Asia Times: Freeport spells an end to freedom for Komoro wanderers



	March 1, 2000	atimes.com

Southeast Asia

Freeport spells an end to freedom for Komoro wanderers
By Kafil Yamin

TIMIKA, Indonesia - Their houses will be brand new, and they will be together in a 95-hectare enclave carved out of the lush jungle in eastern Indonesia. But a sense of loss is palpable among the Komoro tribe, which has already seen its traditional domain shrink and its ways altered by outsiders in the past three decades.

Now members of the tribe, indigenous to the Timika district of the province of Papua, formerly called Irian Jaya, are about to be resettled in a modern community, courtesy of a giant mining company that has all but taken over the area.

Abraham Zainuddin, officer for the relocation project, does not deny that the move will be a major transformation for the Komoro. ''Now they have to stick to one place, do farming in their backyards, do washing in their washing room,'' he told IPS. ''These [activities] are not yet familiar to them. It will take much time.''

The Komoro are semi-nomadic, roaming the lowlands of Timika. The concept of staying put in the settlement provided by the mining firm is novel to the some 300 tribe members, or about 87 families, who will be affected by the operations of the PT Freeport Indonesia (PT-FI) gold and copper mining company.

But Zainuddin feels that the Komoro may still be better off in the new settlement. He says the Komoro had been dependent on three ''S's'' - sampan (boat), sungai (river) and sagu (sago) - that have been disappearing gradually due to the construction of the tailings disposal site of PT Freeport.

PT Freeport, a subsidiary 85 percent owned by US-based Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold, has been running a huge mining concession in Irian Jaya since 1967. It was not until 1988, when the so-called Grasberg deposit of copper was discovered in Timika, that the company expanded its operations and accelerated its activities.

PT-FI has since channeled its mine tailings into the Agawagon River, which flows from the mill site to the Ajkwa disposal site in the lowlands. According to the company, the disposal of the tailings is controlled through a levee system, making possible future revegetation and reclamation. Critics say this has resulted in the dumping of huge amounts of waste - more than 200,000 tonnes daily - into the Ajkwa river system, severely affecting life many kilometers away from the mine.

The mine expansion and construction of the Ajkwa disposal site have affected areas grown with the sago palm that is part of the Komoro traditional diet, as well as making inaccessible parts of the traditional fishing grounds of the tribe.

The new settlement for the Komoro is said to be PT Freeport's way of compensating the tribe for all the troubles the mine has caused. The Komoro were aided by Sejati Foundation, a non-government organization that works to protect the rights of indigenous peoples, in negotiations with the company.

The Komoro are not the only indigenous peoples in the areas affected by the mining company's activities. There is also the Amungme tribe, which occupied highland villages, and many of them have been protesting against the mine's effects on the local environment and culture.

When PT-FI first arrived in the area, fewer than 1,000 people lived there, most of them Kamoro and Amungme. But the discovery of the Grasberg deposit among the glacier-capped mountains in the area led to intense economic activity that attracted other indigenous Irianese tribes and more than 20,000 migrants were relocated there from other islands under a program sponsored by Jakarta.

Today, the population of Timika and Tembagapura is some 70,000. The entire Papua population stands at some 1.8 million people, divided almost equally between indigenous people and non-indigenous residents. NGO workers note that for all the money-making activities going on here, it is ironic that food has become more and more of a problem for both the Kamoro and the Amungme.

After they could no longer use their fishing grounds, both tribes began to feel a scarcity in sago. In fairness, PT Freeport, in cooperation with the central government of Indonesia, was quick to supply tonnes of rice when the problem became acute in 1997. Then former President Suharto even sent tiwul (dried cassava cake) as a substitute for the indigenous diet, but the gesture drew wide criticism. In time, the Kamoro and the Amungme have become more dependent on rice, which is now being dispatched from Java and South Sulawesi.

Observes Yen Darussalam, project officer of Timika Integrated Development: ''There had never been a food crisis in the past. People here roamed around the forest to collect sago and fruits. Now, many of the food resources have disappeared and they have to consume staple food which is not their own. Development has changed the pattern of their consumption.''

Still, rice cultivation has yet to become a tribal activity. Data at the Papua Logistics Office reveal that some 1,500 tonnes of rice are imported to Papua each month. Meanwhile, Jakarta has called for food diversification, saying that Indonesians should find other staples besides rice because of periodic supply depletion.

In fact, Indonesia became one of the world's largest rice importers as the economy suffered from the economic crisis that began in 1997. From April to December last year, the country imported almost two million tonnes of rice.

(Inter Press Service)

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