Govt tries new approach on Timika resettlement
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)