Indigenous people in Indonesian part of Timor facing similar fight to Treaty Principles Bill

Excerpt and Photo from teaonews.co.nz

The indigenous West Timorese, who live in an Indonesian province, East Nusa Tenggara, share Māori concerns that government announcements will eventuate in the extraction of natural resources without consultation from indigenous custodians. The other half of their island is the independent state of Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, which was granted its independence in 2002.

Yesterday activist/educator Tin Ngata said if the Treaty Principles Bill went ahead, it would remove the Crown’s commitments to uphold Te Tiriti including consultation.

She said the Treaty principles had been a roadblock to stop transnational companies from extracting natural resources and have been used for protection against environmental destruction.

On International Human Rights Day today, the West Timorese said they had the same concerns.