Freeport must be put on trial for alleged human rights violation
Thursday, March 2 2000 - 02:30 AM WIB
The giant gold mining company PT Freeport Indonesia must be held responsible and put on trial if report that the company is involved in human rights violation including the killing of women and children in the remote Irian Jaya province is true.
Legal expert Pradjoto, executive of the National Mandate Party (PAN) Bara Hasibuan, and executive of local NGO Elsam Ifdal Kasim urged the Attorney General Office and the National Police to immediately investigate the allegation.
The three experts were responding to a Wednesday report in Kompas quoting a former Freeport employee as saying that Freeport had committed a serious human rights violation in Irian Jaya.
Meanwhile, Freeport Indonesia vice president Yuli Ismartono denied the allegations. She said that there had already been five investigations conducted which all concluded that Freeport had not committed any human rights violation.
She said that investigations were conducted by the National Human Rights Commission, the International Red Cross, the Jayapura Catholic Bishop, the Australian Embassy, and the U.S. Embassy.
Freeport has been under serious attack particularly for alleged corruption and environmental damage. There has been allegations that Freeport won its mining contract through corruption, nepotistic and collusive practices during the 32-year rule of former authoritarian president Soeharto. The government is under pressure to revise the Freeport mining contract.
Recent remarks made by former U.S. foreign minister Henry Kissinger supporting Freeport and urging the government to honor the Freeport mining contract received strong criticism from various local experts.
Kissinger, who's a member of the board of the U.S. Freeport McMoran, the parent of Freeport Indonesia, visited President Abdurrahman Wahid last week.
Separately, legislator Pramono Anung was quoted by Media Indonesia as saying that the visit made by Kissinger to Abdurrahman was an old technique used by the company to approach the power elite. He said that during the Soeharto regime, Freeport's boss James Moffet would occasionally meet with Soeharto.
Pramono also warned Freeport that it had the obligation to divest its stake up to 51 percent in 20 years according to first and second generation mining contract of work (COW).
"I'm not making this up. This is the wording of the COW. The divestment must be completed in 20 years," Pramono said.
Secretary general of the Ministry of Mines and Energy Joko Darmono conceded, but said that the divestment obligation was made in effective by the government ruling No. 20/1994.
Joko said that the government had formed a team which is now conducting a study which may lead to the removal of the ruling.(*)