ASTRA WITHDRAWS FROM INDONESIA PAPER PROJECT
[Peace Media Service] Indonesia's second largest business group,
Astra International, has pulled out of a multi-million dollar pulp
and paper venture in Merauke, south-east Irian Jaya (West Papua).
It was the second withdrawal of a company from the project
following a sustained campaign by Survival International and local
organizations. The multinational Scott Paper withdrew from the
project in 1989.
The pulp and paper plant would have involved the felling of about
800,000 hectares of forests in the territory of the 15,000 Auyu,
Marind and other tribal peoples. A complex tropical forest
ecosystem would be replaced by a monoculture of eucalyptus
plantations. The project meant destruction for the tribal way of
life, dependent on the forests as hunter-gatherers and rubber
tappers, and for the environment. The tribal people were not
consulted about the project and remain opposed to it. But
Indonesian law does not recognize tribal people's rights. The
Merauke project was in line with the Indonesian government's
policies towards its tribal peoples which aim to assimilate them
into the mainstream culture.
After Scott's withdrawal, the Indonesian government found it
difficult to attract investors to the project. Two Indonesian
companies, PT Astra and PT Inhutani II, were to go ahead with the
project. One of Astra's shareholders is the International Finance
Corporation, a subsidiary of the World Bank.
Thousands of Survival International supporters worldwide have
repeatedly appealed to the Indonesian government to halt the
project. ``It shows that public campaigns really do work,'' said
Stephen Corry, SI's Director General.
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