Freeport chief to meet Irianese over discontent

JAKARTA (JP): Irian Jaya tribes people will have a rare chance to discuss their discontent with PT Freeport Indonesia with Freeport-McMoran Copper and Gold Inc. chairman James Moffet.

The American-based Moffet will visit Irian Jaya and meet with local leaders to discuss local tribal peoples' opposition to the company's operations in the Timika subdistrict.

Moffet and U.S. Senator Bennet Johnston, a Louisiana Democrat, met with President Soeharto yesterday.

"Yes, I am on my way to a meeting. We will talk a lot more about it after the meeting in Irian Jaya," Moffet announced after meeting with Soeharto. He declined to say when he would return from Irian.

PT Freeport operations in Irian Jaya have again come into the spotlight since the publication of alleged violations of human rights involving its security personnel over the last year.

In March, tribal people went on rampage in Timika after a local was hit by a PT Freeport employee's car, forcing the company to suspend operations for a couple of days.

Last year, an investigation by the Commission of Human Rights found that 16 people had been killed in a series of clashes between troops guarding the mining site and protesting local tribal people.

Several tribes, who claim ancestral rights to the land under PT Freeport concession, have charged that the company plunders their natural wealth and has given little benefit to them.

The American Freeport-McMoran has a 82 percent stake in Freeport Indonesia. The Indonesian government and privately-owned PT Indocopper Investama have 9 percent each.

Moffet was in Irian Jaya at the wake of March's rioting. He then promised to study the indigenous people's demands and to return within a month with a reply.

Senator Johnston said that the Freeport affair was discussed during the meeting with President Soeharto.

Johnston said PT Freeport Indonesia has a good environmental record as affirmed by the result of a recent audit. (pan)