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Lobbying under scrutiny after mine
killing
By Bob Burton
CANBERRA - The Australian government is under
pressure to launch an inquiry into the lobbying
activities of its embassy staff in Jakarta following the
killing by Indonesian security forces of a man
protesting the development in a protected forest of a
gold mine by an Australian mining company.
Early
on Wednesday morning, when hundreds of protesters from
the Kao and Malifut communities reached the proposed
Togurici mine site in eastern Halmahera island, the
Mobile Brigade riot police, known as Brimob, shot and
killed one man. Another six - several of whom were
injured - have been arrested and detained at the North
Maluku police office in Ternate. Up to another 250 have
been detained for questioning at the company security
post.
The violent attacks by Brimob come after
the Melbourne-based company Newcrest - which has a 82.5
percent stake in PT Nusa Halmahera Minerals - became
frustrated with the growing opposition to his company's
plan to build a US$12 million gold mine on remote
Halmahera island in North Maluku province.
A
spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and
Trade (DFAT)confirmed that after the protests in October
last year, which shut the mine site down for five weeks,
Australian embassy officials had lobbied Indonesian
government ministers to clear the protesters to the
satisfaction of Newcrest.
"The representation
has happened by embassy representatives meeting with the
Minister for Energy and Resources [Purnomo Yusgiantoro],
the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs
[Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti] and the Coordinating
Minister for Political and Security Affairs [Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono]," she said. In the wake of the attack
on the protest group, a coalition of Indonesian and
Australian human rights and environmental groups has
called for a human rights commission inquiry, for police
and military commanders to be sacked and for Newcrest to
leave the island.
"It is a gross human rights
violation against Indonesian citizens," said
representatives from the local communities, such as
WALHI, Friends of the Earth Indonesia and Mining
Advocacy Network-JATAM. Indonesian media reports have
quoted local police as calling the protesters "illegal
miners" and people who came from other provinces.
In a speech to the Brisbane Mining Club on
November 28 last year, Newcrest chief executive Tony
Palmer reported that the police and army had refused to
get involved at first when the proposed mine site was
occupied by over 2,000 people in October. Subsequently,
they stated that they would not do anything until the
end of November when the Islamic holy month of Ramadan
ended.
Nathan Scholz, a journalist from the
Brisbane-based newspaper, The Courier Mail, reported
that the assembled mining executives laughed when Palmer
outlined plans to use a militia to deal with the
protestors.
The general manager of corporate
affairs for Newcrest, Peter Reeve, has not responded to
requests for an interview. However, in a statement to
ABC News, the company claimed that it was the protesters
who attacked the armed Brimob members. This version of
events has been echoed by the Australian government.
"Around 150 people with machetes attacked the Brimob
police post in the vicinity of the Tuguraci mine," a
spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and
Trade said. Asked what the source of the information
was, she said she was unsure.
A spokesman for
the Mineral Policy Institute, Igor O'Neill, who recently
visited the mine site and is in Jakarta, says the
Australian government's claim is nonsensical and smacks
of Jakarta embassy staff uncritically repeating claims
from the military or company officials who have the most
to lose. "Why would unarmed people attack 100 armed
members of Brimob?" he asked.
In 1999, Newcrest
opened its very profitable Gosowong gold mine on
Halmahera island. However, in December 1999 the project
stalled when religious conflict engulfed Halmahera
island. In December 1999, a company office was destroyed
and in January 2000 Newcrest was forced to admit that it
had loaned its helicopter to the Indonesian military.
While the Gosowong mine was abandoned in 2002,
the company has been pinning its hopes on developing the
Toguraci mine, only two kilometers away. However, as the
area is designated as a protected forest, open cut
mining is illegal. "Newcrest is operating the mine site
with all the required government approvals," the DFAT
spokeswoman claimed.
Not so, insists O'Neill,
who recounts a meeting he had with a senior official of
the Department of Forests. "He said they had issued a
temporary permit that expired in June last year when
Newcrest claimed they would have to sack all their staff
unless they got permission to do further work," he said.
"He was horrified when I showed him the photos of the
cleared forest."
The Australian government's
support for Newcrest is not the first time embassy
officials in Jakarta have lobbied Indonesian officials
to crack down on protests against Australian mining
projects. In November 1999, embassy officials worked
with the Perth-based company, Aurora Gold, to ensure
what they termed "illegal miners" were ejected from the
Mount Muro mine in Kalimantan. In three subsequent
incidents - in June 2001, August 2001 and January 2002 -
Brimob shot and killed two people and injured another
five.
Downer told Brown that embassy officials
would have no reservations about making such
representations again and expressed no regret over the
deaths and injuries. Following the latest crackdown at
the Toguraci forest, Brown has called for an inquiry
into the role of the Australian embassy lobbying on
behalf of Newcrest.
"Alexander Downer has
allowed the Australian embassy in Jakarta to be a
pressure group for Newcrest, BHP Billiton and other
mining companies. He now owes the Indonesian people an
explanation for events at the Newcrest site," Brown said
in a statement.
(Inter Press Service)
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