https://indonesiabusinesspost.com/insider/transmigration-not-a-solution-to-papua-problems-activist/

October 31, 2024 

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  Gusty da Costa Journalist

An indigenous human rights activist has asked Jakarta to reconsider the transmigration program in Papua region as bringing in non-Papuans to the country’s easternmost region will only create new problems and challenges for the native inhabitants.

“My question is very simple, will President and Vice President guarantee the safety and living rights of the transmigrants in conflict area? When they are brought from Java, the Presiden will say that he guarantees their security as the president will deploy military personnel to Papua in huge number,” Papuan human rights activist, Theo Hasegem, spoke to Indonesia Business Post on Wednesday, October 30, 2024.

In reality, there have been a lot of non-Papuan businessmen, ojek (motorcycle taxi) drivers, teachers, and healthcare officials killed or shot by members of the West Papua National Liberation Army (TNPB) despite the presence of thousands of non-organic security personnel in Papua.

“As a human rights defender, I hope the (central) government will seriously consider the security issue in Papua,” Theo noted.

He was of the opinion that transmigration is not what native Papuans need.

“Papuans need justice, honesty, and the government’s readiness to solve the alleged human rights violations through dignified and authoritative dialog facilitated by a neutral third party,” he said.

Theo underlined that the main problem in Papua is human rights violations that have become an international issue.

He said the Indonesian government should be embarrassed that they used to be put under spotlight and criticized in United Nations (UN) meetings.

“The President and Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia know that there is a threat of humanitarian crisis in Papua that is difficult to overcome, such as murder, torture, extrajudicial arrests, and arbitrary detention allegedly carried out by Indonesian military and police personnel against indigenous Papuans,” he cited.

At the same time, the West Papua National Army continues to assassinate non-Papuan Indonesians, whom they suspect of being spies or intelligence agents deployed in Papua.

“Without solution of the humanitarian crisis, violent armed conflicts will continue to happen in Papua,” Theo said.

Upon his inauguration as President on October 20, 2024, Prabowo Subianto told the Minister of Transmigration that he is willing to send transmigrants to the eastern part of Indonesia, including Papua, saying that transmigration program is a solution to Papuan issues.

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They do not find anything good in President Subianto’s plan to send non-Papuans to the easternmost region

 By UCA News reporter Published: October 31, 2024 11:43 AM GMT

Catholic leaders have warned against the transmigration program of new Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto in conflict-stricken Papua, saying bringing in non-Papuans to the easternmost region will result in problems for the ethnic people.

After his inauguration on Oct. 20, Subianto announced the program in which transmigrants will be sent to the eastern parts of Indonesia, including Papua province.

The program is intended to realize welfare equality across regions, according to the newly created transmigration ministry, separate from the ministry of villages. 

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The program was unveiled by transmigration minister Iftitah Sulaiman Suryanagara at a meeting of the House of Representatives – the upper house – on Oct. 29.

“Papua is not empty land. This is land owned by the people,” said Melianus Asso, head of the Papuan Catholic Youth.

“We, the Papuan Catholic Youth, do not need a transmigration program,” added Asso.

 We need education, health, access to clean water, electricity, and other basic facilities, he demanded. 

In a statement on Oct. 30, the Papuan Catholic Youth asked the government to review the new plan, which is part of a national strategic program.

Tino Mote, a member of the Papuan Catholic Youth, said the transmigration program and the rice field project are not in line with “the needs of the local community.”

As a Catholic organization based on the values of Pope Francis’ Laudato si (praise be to you), “we are responsible for preserving the environment,” he said.

He stressed the need to protect indigenous people in Papua.

Stefanus Asat Gusma, the chairperson of Papuan Catholic Youth, said he will “bring this issue to the attention of the president, the ministry and the military which is currently serving in the troubled province.

Augustinian Father Bernard Baru said the migration of non-Papuans has made indigenous people a minority in Papua.

“This [transmigration program] will only worsen the marginalization of indigenous Papuans,” he told UCA News.

He said the program is another way to control Papua.

“In urban areas, immigrants now dominate, while indigenous Papuans live in remote areas,” he said.

Papua has a population of 4.3 million and Christians make up 85.02 percent – Protestants 69.39 percent and Catholics 15.63 percent.

Due to the prolonged conflict, the former Dutch colony is one of the poorest provinces in Indonesia. In March, the province recorded a poverty rate of 17.26 percent, almost double the national average of 9.03 percent. 

Studies by University of Sydney academic James Elmslie have shown that the indigenous Papuan population has dwarfed at 1.84 percent compared with the non-Papuan population which stands at 10.82 percent in the province.

The Papuans want to free their region from Indonesian control, but Indonesia looks to suppress it militarily. The region is home to the world’s largest gold mine, as well as extensive sources of natural gas, minerals, timber and palm oil.

The struggle, ongoing since 1962, is estimated to have killed up to 500,000 people. At least 300 people have died in the last decade.

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• AFP 01-11- 2024 08:54 PM

JAKARTA: Indonesia’s top court on Friday rejected an appeal by an Indigenous tribe in its lawsuit against a palm oil firm, leaving it at risk of losing vast swathes of ancestral forest, rights groups said.

The Awyu tribe, whose roughly 20,000 members rely on the land for their subsistence, had sought to freeze the operations of PT Indo Asiana Lestari (PT IAL) in the eastern Indonesian province of West Papua.

But Indonesia’s Supreme Court rejected their final appeal, according to a document published on its website Friday, upholding the company’s 36,000-hectare (89,000-acre) government concession, more than half the size of the Indonesian capital Jakarta.

“I feel heartbroken because I am left with no other legal avenue to protect the land and the people of my ancestral homeland,“ said Awyu tribe plaintiff Hendrikus Woro.

“I am shattered because throughout this struggle, there has been no support from the government, local or central. Who am I supposed to turn to, and where should I go now?” he said in a statement released by the Coalition to Save Papuan Customary Forests, made up of 10 environmental NGOs.

A supreme court spokesperson declined to comment when contacted by AFP about the ruling.

The Awyu tribe’s case drew attention in Indonesia earlier this year after a campaign called ‘All Eyes on Papua’ spread on social media.

“Both the government and the legal system have failed to stand with Indigenous peoples,“ said Sekar Banjaran Aji of the Save Papuan Customary Forest advocacy team.

“The struggle to protect Papua’s customary forests has become all the more challenging.”

In November, a Papuan court had ruled that PT IAL’s permit was valid, rejecting the Awyu tribe’s argument that the concession had been granted based on a flawed environmental impact assessment.

The tribe and environmental NGOs also claim opponents of the palm oil firm’s plans have faced intimidation.

PT IAL did not respond to an AFP request for comment.

Palm oil is a billion-dollar industry in Indonesia, which is the world’s largest producer and exporter of the commodity used in everything from chocolate spreads to cosmetics.

Indonesia produces about 60 percent of the world’s palm oil, with one-third consumed by its domestic market.

Papua lost 2.5 percent of its tree cover between 2001 and 2023, according to Global Forest Watch.