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Don't sell Papua's future to Henry Kissinger
Don't sell Papua's future to Henry Kissinger
Henry Kissinger takes advantage of his status as ex US Secretary of State to push the President of the Republic of Indonesia to respect the Contract of Work (COW) of PT. Freeport Indonesia Company. Henry Kissinger even threatens Indonesia by saying that if the government does not respect COW, there will be no investors come to this country.
We, Indonesian Forum for Environment (WALHI), condemn Mr. Kissinger's statement which is said in purpose to intimidate; furthermore we regard this statement as unethical, bullish, and ignoring democratization process taking place now in Indonesia. This conduct is not supposed to be done by an ex Secretary of State of a country that glorifies democracy and human rights.
It is really not fair if Henry Kissinger asks Gus Dur to give respect to the COW signed by Suharto. Gus Dur is the first president of the Republic of Indonesia that is elected in the most democratic way and situation -free of fear-ever. It is for the first time, since 1955, in this Republic to have legislatures which are elected in democratic atmosphere. Henry Kissinger -by what he has done-tries to underestimate all that is being struggled by the people of Indonesia.
For years, environmental movements all over the globe has struggled for the serious action to environmental problems caused by Freeport's activities.
For years, the Amungme people have struggled for their rights to be respected and heard. For years, these voices were ignored by Suharto.
Now when the time comes for all the struggles get the attention of Indonesian people's representatives, Henry Kissinger unethically uses the unreasonable and unnecessary excuses to protect the company, from which he has got a lot of advantages. Advantages that is being sucked from the blood of the people of Amungme, from dirt that is irresponsibly being dumped to a clean and beautiful environment.
The Contract of Work was made in Suharto's regime, in an undemocratic situation, when the legislature was just a government's stamp-body, and people lived in fear. The COW was signed in a situation which did not give any respect to aspirations and democratic mechanism. It means the COW was signed in a wrong system. AT this moment, the government, the people, and the legislature are in the process of building a correct system, the one based on the pure democracy principles. Henry Kissinger must give respect to this process, and must be willing to adjust their COW, if he really represents the interest of the United States which puts democracy on top priority instead of material advantages.
Justification for the review of PT. Freeport's Contract of Work:
The COW is not legitimate to Indonesian people since it was signed in Suharto's era, when there was a shift of the Old Order to the New Order, and in a wrong governance system and mechanism.
The COW was made with no regard to local people's participation and done in an incorrect manner. Even Papua, at that moment, had not been a part of the Republic of Indonesia. All the legal basis used to legitimate this COW, such as the 1945 Constitution (UUD 1945), the Mining Basic Act (UU Pokok Pertambangan), the Foreign Capital Investment Act (UU Penanaman Modal Asing), and the Agrarian Basic Act (UU Pokok Agraria) was not valid in Papua.
The Second COW was signed before the first COW ends, by which Freeport had already known a huge gold ore deposit in Grassberg -the government of Indonesia didn't have any idea about this, or pretended not knowing about the biggest gold ore deposit in the world. It is very clear that there was effort to disguise the phenomenon of this deposit from the GOI while signing in the second COW.
Environmental matters are not in detail mentioned in the clauses of the COW. Even the second COW doesn't say anything about Mine Closure, neither the guarantee-fund for the mine closure operations, whereas is the standard of mining operation around the world.
A clause in the COW (article 20 of force ignorance) states that the Government of Indonesia (GOI) has a legal right to end the contract, if Freeport neglects their responsibilities and the clauses stated in the COW, by mean of warnings and time to revise the ignorances in 180 days. It is too early for Kissinger to say to the GOI to respect the COW while the assessment of the presumed abuses are still undergoing process by the legislature, the government, and the people of Indonesia. Henry Kissinger unfairly tries to beat the assessment using political diplomacy and ignore the clauses in the COW itself.
Actually, the ignorance had happened so many times. For example is the incident of a big flood flowed over Wanagon lake in 1998, the acid mine drainage detected from the overburden stockpiles, the copper-polluted mollusk in Timika estuary (it proves a very high copper concentration in Ajkwa river area). These phenomena must not happen and need to be managed in their Environmental Management Plan (RKL).
The Environmental Impact Assessment (AMDAL) conducted by the Environmental Impact Agency (Bapedal) proves not to show people's aspiration and maximum protection to the environment due to a very high political pressure. Whereas in fact, the environmental destruction caused by this mining operation is so tremendous that it will influence the prosperity and the future of Papua.
Regarding those matters, we urge the legislature and the GOI not be influenced by Mr. Kissinger's intimidation and continue the transparent process to evaluate and conduct an assessment to Freeport's performance and Contract of Work.
Jakarta, February 29, 2000
Emmy Hafild
Executive Director
WALHI-Indonesian Forum for Environment
Friends of the Earth Indonesia
Jl. Tegal Parang Utara No. 14, Jakarta 12790
Tel.+62 21 7919-3363; Fax.+62 21 7941-673
Email. walhi@walhi.or.id
For more information, please contact:
Igor O'Neill
Workphone: +62 21 794 1672
Mobile: +62 81 286 12 286
Created: 01 Jan 1970 | Last updated: 29 Feb 2004
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