Under attack

As I suspected, the shootings over the weekend were the talk of the company. I'll summarize the information that is publicly available. First, on Saturday, early morning, a car heading from our highlands housing (Tembagapura) down to the lowlands (Kuala Kencana) came under fire. One person, a 29 year old Australian expat, was shot five times in the chest and neck. He had passed before arriving at the hospital. Sunday, a security detail came under fire at roughly the same location. This car had six passengers, five were injured, one lost his life. Today, investigators found the body of a policeman who was traveling with the security detail, but separately. He had gone missing during the gunfire. As of my writing, casualties are at three dead, five injured.

The organization as a whole received three memos; management received a fourth. Management's response to these events has been swift and focused on employee safety. The three memos announced the events, explained the new precautions, and provided hotline information for employees to use if they feel in danger or see anything suspicious. The memo to management was a reminder of our policy regarding distribution of information - both internally and externally. There are several rumors, theories and outright lies about the events and we want neither false information nor true information that could endanger employees, to fall into the wrong hands. So please excuse me if I seem vague - I'm doing my best to inform without violating policy.

According to local press, the latest theory is that a separatist movement in Papua is attacking Freeport as a symbol of the Indonesian government they consider unrightfully ruling their land. Part of the issue, the press contends, is that the locals are still poor, despite the billions Freeport and Indonesia has made off the mine. The counter argument is that before Freeport, there was nothing but jungle. No airport, no deep water port, no hospitals, schools, roads - nothing. We also employ thousands of Papuans and participate in dozens of community outreach programs. Other outlets have other ideas.

With any major company event, two groups are always involved - HR and IT. For me, I have two primary concerns. First, I have staff located in Papua that I have to ensure are safe. We've communicated with each of them and given them flexible work options to ensure their safety and that of their families. Second, because we have shut down all movement of personnel, we have several thousand people stuck in the highlands who can't go home, and several thousand in the lowlands who cannot go to work. This is creating challenges with payroll - clocking in and out - that we are working with HR to resolve. My team, along with the network group, also manages the security checkpoints. We have to monitor that all of the terminals are up-to-date and receiving current, updated data feeds so that no one can steal a badge and pass by without photo validation.

Personally, I have no connection with any of the people injured or involved. My colleagues on site, however, are a different story. One of them had dinner plans with the employee who died on Saturday. For those that have been there a long time, this is just another event - "just another rodeo", as one of them put it. Part of doing business in a hostile environment.

Here's hoping everyone stays safe and that we have no further events.