Bows and arrows used against mine in Papua

Indonesia has 180 native ethnic groups. Those groups range from the jungle dwelling natives of Siberut in the north, to the Sasaks on Lombok, to the Papuans in the east of the country. Once to leave Bali / Java things get way more primitive and when a big western company plonks itself down in one of these areas, there is often trouble.

Papua (the Indonesian half of the island) has many indigenous tribes. They have old fashioned ways and the Blair Brothers, made a documentary in which the locals were still naked, a truly old civilization. I’ve heard from friend what it like in PNG (Papua New Guinea), with Australian mining companies tearing up the landscape in search of riches. One guy told me that he used to drive a bulldozer through th forest, knocking down tress and the natives would be shooting arrows at his cage.

Something related to that kind of thing happened in Papua recently, when 100 locals decided to mine illegally on the property of American mining company, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. When confronted by mine employees they responded with bows and arrows. Definitely not a harmonious environment, and food for thought for other companies. Here in Bali the locals sometimes block the road to the Four Seasons Sayan (best hotel in the world) by felling a tree and protesting. They feel they deserve some kind of payment for ceremonies and aren’t getting enough. Capitalism vs. tradition often is a hard path.