[Kabar-Irian] Irian News - 2/9/06
Too much mail? Switch to the digest version. Info provided at the end of this
email.
To leave this list follow the instructions at the bottom of this email. As a
matter of policy we DO NOT handle requests except in emergencies.
- Issue of Papua presents diplomatic headache for Canberra
- Paul Kingsnorth: The hellish truth behind Papua's paradise
- 'Lost world' may be Earth's last
- Papua's 'Lost World' target for poachers
- Observer: Lost: scientific innocence
- Asmat launches vaccination drive
- West Irian Jaya demands assurance on gubernatorial election
- Indonesia Min: Government "Monitoring" Freeport Ops
- Awaiting Freeport’s report card
- Freeport Pledges Cooperation With Indonesian Govt Probe
- Govt to Take Stiff Measures Against Freeport if It Violates Law
*****************************
Financial Times (London)
Issue of Papua presents diplomatic headache for Canberra
By Shawn Donnan and Sundeep Tucker
Published: February 9 2006 02:00
When a boatload of 43 Papuan political refugees fled Indonesia and landed
in northern Australia last month, Canberra's diplomats knew immediately it
would be no ordinary asylum seekers' case.
The exodus of secessionists from Papua, an Indonesian province occupying
the western half of the island of New Guinea, has touched a raw nerve in
Jakarta, which is desperate to retain the territorial integrity of the
sprawling Indonesian archipelago.
It has also caused another regional political headache for Australia
following recent tensions with Singapore, China and Malaysia which have
highlighted that, while Canberra has successfully deepened economic ties
across the region, there remains a gap in political cultures between it
and many of its Asian neighbours.
Australia's government opposes the idea of Papuan independence. After East
Timor's independence and interventions it has made in Papua New Guinea and
the Solomon Islands in recent years, it is eager not to have another small
and potentially politically unstable state on its northern borders.
Australia is also, however, a key centre for the Papuan pro-independence
movement and its supporters, something that has long angered Jakarta and
caused nationalists in Indonesia to complain of foreign interference in a
domestic issue.
But the Papuan asylum seekers' arrival has catapulted the issue to the
forefront of bilateral affairs and placed Australia in a sticky situation.
In Australia, the case has renewed interest in the Papuan cause while in
Jakarta it has drawn a response that echoes reactions in the 1990s to
allegations of rights abuses in what is now an independent East Timor.
Australian officials have struggled to convince their counterparts in
Jakarta that the government is banned by law from interfering in asylum
decisions made by an independent immigration tribunal.
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Indonesian president, has personally lobbied
John Howard, Australian prime minister, to reject the asylum applications.
Juwono Sudarsono, the defence minister, said this week that Jakarta would
continue to impose a de facto ban on access to Papua for foreign
journalists and researchers. Their presence, he argues, would only inflame
the issue and could undermine Jakarta's efforts to end the decades-old
separatist conflict there. He said: "We want to decide the scope, the pace
and the speed of change in Papua."
Indonesian officials concede rights abuses have occurred in Papua since
Jakarta took control of the province in 1963 but have always blamed rogue
elements in the security forces.
In 2003, for example, an Indonesian court sentenced seven members of the
elite special forces, Kopassus, to up to three-and-a-half years in prison
each for the murder of a prominent Papuan pro-independence leader, Theys
Eluay.
But it is hard to see how an Australian immigration panel would not grant
political asylum to at least some of the 43 who arrived last month.
Such a move would be likely to bring more headaches for Canberra and its
dealings with Jakarta, if not more asylum seekers.
Canberra's diplomats have been worked hard in recent months.
Last December, Australia's relations with Singapore - its biggest trading
partner in south-east Asia - were strained following the city state's
execution of an Australian drugs smuggler, Nguyen Tuong Van. Gough
Whitlam, former prime minister, called Singapore a "rogue Chinese port"
for ignoring appeals to save him from the death penalty.
In the same month Mr Howard attended the inaugural East Asian Summit,
where Malaysian government ministers made pointed comments about racism in
Australia that had been exposed during Sydney's beach riots.
And Australia's newly established, trade-inspired friendship with China
was sorely tested in June when diplomat Chen Yonglin defected from his
post in Sydney and claimed the Chinese government had 1,000 spies
operating in Australia.
