of Pacific Studies, congratulated Kanem on the exhibition and said the university was proud to be hosting such excellent Melanesian research.
Professor Yvonne Underhill-Sem, Kanem’s primary supervisor, was also among the many speakers, including Kolokesa Māhina-Tuai of Lagi Maama, and Daren Kamali of Creative New
The exhibition provides insights into the refined artistry, craft and making of noken/men string bags, personal stories, and their functions.
An 11 minute documentary on the weaving process and examples of noken from Waropko, Upkim, Merauke, Asmat, Wamena, Nabire and Paniai was also screened, and a booklet is expected to be launched soon.
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3) Far East Gold targets resource expansion with extensive drilling program at Idenburg gold project in Papua, Indonesia
Published: 10:12 27 Mar 2025 AEDT
Written by: Phoebe Shields
Far East Gold Ltd is planning to build on the 540,000-ounce gold resource at the Idenburg Gold Project in Papua, Indonesia with a 32-hole, 3,760-metre diamond drilling program.
The project’s current resource – independently reported by SMGC – of 4.1 million tonnes at an average grade of 4.1 g/t gold and 3.6 g/t silver was generated from only 3 of 14 prospect areas identified from historical exploration work, offering a large pipeline of drilling targets.
The company says previous exploration has covered only about 30% of the total project area, with the majority of the tenure underexplored and offering high potential for an expansion to existing resources.
“This is pivotal time for FEG. The company is well-funded and has the people and plans in place to complete our exploration strategy,” Far East Gold managing director and CEO Shane Menere said.
“The focus is to significantly increase the in-situ gold resource and advance the project to feasibility as quickly as possible.”
Targeting 7.2 million ounces of gold
Alongside Idenburg’s resource estimate, consultants SMGC also produced an exploration target for the project, outlining a potential resource of between 7.2 million ounces at 6.1 g/t gold and 189,000 ounces at 1.0 g/t gold.
FEG intends to first complete a 20-hole 2,670-metre program to infill and expand resource estimates at the Sua, Bermol and Mafi prospect areas, testing defined zones along strike and at depth with an eye to upgrading the existing resources to the indicated and measured categories.
The holes will also provide composite material for metallurgical testing that will offer mineral recovery insights.
The remaining 12 holes will be drilled as a 1,000-metre scouting program at the Kwaplu prospect area, which is host to a large gold-in-soil anomaly that has not yet been drill tested
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Widespread protests in Indonesia erupted across the country in response to the government’s controversial revision of the 2004 Indonesian Armed Forces Law. Student-led demonstrations in various cities have been met with forceful responses from security forces, raising serious concerns about police violence, the stifling of civil society participation, and the erosion of democratic freedoms in Indonesia.
The
proposed amendments to the law, which were ratified by Indonesia’s House of Representatives in March 2025, significantly expand the military’s role in civilian governance. These revisions allow active military personnel to occupy key positions in government ministries, the judiciary, and other civilian institutions, a move that activists argue undermines the country’s young democracy. Furthermore, the changes include a shift towards a more significant military influence on civilian affairs, which critics claim is reminiscent of Indonesia’s authoritarian past under the “New Order” regime of former dictator Suharto.
Protests against the law have been widespread, with students leading the charge in cities such as Jakarta, Surabaya, Malang, and Sukabumi. Many protesters have taken to the streets dressed in black, with banners reading “Return the military to the barracks” and “Watch out! New ‘New Order’ is right before our eyes.” Activists argue that the amendments are a direct threat to the progress Indonesia has made since the fall of Suharto’s military dictatorship in 1998.
Human Rights Watch senior researcher Andreas Harsono voiced concerns that the law’s passage without proper public consultation further signals a regression in Indonesia’s democratic trajectory.
The protests, while largely peaceful, have been met with violent responses from security forces. In Malang, East Java, clashes broke out when police deployed riot squads and water cannons to disperse crowds. Several students were injured, and at least eight journalists were reportedly assaulted while documenting the protests. Similar scenes unfolded in other cities, with police using force to break up demonstrations, leading to injuries, detentions, and allegations of human rights abuses (see video below, source:
Instagram). Notably, in Sukabumi, police detained several students and accused them of instigating violence.
Beyond physical violence, there have been instances of intimidation aimed at protest leaders. In Yogyakarta, a threatening banner was placed near a university campus, targeting one of the student leaders. This intimidation, both physical and digital, signals an alarming trend of suppressing dissent and limiting space for civil society to engage in political processes.
One of the most pressing concerns raised by activists is the government’s failure to adequately consult with the public or allow space for meaningful civil society participation in the amendment process. Critics argue that the law was rushed through parliament without sufficient debate and that the military’s increasing involvement in civilian affairs will undermine Indonesia’s democratic foundations. Furthermore, the law could open the door to greater military influence in sectors unrelated to defence, including business and governance, echoing the tactics used during the New Order era.
While the government, including Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, insists that the reforms are necessary to adapt to changing global military dynamics, activists and students argue that these changes endanger fundamental democratic principles. They fear the expansion of the military’s role in civilian governance may reduce the space for free expression, undermine civilian supremacy, and set back the country’s progress toward democracy.
The Indonesian government’s handling of the crisis—especially its treatment of protesters and the military’s expanding role in government—poses a significant challenge to the nation’s democracy. The events of recent weeks underscore the urgent need for reform, transparency, and respect for human rights, particularly in the context of any changes to laws that impact the nation’s future governance. Following the hasty amendment of the law and the increasing role of the military in civilian matters, there is an urgent need to also revise Military Court Law 31/1997, so that TNI members can be tried in civilian courts if they are accused of having committed violent acts against civilian victims.
Students protest at the Jayapura Municipal Parliament on 26 March 2025
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