Press Release: Fuel truck hijack crisis at Kelian is partially resolved
Tuesday, January 15 2002 - 06:05 AM WIB
SENDAWAR - A roadblock that eventually turned into a hijack of 4 fuel trucks of PT Kelian Equatorial Mining (KEM) since 8 January 2002 has been partially resolved on Monday, 14 January 2002 following a meeting between KEM, protesters and government of Kutai Barat.
"With the help of local police, the four hijacked trucks were released on Monday (14/1) at about 13:00 hours. These trucks then resumed fuel delivery operations. But fuel inventories are still at critical levels and it will take some time to restore them to normal operating levels," said Charlie Lenegan, President Director of PT KEM.
He said, the meeting with Kutai Barat government, local police, ex-employees and others has not achieved a resolution to the industrial dispute which is the underlying cause of the illegal action taken by the ex-employees but has been useful in calming things down sufficiently for KEM to be able to resume operations.
"KEM wishes to thank local police chief and Chemical Energy Mining Labour Union for their constructive contributions to this meeting. Local police chief has guaranteed that there will be no further disruptions to the KEM operation by the ex-employee group," he said.
Charlie Lenegan continued, Kutai Barat government have advised that the District Head of Kutai Barat, Rama A. Asia will invite KEM to a further meeting to seek to resolve the dispute.
"KEM will resume normal operations as soon as practicable. Employees will resume normal their normal rosters on Wednesday. Community and compensation programmes will also recommence on Wednesday," said Charlie Lenegan.
"We hope to work with local communities and authorities to prevent any future community or illegal actions which prevent KEM from operating successfully. Any further interruptions to the KEM operation will again force KEM to scale back its activities and suspend contractor and community programmes," said Charlie Lenegan. (*)