Diplomatic lobbying under scrutiny after mine killing: Report
Saturday, January 10 2004 - 03:11 AM WIB
Early on Wednesday morning, when hundreds of protesters from the Kao and Malifut communities reached the proposed Toguraci mine site in eastern Halmahera island, the Mobile Brigade riot police, known as Brimob, shot and killed one man. Another six - several of whom were injured - have been arrested and detained at the North Maluku police office in Ternate. Up to another 250 have been detained for questioning at the company security post.
The violent attacks by Brimob come after the Melbourne-based company Newcrest - which has a 82.5 percent stake in PT Nusa Halmahera Minerals - became frustrated with the growing opposition to his company's plan to build a US$12 million gold mine on remote Halmahera island in North Maluku province.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) confirmed that after the protests in October last year, which shut the mine site down for five weeks, Australian embassy officials had lobbied Indonesian government ministers to clear the protesters to the satisfaction of Newcrest.
"The representation has happened by embassy representatives meeting with the Minister for Energy and Resources [Purnomo Yusgiantoro], the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs [Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti] and the Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs [Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono]," she said. In the wake of the attack on the protest group, a coalition of Indonesian and Australian human rights and environmental groups has called for a human rights commission inquiry, for police and military commanders to be sacked and for Newcrest to leave the island.
"It is a gross human rights violation against Indonesian citizens," said representatives from the local communities, such as WALHI, Friends of the Earth Indonesia and Mining Advocacy Network-JATAM. Indonesian media reports have quoted local police as calling the protesters "illegal miners" and people who came from other provinces.
In a speech to the Brisbane Mining Club on November 28 last year, Newcrest chief executive Tony Palmer reported that the police and army had refused to get involved at first when the proposed mine site was occupied by over 2,000 people in October. Subsequently, they stated that they would not do anything until the end of November when the Islamic holy month of Ramadan ended.
Nathan Scholz, a journalist from the Brisbane-based newspaper, The Courier Mail, reported that the assembled mining executives laughed when Palmer outlined plans to use a militia to deal with the protestors.
The general manager of corporate affairs for Newcrest, Peter Reeve, has not responded to requests for an interview. However, in a statement to ABC News, the company claimed that it was the protesters who attacked the armed Brimob members. This version of events has been echoed by the Australian government. "Around 150 people with machetes attacked the Brimob police post in the vicinity of the Toguraci mine," a spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said. Asked what the source of the information was, she said she was unsure.
A spokesman for the Mineral Policy Institute, Igor O'Neill, who recently visited the mine site and is in Jakarta, says the Australian government's claim is nonsensical and smacks of Jakarta embassy staff uncritically repeating claims from the military or company officials who have the most to lose. "Why would unarmed people attack 100 armed members of Brimob?" he asked.
In 1999, Newcrest opened its very profitable Gosowong gold mine on Halmahera island. However, in December 1999 the project stalled when religious conflict engulfed Halmahera island. In December 1999, a company office was destroyed and in January 2000 Newcrest was forced to admit that it had loaned its helicopter to the Indonesian military.
While the Gosowong mine was abandoned in 2002, the company has been pinning its hopes on developing the Toguraci mine, only two kilometers away. However, as the area is designated as a protected forest, open cut mining is illegal. "Newcrest is operating the mine site with all the required government approvals," the DFAT spokeswoman claimed.
Not so, insists O'Neill, who recounts a meeting he had with a senior official of the Department of Forests. "He said they had issued a temporary permit that expired in June last year when Newcrest claimed they would have to sack all their staff unless they got permission to do further work," he said. "He was horrified when I showed him the photos of the cleared forest."
The Australian government's support for Newcrest is not the first time embassy officials in Jakarta have lobbied Indonesian officials to crack down on protests against Australian mining projects. In November 1999, embassy officials worked with the Perth-based company, Aurora Gold, to ensure what they termed "illegal miners" were ejected from the Mount Muro mine in Kalimantan. In three subsequent incidents - in June 2001, August 2001 and January 2002 - Brimob shot and killed two people and injured another five.
Downer told Brown that embassy officials would have no reservations about making such representations again and expressed no regret over the deaths and injuries. Following the latest crackdown at the Toguraci forest, Brown has called for an inquiry into the role of the Australian embassy lobbying on behalf of Newcrest.
"Alexander Downer has allowed the Australian embassy in Jakarta to be a pressure group for Newcrest, BHP Billiton and other mining companies. He now owes the Indonesian people an explanation for events at the Newcrest site," Brown said in a statement. (*)