Govt asked to appeal against the court’s decision on Newmont case

Several advocacy agencies for environmental protection including the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law (ICEL) and Advocacy Network on Mining (JAT) and Greenlaw have strongly demanded the government to appeal the South Jakarta’s decision to drop its civil suit against Newmont Minahasa Raya (NMR), Koran Tempo reported on Thursday.

“If the government refuses to appeal, it will be against the law. And we have the right to file a legal suit,” the executive director of ICEL, Indro Sugianto was quoted by the daily as saying.

In addition to Indro, the national coordinator of JATAM, Siti Maimunah and the executive director of Greenlaw, Andri Akbar had also made the same request to the government, saying that the government’s appeal is a must under the existing environmental law.

The South Jakarta court dropped a civil suit filed by the state minister for environmental affairs early this week against the North Sulawesi-based Newmont Minahasa Raya, saying the case should be taken to international arbitration.

The court said that the dispute between the government and the mining company should be settled through conciliation or be brought to international arbitration as stated in the contract signed with the company.

The government filed a US$133.6 million civil suit against Newmont last year, accusing the company of causing pollution in its gold mining site in Minahasa, North Sulawesi. The ruling of the South Jakarta’s decision will unlikely have no impact on the ongoing criminal trial of the company’s top executive in North Sulawesi on charges stemming from the same allegation.(*)