Fighting injustice against Freeport’s oppression of local communities in Papua, Yosepha Alomang has won many awards for her bravery. Here is the life journey of Yosepha Alomang.
Who is Yosepha Alomang?
Yosepha Alomang is a modern heroine from Amungme who defends Human Rights in Papua. Born in Tsinga in the 1940s, Yosepha Alomang has been independent since childhood. According to her life journey, she had been an orphan since he was a baby and lived with his stepfather.
Yosepha Alomang’s life has not been easy since she was little. Living with her stepfather’s family, Yosepha Alomang doesn’t feel the affection of an average family. Even when she married, Yosepha Alomang’s life did not improve.
Married in the 1970s, Yosepha tried hard to save money to meet the dowry for her wedding. Unfortunately, Yosepha’s marriage did not offer a sweet life for her either. Yosepha’s husband became a liquor addict. Moreover, her husband once sold Yosepha Alomang’s land to buy liquor.
A complicated and complex life journey turns Yosepha into a brave and robust person. The public widely knows this great woman for her courageous actions against PT Freeport Indonesia. According to Yosepha Alomang, PT Freeport Indonesia has usurped many people’s rights, especially those in Amungme.
Yosepha Alomang’s Confrontation
Having a small body, who would have thought that Yosepha Alomang was brave enough to fight PT Freeport Indonesia? Yosepha Alomang became the leader of various resistance actions against PT Freeport Indonesia, which she considered to have stolen land belonging to the Papuan people and damaged it.
Before mining companies entered Papua, the indigenous people of West Papua had lived side by side with nature for approximately 30,000 years. However, after mining practices permitted by the Indonesian government, many rainforests and rivers have been polluted in Papua.
According to the Goldman Environmental Prize records, Freeport dumps around 200,000 tonnes of tailings into local rivers every day. This action makes the distribution of deadly pollutants to the environment. Unfortunately, no countermeasures have been taken by the government to fix it.
- 1991
In 1991, Yosepha Alomang held a three-day demonstration at the airport in Timika. This demonstration is a protest against the government’s and Freeport’s indifference to the surrounding community’s fate.
You need to know that Yosepha Alomang and other Papuan women have built a cooperative that markets fruits and vegetables from the gardens of the surrounding community. Yosepha felt that Freeport should provide support by buying the product.
However, the mining company imports similar materials from outside Papua. Yosepha Alomang and other women protested as a form of disappointment by destroying imported fruits and vegetables.
- 1994
In 1994, the authorities arrested Yosepha Alomang on suspicion of assisting Kelly Kwalik, a figure from the Free Papua Organization. Upon her arrest, Yosepha Alomang was locked up for a week in a human waste shelter.
- 1995
Later, in 1995, Yosepha Alomang filed a lawsuit against PT Freeport in the United States. In her case, Yosepha Alomang demanded compensation for herself and for the environmental damage the company had caused after years of operating in Amungme.
After all, Yosepha’s persistence paid off, and for the lawsuit, the company based in the United States paid a compensation of USD 248,000. Yosepha Alomang then used this money to build the Yosepha Alomang Complex, which contains a monument to human rights violations, a clinic, an orphanage, and a meeting hall.
For her action and resistance, Yosepha Alomang received two awards. The first award was for Yap Thiam Hien in 1999. Yayasan Pusat Studi Hak Asasi Manusia provides this award for people who have contributed significantly to upholding human rights in Indonesia.
Yosepha Alomang’s second award was the Goldman Environmental Award in 2001, an award given annually to environmental activists.
