
Illustration of students’ protest to demand Freeport to be closed in front of Papua Parliament building in November 2017 – Jubi/Arjuna
Jayapura, Jubi – Speaker of Papua House of Representatives Yunus Wonda said the institution have no authorization to close PT Freeport Indonesia, which operates in Tembagapura, Mimika Regency.
He said the Papuan parliament was not in the position to make decision. The Special Committee (Pansus) for Tembagapura was formed based on human interest especially in the case of evacuation due to the arms conflict in Tembagapura District few days ago which is now accomodated in Mimika.
“We cannot see from a single object, we urge the central government, not Freeport,” said Wonda, on Tuesday (November 28).
According to him, to close Freeport is not work of one or two people/institution. The central government must take on that role.
Earlier Papuan parliament speaker Yunus Wonda said that if the people of Papua demand PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) to closed, as it is considered the root problem in Papua, then the American gold and copper mine operating in Mimika Regency should be closed.
“So if today the Papuan people demand that Freeport should be closed, yes, close it, because that is an extraordinary pressure for us in the parliament,” Wonda said after receiving demonstrators from the United People’s Front (FPR) on Thursday (November 23).
According to him, this will be a big issue. “Yes, we will definitely do something extraordinary, demanding that Freeport to be closed, because Freeport is considered as trigger of all (unfortunate) events in Mimika,” he said.(tabloidjubi.com/Zely)