The investigative documentary Pesta Babi (Pig Feast) has ignited fierce debate across Indonesia, exposing the brutal intersection of national development and indigenous survival in South Papua. Directed by Dandhy Dwi Laksono and Cypri Jehan Paju Dale, the film focuses on the regencies of Merauke, Boven Digoel, Mappi, and Asmat, where state-backed National Strategic Projects (PSN) are converting vast forests, wetlands, and savannahs into industrial plantations.
The title draws from the Awon Atatbon ritual of the Muyu people in Boven Digoel, where tribal elders slaughter sacred pigs to safeguard ancestral rights and ecological balance. The ceremony depends on intact forests for wild pigs; without them, the Muyu’s cultural existence collapses. Yet under Jakarta’s agrarian expansion, “pig feast” has become a metaphor for elite greed and corporate exploitation of customary lands.
Development Machinery in South Papua
In Merauke, conglomerates like Jhonlin Group, owned by Andi Syamsuddin Arsyad, alongside PT Global Papua Abadi, PT Murni Nusantara Mandiri, KPN Corp, and First Resources Group, are driving massive land-clearing operations. PT Global Papua Abadi alone targets annual production of 2.6 million tons of sugar and 244 million liters of bioethanol. To support the government’s 1 million-hectare rice estate in Wanam, Jhonlin Group imported heavy machinery from China’s SANY Group. By end of 2024, hundreds of excavators arrived at Wanam and Merauke ports, with road infrastructure built using mining tailings from PT Freeport Indonesia.
The military’s involvement has deepened through PT Agro Industri Nasional, established by Indonesia’s Ministry of Defense in 2020 and staffed by retired officers. Under the XVII/Cenderawasih Regional Military Command, troops oversee land-clearing, and five “buffer battalions” have been deployed, including Infantry Battalion 804 in Merauke. This armed presence intimidates indigenous voices, effectively discarding the principle of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC).
The environmental transformation devastates the Marind people, whose cosmology sees humanity as inseparable from nature. As Sophie Chao explores in her 2022 book In the Shadow of the Palms, the Marind view the sago palm as an ancestor or sibling, with social life flowing through the humid forest. The loss of these forests erodes their spiritual and physical existence.
The film’s screenings have faced intimidation and forced dispersal by security forces, reflecting broader unease. Meanwhile, internal tensions emerged when Mama Yasinta, a 61-year-old indigenous woman from Wogikel village, objected to her image being used without approval, highlighting ethical dilemmas in visual advocacy.
This story resonates beyond Indonesia, as similar land-use conflicts play out across Southeast Asia. For context, see our analysis of Trump-Xi Reset Raises Alarm in Jakarta Over Southeast Asia's Marginalization and MSCI's Indonesia Stock Purge Tests Jakarta's Reform Credibility.
