Papua's Awyu, Moi Sigin Tribes Deliver Petition of Support to Top Court over Customary Land Grabs

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Representatives of the Awyu and Moi Sigin indigenous communities submitted a petition supporting the tribes’ struggle against palm oil companies to the Supreme Court on Monday, July 22, 2024, from South Papua and Southwest Papua. 

Their visit to the Supreme Court was also intended to question the progress of the Awyu and Moi Sigin tribes’ cassation filed respectively on Mack and early May. 

"To this day, we have not received any information about the registration number of the cassation appeal that we, Awyu and Moi Sigin indigenous communities, submitted to the Supreme Court," said the representative of the Awyu tribe, Hendrikus Woro in a written statement on Monday.

"We came all the way from Papua twice because we were waiting for a decision that would save our customary forests," said Hendrikus.

Hendrikus Woro's petition concerns the environmental permit issued by the Papua Provincial Government to PT Indo Asiana Lestari (IAL) for 36,094 hectares of the Woro clan’s customary forest. 

Apart from PT IAL, several members of the Awyu Indigenous communities are also filing an appeal against PT Kartika Cipta Pratama and PT Megakarya Jaya Raya for 65,415 hectares of rainforest.

In a separate case, the Moi Sigin sub-tribe is fighting against PT Sorong Agro Sawitindo (SAS) as the defendant intervenor. PT SAS sued the central government for revoking their permit on 18,160 hectares of customary forest. 

“We received 253,823 signatures in the petition supporting the Awyu and Moi tribes, which today will be submitted directly to the Supreme Court. This petition and the recent #AllEyesOnPapua movement are proof of many people's concern for the tribes’ struggle," said a member of the  Save Papua Forests’ Advocacy Team from the Bentala People's Heritage Foundation, Tigor Hutapea, on Monday.

Member of the Save Papua Forests’ Advocacy Team from Greenpeace Indonesia, Sekar Banjaran Aji, said customary forests are an ancestral heritage that has supported the Awyu and Moi Sigin indigenous communities for generations. They depend on forests as hunting grounds and 'supermarkets' for various sources of food and medicine. Forests are also indigenous people’s culture and identity.

Sekar emphasized that saving Papua's forests will not only strengthen the defense against the climate crisis and biodiversity extinction but also protect natural, social, and cultural wealth.

Moi Sigin indigenous woman, Diana Klafiyu, also expressed her appreciation for the support that has poured in for their struggle and those signing the petition. 

"I hope that the judge will decide in favor of us, the indigenous people of the Moi tribe and the Awyu tribe," Diana said.

ANNISA FEBIOLA

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