Irianese deserve better life

Irianese deserve better life

This is in response to Mr. Edward J. Pressman's letter
Freeport's social commitment in The Jakarta Post on Sept. 19.

Your statements (with all the supporting figures) about the
situation in Irian Jaya when Freeport first arrived in l967 and
all the good fortune and favor Freeport has given to the Irianese
has puzzled me.

Irian Jaya has one of the world's largest and most beautiful
rain forests with hundreds of rare species of flora and fauna.
But the most precious richness of this particular province is its
people i.e. forest people -- Amungme, Komoro, Dani and many
others, that you probably refer to as backward, primitive and
poor.

It should be realized that these people in fact play an
important role in preserving the environment. They treat their
land and forests as their most valuable asset, inherited from
their ancestors over thousands of years.

So, Mr. Pressman, if you are trying to say that Freeport's
existence in Irian Jaya has greatly benefited the Irianese people
it is very contradictory to the facts we have before us. Forget
about giving a name to a newborn baby, they are forest people,
and they don't really need that. They are more concerned with
their land which is being robbed and their rights which are being
trampled. Their rivers are polluted and contaminated, so these
people have virtually nothing left to make their lives enjoyable.

How do you feel when seeing a dirty, naked Amungme wearing a
koteka? They even sometimes have to cover their koteka when
strangers pass by only to prevent those people from throwing
cigarette ash into it. The miserable life of the tribal people is
not only caused by the destruction of their environment, but also
by the inhuman treatment they receive from Freeport security
guards and Indonesian soldiers.

Remember that all of the natural resources in Irian Jaya
belong to the Irianese and they deserve appropriate treatment and
to be able to live a decent life.

VIVI

Jakarta