Amungme chief says treat my people right

Amungme chief says treat my people right

JAKARTA (JP): An Irianese tribal leader called yesterday for
better treatment of indigenous people around PT Freeport
Indonesia's gold and copper mine.

Tom Beanal, chief of the Amungme tribe, said that Irianese
locals wanted to be treated "like human beings" so that there
wouldn't be anymore conflict.

"Actually, we don't want to fight. We only want them to treat
us as individuals... as human beings, said the former legislator
while launching his book titled Amungme: Magaboarat Negel Jombei-
Peibei (Amungme: The Culture of the Owners of the Cloud-covered
Mountain Top). The book is written in Bahasa Indonesia and
English.

PT Freeport is 81 percent owned by the New Orleans-based
mining giant Freeport McMoran Copper and Gold Inc. The Indonesian
government and a local private company, PT Nusamba, own 9 percent
each.

Beanal has accused PT Freeport Indonesia of causing local
environmental and cultural destruction. He lost the first part of
a legal battle against Freeport when a U.S. district court
rejected his US$6 billion lawsuit last April.

The court dismissed the case on the grounds that no definitive
international environment law could apply to a private
corporation.

PT Freeport claims to have provided basic facilities to local
tribes. It is also committed to setting aside 1 percent of its
net profit to the tribes.

Beanal told The Jakarta Post that he had not lost hope and
would continue to sue Freeport in the U.S. for human rights
violations against the Amungme people.

But Beanal said that winning or losing in court was not the
central issue.

"What we want mostly is recognition from Freeport of our
existence as a tribe and a culture," he said.

Last February, the directorate general of taxation announced
that Freeport had been the biggest taxpayer in Indonesia in 1995,
rising from No. 53 in 1994.

Freeport chief executive officer Jim Bob Moffet said earlier
this year that his company had been thrusting a spear of economic
development into the heartland of Irian, about 3,000 kilometers
east of Jakarta.

In a discussion on the book, Beanal explained his tribe's
philosophy on land.

"We consider that land is an integral part of our life.
Destroying nature amounts to destroying ourselves," he said.

Freeport's concession of the world's largest known gold and
copper reserves is in the north-central part of the Amungme's
land.

"We do not object to the extraction of natural resources. But
please respect our culture," said Beanal, who had supported the
mine when it opened in 1972.

The discussion, held by the Indonesian Environmental Forum,
also featured anthropologist Iwan Tjitradjaja.

He said the government often ignored warnings that indigenous
people should not be marginalized by development.

"Too many interest groups, including the government, are
bringing change and ignoring the impact of development on the
tribes out there," said the University of Indonesia lecturer.

Another speaker, researcher Oktavianus Motte, said the Amungme
tribe was threatened because they could not adapt to the new
values introduced by foreigners.

"Now, their youths do not understand their ancestors' rites
and values. And Freeport is just not concerned by it." (35)