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Crisis Group Asia Briefing N°66, 19 July 2007
Most outside observers see only one dimension of conflict in Papua – the Indonesian government vs. the independence movement – but it is much more complex. Tensions among tribal groups and between indigenous Papuans and non-Papuan settlers, as well as competition over political power and access to spoils at the district and sub-district levels, are also important. The issues vary substantially from one region to another. National and international attention has tended to focus on the northern coast and the central highlands, with relatively little on the districts in the south, which have long felt excluded from politics in the Papuan capital, Jayapura.
Boven Digoel, a district carved out of Merauke district in December 2002, is neither the centre of the provincial government nor home to any large Western investor or active pro-independence group. The key local concerns are land rights and ethnic politics. Balancing Papuans’ customary land rights with forestry and oil palm investment and managing the social tensions associated with the influx of non-Papuans are critical issues. Another local concern, though notably less of a problem after the 2005 district election, is the competition between local Muyu and Mandobo tribal elites for political power, and how that competition intersects with the politics of neighbouring Merauke, where an effort is underway to establish a new
The Korean-owned firm Korindo and its Indonesian subsidiaries have been operating in the area since 1993, felling timber for plywood and, from 1997 onwards, moving into oil palm plantations for biofuel production. Although no major violence has broken out, conflicts between the company and Papuan customary land owners over access and compensation, between clans over land boundaries and within clans over compensation sharing are widespread.
Local dissatisfaction with Korindo has intersected with the independence movement in the past, including the January 2001 kidnapping of company employees by the Free Papua Movement (Organisasi Papua Merdeka, OPM). Since the local OPM commander, Willem Onde, was killed in September 2001, however, his small band of followers has essentially been inactive.
Despite the lack of any serious security threats in the district, there is a strong military and police presence, particularly since Boven Digoel split from Merauke in late 2002. Villagers, visitors and even local politicians and officials are closely monitored. The security forces do not play a significant role in protecting investors in the district; Korindo and its subsidiaries have private civilian security guards. But when problems between locals and the company emerge, it is the army and paramilitary police (Brimob), both of which have posts dotted throughout the forest concessions and plantations, that are usually called in.
Since military operations ended in the late 1990s, there have been few serious human rights violations by the security forces, though low-level harassment and intimidation are widespread. The problems that do occur tend to stem from personal and property disputes and the military’s involvement in small-scale, illegal business rather than political issues.
Some 3,700 kilometres from the national capital, with no local independent media and very few non-governmental organisations, this remote corner of Papua is paid precious little attention. But Boven Digoel merits closer examination. It shows how politics at the district level tend to pit Papuan tribal elites against each other rather than bringing them together in opposition to
This briefing is based on in-depth interviews with a wide range of Boven Digoel government and civil society representatives, local police, villagers in Tanah Merah, Getentiri and Mindipdana sub-districts, company representatives in Asiki and
II. Ethnic Politics and pemekaran in
The process in
Boven Digoel district was created in December 2002, when Merauke was divided into four districts (Mappi, Asmat and the rump Merauke being the others) as part of a larger decentralisation drive in Papua.[3] The boundaries of the new districts were decided by the governments of Papua province and Merauke district in consultation with customary leaders but were loosely based on the Dutch system of ethnically-based afdeling (districts) and onder afdeling (sub-districts).[4] Whereas the original Merauke district had around a dozen ethnic groups, Boven Digoel’s population is comprised of three main tribes: Muyu, Mandobo and Auyu.[5]
The minority Muyu tribe, which benefited disproportionately from Dutch missionary education, has dominated local politics. Boven Digoel’s first bupati (district head), Wilem Tuwok, not only recruited mostly Muyu civil servants, but also dismissed the Mandobo tribe (and sub-groups Kombai and Korowai) as “stupid, backward and not up to the task of governing”.[6] When the sole Mandobo candidate, Yusak Yaluwo, won Boven Digoel’s first direct election in June 2005 partly on the basis of a Mandobo empowerment campaign, two of the Muyu contenders he defeated, Martinus Torib and Xaverius Songmen, spearheaded a movement to create a separate Muyu district.[7]
Torib and Songmen, both of whom were also branch leaders of the peaceful, pro-independence Papuan Presidium Council, insist the proposal has nothing to do with their electoral defeat. They argue that the area has a distinct identity, since it had been a separate Muyu sub-district (onder afdeling) during the Dutch period, and that the approximately 8,000 ethnic Muyu refugees living across the border in
The former local OPM commander, Willem Onde, and many of his followers and supporters were ethnic Muyu, and the tribe suffered heavily from military operations in the 1980s. In 1984, around 9,500 Muyus fled across the border. Some were OPM members and supporters but most were ordinary civilians. The entire group is often branded OPM, and this stigma makes many reluctant to return to
The Boven Digoel government has an obvious fiscal incentive to reject the split, since district budget allocations from the central government are calculated on the basis of population and geographical size, and it has one of the highest per capita in the country. But Bupati Yusak also suggested that Muyus in general, and Torib and Songmen in particular, tend to be pro-OPM and could not be trusted with their own district.[10]
