Jayapura – The People's Earth Heritage Foundation (Pusaka) says there are four patterns used by the government to "rob" Papua of its natural resources.
This statement was made by the Pusaka Foundation's Tigor Hutapea during a discussion on the foundation's 2025 end of year notes tilted "As Usual, We're Not Considered to Exist: A Year Full of Plundering Papua's Natural Resources", which was held by the Pusaka Foundation and broadcast online on the Pusaka Foundation YouTube channel on Thursday January 29.
Hutapea said that the land of Papua was become a region that is sacrificed on the grounds of achieving self-sufficiency in food and energy, which seems to illustrate that the country lacks food and energy, so there had to be a region that is to be sacrificed, namely the land of Papua.
"That's what happened in 2025 and this is a tragedy that continues to be repeated in (the land of) Papua, the plunder of its natural resources. We call this the robbery of nature, because there are four patterns used by the government", said Hutapea.
According to Hutapea, the first pattern used by the government to 'rob' Papua's natural resources is autocratic legalism (the use of laws to legitimise an action). He said there were various problems that conflicted with legislation in implementing the national strategic projects or PSN in Papua.
"But government [just] changed the laws, as if there is no legislative problem. For example, in the case of building a self-supporting roads in Merauke, South Papua. There is no Amdal (environmental impact analysis). When the public criticises it, an Amdal is made and the government regulations are changed so that the Amdal can be done later. As if work that is wrong is justified through legislation, also by means of weakening supervisory institutions", he said.
Hutapea said that another method used by the government to grab territory in Papua is legal colonisation. He said that customary law exists in Papua, but the government uses state legal instruments to colonise customary law. It's as if customary law is ineffective.
The third pattern, Hutapea continued, is by means of militarisation. In areas where big government projects are located, units called Territorial Development Battalions (BTP) are always established. He said that many new battalions are being established solely to ensure the success of government-sponsored development programs.
"The government is planning 450 [new] battalions [across Indonesia], and that's around 450,000 new soldiers to manage livestock, agriculture and other things", he said.
The fourth method is through state corporations. The government established the sovereign wealth fund Danantara which is considered a state corporation because it aims to profit from the "plunder" of nature.
The Pusaka Foundation has received information that in Papua, rice paddy and biofuel projects will be supported by Danantara, along with state-owned enterprises like PT Agrinas Palma Nusantara and other companies.
"So, we look at this there's pattern being used to seize Papuan territory which is sacrificed for food and energy self-sufficiency. We see this as a president's ambition", said Hutapea.
He said that amidst the ongoing problem of natural resource plunder, the Pusaka Foundation has also found numerous acts of resistance by communities.
There is also maintenance work, particularly carried out by mama-mama (traditional Papuan women traders), fighting against this extractive industry. However, this of course requires solidarity because Papua as a conflict zone requires solidarity from many parties to observe and monitor conditions in the land of Papua.
On the other hand, the Pusaka Foundation has also written 11 articles divided into four parts. First, how natural resource robbery occurs, second, how communities are fighting back, third, how communities maintain it, and fourth, data on the state of deforestation in Papua.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Pemerintah Disebut Gunakan Empat Pola 'merampok' Alam Tanah Papua".]
Source: https://jubi.id/lingkungan/2026/pemerintah-disebut-gunakan-empat-pola-merampok-alam-tanah-papua/
