Court concludes hearing of Freeport case
Court concludes hearing of Freeport case
JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta State Administrative Court concluded
yesterday the hearing of a lawsuit filed by the Indonesian Forum
for the Environment against the government for approving the
environmental conservation program of the giant American copper
mining company PT Freeport Indonesia.
Both the forum and the government, in this case the
representatives of the secretary-general of the Ministry of Mines
and Energy, presented their closing arguments at a hearing
yesterday. Both stuck firmly to their positions.
The panel of judges, led by Benjamin Mangkoedilaga, is to
announce its verdict on Oct. 30.
The trial is happening as Freeport, which runs a huge mining
operation in Irian Jaya, takes some of the heat from the
controversy over the alleged killings of several civilians in
clashes with the military in Timika, the township in which the
company is operating.
Freeport, which is in the process of spending US$36 million on
an environmental conservation program, is not a party to the
dispute in the lawsuit filed by the forum.
The environmental group is contesting a Feb. 17 decision by
the Ministry of Mines and Energy to approve Freeport's
environmental conservation and monitoring programs, saying that
the government should also have secured the agreement of the
forum, which has a seat in the ministry's Environmental Impact
Analysis Commission.
Lawyers representing the forum told the hearing yesterday that
a 1993 presidential decree clearly stipulates that an
environmental impact management plan must have the approval of
all commission members.
The approval for Freeport's environmental conservation
program, signed by Secretary-General Umar Said, therefore, is
invalid, they argued.
The forum is demanding that the court revoke the approval
because it was issued in violation of procedures, including
failure to take into account concerns by the forum about the
waste being discharged by the mining company, which, it says,
could harm the environment.
Lawyers for the Ministry of Mines and Energy argued that the
forum only holds a "non-permanent" seat in its environmental
commission and, therefore, does not have any right to its claim
to represent the commission in the lawsuit.
The lawyers said the lawsuit has been directed at the wrong
person because the secretary-general only signed the approval
letter on behalf of his minister, the person who makes the
decision on such issues.
The forum was represented by Bambang Widjojanto of the Jakarta
Legal Aid Institute, while the secretary-general of the Ministry
of Mines and Energy was represented by a full team of lawyers:
Harprileny Soebiantoro, M. Saleh Sani, Sjaiful Bachtiar, and
Yoseph Suardi Sabda. (imn)