President to inaugurate new Freeport town

President to inaugurate new Freeport town

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto is scheduled to inaugurate on Tuesday a new town in Irian Jaya built by the giant American copper and gold mining company PT Freeport Indonesia.

Irian Jaya Governor Jacob Pattipi told reporters that the town has been built near the hilltop town of Tembagapura where Freeport conducts its largest mining operation.

The new town will accommodate mostly Freeport workers and spare them from having to journey the long distance each day to get to work. It is also located on flatter ground.

"The President has already prepared a name for the new town, but I don't know it yet. He said it's a combination of Indonesian language and the local dialect," Pattipi said after meeting with the head of state at the Merdeka Palace.

The governor said he also discussed additional funding for the development of education in Irian Jaya.

On another matter, Pattipi told reporters that the military is still chasing Irian Jaya separatist rebels who are holding hostage an entire village close to the Papua New Guinea border in the Merauke regency.

He said that based on reports from the local military commander, the rebels are using the villagers as "human shields" to repel any attempt by security forces to get closer.

"It is no wonder that we hear accusations that soldiers are firing at the people. They are being used as shields, but the actual target of the bullets are the rebels," he said.

The governor could not give a precise number of villagers held hostage but said that a typical village in Irian Jaya has a population of about 100 people.

He suspected that as in the past, the rebels are using the 10 kilometer buffer zone that Indonesia and Papua New Guinea have established along their common border, he said.

They use this "no man's land" for hiding from the military, he added. (emb)