Academics say Australia will have to manage thorny political differences
with its neighbours for years to come. Hal Hill, a professor of south
Asian studies at Australian National University in Canberra, says: "It is
hard to imagine neighbours [Australia and Indonesia] who are so different
in terms of institutions, culture or ethnicity. Australia will have to
play the Papuan issue with an exceedingly straight bat."
Malcolm Cook, Asia Pacific programme director at the Lowy Institute, a
Sydney think-tank, described the Papuan issue as a "timebomb". He said:
"There are certain groups in Australia who want to replay the East Timor
issue with Papua."
Mr Cook said the recent assertion of the Australian Anglo-Christian
identity, led by Mr Howard, had accentuated tensions with its neighbours
over issues such as the death penalty and political and religious freedom.
However, he believes closer economic ties between China and Australia
helped to limit the political fall-out sparked by the Chen defection. He
said: "Closer relations have forged better understanding and that helped
keep the Chen issue in a relatively small box."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Independent (UK)
Commentary
Paul Kingsnorth: The hellish truth behind Papua's paradise
-- We like to feel that an untouched Lost World exists, peaceful and
'primitive'. The reality is different
Published: 08 February 2006
"Tomorrow," said Galile, "I will take you to the Bird of Paradise. We know
where they live. You will hear them, and maybe see them too. They are very
beautiful."
My Papuan friend and I were sitting in a thatched hut in a tiny village
high in the rainforests of West Papua, the western half of the island of
New Guinea. I was, I was proudly told, the first white person ever to come
here. As firelight flickered on the walls, Galile was telling me about the
wildlife that inhabited the rainforests. It was what he thought I wanted
to hear, but it wasn't what he really wanted to tell me.
"You see," he said, staring into the fire, "we are happy that you come
here to see our forests. But we want to know why the world does not see
the other things that happen to us. Why do you not see the killings of our
people? Why do you not see how the soldiers destroy our culture? I tell
you now - West Papua is being destroyed. And I want to ask you: why will
no one listen?"
I had no answer for Galile then, and I have none now. West Papua rarely
makes the news. When it does, the stories are of the kind which made
headlines yesterday: the discovery of new species of Birds of Paradise or
tree kangaroo; the "Stone-Age paradise" of tribal New Guinea. Perhaps we
like to feel that such an untouched, Lost World exists, outside of time,
peaceful and "primitive". The reality is very different.
West Papua is certainly one of the most remarkable places on Earth.
Swathed in tropical rainforest which is second in size only to that of the
Amazon, it is home to around 250 tribes, who have inhabited the country
for an estimated 40,000 years and speak, between them, 300 separate
languages. Most continue to live in small villages, harvesting sweet
potatoes, growing sago and raising pigs as their ancestors did before
them.
But paradise stops there, for West Papua is an occupied land, whose people
have no freedom to choose their own government and little control over
their land and resources. It is a country in which calling openly for
freedom is punishable by torture, or even death. It is a country which is
closed to foreign journalists and human rights workers, and which is
flooded with thousands of soldiers, ready to strike at the least sign of
dissent. Look at West Papua through the travel books, and it looks like
paradise. Look a little closer, and it can start to seem like hell.
Until the mid-20th century, this remote land was part of the Dutch East
Indies. In 1949 the Dutch gave up most of their empire to the new
nation-state of Indonesia. They argued, however, that West Papua was part
of Melanesia, not Asia, and that it should remain separate. In 1961, they
granted it independence.
Months later, Indonesia invaded. The UN was forced to intervene, but it
was swiftly made clear to its diplomats what the outcome should be. It was
the height of the Cold War, and the West was keen to appease Indonesia,
which was being wooed by the USSR and China. As one British diplomat put
it at the time, "I cannot imagine the US, Japanese, Dutch, or Australian
governments putting at risk their economic and political relations with
Indonesia on a matter of principle involving a relatively small number of
very primitive peoples."
The US, the Netherlands and Indonesia agreed that the UN would stage a
face-saving referendum in which the Papuans would be asked to choose
between independence and Indonesia. In 1969, seven years after Indonesia
invaded the country, the UN stood by as Indonesia rigged the vote.
