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Jubilee Scotland's campaign against Indonesia's odious debt

Down to Earth No.78, August 2008


Ben Young of Jubilee Scotland writes about the on-going campaign to cancel Suharto's debt legacy to the UK.


Indonesia's total external debt is over US$130 billion. Much of this money should by rights be owed by the estate of the late General Suharto himself. Ranked by Transparency International as the most corrupt dictator of modern times, he is reckoned to have stolen up to $31 billion. But Suharto was not the sole culprit of this corruption.

Indigenous-owned forests felled for oil palm in Keerom

Down to Earth No 78  August 2008

Plans to push ahead with oil palm expansion in Papua have run into opposition from local people.

Multinational corporations lining up to profit from West Papua's resources

Down to Earth No. 76-77 May 2008

Another year, another set of record profits from West Papua's mineral resources.

The Westminster conference centre just alongside the UK's Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey seem a long way away from the frontier town of Timika or, for that matter, the prawn fisherfolk of Bintuni Bay in West Papua. However, each year this is the scene of the Annual General Meeting of Rio Tinto PLC, a 40% joint venture stakeholder in the expanded Grasberg mine in the highlands of West Papua.

Debates around REDD, indigenous rights and control over funding

Down to Earth No.76-77, May 2008


There are many strands to the ongoing international climate change debate.

Communities force Wilmar to address bad practices

Down to Earth No.76-77 May 2008

Communities in West Kalimantan, supported by national and international NGOs, have taken the unprecedented step of challenging the environmentally and socially damaging impacts of the world's largest palm oil company, using the World Bank Group's official complaints procedure.

Suharto's Legacy

Down to Earth No.76-77, May 2008


This May marks the tenth anniversary of Suharto's fall from power. The former president, who headed a military regime which ruled Indonesia for 32 years, died in January this year aged 86.

Oil palm plantations? Carbon credits? Papua's forests targeted

Down to Earth No.75, November 2007


Large areas of Papua's rich and diverse forests are being targeted by Indonesian and overseas investors for conversion into oil palm plantations. At the same time, discussions are in progress to reserve large areas of Papua's forest to generate carbon credits for trade on international markets.