Aussie miners return to East Kalimantan<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Australian mining staff, who evacuated the
\nprovince of East Kalimantan two weeks ago amid rising anti-
\nAustralia sentiments, have been returning to the province after
\nbeing assured of their safety, several coal mining companies said
\non Friday.<\/p>\n
Coal mining company PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC) in Sangatta,
\nEast Kalimantan, which pulled out all its Australian staff and
\ntheir dependants from the province on Sept. 18, said most of its
\nAustralian top executives had returned to the province.<\/p>\n
"The president, general managers and some superintendents have
\nreturned to the province. All other superintendents are expected
\nto be back next week," KPC general manager of external relations
\nBambang Susanto told The Jakarta Post on Friday.<\/p>\n
Bambang said the Australian staff were assured that everything
\nwas under control despite strains in political relations between
\nIndonesia and Australia over the East Timor issue.<\/p>\n
KPC is equally owned by Anglo-Australian Rio Tinto and British
\nPetroleum.<\/p>\n
It is considered one of the world's largest coal mines with an
\nannual output of 15 million tons.<\/p>\n
Students and youth organizations rocked the towns of
\nBalikpapan and Samarinda mid last month in protest over the
\nAustralian government's reaction to the East Timor issue, the
\nburning of the Indonesian flag in Australia and the alleged
\nmistreatment of Indonesian citizens in the country.<\/p>\n
They were also upset over the fact that Australian honorary
\nconsul Barry Cooke had broken his promise to meet them. The
\nconsul fled the province one day before the scheduled meeting.<\/p>\n
The angry student and youth protesters stormed into the office
\nof mining service company PT Thiess and roamed Balikpapan in
\nsearch for Australians.<\/p>\n
They took two Australian mining executives hostage and forced
\nthem to hold a press conference to apologize to the Indonesian
\npeople for the burning of the flag.<\/p>\n
Australian mining companies operating in the province withdrew
\nmost of their expatriate staff and dependents in the wake of the
\nrough protest.<\/p>\n
The Australian companies include KPC, gold mining company PT
\nKelian Equatorial Mining (KEM), which is a subsidiary of Rio
\nTinto, and PT Arutmin Indonesia, a subsidiary of Broken Hill
\nProprietary Pty. Ltd. (BHP).<\/p>\n
BHP said it evacuated 50 expatriate staff from Balikpapan in
\nthe wake of the demonstration.<\/p>\n
KEM pulled out about 22 Australian staff from the province in
\nthe aftermath of the protest, but 10 Australian top executives
\nremained at its mining site in Long Iram, Kutai regency.<\/p>\n
"Most of the evacuated staff have returned. The others are
\nexpected to return next week," a Rio Tinto public relations staff
\nmember said.<\/p>\n
Both KPC and KEM claimed that the evacuation of the Australian
\nstaff did not affect their operation.<\/p>\n
"Production was going on smoothly. We were only concerned with
\ndepressed coal prices," Bambang said.<\/p>\n
Bambang said KPC was now considering plans to cut the number
\nof Australian workers and give Indonesian staff greater
\nresponsibility in the operation in anticipation of similar
\nsituations in the future.<\/p>\n
He said the company, as part of its new employment policy,
\nwould not extend contracts to Australian workers who were
\nassigned to unessential positions.<\/p>\n
"Expatriate staff reduction would also enable the company to
\ncut costs," he said. (jsk)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/aussie-miners-return-to-east-kalimantan-1447893297",
"image": ""
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