On the other hand, the proposed Muyu district appeared to fit neatly into the plans of Merauke Bupati John Gluba Gebze to create a
Boven Digoel’s Auyu minority also felt marginalised and, along with Auyu leaders in neighbouring Mappi and Asmat districts, used Gebze’s PPS ambitions to push for their own district.[14]
In Mappi, local politicians also played the ethnic card in the district election in 2005. Of the five bupati candidates, four were Mappi natives (from the Auyu and Yaqai tribes), and one was from Sorong in north western Papua. It was a close race between Aminadab Jumame, the Sorong man who has spent most of his career as a civil servant in southern Papua, and Fabianus (Fery) Kamkopimu, a native Yakqai and former district secretary with close ties to the Merauke bupati. Fery ran on a “native son” campaign, reportedly claiming (falsely) that the 2001 Papuan Special Autonomy law stipulates bupatis must be native to their respective districts.[15]
The district electoral commission initially pronounced Fery the winner but Jumame successfully challenged the result in the provincial High Court, alleging Fery had cheated. Fery appealed to the national Supreme Court but it upheld the verdict. Despite these two rulings, Fery’s allies in the district electoral commission and parliament succeeded in delaying Jumame’s inauguration for a further nine months.[16]
Even after Jumame was finally inaugurated in December 2006, nearly a year and a half after he was elected, Fery continued to protest, submitting a petition to the
Gebze had Bupati Jumame marched off a flight in January 2007, as he was on his way to Jakarta to meet with President Yudhoyono and a group of foreign investors. (The Merauke government owns the plane.) Officials from Jayapura, including Governor Barnabas Suebu, were forced to take a flight via Timika in order to attend Jumame’s inauguration in December 2006 for the same reason.[20]
The demand for pemekaran in Papua is not exclusive to the southern region. Access to political power and the lure of anticipated natural resource revenues have spawned proposals for six new provinces and over a dozen new districts.[21]The Jayawijaya district parliament even demanded the creation of 600 new villages after Governor Suebu announced a development program that would allocate Rp.100,000,000 ($11,000) to each village – a program designed in part to bypass the often ineffective and corrupt district governments.[22]
The case of Boven Digoel is illustrative of the ethnic and tribal competition that pemekaran can provoke. Tensions in the district subsided after the 2005 election but could flare up again when the provincial and national governments rule on Muyu district and PPS or in the lead-up to the next district election in 2010.
III. Logging and Oil Palm Investment
The social and political tensions generated by natural resources investment have always been an important element of the Papua conflict.[23] Papua’s and West Papua’s timber, fishing and minerals are vital to the national economy, yet their populations are poorer than those of any other province in
Until 2002, all natural resource revenues flowed directly to the central government. Businesses linked to then-President Soeharto and his cronies were given preferential access. The military’s involvement in licit and illicit business in Papua has also produced resentment, particularly where it has led to human rights abuses.
Public attention to the socio-political impact of resource extraction has tended to focus on the giant
In a drive to increase biofuel production, in part to reduce its spending on domestic petrol subsidies, the government plans to establish up to five million hectares of new plantations in Papua by 2012.[26] Biofuel production is expected to make up 10 per cent of national fuel consumption by 2012. And despite growing scepticism about the financial savings and environmental benefits it can bring, European demand for biofuels remains strong.[27] Papua’s new governor, Barnabas Suebu, is an enthusiastic supporter of large-scale plantation development as a poverty alleviation strategy, describing the program as “waking the sleeping giant” of Papua’s economic potential.[28]
The new investment will certainly deliver significant new revenue and hundreds of thousands of jobs but it also brings a risk of social conflict. There are two areas of potential concern. The first is customary land rights, for which there is still no clear legal framework. The Special Autonomy Law states that “economic ventures…using natural resources shall be carried out in a way that respects the rights of the customary community” but leaves the details to be regulated by a subsequent perdasus (special regional regulation) on customary land rights and forestry.[29] A draft perdasus was prepared by a team under the provincial forestry department’s supervision in 2006 but has yet to be debated by the provincial parliament.[30]
It will be a challenge to improve public education about customary land rights, which forestry officials in Boven Digoel admitted was a major weakness.[31] There is no system of land certificates for customary ownership, and most villagers in Boven Digoel have no real understanding of their rights or those of the company.
The second major concern relates to the potential influx of non-Papuan Indonesian workers. If the planned oil palm investment by Sinar Mas Group goes ahead in southern Papua, for example, non-Papuan settlers brought in to work on the plantations would begin to outnumber the indigenous populations in Boven Digoel, Mappi and Merauke districts.[32]Similar plantations are being considered in Sarmi, Jayapura, Mimika and Yahukimo districts.
Although district governments have signed memorandums of understanding with a dozen prospective plantation investors, no formal permission has yet been granted. The provincial government is in the process of developing strategies to minimise social disruption before opening up more land, including a stipulation that indigenous Papuans must be given priority for labour and work contracts.[33]
The case of Korindo in Boven Digoel is illustrative of the social tensions that big plantations can generate. The Korean-owned firm and its Indonesian subsidiaries[34] have been operating in the area since 1993, cutting timber for plywood and, since 1997, developing oil palm plantations for biofuel production.[35] Although no major violence has broken out, its presence has given rise directly and indirectly to several layers of social conflict.