Declaring that the Papuans were too "primitive" to cope with democracy,
they produced 1,026 "representative" Papuan leaders, threatened them with
death if they gave the wrong answer, and then asked them to vote. The
outcome was never in doubt.
Indonesia then embarked on a campaign to wipe out Papuan culture. Those
who resisted were murdered, tortured or "disappeared" with a horrific
ferocity. At least 100,000 Papuans have been killed by the Indonesians
since occupation; according to some human rights workers, the figure could
be as high as 800,000.
West Papua's rich natural resources - gold, copper, timber, oil, gas -
were sold off to foreign or Indonesian corporations, many of them linked
to the army or the government. Millions of hectares of tribal land were
confiscated, and objectors swiftly dealt with. Soldiers murdered, raped,
tortured and brutalised the people of West Papua with impunity. They still
do.
Eighteen months ago, a group of us in the UK set up the Free West Papua
Campaign to raise awareness of the situation. Every day, we are contacted
by people in West Papua, who risk their lives to talk to us. In the last
few months alone we have been sent photos of villages burned by the army,
and refugees starving in the jungle. We have heard of dissenters being
slashed with razors by soldiers, or having petrol poured on them and set
alight. We have heard of men jailed for a decade simply for raising the
West Papuan flag in public.
What the people of West Papua desperately want, as Galile told me in that
highland village, is the world's attention. They need our media, our
governments and our NGOs to see what is being done to them - and to do
something about it. The world needs to see, and to stop, the genocide that
hides behind those images of paradise.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ABC Science Online (Australia)
'Lost world' may be Earth's last
Anna Salleh
Wednesday, 8 February 2006
The lost world largely untouched by humans that was recently unearthed on
West Papua may be the last such find on Earth, an expedition scientist
says.
His comments follow the discovery of a world teeming with new species,
giant flowers and rare wildlife showing no fear of humans.
Australian, US and Indonesian scientists, led by Conservation
International (CI), say they found the 300,000-hectare paradise in the
Foja Mountains of the Indonesian-controlled province during an expedition
late last year.
The local Kwerba and Papasena people, who are customary landowners of the
forest, acted as guides and naturalists.
"The first bird I saw when I got out of the helicopter turned out to be a
new species of honeyeater," says team member Kris Helgen.
The bird was an orange-faced honeyeater, a bird with a bright orange
face-patch.
Helgen, who is completing a PhD under Dr Tim Flannery of the South
Australian Museum, says the honeyeater is the first new species of bird
found in New Guinea since 1940.
"Seeing that as the first bird was the clue that we were onto something
big," he says.
The team also captured the first photos of the male Berlepsch's six-wired
bird of paradise (Parotia berlepschi) in its natural habitat.
This bird was one of a number first collected in the late 19th century by
indigenous hunters and sent to Victorian England where it was described as
being of "unknown location". Several subsequent expeditions failed to find
the bird.
"It's definitely an area of great biological novelty," says Helgen. "There
are lots of things found in these mountains that are found nowhere else."
The team took the first photos of the golden-fronted bowerbird (Amblyornis
flavifrons) displaying at its bower, a tower of twigs and other forest
materials it builds for the mating ritual.
The bowerbird, like the bird of paradise, had been collected in Victorian
times but no one knew where it came from.
In 1979, University of California's, Professor Jared Diamond was the first
to demonstrate that the Foja Mountains was the true homeland of the
bowerbird.
A lost world
Helgen says while Diamond made observations of a number of birds in the
Foja Mountains, he did not collect data or specimens.
"We were the first to mount the true scientific expedition," he says.
Helgen says, apart from the reports from Diamond, there is no evidence
that humans have ever been to the mountain range. Even the locals who took
part in this latest research had never been there.
The researchers say the area is probably a 15 or 20 day walk from the
nearest village.
"Not only are there no people but there are no things that people bring
with them: rats, dogs, pigs," says Helgen, adding these animals affect
native fauna.
"It is a world that's been lost elsewhere," he says. "Much of the world
would have looked like that at some point.
"What's so interesting and unique is that it might be last time this is
ever done: high adventure, true exploration of a place where no one has
set foot hardly."
Animals without fear for people
The team also found mammals that show no fear of humans. For example they
were able to pick two long-beaked echidnas, a primitive egg-laying mammal,
that had been hunted to near extinction elsewhere.
