"Nemangkawi"
means "white arrow" in Amungkal, the traditional language of
the Amungme community. It is the name the Amungme gave to the
glacier and snow-covered mountain that reaches the highest
point between the Andes and the Himalaya. The snow-covered
mountain sits just to the east of the Grasberg mining complex.
On a clear day, Nemangkawi can be seen from the Arafura Sea
some 130 kilometers south. Silas Natkime, a leader of the
Amungme community and a supervisor with PT Freeport
Indonesia's employee development unit, feels that the name "Nemangkawi"
appropriately captures the aspirations of most Papuan
employees of PT Freeport Indonesia. As a result, he suggested
it as the name for the new forward-looking employee
development institution that PT Freeport Indonesia will
charter to foster the development of and opportunities for the
Papuan people.
"The arrow points upward; so should the future for the workers
from this area," explains Silas, whose job is to see to it
that the company lives up to its commitments to Papuan
employee development. The Nemangkawi Mining Institute is a key
to make it happen. The Institute's goal is to develop 300
trained Papuan apprentices with world-class skills who can
enter into the workforce - working for PT Freeport Indonesia,
one of its contractors or other businesses in Papua - each
year. The Institute is part of a sweeping employee development
program that seeks to provide ongoing opportunities for all PT
Freeport Indonesia employees across the operations, as well as
for the new recruits.
Quick with a broad smile and a firm handshake, Silas is a
natural communicator (he speaks his native Amungme, Indonesian
and English) and his enthusiasm for his job is infectious. He
has worked for the mining company for 19 years; moving up the
ladder from an entry-level job as a Welding Trainee to his
current position as General Forman of Papuan Development in PT
Freeport Indonesia's Quality Management Services Department (QMS).
He is also a leader of a Papuan Employees Organization known
as Tongoi of Papua, a group that provides a communications
link between the company management and its rank and file
Papuan workers.
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Employee development mentors
Silas Natkime (left) and Peter Mosel (in
red jacket) oversee programs ranging from basic
literacy to advanced technical skills with a goal of
guiding hundreds of local Papuans into careers.
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Having grown up the son of an
important tribal leader in the traditional Amungme community
of Wa, Silas has watched PT Freeport Indonesia grow from a
small operation in the 1970s to the world-class mining complex
it is today. At 40 years old, he explains that meaningful
employment for members of his generation has been tough to
come by for a number of reasons. "The local Papuan people did
not have the means to get a good education for many years.
Back in the 1970s the closest schools were several days walk
away," Silas explains. PT Freeport Indonesia has sent
thousands of local youth to school on scholarships, has built
local schools and has worked with the local government to set
up programs to improve local education. But, according to
Peter Mosel, Silas' mentor and the Manager of QMS for PT
Freeport Indonesia, the vast majority of applicants from the
local area, even in recent years, were not properly prepared
for most good jobs.
To remedy the situation, Mosel, Silas and the senior
management of PT Freeport Indonesia have adopted a
multi-faceted approach to company training efforts. "We're
looking to prepare as many as 300 indigenous Papuans to enter
the workforce each year," says Mosel, an Australian native who
has spent most of his professional career at various mining
projects in Indonesia. "We assess 40-50 applicants each week
from the seven local traditional communities. A small
percentage is ready to enter into our Apprenticeship programs.
However, we've found that most of those tested have been
falling short, so we've geared our efforts toward getting them
prepared," explains Mosel. "We created a Pre-Apprentice
program that begins with the very basics - learning to read
and to do basic mathematics. From there, they move up to
learning a craft that is most suited to their strengths,"
Mosel adds, with Silas Natkime nodding in agreement. "Silas'
role includes counseling these young people - finding out what
their interests are and guiding them into a career path."
Participants understand that jobs are not guaranteed to those
who complete the program. The intent is to develop skills in
the Papuan people so that they are able to compete for jobs
and perform in the workplace on the same basis as those from
Indonesia's more developed regions who have had better
educational opportunities.
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Trifena Tinal |
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Apprentice trainees
in the Deep Ore Zone underground mine learn skills to
work in one of the world's largest mining complexes.
Trifena Tinal
(upper photo) manages the Pre-Apprentice and
Apprentice programs. |
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The Pre-Apprentice and
Apprentice programs are managed by Trifena Tinal, a young
engineer from the Damal/Amungme community who grew up in
Freeport's company town Tembagapura. Trifena obtained her
Civil Engineering degree at the University of New Orleans and
has returned home to devote her energy to preparing her fellow
Papuans for the workforce.
Trifena says that these programs are reversing the way
managers think about hiring employees from the local area.
"When people don't hire Papuans, they say the Papuans don't
have the skills. Now we're providing that skill, so their
employment opportunities are greater. What we're doing is
solving the root causes of unemployment," she explains.
Optimistic about what the future holds for her generation and
beyond, Trifena says that it is essentially up to the
individual to succeed, now that there are so many
opportunities being offered. "Freeport has made the
commitments and it's up to us to take advantage of them. There
are so many opportunities now, it's scary," she says,
laughing.
Mosel says that Silas and Trifena's enthusiasm are indicative
of the program's success. "Trifena came in after her last
group of pre-apprentices achieved the highest scores in their
round of advanced tests and shouted 'It's working!..It's
working!' Seeing that kind of excitement is the payoff for all
the hard work," he says. |
