Indonesia

Indonesia has great natural wealth but many of its citizens live in extreme poverty. Democratic progress has been made since the resigation of former president Suharto in 1998, but many civil society organisations feel that far too little progress has been made towards sustainable management of the country's resources, and ensuring that Indonesia's diverse communities have a real say in decisions which affect their future.

DTE 91-92, May 2012

In our special edition newsletter on Papua published in November 2011, DTE drew attention to the long and sorry history of top-down resource exploitation in Papua. Now, a whole raft of new development plans are being pushed through, under the government’s nation-wide effort to speed up development (MP3EI), launched last year. An additional layer of plans specifically for Papua is being promoted by UP4B, a special unit to speed up development in Papua.

DTE 89-90, November 2011, Special Papua edition

The United National Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has written to the Indonesian government to express concern about the impacts of the Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate project (MIFEE) on the indigenous peoples affected by this agro-industrial mega-project.

DTE 89-90, November 2011, Special Papua edition

The following report, by independent researcher Anna Bolin,[1] explores the global trends and influences at work behind agriculture mega-projects like MIFEE in Papua.