Category Archives: Around West Papua

The Salim Group and land conflicts around West Papua.

By admin | Published: February 7, 2018

In May 2016, awasMIFEE published a story titled “The Salim Group’s secret plantations in West Papua”, about four concessions owned by the Salim Group in West Papua. A year and a half later, the Salim Group is still aggressively expanding, and threatening more areas of remote Papuan forest. Evidence connecting these companies to the Salim […]

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September 29th 2014, a terrible day for Papua’s forests

By admin | Published: January 7, 2018

In September 2014, in his last month in the role before handing over to the new administration, former forestry minister Zulkifli Hasan carelessly condemned hundreds of thousands of hectares of Papuan forest to development by logging and plantation industries. Joko Widodo had won the Indonesian presidential rlection on 9th July 2014, and Zulkifli Hasan’s National […]

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Maranatha Declaration (concerning permits for extractive industries and indigenous Papuans’ rights)

By admin | Published: November 26, 2017

We are the 42 participants in a workshop to review policy on permits for use of natural resources and protecting indigenous rights in Papua, which included representatives of the following indigenous groups Awyu (Boven Digoel), Yerisiam (Nabire), Amungme (Mimika), Armati (Sarmi), Manum, Abrar and Marap (Keerom), Elseng (Jayapura), as well as civil society organisations from […]

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Chronology of violence by Brimob officers working in PT Permata Putera Mandiri’s concession towards indigenous customary landowners in South Sorong

By admin | Published: November 23, 2017

Information has emerged that the conflict between indigenous people in Puragi village, South Sorong, and PT Permata Putera Mandiri, a subsidiary of the Austindo Nusantara Jaya Group, has resulted in a string of aggressions from police mobile brigade (Brimob) officers working  for the company in recent months, since it recommenced deforestation on the disputed land. […]

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ANJ’s response to criticism of its recent forest clearance.

By admin | Published: November 9, 2017

On 12th October 2017, AwasMIFEE sent a list of questions to the Austindo Nusantara Jaya group, mostly focussed on  sustainability information in its annual report,  which seemed at odds with what was happening in its concessions in Papua Barat province. Of particular concern was the recent land clearance in an area which is the subject […]

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Head of the Auyu people: We’re ready to die for out land and ancestral forest

By admin | Published: October 31, 2017

An oil palm company named PT Indo Asiana Lestari has been trying to negotiate with the Auyu people living in several villages in Mandobo and Fofi sub-districts of Boven Digoel, including Ampera, Ikisi, Navini and Yare villages. Frengky Hendrikus Woro, a resident of Yare village, explained to Okto Waken of the Justice and Peace Secretariat […]

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If the ANJ group wants a sustainable image, why is it clearing forest and creating conflict??

By admin | Published: October 26, 2017

Austindo Nusantara Jaya wants to be seen as an environmentally-friendly company. Sixteen pages of its 2016 Annual Report went into considerable detail on its sustainability practices, and, on 11th October, a new Sustainability Report was published. Packed with commitments, it gives the impression of a company at the forefront of the sustainability movement . As […]

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Rhinoceros beetles and unwanted smallholder schemes: the problems facing villagers in Korindo’s North Maluku plantation.

By admin | Published: September 16, 2017

Sanusi’s eyes were full of tears on Wednesday (6/9/2017) has he told of the sad state of affairs in his village, Gane Dalam over the last three years. Rhinoceros beetles have been attacking their coconut farms, and the damage to the plants has spoiled the harvest. Sanusi is the head of the Copra Farmer’s Group, […]

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Poumako incident: lethal military violence against indigenous fisherfolk defending their livelihood

By admin | Published: September 2, 2017

On 9th August 2017, a member of the Indonesian armed forces shot dead Theo Kamtar in Poumako Port, Timika. This incident was part of a dispute where indigenous fisherfolk felt their livelihood threatened by better equipped migrants from other islands in Indonesia, who were dominating the catch. Elements of the state appear to have sided […]

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Were cement company interests behind change of forest land classification?

By admin | Published: April 25, 2017

The Radar Sorong newspaper, on 19th April 2017, published a story about the Environment and Forestry Minister signing an agreement to change the land use designation an area of protected forest in Gunung Botak (bald mountain), Momiwaren sub-district, South Manokwari Regency, West Papua province. According to the head of the Papua Barat Province Forestry Agency, […]

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