Irian tribal leader not abducted: Community leader
Irian tribal leader not abducted: Community leader
JAKARTA (JP): A community leader from Irian Jaya yesterday
denied news reports that Amungme chief Tom Beanal, who is suing
Freeport McMoRan Inc. for US$ 6 billion, had been abducted.
Rev. Nato Gobai of the Three Kings Church in Timika told The
Jakarta Post yesterday that Tom Beanal was safe and sound at his
home.
"I have no idea why Tom was reportedly abducted," he said.
Media Indonesia daily yesterday reported that Tom Beanal had
been abducted by several tribal leaders. Tom could not be reached
for comment.
The law suit, filed at a U.S. District Court in New Orleans,
accuses Freeport of engaging in "eco-terrorism", "cultural
genocide", corporate policies that led to violations of tribal
people's rights and environmental destruction of tribal
resources.
The complaint was filed against Freeport under a United States
federal law which allows foreigners to bring cases involving
international law to U.S. courts.
Freeport has proposed to give the community, whose land is
being mined, US$ 500,000 in compensation a year, about 1 percent
of Freeport's yearly revenue.
Freeport has proposed to set up a US$ 15 million trust which
would grant local people compensation over the next ten years;
this offer was turned down by the seven affected tribes earlier
this month.
About 3,000 people protested in Timika on Friday, demanding
that government officials and several individuals return the
funds they had received from Freeport, Nato said.
"The tribes had rejected the money settlement while those
people, claiming to represent the tribes, accepted the money," he
said.
The tribes gave the relevant parties three days from Friday to
return the money.
"No violence occurred during the protest, although the crowd
originally intended to set the Sheraton hotel on fire," Nato
said. It has been reported that Nato helped stopped the angry
crowd becoming violent.
Nato denied reports that some of the tribesmen were about to
wage war among themselves.
Nato also said that between 1,300 and 1,400 people had signed
a petition against the compensation package. The petition has
been sent to New Orleans.
PT Freeport Indonesia's mine in Timika, Irian Jaya, sits on
one of the largest known gold and copper reserves in the world.
Freeport Indonesia is 82 percent owned by Freeport-McMoRan
Copper and Gold Inc., an affiliate of Freeport McMoRan of the
United States. The Indonesian government and a private company,
PT Indocopper Investama, each own 9 percent of the company. (14)