Home › Themes ›

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.

Challenging the position of the state vis à vis indigenous peoples

Down to Earth Special Issue, October 1999

This position statement was drawn up by Congress delegates at the end of a week of discussions about issues facing indigenous peoples.

Long before Indonesia became a republic, a panoply of indigenous communities was distributed across the archipelago.

Issues for the future

Down to Earth Special Issue, October 1999

Logistically and tactically, the Indigenous Peoples' Congress was a tremendous achievement. It generated hope, confidence, new insights and useful connections amongst indigenous peoples facing similar problems right across the archipelago at a time when there are real possibilities for more democracy and equity in Indonesian society. Politically and organisationally, these are early days for Indonesia's indigenous movement.

Indonesia's Indigenous Peoples form new alliance

Down to Earth Special Issue, October 1999

This Special Issue of Down to Earth reports on the first ever Congress of Indigenous Peoples of the Archipelago, held in Jakarta in March 1999, and the progress of a new alliance of Indigenous Peoples -AMAN- established at that event. It draws largely on Congress materials and statements from AMAN.

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