"The animals there just don't know people because people have never lived
here. That's a very, very rare thing in this day and age," says Helgen.
The team also found a golden-mantled tree kangaroo (Dendrolagus
pulcherrimus), which had previously only been found on a single mountain
in neighbouring Papua New Guinea.
And they found new species of plants including the largest rhododendron
flower on record, almost 15 centimetres across, more than 20 new frogs and
four new butterflies.
Pretty impressive
Dr Ken Aplin, an evolutionary biologist who specialises in mammals of
Australia and New Guinea, describes the find as "pretty impressive" and
agrees the remoteness of the Foja Mountains explains why it is in such
pristine condition.
"People will generally hunt within a days travel of the village," says
Aplin of CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, currently based at the Kyoto
University Museum in Japan.
Aplin says mountain ranges such as Foja originally started life as a
series of oceanic islands off to the north of New Guinea, which over time,
came closer and closer to the main central range and connected up in the
past million years.
"So they were evolving their own faunas prior to becoming part of New
Guinea," he says.
Other ranges along the north coast the Foja range would have evolved
unique species too, he says, but their biodiversity would have been
affected by humans, feral pigs and dogs.
"In a global context it may well be unique or very nearly so, in being one
of the last places that is not showing any impact at all of human
activities."
The expedition was co-sponsored by the Indonesian Institute of Science
(LIPI) and received funding from the Swift Foundation, the Gordon and
Betty Moore Foundation, the National Geographic Society and the Global
Environment Project Institute.
[images are shown with this article at:
http://abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s1565276.htm]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Age (Melbourne)
Papua's 'Lost World' target for poachers
February 8, 2006 - 9:39AM
The fragile treasure trove of new species in Papua's "Lost World" is in
danger of being overrun by poachers out to make big money by catching and
hunting the rarest of animals that have no fear of humans.
Environmentalists demanded Indonesia take quick measures to protect the
wilderness from the sort of exploitation that has ravaged other parts of
the sprawling archipelago.
Australian and US scientists recently discovered a wildlife bonanza on the
slopes of the untouched and heavily-forested Foja Mountains in the western
and Indonesia-controlled half of New Guinea island.
They sighted rare Golden-mantled Tree Kangaroo, as well as Long-beaked
Echidna which showed no sign of fear because they have never come into
contact with humans.
The researchers also discovered 20 frog species, four new butterfly
species and five never-before-seen forest palms.
They found a new species of bird - a red-faced and wattled honeyeater. And
they saw Berlepsch's six-wired bird of paradise, described by hunters in
the 19th century and named for the wires that extend from its head in
place of a crest. It had been listed as extinct for generations.
The mountains' amazing biodiversity has made global headlines.
But Togu Manurung, of Indonesian Forest Watch, fears it could now be
targeted by traders ready to make a quick buck.
Newly discovered plants and animals could attract huge sums on the
international black market. Birds and mammals with no fear will be easy to
catch.
"With the exposure, there will now be a chance for outsiders to exploit
that richness," he told AAP.
"The government has to make it a priority to protect the species that have
just been found."
Manurung warned that Papua had for several years been a focus of illegal
logging after crackdowns on the trade on other islands, such as Sumatra
and Kalimantan.
Illegal logging in Indonesia is destroying at least 2.8 million hectares
of pristine old-growth forests every year, costing the country billions of
dollars in lost revenue while causing floods and landslides.
Manurung said the government must now order a thorough survey of the
mist-shrouded region as well as enlist the support of local people by
helping them resist the temptation to exploit the area for outside money.
"There will have to be cooperation with the local people because the
indigenous people have claimed almost all the land," he said.
"There will be brokers who will come now, and if the people are still poor
they will agree to illegal logging."
Stephen Richards, of the South Australian Museum, and co-leader of the
month-long international scientific expedition, said the discovery had
given the team members an idea what Papua was like 50,000 years ago before
humans arrived.
"There's been no hunting, no impact of transport or anything like that,"
he said.
One of the reasons for the rainforest's isolation, he said, was that only
a few hundred people live in the region and game in the mountains'
foothills is so abundant they have no reason to venture into the jungle's
interior.