A. Conflicts between Korindo and the Community
Much of Boven Digoel’s population relies on the forest for its livelihood. Many communities continue to live traditionally, hunting and gathering food from the forests. The traditional belief systems of the local Muyu, Auyu and Mandobo peoples are also intimately connected to the forest, with prohibitions on actions that would disturb ancestors’ graves and other sacred sites.[36] Many locals have agreed to grant access to all or part of their customary land to Korindo for either selective logging or clearing for oil palm plantations but most feel that the compensation they are awarded is inadequate. Others allege the company has logged against their explicit wishes, and some communities have resisted any commercial use of their land at all.
After agreeing on annual work plans with the district forestry department, logging companies are obliged to secure permission from customary land owners, then conduct a joint assessment with them to determine the amount of compensation due to each clan. Until 2005, Korindo paid Rp.750 (approximately $.08) per cubic metre of timber felled, but it was forced to increase the rate to Rp.10,000 (around $1.10) per cubic metre by a gubernatorial regulation.[37]The cost of the survey, however, is deducted from the compensation. Until 2002, Korindo surveyors were usually accompanied by soldiers but since the security threat from the OPM has diminished, this is now rare. If problems with locals arise, however, the military or Brimob are called in.
Customary land holders in Tinggam village in Mindipdana sub-district claim they were never consulted by the local government or the company before Korindo began to log there in June 2004. They felt the company’s offer of Rp.10,000 per cubic metre was inadequate. After it was shared among seven clans, each family received only a few hundred thousand rupiah ($40-$50).[38]They also complained that sago (their staple food), rattan and traditional medicine plants were destroyed, without compensation, during the logging.[39] In December 2006, after around half the village had been logged, the leaders of the clans whose land had not yet been touched came together, decided to refuse Korindo access and sent letters to inform the company and district government.[40]
In February 2007, a team of Korindo surveyors arrived in Tinggam to plan a logging operation. Angry villagers told it they had already withdrawn permission for logging unless the compensation rate was significantly increased. The surveyors explained that they did not have the authority either to cancel the operation or award additional compensation but would speak to management. Fearing they would never get an answer from the company, a small group of villagers detained a surveyor and said they would hold him in the village until the company director came to talk to them. The Korindo staff instead went to the local military command in Mindipdana to report a kidnapping and returned with six armed soldiers, who broke through the human barricade villagers had formed and released the employee. Tinggam locals allege the soldiers threatened them, but did not use violence.
A similar dispute arose between Korindo and customary land owners in Autriob village, who claim they were not consulted before the company began to survey their land for logging. Customary leaders of Autriob’s six clans had decided in 2003 to refuse any logging in the village and notified the local government (then Merauke district).[41] Nevertheless, the company came back in 2005 and began operations, arguing that it had received permission from the central government, which classified the land as “state forest” under the 1999 forestry law.[42] Autriob villagers held six company surveyors captive, also demanding to speak directly with the company director, and Korindo sent Brimob troops to rescue them.[43]
Autriob villagers have visited the Korindo office in Asiki on an almost weekly basis since 2005, met senior staff from the planning and community relations divisions, but had no success persuading the company not to use their land. Village representative Gerardus Guam met Bupati Yusak in 2005, whose advice for the villagers was simply to accept the compensation offered.
Land owners who have taken a more pragmatic approach have been able to win some concessions. A group of six clans on the outskirts of Mindipdana town became embroiled in a dispute with Korindo, claiming the company logged without consultation in 2001. Local customary leaders marked out their territory and established teams to block Korindo’s access but after months of discussions and a joint mapping exercise, they were able to negotiate with the company to allow selective logging while protecting sacred sites and sources.[44]
The cases in Mindipdana, Tinggam and Autriob all relate to selective logging, which significantly depletes the forest, and disrupts locals’ food and income sources.[45] Oil palm plantations, on the other hand, require the company to clear the land completely, by logging and then burning, resettling inhabitants in other areas. This much more destructive process has elicited stronger resistance by customary leaders, and in some cases it has also become mixed up in local politics. In the Ujung Kia area of Getentiri sub-district, local resistance was so strong that the Boven Digoel bupati intervened to support the villagers, forcing Korindo to suspend operations.
Ujung Kia village is on Block B, Korindo’s 7,000-hectare oil palm concession in southern Boven Digoel. The company began work on the block in March 2004 and has cleared approximately 4,000 of the 7,000 hectares, in Getentiri and Butiptiri villages. It agreed with the district forestry office in 2005 to begin clearing the remaining 3,000 hectares in 2006.[46]It began consultations with local land owners in early 2006 but encountered strong resistance from the outset. The 25 clans in Ujung Kia village, having observed Korindo’s conduct in Genetiri and Butiptiti, felt that the costs of giving up their land outweighed the benefits the company offered.
