No Freeport ads please!

No Freeport ads please!

From Forum Keadilan

We have again been jolted by human rights violations in
Timika, Irian Jaya. This time it was a counter-reaction
experienced by the indigenous community of Amungme, to their
protest of PT Freeport McMoran's expansion onto 2.6 hectares of
land on which the Amungme community gain their living.

Security troops were deployed in response to the protests and,
according to news media, illegally detained the protesters,
tortured them, took away or destroyed their possessions and
allegedly killed some. Subsequently, a team from the national
human rights committee was sent to investigate the matter.

We know that since Freeport came to Timika in 1967, tremendous
environmental and social decline and destruction have taken place
at the cost of the indigenous ethnic groups. The profits raked in
by Freeport may not equal the destruction generated or the
endeavors to rehabilitate the inhabitants who have probably been
contaminated by the heavy metals of mining.

The greatest concern in this country and abroad, is that the
press competes to advertise Freeport's philanthropy as if the
conditions in the most eastern part of Indonesia are safe and
peaceful. We, the people of Irian Jaya, would therefore ask the
press not to place advertisements by Freeport. Indirectly, the
press is also responsible for the violation the rights of the
indigenous community in Timika.

JOOST W. MIRINO

Salatiga, Central Java