Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta – Ignoring Papuan protesters' demands, the government will maintain a military presence at PT Freeport Indonesia's mine in Papua.

The mine and its military guards have been at the center of a week-long protest by Papuans, who say they have benefited little from the development.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla and Army chief Gen. Djoko Santoso said Tuesday the government would stick to its policy of allowing the military to safeguard strategic facilities in the country, including Freeport. "We have no plans to pull out soldiers from these projects," Kalla said at the Golkar Party's head office here.

Separately, Santoso said he would not withdraw troops from Freeport unless the government ordered him to do so. "To date, there has been no such request," he told Antara. The Army had one battalion, or around 600 troops, safeguarding the company's mining site at Tembagapura, he said.

Fresh demands for the closure of Freeport's operations in Papua have been intensifying after local tribespeople were forbidden from panning gold in Freeport's waste ore. The tribes blockaded access to the mine for three days, while Papuans in major cities, including Jakarta, took to the streets to protest the mine's military guard.

Kalla said the government had no intention of stopping Freeport's operations or revising the firm's working contract as many Papuans have demanded. "We must respect the contract. We will evaluate it every five years, but will not revise it at the moment," he said.

The government granted PT Freeport Indonesia, a local arm of New Orleans-based Freeport McMoran Copper and Gold Inc., its first contract in 1967 and extended it in 1991, allowing the company to extract gold from the area until 2027.

Environmentalists and local tribespeople have urged the government to revise the contract to seek a bigger revenue split.

In Jakarta, hundreds of protesters rallied outside Freeport's offices for the second consecutive day, demanding an end to Freeport's operations and a thorough investigation into corruption, environmental destruction and human rights violations involving the mine.

The protesters from the West Papuan People's United Front clashed with some 300 policemen. One demonstrator, 21-year-old Meliana Gombo, was rushed to the nearby MMC Hospital with serious head injuries after she was badly beaten by a policeman.

In Papua, the provincial legislative council's deputy speaker, Komarudin Watubun, told Antara he would send a letter to the government demanding a suspension of Freeport's operations in Papua. This would give his office and the Papua People's Council (MRP) time to study the firm's two working contracts and seek a possible revision, he said.

The MRP planned to convene a plenary meeting to discuss the Freeport operations on March 22, he said.