[nasional_list] [ppiindia] Recklessness in Indonesia
- From: "Ambon" <sea@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <"Undisclosed-Recipient:;"@freelists.org>
- Date: Mon, 9 Jan 2006 12:43:06 +0100
** Forum Nasional Indonesia PPI India Mailing List **
** Untuk bergabung dg Milis Nasional kunjungi:
** Situs Milis: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppiindia/ **
** Beasiswa dalam negeri dan luar negeri S1 S2 S3 dan post-doctoral
scholarship, kunjungi
http://informasi-beasiswa.blogspot.com
**http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/09/opinion/09mon2.html
Editorial
Recklessness in Indonesia
Published: January 9, 2006
Freeport-McMoRan, an American company that operates a giant open-pit copper and
gold mine in Papua, is a major contributor to Indonesia's economy. The company
is also one of Indonesia's most reckless polluters and a source of hard cash -
cash the company concedes is protection money - for the Indonesian military,
which has one of the worst human rights records anywhere.
A recent report in The Times by Jane Perlez and Raymond Bonner described
Freeport's activities in great detail. The report was part of a series of
articles over the past year detailing environmental and other abuses by
American mining companies at home and abroad.
Several of these companies are being sued by local governments that argue that
these companies' environmental practices would never be tolerated in America
and that local citizens are seeing too few of mining's benefits while paying
too heavy a price. Newmont Mining, based in Denver, has been sued by the
Indonesian government for dumping poisoned wastes in local waters, and Placer
Dome, based in Canada, has been sued by a Philippine province for similar
infractions.
Freeport's activities are particularly disheartening. Over the past decade, the
company has built what amounts to an industrial city in Indonesia's easternmost
province. On the plus side, the company provides jobs for 18,000 people and,
according to company estimates, has provided Indonesia with $33 billion in
direct and indirect benefits from 1992 to 2004, almost 2 percent of the
country's gross domestic product.
The environmental damage, however, has been breathtaking. So far, the company
has produced about one billion tons of waste, with five billion more tons to
come before the operation shuts down. Some of this waste has been dumped into
the mountains surrounding the mine, and some into a system of rivers that
descend steeply into the island's low-lying wetlands and coastal estuaries. The
damage has been enough to render the rivers, wetlands and parts of the
estuaries - all critical to the food chain - unsuitable for aquatic life.
Meanwhile, records show that between 1998 and 2004, Freeport gave officers in
the police and military nearly $20 million in direct payments in addition to
tens of millions more for military infrastructure like barracks and roads. The
company told The Times that the payments were necessary to provide a secure
working environment for its employees, and that "there is no alternative to our
reliance on the Indonesian military and police."
Papua has long been home to a low-level, separatist insurgency against the
central government, which made the company nervous. Yet what is missing from
the company's response is any recognition that its environmental practices
contributed to the unrest and allowed the military to establish a strong
presence in a region where it had barely a toehold before Freeport arrived.
Freeport's environmental record and its support for the Indonesian military
have caused rumbles in Washington, particularly among human rights advocates
like Patrick Leahy, a Democratic senator from Vermont. Citing human rights
abuses, Congress in 1992 restricted arms sales and most American training for
Indonesian officers, and it enacted new prohibitions in 1999 after a rampage by
army-backed militia in what was then East Timor Province. Mr. Leahy sharply
criticized Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's decision to resume aid last
year, which the administration described as a reward for Indonesia's improved
human rights record and its cooperation with the post-Sept. 11 counterterrorism
campaign.
Indonesia's critics say that the present government is an improvement over the
authoritarian rule of President Suharto, who ran the country for three decades
ending in 1998. Yet the military continues its abusive practices. Setting aside
for the moment Freeport's environmental horror show, the company is not doing
Indonesia's civilian authorities any favors by underwriting the generals.
Freeport describes its payments as an essential cost of doing business. But it
appears not to have measured the costs to democracy.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
***************************************************************************
Berdikusi dg Santun & Elegan, dg Semangat Persahabatan. Menuju Indonesia yg
Lebih Baik, in Commonality & Shared Destiny.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppiindia
***************************************************************************
__________________________________________________________________________
Mohon Perhatian:
1. Harap tdk. memposting/reply yg menyinggung SARA (kecuali sbg otokritik)
2. Pesan yg akan direply harap dihapus, kecuali yg akan dikomentari.
3. Reading only, http://dear.to/ppi
4. Satu email perhari: ppiindia-digest@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
5. No-email/web only: ppiindia-nomail@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
6. kembali menerima email: ppiindia-normal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppiindia/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
ppiindia-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
** Forum Nasional Indonesia PPI India Mailing List **
** Untuk bergabung dg Milis Nasional kunjungi:
** Situs Milis: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppiindia/ **
** Beasiswa dalam negeri dan luar negeri S1 S2 S3 dan post-doctoral
scholarship, kunjungi
http://informasi-beasiswa.blogspot.com **
Other related posts:
- » [nasional_list] [ppiindia] Recklessness in Indonesia
