Cover-up in Irian

Cover-up in Irian

I am writing in response to your article 'Koteka' not a sign of poverty in Irian (The Jakarta Post, Oct. 12, 1996).

Your report that Jayawijaya Regent J.B. Wenas claimed recently: "Many Dani residing in the spectacular Baliem valley are 'millionaires' who are proud to wear the traditional sheath. Many Dani have millions of rupiah deposited at government owned banks in Wamena town. Anyone who doesn't believe this can go to the banks and see people in koteka come and deposit their money."

While this may be true for some of the Dani tribe members who live near Wamena, it certainly is not true for more of the other tribes living in the Jayawijaya district and many other parts of Irian Jaya, such as the Yali of Angguruk and Wali. The Dani are fortunate to live close to a market for their goods and services. However, for the rest of the people living far away, and without roads, it's an entirely different story. How can the Yali get their livestock or produce to a market where they can sell it? There are no roads to Angguruk, Wali, or most other places in central Irian Jaya. It takes some of them nearly a week to walk to Wamena. To carry any more than only a small amount of their produce up and down the mountains trails to Wamena is as humanly impossible as depositing money in the non-existent banks of Angguruk.

The climate up in the mountains is a different story from Wamena too. It is very cold up in the mountains where most of the Yali people live. They suffer especially at night when their nearly naked bodies can no longer be warmed by the sun. The only way they can survive without clothes at night is to lie all huddled together in their hut like honi. They build a small fire which may last half way through the night. After that the only way they stay warm is from their own combined body heat. They lie all huddled together, the men and boys together in one smoked- filled, windowless honi, and the women and babies in another honi, shivering and waiting for the warmth of the morning sun.

I repeat Regent J.B. Wenas' challenge: If anyone doesn't believe this, he can go to Angguruk or Wali and see the people trying to survive the nights there sleeping as they do without blankets and clothes. Better yet, leave your sleeping blanket in Sentani as I accidentally did, and you will get a more realistic and unforgettable impression.

Like us, those people need clothes and blankets. However, unlike most of us, and those fortunate enough to live in the Wamena area, the Yali don't have the money to buy them, even if they were available in that remote area.

DAN ADAMS

Jakarta