Month: August 2013

Malind Women’s views about Companies Operating in Kampung Baad, Animha District, Merauke.

Report

by

August 4, 2013

Since 2011, three sugar cane companies have been going around Kampung Baad, Animha district and Kampung Tambat, Tanah Miring district, talking about their plans and trying to win over community leaders. The companies involved are PT Anugerah Rejeki Nusantara (ARN) owned by the Wilmar International Group, and PT Papua Daya Bio Energy and PT Tebu Wahana Kreasi, owned by Medco Agro Group.

All three of these companies have made various kinds of promises and approaches as part of their attempts to get their hands on forest and swamp lands between the Kumb and Maro rivers: an area of 73,000 hectares in all. The majority of this land is around Kampung Baad and Kampung Tambat, two villages settled by Marind people belonging to the Baad tribe.

PT ARN has even brought traditional leaders from Kampung Baad on a trip to Lampung and West Sumatra provinces to visit sugar and oil palm plantations, supposedly so they could make comparisons. But still the people have not wavered in their refusal to give up their land. The women of Kampung Baad, or “mama-mama”, who are often only spectators in the process of negotiations about the land, also want to add their voice to the debate. What follows is a short selection of a group discussion with Christina Gebze and the other mama-mama of Kampung Baad.

So what would happen if the companies came to use the land?

“Where would we end up? We have to think about this now, because previously we always knew that there were always plenty of fish, kangaroos and cassowaries, but because people have taken them for their needs, they are mostly all gone. But if we sell our land, they will be even further gone! What are we going to eat, where can we farm? We only have the land, everything else will have gone, and that is going to make life tough for us”.

The companies say that they will rent the land and give money as compensation, how do you feel about that?

“I’ve heard them say things like that, but we don’t know how much land they are asking for, how many hectares, how many square kilometers, they don’t show us any documents. And women are never involved. According to our traditions, it is normally the men who participate in meetings. The women cannot even ask their husbands who go to the meeting. Normally, a woman’s responsibility is to cook, process sago, go fishing, and plant coconut, cassava and taro root.”

“We can’t sell the land. I’m scared to live off money we get for the land, because who is it who created the land? I didn’t do it with these hands of mine. If we give birth, that comes from an agreement between two people, but who does the land come from? It would be better not to sell the land.”

“Women should have rights because women also have a role in helping their kin. There is a forest grove over there which marks the land limit.”

The companies want to rent the land for 35 years?

“That’s a really long time. Maybe by that time we wouldn’t want to sell any more, but we can imagine that the wild pigs would all be gone, the deer would be gone, the kangaroos all gone. And if the land is sold, where could we plant our crops? Take a look at Kampung Zanegi, there is already no forest there.”

“According to Malind customary law we cannot destroy nature, but right now so much has been destroyed. It is such an indignity for us to see this, but now money changes everything, although it is strictly forbidden to damage nature. Malind people cannot kill, only with black magic, but that is a different matter.”

Could people still live according to customary law?

“Where could we carry out our customary practices? We prefer the land as it is, there is no need to sell it. Right now we can go and look for fish and plant our crops. If our land is sold, we will be confused, and what will happen to our grandchildren? The Baad people are rich because of all the trees from the Maro River to the village, but if they are sold then the people won’t have anything left. People are thinking about where we would run to, who would help us?”

What do you think is best for the children?

“If children go to school maybe they can help to raise people’s living standards. If we look around here we can see that school isn’t working, not one person from the Kumb river area has ever got a degree – or maybe there is someone, but no more than one or two people. Even though there has been a school here since the 1930s. If there were people with degrees then maybe they would know ways to help the people.”

“The kids need to be educated so that they can defend this place and so that the land is not sold. If this doesn’t happen, for sure all the land will get sold.”

Will the companies provide help with education?

“I don’t believe it. They say they will give help, they asked us to open bank accounts, but nothing has come of it.”

Original Indonesian Source: Pusaka http://pusaka.or.id/kehadiran-perusahaan-dalam-pandangan-perempuan-malind-di-kampung-baad-distrik-animha-merauke/ English Translation: https://awasmifee.potager.org/?p=458

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MIFEE: Changes to the Moratorium Map around Merauke, and Medco’s Sugar Plans

Analysis

By

August 4, 2013

The forestry ministry recently released decision (SK) 2796 of 2013, concerning the Indicative Map for the Moratorium on New Forest Use Licences (PIPIB). This provision sets out the fourth revision of Indonesia’s moratorium map. In various parts of Merauke Regency, Papua Province, there have been several important changes to the moratorium map since the original map was published in 2011. These changes have tended to accommodate the permits of investor companies in the MIFEE framework, who want to develop food and energy businesses.

