Elisa Sekenyap, Jayapura – The Merauke food and energy National Strategic Project (PSN) in South Papua is taking away indigenous Papuans right to life and worsening the environmental crisis.
This was conveyed by a coalition of civil society organizations, human rights defenders, environmental activists and indigenous peoples affected by the Merauke food estate project after holding a protest action at the Ministry of Defence offices in Jakarta on Wednesday October 16.
The Malind and Yai Merauke indigenous peoples adorned themselves with traditional clothing during the action rejecting the Merauke PSN.
Teddy Wakum, a spokesperson for the group Merauke's Solidarity, stressed that the national strategic project in Merauke must be stopped.
"We from Merauke Solidarity are of the view and state that the national strategic project for food and energy development in Merauke regency, South Papua, must be cancelled and stopped, because it is contrary to the 1945 Constitution and legislation", said Wakum.
He then said that the opposition to the project is also related to the right to life, the rights of indigenous peoples, the right to land, the right to freedom of expression, the right to development, the right to food and nutrition, the right to a good and healthy environment and the principles and goals of sustainable development.
Therefore they are urging President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and the ministers of defence, agriculture and investment, or the head of investment coordination, to stop the PSN.
"[We] are asking that the Minister of Environment and Forestry to immediately conduct an environmental evaluation and audit to assess the responsible business entities' compliance with the legal requirements and environmental feasibility, and impose the sanction of revoking their business license", said Franky Samperante, the director of the Pusaka Foundation.
Merauke Solidarity is therefore:
- Urging the President of the Republic of Indonesia and the Minister of Defence, the Minister of Agriculture and the Minister of Investment/Head of the Investment Coordinating Board, to immediately stop the Merauke PSN including the sugar and bioethanol plantation development project and the new 1 million hectare irrigated rice field project.
- Asking the Minister of Environment and Forestry to immediately conduct environmental evaluation and audit to assess the responsible business entities' compliance with the legal requirements and environmental feasibility, and impose the sanction of revoking their business license.
- Asking the government to recognise, respect and protect the existence and rights of indigenous peoples, as well as conduct meaningful consultations with indigenous community groups on the various socioeconomic development projects taking place in indigenous areas, so they are carried out inclusively, fairly and are environmentally sustainable.
- Asking the government and the Indonesian Military (TNI) and Indonesian Police (Polri) state security apparatus to stop using a security approach and not be involved in commercial development projects.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "PSN di Merauke Merampas Hak Hidup dan Meningkatkan Krisis Lingkungan".]