There did not appear to be any immediate conservation threat to the area,
which has the status of a wildlife sanctuary, he said.
Ben Saroy, who heads the Papua office of Indonesia's Forestry Department,
said the region was already a conservation area located more than 2,500
metres above sea level.
"So there's no need to worry about it in the near future," he said.
"But in the longer term, there should be a more intensified effort to
protect and handle it, along with efforts to boost the living standards of
local people so they would not be tempted to sell off their heritage.
"We already told the people that this is a very important finding, a very
potent find, and we all have to protect it."
-- © 2006 AAP
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Financial Times (London)
Observer: Lost: scientific innocence
Published: February 9 2006 02:00
A hot tip for the "spin of the week" award is Conservation International,
the campaign group that convinced much of the world's media that an
expedition it backed had found a "lost world" in the jungles of New
Guinea.
"Mislaid world" might have been a more accurate description.
The Washington-based outfit was simply following in the footsteps of Jared
Diamond, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author who in the 1970s visited the
same Foja mountains described so effusively by the CI scientists as a
"Garden of Eden". (Only they took a helicopter.)
Like the CI scientists, Diamond, a University of California professor,
discovered that "the animals were entirely tame", found birds of paradise
that set about "displaying" to him "within metres of his face" and
"undescribed kinds of tree-kangaroos" which "stared at him as he walked
by". Or so wrote Australian zoologist Tim Flannery in his 1999 book
“Throwim Way Leg” in which he points to Diamond's 1974 trip to the Foja
mountains as an inspiration for his own work.
But one shouldn't be too hard on the spin doctors at CI or media outlets
so hungry for a story that they swallowed the bait like a starving
endangered species.
Their idea wasn't entirely original, after all. The WWF conservation group
last year titled a report about new species found in another Indonesian
wilderness "Borneo's Lost World".
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Jakarta Post.com
National News
February 08, 2006
Asmat launches vaccination drive
National News - February 08, 2006
Jayapura, Papua: The Asmat Health Office has kicked off a vaccination
drive to curb the spread of measles in the regency, an official said
Tuesday.
Ten children have died of the highly contagious viral disease in Ayam
Kampong in the district of Akat in the past two months. More than 60
residents, mostly children, have contracted measles in the district.
"We have vaccinated children in eight villages," doctor Patar Oppusunggu
told The Jakarta Post from Asmat.
He said the measles outbreak in Asmat was the first in the regency. "Maybe
the virus came from the outside, because we never had any cases of measles
before," he said.
Last year, four regencies in Papua reported a total of 140 cases of
measles, including one fatality in Timika.
The spread of measles has been blamed on logistical problems preventing
vaccinations from being carried out in all areas of the province,
especially remote areas.
"Kampongs (in remote areas) are hard to reach; some take two hours to
reach by speedboat," Patar said.
-- JP
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Jakarta Post.com
National News
February 09, 2006
West Irian Jaya demands assurance on gubernatorial election
Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura
The West Irian Jaya legislative council on Wednesday urged the central
government to provide it assurances on its plans to hold a gubernatorial
election in the province, otherwise it would go ahead with its own vote.
The council has demanded that the government finalize details of the poll
by Feb. 15 at the latest.
"Feb. 15 will be the deadline. If we do not get some assurance by then, we
will go ahead with the election by ourselves," council speaker Jimmy
Demianu Idjie said in Manokwari, as quoted by Antara.
The controversy over the planned poll in West Irian Jaya concerns the
separation of the province from the rest of Papua, which critics claim is
in violation of Papua's regional autonomy.
Both the Papua government and provincial legislators claim the central
government has betrayed the will of Papuans by splitting the province.
Meanwhile, Hermanus Indow, chairman of the Group of 315, which consists of
supporters of the establishment of West Irian Jaya province, on Wednesday
blasted the provisional results of a survey by the Papuan People's Council
(MRP), which found most residents opposed the creation of the province.
"In reality, West Irian Jaya already exists ... what is needed is only a
kind of legal certainty. This kind of public consultation by the MRP only
confuses people, as its objective is the abolition of the province,"
Hermanus told The Jakarta Post from Manokwari.
Hermanus said there was no need to ask whether people agreed or disagreed
with the establishment of West Irian Jaya, as the most important thing was
legal certainty to strengthen the province's legitimacy.
