Eucalyptus Planation threatens West Papua
(Irian Jaya -- Indonesia)
Despite Survival's successful campaign against the multinational
paper producer Scott Paper, the eucalyptus wood-chip and
pulping plant in Merauke, south east Irian Jaya, is likely to go
ahead.
The project involves the felling of the tropical forests in Digui
valley, Irian Jaya, home to 15,000 Auyu and other tribal peoples.
A complex tropical forest eco-system will be replaced by vast
eucalyptus plantations. Many of the tribal peoples who inhabit the
area are hunter-gatherers and rubber tappers, completely
dependent on the forests. It will therefore be impossible for them
to continue their way of life. The Auyu consider land ownership to
be an "inalienable" (fixed) right, therefore land cannot be bought
and sold. Sale of land would be like selling one's own identity. The
tribespeople were not even consulted about the project on their
lands.
Although Scott has withdrawn its funding, the project is likely
to go ahead with two Indonesian companies. The state-owned
company, PTT Inhutani II, replaces Scott. PT Astra, the second
largest Indonesian company, has been involved with the project
from the start. It is a private business with interests ranging from
car assembly to plantations and agribusiness. One of its
shareholders is the International Finance Corporation, a
subsidiary of the World Bank.
The project has been granted about 800,000 hectares of land,
300,000 of which will be planted at a cost of US $1 billion. Both the
plantation area and the cost have increased considerably since
Scott's involvement.
In response to Survival's lobbying, the President of Inhutani II
clearly states in a letter that the project is in line with the
government policy towards tribal peoples in Indonesia, which is to
"civilize" and assimilate them into the mainstream culture, by
force if necessary. Its notorious transmigration policy which
involves moving Indonesians from the heavily overcrowded island
of Java to the outlying islands has devastated the lives of the
country's tribal peoples. Indonesian law does not recognize tribal
peoples' traditional land rights.
The letter from the President of Inhutani II reflects the official
Indonesian view that looks upon tribal peoples as "backward and
primitive". It does not recognize tribal peoples' right to choose
their own lifestyle and states one of the project's aims as "to
improve quality of life of local people and change their way of life
that depend on the forest only such as hunting, fishing, wear
"Koteka" (penis gourds) and bark of wood as material for clothe Q
into a better way of life such as farming or as skilled labour in our
industri" (sic).
The letter claims that the project will benefit those in the area:
"We will ask the local people to join our operations and participate
in the project and we will teach them and upgrade their know-
how, also their lives. This is one of our main tasks as directed by
the Indonesian Government which hopefully will give good result
and no more tribals later on."
It is well known that transmigrants are more favoured for
employment than local indigenous people. In fact a spokesperson of
Astra has gone on record as saying that the majority of the 6,000
jobs will go to the Javanese.
The pulp and paper project would seriously damage the
environment. Eucalyptus plantations use a great deal of water and
exhaust the soil, whilst the pulping project would pollute the
rivers. Indonesia's booming but corrupt timber industry destroys
30 hectares of forest every hour. Already some 60% of Irian
Jaya's forests have been applied for as logging concessions.
Indeed, Inhutani II plans to pay its share of investment (40%)
with funds collected from logging companies which were to be used
for reforestation in Indonesia.
A national law passed in 1986 requires an environmental
impact assessment to be carried out before the approval of any
industrial investment plan. However, $nhutani II admits this has
not happened yet.
Please write courteous letters to the President of Indonesia
expressing your dismay at the views on tribal people expressed in
Inhutani II's letter.
President Suharto
Presiden RI
Istana Negara
Jalan Veteran
Jakarta, Indonesia
and stress the following points:
-- Tribal peoples' rights to the land they live on and the right to
choose their own lifestyle should be respected by the Indonesian
Government.
-- The tribespeople should be consulted about the project which
threatens their lands.
-- The social and environment impact studies should be
completed and made public.
-- The Government should not go ahead with the project if the
tribal peoples affected by it remain opposed to it.
30