The clans wrote to Korindo management detailing fifteen reasons for refusing access. Their main concerns were that the company had not lived up to its promises on community development, the rights of the customary land owners had not been respected and indigenous Papuans had not been given jobs.[47]They also complained that the company had sent soldiers with its survey team. Villagers regularly set up road blocks between January 2006 and March 2007 to prevent Korindo employees from entering their village, and on at least one occasion in October 2006, threatened company employees with bows and arrows.[48]
Locals also complain that the company has failed to fulfil its promise to build a road connecting Ujung Kia with the sub-district capital, Getentiri. Bupati Yusak, whose mother is from Ujung Kia, had vowed, during his 2005 election campaign, to work with Korindo to make sure the road was completed. Yusak went to Ujung Kia in August 2006 to mediate the dispute but failed and came under criticism from the community over the unbuilt road. He then asked Korindo to relocate its plantation and began to take a much harder line. In December 2006, he demanded the company change senior management to bring in people more focused on community development, and in early 2007 he delayed the approval of its annual logging plan for several months.[49]
The grievances of the local customary land owners make Korindo something of a political football. The Boven Digoel district parliament held a special session in February 2007 devoted to criticising it but has done little in concrete terms to address community concerns. During that session, Bupati Yusak complained that the head of the district forestry office was not transparent in his dealings with Korindo and was too close to the company.[50] Boven Digoel officials also regularly bemoan the company’s tendency to deal with the Merauke district government, from which it split off in 2002, rather than with them.[51]
B. Conflicts between Korindo and Free Papua Movement Rebels
The local OPM command exploited local grievances to criticise the company and demand money from it. A small group of separatist rebels led by Willem Onde, a native of Kombut village in Mindipdana, was active until late 2001 in the Asiki area, where Korindo’s main office and plywood and palm oil factories are located.
Onde appeared to have established good relations with the company. Korindo staff quietly admit that it periodically gave him financial assistance.[52] Onde also had links with the local military command, having formally renounced violence in May 1997 and handed over his group’s few dozen rifles. He was particularly close to soldiers at the Kopassus (army special forces) base in Merauke, where he would regularly stay when he visited the city. But in January 2001, having resumed armed struggle, he took sixteen Korindo employees hostage for several weeks.[53]
His on and off friendship with local military commanders suggests he was playing a double game, forging relationships of convenience with both pro-independence and pro-integration groups according to his needs. He appeared to have a similar relationship with Korindo, on the one hand demanding (and usually receiving) assistance, and even being employed as a company security guard in 1999, but tapping into local grievances against the company when it suited his purposes. Onde’s list of demands for the release of the Korindo hostages illustrates these ambiguous relationships:
- withdrawal of Brimob personnel from Merauke district;[54]
- Korindo Group payment of $2 million to the OPM as compensation for damage to the jungle;
- Korindo payment of his Rp.2.4 million ($265) tab in the Nikita bar, Merauke;
- immediate opening of dialogue between the Indonesian government and the OPM on Papua’s status; and
- withdrawal of Police Announcement No. 2 of 2000 listing the OPM as a banned organisation.[55]
In negotiations led by the Merauke bupati, Onde agreed to release the hostages in exchange for a meeting with President Abdurrahman Wahid.[56] He also signed a letter guaranteeing the security of Korindo employees. Just over seven months later, in early September 2001, however, Onde and his lieutenant, John Tumin, were found murdered, probably by Kopassus troops.[57]
There is no longer an active OPM command in the southern region. Joseph Makaonama, based until 2005 in the Wapok area of
C. Conflicts between Customary Land Owners
Though disputes between land owners are relatively common, they tend to be easily resolved. Borders are naturally demarcated by rivers, hills and trees, and tribal leaders generally recognise and respect them. But there have been a number of disputes over land ownership and access among Papuan customary clans and tribes.
A dispute turned violent in Getentiri after twelve clans permitted Korindo to clear their land for oil palm in 2004, and they were moved to a new settlement in Butiptiri with few natural sources of food. Some of the families from Getentiri were originally from Ujung Kia, and despite having given up their land there when they moved to Getentiri, they felt entitled to harvest sago from their ancestral lands. When a small group of men from Getentiri village 2 (villages are often assigned numbers for administrative purposes) took sago from village 5 in Ujung Kia in November 2006, locals attacked them with machetes, seriously injuring one.[59]
Inter-clan border disputes are also common, and tend to intensify when large sums of compensation money enter the equation, but they become particularly complicated when they fall on district boundaries. In October 2006, Korindo awarded compensation money to the ethnic Mandobo inhabitants of Manop, Senuf and Akbal villages in Boven Digoel’s Jair sub-district, when it cleared the land to plant oil palm. But ethnic Marind people in the adjacent Muting sub-district (in Merauke) claimed to be the customary land owners and that the area was a sacred site.
