Perhapi advocates COW be replaced with Mining Concession Rights
Friday, February 16 2001 - 04:00 AM WIB
The Association of Mining Experts (Perhapi) has advocated that the use of the contract of works or mining business license in the mining bill currently deliberated by the House of Representatives be replaced with mining concession rights in a bid to protect the country and its people.
Perhapi chairman Abdul Latief Baqy said that both the contract of works and mining business license reduced the meaning of the state sovereignty, and therefore, it should be replaced with mining concession rights.
He said that such mining concession rights should be applied to all, including investors and also people's miners. Thus, there should be no more people's mining areas because such a policy had been abused and resulted in bad mining practices.
In the bill, it is stipulated that the contract of work system would be replaced by mining business license. To implement this, the bill requires the establishment of a managing body that would issue the mining licenses.
Latief said the concept of mining concession rights does not require the establishment of such managing body.
In addition, with the mining concession rights system, if there is a conflict involving mining companies, the government will not be dragged to the conflict, even if the conflict is brought into international arbitration. And therefore, the bill does not need to cite articles governing arbitration proceeding.
According to him, the contract of work system is not popular in the mining world, as it is applied by two countries only, namely Indonesia and the Philippines.
Nevertheless, if the bill adopts the mining concession rights system, it should stipulate clearly that all prevailing mining contracts should remain in effect until they expire.
Latief also warned legislators that the bill was more siding with mining investors than the people. For instance, the mining bill gives heavier penalty to common people than to investing companies when they violate the law.
"The people (who are violating the law) are threatened with a maximum of four years jail term and/or Rp 200 million fine, while investors are threatened with a maximum of only one year jail and/or Rp 100 million fine," he said.
Worse still, Latief said, the mining bill does not recognize the traditional rights of local people over their lands, locally known as ulayat rights. Such ulayat rights is recognized by the forestry law and agrarian law. (*)