NGOs question Supreme Court's intervention
Saturday, April 15 2000 - 04:00 AM WIB
The Indonesian Forum for Environment (Walhi) and the Mining Advocacy Network (JATAM) have strongly criticized the Supreme Court's intervention over the Tondano court's provisional verdict to close down Newmont Minahasa Raya's gold mine, The Jakarta Post and Kompas reported on Saturday.
The two non-governmental organizations said on Friday that the Supreme Court's instruction to delay the execution of the local court's order to close down the gold mine ignored the local people's outcries over the alleged environmental damages made by the gold mine operator.
Khalid Muhammad, the coordinator for JATAM said that the river near Newmont's gold mine site in Buyat Bay in Minahasa was polluted by acidic and mercury, causing skin rashes, itches and infections to women who used the river water to wash clothes.
He said that all the surveys carried out on the gold mine company's waste disposal system indicated a significant presence of metallic substance such as mercury, arsenic, lead, copper and cadmium.
The deaths of many fishes were reported since the disposal system started in 1996.
The NGOs said that the Supreme Court based its judgment only on the economic aspect of the mine operation while ignoring the fact that the gold mine operator had caused damages to the environment.
They said that the central government and legislators were only concerned about protecting foreign investors' interests and ignoring the people's health.
The Supreme Court's order to delay the execution of the local court's order followed outcries from senior government officials, legislators and economic analysts, who said that the closure of the gold mine would tarnish the investment image in the country.(*)