Government will soon announce result of Buyat investigation

The office of the State Minister for Environmental Affairs will announce the result of the inter-government investigation on the Buyat case before the new elected President Bambang Susilo Yudhoyono forms the new cabinet team on October 20, Investor Daily reported on Saturday.

"The result of the study will be announced before the formation of the new cabinet on Oct. 20," State Minister for Environmental Affairs Nabiel Makariem was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

He promised that he would be responsible for whatever the result of the investigation. "I would bear all the responsibilities," he said.

The inter-government team, comprising of senior officials of the ministry of environment, the ministry of energy and mineral resources and the ministry of health, was formed after a number of residents living near gold mining company Newmont Minahasa Raya's undearsea tailing dumping area in the Buyat bay, n North Sulawesi,were reported to have suffered ailment syndrome similar to the deadly Minimata diseas suffered by the Japanese people living near the heavily polluted Minimata bay.

Makriem acknowledged that he had refused to sit as a witness in the investigation of the possible involvement of the Newmont executives in the Buyat case. "I did not come because the President (Megawati) had not given me a permit," he said. "The Police should formally ask a permit from the President if they wanted me as the witness," he added.

Based on an initial study made by the Minsitry of Environmental Affairs and the Ministry of Health, the mercury and arsenic content in the sea near the tailing dumping site were still below the minimum limit, and that the disease suffered by the residents were merely common skin disease. (*)