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Indigenous Peoples

The demand for independence

Down to Earth No 43, November 1999


The push for an independent West Papua is gaining strength: mass protests met the government's decision to split the territory into three provinces and the vote in East Timor fuelled demands for independence.

WALHI sues government over mega-project

Down to Earth No 43, November 1999

Indonesia's prominent environmental organisation is taking court action against the President, ministers and other officials involved in the disastrous plan to convert over a million hectares of peat swamp forests in Central Kalimantan into rice-fields. Meanwhile, new, more ambitious plans for plantation development in the area could lead to much more devastation.

New act thwarts reformers

Down to Earth No 43, November 1999

Important new forestry legislation was forced through parliament in the final weeks of Habibie's interim regime. According to forest campaigners and indigenous rights activists, the Forestry Act (No. 41 1999) is no advance in terms of protecting Indonesia's forests or forest peoples over the 1967 Basic Forestry Law it replaces.

NGO support for the indigenous peoples' movement

Down to Earth Special Issue, October 1999

The 1999 Congress was the result of a three year period of planning and organising involving indigenous peoples' groups and local and national NGOs which had supported indigenous communities' fight for their rights over a number of years.

By the mid-1990s there were an increasing number of opportunities for indigenous peoples to express their own views at

Views of the 1999 Congress

Down to Earth Special Issue, October 1999

As over 200 participants of the first Indigenous People's Congress in Indonesia prepared to leave Jakarta, they were asked to express their thoughts on the event. The response was overwhelmingly positive, despite certain reservations. These are some of their opinions.

"I feel honoured to have taken part in the Congress. "
Agustina K.

Taking the message to the top

Down to Earth Special Issue, October 1999

Through the Congress and subsequent events, indigenous peoples have presented their demands to government officials, political parties and the National Human Rights Commission. They have done this directly and through demonstrations, press statements and delegations. Such action was impossible in the Suharto years when open discussion of land rights was branded communist or subversive.

West Papua

Down to Earth Special Issue, October 1999

The Indigenous Peoples' Congress was held only a few weeks after one hundred West Papuan representatives came to Jakarta as part of a long-awaited 'National Dialogue' to discuss the future of their homeland. President Habibie offered nothing. So it was not surprising that the Congress' Papuan contingent was in no mood for compromise. They were united in their message: 'Merdeka' - independence.