Arutmin's port hurts fishermen's life

A port in Tanjung Pemancingan, Pulau Laut Utara subdistrict, owned by coal miner PT Arutmin Indonesia (AI) has caused difficulties to fishermen who uses traditional bamboo fish catching instrument called balat in the area.

Prin Ahmad, 55, owner of one balat, said there were six fishermen whose ballats were affected by the reclamation of the sea shore by Arutmin to build the port. The other fishermen included H. Thalib, Burhan, Salan, Bile and Tazil.

"The most severely damaged ballat belongs to me," Prin said. Nevertheless, Prin said he would not remove his ballat until the company paid a compensation to him as it had promised him years ago.

He said an employee at Arutmin had promised to pay him Rp 3.5 million in compensation for the destroyed ballat. But the promise had never been fulfilled.

He said he had sent letters to Arutmin several times, including ones dated Dec. 26, 1992, and May 10, 1993. But there had been no response.

He said he had taken has case to officials at the local administration, including to the secretary of Kotabaru district on Jan. 23, 1993, but to no avail.

Prin said he would again try his fate by taking his case once again to Kotabaru regent Sjachrani Mataja. "Maybe in the very near future," he said.

Meanwhile, the head of Arutmin's Tanjung Pamancingan, Indra Diana Jaya, said that he was not aware about complaints from the fishermen, noting that he was relatively new in Tanjung Pamancinga.

"I'm new here. I have become head of Arutmin (Tanjung Pamancingan) since only 1998. So, I don't know if there wre letters from local people sent to the company long before that year," he said. (*)