Movement against Freeport is set up by students

Bintang Papua - October 28, 2011

A number of UNCEN student organisations along with the KNPB, the National Committee for West Papua, have announced the establishment of a movement to oppose Freeport. They regard this company as having been the cause of many problems in Papua. The students unfurled two banners, one of which depicts the US flag intertwined with the logo of Freeport.

The new organisation is called People's Movement Against Freeport Crimes - Gerklaf. The coordinator of the new organisation is Fanny Kogoya and Bovid Defa is the secretary. At the end of the ceremony, the US flag was set on fire. This opposition movement regards the presence of Freeport as having come about as the result of a political contract between the USA and its allies in order to ensure the continuance of Papua within the Unitary Republic of Indonesia.

Indonesia 'should be ashamed of failure to reduce poverty'

Jakarta Globe - October 27, 2011

Aguis Triyono -- The combined wealth of Indonesia's 40 richest people is equivalent to that of about 60 million of its poorest citizens, a nongovernmental organization said on Wednesday.

"In 2010, we noted that the wealth of these 40 people had reached Rp 680 trillion [$76.8 billion]," said Setyo Budiantoro, the executive director of the Center for Welfare Studies (Prakarsa). "This is about 10.3 percent of Indonesia's entire gross domestic product."

That Rp 680 trillion, Setyo said, also represented the wealth of about 15 million of the country's poorest families, or about 60 million people. "The economy is now dominated by a group of super-rich people who number very few," he said.

Occupy Jakarta, an awareness building movement for social change

Pelita Online - October 21, 2011

Occupy Jakarta, Gerakan Penyadaran untuk Perubahan – Pelitaonline.com. Jumat, 21 Oktober 2011

Jakarta -- The Occupy Jakarta movement inspired by Occupy Wall Street in New York continues to reverberate with no end in sight in the midst of the controversy surrounding the cabinet reshuffle and rampant corruption in Indonesia.

Aside from being a symbol of the fight against the capitalist system, the action is also being used as a platform for social awareness building to highlight that 1 percent of the population dominates economic life in Indonesia.

44 years of theft, 44 years of state protection, end the violence and close Freeport now

Joint statement in solidarity with Freeport Indonesia workers - October 20, 2011

PT Freeport Indonesia,  a subsidiary of Freeport McMoran Cooper and Gold – of which 90.64 percent of the shares are owned by Freeport CEO James R. Moffet – is the largest mining company in the world. Freeport contributes 95 percent of the entire production of gold by Freeport McMoran and a significant percentage of its copper production.

The controversial corporation obtained the exploration and mining rights through Work Contract I, several months before the enactment of Law Number 1/1967 on Foreign Capital Investment and Law Number 11/1967 on the Basic Provisions of Mining during the rule of the New Order regime of former President Suharto. Odd but true!

Occupy Indonesia has started and continues

Occupy Jakarta protest say capitalism has derailed national development

Metro TV News - October 19, 2011

Occupy Jakarta Tolak Ekonomi Kapitalis - Metrotvnews.com. Rabu, 19 Oktober 2011

Jakarta -- In concert with the Occupy Wall Street movement that is calling for reforms to the United States' economic policies, a similar movement has emerged in Indonesia. The Occupy Jakarta group has been holding protest actions at the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) building on Jl. Sudirman in Jakarta.

The Occupy Jakarta group comprises university lecturers, non-government organisation activists and people working in the arts. They expressed the view that Indonesia has unknowingly been coopted by capitalist economic ideas like the US.

INDONESIA: Security forces open fire at Third Papuan People's Congress

(Hong Kong, October 19, 2011) At around 3pm today the security forces surrounding the Third Papuan People's Congress in Indonesia opened fire and dispersed the event. Possible casualties are not known as of now. Several persons are reported to have been arrested, including Forkorus Yaboisembut and Edison Waromi, indigenous political leaders.

The AHRC has received reports from several credible sources about the violent intervention by the Indonesian military (TNI) and the mobile brigades of the police (BRIMOB) at the Tunas Harapan field in Abepura, Papua, where the event took place. See our earlier press release in which the AHRC reported the military and police’s aggressive approach to the event. Some reports allege that several persons have been killed.

Yogyakarta protesters demand nationalisation of Freeport

KRjogja.com - October 13, 2011

Laskar Tambang Tuntut Nasionalisasi Freeport - KRjogja.com. Kamis, 13 Oktober 2011

Yogyakarta -- Scores of demonstrators from the People's Mining Militia held a free-speech forum in front of the Gedung Agung Presidential Palace in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta on Thursday October 13. They were demanding the return of the nation's sovereignty through the nationalisation of the foreign mining industry, in particular PT Freeport Indonesia, under the control of the people.

