Govt tries new approach on Timika resettlement

JAKARTA (JP): The government is trying a "social approach" to win Irian Jaya natives' hearts so they will accept resettlers from other provinces in Timika subdistrict.

Minister of Transmigration Siswono Yudohusudo said yesterday the development of a resettlement site in the eastern Timika district of Mimika has begun with the renovation of the natives' villages.

"The idea is to avoid the impression that they are being evicted to make way for the transmigration project," Siswono said in a hearing with Commission IV of the House of Representatives.

According to Siswono, results of the new approach can be seen in January or February next year.

Timika is home to the giant gold and copper mining company PT Freeport Indonesia, which has been a constant target of human rights violation allegations.

The numerous tribal groups, who claim ancestral rights to the land in Timika, have been demanding a "fair share" from PT Freeport.

Two cases of hostage taking have taken place in the area this year. They were said to be carried out by separatist rebels of the Free Papua Movement.

Siswono disclosed that a number of experts have been involved in the implementation of the new approach to the indigenous tribes.

Among the experts are Parsudi Suparlan of the University of Indonesia and Budi Santoso of Gadjah Mada University. The others are from Cendrawasih University.

The ministry is responsible for carrying out the government's ambitious program of resettling as many people as possible from overcrowded Java and Bali to other islands in the Indonesian archipelago. About two-thirds of Indonesia's 195 million people live on Java and nearby Madura and Bali.

Siswono said the government has built schools, clinics and a meeting hall in the area bordering the resettlement site and the nearby village.

"The immediate result is the contact between the newcomers and the natives, especially the children" he said.

He said the new approach would produce a positive result because several villages have asked the government to apply the same approach there. (ste)