Six regents in Kalimantan allegedly involved in illegal mining activities

The police are investigating a number of senior government officials including six regents in South Kalimantan for their alleged involvement in illegal coal mining activities in the province, local Banjarmasin Pos daily reported on Thursday.

The alleged involvement of these high ranking officials were unveiled by the deputy of the general inspector of the national police, Brig. Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri to the press in Banjarmasin on Wednesday.

Bambang who spoke to the press with the presence of South Kalimantan governor Rudy Arifin refused to name the regents allegedly involved in the illegal mining operations but he said that the six regents and a number of other senior officials were being investigated.

Sources said that the regents were believed to have issued hundreds of mining permits on areas already owned by existing mining companies. The issuance of such mining licenses, also called fake permits, have not only hurt the operations of the existing mining companies but also cause widespread environmental problem.

There are two different types of mining licenses-one is issued by the ministry of energy and mineral resources and another one is issued by the regency governments. The issuance of the permits issued by the local government, however, often causes a problem because the permit is given on areas overlapping with the mining concessions already owned by other mining companies.

The South Kalimantan police reported that the regent of six regencies including Kotabaru, Tanah Laut, Tanah Bambu, Banjar, Tabalong and Tapin have issued a total of 236 mining permits.

Kotabaru regent issued 95 permits, Tanah Laut regent 64 permits, Tanah Bambu regent 44 permits, Banjar regent 15 permits, Tabalog regent 14 permits and Tapin regent four permits.(*)