According to local customary leaders (both Mandobo and Marind), the land was traditionally owned by the Marind Byaan and Marind Yeinan clans, but in the settlement of a tribal war in the 1950s, their land had been given to a Mandobo clan to the north, whose descendants still live there. The original Marind land owners, who live across the border in Muting, argue that ownership of the land was never transferred to the Mandobo people, only permission to use it. Marind customary leaders then approached the company, which agreed to pay them the same amount it had paid the Mandobo inhabitants.[60]
Tribal boundaries have been further complicated by changes to administrative borders. When Boven Digoel split off from Merauke district in 2002, the border was drawn roughly along ethnic lines. Mandobo and Auyu tribes joined Boven Digoel, and Marind tribes remained in the rump Merauke district. In some areas, however, there is still confusion over where exactly the boundary lies. Korindo generated local anger in October 2006 when it cleared land in eight villages claimed by two sets of customary leaders and two district governments.[61]
Mandobo tribal leaders to whom compensation was initially paid claim the land is part of Korindo’s concession in Boven Digoel district, but the local Marind customary council and the Merauke district government claim the land is owned by Marind people and forms part of the Merauke sub-districts of Muting and Ulilin.[62] In the interests of settling the dispute, Korindo paid both groups of tribal leaders. In May 2007 the administrative boundary had still not been resolved. Marind leaders have sent letters to the Merauke district parliament asking for a clarification of the land border but received no response.[63]
D. Conflicts within Clans over Compensation
In Papua, traditional land ownership is communal, ranging from around five to 30 households per clan. Chiefs or small groups of clan leaders are normally delegated to negotiate with the company over compensation. The combination of low levels of education and inadequate information campaigns by the district forestry office mean that most rural communities have a poor understanding of how the compensation is calculated and distributed. Expectations almost always exceed the amount actually received.
The issue of unfair distribution within clans is widespread and almost impossible to regulate. One associated problem is a rash of mysterious killings that locals explain by black magic. Villagers in Tinggam and Autriob in Korindo’s logging concession described six cases between 2003 and 2007 in which the clan representatives who had negotiated with the company were found dead in the forest (allegedly with no visible wounds) after disputes within their clans over compensation. These deaths are not reported to the police since they are considered a form of local justice.[64]
E. Conflicts between Indigenous Papuans and Non-Papuan Indonesians
Korindo’s workforce is overwhelmingly non-Papuan. Although Crisis Group was unable to obtain precise figures, employees estimate that only around 10 per cent of the company’s staff are indigenous Papuans.[65] Most senior management positions are held by Koreans, and the company tends to hire mostly non-Papuan Indonesian workers, especially in professional and technical positions, creating resentment among local indigenous communities. Korindo had promised to provide training and assistance to Papuans to enable them to take advantage of employment opportunities but only supported primary education.
In general, resentment is directed toward the company rather than the migrants they employ, but there has been at least one clash between indigenous Auyu and Javanese employees. In May 2005, a group of Javanese migrants came to Asiki in search of work and managed to get clerical jobs in the Korindo office within days. The following month, as Block B plantation workers were queuing up to receive their monthly pay packets, a group of Auyu manual labourers, frustrated with the income differential (usually directly related to skills and experience) between Papuan and non-Papuan workers, attacked the Javanese office workers. Police quickly intervened, preventing any serious injuries, but the underlying tensions over this issue are widespread.[66]
IV. Security
Located on the border with
Despite broad support for pemekaran, many locals feel uncomfortable with the stepped-up security presence it has brought. Military operations against the OPM during the 1980s involved widespread reprisals against civilians, particularly the Muyu tribe, which populates a long stretch of the border area. Serious human rights abuses continued throughout the 1990s, but although intimidation and harassment are still widespread, there have been relatively few serious incidents of violence in the last decade.[70
The problems that occur between the military and the local community tend to stem from disputes between individuals over personal and property matters rather than issues related to the independence struggle. The killing of Liborius Oka in Asiki is a case in point. At around 5:00 a.m. on 1 December 2005 a dispute between Oka, the Korindo personnel manager, and Zulkarnain Lubis, a soldier at the local military post, over Lubis’s extra-marital affair led Lubis to fatally shoot
He was sentenced just under a month later by Jayapura military court to six years for manslaughter.[72] This was the only case of a soldier killing a civilian since at least 1998. More typical problems include chronic harassment and intimidation and soldiers’ involvement in small-scale, illegal business, including selling alcohol.[73]
V. Conclusion
The issues most commonly associated with Papua – the independence struggle, half-hearted implementation of special autonomy and abuses by the military – are not at the forefront of Boven Digoel residents’ concerns. Local issues relating to land, livelihoods and ethnic identity are much more salient. Pemekaran and large-scale natural resource investment stand out as increasingly important issues throughout Papua. Both hold the promise of pulling Papuans out of poverty and improving basic service delivery but also risk exacerbating local social and ethnic tensions.
Most Papuans in and outside government regard further pemekaran at both the provincial and district levels as inevitable. There are arguments in its favour: speeding up development and access to basic services and improving infrastructure and transport links. It is critical, however, that the government undertake rigorous assessments to ensure local ethnic and tribal tensions are not exacerbated.[74]
Large-scale plantation investment will be a critical issue in Papua for the foreseeable future. The provincial government’s plans for accelerated plantation development have raised concerns relating to indigenous land rights and deforestation, as well as the prospect of large numbers of non-Papuan settlers. Establishing a clearer legal framework for customary land rights and arrangements for managing the flow of non-Papuan migrants before moving forward with the planned investment would help allay these concerns.
[1] For earlier Crisis Group reporting, see Asia Briefings N°53, Papua: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions, 5 September 2006; N°47, Papua: The Dangers of Shutting Down Dialogue, 23 March 2006; and N°24, Dividing Papua: How Not to Do It, 9 April 2003; and Asia Reports N°39, Indonesia: Resources and Conflict in Papua, 13 September 2002; and N°23, Indonesia: Ending Repression in Irian Jaya, 20 September 2001.