Comparing sheet 3407 of the moratorium map’s fourth revision (2013), to the corresponding map from 2012 shows that the forest land has been reduced around Kampung Sermayam Indah. This change can be identified as a way to accommodate the permits of two sugar cane plantation companies: PT Papua Daya Bio Energy and PT Tebu Wahana Kreasi, which are believed to be owned by the Medco Agro Group.

The Merauke local government issued location permits in 2010 for the two companies. PT Papua Daya Bio Energi was awarded 13,396 hectares while PT Tebu Wahana Kreasi got 20,282 hectares. During 2012, the companies presented their plans to the public at the Tanah Miring district office, where they spoke about compensation and made promises, as well as handing out t-shirts.

“The company has only spoken of its plans that one time, after that I don’t  know. They want to use forest land from SP9 here in Kampung Hidup Baru up to the Senayu area. Maybe they have already surveyed the land but we don’t know”, said Bonefasius Kaize, a customary landowner from Kampung Hidup Baru, Tanah Miring district.

Marind people living around the companies’ concessions in Tanah Miring know very little about the two companies plans or activities. They have also never met with government officials from the Forestry and Plantation Service who have conducted their own survey on the use of forest lands in the area.

“We don’t have any information, many people come and claim they have rights over this land, without sitting down and talking to local landowners, such as a cocoa plantation in Tanah Miring”, said Natalis Ndiken, a traditional leader in Kampung Tambat, Tanah Miring district.

The people do not know – and have never been given information about – changes to the moratorium map. They don’t know which people or institutions have been giving out permits to use the forests grasslands and swamps owned by local people between Kampung Hidup Baru and Senayu.

This claim of the local people conflicts with the contents of decision SK 2796/2013, that changes to the moratorium map were based on community input.  This provision is based on nothing more that companies’ claims and permits.  It ignores the rights of the people to their land and the Papuan people’s local knowledge and systems of managing natural resources.

Source: Pusaka
http://pusaka.or.id/revisi-peta-indikatif-pipib-2013-di-merauke-hanya-berdasarkan-izin-perusahaan/
English translation: https://awasmifee.potager.org/?p=456
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US embassy official for political affairs visits FOKER – Papua

Bintang Papua,
30 July 2013
Jayapura: The Second Secretary for Political Affairs at the US Embassy in Jakarta, James P. Feldmeyer, declared that he will pay close attention to any information or complaints, however small he receives from Papuan people.He urged NGOs in Papua not to despair and to continue to provide information to his embassy about developments in Papua. He said that  any information he received from NGOs in Papua would be passed on to officials of the US Government.

He was speaking at the office of Foker (Co-Ordinating Forum) of NGOs in Papua when he made this comment.

According to information obtained by Bintang Papua, the US diplomat held a private meeting at the Foker office, when he was accompanied by a female colleague. From there, they visited the office of ELSHAM – Papua.

The Executive Secretary of a Papuan NGO, Lienche F. Maloali said that the aim of the meeting had been to urge NGOs in Papua not to stop providing information to the US Embassy about the situation in Papua including information about various human rights violations  that continue to occur in Papua.

Mr Feldmeyer made it clear that they are always keen  to get the most up-to-date information from those who are members of various Papuan organisations which could be sent to senior officials at the embassy or to members of the House of Representatives or the Senate. Such information would also be made available to members of the US Congress and possibly also to the President of the USA.

Lienche, as Malioli is known to his friends,  said that they felt very frustrated  because they continue to send information about the latest situation in Papua, but they had never received any serious response.

‘Initially we felt frustrated because information about human rights violations, however great or small,  has been sent to people abroad. Now we are being told not to feel frustraated and to continue to provide information about the latest events in Papua.’

One member of Foker – Papua, Bas Wamafma said that the US Government should urge the Indonesian Government to provide the space for democracy in Papua  and to allow foreign journalists to have the freedom to carry out their journalistic activities  in the Land of Papua.

