Dani tribe students occupies Freeport's office in Surabaya

Around 80 students from the Dani tribe of Irian Jaya who are studying in Java and Bali occupied the representative office of PT Freeport Indonesia in Surabaya on Tuesday, accusing the company of not keeping good of its promise to Irianese.

Besides Freeport's office, the students also occupied the office of PT Pangansari Utama located in the same building with Freeport's. Pangansari supplies foodstuff to Freeport employees in Timika, Irian Jaya.

This occupation of Freeport's office is the second time, after the students occupied the office in March.

Some students said that Freeport promised in November last year to provide scholarship for Dani students in Java and Bali. But until now, the promise had never been fulfilled.

"We have been invited for luxury meals at hotels, promised funds that will be transferred to an account belonging to the Dani Tribe Human Resources Development Foundation. But where is the evidence? That's only a promise," said Karmin Yikwa, chairman of the association of Dani students in Java and Bali.

He threatened that if Freeport did not make his promise good, Dani students would continue to occupy the office and would eventually set it on fire. (*)