[2] See Crisis Group Asia Briefings N°64,
[3] Fourteen new districts were created in the province in December 2002: Sarmi, Keerom, Sorong Selatan, Raja Ampat, Pegunungan Bintang, Yahukimo, Tolikara, Waropen, Kaimana, Boven Digoel, Mappi, Asmat, Teluk Bintuni and Teluk Wondamaa; the law is at www.djpp.depkumham.go.id/inc/buka .php?d=2000+2&f=uu26-2002. htm.
[4] Crisis Group interview, deputy speaker of the Papuan parliament, Jan Ayomi, Waropen, 15 June 2007.
[5] The area is best known by most Indonesians as the site of the Dutch-era prison where Indonesian independence leaders Soekarno and Hatta were detained in the 1920s.
[6] Several interviewees cited the Indonesian terms bodoh (stupid, backward) and belum mampu (incapable) as reasons advanced by Tuwok for the unsuitability of Mandobos as local politicians and bureaucrats. Crisis Group interviews, local politicians including Bupati Yasak Yaluwo, members of the district parliament and local Catholic Pastor Kor Keban, Tanah Merah, Merauke and
[7] There were five candidates. Wilhem Tuwok, who had been appointed by the home affairs ministry when the district was first established, had planned to contest the election but his registration failed due to incomplete documentation. He was replaced by another Golkar party candidate, Piet Tinyap. Yusak Yaluwo won with 45 per cent of the vote, followed by Xaverius Songmen with 22 per cent, Martinus Torib with 16 per cent, Piet Tinyap with 12 per cent and Elmilianus Tikok with 6 per cent. “Hasil Pilkada Langsung Propinsi, Kabupaten dan Kota 2005: Hasil Riset NDI, Sumber KPUD”, August 2005, at http://ndijurdil.ndi.org/Content%20Hasil%20PILKADA%20%202005%20%20(by%20date).pdf.
[8] Crisis Group interviews, Xaverius Songmen, Merauke, 24 April 2007; Martinus Torib, Tanah Merah, 27 April 2007. “Proposal Pemekaran Kabupaten Muyu Sudah Sampai ke Pusat”, SPM News Digoel, 25 July 2006. Bupati Gebze of Merauke also referred to Muyu as the fifth onder afdeling as an argument for a
[9] According to official figures, around 6,000 returned in 1992 but this includes children born in exile. Local NGOs also claim government officials inflated the numbers in order to get additional resettlement funds. Hundreds of others have trickled back in more recent years. Catholic Church sources in
[10] Crisis Group interview, Bupati Yusak Yaluwo,
[11] See Article 5(5) of Undang-Undang Nomor 32 Tahun 2004 tentang Pemerintahan Daerah.
[12] Crisis Group interview, Martinus Torib, 27 April 2007.
[13] Ibid. Crisis Group interview, Bupati Yusak Yaluwo,
[14] Auyu tribal leaders from the three districts came together to oppose the creation of PPS unless an Auyu district was created first.
[15] Crisis Group interview, Helfried Lombo, expert adviser to Bupati Jumame, Merauke, 23 April 2007. Articles 12a and 20(1)a of the Special Autonomy Law stipulate that the Papua governor and deputy governor must be indigenous Papuans, and approved as such by the Papuan People’s Council (Majelis Rakyat Papua, MRP), but there is no such stipulation for bupatis or other officials. The law offers no definition of an indigenous Papuan, and the definition used by the MRP to vet the gubernatorial candidates in 2005 was controversial. See Crisis Group Briefing, The Dangers of Shutting Down Dialogue, op. cit., pp. 8-9.
[16] The High Court ruling was on 11 August 2005, the Supreme Court ruling on 26 January 2006. Eventually the provincial electoral commission signed the revised result, since the district commissioner refused to do so. Crisis Group interviews, Bupati Jumame, 23 April 2007, Helfried Lombo, op. cit.; “Ratusan Solidaritas Papua Selatan Demo Damai”, Cenderawasih Pos, 30 November 2006.
[17] “DPD Surati Mendagri Soal Pilkada Mapi”, Suara Pembaruan, 8 October 2006; “Bupati Mappi akhirnay dilantik”, Cenderawasih Pos, 15 December 2006; “Pilkada Mappi masih bermasalah”, Metro News, 29 May 2007.
[18] Crisis Group interviews, Mappi and Merauke officials, April and May 2007.
[19] “Delegasi 4 Kabupaten Nyatakan Dukungan”, Cenderawasih Pos, 8 February 2007.
[20] Crisis Group interviews, non-governmental organisations in Merauke, April 2007. See also “Penerbangan rombongan Bupati Mappi diturunan secara paksa”, Kompas, 7 January 2007.