The attitude of the council, he said, runs counter to an agreement reached
in November 2005 and Jan. 9 this year, in which the MRP was entrusted to
prepare for the legalization of West Irian Jaya province.
Hermanus reiterated that if the MRP's findings led to the dissolution of
West Irian Jaya, residents would come to the defense of the province.
He also criticized the council, saying its members only met with those
opposed to the establishment of West Irian Jaya.
"I think the MRP has its own agenda to nullify the establishment of West
Irian Jaya province, and its public consultations was merely to seek
legitimacy for this agenda," he said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Indonesia Min: Government "Monitoring" Freeport Ops
Wednesday February 8, 1:27 PM
Jakarta (Dow Jones)
The Indonesian government is currently "monitoring" the operations of U.S.
mining giant Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (FCX) in Papua province
for any violations of Indonesian law, the Minister of Energy and Mineral
Resources said Wednesday.
"The government is monitoring Freeport, and if Freeport has made any
mistakes the government will take action," Purnomo Yusgiantoro told a
parliamentary committee reviewing the new draft mining law, without
elaborating.
Purnomo's statement was a response to a question from a committee member
about whether there was any evidence that Freeport-McMoRan's operations in
Papua had broken any Indonesian laws.
The committee's interest in Freeport-McMoRan's operations comes in the
wake of a New York Times report in December that alleged the firm made
payments of nearly $20 million to military and police officials posted
around the company's massive Grasberg gold mine in remote Papua province
from 1998 to 2004.
Similar allegations were also made in a report by London-based
environmental watchdog Global Witness in July 2005.
The allegations also prompted Indonesia's defense minister last month to
call for both a probe of Freeport-McMoRan's security payments and specific
guidelines for private firms that need the Indonesian military to provide
security services in remote areas.
In January, the allegations prompted the comptroller of New York City,
representing shareholders of city pension funds, to ask both the U.S.
Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission to probe the
legality of Freeport's financial support for security forces on Papua.
Freeport-McMoRan has said it gave "financial support" to Indonesian
security officials in Papua for items including infrastructure and
logistics, according to a letter by the company's chief executive, Richard
Adkerson, posted Jan. ll on the company Web site.
The company's vice president of communications, William L. Collier III,
last week declined Dow Jones Newswires' requests for clarification on the
payments, saying he wouldn't comment beyond the company's public
disclosure.
The English-language daily newspaper the Jakarta Post reported Wednesday
that Freeport-McMoRan is the focus of a separate "interdepartmental" probe
of pollution in Papua's Otomina river alleged in a Ministry of Environment
report.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tempo Magazine
No. 23/VI/February 07-13, 2006
By Purwanto
Awaiting Freeport’s report card
-- Freeport Indonesia, whose tailings disposal system has been the subject
of many a discussion and debate, will come under public scrutiny one more
time.
A Historic event took place two weeks ago, in a closed-door meeting
between four men. The meeting lasted no more than half an hour, and when
the door finally opened to let the men out, there were smiles all around.
But wait a minute. Aren’t they supposed to be on the opposite side of the
fence, mortal enemies concerning environment affairs? Yet there they were:
on the one side, the Proper Team of the Environmental Department, which
normally ‘polices’ misbehaving plants and factories, and on the other
side, PT Freeport, a company whose mine is regarded as a major polluter
because it disposes of its tailings into a river in Papua.
“We discussed developments about environmental management in Papua,” said
Rasio Ridho Sony, head of Tim Proper, short for Program Penilaian
Peringkat Kinerja Perusahaan (Program to Evaluate Company Performance).
The Freeport-Indonesian government meeting is indeed historic, because for
the first time, Freeport has agreed to be one of the companies that will
be evaluated by the Proper Team. The task of this team is to determine
whether a company should be labeled as environmentally friendly, or as a
polluter. They issue labels that come in four colors: black to indicate
the worst record, followed by red, green and gold, gold being the best
category for being an environmentally friendly company.
The amicable meeting will soon be followed by sending a Proper
investigation team to Tembagapura in Papua, where the Freeport mine is
located. The team is to look at how the mine’s tailings (waste rock) are
managed. The trip to Papua is to find out whether the complaints regarding
the mine’s tailings are justified, and to find ways to overcome the
tailings problem.
