Papuans not consulted in Freeport negotiations

Transcript

A church leader says West Papuans are not considered in negotiations over control of a lucrative mining contract in Indonesia's Papua province.

The comment from the chairman of the Kingmi Church, Benny Giay comes amid negotiations between Indonesia's government and US  miner Freeport McMoran over extension of its lucrative Papua contract.

Reverend Giay told Johnny Blades that despite this, seven tribes in the Mimika area where the Freeport mining complex is located are trying to have their voices heard in the negotiations

BENNY GIAY:  Trying to raise their concerns, saying that this time Papuans should be invited to express their aspirations, and encouraging the Amungmes to stand up and do the same. And then Lukas Enembe, the present provincial governor expressing the same concern again. I think what we have seen is that Jakarta and Freeport are ignoring the Papuans as they have done in the past, in their discussion, their talks over freeport in Papua.

JOHNNY BLADES: So you're saying that the custom landowners don't actually have any say in what happens?

BG: Yes.

JB: Nothing.

BG: Yes and you know from our history that Papuans who demand their part in this, like in the mines, in Freeport, will be treated accordingly by the security institutions in Papua, and we still have that in our mind.

JB: This big scandal over the Indonesian parliamentary speaker - who was seemingly trying to extort four billion US dollars from Freeport so that the extension of the contract for the company could be renewed by central government - is this the kind of stuff you expect from lawmakers in Jakarta?

BG: What he is doing is not new. He's doing what (President) Suharto did in the past and other Indonesian political leaders. So that has no room for the right of Papuans. Jakarta has not changed much: the officials, their mentality, their culture, their orientations. It's very sad that we Papuans will go through our history, in the future, with these kinds of authorities in power.

JB: With these negotiations, I understand there's a petition by an Indonesian think tank saying that the government should stop the negotiations and make sure that Indonesians receive a greater portion of the profit and benefits from the Freeport mine. Do you think this group is meaning Indonesians including West Papuans?

BG: Indonesians and Freeport are like colonial governments in the past, they have nothing to say about the Papuans. They think Papuans are stupid, Papuans are primitive. We are now facing modern political and economic institutions with colonial mind and Papuans are not invited to talk about Freeport.