The food estate in Merauke seems set to join the long list of such projects that have failed since the concept was first proposed in 2010, only to leave behind broad damage to the rights of indigenous peoples and the environment, including customary land, in South Papua. The narrative of “empty land/unproductive forest” or “no forest/no trees” is often used by authorities to negate and delegitimize the existence of indigenous communities and the surrounding natural environment. Most recently, it was used by Hashim Djojohadikusumo, President Prabowo Subianto’s younger brother, when addressing executives of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) in December. This narrative is painful for the people of Merauke in Papua, a site of the government’s food estate project. It reflects an attempt to roll out the red carpet for private corporations to develop monoculture plantations and massive food and energy industrial complexes, often obliterating the interests of indigenous peoples and local residents in the process with the state’s backing. The status of national strategic project (PSN) was given unilaterally to these developments by former president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in 2024. Yet, the idea of monetizing parts of Papua was first proposed in 2010, when president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono established the Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate, which later failed. Living with the local people engenders empathy for their daily fear of state authority creating a situation in which they do not belong yet are too afraid to be involved. It is a process of ecological expropriation and extirpation of the lives of both indigenous and local communities in and around forest areas. The end results are the expansion of extractive industries, the seizing of power and control over resources that reap profits for a handful of people and do nothing for the interests of farmers or indigenous Papuans. Read more at:
