Papuans, whose island has been offered as a potential launch site for Elon Musk’s SpaceX project, told billionaire Tesla chiefs that his business is not welcome on their land, and that its presence will affect their island’s ecosystem. destroyed and will drive people out of their homes.
Musk was used by Indonesian President Joko Widodo in December in part of the small island of Biak in Papua.
An Indonesian government official told the Guardian this week that the planned spacecraft was being developed in consultation with the Papua government and local communities, and that the development of Biak as a ‘Space Island’ would have positive economic consequences for islanders.
But the Papuans on Biak vehemently opposed it, arguing that a space launcher would drive deforestation, increase Indonesia’s military presence and threaten their future on the island. An tribal chief on the island, Manfun Sroyer, said he feared Papuans would be forced out of their homes.
‘This spaceport costs us traditional hunting grounds, and it damages the nature on which our way of life depends. But if we protest, we will be arrested immediately. ‘
The Russian space agency, Roscosmos, also plans to develop a large missile launch site on the island of Biak by 2024.
‘In 2002, Russians wanted our country for satellite launches. We protested and many were arrested and interrogated… now they have brought it back, and this harassment and intimidation continues, ”said Manfun Sroyer.
Biak is part of Papua province, where a separatist campaign has been waged for decades against Indonesian rule. Biak’s east coast overlooks the Pacific Ocean, and its location, one degree below the equator, is ideal for launching low – orbit satellites for communication, with less fuel needed to reach the orbit. The proximity to the reserves of natural resources also makes it an excellent candidate for a launch site.
Musk plans to launch 12,000 satellites by 2026 to provide cheap high-speed internet via the Starlink internet service. A SpaceX test rocket exploded this month on the runway after landing, the third consecutive failure.
West Papua’s major natural resources include copper and nickel, two of the most important metals for rockets, as well as the long-range batteries used in Tesla’s electric (EV) vehicles.
Widodo also intends to lure Tesla to Indonesia, to promote its nickel deposits, to make it South Asia’s second largest producer of electric cars. If successful, Tesla and SpaceX operations could further accelerate the exploitation of resources in Papua and West Papua.
Musk told Indonesian officials in July that Tesla would “offer a giant contract for a long period of time if you mined nickel efficiently and in an environmentally sensitive manner”.
But Papuans and environmentalists fear that a launch site will further damage the island’s delicate ecosystem.
“It’s a small island,” Benny Wenda, the exiled leader of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) and interim president, told the Guardian. ‘It is already destroying ecosystems and threatening the survival of the people of Biak. They simply want to live without this destruction coming to the island. ”
The Raja Ampat Islands in western Papua have significant nickel deposits, and a coalition of Indonesian environmental organizations, JATAM, has argued that extensive mining will increase deforestation, pollute a proposed UNESCO World Heritage Site and endanger the health of local people. . .
The Grasberg mine on the mainland of Papua is the second largest copper mine in the world. Increasing production is likely to contribute to the 80 million tonnes of mining waste it dumps into surrounding rivers each year, exacerbating environmental damage.
In July 1998, the island of Biak was home to one of the worst massacres in the history of Indonesia’s occupation of West Papua, when numerous civilians were tortured and killed and their bodies were allegedly dumped at sea by Indonesian security forces, after activists raised. the West Papua Morning Star flag.
Biin elder Tineke Rumkabu, a survivor of the violence, said she wanted to tell Musk that his space project was not welcome on her people’s island.
“As a South African, you understand apartheid, the murder of black people. If you bring your business here, you are directly sponsoring the genocide on Papuans directly. “
Biak is also strategically important to the Indonesian military, where he has built naval, troop and air bases that serve as a starting point for the deployment of aircraft and troops.
An Indonesian government spokesman told the Guardian the Indonesian National Institute of Aviation and Space (LAPAN) had consulted extensively with the Papua provincial government on the Biak spacecraft plan.
“The provincial government of Papua believes that the construction of the spacecraft in Biak will make the Biak Numfor district a hub and have positive economic consequences for the local government and the local community. The Indonesian parliament also sees the construction of Biak Island as a ‘Space Island’ ‘will have a multiplier effect on the surrounding community.’
LAPAN will continue to consult intensively with local communities as the spacecraft plan is developed, the government said.
SpaceX did not respond to questions from the Guardian.
Formerly Dutch New Guinea, Papua was invaded and annexed by Jakarta in 1963.
Indonesia formulated its control of the province in 1969 under UN-supervised, but undemocratic and coercive, law of free choice. Jakarta regards Papua and West Papua as indivisible parts of the unitary state of Indonesia.
Papuans – Melanesians who are ethnically and culturally similar to the people of PNG, Solomon Islands and Fiji – have consistently resisted the Indonesian government and waged a long independent campaign that claimed an estimated 100,000 lives.