Freeport not arrogant

I read the letter The Jakarta Post reprinted from Forum Keadilan entitled "No Freeport ads please!" with great concern because the writer, as well-intentioned as he may be, is laboring under several common misunderstandings of the situation in the Timika and Tembagapuara area.

The first and most often repeated misunderstanding is that the Amungme and other local peoples around the PT Freeport Indonesia mine site are protesting against the presence of Freeport, and or the expansion of the company's exploration activities in Irian Jaya. Nothing could be further from the truth. While there are individuals who will complain about Freeport, the overwhelming majority of local people in the Timika and Tembagapura area are very much in favor of the positive changes Freeport's presence has brought.

The second misunderstanding in the writer's letter is that the Indonesian military came to the area in response to the "protests" against Freeport. In fact, the Indonesian military has always had a minor presence in the area but increased troop strength because of heightened OPM/GPK rebels activity, which began in early May of 1994 in the village of Tsinga, and culminated in the OPM/GPK shooting death of our employee, an Irianese worker named Gordon Rumaropen, in November 1994. Because, as the Komnas HAM human rights commission has stated, the Indonesian government considers the Freeport mine a vital national asset, the OPM/GPK disturbances in the nearby Tsinga area and the murder of a Freeport employee caused great concern and elicited the response to which the writer refers in his letter.

Perhaps the most disconcerting aspect of the writer's letter, is his call for the censorship of Freeport's informational advertising about, as he states, "Freeport's philanthropy". Disseminating factual information about our social and environmental programs only frightens some people because it contravenes the misinformation they are attempting to spread. It seems ironic that the very people who decry real or perceived violations of "their" rights are often the first to step up and ask for the suspension of someone else rights in response.

Finally, it needs to be said that Freeport is extremely concerned about the events of the past year, from the killing of our employee to the serious human rights abuses which Komnas HAM has investigated and confirmed. We are not an arrogant institution, as some people have suggested.

EDWARD J. PRESSMAN

PT Freeport Indonesia

Jakarta