[21] Aside from PPS, there are proposals for five other new provinces in Papua: West Papua Daya, consisting of Sorong, South Sorong, Raja Ampat,
[22] Crisis Group interview, Agus Sumule, special adviser to Governor Suebu,
[23] See Crisis Group Asia Report N°39,
[24] See the “Human Development Index” (HDI)”, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), at www.bps.go.id/sector /ipm/ table1.shtml. Papua and West Papua were counted as a single province until 2004, the year after nine of the 29 districts of the original Papua province split off to form West Irian Jaya (renamed
[25] The other major area earmarked for large plantations is Jayapura-Sarmi. Crisis Group was not able to obtain precise figures on their size but was told by Sinar Mas staff and district government officials that Sinar Mas seeks to develop approximately 200,000 hectares each in Mappi, Boven Digoel and Merauke. Crisis Group interviews, Merauke, Tanah Merah and
[26] In January 2006 President Yudhoyono outlined a plan to accelerate investment in raw materials for biofuel production. See Instruksi Presiden Nomor 1 Tahun 2006 tentang Penyediaan dan Pemanfaatan Bahan Bakar Nabati Sebagai Bahan Bakar Lain.
[27] See for example “Sweden Seeks Indonesian Palm Oil to Cut Emissions”, Dow Jones, 29 May 2006; “Austrian firms may set up biodiesel businesses here”, The Jakarta Post, 5 June 2007.
[28] “Membangun Papua Baru di Dalam NKRI”, booklet produced by Governor Suebu’s office; Crisis Group interviews, Agus Sumule, special adviser to Governor Suebu, May and June 2007, Marthen Kayoi, head of the Papuan forestry department, and Maria Latumahina, special adviser to the governor on natural resources, Yapen, June 2007.
[29] Article 38(2) of the Special Autonomy Law.
[30] Crisis Group interviews, Papuan parliamentarian Albert Yogi, Jayapura, 5 May 2007, Marthen Kayoi, director of the Papuan forestry department, and Maria Latumahina, special adviser to the governor on natural resources, Yapen, June 2007.
[31] Crisis Group interview, Cornelis Ngarbingan, head of the Boven Digoel forestry department, and staff members Barnabas Sedik and Urbanus Atek, Tanah Merah, 27 April 2007.
[32] Sinar Mas officials admit the company would bring the bulk of the required labour from other provinces. The oil palm plantation it established in Lere, Jayapura district, in 1992 employs approximately 20 per cent Papuan workers, and productivity is only 65 per cent that of similar plantations in Riau and Kalimantan provinces. The company is aware of the need to employ a small number of Papuan workers for social and political reasons, but in order to maintain reasonable productivity will bring in at least 70 per cent of its labour from outside. Crisis Group interview, Sinar Mas official. Sinar Mas signed memorandums of understanding with the district governments of Boven Digoel, Mappi and Merauke in
[33] Each investor will be assessed first on its financial strength, the provincial government will conduct environmental impact studies, and smaller concessions of around 1,000 hectares will initially be granted as probationary contracts before larger investment proceeds. Crisis Group interview, Agus Sumule, June 2007. On the basis of its plantation in Lere, Jayapura, Sinar Mas may be deemed incapable of managing 600,000 hectares. It was granted 40,000 in 1992 but in the last fifteen years has only planted 12,000.
[34] PT Tunas Sawa Erma (TSE), PT Bade Makmur Orisa (BMO), PT Korindo Abadi and Pelayaran Dowentindo Nasional.
[35] TSE has actually been operating in the area since 1989 (the initial contract having been awarded in 1978), but was bought by Korindo in the 1990s. Crisis Group interviews, Cornelis Ngarbingan, director of the Boven Digoel forestry department, Tanah Merah, 27 April 2007, and Tony Nahawarin, Korindo,
[36] Crisis Group interviews, villagers and tribal leaders, Mindipdana, Tanah Merah and Getentiri, April-May 2007. See also, for example, Schoorl, J. W. (Pim), Kebudayaan dan Perubahan Suku Muyu dalam Arus Modernisasi Irian Jaya, available as an e-book at www.papuaheritage.org/sh_p.php?i d=26&pid=8&ppid=6.
[37] Surat Keputusan Gubernur No. 184 Tahun 2004 tanggal 5 Agustus 2004.
[38] Crisis Group interview, Adrianus Aneyop, Tinggam village head, 28 April 2007. Wood was harvested from the customary land of the Trotagut, Kame, Workop, Re,
[39] The bupati of Boven Digoel issued a regulation in 2005 obliging the company to compensate locals for food and other crops destroyed during logging operations. Keputusan Bupati Kabupaten Boven Digoel Nomor 28 Tahun 2006. There is no law obliging the company to compensate for traditional medicine plants but the district parliament plans to pass one after an external assessment has been conducted to value the plants. Crisis Group interview, district parliament members, Tanah Merah, April 2007.
[40] In December 2006, the leaders of six clans sent a letter to Korindo announcing their decision to refuse access to their land unless compensation was significantly increased and sent copies to the bupati, the district parliament, and the local police and military commands. They received no response. They also wrote to the department of law and human rights in
[41] The six clans were Tenarop,
[42] Areas classified as “state forest” in article 4 of the law define that term as “forest on land bearing no ownership rights”. It also defines customary forest, however, as land in state forests located in areas of customary communities. Undang-Undang Republik
[43] Crisis Group interview, Gerardus Guam and other villagers, Autriob, Mindipdana, April 2007.
[44] Crisis Group interview, Constantinus Koan Batak, Mindipdana, 27 April 2007.
[45] Only logs 50cm in diameter or larger may be felled. Crisis Group interview, Barnabas Sedik from the Boven Digoel forestry department, 27 April 2007.
