Security job at Freeport given to police
Tuesday, July 11 2006 - 04:36 AM WIB
The handover was signed and endorsed by Trikora Military Commander Maj. Gen. George Toisutta, Papuan Police chief Insp. Gen. Tommy Jacobus, Frank D Reuneker, executive vice president of security at PT Freeport Indonesia and Rear Adm. Djoko Sumaryono, an assistant to the coordinating minister of political, legal and security affairs, in Timika, the capital of Mimika.
The handover was carried out in line with Presidential Instruction No. 63/2004 on maintaining security at vital national objects. PT Freeport is included in the classification through a 2004 decree issued by the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry on vital objects,
Up to 350 personnel from the Army Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad), who have been stationed there over the last 11 months, were replaced by 600 Mobile Brigade police officers from Kelapa Dua in Jakarta, who had just arrived in Timika on Sunday.
Despite the withdrawal of the TNI soldiers, up to 350 others will still assist the police.
?Even though formally the responsibility has been entrusted to the police, it doesn?t mean there will not be TNI involvement. The duty and challenges faced there would still necessitate assistance from the TNI, hence 350 soldiers will be assigned,? Djoko said.
PT Freeport, Djoko said, will have to improve its own capacity in safeguarding its own properties.
Reuneker of PT Freeport said that his company actually had 628 security officers, but they were not capable of handling various problems that have arisen so that the presence of the police and TNI members was still needed. ?Like a baby, PT Freeport has to thank the government for the security assistance it provides,? he said.
As a company, which is 9.34 percent owned by the government and employs over 19,000 workers, the capital intensive investment company, which contributes greatly to the gross domestic regional product in Mimika regency, constitutes a vital object which should be protected by all concerned parties, he said.
When asked about the funds earmarked by PT Freeport for security purposes, Reuneker declined to give details, explaining that he had just assumed his post two months ago.
Meanwhile, chairman of the Mimika chapter of the Human Rights and Antiviolence Foundation, Yosepha Alomang, said he hoped the police officers to be stationed at PT Freeport would be able to understand the local customs so as to help empower the local people.
?Possibly both the local people and security officers are wrong?but let?s forgive each other to help achieve a better future,? Yosepha said.
Out of the 27 national vital objects, PT Freeport is the last to hand over security protection to the police from the TNI due to the difficult terrain and the complexity of specific challenges necessitated adjustments in stages.
Djoko denied accusations that the delay, in the handover was caused by a bloody shooting incident in August 2003, in which two American citizens and an Indonesian were killed.
A member of the Papuan Legislative Council, Albert Yogi, said that the handover of the security management constituted the government?s response to the people?s aspirations.
He urged the Papuan legislature to invite the Papuan Police chief to make a kind of presentation on security management at PT Freeport?s mines including the number of personnel, weapons and ammunition used. (*)