Caltex reports Riau people's demand to Jakarta

The management of PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia (CPI) has denied charges of doing nothing in helping the Riau people obtain their rights to control the province's wealth.

Amir Sulaiman, the vice president of the oil giant, said early this week that the company's representatives had met the government's senior officials and some foreign investors in Jakarta to raise the Riau people's complaints.

He said that the company's senior executives on January 21 met senior envoys at the U.S. embassy to report the wide spread demand from the local residents to get more benefits from their large oil resource.

"Caltex president and Pertamina president also met Minister of Mines and Energy to report the same issue," he told a group of students, who came to his office.

The students, however, said that such help was not enough and demanded the company to stop their exploration and production activities for few days to ensure that they protests were heard by Jakarta. (*)