[46] Crisis Group interview, Alosius, Getentiri sub-district secretary and Paulus, Ujung Kia village chief, 1 May 2007.
[47] Crisis Group correspondence with Merauke lawyer assisting the 25 tribes, Guntur Ohoiwutun, June 2007.
[48] Crisis Group interviews, Getentiri sub-district chief, Filipus Yame, Boven Digoel parliamentarian, Rufinus, May 2007.
[49] Crisis Group interviews, Korindo officials,
[50] “Korindo terus memperkaya diri”, Boven Digoel Post, March 2007, p. 20.
[51] The company claims that Boven Digoel has no tax office (bea cukai) yet, so it is forced to pay taxes (reboisasi and pajak) to Merauke district, which then transfers them to Boven Digoel. Bupati Yusak argues that the money can be paid to the Boven Digoel regional revenue department (dinas pendapatan daerah), so there is no reason for it to go to Merauke. Crisis Group interviews, Bupati Yusak Yaluwo,
[52] Crisis Group interviews.
[53] “Mengapa pembunuhan terhadap Willem Onde dan John Tumin Kandam belum diinvetigasi”, Sekretariat Keadilan dan Perdamaian, Merauke, June 2002, pp. 1-2; “Bisnis Militer di Boven Digoel Papua”, Kontras, March 2004, pp. 29-30, at http://www.kontras.org/buku/Laporan_Digoel.
[54] The area that today covers Boven Digoel, Mappi, Asmat and Merauke.
[55] “Akhir Drama Bar Nikita”, Tempo, 18 February 2001, p. 28. In fact, there has never been a dialogue between the Indonesian government and the OPM on Papua’s status; the reference in the list of demands to the “reopening” of dialogue may refer to the National Dialogue between President Habibie and the Papuan Presidium Council that began in February 1999 but immediately fell apart when Presidium leaders demanded independence.
[56] Onde released thirteen of the sixteen hostages on 28 January, and the final three on 7 February 2001.
[57] The killings were never formally investigated but local witnesses saw armed Kopassus personnel in the area the day they happened. Onde had allegedly been threatened with death in May 2001 by Papua Kopassus commander Major Hartomo, after he refused to endorse Special Autonomy. “Mengapa pembunuhan terhadap Willem Onde”, op. cit.
[58] Crisis Group interview, Catholic priest Romo Jus, who facilitated a truce between Makaonama and the military,
[59] Crisis Group interviews, Getentiri sub-district chief, Filipus Yame, and Ujung Kia village head, Alosius, 1 May 2007.
[60] “Benih Konflik Tapal Batas Merauke-Boven Digoel”, Katane, Edisi XXII/XII/2006, p. 3; Crisis Group interview, Marind customary leader and anthropologist Jul Gebze, Merauke, 24 April 2007; Crisis Group telephone interviews, Klemens Ndiken, Lembaga Masyarakat Adat Muting, Moses Nelson Woru, and Muting sub-district chief, as well as Anton Kaize, a Merauke journalist who had visited the disputed area, May 2007.
[61] The eight villages are Kindiki, Selil, Kolam, Wan, Selo, Boha, Pacas and Muting. The district government receives 48 per cent of the state revenue from the plantation. Papua province receives 80 per cent of the revenue paid to the central government for forestry and mining according to the 2001 Special Autonomy Law, of which it then pays 60 per cent to the government of the district of origin.
[62] Crisis Group interviews, Klemens Ndiken and Moses Nelson Woru, May 2007.
[63] Crisis Group telephone interview, Muting Customary Council (Lembaga Masyarakat Adat) leader Klemens Ndiken, May 2007.
[64] Adrianus Aute from Subur was found dead in 2003, Eduardus Kemi from Butiptiri in 2005, Johannes Omba in 2005, Ignasius Kame from Tinggam in mid-2006, Benedictus Tenerop near Mindipdana in October 2006 and Paulinus Genarop in April 2007.
[65] Crisis Group interview, June 2007.
[66] Crisis Group interview, Filipus Yame, 1 May 2007.
[67] The entire
[68] District command 1711 was officially opened on 29 August 2006. Crisis Group interview, Boven Digoel parliamentarian Rufinus, 27 April 2007.
[69] Border posts in Papua are being increased from twenty to 94. The military presence on other borders will also increase: in West Timor, the number of border posts will increase from ten to nineteen, and Kalimantan’s border with
[70] See “Kehilangan Rasa Aman: Situasi Militer dan EkoSoB Perbatasan RI-PNG di Kab”, Merauke Diocese Peace and Justice Office report, Merauke, March 2007, for an overview of relations between the community and the security forces in the southern region (Merauke, Asmat, Mappi and Boven Digoel) since integration with Indonesia.
[71] Ibid, pp. 44-47.
[72] “Soldier gets 6 years for killing civilian”, The Jakarta Post, 12 December 2005.
[73] See Kontras report, op. cit.
[74] In the case of province-level pemekaran, strict adherence to the relevant provisions of the Special Autonomy Law is also critical. See Crisis Group Reports, Dividing Papua and The Dangers of Shutting Down Dialogue, both op. cit., on the political and legal consequences of bypassing that law.
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