Famine in resource-rich Papua

Famine in resource-rich Papua

The reports coming out of Papua about a famine that has taken
the lives of 55 people since November punctuate the suffering of
a country still reeling from the recent fuel price increases.

This despite the newly gained sense of optimism following the
shake-up of the economics team in the Cabinet.

Reports filtering through have been patchy due to the
isolation of Yahukimo regency. What we have learned so far is
that food shortages in the remote regency began as far back as
August.

As is so often the case, local initiatives to help the people
of Yahukimo were well under way long before the government was
even aware there was a problem. In Yahukimo it was foreign
missionaries, local church leaders and activists who spotted the
emerging signs of a famine in August and extended a helping hand
to residents.

However, the bulk of the responsibility for helping the people
of the regency should have laid with the local government. The
four months that elapsed from the time signs of an approaching
famine first appeared and news of the tragedy became public raise
doubts about the local government's ability to monitor food
availability for residents, the difficult terrain in Papua
notwithstanding.

It takes days, perhaps weeks, to reach the regency on foot
from Papua's capital Jayawijaya, but it takes months for a famine
to reach the desperate levels of the one in Yahukimo.

Signs of an impending catastrophe must have been apparent in
the region since earlier this year, when the area was pounded by
heavy rains that destroyed the sweet potato crops.

Had local government leaders been more alert, they could have
anticipated the disaster and prevented the loss of life. Food
shortages and malnutrition have become disturbingly regular
occurrences in Papua in recent years. There have been at least
four other recorded cases of food shortages in this vast region
in the last eight years, affecting Puncak Jaya, Jayawijaya and
Jayapura regencies.

Sadly, the events in Yahukimo are not the first of their kind
this year. Malnutrition has affected thousands of people in
West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, North Sumatra, West
Sumatra and West Kalimantan. In the first two provinces, more
than 66,000 children were found to be suffering from
malnutrition, while malnutrition affected more than 1,400
children on Nias island in North Sumatra.

But the number of fatalities in Yahukimo has made this the
most disturbing incident. In addition to the 55 people who have
died of malnutrition, 112 others have become ill from related
sicknesses since November, all in a regency of 55,000 people.

Some ministers have contested these figures, while other
government officials have gone so far as to deny any malnutrition
at all in the regency, a common tactic during the New Order
regime. In the other provinces affected by malnutrition this
year, public officials also at first denied there was a problem.

All of these incidents underline that something has gone
terribly wrong with our food security system. They also serve as
a warning that good management is desperately lacking in most
regional governments.

The horrible irony of the Yahukimo famine is that is occurs in
a province that is immensely rich in natural resources. Papua has
million of hectares of virgin tropical forest and huge gas and
mineral deposits. Some of this natural wealth has been exploited
for decades, but the riches have not trickled down to regular
Papuans.

A serious investigation into this tragedy is called for to
prevent similar incidents in the future. If isolation is a major
reason for the famine, a serious effort must be made to bring the
regency, and all other isolated areas of Papua, into closer
contact with the rest of the country. It is difficult to believe
that there are regions that remain cut off from the rest of the
country 60 years after independence.

The government must demonstrate that it is not only willing to
open up and ensure access to isolated areas blessed with valuable
natural resources, but also to remote areas blessed with the
lives of villagers.