Media reports exaggerated: U.S. Ambassador

The U.S. ambassador to Indonesia David Gilbert has criticized the Indonesian press over its widely publized reports on environmental damage and human rights violation allegedly carried out by Freeport Indonesia.

Speaking at a press conference with the assistant of the U.S. secretary for foreign affairs Thomas R. Pickering in Jakarta on Friday, the American ambassador said that the media reports were exaggeratted.

He siad such reports were bad for investors and they could discourage foreign investors to come to Indonesia.

Gilbert said that the human rights violations in Irian Jaya were done my the Indonesian military not by Freeport so that it would be wrong to mix the military problem with that the gold mining giant.

"The criticism and charged addressed in the press were not fair because Freeport was given no chance to response and defend itself," he said. (*)