Buyat people differ on alleged pollution<\/p>\n
Harry Bhaskara and Jongker Rumteh, The Jakarta Post, Buyat\/Manado\/North Sulawesi<\/p>\n
This is the second article in a series on Buyat.
\nThe serenity and scenic beauty of Buyat village's surroundings
\nconceal deep divisions among the villagers. Ask them about the
\nalleged pollution in Buyat Bay, and their answers are unlikely to
\nleave you much the wiser.<\/p>\n
Some villagers say they believe the bay has been contaminated
\nby the nearby gold mining operation of PT Newmont Minahasa Raya,
\nbut others say there is no pollution problem.<\/p>\n
It follows that some villagers then say they are suffering
\nfrom headaches, cramps in their legs and arms, spasms, swelling,
\nskin diseases and tumors, while others say they have no such
\ncomplaints.<\/p>\n
The controversy has been going on for more than a year with
\nthe Indonesian government now suing Newmont over the alleged
\npollution.<\/p>\n
However, the confusion is not confined solely to the pollution
\nquestion. The villagers are not even sure in which regency they
\nlive.<\/p>\n
\"Many of us have two residential identity cards,\" said Busrin,
\n39, a fisherman, \"one from Minahasa Selatan and the other Bolaang
\nMongondow.\"<\/p>\n
The two regencies, he said, claim that the village lies within
\ntheir respective jurisdictions.<\/p>\n
Worse still, title to the land where the village is located is
\nclaimed by a landowner, according to Justinus Widodo, Newmont's
\nmanager for government, community relations and the environment.<\/p>\n
Soleman Ponigoro, 24, said the bay was polluted and this
\nexplained the \"strange\" illness he had been suffering from for
\nthe last eight months.<\/p>\n
\"I used to get sudden headaches which prevented me from going
\nto the sea,\" said the fisherman, who said he had lived in the
\nvillage for ten years.<\/p>\n
Soleman said his wife, Laksmi Makalalag, 23, had suffered from
\na variety of illnesses for a year, including nausea and
\noccasional spasms, cramps and headaches.<\/p>\n
Rahima Jumadi, 34, had another theory. She said she also often
\nsuffered from cramps, but it was due to high levels of uric acid.<\/p>\n
\"Whenever I eat kangkung (a type of vegetable) and beans, I
\nget cramps in my feet because of an increase in my uric acid
\nlevel,\" she said, adding that she had been told this by a doctor.<\/p>\n
Now she only eats cabbage and pitsai, she said.<\/p>\n
Jean Rorong, 34, said she had been suffering from a similar
\nailment since 2000.<\/p>\n
\"Sometimes my arm joints ache so badly I cannot work,\" said
\nJean, who said she had been living in Buyat village since 1982.<\/p>\n
\"My problem still hasn't been cured completely,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Newmont started its operation in Buyat in 1996 and closed it
\ndown in 2004 as scheduled.<\/p>\n
Rahima said she occasionally suffered from aches in her arm
\njoints, but that is because she worked with ice for hours at a
\ntime during the night.<\/p>\n
\"When my husband comes back from fishing after midnight, I put
\nice into the fish container, and that causes occasional aching in
\nmy arms as it is very cold at night,\" she said, adding she was
\nsure the aching was due to working with ice.<\/p>\n
Most fishermen's wives in Buyat, she said, used ice to keep
\nfish fresh before it was sold in the market.<\/p>\n
Ani Modeong, 29, said her son Valentine, 4, had a lump as big
\nas a corn cob on his neck and another one behind his left ear.<\/p>\n
A local doctor told her that the lumps were caused by an
\ninflammation of the thyroid gland, she said.<\/p>\n
\"His skin looks like the skin of an old man and he has
\nsuffered from itching ever since he was born,\" said Ani.<\/p>\n
\"All the children who like to swim at Buyat beach suffer from
\nskin problems and inflammation,\" Ani said.<\/p>\n
Rahima did not agree.<\/p>\n
\"My children and their friends also like to swim in the bay,
\nbut nothing has ever happened to them,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Jean and Ani said they had given up eating fish from Buyat Bay
\nyears ago, but not Rahima.<\/p>\n
\"We have been eating fish since we were children. Why should
\nwe stop eating it? If we don't eat fish, we won't have energy,\"
\nRahima said.<\/p>\n
She added that the local doctor had never urged villagers to
\nstop eating fish from the bay.<\/p>\n
\"The villagers are afraid to eat fish because they were told
\nnot to do so by Dr. Rignolda, who is the head of the Kelola
\nFoundation in Manado, who said that fish from the bay is
\ndangerous,\" Rahima said.<\/p>\n
Fishermen Busrin, 39, and Salamun, 40, said they still ate
\nfish from the bay and had never suffered any ill effects.<\/p>\n
\"It is strange that those who continue to eat fish from the
\nbay never get ill while those who did not get all these
\nillnesses,\" said Busrin.<\/p>\n
Busrin and Salamun were among five villagers who received
\nloans to buy outboard motors for their fishing boats. (see box)<\/p>\n
The head of the local community clinic, Dr. Sandra Rotti, told
\nThe Jakarta Post that the illnesses suffered by the villagers in Buyat
\nwere the same ailments as were suffered by other villagers in the region.<\/p>\n
\"They are not related to the alleged pollution in the bay,\"
\nsaid Sandra, who has been working in Buyat since 1999.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/buyat-people-differ-on-alleged-pollution-1447893297",
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