A matter of commitment: Porsea pulp<\/p>\n
Ridwan Max Sijabat, Staff Writer, The Jakarta Post, Porsea, North Sumatra<\/p>\n
For many people in Porsea, a small town some 200 kilometers
\nsouth of the North Sumatra capital of Medan, the name of pulp
\nmill company PT Toba Pulp Lestari (TPL), previously PT Inti
\nIndorayon Utama (IIU), is identical with environmental
\ncatastrophe, human rights abuses and arrogance of a conglomerate
\nowner. For many others, however, including the government, the
\nhigh-scale pulp industry provides job opportunities for more than
\n1,500 locals and is a source of income to both the central
\ngovernment and the Toba-Samosir regental administration.<\/p>\n
The public-listed company has been stuck in a serious dilemma
\nthat led to the temporary suspension of the pulp mills' operation
\nin July, 1998, following increasing protests organized by an
\nalliance of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) both at home
\nand abroad. It has been blamed for the decreasing water level in
\nLake Toba as well as a series of negative impacts to the
\nenvironment, including water and air pollution in the regency.
\nThe temporary suspension of the pulp mills' operation resulted in
\nmassive layoffs and the loss of some Rp 55 billion (US$6.1
\nmillion) in annual revenues to the government.<\/p>\n
Yet, a small group of Toba-Samosir locals, with the support of
\nNGOs, student activists and certain religious leaders, continues
\ntheir resistance of the planned reopening of the pulp mills. An
\nanarchic demonstration staged by hundreds of locals and students
\nlast November ended with the arrest of 16 demonstrators,
\nincluding two church ministers. The suspects are facing charges
\nof damaging private property at the Balige District Court. It was
\nthe latest incident in a series of actions undertaken by the
\nlocal people against both security authorities and the
\ncorporation.<\/p>\n
The pulp issue has been become complicated as conflicting
\nsides are no longer aware of what is actually the key problem,
\nwhich could range from environmental issues, human rights abuses,
\nlegal uncertainties or business competition, and many
\nunauthorized parties have been involved in the conflict without
\nany comprehensive understanding of the issues at hand.<\/p>\n
Visiting the pulp plant in Sosorladang Village some ten
\nkilometers on the outskirts of Porsea will raise a fundamental
\nquestion in visitors, since the location is adjacent to
\nsettlement areas. Pulp mills everywhere in the world emit odor
\nand other toxic gases such as chlorine and absorbable organic
\nhalogen to pollute the air. But, who should be blamed for the
\npolluting plant?<\/p>\n
It is a known fact that the government issued an official
\npermit for the Raja Garuda Mas holding group (RGM) to set up its
\npulp and mills in the location on recommendations from the then-
\nnational environmental management agency (Bapedal), after
\nconducting analysis on the mills' environmental impacts (Amdal)
\nin 1988. RGM has run the operation for ten years following the
\ntemporary closure.<\/p>\n
However, many parties do not know that the temporary closure
\nhad nothing to do with the company's environmental performance,
\nwhich was exposed later to demand the government action, but with
\nthe company's employees and security personnel and their
\narrogance in the field. The company's trucks, carrying logs from
\nforest areas in the region, hit several pedestrians but went free
\nwithout a trial nor compensation. The trucks have also damaged
\nthe road network, but without contributing to any repair or
\nupkeep. The local Batak community, including religious
\ninstitutions such as the Toba Batak Protestant Church (HKBP) and
\nthe local Roman Catholic Church, felt uneasy with the way the
\nmanagement and the security authorities treated such incidents,
\nbut they could do nothing under former president Soeharto's
\nrepressive regime.<\/p>\n
The anti-Indorayon movement was launched by the alliance of
\nNGOs following Soeharto's resignation in May 1998 to enter the
\nreform era. The increasing protests led to a temporary suspension
\nof mill operations under Soeharto's successor B.J. Habibie.
\nMounting international and domestic pressures, however, convinced
\nthe government to allow the pulp mills to resume operations to
\nensure a safe investment climate and legal certainty to foreign
\ninvestors.<\/p>\n
So far, the core problem has been the absence of social,
\nlegal, political and environmental commitment, from the
\ninvestors, authorities and even the local community, to break
\ndown their conflicting interests.<\/p>\n
The pulp mills should have no problems were it committed to
\ncarrying out a development program to empower the local
\ncommunity, and to forging cooperation with local NGOs and
\nuniversities to make them important assets of progress in the
\nregency.<\/p>\n
Aware of the company's numerous faults in the past, TPL
\npresident Wagimin Wongso vowed to carry out a series of
\ndevelopment programs to empower the local community and to
\ninstall environmentally friendly technology to keep environmental
\nhazards to a minimum or reduce them to well below the accepted
\nlevels.<\/p>\n
The relocation last year of the polluting rayon mill to China
\nis expected to reduce the consumption of wood products from the
\nnearby forests and the emission of pollutants into the
\nenvironment.<\/p>\n
Wongso said the company, with its new paradigm under two
\nconsortia of new investors from Hong Kong and Boston, would pay
\nserious attention to environmental and social problems in running
\nthe pulp business. They were also open to the idea of conducting
\nan annual audit through an independent auditing company appointed
\nby the government.<\/p>\n
Under the autonomy law, the Toba-Samosir administration has
\npolitical and economic interests with regards the pulp mills in
\nthe regency, as it must display a political will to ensure
\nsecurity and legal certainty for investors in the regency.<\/p>\n
The presence of high-scale industries such as PT TPL and PT
\nInalum is much needed to contribute to the local administration's
\nincome, improve the least-developed regency's economic growth and
\ncope with unemployment.<\/p>\n
The local administration could also use its annual revenues
\nfrom the company to purchase its stakes on the capital market,
\napart from the specific percentage of shares the management will
\ngrant to the local community. This shared ownership will
\nstrengthen the administration's bargaining power to supervise and
\ncontrol the company in the future. So far, RGM head Soekamto
\nTanoto controls only five percent of the company's shares.<\/p>\n
The secretary of the local administration, P. Simbolon, has
\nsaid that the local administration sent a team to Kerinci, Riau,
\nand Tangerang, Banten, to study how the two regencies have
\nsuccessfully run pulp mills without any conflicts with the local
\ncommunities or the environment.<\/p>\n
He said the local administration would also encourage local
\npeople to plant trees such as pines and eucalyptus in large
\nbarren areas of the regencies to supply wood to the pulp mills.<\/p>\n
The majority of the local people living around the pulp mill
\nplant has apparently accepted the planned reopening of the pulp
\nmills with hopes that it will contribute to the local community;
\nbut a minority of locals are still staging protests to demand the
\ngovernment to close the factory permanently.<\/p>\n
Several student groups and church ministers have actively
\nopposed the pulp mills, partly because of the absence of dialog
\namong conflicting sides to clarify the ongoing disinformation and
\nmisinformation released on the pulp mills among opposing groups.<\/p>\n
Once again, it is a matter of commitment among affected groups
\nto seek a comprehensive solution to the existing problems
\npeacefully. Batak people are commonly known to speak their minds,
\ngenerally in a blunt manner, but are also known to be honest and
\ndemocratic.<\/p>",
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