The article below from Majalah Selangkah describes a a protest in Deiyai Regency against a company called PT Papua Power Indonesia ((actually in the article it is referred to as Power Papua Indonesia, which has been corrected here)), but doesn’t mention what the company is actually doing in the region. In fact it is the contractor which is looking to build the Yawei-Urumuka hydro-power plant which will generate at least 300MW of power, which would primarily be used to power the Freeport mine.It appears that the power plant would not be a dam, but a run-of-river scheme, which means that water would be extracted without a storage reservoir.

LMA-O opposes companies working illegally in the southern part of Deiyai and Dogiyai Regencies

Indigenous people from Deiyei and Dogiyai regencies who are involved in the Ogeiye Indigenous People’s Organisation (LMA-O) held a peaceful protest at the Deiyei Regency Bupati’s office recently, to convey their aspirations and their opposition to several illegal companies which have moved into the southern parts of Deiyai and Dogiyai regencies.

The action’s coordinator, Andreas Pakage, told majalahselangkah.com that the protest took place because a company named Papua Power Indonesia (PPI) and several other companies had no permits and would also bring negative impacts to the indigenous people living in the southern parts of the two regencies.

“In the name of the indigenous people we emphatically reject the presence of these companies in our area, as we the indigenous people are of the view that the companies do not have our permission nor any official agreement with us made through the Ogeiye Indigenous People’s Association”, Pakage said on his mobile phone from Deiyai.

He also confirmed that the LMA-O is an indigenous association which is recognized by the local and central governments. He even mentioned that the LMA-O had existed since 1994, over a dozen years before the central government created the Dogiyai and Deiyai as new administrative districts.

That means, Pakage added, that there needed to be a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the indigenous people and the company, because they have the rights over the land, not the company.

This opinion was strengthened by the action’s spokesperson, Agusten Anouw, who said that “the company would only add to our misery and destroy indigenous communities without protecting and valuing customary land rights or the values of our ancestors. We believe this company is only here to destroy, not to protect indigenous people. What’s more, this company is here to repress us only because of capitalist economic interests”.

The Bupati of Deiyai, Dance Takimai, said that he would create a team to move forward on issues related to the community’s hopes: “We will form a team, and that team will follow up the issue to look for a solution”, was the Bupati’s response.

Hundreds of people from all sections of society in Deiyai and Dogiyai Regencies took part in the action, including representatives of the customary council, tribal leaders, indigenous leaders and other prominent community figures.

Their demands were as follows:

• Firstly: The whole indigenous community strongly opposes the Papua Power Indonesia company (PPI) and other companies which are working in the legal area and ancestral land of the LMA-O in Deiyai and Dogiyai Regencies.

• Secondly: We, the indigenous people of Ogeiye want to tell the bupati of Deiyai to take the people’s wishes seriously and remove Papua Power Indonesia and other companies from the LMA-O’s area.

• Thirdly: as the Indigenous People’s Association, we respectfully request that the Bupati of Deiyai form a special committee to resolve future issues.

Source: Majalah Selangkah: http://majalahselangkah.com/content/-lma-o-tolak-perusahan-ilegal-masuk-di-selatan-kabupaten-deiyai-dan-dogiyai