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