People's Liberation Party chronology of Freeport shooting

Tribunnews.com - October 10, 2011


Kronologi Bentrok PT Freeport versi Partai Pembebasan Rakyat - Tribunnews.com. Senin, 10 Oktober 2011 15:37 WIB


Jakarta -- The People's Liberation Party (PPR) reports that a person was shot dead by security forces during a clash with thousands of PT Freeport Indonesia employees at the Gorong-Gorong bus terminal in Timika, West Papua, on the morning of Monday October 10.


In addition to one fatality, nine other people had to be rushed to hospital suffering injuries inflicted by security forces. "The dead victim's name was Petrus Ayamsemba", said PPR national spokesperson Budi Wardoyo when contacted on Monday afternoon.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: INDONESIA MUST INVESTIGATE MINE STRIKE PROTEST KILLING

10 October 2011

The Indonesian authorities must immediately investigate the use of deadly force by police at a mining protest, Amnesty International said today after one protester was killed and at least six injured.

Indonesian security forces opened fire on striking workers of a gold and copper mine in the eastern province of Papua run by US company Freeport-Mcmoran on Monday. Some 8,000 workers at the mine have been on strike since 15 September, after demands for a pay rise reached a deadlock.

Protester Dies in Indonesian Freeport Demo: Union Official

A demonstration involving thousands of mine workers at Freeport-McMoRan in Indonesia turned ugly on Monday, with police firing warning shots and one protester killed, a union official said. 


The demonstration involving disgruntled workers seeking better pay and conditions was at East Timika, in West Papua province. 


“The victim is dead in the regional government hospital,” said Virgo Solossa, a union official. 


He did not say how the protester had died. 

On the struggle of Freeport Indonesia's workers

Freeport workers in Indonesia vow to halt production

Agence France Presse - October 7, 2011

Workers at one of the world's largest gold and copper mine in the remote Indonesian province of Papua vowed on Friday to paralyze production, as their strike over pay enters its second month.

Workers at the Grasberg mining complex run by US giant Freeport-McMoran began a month long strike on September 15, demanding at least an eight-fold increase in the current minimum wage of $1.50 an hour.

Solidarity for PALEA Workers' struggle in the Philippines

PALEA at SONA, Manila 2011

Long Live the struggle of anti contractualisation! 

Long live PALEA!

It has been a tremendous struggle organised by PALEA against contractualisation all these years. It has been very determining and should have been inspiring the struggle against contractualisation of all workers. We are here in Indonesia, working together with different trade union who fought against what we called outsourcing workers, which more or less similar with contractualisation here. What make it similar is the fact that the workers in Indonesia and Philippines, even workers around the world, are threatened by non permanent, precarious, insecure work and working condition. Not to mention the degradation of living standard and wage freezing which had been forced us to evermore tightened our belt. 

The state is obliged to protect striking PT Freeport Indonesia workers

Statement by the Coalition for the Freeport Indonesia Workers' Struggle - September 28, 2011

We fully support the strike by PT Freeport Indonesia workers for better wages and conditions. The government must guarantee legal protection to the workers and protect them against intimidation and threats while they are on strike and conducting negotiations with the company in accordance with Law Number 13/2003 on Labour.

The strike by around 8,000 PT. Freeport Indonesia employees in Timika, West Papua, is to demand that the management bring their wages into line with PT Freeport Mc Moran wage standards in other countries. Freeport currently pays its workers as little as US$1.50 and hour and workers are demanding that this be increased to US$3 (25,000 rupiah) an hour. Freeport workers in other countries currently receive an hourly wage of US$15 or 128,250 rupiah per hour.

Indonesian feminists: 'Don't blame the victim!'

Vivi Widyawati & Zely Ariane*

Around 100 women and men took part in a rally named Mini Skirt Protest - Women against Rape at Bundaran Hotel Indonesia, Thamrin, Jakarta, on Sunday September 18th 2011. Dozens of women, including several activists from Perempuan Mahardhika, wore miniskirts,  as a  statement that rape has nothing to do with the way women dress. 

The demonstration was a protest against the reaction of Jakarta’s Governor Fauzi Bowo (nicknamed Foke) to the recent case of a young female student, Livia, who had been raped and killed in a public transport. He said: “Imagine if someone sits on board of a mikrolet (minivan) wearing a mini-skirt, you would get a bit turned on”. Women, he said, “must adjust to their environment so that they don’t provoke people into committing unwanted acts”.