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Paradise Forests of Asia Pacific | |
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-- crew biography --
"Ha" ["Hello"] My name is Sep (38 years) I come from Kubut Village in Lake Murray, Western Province, Papua New Guinea (PNG). I am a local human right's and environmental activist in Lake Murray, and here is a brief history of how I became an activist. First of all, I am a former policeman with the rank of First Constable (Corporal). I was attached to the forensic lab as a police photographer and an investigator. I served in the PNG Police Force for 15 years before quitting the job on 4th October 2001. Anyway, this is how I became an activist: In 1997, I went for my recreation leave to my home during the Christmas holidays. During my break, people back home told me stories about their experience with the logging company Concord Pacific and the PNG Police, Southern Command Task Force (a different section then I worked for).  The stories I heard from people was that the logging company was doing lots of damage to the surrounding forest. The forest is very important to us because all of what we eat or survive on comes from the forest. At the same time, the company was using police to beat up people who try to stop the company's operations.
Some details, Concord Pacific had a road permit to build a road and take trees up to 50 meters from the road, but in fact they were logging up to four kilometers out from the road. The villagers were the landowners of this land, and by law were owed 10 kina (PNG dollars) per cubic meter of wood under the law, but were only paid three kina sixty toea. So they were upset firstly because they were paid not enough, secondly because too many trees were cut, and finally because some of the trees were smuggled out and not paid for at all. My tribesman protested, they wanted to talk to the company directors, but before they could reach them they were stopped by the police. Some of the young ones were beaten with gun butts, and they were chased back to the village. As a policeman I thought, "Police are not supposed to do that". I decided to do something about the situation, as the issues raised were very serious human rights abuses. So in 1998 I made contacts with a local NGO called the Environment Law Centre (ELC). During that same year I was invited by ELC to attend a workshop on Forestry and Environmental Law. Later that year and early 1999 I made contact with another Environmental NGO law firm called CELCOR (Centre for Environmental Law and Community Rights, Inc.). I asked them to assist me to take matters to court, which they agreed to do.  At this time I was still a serving member of the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary (PNG Police Force). CELCOR arranged for SBS TV (an Australian) network, to interview me.
In the interview I revealed the police corruption involving the logging companies. The story was then broadcasted on SBS and worldwide on Dateline. Unfortunately, after that the logging operation did not stop. The government did not do anything. So I decided the best thing was for me to go home and confront them on the land. I quit my job, and continued my fight with the help of CELCOR - later making contacts with Greenpeace in early 2000. With the help of CELCOR funding I did community awareness work in my area. During this work, there were some obstacles, but I managed to win the hearts of the most communities. In 2002, I had major contact with Greenpeace and they helped with more logistics support. In 2003, I asked Greenpeace to come to my area and do an assessment, take pictures of environmental damages and expose the issues to the outside world. With all this help from Greenpeace I manage to get more media coverage, and the issue became more of a public concern. My villagers and I also had a legal case in progress against the logging company, which was handled by CELCOR. However, it was taking a long time, and all of the while Concord Pacific was logging farther and farther into the forest - so we had to take some actions to slow down the logging.  My tribesman and I set up roadblocks, and shut down all of Concord Pacific's operations in the area temporarily. During these roadblocks police confronted us with high-powered firearms such as AR15 semi auto, M16 and Sig automatic rifles. Also, bear in mind that this is in a very remote area, no phone, no cars but just forest. Access to the area is by air only.
The police tried to force us to remove our roadblocks, but we always stood our ground. It helped that I had a background in law as a former policeman. I told them, and it is still true, that the only way to stop me is to shoot me down and have my blood spill over my land. I would not and will not give up. We did this three times. The last blockade lasted about a month. Then, finally, our lawyers won court injunction, which shut down the whole opperation. The company was forced to move out of the area. They may even leave the country. I would like to thank all of the people from CELCOR and Greenpeace who helped, and also thank both organizations for their support. Without your support and effort we would not have won the fight. So I thank you for your support and ask you all to continue to help. I would also ask other interested organizations to help in whatever way possible. Thank you all. -- Sep |
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