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Mining and militarism in Borneo and the Spice Islands
Over three days February 8-10 2004, the indigenous community of Sebuku Island in South Kalimantan (Borneo) organised a peaceful demonstration and blockade of an Australian-owned coal mine, protesting mining in Sebuku nature reserve, the draining of wetlands and mining impacts on local livelihoods. The company response was to hire Mobile Brigade paramilitary police (Brimob) who sent three truckloads of armed officers to act as security for the company. Brimob used intimidation and force to break up the demonstration, bashing many of the community members taking part in the protest.
One month earlier, also in Indonesia, in the province of North Maluku (the famous Spice Islands) a peaceful demonstration by community members protesting Australian company Newcrest Mining’s illegal mining in the Toguraci protected forest ended in tragedy. On January 7, 2004 Mobile Brigade paramilitary police (Brimob) shot and killed one protestor, and detained scores of people, subjecting many to beatings and degrading treatment.
In a subsequent conversation with an Australian correspondent, the manager of Newcrest's mine, Mr John Blake took credit for requesting the police to arrest activists and charge them with "provocation", a criminal offence carrying a jail term. A spokesman at Newcrest headquarters in Melbourne has admitted the company pays an ongoing fee for Brimob's services.
The Brimob paramilitary police officers involved in the deadly put-down of community aspirations were taken on as mine security in late November 2003, replacing the Indonesian military who performed this role for several years. The Indonesian military infantry forces (TNI), were for several years fully armed and present on the Newcrest mine site. During an MPI visit to the site in 2003, a detachment of the military were observed living in a command post built by the company in the Toguraci protected forest site, on the periphery of the area being cleared for open pit mining. The ordinary wages of the military on site were supplemented by payments from Newcrest. Soldiers on site reported to the Mineral Policy Institute that much of these payments were intercepted by their senior officers, but were worth almost as much as their regular monthly wage. The Indonesian Marines (TNI AL) guard Newcrest / PT NHM’s port facility a few kilometres from the mine site.
For more information, please contact:
Igor O'Neill
Workphone: +62 21 794 1672
Mobile: +62 81 286 12 286
Created: 08 Dec 2004 | Last updated: 08 Dec 2004
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