Tanah Merah — The Red Soils of Boven Digul

BBC, the English news network in 2020, published a report on Korindo, a Korean-owned plantation company for using burning to clear rainforests in Boven Digul Papua. Boven Digul, still largely an intact forest, has a deep history in Indonesia’s nationalistic movement.

A letter from the Wedana (district chief) of Boven Digul, Mr. R. Sastranegara, dated 6 December 1927, wrote (De Indische Courant, 12–01–1928):

They (the exiled communists) are busy clearing forests for their houses and ladangs; kampongs, roads, and bridges are being built, so that it can be expected that Upper Digul will soon be transformed from a jungle into villages where people live.

Remarkably, people are delighted with the transition from military to civil government, for they now went to work without any compulsion, and it is a joy to watch them work. Each hastened and hurried to get the houses and ladangs ready as soon as possible. They now seem to see the value of their labor and understand that the government will always support them.

My only disappointment is: the soil is not so good here, the climate is too hot, especially during the day it is not even possible to do my job here.