Since 1997, some groups have regarded the Freeport mine waste as
problematic. One of them, an environmental group known as Walhi, has
voiced its objection against Freeport. They immediately sent a letter of
protest to the Minister for the Environment, at that time Sarwono
Kusumaatmadja, who later approved Freeport’s Amdal (Environmental Impact
Analysis).
This validation meant the American mining company was able to increase its
160,000 tons output to 300,000 tons per day. To Walhi, the production
increase to almost double the tonnage meant that it would worsen
environmental damage in Papua. This is particularly the case since the
disposal of the mine’s tailings in the river has created so much
controversy, even to this day.
Freeport’s tailings are disposed via the 74-mile Agawagon River, which
joins the Otomona River at around Mile 50 and the Ajkwa River at Mile
32-34, to be precise at Otomona Bridge.
Masnellyarti Suherman, the deputy of the legal enforcement section at the
Department of the Environment when the Environment Minister was Sony
Keraf, has questioned the method of tailings disposal used by Freeport as
well the fact they hold no license to do so. In 2001, Masnellyarti sent
Freeport a letter of warning because the tailings disposal system violated
regulations. She claims that the only waste allowed to be disposed in
rivers is liquid waste—and even that with the condition that it does not
reduce the quality of the water. This is in line with Article 27 of
Government Regulations No. 35/1991 on the prohibition of solid and or
liquid waste that could pollute and bring down the quality of the water.
“Everywhere, tailings are categorized as solid waste, so they cannot be
disposed through the rivers,” stressed Masnellyarti.
The 2003 status report on the environment in Papua Province showed that
some changes did occur as a result of millions of tons disgorged into the
river. The report cited that 60 percent of Freeport’s tailings had settled
on the levees, 35 percent in the marshes and the remaining 5 percent
flowed on to Ajkwa estuary and the Arafura Sea.
A TCLP (Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure) test taken by the
Papua Environmental Impact Management Body also showed Freeport’s tailings
to be classified as B3 waste (dangerous and toxic material). From a 2003
study, the level of magnesium and calcium present was 12.5 to 620
milligrams per liter along the length of the river. High calcium levels of
8.83 milligrams per liter were also found in well water. The pH level was
high, 7.4 to 9.96, while the normal levels are 6 to 7. “The tailings can
threaten the river and sea biota because the tailings contain trace
metal,” read the report of the Environment Department in its 2003 book on
the status of the environment.
PT Freeport Indonesia has rejected the premise that the tailings are
toxic. Freeport’s senior manager for corporate communications, Siddharta
Moersjid, said that ore extraction is done by grinding and floatation
process, “without using cyanide or mercury,” he explained.
According to Siddharta, a Freeport internal audit by consulting company
Montgomery Watson indicated that the tailings disposal used a system of
managed deposition area, following the river flow to the lowlands and the
coast was the most appropriate alternative for Freeport’s condition. They
said that the mine is located in the Grasberg range. In fact, the volcanic
mountains are still active and earthquakes happen frequently.
Given the geo-technical, topography, climatic, seismology and water
quality, Freeport sees no other alternative method of tailings disposal.
Building dykes or using pipes is not feasible for the Mimika area, which
is often affected by earthquakes and high rainfall. It is an unwelcoming
surface of steep slopes and the long distance from the mine to the
disposal site can have an impact on the gorge system. “The network of
pipes would be threatened by extreme natural incidents, such as
landslides, floodings and earthquakes,” said Siddharta.
According to Siddharta, the environmental risk assessment (ERA) for four
years had shown the same results. The disposal of tailings through the
Aghawagon-Otomona-Ajkwa rivers and the sedimentation in the lowlands was
the best option, in line with the Amdal approved by Sarwono.
The pros and cons over the disposal of a company that has operated since
1967 continue. Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar admitted he does not
want go on a Freeport-bashing. He said that accusations by certain parties
against Freeport need further scientific evidence. It is with the aim to
obtain such scientific evidence that Freeport has been persuaded to join
Proper, which the government sees as the best alternative. “This is not a
children’s debate. There must be scientific evidence if indeed the mine is
truly polluting,” said Rachmat.
