Dan Harlow

The Papua province of Indonesia’s Central Highlands is one of the least visited places on earth. Located 8 hours over difficult terrain from from Jakarta and requiring a journalists permit to travel into the region, getting into and out of the small villages is a difficult task since there are no permanent roads, electricity or telephones.

While many people in the west (and even in modern Indonesia itself) view the native cultures of the Central Highlands as primitive and underdeveloped, even the people who have lived in these jungles for hundreds of years yearn for contact with the outside world. In fact modern life has made its mark here - a fact easily seen by the clothing and dress of many of the villagers. Though some still choose the traditional penis gourds, headdresses and beads, even these traditionalists will choose to modernize once the government decides to build roads, houses and bring electricity.

Promises to this region about modernization have been made and broken before so whenever there is a new idea brought to these people it is usually met with heavy skepticism. The villagers believe they are neglected by the central government in Jakarta and many are angry with the government especially since the region has vast natural resources and does generate a considerable amount of revenue. In fact one pig can be worth up to $2000 but since the area is so remote and cut off nobody there really sees any value in money or having it. Pigs are considered the main form of currency here and most everyone is a subsistence farmer.

But not everyone.

Recently a local radio station was built in the region and it will be linked to the larger, independent radio station KBR68H whose editor headed up the project and convinced the villagers that they could trust the project to happen for them. The station will be staffed, maintained and operated by local villagers who were all trained from scratch.

Of course with no electricity in the region (most people live in huts and heat their homes and cook their meals with wood), a power source needed to be devised. The solution was to build a mini hydro-electric dam which when completed actually provided enough electricity not only for the radio station, but also for the school, the church and some of the more modern homes which the village leaders live.

When the project was completed a celebration of about 2,000 people showed up. Pigs which were hunted with arrows by the men were prepared by the women who had wrapped them in leaves and vegetables and cooked with hot stones buried underground in a pit were the main course. The celebration however was not just for the opening of the radio station, but also because it means the beginning of development in the region. The Indonesian military has been accused many times of human right abuses but each claim has been denied by military officials. Villagers now hope that the radio station will provide them a chance to connect with the outside world and tell their story.

Though some in the world may see this western modernization as yet more chipping away of another beautiful traditional culture, the people who actually live this way are more concerned with just living than with living any one particular way. Survival is the most important thing for any culture and since these people feel threatened by their more modern neighbors, then they will adapt to survive. Hopefully instead of their culture being lost to time, it will be transformed and the stories and traditions of these people will be broadcast and recorded for all to hear and for all time.

Read the original photo essay by Lucy Williamson on the BBC.

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