NTB governor asks police to protect Newmont's expatriate workers
Thursday, October 5 2000 - 03:30 AM WIB
NTB governor Harun Al Rasyid has asked the local police to safe guard gold and copper mining operator PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT) and its expatriate workers especially the American citizens against harassment from the local non-governmental organization, Media Indonesia reported.
The governor also called on the local people especially those grouped in the Peduli Sumbawa organization to restrain from making unnecessary actions against the mining company and its workers.
"Demonstration is something normal in democratic country? but if some of the workers are taken hostage, it will cause the company to stop its operation. If it happens, we all will suffer," he was quoted as saying on Wednesday.
Peduli Sumbawa or Care Sumbawa foundation, an umbrella of at least 52 non-government organizations in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) province has threatened to take American citizens working at PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT) as hostages, if the U.S. government continued its political pressure on Indonesia.
"We are serious in this case. Tom Enos, the president of the company could become the first to be taken as hostage," the foundation's chairman Burhanuddin told the daily early this week,
According to him the 53 NGOs under the Peduli Sumbawa organization would be used as locomotives to mobilize the people against the U.S. threat. The American government's threat to impose an economic embargo if Indonesian could settle the problem with the pro-Jakarta militias was a bad political trick, he said.
Burhanuddin said that all the NGOs under his organization were preparing actions to blockade and bar all the ships that would transport copper and gold from the mining company. He also said that the 52 NGOs would be also used to mobilize the people to occupy Newmont's gold and copper mining site.
The governor said that the company's mining operations had given a significant contribution to the province not only in helping in solving the unemployment problem but also in promoting the province's economy. "With the operation of the mining company, the province no longer rely on the central government's funding to finance the province's development programs," he added. (*)