Tragedy in Jayawijaya
Some good news -- if any news coming amid reports of hundreds of people dying of hunger and disease can be called good -- has come to us from Indonesia's westernmost province, Irian Jaya.
Reports received in Jakarta from Wamena, on the island's Jayawijaya Regency, said yesterday that smoke from forest fires, which had been hanging over the Baliem Valley for weeks, had begun to lift. With the smoke dispersing it will be possible for light aircrafts to fly some necessary supplies into the region's famine-stricken capital.
But the fires that have, so far, ravaged more than 80,000 hectares of forests -- including tracts in the highly valued subalpine Lorentz National Park -- were reported to be still spreading. And, as of yesterday, hundreds of other residents in Jayawijaya and neighboring Merauke regencies are still in peril as the drought continues.
So far 265 people have reportedly died because of food shortages and contaminated drinking water. That figure may grow further considering the lack of supplies and the delay in supply.
We are sure that the authorities in Jayapura, Irian Jaya's provincial capital, and in the regencies affected by the calamity are doing whatever they can, within their means, to cope with the disaster.
Freeport Indonesia, the oft-criticized copper mining company, is reportedly doing its bit to help, as is the Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF), which has been working in the area for decades.
Nevertheless, for those living in Jakarta it may be difficult to overlook the view that, perhaps, more can and should be done to help the people in those areas in the relatively isolated and remote corner of this country.
Little, if anything at all, has been heard of coordinated efforts being organized from Jakarta.
It may be that the authorities in charge of disaster relief management are still too busy trying to control the forest fires that are raging in Kalimantan and Sumatra, and to cope with the haze disaster which is now a regional problem.
Indeed, there can be no denying that in terms of both extent and international repercussion, the fires that are continuing unabated in the western parts of the archipelago are much larger in scope than those that have plagued Irian Jaya.
In Kalimantan and Sumatra, it is estimated that more than 800,000 hectares of forests have been destroyed. As a result of the smoke, some 32,000 people are said to be suffering respiratory problems and two people are reported to have died so far. By comparison, the fires in Irian Jaya have affected "only" about 80,000 hectares.
In terms of the toll it takes on human lives, however, the Irian Jaya disaster is surely a far bigger tragedy. Much of the terrain in the disaster-stricken area is well nigh inaccessible except by air, and bringing in supplies is difficult enough without smoke hampering communications.
The environmental damage which the drought and the fires have caused in this remote Indonesian province should not be underestimated. Many of the subalpine plant species which grow in Lorentz National Park on the Jayawijaya range are unique to that region and are probably found nowhere else in Indonesia.
In short, the urgency of the problems in other provinces notwithstanding, Irian Jaya deserves the same attention that other areas of this country are getting.
In the meantime, all those catastrophes provide a lesson that must not be forgotten. Our present problems are a direct result of our own lack of respect for the environment.
As the present development has hopefully taught us, what may in isolation seem like small environmental misdemeanors could grow into a problem of regional or even international dimensions.
Now that the harm is done, the best that is left for us to do is to take responsibility, try to repair the damage and resolve that this must never happen again.