Papuans whose island was offered as a potential launch site for Elon Musk’s SpaceX project told the billionaire chief of Tesla that his company is not welcome on his land and that his presence would devastate the island’s ecosystem and drive people out of their homes. houses.
Musk received an offer from Indonesian President Joko Widodo from part of the small island of Biak in Papua in December.
An Indonesian government representative told the Guardian this week that the planned spaceport was being developed in consultation with the government of Papua and local communities, and that the development of Biak as an “Space Island” “would bring positive economic impacts” to the islanders.
But the Papuans in Biak are vehemently opposed, arguing that a space launch pad will increase deforestation, increase Indonesian military presence and threaten their future on the island. A tribal chief on the island, Manfun Sroyer, said he feared the Papuans would be forced to leave their homes.
“This spaceport is going to cost us our traditional hunting grounds, damaging the nature on which our way of life depends. But if we protest, we will be arrested immediately. “
Russian space agency Roscosmos also plans to develop a major rocket launch site on the island of Biak by 2024.
“In 2002, the Russians wanted our land to launch satellites. We protested and many were arrested and interrogated … now they have brought him back, and that harassment and intimidation is still going on, ”said Manfun Sroyer.
Biak is part of the province of Papua, where a separatist campaign has been going on for decades against Indonesian rule. The east coast of Biak faces the Pacific Ocean and its location, one degree below the equator, is ideal for launching low-orbit communications satellites, with less fuel needed to reach orbit. Its proximity to natural resource reserves also makes it a prime candidate for a launch site.
Musk plans to launch 12,000 satellites by 2026 to provide cheap high-speed internet through the Starlink internet service. A SpaceX test rocket exploded in the landing area this month after landing, the third consecutive failure.
West Papua’s vast natural resources include copper and nickel, two of the most important metals for rockets, as well as long-range batteries used in Tesla’s electric vehicles (EV).
Widodo also intends to attract Tesla to Indonesia, promoting its nickel deposits, to make it the second largest EV producer in Southeast Asia. If successful, Tesla and SpaceX operations can further accelerate resource extraction in Papua and West Papua.
Musk told Indonesian authorities in July that Tesla would offer a “giant contract for a long period of time if you extract nickel in an efficient and environmentally sensitive manner”.
But Papuan and environmental experts 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 West Papua Liberation Movement (ULMWP) and acting president, told the Guardian. “It is already destroying ecosystems and threatening the survival of the people of Biak. They just want to live simply, without this destruction reaching the island. “
The Raja Ampat Islands in West Papua maintain significant nickel deposits, and a coalition of Indonesian non-governmental environmental organizations, JATAM, has argued that expanding mining there will increase deforestation, pollute a proposed UNESCO World Heritage site and place at risk to the health of the local population.
The Grasberg mine on the continent of Papua is the second largest copper mine in the world. The increase in production is likely to increase the 80 million tonnes of mining waste that it dumps into neighboring rivers each year, aggravating environmental damage.
In July 1998, the island of Biak was the site of one of the worst massacres in the history of the occupation of West Papua by Indonesia, when many civilians were tortured and killed and their bodies dumped in the sea, allegedly by Indonesian security forces, after activists have raised the flag of the morning star of West Papua.
Biak’s elder Tineke Rumkabu, a survivor of that violence, said he wanted to tell Musk that his space project was not welcome on his people’s island.
“As a South African, you understand apartheid, the killing of black people. If you bring your company here, you are directly sponsoring Indonesia’s genocide against the Papuans. ”
Biak is also strategically important to the Indonesian military, where he has built naval, military and air bases that serve as a starting point for sending aircraft and troops.
An Indonesian government spokesman told the Guardian that the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space in Indonesia (LAPAN) had consulted extensively with the government of the province of Papua on the space port plan for Biak.
“The provincial government of Papua considers that the construction of the spaceport in Biak will make the Biak Numfor district a center and will bring positive economic impacts to the regional government and the local community. The Indonesian parliament also believes that the construction of Biak Island as an ‘Space Island’ will have a multiplier effect for the surrounding community.
LAPAN will continue to consult closely with local communities as the space port plan is developed, the government said.
SpaceX did not respond to the Guardian’s questions.
Former Dutch New Guinea, Papua was invaded and then annexed by Jakarta in 1963.
Indonesia formalized its control over the province in 1969 under the UN Choice Act, overseen by the UN, but not democratic and coercive. Jakarta regards Papua and West Papua as indivisible parts of the unitary state of Indonesia.
Papuans – Melanesians ethnically and culturally similar to the people of PNG, Solomon Islands and Fiji – have systematically resisted Indonesian rule and waged a long campaign for independence that has cost about 100,000 lives.