The minister from the Democrat Party rejects charges that he lacks
determination in dealing with disobedient companies. “The problem is that
they hold licenses, so they cannot be prohibited from doing this or that,”
Rachmat contends.
The soft stance of the Environment Department has forced the NGO Jatam
(Mining Advocacy Network) to speak out. Jatam coordinator Siti Maimunah
thinks the government is too soft with Freeport. According to Siti, the
level of minerals found in the river should be enough for the government
to take action against them. “Freeport must also cease all mining
activities while the license over the tailings disposal is being
questioned,” she said.
While the environmental activists keep on protesting, the Proper Team
keeps on going. History will tell, whether the government remains sharply
critical in scoring the performance PT Freeport Indonesia or not.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Freeport Pledges Cooperation With Indonesian Govt Probe
Thursday February 9, 11:08 AM
Jakarta (Dow Jones)
U.S. mining giant Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (FCX) will cooperate
fully with a government investigation into the firm's operations in Papua
province, a company executive said late Wednesday.
"We will work cooperatively with the governmental authorities seeking
information about our operations, as we have always done in the past,"
William L. Collier, Freeport-McMoRan's vice president of communications,
told Dow Jones Newswires.
Collier didn't elaborate on the government probes or the nature of its
cooperation with investigators.
Indonesia's Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Purnomo Yusgiantoro,
said Wednesday that the government will "very soon" form a special
interdepartmental investigative team to probe complaints about
Freeport-McMoRan's operations at its massive Grasberg mine in remote Papua
province.
Purnomo said the team will focus on a report about Freeport-McMoRan
prepared by Amien Rais, the former chairman of the National Mandate Party,
or PAN, which holds 52 seats in Indonesia's 550-seat House of
Representatives. He didn't elaborate on the substance of that report.
Rais' involvement reflects the widening fallout from a December New York
Times report that Freeport-McMoRan allegedly made payments of nearly $20
million to military and police officials posted around Grasberg from 1998
to 2004.
Similar allegations were also made by London-based environmental watchdog
Global Witness' "Paying for Protection" report in July 2005.
The allegations prompted Indonesia's defense minister last month to call
for both a probe of Freeport-McMoRan's military payments and the issuance
of specific guidelines for private firms that need the Indonesian military
to provide security services in remote areas.
In January, the allegations prompted the comptroller of New York City,
representing shareholders of city pension funds, to ask both the U.S.
Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission to probe the
legality of Freeport's financial support for security forces in Papua.
Freeport-McMoRan has said it gave "financial support" to Indonesian
security officials in Papua for items including infrastructure and
logistics, according to a letter by the company's chief executive, Richard
Adkerson, posted Jan. ll on the company Web site.
Collier last week declined a Dow Jones Newswires request for clarification
on the payments, saying he wouldn't comment beyond the company's public
disclosure.
-- Corporate Web Site: http://www.fcx.com
Organization Web Site: http://www.globalwitness.org
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Antara
Feb 08 17:04
Govt to Take Stiff Measures Against Freeport if It Violates Law
Jakarta (Antara News) - The government will take stern measures against PT
Freeport Indonesia if the giant mining company is proven guilty of
violating the law, Minister for Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo
Yusgiantoro said on Wednesday.
The government will study whether the violation is related to its
operation or mining license, he said in a working meeting with the House
of Representatives (DPR) Commission VII to discuss a bill on mineral and
coal.
However, he added, that the government has so far controlled mining
activities in Indonesia.
He further expressed a hope that the bill could be passed into law soon to
encourage investments in the mining sector.
Previously, former chairman of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR)
Amien Rais called on the government to close PT Freeport’s mining
activities in the country’s easternmost province of Papua as it has
committed three big crimes, namely plundering natural resources,
destroying the ecology, and evading taxes during its operation in
Indonesia.
KABAR IRIAN ("Irian News") www.kabar-irian.com
NOTE: "All items are posted for their news/information content. They are
not necessarily the views of IRJA.org or subscribers. "
To join, leave or change options:
http://www.kabar-irian.com/mailman/listinfo/kabar-irian
or send an email to kabar-irian-request@kabar-irian.com and place in the
subject header SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE (Depending which it is you want to
do). Typing Help as a subject will give more info.