The Indonesian government and the separatist Papua conflicted with the Act of Free Choice in the 1960s, decades ago. Their relationship seems not to develop and keep the same all these years. With the new development plan of the Indonesian government, Amnesty International West Papua said in a briefing on March 2021 that the Indonesian government should stop its plan to develop the gold mine.
This was because it could risk conflict in the region with the members of Indigenous Papua. In recent years, groups of Papuan separatist and Indonesian military forces have conflicted in the Intan Jaya Regency. Intan Jaya Regency is where the Wabu Block is located. Here are the details of the information.
Amnesty International West Papua and Indonesia
Based on the Amnesty International West Papua briefing, the area of gold mining has some build-up of the forces used in the area. The case has been ongoing since the year of 2019 and has resulted in 12 cases of killings by security forces. The forces were also said to restrict the movement of the local people and use violence toward them.
The violence is beating and also arresting. The gold mining area in the development plan is said to be where the Indigenous Papuan do their activity, such as cultivating crops, collecting timber, and hunting animals.
Amnesty International West Papua Project
Usman Hamid, the Executive Director of Amnesty International Indonesia from March 2021 to January 2022, said that disregarding the needs, desires, and traditions of the local people from Papua, the gold mining plan in Wabu Block has some risk of degrading the situation of human rights.
Under this project, the forces that increasingly use violence on the Intan Jaya residents and restrict many aspects of their life will ruin their livelihoods. This project, to put it simply, is the key to disaster.
Usman Hamid has conducted remote interviews with some people regarding the situation in Intan Jaya. Those being interviewed are Indigenous Papuans, local authorities, representatives of civil society and religious organizations, and human rights, defenders. According to reports, violence has increased in this area over the years.
In 2020, the official plan to develop the mining in Wabu Block had been appearing. Wabu Block is the capital of Intan Jaya Regency in the south of Sugapa district. This place holds around eight million ounces of gold. They are making it one of Indonesia’s largest gold reserves.
While so, the place is under some process of licensing by the Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources. The development area is approximately the size of Jakarta city, which is 69,118 hectares.
The figure from the Indigenous Papuan, Lian, said they fear the loss of lands, their livelihoods, and the environmental pollution it could create. If the place is used for mining, then the Indigenous Papuan will have no land for gardening. It will be hard to get fruit from the forest. Also, not to forget that their younger generation would lose their land. While the mining company gains a benefit, this will be a loss.
Final Thought
Amnesty International West Papua and Indonesia have been going on about the gold mine plan from the Indonesian government. They said the plan could risk more conflict in those regions and violate the local’s land rights, especially with people from Indigenous tribes.
