900 workers of KEM go home as blockade continues

Gold mining company PT Kelian Equatorial Mining (KEM) has sent home 900 of its 1,050 workers and would send home another 700 workers of its subcontractors as the blockade of the access road to its gold mine in Long Iram district, West Kutai regency, East Kalimantan continued.

Kompas daily reported that only 150 workers remained at the gold mine on Tuesday handling administrative affairs, maintenance and security and no mining activities were seen at the gold mine.

KEM's spokesman Kasan Mulyono said the company would send home all the workers if the negotiation with the villagers who blocked the access road the gold mine, hampering logistical supplies to the gold mine, was fruitless.

The company stopped production activities at the gold mine on April 29 due to the lack of logistical supplies, including fuel and lime. The villagers have been blocking the access road to the gold mine since early last month over land compensation.

The villagers have reportedly allowed two trucks carrying 47 tons of lime and another two trucks carrying 36,000 diesel oil for the company and the nearby village's power generators.

"The lime is enough only for two days' use," Kasan said.

Lime is used to neutralize the poisonous elements of the cyanide waste of the company.

Meanwhile, KEM's management led by Jan Anderson reached on Tuesday an agreement with the villagers to continue negotiation on the land compensation. The villagers of Jelemuq, Menceleo, Kebut, Linggang Mapan, Linggang Melapeh and Melapeh Baru would form the so-called Unity Team to negotiate with KEM on the land compensation.

Meanwhile, newspapers, legislators and mining analysts have voiced concerns over the blockade.

Kompas in its editorial said the case was "a bad promotion" for investment in Indonesia, which undermines President Abdurrahman Wahid's painstaking efforts to lure back investors to the country.

The paper wondered why the local people remained hostile to the gold mining operation despite the fact KEM had been operating there for ten years. It also questioned why the dispute over land compensation remain despite the company's long operation. Does the company have no goodwill to pay the compensation or is the villagers' demand unreasonable?

The paper called on the central government and local authorities not to leave the company alone in handling the case or allow the villagers to settle the case their own way.

Legislator Priyo Budi Santoso of the House of Representatives' Commission VIII for mines and energy also voiced concerns over the case, saying the blockade of KEM's road by the villagers had tainted the country's investment image.

He called on Minister of Home Affairs and Minister of Mines and Energy to be pro-active in solving the case, Media Indonesia reported.

Mining analyst Rachman Wiriosudarmo said the villagers' action resulted from problems that remain unresolved for years.

He however disagreed with the villagers' action, calling on the government to take measures to reconcile the company and the villagers, Suara Pembaruan reported.

Executive director of the Indonesian Mining Association PL Coutrier said the blockade had set a bad precedent in the country's mining industry and would increase the country-risk of Indonesia. (*)