[Translated by TAPOL]

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Statement by LP3BH on the Need for Dialogue between Papua and Indonesia

Statement by the Executive Director of LP3BH
31 July, 2013LP3BH-Manokwari, an organisation which advocates human rights for the people of the Land of Papua, strongly supports the move which has been taken by the MRP (Papuan People’s Council)  to call for peaceful dialogue between Papua and Indonesia.

This move is very much in accord with Law 21/2001 on Special Autonomy for the Province of Papua which grants full powers to  the MRP  as the cultural representative of the indigenous Papuan people.

It is crucially important for the dialogue to take place in 2013 because this is the best way  to secure a peaceful and dignified solution to the conflict and the many substantial problems in the Land of Papua.

A number of leaders of countries such as the UK,  the USA, New Zealand, Australia and several European countries, as well as the United Nations, have also called on the Government  of Indonesia to agree to a peaceful dialogue as the way to resolve the problems in Papua. Bearing all this in mind, the LP3BH believes that  there are strong reasons for the Government  of Indonesia under the leadership of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to  provide the space for such a dialogue to take place.

Moreover, it is unconstitutional for the Ministry of the Interior and other government ministries in Jakarta to press for an evaluation of of the Special Autonomy Law as this is in violation of Articles 77 and 78 on the evaluation or amendment of the law.

The LP3BH once again  expresses full support for the moves by the MRP for Papua and West Papua  for the holding of a dialogue between Papua and Indonesia  and various people’s representative bodies bodies such  the DPR-Papua and the DPR-West Papua to support such a move.

Peace

Yan Christian Warinussy,

Executive Director of the LP3BH

[Translated by TAPOL]

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Oil Palm Plantations in Nabire Ignore Indigenous Rights

Tabloid Jubi

(Translation by awasmifee: https://awasmifee.potager.org/?p=443)

July 30, 2013

The Yerisiam people living in Kampung Sima, Nabire Regency, Papua are still waiting for oil palm plantation companies PT Nabire Baru and PT Sariwana Unggal Mandiri to give clarification and compensation to local indigenous people.

This was the message of a press release written by Simon Petrus Hanebora, a Yerisiam tribal leader, which was received by tabloidjubi.com on Tuesday (30/7) morning.  “Thousands of commercially-valuable trees from 32,000 hectares of the Yerisiam indigenous people’s ancestral land have been logged by the oil palm company,” it reads.

Hanebora continues to explain the various attempts he has taken to resolve this issue.  He wrote to the forestry service on 31st July 2012, to ask for clarification of how many cubic meters of wood were contained on PT Nabire Baru and PT Sariwana Unggal Mandiri’s plantation concession.  He also wrote to the Nabire Regency Environment Agency on 31st July 2012 requesting a deferral of PT Nabire Baru’s plan to conduct an Environmental Impact Assessment.

Simon also wrote to the Papuan police chief on 03 June 2013 to complain about the wood and rattan on PT Nabire Baru’s oil palm concession. “The way PT Nabire Baru and PT Sariwana Unggal Mandiri ignore the Yerisiam indigenous peoples rights is not compatible with legal provisions and violates national and international law on indigenous people’s rights”, he said.

According to Simon, the meeting to discuss the Environmental Impact Assessment involved relevant government bodies and the company (PT Nabire Baru) but not one member of the Yerisiam indigenous community from the two affected villages was involved. “None of the Yerisiam people have ever been involved in any of the meetings between the Environmental Impact Assessment commission and PT Nabire Baru. What makes it worse is that the people feel the harassment even more strongly as they have no protection whatsoever,” he explained.

Simon sincerely hopes that all community leaders, NGOs, indigenous and religious leaders, can make a positive contribution through advocacy or investigation of how PT Nabire Baru and PT Sariwana Unggul Mandiri have ignored the Yerisiam indigenous people’s rights. “I hope all competent institutions can give advocacy or investigate this problem,” he said.

{AwasMIFEE note: PT Nabire Baru is owned by Goodhope Holdings, a Singapore-based subsidiary of Sri Lankan company Carson Cumberbatch. A longer investigation (in Indonesian) was published in May 2013 by Mongabay Indonesia:
http://www.mongabay.co.id/2013/05/30/sawit-masuk-nabire-dari-hutan-sagu-sampai-hutan-keramat-dibabat-bagian-2/ }

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