Attorney General Cracks Down on Illegal Mining, DPR Commission III: Follow-Up on President's Commitment

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA — The Attorney General’s (Kejagung) decisive steps in tackling illegal mining, including actions against related parties, represent a follow-up to President Prabowo Subianto’s orders. Regarding illegal mining, President Prabowo has committed to taking firm action. “The law enforcement steps by the Attorney General are a follow-up to President Prabowo’s orders,” said Nasir Djamil. This was stated by Nasir in relation to Kejagung’s actions regarding the designation of suspects and the detention of the Chairman of the Indonesian Ombudsman, Heri Susanto. He, who has only been in office as Ombudsman Chairman for six days, has been named a suspect in allegations of receiving a bribe of Rp1.5 billion from executives of PT TSHI, one of the nickel companies in Southeast Sulawesi. He explained that the issue of illegal mining has already become President Prabowo’s commitment to address it. This is because illegal mining not only damages the environment and pollutes the health of communities around illegal mining sites. “Even the profits from illegal mining only flow to certain individuals who fund the illegal mines,” revealed this DPR member from the Aceh electoral district. Regarding the effectiveness of Kejagung’s law enforcement actions, according to Nasir, it will depend on whether the crackdown impacts efforts to improve the welfare of communities around the mining areas. Nasir urged relevant ministers to follow up on President Prabowo’s wishes by presenting a concept for people’s mining. Thus, this people’s mining model will have an impact on the welfare of surrounding communities, and environmental damage can certainly be mitigated with concepts of customary and living law in the local community.