Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta – Hundreds of protesters ended their three-day roadblock at the entrance of PT Freeport's Grasberg mine in Timika, Papua, on Saturday with a traditional outdoor peace ceremony, officials said.
The illegal miners lifted their barricades and abandoned the mine after holding a traditional ceremony in which they burned stones as a sign of peace and read out their demands.
A solution to the standoff was reached Friday night during a meeting between protest leaders, local tribal figures and Freeport management.
The protesters established the roadblock Wednesday outside the mine, one of the world's largest copper and gold reserves, after a clash a day earlier between miners and Freeport security guards. The dispute began when guards stopped locals from sifting through the company's tailing ore.
Mimika legislative council speaker Yoseph Yopi Kilangin said the protesters dispersed after the Papua administration promised to issue a bylaw allowing local miners to prospect Freeport waste.
"The local administration and Freeport will also soon set up a cooperatives unit to facilitate the miners," Yoseph told The Jakarta Post by phone.
The Amungme tribe leader said he had assured Freeport management there would be no more trouble at the mine as long as Freeport and the government were committed to hearing the protesters' demands. The Amungme is one of several tribes living near the mining area.
Freeport spokesman Budiman Moerdijat welcomed the peaceful settlement, saying the company would resume operations as soon as the barricades were lifted.
Yoseph, who attended the Friday-night meeting that resulted in the agreement, said the protesters had also demanded they meet Freeport chief executive James Moffet so he could hear their aspirations personally. "The company said it would try to meet the demand within a month," he said.
Locals wanted Freeport to improve their welfare by offering them more employment opportunities in the mine and promotions for existing employees, Yoseph said.
The protesters also urged Freeport to stop using soldiers as its security guards. "The locals want the nine Freeport security guards from military backgrounds replaced with civilians," Yoseph said.
A recent US report revealed the company has made direct payments to soldiers who guarded the mine, leading to allegations Freeport had acted improperly and was fueling corruption in the military.
Yoseph said the protesters wanted the government to revise its working contract with Freeport by involving local tribespeople. The government extended Freeport's 1967 working contract in 1991, allowing the firm to exploit the area for 30 years until 2027.
Freeport's independent commissioner and local Amungme tribal leader Tom Beanal said he did not expect all of the protesters' demands to be met by the company and the government. However, revising the contract was the best way to avoid further protests in the future.
"This should be a lesson to the government not to hand over the management of the country's rich natural resources to foreigners without involving local people," he told the Post.
Meanwhile, National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Bambang Kuncoko said Papua Police officers would continue guarding the mine until the company resumed production.
The end to the standoff in Timika would not affect police charges against 10 students for disorderly behavior outside Freeport's main office in Kuningan, South Jakarta, he said.